"Are you sure?" I asked Mike.
"Yes. We need to check it, Santana. Rachel can handle security while we're gone."
"These people have made it clear that they don't like murderers like us around their places." I crossed my arms. "I don't know why I should go. Take Rachel or Joe with you. By the way, you should bring Joe, as these people love a good Samaritan."
"San… we need to check them out. We were practically isolated all the winter. Even if they don't like us, we need to see what's going on."
I grumbled, and it wasn't just one time. I took my revolver, reloaded it and put my gun in my waist holster. I kissed my girlfriend while Mike made a thousand and one recommendations for the others. Now, with the reapers back, our visit would be very quick, as it took us almost an hour walking to our neighbors. Everything had to be very well calculated, because the reapers' aggressiveness was even more frightening than at the beginning of the apocalypse, and we knew that two people in a forest, no matter how armed they were, would be easy prey.
Mike and I walked without much talking. Not that we had much to discuss about our daily lives and our housing. Even the gossip wasn't very interesting. The hottest gossip was that Rachel seemed to be leaving her grief as Finn Hudson's widow and starting to get closer to Sam. Not that it was any of our business, although it was totally our business. Understand this: when you live together in a confined space with eight other people, any change in relationship status changes the dynamic of the entire group. If catastrophe strikes and Brittany and I end our relationship, or if Rachel, Sam and Blaine perhaps go on a polyamory glee, it will certainly affect everyone in some way.
What did I think about Rachel and Sam together? From my point of view, it was only a matter of time, since there weren't many options available. Sam had needs, Rachel had needs, and Blaine prefers men. The equation was given, and the answer was obvious. Meanwhile, Quinn continued her sexless relationship with Joe, while Tina and Mike and Brittany and I took care of our own love affairs, each in our own way.
We arrived at our neighbors' houses and we had a surprise: there was no one there. The gates were open, both to the townhouse and to the ranch. We inspect the houses. It didn't look like it had been broken into or anything like that, it just looked like they just got out of there for some reason. Some things were left behind: basically the bigger furniture, the piano from Elena's house, shelves with some books, most of which were romance novels. The whole electricity structure was there. Solar panels and everything. I tested the switch and there wasn't power maybe because they turned off something. We did an inspection and saw that there were generators as alternative energy, which would be relevant for rainy and winter days.
When we got into the ranch, I was able to walk into Pacey and Joey's house for the first time. I saw that they invested some luxury in that place and I thought that Pacey, as a restaurant owner, must have accumulated a good income to acquire that ranch. On a table was a small cardboard box addressed to me. Mike looked at me curiously as I picked up and read the note.
"Dear, Santana. We received some promising news, so we moved north. There's a new country called the North American Union, can you believe it? Look to the eastern islands of Canada if you ever want to leave Ohio. We realised that Golluns don't like winter, so we set off while there was still snow on the ground. We know you have a good heart, Santana, and we know you can make wiser decisions to protect yourself and yours. You're a good leader. Be careful. Pacey Witter and Joey Potter-Witter."
Inside the box were keys and padlocks. Mike and I tried some of the keys and saw that they locked the doors as well as the barn. We checked the gate and saw that the lock was missing. We would have to get another one to close the ranch. There was nothing left in the chicken coop, no horses, no dogs, and not even the cat I saw wandering around on my last visit before winter hit. The barn no longer had tools or much use other than the structure and a few trinkets that were left behind, such as buckets, watering cans, clotheslines and baskets. The impression I had was that they had packed lorries to move to Canada.
There was a fridge turned off with nothing in it. As must have electricity in the house due to the solar panels, Mike and I thought it could be an alternative to preserve meat without having to salt or to smoke and dry it. There was no stock of food or medicine. Everything was cleared, taken with them. There was no fuel in the cans, there was nothing useful for us except the vegetable garden in the green house. If they wanted to leave something for us, that was it. There were tomatoes that were still small and green, potatoes that had already sprouted, beans still without pods, some corn stalks, pepper plants, and seasoning vegetables such as parsley, chives, basil, as well as some blueberry stalks.
"What do you think about us moving here?" I asked Mike.
He tried the gate again and it didn't look solid enough.
