An (Incomplete) Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse: Chapter 10
March 14th, 1999 - 7:00 am
The following night is both never-ending and over far too fast. Between waking Rachel up every few hours to check her mental status, taking the midnight to two in the morning watch, and being woken up by Tex at 7 am, Tom is exhausted.
He's more than a little surly as he makes his way through his morning routine, brushing his teeth using water from a bottle and doing what little he can with wet wipes to clean the grime and gore off of himself. His shirt is still covered in Rachel's dried blood, and the thought makes him sick, though there's not much he can do about it at the moment.
He feels only marginally more human when he stumbles out from behind the van, groaning as the sun shines brightly in his eyes.
"Kara, stay with Rachel and Katie," he orders grumpily as he tucks a pistol into the waistband of his pants and makes sure he has his knife. "Tex, Danny and I will check out the campsite and report back. If we're not back by noon, leave."
Rachel, who has just woken up and is leaning against the wall of the van, hair disheveled and wrapped in a blanket, snaps, "Like hell we will. Blue flare means you need assistance, just like always. You're not back by noon, and we come after you."
Tom turns to face her, and is perhaps more direct in his current state of exhaustion than he would have been otherwise.
"No," he grunts, and he can see Danny and Tex regarding him wearily out of the corner of his eye. "Katie needs someone to stay with her, which needs to be you since you have a concussion, and Kara can't come after us on her own. If we're not back by noon, leave us."
"Tom," she says, and her voice is hard, eyes narrowed as she stares at him. "We will not leave you. If you're not back by noon, we will find a way to come and help you. So, if you don't want us leaving this spot, then you'd better be damn careful and not need any help."
Tom's heart is racing and his cheeks feel warm, but not from anger, he doesn't think. He's ... thrilled that she's standing up to him, even if he doesn't agree with what she's saying. He's used to making the decisions, and always has been — with his family, his girlfriends, and his team in the Navy. He's always been the one in charge, and to have someone so much physically smaller than he is tell him 'no' is new and exciting.
He offers Rachel a small grin; she glares at him.
"Fine," he relents. "We won't need help, so this is a moot point anyway. Just stay in the damn van unless you see a blue flare."
Rachel nods, secretly pleased that Tom had been the one to give in, and settles back against the side of the van.
"Be safe," she says, and the boys promise they will before they close the van door, securing the girls inside, and head off into the woods.
March 14th, 1999 - 7:21 am
"Dude," Danny says several moments later when they're out of hearing range of the van. He's stepping carefully over a fallen tree branch, leading the three of them along the now-familiar path toward the campsite where Rachel and Kara had been taken when they were kidnapped the night before. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone argue with the boss and live to tell the tale."
Tom chuckles; he's sure that Danny is exaggerating, but then Tex adds, "Remember Neils?"
Tom turns to Tex; he's heard this name before, and he remembers being curious about Niels when he'd been mentioned the first time.
"You said that Rachel didn't let him join the group," Tom recalls while Danny nods in response to Tex's question.
Tex chuckles. "Man, he was a real piece of work. Something seemed off about him, but none of us could quite place it. Met him at a convenience store while searching for food. It was early on, right after we all paired together, while we were still near the CDC center that Rachel had been studying at. Apparently Neils had been there, too, and she recognized him. Said he had always felt ... wrong, when she saw him in the halls at the CDC. He'd followed her a lot; seemed pretty taken with her."
Tom has a sinking feeling; he remembers Rachel telling him that there had been no news coverage of the zombies when she had been attacked, which meant that ground zero, the beginning of the apocalypse, had to have been close by her. The herd that had trapped her under the dumpster had to have been one of the first, if there hadn't been any public knowledge of them. Which meant...
"She can't prove it, but she thinks Neils had something to do with the mutation of the virus," Danny says quietly. "She confronted him; he had this smarmy little grin on his face, but he wouldn't say anything about the virus. All he would talk about was her; what he remembered of her, the conversations they'd shared, what he remembered her wearing and doing. It was fucking creepy, man. He tried to follow us away from the convenience store and she tore into him, saying that if she ever saw him near her or us again she'd kill him."
"Normally Rachel isn't a violent person," Tex adds. "But I one hundred percent believe she would do it, too."
Tom doesn't speak, but his mind is whirling. If Neils did have something to do with the virus mutation, that would mean that he was responsible for over six billion deaths across the globe. What had started in California had made its way across the world in a matter of weeks, infecting over 80% of the population. Of those left, many more thousands had been murdered by others trying to survive.
Neils may have started the apocalypse, and on top of that he was frighteningly obsessed with Rachel.
"I'll help her hide the body," Tom finally remarks, though he's not sure if he's serious or not. In the heat of the moment, maybe, but the thought of premeditated murder still feels wrong, even if the man was responsible for the deaths of billions.
