Least Likely To Survive (18 page)

I was pulled out of my inner rant by Jack heaving a sigh next to me.  “Fuck, this whole thing is a fucking mess.”  I could hear the weariness creeping through his words, and had to agree.

“Yeah, it’s a fucking disaster down there;” I didn’t really know what else to say.  I was mentally and physically exhausted, and knew I still had miles to go, although was beginning to think I may cool my heels here for a few days.

He leaned back, and lit a cigarette he had pulled from his pocket, handing another to me.  I leaned in and let him the light the end for me, before leaning back into the bench with him.  He chuckled as he spoke again, “Thanks for stepping in with Whatshername back there; women like that creep me the fuck out.  I never know how to handle them.”

I turned to look up at him with a smile as I exhaled the smoke from my lungs.  “You’re welcome.  She was a complete bitch, and I’m a little sad she hasn’t been eaten yet.”  I paused briefly after the words left my mouth, and almost regretted them.  I felt bad wishing that upon anyone, but at the same time felt some people just didn’t deserve to survive.

Jack didn’t seem fazed by my callousness, as he just nodded in assent.  “Yeah, she’s a real piece of work.  Feel bad for Bob.”  I giggled at the overly serious look on his face.  I knew he was trying to lighten the mood.  He grinned like the devil he was before continuing, “I thought she was gonna choke when you called me ‘love.’  Fucking beautiful!”  He erupted into full on laughter at this point, as I recalled the same image.

Giggling, “Fuck yeah!  When you called me ‘honey’ her eyes bugged out and I thought her head was gonna explode there for a minute.”  Our laughter died down, as the moment passed, and we sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

“You going to church in the morning?”  Jack asked, breaking the silence.

“Hell no, I don’t participate in organized religion.  Too culty for me,” I said while still staring at the fires.

“Yeah me either.  I think there’s something up there, but whether I call it ‘God’ or not, remains to be seen.” 

I nodded my agreement.  “Jack, I don’t trust that Riley kid.  Did you see the way he looked at Chloe?”  I turned to him as I said this, concern crinkling my face.

He frowned, and his eyes got dark like earlier, when we had been arguing.  “That kid is fucking trouble, and if he so much as looks at her wrong,
I’m
going to eat him.”  I was startled at the chill in his voice, and how calmly he said this.  For the most part he was such an easy going guy; I wouldn’t have pegged him for the protective type, but it made me like him more, which was already too much.

I looked at him with a smile for a moment longer, before turning my attention back to the city.  I knew my feelings for him were getting stronger but I had to ignore them for as long as possible.  It wasn’t safe to form attachments right now; not safe for anyone.  It wasn’t certain who would live and who would die, and that was assuming anyone survived this.

I heaved another great sigh as my thoughts drifted back to Jack.  I had never met anyone like him, and still wasn’t convinced he was real.  He was turning out to be the kind of guy every other guy wanted to be like, and every woman wanted to be with.  It amazed me how he just oozed cool, without even trying.  Was he even aware of it?  Probably not; if he had been, it would take some of the novelty out of it.  The cooler you were, the less you were aware of it.  I had to wonder what it was like to constantly be confronted by women like Nancy, and getting special treatment everywhere you went, but decided he was probably tired of it, or at the very least, so used to it he didn’t even notice anymore.

A breeze drifted by us, which under normal circumstances would have been pleasant, except this one carried the stench of rotting flesh and burning plastic.  I had to wonder if the world would ever smell good again.  I watched as ashes from the various fires were carried along the breeze, and swirled through the air, dancing to sounds only they could hear.  Smoke swirled up through the sky, and you could just see the stars peeking out of the haze.  It was comforting that amidst all the chaos, some things remained unchanged.  Regardless of mankind ending, the stars were still shining, the mountains still standing, and although I couldn’t see it from here, was sure the oceans were still churning.

