Chapter 2

Emancipation

I woke up sleepily the next morning. As I blinked the sleep from my eyes I noticed two things. First that it was sunny and the room was bright, so Roger must have been going light on me today. Secondly I noticed that I hadn't awoken in my bed, I was sleeping on the couch. That wasn't what had me most concerned though.

My head rose slightly before descending again at a light pace. I finally found out that I was actually resting my head on Damien's chest. He was still sleeping though. I slowly picked up my head and stood up. I stumbled like a zombie into the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water. I took a drink of water while finally taking a good look at Damien. He was a tall kid, 6'2"-6'3". Even more surprising was his build. Damien was an awfully nice guy for being built like a tank. He must have weighed over 200 pounds too.

I decided that now was as good a time as any to pick a rifle to practice with today. As I entered the workshop I noticed that the light was on and Roger was already working on the truck. "Old man! You ever gonna stop working on that old thing?" I chided as I started admiring some of the rifles.

"One of these days you are going to thank me." Roger called from his position under the truck.

I grabbed a M4 and a Remington .22 off the wall before walking around to the truck. Roger had it propped up on a jack and was fiddling with one of the lines underneath. "What are you even working on?"

"Oh I'm just checking to make sure that nothing's leaking or worn. Can you hand me that thing?" Roger's hand appeared from under the car to point at a wrench lying about five feet away. Unfortunately his hand nicked the jack and dislodged it. I caught it before the car could fall and managed to hold it up long enough for Roger to scramble out from under the vehicle.

"You should probably not do this kind of work alone/ use more common sense."

"Yeah what would you know? I was just testing your reflexes. You did adequately." Roger smirked. The two of us admired the half tilted vehicle and shared an awkward laugh. "Besides if you wouldn't have come along I would have gotten my wrench in half the time and without the truck tipping."

"What did I miss?" Damien asked from the doorway. He looked like he had just gotten up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and started toward us. He was always eager to help. I liked that.

"Well, Pops over here almost crushed his legs pointing at a wrench and now we have to get the truck back on the jack." Roger shot me a death glare for making fun of him. I pretended like I had no idea what he was thinking.

"Don't worry about that I can help you with this. Roger, grab the jack." Damien told the old man before walking over to the truck. After Roger got the jack and walked over Damien bent down and grasped the bottom of the truck. "Ready? One… Two… Three!" Damien lifted the truck back up and held it there for at least five seconds before Roger got the jack situated.

"Holy shit. You just picked up a car." I said, astounded. I was pretty impressed. Although the kid definitely looked like he could have done it.

"Thanks Damien. I don't know how we would have gotten that truck back up without you. Rachel, are you sure you were the one that took on those three kids yesterday?" I decided not to respond to Rogers antagonistic words.

The older gentleman slid under the car for one second longer and used his wrench to tighten one last bolt before sliding back out again. His hands were caked in grime and filth, but the outside of that truck looked like it was just made yesterday.

"So, Roger, is it ok if I take Damien out to learn to shoot?" I asked rather timidly. A pity that I could face down people all day long, but the minute that I had to ask them something I became immobilized by fear.

"Well you can, but make sure to get us some grub well you're out. The kitchen is starting to look mighty bare." I excitedly grabbed a couple of boxes of ammo from behind the workbench and placed them in my backpack. My backpack was plain enough. It was black with one large pocket and had a single image of an eagle on it. I took Damien by the hand and led him out of the house. "Bye Rodge. We'll see you later tonight." I shouted at him as we left the building.

"Hey. Where are we going for this little adventure that you are dragging me on?" Damien asked as we plodded down the dirty streets toward one of my many routes out of the zone. The Springfield zone was definitely not one of the better known zones, but it was one of the safer ones. Most of my routes had two or three reroutes which we would use to make sure that no one was following us. This specific path we were taking was the quickest and led to my favorite of all the buildings; the Capitol building. The building was huge on the inside and covered thousands upon thousands of square feet.

"We haven't even left yet and you're already complaining. We're headed outside of the zone. I've got to show you something; besides the military doesn't take too kindly to people shooting stuff in the zone." I leapt over one of the smaller barriers on our way to the exit. There were plenty of crumbling buildings these days and the path that you could take on your way out of the city could look completely different on the way in.