"I think they had a close call." We were both sorry to see the gate in the ground. "Let's lock up the house and barn so no reaper can use them for shelter. Of course, we are getting that green house, and we can use Pacey's house as a local base. But I still prefer to live in the bunker for its safety."
"I agree." I said with the thought a little far away from there.
"What is it?"
"My uncle Carlos went to Canada."
"Yes, I know."
"We know that the cold apparently scares off reapers or causes them to hive."
"Sure."
"Do you think that eventually we shouldn't try to migrate north too? We have diesel, and getting a car will be no problem."
"The problem is the path, San. We had a lots of problems to get here, we lost people."
"I know."
"Honestly, I don't plan on spending the next five years in that bunker."
"Me neither. But it's fine for now, right?"
"We can organize ourselves, wait for autumn, plan. And consider the possibility of returning if necessary."
"Well, I think Joe will be overjoyed when he comes here. He loves to farm."
Before leaving, we took the watering cans and threw some water on the plants, after all, we didn't want them to die at all. I got a bunch of parsley and a bunch of chives. If today's menu is fish or snake soup, at least it would taste better this time.
When we returned, to our relief, no scares, no strange hunters, militia or zombies wandering lost through the forest. It was calm, and I just prayed it wasn't a prelude to storms. As we passed the waterfall, we saw someone enjoying it. Mike and I exchanged glances, and it was obvious that we would quickly discover the couple's identity. Only Quinn was home at the time. She was outside the bunker, sitting on the bench, reading a book with a rifle beside her.
"Did the people decided to walk today?" Mike looked at his watch. It was still one o'clock in the afternoon, so we were still safe.
"They all went to the lake to fish. How are our neighbors?"
"They moved to Canada, apparently!" I informed.
"What?" Quinn was startled.
"But they were generous. They left the house keys and a vegetable garden as an inheritance." I showed the herbs I took.
"Can we live there?" Quinn was hopeful.
"Yes and no. The house has reinforced doors and windows, but the gate was weak and unsafe. We would have to straighten it out and get some welding done." Mike explained. "Under these conditions, it's safer to stay here."
"But at least we have a vegetable garden in the green house, and we will have real tomatoes in the next few days!" I tried to cheer Quinn up with the news, because I know she hated the bunker.
Tina, Joe, Brittany and Blaine arrived from fishing. I showed them the herbs, and Tina, our head cook, was particularly excited. No less than half an hour later, Sam and Rachel arrived with wet hair and damp clothes. I exchanged glances with Rachel, and she signaled me not to comment. In a way, I imagined that would happen eventually, because no one there was made of iron and no one swore sex abstinence. But I thought Rachel and Sam were a couple with nothing in common, no chemistry there, just like Quinn and Joe. Honestly, I thought Rachel had more chemistry with Blaine or even Quinn or me than she did with Sam. But that was the times of the apocalypse, you know? As I said, there weren't many options around.
Tina and Joe cooked our lunch. We had fish stew with herbs (all of which I brought). While I appreciated the boys' dedication to fishing, honestly I was dying to catch Bambi's mother. If I could catch a rabbit, I'd be happy. I couldn't stand eating fish and dry meat anymore. We washed the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and I heated a bucket of water to take a shower, taking advantage of the fact that we had washed the clothes the day before. At five o'clock we closed the bunker and turned on the lights. We unrolled the rugs, packed our sleeping bags, and Rachel read another chapter from the book. It was six in the afternoon and silence reigned in the bunker. We did everything in our power to not have to hear the terrible screams at our door.
...
"So..."
"So what?"
"You and Sam..."
Rachel grumbled. We were walking into town to check a few houses for food, as our stock was dangerously low. Mike and Blaine walked further ahead while Rachel and I purposefully stayed behind.
"Do you really like him?" I insisted questioning.
"Yes, he is my friend."
"With benefits, apparently."
"Is that supposed to be something bad?"
"No, I'm just glad you're moving on from Finn. You can't live long in grief in this new world, Rach."
"It's not that I'm still moving forward. I don't think of Sam that way."
"How?"
"I was needy and needed comfort. I needed to be kissed and hugged by someone. That was what happened. It's not that I have a lot of options."
