As the World Burns

Layla and I were digging through the wreckage of the bus and deciding what we were going to need and what we could live without. Layla spent most of her time debating on an appropriate outfit to fit her new dress code. I could tell even she was a bit depressed about the way things were now, despite being the one who came up with the idea. I on the other hand, wasn't having much of a problem with it. My sense of style sort of fit quite well for the zombie apocalypse I suppose. Cargo pants and a T-shirt that fit just right seemed like it would work well enough for the time being. I started thinking about what I might need when it got colder, but I would worry about that in another month or so.

I decided to ask Layla how long she thought it would take for us to walk all the way across the continent. She couldn't give me a good estimate though. Told me there were too many variables. I didn't stop bothering her until she gave me a guess though, to which she finally caved and said, “With our luck, six months.” Not exactly the answer I was hoping to hear, but I knew she was probably right.

Layla finally decided upon an outfit, which was basically a tracksuit, baby blue and black, my favorite color scheme... How did she know? Layla looked good in anything she wore, but the man in me couldn't help but ask her to pack something for just her and I. She just smiled and made me turn away as she stuffed something else in her backpack. I must say, I'm a man who loves surprises. When we were all packed up, we headed outside and waited for everyone else to finish up what they were doing. All the new people were already done, considering they had already made most of these decisions before they met us.

“So who's gonna be doing what in our group Bob?” Nelly asked.

“Uh... I'm not sure honestly,” I answered, scratching my bald head. “I've been trying to think of what we're all good at, and how each person can be used... Layla, this was your idea. What do you have in mind exactly?”

“Well... We should ask everyone what they think they'll be good at,” Layla explained. “Like... Me for example, I know medicine. Which basically would make me the medic of the group. Bob, you're the leader, so I think it should be you on the walkie talkie with Jessie. That way the two of you stay on the same page. Someone should be the navigator...”

“I think I can handle that,” Roxy replied.

“Alright, Roxy's navigating,” I said. “I'm starting to run blank on jobs now Layla.”

“Well, there's not much else that needs to be done. We need someone up front, and someone in the back while we walk,” Layla added.

“I think we can have Kwame watch our backs on the trip. You up for that man?” I asked.

“Oh shit! Chu know I got that shit all day son! Practically what I do!” Kwame exclaimed.

“Alright, I suppose I'll take the front,” I said. “Does everyone in our group have a gun? If not, speak now, and we'll be sure to find you one. The weapons need to be spread out, so if you're carrying more than one, be generous to your neighbor who doesn't have one.”

“I don't have a gun!” Nelly shouted. “And I want a job! What the fuck Bob!?”

“Sorry! Uh... Does anyone have a spare firearm for Nelly?” I asked.

“Oh shit, I got you girl,” Kwame replied, as he handed Nelly a gun from his backpack.

“Th- Thank you,” Nelly stuttered out.

“Anyone else without a gun?” I asked.

“I still want a job!” Nelly shouted.

“Alright... How about you're in charge of... Group morale. You're the one we'll be depending on to keep our spirits up when things get bad,” I replied.

“Well... I can do that... It sort of sounds like something you made up on the fly, but I'll go with it until you can think of something better,” Nelly said.

“Ha ha! I can't sneak one by you. I'll think of something eventually. Until then... Just be you and don't get yourself killed,” I told her. I saw out of the corner of my eye Jessie making her way towards me, and I could tell by the look on her face, she was still a little pissed off about how the draft went down.

“So how am I supposed to pick jobs for all these people Bob? Who's supposed to be doing what? I don't get it. I think we were doing just fine the way it was,” she said.

“We were, but that was while we had the bus Jessie, and the jobs thing is pretty easy,” I explained. “Dr. Grant is your medic. You and I are going to be in charge of the walkie talkies. Let's see... I'd put Jack as your navigator. Even though all you really have to do is follow us. Then you need someone to head the front, and someone to watch the rear of your group. I'd go maybe Dalton for the front, and maybe Lucas for the back... Something like that.”

“I could have done that myself!” Jessie shouted.

“I know, but I thought I'd speed up the process a little,” I replied. “Everyone! We leave in ten minutes! Get whatever else you're going to need! And be quick about it!”

“Don't yell! That's my job!” Jessie shouted. “Everyone!... What he said!”