"I wasn't complaining to clarify. I was merely asking a question that I thought was very well warranted considering you dragged me out of your house with two guns in your hands." Damien was moving the rubble out of his way instead of going over like me. Well can't fault a guy for trying to clean up the streets. (Literally) We came to a large two-story home that was probably nice for the upper-middle class people who lived here before the outbreak. It was painted a light sky blue with bright white trimmings. The paint was peeling off in many places, but you could still see the beauty that once stood before us.

"Sure you weren't." I agreed sarcastically. The living room was a mess of strewn furniture. The couch was flipped over and had the telltale signs of bullet holes in the bottom. We walked past the room and down the hallway that split the living room and dining room. The hall still held pictures that were crooked. The faces all still smiling back at a home that held no more laughter or fun. I leveled a picture out of reflex before heading into the small den that the family had built. The den built into the wall itself and had been blocked off for a long time. However, people had found a way to move the debris and get inside.

"Now if I were a secret exit, where would I hide? Of course, everyone knows that you have to hide at least one secret exit behind the book case. Can you help me with this?" I had Damien assist me in moving the book case out of the way. It was rather light on this specific day with his help. We slipped through the hole in the wall and Damien moved the bookcase back to cover the majority of our hole.

We stepped out into the bright light of a late summer's day. It was at least 75 degrees and the day held a light breeze for us. I noticed that there was a light patrol to the North and figured that it would be easier for us to navigate around them. I led Damien threw a deserted school and down the street before we crossed into the heart of the downtown area.

I noticed one of the signs that used to designate road names. We were currently headed west, on "E Capitol Ave." Whatever that was. We walked past what appeared to be a power station of some kind. Definitely wasn't operational, but it was a weird contortion of twisted, rusted metal. I was a bit worried about Damien though. He hadn't said a word since we started taking this road.

"Are you alright over there? You seem kinda quiet. What's up?" I asked him as we crossed an old set of railroad tracks.

"Nothing really, there's just nothing I feel like talking about right now. Sometimes you don't actually have to say things, sometimes quiet is nice." Damien looked at me with a stern look and closed demeanor. I shrunk back slightly at his harshness. His face broke from the rock solid expression he was using to one of laughter. "You should have seen the look on your face," He laughed, "Oh priceless."

I turned and started hitting him. "Why you gotta be like that?" I playfully hit him again, but this time he grabbed my wrist.

"Shhhhh. You hear that?" I listened for whatever he was talking about for a second before I heard a low rumble coming from down one of the other road. One of the Humvees was most likely coming down one of the streets nearby, and we did not need to get spotted.

"Quick, hide in that tan house over there." I motioned over to a tan house with green shutters. We leapt over the low fences out front. I got to the door and tried to open it. "Damn it. It's locked."

"They're coming I don't think we have time to unlock it." Damien walked up to the door and smashed one of the windows on the handle side and unlocked the door. We scurried in and shut the door just seconds before the Humvee passed the house. We listened quietly as the sound of the rumbling engine passed the house. Relieved I slumped to the ground with my back against the door.

The house was covered in dust as though it hadn't been disturbed in years. Other than the an air of mystery and a feeling that the house was special there was nothing much different than any other house.

The two of us stood up and peeked out the window. There was no one in sight, so we figured it was a good a time as any to set out again. The distant rumble of the Humvee could be heard many blocks down, but it was not going to give us a hard time. We began walking down the road again; this time with a bit more determination. The sun was beginning to dip lower in the sky and we had yet to make it to the capitol building.

To make matters worse I was carrying both guns and all our ammo. "Here, you hold this one and carry its ammo." I handed him the twenty-two and tucked the ammo into his pocket. "It's already loaded all you have to do is flip off the safety and you'll be good to go. Just don't do that until we shoot at something."

"You have such little faith in me. I'll have you know that I am very knowledgeable about these types of things."

"Alright, where is the safety on your gun?" I asked him calling his bluff.

"Heh. It's right here." He motioned to the trigger.

"Yeah that's what I thought. On second thought don't even use that thing to shoot. Just hold it and look angry and hopefully nobody will try to mess with us." I teased as we finally approached the capitol building. The steps that led up to the main entrance were well worn from the years, but it was still just as exciting to walk up them as I'm sure it was BI(Before Infection.)

"Well, as long as you aren't going to attack me I think I'm going to be safe." Damien retorted as he pushed open the main doors. Light filtered in behind us, bringing light to the forsaken building. The foyer was open and chairs watched from behind empty desks. I danced lightly across the intricate floor pattern until I stopped at the center of the room.

