End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle (21 page)

             
“Really?”

             
“Yes,” he said. “She was a medic in my militia.”

             
“Then you knew Dan too?”

             
“Yep.”

             
“Both dead, you know?”

             
“Jim told me—“ Joel paused. His blue eyes looked heavy. “Jim didn’t say how Rachel survived. She left because she was bitten by a zombie.”

             
“She was immune,” I lied. I was glad Dave didn’t say anything.

             
“How’d she die then?”

             
“Suicide after Dan got killed by one of them,” I said, before Jim could lie. It wasn’t entirely false.

             
“Sorry to hear that. Never met anyone immune, I mean besides Rachel. What about you?”

             
“Nope,” I said, this time I was lying through my teeth. “No one except Rachel.”

             
“I heard they are carriers,” he looked straight at me. Like he knew I was lying.

“Only knew ‘bout Rachel. I know nothing about disease.”

Joel eyed me cautiously. “My men and I came over by boat, and we’re staying overnight in a house not far. We heard what you said on the radio, but we’re not staying. Thought we might talk trade.”

             
“Where is your group?”  I asked.

             
“Moving about the Hamptons,” he said. “Lots of nice houses there.”

             
“I like being on this island.”

             
Joel smiled. “The whole place is an island.”

             
I didn’t respond. Something about this conversation seemed uncomfortable, like we was walking on egg shells.

             
“Is that your boat in the dock? The one with the broken mast?”

             
“Yeah. We lived on her for a while.”

             
“Then we already have something to trade. I can take a look at her. I’m not a ship builder but I did a fair amount of repair work. What about you, what do you have to trade?”

             
“Farm fresh food. We also have an electrician and a mechanic.”

             
“How about your shooters? We’re always looking for good hunters.”

             
“Ah,” Felix suddenly said. He wasn’t looking at Joel but the man with the scar. “You came by the lighthouse last year right? Looking for hunters?”

             
The man looked startled but said nothing.

             
“Yep,” Joel answered for him. “We’re always on the lookout for people who can hunt.”

             
I smiled. I wasn’t ready to tell Joel the details despite his chiseled chest. I wasn’t about to tell him about Mike’s massive stash of guns in the basement and how we were going to set up a gunsmith in one of the houses so Mike could make more ammo or that Grace was a perfect shot. “We got a bunch of people who protect us.”

             
“Us too,” he gave a big smile revealing sparking teeth. Jim was on everyone to always brush their teeth and floss because there were no dentists. “Maybe we can have a hunt together.”

             
“Join us for lunch,” Jim said who always knew how to play fair.

             
“I don’t know how many people will be happy to see me, I see you have a lot of the old people from that camp.”

             
“We have a cantina where everyone eats, but there’s a private room when the council needs to meet. We can eat there.”

             
“You have a council?” he asked, his voice amused but I ignored it. “I thought you were in charge.”

             
“I am and I rely on my council to help me figure out important decisions.”

             
“I rely on myself to do that.”

             
“Everyone’s got a different method,” I smiled to lighten the mood. “We can have lunch in the dining room. You don’t mind rice and beans?”

             
“That’s all I’ve been pretty much eating lately,” he said and laughed.

             
Joel was charismatic, I’ll give him that, but something about him seemed off. I figured he was here to recruit. I couldn’t imagine any of my people leaving and Joel had already passed on the people from the camp and the lighthouse.

              Lunch was small. I wanted to get all the council people together. Only Manny and Rose showed from the camp, but Manny didn’t look like he wanted to be here. He said he was representing Felicia. Dave, Annemarie, Gwen, and Frannie also came. I think Annemarie and Frannie took one look at Joel’s leather pants and were enthralled. I asked Grace but she laughed at me and said she was on patrol.

             
Joel had two men with him, Big Bill and Chris. Bill was the one who came by the lighthouse. When Manny first looked at Bill, he got a look like my friend Tyrell used to get when he saw someone he didn’t like.

Both had rifles. I had my handgun holstered as did Dave and Mike who also had a rifle. Joel did all the talking. Big Bill and Chris never said a word.

              “Hello, Manny,” Joel said and shook his hand before sitting down.

             
“Joel,” he said, his voice monotone. He took a seat on a folding chair Jim had gotten from the cantina.

             
“Didn’t expect to see you again.”

             
“Likewise. You too Bill. Did you ever find any carriers?” Manny tried to keep his voice calm. He was a normally an easy going guy but he looked like might jump over the table and choke him.

             
Bill didn’t respond. Didn’t look angry or surprised.

             
“Told him it was a myth,” Joel responded. “Immunity yeah maybe, but no carriers except the zombies.”

             
Joel smiled and looked over to Rose. “Rosie. Looking good.”

             
Rose smiled and blushed. She tossed her long brown hair back. “Thank you, Joel.” I didn’t know what was going on between them and didn’t ask.

             
“Hi, Joel,” Frannie said, twirling her hair, “I’m Frannie—nice to meet you.”

