Ethan’s Story
“When ammunition started running low, I talked to Bill about putting together a team to get a new supply from a gun shop over in Alexis. He wouldn’t hear of it. He said that there were less dangerous places to look, and we should exhaust those sources first before risking anyone on a supply run to an infested town. I railed, argued, begged, and bullied, but Bill wouldn’t change his mind. Finally, I told him he might be the leader, but I still have the freedom to make my own decisions, and I was going to try it alone. He tried to talk me out of it, of course, but my mind was made up.
I set out early Monday morning at the same time Cody and Stan went north to gather supplies. I wanted to bring back as much ammo as possible, so I brought the biggest duffel bag I could find and set out for Alexis on a bicycle. My plan was to ride the bike close to town and leave it at the bottom of a hill, out of sight of the creeps. After that, I planned to approach on foot and circle around behind the main part of town on Highway 27. There is a steep hill less than a quarter mile from the back entrance to a gun shop that I knew would have plenty of ammunition.
I figured that I could use the woods for cover until I reached the hill, slip down nice and quiet, and get into the back entrance before the creeps spotted me. Once inside, I could fill up the bag with as much ammo as I could carry, go back up the hill, and make my way back to the bicycle. Once there, I would cache the ammo and head back for more. After I had staged as much as daylight would allow, I was going to ride back to town and use one of our vehicles to retrieve it.”
I raised a hand. “Uh, why not just drive a car to the bottom of the hill? I mean, why bother with a bike in the first place?”
“Noise,” Ethan replied. “The sound of the car, even from that distance, would attract the creeps. I’ve seen it for myself. In order for my plan to work, I had to avoid alerting them. I needed time to make several trips back and forth to the gun shop. If I staged the ammo by the side of the road nice and quiet, the noise from the car wouldn’t matter. I could be there and gone before the creeps would have time to do anything about it.”
“That part makes sense,” I said. “It’s the rest of your plan that I find fault with.”
“We can go over that later, in detail if you like, but for right now let me go on with the story.”
“By all means.” I gestured for him to continue.
“After leaving the bike, I made my way to the hill behind the gun shop and down to the fence at the bottom. Everything was going fine. I brought a pair of metal snips with me and cut a hole in the fence big enough to walk through. I made it to the back door of the gun shop without incident. The door was locked, but I was expecting that, and brought a pry-bar with me. What I didn’t expect was the shop owner still being in the damn store. He must have heard me trying to force the door open, and set up a welcome for me.”
“Alan was still there?” Andrea asked, a horrified look on her face.
Ethan nodded. “I was prying the door open when all of a sudden I heard the lock turn. I stopped for a second, and started backing away. Next thing I know, the door slams open and Alan McMurray is standing there with a shotgun pointed at my head. I shouted ‘Don’t shoot! I’m alive!’ or something like that. Thank God he recognized me when he opened the door. He lowered the gun and asked me what I wanted, and I told him I was there to search for ammo. He motioned me inside and locked the door behind us.
‘Where the hell did you come from?’ he says. I told him about the compound here, and asked him to come back with me. Alan didn’t want to go at first; he had survived the last three months by staying out of sight in the basement. He had at least another year’s worth of food, and didn’t want to take any chances by leaving. After arguing with him for about ten minutes, I convinced him to at least come and see the place, and if he didn’t want to stay, then I would personally escort him back to the gun shop. Finally, he agreed.
I pulled the duffel bag out of my waistband and unfolded it on the floor. ‘What’s that for?’ Alan asks me. I told him it was to bring ammunition back to the compound with me. He asked me how I planned on paying for it, considering that everything in the store was his property. I told him he could have his pick of any supplies we had at the compound once we returned. All of a sudden, Alan goes ape-shit.
He points his gun at me and starts accusing me of being a thief. ‘I know what you’re doing!’ he says. ‘You gonna take me back somewhere and kill me! Then you gonna come take my property! I ain’t gonna let you! Get out! Get out now or I’ll shoot ya!’.
