Chapter Nine: Paradise
The man hadn't asked his question in any malicious manner, but Juno couldn't help but feel grief -and plain hurt like an invisible wound was directly affecting her heart- tighten in the pit of her stomach. She made sure not to let any of her internal thoughts broadcast on her face.
"My dad was in the Army. He used to take us, me and my siblings, to the gun range every weekend. Taught us how to survive in the wild." she murmured almost dazedly. Her family was going to become a permanent open-wound for Juno. She turned to look at Kathy with urgency, "Did my brother call?"
The woman smiled grimly, "José called 'bout half-an-hour ago. Said he was okay and that he called home. Tol' me that he was gonna try an' make his way down 'ere."
"What?" she gasped out, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.
Kathy nodded in sympathy, "Said he was takin' his truck an' all the artillery he got an' make his way here. Said that goin' upstate ta yer parents is a lost cause and tha' he was going ta be speedin' down 'ere before the highways get clogged up."
"Ese puto-cobrón." she hissed under her breath, cursing her stupid little brother's, "Que quiere? Morirse? Le voy a dar un cañazo cuando llega y voy a romper su maldita cara."
"You okay, sugar?" Marcy asked as she tentatively held her shoulder.
Juno let out a heavy sigh, "Yeah... Yeah, I'm okay. I'm going to punch him though. Really hard across his big stupid suicidal face when he gets here."
Eun-Hyool exchanged a dubious glance with Hyun-Bin, "Do you really think that he's going to be able to make it here from wherever the hell he is?" the younger of the Kim men asked somewhat gently. She snorted.
"Claro. He's going to make it, José is the most stubborn son of- Muppet that has ever walked on earth. He knows everything I know about survival; he was in the R.O.T.C. during high school and was a volunteer firefighter on the weekends." Juno stated confidently, "The only thing we're going to need to worry about is if his big fat ego manages to sink this island from how heavy it is."
Ashley laughed merrily, "He's not tha' bad Juno. You make 'im sound like he's unbearable."
"Of course you would protest, Ashley." Juno shot back teasingly before rolling her eyes.
"Wha's that supposed ta mean?"
Kathy snorted, "We all know how fine, ya think José is. Ya practically waxed poetry 'bout him fer two months the las' time he visited." Marcy and Juno burst out into laughter at Ashley's red face.
"Shut up!" the embarrassed woman hissed, "Not 'nother word."
The Kim men had tiny smiles on their faces before Hyun-Bin got serious once more, "As entertaining as it is to see Ms. Ashley here get redder than her hair, we gotta talk about the biters outside."
The Latina bit her lip before nodding in agreement. "Like I was saying before, I don't think there are many shamblers left on the island. The only adult left unaccounted for is Hank, I was wondering if you guys could come with me to check out Arnold's building and find him. If he's turned into a geek we'll need to put him down... and if not, well he was military once upon a time."
Hyun-Bin nodded in agreement, "I already called Margaret to let the other's know we made it here safely. We told them we would hang around here for a while and help out."
"You're not going out now are you?" Marcy asked nervously.
"Yeah. We are." Eun-Hyool, thankfully since Juno didn't want to get into it again with the older woman, answered seriously, "If we're going to be putting down these geeks," he stretched out the word as he tested it out for the first time, "then we're doing it while there's still daylight. Hank may be a gruff son of a- gun, but no one deserves to be a shambler."
Kathy nodded in agreement, "When I spoke to my Daniel last he was picking up the kids before makin' it down to the wharf. Said he was gonna use 'is boat ta get 'ere. I don' want 'em ta get bit the moment they make it the docks 'cause we didn' clear the town." she turned to look at them in gratitude and hope, "I'd be mighty grateful for your help. I don' know the firs' thing 'bout firearms, otherwise, I'd go with you."
Juno clutched the blonde's arm in camaraderie, "I agree. The only way we'll be safe is if there's nothing dangerous left outside. We still have daylight out here, besides we can get more ammo next doors."
The Kim's nodded in agreement.
"Alrigh,' but at least check the screens 'fore you go out 'gain." Marcy pleaded, "I was lookin' at the news earlier an' these things are vicious."
Kathy nodded before locking eyes Juno, "We'll go by the same system as las' time. And I'll let ya know if it's safe ta go out."
She simply nodded, "Give us a minute to talk first." before gesturing with her head to the Kim's to follow her into the other room, "Have you heard anything about the outside?" Juno asked them as soon as they were out of earshot from the kids and her anxious coworkers.
Hyun-Bin nodded tersely, "We had the radio on in the car, they're setting up shelters across the state, but they're telling people to head towards Atlanta."
"Ha! Fat chance." Eun-Hyool snorted under his breath, "Pogonip is gonna be paradise compared to crowded cities."
