Teenage Wasteland

Chapter 6

Will followed closely behind the SUV’s as they weaved through the road. Jason had decided to ride with Mrs. Franklin and her armed escort. Of course he felt uneasy about just trusting someone so quickly, he guessed it was because it was a woman that made contact, which is why his guard was down. Will knew the way to the airport, so the first wrong turn they made he would be ready to save Jason. If he could; his mind was already working on different scenarios. Though it would be a suicide mission, Tyler was the only one with a firearm and Will’s bow would be nothing compared to the automatic weapons that they would be against. He could only hope for the best.
From Everson it is about a 40 minute drive to the airport, of course that is with clear roads. Cars somehow managed to form a perfect maze and top it off with hundreds of zombies. Will had stopped thinking of them as dead people, now they were just animals, creatures, monsters. He didn’t hesitate to use the front of the beat up truck to end their sad lives. It was almost a good for them Will thought, then he wondered if he was going crazy.
“You know what would be cool Tyler?” Will paused, but didn’t wait for a reply. “A snow plow, we should get a snow plow and just charge through crowded roads.”
Tyler looked over at his friend and gave a smirk. “That would be fun. Almost as fun as this.” As they approached a zombie Tyler kicked his door open. Blood splattered across the window while the door slammed shut once again. They looked back at the now decapitated zombie that Tyler had launched at least 20 feet.
“What was that?” Will yelled excitingly.
“I saw it on a movie.”
“Hold the wheel. I want to try.”
“What? That’s crazy!” Tyler argued.
“Hey, you got to do it, so now it’s my turn!”
Tyler reached over and seized the steering wheel. He directed the car towards a lone zombie. The zombie was a very, very, very large man at one point in time; Will was surprised it could still walk. Both of the boys realized it could probably eat them on one bite.
Will positioned himself correctly, he knew he would need a lot of strength to push open the door and still knock down that elephant of a zombie. As fast as one could blink, he pulled the handle and kicked with both feet. The door swung open and struck the zombie with a deafening crack. Will quickly looked back at were the zombie was standing. It had only fallen on its back. Not as impressive as Tyler’s, but something was lying on the road next to it. Will looked to his left where his door should be; all that was left was an open space.
“Oh… My…” Will began.
“Did that thing just break the door off my truck!” Tyler yelled.
“It looks that way. Yes.”
“Oh come on! I just got this thing! You owe me a door!”
“What? You were the one that drove me towards that particular zombie.” Will countered. “But you have to admit, that was pretty awesome.”
Tyler smiled. ”Alright, I’ll give you that.” He released his grip on the wheel and Will continued to drive after the Jason and their new friends.

Will slowed the truck down as the caravan approached the gates to the air field. The chain link fence that surrounded the whole place was covered with sheets of metal, as if to block out unwanted eyes, for cover too. He saw people walking on some sort of elevated platform as they stopped in front of the gate. An armed man stepped outside the fence and walked up to the first car. He shouted something and then the gate was opened. Bellingham’s airport was a small one, so this resistance had easily section of the gate and a few hangars for a base.
Will pulled up the rear as they parked near the closest building. The hangar doors were open and exposed people busily doing their day-to-day duties. He saw kids playing in the large open area by the tarmac. Then he noticed Izzy was watching them as well, she turned and looked up at him.
“She’ll be alright. This is a safe place.” Mrs. Franklin was standing by his side.
Will hesitated. “Okay, you can go Izzy.” Without waiting for anything else, she took off. Will shouted after her. “Stay close by!” He was sure that she had not heard the last part, but she was smart.
“Well if you will all follow me this way, I’m sure Mr. Miller would like to see you all.” Mrs. Franklin said as she led the way into the hangar. Will had been in plenty of hangars during his life. His uncle had a piloting license and a small plane so he occasionally got to fly around. Except there was no plane or helicopter in this building, instead it was filled with boxes. Towards the back was a fairly large office space. As they all stepped through the doorway, Jason and himself had to duck due to the abnormal height of the door frame. The room on the other side was slightly taller than the door. Will bet if he stood on his tippy toes his head would touch the ceiling.
The office was a good size, of course it looked pretty small with Will, Jason, Tyler, and Mrs. Franklin crammed into it. Three men stood around a desk in front of them. A fourth man was sitting at the chair, one of them was pointing at a map that was lying across the desk.
Jane cleared her throat and the man at the desk looked up. To Will’s surprise it was Mr. Miller himself. Questions begin to fill his mind. Why was he sitting at the desk? Was he in charge? Should I blurt these out?