"Come on kid. I've got to show you something." Damien slowly meandered over to where I stood. His stance and walk seemed more like a Bigfoot and less like a person. "Stand here silly. Perfect. Now lay down… good… and look up." I laid down next to him and enjoyed the view myself. I don't know what it was about that goddamn dome. It wasn't exactly anything special, but every time I looked up into it I felt different. Almost… Almost normal."

"You know. I think it's really nice here. I could get used to this." Damien said as he relaxed with his hands supporting his head from behind. "If only they let us out here. I wonder why they don't. It seems completely safe." I'm not normally superstitious, but to be completely honest, anyone who says something like that deserves to have something bad happen to them.

Luckily I had cleared the area with Roger just over a week before so I was fairly certain that the area was clear of any infected. Unfortunately just because there aren't infected, that doesn't mean that there aren't other bad things waiting to sneak up on you. There was a sudden crunch as a vehicle came to a stop just outside the building.

"Quick Damien." Get behind the desk. The two of us sprinted to the nearest desk and we dove over the top of it. Just as things began to settle from our flurry of motion the soldiers arrived. The clicking from the sound of their feet striking the stone floor echoed across the room. One of them slowly strode over to the desk we hid behind before turning and leaning up against the front of it.

"How long before she gets here? Does anybody know?" One of the soldiers asked.

"It shouldn't be too much longer now, but you and I both know that she was injured." A second one replied.

"What could she be looking for around here anyway? Springfield is about as desolate a place as any and there isn't anyone looking to help the firefly's cause around here." A third asked.

"She's just getting supplies on her way back out west. Either way, you've got a job to do, and that means holding down the fort until she returns." Replied the second one. He seemed to be the one in charge given how he talked to the others.

The sound of another car approaching grew silent as the vehicle stopped out front. The air became noticeably more stilled and the soldiers stopped all motion. Creeeekkk. The front door opened much louder than it seemed to normally and footsteps could be heard as a smaller person enter the room.

"So, what do we got?" asked a female voice.

"Well ma'am, the quarantine zone is becoming too crowded. The surrounding area is more than safe enough for the people to start settling out in the ruins of the city, but there is still too great a fear by the local. As for the two adults and the girl, we haven't seen them."

"Fuck. This is farther than I would have ever expected them anyway. What do you plan to do about the city?" The female asked, this time with a slightly sadder tone than before.

"We aren't sure yet. If we start shooting there's gonna be problems. At the same time if we wait much longer things are going to boil over and we'll have even bigger problems. The guys think we might last another week. I'm not so sure that we would make it that long."

"Well you should probably do something quick, I recommend… Did any of you check the building before I arrived?" What did she know? How would she be able to tell that we were here? The soldiers had been here longer that here and they hadn't noticed anything.

"There's no one in here. That much we know. We didn't do a room by room if that's what you are asking." The first soldier responded.

"Then how come there's no dust on the section of desk right behind you?" The lady asked with the voice of a command than a question. We were busted and I knew it. I slammed a clip into my rifle and stood up behind the first soldier who was just turning around.

For a brief second I saw a light in the lady's eye shine, before it left seconds after she saw me. I point the rifle and the first soldier motioned for him to turn around. I noticed the other soldiers moving in my peripheral vision, but I never took my eyes off the lady in front. She was darker skinned and looked like she had been to hell and back in the last two days.

"So miss whatever. I'm here, what are you going to do about it." I stood defiantly watching the older woman for any signs of weakness. There weren't any.

"You can call me Marlene. I have no quarry with you little girl. However, I am looking for someone around your age. Is there a chance that you came across two adults and a red haired girl about your age? I have been looking for them since I left the Boston quarantine zone."

"No, I haven't seen anyone that sounds like that. Are you going to let us go? Or are we going to have to shoot our way out."

"You are such a feisty little girl, so much like her… You are free to go, but if you happen to come across a fourteen year old, red haired girl, be sure to help her out for me."

"We will do. Come on Damien." I pulled Damien up as well and pushed him toward the door. I kept my rifle trained on Marlene the entire time just to be sure though. Once we were outside the soldiers shut the doors and went back to their meeting.

"That turned out a little better than I was expecting." Damien joked as we started back down the path to home. "I didn't even have to learn how to shoot anything."

