The Last Coors Banquet in the Valley
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Chapter 5 of 6
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"Go to your room!" Daniel shouted as they arrived back at the house.
"But-" Miguel said.
"GO TO YOUR ROOM, NOW!" Daniel shouted again, as he dragged Johnny through the door. "Eli, you too. Upstairs NOW!"
Miguel ran up the stairs, tears streaming down his face, and Eli grabbed him as they ran into their room.
"What happened?" Eli asked.
"I messed up," Miguel admitted as he threw himself on the bed and sobbed.
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The sound of shouting from was echoing round the house, and Miguel moved to the top of the stairs, clinging to the wall, listening to it all.
"You cannot behave like that in front of them!" Daniel shouted.
Johnny must have replied, but it was too quiet for Miguel to hear, as Daniel shouted again, "They're kids, Johnny! They need to feel safe!"
There was the sound of feet stamping out of the kitchen to the bottom of the stairs, and Miguel quickly retreated to the bedroom, then moved into the bathroom, placing his ear against the door.
"If you want to leave I won't try to stop you," Johnny said, as he walked into the bedroom. "You can take Miguel with you too. I obviously can't take care of him."
"Jesus, you don't even get it do you?" Daniel said, letting out a breath. "Miguel loves you. He wouldn't go anywhere without you, and that makes him your responsibility."
"It's also our responsibility to make sure they can take care of themselves if anything happens to us!" Johnny shouted. "This isn't our world any more, LaRusso, it belongs to those things outside, and those kids. We're just here to guide them till the inevitable happens."
"We aren't going to die, Johnny," Daniel said. "We just need to be careful. We need to look after each other."
"You don't know that," Johnny shouted back. "You never know when one of those things will take you by surprise."
"That's true," Daniel said, "and after I lost my family I thought there was nothing worth carrying on for, but I was wrong. Eli and Miguel are worth it, and so are you."
"I'm just so tired of being alone, Daniel," Johnny said, and Miguel sat up. Hearing him use Mr LaRusso's first name was somehow so shockingly intimate that for the first time he felt bad about listening through the door. "Even before the zombies, I had no one."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm just so tired of it all."
"We'll stay here a while," Daniel replied. "We could all use the break."
There was the sound of sniffing, a few hitches of breath and Daniel whispering, "It's OK. Everything's going to be OK."
Johnny said something, but it was muffled by something soft, and then Daniel said, "Come on, let me see that hand."
"It's fine," Johnny mumbled.
There was silence for a while, then a small sound of pain, before Daniel finally said, "You're lucky. it doesn't feel like anything is broken. I'll go get some ice to take the swelling down. Just lay down, and I'll be back soon."
As Daniel left the room, Miguel got up, and closed the bathroom door gently.
"Where are you going?" Eli whispered. "He told us to stay in here."
"I have to go apologise," Miguel said as he slipped out of the door.
Miguel quietly padded down the stairs, and went into the kitchen. "Mr LaRusso?"
"Hey, Miguel, I'm glad you've come down," Daniel said. He sounded tired and defeated, as if the argument had taken more out of him than he cared to admit. "I'm sorry for shouting at you and Eli. You'd just been through something really traumatic, and I'm sorry if I scared you. I shouldn't have done that."
"I'm OK," Miguel said with a shrug.
"Come sit down, let me have a look at that shoulder," Daniel said, waving towards the chair. "How are you feeling?"
Miguel sat down in one of the wooden chairs, and said, "I'm fine. I mean it was scary, but I'm OK now."
Daniel pulled Miguel's T shirt up, and said, "That's gonna be a hell of a bruise. It's a good job you were wearing that jacket."
As Daniel went back to the freezer compartment, Miguel said, "I'd be dead if it wasn't for Johnny."
"No, Miguel," Daniel said, as he pulled out a bag of frozen peas. "If he hadn't filled your head with this Cobra Kai zombie fighting nonsense you'd have stayed in the house where it was safe."