“Ah, Mrs. Franklin.” Will watched as his eyes moved over the newcomers. A look of surprise, and then joy, overcame Mr. Millers face. “Jason?” He managed to croak out.
“Hey, dad.” Jason said with a smile. Mr. Miller got up and crossed the room to embrace his long lost son.
“I… I can’t believe you’re okay! I… We… we looked for weeks! We thought you were dead!” A tear ran down his cheek. Jason felt a singe of guilt as he realized he hadn’t looked for his family at all.
“Well I’m here now. How is everyone else?” Jason asked.
“They are all good, your mom, your sisters. Good.” Mr. Miller noticed Tyler and Will standing awkwardly off to the side. “Will! Tyler! Good to see you! I’m glad you guys kept my boy safe.”
They just smiled as a response. Jason spoke again, taking Will’s question. “Dad, what are you doing? Are you some sort of leader?” He let out a small laugh. Jason couldn’t see his dad leading one hundred people.
“Now that is a sad, but funny story. Funny being that I was put in charge.” He turned to the three men still standing by the desk. “You are all dismissed.” Then he gestured for the boys to sit at the chairs surrounding the desk. “You are welcome to stay if you would like, Mrs. Franklin.”
“Oh no it’s okay sir. I have to go get the boys ready for a perimeter sweep.” She left the room.
Mr. Miller joined his son and friends at the desk. “Okay, let’s see, where should I start?”
“You can start with what happened when mom called me.” Jason suggested.
“Alright.” Mr. Miller remembered back to the day. “”Well, I was out packing the car with our things when I heard a scream from inside the house. I ran inside and saw your mother looking out the window into the backyard. Tons of those fleshers came stumbling out of the trees.”
“Fleshers? Don’t tell me you actually named them something?” Jason asked.
“Well, yes. What else are we supposed to call them?”
“I don’t know, maybe zombies? Like what they really are. Naming them something else is so cliché!”
“Well sorry I wasn’t in the loop.” Mr. Miller smirked. “Anyways, I told everyone to forget whatever they were packing and get to the car. Your mom was trying to call you as we drove down the road. I guess it didn’t go through. We stayed the night at the fairgrounds in Lynden. Some people had set up housing in the barns. We had been there for about a week when the military came through. They told everyone about the airport, so that evening a little over half of us left with the military. As it ended up, I knew the man in charge of the group holding out the airport. We had actually been really good friends in high school. Then he went to the army, obviously.”
“How did you get in charge then?” Jason blurted out.
“I’m getting there, hold your horses. We had been here for about a month, Jack and I, my friend, had caught up. His right hand man had recently died. He had already been taking my advice on different issues, so slowly I moved up the ranks into the new right hand man. I gained a lot of respect from the other men, or at least I hope I have.” He paused as he thought of how to continue. “About 2 weeks ago, we were out on a routine perimeter check-up, making sure the fence was still in good condition. We had also started the construction of a ditch. So we were on the outside. Next thing I know we were surrounded. We broke through at one end; Jack said he would hold off our retreat. When I looked back he was completely surrounded.” Mr. Miller finished and looked down at the map.
“We’re sorry for your loss.” Will offered.
“Yes, but what can you expect in a world like this.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “Well, that was the past, how about I give you the tour? I’ll show you where you can all sleep.”
“What about all our stuff and vehicles at the mountain?” Tyler asked.
“True, we should at least bring it all here.” Will decided.
“All our weapons are there.” Jason was mumbling.
“Now hold on one minute! You guys just got here! Now you want to leave?” Mr. Miller complained.
“But dad…” Jason started to argue.
“Tyler and I can go and get the supplies; you guys can catch up some more.” Will interrupted quickly.
“No guys, it’s okay I’ll go to.” Jason started to stand but Will placed his hand on his friends shoulder.
“Sit down and talk to your dad.”
Jason watched his friends as they left the office.

Will, Tyler, and Izzy rounded up the last bits of food and tools. They decided to only use Will’s car, but use the gas from the other two trucks. Both boys felt much more secure with pistols in their waistband and M4’s in the car.
They stood by the car admiring the tree house for some time. Something was bothering Will, then he realized it. He didn’t want to leave the trees, the mountains.
“I don’t know if I can do it.” Will said quietly.
“What?” Tyler looked over at Will.
“I don’t know if I can leave this place. I mean, we built it ourselves. This place has protected us and sheltered us. This is our home.” Home, what a strange word now, Will thought as he said the word.
“I get what you mean. Maybe they’ll let us stay here?”
