89.4 Zombie Radio

Layla and I made our way outside, Trevor not far behind. We were going to have to hurry if we wanted to make it there and back in time. I knew Roxy wasn't playing when she said she would leave. Her and I are very similar, and I would do the same thing if roles were reversed. I didn't think the walk was too far, but then again, I had recently survived a car crash when I last took it. My memory was a bit a hazy.

I was speed walking, and Layla was keeping up right along side me. Trevor on the other hand wasn't fairing as well, he was having trouble keeping up with our pace.
"Could you guys slow down a little maybe?" he asked.

"No way man, we gotta make this quick." I told him. I could hear the heavy sigh from behind me, and I did what I could to hide my smile. It was just about then that I saw it out of the corner of my eye, gleaming in the sunlight. I changed course and made my way over to it. It was exactly what I thought it was, my baseball bat. It was covered in dried blood, just how I remembered it being. God, if you're up there, I'd like you to know, that you are fucking awesome.

"Hey, I remember that thing. Why did you leave it here?" Layla asked.

"Well, I kind of had a major brain fart and threw it at a horde of zombies chasing me," I explained.

"Well then how'd you manage to get rid of them?" she added.

"I drove that steamroller over them," I told her. "That's why the concretes painted red."

We got right back into pace and started down the road. I was glad we hadn't seen anything thus far, I knew we had cleared a good portion of the bastards inhabiting this place during the rescue, but there were sure to be more around. I just hoped they were out looking for the people with grenades and guns, instead of the people out fetching CDs. We had made it to out of the campus, I knew it wasn't far now. I asked Layla for the time.

"Its been ten minutes," she answered. Plenty of time I thought to myself. Should just be about another five before we got to the Lincoln at this pace. My estimation of time was a little off it seemed though, because another ten minutes had passed before I even saw the car. We were going to be cutting it close.

"What are we doing out here anyway?" Layla asked.

"Well Layla, do really want to know how stupid I am?" I replied.

"Umm, not really, but tell me anyways," she said.

"I'm getting my CDs back", I explained. "I know, its retarded, but they were one of the few things that meant anything to me."

"I understand," she said.

"You do? Really? Because if you want to hit me, now's the time to do it. I won't say I don't deserve it," I told her.

"I want to fucking hit you! Are you serious? Fucking CDs? That's why we're out here risking our lives?" Trevor yelled.

"Yep," I answered.

"They're sentimental to you, I think its very admirable," Layla said.

"Well thank you Layla, I'm glad one person doesn't think I'm crazy," I replied.

We made it to the car and I opened the door. The keys were still in the ignition, and I decided to take them out and carry them with me, just as a little momento. I opened up the middle console, where the CD changer was and got what I had in it, then I shoved them into any empty pocket I could find in one of the binders.

"Well, I got what I needed, let's get back guys," I said.

"I hate to ask this, but is it okay if I go use the bathroom real quick? I've been holding it a while," Layla asked. I couldn't ever say no to her, even though I knew every second at this point was precious.

"Sure," I told her, "But make it quick." Layla rushed into the woods next to the road and kept going until she was out of sight.

"God damn man, that girl is one fine piece of ass," Trevor said. Oh great, I thought to myself. Now we're going to have one of these manly conversations. I couldn't stand these to be quite honest. Call me old fashioned, but I've always felt women should be treated with a great deal of respect. I could never get into the whole testosterone driven dialogue of the other males in my peer group, or older for that matter. It always seemed like other guys liked to bring this sort of thing up around me. Maybe they thought I liked it. The truth is I hated it, but I'm always too nice to say, "Seriously? Fuck you." So I just go along with it. One word answers always work well in situations like these.

"Okay," I told him.

"What? You don't think she is?" he asked.

"I didn't say that," I replied.

"I think I can get her though. Bet it takes me like, three more days, and I'll have her lickin' my cum off her titties." he said.

What a gentleman, I thought to myself. I knew I had that feeling about this guy, damn my guts are good. All I could hope for is that Layla sees through this guy's bull shit. She's a smart girl, I think she will get the picture eventually. Then again, its always been my observation that the asshole gets the girl, and nice guys always finish last. Not that I was trying for her or anything... I'm just saying. Layla came out of the woods and we started our power walk back to the campus.

All I could think of as we started the return trip was how badly I wanted to beat the shit out of this guy. How would I do it if the situation arose? I've never really been in what I'd consider a genuine fight before. When I was little, a kid kicked my soccer ball across a parking lot and then came at me. Don't remember exactly what I said or did to trigger it, I just remember throwing him over my back and putting my elbow up against his neck while he was on the ground. I remember asking him if he was done, and he said something smart. So I twitched just a little bit, and the kid stopped breathing. I thought maybe I killed him at first, but it turned out he just had an asthma attack.

Things have changed since then though, people fight much differently as adults. What would my first move be? I could punch him, that was always a good first option, but its rather predictable. I could start with a good shot to the balls, Ric Flair style, but then I'd be tempted to put him in a figure four and yell "Woo!" at the top of my lungs. It didn't seem like a very logical plan. I remembered a movie with Billie Crystal in it, for the life of me I couldn't remember the title, but he just went around head butting everybody in it. I remember him telling someone it was all in your back. That's what I'd do, I'd headbutt him if it ever came to it.

A few more minutes down the road and I heard the distant sound of something approaching. It sounded like a car, but maybe I was hallucinating. I probably was at this point, sleep deprived, hungry as hell, and sweating profusely, were all good excuses for me to be hearing things, but it was clear I wasn't when Layla turned and looked in the direction it was coming from. It was a car, but who could be driving it? It wasn't somebody we knew, was it? They stopped along side of us and rolled down the window.

