Manny took us to a back office where security would be. Inside there was a bunch of desks. Each desk had a cot next to it. Many of them had privacy screens up. There were maybe 30 people here, down from the 150 people or so they had before. None of them looked healthy. Everyone looked haggard and wore torn clothes. A few of them looked up when we came in, but most ignored us.
I didn’t see Aisha anywhere.
Manny took us to the back of the room to a large office and I was surprised to see Felicia. She looked haggard, much thinner than she used to be and her red hair lost its sheen.
“Hello Jim,” she said as if she just saw me yesterday.
“Felicia.”
“It’s good to see you. How is your group?”
“We lost some people. This is Mike and Gwen by the way.”
“We lost a lot of people. Most of them.”
“Manny said you had an outbreak.”
“I thought it was dysentery, we had meds for that but they didn’t work. Turns out it was typhoid. It killed 33 people including Aisha’s mother until we found the source. And that doesn’t count the people we lost before on the way to Montauk. They didn’t mention in the announcement that all the zombies would be out in the street in force.”
I didn’t say anything. I should have pushed Lynne to come with us. I don’t know if we could have kept her alive but she died stupidly of a disease that used to barely exist.
“Where’s Aisha now?”
“She went off with a splinter group. Blamed me for her mother’s death. I do statistics. I could tell you how many obese people drink soda but I
’m not an MD.” When I first met Felicia last year, she seemed detached. She reminded me a lot of Rachel. The detachment was still there only stronger. She spoke to me like she was giving a report.
“Where did the splinter group go?”
“I think they were going to one of the islands or the Hamptons. Maybe Shelter, Harbor, or Block
or one of those big estates. Their leader is a man named Joel. I didn’t like him, but he seemed like a better leader than me. I’m a petty bureaucrat.”
I didn’t know what to say.
I wondered how we were going to find Aisha. Unless she was at Harbor.
“You can’t control disease,” Mike said.
“We couldn’t keep things clean and farm.”
“That’s what I said,” Dave bought up. “That place smelled horrific.”
Felicia didn’t respond.
“We have a boat and we’re thinking about establishing a farm on Harbor Island. Will you bring your people?”
Felicia looked around and then looked at Manny.
“Joel took a lot of the young and strong ones, he refused to take the old. You told me your group doesn’t take old people.”
“That rule has changed. No heroic measures of course.”
“Tell them they should go,” she said to Manny. “Anyone who wants.”
“What’s the car situation?” Mike asked.
“Joel took our bus,” Manny explained. “We have two working cars, not enough to transfer everyone.”
“Is the typhoid gone?” I asked wondering if we walked into a den of sickness, but the people looked shabby not sick.
“The outbreak wasn’t here. After Northport, we moved to a campground that I thought was great because it had a water pump. That was the source, which I realized once I figured out it was typhoid. Joel came soon after and took more than half of us. We left the campground and holed up here living off canned food. We haven’t had a case since. Most people have been using the outdoors as a bathroom.”
I didn’t respond to that. “We can drive half the group to the beach and come back for the rest.” I told this Felicia as well as Mike.
“Might be easier to move everyone in one swoop by some walking,” he said.
“It’s a little far.” I didn’t like the idea of walking even a little bit out in the open.
“I can take people back and forth on the dinghy. I’m going to need help,” he looked around the room. “I need someone with a gun to stay at the beach to watch for zombs.” I
also looked around. A lot of people were old. I guess a few of us could walk. Good chance to kill zombies when we see them.
“How is Rachel, do you think she can handle all our people?”
I didn’t say anything for a moment. I never told Felicia about Rachel but my silence gave her the answer.
“How?” she said, still no emotion in her voice.
“Long story, ends in suicide.”
“And you
’re in charge now?” I nearly laughed but kept it in.
“No, it’s Tanya. Mike and I are her advisers.”
“Tanya—she’s that tough girl-- Can she handle it?” She said in monotone. No anger, no fear, just nothing.
“She can make tough decisions and we haven’t had a death since she took over.”
“I’m staying here. I hope you understand. I’m not a leader and all I’ve bought to these people has been misery.”