"I don't just mean now," Miguel said, hissing as Mr LaRusso placed the peas on the bruise. "I was alone when Johnny found me. He saved me from four zombies, and if he hadn't been there they would've got me. Even if that hadn't happened, I was almost out of food, but I would have been too scared to leave the apartment block. I wouldn't be alive without him."
"You're a good kid, Miguel," Daniel said, as he wrapped an arm around him. "You keep that on your shoulder to take the bruising down, and I'm gonna take some ice up to Johnny, OK?"
"OK," Miguel nodded.
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Johnny didn't come down for lunch, but Mr LaRusso took a plate up to him. The same thing happened at dinner, and even though he waited in the bathroom, Miguel heard no sounds in the other bedroom that evening, aside from soft, comforting whispers.
When Johnny didn't appear for breakfast the next morning Miguel was worried, but before he could even ask Mr LaRusso whether he was OK, Daniel sat them down at the kitchen table.
"We've decided to stay here for a while," Daniel said, folding his hands together. "Johnny isn't feeling too good, so we're going to try to relax, play some games, watch some movies, and have some good meals where it's safe."
"Is he OK?" Miguel asked.
"He'll be fine. He just needs a break, we all do," Daniel said.
"Can you tell him I'm sorry?" Miguel asked.
"Miguel, absolutely none of this is your fault OK?" Daniel said. "You've got nothing to feel bad or guilty about. You don't have to apologise for anything."
"Can I see him?"
"Not right now," Daniel said quietly. "He'll come down when he's ready, but I'll tell him you were asking after him."
"OK," Miguel said quietly.
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Miguel and Eli spent a lot of time playing on the PS4 over the next few days, and as they laughed and cheered at the games there were times it almost felt like the world was a normal place. With the high chain link fence they felt safe, and they hadn't seen a single zombie since the encounter on the street, and it would have been perfect, but Johnny still hadn't come out of the bedroom since that day, and Miguel missed him.
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They'd just finished breakfast one morning, when Mr LaRusso appeared wearing his leather jacket, and said, "Come on, we've got something to do."
Miguel looked at him. "Is Johnny coming?"
"No," Daniel said, shaking his head. "But this was his idea, so hopefully he'll be down later, and you can tell him about it."
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They walked out through the second gate and into the wide open space of the parking lot of the Country club, and paused as Daniel said, "OK, keep your eyes open. We should be able to spot them pretty easily out here."
They crossed the lot, heading towards an empty car that stood alone, abandoned across the lines of two spaces, with the driver's side door left open.
"What are we doing?" Eli asked, as Daniel got in the driver's seat. "Are we going out?"
"Yessss," Daniel said under his breath, as he found the keys laying in the footwell. He put them in and started the engine, then smiled. "I'm going to teach you both how to drive."
"Really?" Miguel asked excitedly.
"Yup," Daniel replied. "So who wants to go first?"
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Miguel went first, learning how to put the car in gear and start it. The first time he touched the accelerator and the car lurched forward he almost decided that he never wanted to drive again. It felt dangerous, like he might get his foot stuck under the brake pedal and they would all die in a ball of flames and twisted metal, but Daniel was a good teacher and calmed his nerves.
Soon he was slowly inching the car around the lot, and Daniel said, "You're doing great!"
Miguel traded places with Eli, and after a few false starts they were soon making another lap of the parking lot. As they went past the gate in the chain link fence, Miguel saw a flash of red in the yard in front of the house.
"Hey, is it OK if I get out here?" Miguel asked. "I really need the bathroom."
"Sure," Daniel said, as he took out the key to the padlock and handed it to Miguel. "Eli, can you pull over here a second."
Daniel got out of the car, scanning the area for walkers. "OK, it's clear. We'll wait till you get through."
Miguel hopped out of the car and opened the padlock, he slipped the chain through the fence, ducked inside, then locked it behind himself.
"We'll go park the car out of the way, and be back in five minutes," Daniel said, as Miguel handed him the key.
