The Scavengers

  Chapter 6

  “What the hell was he?” I fought against a months’ worth of unshed tears and a hurricane's worth of barely contained emotions.

  “Don't worry about him. You don't want to know.” Drake gently rubbed my back. I could feel the steady pressure of his heart beating against my cheek. He smiled down at me and as I stared up into Drake's beautiful, soulful eyes and remembered Seth's warning not to trust him.

  I put both my hands on Drake's chest and pushed him away. “What was he?” I asked again.

  “You don't need to know.”

  “I want to know.”

  “It's complicated.”

  “Explain it to me.”

  “You wouldn't understand.”

  “Try me. I'm smarter than you think.” I crossed my arms over my chest and decided to try a different tactic. “What is Ra Shet?” I asked.

  Drake opened his mouth and then closed it abruptly. “Where did you hear about Ra Shet?” He demanded.

  “You were talking about it earlier today, after Conner was killed.”

  A muscle in Drake's jaw twitched as he turned his back to me under the guise of scanning the tree line for more uninvited guests.

  “If I'm going to make it as a Scavenger then I need to know what I'm dealing with,” I pointed out. Drake hissed in annoyance.

  “You don't know anything about being a Scavenger,” he said angrily.

  “Obviously not. You don't want to teach me.” I couldn't keep the tears from stinging my eyes. I was exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed. Drake frowned at me as a single bead of salty moisture leaked out of right eye and traveled down my cheek.

  “I'm not trying to hurt you, Pilar,” Drake said as he stepped towards me and pulled me back into his arms. “It’s not personal. It’s just that most new recruits can't handle the truth. It breaks them.”

  It was the first time I'd heard him use my name. Funny how the Spanish syllables didn't sound nearly as dreamy coming out of his beautiful mouth as they had in all my fantasies back in the Cube.

  “I want honesty, Drake. When my best friend was dying in the hospital ward no one wanted to tell me that she wouldn't make it. Everyone kept lying to me and telling me that Julie would pull through because they didn't think I would be able to do what I needed to do to take care of her if I knew I was losing her.” The tears were escaping freely down my cheeks now. “My parents disappeared from our apartment in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday. The Powers That Be keep telling me that Mom and Dad must have gotten tired of Cube living and escaped to the outside. What the Powers That Be don't realize is that Mom is terrified of her own shadow. She watched her first husband turn into a zombie during the middle of dinner. He chased her into the bathroom and tried to eat her. He killed her little sister when she couldn't make it out the door in time. He killed their daughter. Mom is so completely petrified of zombies she wouldn't even go out into the brickyard. Dad couldn't even get her to go out onto one of the patios without physically carrying her outside. My Mom didn't leave the Cube on her own two feet and Dad wouldn't have made her go.”

  “I see,” Drake said after a long hesitation. I very much doubted that he did. I considered telling him about the gun that I had hidden in the pocket of my jacket but Seth's warning suddenly came back into my mind.

  Don't trust him.

  I was surprised to realize that I didn't trust Drake. Not enough to reveal I was in possession of an illegal weapon and plenty of illegal ammunition. I couldn't trust him until he trusted me with the truth about the world I had just walked into.

  “I want the truth.” I spoke the words so quietly even I could barely hear them.

  After another moment, Drake nodded. He gestured for me to sit back down on the roof of the bus. “Have a seat, this is going to take a while.”

  When I sat down on the cold metal roof, Drake settled down on his knees beside me. He took both my hands in his big, warm palms and gave me a small smile. “If I try to explain everything we'll be here for the next year and half, so I'm going to give you the basics. If you still want to hear more once I'm done we'll have plenty of time to go over the details during the next few weeks.” He squeezed my fingers. “Is that okay with you?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay, then.” Drake sighed and chewed on his lower lip as if he were having trouble deciding where to start with his explanation. We sat in silence for several minutes while Drake stared at the trees, the moon, and the clouds covering the moon and finally down at the roof of the bus we were sitting on. The smell of smoke brushed past us every time the wind blew. The smoke served as a constant reminder that I hadn't dreamed this whole mess up and I wasn't going to wake up curled up under my blanket on the couch in our apartment come morning.