“Felicia—We can all go. Living here is no life.”
Manny pleaded, but Felicia didn’t look convinced.
I didn’t like the way Felicia was talking. I remembered when we first met. She reminded me too much of Rachel. Stuck with a burden she couldn’t deal with and now with the disease outbreak, the great pull, and the splinter, I worried about her welfare.
“He’s right. If you come, others will follow. You can’t live here forever.”
“No, Jim—I’m done. I think I would like to finish my life here—alone.” Considering that Felicia looked to be in her early fifties that disturbed me.
“Come on Fel,” Manny said. “Please come. We need something more than this.”
Felicia ignored him. “They’ll need time to gather things and pack,” she said. “You should leave in the morning. Is that okay?”
“That’s fine.” We had three days and since the camp has been found, there was no reason to remain in Montauk. I felt bad that we hadn’t found Aisha since she was why we came. It will be harder to find her now. Tanya wasn’t going to be happy. At least we got some new people.
“Manny will take care of things. Jim, can Tanya handle it? I don’t want to be leader anymore but I don’t want to send my people to be killed. Please be honest.”
“I can’t guarantee safety—you know that. I think she can handle it. She knows she has Mike and me to help her.”
Chapter 9
The people at airport didn’t live much better than at the camp. The room smelled of body odor, piss and shit and it looked as bad. The floor was filthy and covered with dirt and things unidentifiable. Clothing, blankets,
and other things were thrown haphazardly around. I don’t think I could live in this place for more than a day. Not that we were a bed of roses on the ship but it almost looked like the people here didn’t take advantage of stuff being everywhere for the take. I realized as I looked them over most of them looked in their 60’s. There were only five kids all together and not a single person in their twenties. When we were at the camp last year, there were more. I wondered how many kids died of typhoid. I only saw four people under the age of thirty, not including Manny and Brian.
“Listen up!” Manny yelled. The people in the room were in the midst of doing different things, stopped talking and looked to Manny. “This is Jim, Dave, Mike and Gwen. We’ve met them before and they are
trustworthy. They are thinking about starting a farm on Harbor Island. I’m going with them—“ he paused “For good. If you want to come, we’re leaving tomorrow morning. I know this is kind of abrupt, but it’s not like they could have called ahead.”
A woman raised her had. She was middle aged, but younger than Ashley. White, pale with silver braided hair. Even though her hair looked messy, her space looked clean.
“Yes, Lucy.”
“What about Joel?”
“We aren’t affiliated with Joel,” I said.
“Joel’s said he might go to Harbor Island.”
“It’s 40 square miles and he might not even be there. Besides, if he is there and isn’t willing to share, I have other places scoped out. I picked this farm because it has a big house and a few smaller houses nearby. We can set up a town and a perimeter. We can keep the zombies out.”
“What about the other humans?” a man said.
“Look,” I said, getting annoyed. “This is what I’m offering. If you don’t like it you don’t have to come. I’m trying to reestablish some normalcy. We’ll farm. Maybe we’ll get cows, chickens and maybe pigs.”
“Our livestock died,” someone else said.
“I’m really good at scheduling. I’ll make sure every aspect of life on the farm is covered and someone can look after the animals if we get any. We’ll be on the lookout for vets and doctors.”
“Do you have a doctor?”
“No. We only have an EMT but they know their stuff.” I didn’t want to get into many details about Hannah. Mike didn’t like people to know the skills his wife had. He worried she might be kidnapped or worse.
“Listen,” Manny said. “We’re leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Be at the entrance if you want to go.”
“Is Felicia going?” Lucy asked.
“No,” Manny said. There were some murmurs. I wondered if any of them would leave. “Be ready at dawn.” He turned to me. “Come on,” he said. “I’ll show you where you can sleep.”
I followed Manny to a corner of the room. I got a good shock when I saw a black ball of fur asleep on one of the desks. I petted Chinakitty who immediately got up, and rubbed my hand.
“She left her cat,” I told Manny.
“Yeah, she gave her to me. She didn’t want to travel with her. She’s a good cat. She kills all the rodents.”