"We all would," Danny agrees. "The man is a snake. A stain upon humanity. He just... his presence made you shudder. He's just wrong, in some way. He's still out there, somewhere, which is another reason we want to get the hell out of California and start heading toward Baltimore as soon as possible."
Tom nods, and continues walking with the two men. He hopes that they leave this place today. It's not that he doesn't have sympathy for Eric, it's just that he thinks that they're putting all six of their lives in danger for a boy who is most likely gone. Either caught by the zombies, or taken by the people who had kidnapped Rachel and Kara, and if those men had managed to escape the previous night, they had either murdered those they'd captured, or taken them with them.
There is little to no chance that they are going to find Eric today, and Tom hates that they're wasting precious hours.
"Plan for when we get there?" Tex finally asks, and Tom sighs, running a hand through his hair.
"Search the place for any sign that Eric was ever there. Clean out any weapons or supplies. I'm hoping that those fuckers had to evacuate so quickly last night that they left their weapons or food."
"Might as well get something out of this trip," Tex grumbles, and Tom turns to look behind him. "What?" Tex asks. "We're all thinking it. Eric's gone, and we all know it, we just don't want to accept it. Life isn't the same as it was, and 'no man left behind' has already almost killed Rachel and Kara. We've been here for almost two days, we need to move on or we're all going to die. And I'm not just mad because he almost got Katie killed, I'm just scared that someone else is going to get hurt before we leave."
Tom agrees with him, but doesn't say anything. As the newest member of the team, he's not sure how much he can say. He doesn't want to turn anyone against him. So, instead, he focuses on being as aware as he possibly can of their surroundings, listening and looking for any unwelcome visitors.
They make it to the campsite with surprisingly few encounters. The zombies they do encounter are easily taken out; they don't run into any herds, like they had the days previous, and for that Tom is thankful.
The campsite looks very different in the daylight than it had the night before. It's still small — two tents, both trampled and destroyed now, and the small building that Kara and Rachel had been held in, but it seems smaller and less threatening than it had in the dark. Tom directs Danny and Tex to check out the tents while he moves toward the building, gun drawn just in case there's anyone inside. He kicks the door open, clearing the room before dropping his gun, eyes dancing over the walls and dirt floor of the room. He sees blood on the wall where Rachel had likely been leaning, and dried vomit on the ground. He winces; he doesn't want to be seeing this, but he checks the building carefully before deeming it clear. There's nothing usable in here, no supplies or signs of Eric, and so he leaves, closing the door behind him.
"Building's clear," he announces as he walks back over to the others. Danny is standing watch while Tex is making a small pile of things they can use. A few guns, flares, and the emergency packs that had been taken off of Rachel and Kara the night before are all that are left.
"No signs of Eric," he reports. "We found a few useful things, but I don't think this camp was supposed to be a long term place to stay. I think they were just passing through. No significant amounts of food, plus they were out in the open here, vulnerable. They would have been caught by the zombies eventually."
"Who the hell were they?" Tom wonders, as they split the supplies between them for the trip back. "What did they want with Rachel and Kara, and whoever the 'other two' were? Why were they here, exactly when we were? Surely it's not a coincidence."
He has a bad feeling; deep down, he knows there's something going on, and, with the new information that he has regarding Neils and his fascination with Rachel, he knows that whatever it is, it's not good. He suddenly wants to be back at the van, with her in his sight even though he knows damn well that she can take care of herself.
"We'll be vigilant," Danny says, and casts one final glance around the decrepit camp before tossing his bag over his shoulder. "Let's get the fuck out of here."
March 14th, 1999 - 11:10 am
The mood in the van is somber as they begin to drive away from the highway where they've spent the better part of the last two days. Tom is sitting in back with Rachel, while Danny drives and Kara sits in the passenger seat. Tex and Katie are quiet where they sit near the front seats; Tex is reading to her from a paperback book, and Katie is beginning to nod off. Tom knows that she didn't sleep well last night; she'd been awake almost every time he woke up to check on Rachel, so he's glad to see her resting now as they begin to leave.
"I can't believe this happened," Rachel whispers, sighing as she pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them. She rests her chin on her arms and closes her eyes as Tom checks on her head wound. "I can't believe we lost him. I've not lost anyone since this began."
Tom hums softly, probing the skin around her wound. It's not as red-hot or as inflamed as it was, which is good, because if infection sets in then she's fucked. He pushes her hair out of the way and slathers antibiotic cream all over it, just in case, before pressing a sterile dressing to it and wrapping it in medical grade gauze wrap. He ties it off, tucking the edges into the wrap, and then sits back, taking Rachel's chin in his hand and gently turning her head side to side, having her track his finger as moves it back and forth. Everything seems fine, and he's cautiously optimistic that her wound wasn't as bad as it looked in the beginning. A night of rest seems to have done wonders.
"You had to have known it would happen sooner or later," he says quietly, and takes a seat next to her. Rachel shrugs and sighs, resting her head on Tom's shoulder. She hasn't forgotten about their kiss, though enough has happened in the past 24 hours that it seems unimportant in the moment. It's nice, though, to be close to someone and take comfort in their presence.
