An (Incomplete) Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse: Chapter 9

March 13th, 1999 - 8:01 pm

Tom runs through the woods, stumbling over rocks and branches, with Rachel held tightly to his chest. He can hear gunshots and screams behind him, and wants desperately to glance back and see if Danny needs help dealing with the men pursuing them, but he knows that he can't fight with Rachel in his arms. He could put her down, but then she would be vulnerable, he thinks wildly, and besides, the precious seconds he would waste setting her down would be more than enough time for the men to catch up with him and take him out.

As if sensing Tom's internal struggle, Danny runs up beside him, Kara close on his heels.

"Keep going, no matter what! Get Rachel to safety!" he orders.

Tom nods, and then continues running, listening to Danny fall back and resume shooting at the men pursuing them. Kara follows after him, crouching and laying down cover fire while Danny tries to pick off the remaining three men.

"On your right!" she yells, and Danny swivels, taking aim and clipping one of the men in the shoulder. He cries out and falls, and then a moment later, screams, and these are screams that Danny knows — he's heard them many times, and he feels his heart rate increase as a sweat breaks out on his forehead. The man continues to wail for several moments as his body is torn apart by one or more of the infected, and then he falls silent, dead for a brief moment before he becomes one of them.

"The zombies heard the gunfire!" he cries, and runs up to Kara, putting a hand on her shoulder and tugging her to her feet. "We need to go, now! I can't see a fucking thing out here; we're sitting ducks!"

"Wait!" Kara yells, and Danny turns back to her, eyes wild. He can hear them, prowling in the woods, but he can't see them, and it's terrifying. "There were others! In the camp, there were two others! We heard the men talking about them. It could be Eric!"

Danny is already shaking his head, grabbing Kara's wrist and pulling her forward.

"We can't go back!" he cries, and pulls her along with him, reluctant as she is. "We don't have time. It's not safe, the zombies heard our guns and we're fucking helpless out here, Kara! We can't see them! There are still two men chasing us! We have to get back to the van!"

Kara wants to argue, but she knows that Danny is right. It was dangerous enough when it was just the men who had kidnapped them, but now the zombies have been drawn by the gunfire, and she knows that their situation has gone from bad to worse. She nods, fighting back tears, and clasps Danny's hand more tightly in hers, matching him step for step as they push past hanging vines and jump over fallen branches.

They can see and hear Tom up ahead, and Danny realizes with a sinking feeling that he's completely helpless with Rachel in his arms. If he runs into one of the infected —

No, he can't think like that, he chastises himself. They'll make it — they're so close.

Regardless, he doubles his effort, knife in one hand and Kara's hand grasped tightly in the other. If they can just catch up to Tom, they can help defend him and Rachel.

Danny is about to call out, to tell Tom to slow down so they can catch up, when he hears Tom curse loudly.

"Holy FUCK!" he cries, and Danny draws his gun, squinting in the darkness. If he can just see the zombie that Tom's run into, he can take it out. Before he can make out anything more than a general shape in the darkness, however, Tom ducks and falls back, shouting the whole time. "Danny! Man, you gotta get this fucker! I don't have a free hand and he came out of fucking nowhere!"

Danny wants to laugh, half hysterically — apparently Tom cusses like a sailor when he's stressed — but he doesn't, instead dropping Kara's hand and falling back behind both of them, trusting Kara to take the lead so he can watch their backs. She makes quick work of the zombie that had surprised Tom, and they continue on that way, Kara and Danny bracketing Tom and Rachel, protecting them as they make their way through the dark forest.

By the time they can see the highway in front of them, Rachel is beginning to stir, and Tom holds her tighter, pushing his aching muscles to move just a bit faster, wanting to get Rachel to safety as quickly as possible.

"Tom?" she whispers, and then groans, pushing her face into his chest as she fights a wave of nausea. She remembers setting off the flares, and then running as one of their kidnappers chased her, but she doesn't remember much after that. She must have passed out, she realizes, which doesn't bode well for the seriousness of her concussion.