  “Do you know why we only eat canned foods?” Drake's question took me by surprise.

  “They're the only food left,” I replied.

  “Not exactly true,” Drake shook his head. “We can grow food, you know. Fruits, vegetables and grains will all still grow if you try hard enough and manage to get enough water to the plants.”

  “Okay, if that's true, why did the Powers That Be destroy our garden?”

  “Everything is contaminated by the zombie virus. Every single plant, animal, building, even the air and the water are contaminated.”

  “We're contaminated.” I remembered Dr. Zeb's explanation from my first few weeks at the hospital ward. “Even if we don't show any outward signs of the virus we're still contaminated by it. That's why we still change into zombies when we die even though we were never bitten.”

  “Right,” Drake nodded. “I don't know if you're old enough to remember it but the Cube used to have livestock as well as a garden.”

  I shook my head. “I was just a baby when they killed off all the animals.”

  “Did anyone ever tell you why they killed the animals?” He asked.

  “I was always told that there was a bad storm and we ran out of food and had to eat them all.”

  “The part about the storm is true, but the reason they killed off all the animals was because they had started showing the effects of the zombie virus.”

  “The animals turned zombie?” I was confused. “I thought animals couldn't turn into zombies.”

  “Animals don't turn into real zombies, but if they consume enough food and water that are contaminated with the virus then they will start to change.”

  “Change how?”

  “Did you get a good look at Seth?” Drake asked. I shuddered and nodded. He tightened his grip on my hands. “Seth is one of what we call the Changed. He's human, but he's lived off food and drink that contain the virus for so long that he's starting to turn into a zombie without ever actually being bitten by one.”

  “Oh God. How awful.” A million of my worst hot, sweaty nightmares came rushing up at me out of the blackness. How many nights had I dreamed of waking up to discover that I had been turned into a zombie but somehow could still think my own thoughts and still had feelings?

  Drake must have seen my distress because he instantly hugged me close. His chin came to rest on top of my head. “I know. Can you imagine how panicked people would be back in the Cube if they ever found out?”

  I nodded, recalling how terrified some of the people in the hospital had been when they were facing relatively minor injuries. “I can't imagine what would happen if someone told everyone there was a chance they might start to very slowly and gradually become a zombie. There would be mass hysteria.”

  “Now do you understand why we keep it a secret?”

  “Wait?” My head jerked up abruptly. “Are you trying to tell me that we are all turning into zombies? That we're all, Changed?” I would have bolted if Drake hadn't been holding me so tightly.

  “No. No, I'm not. We aren't.”

  “But then, why would other people be changing?”

  “Canned foods were sealed before the virus outbreak. If you only eat cans, then you're only eating foods th
at haven't been contaminated.”

  “Oh my God.” I put my hand over my mouth. “The Powers That Be killed all the animals because eating fresh meat was turning us in to zombies?”

  “Basically,” Drake released his grip on me slightly. I noticed that my skin was bright red where he had been holding me.

  “Then, that guy, Seth – he hasn't been eating cans?”

  Drake hesitated. “I'm not sure I need to tell you any more tonight. I'm afraid you might have a hard time handling everything. In the past we've had recruits go crazy when we told them the truth.”

  “Trust me when I say anything I can imagine is probably worse than the truth,” I told him honestly. “I've always had an overactive imagination. The nightmares I had about monsters under my bed were 1,000 times worse than any zombie I've ever seen, including the two today.”

  Drake hesitated for a moment and then nodded. It was apparent that he was gathering his thoughts and I didn't try to rush him. I was having a hard enough time accepting that the flavorless 30 year old canned food I despised so much was the only thing keeping me from looking like Seth. I couldn't get his dead, white eye out of my thoughts.

