We took to the street and began to force our way through the thick snow. It gave us more resistance than we hoped for. The further into the center of the street we went the less snow we dealt with but we were still forced to bring our knees high to our chests while we walked. The best way to describe how we looked: awkward penguins looked cooler than we did.
Marcus scanned every building we walked by to search for unnatural sources of light and open windows, alongside footprints in the snow or signs of struggle anywhere. He was determined to return with enough information to help the group gather supplies and survivors if any were left. “We’re taking a right on the next street,” he said too focused to look up at me. His eyes still fixed on what surrounded us. He didn’t plan to lose focus on this trip.
“Yessir,” I saluted him in a failed attempt to lighten up the grim and dark mood he was in, but he wouldn’t budge.
City boarder! City boarder! City Boarder!
The echoes of the phrase ‘city boarder’ repeated in the back of my mind moments after I heard it. Fear, the most powerful thing I could have encountered (What a cliché.)
Right turn;
“We’ll be on this street for three or four hours before our next turn,” Marcus repeated what Trevor told him while he pointed down the street in the direction we would head. If Trevor’s information was accurate, the street would take us a large part of the way out of the city.
Everything was for the most part quiet. Ambient sounds made up the larger part of the noise. Winds rushed through small spaces and created brief whistles that left my ears ringing consistent with the sound of the whistle afterwards. Boot-to-snow crackles filled the remaining silence. Every few moments the snow would put on a dance for me, with help from the wind, the snow would twirl and spin around.
Life is a… Life is a… Life is… dance?
My thoughts were interrupted by an inconvenient headache. I needed something to distract myself the way Marcus used his survival search. “A survival search for my own survival!” I told myself. It wasn’t the most coherent thought I could have come up with, but it was a way to pass the time. The idea was to trace back through the last few days and find something I might have missed helpful to my survival. Simple enough, so I began.
I started off in the morning of the first day, in my room. Shower, cereal and television followed. The news, I could remember they said something about the infection I completely ignored. I took the skateboard, skated on the streets and sidewalks, made it to school. Was I there earlier than should have been possible on a regular day? The streets and sidewalks were less populated than usual. School; I made it to the school and went inside. Took classes, became bored half to death, two or three boredom strokes and then the girl walked into the school. Infected man chased recently infected girl, recently infected girl loses her mind inside of the school, and other students become infected outside while they tried to help out the guards. I left the class and the hallways flooded with infected and students within the time it took to walk a floor down. How much time went by between the infected girl reaching the school and Melissa and me getting out of it?
A few miles into the street and no infected encountered. Maybe the city really was emptier of infected than we thought it was. The sun was already in a different location; at least an hour went by, at most, two and a half.
“We’re taking a left at the next street,” Marcus said.
“Why are we getting off of this street so soon?” I whispered in case he spotted some infected around us.
“We’re being followed,” his answer was short, but man did it pack a punch. Wish I had some speed cola too (look it up).
For obvious reasons I became paranoid. I began to entertain thoughts of what or who could be following us. Infected were the first on the list of bizarre things I could think of. The second was the idea of being followed by Richard and the rest of his corrupt military morons. Finally, the third possibility, maybe we’ve been spotted by someone who wanted to attack us for whatever we held in our bags in order to improve their own quality of life at the expense of Marcus’s and mine.
“What’s the plan?” I tried to sound serious and unconcerned.
“We’ll turn up ahead and hide in the alley around the corner. Whoever is behind us will keep going under the impression we did the same until they realize we’ve lost them. It’ll give us a chance to get behind them. We’ll have surprise on our side.”
“Okay, I get it.”
We continued to move and turned immediately on the street Marcus said.
Left then left.
Once on the next street we ran to the alley in between the first building from the corner and the second. In the alley we found a large, corporate dumpster and hid behind it. I counted the seconds till something happened. Like every exciting moment in life, I felt like an eternity went by before anyone came around the corner. We patiently watched.
“Edwin?” Marcus said confused while he watched Edwin walk right by the alley.
“What the…” I was as confused as he was. Did we really see him walk by?
We both scrambled to leave the alley and meet up with Edwin before he took a turn into a store or building in search of us.
“Edwin!” Marcus yelled out. He discarded how golden silence was.
Edwin, a little further ahead, turned around like one of the infected after the sound of Marcus’s voice.
Marcus and I were relatively confused as to what Edwin was doing hours from the rest of the group.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked desperate with curiosity. The words nearly ripped themselves off of my vocal cords.
“I was following the two of you! Duh!” Edwin said; a sarcastic tone loitered in his voice. Chances were everyone back with Trevor was in panic because they didn’t know where Edwin was. Meanwhile, Edwin was with Marcus and me on his way out of the city. We were screwed.
It was impossible to return Edwin and save daylight both at once. We had to continue to move forward to not waste another day, but now the pace needed to be adjusted for two adults and one child. Edwin and Marcus would arrive back home at night or on the next day if Edwin slowed us down. I did have to admire the dedication it must have taken him to follow us for so long without getting killed. The kid was braver than me.
I finished the thought and opened up to the idea that maybe he wasn’t going to slow us down. It was inconvenient to have to keep an eye on an extra person, but who really knew what would happen? Maybe he’d keep his eyes on us too. After all, he did make it far without being detected.
“What is wrong with you?!” Marcus raised his voice even louder. “You were supposed to stay with the rest of the group for your own protection!” By this point he was yelling.
