The Aftermath

“Oh my God, everything here is ruined.” My dad muttered.

It was our third day of traveling and so far things seemed grimmer than ever. We’d had one or two run-ins with those God forsaken zombies, but no fights had been nearly intense as anything else we’d ever faced. Things were quiet as well between our group, even in everyday passing the conversations seemed to dry up to a dismal vapor that could never be cured.

I talked to my dad a bit, about Gladis and Ricky. He said he wasn’t even sure if the tabloids were true. That he wasn’t even sure where Gladis or Ricky was right now. He didn’t seem too keen to talk about the topic though either.

I was beginning to wonder how anyone could survive in a world where there was no uniformity, no change of structure or guidance. We had to get to D.C. in three weeks and so far three days had passed.

18 days left.

We were driving into a parched town just along the border of Idaho. The welcome sign read “East Gleamdon”. It looked like one of those towns out of the western movies. The heat was stifling above the ill colored ground and long lone road that led into the place. The SUV bumped on the road and most people were asleep in the car.

Lion and I were awake. We’d sat in the front seat while watching the desert like area around us.

“This town looks creepy.” I uttered. “I bet no one’s here.”

Kyle did an obnoxious snort in his sleep from behind us and I resisted the urge to laugh.

“Do you think we’ll actually reach D.C. in time?” I asked.

Lion shrugged, only one hand on the wheel. “It’s a crap shot really. If we drive non stop, then you’d reach there in about four days. But, with all this stuff going on, who-“

A hard cough clattered out his chest and slammed into his hand just in time. Another three spurts came out his lips and the car jolted on the road just for a split moment. He ended up rolling down the window, just so more stale air could rush in.

“Are you… okay?” I asked. “Because if-“

“I’m fine. Just a small cough, nothing much.”

But, the more I looked at him, the more he didn’t look fine. He had sheen of sweat on his forehead that wouldn’t go away no matter how much he wiped at it. His cheeks looked sort of sunken in and his eyes looked lagging.

All I could do was frown.

“What happened?”

He kept his eyes on the road, gasping as he replied back. “What do you mean?”

“Sometimes you seem fine, and then others you just looked like you got hit in the brain with something, like you’re dying.”

“It’s not the virus. I promise.”

The car hit another bump and I frowned once more. “Just tell your son if anything’s wrong. I’d hate for something mad to happen.”

He didn’t respond, but my mind spoke rudely back to me.

Are you fucking stupid? The world is crawling with zombies. Things are about as bad as they can get.

I nearly snorted. As bad as they can get? What about crazy people or all the other violent stuff that can happen? Whatever that voice was in my head, it was stupid.

The SUV moved forward more and more, breaking the town’s first buildings. I noticed how dust seemed to fill the air, how windows were smashed in, and how even some doors were left open. The virus had hit this town as well. I knew that Rodney’s SUV was driving behind us and I wondered how Rodney would ever deal in a zombie fight, if he would be able to save his own life without those guards.

Then, we saw a girl in the middle of the road. She stood in the roasting son in black cargo pants and a tank top. Her black hair glistened at the semiautomatic gun in her hand.

“Who’s this chick?” I muttered.

I had to admit. She was absolutely beautiful one of those girls you’d expect to find in a magazine or something.

“Stop the car or we’ll shoot!” She commanded. Her gun moved from its rested position and aimed at the air.

“Run her over.” I hissed to Lion.

“I’m not gonna run the girl over.”

“I said stop now or we’ll blow all your brains off!” She obviously had superiority issues.

I leaned my head out the window and screamed. “Yeah, bitch! Well, we have a car and that means we can run your ass over!” I did my own little satisfied laugh as I leaned back into the car and people in the backseat were stirring.

“Well, bitch! We have snipers on top of the buildings and they can blow your brains out! Stop now!”

Once her word hit snipers, Lion cut the brakes hard and I groaned at him. “Lion, we could have killed her and gotten out of here! Eighteen days is not a lot of time!”

He simply smirked as Kyle started to complain in the backseat. “Remember what I said about stuff getting in the way? This is where it starts.”

He unhooked his seatbelt and hopped out the car. I rolled my eyes and followed after shouting orders into the backseat to Kyle, Ashley, Ryant, and Alex. They were all slowly leaving the car.

The sun outside was overbearing. It’s heat hung in the air and reached down my throat. The ground was practically as dry as the devil’s humor and I missed my bat for some reason. I hadn’t held a bat in almost half a year. It was quite depressing sometimes

“Who the hell are you?”