Thinking of the ocean made me think of my island waiting somewhere out there for me.  I felt my body stiffen, and my face harden as I reaffirmed my desire to make it there.  I didn’t want to spend what time I had left in this fortress, fending off the infected, listening to people like the Wells’.  I still wanted to hear waves gently lapping around me, as I dug my toes into powder white sands.  If I’m going to live through Hell, the least I can do is make it to paradise on the other end.  Besides, I had never seen the ocean before, and wanted to have that experience before I die.  Preferably without zombies trying to rip into my flesh.

“Jack?”

“Mmm?”

“How long do you think it will last?  I mean, before they die?”

He looked at me, and then turned back to the skyline silently, as if turning a coin in his head. I could see him reasoning, and figuring out how he wanted to answer, and a few beats later he finally did.  “I don’t know.  At this rate, they will run out of food within the month, and then it’s just a matter of who dies of starvation first.  Us or them.”

I thought about that statement.  Who
would
starve first?  If we stayed here, surely we would run out of food, and I was willing to bet search teams were sent into the city to scour for supplies, even with a city this big, food would run out fast with as many people staying here as there were.  The gamble of it didn’t sit well with me.  What happened when the zombies had picked off the stragglers out there and they turned their sights on us?  Surely they could sense people in here and eventually would attack en masse; assuring that our days of safety were numbered.  But how much longer until that happened?

As much as I hated the idea, I had a feeling I shouldn’t leave Jack or the kids here, at least not for long.  I knew they would be safer on that island with me, where we would be away from large populated areas.  Coming here in the first place was probably a bad idea, but I was pretty desperate at the time, and thought surely the government would have a better strategy then just holing up survivors in large groups.  Once again, I was giving the higher ups too much credit.  For all their schooling, and all their degrees and titles, why on earth should I think they would have a better plan than I?  Of course it wouldn’t behoove me to spread my idea out; for surely they would all follow, essentially ruining the safety of seclusion.  No, better keep my plans to myself.

I turned back to Jack saying, “Yeah, but how long do you think it will take them to starve?  Weeks? Months even?”

He sighed before answering, and I could hear the weariness in his voice, as if he too had the weight of the world on his shoulders.  “I don’t know, Angie.  I just don’t fucking know.  I do, however, think it’s not safe to stay here long.” He gave a long exhale of cigarette smoke and sunk further into the bench.

I cocked an eyebrow and sat up a little straighter, interested to hear the rest.  “Why do you say that?”

“As well guarded as we are, I think we’re just sitting ducks at this point, and eventually,” he turned to look directly at me, “They will storm the gates.”  I wanted to laugh, but found nothing really humorous at his statement.  He was right, and I completely agreed with him.  “I think we should all go to your island.”  Jack reached up and pushed a lock of my hair behind my ears as he said this, and half smiled at me.  “It’s probably safer there then here; surrounded by people with guns, who don’t know any more than we do.”

I just sat there, staring at him.  My pulse raced a million miles a minute at his light touch, and I momentarily wondered if I was going to faint, but at the same time didn’t miss the trust lighting his eyes, and the familial look on his face.  Well fuck.  He trusted me, and I was pretty sure I was going to let him down and get us all killed, as I had no fucking clue what I was doing.  My stomach felt like lead at this thought, and now I felt like throwing up.  No one had ever had faith in me before; hell, I didn’t have a lot of faith in myself.  Yet here was this guy, and these kids, who were willing to follow me blindly to certain death.  Damn it all to Hell, now shit really just got real.

There were too many emotions, and they all clogged my throat, making words impossible.  I swallowed hard a few times, trying to clear them before I finally managed words.  “I was thinking the same thing.  I think we could probably stay a few days, just to rest and refuel, but then we should head out. 
All of us
.”  I said the last part poignantly; sure that he would catch my drift.

Jack smiled at me.  “I knew you would see the light.  It just took a minute to get through that dense skull of yours,” he tapped my temple lightly to illustrate his words.

I laughed and playfully punched his shoulder, “Ass.”

