We Are All Dead (Book 2): We Are Still Here

by Bird, Jimmy

  His body noticeably tensed up at my admission. My sister and Bobby must have also seen it because they turned their full attention towards him. I guess they were trying to be prepared for anything, but nothing happened.

  As we continued to travel down the road, I casually continued by telling him our side of the story, “After the apocalypse started, our group had taken up residence at the Warehouse and I was not the leader that you were led to believe. Believe it or not, we had a Council of nine members that ran things. I was a member of that Council, as well as Danny.”

  “Who’s Danny?”

  “The guy bent over dead, next to his dead son, is Danny.”

  His eyes naturally went towards Danny and Austin but remained silent. After a few minutes of silently looking at them, he turned back towards the window. It looked like he had decided to ignore me.

  Without giving it much thought, I continued our story, “We had an ever growing and successfully thriving community, even though we had our ups and downs. We accepted new members every day, but only under certain conditions. I guess you could say that it was done in two phases. The first phase was that every person had to be individually interviewed. It all depended on how they answered certain questions. If we accepted their answers, then they could move to phase two. The second phase was that we needed to know how they could contribute to our society. We needed to know what kind of skill set they had. Whether military, medical, carpentry, etc. We felt that the more experienced people we had around us, the stronger our growing society would be. Like I stated before, we had our ups and downs. That was it, our only requirements to be accepted into our gated community. On one day, we had a group of people who were dressed as ‘reservists’ show up at our gate.”

  At the mention of reservists, James turned her head towards me. Apparently, he had been listening after all.

  James’ action caused everyone to be on high alert. Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed that my daughter was tightly holding onto her little spear with her right hand. It looked like she was holding it just out of James’ line of sight. I smiled, despite myself.

  Without missing a beat, I stated, “By allowing the reservists in, we literally made the worst mistake of our lives. Before that though, we thought that we had lucked out by having more people with military experience show up wanting to join our little community. We already had close to a dozen people in our community that were ex-military vets, including a few that were on the Council. We figured that adding a few more would just make us that much stronger. So, we interviewed each one and immediately felt that something was off by their answers. It wasn’t until we interviewed the leader that we realized our mistake by letting them in. During the interview, the leader pointed towards a window that showed our front gate. When the Council members walked over to the window to see what he was pointing at, we saw Kevin and Bruce standing at the gate. Our concerns about the reservists instantly melted. I’m going to be honest with you, we thought that our prayers had just been answered that day when Kevin and Bruce showed up. But we were wrong. When we turned around to welcome the leader with open arms, we found that he was gone. He had slipped away while we had been distracted. Fearing the worst, we had split up. One group went to the gate to make sure it stayed closed while the rest went to the armory just in case the leader had went that way. The leader was indeed captured trying to break into our armory. When he was being walked out of the Warehouse, snipers took out two of our Council members. Things became very chaotic after that. The leader began running towards the gate, using the bullets as cover fire. He was trying to open the gate for Kevin and his group. We of course couldn’t allow that to happen. We began firing back and ended up killing the reservist leader and his men before anyone could get to the gate.”

  I paused as the battle details replayed in my head. I could see their faces as if the battle had just happened.

  I shook my head to clear it, “Both sides took heavy loses. While we were fighting to defend our home, a couple of Council members tried to take our women and children to safety. You see, we had set up escape buses just in case we needed to make an emergency exit. During the fighting, we heard a couple of explosions come from behind us. Fearing the worse, we accused Kevin and his group of killing innocent women and children. Confused by our accusation, Kevin called for a ceasefire to confirm our accusations. He contacted a group that was positioned at the rear of the Warehouse. We watched in awe as the group were celebrating what they had accomplished. When Kevin spoke to the group, he made sure that he spoke loud enough for us to hear. He wanted us to know that he didn’t authorize them to kill any women or children. Their job was just to stop anyone from escaping.”

  I paused once again. My heart ached at the thought of my twin sons, my mom, niece, and everyone else we lost that day.

  I took a deep breath and continued, “Kevin explained to the group what they had done. A woman from the group had become so enraged that she shot Kevin. I guess with Bruce around, the woman immediately freaked out and begged Bruce for forgiveness. Bruce ignored her pleas as he walked up to the woman and killed her. Their whole group reacted by turning their guns on each another. Before we knew it, the shooting started all over again. Only this time, they weren’t shooting at us, they were shooting at each other. All the shooting and explosions must have attracted nearby zombies because they began attacking the outside group. Those of us behind the safety of the fence took the opportunity to sneak back into the Warehouse. Once inside, we took a headcount and realized that our little group had went from over fifty people to just ten in a matter of minutes. To make matters worse, only three of the ten survivors were Council members. It seemed that not all the women and children were killed. You see, when the shooting started, my daughter freaked out and came looking for me. Seth and Austin here, took it upon themselves to go after her. My sister on the other hand, refused to leave the Warehouse until her whole family was safe, including her fiancé Bobby there. My twin boys, niece, and mom weren’t so lucky. Bobby, Danny, and I were among those shot trying to protect our home. As for the other three survivors, well, let’s just say they didn’t make it long after. One of the three was a Council member named Ruff and he basically sacrificed himself, so we could escape. As for the last two people, let’s just say that they were a young married couple. Mia was in school to be a nurse while Logan had been a marine. Logan had been away on training exercises when the world fell apart. They were married right before he was shipped out and vowed to return to her, no matter what it took. He made good on his promise.”

