Winter's Salvation (27 page)

Even though they were all calm none of them wanted to stop on this road, so they continued to travel well into the night or possibly the morning until something over the grass caught their attention.  A solid structure was up ahead and the moon shined on two larger wooden structures separated by a large fence.          

As they approached the chain link fence a lone figure stood guard on the opposite side.   The guard held what looked to be some sort of assault rifle.  It was one of the guns Sam believed she had seen some action hero in a war movie firing.  If Eric had to guess it looked as if it was something like an m16. He raised the rifle to prepare himself.  The moon was shining on their backs, revealing to the guard nothing but the silhouettes of four human shapes traveling down the road.  As they approached Naomi suggested they should wave one of their hands over their heads to show they were living and not infected. 

He lowered the barrel of the gun low almost touching the dirt when they began to wave.  The overweight guard wore a red and black flannel shirt with a beat up John Dear hat that sat loosely on his head.  With his fingers intertwined in the fence, he recognized them as being human.  “What do we have here?  Ya’ll are a long way from home I bet?”  Walking up to the fence the overweight hillbilly wiped something from his scraggily brown beard.   Staring at Naomi in what could be mistaken as awe struck, “We don’t have any of your type here.”  He paused thinking about how that may have come out and was content.     

              Upset, but she knew they could use some help, “I’m pretty unique,” she stated with a half smile.  She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was joking or playing, so she decided she would maintain her temper until she found out if this person could help them.  She was hot headed, but for the sake of feeding her daughter she was able to with stand some ignorance.   

             
“I mean pretty ladies,” The guard said smiling as if to court her where she stood.

             
“We were looking for a place to stay and maybe get some food.”  Eric butted in before this conversation could continue.  “Just for a little while; we just need a place to get a decent night’s sleep.” 

             
“Yeah sure we can accommodate you.”  He looked at Naomi as he slowly pronounced every syllable in the word accommodate, followed by a grin that would scare a hoard of undead, but was meant to be more than friendly toward Naomi.  “Let me run go get the Doc and see what he has to say bout ya’ll.”  With that he walked between some make shift lean-tos and some old tents. 

             
From their side of the fence the village looked to have multiple structures to house many residents.  What Eric guessed was the main road was lined with various size tents of all kinds and colors.  Behind the tents were small houses that were raised about ten feet or so.  The houses were supported by planks of wood and pieces of construction staging.  They looked as if they were thrown up with whatever pieces of wood they could find and nailed, screwed or glued together just to make them stand.  As Eric examined the village and its houses, they took him back to a memory when his friends and he would make forts out of whatever they could lash together and make a huge mess of his father’s back yard.  Thinking back on it now the bases he used to make looked like they were constructed better than these shelters, but he would be happy with just about anything right now.  Just the thought of talking to more people and hearing their stories and telling his excited him immensely.

             
Eric and Naomi stepped back a few steps and looked at the fence that appeared to surround the entire camp.  Just as they started to take in the entire scene the hillbilly came strolling back with a man that wore a beat up white jacket that hung down to his knees and an orange hooded sweat shirt under it.  The hood covered his face and the man’s head was angled to the ground.  The four travelers lost track of time, but the way the doctor hung his head and rubbed his face gave them the impression he was awakened by the guard and it must have been very late or early in the morning.  

             
The overweight guard smiled at Naomi presenting his rotten front teeth almost as if he were proud of them and opened the gate.  He pushed the gate open and it swung freely till it crashed against itself making half of the front wall shake and the metal fence played a loud tune against each link. 

             
“Good Lord help us all!” The sleepy Doc shouted in a whisper.  His head was straight and his once tired eyes now pierced the guard’s soul.  “You’re going to lead them right to us or did you forget they can hear just the way we can.”  The Doc looked at Sam and Drew, “I’m going to lead them right to you, so they get their full and they won’t bother with the rest of us.  You fat….” He glanced back Sam and Drew and held his tongue.  His words came out in a stern whisper strong enough to let the guard know he had messed up.

             
Now with his ego bruised he started to hold up his chest and argue back and just as soon as he opened his mouth. 

             
“So help me God if you wake up any of these kids,” he waved his hands to the tents, “next time you come in for a headache, I’ll give you something to make your dick fall off.”  Looking at the four guests, he tilted his head in gesture to follow him before the guard could think of a reply.  They trailed behind Doc passing under some of the houses ducking and stepping over the support beams of the staging and passed quite a few tents.  As they passed one of them they could make out the silhouette of, what they thought was, a child readjusting a sleeping bag. 

             
Doc pushed back a white flap to a large white canopy and lit a lantern that sat on a wooden desk on the left side of them.   The lantern lit the entire tent revealing a massive dark oak desk engraved with deep carvings of flowers.  It was one of the desks Eric imagined a high class lawyer would put in his personal office.  Someone spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for this desk and now it supported a Coleman lantern in a large tent.  Straight ahead of them was another desk, but this one was plain and bare.  To the right of them against the nylon wall were eight cots covered by a thin white sheet. 

             
Clearing her throat Naomi asked, “Are you really a doctor?”    

             
Doc pulled the plain metal folding chair from behind the expensive desk and sat down fumbling with the lower drawer.  Not looking up from the drawer Doc answered with a snicker.  “No I showed up in this coat and got the name.  It seemed to fit, though.  I wouldn’t want any of these people looking over me if I got ill, so I just played along.” 

             
“Do they know about this?”  She asked with some concern.