Miguel watched them drive away, then turned back towards the house. The trailer was open, and Johnny stepped out of it.
"Hey," Miguel said.
Johnny looked slightly surprised to see him, as he quickly locked the trailer door. "Hey, how was the lesson?"
"It was good. I stalled the car less times than Eli anyway," he said with a smile.
Johnny let out a small laugh as he popped the top on one of the cans he'd picked up from the trailer, and sat down on the wall.
"How are you feeling?" Miguel asked, noting that even though Johnny hadn't left the bedroom in a while, he still looked completely exhausted.
"I'm OK," Johnny replied.
"Mr LaRusso said you weren't feeling well."
Johnny smiled, and said, "Well, he's a drama queen. Don't you worry about me, kid. I'll be fine."
"Hey, you're up," Daniel said, as he an Eli arrived back in the compound.
"Takes more than that to knock me down, LaRusso, you know that," Johnny said smiling up at him.
"I like that T shirt," Daniel said.
"I feel like a nerd," Johnny said looking down at the slightly too tight Getty Museum T Shirt he was wearing under his unzipped jacket.
"You look like a nerd," Daniel replied with a grin.
Johnny shrugged, and said, "It's your t shirt."
"I know," Daniel said, as he put his hand on Johnny's shoulder, then gently teased his fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.
Johnny grinned up at him, then his eyes flicked to Miguel and Eli, and he cleared his throat. "So, how'd the lesson go?"
Daniel whipped his hand away as if he'd been burnt. "It went good. We have two smart kids on our hands."
"Cool," Johnny said. "Won't be long till those two will be up front and it'll be me and you in the back seat."
It was Daniel's turn to clear his throat, and he said, "I think I'll go start dinner."
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Johnny sat in the kitchen while Daniel cooked, but Miguel stayed clear, not wanting to disturb them. He played on the PS4 with Eli for a while, even though he wanted nothing more that to go downstairs and sit with Johnny. Miguel still hadn't had the chance to apologise for what happened out on the street, and as much as he wanted to, he worried that bringing it up might make Johnny retreat back to the bedroom.
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After dinner he started looking through the extensive DVD collection, and as he pulled out a plastic sleeve, he said, "Oh yes!"
"What is it?" Eli asked, then as Miguel showed him the case he said, "Ah yeah, that's a good one!"
"Can we watch a film tonight?" Miguel asked. "All of us, together?"
"We won't be able to have it too loud," Daniel said. "But sure, that'll be fun."
"You got something in mind?" Johnny asked.
"You said you'd never seen a Marvel film before," Miguel said, holding out the well worn copy of Iron Man.
"Has it got action?" Johnny asked.
"Yes."
"Fighting?"
"Yes."
"Hot babes?" Johnny asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It has Gwyneth Paltrow," Miguel replied.
"It has Robert Downey Jr. too," Eli added with a smirk.
"That'll do," Johnny said, taking the case and reading the back.
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As Johnny had never seen the film, Miguel and Eli insisted that he sat on the small couch opposite the big screen TV, with a big bucket of ice at his feet, filled with beer and Mr LaRusso sat next to him, while they took the two smaller chairs.
As soon as the film started, and the Humvees drove through the desert accompanied by the opening chords of Back in Black by AC/DC Johnny sat forward in his seat, and Miguel smiled to himself, knowing he was going to love it.
As the film went on Johnny seemed to be gradually listing to one side, inching further towards Daniel, until eventually as the film ended, he was laid up against his side. They were plainly still trying to hide what happening between them and doing a really poor job of it, but it made Miguel smile all the same.
As the film came to an end Miguel turned the volume down, and let the disc play through the special features, as he asked, "What did you think?"
"Yeah, it was cool. I enjoyed it," Johnny said, still laid out on Daniel, as he dropped his last empty beer bottle into the bucket, then kicked his feet over the edge of the couch and let them dangle in the air. "Great music."
"I thought you'd like that," Miguel replied, watching as Johnny shuffled down and let his head rest on Daniel's knees.