I tried to tell him he was wrong, I didn’t mean him any harm, I was just trying to help him. He wouldn’t hear it. He just kept telling me to leave and threatening to kill me. He backs up to the door and unlocks it, all the while pointing his gun at me and not looking at the door.
He opens the door and there are at least seven or eight creeps standing on the other side. Alan is still howling like a mad man at me, and before I could do or say anything, the one closest to the door grabs him and takes a bite out of his neck. Alan rears up and pulls the trigger on the shotgun, putting a load of buckshot in the ceiling. The damn creeps start spilling through the door, falling on him. The only weapon I brought with me was a hatchet.”
Ethan stopped for a moment. He lowered his face into his hands and rubbed at his forehead. Andrea sat down beside him and placed an arm around his shoulders.
“I’m so sorry honey, I had no idea. I feel so awful, I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
Ethan sat up and kissed his wife on the forehead. “It’s okay babe, you didn’t know. I would have been pissed at me too.”
Tears shone in her eyes as she looked at her husband. Ethan held her delicate jaw in one big hand and gave her a gentle kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.
“You don’t have to tell us the rest, you’re home safe and that’s all that matters,” she said.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind. I made a promise, I intend to keep it.”
Suddenly, I regretted pushing Ethan on the subject. I had no idea things had gone so badly for him.
“Hey, it’s cool man, I’ve heard enough. You don’t need to say anything else on my account,” I said.
Ethan was thoughtful for a moment.
“You know, I think I want to say it. Just so I’m not the only one who knows about it, you know? My old man said you have to talk about things like this.”
Andrea stood up from the couch and kissed Ethan on the cheek.
“The water is boiling, I’m going to get started on dinner,” she said.
“Thanks babe,” Ethan replied. “You guys okay if I go on?” he asked Emily, Justin and me.
We all agreed and encouraged him to continue.
“So all these creeps are beating down the door, and three things go through my head at the same time. Number one: why were all these fuckers waiting outside the door? Number two: why did Alan go all crazy on me like that? Number three: fuck me running, I have to get that goddamn door shut.
I pull my hatchet out from my belt and slam it into the head of the closest creep, who happens to be tearing out Alan’s throat. I try to pull it out, but the damn thing is stuck. Alan is fighting and kicking this whole time, but can’t do anything to get them off of him. After a second or two, I give up on the hatchet and pick up the shotgun he dropped when they pulled him to the ground. I put double-ought buckshot through the heads of five more creeps before I run out of ammo. There were still two more of them, and I could hear moaning from outside the door. More were on the way.
I looked around for a weapon, and the only thing I saw of immediate use was a display case full of tomahawks. I broke the glass with the shotgun and grabbed two of them. I turn around and the last two creeps stop taking bites out of Alan and look up at me. Alan is dead, and there is blood and gore all over the place, both from him and from the five creeps whose brains I splattered all over the wall. The stink was incredible. I ran at the first one and buried a tomahawk in its skull before it had a chance to do anything other than hiss. The second one reaches out and grabs me by the pants leg. Let me tell you guys something, don’t ever let those things grab you, because they are strong as a motherfucker.
So anyway, the thing grabs me and I try to pull away. I can’t get loose, it just holds on and starts lunging forward, trying to take a bite out of my leg. I turn the last tomahawk sideways and jam it in the things mouth, pushing it away from me. We just stood like that for a minute, straining at each other. I can hear the moaning outside getting louder, footsteps are crunching in the gravel not ten feet away. I let go of the tomahawk with one hand and reach down for the one stuck in the other creep’s head. After a few seconds of wrenching it around, I manage to get it free and promptly cave in the skull of the one holding my leg.
