The Book of a Few (24 page)

Casey began handing out our firearms back to us. “Shoot a round off, please,” Casey said.

“
Why?” I asked, completely dumbfounded.

“
To show them you’re armed
and
loaded.”

I did as he said and raised my gun up and pulled the trigger.

“
All right. I am ordered to tell you that if anything is to happen to either of you two parties involved, the C.V.P.M. will use deadly force, by order of the Colonel, to the offending party. Damage to the building will not be tolerated. Negotiations will begin tomorrow, following the Colonel’s arrival. That is all.” On that note, the soldiers returned to their vehicles and drove away.

“
What the hell was that? Explain,” Dana asked.

Casey turned to him and said, “They want to reach a diplomatic solution. Seems like
we
,” he said, referring to both the Triple B.F.C. and us, “aren’t the only ones that want the food.”

Didn’t sleep for crap. All because I knew what today was bringing. Dana and I stayed up most of the night talking about what was going on. He seemed rather angry with all that had taken place. I’m not saying that I wasn’t; I’m just saying that he seemed a little
too
angry. He would cuss and mumble idle threats. It was almost as though he was talking to himself to mentally prepare to accost and verbally rip apart the men of the Triple B.F.C. and the C.V.P.M.

“
We were here first, fuckers,” he’d say. “Fuck them. Fuck this.” And he’d get up and walk around the room. He even threw a crowbar in his rage. I’m also quite certain that the heroin he partook of just a half an hour before was the biggest cause of his outburst.

Casey and his men stayed on the other side of the building, thank God. That guy’s an asshole. The only bad thing was that I had no doubt in my mind they were eating our food. We didn’t have any way to stop them or catch them in the act. So I guess we didn’t have a choice anyways. With Branden and Will asleep, I wasn’t able to talk about it with anyone. I figured it wasn’t logical to tell Dana I felt that the men who got us into this whole predicament were probably stealing our food. He’d go off the wall and probably get himself killed.

This morning, I also looked outside and found that a rather large mass of infected had begun gathering just outside the fence. They probably came from town. They noticed me and rushed into the fencing as I approached to deal with them.

The scariest thing about them is their aggression. They don’t just push into the fence and try to reach through, they tear it up if they see something they want to eat on the other side of it. They’ll beat at it wildly and sometimes even kick it. They’ll pull on it and shake it, trying anything to break it open so they can get through. And they scream and yell in horrid ferocity as they do. I imagine dying by one of them is like dying at the hands of a psycho. The amount of violence and determination to get the kill is frightening.

By roughly ten in the morning, both Branden and Will were awake and active. They got themselves fed, and as they ate, we all had a conversation of what was to come.

“
Colonel, huh?” Branden asked. “I have no idea what position in the ranks that is.”

“
Me neither,” Will struggled to say through his mouthful of pre-sliced lunchmeat.

I noticed how Dana kept looking up at the high ceiling, almost like he was investigating. His neck must have become sore considering all the time he was investing in eyeing the metal supports and piping that ran through the building. Confused, I asked him what he was constantly looking up at.

“
Oh,” he said, seemingly glad I asked. “I was thinking, ya see the signs on all the pipes around here?”

I looked around and saw one that spelled out “ammonia.”

“
What about it?” Branden asked.

Dana smiled an evil-genius smile and said, “Ammonia, man. This place is cooled with ammonia. That’s how it stays cold. It runs through this place like veins in my body.”

“
Clotted?” Will interjected.

I laughed harder than I have in a while, a
long
while. Dana didn’t; he took a swing at Will’s face, but missed.

“
No, fucker,” he said pretentiously. “There are ammonia pipes
everywhere
. This place is like a ticking bomb. Ammonia is flammable. I was thinking, maybe we should consider leaving this place with a
bang.
”

“
Blow it up?” I asked.

“
Yeah. Fuck those guys. I say, before we lose anything or anyone else, we get a semi and load food into one of the refrigerated trailers, and drive out of here riding on the concussive shockwave of this place bursting into flames.”

“
That’s a bad idea,” Branden said. “If there is any place that I have a chance to live, it’s probably here.”

“
Thank you,” I said to Branden, then to Dana, “I agree with him.”

“
Pshh.” Dana waved his hand in the air, ignoring my comment.

“
It’s almost completely fenced in, food, massive amounts of space,
refrigeration,
there’s no better place to be,” Branden said.

Dana groaned. “Come on. We all know what the C.V.P.M. and those other fucktards want: this building and us dead. We’ve been lucky that no one else has tried to set up shop here, and we have no way to keep it up and running if something breaks down. We’re gonna end up dead if we stay. Mark my words.”

“
Why would you be so quick to want to leave before we even fully know what the C.V.P.M. wants? If anything, you should be thanking them for saving us,” Will argued.

