Clip 1 – Dante's Refrain
[AN: The clip title is a reference to Clerks, in which the main character, Dante, is working on his day off. He gets into one impossible situation after another and often expresses his frustration by saying "I'm NOT even supposed to BE here today!"
This mission reminded me a LOT of that.]
The evening shifts for runners start a few hours after PM rations are given out. I'm still the newest, so I'm stuck with the earliest shift in the morning and the last shift of the evening. After rations, I usually take a short nap, then maybe help out around the compound. We've been clearing an area behind the shed we've got the water and food stored in; Janine wants to plant a garden.
The physical exertion from uprooting weeds is a great way to get warmed up before I stretch, just in time for my run shift. I've gotten used to the klaxons and the gunfire in the mornings and evenings as I heave dirt and weeds into a barrow to be taken over to our mulch pile. I don't have a clock or a watch of my own, so I check the board before I head to the garden and then keep count of how many alarms I've heard so I know when my shift is coming up.
And then I hear Sam's voice cutting into the Radio Abel broadcast. There are speakers near the rations shed, so it's pretty easy to hear while I work. Apparently the gates are stuck. I'm not sure which would be worse, to be honest, for them to be stuck open – or stuck closed, with somebody still outside.
Another alarm goes off, this one low, and it carries over the hullabaloo that's already built up. Sam's yelling for an engineer, and then I hear Seven calling for runners to the gates. And since I haven't gone yet this evening… yep, I'm on the list.
I brush my hands and knees off as best I can, roll my shoulders and pull my heels up to stretch my quads and then bend over to stretch my hamstrings. My calves have been especially tight lately, but they're feeling pretty good right now. Then I hear Sam calling me, personally. Like I'm slacking or trying to hide or something. And then a moment later, the RA broadcast switches back on.
Cursing under my breath, I jog toward the gates, pulling on my headset and getting the earpiece situated. Sounds like once again, they don't trust me to go out on my own. As I get there, I see one of the other runners leaning over, hands on her knees, hacking up a storm.
Of course that'smy partner. Sara Smith, she says her name is, in between wheezes. I immediately push it as far out of my thoughts as I can. She's Eight, as far as I'm concerned, and that isn't likely to change anytime soon.
We've been asked to strap on this beeper-thing so that the zombies will be attracted to the sound and chase us instead of swarming the township while it's vulnerable. It sounds kind of suicidal, but I guess it's better than standing in the open space left by the jammed gates and acting as a meatwall.
There's already cover fire, so there's no sense wasting any time. We head out through the open gate. Two and Three have already headed out and northwest, so we run a few hundred metres from Abel before turning to the southeast.
It doesn't take long before we hear shuffling foosteps and moans behind us.