Perseverance: Fuel to the Fire
7 hours after the first news broadcast reporting sightings of 100s people acting strangely New York City, NY.
12 hours before walkers appear in Gainesville, GA.
"Can you believe that?" Chris says pointing the top of his dark beer bottle at the TV screen from an old brown recliner. "One of those damn reporters said some crap about the cause might be drug related. Psh! They're found a whole family…like that. You're telling me they were are smokin' crack together? Give me a break!"
Merle lets out a hard grunt of a laugh. He finishes the last drop in his beer bottle and sets it down next to the other two empty bottles decorating the coffee table in front of him. His focus never leaves the cheap tube TV that rests on top of another prehistoric wood panel television from his childhood.
It's nearly summer here in Gainesville, GA and all the windows are open inside the trailer in a crowded mobile park. The place is nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, only a 5 minute walk to Lake Lanier. The place is beautiful and resourceful; the lake provides many of the meals that end up on the table in this three bedroom double wide trailer. Daryl bought this place for $1000 from a widowed elderly women he had cut the grass for his entire life. Though the place was a steal, the home has seen better days. Surely it was once a nice place to live, maybe 30 years earlier. Now the walls are stained yellow with tobacco residue, the light blue carpet is stained in most places, the ceiling leaking every rainfall and the clutter of their possessions make the place seem smaller than it really is.
Chris stares at Merle for a long moment, waiting to see if his best friend's brother has anything to say. He sees that Merle is lost in his thoughts; Chris sighs and reclines further back in the old stained chair. His auburn hair falling into his grey-blue eyes, he brushes it away with a quick push of his freckled hand. He's frustrated, annoyed, and sick to death with worry; he can't describe all that he's feeling into words. His eyes move away from the TV and down to his phone. Nothing. When is that girl going to call?
:Buzz:
Aunt Judy: Have you heard from Sydney? Her phone keeps going straight to voicemail.
Chris: No, ma'am.
Aunt Judy: I'm worried.
Chris: Me too.
Chris closes his flip phone and diverts his attention back to the TV screen. If she doesn't call or get here in 30 minutes, he's going out to look for her.
Moments later Merle's younger sister Jessie enters through the loud metal front door typing anyway intensely on her cell phone with a cigarette between her thin lips. Merle glares bitterly at her for seemingly no reason and he eyes follow her as she crosses the room. Her eyes never leave the phone in her hands as she sits down on the opposite side of couch from her brother. She's wearing her long dish water blond hair in a messy bun resting high on her head. She has a porcelain doll-like perfectness to her face, beautiful if you'd ask anyone; but she's wearing too much black eyeliner for her pale complexion and her purple jumpsuit is too tight for her size 10, pear shape frame. She takes the cigarette out of her mouth and snuffs it out feverishly in the ash tray on the end table next to her. She replaces the void against her lips with the side of her thumb as she chews nervously on a hangnail.
Chris watches Jessie, waiting for her to say what's bothering her though he knows exactly why she's acting this way. Sydney hasn't arrived home for summer break from NYU. She should have been home over an hour ago.
Jessie catches him staring at her and for a few seconds, she mirrors his gaze, both waiting for the other to answer the burning question on their minds. With a huff of frustration, Jessie breaks the stare down with Chris, puts her feet up on the couch, hugging her knees tight to her chest. She rests her head on top of both knees and keeps this way for a while before finally erupting.
"Chris, why won't Sydney answer the damn phone?" Jessie yells breaking the silence as she looks to Chris for an answer. "She's never driven this far by herself, ya know! She always answers the phone! There's something wrong, I know it."
"What the hell are you talking about girl?" Merle looks at his sister angered by her outburst and looks back at Chris "When was the last time you heard from your sister?"
"She called when she was 100 miles away, said she'd call when she passed another 50 miles." He answered, barely looking up from the phone in his palm.
"That was over three hours ago! What if she's broken down somewhere? Oh god what if one of those things got her?" Jessie stops herself before she says another frightening word.
"Don't be so stupid. She would CALL! Also, those things are in New York," Merle says raises his eye brow to Jessie "She's driving away from there, remember dumbass?"
Jessie glares at the brother she barely knows. He was in and out of her life throughout most of her childhood. If he wasn't incarcerated, he was always away from home doing who knows what with his druggie friends. Always letting Daryl down and leaving the two of them to live alone with their abusive father. Now he constantly talks to her like she's an ignorant child and demands respect from her like it's his God-given right. She already had her father treat her without respect and constantly beating her up emotionally…physically. She's not about let another man do the same without putting up a fight. The only man she respects 100% is hardworking Daryl, not this stranger.
"Merle, don't talk to me like I'm stupid." She says standing up facing in Merle's direction. She's trying hard to hide the pure hatred in her voice. Her eldest brother is the only one in this world that can conjure up this type of intense anger out of her. "I know she's not in New York anymore, but if something is making these people sick, it could be spreading. If it's not drugs, it could be a virus. Viruses spread quickly and it could be everywhere in a matter of days! Maybe even hours…"
"Oh you're some smart shit scientist now." Merle says rising up to face her with barely a foot between them. He smiles with an evil smirk and laughs. "Hey Chris! We both have fucking geniuses in our family! Can this one go to some fancy school and go away too? I hope so! Oh wait, you're still working on that GED aren't 'cha, Jessie?"
Merle turns his back walking away from Jessie still laughing loudly, patting Chris hard on the shoulder when he passes him still sitting in the recliner as he makes his way to the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator door and pops open his fourth beer of the afternoon.
Chris sits with his eyes glued to his phone, trying hard not to meet Jessie's eyes. He knows her eyes are burning into him, begging him to stand up for her. But, he won't. He cares about Jessie, he really does. But Merle scares the hell out of him.
Seeing that Chris is unwilling to defend her only adds fuel to the fire already burning within her. What a pathetic coward, she thinks to herself.
Jessie stomps her way to the kitchen towards Merle. This is about to erupt into yet another one of their shouting matches when her ringtone, The Pixies – "Hey", interrupts the mood from across the room. Her heart skips a beat and she rushes back to the couch where she left her phone.
A disappointed sigh escapes from behind her teeth. It's Daryl calling from his cell phone.
She answers.
"Hey Daryl, what's up? Are you getting off work early?"
"Jessie! It's Sydney!"