The Complex: (The Reanimates) (6 page)

             
"Mom," he started, "all that stuff we got at the store, did we steal it?"

             
I started laughing. Here I was worried that his psyche was destroyed having come face to face with a thing that wouldn't die after being shot two times in the chest until the third bullet made his head explode like a watermelon in a Gallagher show. I was worried that he would never feel right again having come face to face with living death.

             
"Awww hon," I started, "I love you. Let me start by saying I'm not laughing at you.  Worrying that we stole something was just the last thing I thought you'd say. I almost forgot we went. What we just did is technically called looting. Most people loot TV's and computers and stuff like that. Something tells me though TV's aren't going to be worth anything soon. What we got is stuff we need in the long term or stuff to trade for other things we might need. If this all blows over I'll work something with the owner to pay for all the stuff. Sound good?"

Post Raid

             
Trent pulled into the driveway to the complex. Daniel was standing next to the gate waiting for us. He spun the combination, pulled the chain, and let us through. We pulled into the carport and were greeted by a few people. We got out of the truck without a word. Trent went behind the truck and dropped the tailgate. Those who were near the truck oohed and aahed over the collection of goods.

             
"Time to get this all unloaded." I said. "We can take it all to the grassy area to divide it all up."

             
I hung back for a moment to talk to Trent and Joey.

             
"What do we tell the others about this?" I asked.

             
"We let them enjoy the moment for now. They should have a fun moment for a little bit." replied Trent. Joey nodded in agreement.

             
When the truck was emptied we all gathered in the common area.

             
"Everyone?" I called out, "Time to talk about the division of this. There were only four cross bows. I'd like to see every unit have some sort of protection. Who has a gun in their apartment already?" Joey, Daniel, Tyreese, and Trent raised their hands. “Good. Cool. It almost looks like I planned it that way. I need one person from each gun-less home who wants a cross bow to come forward." Trent handed them out. There were ten stoves so every unit got one leaving a couple as a back up unit or available as a trade item. We continued on through the rest of the supplies making sure every unit got at least one item (or a similar item if there were not enough for the eight units) and the extras went into the back up until we got to the shoes.

             
"I got as many shoes as I could. I know I don't have any real outdoors shoes and we need to protect ourselves from as many injuries as possible. We got as many sizes as we could. We'll set them up in piles by sizes so everyone can try them on. If there are situations where there are more people needing a size than is available then we'll look into who already has what. And on the note of preventing injuries, I got first aid kits for every home as well.”

             
To close out the distribution session I asked, “Are there any questions for us?"

             
"Yeah I got one." Said Mercedes. Mercedes is a 70 year old sweetheart. She was the one who always kept an extra eye on the kids as they played and had a kind word for everyone. If she wasn't sitting on her balcony in her rocking chair she was baking. She would comment on how she didn't move as good as she used to but she refused any help up or down her stairs when she took her walks. Her sons would stop by every week with her groceries and while she never said anything you could tell it bothered her to not be able to do the shopping for herself. Her fried chicken and apple pie was legendary in our complex and the day after her groceries showed up the smell coming from her place could make your mouth water.

             
I smiled at her with more confidence than I felt and said, "Sure Mercedes. What's on your mind?"

             
"Did you run into any trouble?"

             
Asking if we ran into any trouble felt like the understatement of the year. I sighed softly. We had to break the news. I took a deep breath to try to calm the freaked out feeling that was welling up in me. That pretend confidence wavered greatly.

             
"We did." I pressed my lips together wishing I could give that but everything is cool now smile. It wasn't cool.

             
"The town has been abandoned. Cars litter the roadway with all the doors left wide open. It looks like a big panic went down. We didn't see another living soul. When we were about to leave there was a man, a reanimated man. We took care of him but as we were leaving we saw several more. They are out there."

             
Many faces stared at me in shock.

             
Jody, Liam's mom, spoke up. "Really? You aren't joking?" She looked at me like she was waiting for me to say ha! Got you! I looked down at the ground. I couldn't stand those imploring eyes. She turned to Trent and Joey looking to them to say that what I said was just a joke. It wasn't.  I wished beyond all wishing that it was.

             
"At least we should be safe here," I said. "We have the gates locked. The ones today didn't seem that coordinated so they won't be scaling the wall. We just need to keep it together."

             
This Mrs. Brightside thing is starting to be exhausting. I felt like having a mini melt down right then and knew that couldn't happen. These people expected me to be the prepared one. Drew needed to see that this was something that could be coped with. My head hurt.

             
"I need to go in for a bit and zone out. With everything that happened today I need to give my brain a break and hope to get this borderline migraine to settle down. I'll talk more later, Jody, 'kay?"

             
She grudgingly agreed to my leaving. As I turned to go up the stairs Jody called out.

             
"Cali! Quick question!" I turned back around.

             
"Yeah?" I asked.

             
"Is there some sort of signal we should have if it looks like we are about to have a zombie break in or something?"

             
It was a good question. I guess that zone out really should wait. I turned back towards her and said, "What did you have in mind?"

             
"Steven plays the drums." said Jody.

