It was complicated to build a fence around the block of four houses that we wanted to isolate. It was necessary to evaluate if an aluminum fence was the best solution because although a zombie would get stuck like an idiot in the fence, a reaper might be able to climb. We used the advantage of not having to look for food so soon to clean the houses we were going to occupy. Cleaning meant luring zombies out of town. Yes, this was a daily routine, although there were less zombies in the city due to the amount we had to kill. There was also the problem of reapers, which were scattered throughout the city, but we mostly worried about them at night. The important thing was to make sure they didn't enter the houses we booked when fleeing the sunlight at the crack of dawn.
On the first official day of work, we cleaned up the city's grocery stores. We had to devise a very ingenious plan to manage to expel and kill the reapers that were there: we woke them up with a horn and threw firecrackers inside the market. They got mad and went to the door to attack us. But we were waiting for them with machine guns. It was a slaughter provided with two very excited guys holding machine guns like they were John Rambo. We got rid of the bodies by piling them up in the market parking lot with pieces of wood and set them on fire. In this game, we managed to kill 21 reapers at once. At least we had the peace of mind to clean up the main market in the city. Inside, things were already quite mixed up, but there were still many products in the storage boxes: cleaning products, powdered food, oil, dog and cat food, flours, grains, salt, sugar, tampons, condoms (much to the delight of the heterosexual couples), three pistols and ammunition. We took absolutely everything that was left and stocked it in one of our homes.
On the second day, we cleaned the pharmacy, which was a lot less work since there were only two reapers inside.
It wasn't until the third day that we started thinking about the project to encircle our block. That day, Carole and Rachel made bread that didn't need eggs, and we all had half a cup of coffee and a bagel. It was what would sustain us until dinner time.
"We can try fishing." Blaine said. "There are many reservoirs circling the city."
"Once we build our fence, we can think about these livelihood activities. We need to ensure the safety of our family first." Burt decided.
The decisions Burt made were undemocratic, but we accepted them because he was our father figure and leader. Sometimes I realised that Mike didn't agree with Burt on certain things, but the other boys had no problem following orders. As for us girls, naturally Burt listened to Carole and practically ignored us. I wasn't bothered by it, not least because Burt's decisions didn't bother me that much. I'd been through two very tough losses - my mum and my abuela. I also felt the losses of Kurt and Father Hugo. Frankly, I was only interested in surviving and moving on, and I didn't care about Burt's dictatorial stance. At least for the time being.
"Well, I'll take care of the car today." Sam volunteered.
"You want to do the easy part." I tanned.
"No Sam, I need you today. Blaine will have the truck today. But be careful. Luring the zombies out of town can be quite tricky. You can lose control of the truck when running over some." Burt decided. "Sam, Finn and Mike are coming with me so we can check out the police station. I need to know if it's better to fence off these houses, or to move there."
"Leave this beautiful little house?" Brittany wailed.
"Our priority is safety, dear." Carole said as if Brittany were a child. "If the police station is the best place for us, we'll just have to move the furniture there, right?"
"Santana, Rachel, Brittany and Quinn. I need you to go to the lumberyard and get as much building material as you can. I also need you to fill the drum with diesel for the generator of this house."
"What about me?" Tina complained.
"You, Joe, and Carole take care of the security of our home."
Blaine ran to the truck and began the task of luring out the zombies. It was the cue for Burt, Finn, Sam and Mike to get into the SUV and go to the police station. I've never been to the end of that side of the town, but Burt said it was a building next to the local hospital. I loaded my revolver, put it in my leg holster and grabbed a rifle. Rachel also grabbed a rifle for herself. Quinn and Brittany weren't the most qualified people to carry a firearm. Brittany was afraid of them and Quinn didn't know how to shoot a target. Every time she tried to practice, she always performed pathetically. Still, some protection was needed. Quinn holstered a pistol at her waist, but I knew it was just for show. Brittany kept a very nice spear, which we found in the survivalist's basement.
We put the fuel drum on top of the truck bed and left the house. We had to drive to the highway to fill it up, because the gas station inside the city was dry. Going into that complex was a little scary, as it was located right on the side of the main highway just before (or after depending on the reference) the overpass to the main entrance to the city. Following that highway, you would end up in Columbus. I've never been beyond the overpass, but Burt said there was an electrical distribution center and a big reservoir there.