“Probably not, Jason wouldn’t be able to and ‘we’re just kids’.”
“That’s a load of crap! We’ve seen more, done more, then most of the adults at the airport.” Tyler yelled.
“I know, maybe we can convince them?” Will said doubtfully.
“I hope so.”
Will buckled his sister into the car and got in the driver seat. If they didn’t get to come back to this place, he hoped no one would find it. They drove down the road, heading back towards the airport.
As they drove into Everson, Tyler spoke. “I think we should at least check one house in this area.”
“Why?” Will asked.
“We’re almost out of food, what if we are supposed to provide for ourselves?”
“I doubt it, but whatever. There is only the two of us so one person goes inside the other stays at the car.” Will said. Tyler was silent as he sat in his seat. “Alright, okay, I’ll go inside.”
Tyler smiled. “Thanks!”
Will got out of the car and crept up to the front door. The house they chose was the smallest on the block. The handle turned easily as he pushed the door open. A quick glance back at Tyler was all he allowed.
Inside the house was the strong stench of rotting flesh, but Will didn’t go looking for the body, or bodies. The door opened right into a small living room with a love seat and a single chair. A large TV sat on the wall opposite of him. Nice house he thought sarcastically, he walked into the kitchen. Will started opening cabinets and drawers, grabbing any canned goods he could find. There was a lot of food in this house so the small backpack he carried was full in no time.
Will walked back into the living room and gave it a keep sweep with his eyes. A hallway to his left led to 2 bedrooms. Curiosity won the battle with common sense. The probability that there were zombies back there was very high, but so was the probability that there were guns. He drew out his knife and held it at ready, the floor boards creaked as he ghosted towards the first room.
It was Will’s lucky day, across the room from a king sized bed was a small wooden cabinet. He knew it held guns because of the emblem of a rifle etched in the side. He raced across the room and tried to pull the door open. Locked. Will took his knife and slid it down the crack in the door until it hit the lock. The large blade easily broke open the small useless lock.
Two rifles leaned against the back of the cabinet; the butts of the guns were surrounded by boxes of ammunition. He crammed three boxes into his backpack, that’s all that would fit. Five boxes remained; he would have to come back for them.
Will ran out of the house holding the two guns. Tyler hopped out of the car and opened the back door for him.
“I’ll be right back; there is still some more ammo.” Will said as he slung the backpack and guns into the car.
Will ran back inside without worrying about noise. He crouched down in front of the cabinet once more and filled a second bag with bullets. It was the first time he noticed a small leather pouch lying in the corner. Will grabbed it and unzipped its contents. He held the small pistol in the palm of his hand. In fact it was no bigger than the palm of his hand. Will put it in the backpack, it would be a good gun for Izzy in a few years.
The floor boards sounded behind him. Will stood up and spun around just in time to see a zombie throw its hands on his shoulders. He fell to the ground and the zombie followed him. He managed to stick his forearm under the zombie jaw. That was the only thing keeping the snapping teeth away. Bloody drool seeped onto Will’s neck as he struggled to keep the head back. Using his open hand he reached for his knife. With a swift movement he shoved every inch of the blade through the rotting skull. His knife stuck so he threw the body to the side.
Moaning came from the hallway; Will pulled the pistol from his waistband. He raised the sights to the doorway. His hands were sweaty as he waited for the zombie to walk into the room. As soon as it showed its head Will pulled the trigger.
Quickly Will picked up the backpack and pulled his knife from the head of the first zombie. Once again he ran out of the house. Tyler was pacing beside the car.
“Oh! You’re alive!” Tyler sounded genuinely happy.
“Yes I am. You think I would leave you to get to the airport on your own?” Will said letting out a false laugh. “Let’s get out of here.”
Will got in the car and sped away from Everson. He knew he would be back some time; you can never leave Everson for good.
“So what happened in there?” Tyler asked eventually.
“Just some zombies.” Will answered vaguely.
“No…” Tyler said sarcastically. “I mean what did you do?”
“I don’t know! I guess I just wasn’t paying attention. They snuck up behind me.”
Tyler nodded. “Alright, I guess I can believe that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Will asked. Tyler just shrugged with a big smile. “Whatever, it was weird though.”
“What was weird?”
“I’m not sure. But I think that I wasn’t scared.” Will said.
“Yeah I’ve been feeling that way for a while.” Tyler said sounding very cocky.
“Show off.” Will ended the conversation and looked out the windshield. The sun was beginning to set. They would reach the airport just before dark, perfect timing.