Right as it hits the ground, I see two more about to come through the door. I jump over the pile of bodies and slam the door shut in their faces. I turn the knob to set the dead bolt and stagger away. As I’m going backward, I trip over one of the bodies behind me. I hit my ass on the floor, then slip in a puddle of blood as I’m trying to stand up. Finally, I get to my feet, and I can see more of the damn things at the front window pounding and pushing on it, trying to get in. I figured the only chance I had of surviving the day is to head down to the basement and pray for daylight, so to speak.”
“Can I ask a question?” I said.
“Shoot,” Ethan replied.
“How did you and your wife know the guy who owned the store? I mean, you two lived in Charlotte, right? Alexis is a bit of a drive from there.”
“He was a friend of my father’s,” Andrea called over her shoulder as she stirred something in a pot. “They served together in Vietnam. Used to go skeet shooting together.”
I nodded. “Sorry to hear about what happened to him. Were you guys close?”
“Not especially,” Ethan replied. “I met him a few times when he came over to Andrea’s parents’ place. Seemed like a nice enough guy, if a bit odd. Had some funny political ideas, conspiracy theories and such. I always figured he was just a harmless old kook. He might have threatened to kill me, but nobody deserves what happened to him.”
Ethan leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of him, his expression grim and tight.
“I can’t help but feel responsible for his death,” he said. “If I hadn’t come into his store that morning, he’d probably still be alive.”
“Don’t you start that shit,” Andrea scolded from the kitchen, pointing at Ethan with a wooden spoon. “The only thing that got Alan killed was Alan. If he had acted like a reasonable human being, instead of like a paranoid, delusional asshole, then he would be sitting next to you on that couch enjoying our hospitality.”
Andrea put down the spoon and knelt down in front of Ethan, holding his hands in hers.
“Besides, he pointed a gun at my husband and threatened to kill him,” she said, a fierce light in her bright blue eyes. “Nobody threatens my family. Nobody.”
With that, she kissed Ethan on one of his big knuckles and went back into the kitchen to finish dinner. Ethan stared after her for a moment, a strange expression on his face.
“Anyway,” he continued, “I go down into the basement and bolt the door. I spend a few seconds looking for a light switch, and finally I hit a chain hanging down from the ceiling with my head. I give it a tug, the light comes on, and it’s like, hoooolyyyyy shit.” Ethan made a sweeping gesture with his arms.
“The basement is more than twice the size of the store upstairs. He must have knocked down the wall between his store and the one next door. The place had to be at least four thousand square feet. Every square inch of space is packed with shelves full of food, ammo, guns, gear—you name it, the shit is probably down there. If the ATF had ever raided the place, they would have gone nuts. A third of the guns down there are illegal as hell. Some of them even have silencers, if you can believe it.”
I perked up when he said that. Could Alan have known? After all, even Gabriel didn’t know how far back the conspiracy to cover up the Phage went. Maybe he knew something about it. My musings were interrupted when Justin jumped out of his chair and began playfully slapping Ethan about his head and shoulders.
“Duuuude! Do you know what that means!” he shouted.
Andrea stepped in from the kitchen and cracked him on the back of his leg with a wooden spoon. The happy, elated look immediately left his face as he collapsed into his chair, hissing in agony. Andrea reached under his leg and rubbed the offended area while Emily hid a poorly concealed smirk behind one hand.
“Now Justin, I’m sorry I had to do that, but I can’t have you waking the baby,” she said.
“Right, sorry about that. I just got excited, is all.” He relaxed as the sting of the blow faded.
Ethan, meanwhile, stared at his friend in mute sympathy. When he continued, his voice was noticeably quieter.
“Right, so I take a tour of the place, and there is enough hardware down there to outfit a fucking army. The problem is, how do I get it all past the creeps without ending up on the dinner menu?”
“What all was down there?” Emily asked.
“Guns, bullets, bullets, and more bullets. Grenades, knives, food, a curiously large collection of porn, and three grocery store pallets full of toilet paper.”
Justin and Emily exclaimed at the same time.
“Toilet paper!” cried Emily.
“Porn!” shouted Justin.