"Hi there, you guys need a ride maybe?" they kindly asked. The man was about my age, maybe slightly older. Then there was a woman in the car, another dark haired girl with some of the widest eyes I'd ever seen. I thought they were pretty beautiful though. She was probably my age or maybe a bit younger. I wasn't really sure.

"Sure," I said, and we hopped in the back. When I got in the car, I felt the need to make these people aware of who I was, and that I wasn't to be fucked with.

"Thanks for the ride," I said, "But I don't fully know you or trust you, so I'd like you to know that my right hand is holding a gun right now. So if you want to try some shit, you may want to reconsider." Layla nudged me in the arm, I think she thought maybe I was being a bit of a jerk. I didn't care, I wasn't taking any chances. The guy driving just started to laugh.

"We come in peace, I promise you, no funny stuff. I don't blame you for being cautious though, these are crazy times," he said. "I'm Aiden, this is my girlfriend Celeste, its nice to meet you three."

"Nice to meet you too Aiden and Celeste. I'm Layla, this is Trevor and the one being so rude is Bob. You'll have to excuse him."

"Like I said Layla, I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing. He's right to be careful," Aiden said. "Where are you guys headed?"

"Keep going down the road," Layla explained. "We're going to the first parking lot behind the campus. We're meeting up with our friends. Oh, and step on it too, we have to hurry."

` I was proud of Layla, she was really starting to open up to people. I remember that quiet shy girl, who I used to have to pry conversations out of. Funny how a few days in the apocalypse changes everything. I just hoped she didn't become too trusting of people. I'm sure there were some people out there looking to take advantage of a situation like this. You really couldn't be too careful. We sped down the road and flew into the parking lot behind the auditorium. I could see the tour bus still there. I asked Layla for the time.

"Two minutes left," she said. Perfect timing I thought to myself. We pulled up next to the bus and got out of the car. It didn't take long for Roxy to spot me, and I knew once she did, it wouldn't be long before she saw what I was carrying. I knew I was going to be in trouble. She rushed over to me and gave me a solid shot to the stomach, it nearly knocked the wind out of me.

"You fucking asshole! That's what you went to get!? Fucking CDs!? I could fucking kill you right now!" she screamed.

"Nice to see you too Roxy," I responded.

"If you ever pull some shit like this again Bob, I'll aim lower! I swear to God I'll make sure an asshole like you never reproduces," she said. I couldn't help but laugh. It was always my natural reaction to when someone was mad at me. Which always made the situation either way worse, or immediately better, because the person either hated me, or they started laughing too. Luckily, Roxy and I are very much alike and I could see her start to smile.

"Just don't do something stupid like this again, and Layla, don't fucking follow him if he pulls shit like this," she scolded.

"I'm sorry, just thought he'd need some company," Layla replied.

"I just thought it'd be interesting," Trevor said.

"Well whatever, I'm glad you're all back, who are they?" Roxy asked.

"Oh, this is Aiden and Celeste," I said. "They found us on the walk back." Just then Jessie came walking out of the bus.

"Hey! I know you guys! How are you!?" she shouted.

"Hey! Jessie! Glad to see you're still okay!" Aiden replied.

"These guys are awesome! They used to run this little vegan cafe I went to. It was so yummy. When are you guys going to cook me something? I'm starving!" Jessie said excited to see her old friends. Aiden just laughed and didn't really give her an answer.

"You're coming with us right?" Jessie asked them.

"If you guys are okay with it, we'd love to. Its probably good to stick together during all of this," Aiden said.

"Well, the more the merrier," I added.

"Bob! What was so important that you had to go get?" Jessie asked.

"Fucking CDs Jessie! That's what he had to go get," Roxy answered for me.

"Wow, you really are an idiot aren't you?" Jessie said.

"I really can't argue that Jessie," I replied. "But lets just get the hell out of here, I'd like to be rid of this place forever." I started looking around at everybody, and noticed we were one short.

"Where's Randle?" I asked.

"Hes... Dead. Gave himself up so that we could make it here," Roxy answered. "Yea, let's just forget about that for now, I'll explain it later man. You're right, let's just get the fuck out of here for now."

I didn't even try to argue. Our first casualty, Randle. I couldn't help but think that this was a little bit my fault. He didn't want to come here in the first place, but I convinced him to. If I hadn't done that, he'd still be alive. Then again, Jessie and the other five people would be dead if it weren't for us. We lost one, but gained six. The positives seemed to outweigh the negatives, but still, we lost somebody. I'd have to start making better decisions from here on.

We all got on the bus, which barely fit sixteen people and a dog. Still, it was much more comfortable than the van we originally came here in. There was even room in the outside storage compartments, where we could put all of our stuff. This was the ideal vehicle for a group this large to travel in. If we happened to find another one, I'd be all for taking it too. I volunteered to drive, since I just felt more comfortable in control of a vehicle I was in. It was a weird quirk I had.

"Bob, you better not mess up my amazing good looks," Jessie warned me.

"Wow, aren't we just a bit conceded?" said one of the new people I didn't know.

"No Dean, the difference is, I'm joking around. You on the other hand aren't," Jessie snapped back.

"Whatever," he replied. "Who would you have to look good for anyways?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she told him.

I couldn't help but laugh, this was going to be a hell of a trip with this many people and egos all battling it out and still somehow trying to come together and stay alive. Now the question becomes, where do we go from here?