Chapter 17: Shelter
EMMETT
No bullshitting. Rose and I needed Edward and Bella to join us. And whether they knew it or not, they needed us too.
In this world, you needed numbers to survive. But finding the right people wasn't easy. Edward and Bella weren't the first people we'd come across. However, the others had been blood-thirsty animals, worse than any zombie.
The first time I saw the two of them they didn't look like they had much potential. They looked almost like feral kids, dirty and dressed in rags. But after spending time with them, I knew that they were the ones I needed.
They were a strange looking pair. Edward was dressed in nothing but a pair of ripped shorts and a pair of converse sneakers that were practically falling off his feet. He was a good looking kid, but he'd clearly seen some shit. He had a scar that travelled from his hairline and cut through his right eyebrow, luckily not reaching his eye. But it was the look in his eyes that caught my attention more than anything. They were a deep green that held a look of intense focus in them as he searched constantly for any danger. Even cleaned up from all the zombie gore that he'd been covered in, he looked dangerous.
Bella looked the opposite. She was a beautiful girl even with the grime that she was covered in. She looked all cute and innocent with her braided hair and ripped police jersey and holey khaki pants. However, I did notice some disturbing burgundy stains on her clothing which looked like human blood, not zombie which looked black.
When you looked into both of their eyes, there was something different there. There was steel in both of them that probably came from having lived through some serious shit.
I could relate to that. When I'd found Rose…
No. I couldn't think about that without completely losing it. The rage was just too fresh and probably always would be.
I knew that Edward was going to be the hard sell, so I needed to get him alone. We needed to size each other up man to man. It sounded like stupid macho bullshit, but it was true.
So, I sighed in relief when Edward got up earlier than Bella. It gave me the chance to invite him to go to the farm with me to kill the last cow.
I didn't think he'd go for it, but he agreed without having to be convinced. I think he wanted to size me up too.
As we walked through the open farmland, neither of us spoke.
We both kept an eye out for any zombies nearby, but beyond a few in the distance it was smooth sailing.
I was still trying to figure out how to begin a conversation with him when we arrived at the farm that sat on the crest of a hill.
It began with a dry, dusty, driveway of rock and weeds, but then the road opened up into an overgrown lawn with a massive crab apple tree at its center which cast a shadow over a two-story farmhouse. Set in behind the farmhouse were two large barns, one painted a robin's egg blue and the other beige.
One of the barns was filled with bales of straw and farm equipment. The other held stalls for animals. That was where I'd led the remaining cow the last time I'd been there. I didn't want it wandering the countryside where any zombie could get it. There were even large blue barrels full of cow feed, which I generously gave to the cow. I hated having to kill it, but we needed to eat.
"The barn is out back," I told Edward. "I gotta tell you it's gonna be nasty. If it wasn't for the fact that we're desperate for food, I wouldn't even consider slaughtering the poor animal. It's sad and it's disgusting. I threw up four times… Shit, I'm psyching myself out… Steak, steak, think about steak…" I said, my stomach muscles clenching in memory.
"I can handle it. Haven't you ever killed a deer?" Edward asked, curiously.
"Nope. I'd only ever killed small things like birds and squirrels until that cow a few days ago… Do you want to make a bet on who is going to spew their guts first?" I asked, trying to distract myself from what lay ahead.
Edward looked at me with one eyebrow raised.
"Ummm… no thank you…" he said.
"Come on, Copper… Let's make this disgusting business a little fun," I said.
"Copper?" he asked in confusion.
"You know… You've got copper coloured hair, like a shiny new penny. So, I do believe an appropriate name for you is Copper," I said in a false serious tone.
Edward merely grunted at that.
"Fine, I won't call you Copper… So, Ed… care to make a wager on who will upchuck first?" I said.
Edward stared at me incredulously for a moment before speaking.
"I'm not betting you…" he said firmly but I thought I heard a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Whatever, man… But I still think you'll be the first one…" I said, walking towards the door to the blue barn.
After a moment, I heard him speak in a quiet voice. "It's going to be you."
I smiled to myself because I knew I'd made the first chip in his armour.
As it turned out, I was the first one to lose the little that was in my stomach, but Edward followed me almost immediately after he saw me do it. He was probably one of those people who couldn't watch someone else throw up without doing it himself. He was a sympathetic vomitter.
"I win…" he said hoarsely after he stopped heaving.
I laughed weakly, still leaning forward and clutching my stomach.
"Okay… okay… You have bragging rights…" I laughed, but then I felt another roll of my stomach from laughing and threw up again.
"Oh Fuck! I need some air," Edward groaned and bolted out of the barn.
We made it through the rest of the disgusting process relatively smoothly. After that, it seemed like Edward was more relaxed with me. I guess we'd bonded over the grossness of what we'd done. It was a man thing. Women would probably never understand it.