Juno smiled, wasn't that the truth? Pogonip was an isolated town, and most people didn't really know that Troup County existed even though it was in the same area as the Yellow Jacket Recreation Area. It was practically perfect with its natural safeguards. With the Kim's farm, they wouldn't have any problem getting dairy or having vegetables, and the lake was abundant with fish. Hell, it was the perfect place to hideout and bunker down during the apocalypse. Fuck! It was the perfect place. That could be a problem.
"What's wrong?" Hyun-Bin asked.
"This is the perfect place to wait out the apocalypse," Juno stated.
"And? Isn't that a good thing for us?" Eun-Hyool asked.
She sighed, "Yeah, but it's a double-edged sword. What happens if someone decides that they want to make Pogonip their own. There are currently, what? Eleven adults left on this island and like three teens and a million toddlers. That's not going to be enough people to protect this place." Juno ran her hands through her hair nervously, "God, there's at least fourteen kids in there that don't have parents anymore. What are we going to do?" she asked, her voice breaking at the end in slight despair.
The men looked nervous. "I don't know." Hyun-Bin stated, "I'm not going to lie and say that I do, but you guys aren't going to do this alone."
"I didn't really think of other people trying to take Pogonip for their own," Eun-Hyool admitted nervously.
"Don't worry about it." Hyun-Bin stated, "You can't see Pogonip or even Pakenappeh from the mainland. If they don't already know that the islands are already a part of Troup County than they won't ever find it."
A relieved sigh escaped from her lips. "I didn't even think of that. Thanks, Hyun-Bin."
"No problem kid, now about our little venture," the man started as he gestured to the outside world, "what did Ms. Kathy mean earlier?"
"I gave them some code words for talking on the radio so that they wouldn't blow my cover or talk over one another." she explained, "Kathy will let me know before we go out if she sees anything on the security cameras and when it's all clear she'll let us know. They won't use their walkies unless I tell them it's okay."
The farmers nodded. "Sounds good." Eun-Hyool stated, "You ready to head out now?"
"Yeah. You?"
Hyun-Bin smiled sardonically, "We have our guns, ready as we'll ever be."
"Hey Kathy, we're ready to head out now, how's the street looking?" she asked as they walked back into the classroom.
The blonde woman looked at them seriously, "I'll go take a look now and give you the signal. Be careful, my oldest Alexis, the one who jus' became a nurse practitioner, tol' me tha' they're on their way ta the wharf. Tol' me they'd call when they were close."
Juno nodded, "Alright, let us know when they're here and we'll go get them."
"Oh!" the woman exclaimed before turning to look at them one more time, "Lexie tol' me ta tell ya not ta touch the bodies if ya can. Somethin' 'bout possible contamination. Said we'll have ta burn the bodies." she added softly. From what Juno knew of the woman, her coworker was a practicing Catholic which meant that the desecration of the body after death was a big 'no-no.' So, for her to admit that cremating the bodies was the way to go...
She exchanged a concerned glance with the two men. "Alright." before turning around and walking into the cubby room.
"Nothing on the cameras. It's a ghost town out there. Over." Kathy's voice crackled over the walkie.
"Heading out now, radio silence. Over," she responded curtly before nodding in Kim's direction.
They responded in turn before Hyun-Bin, gun raised cautiously, opened the door for all of them to walk out onto the street. Shit. The smell of the shamblers was pungent from up close and the hot Georgian sun overhead cooking them on the pavement was not helping. Juno forced herself to ignore the smell and carefully walked over two bodies and made her way to the front of Arnold's shop. The door had been propped open and she could see blood staining the floor of one of the aisles. With the Kim men covering her back, she carefully walked into the store. One of the aisles had been turned over, ammunition scattered on the ground, but otherwise, the store was relatively untouched.
The back door leading to the office and storage space was locked and the doorway leading to the upstairs was shut. Sweat was building up on Juno's upper lip and forehead, it was annoying the bejeezus out of her but she wouldn't be able to wipe it off until she knew that she was safe. She looked back at the Kim brothers to see if they had any suggestions, they both looked equally eager to get this over with. Hyun-Bin lifted his chin pointedly to the upstairs, so Juno nodded in agreement and slowly opened the door. Eun-Hyool had his gun pointed to the opening in preparation, but it was not needed. Hank wasn't there, it was empty. The handicapped stair master to help Hank up and down the stairs was motionless at the top of the stairs which meant that the ex-Navy was still up there.
This time Eun-Hyool took the lead as he walked up the stairs with Juno on his heels and Hyun-Bin guarding the door from the bottom. Juno inwardly cursed viciously when Eun-Hyool stepped on an extremely squeak step. Even the poor man flinched visibly before stopping. They both waited for a moment before tensing anxiously when they heard movement from the upstairs.
Words 2010