When we arrived at the fuel complexity, we get out of the truck. All that could be heard was the noise of the wind, which was particularly strong at that cold day, with a very light rain falling. I pulled up beside the truck, hooked up the hose like Burt had taught us, and started filling up the drum for the generator, while Rachel and the girls watched my back.
"We should go to the public library."
"Heard of any book signing, Berry?" I ironized.
"It's not that. We need to learn how to do things. On the island, we basically only had those best-sellers to distract us, or the bible. There was no technical book for almost anything."
"It's not true. I read Daniel's veterinary books." Quinn objected.
"Okay, you've learned a lot about… vet. But we still need to know about construction, mechanics, electricity. We need to know how to fix a generator when necessary and we no longer have Google to explain everything. We need books to distract us as well, but also for us to learn how to do things."
"Berry..."
"Santana, this is a matter of survival."
Rachel had a more than valid point. We couldn't depend on Burt's meager knowledge for everything. He was a mechanic and a guy who was sensible and charismatic enough to have been elected to public office in Lima. He understood a little about home repair, but he wasn't an engineer. Much less he was a doctor or a pharmacist. He didn't understand plantation, treatment of plant seedlings, seed management. He also didn't know how to hunt or make fire without a matchstick. Berry was right: we should learning more about these things. Suddenly, I was mortified that Berry was right. We really were living through the apocalypse.
"Okay, after picking up building materials, we can head to the library."
We finish filling up the car and fill the drum for the generator. Blaine just happened to walk past us. He stopped by and said he would help us with building materials, much for our joy, since we would have a male arm to help us. We entered the city again and parked the cars in front of the construction materials store. The fence was open and as it was a balcony that only had the roof, so we didn't worry about reapers and zombies at that time of the day.
"Look at this." Rachel caught our attention.
We found a zombie trapped between some hardware. As it was dressed, I thought it didn't even have enough time to turn a reaper. We saw that undead thing moaning in a horrible way, moving its arms to catch us, regardless of not being able to move because its legs were trapped. Half of its face was badly decomposed and it smelled awful. Even so, I looked at that thing, which was once a male human. I looked at what had doomed us: a shitty mutated virus unleashed by people who wanted to save the world.
"Shit people!" I grumbled.
Blaine took his pistol and fired at its brain.
"Shall we get this over with, girls?"
We loaded the trucks with building materials that Burt had thought of using for the fence, but he didn't explain to us in what way. We filled the truck and van with lumber, cement, and a bunch of nails. Then, we drove by the public library. I coordinated the action. Rachel, Blaine and I would go into the library, while Brittany and Quinn would look our backs. The place was small, and had a museum within the same building. I closed the door to the museum, because it didn't interest us. If there was a reaper in there, it would be trapped among the supposed historical objects. We advanced into a room that had shelves of books against the wall and some couches. The real library was just that, as the rest of the space was taken up by a small auditorium and the administration office. We didn't want to explore those rooms, it would be a waste of energy, so we just closed those doors as well.
"William McKinley's library feels like Harvard next to this one." Quinn smiled. "Not much to enjoy here, Rachel."
"Look! There's a book about plants and natural medicine, Quinn. This is medicine we need!" Rachel practically threw the book at Quinn. There's this book about basics of construction. We should also take it… look, let's get those literature books too."
"The Sidney Sheldon book collection?" Blaine picked up one of the books and flipped through it. "My mother loved this one. Very soapy."
"Sidney Sheldon wrote for Broadway, you wrongdoers." Rachel complained. "He created I Dream of Jeannie, if you ask me."
"That powerful woman who had a man for a master of her life? That's trashy and misogenous." I rolled my eyes. "Wow, there is nothing LGBTQ in this library..."
"What kind of LGBTQ material?" Rachel challenged me.
"Fun Home, for example."
"The Broadway play?"
"No, the comic strip."
"Do you know Fun Home?" What did Rachel think I was? An idiot? I could rub it in that arrogant girl's face that not only there was a library in my house, but I had read a good part of the collection. If you ask me, Quinn might have a reputation for being a compulsive reader, but I also had a great reading background. I was also part of the advanced literature class, for god sake!
"Yes, Berry, I know Fun Home. Long before it became a play on Broadaway."
"Really? How did you know it?"
"Well, it has to do with my process of coming out to myself."
"Tell me more, tell me more." Quinn sang a little bit.
"I was in that phase of figuring out who I was. I wanted to understand why I wasn't attracted to boys even though Abuela always asked me if I already had a boyfriend to take me to the school balls, and all those things. I was about 13 and not that interested in girls or boys, until the day I had an intense crush on a classmate back in middle school."