“
Jesus-fuck. God forbid I might someday want to find my own family.”

“
They live in Cali, Dana. I doubt that, number one, they are alive. Number two, there aren’t any chances of ever making it there or finding them if they are alive,” Branden said. “I mean look, my kid lives in this town of forty thousand people and I haven’t found him.
In fact,
there is hardly anyone to
be
found. This place is a quiet, empty place with nothing but a growing number of herds of sick people roaming the streets. What gives you the hope that your wife and son, by themselves, would survive in a place as populated as California?”

“
You know what?” Dana looked head-on at Branden. “Fuck you. I found some people that I have risked my life out wandering the streets for in search of
their
lost family, and they don’t even coddle me in return. They don’t even tell me, ‘Oh, Dana, I’m sorry all this bad stuff happened to you. If it makes you feel any better, when the day comes, maybe I’ll help you find yours.’ But no, I get told to wise the fuck up. At this point, even just pretending you care would be a courtesy.”

“
No, Dana,” Will said, balling his fist.

“
Will, don’t make it worse, please,” I demanded.

“
Ever since you came into the picture, which was shady as shit and you know it, you’ve been barking all the orders. And you guys,” Will motioned toward Branden and me, “you let him! You just bent over and let Dana have his way. I spent how many days tied up and running around with a
baseball bat
before I was even handed a gun. But Dana comes in and takes charge like it’s his job.”

I didn’t respond to that accusation; I knew Will was right.

“
That’s because I’m the only one with the guts to get anything done,” Dana said.

I shook my head and groaned, then stood up and left. I didn’t want to be around them after all that. We are so
fucked.
Normally I would say that, yeah, things are hard, but we’ll make it. But I don’t feel it today. This place is hell. The only thing we do is get fucked over in one way or another. Dana is right; we aren’t going to be able to maintain this building forever and I know that. What then? We move, find another place, and get screwed over some more? I’m not sure what to pursue anymore.

I’ve been sitting on this roof for almost two hours it seems. The Colonel still hasn’t shown up. Been doodling and writing in here to pass the time. It helps calm my nerves, too. Even though I’m constantly writing about things that happened, it seems like putting those experiences down on paper helps me move past them. It solidifies the experiences into a manageable way. I write down what’s happened instead of sitting around sulking. I get my thoughts out and it relieves me.

The C.V.P.M. just pulled up. One truck. I’m going to go meet with the others.

——

Motherfucker. They called for a meeting that I am not attending. Not by choice, mind you. If I could, I would be in there. Casey and Ethan are speaking for their group, Dana and Branden for us, and the Colonel is in there with two of his lackeys. God, I hope they don’t fuck this up. By ‘they,’ I really mean Dana. He’s got a loud, rude mouth, and I don’t want to hear about him screwing us over. Although he did seem rather calm, for Dana, before they went into the offices to talk.

It’s been an hour, and they’re still at it. Although at one point Dana led the Colonel out of the HR offices and to the Nurse’s office Lisa has been using. I’m uncertain why, and I tried to ask Dana how it was going as they walked by, but all I got was a nod. He looked a little gloomy, though. I’m certain I’ll find out the cause later.

The Colonel is quite well-kept for a man in this day and age. Must be easy living over in that base of theirs. He wasn’t that old, really. Probably mid-thirties, I’d say. Clean-shaven, short cut hair, in uniform and all. His face is a serious one, though: jutting jaw line and soul piercing eyes. He has a sense of crisp cleanliness with his ironed-out uniform that I haven’t seen in quite a while. This man is out of touch with what we deal with on a daily basis. He seemed high above us, on a tower, completely unaffected by what was going on outside his base. By his looks, I would guess that the man hasn’t even had to shoot
anything
yet.

Anyways, I’m going to head up to the roof while I wait for the news.

——

Dana has a gun to the Colonel’s head. I’m still on the roof, and they are outside standing by the trucks. What the fuck is he doing? Why is Joey down there with them? I can’t hear what they are saying. Okay, he put the gun down and one of the men just leaned into a truck.

It’s been like ten minutes and everyone is standing around. None of the C.V.P.M. have seen me yet. I’m ready to shoot the moment something happens. Shit. If I die, Miranda, I love you and I’m sorry I didn’t look for you more. I know I should have. I’m sorry. It was a selfish ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attempt. Now I just feel guilty knowing you probably
are
dead by now.

A second C.V.P.M. truck is driving up now. Dana still has his gun in his hand. Ugh, that dumbass. A few of the soldiers just pulled a man in a wheelchair out of the back of the truck. Dana is talking with him. JESUS CHRIST, DANA, STOP POINTING YOUR GUN AT THESE PEOPLE!

This is the official recording of a meeting between three parties involving the acquisition of the warehouse in Cedar Falls, Iowa. This is to be filed in accordance to standard practices.