"Hey," he says, and his voice is quiet, strained. "Just a little further back to the van. The gunshots drew the zombies; we're being chased by a fuck ton of them. We gotta get out of here."

Rachel hums, wanting to get down and help, but she knows that if Tom tries to set her on her feet she'll fall over immediately. She's dizzy and nauseated, her head is pounding, and she knows she won't be of any use to anyone for a few hours, or days, at the very least. So, even though she hates the idea of being seen as weak, she lets Tom hold her close as he carries her back to safety.

It seems like only seconds later that Tom is crawling into the van with her, Danny and Kara following behind and yelling that Tex needs to start the van and go right fucking now, and she's worried that she'd blacked out again.

"Tom?" she asks, and groans when he sets her as gently as he can on a sleeping bag in the back of the van. In the front, Tex has started the van and is taking off as the bodies of the undead begin to beat against the door of the vehicle. Katie is sitting in the passenger seat while Danny and Kara are sitting, heaving great gulping breaths, near the front.

Tom goes immediately for the medical kit. He had watched Rachel stash it away just that morning after she'd given him the cream to help his cuts and scars. He tears it open quickly, searching for gauze, disinfectant, and antibiotic cream. He doesn't know much about first aid, but he knows that wounds should be cleaned as soon as possible to prevent infection. He also grabs a rag and a sealed bottle of water, opening it quickly and soaking the rag as he helps Rachel sit up.

"Hey, Rachel," he says, voice strained as he gets his first good look at the wound on the back of her head. Tex has helpfully turned on the overhead lights in the back, and Tom bites his lip as Kara scoots over, letting Rachel lean on her while Tom tries to figure out where to begin. "Got a nasty wound on your head," he tells her, and she nods, moaning as the motion causes her head to hurt even worse, which at this point she hadn't thought possible.

Tom pauses and reaches for the Aspirin, shaking four out of the bottle and handing them to her along with the open water he'd used to wet the rag.

"Take these," he says, and she does without complaint.

"Clean the wound," she advises him, and he nods, smiling a little.

If she can still boss them around, she'll probably be OK, he thinks.

"Don't want to hurt you," he says softly, and Rachel grunts.

"Gonna hurt regardless," she informs him, and he knows she's right, so he brings the rag to the back of her head, carefully moving what hair he can out of the way before pressing the cloth to her skin. She hisses, and he tries not to listen as he cleans. He knows it has to be done, because an infection during the fucking apocalypse is a death sentence, but every whine of pain that Rachel can't hold back causes his chest to hurt.

"Almost done," he assures her, and she nods. Tom wants to hold her hand, but he needs both of his to separate the bloody, matted hair from the wound.

It takes several long, tense minutes for Tom to deem the wound clean enough. Once he clears the mud and blood out of the way, he can see that there's a large, raised lump where she was hit, and the middle of it has been split open. The skin around the wound is already a deep purple, and Tom knows that it's going to hurt for days.

"Disinfect it," Rachel commands, and Tom swallows.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch," he warns her, and she nods, taking a deep breath and reaching out to grasp Kara's hand. The other woman holds on tightly as Tom douses the rag in disinfectant and presses it to the wound.

Rachel screams, unable to hold back, and Tom feels tears gathering in his eyes.

He's not a crier.

He can probably count on one hand the number of times he's cried since he was a boy, but as the adrenaline begins to leave his system and the events of the past 48 hours come crashing back, he can't help himself. The final straw is being the one to cause Rachel's pain, even if it's necessary.

"I'm so sorry," he says, and holds the disinfectant soaked rag to the back of her head as he rearranges himself behind her, drawing her to lean back against his chest. He stretches his legs out on either side of her, his free arm wrapping around her shoulder as she turns and presses her face into his neck. He can feel her tears on his skin, and lets his own finally fall as he presses his cheek to the top (unharmed area) of her head. "I'm so sorry."

