Barren Fields (23 page)

The four of them stop at the back edge of the group, and Jeremiah looks at Timothy like he has lost his mind.

“I think we’re facing the wrong way,” Jeremiah says.

“No, this is the right way. I’m not going to send three men with minimal experience into the heart of unexplored territory in a city that could have thousands of infected individuals running around. Not even men that are loyal to you, Jeremiah,” he says hinting at his distrust. “I am willing to send you three to the last truck we left and for you to bring it back here to the gun store.

“We will need a truck to load up whatever we find inside. If you want to be helpful, go get that truck.” Timothy then steps up to Jeremiah to tell him directly, “I don’t believe for a minute that you are so desperate to see Eddie, his wife, or any of the other missing people return that you are willing to go out ahead of our group alone to do it. Come back with the truck or don’t come back.” And he walks back to the front.

“Jordan, pick nine other people to go with you and check ahead for your brother,” Timothy says when he returns.

*

“Do you hear that?” Simone asks while gripping my arm tightly.

“My ears are still ringing. What am I listening for?”

“Someone is banging something, down that way, I think,” she says while pointing south.

“Let’s check it out.”

We start walking south on 9
th
street and ahead on the right side of the road I see the food distribution center that was one of the scavenging targets.

“Damn. I had us walking too far north. That’s one of the buildings they were supposed to check.”

“I told you to ask someone for directions,” Simone says in a smart aleck tone.

I want to respond in kind but my thoughts are pulled back to the infected couple we just had to deal with.
I wonder if Simone and I would stay together if we were both infected.

“Mom! Dad!”

Hannah and Mike are waving to us from the roof of the Safeway sitting at the other end of the parking lot we are next to. Simone grabs my hand, gives it a squeeze, and starts running across the parking lot. I do a fast walk toward them but keep scanning the area for any infected surprises. There are bodies scattered everywhere, and I don’t want to have any of us jumped by an infected that is playing dead.

At the ground below Hannah and Mike is a pile of bodies, many of which are lying on top of the ladder that should be on the roof.

“Eddie, help me move these bodies so we can get the ladder out.”

“You stand guard while I move the bodies. We don’t know if you’re immune yet, and I don’t want you getting cut or getting their blood on you.”

She smiles, nods, and starts talking to Hannah while I begin getting my hands dirty.

“Hannah, did anyone else make it?”

“I don’t know. Tyler is on the roof of that building over there,” she says pointing east. “We can see him, but he hasn’t moved since yesterday. I think I see him breathing when I look through my scope, but I’m just not sure. Mr. Bradley is dead. I saw him get killed when the infected swarmed out of that building next door. I don’t know what happened to Aaron or Ashley. They were on the north side of the building where Mr. Bradley was attacked.”

“I’ve got the ladder free. Help me get it up.”

“You did not just say that Mr. Keeper,” Simone says while shaking her head at me.

I shrug and give a small smile. Normally I would be laughing along with her about my unintentional sexual reference, but the things we’ve been dealing with are hitting me harder than I thought they would. I don’t like ambiguity surrounding my actions. Either I do something good or I do something bad. If it’s bad, I hope I have a good reason to do it.

Simone pulls me into a hug, but our assorted hanging firearms clang into each other and prevent a true embrace making the comforting gesture somewhat awkward.

“Are you all right, Eddie?” she asks quietly.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I can kill people if I think they are a threat to us, and I haven’t lost sleep at night when I’ve done it. I can kill the infected when I know they are mindless eating machines, but I’m having a serious problem killing the infected if they are just extremely ill people, no matter how dangerous they are. That couple back there, it’s really getting to me. And not just that, another one earlier just seemed to stop and wait for me to kill it. It seemed like it just gave up.”

“Eddie, you’re so sweet,” she says in a loving and non-sarcastic way, but it still makes me feel like a heel. “I remember just over a week ago you were going
on and on
about how unfair it was that Jim Margrove and his wife were killed.”

“Yeah, but he was killed by a drugger.”

“Yes, a person with an illness that makes them violent and dangerous to be around.”

“Okay, I see your point, but I still feel horrible about that couple.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Eddie. I love your tender side, and I wish you knew how great it makes me feel when you say things like that. I think you’re projecting.”

“I am worried about losing you, Simone. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Jeremiah.”

“Mom, Dad, Hello! Do you think you could put the ladder up?”

“Thank you, Hannah,” I say sarcastically. “I appreciate your timing as always. I see your ammo bag is down here with the ladder, should I bring it up to you or was it an offering to the infected?”

“Dad!” she says in a frustrated tone. Her demeanor has changed in the last few days since other kids and teenagers arrived. She is reminding me more of the carefree young girl that she used to be than the cold, monotone girl she became after Steven died in our attack.

“Let’s get up there so we can find out what happened,” I say finally smiling.

I sit on the edge of the roof and enjoy the sun hitting my back. The early morning air is still cold. Hannah and Mike are sitting too close together for my liking. This is a huge empty roof, and they are side by side.

“How about we get some space between you two?” I suggest bluntly.

“Oh my God, Dad,” Hannah mumbles.

Mike, however, gets a look of sheer terror on his face, and all color drains from his features as he moves away from her.

“Why don’t you let us know what happened yesterday?” Simone offers trying to get us all back on course.

“Well, we have some great news,” Hannah offers looking at Mike and smiling, and then back to us.

