Status: Still writing this book.
Teenage Wasteland
Chapter Eight
Chapter 8
Will got breakfast the next morning, it was strange not having to eat deer meat or beans. One of the hangars, Will had discovered, was a small farm. Chickens, cows, goats, pigs; bacon was all Will could think of. He found a small table and was joined a few minutes later by Jason and Tyler.
“Where is Izzy?” Jason asked.
“She wasn’t hungry, so I let her go play.” Will said between mouthfuls of food.
Will quickly scanned the other tables, making sure no one saw his sloppy eating. He found that lots of people were stealing glances at them and whispering to their neighbor. Most of them returned to eating when they noticed Will staring at them.
“Hey guys?” Will asked. “Does it look like everyone is watching us?”
“Oh yeah, I was talking to… this person earlier…” Tyler began to say before Will cut him off.
“Person?”
“A girl okay! It was a girl. Is that a problem.”
Jason and Will smiled at him. “Nope.” They both said together.
“Anyways, we’ve become celebrities overnight. I mean there were quite a few rumors when we first got here.” Tyler said.
“Who told them anything that we did?” Jason looked puzzled.
“Not me, I’m too shy now-a-days.” Will told Jason.
In unison once again, they looked at Tyler. An innocent smile grew on his face.
“What? They wanted to know what had happened. How we had survived so long.” Tyler smiled at his friends some more.
“What did you tell them?” Jason pressed.
“The truth.” Tyler looked at Will. “Well mostly truth. I told them that we had fought those bandits, but I forgot how many there were so I just told them 20. I may have mentioned that you were both knocked out too.” He smiled sheepishly.
“Wait, who did you tell this to?” Will questioned.
“Some people.” Tyler mumbled.
“I don’t even want to know.” Will said as he took his last bite of eggs. Jason and Tyler followed him to the small room that had been transformed into a functional kitchen. They laid their plates on a small cart and left the hangar.
Will could feel that someone was watching them as they crossed the blacktop. He looked over his shoulder; a group of boys no older than himself were staring contently as they walked by. Will stopped, he had had enough of it.
“What do want?” He yelled as he walked towards them. Some of the boys backed up, Will obviously had a little reputation.
One of the boys who didn’t step back spoke first. “We were just wondering how a bunch of fruits like you survived out there? Did you cuddle naked for warmth?” The rest of his posse laughed. That was all Will needed to hear.
There were only seven people in the group so Will wasn’t afraid to take them one. He hoped though that once the big guy who spoke was out of the way the others would give up. He always had Jason and Tyler too.
The boy didn’t even see it coming. Will swung his left fist and his opponent dropped to the ground. Within an instant Will was on top of him, knife pressed against the boys neck. One of the boys loyal to his leader stepped forward. More like half stepped, because Jason was faster. Before his foot hit the ground Jason’s fist met his face with a loud clap.
“You know how we survived? Do you really want to know?” Will tried to sound as crazy as possible. “We weren’t afraid to take care of the people we didn’t like.”
Will pressed his knife a little harder. The boy squirmed as he tried to get away.
“Your just lucky I hit you first.” Will continued. “You see if Tyler had gotten you first, I’m not sure if you would be alive right now. He killed 20 armed bandits while Jason and I were unconscious. Now are you going to be a good boy?”
The boy nodded, fear in his eyes.
“Good!” Will smiled as he got up. “Let’s get out of here.”
Tyler kicked the leader for good measure, and to ensure they understood his reputation.
Will walked quickly away as adrenaline coursed through him. That was some much needed excitement. Not exactly the way he thought would happen, but it worked.
The rest of the day was uneventful. In fact, the whole week was uneventful. Will and Jason had managed to put together a few basketball games. Tyler found a skateboard while scrounging around the perimeter. That was before he was given a firm scolding for slipping through the airport defense.
Tyler’s scolding wasn’t the first time someone from the trio had gotten in trouble. Their first offence was their first trip over the fence without permission. The boys walked to what used to be a coffee stand, made a small campfire, just so they could have coffee in a paper cup. When they arrived at the airport gate, each boy holding a paper cup in hand, the watchmen were less than thrilled.
The next day Jason found some fireworks as they walked through houses in the surrounding neighborhood. They found a lot of useful stuff, but fireworks were by far the best. It started as ‘who can hit that tree’, but then turned into a brutal bottle rocket war. Not long after they started the war, a patrol from the airport arrived. The patrol had been sent out to check on the ‘disturbance’. Once again they were drug back to the hangars. Will noticed that some of the patrolmen were actually laughing about it.