Rachel had a point. Our world and our small society were extremely limited and that deprived us of many things, including falling in love freely. Mike and I didn't have that angst because we had Tina and Brittany in relationships that were pretty stable from before anything happened. Now imagine the position of the others? Rachel and Blaine lost their partners tragically. They didn't have the luxury of therapy to cope with the pain of loss. Believe me, I would go to counselling to get over the loss of my family. Nobody has that luxury any more, unless we find a psychologist who survived the apocalypse.
Brittany helped me… we helped each other, but Rachel didn't have a lot of possibilities to move on with other people. I know full well that Quinn approached Joe because the guy is a safe and stable option, practically a puppy without much personality capable of doing whatever she wants without complaining. It wasn't a love issue, it was convenience for comfort as well. What's left for Rachel, Sam and Blaine? It was as if they had been forced by fate to be together.
"One way or another, I'm glad you and Sam found comfort with each other. And luckily for you, I hope he got better, because by the time I was with him..."
"Santana!" Rachel gave me a slight push, just to get her point across. "Sam is okay. A little narcissistic in action, but he is fine."
"Ouch!"
"Don't tell him, please, because I'll deny everything."
"Of course. Were you safe?"
"Yes, we were. It's not that there's a shortage of condoms in the bunker, but Tina and Mike haven't managed to run out of stock yet."
"Thank God I don't need this shit anymore."
"Really, weren't you the one who said you'd one day get Brittany pregnant?"
I laughed and hugged Rachel's side.
"I'm a committed woman, but I might hold you now and then if you want it. You don't need to have Sam's pale little dick to get that kind of comfort. Brittany is great at cuddling... much better than me. I'm sure she'd hug you if you needed it."
"Thanks."
Our conversation ceased as we passed the huts that indicated we were close to town. We always took a closer look to see if there were any signs of people around. The river demarcated that geographical boundary between the forest and the city, and it was the point at which our silence became mandatory. We put cloths tied to our faces to soften the rotten smell that that city exhaled. We crossed the bridge and were surprised to notice that there were new zombies among a huge horde of walking bodies already in the advanced stage of decomposition. Signal that we needed to be extra careful.
Mike led the way, signaling when to move forward and when to wait. Our first objective was to get to the flour warehouse and then reassess the supermarket. If we weren't able to get anything from the supermarket because of the reapers (we hoped they're gone at winter), our alternative would be the houses.
As we approached the flour warehouse, we saw three pickup trucks parked there. Men were picking up a good amount of flour. Those who were armed wore a military jacket, they shot the approaching zombies with pistols with silencers, and depending on the zombie, with axes. Rachel made the "militia" sign at us, and we nodded in agreement. There were two men who clearly ran the operation. There were also the people who did the work of stuffing the bags and loading them into the cars. Those weren't wearing any military jackets, and they were pretty skinny.
"Slaves?" Rachel asked in signs.
"I don't know." I also responded by making signs.
Blaine warned us that two zombies were approaching. It was a cliffhanger because we couldn't be noticed by those men, and we couldn't get rid of the zombies by shooting them. Mike stepped forward and caught the nearest one with the spear. On the run, Blaine practically cut down the second zombie with his machete. So that our situation would not get worse, we entered one of the houses that were close by. The door was unlocked, and that was dangerous sight. So we didn't explore it, we didn't make a sound in case there were zombies or reapers in there, but we discussed in sign language.
"We need to leave now." Rachel insisted.
"No, we must wait." Mike decided as the leader. "We cannot go back empty-handed. We need food!"
I spied through the window of the house and from there it was not possible to see the movements of the militiamen.
"We can go the other way." I suggested. "Away from them."
Mike pondered for a moment and nodded. Staying in there without being able to act was much worse. But there was a certain aggravating factor because those men were making noise and, consequently, attracting zombies to them. When Mike saw a group passing by the house, we had to back off. Some zombie bumped into the house, made a noise outside, and that elicited a small grunt from another room.
"Reaper!" Blaine gestured and it was evident that he started to get very nervous.