             
I had forgotten that. In a flash I remembered the first time I met Jody McCoy. It was five years ago. Her now six year old was a squirming one year old who was not fond of naps. Jody had knocked on my door saying she was getting a petition together to ban drum play in the complex after Steven moved in. Steven fancied himself the next Lars Ulrich of Metallica fame and so he would practice daily at random times and when he practiced on the set, he practiced loudly. Jody was at her wits end. Her husband had just deployed to Iraq on a two year contract and shortly after arrival her husband died, his convoy had run over an explosive device. It made her suddenly a single mom to three kids and now, to add insult to injury, some new neighbor was making it so the little one would not nap. Jody's fire red hair was a mess and her green eyes flashed as she was talking about getting a petition signed for management to put a halt to the drumming. It worked. I wonder if it was a diversion from the pain of her loss, to have fought so hard against the noise, but it was effective. It seemed that when Jody got her head on something that needed fixing then something was going to get fixed. Steven got a set of drums that plugged into the computer to practice with though sometimes he did still tinker on the full set. No one resented his occasional playing, even Jody.

             
"I bet if you asked him Cali, he may have something like a cymbal that could be struck if they show up giving everyone warning."

             
"It's worth a shot for sure." I replied.

             
"Kids! Stay in this area OK?" Called Jody.

             
"You too Drew." I added.

             
Her six year old daughter Abigail, her ten year old son Liam (who happened to be one of Drew's best friends) and Drew agreed readily. Her fourteen year old daughter Erin sulked like teenagers do but nodded her head. They didn't mind the stay put rule, Tesla was being trained to fetch. They were busy.

             
"Erin is mad at me cause I told her there is absolutely no way I am going to let her sixteen year old boyfriend pick her up to go out today. The reanimates are a handy justification for not having her in a car with some boy." Jody giggled over this. It brought a bit of a smile to my face too. Who'd have guessed that zombies could be a parenting tool.

             
Steven had lived on the external ring before the zombies, right behind Jody. He relocated to the internal ring next to Mercedes when the exodus happened. I knocked on his door.

             
"Uh... uh... who is it?" He asked from behind a closed door. He sounded scared.

             
"It's me. Cali. I have a question."

             
I heard the locks turn and the door start to open, then stop. "Promise you aren't sick?" He asked quietly, almost pleadingly. It occurred to me at the supply hand out he stayed away from the group of people hugging his arms to his chest. He seemed scared of being near anyone and right after the supply meeting he went back to his place, not lingering around with the others.

             
"I'm not sick. Not even an allergy sniffle. Jody is here too and I can see she isn't sick either. You're safe." I responded gently.

             
The door opened part way so he could look us over. Happy enough with what he saw he opened the door. "Sorry," he began, "I have a touch of OCD. Usually it's fine and manageable but these last couple days? Not so much." He looked down at his feet. His stringy long black hair fell, obscuring his pale face and dark eyes.

             
"I totally understand." I said.

             
"So what can I do for you?" He asked.

             
"Well, we need some sort of warning system if the zombies show up. I hope we won't need to use it but I want everyone on guard if it happens. Do you have anything that you think will work?"

             
Steven smiled. "I most certainly do! I got this novelty cow bell that's made out of metal. It's huge! If you take a wooden spoon it will make a really loud noise."

             
We had to go over to his previous unit to find it. When we went in he darted off into the other room and came back with a foot tall bell and hanging stand. He went to the kitchen, grabbed a wooden spoon. He hit it once and the entire room filled with the sound. It was perfect.

             
"Thank you Steven. This is great." said Jody. I agreed.

             
We turned to start down the stairs when Jody stopped and turned back to look at him re-locking the old place.

             
"Steven? You don't have to be a stranger, you know. We'd all like to have you hang out whenever you feel up to it." She said. He nodded in acceptance of the invitation.

             
Tyreese spotted the bell when we came into the grassy area.

             
"Is that the dead ringer? " He smiled at the pun he made. I rolled my eyes which made him laugh. "Cause I have an idea with that. If we get the ladder out of the maintenance shed we could set up a watch tower on top of my roof. It has a clear view of the road once we trim up this tree. If someone sees a zombie we could alert the complex. Get ready to defend the place." I agreed.

             
"I think we should get you and Trent together on that. I like it. Last I saw Trent he was hanging out with Daniel by the gate."

             
Tyreese took off in the direction if the gate. I made another attempt to get home to lie down. I had started up the stairs when I heard Joey call my name. I closed my eyes for a couple seconds. I was so close.

             
I turned around and said, "Hey Joey. What's up?"

             
"I wanted to give you something. Just in case."

             
He pulled out a shirt that was hiding an object. He opened it up.

             
"It's a 22 caliber Luger target pistol. It's pretty accurate. Does well long range stuff. And in here..." he opened his back pack and pulled out a couple boxes. "Here are some bullets for it. I picked up the ammo today while we were out. I'm still hoping it won't be a problem and this will all blow over but I am a realist. It's probably going to get a lot worse before it has any hope of getting better. Later I'll show you how to use it. Right now though you look like you need some down time. "