Chapter Ten
It took Reese and Tobe about fifteen minutes to find a working boat and the keys that went with it. They spent the rest of their time gathering new supplies that our store didn’t have. Tobe had two bags full of new clothes, and she couldn’t wait to show them to me.
I go through the bags, surprised to find that I don’t hate the stuff she picked for me. Her clothes aren’t entirely practical. She’s got a skirt and some nice boots, but as long as she can run safely in them, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.
My new clothes are similar to what I’m wearing now: jeans, a pair of black boots, a new belt, a couple of white camisoles, and a new black sweater for when it gets colder. Which should be anytime, I think to myself. It’s getting cooler at night, and the days are getting shorter. It should only be a few weeks before the first snows get here. I hope we’re someplace safe before then.
“Alright,” Reese says, bringing my attention back to the marina. “Let’s start transferring all of our supplies to the boat. Then we’ll find some extra gas, and get going. I’d like to be at the island before it gets dark out.”
We all start grabbing supplies from the back of the jeep. I sling a duffel bag of ammunition over my shoulder, grab two cases of water, and follow Reese to the boat. It’s white, small, but relatively clean. There are no bloodstains, no body parts, and it doesn’t smell like someone died in it, which makes it like a yacht to me.
I drop the cases of water and the bag of ammo in the back, and head to the jeep for more stuff. It takes us almost twenty minutes to get everything from the jeep to the boat and, when we’re done, it looks like we’ve got a ton of stuff. Unfortunately, with four of us, it won’t last forever.
Reese sets the last of the stuff in the back, and I recognize the bow case and the arrows. That’ll help us get some extra food once we reach the island, but I’m sure we’ll all still be eating as little as possible to conserve food.
Ryder hops into the boat and starts it. I’m not sure I trust him to steer the boat, but he’ll probably be better at it than me, so I don’t complain. Instead, I take a seat next to Tobe on the floor of the boat, and we both try to relax as we pull away from the end of the dock.
Ryder seems at ease behind the wheel, and I wonder just how much practical experience he has with survival. He knows how to use tactical weapons, he knows how to survive a dangerous standoff, and he knows how to drive a boat. Those aren’t things everybody knows how to do.
“Hey Ryder? How do you know so much?” I ask from the back.
He doesn’t look over his shoulder. “Before all of this started, I was a marine.”
I almost laugh, but he sounds so serious that I don’t. Is he serious? He was a marine? Somehow, I see him having a problem with authority.
He slips off his leather jacket, sets it down beside him, and sticks his left arm back. The tattoo I noticed when first meeting him is now clearly visible this close up. It’s a golden eagle with wide-spread wings standing on top of an anchor, with the words Semper Fidelis above it, and US Marines beneath it in the same flowing script.
“You were seriously a marine?” Tobe asks, staring at his tattoo in awe. “That’s so…hot.”
We all stare at her in surprise. Tobe rarely offers her own opinion, and she certainly doesn’t call a man hot. She usually just sits in quiet thought, waiting for the shots to be made without her. She’s a follower, but that’s not bad, because I am too.
“Um,” Ryder says, turning away. “Yeah, I was. That was a long time ago, though. I enlisted a few years after high school, and spent a few years in the service. I was home on inactive reserve when the infection started, and at first I was called in to try to help contain the situation. But after a few weeks, it was every man for himself. I grabbed Reese, packed up our food, and we left.”
“So the military tried to fight these things and lost?” I ask uneasily. “If the military lost, how are we supposed to survive? What chance do we actually have?”
“Don’t think about it like that,” Reese says. “Of the few remaining people left in the world, you’re one of them. You survived the first six months, which will be the worst. Things can only get better at this point, Sam. Our future isn’t totally hopelessly right now. We have this island, and we’ll survive for as long as we can, because we won’t give up. Ever.”
“Thanks, Reese,” I say, leaning back against the side of the boat. “I don’t mean to feel sorry for myself or anything. I just wasn’t thinking clearly right now.”
“Sam, everyone’s entitled to a little mini-freak out every now and then,” Tobe says. “Look at me. I have them all the time. When someone touches me, when I see a zombie, when a bee lands on me, and even when the wind messes up my hair. People can’t be calm and collected all the time or they’ll snap eventually.”
I glance at Ryder, and his shoulders tense, almost like he knows we’re looking at him. Tobe’s smiling and she doesn’t seem to mind making fun of herself for overreacting and having those mini-freak outs. And I’m not going to criticize her for doing it, especially because she’s starting to slowly but surely come out of her shell a little.
I doubt she’ll let Reese or Ryder touch her anytime soon, but she’s getting better. She doesn’t flinch every time someone comes near her, and she doesn’t whimper to herself anymore.
We pull farther away from the marina docks, and I look over at Reese. “How long will it take for us to get to the island?”
“About two hours or so I think. It might not take that long, the way Ryder drives.”
“This isn’t driving, it’s steering,” Ryder says, turning to glare at Reese. “And you’re more than welcome to take over. I could sure use a quick rest before we get there.”
“You need a nap old man?” Reese asks, standing. He stretches out his back, and goes to take the controls from his older brother. Ryder grumbles something to him as he passes, and plops down next to me. Without another word, he closes his eyes, and falls asleep in moments.