"Brittany?" Blaine asked.
"No, I met Britt at McKinley."
"I studied middle school with you." Rachel speculated. What a pretentious girl, thinking it was because of her that I found out I was a lesbian.
"Don't be full of yourself, Berry. You were never my crush."
"So, who?"
"Do you remember Mack?"
"The Mack?" Quinn almost freaked out. "The leader of the Skanks The Mack?"
"Yeah! That one."
Quinn burst out laughing, but Rachel didn't seem to be in the same spirit. Brittany and Blaine just looked curious.
"Anyway, Mack smoked, she was emo and didn't take shit from anyone. Not to mention that she was hot."
"And she can dance." Quinn said. "When I was a Skank, I saw once Mack dancing with that street dance group at Lima Heights Adjacent. She's good. Maybe you have a type, Santana."
"I didn't know she could dance… anyway… so yes, I had a crush on Mack. Or for the character she played. I was really curious about be with a girl because of her, but abuela would hate me and it made me very scared. One day I was at the bookstore and I saw the Fun Home comic book. I knew what was it about because I had read a review. So, I bought this book hidden from my parents, I was ashamed to even show the book to the bookstore's cashier. But I can say that it was very enlightening, although I was still in the closet a couple of years after that."
"Call me by your name." Blaine said.
"What?" I asked.
"Call me by your name was my breakthrough book. Which enlightened me."
"How it was for you?" I was curious.
"I didn't exactly have a crush. My brother got me a Hustler and there are pretty triple X pornographic pictures in that magazine. That shocked me more than…you know. Don't get me wrong, I find the female form very attractive, but it's those vulgar photos that traumatized me. I told myself I would never do any of that. So, I got into Dalton and my roommate was shocked that I had never dated with anyone. He was gay as well and he realized that maybe I might be too. This friend of mine lent me the book. I read it and let's just say it was a revelation. This is unbelievable, I came out to be gay without ever having had any experience."
"Wait a second?" I interrupted. "Do you find female parts attractive?"
"Yes. I think the woman's body is beautiful. I even thought I was bisexual and kissed Rachel, remember?" Rachel smiled and nodded. "But I kissed a female that I didn't love that way, and since my experience was limited to Kurt... what I do know is that even if I'm bi, like Brittany, I think I would still prefer to be with men."
"Wait a minute…" Quinn caught our attention. "I remember that party. Are you telling me that the first person you kissed in your entire life was Rachel Berry?"
"That's right." Blaine and Rachel exchanged smiles. "What about you?"
"Finn was my first of everything." Rachel said.
"Matt." I confessed. "My first kiss, I mean."
"Matt?" Quinn was surprised. "That Matt who was in our choir?"
"That Matt, indeed. Not that I liked him. It was because of that stupid spinning the bottle game. And you Fabray? Who inaugurated you?"
"My cousin George." She confessed.
"Was your first kiss an incest? Jesus, Fabray."
"That things happen. I had terrible firsts times. My cousin… Puck… all bad choices. How about you Brittany?"
"I don't remember his name. All I know is that it was this redhead kid at summer camp. He asked to kiss my lips and I let him. Then he asked to kiss downstairs and I let him too."
Everyone looked at me, like I had something to do with this story. I didn't even know Brittany when she gave away her goddamn virginity. If you wanted to call Brittany a slut because of the number of sexual partners she's had, that's up to you, but remember that she was a naive girl in that sense, who thought that things really had to happen that way. It took a while for her to grow in that sense. Meanwhile, a lot of people took advantage of her until I put an end to this.
"Was Kurt the only guy you kissed in your life?" Quinn asked and Blaine nodded. "And Britanny was your only one girl?" Quinn kept asking I nodded too.
"And Santana was your only one?" Blaine asked Brittany and I sighed in defeat.
"No. I had kissed other girls before Santana."
"Practically half the squadron of cherrios." I groaned and Quinn let out a laugh.
"I kissed half of the school because I was looking for my favorite person." Brittany defended herself in her own way, without affectation as if this were the most normal thing in the world. "When I met Santana, I still had to wait for her to stop being so confused and embrace what an awesome person she is. I just think she wasted too much time on that stupid boy because she wanted to be popular."
"Fact." I admitted. "But it's also a fact that school was rotten. If I came out sooner, I would have been targeted like Kurt, and my popularity wouldn't have saved me, or the fact that I was a cheerio."