As we stepped closer, I noticed past her malice filled tone was a girl of 5’10” stature. She had eyes the color of fresh and brown dirt. She was slim, but strong. She had soft cheeks and a face that made boys want her. She was exactly everything I hated in a girl, particularly because I could smell her from a mile away.

“And who might we ask are you? We were just driving until you threatened to kill us.” I stood defiantly a few feet from her.

The girl smirked at me. “You think you’re bad, don’t you? I bet you don’t even know how to fight those things in that big van of yours. You don’t even have a weapon in hand.”

My gun was in the back waist of my jeans. Car doors behind us began to open and close, meaning more of our group was coming out.

Lion chose now to clear his throat. “Well, we’re sorry for the inconvenience. We’ve got quite the group here and we’re just traveling. My name is Lion.”

Lion reached his hand forward for the girl to shake. Her brown eyes simply glared down at him for a second. Then, her hand with the gun moved so it was aimed at my face while the other shook Lion’s hand.

“Thank you. My name’s Riley.”

“Riley, how about you get your gun out of my face?!” I snapped.

Riley smiled at me. “I don’t think so, I’m might have to keep my eye on pieces of crap like you.”

“Wow, don’t talk to my girlfriend like that. What’s going on? Why’d we stop?” Alex came sauntering out from behind. Riley’s eyes went to him and stopped for a moment.

“Girlfriend?” She nudged the gun to me a bit more. “That is your girlfriend?”

“How about I give you a freaking beat down? Hm?” Cece challenged. “Because I’ve punched a pregnant girl before, I’m not afraid of punching a girl with a gun.”

“Everybody shut up!” Rodney ordered, walking forward and Ryant just about flipped him off.

Rodney walked up to Riley and looked her over. “Are you the reason we stopped?”

“Yeah. We can’t let any non infected people pass through here. It’s a danger.”

“Why?”

Riley’s eyes looked over all of us. “Because if you drive a half an hour down that road you’ll get ambushed by about two hundred of those things. They’re holding off down there for some reason like they’re getting smarter.”

Ashley crossed her arms. “I don’t believe that. Those things can’t get any smarter than a door knob. You’re lying.”

Riley smiled back at her, revealing perfect teeth. “Well, why don’t you walk down their yourself and check? We’ll wait for you, okay?”

Kyle chuckled into his fist and Ashley bumped him in the side. Max walked over to Ryant and held his hand.

“So, what are we going to do?” He asked to my father, Uncle Trevor, and Lion.

All three men looked at one another and sighed.

“How long have you guys been here?” My father asked.

“About six days. This one lady got whacked and bit a bunch of people in their sleep.”

“When do you think we’ll be able to get out of here?” Rodney forwarded. I noticed how his three guards tried to look extra menacing.

Riley shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m just saying there’s no use for you guys to go out there and get your brains blown off. Go back to where you came from and try something else.”

“Well, that’s a stupid plan.” I muttered.

“And why’s that?”

“Cause where we came from got blown up.” I reacted.

That got her to freeze in her place. Then, someone on a roof shouted.

“Blown up?! Riley, you said we’d get out of here by next week!”

All sorts of other shouts were heard on roofs and more people than I’d seen since the virus hit came onto the streets.

“Where did you guys come from?” Riley asked.

“We came from central Washington. We got out right before it was bombed.”

A boy who looked to be Riley’s age and just as attractive spoke. “Why in the world would they bomb the place? I heard the company who caused it wanted to go that route, but…”

The boy’s words drifted off once his eyes reached Ryant. He was tall and slim with black glistening hair like Alex’s. His eyes were a strong shade of hazel and he looked pretty fit. His jawline was strong as well.

“You look familiar, why?”

Everyone in our group froze and the fifty plus people that were in their group made the observation as well. Now, Riley spoke.

“Yeah, why do you guys look so familiar?”

Suddenly, it became so much hotter outside.

The little girl we’d saved said something next. “It’s because they’ve been on TV. They’ve survived this before.”

Everyone in our group mouths pretty much dropped. Had she just seriously spoken? She stood firmly beside Alex.

“Survived this before?” Riley’s eyes went to Rodney. “What does that mean?”

Rodney opened his mouth to speak, lips trembling.

“It means we made it out of Southwestern Airport when the first waves hit. We’ve faced zombies before.”