Marcus managed to keep his cool most other times when things became serious, but it was difficult to do the same when the safety of a child is involved.
It was neither the time nor the place for Marcus to start to lose his mind. I walked away. Similar to how the main character would after he made a point in a drama film, except in this case no point was made. A dramatic walk-away was used in place of a logical discussion. Surprisingly, it helped the situation out. Marcus saw me walk away - so very dramatically - and realized I was being more focused than he was. This was enough to get his priorities reoriented and allowed him to put the Edwin issue at rest for the time. There was nothing left to do about it. Edwin was stuck with us until he could return with Marcus to Trevor’s building.
Marcus distanced himself from Edwin and me. He went far ahead to interact with us as little as he possibly could. He wanted to process options to deal with Edwin’s presence, options which wouldn’t endanger anyone.
We moved in a single file, slanted line.
“I’m sorry…” Edwin said minutes into the walk with Marcus and me.
“Don’t worry about it,” I tried to comfort him. “Did you at least let them know you planned to come along with us or did you suddenly leave them without warning? They could be in a panic right now, you know.” Without realizing it, my attempt to comfort him turned into accusation.
“I didn’t really have a plan. I left without thinking it through... They have no idea where I am.”
“Figures…” Marcus mumbled under his breath ahead of us.
“Well, that sucks. Guess panic mode it is for everyone back at Trevor’s,” I said.
“You do realize you will head back with me, right?” Marcus made sure to keep Edwin informed on the fact he was not going to tag along with me but instead return with Marcus to Trevor’s and stay there.
I didn’t have it in me to both watch the kid selflessly and put my family and my survival behind anything or anyone else’s. There was no benefit. The life of one for the life of many did not come across to me as a way to save humanity or my own sanity in this messed up world.
“I know. I just wanted to do something other than be trapped in that building for a long time.” Honest and simple.
I understood exactly what he meant. Boredom, although difficult to come by in the apocalypse, was still a real thing. While the days rolled by, the excitement of a zombie apocalypse died out and became something so regular we managed boredom all over again. Take into consideration that the blackouts put whole cities in the dark and the lack of safe outside entertainment; boredom was the next most dangerous killer of us all.
“Alright, you’ll have to stay close to us at all times. I don’t want you strolling off and getting hurt. We can’t risk injury. We don’t know how bad the towns and cities surrounding us have gotten in the past few days,” Marcus began when he stopped to face us. “You are at all times directly next to one of us and at all times obeying the commands that either one of us give you. This is not debatable; this cannot and will not be argued. Is this understood?” He became firm and strict, more direct than I’ve seen him ever.
Edwin didn’t know how to respond, he looked at me for assistance but I couldn’t help him here. Although the answer was easy and obviously a ‘yes’, the tone in which Marcus approached the subject was so strong it gave even me chills. Edwin must have needed a fresh pair of pants and underwear at that point. “YES!” He shrieked and his voice cracked. A fearful silence followed.
“Good,” Marcus said and continued to walk, this time closer to us but still ahead.
Confirmation came sooner than I could have ever expected.
Marcus stopped again. He noticed something ahead of us I managed to miss. “Say and do nothing.” The volume of his voice dropped to only a little higher than a whisper.
I didn’t know what was going on, best reason to panic, but I couldn’t panic. I was told to do nothing. I decided to freak out later. A freak-out rain check if you will. I couldn’t see anything happen to reflect the appropriate kind and amount of fear I should have, just another moment of confusion.
“Do you remember the alternate routes we mapped out for the area?” Marcus asked. He tried to keep his voice low. The question was for me.
I remembered most of the routes off of the top of my head, and some extra ones we didn’t even mark on the map. “Yes…” I answered my voice as low as his.
”Pick one, take it, and I’ll follow you after you’ve gone far enough. Take Edwin with you,” his voice shook like an earthquake took place in his throat, “Remember to run.”
I couldn’t move. He gave me a clear warning and command but I didn’t react with anything but stiffness and a distinct shiver which crept down my spine. Sadly, my reaction was within reason. A couple of seconds rolled by before a loud scream came from a distance. Similar to the random yells of the girl in my neighbor’s house on the first night, but somehow still different. I knew for sure it came from runners close by which meant we needed to get as far away from there as we could. Edwin was in his own little world of panic and kept his eyes fixed on me while he waited for me to lead the way. I did as Marcus asked and I scanned the immediate area till I located a building I could identify easily without the help of the map. The alley on the side of it would most likely have no snow because of how narrow it was. Not only would the lack of snow increase our speed, but the narrowness would also help us control the number of infected behind us and prevent us from getting overwhelmed. It would save our lives until we could get back to the main street.
Edwin and I moved fast, I swore I spotted a dust cloud behind us when I looked back. Marcus, now two hundred feet, or so, behind us, ran to catch up. In no time we were at the alley. A large vertically arranged waste container and a fence cut the alley down the middle.
Push, and then jump
. My thoughts clear, I could already see myself forcing the container in the way of the infected and jumping the fence. We ran by the waste container, large and green, the hulk. To move it was a two man job. Then I took note of the wheels it had. The container wasn’t going to be too much help. It would give us only a few seconds to split Marcus from the runners behind him. The infected would easily move it out of the way whether they were runners or not.
“Help me!” I yelled at Edwin when I turned back to move the container. He ran by me but turned around when he heard my order. With our combined power the container was moved, slow enough to give Marcus a chance to make it to our side before we would block off the path with it and take off behind Marcus.