Authors: Ann Riley
“Fuck. Did they hurt any of them?” Marc asks.
“No, but we caught one in the barn almost into the stall. Trey killed it and we started setting up the security in there. We had to move the dogs into the barn for that reason. I guess if they can’t find human flesh, they will settle for anything else they find.” Bobby says.
“Ok. We will be home as soon as we can. How is Becky and the rest of the family?” Marc asks.
“We are all good. We have set up a watch schedule and everyone has a turn. This will be the only way we can stay safe. We take turns watching the babies and Diane, Kelley and Tammy take care of the house, gardening, medicine and food supplies. Kelley and Tammy make their kids and Becky’s kids clean and keep the living area in order, so everyone is doing their part. Trey and I take care of outside things. We make rounds every hour to make sure there are no breaches. We are managing.” Bobby says.
“It sounds like y’all have got it under control.” Marc says.
“We do.” Bobby tells us.
“We will be home soon. I love you.” I tell Bobby.
“I love you. Y’all be careful. And don’t wait so long to call next time.” He says.
“Well, we kind of had an accident and lost everything, including the radio, so we couldn’t call, then we were kidnapped.” I tell him.
“Fuck, I knew I should have come.” Bobby says.
“No worries. I am protecting us by any means I have to.” I say.
“Good.” Bobby says.
“We’re going to go man. Tell Becky I will be home soon and tell everyone to hang in and keep up the work.” Marc says.
“I will. See y’all when you come home.” Bobby says.
Marc and I look at each other.
“Where do we find a doctor?” He asks.
I shrug.
“How about a hospital check? Or let’s check for offices and see if we may be able to find one that has moved into their office.” I say.
Marc nods.
We get back in the truck and start driving. Canton is not very big and I’m hoping there may be a doctor’s office that was next to a house. That may mean that the doctor lives in the house.
I drive around looking for an office and run upon a medical plaza. We may be in luck, or not.
“Let’s check it out.” I tell Marc.
We get out and walk up to the building. There is an office to the right that has a Dr. Brent Moore’s name written on the window.
I put my hand on the door knob and turn. The knob is not locked, but as I push, I can feel that there is something against the inside of the door. I look over at Marc and nod at his gun. He takes it out and aims at the door. I push a little harder and hear a voice from inside.
“What do you want?” the voice asks.
“We just need help.” I say.
“We don’t have anything in here of value. Only a few food items. Nothing else.” The voice of a man says.
“We aren’t looking for food. We need help with a broken arm. Are you a doctor?” I ask.
“Maybe.” He says.
“Well, you are or you aren’t. Which one?” I ask.
“Look, my nephew broke his arm in an accident. I set it, but I’m no doctor or nurse. I don’t want it to be set wrong. I need you to look at it if you are a doctor.” I tell him.
“I am a doctor. Are you sure you aren’t trying to kill and rob us.” He asks.
“I promise we aren’t. We have our own supplies.” I tell him.
I hear stuff being moved from the door. Then the door slowly pulls open and a tall dark skinned man stands there in front of us.
I hold out my hand.
“I’m Tracie and this is Marc. It’s nice to meet you.” I say.
“Likewise. My name is Brent Moore. This is my office. Or was my office.” He says.
I nod.
He waves us in and we look around and see three more people with him.
“This is my nurse Rebecca, and my receptionist, Lauren.” Brent says.
“Nice to meet y’all.” I say.
“Come back and let me take a look at that arm.” Brent tells Marc.
We walk down a corridor toward some exam rooms. We go into one and sit down. Brent takes the bandage off Marc’s arm and sees the cut.
“I need an x-ray. We have a generator running for the moment, so I can get an x-ray to see if it’s set.” Brent says.
We follow him to an x-ray room and he gets a shot of Marc’s arm. We head back into the exam room and Brent starts cleaning the wound on his arm and applying some ointment. His nurse comes in a few minutes later with the x-ray and shows it to him.
“You did a good job setting it. I am going to put a cast on now so it can heal.” He tells Marc and I.
We nod.
Dr. Brent gets started on the cast and I walk around to see how things look outside. No walkers yet, but I can bet they are coming.
“How long have y’all been here?” I ask Rebecca.
“About three weeks now. We barricaded ourselves in because people are out for themselves now. We can’t trust anyone. We were trying to help people, but the last people who were here tried to rob us of our food and water. So we blocked the doors.” Rebecca says.
“You did right.” I say.
“We came here to help some people, got kidnapped, almost died and now we are trying to get home.” I say.
“Where is home?” Rebecca asks.
“Pontotoc.” I tell her.
“You guys are a long way from home.” She says.
I nod.
“I don’t see why we stay here. We should leave as there is no one left here in town.” Rebecca says.
“Well, y’all can come home with us. We have about twenty or so with us at the moment. We could use a doctor and an extra nurse.” I say.
“An extra nurse?” she asks.
“My niece is a nurse.” I tell her.
She nods.
Marc comes out of the exam room with his cast on.
“You alright?” I ask him.
“Yeah.” He says.
“What will y’all do now?” Brent asks.
“We hope to go home.” I say.
“There is nothing left here.” He says.
“I was just telling Rebecca you guys could come with us. Y’all are welcome to.” I say.