"Don't think you're getting off that easily. I know a place we can go." I led Damien down a couple of back streets to a small park that had grown thicker with time. What may have once been a small one block park now encompassed nearly ten times the area. Small game scurried about as we made our unwelcome entrance. We waited for a few extra minutes after reaching the spot to make sure that we hadn't been followed. "Now we aren't going to be shooting anything big… I don't think so you'll only need the rifle that's on your back."

He unslung the rifle from his shoulder and found a spot behind a fallen tree. He set up in his firing position and waited for me. He wasn't too bad, but he obviously needed work. He had his weight way back on his heels and was holding his breathe. I'm not a professional shooter myself, but I do know that Damien hadn't touched a gun before in his life.

"Hey you should try breathing a little bit. You're going to turn purple on me." I teased. I reached around his arm and tucked the butt of the rifle against his shoulder. "Nice and firm. A .22 isn't going to kick a lot, but when you start firing bigger guns you are gonna want it braced well. Now, see that rabbit over there sniffing the flowers? I want you to shoot him. Get him in the middle of your crosshairs. Now breathe normally. Take the shot just after you exhale."

Time seemed to stand still as he took his time making sure that everything was perfect. I watched the bunny, oblivious to what our intentions were. It turned toward us for one second as if sensing something was amiss. I saw the look in its eyes as it noticed me, not a look of fear, but of curiosity. Then the retort of a small rifle resounded through the park. I was caught a bit off guard and jumped at the noise.

"Hahahaha. Rachel you jumped four feet in the air. I was sure you were gonna hit one of these branches." Damien laughed as I collected myself. I stuck my tongue out at him. The cheeky bastard was always trying to poke fun at me. I looked back toward the rabbit that was lying motionless on the ground. Damien had managed to hit it right in the head.

"Well looks like you've got some beginners luck going for you today. If only I would let you off easy. We're going to need at least two more for Rodge." Usually when I came back with rabbit Roger would make his classic rabbit stew. There were going to be a few more of us today that usual so I figured we should probably get some more. Luckily we found a second one not too far away looking for something in the middle of the park.

This time though Damien wasn't nearly as accurate. I heard one shot, and then another, and then another. It took Damien nearly a whole clip to finish killing the animal. He gave me a weak smile like he knew I was judging him. I had to admit though he was getting some of the creatures. When I learned from Roger back a few years it took me at least a few weeks to get my first kill. Here was my new friend who just picked up a rifle and had two of the tasty critters on the ground already.

We looked for a while longer for some other small creatures, but the gunshots must have scared them off. As the sun began to grow lower on the horizon I tapped Damien on the shoulder and motioned toward the QZ.

"You know for a hulking giant you aren't such a bad hunter. Maybe one day you can get close to my shooting ability." I joked as we walked back down Capitol Ave.

"You think that's funny huh? Teasing the guy who's bringing home dinner? I guess you can't have any then."

"Hey. You won't be able to find your way back in without my help. No one knows where we keep the secret entrance" I said as we maneuvered just north of another patrol.

"You mean that one over there." Damien asked pointing at the small hole in the house we came from.

"Yeah, that one. You'll never be able to find it." I roll my eyes and help him push the book case back out of the way. The wooden boards creak from the strain as we place it back where we found it. Dust still covers the entire house as we make our way back out to the street. The road is in much better shape on the way back thanks to Damien's work.

"Alright now just make sure no one spots you with those. We can't have anyone knowing we were outside the zone." I tell him as we approach a more travelled part of town. The thirteen year old stuffs the small animals into his coat and walks very calmly down the street back to our current residence. The roads, that once only showed slight cracks, had begun to separate from itself leaving large potholes and uneven terrain.

We walked in silence for the last couple of blocks. The streets gradually became more narrow and crowded as we got closer to the center of town. I wasn't exactly sure why, but people always seemed to gather close and stay away from the edge of town. I had told Rodge that we could move to the edge of town and that I would be more secluded for us, far away from all the others. He had laughed saying that I was becoming the antisocial one of us.

I knocked twice on the door and entered the living room, twitching my nose at a peculiar odor. It smelled like something I had never smelled before, but it was sweet and made me that much happier as we entered. "Hey Old Man! What is that smell?" I asked as Damien set the two rabbits on the kitchen counter.

"Lavender. It's a candle that I took from one of the houses on the outskirts. It seems no one really had much of a use for them after the outbreak." Roger bounded down the steps from upstairs drying his hands. "Looks like you actually got a hold of something this time. You usually come home empty handed."