"That guy though," Johnny said. "What an asshole!"
"Which one?" Eli asked.
"The one who built the bigger robot," Johnny continued. "I mean he's supposed to be looking after Tony after his parents died, but he tried to kill him. What an dick!"
"I can see why you think that, yeah," Daniel replied.
"Should I build a suit of armour?" Johnny suddenly asked, looking up at Mr LaRusso.
"No," Daniel replied.
"But it'd be great for fighting zombies."
"Come on, let's go to bed," Daniel sighed, then he smiled. "It's too late for you to be searching for sheet metal and a welder."
"OK, OK," Johnny said, as he climbed to his feet, then offered Daniel his hand.
Daniel grabbed his hand, and hauled himself off the sofa. "Make sure all the doors are locked and everything is turned off before you come up, OK?"
"We will," Eli replied.
"Night," they both said, as they left the room the walked up the stairs.
Miguel listened until he heard the sound of the bedroom door closing. "OK I admit it, you were right. They really are in love, or are heading that way."
"Told ya," Eli replied. "It's even funnier when you know that, because watching them trying to hide it is hilarious."
"Maybe we should tell them we know?" Miguel asked. "Seems kinda cruel that we're making them sneak around when it doesn't really matter."
"Nah, this is much funnier," Eli said with a grin.
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They stayed at the grounds keeper's house for another week, spending each day learning how to drive the car in the country club parking lot, until all the cars ran out of gas and the cupboards were starting to look bare. The brief respite from the world outside had been a blessing, and everything seemed lighter.
It was soon time to think about moving on, and Johnny packed the PS4 in a box, along with their favourite games, and took some empty gas cans out of the trailer to stow it away safely.
"When we get back to Encino you'll be able to set it up in the cinema room," he said.
"Are we going home?" Miguel asked, excited about going back.
"Not yet, but we will soon."
"So where are we going?"
"Same place we've always been going."
"You've never actually told me where we're going, though," Miguel said.
"The beach," Johnny replied.
"Wait," Miguel said incredulously. "We've come all this way to go to the beach?"
"There's not many things that aren't made better by sitting on the sand and watching the ocean," Johnny replied.
Mr LaRusso came out from the house carrying his black bag that he'd thrown into the car the first day they met, and placed it safely on the back seat.
"Did you know we were going to the beach?" Miguel asked.
Daniel nodded, and shrugged his shoulders. "There are worse places to go."
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They left the safety of the country club, and headed down Sunset Boulevard as it wound its way through rows of expensive looking houses, which gave way to green forests of trees.
Miguel was stewing in his own thoughts in the back seat, thinking how stupid was to come all this way, to leave the safety of the big white mansion just to go to the beach, but then the car pulled round a corner and the sky opened up in front of them.
An unexpected spark of excitement ran through Miguel as he saw the ocean for the first time in four months, and when the car pulled over, and he stepped out, smelling the sea air, he realised Johnny had been right. There was nothing quite as amazing as a California beach on a warm, sunny day, and he didn't realise just how much he had missed it.
There were remarkably few walkers in sight as they sat on the beach; just a few shambling through the surf on the other side of the Santa Monica storm drain, attracted by the noise of the crashing waves.
Miguel took his shoes off and let the sand tickle between his toes as he wiggled them in the soft grains.
He walked down the edge of the sea, letting his feet sink into the wet sand as the cool waves washed over his ankles.
Johnny was sat on the sand when he got back, and Miguel walked up to him. "I'm sorry."
"What for?" Johnny asked, squinting up at him.
"I thought coming here was a stupid idea, and I was wrong," he said. "I had no idea how much I missed the ocean."
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They were back in the car, Mr LaRusso driving, and they continued down the Pacific Coast Highway, weaving their way through broken down cars.
"We should probably turn off soon," Daniel said. "Santa Monica will probably have way more zombies than we can handle."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Johnny said, then there was a popping sound, followed by a huge bang, and the car listed to one side as a tyre blew out, and it threw them off the road, hurtling into a street lamp.