Andrea stepped into the room, brandishing her wooden spoon. Everyone immediately went quiet. All in attendance, myself included, stayed still and silent until the pretty, freckle-faced threat went back into the kitchen to stir the macaroni and cheese.
“So how did you get out of there?” Justin asked.
“I knew I couldn’t go back upstairs, and I figured the big steel security door at the basement entrance would be strong enough to hold off the creeps if they tried to bust in. The only thing left for me to do was wait, so that’s what I did. I ate some canned food, loaded up one of the assault rifles and set it by the door to make me feel better, and spent a couple of hours digging through Alan’s stuff looking for anything interesting. Finally, I find a bottle of Jim Beam and a couple of clean glasses. I took the booze into a far corner of the room, stacked as much crap between me and the door as I could, and sat down to rest with a couple thousand rounds of ammo, a good rifle, and a bottle of Kentucky’s finest.”
Andrea stepped into the room. “Dinners ready, y’all mind eating around the coffee table?” she asked.
The aromas from the little kitchen had been growing increasingly appetizing, and we were all eager to eat. Andrea mixed the macaroni and cheese with a little dried basil and onion powder, put a sprinkle of cumin in the corned beef hash, and salted the kidney beans to perfection. I never would have believed that such a simple meal could taste so good. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was hungry enough to eat the ass-end of a cape buffalo. Either way, the meal was thoroughly enjoyed by all. After everyone finished eating, Ethan helped Andrea wash the dishes in a plastic tub, then Andrea opened another bottle of wine.
“So what happened after you barricaded yourself in the basement?” Emily asked, as Andrea poured another round of pinot.
“I poured myself a few fingers of whiskey, ate some canned spaghetti and meatballs, and eventually fell asleep. The next morning when I woke up, I could hear thumping and moaning coming from upstairs. I figured they must have broken the windows at the front of the store. I wanted to get out of there, but I had no way of knowing how many of those things I’d be facing if I opened the basement door. Even with all the ammunition down there, I didn’t favor my chances if I had to shoot my way out.
I spent that day and night in the basement reading old paperbacks and eating Alan’s food. The next morning, the noise from upstairs had stopped. I loaded a pistol and opened the basement door. I didn’t see anything on the stairs, so I crept up into the store real quiet. I looked around as much as I could without walking in front of the windows, but the only thing I saw was what was left of Alan’s corpse and the creeps I killed the day before. There wasn’t much left of Alan. The bastards that broke the windows worked him over pretty bad.”
Ethan was silent for a moment before continuing. Andrea refilled everyone’s wine, and took Ethan’s hand into her own as she sat down next to him. I was starting to get a little buzz from the alcohol.
“So I lay down on the floor,” Ethan continued, “and low crawl over to where I left the duffel bag. I take it with me back down to the basement and fill it with as many boxes of bullets as I can carry. As it turns out, I can carry a lot.”
Andrea smiled at that, and shifted closer to Ethan. He placed an arm around her shoulders as she laid her head on his broad chest.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re all super gorilla big-balls retarded monkey strong. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t swoon,” Justin joked. “So what happened next?”
Ethan chuckled, and gave his young friend a one-finger salute.
“After I filled the bag with the ammo and a few guns, I carried it up the stairs and did another low crawl to the door, pushing the bag in front of me. I nabbed the .22 magnum rifle I gave to Emily from one of the shelves at the back of the store, then set to work moving the dead creeps out of the way so I could get the damn door open. Finally, I get it open and check the parking lot. It looked clear, so I drag the duffel bag outside and take a look around. I didn’t see any creeps, and I couldn’t hear any nearby.
I couldn’t go back up the hill the way I came because the bag was too heavy. There was no way I could get it to the top without making a lot of noise. I picked it up and started making my way back to the highway one building at a time, staying quiet and out of sight. I could see the creeps wandering around the main road that went through the center of town, but there weren’t any near where I was going. I was about a hundred yards from freedom when everything went to shit.