Will knew that with this third offence something bad was going to happen. He also knew that they couldn’t help but get in trouble. After months of surviving on their own, doing whatever they wanted, now they had this new authority that they had to listen too. It was a drag, not to mention the leading cause of their boredom.
Like Will had expected, all three of them were summoned to Mr. Miller’s office.
Will, Jason, and Tyler slowly shuffled into the room. Mr. Miller looked up from his desk.
“Good, you boys are here. I need to talk to you.”
They listened as Mr. Miller gave them the normal parent talk. ‘I feel responsible for all of you, makes me look bad, what were you thinking, so-on-so-forth. One part caught Will’s attention though.
“Wait, repeat that last part.” Will asked.
“I said, if you guys don’t stop getting in trouble I’ll have to let Captain Lamstead use his punishment Idea.”
“Punishment! What do you mean by punishment?” Jason blurted out.
“The Captain suggested that I send you in with the task force to try to take some more of the airport over. He thinks it will be a good discipline training.”
“Send us!” The three boys shouted simultaneously.
“What?” Mr. Miller had a genuine look of surprise on his face.
“You have to let us go Mr. Miller!” Tyler begged.
“We’ve been so bored!” Jason added.
“I don’t understand. You guys want to fight these… these zombies?”
“It seems kind of wrong, but to be honest, I actually kind of miss fighting them. Especially after being trapped in this airport.” Will admitted. The other two boys nodded in agreement.
“No! I’m not just going to let you all go!”
“But you just said…” Jason started pleading.
“It’s out of the question, boys.” Mr. Miller stood up.
“Well then I guess we need to go get in more trouble.” Jason countered.
Will watched Mr. Miller’s face; a look of defeat began to show.
“Fine.” He whispered, getting louder as he continued. “But only if you promise to stay out of trouble!”
“Promise.”
“Deal.”
“Agreed.”
Mr. Miller nodded. “Meet with the team tomorrow at 7AM by the armory. I’ll inform the Captain that you will be joining and that you can get your firearms from the lock up.”
That was the best new they heard all day! Will couldn’t wait to strap on his hip holster again and feel the weight of his gun. Jason and Tyler were thinking the same thing. The crossbow and rifle were missed dearly. Tyler was sure that his triceps had gotten weaker, so he didn’t know if he could handle the drawback.
The three left the room all sharing the same feeling. Excitement.
Will got breakfast the next morning, it was strange not having to eat deer meat or beans. One of the hangars, Will had discovered, was a small farm. Chickens, cows, goats, pigs; bacon was all Will could think of. He found a small table and was joined a few minutes later by Jason and Tyler.
“Where is Izzy?” Jason asked.
“She wasn’t hungry, so I let her go play.” Will said between mouthfuls of food.
Will quickly scanned the other tables, making sure no one saw his sloppy eating. He found that lots of people were stealing glances at them and whispering to their neighbor. Most of them returned to eating when they noticed Will staring at them.
“Hey guys?” Will asked. “Does it look like everyone is watching us?”
“Oh yeah, I was talking to… this person earlier…” Tyler began to say before Will cut him off.
“Person?”
“A girl okay! It was a girl. Is that a problem.”
Jason and Will smiled at him. “Nope.” They both said together.
“Anyways, we’ve become celebrities overnight. I mean there were quite a few rumors when we first got here.” Tyler said.
“Who told them anything that we did?” Jason looked puzzled.
“Not me, I’m too shy now-a-days.” Will told Jason.
In unison once again, they looked at Tyler. An innocent smile grew on his face.
“What? They wanted to know what had happened. How we had survived so long.” Tyler smiled at his friends some more.
“What did you tell them?” Jason pressed.
“The truth.” Tyler looked at Will. “Well mostly truth. I told them that we had fought those bandits, but I forgot how many there were so I just told them 20. I may have mentioned that you were both knocked out too.” He smiled sheepishly.
“Wait, who did you tell this to?” Will questioned.
“Some people.” Tyler mumbled.
“I don’t even want to know.” Will said as he took his last bite of eggs. Jason and Tyler followed him to the small room that had been transformed into a functional kitchen. They laid their plates on a small cart and left the hangar.
Will could feel that someone was watching them as they crossed the blacktop. He looked over his shoulder; a group of boys no older than himself were staring contently as they walked by. Will stopped, he had had enough of it.
“What do want?” He yelled as he walked towards them. Some of the boys backed up, Will obviously had a little reputation.
One of the boys who didn’t step back spoke first. “We were just wondering how a bunch of fruits like you survived out there? Did you cuddle naked for warmth?” The rest of his posse laughed. That was all Will needed to hear.