  “You realize that you'll never be able to go back from here?” Drake asked me unexpectedly.

  “Huh?”

  “Once I tell you everything, you won't be the same girl. You won't look at things the same way. Even if you run screaming away from the Scavengers and go back to the Cube and your job in the hospital ward, you'll see things that will remind you about what you learned tonight. You'll understand things you don't want to understand.” Drake shrugged his broad shoulders. There was sympathy in his eyes.

  “I already see things I don't want to see. Maybe understanding them will help me figure out how deal with what I see,” I told him.

  He chewed his lip for a moment longer, then raked his fingers through his glossy hair.

  “What did you think you would be doing when you joined the Scavengers?” he asked.

  “Um, I don't know, really. Just whatever was needed of me. Why?”

  “What did you do at the hospital ward?” He switched tactics.

  “I was a nursing assistant.”

  He shook his head no. “Nursing assistant is just a job title. What did you do?”

  “Oh.” I understood what he was asking now. “Mostly I took care of people. I dressed a lot of wounds. Brought water and food when people asked. Changed bandages. Changes bed pans.” I made a face at the last one. “Why?”

  “What did you think you would be doing when you joined the Scavengers?” he repeated his original question but now I understood the context of his words.

  “I guess just helping find supplies and bring them back to the Cube,” I said. “My Dad always told me the name Scavenger comes from the idea of a scavenger hunt. He said that the Scavengers kept lists of supplies that were needed in the Cube, things like food and medicine, and went out to search the outside world for those items – kind of like a big scavenger hunt. With zombies thrown in for a bit of excitement,” my voice wavered a little bit as I attempted to make light of the situation.

  Drake shook his head at me. “Your Dad was probably right about 20 years ago.”

  “Twenty years ago?” I repeated in disbelief.

  “Yeah. The description you just gave me is what the original Scavengers did do, back when finding food was just a matter of locating your nearest zombie-infested grocery store and clearing out the aisles. What we do now is a lot more complicated. And a lot more political.”

  “Political?” Now I was really confused.

  “You already met Seth. He's the leader of...well, we don't need to go into that right now, but let’s just say he's kind of my antithesis.”

  “Antithesis?” I wasn't familiar with the word.

  “To put it simply, I'm the good guy, he's the bad guy.” Drake smiled at me and this time it was genuine.

  “Oh, I get it,” I said, pushing away the memory of Seth telling me not to trust Drake. Drake was telling me the truth now and according to him, Seth was the enemy. It only made sense that the enemy wouldn't want me to trust Drake.

  “Good. I hope you never see him again, but if you do then you'll need to remember how dangerous he is.”

  “He said we were in his valley.” The words came back to me unbidden.

  “Yeah,” Drake scowled. “The Cube is located inside the area of land he considers to be his turf.”

  “What?”

  “Don't worry about it right now. It’s really not important.”

  “But?”

  Drake shook his head fiercely. “It's not important, Pilar. It really isn't. They don't bother the Cube and we avoid them when we go outside of it. We almost never cross paths.”

  “Why did he come here tonight?” I countered.

  Drake kicked at the bus. “He was probably hoping I'd need his help. Seth would like nothing more than to see me beg.”

  “His help?” I asked.

  “It all goes back to what we do,” Drake shook his head in frustration. “You see, the Scavengers were scavengers originally but useful goods are becoming harder and harder to come by. The grocery stores are pretty much empty now. We're down to searching through individual houses and hoping like hell no one beat us to it. The thing is...” he trailed off but I didn't think I needed him to finish explaining anyway.

  “We're in Seth's turf.” I filled in the blanks in his sentence.

  “Yeah. We're in Seth's turf. He and his people have already raided most of the houses and businesses in the valley. The only supplies that are left are the ones they don't want.”

  “Oh my God.” The severity of our situation was easy to grasp with far reaching consequences.

  “It’s not a good situation,” Drake confirmed.

