End of the Line (2 page)

That is how she earned her keep. She comes up here with a bottle of brandy, a rifle and ammo and I felt safe sleeping at night.

“Good morning Nurse Ratchet,” she said, her own little joke.

“Good morning, Princess.” I didn’t remember her real name. I think it was Diana, or Anne or Grace. It was the same name as a princess which is why Jim started calling her that. As I got closer I smelled perfume to mask her body odor. I knew she showered as much as she could and that she used some of her water ration for washing, but even she couldn’t control the rain.

“I killed 11 with only 9 bullets, did Jim tell you?”

“That’s a lot.”

Princess chuckled.  “More than I have in the last few days.”

I didn’t have an answer for that. I never studied the patterns of zombies.

She snorted.  “Soon, if not already, they will be more of them than us.”

“We got to stay vigilante.”

“I don’t mind killing them.”

She didn’t. Not that I was bothered about killing them, but unlike Princess, I knew they were once human beings, real people with real lives. Princess does this because she finds killing them tremendously humorous. Even when she did kill actual human beings who were trying to break into the CostKing, she didn’t flinch. She was coldhearted and I often wonder why I even bother checking on her wellbeing.

“How are you?  It’s was cold last night.”

“As long as Jim brings me my drink and fire wood, I am fine.”

Booze doesn’t warm you up but I didn’t tell her. If she couldn’t shoot, I would toss her out.

“Nurse Ratchet, are you wishing I would be nicer?”

I didn’t respond to that. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“A good massage therapist?”

“Within reason.”

Princess chuckled, a laugh filled with contempt.

“I need you later today.”

“I remember and you know the price.”

“One day someone is going to need those pills for real.”

“Nurse Ratchet. You still have a fully stocked pharmacy. We aren’t going to be in this CostKing forever. Eventually we will be overrun or rescued.”

“I hope before we run out of bullets.”

“Not the way I am shooting. You need to speak to Harlan. I heard he wasted six bullets and missed three targets. How tragic.”

I didn’t respond, instead moved on the other person on the roof, Rosa.
             

About ten feet away, Rosa worked on the roof top garden; spreading soil around to make sure it would be enough for seeding. Rosa was the direct opposite of Princess, a warm motherly woman who kept herself sane and alive by growing food. She slept and tended to the gardens both on the roof and in the store and helped Maddie take care of the three kids. She did it so she wouldn’t think about her husband and two young children who died of the flu.

“Good morning, Rosa,”

“Oh,” she said, with a big warm smile on her face. “Good morning, doctor.” Her Mexican accent was not so thick, although Princess often said she didn’t understand her “ay cu rumba.” She was a twenty-nine year old farm and day laborer in her former life and had lived in the United States first illegally and then legally since she was 12. She seemed much older, lines of the sun and age ran across her cheeks, but everyone here seemed to have lost their youth. I wasn’t so great in the looks department either.

“How is everything going?”

“The potting soil isn’t very good, but what can I do with only planters and no earth. The compost heap will help.”

“Even a little fresh food will be good for us.”

“I do what I can.”

“How are Simon, Aisha and Brie?”

“Brie and Simon still do not talk much. Aisha is helping Jake with repairs.”

Simon Heyward was nine who hid in a closet and watched his mother kill his father. His older sister helped him escape before she fell victim to Mom.
             
He did what he was told, but remained quiet and often sullen. Wished I had a therapist for him. I guess Maddie is the best we have.

Aisha Johnson, a14 year old black girl who was with her divorced father in Baldwin but he never came home from work. She said he was sick that morning. She tried to go home to her mother and found she couldn’t get home due to barricades, fires and zombies. She showed enormous spunk and survival skills.

Abe found Brie, who I think was four, wandering the streets, with no signs of parents. She was filthy, emaciated and had soiled herself repeatedly. She didn’t know her last name or where she lived. Abe thought both parents died of the flu. She talked a little but not much. She seemed withdrawn except to Maddie who she clings to.

Each day Simon and Aisha had lessons from Jim about organizing and supplies, from Rosa how to farm, Harlan taught Aisha how to shoot, Maddie taught them math, science, English, history and how to cook, I taught them medicine, Dave, electricity, Jake, engineering, and Eli, plumbing. We wanted to make sure these kids survived but weren’t stupid. We didn’t think there would be college in their future. Brie took some basic lessons from Maddie, mostly reading and math.

For what, I didn’t know. Maybe humankind had a survival mechanism in us that made us not want to kill ourselves when we faced extinction. 

“How are you? You don’t look well.”

“Like the rest of you, I’m tired.”

“You need to take care. Maybe take tomorrow off?”

Everyone could take a day per week, unless there was an emergency but I never really take any time other than a daily lunch with Maddie

“I’m okay, Rosa, really.”

“I know, but losing Abe was hard for us, especially you.”

I nodded.  I didn’t want to talk about it and especially Abe. Thoughts of his death don’t conjure up sadness but anger.

“I have to check on Annemarie. She has a cold.”

Rosa seemed to understand I didn’t want to talk anymore.

I headed to the door. I found it surprisingly warm today. Once upon a time, I might play hooky on such a day, spend some time in the park to enjoy early spring, either with Carl or Dan, my lover, but now I wished I could get up, kiss my husband, and go to work.
             

I opened the door to a metal staircase, made my way down the stairs and found Jake at the lowest step.

“Problem with the stairs?” I asked.

“Nah, my weekly check. These stairs weren’t meant for high foot traffic.”