There were only seven people in the group so Will wasn’t afraid to take them one. He hoped though that once the big guy who spoke was out of the way the others would give up. He always had Jason and Tyler too.
The boy didn’t even see it coming. Will swung his left fist and his opponent dropped to the ground. Within an instant Will was on top of him, knife pressed against the boys neck. One of the boys loyal to his leader stepped forward. More like half stepped, because Jason was faster. Before his foot hit the ground Jason’s fist met his face with a loud clap.
“You know how we survived? Do you really want to know?” Will tried to sound as crazy as possible. “We weren’t afraid to take care of the people we didn’t like.”
Will pressed his knife a little harder. The boy squirmed as he tried to get away.
“Your just lucky I hit you first.” Will continued. “You see if Tyler had gotten you first, I’m not sure if you would be alive right now. He killed 20 armed bandits while Jason and I were unconscious. Now are you going to be a good boy?”
The boy nodded, fear in his eyes.
“Good!” Will smiled as he got up. “Let’s get out of here.”
Tyler kicked the leader for good measure, and to ensure they understood his reputation.
Will walked quickly away as adrenaline coursed through him. That was some much needed excitement. Not exactly the way he thought would happen, but it worked.
The rest of the day was uneventful. In fact, the whole week was uneventful. Will and Jason had managed to put together a few basketball games. Tyler found a skateboard while scrounging around the perimeter. That was before he was given a firm scolding for slipping through the airport defense.
Tyler’s scolding wasn’t the first time someone from the trio had gotten in trouble. Their first offence was their first trip over the fence without permission. The boys walked to what used to be a coffee stand, made a small campfire, just so they could have coffee in a paper cup. When they arrived at the airport gate, each boy holding a paper cup in hand, the watchmen were less than thrilled.
The next day Jason found some fireworks as they walked through houses in the surrounding neighborhood. They found a lot of useful stuff, but fireworks were by far the best. It started as ‘who can hit that tree’, but then turned into a brutal bottle rocket war. Not long after they started the war, a patrol from the airport arrived. The patrol had been sent out to check on the ‘disturbance’. Once again they were drug back to the hangars. Will noticed that some of the patrolmen were actually laughing about it.
Will knew that with this third offence something bad was going to happen. He also knew that they couldn’t help but get in trouble. After months of surviving on their own, doing whatever they wanted, now they had this new authority that they had to listen too. It was a drag, not to mention the leading cause of their boredom.
Like Will had expected, all three of them were summoned to Mr. Miller’s office.
Will, Jason, and Tyler slowly shuffled into the room. Mr. Miller looked up from his desk.
“Good, you boys are here. I need to talk to you.”
They listened as Mr. Miller gave them the normal parent talk. ‘I feel responsible for all of you, makes me look bad, what were you thinking, so-on-so-forth. One part caught Will’s attention though.
“Wait, repeat that last part.” Will asked.
“I said, if you guys don’t stop getting in trouble I’ll have to let Captain Lamstead use his punishment Idea.”
“Punishment! What do you mean by punishment?” Jason blurted out.
“The Captain suggested that I send you in with the task force to try to take some more of the airport over. He thinks it will be a good discipline training.”
“Send us!” The three boys shouted simultaneously.
“What?” Mr. Miller had a genuine look of surprise on his face.
“You have to let us go Mr. Miller!” Tyler begged.
“We’ve been so bored!” Jason added.
“I don’t understand. You guys want to fight these… these zombies?”
“It seems kind of wrong, but to be honest, I actually kind of miss fighting them. Especially after being trapped in this airport.” Will admitted. The other two boys nodded in agreement.
“No! I’m not just going to let you all go!”
“But you just said…” Jason started pleading.
“It’s out of the question, boys.” Mr. Miller stood up.
“Well then I guess we need to go get in more trouble.” Jason countered.
Will watched Mr. Miller’s face; a look of defeat began to show.
“Fine.” He whispered, getting louder as he continued. “But only if you promise to stay out of trouble!”
“Promise.”
“Deal.”
“Agreed.”
Mr. Miller nodded. “Meet with the team tomorrow at 7AM by the armory. I’ll inform the Captain that you will be joining and that you can get your firearms from the lock up.”
That was the best new they heard all day! Will couldn’t wait to strap on his hip holster again and feel the weight of his gun. Jason and Tyler were thinking the same thing. The crossbow and rifle were missed dearly. Tyler was sure that his triceps had gotten weaker, so he didn’t know if he could handle the drawback.
The three left the room all sharing the same feeling. Excitement.