The Aftermath: Parts I and II (4 page)

"I don't think it's safe enough, even if we board up all the windows and doors there is no way to keep large groups from getting close,"  Richard said sternly.

"Is there anywhere that we can control big groups from coming to us though?"  Tina's voiced pipped in.  

He had chosen a good spot, apparently they were gathering close to whatever room he was closest to.  A kitchen?  Maybe the living room?

"What about food?"  Richard retorted.

More silence, he knew what they were thinking about.  Tina was right there were no more safe places that you could keep many enemies away from.  Richard also had a point the group had no supplies for growing their own food, and even if they did they had no time.  Until yesterday the group had been only a few short days from starving, especially the boy.  They were running out of options. He knew it, they knew it.  Right now it was a matter of how long before they truly accepted it.

He still couldn't decide if their sadness actually upset him.  They weren't his friends, just the people he followed and watched.

"We'll stay for awhile though.  We need good rest and a moment to pause.  We need to board up the windows and secure the doors.  After we get the place safe enough we can discuss what comes next, but we stay a few days.  Everyone looks for anything we can use to make this place more stable,"  Richard's voice boomed.  He was being stern with them because they couldn't stop and dwell.  They all knew that moment was was when they'd give up and die.

The next few hours all he did was sit in silence and listen to them pounding away and breaking apart of supplies.  He was impressed how quickly they moved.  It only took them until sundown to completely secure all the windows and doors.  He waited a moment to see if the group was going to discuss anymore.

"What are we really going to do Richard?"  Tina said softly.

"I honestly don't know. We're running low on options.  I won't say it in front of my boy and I can't really say it in front of Ronnie.  She seems a bit short sided and eager to cause fights."

"Well I know she doesn't like that I am the newest to the group, and I am not sure I blame her."

"That's not the issue, it's an easy excuse but she was the same way long before you came along.  I appreciate your attempts to be a peace keeper though."

"There's only four of us, I don't have much of a choice.  I don't think in the real world I would have any patience for her and only a little for you but this isn't the real world any more."

He was impressed. Tina seemed very wise for being so young.  Her words were harsh but direct and true.  In his observations of the group he could see that they were an odd set, but bad things bring odd people together.  It doesn't make the love they build for each other any less real, just very different.
More silence, "We should sleep,"  Richard said softly.

When they slept he wandered away a bit so he could eat.

The next day Ronnie and Richard left, probably to mess with the truck.  Tina and Joseph weren't active much, but it would be too hard for him to follow the other two and ever find his way back.  He wasn't ready to give up his observations yet.

When Richard and Ronnie came back they didn't seem too happy.

"We found a path to the road that reaches this house and one that goes to a town from here,"  Richard said solemnly.

"But?"  Tina pressed.

"But it's going to take a lot of work to get a car, and this house isn't nearly close enough to the town to make runs,"  Ronnie snapped.

"Maybe there are other little places like this one, but closer to the town.  We can raid the town until we can grow our own food,"  Tina said ignoring Ronnie's attitude.

"That's the other hitch,"  Richard said with a big sigh, "The town is not safe."

More silence, he realized his time with this group was coming to an end.  They weren't even trying to hide the desperate situation from the boy.

"So what is the game plan?"  Tina said with a heavy sigh.

"We took the time to make this place safe, and we need another night of comfortable sleep.  We'll head back out tomorrow.  There aren't enough supplies to stay for as long as I would have liked."  Richard answered, his voice was filled with despair.

He heard soft steps running through the house, it must have been Joseph.  The boy was probably looking forward to staying in one place.  Not only that but it was a lot of a young child to face.

The group was fairly silent and unmoving for most of the evening.  He could hear one of them slamming around in the house.

"I found alcohol" Ronnie's voice cried out.

"Getting is probably a bad idea but what the hell."  Richard sighed and the group sat together in the room.

He listened to them share stories of the first few weeks.  With how terrible the situation was it didn't seem wise to share sad stories.  They were already so defeated emotionally it seemed like this would only make it worse.  However most of what human's did seemed unwise.

After some time he heard some loud stumbles followed by more silence.

"Ronnie drank a little too fast."  Tina sighed, "Not that I totally blame her."

"I certainly don't."  Richard replied.

"What are we going to do?"

"Die."

He could tell the answer had been unexpected, and weighed heavily on them.

"I'm sorry, we're just running out of options."  Richard added quietly.

"But if you two found that small town today there must be others, probably that aren't over run.  Or maybe if we go in and out fast enough we can at least get more supplies."  Tina said with a small amount of optimism, but it was wavering.

"How long can we keep doing this though?  Place to place?  Barely enough food to eat, barely enough sleep to keep going.  We aren't living anymore, we aren't even really surviving."

"Maybe there is something out there for us?"

"Or maybe we are just hitting the point we're the cycle is going to keep repeating itself until it's time to die."

"Are you really ok with that though?  Really ready to give up on your own life?  Your son's life?"

The question had clearly caught Richard off guard.
"You're right."  He sighed, "You are completely right, I have to

keep trying at least for Joseph.  Good night Tina, don't stay up too late it's going to be a rough day."

"Good night Richard."  Tina called to him.

Before long they were all asleep.  He sat in silence reflecting on their situation as well.  Also wondering if he should keep watching them.  Before he could come up with an answer the sun came up and he heard them moving around in the house.

"We need to move,"  Richard said and then began to just grab up his gear.