  “But, if they have all the canned goods, then why is Seth-? I mean, why does he look the way he does?”

  Drake was quiet for several minutes before answering.

  “There aren't enough cans,” he said finally.

  “What?”

  “You wanted to know why Seth is turning into a zombie. It’s because we're almost out of canned goods. Pretty soon no one is going to have a choice about whether or not they're going to eat contaminated food.”

  I was struck speechless by Drake's admission. The implications of running out of canned goods were almost too much to take in. If I hadn't already seen Seth – that dead eye – I would have accused Drake of lying to me.

  Drake kept right on talking. “You asked me about Ra Shet earlier. Ra Shet is a city a hundred or so miles from here. It’s supposed to be the only city within a thousand miles.”

  “A city?” I was stunned by his revelations.

  “Yeah.” Drake nodded. “A pretty big one.”

  “But, I thought there weren't any cities left?” I asked. “I was always told that the Cube was the closest thing left to a city.”

  “Maybe that was true when the Cube was first occupied, but it’s not true now. Ra Shet is bigger than the Cube and it has a lot more people in it.”

  “Do they have canned goods?”

  “Not enough.” Drake's eyes searched mine, but I didn't know what he was hoping to see. “But they have more cans then we do.”

  “Oh, wow.”

  “Ra Shet is struggling in a lot of the same ways the Cube is. There isn't enough food. Not enough supplies left over from before the apocalypse. The difference between Ra Shet and the Cube is that the king of Ra Shet is trying to promote growth and industry within the city. He's been working with his people to produce new goods, medicines and more food.”

  “Okay.” I took a deep breath and struggled to understand all the information that he'd given me. “I guess I'm having a hard time figuring out where all of this leaves us.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You just told me that if we can't find more canned goods, we're all going to be forced to eat food that will slowly turn us into zombies.”

 
“Right,” Drake nodded.

  “You also told me that we're unlikely to find very many cans because Seth and his people have already taken them.”

  “Now you're starting to understand.”

  “I don't feel like I understand anything. What are we supposed to do to get more food?”

  Drake shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a lot to take in, but what the Scavengers mostly do now is trade. We go back though the houses and stores looking for valuables that earlier searchers might not have thought to take. We trade anything we can find for more food.”

  “You've actually been to the city?” I asked.

  “Plenty of times. If we can't find parts for the bus tomorrow we're going to have to go to Ra Shet to get them.”

  “But if we don't have any cans to spare, then what would we trade for the parts?”

  “The upper class in Ra Shet have a thing for luxury items. They like jewelry, statues, and dishes, pretty much anything pretty or shiny enough to catch their attention.”

  “And they'll actually give up their canned food for baubles?” I asked in disbelief.

  Drake nodded his head. “If you have enough power in Ra Shet, you don't have to worry about food.”

  “That doesn't make sense.” I took a deep breath and tried to gather my thoughts. My gut instinct was telling me that I was missing something and that Drake wasn't giving me the whole story, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what kind of information he might be leaving out.

  “It will. Give the idea a little time to sink in,” Drake said.

  The idea that there was an entire city nearby was shocking in and of itself. I wondered what it looked like. I wondered if everyone was crammed into tiny little apartments or if people had their own homes. I wondered if the king of Ra Shet would kick you out of your house if you didn't meet an occupancy requirement.

  Maybe I was wrong about Mom and Dad's disappearance. If Dad had known about a city nearby he would have left the Cube. He hated the Powers That Be. He thought they were idiots who made bad decisions for the people of the Cube. He'd never been shy about sharing those thoughts either.

  Drake's arms went around my waist and suddenly all I could feel was the proximity of his skin to mine. His lips brushed against my neck. “You're taking this better than I thought you would,” he told me.

  I sighed and leaned back against him. “Right now none of it seems real,” I admitted.

  “How about this part?” He turned me around so that my eyes were even with his chin. He ducked his head down so that his lips were even with mine. “Does this feel real?” he asked as he kissed me.