The Fall: The Apocalypse Diaries Page 4

  “So what was there?” Angela asked.

  “Someone had obviously raided the Star Mart before us. Somehow, they managed to trap all of the zombies in the Tire Lube Express Service Center. They braced the door with a chair. The zombies finally broke through.” I stated, not wanting to recap the horrible event.

  “How many were in there?” Michael asked.

  “I’m not really sure. At least 30 or more.” I said.

  “Fuck!” Michael exclaimed as he hit his head on the side of the truck.

  “Don’t beat yourself up over it Mike.” I stated.

  “Why not? You did.” he replied with a grin. I could tell by the expression on his face, he wasn’t going to hold the punch to the nose against me. I couldn’t help but to laugh.

  The ride back to the village was quiet, except for the sounds of the truck running, and the occasional thud from running over an undead that happened to be in the road way. I looked around the truck. Most of the team decided to use this time to take a nap. A few were huddled together whispering among themselves. I used the time to reflect and plan for the rest of the day.

  So much needed to be done. We had a good raid. I snooped through the laundry carts we had raided from the jail. Looks like our village will be eating spaghetti tonight. Thanks to our village having the best damned raid team the apocalyptic world had ever seen, we always ate well. Well Julie and some of the other women made sure we had good meals. It’s funny how in zombie movies, no one thinks about stealing salt and pepper. Actually, we took more than that. We took that expensive steak and chicken seasoning that if we had to pay for it, we would never put it in our cabinets. I hated Spam, but you put some of that steak seasoning on it and fry it up, it taste really damn good. I suddenly felt hungry.

  I continued to look over our loot. I hadn’t been aware that we were in the abandoned Star Mart long enough to do this well. I thought back to what the inside of the store had looked like. It had been raided before, but the group was obviously smaller than mine. They left so much behind. That was also probably how the undead had ended up trapped in the service center. I thought about the method in which they were locked in. I don’t believe a chair would have held them for very long. So it was my belief that whoever had raided the Star Mart, we had just missed them.

  The group had to be organized. Not as well as us, but still organized. It must have been all the commotion from the clean out of the clothing store that caused them to clear out and leave so much behind. No matter the reason that caused the other group to leave so much, I was glad they did. Even though we lost a member of our team today, it still made the raid worth our while.

  “Hey Commander, look what we found.” I turned my attention to Tommy. He was holding a poster sized banner, and John held a flash light up to it. I couldn’t believe what I saw. The banner was my book cover; the one that had trained so many in apocalyptic survival.

  “You were about to become famous before the world ended.” Michael said. I simply nodded. No point in getting excited about it now. What good would it do? I would still have the banner to hang in my apartment however. I tried not to show how much joy I actually felt. I hated getting all giddy.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Tara and Tyler were standing there as the roll up door on the back of the box truck came up.

  “There she is!” Tara exclaimed. I jumped out of the truck and wrapped an arm around each of my children.

  “What are you doing in the back of the truck Mom?” Tyler asked.

  “Yeah. You never ride in the back.” Tara added. I smiled at my teenage twins.

  “It’s a long story.” I said. I suddenly realized I hadn’t let go of them yet.

  “Randy told us about the walkers in the clothing store.” Tara said.

  “Well, then I am sure that Randy told you that I was fine.”

  “Yeah, but we didn’t see you up front and we got worried. Tyler said.

  I didn’t bother sharing the story of what happened in the Star Mart with my kids. I knew that if I did, the next raid I went on would be hell. The two of them would pitch a fit like four year olds for me not to go. Me staying behind wasn’t an option. I was the leader of this village, and the Commander of the raids. Every time we lost someone, I wasn’t there.

  Today was a first. I couldn’t help but to think about Logan, and how he bravely saved us all from the wrath of the undead with one pull of a trigger. Once upon a time, suicide would have been considered an act that a coward would take. Now it was an act of heroes.

  I turned my attention to Tara.

