Amanda Carter in the L.A.Z., life after zombies (5 page)

Chapter 8

T
he sun had just begun to set when Amanda made it to the turnoff that would take her back to camp. She stopped the truck to get out and use the binoculars to check her surroundings. The last thing that she wanted to do was to lead a group of raiders back to their well-hid camp.

After a thorough scan, she could see nothing in any direction. Whoever had been behind her had fallen out of view. She felt that it would be safe to make the turnoff and jumped back into the truck. Even as the sun was going down and the hour getting late, it was hot, and the dogs were panting again. She turned on the air conditioning. From the turnoff, it would only be a few miles to camp.

She made the turn down a wash that was in between two hillsides. There were a number of these types of turnoffs, and there was nothing about this one to set it apart from the others, except that she had come to recognize certain landmarks that were familiar.

“Well, guys,” she said to the dogs, “we’re going home.”

The others would be surprised to see that she was showing up with four-legged company, but she couldn’t imagine that they would mind expanding their family a little bit to include the new members. If they were concerned, she would explain about how helpful Red had already been to her. She was sure that that would put their mind at ease.

Amanda had a name for the big wolf dog but nothing for the little one. She began scouring her brain for names, one by one discarding them, until she had an idea. She decided that it would be fun for the kids to name her.

She needed to call a meeting with her family back at camp. There would be no need to do it immediately, but there were important things to consider that they would have to come to a decision about—like, with each trip to town, Amanda was finding it increasingly difficult to find gasoline. The raiders back in town had divided the town up into rival quadrants, warring for the remaining supplies. Amanda made sure to steer clear of gas stations in particular because those had all been laid claim to. She had been siphoning gas from other vehicles for months, but eventually, the gas stations would run dry for the raiders, and they would move on to the remaining vehicles. One day, there would be no more gasoline to be found.

The location of their current camp was isolated and secure. So far, they had not encountered a single creeper or raider, but they were sixty-five miles from the source of their supplies.

Additionally, their situation was complicated by lack of proper shelter from the elements. Their group could not go on indefinitely having to run to town so often, nor should they continue on with having only a couple of tarps for shelter, sleeping on the ground, and disposing of their waste in a pit that they had dug. It didn’t seem like a long-term way to live.

Currently, they had been running to town once a week. Each time, they would return with about 110 gallons of water. There were six of them, plus two, now that she was including the dogs. In the summertime, that amount of water, with a lot of rationing, lasted them just a week. There were no clothes washing, very little body washing, and the constant fear of running out of water, which this time of year meant certain death.

Options for repairing vehicles, even with a mechanic in their midst, were limited. This was their second truck in four months. Suitable vehicles weren’t terribly hard to come by; the problem was that being sixty-five miles away from the supplies that they needed so often left a lot of questions about breaking down and becoming stranded along the 130-mile round-trip journey.

Amanda was not comfortable continuing on blindly in their quest for survival without addressing these questions and finding some suitable solutions for them.

She had left for town at sunrise and had planned to be back between three or four at the latest. And now her arrival time would be closer to eight in the evening.

Amanda stopped the truck at what they all referred to as “The Trench.” The Trench was a natural occurrence, where the earth had collapsed. It was about four feet wide and five feet deep. It was the other reason that their camp was such a safe place of refuge. She exited the truck, leaving the driver’s door open, trotted to the back of the truck, and rolled up the cargo net, stashing it behind the large metal water drum.

To cross The Trench, she had two twelve-foot, two-by-eight wooden planks that she would set down in line with the truck tires to make it possible for the truck to cross the gap. The Trench made it improbable for a vehicle to happen across the sight and actually be able to cross it. Also, any creepers that might be wandering through the area down the wash would also become stuck, unable to climb out. Their camp was another mile down the wash and located up a hill where they could overlook a lot of the desert floor around them, especially if they climbed up on one of the three large boulders that were nestled around their living quarters.

There was only one way in and out of their location. This fact made it more defensible, but it would be infinitely worse for them should raiders or creepers breech The Trench and descend upon them. They lived day to day hoping that this would not happen.

Amanda grabbed one of the planks, and because they were heavy, she would only place one at a time.

Red was barking. She felt like he wasn’t the type of dog to be barking for no reason. Amanda rested the plank, one end on the bed of the truck, the other on the ground. She had her knife out. The music was loud, so she could hear nothing else except for Red’s barking. As she carefully passed by the open driver’s door, she could see that the wolf dog had his hackles up. The little dog had begun to bark too. There was something definitely wrong. It was still light enough out that she didn’t need the headlights. She proceeded forward to the front of the truck, careful to check underneath in case there was a crawling creeper that she hadn’t noticed before. There was nothing. She moved forward and peered down into The Trench.

