Teenage Wasteland

Chapter 5

The moon sat high in the sky as Tyler sat staring into the red fire. Will and Jason were standing far behind him talking in low murmurs.
“We’ll just have to take care of the bodies tomorrow. Let’s just sleep on the ground tonight.” Jason was telling Will.
“Alright, but right now we need to take care of our friends out there.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about them already.”
“We don’t want them coming back here ever.” Will started.
“We don’t want them finding anyone ever.” Jason added. “Most people might not handle it like we did.”
“True. I think I have an idea, where is one of their pistols?”
Jason pulled a gun out of his waist band and held it out. “Here; now what should I do?”
“Load them up in the bed of the truck.” Will said as he loaded only five bullets into the clip. He turned to Tyler. “Hey buddy, do you mind watching this up here? Izzy is already asleep so it shouldn’t be too hard.” Tyler nodded once so Will left it at that.
The men tied to the tree didn’t look well. Both faces were pale from loss of blood. “Come to release you prisoners and have pity on our souls?” One of them asked in a daze.
“You can put it that way.” Will said with a dark smile. The prisoners gave no resistance as they were shoved into the truck. Jason drove them all down to the bottom of the mountain where a house stood in an open field. Just as Will hoped, a few zombies stood at the other end of the small field, roaming around.
Jason drug out the half dead men and helped Will drag them out into the field. As they were dropped into the grass, a little life returned to them.
“What are you doing?” the once leader asked.
“Well you asked to be released, so here is me releasing you.” Will said as he fired three shots, two into the leader’s legs and one into the unwounded leg of the second man. Both men let out loud howls of pain. He watched in delight as the zombies down the field turned towards the noise. “Now I wouldn’t be so loud, we have so friends out here.” Fear flashed across the immobilized men’s faces as they saw the zombies. “Now here is me having pity on your souls. See this gun, it has two bullets left. It’s up to you how you use it, of course if you try to get it before we are gone, I’ll just have Jason shoot you. These are the options I see for you though. One, you can use them to kill two zombies out there, but I think there might be more than that. Two, you can use them on yourself.” Will tossed the gun at the men’s feet. “Well, have fun, we’ll be leaving now.”
Jason kept his gun trained on the men as they walked back to the truck. Halfway up the mountain two shots pierced the air. Jason was the first to speak. “Well… that went well!”

No one, except Izzy, was able to sleep that night, for obvious reasons. Will and Jason had found Tyler in the same spot he was when they left. They all sat shivering around the warm fire. No one moved, no one spoke, and even the wind and animals seemed to cease to exist, until the sun peaked over the trees. That’s when Jason and Will dug the graves. The ground was still frozen so the graves were shallow ones, they also hadn’t brought any shovels.
The bodies were wrapped in sheets and lowered into the three holes. The dirt was pushed back down to cover them. Tyler had fashioned crosses out of tree branches to use as grave stones. Again everyone was at a lack of words. To Will’s surprise Izzy was crying, a good sign he thought.
Next was the gruesome process of cleaning the blood out of the tree house. None of them wanted to do it, but they each did their share anyways. As Izzy played on the ground, Will scrubbed away at the ply wood. It wasn’t long until the only remaining sign, was a faint red stain on the floor. Tyler had used a whole bottle of hand soap on the stain, but just like the memories, it would always remain.
Tyler and Jason had just returned from a couple hour hunt, with only a single rabbit. They sat around the fire while Will slowly roasted it. “We are running low on canned goods and other food.”
Jason looked up. “We can’t get anything from the store, we’ve cleaned it out.”
“We need to start checking houses then.” Well said reluctantly.
“Closest ones first, then we can start moving farther away from the tree house.” Tyler put it.
“Agreed, we’ll check out that little farm house that sits at the base of the mountain first. After this rabbit is ready or lunch. ” Will said. It didn’t take much long for the meat to cook, it took less time for them to eat it. Once everyone seemed satisfied they grabbed some guns, Will grabbed Izzy, and squeezed into the truck.
“I like this thing.” Tyler said as he examined the new vehicle. “I’ll be 16 in a few months, how about an early birthday present.”
“As long as I can go get my truck from my house!” Jason put in.
“Sounds like a deal, as long as you’re willing to get the gas yourself.” Will said as he drove down the mountain. In the next few minutes the were parked outside the house. Since the little battle they had, everyone favored the M4’s over their other weapons.
Will grabbed his gun and got out of the truck. Thirty yards away, three zombies were bent over two bodies. As he got closer the small hit him, quickly he dispatched the rotting ghouls. The unrecognizable corpse that they had been feasting on both had a bullet hole to the head. Good was the only word Will could think of. He turned and swiftly walked back to the truck.
“Okay guys, let’s try conserve our ammo, one shot to the head. But try to be quiet if you can.” Will walked over to the door Izzy stood in. “Izzy, I need you to stay in the truck and keep watch okay?”
“I guess.” Izzy said, crossing her arms and plopping down in her seat. Will couldn’t help but laugh, so much attitude these days.
“Alright let’s go.” Will walked up to the door and turned the handle. Locked. He turned to his friends and smiled. “I’ve always wanted to do this.” Taking a step back he kicked with all his strength sending the door flying open. “That was awesome!”
Inside, the house was dark. All of the blinds were drawn so that not even the smallest sliver of light could be seen. The floor boards creaked as Will led the way into the silent house. Right off the doorway was stairs that headed up. With guns at ready they walked through the various rooms on the first floor. Not even a drop of blood tainted the area. The only thing that had proven its desertion was the musty smell that sat in the air.
Once they felt confident that the downstairs was relatively safe, they gathered at the base of the wooden stair case. Jason moved to take the first steps up. Will stopped him before his foot touched down on the flight. “Let me try something first”
Will scanned the surrounding area for something in particular. He found what he wanted in the living room. Sitting on top of an end table, a large glass vase caught his eye. Perfect, he thought as he hurried to pick it up. It was still full of water and dead flowers, but that was a fast disposal.
From the bottom of the stairs Will tossed the vase up to the top. It shattered loudly as it smashed against the second floor. Everyone stood in silence, not even daring to breath. Jason’s foot began to move towards the stairs again. His move was stopped, this time by his own doing.
Quiet at first and growing louder by the second, what was making that noise? To Will it sounded like something was being drug across the ground. A lump started to rise in his throat as he backed away from the stair case. Jason spun around and opened the door, as to let a little light in. A pale hand crept into their sight. It pulled itself out onto the stairs.
A body came crashing down the steps. Will wasn’t sure if it had been himself or one of his friends that screamed like a little girl. He was too busy diving into the living room. He risked a peek over the couch. Tyler was the only one that hadn’t moved. Right now he was standing over the body, hand covering his mouth.
“It’s just a little girl.” The sadness all too clear in Tyler’s voice.
Will and Jason worked up the courage to join their friend. The three boys stared down at the little girl. Well, half of a little girl Will thought. From the waist up was zombie, where her legs had gone, none of them wanted to know. The once normal girl was now laying on her back clawing at the air. Every once in a while in let out a gasping growl.
They all knew what they should do, but none of them could bring themselves to do it. Will could never shoot a child, even in this crazy world and its new set of morals.
“Let’s get the food and get out of here.” Will said quietly.
A good thing about this farm house was all the jams and canned vegetables that, Will assumed the previous residents did themselves. Along with that were a few dozen store bought canned foods. It could probably last them a couple weeks at most. They should come up with a better rationing plan. Hunting would have to be a higher priority also.