  “Where is Randy?” I asked her.

  “Randy is digging Logan’s grave over by the church.” Tara informed. Good man. I guess in all this time, Randy had acquired the ability to ready my mind. In this village, we have a rule; No man left behind. Since there was no danger involved in bringing Logan’s body back, that’s exactly what we did.

  “So did Randy tell Maggie about Logan yet?” I asked. Neither of my children has to say a word. I could tell by the way they hung their heads.

  “Very well Tyler, I needed you to take Maggie’s place in the sort. Logan was her only son. I am going to see Maggie. Do either of you know where she is?” I asked my children.

  “She is over at the church watching Randy. She was sitting beside Logan’s body last I saw.” Tyler said. I nodded and turned my attention to the two opened trucks.

  “I guess you two better get busy. You have some gifts to earn.” I stated as I walked away, carrying the back pack of things for my children with me.

  I made my way through the crowd over to the church. I saw Maggie sitting exactly where Tyler said she would be. Randy was working hard, digging the grave of one of our fallen soldiers. The loss of any of our villagers was hard for everyone. However, there was always that one villager that would hurt the worst. In this case, a mother had lost a son, her only son. I prayed that I would never have to feel her pain. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for me to lose Tyler. I had never felt Maggie’s pain, and as selfish as it may seem, I hoped like hell I never would.

  Maggie and Randy heard me walk up. Randy gave me a half smile which I returned. I knew what the smile meant. It had been exchanged in this village more times than I could count. It meant “Glad to see you are alive,” which is why we hid it from Maggie.

  I could see the tears in Maggie’s eyes, and I felt for her. I took a seat beside her and looked at Logan’s body. Maggie had uncovered his face. There wasn’t much blood at the entry and exit wounds where he had shot himself. I knew Maggie must have cleaned him up. I put an arm around her and leaned closer in.

  “Are you ok Maggie?” I asked with genuine concern. I watched her fight back the tears.

  “I think so. I’m just thankful that he didn’t turn. I couldn’t have handled it knowing that my baby had become one of those things.”

  I understood her perfectly, but I disagreed. I would have to allow one of my children to change before I could shoot them. I couldn’t handle knowing that one of my children had put a gun to their own head and pulled the trigger. At the same time, I had to wonder what they would want. I had never asked them, and they had never volunteered the information. In a way, I guess my twins and I always assumed we would survive. So had Maggie and Logan. Was this our fate one day? Was this my fate one day?

  Logan was a marine before everything ended. He had only been home for two weeks when the planes flew over. When the news broadcasted for all military personnel to report for duty, Logan ignored the order and made Maggie’s survival his number one priority. I don’t believe Maggie would be with us now if he hadn’t made that decision. Sometimes I wondered if my kids and I would still be here if Alex would have obeyed orders and reported for duty.

  Damn, why couldn’t he have just kept his guard up a little longer? I was overcome with emotion. I could feel the tears swelling in my eyes now. I fought against them until they faded away. I think Maggie noticed because she rubbed my knee a bit, just like a mo
ther would comfort her child.

  “Tell me what happened Amber. Why did my son die?” I could have gone the rest of my life without her asking me that question. I searched for the words. I didn’t want to tell her that her military son had a moment of carelessness. I decided to lie to her.

  “Logan was bitten by a lurker. Do you remember what lurkers are?” I could tell by the look on her face that she was confused.

  “Lurkers are the undead that lurk in the dark corners. We can’t see them due to the lack of light.”

  Maggie shook her head to acknowledge that she understood. She didn’t blame her son, or anyone else thanks to my explanation. That was the way it should be. Grief had a tendency to make people crazy, and crazy had a tendency to cause accidents. The last time a member of the village lost a relative, they ran out into a small horde of the undead, and we couldn’t reach her in time. I put a bullet through her head before she could turn.

  There was a lot going on. Two trucks of supplies had just come in, and that was the biggest delivery we had in a while. With only ten people sorting, that could take a while, especially with the food and medical supplies.