“But they are okay?”

“Yep, okie dokie.”  Jake was a good looking Asian engineer student who tried to sleep with me. I told him I was a closeted lesbian. He respected that. I wished it were true. He moved on to the rest of the females here. I didn’t really care if he sleeps with anyone, as long as they used condoms.

Annemarie didn’t take it well. When Jake began sleeping with her, she wanted a commitment, but Jake didn’t. She wanted someone who could warm her bed at night and make her feel safe. At best she got a few nights with Harlan. Jake was still willing to be with her some of those lonely nights but instead they barely spoke.

Jake continued his philandering. I don’t know how far he got except I know Maddie thinks he’s a sweet kid and good for her when she has needs.
             

People were bored. We all wanted to survive, but we couldn’t deal with that all the extra time even with busy work Jim made up. Electricity went out about nine months before. We mostly went without electricity, sticking to a wake up at dawn, go to sleep at dusk routine. We had two solar panels, a generator with only a small amount of fuel, and batteries in the store. We had propane as the CostKing was getting ready for barbeque season. We used it to cook and for heat in the winter. If we had more panels, we might have more electricity but CostKing only had two as display models. To get more you had to have them special ordered. I didn’t think the factory in Tennessee would be shipping anytime soon. They had the panels on the roof and they used it to run a flat screen TV, a $995 CostKing special and some lamps in the store. Dave switched the hook up so we could have lights in the infirmary, on the roof for Princess and kept an energy efficient chest freezer running for what perishables we had left, mostly meat. Dave set it up with capacitor bank of portable batteries so the freezer would run on cloudy days and nights. For an asshole, he sure knew how to wire the place. 

We had a lot of batteries and grateful that the store had been stocking camping supplies, but the batteries wouldn’t last forever. We used some of our power to run phones or tablets to see if any internet or phones were still online. For about three days we chatted with a group in California on a social network who had been hit hard by the flu but hadn’t seen zombies. Then the social network went down. Maybe their server went down or maybe the zombies overran them or maybe they all died.  We’ll probably never know.

Now no one responded. No voices on the radio. No connection on the internet or any of the phones CostKing had for sale. Static all the way down the dial.

“Where’s Aisha?” I asked. “I thought she was working with you?”

She did, and then she left,” he said. “I think she had to get a lesson for Maddie.”

I found Dave Carr, my second least favorite person, waiting outside the bakery. The infirmary was in the health and beauty aisles and on the opposite end of the store closer to the front and I know he would walk with me all the way complaining about something.

I knew little about him, only that he is in his late thirties, an electrician, and a son of a bitch who loved to use slurs behind people’s backs. 

“Yes, Dave?” I walked a brisk pace to the infirmary.

We need to be careful about who we pick.” He said, trying to keep up with my pace.

“I know that.”

Do you, Rachel?” Dave called me by my real name all the time. He refused to call me Doctor or Doc. Besides being a racist, he was also a chronic complainer, but refused leadership when I offered. “Do you want another Tom?”

“Tom was already in the store when Abe came.”

Dave looked lost for words then said. “Let Mindy know that.”

             
Abe was careful. We never let in anyone we didn’t like.”

             
“What about your useless fattie?”

             
I wanted to punch him or at least make him go away. Dave sported an entering middle age paunch. For some reason he took a dislike to her. I want to say because she was black but Dave never complained about Robert. Maybe because Robert was a man. “Maddie has been exceptional at saving foods and keeping it fresh and delicious and the children adore her and they still need an education.”

             
“She’s useless.”

             
“So are you sometimes.” The words came out before I could stop them. I broke one of my underwritten rules, ‘do not engage with Dave.’

             
“Hey,” said a voice behind us, saving me from Dave’s wraith. “Don’t stress out the doc. We need her most of all.” We both stopped walking and turned around.

             
It was Eli, a plumber in his former life. Eli was bigger than Maddie, but never got Dave’s wrath, because he was his only friend.  Eli wasn’t much better than Dave at times, he was younger and prone to anger, but Eli seemed to have more self-control and had no hint of racism. Dave complained behind people’s backs but Eli would tell it right to your face. Eli also acted as unofficial dad to the kids, even to Aisha who often resented having to listen to adults but Simon and Brie adored him. He loved kids. All of his died of the flu.

             
“We’re almost ready. Jim said you should start moving.”

             
“Thank you, Eli,” I said and followed him, anxious to get away from Dave.

             
But he got in the last word. “Remember what I said, Rachel. No Toms.”

             
I was technically a late comer to this merry group. When Abe and his band: Dave, Mindy, and Brie came to the CostKing, four employees and three customers were already here: Ashley, a 60 year old cashier, Robert and Joseph, who did stock and Tom, an assistant manager. Among the customers were Debra, Annemarie, and an old man named Jonathan. The ten of them decided to share the CostKing and lock out anyone except those with skills they could use. Even though only Robert had any skills, as his job was to lift heavy items and drive the fork lift. They were only here a week when Tom lured Mindy to the stock room and raped her. Abe killed him. Joseph, upset over what Abe did to
Tom, left and never returned.

             
Ever since then, we were careful not to invite anyone who seemed suspicious. No one here was a criminal, though some like Dave were real assholes.

             
The group began to invite people with skills in. First it was Jim, and
then Princess invited herself.

             
After I came, we were attacked by a group of men who wanted our CostKing. They managed to get through a window and killed Debra. Princess, who Abe hated to be indebted to, saved the day and then asked for 30 Xanax as payment.