Alone (5 page)

Chapter 6

“Hello! Hello!” The sound of a voice calling out to him echoed in his mind.

Tony mumbled something unintelligible as he turned his head on the pillow and pulled the sleeping bag away from his face. It was again getting warm in the room as the sunlight flooded in through the window.

Tony tried to recall what he had been dreaming about.

Dreams had awakened him many times in the past. Sometimes he would wake up feeling terrified, other times he would wake up feeling sad. Sometimes when he had dreamed about his Dad and heard his Dad’s voice speaking to him he would wake up feeling sad. He missed his Dad and his family.

When he had dreamed about his last days with his family or about his friends he would wake up sweating and panicked. He would often wake up sitting on his bed staring around his room looking for the dead.

But it had been a while since he had any of those dreams. The past few weeks he had slept peacefully. Maybe being at the warehouse had calmed him down.  The warehouse made him feel safe and having all he could eat had a lot to do with making him feel comfortable. His nights had become a time of peace despite the constant noise made by the dead. He had finally been able to tune out the noise and relax.

Tony opened his eyes and stared at the tin roof above him. He thought it was strange a dream had awakened him and he had no idea what he had been dreaming about. It was not unusual to not be able to remember everything about his dreams. He guessed that was his minds way of venting stress so he wouldn’t go mad, but it was unusual not to be able to remember anything. He guessed that too, not being able to remember was a defense mechanism of his subconscious mind.

But to have a dream wake you up without feeling sad or terrified was probably a dream he would have liked to have remembered.  It had been a long time since he had an enjoyable dream and as hard as he tried to remember, he had no idea what he had dreamt about.

“Hello! Hello!” echoed again in the room.

Tony jolted upright on his bed as the blowup mattress moved around on the floor and creaked from the movement.

His eyes moved to look at the walkie-talkie that sat on the lawn chair near the window.

Tony’s heart raced as he jumped out of bed and grabbed the walkie-talkie as he stared out the window towards the edge of the clearing.

He pushed the transmit button and said “Hi!” as he grabbed the binoculars with his other hand and held them up to his eyes to get a better look at the brush at the end of the clearing.

The first thing he noticed was the arrow was gone.

“Hi!” The voice came loudly from the unit in his hand.

Tony quickly turned the volume down to keep sound from traveling out the window and getting the dead worked up.

He didn’t know how good the hearing of the dead was, in fact he didn’t understand how they could even hear. All he knew was that they were attracted by noise and he didn’t want to get them worked up any more than they already were.

Tony pressed the transmit button again. “If my voice is loud you can turn down the volume with the wheel on the right side of the unit.”

Tony waited a moment and when he didn’t get a reply he spoke again. “Hi! Are you still there?”

“Yes!” came the reply.

“I’m Tony. What’s your name?”

“You said if I said Hello I could have another granola bar.” The voice replied.

“Yes I did. I’ll send it out in a minute.” Tony said as he thought how pleasant the voice sounded. “You’re a girl?”

“So what?” Came a short reply.

“What’s your name?” Tony asked.

“I’ll tell you when I get the granola bar.” The voice said.

Tony smiled. He had gotten the girl to give away the fact that she was out there, but she wasn’t going to give away anything else until she got something in exchange. In today’s world you wouldn’t have managed to have survived this long without being careful.

Tony picked up the arrow he had prepared yesterday, taping a granola bar on the end so he would be ready when he made contact.

“Here it comes. Stay alert. I’ll try to get the arrow as close to the edge of the brush as I can, but I’m not real good with this thing. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Tony sat the walkie-talkie down and aimed the bow and let the arrow fly.

He watched as the arrow landed about three feet from the berry patch. He picked up the binoculars and watched. He watched for about five minutes before a thin girl with long black hair darted out of the weeds, grabbed the arrow and disappeared back into the brush. She seemed to be wearing a dark shirt of some kind, jeans and white tennis shoes.

He glanced down at the dead, but they didn’t react like they had seen her. He moved his gaze back to the clearing and watched to see if he could see any movement. All looked quiet and still.

He studied the area for five minutes and wondered if the girl had taken the granola bar and left.

“Trish.” A voice sounded over the little radio.

Tony reached down and picked the unit up. “Hi Trish. It’s nice to talk to you. I hoped you liked the food. Would you like another one?”

“You would give me another one?” Came a surprised sounding reply.

“Sure. Just give me a couple of minutes to get another one and tape it to an arrow. I’ll tell you as soon as I have it ready. I’ll be back on in a minute.”

Tony set the walkie-talkie down and started for the door. He looked down at himself as he passed the window and felt embarrassed as he walked over to his bed and slipped his jogging pants on as he shyly looked out the window.

He quickly moved down the ladder and ran back to the food shelves.  He grabbed a container of beef jerky. He had granola bars near his bed but he wanted to send something extra out to his new friend. He then moved over to the sporting goods and grabbed a handful of arrows.

He moved back to the ladder and looked at it for a second, realizing both his hands were full. He slid the container of beef jerky into the waist band of his pants. He smiled as he began to climb the ladder. “I better not mention where this beef jerky was or it might scare her away.”

Tony went back into his room. He took three arrows. He taped a granola bar to one arrow and two pieces of beef jerky to each of the other two arrows.

When he finished he picked up the little radio. “You still there?”

“Yes.” Came the reply.

