Staying Alive

15

They had decided to leave as early as they could. Rather than let everyone sleep before leaving, they’d realized it made more sense to leave as soon as possible, and then let themselves sleep in the van. They were all exhausted, and they all needed a lot of sleep. But with three people on watch, they’d have to take turns sleeping. It’d take forever that way, and they wouldn’t be on the road before more strangers were likely to arrive.

Max was trying to do it all. He was trying to get everything in order. He was trying to figure out which provisions were crucial to take, and which weren’t. After all, the van may have been big enough to fit all of them, but it wasn’t big enough to fit all of them, plus all the gear, even considering the fact that they could attach quite a bit of it to the roof.

Max was currently rooting through the packs from the attackers, remarking on what would be useful and what wouldn’t.

It was clear that Max was beyond exhausted. He’d been shot in the leg. He needed to rest.

“Max,” said Georgia. “You can’t do it all. If you want to be useful to us, you’re going to have to live. And that means resting. Let us handle it. I don’t know what we’d do if you died on us.”

“I’m fine,” said Max, but even his voice sounded exhausted.

Georgia knew that she wasn’t going to be able to get Max to actually go to sleep. He wouldn’t do it.

“Just handle the bags there,” said Georgia. “I’ll get the van ready. OK?”

Max nodded. He was smart enough to know what he couldn’t do. Although sometimes, like everyone, he needed a reminder here and there of his own limitations.

Georgia had more strength in her now, her stomach full of the roasted venison. Everyone else was more animated too, although it was still going to be tough to get the van packed up and ready when no one had slept properly in who knew how long.

Georgia started delegating responsibilities. She told Sadie to head into the kitchen to see what she could scrounge up in terms of food and medical supplies.

They wouldn’t be able to bring everything they had. The things that they had to leave behind, they would hide in the woods, in order to keep them from the people who would come by.

What Georgia would have liked to do was set up an area with free water and medical supplies for the people who would surely arrive. After all, not all of them would be killers or dangerous criminals. Many of them would be trying to keep their families alive, the same way that Georgia was.

But Georgia could barely feed her own family. There wasn’t anything they could spare.

There simply weren’t enough of them to do everything that needed to be done. It would have been ideal to keep three people on watch while the rest packed. So many strangers had shown up yesterday that it was likely more would arrive soon. But the best Georgia could do was tell everyone to keep their eyes peeled and their guns ready as they went about their tasks.

Chad was in charge of carrying things to the van. With twine, he tied big things to the roof of the van, which fortunately was equipped with a metal roof rack, making it easy to attach things.

Georgia had already examined the van. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do. It had almost a full tank of gas. The engine started, and it sounded fine when it ran. There was a full sized spare tire in the back, underneath the carpeting.

James was going between Max and Chad, handing things that Max took from the packs to Chad. The items were piling up outside the van, and soon there’d be simply too much to fit. They’d have to make difficult choices about what to bring.

The sun was starting to rise. Georgia was hoping to get on the road before 9 o’clock, but she didn’t know if that was going to happen.

The whole situation reminded her somewhat of going on vacation with her kids, trying to get the truck ready at the last minute.

Of course, they weren’t heading on a vacation at all.

And the reality of the fresh dead bodies on the farmhouse property couldn’t have underscored that fact more.

“Mandy,” said Georgia, pulling her aside from what she was doing. “We’ve got to do something about the bodies.”

Georgia shook out another two caffeine pills from the plastic bottle she carried with her. Soon it would be empty. But for now she needed to stay as alert as possible. She handed one to Mandy, and swallowed the other one herself.

“Are you sure?” said Mandy. She looked like she didn’t like the idea.

“Well,” said Georgia. “No, we don’t have to. But it seems like the proper thing to do. We don’t have time to really bury them.”

“What are we going to do with them?”

“Drag them to the woods,” said Georgia matter-of-factly. “Cover them with some leaves.”

Mandy seemed to be considering it. “Have you asked Max?”

Georgia shook her head. “Honestly, I think he’d want to leave them out as a warning or something, trying to discourage people from coming to the house. But it doesn’t seem right to me.”

“You think he’d really want to do that?” said Mandy.

“I don’t know,” said Georgia. That was the truth. Max certainly wasn’t cruel. But he was very practical minded, and almost ruthlessly pragmatic in his efforts to protect the group.

“All right,” said Mandy. “Let’s do it.”

“Come on,” said Georgia.

It was almost startling how everyone had so quickly learned to ignore the dead bodies on the ground. On the side of the house with the van, there were three, all from yesterday.