"I knew about you and Brittany since our sophomore year. I mean, I knew you two had sex but wasn't dating at that time." Quinn confessed. "I just didn't say anything because my name isn't Finn Hudson."
"Finn has already apologized a zillion times." Rachel complained.
"It's because you weren't the one who was pulled out of the closet on television for all the damn Ohio. Everyone found out that I'm a lesbian, even people who had never seen my face before. It wasn't just at school. I even got judgmental looks when I went to buy popcorn at the movies. I've been hit on by a bunch of butchers who want to be my husband! I had to get off my social media, because while I was getting a lot of positive messages, I was also getting terrible ones. One reporter had the nerve to speculate if Sue Sylvester was my sugar mamma. It was horrible. What's worse is that Finn never suffered any consequences for what he did."
"He did suffer, Santana. He made a thousand and one plans to try to make amends for what he did."
"In the end, he thought singing a song about girls just like having fun was a good idea."
"You accepted his apology. You even cried!"
"Because I was tired, Berry. That's it. Coming out to my parents after all this was easy because they saw that political advertising and were ready to support me as soon as I spoke to them. They even gave me a ready-made speech, it was almost rehearsed. Still, Abuela rejected me, and that, for me, was like dying."
"I never needed to come out, because I was always out of it. But I suffered a lot when Kurt and later when Santana were attacked. Especially Santana. I wanted her to come out, I even pushed her a little bit, but the way it happened, it made me really sad." Brittany said and gave me a kiss in my cheek.
"Coming out in Dalton was easy because there was a policy for these situations. It's in the school's ethical code to support students regardless of color, religion or sexuality. A student who is reported for racism or homophobia may be expelled if they found guilty. So if there is prejudice, that person needs to swallow it hard and never externalize what they think. There's even a very good psychologist there." Blaine shared his experience. "When I told my parents, that was the hard part. My mother hugged me and told me she loved me no matter what. But it was visible that she was shaken. My father turned his back on me and said he was late for a meeting. My brother thought this was great advertising for his career."
"That's all sad." Quinn said. "Not to be outdone in the case of family tragedies, my dad kicked me out of home when Finn opened his fucking mouth telling them I was pregnant singing You're Having My Baby."
Blaine, Brittany and I burst out laughing. Rachel, of course, wasn't amused.
"Guys…" Brittany caught our attention. "What about porn?"
We laughing even more. We were so entertained talking like normal people our age that we didn't even realize that it was almost three in the afternoon, and we had to be careful as the days were getting shorter and shorter with the approach of winter. I was about to open the public library door holding some Sidney Sheldon books, when I saw something terrifying and immediately closed the door. My friends complained for a second until they saw what I saw: two trucks going by at medium speed heading towards the fuel depot. It wasn't the hydroelectric's military. At least I thought not because they were civilian vehicles.
"Who are these guys?" Rachel asked.
"How I will know?" I grumbled. But I was scared.
"Maybe it's the Olivers wanting to see if we've settled in." Blaine speculated.
"With two trucks full of men?" Quinn hit Blaine.
"Will they find our house?" Brittany was worried.
"I don't think so, it's off that route, towards the end of town." Quinn answered and left the bookstore.
"Quinn…are you crazy?" I yelled in a whisper, but she wanted to see where the trucks were.
Then, she ran back inside.
"I don't think they saw us or suspect our cars. They're gone."
"The police station is straight ahead on this main road." Blaine warned. "If our people are still there, may have had confrontation."
"What do we do?" Rachel asked and everyone looked at me. It startled me. I think that in the absence of Burt or even Mike, I would be the leader.
"Let's walk back home." I decided.
"What?" Quinn tried to object.
"Listen, if these guys come by again and someone notices the cars are gone, they'll know there are people in town. Maybe they ignore it, maybe they try to find us. We don't know these people, we don't have the slightest idea of their intentions. So it's best to avoid confrontation."
The four agreed with me. I left the public library and carefully checked for movement. So I signaled for the others to run. We crossed the lane and started running towards our house. In the meantime, zombies started to return to the city, and I thought there must be some plausible explanation for why those animals keep coming back. One of the zombies saw us and ran towards us. Rachel stopped to fire, but I wouldn't let her.
"They can hear gunshots too."
