Chapter 3: The Innocence Is Dead
It was a bright beautiful day. The blue sky draped over us with large bellowing white clouds obscuring the heat of the April sun. I gazed out the window of the RV we were blessed to find along the road two days ago. It was a class C motorhome just big enough for the five of us. The RV was in a car pileup on Interstate 20 just outside Douglasville, Georgia. The scene was horrific as usual.
The engine went out on our car a few miles down the road and we made our way down the highway armed and ready for walkers or marauders. My husband Gabriel led the pack with rifle in hand and a backpack over one shoulder. Behind him was our daughter Eliza armed with the handgun that had become her Teddy Bear. She slept with it under her pillow. Louis my ten year old boy and I followed closely behind them pushing a handcart full of supplies. Bringing up the rear was our fifth member, Noah.
He was a tall, handsome, young man in his mid-thirties. His dark, curly locks pulled back by the sweaty bandana reminded me of Rambo, the Sylvester Stallone character. Noah was the silent type. Never spoke much unless he had something positive to say. He and Gabe bonded. They always had each other's back. I was glad to see them work together and on occasions they actually laughed. They would argue about baseball teams and guy stuff. Gabe needed that male bonding.
When we came upon the scene at the RV, a handful of walkers were swarming the cars. We got off the road and hid in the bushes nearby.
"I'm seeing at least eight of them." Noah whispered to us as he laid on the side of the road analyzing the situation.
"Do you think we can take them?" Gabe whispered back to Noah. I tugged at Gabe's arm.
"We can't risk it with the kids…" I tried to keep my voice down as I gritted my teeth.
"Baby, we need a car badly and if we can save some lives our group can grow in numbers…we don't have a choice." His big brown eyes told the truth. I nodded in agreement.
We had rehearsed this type of scenario over and over. Without hesitation, we all fell into formation. Gabe and Noah prepared their rifles and led the assault. I armed myself with two handguns and stood over Louis and the supplies watching for walkers on either side. Eliza and her trusty "Teddy" watched our backs. We moved as one unit towards the walkers, picking them off as the gunshots alerted them to our presence. We stopped a few yards from the RV as the last creature fell. We all held our breath and listened for any movement…alive or dead. After a few seconds, Gabe signaled to the group to prepare for phase two. Noah pulled out his pickaxe and Gabe sported his baseball bat. They were going in to check the situation while the rest of us covered their backs.
"How you doing, Eliza?" I asked my girl as we stood back to back watching the perimeters.
"Stop asking me that, mom! How you think I'm doing?" I can feel her back tense up on me and eventually push off.
"I'm not a little girl anymore! There are no "little girls and boys" anymore! Those days are gone." Her voice was trembling with anger and fear. I wanted to hold her in my arms and comfort my little baby, but I knew it wasn't the time or place. She was right, if we wanted to survive, we all had to grow up and face reality. The innocence is dead.
"CLEAR!" Noah waved to us to come over. It was perfect timing. I knew Eliza and I would revisit our talk but for now we had our roles to play.