Brent looks at Rebecca and Lauren and they both nod.
“Ok. We will.” He says.
“You want to take any of this stuff with us?” Marc asks him.
“Yeah. We need this medical supply stuff I have and I can take all of the sample medicines I have stored.” Brent says.
Rebecca and Lauren start packing up items in crates to load into the truck. I continue my watch to make sure we aren’t in danger of being surrounded. They pack up all of the bandages, medicines, ointments, and everything else they find along the way. Brent is packing needles and other items he has in his office.
We finally get everything loaded and head out to the truck. As we walk out the door, I see a man hiding behind a car parked over to the right of us aiming a gun directly at Brent. I stop walking and pull my gun up to aim and I fire, hitting the man between the eyes. They all spin around and look at me.
“What. He had a bead on Brent. He asked for it. Let’s get our asses in the truck because that shot is going to bring company.” I say.
They all walk to the truck and get in.
As we leave from the area we were parked in, I see three more men come from behind cars with guns. Looks like we left just in time.
We head back to the highway and get on our route to head home. I am so glad to be going home. I am tired, aggravated and want to see Bobby and Riley. I miss them.
I pull over when I get us on the correct route and let Brent drive. I have to sleep for a couple of hours before I fall asleep behind the wheel. Marc and him talk as I doze off.
It seems like I am only asleep for a few minutes when I am awakened by Rebecca shaking me.
“What?” I ask her.
“We have trouble.” She says.
“That’s nothing new.” I reply.
I look out and see a line of people across the highway. With guns. I am pretty sure they want what we have, but they aren’t getting it this time. I look out to the woods and see a horde of walkers coming. We can play this out and let their asses get eaten by the walkers, or, we can start shooting. Either way, the people on the highway are on the bad end of this deal.
“Let us by.” Marc says.
“We need food.” One man says.
“Go get your own like we did.” Marc replies.
“We don’t have a way to find food.” The man says.
“Go find a car, get in and drive to an area and look for food.” Marc says.
“It’s easier to get it this way.” The man says.
“Look mother fuckers, you aren’t getting anything we have. The only thing you will be getting is a cap in the ass if you don’t get out of the way and let us go by. Get your lazy ass out and find what you need. We can’t help you. Now get out of the fucking way. Now.” I yell.
“Well, I think that was to the point.” Marc says.
“Fuck them. I will kill every last one of them before they take one thing from us. I am tired of being beaten and abused.” I say.
Marc nods.
I take out guns and hand them out to Rebecca, Lauren and Brent.
“If they don’t move. Start firing.” I say.
They nod.
“Are you going to move or not?” I ask them.
“No, we aren’t.” The man says.
“You three crawl through the back window. Stay down until I get back there.” I tell Rebecca, Lauren and Brent.
They crawl back and I come in behind them.
Marc is ready to drive.
“One more chance.” I yell.
“No.” the man yells back.
“Fine.” I say.
We aim for their legs and open fire. The walkers move a little faster since they hear noise so it’s only a matter of time before they are on top of the idiots in the highway.
“Let’s go.” I tell Marc.
He starts to drive slowly towards the people on the road. They have started rolling off in the grass so there are only a couple left trying to get out of our way.
“Y’all shot us bitch.” The man says.
“Yeah, well, I did tell you. You didn’t want to listen. So, if the walkers don’t eat your asses, maybe next time you will remember what happens when you try to steal shit that isn’t yours.” I tell him.
“Fuck you bitch.” He yells back.
“Yeah, whatever.” I say.
Marc continues driving. After what seems like hours, we reach Tupelo. We make a stop for some extra food in case we need it at home, some water, ammo and horse and dog food. Yes, we have a lot of animals. We make a stop at Wal mart and go in to get a few items of clothes in all sizes for the whole family to wear.
Finally, we are back in the truck and headed home. This has been the longest six days I have spent anywhere and I am ready for a rest.
We reach the driveway to our home and see all the improvements Bobby and Trey have made outside. It looks damn good.
“Damn, they really have been at it.” Marc says.
“No shit. I say.
We have a neck high fence around the whole property line now, a small guard tower on each side of the driveway entrance, solar lights on each side of the drive leading up to the houses and solar lights leading from Diane’s house to Marc’s house.
Trey lets us in the gate at the driveway and smiles as we come in. We stop and talk to him for a minute so he can see we are all ok and to introduce him to our guests.
We continue on to the house and park.
“Well, that was a fucked up trip.” Marc says.
“I agree. I tell him.
Bobby, Diane, Burrell and the rest of the family come out to see us. We get all of our hugs out of the way and Riley comes running from Marc’s house straight to me. I bend down and pick him up, giving him a big squeeze as he slobbers kisses on me.
Bobby comes over and grabs me for a hug and kiss.
“You miss me?” I ask him.
He nods.
“We have been worried about y’all.” Diane says.
“Yeah. I was worried about us to for a minute or two.” I tell her.
We head inside and sit down to tell them about our adventure and introduce them to the doctor and his friends.
Tammy comes over to Rebecca and Brent and takes them to where ever it is that she keeps medical supplies and medicines. They go out and start unloading all of his supplies he brought to add them with hers.
Trey comes up from the gate and starts unloading Marc’s truck.
“Who’s at the gate?” Marc asks him.