There were two creepers stuck in The Trench, and they were both gnawing on a rattlesnake. She had come across snakes in The Trench before but never a creeper, let alone two of them. She did find some peace of mind in knowing that their trench had successfully stopped them. With the kind of numbers she had seen earlier, had they all decided to come this way, they would have filled The Trench up and spilled over to the other side, able to breech the safety of their encampment. But as it stood now, it appeared that only two had wandered away from the pack, and in small numbers, they would be trapped in The Trench, unable to do any damage to their group.

One had been a man and the other a woman. She watched them eat, feeling sad, knowing that this food or any other that they could find would never be able to satisfy their hunger, and yet they persisted. She decided that it would be unwise to leave any creepers alive, so to speak, so she hopped into The Trench while they were still occupied with their meal. They never even noticed her as she dispatched first one and then the other with only two quick strokes of the knife.

Amanda climbed out of The Trench, noticing that both of the dogs were now quiet. Either their previous owner had trained them well, or their instincts were spot on. Either way, she believed that both of the dogs would be a tremendous asset to the safety of their group. And besides, she considered,
the kids are going to love
them
.

She placed the planks across The Trench, in line with the tires, drove across, used a broom to sweep away the twelve feet of tire tracks on the other side, picked up each plank, and placed it in the back of the truck. She then pulled out the cargo net and set it out again. There were a lot of things about the runs that were time and energy consuming, but she felt that it was necessary to follow a regimented safety protocol that she never deviated from, thus ensuring everyone’s safety.

She felt that there was no question that it had been a long day. Her muscles were quivering with fatigue and lack of hydration. She drank some more warm water and let the dogs lap up some water out of the palm of her hand.

“Want a treat?” she asked the dogs.

This appeared to be a familiar word to them, and they both responded by sitting obediently and waiting expectantly. She realized that she probably couldn’t have handpicked two better dogs, and yet they had picked her. She smiled, feeling around in the extra cab behind her for one of the two beef jerky bags that she had recovered from an abandoned vehicle on the side of the highway earlier today.

Food was not plentiful these days, and any form of meat was particularly scarce. The jerky was as much a treat for her as it was for them. She worked on eating one of the larger, fatter pieces, ripping off a couple of small chunks for each dog. This was not enough to satisfy any of them, but it would have to do for now until they made it back to camp and could eat a meal with the family. Food would have run out by now for them, and Amanda didn’t feel comfortable stuffing her face while the others were hungry, even though she had by far expended more calories today than the entire group combined.

She gave them each a pat on the head and reached in her pack to follow the taste of jerky up with a swig of rum.
It’s the simple things in life
, she thought,
that are so glorious, like gnawing on a piece of jerky, petting a dog, warm water when you’re parched, spiced rum
. She smiled, content, as she proceeded to drive the little distance that was left back to home.

Chapter 9

“
I
want Amanda to read to me,” it was Tammy whining.

Amanda had made it a habit to read one of the two children’s books in their possession to her every night at bedtime.

“Amanda isn’t here,” Sam said unkindly to her sister.

Tammy began to cry. Maryanne glared at her oldest daughter, too tired to say anything. She had learned a long time ago that as a mother, sometimes you had to pick your battles.

“All right,” Sam said, relenting, “Tammy, I’ll read to you, even though I’ve heard the story like a thousand times.”

“You’re no fun,” Tammy yelled to her sister. “You don’t even want to read to me. You make it no fun.”

“Fine,” Sam said, tossing the book into her sister’s lap and stomping away.

“You know, Sam,” Maryanne said wearily, “just when I begin to think that you might be growing up, you astound me with your childishness.”

Maryanne moved away from her husband’s side and came to sit beside her youngest daughter, picking the book up from off her lap.

“It’s the heat,” Sam said, sounding smug, “just ask Roy.”

“Hey, kid, I’m staying out of this,” Roy said, sounding tired and cranky. “I’m not looking for trouble like some people that I know.”

“You just go sit with your father,” Maryanne said to Sam in a no-nonsense tone that left no room for argument.

“Yes, Mother,” Sam said, adding an eye roll for good measure.

It was not that Maryanne didn’t have understanding for their situation, because she did, but it was more the fatigue that came with the oppressive heat that drove her to be so curt. She had a better understanding than most, being a doctor, of what was really going on with both of her children—all of them even. They were hot, yes, but tired and hungry as well. None of them had had much to eat today, and that had been hours ago. For growing children, especially, that could cause all types of mood swings. It would be easy to blame Sam for being a brat; but rather, she chose to blame their circumstances. Even though her oldest daughter could behave at times like a real teen-aged nuisance, she didn’t believe that that was what was going on here.

