They were all in love with dyin'
They were drinking from a fountain
That was pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
(Pepper- the Butthole Surfers)
With a low creak, the van rocked, not enough to go anywhere- but enough to make everyone inside of it tense up. They were pressed close together; there was only so much room even in a big van like this one. From the range of ages and faces, it was evident they were a mixed group of survivors- but they all had the same look in their eyes. Hollowed, burning with dread- like they were scarred from the inside out. Towards the front of the vehicle, crouched down between the two seats, a young woman was huddled, her eyes the only thing on her that moved. She listened, like a deer before bolting- only there were few places to go in this current predicament. Had to stay put and pray silently, try not to think about how bad it could get.
Siobhan did a lot of that. Putting off the trauma of the moment for later, like an IOU to her psyche. All those things she never wanted to see again. If only it was as simple as dismissing a memory and having it evaporate. There were no doors made heavy and thick enough to hold all of the bad things back forever.
She felt determination cut into her fear. If they had attracted unwanted attention, be it dead or alive- she was going to lead the threat away. That was the only comfort she grasped in the moment. The knife in her hand was going to get wet again, be the blood black or red. There was no way she was letting anything happen to the others while she was alive and breathing.
A soft huff of breath made her free hand slide over the tiny mutt beside her leg. Diablo was a mixed breed for sure. Some kind of terrier stirred in with equal parts gargoyle and mean old geezer. He wasn't much to look at, but in his head he was a beast. He was Siobhan's, since he'd decided that during their time as fellow survivors. She steadied the dog with her touch, but her mind was on the tiny sounds coming from the back of the van. A breath here, a shifting of weight as limbs tingled or cramped. The other occupants couldn't help it. She knew that. They were human. Alive. It wasn't their fault every little noise made her want to scream at them to be fucking still.
A sudden thud to the passenger side door made her body tighten like a drawn bow. She willed herself not to move more than she had to. When a hand flatly hit the glass to her right, her eyes slid that way, feeling the little dog under her quelling hand trembling.
But it wasn't a zombie staring back at her. It was a young Asian man with pallid features and a bloody shoulder. He pressed his fingers to the glass, a pleading look in his exhausted face. There was nothing she could do, Siobhan told herself. They were already full. So many lives to worry about. He would have to find some other place. Even as she was thinking the sentiment, she reached over, as quietly as possible, unlocking the side door and opening it for him.
The stranger slid into the seat and shut the door in total silence as if he had rehearsed the move many times over. Then he too slid down into the floorboards. Out of sight for the most part from anything beyond the vehicle.
"Were you bit?" Siobhan asked close to his ear, and when he shook his head, she nodded. It didn't look messy enough to be a bite. She just had to be sure. Taking a towel that was handed up to her by one of her fellow survivors; she pressed the cloth to his shoulder.
"Glenn." The young man said in a hiss, not that she'd asked his name but it seemed the thing to say. "I was shot."
Her brow furrowed as she inspected his shoulder. "My name's Siobhan."
It sounded to his ears like 'Shove On'. He could not see her well, her clothing was dark, a hood obscuring her face for the most part- but she was being nicer than he had expected from a stranger. "The bullet went clean through. Good news." She gave him a wan smile, but her eyes were serious. "Is someone is after you? Someone we need to worry about?"
"They wanted what I was carrying. I dropped it. Not on purpose. I think they'll be happy just mugging me."
His tone made her realize he was feeling bad for losing whatever he had been toting around. Supplies were gold these days. She understood that much. Hard to get and hold onto with other scavengers around. A bottle of water was handed up and a few ibuprofen. Siobhan gave Glenn a sympathetic look as she handed him the water and tablets.
"We don't have anything stronger. I'm sorry. Where were you headed?"
"No, it's good. Thanks."
He took the tablets and washed them down with a gulp of water. "I am going towards 85. Back... that way." Glenn nodded towards where there used to be an off ramp teeming with traffic. Now it was overrun by stalled cars, rotted bodies and fat crows.
"Are you alone?" A soft voice inquired from the darkness of the van. It was an old woman's voice, resonating with a soothing tone. "Is anyone going to look for you, Glenn? You have people, child?"
Glenn's dark eyes looked to Siobhan's hazels before he nodded to the woman in the back. "Eventually. I'm not expected back for a few more hours. After that, yeah. They'll worry."
"You were alone?" Siobhan asked, brows drawn together. Roaming the city on your own was a very bad idea.
"No. Now, I am. But I wasn't." He looked down, mournful. "Had a kid named Terry with me. He slipped. Walker snagged him on the stairs." Glenn passed a shaking hand over his face. "Was fifteen. Fifteen."
He had a thought of telling Terry's mom, Sue, her son wasn't coming back- and it felt like lead in his gut.
Moving closer to Glenn, a tiny dog snuffled his hand. He was only now noticing the animal. The licks from the ratty looking thing were obviously meant to comfort him. He pet the little animal, words not coming to the fore right now. He kept seeing the boy he had lost. Just that fast. Terry had screamed so loud it seemed to still echo in Glenn's ears.
