After beating up Ed, who was taken by Carol back to their tent, Shane left me the keys to his Jeep while he went back to camp in a foul mood.
'So, he and Lori got together after they thought Rick was dead, but it turns out he wasn't. Now Shane's been left in the dust while Lori and Rick get back to their marriage. Just joined the camp and I can already see a potential problem down the road.'
As I continued butchering the boar, I noticed two muddied white legs appear out of the corner of my eye. Looking up, I saw it was Amy.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Do you mind if I sit?"
"Please. Help yourself." I said, gesturing to the free space around me.
"Thanks." she said as she plopped down next to the lying Burger who immediately started sniffing her, "I like your dog."
"Seems like everyone does." I said, smiling as Burger started licking her outstretched hand, "Makes me wonder if they let me stay because of me or because of him."
"Well, I only came over to talk to you because of your dog, so." she said, clearly joking.
"I guess having a pretty girl come talk to you only because of your dog isn't all that bad in retrospect."
"Please, pretty." she said, rolling her eyes and initially smiling before turning a little solemn, "I haven't been pretty in two months."
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure you're stunning when you've showered." I said, trying to lighten the mood.
She burst out laughing at that. Her laugh was not pretty, but it was genuine. I will admit, it had its charm.
"You're not so bad yourself. Though I am curious to see what you look like without the beard and with a haircut." she said, her chin propped up on her palm.
I ran my hand through my hair, feeling the length. It was shorter when it all began but with my entire focus on surviving, it had gotten a lot longer and I hadn't gotten around to cutting it. My beard on the other hand just needed a trim.
"You don't like the beard?"
"I didn't say that. It suits you, but it'll look better with a trim."
"Yeah, been meaning to get to it. Too busy surviving." I said as I continued butchering the boar.
"I hope I'm not bothering you. It's just, I wanted to say thanks for helping out earlier. With loading the washboards and with Carol I mean."
"It's no problem. For both."
"Yeah, that was a surprise, seeing a dog attack Ed." she said, petting Burger who happily enjoyed her petting, "Hard to believe that same dog is this cutie right here."
"Truth be told I almost told Burger to rip his nuts off but I thought it would be a bad move on my part what with it being my first day and all."
"That was the only thing stopping you?" she asked, incredulously, "Not the castrating another human part?"
"A husband who hits his wife is no human." I said, my tone heavy with the burdens of my past.
For the next couple of minutes, neither of us talked. I focused on butchering the boar while Amy just silently petted Burger and looked out at the pond. It was obvious I had made things awkward with what I said, so I was going to apologize just so we could move on.
"I was going to focus on domestic cases." she said, speaking before I could.
"Sorry?"
"I was studying to be a lawyer and wanted to focus on defending abused women." she explained, still looking out at the pond, "It's not because of anything that I personally experienced. My parents were perfect. But I volunteered at a women's shelter in high school and seeing those women broke my heart. I decided then that I wanted to help women like that."
I was going to say something. Something that she wouldn't want to hear, about how most abused women didn't even seek help and that nearly half of those that did ended up dead anyway. But I stopped myself. I swallowed the words and pushed away the surfacing memories.
"That's honorable." I whispered.
"What about you? What did you do before all this?"
"Odd jobs here and there. Ranch hand, pizza delivery, driver, pharmaceutical sales rep, whatever I could do to get some money."
"Wow. Are you from Atlanta? Or Georgia?"
"Nebraska. Left when I was 18, been heading east ever since."
"Never been to Nebraska. What's there to do there?"
"Only thing worth seeing in Nebraska is the nature. Not much else other than that." I said as memories of my childhood, of my time spent in nature started playing through my mind.
"Did your father teach you how to hunt?" she asked, hesitantly, having picked up on my feelings about him.
"Yeah. He was a ... character. Doomsday prepper/conspiracy theorist who taught me how to survive when the inevitable arrived. Never thought I'd see the day I'd thank him for my childhood, but here we are."