“Hannah, if you think Mike is your boyfriend or that you are even old enough to have a boyfriend, it isn’t great news,” I say more angrily than I should.

I get a chorus of
no’s
in return. Hannah says
no
in a hopeful questioning way. Mike thrusts both of his hands up fearfully and says
no
with his eyes wide and a shaking head. Simone looks at me and tells me
no
like I just farted loudly in an elevator.

“No?” I question.

And again I get three
no’s
in return.

“Dad, you are so embarrassing. The good news is that we know where the runners are coming from.”

Finally some information I can wrap my head around.

“Hello up there? Anyone send for a rescue party?”

Everyone gets up and looks down to the group below.

“Hello, back. We didn’t hear about a need for a rescue party, but if you’re in need of one we’ll gladly help out,” I say back to some smiles but one very concerned face.

“Mr. Keeper, is my brother Aaron up there with you?”

“Hannah was just starting to fill us in on what happened yesterday. She says Aaron and Ashley were on the other side of that building when a horde of runners came out of it. You have a good sized group with you, so we can come down now and help you check it out.”

“Hannah, Mike, I’d rather have you stay up here than down checking the building.”

“Dad, I’m fine. We got rest and had food to eat. The only thing we dropped yesterday was the bag of ammo. I want to help.”

“I didn’t mean stay out of the way. I meant stay up here. Load your gun and watch for trouble.”

Hannah gives me a smile before I head over the side on the ladder.

“Aaron was at that building?” Jordan asks while pointing.

“On the other side, she said. Wait, Jordan. Don’t just run over, listen. Most of the bodies lying here came from inside that building. We need to be careful when we go over to check it out. Let’s spread out and go slow. Two of you should head over to that other building and check on Gayle’s son, Tyler. Hannah said he’s on the roof but hasn’t seen him move since yesterday. Be careful in case he’s infected.”

The group slowly spreads out in the parking lot and heads for the last known whereabouts of our missing persons. The east end of the building is an unusual design, like two Quonset hut buildings squished together, and they are connected to two large warehouse sized squares. The piecemeal structure is large and stretches almost the entire two blocks in length.

Semi-trailers are parked along the side of it, and as we move past the third trailer, we see a large hole, ten feet tall and six feet wide, in the side of the building. It looks like a truck trailer backed into the building at some point and made the hole.

“Jordan, do any of you have radios?”

“Shoot, I forgot to tell you. We have another thirty people just down the next street at a gun shop we ran across. They’re only two blocks away. I didn’t grab a radio when we left, but we’ll be able to see them if we go to the intersection.”

“Okay, two more of you split off and go down the street to let everyone know where we are. Ask them to send us another ten people. We might have a big building to search. Who’s in charge of the group?”

“Timothy. And he’s not real happy with Jeremiah right now.”

“That’s Jeremiah’s problem, not mine.”

“It’s about you.”

“Jeremiah’s just jealous that I’m so good looking,” I offer as a joke to take away from what I am sure is a serious situation. Timothy is an easy going guy and wouldn’t get upset unless it was justified.

“Jordan, it’s your call on how we proceed.”

“You trust me even though Jeremiah’s causing problems?”

“I trust Isaac and Isaac’s people. If you were one of Jeremiah’s men, Timothy wouldn’t have sent you out here to find us. You also seem military, so you should be able to get us through the searching we need to do in and around this building without major issue.”

The two that went to check on Tyler return and don’t have positive expressions.

“Tyler is alive, but not doing too good.”

“Was he hurt or bitten?”

“No, we couldn’t find anything. There were no bites or blood. He just lays there or sits there. However we moved him, that’s the way he stayed.”

“Catatonic?”

“That’s the word. Yeah, I think he just checked out. We tried to give him water but it just poured out of his mouth. So we laid him down and came back.”

“Thanks,” I say. “We’ll grab him when we leave. Jordan, what are we doing?”

“You six stay here and guard the hole. All of those infected his girl Hannah killed came through here, and there could still be more inside. Eddie, Simone, Charlie, you come with me and we’ll check along the north side of the building for any other entry points or signs of where Aaron went.”

“What makes you think Hannah killed all of those infected?” I ask as we walk around the side of the building and into the street.

“I came on the first scavenging run, and she was the lookout for us as well. Your girl can shoot, but Mike, not so much.” Pointing to three bodies up the street next to the building, Jordon asks, “Did you and Simone shoot them earlier?”

“No, we came down from E Street, straight to the Safeway. Let’s go see.”

“Simone, Eddie, I’m so glad to see you’re all right.” Melissa and Brian carpenter walk up with a group of eight other people from Timothy’s group. “Is Hannah here?”

“She’s up on the Safeway roof. Do either of you have a radio?”

“Yes, take mine,” she offers.

“Thank you.” I grab it wanting to get re-established with the world. “Hannah, we have a radio now, can you hear me?”

“I hear you dad.”

“Timothy, do you hear me.”

“Good on this end, Eddie.”

“There are some bodies outside of a second entrance into this building. We think Aaron and Ashley might have been forced inside by runners and might still be trapped by them. We’re going to clear the building—”

I stop talking when I hear the report of distant gunfire. Coming from the east, the
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
direction we all came. It isn’t just a few shots either, someone or rather several someone’s are shooting a lot of rounds.

“Hannah, Timothy, do either of you have eyes on that?”

“It’s too far away, Dad, and there are buildings in the way.”