Enduring Armageddon (25 page)

Jasper’s eyes seemed to soften at that and he said, “Alright, Chuck, I’ll give you the benefit of doubt. Let’s go outside and see what this feller’s all about.”

“Jasper, are you kidding me? We let one of those things in here and he could kill us,” Rick whined.

“I’m not saying that I’m going to let him into
my
hotel,” Jasper replied as he emphasized that he owned the property that everyone was standing on, “but I’ll sure as hell give the human spirit a chance. It’s the Christian thing to do and even if we just give him some food and send him on his way, then it’s the
right
thing to do.”

Mark let out a disgusted sigh and sat back at the desk. “Well, if it tries to come in here, I’m shooting it,” he said.

“You’ll do no such thing, Mark Matthews!” Monica chided. “Let Chuck and Jasper look this man over and decide if he’s a threat to us or not.”

Mark looked like a dog that had been swatted with a rolled-up newspaper. “Yes ma’am,” he replied sullenly.

Jasper pulled his boots on and then shrugged into his coat. Monica stood to the side while he was getting ready and then gave him a peck on the cheek. “Be safe. If it doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t and just come back inside where we’re safe.”

“Don’t worry, dear. I haven’t been on God’s green earth for sixty-four years by not being safe,” Jasper said to his wife. “Make sure you lock the door behind us and block them again.”

“Hey, hold on!” Sam called from the hallway. She trotted over and handed me the main meal from an MRE and the plastic spoon that comes with it. “I don’t like this one, so if the guy is really hungry, then he’ll eat it.”

I nodded my head. “Thanks, Sam. I appreciate it.” She just smiled and walked back to where the children sat playing a board game.

“Alright, let’s go see about this Alejandro feller,” Jasper said.

We trudged around the side of the hotel and saw Jesse sitting on one of the raised concrete curbs. Alejandro turned his head and gestured in our direction, but we were too far away to hear what he said. Jesse shook his head and both of them stood up.

“Well, Alejandro has a lot better hearing than I do,” Jesse said when we walked up to the two of them. “I was keeping an eye on him here on the far side of the parking lot, but he heard you guys open the doors when you came out.”

“I heard your feet shuffling on the pavement too,” Alejandro said.

“Geez, were we that loud?” I asked.

“Not really, it was quiet out here, but I have pretty good hearing, especially now that my eyesight is pretty crappy,” he replied. I filed that away. If Alejandro—who was similar to the zombies—had poor eyesight but could hear us walking, we’d have to be more careful moving around.

I put my thoughts aside for the moment. “Jasper, this is Alejandro,” I said.

I’m not sure what I expected to happen when I introduced the two, but I didn’t expect Jasper to walk over and shake his hand, which is what he did. “Hello, Alejandro,” the old man said. “I hear that you’re hungry. Looks like you could use a little medical help too. We can help you out if you’d like. We’ve also got a stash of clothes and I’m sure we could find something to fit you.”

Because of his disfigurement, I wasn’t sure, but Alejandro looked shocked. “Just like that?” he asked.

“Just like that, son. Chuck tells me that you’re in need of a few things.” He gestured around the general area, “Before all of this happened, my wife and I were missionaries and after we got older, we were involved in several Christian outreach programs. We like to help people.”

“I didn’t know people like you guys still existed,” Alejandro said. “I’ve never needed charity my entire life. I mean, I was the one out donating clothes at my kids’ coat drives and working in the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving. Not…not this way.” I was pretty sure that he was on the verge of tears.

Even though I was sure that Alejandro was harmless at this point, I was genuinely surprised when Jasper wrapped him in a hug. That was the breaking point for him and he sobbed uncontrollably against the old man’s shoulder. “What did we do to deserve this?” he asked.

“None of us deserved this, son. It just happened. It’s up to us to make the best of what the Lord has given us. He’ll judge us by our actions when our time on this earth is done.”

I’m not a member of the God-squad, but I could really feel the love and goodness pouring out of Jasper. I wasn’t sure what the hell I believed anymore, but if I did find something worth believing in, I hoped that my belief would be as strong as his.

“Let’s get you inside, son, out of this cold and in front of the fire.”