  “Maggie, I have to go help with the sort. Please, take as much time as you need. I covered your work. Don’t do anything today ok?” I stood up to leave.

  I turned my attention to my friend still digging the grave.

  “Randy, when you are done here, meet me in the basement at city hall. We have a large delivery even with the incident.” I could see the look on his face when he heard the word incident.

  “It’s ok. No one was hurt, except for Michael, but I punched him in the face.” Randy smiled, and I returned that smile.

  I made my way back to the trucks. Things were running smoothly, and I was thankful for that. My village was pretty organized. Everyone had a job or two, and everyone knew what those jobs were. For instance, unloading trucks was all hands on deck, meaning every available person that wasn’t keeping watch on the perimeter has to help. The sort team waited in the basement of city hall where supplies were kept. Tommy and John took a lot of shopping carts from the local stores, and that served as our main tool for sorting.

  Once all of the supplies was in the basement, the sort team went to work. Food was sorted first. It always seemed to be what we needed immediately. First it was sorted from boxed goods, to packaged in plastic wrapping, to canned goods. Then, things were sorted again, this time into categories of food such as beans, canned meat, corn, soups, and so on. The boxed foods were sorted pasta, mashed potatoes, and so forth so that meal preparations were easier to prepare. It made things easier on our cooking crew. With 50 plus people to feed two to three meals a day, things needed to be as easy as possible. Life was difficult enough as it was.

  We have other things that have to be sorted as well. We always hit the house wares section of any store we raid. We do this for our weapons. When you fight for survival on a daily basis, you can never have too many weapons. That is usually where Alex, Randy, and I come in. We are masters at making weapons. We surprised the survivors who came to join us with our ability to make weapons.

  I remember the first time I held a weapon construction class. Then, it was only Alex and I sharing the tricks that our daddy had taught us. If video cameras were functional then, I would have recorded the duh looks on people’s faces. When the world as we knew it ended, and the apocalypse began, the only weapons people knew of were the obvious; guns, knives, bows and so on. Occasionally, someone would pick up a shovel or a pitch fork or some tool like that, and those work great too. (That is why we always raid the gardening center of any store.)

  Alex and I led a raid, and we ordered that all mops, brooms, and dusters be taken. We took silverware sets, mirrors, picture frames, and corded telephones. People thought we were crazy for what we took. We brought everything back, and we went to work making weapons. We took the mops and brooms and removed the heads from them. We took normal everyday kitchen knives and sharpened the ends to make spears. Now, we could kill zombies from a distance. It was a lot safer that way.

  We taught the people we rescued how to do the same things we were doing. Before we knew it, our village was a force to be reckoned with. Survivors would continue to come in and we would keep teaching. Eventually, people who once were defenseless could now survive. They looked at the world around them in a different way, and that way gave them a fighting chance.

  I often thought about my daddy, and wondered where he was and what he was up to. I didn’t doubt that he lived, and I was sure my little brother and little sister were alive too. Phillip was eleven, and Lilly was six. When the apocalypse began, I made my way out to Taylorsville to see if I could perhaps find them boarded up in the house. When I made it up there, I knew they would be gone. There were just too many zombies around. My daddy would have never stayed. Just to be sure, I looked for his truck, and it was gone too.

  I shook the thoughts of my family from my mind. I missed them, and believed they were alive, but I couldn’t focus on it. A year and five months had passed, and there was honestly no telling where they were. I had other things to focus on. I made my way over to the jail to start making weapons. I decided I would take the kids with me. Tyler would be thrilled. He loved making weapons. Tara on the other hand would complain. I was used to that.

  “Tara, Tyler, weapons now!” I called out.

  “Alright!” Tyler exclaimed.

  “Great.” Tara stated in a low sarcastic tone. I didn’t expect anything less from her.

  Everyone in weapons crafting was also gunners and watchers. Our watchers were our elite soldiers. They manned the perimeter of the village in shifts. Those who were off duty joined me in weapon crafting.