I came around a corner and stumbled over some broken concrete. Normally, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but because I had over two hundred pounds of gear on my back, I overbalanced and fell over. I hit a trashcan as I went down and knocked it over. It clatters to the ground, and makes a hell of a racket. So much for being quiet. As I get to my feet and pick up the bag, about five hundred or so creeps start moaning and stumbling in my direction. I gave up on stealth and just started running. I made it to the parking lot of the Burger King, but the highway was crawling with the dead.
There was no way I would make it through, there were just too many of them. At this point, I’m starting to panic a little, because there is no way forward, and a huge horde of creeps is following behind me. I look around, and I see an old work truck in the parking lot with an extendable ladder lashed to the roof rack. That gave me an idea. I run over to the truck, get the ladder, and use it to climb on top of the Burger King.”
“You carried a two hundred pound bag of bullets up a ladder?” I asked.
“Yes,” Ethan replied. “It wasn’t easy, and honestly, if not for the adrenaline pumping through my veins at the time, I’m not sure I could have done it. Somehow I got it up there, though, and none too soon. I pulled the ladder up after me just as the creeps arrived. After a minute or two, the whole damn parking lot is swarming with dead people. I was safe for the moment, but I was also trapped. The only option I had was to use the weapons I brought with me to thin out the herd. I figured that if I put enough of them down, I could open up an avenue of escape. I started shooting them, one by one, but for every one I put down, two more took its place. I had no idea that many people lived in Alexis before the outbreak.
Right as I’m starting to wonder if I have enough ammo to put them all down, this crazy guy in a silver pickup truck comes along and starts shooting the creeps. He yells out to me to get down and stay quiet, then he draws them away from me with his truck. He gets to the end of the street and doubles back, I carried the duffel bag to the truck, and we got the hell out of dodge.” Ethan grinned at me as he concluded his story.
Andrea looked at me for a moment, then stood up and came around the coffee table. She reached down and gently took the empty wine cup from my hand before setting it on the table.
“Could you please stand up for a second?” She asks.
“Uh…sure,” I replied.
I rose to my feet, a little unsteady from the wine, and Andrea wrapped her arms around my neck in a fierce, surprisingly strong hug. I awkwardly hugged her back, not quite sure how to react.
“Thank you,” She whispered in my ear. She gave me a peck on the cheek before releasing the hug and taking my hands in to hers.
“You risked your life to help my husband. If you ever need anything from us, anything at all, all you have to do is ask.”
“Really, it wasn’t that big of a deal,” I said. Everyone was looking at me and smiling. I felt a little embarrassed by the attention.
“Saving someone’s life is always a big deal. Especially when that person is my husband,” Andrea replied, staring at me with a steady, blue-eyed gaze. She really was quite lovely. Ethan was a lucky man. Andrea squeezed my hands one last time before sitting back down beside her husband.
“Can I give you a refill?” she asked, opening up the third bottle of wine.
I smiled and sat back down. “Please, that would great.”
“So what’s your story?” Emily asked me.
“What do you mean?” I said.
“How did you find Ethan?”
“Oh, right. I had stopped my truck on top of a hill that overlooked the highway, and I was using a pair of binoculars to try and find a way through without stirring up the undead. All of a sudden, I hear gunshots in the distance. I looked around with the bino’s and spotted this guy on a roof,” I said, gesturing toward Ethan.
“So rather than use the commotion as a distraction to get through town unscathed, you risked your life to help an armed stranger,” Andrea said, smiling a little.
I stared at her for a moment, startled. She had just said exactly what was going through my mind when I spotted Ethan. Her smile widened at my surprise.
“Don’t worry, sweetie, I would have been thinking the same thing,” she said.
“You’re a sharp one, Andrea. Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
I saluted her with my cup and drained the last of my wine. I had a warm, buzzy feeling in my head. Andrea picked up the wine bottle and held it out to me. I held out my cup while she refilled it.