She prayed for Amanda’s safe return as she began to read to her daughter a book about a circus pony that had become lost in the city.

They were now down to a half gallon of water between them. They had never pushed it so close to being out of water before. But Jason had needed a lot to cool him down, and though now he appeared to be sleeping with only a slight fever, she was sure that he would need more dousing before morning. Pretty soon, she would be forced to make some horrific decisions that she did not feel prepared or capable of making.

“That’s not right, Momma,” Tammy said with a cute little giggle.

“What?” Maryanne said, snapping back to what she was doing.

“Silly Momma, the pony doesn’t run out of water,” Tammy said. “You just made that up.”

“Oh, so I did,” Maryanne said, touching her daughter on the nose. “I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.”

“I know the story by heart,” Tammy said. “Do you want me to read it to you?”

“Oh my,” her mother commented, “goodness, you’re reading now. That’s my smart girl.”

Tammy began to recite from memory the words to the story. Maryanne knew that unfortunately, because of their circumstances, her youngest daughter still did not know how to read. She had just begun to learn the alphabet when all this had started, and that’s as far as she had gotten.

“I’m hungry,” the young girl said promptly after finishing with the book.

“Me too,” Sam whined from across the way.

“Me three,” Roy said.

“Me four,” the girl said, with another giggle following it.

“Me five,” Maryanne said, getting into the spirit of things.

“Is the fever gone?” Sam asked, changing the subject so suddenly that Maryanne had trouble processing it for a second.

“Oh, Sam, I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I’m all out of answers, but it’s possible that it’s gone down to a manageable level now. Night’s coming, and that should help,” she said, attempting to give the best answer that she could.

“Night,” Sam scoffed, “like that helps. It still stays like over a hundred all night long.”

“I can’t,” Maryanne said, throwing up a hand to emphasis her point, “I just can’t do . . .”

Maryanne didn’t have time to finish her sentence because a dog barked from just down the hill, and everyone froze, not understanding how that could be.

Not one, but two dogs had come bounding into camp, shocking everybody.

The little dog surveyed the group quickly and ran right into Tammy’s outstretched arms, sloppily licking her face. Red was more reserved and sat down beside Jason, eyes observing the group as if he were sizing them up.

“Is that a wolf?” Sam asked, pointing to Red. She didn’t sound afraid; instead she sounded excited.

“Where on earth did you come from?” Maryanne was asking the little dog, wondering if Amanda might have returned too.

“They’re with me, and yes, I think that’s a domesticated Oregon red timber wolf,” Amanda said, a little breathless as she walked into camp.

Now Tammy was precariously holding the small dog and trying to run to Amanda. It ended with her toppling and dropping the dog, who protested with an indignant yelp and went to sit with Sam.

Undaunted, Tammy got up and finished her dash, running into Amanda’s arms. Amanda picked the girl up, rocking her from side to side.

“I have medical supplies, found antibiotics. I hope it’s the right kind,” she said, dropping her pack beside Jason. “Medicine is in the bag. And I’m going to need some help hauling food and water up here,” Amanda continued.

“I’ll get some medicine in Jason and start the camp stove. We were almost completely out of water. Bring water up here first so that I can start sterilizing it,” Maryanne said, and it was like several years of her aged expression had been wiped away in her relief to see her friend back safely with their supplies.

“I’m going to help,” Sam said excitedly. “Got any food?”

“Let me light the lanterns,” Roy said, “and then I’ll join you. It’s just about dark.”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more glad to see anybody in my entire life,” Maryanne said, standing.

She attempted to brush some of the dirt off of her jeans, but it was a wasted action because her jeans were already too soiled with ground in dirt for it to make any difference.

“What took you so long?” Sam asked, following Amanda down the hill to the truck. “Where’d you find the dogs?”

“I want to hear about the dogs,” Tammy said. Her voice came from behind them, and they spun around.

“Does Mom know you came down here?” Sam asked accusingly.

“Tammy, you know that you’re supposed to use the buddy system everywhere you go, right?” Amanda said to the girl.

“Right,” Tammy said, looking sheepish, even in the lack of light.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Amanda said. “I’ll tell you about the dogs if you help me carry some stuff up the hill. We need to go check in with your Mom, let her know that you’re with us.” She gave the child’s dirty cheek a swipe with her thumb, but it would take soap and water before any skin would show.

