The Walking Dead
The Tropical diary
Day 312 after breakout
Part 1 the attack
"Move ass or your dead!" hector called out as my feet pounded across the barren earth. I sprinted down the hill bullets zipping past me as I lugged a bag full of stolen supplies. I caught up with hector and we sprinted for the car.
"Who's bright idea was this again?"
"Oh shut up and run you idiot!" he said.
Bullets ripped up the ground missing by inches. Fifty meters to the car, forty, thirty. The shotgun door slammed open and the driver returned fire to the unknown shooter. Reaching the last few feet me and hector dove into the van.
"Go go go!" I yelled.
The driver slammed the gas and we took off down the road. A few seconds of silence followed as hector and I caught our breath.
"So did you get the food?" Asked Lisa who was driving the car.
"Yeah, I panted. "Enough to last us two weeks if we conserve it well."
"Good, lets hope it does because we are never doing that again. You guys could've been killed."
"Much agreed. I said. "Note to self, never go with hectors dumbass ideas of getting supplies."
"Hey, you were the one that agreed to take the risk!" said Hector. "And besides, we got the food right? That's all that matters."
"Well our lives matter as well, we could of died!" I said.
"Okay, I'm sorry. He said. I promise we won't do something like that again. Lets just go home."
"Much agreed…" I said as I leaned back in my chair.
"So what's the plan now?" Asked Lisa.
"We get back to base and count the supplies, after that we continue with our everyday chores, maybe do a bit of scouting." I said.
"So another boring day of routine then." She moaned.
"Pretty much…" I slowly closed my eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep.
I woke up to smack of a rubber band to my wrist.
My eyes shot open and I swung my hand out catching Hector in the chin.
"What the hell man?" Hector recoiled.
"Don't wake me up with pain dumbass," I said groggily. "I could of mistaken you for an infected and turned your brains to spaghetti. Now what do you want?"
"Were at base, rise and shine buddy."
I groggy sat up in my chair and let out a yawn.
Stepping out of van the sun flared into my eyes. Our base quickly came into full view as my eyes adjusted to the brightness.
It was an abandoned Seven Eleven at a gas station that we made home. We had pushed cars around exterior to keep the infected out and give us decent cover in a firefight. We had also removed most of the racks in the store and used them as walls too. Our entrance was a large school gate and used it as out own but with boards covering up holes.
Home sweet home.
"Hey Danny boy! You got the supplies? Someone yelled from the roof of the Seven Eleven, which we had turned into a look out.
"Yup and we're still alive!" I called back.
That was Richard. He was one first people I meet that didn't try to kill me. In a way he saved my life.
I was in a firefight against a group of raiders. I was out of ammo, nowhere to run, and they where closing fast. Out of nowhere a bullets slammed the skulls of three of the raiders. Two more shots where fired killing one, injuring another. The rest immediately retreated and vanished. I slowly made my way out of cover and looked around. The next thing I knew I had a gun pointed at the back of my head.
We had a short conversation and he offered to give me ride. We became good friends after that. He told me: "we all need friends in this world and you don't seem like your going to kill me so how about it?"
I smiled and waved back to him as I lugged supplies into the station. I set the bag down on the counter and began to count what we had gotten.
Six cans of spam, eleven cans of fruit, and a dozen granola bars.
This was enough rations to last us two weeks and compared to what we had before this was mana from heaven.
"What we'd get, what we'd get!?" A small voice cheered out as a young girl skipped into the room.
"Hi Nina," I said.
Nina was Lisa's younger sister. She had some how survived the initial outbreak and found her sister on her own. She had gone through a hell that we couldn't imagine.
"Lots," I smiled. "I say this could last a few weeks if were lucky."
"Really! That great, I hate being hungry," she said. (God she was adorable)
"I think that's one thing we can all agree on Nina. Oh, your sister is home too, she's outside."
"Yay! Lisa's home! Thanks Daniel!" She dashed out of the room.
I smiled. Nina was always the happiest one among us and proved that smiles are contagious. You could say she was one of last bright lights in this dark world. '
I got back to sorting through the supplies and taking around to storage. As I past through the break room I looked at the calendar.