  My mind raced with images of what had happened to us as I continued, “Since we didn’t know the stability of the Warehouse, especially, after the explosions, Logan and I volunteered to go inspect our walls. It was the only logical choice we had. Like everyone else, we had been shot trying to defend our home. Unfortunately for us, our injuries weren’t as serious as everyone else’s. While out surveying the damage, Logan ended up getting bit by a zombie and sacrificed himself, so I could escape. Once Mia found out what had happened, she went looking for him to see for herself. She ended up getting bit in the process. Because of a series of unfortunate events, the zombies found their way into the Warehouse, forcing us to abandon it. That was when Ruff sacrificed himself for us. We escaped and went to my father-n-law’s land. After a few weeks, Danny and I went searching for supplies and came across a trap that Robert had set for us. He allowed us to escape, but it wasn’t for humanitarian reasons. He tracked us to our new haven and forced us to abandon it also. On the way back to the Warehouse, we came up with a plan to go to a secluded area at Lake Eufaula. A place where my family use to camp at when we were children. We knew that before we could leave, we needed more supplies. Especially, since we were forced to abandon all the supplies we had when Robert and his group showed up the second time.”

  I stopped talking. That was pretty much our story, only it was the short version in which I intentionally left out certain specific details. I figured
James didn’t need to hear about those.

  My mind continued to race with images of my family and friends. No, they were all my family! My eyes moistened at the thought of my wife and my three boys, who I will never get to see again. At least, not in this lifetime.

  I forgot all about James being there while I was lost in my own thoughts. As a matter of fact, I think that everyone was lost in their own thoughts. At least until James spoke up.

  His voice kind of cracked, “I’m sorry for what happened to you, but that wasn’t the story I was told. Why do you think that was? You see, Robert is my second cousin and would never lie to me.”

  I asked, “Did you witness the destruction at the Warehouse when you showed up?”

  He shook his head as he replied, “No.”

  “Then, how do you know Robert wasn’t lying to you?”

  He turned his head back towards the window and repeated, “Because Robert’s my cousin. He would never lie to me.”

  My mind automatically began working on rational questions that would force him to question what Robert had told him. They had to be questions that only he would know the answers too or maybe something that only young children would know. He did say that Robert told had him that we rapped and murdered children.

  I looked over at my daughter and asked, “JoJo, would like to ask James a question?”

  Wide-eyed, she looked at me “What kind of question?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Just as long as its something that you know the answer too.”

  You could see the look in her eyes that she was trying to think of something. When the question came to her, you could see it in her eyes.

  JoJo asked James, “Why didn’t you go and look at the Warehouse herself?”

  James answered, “Because Robert wanted my group to go and set up a trap to capture you.”

  It was my turn to ask, “Why did he want you to capture us if it was his first time being at the Warehouse?”

  James responded, “It was my first time at the Warehouse, not Robert’s. He had made a few trips before, looking for his brother-n-law Bruce, our leader Kevin, and the rest of our kin.”

  Seth then asked, “Do you know when Robert had come to the Warehouse?”

  He stated, “It was about a month after Bruce, Kevin, and the rest were scheduled to return.”

  My sister, Christina asked, “What were they supposed to return from?”

  “We all were told that Kevin and Bruce knew the people who had occupied the Warehouse and y’all were going to give it to them. The way it was explained to me was that y’all were holding onto it for us until our group could arrive to take it off your hands.”

  He suddenly became quiet and slowly turned his head from the window, his eyes were moist. You could tell that he was on the verge of crying. At the sound of his own statement, he began putting the puzzle pieces together. If we had already made the Warehouse our home, why would we willingly give it up so easy to others? Especially, during a zombie apocalypse.

  The truth of what he was thinking, caused him to become white as a ghost. They were not the saviors that he thought they were, and they were not the good guys, they were supposed to be. No, they were the bad guys!

  Maybe, James was wondering that if they were lied to about the Warehouse then what else were they lied to about? You could see it in his eyes, his mind was playing the details from the past few months and must have found something that frightened her.

  He spoke softly, “When Robert arrived back at our camp after going to ‘search’ the Warehouse, he showed up with children clothes that proved his story that you had killed children. It seemed like such a minor detail at the time, but I remember seeing bloody burn marks on the children’s clothes. It was the kind of burn marks that only happens from explosion. It’s proof that the children had been killed in explosion. It seems that your story is most likely the true one.”

  James put his hands to his face and began crying. Everything that he thought that he knew about his cousin, Robert was a lie. Everything that he told them was a lie!