“You still love me, though,” he said with a wink, before sitting back again.

For a split second my heart stopped at his words, before resuming its steady pace. 
Did I love him?
  Was it possible to love someone after such a short time?  I wanted to think about this further, but knew it was a slippery slope to embark upon.  Besides, he was probably just kidding; although with him, it was hard to tell.

I turned back to watch the world burn, and felt his hand slide into mine.  It was a little thing, but as our fingers entwined, I felt a little better knowing that despite it all, there was still at least one other person on this planet who was just as scared as I was.  Below us was a city on fire, and surely the rest of the world mirrored this devastation and destruction.  There was no knowing if we would live, or if there would be anything left worth living for, yet here we sat, silently bearing witness to the end of the world; holding hands.

I must have dozed off because I was Jack gently shaking my shoulder was brought to my attention.  “Angie, let’s go,” he was saying softly as he attempted to rouse me.

“Mmmmphrrm,” I said back as I opened my eyes and looked about.  I noticed that at some point the kids and Roscoe had joined us; yawning and shaking the sleep from their eyes long enough to make it back to the box.  I stood up and stretched; bones still weary and muscles now cramped from sleeping on the bench, and wordlessly began to follow Jack as he led us back through the restaurant.  It was deserted now, and all the chairs were stacked on the tables for the night.

Emerging back out into the main corridor, we headed for the elevator, and I couldn’t help but notice the place was a ghost town, save for the occasional guard.  There was one posted at the elevator door now, and we had to show our badges to gain access.  Apparently they were taking their segregation of the floors pretty seriously.  Too bad they didn’t realize that some of the women and children were the biggest threat.

The elevator pinged, announcing our floor, and we shuffled through the door, heading across the large corridor to the little hallway where the club boxes were.  We passed the guard and I noticed it wasn’t the same one from before, and thusly had to again display our badges for inspection.  Once assured we were in the right place, he stepped aside to let us pass.

Trudging up the little staircase, we rounded the corner and walked down the hall a few paces before at last finding our door.  Jack entered first; cautiously inspecting the place to make sure no surprises awaited us, before motioning the coast was clear.  Normally I would have been offended he had taken the job upon himself, but I was too tired to care.

Shuffling over to the door on the left, I entered our room, walked right over to my makeshift bed, tossed my glasses to the floor and flopped myself down, as ungracefully as I had ever flopped before.  I heard Jack snicker at me, and face still lodged in my pillow, “Mmmphrm,” was all I countered back at him.  I was just too pooped to form actual words, let alone complete sentences at the moment.

“You’re too fucking cute, Angie.  I knew you would wear down eventually, and am somewhat surprised you made it as long as you did.”  I heard Jack saying this, but didn’t lift my head from the pillow to see his expression or to shoot him a dirty look.  I sensed the teasing in his voice, and decided it wasn’t serious enough to comment.

The sounds of fabric ruffling, and Jack groaning as he shifted into a more comfortable position was the last sounds I heard before I drifted to sleep.

Chapter 12:  Team: Purple.

I was yanked from my dreams by a wet tongue.  Considering I had been dreaming Jack and I had been dancing on a beach and making out, I wasn’t immediately alarmed, until I regained a little more awareness, along with the realization I had been dreaming.

“Ugh, Roscoe!  Stop that!”  I reached my hand up to push the dog away, and was met with a furry wall.  Pulling my head off the pillow, I cracked open an eye to give the dog my best death stare.  He just panted at me, and nudged my hand.  Damn cute dogs and their adorable faces would the death of me.

I sat up, and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.  I was still sore, but not nearly as tired, considering that had been the first real sleep I had seen in days; although given the chance, could probably sleep some more.  I looked over at Jack, who was still snoring away, draped over the sofa.  “Damn, that guy could sleep through anything,” I muttered to myself and shook my head.  Must be nice.  I looked over at the door, and noticed it was open and I could see Ty and Chloe standing there impatiently staring back at me.