Trying to Survive (Part 3) (7 page)

   I knew I was going too easy on her… I just didn’t want to risk going too far...

Chapter 8

   When the sunlight began to fill the store, it wasn’t long before everyone else opened their eyes. I’d been awake for hours, having been lucky to sleep for twenty minutes here and there. As usual, my thoughts continuously chased away any chance for even a half-night of interrupted sleep.

   To ensure we didn’t draw any attention to ourselves, as soon as Jenny was done tending to Brian we brought everyone else inside and blocked off the gaping hole that used to be the front door with some shelving.

   We helped ourselves to some food, but decided not to scour the store until the sun was up… We’ve already learned the hard way that not seeing any shredders doesn’t mean they won’t just suddenly appear if we start making noise. It was also horrible for the car batteries to leave them sitting with the lights on.

   Brian seemed to be in good spirits, but was clearly in a lot of pain as well. Jenny gave him as much Tylenol as she could without hurting him to help ease his suffering. It probably didn’t do much, though I’m sure he appreciated having something instead of absolutely nothing.

   The store was almost pitch black. We were only able to find a few small patches that were illuminated by the moonlight. Allen and Veronica mainly kept to themselves. It was just an all-around horrible night.

   I spent a few minutes talking to them, but they seemed distracted and distant so I left them alone… I noticed that Allen rarely took his eyes off Clara’s shadowy figure on the other side of the room, even though I’d disarmed her.

  
Guess I can’t blame him… He probably didn’t get much sleep either…

  
I was dying of boredom. Jenny was the last one to open her eyes, and the moment she did I jumped up and walked over to Brian. He was rubbing his face and looking around the fully stocked, untouched store. “This is unbelievable.”

   He laughed through a long yawn and reached back to inspect the bandage near the back of his neck. “At least this didn’t happen for nothing.”

   Just to try and cheer him up, I said. “You have no idea how stupid I felt when I found out the shredders slowed down during the day… I’d still have two eyes if we just waited to try and escape my neighborhood until the next morning.”

   Brian continued to laugh, and then made a jokingly pained face. “Oh, yeah. That’s rough man.”

   Jenny bluntly cut in. “How do you feel?”

   “Uh… It hurts like hell.”

   She kneeled down beside him and gently pushed him forward. “Does it feel hot or itchy?”

   “Not that I can tell.”

   Jenny peeled away the bandage and her face twitched, seemingly showcasing concern. “It looks a little irritated.” Walt was standing right next to the duffle bag drinking some water, so she called over to him. “Walter, get me the alcohol.”

   Brian groaned out “Really?”

   “Don’t even start with me. This is serious. We’ll do it every few hours if we have to.”

   “Great…”

   I glanced back and noticed that Clara was sitting in the corner alone. Her hands were interlocked on her lap and her eyes were forever glued to the floor. When I saw the old blood stains on her clothes it reminded me of the night I found her in Melanie’s room.

   I got up and walked over to a shelf filled with snacks. Within a few seconds I spotted some chocolate doughnuts and brought them over to Clara. “I bet it’s been awhile since you’ve had something like this.”

   She only made eye contact with me for a moment before she looked away and shook her head. “I’m not hungry yet.”

   When Allen got to his feet and started walking around the store, Jenny jumped up and grabbed her rifle. Allen stopped and put his hands up to about shoulder level. “I just want to look around.”

   Jenny took a few steps forward and looked him over. “Once I’m done here we can walk around the store together and get to know each other… For now, I’ll have to ask that you sit down.”

   Veronica seemed somewhat annoyed, but she stayed quiet as Allen walked back over to her and sat down. After I told them everything, they were a lot more understanding of our distrust for them. I had a good feeling about them (unlike Naya). I just hope I wasn’t wrong. Though I did learn to never ignore my feelings in a situation like this again. Fortunately for them, I wasn’t getting any bad vibes. Otherwise, I truly would have had Walt let them out on the side of the road… Or they’d be dead.

   I sat down next to Clara and Walt walked up to us. He smiled and said “If you don’t eat those, I will.”

   Walt’s smile quickly faded when Clara picked them up off the floor and held them out. “Go ahead.”

   It was ironic to think that we were finally in a quiet, reasonably safe place with plenty of food and no one cared. It’s all we’ve been worried about, what Brian almost died for… Yet now that we’ve found it, the circumstances that led us here have made it almost meaningless.

   Sitting there and trying to think of something to say made me truly understand just how important Melanie’s presence had been for her…
She’d know exactly what to do and say. If she was here, Lee would still be alive and Clara wouldn’t be acting like a fucking zombie… What do I say?

  
Walt disrupted the awkward silence. “Clara... Sometimes it helps to tell people who care about you how you’re feeling.”

   She was quick to harshly respond “We barely know each other.”

   Walt shook it off and said “That may be true, but we’re stuck with each other. We have to look out for each other, share our pain and work to make sure we all get by... So really, we’re more like a family now.”

   “You’re not my family. My family is dead.”

   Walt walked over and squatted down directly in front of her. “Well, I’ll treat you like family anyway.”

   When Clara stood up, for a moment I suspected that Walt’s words had an effect on her. To my dismay, she said “Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom” and slowly walked toward the back of the store.

   I glanced over at Walt and whispered “Follow her.”

   Jenny got my attention. “Okay, let’s gather up everything we need.” She looked over at Allen and nodded so he stood up and joined us.

   “James told us what happened, so I understand why it has to be like this. Do what you have to do and we’ll comply.”

   “Thank you… So, she’s your sister?”

   “Yeah.”

   “James, did you explain what’s going on?”