. . . . . . . .
Will assumed it had been a good 3 months at least, since the first house ‘raid’. Now they had cleaned out every house up to Everson city itself. All the open farm land that surrounded the small town had its advantages and disadvantages. The homes were so spread out that in no time they were ready to start checking neighborhoods in the small town.
After the first few house, and the lack of zombie encounters, they all felt that the assault rifles had no use. The M4’s were replaced with melee weapons or a silent long range weapon. Will used his bow and knife, Jason had acquired a baseball bat and due to his excessive video game playing he had lined the tip with extra nails and screws. Tyler, being the smallest and quickest, only used his knife. He did carry around a pistol for emergency though.
Will had been trying to keep track of the date but his life had been so routine. House after house, zombie after zombie. He could only guess sometime in March or maybe even April of 2013.
The most recent raid was to Jason’s house. Since it was closer to the town it had more zombies then the average farm house. Easily taken care of, Jason had added in extra effort just so he could have his truck back.
Will was starting to get a feeling of this normal life style. He rarely thought about his family anymore, not because he didn’t want to but because he was so preoccupied. The past day he had been trying to decide which neighborhood to go to first. They decide to use the store as a spot to operate out of. That’s where they started.

Will, Jason, and Tyler sat in the back of one of the trucks as Izzy ran around the empty parking lot. “I say we start with the closets house to this store and then continue until we’ve made it back to the outskirts.” Jason said.
“I agree.” Tyler mumbled. “We need a plan though.”
“One person can follow in the truck as the other two check the houses?” Will began. “That way if we have another incident like me and Kyle had, we can get away quick.”
“I’ll drive!” Tyler said before the other boys could volunteer.
“No but…” Jason was quieted by Will. He turned around and watched as three black SUV’s seemed appeared on the road. Tyler was standing up to get a better view. Will pulled him down out of sight.
“Izzy!” Will hissed. “Hurry, get over here!” He jumped out of the truck and grabbed his sister. They hid behind the truck as the SUV’s pulled into the parking lot. They must have seen Tyler. No point in hiding now, they didn’t even have any good weapons with them.
Will heard the cars turn off and the sound of a door opening and closing, multiple times. He walked out form behind the truck with his hands above his head. To his surprise he was face to face with a woman, and ten heavily armed body guards.
“Hello? How can we help you?” Will asked cautiously.
“Oh I’m sure you could help us, but right now I think you could use the help.” The lady said. She was fairly tall with dark red hair and glasses. She wore army fatigues and a short sleeve shirt. A very athletic build made Will think she might be in her late twenties.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m Jane, Jane Franklin.” She held her hand out to Will.
“Will Marshall.” He kept his eye on her as he reached for her had. She shook quickly and let go.
“As I was saying, we might be able to help you. If you are willing?”
“Depends.” That was all Will could think of.
“I’m from a small group, a resistance if you will, we have about 150 survivors out at the Bellingham airport.”
“Why the airport?” It was Jason who asked the question this time.
“The hangars were the most secure and easiest to secure after the outbreak.” Jane said. “I’m sorry but you look familiar, what’s your name?”
“Jason.”
Jane continued to stare at him, as if expecting more. “Jason who?”
“Jason Miller.”
A look of surprise formed on Jane’s face. “Your dad wouldn’t happen to be Russ Miller?”
“You know him? Have you seen him? Is he still alive? Is my family okay?” Question exploded form Jason’s mouth as he walked towards Mrs. Franklin.
“I do know him, and he’s been looking for you. We better get you all over there.”