             
Joel nodded at her then looked back at me. “I’m here to talk trade.”

             
“As I said, we’re growing food. Dave’s an electrician.”

             
“Don’t need much electricity. Long Island doesn’t have power plants. We’ve been stealing solar panels when we can. What do have is water. There’s several aquifers in the area. We can find the one that belong here and get it up and running. I got a plumber keeping the filtration plant running. How’s that sound?”

             
“Sounds like you’re gonna be earning your vegetables.”

             
Joel smiled. I understand why people followed him, but I also got why his cocky attitude turned people off. Jim always told me that sometimes you gotta smile and make nice.

             
“I’m sure there are other things we could trade,” he said.

             
“If you have anyone who wants to farm, we can use them. We got plenty of room in outlining houses. We’re clearing them now. A small island easier to patrol. Less worry about zombs.”

             
“All good points,” he said. “But I think my people will stay on the main island. We’re hunters first and foremost. Still plenty of can food and game to live on for a while. You get rid of the zombies on Harbor, we’re going to do the rest of the island. Maybe even go west.”

             
“We’re doing that on a smaller scale. Eventually we may have to expand outside of Harbor, it would be good to have zombie free areas. Right now people have to eat.”

             
“The thing with less zombies is people stop being afraid. Even one can start an epidemic.”

             
“Not many humans for them to kill anyways,” I said.

             
“I think they might die out,” Mike brought up. “They don’t decay as fast as us. Something in their bodies still live, but they are decaying. In 15 years or so if we don’t get new infections, they’ll just crumble to dust or won’t have mouths to bite us.”

             
“I’m not going to wait 15 years. I want to get rid of as many as possible. Time we get this country back to normal.”

             
Dave looked like he was in love. I didn’t think normal was coming for a real long time but what Joel said was good to hear.

             
“That’s amazing, Joel,” Frannie said. “I have some hope for the future.”

             
Joel didn’t respond. She was trying too hard. Gwen who was sitting next to her, rolled her eyes.

             
“Next month, we’re gonna to clean out a nest in Harbor Heights,” I told him.

             
“You tell me when you plan to do that. I’ll come with. Give you some hunting pointers. We got to kill as many of those fuckers as possible. We don’t want any new infections. And they won’t starve to death for a while, they’ll get desperate and go after themselves, the freshly dead, even animals,” he paused. “I heard that if they bite a dead body without a hole in the head, it can reanimate the corpse, though I’ve never seen it. I burn the bodies of flu victims or at least gave them a hole in the head.”

             
That unnerved me but before I asked Joel where he got his info, I got interrupted by bells-- Our early warning system. We got bells in three places: Outside the cantina, at the edge of the fields and outside the front door. These sounded like the cantina. Grace was on patrol. Two bells ringing meant two zombs. It went up to five. After it was a massive a ringing and lock down for everyone but the shooters. Two was a lot, usually we find only one.

             
I wasn’t fearful of the zombie but what Joel said. There are billions of dead bodies out there and if the zombies got hungry enough. The thing was—in the two years since the zombs came, I ain’t seen anything like that.

             
“What’s that?” Joel asked.

             
“Two zombs.”

             
“Can I watch?”

             
I hunched my shoulders. “It might already be too late.” Although, I hadn’t heard the gunshots yet.

              Joel, Jim, Frannie and I got there in time to see Grace take out two old ones, I think both were male, one for sure, but the other one was too decayed to know. Their clothes were in tatters decaying long before their owners. The only thing still visible was the mouth. They don’t decay normally otherwise they wouldn’t be a problem. The skin on their decayed mouths showed shiny teeth and jaws which stayed pristine. They were stupid but seem to know how to rip someone apart.

             
Grace shot them rapidly without hesitation: one, two. Both clean headshots and they went down, falling backwards and crashing to the ground where they would never get up again. Someone would burn them later. She looked around for a moment, I guess to see if more came. I looked around myself but I didn’t see anything. Finally I saw Grace point the rifle down.

             
Joel stood next to me, frozen in place, his eyes wide, staring at Grace.

             
“Who is that?”

             
“Grace. One of our shooters.”

             
“She’s amazing.”

             
“She’s just lucky,” Frannie said and she sounded mad but she was actin’ stupid.

             
“Luck has nothing to do with it, that’s natural talent.” He walked over without talking to me. I followed, didn’t think there would be any harm. Frannie was wrong. Grace was a natural. She loved her rifle but she got good at every weapon put in her hand.

             
Grace looked at us with her usual amused face.

             
“Hello Grace,” I said. She didn’t respond. “This is Joel.”

             
“Please to meet you, Grace,” he said, putting out his hand.

             
Grace looked like he put out a zombie hand, but she reluctantly shook, only holding the tip, like he was poison.

             
“I have to finish my patrol,” she said, pulling her hand away as quick as she could.

             
“Wait. Please stay for a few more minutes. I would love to talk to you.”

             
Grace looked at me for help but I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t her handler.