October 24th 2014
My heart sinking I sat down on the counter and stared at the calendar. If it was October then that meant it had nearly been a year since dead had risen from the earth. At first nobody knew what was going on.
Then the world had come crashing down on us.
The Government said it was some kind of virus. These things, the infected, the walkers now roamed the earth. Sure there where safe zones that the government had set up but they where on the mainland. No one cared about the small island Hawaii. For all we knew in a few months we would all be dead or one of the infected.
Hawaii was especially bad. The small amount of land compared to large population made it harder and harder to not encounter hordes of infected. After the main parts of Honolulu were destroyed the infected began to spread out. Sometimes in hordes, others separately. The remaining survivor groups generally had two different natures. Raid and kill or survive by playing it safe, either way it was just as horrible.
I decided to go up and pay Richard a visit.
I walked out the back gate and around the building to where the ladder was. Reaching the roof I saw Richard looking through the scope on his sniper.
"Hey," I said
"Oh, hey Daniel. What's up?"
"It going to be year in a few days." I said staring out at the mountains.
"A year of what?" He asked.
"This shit," I pointed to a lone infected wandering the perimeter.
"It's already been a year? Damn… I wasn't even keeping track, are we going to do anything for the one year anniversary?"
"What, celebrate the end of civilized humanity as we know it and waste food? My ass."
"As serious as ever Danny boy… but living like this isn't any fun either."
"So you rather be running from a horde of infected?" I said.
"Not necessarily, I want something more than the normal boring routine."
"I suppose your right," I sighed. But our survival takes priority. You think I should tell Lisa and Hector?"
"Yeah," He nodded.
As I began walking towards the ladder I smiled. "Hey Richard, I'll think of something fun that wont get us all killed," I said.
"Have fun with that!" He called back.
I climbed back down the ladder and found my way back inside. I was welcomed to the sound of yelling in the lounge.
What the hell?
I quickly walked into the room to discover Lisa and Hector arguing.
"Oh you and your big damn head just had to come up with a batshit crazy idea!" Yelled Lisa.
"So its my fault huh! Well guess what! I'm not fucking perfect you bitch!" He raged back.
(now now Hector chillax you moron)
"Whoa time out!" I yelled above the madness. "What the hell is going on in here!"
"Ask the dumbass with the fat head," Said Lisa as she stormed out of the room.
I stared across the room at Hector is confusion. Then quite sobs broke through the silence. As my gaze drifted from Hector I saw Nina curled up in ball sobbing in the corner.
"I'll deal with you two later, get out," I said.
I walked over to Nina and sat down next to her.
"You okay?" I asked putting my arm around her.
She gave a soft nod and hugged my arm.
"Here," I pulled a granola bar out of my pocket and gave it to her. Her face lit up and she quickly began eating it with glee. The sounds of chewing and crinkling filled the room as I thought over what just happened.
Why the hell where they fighting? Is it about the mission we just ran? Lets try and avoid bias versions.
My face cringed as I looked down at the only third party witness.
Well shit it just has to be her.
I turned toward Nina, "Do you think you could tell me anything about what just happened?"
Her smile quickly vanished her eyes became glued to the floor.
"I was chatting with Lisa about the mission when Hector came in and told me that you guys were almost killed. Then Lisa got really mad at Hector and they started going off about all kinds of things.
Tears were starting to run down her face as she began to sob out the words.
"She kept going on about you and Hector and the whole infected thing. What's going on between those two?"
"That's why I'm asking you," I looked up hopelessly.
"I, I'm sorry she sobbed. I really don't what just happened."
I grabbed the tissue box and handed to Nina. Her blew her nose violently as I calmed her down. After she settled I went out to deal with the two idiots.
Walking out into the main room I discovered Hector hunched over on the counter. I hoisted myself onto the counter and sat down next to him.
"Hey."
"Hey," he sighed.
"Where's Lisa?" I asked.
"She went up to go see Richard."
"Hrmm," I nodded. Do you mind telling me about what happened?"
"You really don't like to beat around the bus do you? Cheeky little bastard."
"Hey, you stop a problem at its source right? So what happened?"
"All did was tell Nina the truth and Lisa lost it and started going off at me about understanding Nina and all sorts of other crap."
