Surviving an Endless War

I bent down beside Ranger and took the crossbow from him along with the arrows in the bag. The Berry brothers, Jimmy and Johnny were taking the biters and piling them up outside of camp while I sat there holding Ranger's hand. I know it's bad to say that I'm thankful that Ranger shot himself in the head but I don't know if I could shoot him so he wouldn't turn into a biter.

"Blaze, do you want Ranger and Skyler over in the pile?"

"No...I'll bury them." I said getting to my feet. I walked away without another word to my sister and I went into Ranger's tent. I found 2 blankets and sleeping bags plus some duct tape. I grabbed everything and went over to their bodies. First I wrapped them in the blankets and then slipped them into the sleeping bag before taping up the excess.

I went back into Ranger's tent and found a shovel and scouted a nice spot then digging up the earth for their final resting place. Every now and then I would glance up and everyone would be watching me like I was crazy for something. I mean all except for Zacky and Payge. I think they can understand why I'm burying a friend and his son. If it wasn't for Ranger pulling me off the battlefields from being a complete idiot, I would be dead right now. I threw the shovel out of the grave and climbed up. I picked of the body of Skyler with ease and placed him down into the grave. I covered him up with dirt and placed a smooth rock at his head and with a black permanent marker I wrote out his name. I then went over to Ranger's body and I struggled to pull him to the grave.

"Let me help you."

"I can do it Zacky." I said as I slowly dragged him over to the grave. I jumped down into the hole and pulled again and brought the body gently down to the ground. Zacky offered me his hand and I took it. He pulled me right ot of the grave but didn't let me go.

"Please let me help you." I sighed and nodded my head. Zacky took the shovel from me and filled the hole with dirt while I wrote on another smooth faced rock I had found down at the quarry. I placed the rock at Ranger's head and I couldn't think of anything to say.

"I'll be in Ranger's tent looking through his things if you all need me. Oh and I would like 2 people on the hill there plus 2 at the woods." I said to Zacky before walking away and again entering inside Ranger's tent. I sat down and pulled a bag from underneath the cot. I didn't find much in there except for clothes and pictures but that was until I got to the bottom.

I pulled up a knife he was using to whittle his arrows. I placed it on the cot and looked around for anything else. I picked up a Marine Corp Manual and opened it up to see a picture we took together when we were on R&R. I couldn't help but smile. I remembered that day like it was yesterday. We went to bars and played practical jokes on everyone but then we had to go back to battle and all the jokes stopped. It's like both of us had 2 sides of each other. One side had the joking side and wanting to drink and forget about the war and the other side was serious about protecting our brothers and sisters in arms. I took the picture and slipped it into my pocket before leaving the tent with the knife in my hand.

I walked over to Ranger's truck and opened the door and looked through it. Just like the tent there wasn't much in here. I thought he would be more prepared since the service but it does change people in many different forms. I shut the door of his truck and walked over to my tent that Zacky and I share. I took the crossbows off my back and set them down as I did. I took the knife and I started making more arrows. I looked up as Zacky came into the tent and sat down beside me.

"Hey honey...how are you feelinging?"

"I'm doing alright. I'm just trying to get some arrows made so I can go out hunting tomorrow." I said as I continued on whittling out the arrow.

"Who's going with you?"

"I'm going by myself." I said simply.

"Babe I can't let you go out there alone. I mean anything could happen."

"Do you know how to hunt?" I asked and he shook his head no.

"Then it's better that I go alone."

"You can teach me as we go but I was wondering since this morning's attack...where are we going to go from here?" Zacky asked as he picked up one of the crossbows.

"Jerry was telling me that he knows every back road and place that should be safe in Oklahoma so I guess I'll lead us until we get into the state and then let Jerry take over.''

"Sounds good to me. You want to show me how to clean those squirrels?" he said pointing out of the tent to the squirrels I had dropped during the attack. I nodded and we left the tent.

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"God Zacky how can you do that?" Michelle asked with her nose pinched and a hand covering her mouth.

"It's not that hard. All you do is get a real sharp knife to skin the animal and then hang them upside down for a while while the blood drains from them and finally you cut the squirrel open and take all the guts out. Did I get it everything right?"

"It's that simple." I said nodding.

"Is that what we are eating?"

"Michelle let me ask you something." I said dropping the filet knife.

"What?"

"Have you ever had squirrel?" I asked and she shook her head no.

"Then don't diss it until you try it." she left in a huff and I rolled my eyes.

"We're willing to try it Blaze." Lacey said as she pointed to Leana.

"I'll tell you one thing about squirrel. The meat tastes just like chicken." Zacky and I finished skinning the last of the squirrel and we hung them upside down and I knicked each one in the neck so all the blood would drain from the body.

I helped Zacky build the fire and then I went over to see if the squirrels were drained. They looked good to me so I gutted them before taking them over to the fire where Zacky already had the low flamed fire going. I set the squirrels down on a grilling grate and I could already smell them cooking.

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I finished the squirrel and everyone sat down to eat it. Zacky was digging into the meat like it was going to be his last and I watched as Brian tried to give Michelle a piece.

"Brian I said I don't want none of that shit! It smells disgusting."

"Honey it tastes exactly like the dark meat on chicken. Please just try a little piece and if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it." Brian said and Michelle groaned before he fed her the tiny piece of squirrel meat. It didn't take long for her to spit it out.

"Oh my God that's disgusting!" She got up and went over to where our canned food was and grabbed her a can of soup to eat. I shook my head at her. She's going to get real tired of eating soup one day.

"So I was thinking...that maybe we should keep on going east towards Oklahoma." I said breaking the silence that had come over us for quite a while.

"Why? This place is as safe as ever."

"After this morning, I don't think we should stay here. The biters are coming into the woods more and I don't want to be here in case a bigger herd comes through. I know we have the fire power to take them on but we could be surrounded by them and not able to get out. Now Jerry knows all the back roads and places that should be safe in Oklahoma. If everyone is in agreement, we will leave in the morning." I explained. I looked around the group and they nodded. We all continued to eat the squirrel I had prepared with Zacky's help until it was all gone.

I was taking watch along with Zacky, Jimmy, and Brian. It was a stary night tonight as I looked up into the sky and it was pretty much quiet except for the calming sound of the crickets making their nightly noises. I just hope that Oklahoma will be a safer place for us to stay.