“So how did you survive the outbreak?” Emily asked me.
I looked at her for a moment, then stared down at my wine, swirling it around in the cup.
“If it’s all the same, I’d rather not talk about it right now.”
Emily opened her mouth to say something else, but Andrea cut her off.
“That’s fine Eric. I know it’s hard, dealing with everything that’s happened.”
I nodded in reply, still staring into my wine. The room went silent as everyone brooded over where they were, and what had they lost. Justin broke the silence by clapping his hands together and leaning forward.
“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but in my opinion, hard times are best dealt with by imbibing of large amounts of alcohol. I’ll be back in a minute,” he said as he stood up and left the room. Andrea poured everyone else more wine, and a minute or two later, Justin came into the room with a bottle of Casadores tequila.
“Oh, no you didn’t,” Emily said, laughing.
“You sure you want to drink the hard stuff after all that wine?” Andrea asked.
“Why the hell not?” I said. “If it’s the end of the world, then I, for one, intend to have a little fun before I go.”
“Fuck yeah, that’s what I like to hear.” Justin said, clapping me on the shoulder.
Andrea frowned. “Alright, fine, but keep the noise down. If you wake up the baby, I’ll bust that bottle over your head.”
Justin, Emily, and I took a couple of shots, but Ethan and Andrea declined. The two teenagers started pawing at each other as they got drunk, and the conversation shifted to other topics. Ethan and Andrea finished off the last bottle of wine. Ethan stifled a yawn with one big hand, and stretched his arms over his head. The storm outside was in full swing. Thunder rumbled and boomed outside as rain lashed the building. I hoped that whoever was on guard duty had a poncho or something.
Andrea slid forward on the couch and collected all the empty cups.
“I’m getting tired, I think I’m going to turn in,” she said.
Ethan stood up and took off his bush jacket. “I’m not far behind you, I just need to talk to Eric about a couple of things,” he said.
Andrea took the cups and empty wine bottles into the kitchen and put them in a black plastic trash bag. On her way to the bedroom, she sat down in Ethan’s lap and gave her husband a less than gentle, and much less than chaste, kiss.
“I’ve missed you. Don’t stay up too late.”
Ethan’s eyes burned like torches as he watched his wife saunter into the bedroom, swaying her hips and casting a teasing glance back over her shoulder. Emily, meanwhile, was staring hard at Justin and chewing on her bottom lip.
“You know, maybe I should grab my bedroll and get some sleep,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess we can talk in the morning,” Ethan said, then got up and went into the bedroom after Andrea.
Justin stood up and offered me a hand.
“It’s nice to meet you Eric. Thanks for helping Ethan today. I don’t know what would happen to this place without him,” he said. I shook his hand and nodded in reply.
“Come on,” Emily said, dragging him toward the door. “I’m drunk and horny. Let’s go.”
I waved at them as they left. I heard a feminine giggle come from the bedroom, and the creak of bedsprings. I was about to leave when I noticed the bottle of tequila still sitting on the coffee table. I grabbed it as I left and shut the door behind me. Hopefully, Justin wouldn’t miss it. If he did, maybe I could find something to trade him in exchange.
As I emerged out into the common area, Bill and a few others were cleaning up the remnants of the evening meal. I waved at them, and as I turned to walk to my truck, Earl waved at me from in front of one of the shacks. He was sitting in an Adirondack chair with a tin cup in one hand. There was an empty chair beside him, so I walked over.
“Mind if I join you for a spell?”
“Hell no, long as you don’t mind sharing some o’ that liquor,” he said, smiling.
I sat down and held the bottle out to Earl. He tossed back the rest of whatever was in his cup, and filled it with a generous amount of booze before handing the bottle back to me. I took a pull from the bottle and set it on the ground between us, wincing as the liquor burned me on the way down. Earl sniffed at the tequila.
“Shit, you even brought the good stuff. I’m getting to like you, man.”