We all made double sure we had everything we could possibly want to take with us, and it was time to go over things one more time with Jessie. Her and I were going to have to stay on the same page for the sake of everyone. This two group plan was good. It was the right move, but it could only work if both of us could work together. Thus far we didn't have a problem doing that. Sure we had the occasional spat, but it wasn't usually serious.

“Alright Jessie, here's how this whole thing works...” I started to explain.

“I know how it works Bob, I'm not stupid,” she replied.

“Alright, well then how does it work Jessie?”

“You go ahead of us and then we follow behind you. Its not exactly rocket science.”

“Okay, so you know the basics. How far apart should we be?”

“I don't know. I'm just gonna start walking when I can't see you anymore. That was my plan.”

“Huh... Yea that's a good plan... Well... I guess I'm gonna start walking then.”

“You do that then,” Jessie replied nodding her head.

“Well everyone who's with me, let's hit the road!” I exclaimed. I started to walk and wondered why nobody was following me. I looked back and seen everyone sort of staring and giggling.

“West is this way Bob,” Roxy informed me.

“I knew that... It was a test and you passed,” I replied jokingly.

“Yea, you wish it was a test,” Jessie added. I made a face at Jessie, who made a face right back and I started walking in the right direction. This time everyone was following me... I made sure of it. I walked until I was pretty sure I was out of sight from Jessie and I decided to see if the walkie talkies were working the way they were supposed to work... And what better way to test them than by messing with her a little bit?

“Testing testing, over,” I said into the walkie talkie.

“Yea, they work Bob, how long are we going to walk for?” Jessie asked. I added a dramatic pause before responding to her question.

“I'm sorry Jessie, were you done? You didn't say over... Over.”

“What? I just want to know how long we're going to walk for today Bob, that's it.”

“What Jessie? Was there something else there? You didn't say over. You have to say over when you're done talking so I know you're done... Over.”

“That is stupid Bob, I am not doing that.”

“I feel like there's something more you have to say Jessie, you didn't say over.”

“You are an idiot!... Over!”

“Heard you loud and clear Jessie, over.”

“I am not doing this the entire time Bob! Now just tell me when we're going to be done walking!... Over!”

“I'm not sure Jessie. Probably when it starts to get dark we'll find a place to stop for the night. Over.”

“God! Was that so hard!?”

“I'm sorry Jessie, was there more? Over.”

“Oh my God! You are an idiot! OVER!”

“There ya go. Over,” I replied, receiving no response back.

“Well, I think you pissed her the fuck off for today Bob,” Roxy said.

“Are you sure? I could keep going,” I answered.

“Well I mean, its funny, but one of these day's she's gonna kick your balls into your throat... So you know... For our sake, you may want to refrain just a little bit,” Layla said.

“Your warning has been heeded,” I replied. “So Roxy, where exactly are we headed?”

“Fuck if I know! I'm just using this compass that I can't even believe I hung on to and I'm goin west. That's all I'm doing,” Roxy explained.

“Should we be staying on main roads like this?” Leon asked.

“Well... That's actually a good question,” I answered.

“I'm stayin on roads for right now. Unless you motherfuckers have tents and shit, we're gonna need shelter by the end of the day, and I don't know of any mysterious log cabins in the woods or any shit like that, so I'm gonna stick to the roads for now,” Roxy explained.

“Sounds like a plan,” I replied. We walked down the road, just heading west, and hoping nothing would attack us along the way. It was about two hours into the walk before something did, and Kwame took care of it before it got to the rest of us. It seemed like my decision to put him in the back was the right one. I couldn't help but chuckle at Nelly's reaction as he pulled the machete out of the zombie's skull. It was hard to describe it, but I could tell she sort of just melted a little inside.

I couldn't help but think we should have received more resistance than this. We even passed through a small town, and didn't see anything. Maybe the zombies were all unified in these groups now. These armies of them just sweeping the land, looking for survivors to feed on. Then I started thinking about more things. More and more questions started circulating in my brain. So as always, I figured I'd pick Layla's brain about them. She always seemed to have some sort of theory on these sort of things.

“So, Layla... I'm sitting here wondering what you think about all of this. I don't know... I'm just thinking out loud, and as always I need someone to put it all together for me. We've only had one encounter this entire walk thus far. We passed through that whole town back there, and there wasn't anything... Are they all in groups now? I don't know... Like I said, I'm just thinking out loud.”

