Authors: Julie Cooper Brown
“So you have a bar, Tank?”
“Yes, Tank’s is what it’s called. Open since 1987. I worked hard to make it what it is. I hate to see it tore up, but the last time I had phone contact with my place; the guy I have running it, Mojo; was there with a couple of the waitresses and they were holed up in there. He had killed several infected, had the place locked up tight and he may still be okay. We have lots of food supply, a shotgun and plenty of shells and excessive amounts of alcohol. In which I am going to indulge in as soon as we get there.” He said with a smile. Tank was a nice man and he looked intimidating, if only because of his size; but when he smiled it was like looking at a whole different person. “Mojo’s a little guy, but he’s tough. I think he’s okay. I just want to get there. Those of you that don’t want to go that far; well just let me know when you want out. I’ll try to get you somewhere safe, but I want to get back home.”
“I don’t think any of us have a choice on where we want to go, so Tank’s it is.” John said.
“Well, I‘ll wake Dave up, we’ll go and get gas and food if there is anything left that not spoiled.”
“I’m already up, gotta get out and stretch. Give me a few and I’ll be ready.” Dave said from the back. And Kate said, “Yea, I need a good stretch, too. My legs are starting to cramp.”
“I wanna go.” Allen said as he was sitting up rubbing his eyes. “No,” said Tisha “I want you to stay here, Allen.”
“Aunt Tisha, I’ll be fine. They won’t let anything happen to me.”
“Not if we can help it. Let him come along, it’s daylight; we’ll be able to spot them in time.” Dave said.
“Alright, but you better come back alive. I mean ALIVE, alive.”
“I wanna go, too.” Angel pouted. “No, Angel. You stay here. I don’t want to take you out there It’s not safe for you. I’ll be back. I promise.” Kate told her.
“But I don’t wanna stay here with Kimmy. She’s bad.”
“Come on, Angel. Come up here with me. I won’t let Kimmy bother you.” Tank said. She looked from me to Kimmy, who was ripping the legs off of Barbie and smiling. She saw her looking and ran her finger across her throat simulating a blade and pointed to Teddy. If the Kimmy hadn’t been so mean and serious, they would have laughed at a child giving that kind gesture. Angel looked at Tank and jumped off Kate’s lap and into Tank’s. She put her arm around his neck and tucked Teddy close to her chest, and stared at Kimmy. “Okay, Kate. Please hurry.” her little voice so serious. She was very leery of Kimmy. “All right, let’s get the show on the road.” Kate said as they stood outside the van making sure their weapons were loaded. It was a beautiful day, the sun shining brightly; she closed her eyes and took a deep refreshing breath of the air.
Dave, Allen and Kate proceeded to walk the mile or so to the gas station. They didn’t talk much, too busy watching out for infected that might’ve emerged from the woods on either side of them. They were there in fifteen minutes.
The Flying J was set back from the road. In the daylight it looked ominous, several abandoned vehicles were scattered about the lot and there were four of infected persons wandering about. As they neared the lot, the zombies noticed them and turned to lumber toward them.
Dave quickly put them all down.
“Let’s go inside and check for Infected, when it’s clear, you two come back out and syphon gas. I’ll gather what I can from inside.” Kate said as she peered through the windows of the store. Dave went in first, and Allen fell in behind him. He did have his own weapon and as Kate saw him sneaking around with his gun in front of him, she thought he looked like a little boy playing cops and robbers. She thought he was getting a thrill out of it. He had not been allowed to do something like this before. Unfortunately, he’s too young (nineteen) to realize exactly how serious the really is, and that he was probably going to be dead sometime in the near future.
“It’s all clear over here. I’ve got a gas can. Come on, Allen. If one is all we have then that will have to do. We’re going to have to stop here on our way back to the interstate.” Dave said as he grabbed the gas can from the shelf and Allen followed him out. Kate continued looking for supplies and found quite a few bags of chips that were still good, a few cans of potted meat and several cans of cola. She also found a travel sewing kit and took it too, so she could fix Teddy’s nightcap. She took some of the wrapped plastic spoons that were scattered atop the fountain area.
No matter what the situation, nature calls and she had a sudden urge to use the bathroom. So, she made a beeline to the restroom but before she entered, she heard a thumping noise coming from inside. Kate eased the door open slightly so she could look in.
A female infected was continually slamming herself into the floor length mirror mounted to the wall, not realizing that it was herself that she was trying to attack. Kate found it quite comical because every few slams she would stop and shake her head, look confused, and resumed slamming into mirror. Kate thought to shut the door and find an isle to squat in but just before she could, the infected saw Kate’s reflection in the mirror. The infected then backed up a bit and ran full force at the mirror, thinking that she could get her like that and a laugh escaped Kate’s lips as the zombie bounced off of the mirror once again and hit the floor. She didn’t make it off the floor before Kate pushed the door all the way open and put a bullet in her head. She quickly ran into the stall and squatted over the bowl. Finished with that pesky task, she took one more, quick look around the store for anything else she could find and went outside with Dave and Allen who had been popping the trunks of the cars in the lot. They had found five gas cans in total and were syphoning gas out of a truck for the last one. They worked pretty quickly. “You guys did well, that should fill up Tank’s van.”
“Yea, at least we won’t have to stop here on the way back. Hopefully it’s enough to get us to another place we can get more.” Dave said as he tightened the cap. “Let’s go.” And they set out on the walk back to the van.