It may not seem like it, but in a world without noise or light pollution, it was possible to hear high-pitched noises at a good distance. And the sky... you could see the fucking milky way. I took the spear from Brittany's hands and ran towards the zombie coming towards us. I took a short break and let him come, I aimed the tip of the spear at the head, and that bestial thing ended up burying its own skull in the spear that entered through its eye. I sighed in relief. Blaine stepped on the thing's head and pulled out the spear. We needed to run at least another half mile to reach our house. Running such a distance as a cheerio in top form, on the best possible nutrition was easy. Running without the same musculature and poor nutrition was much more tiring. But we run in boots and heavy clothes and carrying our weapons. When we reached the house, out of breath, it was a relief to see the SUV was there.
"Where were you?" Burt opened the door already thinking about giving us a monumental scolding.
We don't waste time. We enter the house and lock the door.
"What happened?" Carole asked clearly very concerned.
"We have visitors in town." Rachel said catching her breath.
"Two trucks drove through town..." Quinn added. "Across the main street."
"Where are our cars?" Burt asked.
"We left them in front of the public library." I explained. "If they passed by again, they might realize there was someone else."
Finn hugged Rachel while I drank a huge glass of water to catch my breath. I looked out the window and saw that the zombies were coming again. What a hell of creatures!
"Which way were they going?"
"Towards the fuel depot." Quinn told Burt.
"We have to check out to see if these guys will stay or if they just passed by. If they are good people, we can negotiate and live together. But if they are militiamen, they can try to take over the fuel depot and make a bargaining chip out of it." Burt analyzed the situation. "Our lives will be at risk."
"And what are we going to do?" Carole asked.
"The first thing it to find out who they are."
...
Carole, Tina, Brittany, Blaine and Joe stayed behind again while we armed ourselves to the teeth. We all turned around to get into the SUV, even though zombies were prowling the area, and headed straight for the public library. Fortunately, the vehicles were there with fuel and construction material.
"Quinn and Rachel, I want you to drive the truck home. Securing that fuel drum is our priority right now." Burt ordered.
A zombie tried to take advantage and ran towards us, but Sam was quick to shovel the zombie in the face before killing it. Quinn and Rachel got into the trucks, and I was grateful my girlfriend wasn't in on the dirty action. I got back into the car with Burt, Mike, Finn and Sam. We followed Burt, who decided to stop in front of an auto repair shop that was very close to the highway and the fuel depot. We need to walk at least another 200 meters to reach a position hidden between abandoned trailers to observe. From there, Burt checked the movement through binoculars.
"We are no longer alone." Burt said. "I see at least six well-armed men milling around the warehouse area."
"How do we know these guys are bad news?"
"We already know, Finn. Their interest is not in this city. It's exclusively by the fuel complex. The question is whether they will leave us alone. Or how long they will stated to look for food and others supplies."
"How will we do this?" Sam asked.
"I will talk to them."
Burt was crazy. I would never think of talking to those guys. Never! He handed the rifle to Finn and was left with only a pistol in his belt. He took a gallon that was inside the mechanical workshop, got his clothes a little dirty.
"If anything happens to me, I want you to go back home, put everything you can in the cars and get the hell out of here."
Burt even took a walk around to simulate that he was a walker. We observe everything from afar. Burt approached the guys. Two of them ran towards him. Burt held up his hands. One of the guys walked over and grabbed the pistol from his waistband and then frisked him. They seemed to be talking. Then one of the guys took the gallon while Burt kept his hands up, still. One of the guys put fuel in the gallon and threw it back on the ground. Burt took the gallon, turned his back and walked out of there much to our relief. I confess that I imagined the worst case scenario, that those guys were going to shoot Burt.
When he came back with the gallon that was only a little more than half full, we hugged him.
"Let's go home, we have a lot to decide, kids."
We get in the truck (needing to kill two zombies along the way in the beaten base) and Burt was safe in the SUV. We got home in five minutes, and the first thing that happened was we were hugged by our respective ones, relieved that we were back in one piece.
"What did you discover?" Carole asked and that was my question as well.
"Not much. They said they owned that fuel depot. Whoever wanted to buy fuel, the price was weapons or food. It's a very salty price list, as a pistol is worth half of a gallon."
"Damn militia." Mike punched the couch.
"Will they leave us alone?" Quinn asked.
"Hard to know. Probably not. Even more so if they find out what we have. They might want to rob us or collect taxes."
"What can we do?"
"Let's pack our things and leave."
I might as well walk away, but I would make those fuckers pay for ruining our perfect home. I was thinking of doing a crazy thing, one so big that Burt and Carole wouldn't approve, but maybe Finn or Mike would buy into the idea. I then rejoined the two as I watched the others pack up to leave town in the next day.