"Yes," she admits. "But that doesn't make me feel any better."
Tom reaches out and takes her hand, entwining their fingers. He kisses her knuckles softly, and rests their clasped hands on his thigh.
"Losing people is hard," he says, and recognizes that while being vulnerable is difficult for him, that in this case it will benefit Rachel to realize she's not the only one who has lost someone, and that he's here for her. "I've lost men before. In Afghanistan. It's terrible, and you never really stop blaming yourself, but it does get easier."
"He was just a kid," Rachel sighs, eyes closing. "Seventeen. He was just trying to help, to take Katie to the bathroom so he didn't have to bother us, and now... he's just gone."
"He may be out there somewhere," Tom says encouragingly. "We left a bag of supplies and a note; he'll know where we're going. If he finds it, he can join us in Baltimore."
Rachel nods, but Tom knows she's not very hopeful that they'll ever see Eric again. He isn't, either, and it's a hard pill to swallow. They're basically abandoning a child, even though they know it's for the best.
"Try and get some sleep," Tom encourages her. Rachel sighs and gives in to her exhaustion, letting herself melt further into him as she pulls her sleeping back tightly around her shoulders. "We have a long drive ahead of us."
Rachel is fast asleep in minutes, and Tom is thankful for that. He presses his cheek against her hair, breathing in deeply, before carefully rearranging himself so he can see Tex and Danny in the front.
"What's the plan?" he asks quietly, and Tex sets down the book he was reading to Katie, reaches out, and grabs a large road atlas. He flicks it open to the page that shows the entire United States, and contemplates for a moment before speaking.
"We basically stay on I-40 all the way from here to Baltimore, so it's a straight shot," he explains, running his finger along the blue line that indicates the major highway. "With road blocks, stops, and being limited by how fast we can travel around the congestion in the cities, we estimate we can make it a few hundred miles a day. So, tonight we'll stop near San Bernardino. The cities are always packed with the undead, so we'll try and stay on the outskirts while still looking for good places to stock up on food and gas. When we're traveling through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, we're not going to have many options to stop, so we need to gather as much food and fuel as we can."
Tom nods, already calculating in his head how much room they have for gas. There are several 10 gallon gas cans strapped on the roof of the van, but if his estimate of how many miles per gallon the van gets is correct, they won't make it through the desert states without stocking up a whole lot more.
"All right," he says, and reaches for where he knows Danny keeps their list of 'look fors'. He sharpens the pencil using his knife, and adds gas cans, additional crates or other storage options for food, and gas to the list. He's a planner, so it helps to write lists, and he's glad that they have the resources for it. He continues, "Rachel should be the one to stay with Katie while she's healing. Tex and I can search for food and necessities. Danny and Kara, you can work on siphoning gas. We're going to need a hell of a lot more fuel cans if we're going to make it across the desert, so those will be priority."
"Also walkie talkies," Danny adds from the driver's seat, and Tom nods, writing it on the list. "We need a way to keep in contact. Our flares are limited and not ideal; the sound and light can draw the undead. Walkie talkies would be best; one for whoever stays in the van, and one for each team."
"And batteries," Tom muses. "Lots of batteries to keep them running."
He makes another addition to the list, but doesn't say it out loud in case it turns out to be a dead end. He's been thinking, and he's seen converters that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter of a car, and then used to plug normal electronics into. He's hopeful that maybe they can find a mini fridge, and power it using the van. It would be a solution to Katie's insulin problem. He doesn't want to get anyone's hopes up, but if they're going to be searching for walkie talkies and batteries, he knows the converter would be in the same place.
"Will we make it to San Bernardino before it gets dark?" he asks, and then follows it up with another question. "How many flashlights do we have?"
Tex shrugs. "We should be there by mid day. Not many flashlights, and we've had trouble finding batteries, so we try to use them as little as we can."
Tom nods and adds flashlights to the list. He admires everything this group has done to stay alive, and their system for collecting and storing goods is impressive, but he knows a lot about survival and wants to stock up on a few additional things. He wants to be useful, he thinks, and this is how he can do it. Rachel has kept everyone alive this long, and he's going to do whatever he can to help her out.
"Show me where the weapons crate and first aid supplies are," he requests, and carefully moves out from under Rachel, grabbing the notebook and taking it with him to the back of the van where Tex points out two of the crates. He goes through them carefully, adding to his list as he goes. They need tourniquets, as well as ferrous sulfate, for serious wounds. They also need antibiotics in addition to the antibiotic cream they already have, in case infection does set in after a wound, and stronger painkillers. He would hate to have to tough out a serious wound with Tylenol.
By the time they stop for the night, he thinks, he'll have a solid plan.
He can't save Eric, but he can do this. He can help keep this group alive; he can get them through this nightmare.