Mike said he would check out and motioned for Rachel to watch his back. I needed to be with Blaine, or he would do something stupid. Blaine and Sam always faltered somewhat when they accompanied us on these missions and I was more and more convinced that they should stick to fishing and trying to hunt something. Even with the gun drawn, I grabbed Blaine's hand and tried to comfort him. We heard a noise coming from the living room, like there was a small fight going on, but Rachel didn't fire. Still holding Blaine's hand I walked over to where my friends were. Mike took the spear out of the now body and he looked very impressed. When I saw what it was about, I was scared too. It was a reaper who was killed with a spear thrust to the throat, and she was pregnant. Those beasts bred! Honestly, I didn't want to know what kind of baby a reaper could make. This brought a completely new scenario, an extraordinary element because even if no human on earth does not become contaminated anymore, reapers would continue to exist by reproduction.
We stayed tuned to see if the little commotion drew the attention of zombies or, worse, the militiamen. Luckily, everything looked the same. The front door was unlocked and Mike waited for the right moment for us to leave. We sneaked across the street, and had to finish off a rotting zombie with a machete. You know what's a good thing about zombies? They don't bleed any more after a while, unlike reapers, and we didn't have to worry as much about contagion.
We heard car noise. The militiamen passed through the avenue attracting a bunch of zombies after them, running pathetically. I guess they didn't see us. I hoped not. But their departure allowed us to go to the flour warehouse to get our fraction, which was much more modest. We found many zombie bodies on the floor, and the warehouse is padlocked. That was new too.
Mike gestured as if he wanted to know if I could pick that kind of lock. I said no. It was a tetra-key padlock, and I could never break it with bits of iron. We had two options: look for some pliers to break these things in the workshops or in the firehouse, or we tried to blow it up with shots that would draw the attention of the zombies back to that location. One way or another, the militia would know someone else was there. Mike decided to review the strategy.
"Let's try the supermarket." He gestured.
Think about it, if we could just walk down the avenue to the supermarket, it wouldn't take us more than 20 minutes. Under the conditions we had, walking the same distance took an hour. When we checked Walmart, another surprise: apparently the militia did some cleaning there, due to the pile of bodies of reapers and zombies that was nearby and because of the lock with padlock on the door of the warehouse. So we did what was most convenient for us: we broke the glass. We chose a corner window, which was obscured by old stacked shopping carts. Mike was the first to enter, and he saw that everything was okay and only then did he call us.
As was to be expected, the shelves were heavily overturned, some on the floor. But there was no longer that bunch of reapers inside. So, we started grabbing what we could and, quite literally, we did the shopping. We put chips, pasta, bags of flour, grains, canned goods, soap, clothes and even garbage bags in sports bags! My bag got too heavy, and I would have had a hard time carrying everything to the bunker, but we had to grab everything we could.
We left the supermarket and decided to take the forest path. It wasn't smart to be greedy and we had everything we needed to spend a month in peace.
"Let's go back there tomorrow." Mike determined already being able to speak aloud.
"Why?"
"Because the militia will loot everything very soon and if we don't accumulate now, there won't be much left for us."
How I hated when Mike was right.
...
It was the fourth consecutive day of shopping at Walmart before the militia completely emptied everything. With what we caught that day, I would say that we were guaranteed at least six months of storage, using everything, obviously, without waste. My sports bag this time was filled with cartons of dried meat, packages of canned peas and corn, and biscuits. This time we even included two packs of toilet paper, which was precious in those days. I had a special gift for my girl and just hoped she had a little sense of tech history to grasp. I also took a set of bows and arrows with me because I thought it would be an alternative to learn to hunt with that weapon. It was a matter of practice and the good thing was you didn't lose ammo for nothing.
Mike was frowning this time. He got into an huge argument with Quinn, because she said, and rightly so, that Mike wasn't looking out for medication, and that we couldn't afford to spend another winter on pepper tea. I confess that I didn't prioritize medication either, but when we managed to gain access to the pharmacy in the supermarket, we saw that fundamental medications such as antibiotics and the good painkillers were no longer there, so we contented ourselves with the most common medicines that were left, first aid material, alcohol and some other stuff. We didn't get anything special, but at least we had a minimally decent stock of basic medicines and items to treat wounds. Quinn would have to make do with aspirin and paracetamol for everything else again.
"I hope we don't have to go back to town for the next month." Sam grumbled carrying his bag.
"And miss our tour?" Rachel smiled, but she too was having trouble carrying the weight.
"We can think of other outings, Rach. We can do garden, fish..."
"Or maybe visit the waterfall?" I teased caused a groan from Rachel and some embarrassment from Sam.