He didn't wait, the path back to the road was clear and it would take them a long time to gather their things.  Once they go back they had to fuel the truck again.  It was safer for him to just move on.

It took him a long time to get back and he knew they would be catching up soon, so he found his spot.  The place he had watched them from for a few days and began to wait.

A twig snapped behind him, and he turned around.  There they were, at least fifty of them... he couldn't count.  He turned back and there was the group he followed, none of them noticed.

He stopped, and he thought, or at least tried to.  Why had he followed them?  Why had he cared?  Did he care?  Why hadn't he eaten them?  The closer the herd got though the less he could think.

Finally he turned back once more.  It wasn't Richard, Joseph, Ronnie, or Tina reacting in fear anymore.  He just knew he was hungry.

O
f course I knew it was coming. People would always call me paranoid but I wasn't, I was observant. I noticed the signs, and paid attention to things others would just ignore. It didn't matter what people said, I knew what was about to happen and they weren't going to convince me otherwise. By the time it did come they all wished they had listened to me.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

I can't completely blame them for not listening to me. They weren't wrong to notice that I had problems, serious problems in fact. I was generally a paranoid person, I was obsessive, I was compulsive. I hid in my house for days on end I practiced my rituals from morning until night. How many times I had to wash my hands, how many times I would turn the lights on and off, how many times I would unlock and re-lock my doors. I was pretty much paralyzed and isolated in my home so I can't completely blame them for just thinking it was my being crazy again.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

However, they all assumed I had no grasp on how crazy I was. The fact is I acknowledged how unbelievably nuts I was. I was fully aware of when I was being paranoid and when I was seeing things that others weren't noticing. Honestly though explaining to the blind masses that they were being stupid was of no importance to me. What was important was my own survival, and getting myself prepared. Other people would follow in time. I knew I would eventually need them, but they weren't my top priority.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

I set up my master plan. I knew that phase one would be all about supplies. I did research on the best survival gear both for 'bugging out' and 'bugging in' as it was called online. Some of it would be obvious to most people. Canned food, water, rope, knives, axes, guns and ammo, gasoline. Most people find these things obvious. Some of the slightly less obvious supplies were supplies for planting and growing crops, grains, soap, vitamins, medicine, dry foods, bows and arrows, many many changes of clothing, purifiers, brushes, tooth brush and tooth paste, scissors. I kept researching and reading trying to find every single suggested thing for survival. I shopped, stored, read, and kept repeating. I got enough supplies to fill up my garage and most of my house.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock 

I knew I would not be able to survive on my own, and I made sure there was more than enough for myself and many other people, they would come eventually. I wanted it to be sooner rather than later because it would imply they were smarter and more capable, but my hopes were not high for that possibility. Smarter people would be more helpful. However, the dumbest would keep me equally as safe, and not be as hard to lose when it happened. All I needed to worry about was myself, and the rest could just fall in line.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

Eventually it was time to think about transportation, and it was at this time that the jokes about what I was doing, and the genuine curiosity, began. Now when my neighbors walked up to me to talk to me they weren't exchanging glances that implied they thought this whole thing was hilarious, the glances now were more thoughtful and worried. Most of them still did not believe me and their concern was more that I was taking my paranoia too far. A few though were starting to feel their own paranoia. When I rolled the old RV, a U-Haul, and two cars into the neighbor things started really changing.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

The neighbors across the street got together and called the police. I wasn't doing anything illegal. Hoarding supplies when there was no belief that anything was coming is eccentric, but not enough to cause any further investigation. The neighbors on either side of me finally came to have a real conversation with me. I showed them my newspaper clippings and cited some interesting news on the internet. I walked them through my thought process and what I believed was coming and what my plans for leaving the city were. They were thoughtful but unconvinced. I did however notice a little supply hoarding of their own.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

I was only going to wait around so long. Now that I had my supplies ready I was just waiting to see when I would leave. Leave too soon and I would risk tapping into my stash before it was needed, wait too long and I will be fighting the hordes of people to get out. Everyday I studied the news waiting for the signs that it was finally coming. My neighbors were starting to notice the same signs too. In a matter of a week I went from the crazy person they all doubted to the one person they thought could save them.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

I wanted to leave the city roughly three weeks before it came. The problem is this is of course impossible to predict so I just had to relies on my instincts. What was the news reporting, what weren't they saying, and how close was it to our town. I finally called it and informed the people in my cul-de-sac that I was leaving. At this point I pretty much knew who was coming and who was staying behind. I have supplies for more than my crew ended up being, but it was better that way. Those that stayed behind would have never trusted me, and I them.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

The hard part was explaining to the group why it was we left before any actual sort of outbreak. They also wanted to know why it was that I was already being so strict with the supplies. Why couldn't we eat three times a day? Why was I forcing us to be active? Why was I demanding people forage? And why was it that there was nothing on the radio confirming what I said would happen. I explained a few times what my plan was and why it was important that we started living the way I did. A few of them left though, again I didn't really care.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

Finally the time came when the radio started giving strange reports. People attacking each other, death counts rising, cities falling apart. My group finally began to understand that by leaving early we weren't fighting the rush of people. Then reports started pouring in that traffic was at a stand still, driving was almost impossible.

Click, slide unlock, Click, slide lock

The questions started pouring in again not long after that. Why weren't we finding the place to bug in that I said that we would? Why were we still waiting around? I really wasn't in the mood to deal with more nagging, but I knew I would need them. It would take awhile before my group would stop questioning everything I did. I just needed to wait them out, I just needed to survive.