"I feel the same way about fishing with my dad. Taught me the knots, the lures, everything. I hated it at the time, being on a boat for hours with the sun beating on my face, but it's come in handy." she said, smiling as she reminisced, "What I wouldn't give to go back."
~
Amy and I continued talking while I finished butchering the boar. She was a good conversationalist, and from our talk, I could tell she was an optimist. Whether that would last as time went on remains to be seen, but it was oddly refreshing.
Once the boar was butchered, I loaded the meat into several iceless coolers and the scraps into their own containers, which would be offloaded elsewhere. If this were a commercial butchering, there would have been a lot more scraps, but considering it was for survival, there were very few. Even the organs would be used to feed Burger, who had already eaten half a kidney as a snack.
By the time I finished, Andrea and Jacqui had also finished doing the laundry. Their displeasure was evident as they looked at Amy, who had skipped out on it by talking to me. I smiled, seeing Amy get chewed out by Andrea like a little kid. I left them to their talking as Burger and I took the Jeep back up to the camp.
Most of the camp residents were nearby, doing their own thing. Carol read a book, Lori was sewing a shirt while Carl and Sophia played nearby, Shane sat at the entrance to the RV, Morales and his family were also reading, and the backup lookout, whose name slipped my mind, was on top of the RV.
"Oh, baby. Will you look at all that pork?" said Morales as we exited the Jeep, moving to get a closer look at the butchered boar.
"Wow." said Lori, impressed.
"Andrew, because of you my children will eat tonight. Thank you." said Morales, clapping me on the shoulder.
"No problem."
"What are we going to do with so much pork? We can't put it in a refrigerator." said Carol.
"I'm guessing around half of the meat will be eaten by tomorrow, but I was thinking of curing/smoking a good portion of it. I'll make jerky to have as extra provisions, just in case." I explained.
"And you can do that?" asked Lori.
"It'll be a little harder than if we had the proper modern equipment but it's doable. I've done it before with less than what we have now."
"Wow, you can hunt and do all this stuff. Where did you learn to do all that?" asked Carl, practically with stars in his eyes.
"My dad."
"Can you teach me?" he asked.
"If your Mom's okay with it, I'd be happy to." I said, causing Carl to look at Lori with a pleading look.
"I don't know Carl. I think you're a little too young to be using a bow." she said, looking hesitant.
'She probably doesn't trust me yet.' I thought.
There was practically no danger when learning to use a bow, except for bow string slap. Not only would Carl learn how to hunt, he would learn how to use a silent weapon to take down walkers. The likely possibility remained that she did not trust me yet, which I could respect.
"I've taught kids younger than him how to use a bow. It should be no problem." I said, smiling to look as trustworthy as possible.
"See. Please, Mom."
"If your father's fine with it, then I'm fine with it." she relented.
"Alright!" he said, pumping his fist in excitement as everyone looked on with smiles.
"C-can you teach me too?" asked Sophia, shyly.
"Sophia?" questioned Carol, looking surprised.
"I-I want to learn to protect you, Mom." she said with a quiet voice but eyes full of fire as she looked at Carol, who stayed silent for a few seconds.
"Okay, sweetie. If that's what you want." said Carol, smiling sadly at Sophia.
Carol's sad smiling face briefly overlapped with my mother's. It was that same smiling face she had given me so many times when I came home from being out with him. Sad that I was being taught what I was being taught, in her mind, being corrupted, and all she could do was smile so she wouldn't worry me.
For Carol, it was sad because Sophia was being forced to grow up thanks to a world that wanted her dead.
"Andrew?" I heard Carol ask, snapping me out of it as I looked at her, "Would you be okay with teaching Sophia as well?"
"Of course. The more, the merrier." I said, smiling as I pushed the memories back, "I don't have a good bow to teach them with so I'll have to run into the city and find one before I can."
"That sounds too dangerous just for some bows. Maybe we should wait until we find some." said Carol, worriedly.