(God there always has to be a problem) "Lisa's always been protective of Nina," I explained. "No one really knows what happened to Nina when she was all alone except Lisa. We can only guess that she went through hell."
"Secondly, your relatively new to the group compared to the rest of us." I continued. "I bet Lisa doesn't really trust you. Especially after the mission we just performed."
"That makes sense…" Said Hector.
"Lucky for you Lisa's a pretty forgiving person. She'll get over it and move on like it never happened. She's just really…" (damnit brain get the right word)
"Insane?"
"Close enough," I said.
"Very comforting Daniel, very comforting," He chuckled. "Hey, you trust me right?" He looked over at me.
"Generally," I said.
"Generally?"
"You can be a bit of an ass sometimes, and considering what just happened with that mission… I think that's enough to explain why."
"Looks like I still got some ways to go before I become part of the family…heh," He said.
"You could say that," I replied.
A long silence fell as Hector and I both started blankly across the room. Our eyes lost in a daze as we pondered the decisions we had just made. Hector was new sure, but he was a good person. He wouldn't let you down no matter what. (yeah, I'm sure Lisa thinks the same of him) But that last mission was definitely too risky. Did I really agree to go ahead with that mission? (yes, yes you did)
"So what do we do now?" He broke the long silence.
"We get over it and move on," I said. "We can't afford small things like this to bring us down. And besides I'm sure Richard was able to calm down Lisa to point where she wont rip your throat out the next time she see's you."
"Thanks, is there anything to do other than sit around and be useless?" He asked.
"Can you do barrier repair? Some of the spike plates are rusting so bad they might snap if another horde comes along." I said looking out past the barrier.
"Sure thing buddy." He said hopping off the counter.
I watched him as he bustled out the front door and went over to the building supplies shed we had in the back.
Work
I groaned, removing myself from the counter I headed toward the garden we had grown on the other side of station.
The world darkened as the clouds blotted out the sun. It was unusually cloudy today for the place with the best weather on the planet. A cool wind blew through my hair as I looked toward the mountains.
Its gonna rain tonight.
I spotted Lisa tending to the plants as I approached the garden.
"Hey."
"Hey," she said softly. Her eyes focused on the tomato plant.
I kneeled down and began pulling weeds out of the black earth. The soil felt good, you could almost smell the freshness of life radiating from it. (its also a great stress reliever)
"I've always like gardening" Lisa said as she played with some of the soil.
"Hrm?"
"Growing plants was a hobby of mine growing up." She continued. "I had my very garden in the backyard where I would grow all sorts of things."
"The garden was your idea to begin with, and it was a good call." I said.
"Thanks, and speaking of gardening were going to run out of fertilizer in a few weeks."
"I'll make sure to run out and grab it in the next few days," I said. Don't wanna repeat the mistake of getting supplies when we're empty."
"Yeah," she said.
We walked inside and were immediately welcomed by the intoxicating smell of cooked spam. (spam is amazing)
"Holy crap, I never thought the smell of spam could be this great." Said Lisa.
"Agreed, hunger does strange things to you," I said.
Walking into the dining area we joined Nina and Richard at the table.
"Hectors cooking tonight?" Lisa asked.
"Yeah, he decided to open one can of spam and use some of the spinach we grew."
Richard explained.
As if on que, Hector entered the room arms full of food. "Dinner is served!" He exclaimed cheerfully. "I Used the soy sauce that we stole on the spinach to make it taste better. Hope you all enjoy it!"
I put a few pieces of spam on the spinach and took a large bite.
"Wow Hector, that's pretty damn good," I said.
By the time we had finished the sunset and darkness consumed the land. The air became hot a sticky as mosquitoes buzzed around the street lamps. Thick clouds billowed out and blotted out the all lights in the sky.
A lone infected wandered the highway. Its dark bloody footprints glistened in the glow of the highway lights. Its rotten body sagged as its rotting flesh fell to the ground. It had noticed the humidity as his body moistened and rotted.
Tap
A drop of rain hit is head. He moaned and looked skyward as more drops of rain fell out of the sky. The drops became a stream and the sky screamed as a torrent of water began to fall.
Splat!
There he fell. Slipping on the wet pavement his skull exploded as it impacted the ground.
Another dead, another fallen, one more as the rain continued to fall.
