900 Miles (Book 2): 900 Minutes (5 page)

Jarvis spoke up
.“
Le
t’
s get this place cleaned up. Richard, would you escort Claire and her daughter to their living quarters and get the child looked at
?
”

Unclenching my hands, as if the
y’
d been pried open by the sudden request, I slowly lowered my arms while twisting my wedding ring between my fingers, as Claire turned toward Richar
d’
s extended hand
.“
Le
t’
s make sure this little sweetheart is right as rain
,”
he smiled. Standing there, watching them slowly walk away, I found myself blurting out
,“
Hey
!
”

Claire turned to look back. I  hesitated with a flash of uncertainty, as my mind stuttered.

“
Wha
t’
s her name? Your little girl
?”
I managed to force out.

“
Olivia
,”
she said, trying to pull off a smile, and then turned back toward Richard and kept walking.

“
Olivia
,”
I whispered to myself
.“
We saved little Olivia
.
” 

As they passed through the doorway, I noticed a number of people in the hallway. Each of  them peering in with the hope that they had not lost any loved ones or friends.

Claire was lucky. There would be many others that were not.

Jarvis finally broke the silence
.“
That may be an issue
,”
he said while running a finger through the layer of ash atop the medicine cabinet.

This caught our attention, snapping Kyle away from watching Rodgers continue to thoughtfully clean his helmet visor on the dead ma
n’
s smock.

W
e’
d all lost a little humanity.

“
Ca
n’
t we replace it with what we have in storage
?”
I asked in a way that almost implied it was
n’
t possible for this to be that big a problem.

“
This was it, John. W
e’
ve burned through the backu
p…
we have nearly seventy people to take care of down here
,”
Jarvis said, remaining composed.

My mouth went dry, and my shoulders tensed, almost as if my body realized what this meant before my brain did.  Not so much as a word slipped through my lips as my mind shot directly to the little boy back in my room that needed a daily dose of that liquid mist from the nebulizer.

Less than thirty minutes earlier,
I’
d administered the final dose that I had tucked away in our living quarters. When he was first diagnosed, the doc had instructed that Tyler was at risk of an attack at any time. Regular doses of the meds would mostly keep it at bay. Regular being every twenty-four hours or s
o
…

However, again, that wa
s‘
mostly
,’
and mostly did
n’
t cut it. We needed the medication, and we needed it now.

It must have been obvious in my face. Kyle did
n’
t have to ask the question.

Stepping to the middle of the room, Kyle boldly stated
,“
John and I are heading out to find meds for his son. W
e’
ll need to sort out where and how, but ther
e’
s no scenario where we do
n’
t head out
.”
He said this while looking directly in my eyes. Something about how he said it made me feel like w
e’
d actually be able to pull it off. After all, we had to, or my son would die.

“
W
e’
ll need to suit up and meet topside
,”
Kyle said, shifting his head toward where he thought the field was
.“
W
e’
re heading outside the gates in an hour. W
e’
ll need to get everything prepped right away
.
”

Looking around the room, Kyle then asked
,“
Wh
o’
s with us
?
”

Chapter 5

After saying my final goodbyes to Tyler and Deanna, I found myself climbing a set of stairs that led up to a part of the field above the bunker which was fortified and surrounded by a series of large cement walls. I stepped toward my good friend. The one man I could trust.

Wearing a pair of sunglasses that hid his eyes, Kyle had his head tilted toward the sun. His equipment was piled up nearby, and he was using the moment of peace to enjoy the outside, taking deep breaths and pulling the fresh air into his lungs. I did
n’
t think he noticed me walking up beside him.

“
Nothing like the outdoors
,”
he said as he exhaled.

Glancing up at the sky, I watched as a set of rolling white clouds lazily drifted through a magnificent blue sky. There were moments where one could almost forget about where we were and what had happened. The clouds did
n’
t give a shit whether humans or Zs roamed the landscape. They moved along just the same. It was the same sky the dinosaurs had looked at, and it would be the same one long after man was extinct. I took comfort in the fact that not everything had changed in the seven months since the dead began t
o…
well, not stay dead.

“
Getting a little cabin fever, are we
?”
I said as I glanced at Kyle.