“Yeah, well thank Justin. It’s his bottle. I, ah, procured it while he was otherwise occupied.”
Earl laughed. “Justin and Emily seem to be occupied a lot here lately. I’ll be sure to thank him in the morning.”
Earl took a long drink from his cup and sat back in his chair.
“So how did all these people come to be here?” I asked. “I mean, did you all get here together, or what?”
“Most of us did, yeah. After the disease hit Charlotte, there were a lot of people trying to get out of town. Problem was, there ain’t but a few major highways that lead away from the city. I-77 was a parking lot, and 85 wasn’t any better. Most of the folks you see here, we all lived in the same neighborhood. Ethan’s daddy, Nathan, was the president of our homeowners association. Real nice guy, if he liked you. Real hardass if he didn’t. Most people he didn’t like were assholes anyway, so me and him got along real good.
He called a meeting the day after the outbreak in Atlanta. What folks were still left in the neighborhood all showed up. Old Nate told us that the outbreak was heading our way, and if we wanted to survive, we needed to work together. He said he knew a place we could go, but it was up north a ways, and we would have to get there on foot. The roads around our neighborhood were so clogged up you couldn’t ride a bicycle on ‘em. Most everybody was willing, but a few thought we should stay and stick it out. Ol’ Nate gave em a mean-eyed glare and told them they were a bunch of damn fools. ‘Fine, stay here and die.’ He says, ‘I’m getting the rest of these people out of here.’”
Earl chuckled briefly, then his smile faded and he was distant for a few moments.
“I sure miss that old bastard. We could sure as hell use him now.”
“So what happened next?” I asked.
Earl looked up and sighed.
“Nate sent us home to pack up as much food and clothing as we could carry, and told everybody to be ready to go by morning. He wanted to leave at nine o’clock sharp, and he wanted everybody who had a weapon to bring it with them. The next morning, the outbreak had reached Charlotte, and half the damn city was on fire. The sky was an ugly shade of orange, and ashes fell down like snow. Everything was covered in it. None of that seemed to faze Nate, though. He went around checking on people, and making sure everybody had what they needed. There were forty-four of us when we left. A week later, when we finally managed to reach this place, we were down to thirty.”
“Jesus,” I said. “You lost fourteen people on the way here?”
“Yeah, and we counted ourselves lucky not to have lost more. Nate got separated from us as we crossed over I-85 getting out of town. That’s where we lost most of them. Too many damn creeps, and not enough bullets. Nate and Ethan left the group to try and help a couple of kids trapped on top of a bus. Nate put me and Bill in charge, and told us to go on ahead. I thought Andrea was gonna burst a blood vessel or something, she was screaming so loud. Ethan gave his baby to Rick, and told me to carry Andrea across the highway.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Yeah, and she gave me one hell of an ass whooping, let me tell you. That little girl was kicking, and screaming, and biting like crazy. Damn near clawed my eyes out, but I got her across safe. We spent the rest of the day on the run, and made camp in the loft of a barn that Bill spotted not far from the road we were on. Ethan got back to us just before sundown, and he had Justin and Emily with him. I asked him what happened to his old man, and he said they got separated. He wasn’t sure if Nate made it out or not. I never seen Andrea cry like that, before or since.”
Earl shook his head, and reached down to grab the tequila. He poured a little more into his cup and handed me the bottle. I took another pull and coughed a little. I had a pretty good buzz going by then, and my eyelids were getting heavy. I opened my eyes when Earl started talking again.
“A few weeks later, I was out looking for supplies with Justin, when we spotted some folks on the road ahead of us. It was a couple and two kids. The father damn near shot us when we caught up to them. I talked them down, and once we convinced them that we didn’t mean any harm, I gave them some food and offered to lead them back here to the compound. They came with us and been here ever since. Not long after that, Rick and Greg were scouting around and ran into four more folks, bunch of college kids, that managed to escape the city. They were starving and scared, and when Rick brought them in and gave them all food, they huddled up into a little ball on the floor holding each other and crying.”