Tobe and I pass the time on the boat by playing cards. We don’t have anything to use for money, but we keep score in our heads with the promise that neither of us will cheat. Tobe comes a little farther out of her shell, enough to tell me about her previous life before the world ended.
“I had one sister that I told you about, Rosalind. My parents lived in Oklahoma for all of their lives, and I came out here for school. I didn’t do very well on my own, and dropped out. I got a job as a waitress at a nasty bar, and I barely made the money needed for a cheap apartment. When this all happened, I thought about trying to head home, but I couldn’t reach my parents or sister, and I assumed they were already dead.
“So I stayed low and hid for a while, only venturing out to check the surrounding apartments for available food. A few months after the infection first spread, three men found me while I was out scavenging. They offered to take care of me if I went with them, and I didn’t think anything about it. At least, not until I met Frank, and he told me that women were needed not only for entertainment, but also to begin repopulating the world.”
I shiver and zip my sweater higher. Frank and his Warriors are terrible people, and probably were even before the infection. The end of the world only made them worse, and gave them the opportunity to reveal themselves as the vile men they are.
“There were times I just wanted to give up and die. I was so disgusted with myself, and what they’d done to me, that I honestly considered ending my life. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but I started to wonder if it was best for me.”
“They won’t hurt you anymore,” I say. “We’re leaving them all far behind, and you’ll never see them again.”
“I hope you’re right Sam. But, I don’t think you are. You guys killed several of his men. He’ll want revenge. Frank doesn’t think like a rational person; he’ll avenge any perceived wrongs, even if it costs him more of his men in the process. He’s crazy.”
I think about what she’s
saying. From my one encounter with Frank, I do know that he’s crazy. He’s not someone I would ever want to get on the bad side of, and that’s what I’ve done. I’ve gotten on his bad side, just by defending myself, and he won’t like that. I hope he’s not planning to come after us, or we’ll all be paying.
“Don’t worry about it too much,” Reese says from the wheel. “We’re far enough away that I think we’ll be safe. Right now, focus on surviving the island, not someone that’s a couple of states away.”
He’s right. We can’t worry about a threat that might never happen when there are real threats waiting for us everywhere we go. The Warriors are only in Louisville; the zombies are everywhere in the entire world, and nowhere is completely safe from them.
“How much of the world is gone?” Tobe asks no one in particular.
“Last time I heard a transmission, the US had just lost touch with France, Germany, Japan, and most of South America. I think that means most of the world is probably infected by now. But last I heard, England was still holding out, and were in the process of getting everything under control.”
“Someone actually managed to get the infection under control? How did they do it? Did they burn the entire country to the ground, or did they round up all the uninfected people and ship them off to keep them safe?”
“I think they had an emergency army response plan or something.”
“They planned for a zombie attack?”
“I don’t think it was a necessarily a zombie attack. I think they just planned for an airborne pathogen of some kind. They had emergency response vehicles, food stores, and safe centers all prepared ahead of time. They were the fastest to respond, and I think it helped them. Of course, that was like four and a half months ago. England could be wiped off the face of the planet by now.”
Tobe sighs. “I wish this could all just be over. I mean, will it ever be over? Nobody’s been able to study these things, right? We don’t know if they keep aging or if they’re somehow immortal. We don’t know if they’ll decompose into nothing, or if they’ll ever starve to death. They could just keep going forever and forever. They might never stop.”
Nobody says anything for a minute. We just sit there and think about what she’s saying. Strangely, I haven’t even considered it yet. Can they starve to death? Will they decompose into nothing and become harmless? We have no idea what they’re capable of.
“What if they start evolving?” Tobe continues. “They could get smarter, they could start working together, they could figure out how to use weapons against us. I mean, who knows? We may never find out just how intelligent or dangerous these monsters really are.”
Ryder opens his eyes. “I’m not so interested in what they’re capable of as opposed to who created them.”
“What do you mean? I thought it was the wrath of God,” Tobe says, leaning forward. Her eyes are wide and she looks awed. “Are you saying that you think someone made these things? Like in a lab or something?”
Ryder shrugs. “I’m not sure. But I doubt these things are the wrath of god, he sneers. “If there was a god, he’s long gone. Look around us; god is supposed to love those that worship him, and it doesn’t look like a lot of love to me. Instead, I see stupidity. Man’s stupidity.”
“So, which country do you think first created them.”
Ryder snorts. “My best guess would be ours. It seems like the US is always the first to fuck up, then the rest follow in our footsteps like stupid ducklings. Nobody ever learns.”
“Don’t say that,” Reese snaps over his shoulder. “You’re a United States Marine, Ryder. That means you’re supposed to love and honor your country. Why don’t you try that for a change, instead of all the pessimism?”
He laughs. “What country? In case you haven’t noticed, everything is gone, and nothing is ever gonna bring it back. There will never be new music, new books, new movies, or new life. We’re the last of the human race, Reese. There’s no denying that.”
Reese doesn’t say anything. There’s really nothing to say to that, because he’s right. There’s a good chance that nothing new will ever come into this world. We might very well be the last of our kind, and that’s a scary thought that makes me consider curling up and holding myself until the nightmare ends.