“Brought some light,” Roy said, carrying a lantern. “Your mother is looking for you,” he continued, looking down at Tammy.

“I’m helping,” she said, holding on to a one-gallon water jug with both hands.

“I already gave her a hard time, and so did Sam,” Amanda said, handing two more water containers to Sam. “Sam, the water in those containers needs to be sanitized. Tammy’s carrying a new unopened one. Let your Mom know.”

“Roger that,” Sam said. “Come on, sis, you’re with me.”

Both the dogs seemed to be glued to the girls, following them. Maybe they sensed that food might be forthcoming if they paid attention and worked alongside everyone.

Amanda put a foot on the back tire and swung into the bed of the truck. From there, she handed Roy a five-gallon plastic bucket, which he set on the ground. Next she uncapped the metal drum and stuck a length of chopped hose into it. The height of the truck bed and gravity would send the water down into the bucket. She handed Roy the other end of the hose, which he rested on the bottom of the bucket. Water began to flow.

“Should you be carrying that?” Amanda asked, speaking of his injured shoulder.

“I’ve got a good arm left,” Roy said, “now, don’t emasculate me completely. I feel bad enough that I didn’t come along for the run.”

Amanda handed him another bucket to fill once that one was finished. She could see the beam of a flashlight bouncing their way.

“Here, Sam,” Amanda said, passing her a medium-sized red duffle bag with black straps. The bag had a medical symbol on the side of it. “Take that to your mother, she’s going to love that. Found it in an ambulance that was still locked up in a storage lot.”

“An EMT bag?” Roy said and then whistled.

“It’s better than that, because I stuffed some extra stuff in it from the ambulance,” Amanda said.

“Whoa, too cool,” Sam said. “Wish you could’a just brought the whole ambulance. That would be the bomb to drive around out here.”

“Give me something,” Tammy asked.

“You’re carrying the light, you don’t need anything,” her sister answered.

Tammy scrunched up her face in thought for a second and then smiled. “Okay,” she said, turning to light the way.

“Find any batteries?’ Roy asked. “The heat’s been giving us only about half the normal battery life for those flashlights.”

Roy switched the hose to the empty bucket, being careful not to let any of the water spill to the ground. Amanda handed him another empty bucket.

“Found packages of four Cs and two Ds,” Amanda said, speaking of the batteries. “Found those inside the ambulance, of all places,” she continued. “But I didn’t find any more anywhere else that I looked. I was in a hurry, though, trying to get in and get out unnoticed.”

Roy nodded, familiar with how the runs worked. He looked like he had a question, but he didn’t say anything.

“Thought maybe it’s time to try that home improvement store again,” Amanda said. “It’s probably cleared out some now.”

She and Roy had attempted to check that store out a couple of months ago, but it was like creeper central in there, and they had decided not to risk it. The good news was that others would have thought the same thing, and that meant that it had not been looted much, if at all.

“Mom is so excited about that bag,” Sam said, returning with her sister in tow. “You’d think it’s like Christmas or something.”

“I like Christmas,” Tammy said.

Amanda handed over three plastic bags filled with canned food to Sam.

“Now, I’m excited,” Sam said. “I am so hungry.”

“I want to carry one,” her sister said.

Sam dug into one of the bags and handed her sister a single can to carry.

“Gotta teach them while they’re young, am I right?” Sam said.

“What’s gotten into you?” Roy asked of Sam. “You’re in a good mood now.”

“You should have seen these two thirty minutes ago,” Roy said to Amanda.

“I can believe it,” Amanda answered. “Can you blame them, angry at the world for changing, hot, displaced, and hungry?”

“Maryanne’s been at her wit’s end all day,” Roy said, shaking his head. He moved the hose to the third empty bucket and then looked behind him to see if the girls were returning. “And then we almost lost Jason today,” he said, shaking his head again. “He started seizing from the fever, and it scared the bejeezus outa me, I have to say.”

“How’s he now?” Amanda asked worriedly.

“Not good. What took you so long?” Roy said, without it sounding accusatory.

“What’s next?” Sam asked, walking up on them. The beam of the flashlight in Tammy’s hand had grown weak.

“Here,” Amanda said, holding out a large army green duffle bag that was packed with a myriad of supplies. “Just sling it over your shoulder because it’s heavy.”

“No problem. Are we almost done here? Tammy and I are real hungry,” Sam said, without making it sound sarcastic.

Amanda felt like her head was spinning from all the questions and catching up with the group, and also she was hungry. The third bucket was filled, and Amanda removed the hose.

“The rest of the work can wait till morning,” Amanda said, “let’s go up top.”