“I…I can’t,” he muttered. “I don’t feel the cold at all anymore, but my skin burns like crazy when it gets warm. And I’m scared of fire. I really appreciate the offer, but if it’s okay with you, I’d prefer to stay outside.”

“Alright, we can do that for now. Maybe one day, when you’re more comfortable, you can come inside. But for now, Chuck has some food for you.”

I nodded and pulled the small vacuum-sealed package from my pocket. “Here you go, man. It’s lemon-pepper tuna from an army ration. I think it’s pretty good.”

“Wow, thank you!” he exclaimed. “It’s been a couple of days since I had anything that wasn’t rotten or moldy.”

“Well, for the time being, son, if you’d like, you can stay here and you won’t have to eat rotten food anymore,” Jasper said in a fatherly voice.

“I’d like that,” he replied.

“I wish you’d reconsider coming inside,” Jasper said. “Chuck and Jesse have been outside for quite a while. I’m sure they’d like to go in too.”

Alejandro glanced back and forth between Jesse and me. “Do you think the people inside would be alright with me? I mean, look at me. I’m a freak. Just like those other ones…and I know what you do to them.”

“You’re different. The ones we killed would have attacked us and tore us to pieces,” Jesse said.

“How do you know? You killed them from the roof without any interaction with them at all. I mean, these ones would have, but what if there were a group of people like me traveling together?” Alejandro asked around a mouthful of food.

There it was. I’d been thinking the same thing myself. What if we’d inadvertently killed people who were just sick and not some type of twisted creature like those others were? I didn’t like to dwell on it, but it was definitely a possibility and it presented us with a sticky problem. Undoubtedly, the majority of the ones we’d seen were lost beyond reason, however, now I might hesitate before killing one of them. That hesitation could get me, or Rebecca, or anyone in our group for that matter, killed.

Then it hit me. “Alejandro, can you tell if people are like you or if they’re like the things that we can’t reason with and want to kill everything around them?”

He paused with a spoonful of tuna halfway to his mouth. “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought of it that way before. I did recognize Harley right away. I saw her walking in the ruins of Dallas one day and I knew she was different than the others I’d seen. I also knew the group I joined up with wasn’t totally like me when I first saw them. Maybe I can sense it or something,” he said.

“That’s really interesting,” I replied. “We’ll have to be very careful how we deal with the infected from now on. Now that we know that people like Alejandro exist, we can’t just go about killing indiscriminately.”

“Well, except for the few we’ve hit on the road with the truck, I can guarantee that every one of them that I killed was crazy as hell,” Jesse stated. “Come to think of it, the ones we hit were because they tried to jump onto the truck as we drove by, so they were just like the others.”

I thought back all the way to my very first interaction with those things, to the one that ambushed me while I was taking a shit. Each of the ones that I’d personally killed was trying to attack me. “I’m in the same boat,” I said out loud. “For the most part, I’ve always had to defend myself against these things from up close and personal. Obviously, I’ve survived to dread another day.”

“I’m definitely not defending what they do—far from it. Just maybe, I don’t know…ask it a question before you kill it,” Alejandro shrugged.

“I think we can figure something out,” Jasper said reassuringly. “Are you sure that you want to stay outside? Aren’t you worried about frostbite since you can’t feel the cold?”

“I think I’m beyond that, but…okay, I’ll come inside if I can stay on the opposite side of the room from the fireplace. I’m still not comfortable around fire since the nuke.”

“Deal. Let’s go back,” I said. “I think that Jasper and I should go back inside first and talk to Mark about you, maybe take his gun away. He’s our group’s resident hothead,” I said as an aside to Alejandro.

“I don’t want to be the source of problems for your group,” Alejandro said.

“Nonsense, son,” Jasper said. “That guy needs to learn that we don’t know anything about our environment anymore and that people like you exist. He’ll just have to leave all of his preconceived notions behind or he can leave my hotel.”

Jasper agreed with me to go in before Jesse and Alejandro to smooth the way with the residents of the hotel. He didn’t foresee any problems with anyone besides Mark. I asked him about Rick, but he said that Rick was a pushover and would go whatever way the group went.

I rapped out the little code on the glass and waited for an answer. Right on cue, Sam’s head popped up above the furniture again to verify that it was me. A few moments later Jasper and I were standing inside on the welcome mat.