Miguel sat for a moment, gasping for breath, the world spinning as everything came back to him.
"Are you guys OK?" Daniel shouted to the back seat.
Miguel looked at Eli, he looked dazed, but unhurt. "Yeah, we're fine."
"You OK?" Daniel asked, sounding worried, as Johnny groaned and raised his head.
Johnny blinked slowly then wiped at the blood that was pouring down the left side of his head.
"Johnny?" Daniel asked again.
"Obviously I'm not OK," he replied, looking at his blood covered hands.
"Johnny, look at me," Daniel said, putting his hands at the side of Johnny's face, and turning his head. "Do you remember my name?"
Johnny paused a moment then said, "Danielle."
"Yup, you're fine," Daniel huffed as Johnny let out a self satisfied cackle. "First aid kit?"
"Glove box," Johnny said, wincing.
Daniel pulled out the First aid kit, then unrolled a dressing and ripped open some packages of bandages. "OK, let me have a look."
Johnny obediently twisted his head so Daniel had a better angle to examine the wound, and then shouted, "Ow! Did you do that on purpose?"
"Will you hold still?"
"Quit poking my head hole, genius, and I will!"
"Jesus, there's so much blood your brain could be leaking out of your ear and I wouldn't be able to tell."
"Just wrap it up and we can deal with it later," Johnny said.
Daniel opened one of the dressings, then stuck it to the open wound, then started wrapping a bandage round it. "Well, it doesn't look pretty, but I don't think you'll bleed to death now."
There was a thumping sound from behind them, and Miguel looked back, through the car window. "What was that?"
"It's... probably just the suspension making noises," Johnny said, less than convincingly.
"What?" Daniel asked. "What are you talking about?"
The thumping sound came again, and Eli said, "I think it's coming from the trailer."
Johnny and Daniel looked at each other in the front seat for a moment, and Johnny, with a note of warning in his voice said, "Don't."
Daniel jumped out of the car, and Johnny opened his door, trying to jump out too, but his motions were slow, as he staggered on his feet.
Miguel climbed out after them, as Daniel smashed the lock off the trailer door, and opened it.
Johnny was true to his word. The trailer was stacked with beer and gas cans, but at the back something large was half covered by a white sheet, and it was close to one side of the trailer, making it unbalanced, and something inside was punching the metal wall.
As Miguel drew closer he could see there was a metal floor, surrounded by bars, made of various widths of metal poles, similar to the gates he'd seen on many of the expensive houses in Encino, with weld marks holding them together.
Feet moved around inside the cage, as the metallic thumping sound echoed through the trailer again.
"Who's in the cage, Johnny?" Daniel asked.
"It's none of your business," Johnny said, as he pushed Daniel aside and climbed into the trailer.
Daniel took a step closer, and asked again, "Who's in the cage?"
"Who is it?" Miguel asked nervously.
"Well kid, you asked me if I'd ever killed anyone who wasn't a zombie," Johnny said to Miguel, then he pulled the sheet off the cage, and said, "Well, here you go, get a good look."
"Is that Kreese?" Daniel gasped.
Miguel watched as the zombie reached out, it's right hand missing, as it pressed it's face up against the narrow bars of the cage, desperately trying to bite.
"He kept begging me and begging me to kill him, and I couldn't do it," Johnny said, looking through the cage bars. "I thought he was dead all these years, but he appeared out of nowhere and he saved me from some walkers just after it all happened, but I couldn't save him when it mattered."
Miguel remembered.
"Gloves obviously, always wear gloves. You punch one of these fuckers in the mouth and cut your knuckle on its teeth you will end up losing your hand. Believe me, I've seen it and it's a god damn unpleasant way to go."
"It's not your fault," Miguel shouted. "You didn't kill him, it was the infection. He just turned."
"Same thing," Johnny replied, as he backed further into the trailer.