  His face went from being ghost white to a reddish color as anger crept into him. He now knew the truth. Robert was the one that killed their kin! It wasn’t the zombies, it wasn’t us. It was Robert and James wanted his blood.

  James spoke softly, “Stop the car.”

  I responded, “What?”

  He spoke a little louder, “Stop the car.”

  “I still didn’t hear you over the noise from the windows. Can you speak up a little?”

  He yelled “I said, STOP THE CAR!”

  Without raising my voice, I asked, “Why?”

  “Because, I want to find and kill Robert!”

  I smiled despite myself. I knew how he felt, he wanted Robert’s head on a silver platter and didn’t want to stop until he was dead.

  He sat there and kept repeating, “I want to kill him.”

  After a few second of rambling, he spoke up, “Hey. I just thought of something. I know where to find him.”

  Seth asked, “What? You know where Robert is?”

  That caught my attention. I’m not sure if James realized what he had said, but he quickly corrected himself.

  He stated, “Sorry. I don’t really know where he is, but I know the general direction he had headed. I could show you if we want.”

  At that moment, something seemed off about him. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I mean, he sounded genuinely upset, but he seemed way too eager to show us where Robert went. It was as if he hadn’t even realized that I had stated we had just escaped from Robert’s clutches or didn’t care as he kept insisting that we turn around, so we could go and get our vengeance together. James had quickly become a broken record as he kept insisting that we stop and turn around, so we could go kill Robert. It became annoying.

  I spoke just loud enough that he was forced to stop and listen, “We aren’t ready to attack anyone, we need to regroup and gather supplies before we can think about anything else. Besides, we need to bury Danny and Austin first.”

  James began to protest, but my sister quickly shut him down, “We need supplies and weapons first. As we told you, we were forced to abandon everything and need more.”

  James’s eyes brightened up, “If it’s weapons you need, I know where to find both, guns and supplies.”

  Skeptical, I asked, “Where?”

  “There are plenty of both at my camp.”

  I looked in the rearview mirror and locked eyes with my sister. We were thinking the same thing. Was he trying to set us up?

  “Our first priority is to bury our family.”

  He asked, “I thought that you said your main priority was to find weapons and supplies?”

  I correct ted him, “No. What I said was that before we did anything, we needed weapons and supplies. But our top priority is to bury Danny and Austin.”

  He looked confused, “Did you realize that you had just called Danny and Austin family? I thought they were your friends.”

  I smiled sadly, “They were our friends, but they ‘will always’ be our family.

  James asked, “So, I guess we’re not going back?”

  I simply responded, “No. No, we’re not.”

  James didn’t reply as he turned his head back towards the broken door window.

  JoJo leaned over and whispered, “I don’t think that James is our friend.”

  JoJo’s eyes naturally darted in James’s direction. I lifted my first finger towards my lips to mimic the ‘shhh’ sign as I slightly shook my head up and down to show her that I agreed. I then used that same finger to indicate that she needed to turn around and face forward.

  I noticed that out the corner of my eyes, it looked like James had been silently watching the interaction between me and my daughter. It looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was scared or just thought that it would be pointless to say anything.

  I looked over my shoulder towards him and noti
ced that he looked deep in thought. I guess I had been wrong about him watching us. When he realized that I was looking at him, he quickly turned his head back towards the broken window. From the look in his eyes, it looked like his mind had been working on something.

  Without giving it much more thought, I turned back around to face the road. Before long, a nagging feeling began to creep up in the pit of my stomach. You know, one of those feelings that said something bad was going to happen. The feeling seemed to get worse the further we drove.

  Chapter 5: The Last Council Member

  When we finally got to Midwest City, things seemed bleak, no it looked worse than that. The streets alone looked worse than they did in Oklahoma City, even though Midwest City was basically a suburb of OKC. To give you an idea of what I mean is that the roads looked like an automotive graveyard that extended for several miles.

  Cars were lined up like at a salvage yard, bumper to bumper. It looked like people had just parked their cars and disappeared. Most of the cars had their doors open, some with their windows broken out. I guess over time, some were damaged from vandalism, but it was hard to tell.

  Some of the cars looked like they were on blocks with their wheels missing. Almost every one of them had their hoods up. You really couldn’t tell by looking at them if they were covered in dirt, rust, or blood.

  As we drove up to the closest cars, I began looking for a way around the pile. To be honest, it was hard to find one.

  I looked in the rearview mirror, “Anyone have any ideas?”

  James spoke up, “You know, finding a way around this mess is unnecessary. If you would just listen to me and go back to my camp. I have supplies there.”

  Frustrated, I turned my head towards him, “Stop pushing the subject because it’s not happening. But if you want to go back so bad then you can just get out and walk back.”

  He stared at me hard for a second before looking away. It looked like he wanted to say something, but wisely held his tongue. Before turning back around, I noticed that my sister and Bobby were looking at me. I could tell from the look in their eyes that they were thinking the same thing that I was. He was trying to set us up.