I was surprised more than anyone. Ryant was protecting Rodney? And Rodney seemed surprised too since he was staring at Ryant so shocked.

The model boy turned to Riley. “What do you think?”

Riley looked over us all, not even thinking for the longest moment. “I think we should kill them. They could just be trouble.”

“Alright.” The model boy said. “Let’s get this over with.”

Riley and about ten other people raised their guns in our directions. Problem was we had our guns ready as well.

“If you make one fucking shot, we’ll blow your heads off.” Cece hissed.

“And I have guards with armed vehicles that they can detonate at any time.” Rodney wagered in.

It was our team versus theirs. That was until Riley lowered her weapon, glaring us down.

“Alright, we’ll let you stay for a few days.” She turned to her model friend. “Damien, show them around.”

Cece smirked. “Yeah, Damien, show us the way.” She let out a chuckle as the crowd dispersed with an unusual level of groans.

I wiped a bead of sweat from my head, following Alex’s figure as he followed everyone else. Then, Riley’s hand caught a hold on my forearm and she remained close.

“If you and your group try anything, you’ll be the first one I kill. Understand?”

I looked back at into her brown eyes and grinned. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

* * * *

The time had passed and hours later, everyone seemed to have calmed down. Dinner was set out over Sterno heaters and it reminded me so much of Southwestern Airport, the buffet style meal in the cool darkness of the wooden building. Everyone wrapped in blankets as garbage pales of fires warmed all around. People clung in groups, talking softly and eyeing the new arrivals. It felt so much like our arrival to Southwestern.

I placed a bread roll on a plate of mine.

“Finding everything okay?”

The boy named Damien was near me. The fire glistened behind him and showed off his handsome features.

“It’s a surprise you’re not trying to kill all of my friends by now.” I grinned back cheekily.

He chuckled freshly and reached his hand for the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry about that. When everything fell down, Riley sort of became the leader of it all. She’s a bit ruthless.”

My eyes went across the room to Riley playing patty cake with an infant baby boy. The boy giggled and fell into her arms.

“She doesn’t seem so ruthless to me.”

Meanwhile, Damien’s eyes stayed glued on me. “Well, you’ve got to see her fight. It’s only a few of us who can’t handle battle and-“

I took a huge bite of my bread and a spoonful of chili. “Why do you call it battle like that? It’s not like that.”

“Then, what would you call it?”

I froze in place, chewed, and then stared ahead for a while. I cracked another grin at my own answer.

“I’d call it cleaning up. We’re almost like janitors.”

I walked over to the fire on a sawed off barrel that nearly reached the ground. The heat felt warm and good with the cool air outside leaking in. Damien just stayed busy staring at me.

“After that little girl mentioned you guys being on TV, I remember now. I remember the news coverage of you guys landing out of that airport. That one kid was shot.”

I forced myself to keep on chewing.

“Can’t even imagine what it must have like to be in there, in the eye of the storm.”

“Well don’t then.” I replied back firmly. “Besides, you’re in Shit Creek right now. You’ll know pretty soon.”

“And is it true what you guys said on that interview? That the Rodney kid saved your friend in the end, shot his own dad?”

I put my fork down on my plate, looking back at him blankly. “Why do you want to know all this? Is there a purpose?”

His strong hazel eyes swam with the heartbeat of the fire.

“I guess I can relate to you guys. I’ve seen people die, get eaten alive and Ryant seems cool.”

Now, both of our gazes went across the fire to Ryant separating mixed together vegetables from Max’s food. A small group of peas fell to the ground. Ryant scooped them up and put them back in his brother’s plate before Max noticed.

I giggled. “He always never wasted food on the floor.”

“Well, he’s cute.”

Oh dear, were people really thinking of booty calls at a time like this?

“So, you’re what? Gay? Bi?”

Damien laughed. “Actually, I prefer to just like people, doesn’t matter their gender. Your boyfriend is cute too and your friend, Ashley.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Please don’t tell me you plan on having an orgy with my friends because that’d be gross.”

Damien laughed again, a bit lighter than before and I even noticed the action catching Ryant’s attention.

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll leave Alexis to the sleeping around.”

Then, Damien got up and walked around the fire to Ryant, striking up conversation there with my best friend. Rodney soon forced his way next to me and seemed to glare at the fire the entire time he ate. But then again, it was Ryant and Damien chatting it up with each other past the fire’s flickers into the air. I secretly grinned to myself. God, people were crazy.

And who the hell was Alexis?