First, they went to the young man, the former owner of the van. His eyes were open, and Georgia leaned down and closed them gently. His body was already stiff from rigor mortis.

“We’re going to have to drag them,” said Georgia. “If we carry them all, we’ll be exhausted.”

“I’m not sure I can get any more exhausted,” said Mandy.

“We’ll get to sleep in the van,” said Georgia. “We’ll leave soon enough. We just need to push through for a little while longer.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling myself,” said Mandy. “But more and more things keep cropping up. It seems like we’re never going to get a chance to rest. I thought we were safe once we got to the farmhouse. I was so happy we were all safe.”

“That’s the way it works sometimes,” said Georgia. “But we’ll get there eventually.”

“But who knows what awaits us on the road,” said Mandy. “It could be even more dangerous where we’re headed than here. And we don’t even have a plan. That’s what worries me.”

“Max thinks that if we head far enough west, we’ll be safer. Remember those population density maps of the US? I think he’s right. Plus, this clueless college kid got halfway across the country fine. He didn’t have any weapons, or even a sense of self preservation, apparently.”

“I guess we don’t really have any other options anyway,” said Mandy.

“Nope,” said Georgia. “It doesn’t look like it. Now I guess we can take a leg each.”

“It’s not very dignified,” said Mandy, reaching down and grabbing the stiff leg.

“The apocalypse isn’t very dignified,” said Georgia. “We don’t have control over so much. We’ve got to make the best decisions for the things that we can control.”

Together, they dragged the young man to the woods.

“That’s a nice spot over there,” said Mandy, pointing to a spot between two large trees.

Georgia wasn’t even thinking about where the young man should be laid to rest. She was keeping her eyes out for any strangers that might be approaching. She was ready to grab her gun in an instant.

“That’s fine,” said Georgia.

They dragged the body a little farther, and then covered him with some dead leaves from the forest floor.

“One down,” said Georgia.

“Uh, Georgia,” said Mandy, as they walked back to the farmhouse. “Maybe someone else can help you with that woman… I just…”

Georgia knew Mandy’d had trouble with killing to defend herself. But she also knew that it wasn’t something that Mandy could avoid.

“Nope,” said Georgia. “You’re going to help me with her. And we’re doing her next. The faster you confront your feelings on this, the better off you’ll be. Trust me. It’s going to help you in the long run.”

Mandy didn’t say anything, but she walked with Georgia to where the woman’s body lay, her throat slit, stab wounds on her torso, dried blood everywhere.

“Come on,” said Georgia. “You can do it.”

“I feel like I’m going to throw up again,” said Mandy, turning away from the body.

“Come on,” urged Georgia. “You did the right thing. You defended yourself. You can’t let this experience make you hesitate in the future.”

Mandy turned back around, and stared right at the dead woman’s face.

Good, thought Georgia to herself. Mandy was making progress.

Together, they dragged the woman to the woods. This time, Mandy didn’t suggest any particular place for the “burial” site.

Next were the three attackers. By the time they were done, they were too tired to cover the bodies with leaves.

“They tried to kill us anyway,” said Mandy. “I’m not sure they deserve to be covered.”

Mandy and Georgia were both panting with exertion, and they had to sit down in the woods to recover their strength.

“The van should be almost ready,” said Georgia. “But they might need help figuring out what to leave behind.”

“Any idea where we’re headed?”

“West.”

“I mean, more specifically.”

“I don’t know,” said Georgia. “I’ve never been out of Pennsylvania.”

“Really?”

“Well, I’ve been down to the shore, stuff like that.”

“I haven’t really traveled much either. I visited a friend in San Francisco once. Of course, I drove.”

“I don’t think we have any maps that aren’t just for Pennsylvania,” said Georgia.

“Great,” said Mandy. “Why do I get the feeling that each step we take is like two steps backwards? It’s like we’re getting less prepared with each passing day.”

“Yup,” said Georgia. “I know the feeling. But there’s no point in dwelling on it. Come on, we’ve got to move.

Georgia stood up and offered Mandy a hand, helping her up.

“You sure sound like Max sometimes.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Georgia.

“Hey,” whispered Mandy suddenly, tugging on Georgia’s arm. “Do you see that over there?”

Georgia looked where Mandy pointed.

In the distance, between the trees, there was a hint of movement. Whatever it was, it was too far off to see clearly.

But Georgia was familiar with how animals moved. This definitely wasn’t an animal.

That meant it was a “someone.”