It had been three hours since Rick had first set foot inside the Wal Mart. Now, watching his son play basketball with the other kids made him feel like this had been his life for years. He felt safe. Parts of him still wanted to keep his guard up but mostly, he just wanted to relax.
James and his group had made the place home already by setting up little camps of their own throughout the store. It was so big that finding privacy wasn't hard. There were three main sets of restrooms: one in front, one near the auto dept., and one near home and garden. James had made his camp inside the bank branch by hanging curtains over the entrance and setting up a futon from the furniture dept. Summer had simply set up a tent near the garden center and slept on a camping cot. Sylvie had her tent next to Summer's with the same set up. Casey preferred to sleep in what used to be the break room next to the auto dept. Her bed was also a futon and she was right across from the big family restroom.
Rick had set up a two-room tent near the home and garden restroom. He had found a blow up bed for him and Lori and set up a portable cot for Carl. Most everyone else had set up at the front of the store using tents and cots. Morales and his kids all shared an area in electronics where they had set up two huge portable gazebos next to each other with curtains hung up on the openings.
Most of the aisles had been left the way they were when the store was still open. The high windows let light in but parts of the store had to be lit by camping lanterns. A huge space had been cleared and a basketball hoop had been set up near the garden center where there where more windows. Inside the storeroom there was a set of stairs that led to the roof. Most everyone kept a sidearm on them at all times. Guns were also kept at each small camp and near the stairwell to the roof.
James had explained that in the first few weeks here they had only eaten what food would spoil quickly leaving the rest for later. They had even rationed themselves to only three small meals a day to make sure the food would last. Every empty container that could hold water had been filled and sealed shut the first day they where here. Most of the water was stored in the old meat freezer (that had been cleared out already) to try to keep the air from it. The rest of the water was kept in various places; some packed in the getaway trucks. It all seemed so well prepared, which was just a little unsettling.
Now, sitting in clean clothes, Rick leaned back in the lawn chair and sipped warm apple juice from a plastic cup. Lori was beside him watching Carl with a smile on her face. From his chair he could see Andrea and Dale on a bench talking. Glen and Peter were playing ball with the kids. And Shane was coming towards him carrying another lawn chair. He sat down on the other side of Rick and popped open a warm beer. Rick quietly wished he wouldn't drink but said nothing. Shane had been getting on his nerves a lot lately.
"Mind if I join you?" Rick looked up to see James holding a foldable metal chair.
"By all means." Rick replied. James set his chair next to Lori. As he did he sent Shane a disapproving look. Rick nodded at James in agreement. Shane hadn't seen any of it.
"Feels good doesn't it?" James asked after a few seconds of silence.
"What's that?" Shane asked.
"Just being able to sit back."
"Oh yeah." Shane tipped the can back almost finishing it.
"If you don't mind my asking," Lori began. "What did you all do before this?" Rick could see that James knew Lori was really just trying to make conversation. James just smiled and answered.
"Well, Tanner and Peter both worked with me at the steel plant here in town. That plant and this Wal Mart basically made the town. Sylvie and Casey both worked at the elementary school teaching. And Summer worked here."
"Any other family?" Lori asked without thinking.
"Our parents lived in Texas. We haven't heard anything. We had an older brother who lived nearby but… When we went to get him we just found his apartment ransacked."
"I'm so sorry…" Lori stuttered.
"No.." James shook his head. "Don't be. We've all lost people." Lori seemed relieved he had eased the awkwardness. "Besides, I'm lucky to have who I do have left. We all are, I guess." Rick nodded his agreement. "I do have to say I'm glad so many in your group can shoot. It'll help with the roof patrols. Sylvie and Summer mostly just keep to the CB."
"You have a CB?" Rick suddenly sat up straight.
"Yeah. I think Sylvie is on it now. We try to have someone near it at all times. We write down everything we hear. There's actually a lot of chatter in the afternoons. The mornings are quiet for the most part. Nights are kinda in between, some talk, mostly just static though."
"What do you hear?" Rick asked.
"Mostly just people sending shout outs to whoever may be listening. People give locations of where a group of walkers have been spotted. Sometimes we hear the location of a "safe place" but that could be a trap."
"You sound like you've been fooled before." Lori said.
"Pretty close, yeah. Casey got hurt. But we took care of it." He shifted in his chair. "I can show you the logs we have. There aren't as frequent as they used to be but we've kept records since our first day here. It gave the girls something to do…"
"I'd like to see them." Lori stood up. James stood and beckoned her to follow. Rick got up too.
"We keep the radio by the girls' tents." As they passed the basketball game Carl stopped and looked at Rick. Rick smiled and waved him back to his game. Just outside the entrance to the outdoor area Rick saw two pink tents set up. In between the tents was a round wooden table with four chairs around it. Summer sat in one chair scribbling something into a blue spiral notebook. "We get any news?" She looked up at James' voice.
"Yeah." She kept writing. "Just a sec."
Rick looked at the table and saw three more notebooks. He picked up one and opened it.
June 3rd- Military convoys moving through looking for survivors. Picking up anyone. Avoiding this. Might be infected people there.
June 5th- One convoy overtaken by infected. They were headed for Fort Benning. Don't know if second convoy made it.
June 8th- No word from Fort Benning but got some sketchy conversation about staying away from CDC. Don't know why. Words were scrambled.
June 10th- Fort Benning overrun.
"Okay." Rick slapped the notebook shut at the sound of Summer's voice. "I got something from the camp at Preskitt. That place they are calling Flindleville." She paused and smiled at the name. "They are running low on some medical supplies. They have been for a while. They keep sending out shouts for help. The fences there are still standing. And they have food and water. But some of their people are sick. Just normal things, flu, colds, stuff like that."
"Well, untreated that can still be bad." Rick spoke up. "Have you checked this place out at all?"
"Yeah, Me and Peter went up there two weeks ago just to check if it was for real. We never went in but dad taught me enough to see without being seen. It's like a little town almost. It's actually an old army barracks converted to hold POWs during WW2. The fence is fairly new and strong. They have a water pump and they were smart enough to start a garden. The info we have on them is that there are up to 50 or so living there."
"You sound like you really did some research." Lori said. James shrugged.
"So why haven't you tried to join them. They seem to have a pretty good set up. Sounds like you could help each other. This place has a huge pharmacy." James gave Rick a hard look.
"I know, but I just can't…" James looked back at Summer. She smiled at him sympathetically. "I can't risk it now. Preskitt is a two day drive and… She could pop at any second. I can't risk leaving until after the baby comes."
"Baby?" Lori and Rick said at the same time.
"Casey. She's pregnant." Rick thought back to when he first got a good look at Casey. She was sitting in the booth chair. When he had gotten up from the table she was still sitting there. He hadn't seen her stomach.
"Oh, well." Rick looked at Lori. "Yeah, that's a good reason."