Once we'd packed up the slabs of meat, we sat on the porch of the farmhouse, slowly sipping the water that we'd brought with us.
We still had to go into the garden to dig for potatoes and carrots. Also, the crab apple tree was heavy with fruit that hadn't completely shriveled, but for a few moments we tried to clear our noses of the scent of blood and forget about what we'd just done.
"I've been looking at this place to set up a semi-permanent home," I said.
I'd searched the farm, finding that the owners of the house chose to off themselves before the zombies got them by killing themselves in one of the barns, so the house was untainted with the smell of zombie muck.
"Staying in one place gets you killed," Edward said, staring out across the field. "Holding up in one place can work when it's people after you. They'll eventually run out of supplies, get bored and then leave. But the dead don't get tired or bored. They don't need anything to keep them alive. They just want you. So, every day you stay in one place is just another day that the dead pile up outside. Eventually you'll run out of food and then they'll get you when you go out to get supplies," Edward said.
"Well, aren't you just a bucket of sunshine…" I said, before tipping up my bottle and drinking the last of my water.
"I'm a realist," Edward snapped.
"How do you expect to keep moving this winter? It's going to be pretty damn cold, my friend… not to mention the snow," I said, in curiosity. Maybe they had a plan.
But from the look that spread across his face, I realized that he hadn't thought that far ahead yet.
He looked very young in that moment. It brought back to me the fact that he couldn't be any older than sixteen. He wasn't used to thinking about the future.
"What we need to be doing is stockpiling food and then setting up a fortifiable location at least for the winter," I told him. "Rose and I have been trying to gather supplies, but things are pretty picked over. I've wanted to go into the city to check for supplies, but it's been too dangerous with only me. Some other farms still have crops, but I can't guard and shovel at the same time."
"Rosalie doesn't go with you?" Edward asked in confusion.
"She's had it rough. She can't really cope with it," I responded, wanting to stop this conversation before it got started.
"Doesn't she know how to use a gun? She doesn't have to be in the thick of it to cover you," Edward asked, still not understanding.
"No, she can't… can we just drop it? It's not something that I can really talk about," I said, the rage starting to bubble inside of me at what happened to my Rosie.
Edward looked annoyed but didn't continue asking about it.
That night Rose said that she didn't really know what to make of Bella. She said that she seemed sweet but didn't know if she could be trusted. However, I knew that my Rosie didn't trust easily if at all, so I couldn't put complete stock in what she was telling me.
She did tell me that once in order to save Edward, Bella had slashed her own arm with a knife. The blood lured the zombies away, which gave Edward time to kill them. Then, before she bled to death, Edward stitched up her wound without anesthetic.
I shuddered at just the thought of the pain. Jesus, that girl was strong. Both of them were. I couldn't imagine doing that to Rose.
The next day, Edward and I went back to the farm to dig more vegetables before the cold ruined them. With the two of us, we made quick work of it. I started to have a little optimism that we'd survive the winter if only Edward and Bella would stay with us.
I thought that Edward might actually be considering it, but then he backed off.
I worried it was because of Rose's continued snide remarks that she threw at Edward. I knew that she had a strong dislike for men, besides me, but she seemed to have a particular dislike for him. She said that he was dangerous, but what she didn't understand was that to be a survivor in this world a person had to be dangerous.
"Bella and I can help you stockpile some supplies, but we haven't decided what we're doing after that," he said once we'd finished digging the last of the veggies.
I felt frustrated at his words. Didn't he understand that he wouldn't survive the winter without help?
"I get it. I do. But you gotta think about the future. There aren't many good people left. Most survivors are ruthless killers."
He nodded, his eyes lost in thought.
"You need to find a building that doesn't have very many windows and is in a place far enough from other buildings that you can see the zombies coming from a long ways away," he said, avoiding the topic of them joining us.
I looked up at the farmhouse. I'd been thinking about that too. There were windows in the farmhouse, but no sliding glass doors or bay windows that would be hard to cover up with boards.
"What do you think about this house?" I asked, interested in his perspective. "It has a good view of the road and we can board up the windows and cover them with blankets."
He shrugged as he stood up and looked at the house.
"It could work. You'd just have to board it up tight. Have you looked around at other places?"
"I have. All of them have good points and bad points. This one seems to have the least problems with it," I explained.
"Huh…" Edward said, looking around.
"Let's take a look," I said, getting up and leading the way into the house.
EDWARD
With a shove from my shoulder, I pushed open the front door of the farmhouse with a loud creak.
It was clear when we stepped inside that besides Emmett, no one had set foot in here for over a year. Emmett's large footprints were the only marks on the floor that interrupted the dust that covered everything.
"Have you checked the place for any dead?" I asked Emmett who was right behind me.