Mike suddenly told us to shut up. He signaled for us to put our bags on the ground and we grabbed our weapons.
"I saw someone." He said in sign language, and then sent Sam to guard the bags while Rachel and I accompanied Mike to check the grounds.
As we were used to, I walked to the left and Rachel to the right, while Mike walked more centrally. We heard a shot and I immediately took cover against the nearest tree. I looked around and saw Mike also protecting himself. No sign of Rachel. I gave it a shot just to try it out and got the answer. Mike pointed where the shot was coming from and I fired a second shot now in the most accurate direction. I got another hostile response and threw myself to the ground this time. Mike tried to move, but they shot him.
When I saw Mike falling to the ground, I was really scared that he had been fatally shot, because he didn't move afterward. Then I heard a gunshot, and Rachel appeared waving at me. She shot the guy, and kicked his gun. I ran to Mike, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that Mike was indeed wounded, but the bullet grazed the side of the rib. He would be fine.
"Can you get up?" I asked in sign language and Mike nodded.
I left Mike and went over to where Rachel was, along with the shooter. He was a young man, probably in his 20s. Rachel hit the guy's arm and she had the gun pointed at him.
"Who are you?" I asked and the man didn't answer so I shot him in the leg. I felt like Rachel wanted to fight me, but with an injured arm he could runaway, with an injured leg, not so much. Besides, it showed that I wasn't kidding. "Who are you?"
"Zach… Zach Malone."
"What are you doing here, Zach?" When he hesitated to answer, I took my revolver and pointed it at the other leg. "With an injured leg, you might be able to reach the huts and hide from the reapers. With two, you'll be food."
"He said you're evil and killed his boys cowardly, defenseless. So, he offered medicine and food in exchange for help him in the hunt."
"Where do you come from?"
"Columbus."
"Is Columbus still up?" Rachel asked curiously.
"Yes... the big buildings and the stadium serve as base and homes for the remnant now."
"What is the old man in Columbus? He's somebody important?"
"He's just an old man who hunts and tell stories."
"How many are you?"
"Five with me."
I took his gun from the floor while Rachel inspected him for ammo. We took everything he had, including the knife. Mike caught up with us and I signed.
"Do you wanna live or do you wanna ends your pain right here?" Mike asked the man.
"So, get out of here."
Mike waved and told us he was going to get Sam to help us sweep the area. As for the man, he was left to his own devices. Deep down we knew he would never survive wounded in a forest at that time of the afternoon, but that was his problem. Maybe if he makes it to the cabins, he might have a chance. What pity or compassion could I have for someone who agreed to murder me and my family for a handful of food to satisfy an old man's thirst for revenge?
We walked cautiously through the forest, each about 30 to 40 meters apart from each other. Rachel saw something and pointed. As I had a more favorable angle, I shot. It was another guy who was poorly camouflaged waiting for us. My shot caught the guy in his back. He let out a muffled scream and started shooting like crazy, in any direction. We had to protect ourselves again. I threw myself to the ground and placed myself behind a tree. I had extra protection because of the uneven terrain. There was one last shot and everything stopped, went silent. I looked around and saw Rachel waving. This time, she eliminated the subject altogether. Sam walked over to the body, checked the clothes, and took what was useful to us: ammo and the gun itself.
We move forward, towards the bunker. Three to go. We advanced until very close to our safe home, when we saw the other two on our roof, setting fire to that point, probably to try to force the exit of whoever was inside. While they were burning our chimneys and vents, one of them, who appeared to be the old boss, was at the door shouting and threatening. We had no pity and killed them all. To be honest, I don't think they even saw us approaching. Bad luck for them. As we approached the man at the door, we saw that the old man was still dying. Sam grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out our door like he was a bag of garbage, which wasn't far from the truth.
I can say that the outcome of revenge was pathetic. And it was. But think with me: more pathetic was the guy to come back here in these woods wanting revenge after his partners were killed by the brutal assault on Quinn and Brittany, who were defenseless. We can speculate, we can say he was overcome with rage, we can create a bunch of scenarios. But none of that would matter in the end. The old man died getting shot in his back, acting insane, and was thrown out to be reaper food. Not a single word was exchanged, let alone a curse. The five shooters died, and we are still alive. We saw that the old man had a bottle of gasoline in his hand, and I don't think he had time to execute the part of the plan where he would probably try to kill everyone burned inside.