“
I would be perfectly happy setting up a tent out here and never going back down into that catacomb
,”
he replied, emphasizing catacomb as he looked at his own black, soot-covered hands.

“
Yo
u’
re not turning all hippie on me, are you
?
”

Glancing to me, with a straight face, he said
,“
Do
n’
t know. Yo
u’
re not turning all Wookie on me, are you
?
”

Reaching my hand up to the patchy beard I had failed to shave off for weeks, I cracked a smile and replied
,“
Touc
h
é …”

Slowly panning my gaze across the Yard, I noticed people scurrying around, getting ready. It was a big deal every time we entered and exited Avalon, and it took time to get everything in order. Still, I found myself tapping my foot. I could
n’
t help but feel like we were
n’
t moving fast enough.

Prodding him a bit, I asked about the time, knowing full well what the answer was.

Without moving his face away from the sun, Kyle lifted his wrist to my face, placing a rusted gold-plated watch with a scratched faceplate to my eyes. Barely glancing at the hand slowly ticking around, I muttere
d“
Shi
t”
under my breath
.“
W
e’
re already losing daylight
.
”

Kyle remained calm, trying not to get worked up. I knew him well enough to understand that he needed time to get mentally ready before heading out beyond the wall.

This was just his way of doing it, and did
n’
t in any way mean he wasn't fully aware of the sense of urgency at hand.

The Yard, as we called the land we had sealed off from the outside world, was our small patch of safety outside. We had some gardens where we grew seasonal vegetables on the far side, a garage where we did most of the vehicle repairs, and a parking lot filled with four-wheel drive trucks and pickups which the group used for recon work and scavenging outside the walls. We even had a solid supply of fuel-filled drums stockpiled near the garage, which w
e’
d collected from nearby gas stations.

Sticking out like a sore thumb was the bright yellow Hummer, now repaired, that Kyle and I had picked up in New York and traveled to Avalon in so many months ago. There was a special place in my heart for that vehicle. W
e’
d been through a lot together. Just like my hammer.

Looking up at the sky, I could
n’
t help but notice the two guard towers erected on each side of the Yard. They had spotlights and a few heavily armed men, men who were responsible for monitoring the area around us. They were protecting what w
e’
d created, keeping a steady eye on the hardworking people, all of us rallying behind a vision for a safe society amongst a world of the dead.

My attention was drawn to a young man who was pulling carrots from the dark soil in the garden and passing them off to a few children that were running them back and forth to our food storage to be canned. We had found a way to work together. A way to make the best of the hand w
e’
d all been dealt. All of them were worth protecting. Every single one of us.

“
Better be careful
,”
Kyle said with a stern voice.

“
Careful about what
?
”

Pausing for a moment, but still leaning back and staring at the sky, he said
,“
You do
n’
t want to get a beard-tan
.
”

Listening to him chuckle under his breath, I could
n’
t help but let a long smile grow across my face. He was clearly trying to calm my nerves. At the moment, I really needed the laugh.

“
What are you two jerk-offs laughing about
?”
Mr. Rodgers asked as he walked up behind us. H
e’
d been outside checking on hi
s“
little pet
s”
as he liked to call them. Otherwise known as the creatures in the Dead Shed.

Neither of us responded, not wanting to let him in on the joke.

“
Fine, do
n’
t give a shit anyway
,”
he finally sniffed before pulling a lever on his weapon and inspecting the inside of the barrel.

Rodgers had traveled on his own across the landscape for months before he wound up at Avalon. H
e’
d seen many atrocities out there and had stories that we could only half believe most of the time. He often spoke about his daring escapes, from climbing through a series of trees to move above a group of Zs to hiding in a gutter while in the inner city. H
e’
d done it al
l…
or at least said he had.

Anyway we looked at it, he was a hard bastard, having survived on his own for so long, and we respected him for it.

W
e’
d met up with him on a scavenging run. When we found him, he was half- drunk, sitting on the roof of a supermarket. When we first saw him, he was making a game out of throwing empty beer bottles at the creatures below. I heard him calling out the number seventeen when we found him, seventeen being the number of Zs h
e’
d nailed in the head.