"S'OK," she mumbles, and tangles the hand that's not holding onto Kara into the material of his shirt. "Thanks for saving us."

Tom hums, and drops the rag after several long moments. There's no good way to bandage Rachel's head, and besides, it's mostly stopped bleeding, so he leaves the gauze where he'd put it, focusing instead on holding her. She doesn't fight him; she feels safe with him, surrounded by him, and she feels like she's earned at least that much after such a shitty day.

"We saved each other," he finally whispers, and Rachel sighs, letting herself relax fully against him.

Kara moves back to her spot beside Danny, and several moments pass in tense silence while Tex drives. The roads are mostly clear now, and everyone is beginning to slowly calm down.

"What happened?" Tex finally asks, and Rachel and Kara take turns telling the story.

"They said there were two others," Kara finishes, and then frowns. "We didn't have time to go back and look. They might still have Eric."

Tom stiffens. "We can't go back tonight. It's too dark. It's not safe. We barely escaped as it was."

"I know," Kara says, and her voice is quiet. "I know that. But I just wish..."

She doesn't finish her sentence, but she doesn't really need to. She knows that she wishes the same thing everyone else wishes — that Eric was with them right now, safe.

"We can try again in the morning," Rachel says, though she knows it's probably in vain. There had been two men left of the ones who had kidnapped them, and if they survived the zombies, she knows there's a good chance they took their prisoners and fled. They'll be long gone before morning, she knows, and she hates that there's nothing that they can do.

"In the morning," Tex agrees, and the van falls silent again.


March 13th, 1999 - 10:10 pm

They stop for the night a few miles away from where they'd lost Eric. Tex parks the van up against a large building that had, once upon a time, been a Dollar General, and they form two teams — one to keep watch, and one to check inside the store for anything usable. Rachel is sleeping fitfully in the van, wrapped in both her sleeping bag and Tom's, and they leave Katie and Tex with her. Kara, Danny, and Tom clear the area before heading inside.

"Here's the list," Danny says, and passes it to Tom. He and Kara have it mostly memorized by now.

There are some things that are always on the list, he explains — tampons and pads, condoms (Rachel had 'the talk' with them early on when she'd noticed their relationship beginning, and told them that she didn't care how uncomfortable a talk it was, they couldn't have sex without a condom because she would not be helping birth a baby in the middle of the zombie apocalypse, dammit), hygiene items, and non perishable foods with at least some nutrition. Another staple was the type of ice packs that you had to break to activate; they use them as often as they can to insulate Katie's insulin.

This time, however, there are a few additions. Clothes and hygiene items for Tom so he doesn't have to share, a backpack for his things, and compression wraps for his scars.

"This place is pretty picked through," Kara comments as they navigate the personal hygiene aisle.

"Yeah, but we can cross some of this stuff off at least," Danny says, and tosses two boxes of tampons into the cart. He bends down, searching the shelves, and adds an additional three packs of pads that he finds. At the end of the aisle, Kara grabs and adds several packs of condoms to the cart, a blush staining her cheeks. She clears the shelf, regardless of type or brand; condoms are often hard to find, they've learned. The next aisle provides razors and shaving cream, toothbrushes and floss, and shampoo and deodorant.

Tom breaks off and begins perusing the pharmacy aisles, wincing when he sees the shelves nearly empty.

"First aid supplies were among the first things to go," Danny comments, swiping a few stray bottles of Aspirin into the cart. They're also able to add cough drops, band-aids, and antibiotic ointment to their pile, though Tom doesn't find any compression wraps. Oh well, he thinks. He's survived this long, he can tough it out.

"Rest of this stuff will be in the back," Danny comments, pointing to the Tom specific rows near the bottom of the list. "Backpacks and clothes are gonna be slim pickings here at DG, but we might be able to find something."