"Britt!" I knocked on the door. "You can leave now. We took care of them."
It took a few minutes before Tina opened the door.
"They hit Joe, and we barely made it in and locked the door." Tina said urgently. "It wasn't a deadly shot and Quinn is taking care of it." She already said next to calm us down. "One of them started cursing and threatening us and he fired a few times through the small window in the door. He even threatened to burn us alive if we didn't leave."
Tina saw that Mike was bleeding and became almost hysterical. But I couldn't hesitate. With Mike unable to make the decisions at that point, I took the lead.
"Sam and Blaine, go get our bags. We didn't have to go to all that trouble to leave our stuff lying around. Run because we don't have much time." They nodded and Sam led the way. "Britt and Rachel help me put out the fire on our roof. Tina… just take one more patient to Quinn and do as she says."
Brittany, Rachel ran to get water from the stream because it was easier and faster than waiting for it to fill up at the tap. The bunker wasn't very smoky, because the pipe they were apparently burning was actually the furnace chimney. There were two guys down there, and all I did was grab their gun, and I dragged one of them over to serve as a damper for one of the fires. If he was still alive, too bad for him. The girls arrived with the buckets, and we quickly extinguished the small fires. We still need the three of us to make a second trip to finish the job. Lastly, we poured water into our chimney, even though we knew that water could leak into the bunker through the furnace. The time it took the three of us to put out the fire was the time it took the boys to bring our things.
Then we heard the infamous reapers scream and quickly entered the bunker. Quinn was already starting to check Mike's wounds when we got in. Tina was helping Quinn as best she could. I checked in on Joe, and he was fine.
"Quinn and I were at the door when they arrived. Tina and Britt were already inside." Joe said, glancing at the bandage on his shoulder. "It was grazed. I was luck."
"Watch out, kitten, you've already spent two lives!" I messed with Joe and kissed him on the cheek.
Reapers started knocking on our door, probably attracted by the smell of blood, smoke and also our voices. Those three fresh bodies was all near the bunker, and I bet the reapers would eat them till the bones. Like I said, the scream was hideous, the creatures were brutal, but that fucking door was solid. At least that.
The wall immediately opposite the door was nothing more than the diagonal ceiling to make the descent into the hall. As long as no one approached the door, the old man had no chance of hitting anyone. It's a good thing we got there before he tried to burn everything down, although the smell of smoke from the burning chimney was pretty strong, the inter air system of the bunker also worked. On the one hand, it was good to know that our home had passed the security test in the first attack by other humans, if I could call those guys that.
Sam went to the door and what he really wanted was to check if everything was really locked. Then he went downstairs and opened the closet. He took packets of cornflakes and poured potions into eight mugs. Then he diluted the powdered milk with filtered water (we had a carafe filter) and put it in the mugs in more or less equal portions. He placed a spoon in each mug and distributed the food. It was when I grabbed my mug that I realized how much I was hungry, because I hadn't eaten anything but a granola bar (on days when we went into town we were entitled to an extra meal. This was a determination after I nearly collapsed at the effort months ago). We ate our meal for the day in silence as the reapers rushed through the door. This time I was rooting for them, hoping they were eating that asshole old man's ass, supposedly father of rapists.
"Apparently Columbus has groups surviving there." Rachel rescued the information that, honestly, I myself had forgotten.
"I'm not surprised. There's always someone left." Quinn commented while taking care of Mike.
"Does it matter to us?" Blaine questioned.
"Not to me." I replied.
The conversation did not progress. We were all so stressed out that we didn't even have the energy to small talk. Exhaustion gripped me, and as my blood cooled down, I realized I was in pain and struggling to even get up. Brittany rolled out the rugs and I lay down on my sleeping bag. Just taking the trouble to get my boots and jacket off.
…
This was the path we took until the point I told you at the beginning of the story. Three months after the relative calmness, Joe died in the bizarre archery accident, and we had another shitty night. I would like to say that we made a village from that bunker, and years later a small town. We didn't, because we didn't stay there. The change took place no less than four days after Joe died from a coup de grace granted by ourselves. It was the day Tina asked us to find a pregnancy test in town.