Mark stood behind his desk and looked over our shoulders. I noticed that he was holding his gun in both hands with his finger along the trigger guard like he was expecting trouble. Jasper unwound the scarf from around his face and laughed out loud.

“I never would have believed it, folks. Chuck and Jesse have found a very nice man to add to our little flock. He’s the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet,” Jasper said.

“Yeah, but he said that this guy was just like those freaks who killed Chris,” Mark said, gesturing with the barrel of his rifle towards me.

“Put that thing down before somebody gets hurt,” Jasper admonished.

“I’m just trying to protect everyone in here,” Mark replied.

“And we appreciate it, son, but I’ve talked with that man out there. He may look like some of the others, but the only reason is because he’s been burned horribly, as I’m sure most of those others have as well. But he’s still got control of his mental facilities.

“Monica and I spent most of our twenties and thirties in the Third World. I believe that I’m a pretty good judge of character because of those experiences and I think that man outside is honest and well-meaning.”

“I second that. He looks different than us, but he’s still a normal person inside,” I said.

“I don’t like it. That guy was out there with those things and now you want to bring him inside with us?” Mark asked.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Jasper said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “Mark, you know me. Hell, we’ve lived together for about five months now, so you know that I’m as easygoing as can be, but don’t push your luck on this one. We’re human beings. If the Lord Almighty has given poor Alejandro this cross to bear, then it’s our responsibility to help pick it up and carry it without complaining about the splinters.”

“What are you talking about? You know I don’t understand all your biblical references,” Mark stated dumbly.

“It means that we’re helping that man out there. If you try to get in the way, you’ll find your rear end in the cold,” Jasper hissed.

Mark could see that he’d been beaten. “Fine, but I’m gonna keep my weapon pointed in his general direction the whole time. Probably save your asses too, but I won’t get any thanks for that either.” He harrumphed and sat back down at the little desk.

I nodded with approval when he’d placed the rifle down on the table in front of him instead of holding it like he was going to shoot someone. “Alright, I’ll go out and get Jesse and Alejandro,” I said as I turned around to let our friends know that it was safe to come inside.

The two of them came in from the bitter cold and Alejandro hung back to the side while we locked the doors and pushed a few pieces of furniture back into place. After we had enough piled in front of the door to stop them from being shoved open from the outside, we stepped back and turned to face the assembled crowd in the room.

I removed my mask and gestured for Alejandro to pull his hood off. “I’m not so sure about this anymore,” he said as his shadowed face peered around the room at the expectant crowd.

“It’s okay, son,” Jasper whispered. “These people are our friends. They’ll be yours if you let them.”

He was still hesitant until Sam appeared before him with her hand stuck out. “Hi, I’m Sam…Samantha,” she said.

Alejandro started to take her hand but instead pulled the hood of his sweatshirt back to reveal his burned and scarred face. He watched her face carefully and when she didn’t jerk back in horror he took her hand. “I’m Alejandro. Nice to meet you.”

The tension in the air fled away and everyone crushed forward to meet our new companion. Everyone except Mark. He watched the proceedings from the little desk in the corner and drummed his fingers lightly on the pistol grip of his rifle.

* * *

Our time at Jasper’s hotel passed quickly while we rested and prepared for the next leg of our journey. The pull to stay and take up full-time residence was strong, but I knew that we would need to begin farming in the warmer south if we were going to survive. Everyone in our party agreed that the hotel’s supply of canned goods was not inexhaustible and that we should leave before we used up all of their food.

We spent the days talking about our world, playing games and learning everything we could from Alejandro, who’d been out in the wilds living with the zombies for almost six months. We also wanted to help Jasper out, so Jesse and I used our experiences from Virden to help shore up the hotel’s defenses and increase stand-off distance for the residents.

We commandeered fencing from the farm next door and stretched it across the parking lot in the front and nailed it between several trees, wrapping back along the sides to the edge of the hotel. I wished we could have used fence posts, but the ground was too frozen to risk the terrible noise that would accompany the pounding of a sledgehammer. The fence wouldn’t even come close to stopping a determined human, but it should be sufficient to at least hinder a mutant long enough to dispatch it.