Damien snickered and I elbowed him in the gut. "Can you cook up some of your famous rabbit stew tonight?" I asked.

"I think that might be fine for tonight." Roger grabbed a large pot and set it on the stove in the kitchen. "Miss Ryans stopped by. She said that your grades are falling and that she's concerned that you might need help."

"Well she's a lying bitch. I am doing great in all of my classes and I don't need her telling me what to do."

"Settle down. I was just teasing you. She came by to see if you could rebarrel one of her rifles. It's an old 30-06 that has been rusted out from the inside. I don't think she knows anything about handling a firearm." Roger laughed started skinning the rabbits.

"Wait a minute. Why are you having her rebarrel the rifle? I thought you were the gunsmith."

"Ha. That's a good one. I know how to take care of my firearms and I do a bit of my own hand loading, but the true master mind behind everything is Rachel. She scavenged a ton of books on the subject from the library in town. She started with old pieces of guns that people had thrown away because they were busted. She learned pretty quickly and has been helping us stay alive here ever since."

"I'm sorry Damien. I just didn't know how you would react. It isn't exactly normal to find a girl who knows more about guns than she does about how to cook or anything else."

"You don't need to lie to me. I know what it is to be something that people don't see. Besides, your hobbies are much cooler than mine. Most people are surprised to hear that I'm more interested in patching people up than beating them up."

"Wait are you some kind of doctor or something?" Roger asked. He was stuffing the rabbit into the pot that he had begun boiling over the fireplace.

"Not really I'm more of a field medic than anything else. I know how to sew up a wound and dress it properly, but more technical stuff is out of my reach. Plus it helps if to be as strong as I am if I need to carry someone to a safer place."

"True enough. When did you ever have to rescue someone?" Roger again questioned, while adding some of his special ingredients to the stew.

"You know that I was part of the most recent group to come to town, right? Well we were making our way here from Cleveland, Ohio. We got out of their QZ not even two days before the place completely melted down. I hear that half the people were shot by the military and the other half was infected. When we were crossing the border we came across a small town that had fewer than two thousand people before the infection. We came through and there were still about two dozen still alive. They mistook us for infected and opened fire. One of our group, Stan, took a bullet to the leg and started cry and holding his leg."

"Wow you guys must have been a dull bunch if they thought that you were infected. " I joked. Trying to lighten the mood a little.

"We weren't exactly friendly to each other if that's what you are asking. Anyway I carried Stan from the middle of the road to a small convenience store where our people were stationed. Thankfully the bullet passed right through his leg and exited the other side. I used one of the spare bandages we had and applied some pressure, until I could get the blood to stop flowing so freely. I used some of our alcohol to disinfect it and then rewrapped it with some cloth."

Roger had finished making his semi-famous rabbit stew and began setting the table. Damien stopped his story and helped Rodge grab a few plates and a few sets of silverware. I just sat and made sure that they were doing everything right.

"Thanks Damien. It's good to get some help around here. You know Rachel I might just have to kick you out and keep him here instead. You aren't really pulling your weight."

"Funny coming from a guy who's twice my weight." I retorted.

"Hey now kids. Can I finish my story?"

"Of course you can, as long as the little one over here can keep her mouth shut for long enough to listen to your story." I shot Roger a death glare as Damien started telling his story again.

"As I was saying, I rewrapped his leg with a cloth we had. When I had finished the others began to get their weapons ready for a fight. Before we started a massive firefight in front of the town I walked back to the road and yelled at the townspeople to stop shooting. My entire group just stared as I stood there in the open. The townspeople shouted back, somewhat relieved, that we could enter their town. It turned out that their town had been attacked by sets of twenty or so infected at a time. Almost like an entire group had been infected and wandered their way at the same time. Our group actually split in two at this point, half staying with at the town, and the others heading on to the Springfield QZ. Now here I am."

"So the others thought you were more of a liability than a help I'm guessing." Roger guessed. He helped himself to another helping of rabbit stew.

"Yeah apparently running out in the open like that and not being capable with a weapon are looked down upon."

"I don't know. This world can always use more sniper bait if you ask me." I teased the poor kid. Since we had finished the meal I collected the plates and silverware and started cleaning them. Damien came to help out, the little that he could. I found myself smiling for one of the first times in the past few days.

If it had been any other time or place I'm sure that we could have appeared as a normal and loving family. Unfortunately the world of the past is no longer with us. Things that we love are only fleeting and all good things seem to come to an end.