“Wow. That’s crazy,” I said.
“This whole damn world done gone crazy,” Earl replied. “I remember choking up a little bit when we brought them kids in. A month or so later, three of them wound up dead.”
“What happened?”
“They got fed, and comfortable, and decided that this place wasn’t where they wanted to be anymore. Well, three of ‘em anyway. I guess they figured they would be better off on their own. One of them was this little rat-faced weasel named Arthur that didn’t get along with Bill too good. He didn’t want to pitch in on things like guard duty, or waste pickup. Always argued with everybody, saying we didn’t need sentries. ‘That’s why we have walls.’ He used to say.
Bill finally got tired of his shit, and told him if he didn’t like the rules, he could take his chances out on the road. The kid backed down, but I didn’t like the look that came across his face once Bill turned his back. I knew he was planning something, I just didn’t know what. I said as much to Bill, and he told me to keep an eye on the boy. Couple of days later, Rick gets off watch and wakes him up for his shift. For once, the little shit doesn’t complain, and Rick knows something is up. He gets Bill, and they go outside like they gonna do a perimeter check. Soon as they get out of sight, Arthur and one of the guys on watch with him climb down and sneak back into the compound. It’s real early in the morning, and most folks are asleep.
They raid the gun locker, then put a bunch of food into some boxes, and run it out to one of our vehicles. The one on the roof is keeping watch. After six or seven trips, they get in the truck and the third one comes down from the roof. What they didn’t figure on was Bill disconnecting all the batteries for the trucks.”
“No shit. So Bill set them up?” I said.
“Sure did. He comes around the corner with Rick and a couple others. They all got guns trained on the truck and he tells them to get out. They know they’re caught, but they don’t move. Bill starts talking to them, trying to get them to come out. ‘Don’t you think it’s funny, you three being put on watch at the same time?’ he says. The boys start talking to each other, and get all agitated. Finally, they get out of the truck, but Arthur pulls his gun and goes to point it at Bill.
Bill doesn’t hesitate, he pops the kid in the chest with that hunting rifle of his. The other two freak out and pull their guns. Everybody’s so freaked out about Bill shooting Arthur, that they don’t realize the boys done drew down on them until they start shooting. Bill and Rick shoot them, but not before they hit two of the guys that came out with them. Their names were John and Gil. They was both gut shot.”
“Dear God,” I said.
Earl drained the rest of the tequila from his cup, and stared into it for a while. He picked up the tequila, and shook the bottle.
“Ain’t much left, you mind if I kill it?” he asked.
“Go ahead, dude. It’s all yours.” After a story like that, I couldn’t very well deny the man a stiff drink.
“It took ‘em both a long time to die. They was in a lot of pain. Andrea, Ethan and Bill are the only ones with medical training, and they did what they could to help, but without proper medical equipment there wasn’t much they could do. Bill took it really hard. I swear he must have aged ten years in three days. He blamed himself for what happened, and wanted to step down as sheriff. Ethan and a few of the others talked him out of it.”
“Sheriff?” I asked. I remembered Bill referring to Ethan, Earl, and Justin as deputies.
“Yeah, not long after everyone got here, we had a meeting. Ethan and a couple others figured we needed to lay down some rules, and decide who was going to be in charge. We held an election, and Bill got elected. The first rule he put to a vote was calling his position sheriff, and giving him the authority to name deputies to help maintain order. He figured making the position a form of law enforcement would keep things simpler.”
I nodded, and stifled a yawn.
“Well, that explains a lot,” I said.
Earl stood up from his chair and knocked back the last of the tequila.
“I’m gonna hit the sack. See you in the morning. Thanks for the booze,” he said as he went into his shack.
I got up and stumbled to my truck. I fished out my bedroll and laid it out on the concrete floor, stripped off my shirt, pants and boots, and laid down in my sleeping bag. I soon drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.