Tom is relieved he's at least able to find boxers and socks, because as great as they are, there are just some things he doesn't want to share with Danny and Tex. He isn't able to find any clothing, or a bag to stash his things in, but he counts himself lucky when he stumbles across a pair of sneakers in his size.

"More than I expected to find," he comments, tearing the tags off as they walk toward the food section of the store.

"Sometimes we get lucky," Kara says, smiling.

They clear out the food section quickly, stocking up on staples like granola bars, pasta, sauce, and dried goods like crackers and cereal.

"This should be good," Danny finally says, and Kara and Tom agree, helping him push the cart to the entrance of the store. They're navigating mostly with flashlights as they start unloading the cart into the van, but they manage to get it all inside quickly, closing the doors behind them.

"How's she doing?" Tom asks, turning his attention to Rachel as Danny and Kara begin to organize their new supplies.

"About the same," Tex replies from where he's leaning up against the back of the front passenger seat. Katie is already asleep, curled up beside him and wrapped tightly in her sleeping bag. "Hasn't woken up, which is good. She needs the rest."

Tom nods, and casts a glance toward Danny and Kara before deciding that they can handle the supplies this time. He moves over toward Rachel instead, settling beside her and gently maneuvering her so that her head is on his lap. She's sleeping on her side so that she doesn't put any pressure on her wound, and Tom checks to make sure it hasn't started bleeding before breathing out a deep sigh and leaning his head against the side of the van.

"What a fucking day," he laments, and Kara and Danny hum in agreement. "Is it always like this? Because I feel like I should have been warned."

"No," Danny says. "It's not often like this at all. Normally we spend our time moving from place to place, gathering supplies and occasionally staying a night or two in a house, if we find one that's safe enough. We heard the broadcast for the safe zone in Baltimore right before we found you, and we were stocking up in as many supplies as we could find before heading out, which is why we were in the hospital."

"Thank God," he says, and brushes a hand over his weary, dirty face. "So, tomorrow we'll head back and check out the camp. What is the plan if we don't find Eric?"

He hates to say it so plainly, but they all know that the chances of them finding Eric are slim. Either he was never a prisoner of the kidnappers in the first place, or they took him with them or killed him.

No one wants to answer. Tom finally decides to speak up, feeling that he's probably the most impartial of the group considering he didn't really know the teenager.

"I say we move on. We can't stay here forever, looking for him. Either the zombies got him or those assholes did, but if he hasn't made an effort to find us, that means he can't, so we have to consider the worst case scenario here."

Danny is nodding slowly, but Kara looks like she wants to argue. She doesn't speak up, but Tom knows that if she lets whatever she's feeling fester, it'll come out later on, and not in a good way.

"Say what's on your mind," he prompts her, and she sighs, sitting back on her heels with a box of granola still clutched in her hands.

"He's seventeen," she starts, and her voice is quiet. "And all alone out here. He's probably terrified."

If he's even alive, Tom wants to say, but doesn't.

"I know," he says instead. "And believe me, I understand 'no man left behind'. I've lived it. But there comes a point where logic dictates that we have to move on, for the good of the group. We might be at that point. You and Rachel both almost died; there's no telling what else will happen if we stay, all on the microscopic chance that Eric survived the herd, the kidnappers, and the second wave that went through tonight."

The van is silent, and Tom sighs, running a hand through his hair. He settles his other hand on Rachel's back, calming himself as he feels the soft, steady up-and-down motion of her back as she breathes.

"Give me another alternative," he says. "And we'll do it. But we can't just stay and search blindly, or we're going to get someone else killed."

The van is silent, and Tom nods.

"All right. We'll search in the morning tomorrow, up to and around the camp. If we don't find him, we'll leave a pack of food and supplies on the road where he went missing, with a note telling him where we've gone."

"OK," Danny acknowledges, and Tom nods, closing his eyes and settling back against the cold metal of the van wall behind him.

He knows it's going to be a long night.