With all his problems, we still felt damn lucky to have him with us. He, Kyle, and I had been making these runs together for months, and he was clearly added value to the team. Like a thick callus on a set of worn hands, the crazy bastard grew on us over time, forming a solid layer of protection that we grew to trust.  Looking up from his gun, he asked
,“
Is it just the three of us
?
”

“
Nope, w
e’
re waiting on one more
,”
Kyle replied, still not turning his face from the sun.

“
Who is it
?
”

Before Kyle could reply, we heard a cough and turned around to see Avalo
n’
s leader, Jarvis, standing behind us. Dressed in the same black body armor that we were wearin
g—
from the original fallen soldiers of Avalo
n—
he held a metal spear in one hand and had an AR-15 semi-automatic machine gun in a sling around his back.

“
Here he is
,”
Kyle finally said as he pulled his face down from the su
n’
s perch.

Jarvis reached over and shook hands with Kyle. They had become close in the past months, relying on each other to keep the people going. His background continued to remain somewhat of a mystery to all of us. When asked what he did before the end of the world, he would always respond with the same coy answer
:“
Remind me to tell you later
.
”

I had often wondered if he ever let Kyle in on his little secret. If he had, Kyle never shared it with me.

When Jarvis first started heading out beyond the wall with us, I questioned his actions. After all, he was our leader. I questioned it in the same way one would question why Captain Kirk would leave his ship to head out on the most dangerous missions when he could easily have sent someone in a red shirt.

Looking back at it, what
I’
ve finally realized is that our best leaders do
n’
t sit in an ivory tower putting the weight of the world on their people. Our best leaders lead through example, and Jarvis would be the greatest leader Avalon would ever see.

It made perfect sense for the other three to be the ones to head out into the world, scavenging and doing recon. Most of them had some sort of badass military training. All
I’
d ever done was simply survive. However, I have to say that it suited me. After all, prior to the end of the world, all I was good at was talking on the phone and giving presentations in meetings. Being a superstar in the corporate world does
n’
t exactly prepare one for greatness in the world of the dead. It was the blue-collar worke
r’
s skills that reigned supreme. I could
n’
t build shit, and I could
n’
t cook shi
t…
hell, in this new world, all I was really good for was cleaning shi
t—
and that was
n’
t the gig I wanted.

“
Listen boys, I need you to know something. We spotted a Jeep across the field yesterday. There were three men in it
,”
Jarvis said as he pointed out toward the field beyond the concrete walls.

It was
n’
t the first-time people had found us. There were survivors out there. However, more often than not, they were
n’
t stopping by to ask for a cup of sugar.

Looking back at it, humans must have been the first population in the history of any planet where the term
s“
survival of the fittes
t”
an
d“
natural selectio
n”
did not apply. We took care of the weak, designing ways to support those who could
n’
t support themselves.  The fat got fatter, the lazy got lazier, and the politicians got plenty of votes to ensure the cycle continued.

In most ecosystems, a population will self-correct.  The
y’
ll run out of resources, or some sort of a disease will kick in. It was Mother Natur
e’
s little way of keeping things under control.

Man was notably amazing at coming up with ways to dodge these checks and balances. Sure, early on we had our Black Plagues. However, once we got smart enough, we invented medicine and cheap ways to manufacture and deliver food, which kept our seemingly perfect little society on life support for far longer than it ever should have lasted. 

In the end, and despite Ma
n’
s best efforts, there simply was
n’
t anything stopping Mother Nature from doing what she does best; skimming the fat off of the top of the population line. She
always
seems to have the final say over how many of any species the world will sustai
n…
including Man.

One thing was for absolute sure. She must have been pretty pissed, because that line got knocked almost all the way down to the bottom.  Who knows, maybe from the Eart
h’
s perspective, one could argue that Man was the plague infecting the world, and she simply gave herself a nice healthy shot of penicillin. 

Either way, in the wake of the apocalypse, she reduced our species to just two types of people. The first were the scared and the feeble who were either lucky enough or smart enough to hunker down and hide. People who fought every day to hold onto the morals and the ways of a society pushed to the brink of extinction.

The second were the psychos and the marauders. People who would do anything it took to make it, no matter what the cost to those around them. They survived by killing and taking, long abandoning any semblance to what made us human in the first place.