I felt desponded as I petted Chinakitty. I remembered finding her in Aisha’s house. How Aisha seemed like such a kid then. Now she and her sister
were out there alone. I hoped Joel took care of her.
“Why did you let her go?” I asked Manny. Manny looked startled because I put him on the sp
ot but I wanted to know why a fifteen and ten year old were on their own.
“I tried, but Joel insisted he would look after her. She didn't want to stay here-- blamed Felicia for her mother's death. Joel took a lot of people. I couldn’t stop them from going--” his voice got lower. “Felicia said nothing.”
I didn’t respond. I looked over to Dave who looked beat, and put his pack on one of the dusty cots nearby. There was stuff around it.
“No one’s sleeping here?” he asked. Manny looked relieve to get out of the conversation
“No, suicide. We’ve had a lot of them—Ironically it’s been worse since the bombs.”
I admit I occasionally thought about ending it, Cameron would have called me a weak
leftist for even thinking it.
“Is it okay if I walk around?”
I wanted to escape the smell of body odor and see the airport.
“Sure thing. Although we strip
ped the place clean before you got here,” he laughed lightly.
“
No
one’s a pilot. Then we could have flown somewhere.”
“We’ll take Chinakitty with us. She’ll like a farm.”
“Sure. I know Aisha will want you to have her.”
I was surprised when Gwen volunteered to walk with me. The airport was small and there wasn’t a lot to see. The late afternoon sun barely illuminated the place. Brian hadn’t boarded the door. I didn’t know if he was coming and honestly didn’t want him to. I didn’t think his performance was all an act.
“I’m a lesbian,” she said as soon as we were alone.
I wasn’t sure what to say. I’ve only known her almost a month and she never said anything personal to me. At least it explained her weird behavior when I came out to the new people.
“Okay.”
“I wanted you to know.”
“Are we restarting GLADD?”
She snickered. “I’ve been meaning to tell you. I just didn't want to do it front of everyone.”
“You don’t have to hide who you are, I don’t.”
“I’m just a little worried about some of the men. Randy, Justin and Felix all know. I was worried about Dave and Mike.”
“You don’t have to. Mike’s a good guy and Dave is a loudmouth but he’s all talk and no action. Group dynamics have changed. I only hope
they stay that way.”
“I think they will with your group. I watch you. You're mostly very good to each other, even to Grace. I think she rather sleep on the dinghy then room with me.”
“It's not just you. It's everyone.”
Gwen hunched her shoulders. Then she stared out the glass doors. I followed her glaze.
Another zombie. An old one who looked shriveled up and forgot to die walked in front of the doors but hadn’t realized yet it could get through the broken one.
“Come on,” I said.
“What? You’re going to go after it? We should get Mike or Dave.”
“You’ve never killed one?”
“Never. Justin killed the ones at Orient.”
“First time for everything.” I said, grabbing her hand. “Come on. The old ones aren’t that hard. Couple of knocks to the head and its over.”
“Have you killed a lot?”
“A few.” Actually two and a half. I dropped Gwen’s hand and I pulled my
crowbar out of my bag. Told my heart to calm down. Each time I killed one, it got a little bit easier. Gwen and the others had been very sheltered living at the lighthouse. They hid from the zombies, but now that we were reclaiming things, they had to learn to kill the stragglers.
I climbed over the broken glass and walked straight for her without thinking, She saw me and began shambling, making her death moan.
She got closer and I studied her haggard withered gray face. Not only was she an old zombie but had been an old person in her previous life.
When she was about a foot away from me, I swung the
crowbar and hit her head hard. She went down. She wasn’t dead yet, so I hit her one more time. Even when it looked like she was dead, I hit her two more times, made sure her head broke open before I stopped.
I turned around. Gwen looked at me with wide eyes.
“I’d never seen them up close,” she said. “They’re gruesome.”
I kicked her with my booted foot. She was definitely dead.
“Can we bury her?”
“I rather burn her. Let’s go in and ask Manny if he can help.”
“Do you think more will come?”
“They might, they come to our scent, but there’s not as much now. The bombs got most of them. We still have to watch out for the stragglers.”
“For a long time right?”