Siobhan leaned her temple to the seat's side, letting Diablo do his work for Glenn. The terrier mix was ugly and moody, but he grew on you. She had found him running inside an apartment building, and since she had been running her damned self at the time- she followed him. Diablo had led her out and away from the oncoming dead tenants. He didn't have anyone, no other place to be. They fell in together. Diablo had started looking at her like he knew good and well she had beef jerky in her backpack. She had fed him and in return, he let her be his new human. They had been fast friends since then. He was good at scouting out a place, coming back to let her know the odds of getting in and out. Whatever his name had been before the world went to hell, he was Diablo now. He even answered to it.
She wanted to offer Glenn some kind of comfort herself, but there really wasn't much to say. Not when death came so fast your brain and heart were backlogged from never even acknowledging the first atrocity. Let the bad things pile up and they became a monster inside of you. She knew enough about that. Siobhan did not even know him well enough to guess at how to make him feel any better, so she let it lie. No freelance psychology tonight.
"Try to get some sleep. "
That was as close as she could get to being personal with him. It was a meager offering, she felt, but sleep was not always easy to come by.
Once silence had settled over the van again, Siobhan felt Diablo crawl onto her lap, his head burrowing under her hoodie as he decided to rest too. She relaxed a little, but never slept, wanting to be ready if anything else came knocking that night.
The sunrise had Siobhan quietly waking Glenn, and then she crawled into the back of the van to do the same for the others- aside from a young man that had helped watched over the kids as they slept.
Glenn was able to get his first real look at the people he had fallen in with, and his eyes widened as he saw that the old woman he had spoken to the night before- was a nun. A real nun, black and white habit and all. He tried not to stare as she winked at him, her face like a dried apple with merry bright eyes. The other survivors ranged in skin color and age, but all seemed to be no older than twenty. The youngest in the group were a little boy that could be around Carl's age and a girl that was maybe five years old tops. Altogether, there were sixteen people in the back of the van. It was incredible. The van was a church van, made for carrying congregation members to and from services- so it had some room to it. What was incredible was how they had managed to get this far and have so many healthy survivors. Glenn tried to keep positive but there were days he felt like his toes were dangling over the edge of forever. Seeing this little group, and thinking of his own group, it gave him a little faith. There had to be more. Small pockets of people scraping by. He looked at Siobhan as she leaned over to give a bottle of water to the youngest kid, seeing more of her for the first time. She was early twenties, he would guess. Very fit. Bi-racial.. Had to be with her café-au-lait skin and green eyes. She was an attractive young woman, despite the fine white scars here and there on her face and arms. How did she come by those old scars? Who was taking the time to cut her up? Another ice-breaker he couldn't use. It was too invasive.
Glenn cleared his throat, asking, "Where are you guys headed?"
The elderly woman looked at him as if weighing out the worth of sharing information with a stranger. She nodded, replying. "We always move onward. Never stay too long in any one place. We had to come here for supplies, but we have what we need. We can take you to your home, I believe. We have the gasoline."
Siobhan eyed Sister Sarah before interjecting. "We don't know how far he's headed, Sister."
"True, Sister." The older woman responded. "But God led him here, and we are His servants. Glenn needs our aid. It is the right thing to do."
A handsome Hispanic youth, Julio, shook his head. "Zombies led him here. Zombies and –" Forestalling a swear word, he supplied instead, "Thieves."
Sister Sarah smiled, resting her back to the wall of the van as they all spoke in soft tones. "I am sure if you look in your hearts, you will see the right path. I leave it to you, Sister Siobhan. I trust you will do what God would intend."
Glenn looked back and forth between the women, not sure what was going down. Siobhan was a nun too? Did that make the kids orphans? He mentally chided himself, since there was no shortage of orphans and widows in the world. Not now. He moved slowly, his wounded shoulder throbbing in reprimand.
"My car's not far. I can get to it."
"Smellin like a buffet?" Julio asked, snorting softly. "The Zs would be on you, man. They'd sniff you out. Game over."
Rubbing the tip of her chin, Siobhan was inwardly caving. She did not much like the idea of coming too close to other survivors. It had proved a dangerous situation more than once. But Julio was right. The way Glenn was hurt, the blood on his clothes? No. It would be ruthless to just send him on his way and not look back. He was already empty-handed and down one man. Why that was her problem she couldn't say, but Sister Sarah had to rubbing off on her. Making her overthink things.
Siobhan moved to the front seat, getting behind the wheel. Diablo jumped up into her lap. Starting up the van, she turned on the radio in the floorboard, not speaking as she pulled the van out of the alley, into the street. There were a few infected around the area, but nothing major. The van had been quiet, windows blacked out. Not terribly interesting to the zombies. Now some turned to look as the church van rumbled past them, hip-hop coming from the interior like a reassuring heartbeat. Glenn smiled tiredly at the music in the air, even gun-shot, he felt better hearing music he had grown up with.
Letting the van pick up speed, Siobhan finally spoke.
"We'll get you there….to your ride. Then you can get back to your people- but God as my witness-"
"Sister Siobhan."
Sister Sarah softly tried to calm her young charge, but Siobhan wasn't having it, spearing Glenn with a look.
"…if anything happens to my people- you will wish you had let the zombies tear you up like a piñata. Least they'd do it fast. I don't know you and I don't trust you. We clear?"
Meeting her eyes, Glenn nodded, his face dead serious. "We're clear."
He waited until the set of her shoulders had eased a little to add, "You're meaner than the chick in the Sound of Music."
Siobhan's lips twitched before she looked steadily ahead. Maria didn't have zombies climbing her hills, did she?