Everyone was very happy to see them when they got back, well; everyone except for Kimmy. She ran up and stomped on Allen’s foot just for meanness. Allen mugged her away with has hand and she fell on her butt. No one said anything. They used the funnel that Tank already had and put the gas in the van. It almost filled it completely. They got back on the interstate and the following six hours were pretty much uneventful except that Barbie was now only a torso and Kimmy was chewing on the rounded stump that used to connect the head to the body. She saw Kate looking, stuck her tongue out at her and gave the finger. Kate rolled my eyes and shook my head. As they crossed into Georgia, the gaslight came back on. Tank informed them that could probably only make it another twenty miles.
“I know a bar called the Hideaway, just about three miles off the interstate, on Loch Laurel Road. Take the next exit.” John told Tank. The few cars they had seen over the last few hundred miles, had been pulled over and abandoned, they assumed the cars were out of gas as well, so they didn’t stop to check.
“Since when do you know about bars in Georgia?” Tisha asked and said, “You don’t drink.” John turned around in his seat and faced her, he looked a little nervous and said; “I was an alcoholic once. It was hard to get sober, but I did it. I never told you because of how you spoke about your ex and his drinking. I didn’t want to scare you off. Anyway, a friend of mine used to own it until he died; he left it to his nephew. I used to stop in from time to time to see how he was when my route took me through this area. I don’t even know if it’s still there but it’s worth a shot. Might be some supplies or something we can use and cars to get gas from. There aren’t any stations off the next three exits. ”
“You used to drive a truck or something?”
“Yes I did, Tisha.”
“I wonder what you else you haven’t told me. You want to tell me anything else I should know?” She was being just a little sarcastic, but it really didn’t matter to her though; she still had a genuine smile on her face.
Tank pulled off the exit and it didn’t take long to get there. The Hideaway was a good name for it, the driveway leading to it was at least a half mile long and the bar itself was surrounded by dense woods on both sides and the back. In the parking lot in front of the building there were three cars and one SUV. The door to the SUV was open and as they rounded the lot they saw a man slumped over in the seat. Tank stopped and Dave got out to approach the vehicle and an able infected shot out from under the SUV and grabbed Dave’s’ leg. Tank shot it with his shotgun and it splattered its head all over the ground. It was like popping a balloon. Its hand opened up and twitched before flopping to the ground. A little of the carnage dotted Dave’s right boot and cuff of his pant leg. Dave then shot the man slumped in the seat just in case. Kate looked at Angel and she was looking at Dave with a worried expression.
“I’ll walk to the door; I don’t want to get this on anything in the van. I’ll clean it up when we get inside.” Tank parked the van directly in front of the door and we all got out. Allen kept his distance from Kimmy since she liked to abuse him so much. Unfortunately Angel had to pass her to get out of the van, and Kimmy grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her down hard. Angel quickly recovered and slapped Kimmy before anyone knew what was happening. Kimmy held her hand to her face as she stared at Angel in disbelief. Suddenly her expression changed and screamed at the top of her lungs. Tisha promptly clamped her hand across Kimmys mouth to muffle the screams. Angel stood back and smoothed her crooked ponytail, saw her one remaining purple ribbon on the ground and picked it up. She handed it to Kate and she put it in my pocket, took her hand and went through the doors.
Tank and Dave were already in and looking for other Infected. There were none. There was still a little daylight left and they took advantage of that and searched for supplies to take with them. There were sodas, candy bars, chips and pretzels. The bar had a very small kitchen, but there were canned goods on the shelf. The cooler was full of warm bottles and cans of beer. Kate offered one to Tank but he declined saying that he would wait until he got home to his own bar before he would drink. She gave a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon to everyone else, including herself, no one had any more than one beer.
Tisha and Kate sat at a booth with the two girls and Tank. Allen and John sat on stools at the bar. Dave disappeared for a moment, Kate assumed, to clean up his boot and pant leg, and to make sure that none of it hit his skin. He returned and sat in a chair at a table close to the door.
Angel no longer seemed to be afraid of Kimmy and the two sat across staring at each other across the table. Kimmy was making faces as usual and sticking her fingers in the arm sockets of what was left of Barbie. The men at the bar were talking amongst their selves and Dave sat and watched the door. Kate decided she would ask Tisha how she had met John, for lack of any other interesting subject to speak of.
“I used to work at a small lunch café called Noah’s Ark. He came in for a Rueben every Thursday. We chatted here and there during his visits and became friends. He started going out of his way to come in on Tuesdays as well. Then one day he just started coming in with flowers or something I might’ve mentioned wanting. I grew fond of him. I knew he was much older than I was. It didn’t matter to me though because I really was taking a liking to him. I had never been given gifts from a man before, well; not from anyone that didn’t expect something in return. John didn’t want anything. He was being himself. He didn’t even ever ask me out. I was the one who approached him for a date. So, we went to a festival they were having downtown and had a great time. The rest is history.” She started picking at the label on her bottle of beer and looked over at him. He must’ve felt it because he looked back at her and smiled. “I love him more than I can even explain.”
Kate thought of Jillian and Evan and became saddened. She pulled Jillian’s phone out of her pocket and hoped it was still working when she opened it. It still held a charge. Kate told her who they were and about the notes she foun
d and how it ended for Jillian. Tisha’s eyes welled up with tears while she was looking at the pictures and listening to Kate talk about them.
“So you think that their minds are still functioning while their bodies decay?”
“Yea, I do. But there’s nothing we can do to help them other than give them a final death.”
She pondered on this for a few minutes and then said, “What about you, Kate? Was there anyone special in your life?” She looked over at Dave who seemed to be caught up in his thoughts. “No. There’s been no one special in a long time. The last guy I was with was an alcoholic, and a mean one at that. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I left.”
“What about Dave? I think he’s a little sweet on you.” She said. “He’s not sweet on me,” Kate laughed. “I’ve known him for many years, since high school.”
“Oh, I thought you two had something going on, my bad. But I know for sure Allen is sweet on you. He told me so.”