             
Looking up from the drawer, he revealed a pad of paper with a few pens.  He looked directly at Naomi, “Yeah, I told them I wasn’t a doctor, but that’s what they kept calling me, so I just once again, played along.  I could be out there hunting.”  He snarled his lip.  “I could be building houses up on stilts.”  He snarled his lip and crinkled his forehead.  “I could be digging holes, burying shit out in the fields.”  Doc grimaced, “Yeah I’ll play Doctor for a while.”  Flipping over the first page of the pad of paper, “Ya’ll have to undress, down to your skivvies.”  Feeling the evil look of Naomi, he immediately followed that statement with, “I have to look for any type of bites or signs of infection.”

             
Sam looked up at Naomi for guidance.  “It’s alright he’s looking out for his people.”  She said as she unsnapped her pants. 

             
“I’m not wearing anything under my shirt.”  Sam told her with a scared look on her face.

             
Doc stepped toward her and bent down in front of her to get to her eye level.  “Let me see your belly and your arms.” 

             
She pulled her shirt up then held her arms out to her sides.  “I’ve never been bitten, I promise.”

             
“You know what?  I believe you.”  He said with a smile.  He got up and examined the rest of them.  “Have you had any encounters with them in the past twenty four hours?”

             
“No we saw a few on the beach, but we avoided them.”  Eric said as he was being inspected. 

             
“Were going to set you up in a tent; it’s going to be tight in there, but it’s all we have right now for people who just get here.”  He sat back behind the Oak desk and started writing on the pad of paper.  “What did you do before Z day?”  He pointed his pen to Erik.

             
“I was a Machinery Mechanic for the Coast Guard.” 

             
Doc shook his head and shrugged in a nonverbal
and that is what
?

             
Eric recognized the look and explained.  “I worked on engines, hydraulics, and pretty much everything mechanical.”               

Looking down at his paper he scribbled something on his pad.  He scrolled down his paper as if he were looking for something, “Naomi?”

              “I worked at a bank.” 

             
Not responding to her occupation, he stood up, “So you’re good with math, I assume?”

Naomi nodded in agreement.

“Ok follow me.”  Doc led them to a small grey tent that was directly next to the large tent they were in.  “I won’t be far from here and if you need anything…. You know, just wait till morning.  You’ll be safe.  Dan is on duty tonight, he’s an idiot, but the one thing he takes seriously is standing watch.  We don’t really trust him to do much else.”  Showing a small smile followed by a yawn, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

             
The tent was small like Doc warned, but they all slept well that night.

**********

Eric was awoken by the sound of a child crying.  As he rolled over and opened his eyes he saw that he was the last to wake up.  The others were sitting close together in the cramped tent and talking quietly amongst themselves.  Eric realized he was taking up half of the tent by lying sprawled out and quickly moved to the far side of the tent.  “Sorry.” 

He sat up and opened the tent flap.  The morning breeze was crisp and he felt good being able to sleep through the night, not having to worry about a door being broken down or glass shattering. 
They all needed this night to sleep soundly.  For the first time in months they all closed their eyes and were able to get a few hours of sleep without the fear of being attacked in their sleep.     

             
He poked his head out from the tent.  “Good morning.”  Eric heard a familiar voice and shielded his eyes from the sun while he looked up to the voice.  “Hope everything went well last night.”  Doc said.  He wore the same clothes from just a few hours earlier. 

             
Stepping out of the tent, “Yeah everything was great.  For the first time in a long time I actually managed to sleep.”  He let out a big stretch standing on his toes and extending his arms.

             
“Sorry for the,” He pointed to the tent across from them referring to the crying baby.  “When you guys are ready come see me in the canopy.”  He turned and walked away. 

             
The four of them walked into the large tent.  Doc sat behind the oversized elaborate desk and across from him sat a large man with a huge white beard that came down to his chest.  He wore a brown sports jacket and a pair of black corduroy pants. 

             
“Good morning, did you sleep well?”  The large man said as he stood up and reached his right hand to shake Eric’s.  “My Name’s Elijah,”

             
Eric reached out and felt his hand crack under the strength of Elijah’s.  “Eric,” introducing himself, “nice to meet you,” He pulled his hand away.  “Thanks for your hospitality.” 

             
“Oh not a problem, we’re just happy to see new faces and especially those that can possibly help our lil town grow.”  He took one step back and the smile on his face never left.  “I’m the sheriff of the town and if you have any problems I have an open door policy, so please come see me and we will find away to settle any and all of your problems.  Eric I hear you are a mechanic.”

             
“Well that’s what I did in the Coast Guard.” 

             
“Great we need some good hands.”  He turned to Samantha and Drew, “We actually have a school set up for you two as well.”  The smile on his face was uncanny and never faded.  He turned to Naomi, “We have jobs for you as well.  We would love for you to teach the math department in our school.  Doc tells me you’re real good at math.  Playing with numbers has never suited me.”

             
The self appointed sheriff created this town.  Originally, it was him, his wife and daughter, living out of an old RV.  Over time another couple showed up asking for food and Elijah welcomed them into their camper with open arms.  They hunted and made the best of what they had.  Then another small family appeared, father, mother, and two boys, looking for shelter.  The camper was only big enough for the sheriff and his family, but he gave them his tent to use, just for the night and they pitched it right next to the RV.  It seemed people just started to flock to Elijah’s because it was so deserted and once people got here they wanted to stay, so the tent that was on loan turned into the family’s permanent residence until new developments were made and it still stands today.  Now it houses any new traveler that needs a place to stay for the night.