“I think I know what you're getting at, even though that was extremely vague,” Layla replied. “I think for the most part they're all organized now. I highly doubt we'll see the straggler zombie groups with no direction and no purpose other than to kill on sight. This new breed, they have a purpose. They seem to be on some sort of mission, as crazy as that may sound. There may be a straggler her and there, like the one that came at us a little earlier, but I think for the most part, they're on the same page now... Which is scary.”

“That's kind of what I was thinking you'd say,” I replied. “It is scary as hell... You said something before about it awakening some sort of... Sadist within someone... That theory scares the shit out of me.”

“Its not exactly comforting to me either,” Layla said.

“So we're in a world filled with sadists who have control over armies of zombies?” Roxy asked. “That is the most fucked thing I've ever heard. What's next? Rapist zombies?”

“Don't count it out,” I answered.

“I ain't trying to get butt raped by no mothahfuckin' zombies and shit! Fuck that shit!” Kwame shouted.

“None of us are trying to get butt raped, so let's just be careful from here on out,” I said. “So before their number one priority was to spread the parasite... What is it now? Because the past few people I've seen get slaughtered by these things definitely didn't get bit once, they got eaten.”

“Well Bob... As disturbing as this is... Maybe they just think its fun. In their minds, its fun to hunt us all down and slaughter us. The queens aren't normal. That's obvious. Its hard telling what some of them are going to think up.” Layla answered.

“I know I've seen a few things that I wish I could forget about,” Nelly said.

“Me too,” Leon added.

“I think we all have, and its not over yet,” I said. “We'll be fine as long as we all... What the fuck?”

I looked in the distance and seen what appeared to be a yellow school bus making its way in our direction. It wasn't moving very fast. It looked like it was just cruising along. Not in any hurry to get anywhere. The closer it got, the more details I started to make out. There were the bodies of a few naked women tied to the hood. I immediately knew, this bus was not friendly. I seen a small barn off to the side of the road, and I knew it was maybe our only chance.

“Behind the barn! Now!” I shouted. We all ran as fast as we could and hid behind the barn. Pressing our backs to the wall. All of us were breathing hard, hoping for it to just pass and leave us alone. We could hear the engine running not far from us, and then the worst thing that could happen, happened. The engine stopped.

They must have seen us. They must know where we were hiding. The question running through my brain was fight or flee? I didn't get a good glimpse of the numbers, but I'm sure they outnumber us. I don't know what they have. If they have guns and the ability to aim, we could get shot in the back as we try to escape... Being the leader sucks.

This is not the best place for a fight. They can come from two sides, and we'll have no idea which. If they come from both, which is likely, we'll be overrun in no time. The only option is to run and pray to God we find a better spot to fight. I looked ahead of me and put two and two together on what kind of farm this was. They were growing peaches. Georgia peaches. Somewhere in this field of peach trees we might be able to find a good spot to hold a line.

“We're gonna run through those peach trees until we find a better spot,” I whispered to everyone. “Go!”

We all started running straight ahead, and I could hear laughter from behind us. It didn't seem like they were in a hurry at all. They were just taking their time. Stalking us. Layla was right, this was fun to them. It was like they were one mind. One body. One fucked up soul hunting us down like we were wounded deer. We kept running until we couldn't hear laughter. It was then it dawned on me. This is why we set up this plan in the first place. We had back up. I had to call Jessie. I pushed the call button on the walkie talkie and waited for Jessie to respond.

“If you're just gonna play games on the walkie talkie Bob, I'm not in the mood,” she snapped.

“Jessie! We're in trouble. How far behind are you guys?”

“I don't know. Where are you guys at?”

“Do you see a bus up ahead? Parked in the middle of the road?”

“I see something yellow way up ahead. It could be a school bus. Why?”

“Hurry up and get to that bus! Then go behind the barn and into where all those fucking peach trees are. Hopefully you find a bunch of infected assholes trying to stalk us down.”

“We'll be there... Are you guys gonna be okay until we get there?”

“If you hear gunfire, run faster.”

“You forgot to say over, and that's not very comforting Bob.”

“Then hurry the fuck up!” I shouted. The last thing Jessie probably heard was a shotgun blast from Roxy as one of them tried to get the jump on her. We had no idea where we were. This peach field, orchard, whatever you call a place where there's a shit ton of peach trees growing, was not a good place for a fight at all. They could come from anywhere. We all kept in a group, our weapons drawn, hoping to God Jessie gets there in time.