“We should never put our guard down.”
At dawn, despite Felicia
’s refusal to come, 27 people decided to. Felicia remained behind no matter how much Manny tried to convince her. Our two cars and one SUV could carry fifteen people. Mike, Manny and Dave ended up being the drivers while the rest of us would start walking. I volunteered to walk as did Gwen. It wasn’t that cold out but the sky turned overcast and threatened rain. We would spend a long time moving people back and forth on the dinghy that only took 6 at a time. This way Mike could get people moving to the boat while the others caught up. Even so, Dave said he would come back with the SUV while Manny kept watch on the beach for zombies.
I stuffed
the elderly people and kids into the cars. A woman named Joyce took Chinakitty.
No one was super old. They were nine people Ashley’s age and the oldest was Emily who was 72. In this world that would make her ancient
. There were no hospitals or doctors to extend life. Abe wouldn’t have taken any of these people.
I never liked the age cut off. It often disturbed me and I told Abe so. We didn’t get many people over 60. The only one I remembered was Dot and I might have not let her in even if she had been 20. She was a bitch on wheels. Of course she died in her sleep
. Maybe we should have let her in to die in peace.
That rule no longer applied. Tanya lifted it mostly because Mike told her to. We needed able bodies at the farm and had the space to do it. Even if the old folks couldn’t do the heavy labor, there were a lot of things they could do such as being leaders, giving advice, teaching, doing small easy jobs, and doing research.
We didn’t have any plumbers and we needed to deal with the sewage system. Even if it’s was only for our location. We also have to reduce the amount of garbage.
I thou
ght about all the things left to rot. TV’s, computers, game consoles, cheap toys. We are not going to need this in the long run. I thought about the economy but I was getting ahead of myself. I couldn’t worry about the far future, right now these people had to get to Harbor Island.
The
Renewal
slept 17 but it could hold up to 50 but for something like a day cruise or party not to sleep overnight. We had that glassed in area on the deck but it could get cold at night. We had taken a lot of blankets and sleeping bags from Costking.
“You look heavy in thought,” Gwen said. “I thought you might want a break from it.”
“Thinking about Harbor. If the farm is occupied, where am I going to stick over forty people? We can’t all stay on the boat.”
“Easy,” she said. “We might be able to go to the farm today or at worst we spend an overnight on the boat. I’ve stayed up all night before I think I can do it one more time.”
I must have not looked convinced because Gwen smiled and said. “It will work out Jim, promise.”
I knew she couldn’t keep that promise but it felt
good to hear her optimism.
“What you do before?” she asked.
“I worked at the Apple Store in Roosevelt Field.”
“As you already know I was a lawyer, real estate, fuck lot of good it does for me now. You can probably take any house or building you want.”
The road was uneven and broken in places. I kept an eye out for zombies. Brian was with us and had his gun out and facing up. I wished he had stayed behind. Six people did including Felicia. I think they all wanted to die.
I thought they were nuts but I wasn’t about to drag anyone along who didn’t want to come. They seemed as crazy as Brian.
When I got back to the boat, I would let Tanya know to keep an eye on him. I didn’t know most people in the camp and which was why I wished Felicia had come.
“So,” said a white man in his fifties, Italian
, bushy brown eyebrows, salt and pepper hair but mostly salt. “Tell me about your leader, how long has she been in charge? I’m Harry by the way, formerly a mechanic.”
“We have a mechanic’s son. He can use the tutorage. Tanya is young and abashed. She was a drug dealer before this.”
The guy smirked but didn’t seem upset. “Really? Are you shitting me?”
“No.”
“And you made her leader, not you or that guy Mike?”
“She can make hard decisions.” That and neither of us really wanted to be leader.
“And you can’t or he?”
“We can, but it comes more naturally to her and her priorities are with us. Mike’s are with his family. I’m not leader material.”
“You seem pretty good before.”
“I’m organized. I can’t make the split decisions the way Tanya can.”
I felt a little uncomfortable with the question and was glad when Harry seemed to take my explanation. That and there was a shriek from up ahead followed by a gunshot.
I rushed ahead to see what the deal was.