“I’m going to shoot three arrows out to you this time. One with a granola bar and two with beef jerky on them. Stay alert. The beef jerky strips might make the arrows drift, I don’t know. Just be careful. Also if you would put the arrows together in the brush. I might need them again.” Tony said. “Here comes.”

Tony shot the arrow with the granola bar on it first. It landed about where he had expected.

Next he shot the first of the beef jerky arrows. He was startled when he saw the arrow fly into the brush past the end of the clearing.

He quickly picked up the radio. “Are you OK? That arrow went further than I had expected.”

“I’m OK.” Came the reply.

“Good!” Tony said. “Stay put. The next arrow should end up close to the last one.”

Tony sent the next arrow. He was happy to see it ended up almost exactly where the last beef jerky arrow went.

He picked up the binoculars and watched.

He saw the top of the bushes move around.  He continued to watch as the girl with the long black hair grabbed the granola bar arrow and vanished back out of sight.

Tony waited for a few minutes to give Trish time to eat the food he had given her. He was anxious to talk with her and had a lot of questions he would like to ask. Mostly he would just like to hear the sound of her voice.

When he couldn’t wait any longer Tony picked up the radio. “Trish, are you still there?”

“Yes.” Came a reply.

“Are you out there all by yourself?” Tony asked.

There was no reply. He thought about the question and decided maybe Trish didn’t want to answer that question. If she had been out there on her own for the last year, maybe she wouldn’t want him to know that she was by herself.

“I would invite you in for a visit, but as you can see, I’m surrounded by zombies.” Tony said “I’m going to try and pick them off one by one. Maybe in a few days it will be safe enough for you to visit.”

“Why would you want me to visit?” Trish asked. Tony thought he detected fear or suspicion in her voice.

“I’ve been trapped in here with no one to talk to. In fact you’re the first person I have talked to in months.” Tony replied softly. “I have so many questions I would like to ask you. What’s it like outside of Uniontown?  Are there other people out there? How have you survived? Where are you staying? Is it safe?”

“It’s bad. There isn’t much food and no it’s not safe out here.” Came the reply in one fast sentence.

“I can help you with food, at least for a while as long as my food holds out.” Tony added.

“Why would you do that?” Trish asked. “What do you want from me?”

Tony laughed. “I would just like to talk with you. That’s all I want, that and to help you if I can.”

“Nobody wants to help me. Everyone wants something! They all take but no one gives anyone anything!” Trish answered sharply.

“I’m sorry to hear it has been like that out there for you. Are there many people out there?” Tony asked.

“Not many, just mostly the dead. But the people that are left are as bad as the dead. No they’re worse than the dead.” Trish answered. Her voice sounding cold.

“I’m sorry to hear that. I was hoping it would be better outside of town.” Tony replied. “I can understand that you might be leery of answering my questions. So why don’t you ask me questions. I’d just like to talk with you.”

There was silence.

“I promise I won’t ask you any more questions today. I just want to talk. You can let me know when you are ready to answer questions.” Tony said, then added.  “Please?”

After a long silence. “Are you alone?” Trish asked.

“Yes, I am alone. I had a friend, but he was killed. I only lived because I was able to run in here and lock the dead out.” Tony replied.

“You have food in there?” Trish asked.

“Yes. I found food stored in the building when I came here.” Tony answered.

“What can I get to trade you for some food?” Trish asked.

“Nothing.” Tony replied. “As long as I have food I would be happy to share with you. I would just like to be able to talk with you.”

Again there was silence.

“It’s safe here so far. I don’t know where you live or what it is like for you where you live. You can tell me that when you are ready. But I thought maybe you might want to stay here with me for a while. It would be nice to have someone to talk with.” Tony added.

“I have to leave now.” Trish said quickly.

“Will you come back tomorrow?” Tony asked. “Sorry I know I promised not to ask you anymore questions today, but I hope you will come back tomorrow.”

“Will you give me more food tomorrow?” She asked.

“Of course I will.” Tony replied. “Just talk on the radio and let me know when you get here.”

“OK. Bye.” Trish said then the walkie-talkie was silent.

Tony sat back on the lawn chair and studied the edge of the clearing, watching to see if he could see which direction Trish went. But he could not see any movement. She was good.

But she also seemed strange. He thought of her reactions to some of his questions. How she felt the living that existed now were worse than the dead. That no one was willing to help anyone else.” Everyone wanted something.” she said. She seemed to be suspicious of him when he had asked her questions.

He swore he had heard fear in her voice at times.

What was life like now out in the world? He was so excited to try and contact other people. He had just assumed everyone else would be just as excited to find others, but Trish sounded afraid. What was it like for her? What was she afraid of?

Could life in the world now be survival of the fittest? Dog eat dog? Could it be that bad?

Maybe it could be that bad. It was certainly bad in the city, but all he had to deal with was the dead and finding something to eat. Trish seemed to be more afraid of the living than she was of the dead.

Tony hadn’t thought of that possibility. He had always assumed when the virus struck that people would band together to help each other.

But then again, why would they? They never really did that before the virus. People had always seemed out for themselves to get whatever they could. People had always expected someone to give them what they needed. Someone else was always responsible for their problems. It was always someone else’s responsibility.  It was never their fault; it was always someone else’s fault.

Maybe he needed to rethink his plans to leave the warehouse and explore the towns around Uniontown to try and find other people.

Trish had given him something to think about, whether she had intended to or not.