"Yeah, I checked three days ago. The owners took themselves out in the barn, so I didn't even need to get the zombie stink out," Emmett said with a chuckle.
Emmett seemed like a cool guy, but his sense of humour was a little off.
Dust lay over every surface, flying into the air with each of our steps. But even under the dirt, it was clear that this had been a nice place once. Past the entryway on the right was a brightly lit kitchen with sunlight streaming through its windows reflecting on lemon coloured walls and white cabinetry. I could almost picture the farmer's wife standing over the gas stove cooking while the kids sat around the large wooden table.
To the left was a living room with well-worn furniture and a fireplace. I could imagine spending a night huddled around the fire, playing cards or reading. It was an appealing thought.
Too bad we couldn't use the fireplace. It could attract the dead or even other survivors who could be more of a threat.
My eyes scanned the rest of the room and noticed that tucked in the corner was a piano. My heart stuttered at the sight and my hands itched to touch the keys. But I couldn't. The sound of the piano could attract the dead. This wasn't a world for music.
Continuing past these two rooms, we came upon a large staircase, leading up to three bedrooms. I took the bedroom at the end of the hall, while Emmett went into the one nearest the stairs.
The bedroom had a queen-sized wood framed bed in the corner with what looked like a homemade quilt for a blanket. I knew that Bella would love it. I loved the look of it too. I could imagine being cuddled up with Bella at night with snow falling outside.
A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of Bella in my arms. It was all I could think about at times.
I shook myself out of these thoughts and looked around the room more carefully.
It was a comfortable house, but there were a lot of windows which worried me.
"Emmett, there's a lot of windows that need to be covered in this house. Isn't there another place that is a little less open?" I asked, poking my head out of one of the bedroom.
"Nah, man," Emmett said, stepping out of the room that he was in. "The rest of them have too many entrances or broken windows. This one has the best location and the sturdiest foundation. I worked with my dad in the construction business and he would think this place solid," he said, stepping back into the room.
"It's going to get cold in here when the winter hits. It's cold in here already," I said, feeling the slight chill in the air that came with the onset of Fall.
"Here, man," Emmett said, tossing me a bundle of clothes when he walked in the room. "You need clothes. If you don't get some new ones on you soon, you're going to be wandering around naked. Those look like they should fit you."
I looked down at the bundle in my hands and shook them out to see if they were my size. They were going to be a little big, but I'd manage. There were a couple of shirts, some pants, and even underwear and socks.
"I'm not wearing some other dude's underwear," I said.
"Beggars can't be choosers, my friend," Emmett said with a smirk. "I'm sure Bella would rather see you in something other than ratty shorts. You're looking a little like you were raised by wolves."
"Whatever…" I said, pulling one of the long sleeved jerseys on over my head.
"I was thinking about insulating the rooms against the cold. Dad had been talking a while about this new thing that's becoming popular which is using straw bale to insulate buildings. It's the new "green" fad in construction. You line the inside of the walls with tightly packed straw. We've got tons of straw bales, so it's not like we'd have to go far," Emmett said with a far off look in his eyes.
The more I listened to him, the more impressed I was with Emmett. He was a survivor in a way that I wasn't. I was a survivor in the moment. I could hunt. I could kill the dead and people if I needed to. But Emmett had a different set of survivor skills that would keep him alive in the long-term. He was a planner and had clearly been thinking about future survival. I'd barely thought past tomorrow since the dead began to walk. I never even considered what Bella and I were going to do for the winter. It hadn't even occurred to me.
"It would make things pretty tight in here, but at least we'd be warm. We can wrap the bales in blankets or plastic sheeting to keep them dry and the straw dust to a minimum," he said, staring off into space again.
As I listened to him, I started to seriously think about staying with them. Already I had a very different impression of him than I'd had of Garrett and his crew. With Garrett's group, I always felt like everyone was searching for the other's weakness. Everything was a competition, a fight for survival. In just the length of time that I'd known Emmett, I knew that he wasn't like that. He wanted to pool knowledge and resources in order for everyone to survive.
As Emmett had so clearly pointed out, I needed to start thinking about what Bella and I would do long-term. I could see Emmett being someone that Bella and I could depend on, but Rosalie could be a problem. She was another mouth to feed, but someone that couldn't defend herself.
Did having Emmett outweigh the problems that came with taking care of Rosalie?
From Emmett's words and the haunted look in his eyes when he cut our conversation short about Rosalie the day before, I knew that they'd encountered other survivors and it hadn't been good. He said that other survivors were ruthless killers which reminded me of James and his guardsmen. They were ruthless killers and takers. They'd kill anyone for what they wanted, like food, supplies, or even women.
A sinking feeling suddenly opened up in my stomach.
Maybe that explained Rosalie's aversion to guns and weapons…
The world was a shitty, shitty place.