"Johnny," Daniel said. "Step out of the way."
"I'm not gonna let you kill him, man," Johnny said, backing away from Daniel. "I'm not gonna be on my own again."
"Johnny, you have us," Daniel said. "We aren't going anywhere, and I'm going to keep telling you that every single day until believe me, because it's the truth."
"I think he knows who I am," Johnny said. "I think he recognises me when I talk to him."
"He's a zombie," Daniel said. "You know as well as I do that they don't remember anything."
"He's safe in there though. He can't get us," Johnny rambled. "So we can just keep him in the cage, in the trailer and you can forget about him. When we get back we can put the trailer in the garage and you never have to see him again."
"Jesus, Johnny," Daniel said. "This isn't healthy."
"Hey, I never claimed to be that sane. You knew what you were getting into."
Daniel hung his head, running his hand across his mouth.
"I know what you're thinking," Johnny said, taking another step back. "I'm not gonna let you kill him."
"He's already dead. It wouldn't be killing him," Daniel said.
"Nah, nah, we can just push the cage back into the middle and close the door and you can forget that you saw him, OK?"
"I can't do that. I can't let you keep doing this to yourself."
"It's my choice OK, so back off," Johnny said, raising his fists.
"Johnny, he's gone," Daniel said as he moved closer.
"Stop it," Johnny said, taking a step back.
"He's gone, Johnny. It's time to let him go," he moved closer again as Johnny edged backwards.
"No," he shook his head. "I'm not going to be alone again."
"You're not alone," Daniel said reaching up and touching his hair. "I'm here, and I love you."
Johnny started to lower his fists, and he quietly asked, "You love me?"
"I do," Daniel replied, with a soft smile. "I love you."
"You-" Johnny was cut off when an arm reached from inside the cage, and wrapped itself tightly around his neck.
"No!" Daniel shouted, as he ran forward and grabbed the zombie's other wrist, desperately trying to stop it from reaching out and scratching. "Help!"
Johnny was gasping for air, trying to get his hands round the creature's stump wrist, as Eli ran forward into the trailer, and started pulling at the arm, as Kreese banged his head against the narrow bars.
Miguel heard Daniel shout for him, but he found himself momentarily rooted to the spot, then as Johnny started to fade, one hand dropping from the zombie's arm, he was suddenly spurred into action.
Miguel ran to the front of the car, opened the glove compartment, and took out the gun. He ran into the trailer and stood by the side of the cage, then raised his shaking hands, as he held the gun towards the creature.
"Safety," Daniel gasped, struggling to hold the zombie's hand away from Johnny. "On the side."
Miguel snapped the safety off, the put his hand through the cage bars, pointing the gun directly at the zombie's face.
"No," Johnny croaked, on the verge of losing consciousness.
"I'm sorry," Miguel said, then he pulled the trigger.
Miguel dropped the gun immediately as the cracking shot echoed through the trailer, and he fell to his knees, with his hands covering his ringing ears.
The zombie fell like a lifeless rag doll, and Johnny crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath.
"Are you OK?" Daniel asked, putting his hand on Johnny's shoulder, but it was shrugged away as Johnny climbed to his feet.
He looked at the broken body in cage, then silently walked out of the trailer.
Daniel helped Eli to his feet, then pulled him and Miguel into a tight hug, as he asked, "Are you OK? It didn't scratch you did it?"
"I'm fine," Eli replied.
"I'm OK too," Miguel said, then he asked, "Who was that guy?"
"It's a long story, kid," Daniel said. "But you did the right thing."
"I better go talk to Johnny," Miguel said. "I need to say sorry."
"You don't have to apologise," Daniel replied, "but we better go check he's OK."
They jumped out of the trailer, and looked around the empty street.
"Shit," Daniel said under his breath. "No, no, no..."
Miguel ran to the front of the car, hoping to find him there, but there was no sign of him.
"Johnny?" Daniel shouted. "Johnny, where are you?"
Only the moaning wails of the dead answered back.