   Allen turned to me, questioning. “Oh… Maybe you should do it. You said you wanted to talk to him anyway right? I’ll start gathering stuff up. It’s not like we’re in a rush or anything.”

   She nodded. “I planned on staying here awhile. You and Walt should go for a little drive later and see what else is around. There might be another store just like this one a few miles away… Maybe even a better place to stay, with some couches and beds to sleep on.”

   “Sounds like a plan.” I said as I headed over to the automotive section.

   There was no question that we’d be taking every single piece of food we can find that’s still safe to eat, so I decided to start collecting anything else we might need.

   While the outside of the store made me feel like I’d stepped through a portal into the 1950’s, the inside had obviously been remodeled. The floors looked to have been recently replaced, the paint was fresh and the line of refrigerators up against the back wall were all brand new.

   The little store really did have just about everything a person would need. I guess it was necessary due to the fact that it was over thirty minutes to the nearest “real” stores in Hinesville or Savannah.
The owners had the whole area on lockdown, and they took full advantage of it. All of the price tags I could see were a little higher than they should be…
Dickheads…

   As I looked around, I saw something that we all desperately needed and broke away from my search. There was a small section near the front counter that had several racks of t-shirts. I figured it would be nice if we didn’t see old blood stains every time we looked at one another, and Brian was especially in need of a new shirt, so I walked over and began sifting through the racks, looking for the right sizes.

   I skipped over any white shirts for obvious reasons and kept going until I came upon a navy-blue Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt with “Free Bird” scrolled across the front of it in 70’s style text
… Mine…
It wasn’t long before I found a dark-gray shirt with small lettering that said “Diesel Denim” so I confirmed it was a large and took it over to Brian.

   “Here you go, man.”

   Jenny looked surprised. “This store has just about everything. We should all get new shirts and take the rest with us.” I said as I changed into my Free Bird shirt.

   Jenny arched her left brow and smirked. “Free Bird?”

   “I’m not a huge Skynyrd fan… but that song does have one of the best damn solos of all time, or whatever you wanna call it.”

   Brian rolled his eyes. “Fuckin white guys and your guitar solos. Shit sounds like cats fighting in an alley to me.”

   “What!? A black guy is probably the best guitar player of all time… You never heard of Hendrix?”

   “He was an alien.”

   “Maybe it was all the acid?”

   We started cracking up and I turned to Jenny, expecting to see her laughing along with us. Instead, a heavy frown had formed, her jaw slightly dropped and she was just staring at Brian. He noticed and said “What?”

   “Why are you sweating so badly?”

   “Because it’s hot as balls…”

   “No, it’s not.”

  
It isn’t… not yet anyway.

   “Hey, you might not be able to tell because I’m such a badass, but this shit is pretty painful. Maybe it’s makin me sweat a little… And you just got done putting more alcohol on it. That didn’t exactly help.”

   His explanations didn’t seem to comfort her. As I observed her wide array of doom-laced expressions over the next few moments, I began to realize that I’ve never seen her look so worried before – even after everything we’ve been through.

   “Doesn’t it take some time for the antibiotics to really start working?” I asked.

   “Yeah.”

   “Would Neosporin help? I’m sure this place has some.”

   “It could help a little.”

   “I’m on it.” I said as quickly headed over to the small shelf with Advil and the like.

   Walt came out from the back with Clara and noticed my shirt. “Where the hell did that come from?”

   “There’re a few racks of shirts by the front counter. Why don’t you and Clara go pick some out? Figured it would be nice if weren’t all covered in old blood stains.”

   Walt scoffed “Yeah” and kept walking. I tried to smile at Clara as she passed by, but she completely ignored me.

   After I located several small tubes of Neosporin, I noticed one of those products that was basically a super-dose of vitamin C to help strengthen the immune system for colds. I knew it was probably a waste, but I took them back over to Jenny anyway.

   When Jenny noticed the other bottle, she completely ignored the Neosporin, snatched it away and started reading it. “Great idea, James... Vitamin C can kill off a lot of things antibiotics can’t. This really might help.”

   Brian casually remarked “Why are you so worried? I feel fine. Like I said – I’m just in a good amount of pain.”

   “I could be wrong, but I believe you’re showing signs of an infection. That shredder had recently eaten someone…”

   “Even if it does get a little infected, I’ll probably be fine after a few days.”

   Jenny demanded he take another pill and several of the vitamin C supplements before she walked away to look for anything else that might help.

   Since I didn’t want to focus on the negative, I changed the subject. “How did they react after Jenny explained everything?”

   Brian shrugged and it made him wince. “Same way all of you did when we first met… He looked like he was just told 90% of the population has either turned or been killed.”

   When I looked over at Allen and Veronica, her confusion rang loud and clear. She was shaking her head and quietly arguing with him while her hands flailed about in frustration, suggesting that she didn’t believe what Jenny told them.

   “I’m going to go talk to them for a few minutes.”

   “I’m fine man, go ahead.” He smiled. “I’d ask you to grab me some of that Jack Daniels, but Jenny would shit a chicken.”

   After a good laugh, I said “Yeah, no doubt about that… I’d sneak you some, but she might beat my ass.”

   Jenny’s sharp and commanding voice shot across the small store. “No! It weakens the immune system!”

   We kept laughing as I made my way over to Allen and Veronica. As soon as she noticed me approaching, she stopped in the middle of her sentence and turned her attention to me. “Do you believe this?”

   “Why wouldn’t I?”

   “Because it’s crazy.”

   “Is it really?”

   “There’s no way the entire population is almost gone or one of those goddamn things.”