  “Ok everyone here knows how to do this. No one is stranger to this game so let’s get started sorting.” I instructed.

  I watched as everyone began sorting the shopping carts of house ware materials, appliances and what not. I even took my own cart full of mops and brooms and went to work on the spears. The spears were our greatest weapon, especially on the perimeter. We didn’t like to fire guns if we didn’t have to. Noise drew more of the undead near us.

  I began removing the heads from the mops and brooms when I heard the sound of the church bells. It wasn’t Sunday, and the only other time those bells were used was when something was wrong.

  “Keep working kids. Watchers and gunners come with me.” We all left the jail building. We rushed out to the perimeter. Shawn handed me a pair of binoculars.

  “There are two vehicles approaching. Do we flag them in?” I looked through then and lost my breath. My heart stopped. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I didn’t recognize the white van. To me, it looked like the dozens of abandoned white vans that lined the highways and interstates. But I did recognize the camouflaged Chevrolet S-10 with a black camper shell.

  “Oh my God. Gunners open the gate. Michael, flare them in.” I gave the order and grabbed a gun.

  “What the hell is going on?” Shawn asked.

  “You will see soon enough cousin.” I replied.

  I took off down the fire escape into the center of the square. My heart was racing. I just couldn’t seem to get there fast enough. As soon as my feet hit the pavement, I took off running full speed. I didn’t know how much attention I’d caught, but I didn’t care.

  I saw the truck door open, and a man stepped out. I knew him! I reached the side of his truck just as he closed the door. I reached out to him and jumped into his open arms. Suddenly, the entire village saw how feminine I was, how human I was as I cried holding my daddy in my arms. I cried harder than I believe I have ever cried in my life.

  “Oh my God Daddy, I am so happy to see you! Thank God! Thank you God!”

  I felt his fingers run through my tangled hair. I could hear the tears in his voice as he told me it was ok. I suddenly realized how human he was too. I had never seen my daddy cry. I didn’t want to lift my head to see it
now. I wanted to stay right where I was, wrapped in his arms as tight as he could hold me. For once, I felt safe. I didn’t feel so alone. My daddy was here and there wasn’t a damned walker or undead in the world that could touch me.

  I held on to him, but stepped back so I could look at him. He was still the same. A small 5’3” frame. But lean muscular trim. Fifty-two years old, but didn’t look a day over thirty-five. It was my daddy, just as I’d remembered him. Best of all, he still looked healthy.

  “My baby girl. I’ve missed you so much.” he said.

  “Uncle Bill!” I heard the voices followed by footsteps behind me. I knew who it was. I didn’t want to let him go. He had been away for so long, and I wasn’t about to turn him loose. However, I knew I wasn’t the only one who missed him. I held his hand as I stepped aside to let my cousins greet him. Tommy, John, Michael, Kenny, and Shawn came all around, surrounding my daddy, and their uncle. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d ever seen my male cousins hug my daddy, but they were doing it now.

  The smile on my daddy’s face was huge. I could tell he was pleased to see so many of his relatives in one place. He turned and looked at me.

  “Daughter, I have a surprise for you. Go see who is in the van.” he said.

  “Where are Phillip and Lilly?” I asked.

  “In the truck.” he answered. I wanted to see them, but it was enough to know that they were alive and well. I have never doubted it. For now, I wanted to go see who was in the van.

  I handed my gun off to one of my cousins. I wasn’t sure which one it was. I made my way over to the van. I could see through the windshield. I didn’t have to open the door. I felt the tears again as the driver’s side door opened, and she stepped out.

  “Mama! Oh my God Mama!” Again I felt vulnerable, but I didn’t care. I would cry with joy, and not feel ashamed about it. I always told the people of my village to never shed a heart broken tear. This was far from heart break.

  “Come here baby.” My mother said as she reached out to me. She pulled me into her and I was happy there with my head on her shoulder.