Mike, Finn and I went down to the basement and got three extra little things and stashed them in our backpacks. Afterwards, we acted naturally and helped pack our supplies and weapons, even though Brittany knew we were up to something. I couldn't hide anything from her, but I had the autonomy not to tell my girlfriend everything.
"Santana." Brittany said sternly when we went to sleep. "Whatever you're planning... give it up."
"I'm not planning anything, Britt Britt."
"You cannot fool me."
"I know I can't."
"Then give up whatever you've been planning with Mike and Finn. I saw you were whispering around all afternoon."
"Let's sleep, okay? You don't have to worry, Britt. It's like I'm going to do something crazy."
I lay down on the mattress in the second floor's bedroom that Brittany and I shared with Rachel and Finn. I avoided looking at him at all costs. I just minded my own business and lay down with my girlfriend.
It was Finn who woke me up. I looked at my watch and it was almost three in the morning. I got up, careful not to wake Brittany and Rachel, who was literally six feet away, and put on my jeans and boots. I didn't take my revolver. Instead, I used one of the pistols we found in the house. Finn and I went down the and everyone there was asleep, except Mike and Sam. I was surprised by the unexpected presence.
"Support." Mike whispered as he handed me the backpack.
We looked out the window and there were no reapers circling around the house at that time of the night. Finn grabbed the truck key and Sam unlocked the door for us. We walked silently to the truck, trying not to attract the attention of reapers or zombies. Finn unlocked the doors and we got in the car. The high sensitivity of a reaper at night was impressive, as we barely closed de car's door and left the place and the reapers were running with impressive agility towards us.
"Speed up this shit." I said scared, because it was like one of those movie scenes, with a bunch of little monsters hitting the car, wanting to break the window.
These monsters were naked human beings, with distorted faces, letting out a terrible snarl. A reaper didn't speak anymore, on the other hand, it screamed in a terrible way, like a mix of rooks and chimpanzees from hell. Finn made maneuvers to take down the reapers and we ran over several of them. Maybe those would turn into zombies at daybreak. Some reapers still persisted on top of the car.
"Down the window a little bit." I ordered Mike.
He opened the window about six inches, which was enough for me to aim and fire the pistol to take down that motherfucker. There were two more who managed to climb onto the bodywork. Mike took the pistol from my hand, he opened the window and got out to shoot those bastards. I held Mike by his legs so he wouldn't fall.
"Done! Get me in!" Mike said and I did my best to pull him into the cab of the car while Finn drove.
Finn accelerated what he could, and turned on the truck's headlights even to know where he was going on that dark, moonless night. We only managed to get rid of the reapers at the end of the city, even so they continued to run like crazy after us. Finn made a maneuver that we didn't expect and turned the truck in the opposite direction of the fuel tank. He had the reapers follow us out of town, past the police station. Then he turned again, accelerated as much as he could and the reapers we passed over couldn't hold on to the truck, which at that point was already pretty crumpled and damaged. That way, Finn got a long distance between us and the horde of reapers, allowing us to reach the fuel depot with a good margin.
Tires squealing, Finn took a moment to stabilize the truck. When he got it, he went back to accelerating what he could. We enter the perimeter of the fuel depot. We were so fast that we didn't even see if there were militia guards nearby or not.
"I know what this area is like. Circle the complex. There's a road behind it" Mike ordered and Finn obeyed.
The road didn't pass immediately behind the fuel distribution complex. In fact that was a connection road to a farm that was located right behind. Between the farm road and the complex, there was a strip of forest about 200 meters long. Mike and I got out of the truck with the backpack. There was no way of knowing if the truck provoked any movement by the militiamen who were in the complex, so we couldn't hesitate. When we got close to the fence, I had to give Mike reason, as the tank and reservoir connections were closer to us over there than if we had pulled over on the side of the road.
"Ready?" Mike asked.
I wasn't prepared. I had adrenaline at its peak, so I didn't even think straight: I just reacted. Mike opened the backpack. I got the four pins out and zipped it up in record time. Mike then threw the backpack towards the tank. We ran into the forest lane, but our bodies were thrown forward by the air displacement caused by the explosion of the four grenades. Mike helped me to my feet and we started running again. Only this time there was a much bigger explosion. So big that I felt my body lift off the ground. It was like one of those slow-motion scenes. I felt my feet lift off the ground, a brutal, hot force was against my back, and a second later, I slammed into something violently and my vision went black.