"Nah, it's no problem. I'm quick on my feet. But if worse comes to worst, I can make them. They won't be as good as a manufactured one, but it'll work for small game and things of that nature."
"You said your dad taught you all that?" asked Lori.
"Yeah."
"Wow. Hell of a dad."
"Hell of a dad."
~
Shortly after the girls doing laundry returned to the camp from the water, Dale informed everyone that Jim was acting oddly. He had been digging holes on the hill without stopping for a while. Most everyone went up to check on him, but I couldn't because I had to start cooking/smoking the meat before it was too late. With the blazing, hot Georgia sun shining down on unrefrigerated meat, it wouldn't last long.
About ten minutes later, everyone came down the hill. Shane escorted Jim like a prisoner before sitting him down at the base of a tree near the tents and tying him up. Everyone else got back to their work, but I noticed they all kept shooting glances at Jim.
"So, why was he digging the holes?" I asked Amy as I prepared the meat to make jerky.
"Uh ... I think it was heatstroke. And some guilt." she said, shooting a sad look at Jim.
"Guilt? Over what?"
"His family. After Shane took him down, he started talking about how it was a lie that we would be okay and no one was going to hurt him. He ... he said that's what he told his family over and over, but they still died. He only escaped because they were too busy ... eating his family." she explained as she wiped a tear from her eye.
"Damn. I'm surprised he lasted this long without snapping." I said, looking over at Jim who was blankly staring at the trees.
"There's no more space for the weak is there?" said Amy, looking down.
"There is." I said, causing her to look up at me, "As long as they become strong. But it's hard to stop being what you've always been. It takes time, hard work, and the right catalyst."
"I'd say a world gone to ruin because of flesh-eating creatures is a good catalyst."
"It is, but by itself, it's not enough. You need to make the conscious decision to change. And it can't be later, it has to be now. Or the world will swallow you whole, spit you out, and you'll be nothing more than a footnote in someone else's story."
"Hmm." said Amy pensively.
~
Night had fallen and everyone was seated around the makeshift spit roast, enjoying the spit-roasted boar. Some of the adults had beer, warm, but it was enough, while the kids drank the last of the sodas. Everyone was chatting and laughing, enjoying themselves. The atmosphere of the camp made it seem like everything was okay.
I stood near the boar, cutting off pieces and handing them to whoever wanted some, eating my own whenever I could. Burger sat next to both Carl and Sophia who had very much enjoyed having a dog around and who had been sneakily feeding him when they thought I wasn't looking. Thankfully, because of good seasoning, cooking, and butchering, the boar had next to no boar taint.
"Man oh man, that's good. I miss this." said Shane as he put his plate out for another bit of boar which I promptly filled.
"Thanks to our newest addition." said Andrea.
"And what a great decision that has been." chimed in Dale.
"Compliments to the chef." said Amy, raising her beer to me.
"To the chef." said some of the others as I just took their compliments.
"I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy." said Morales to Dale.
"What?"
"That watch."
"What's wrong with my watch?" he asked, rubbing his watch with a smile.
"I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass."
"I've wondered this myself." chimed in Jacqui.
"I'm missing the point."
"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while." continued Jacqui.
"But there's you every day winding that stupid watch." said Morales.
"Time … it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here." said Dale while Andrea just chuckled, "I like what, um, a father said to his son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.'"
"'Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.' William Faulkner." I said, finishing the quote with a faint reminiscent smile on my face.
"William Faulkner, that's right." said Dale, smiling as he looked at me, "A hunter, dog trainer, butcher, survivalist, chef, and literary. You continue to surprise, Andrew."
"You are both so weird." said Amy, causing everyone to chuckle.
I laughed as well, enjoying the atmosphere. As I went to sit down, I noticed Burger shoot to his feet. He started looking around, tilting his head and sniffing the air before letting out a low growl that immediately made my smile drop and adrenaline start pumping through my veins.
Adrenaline could be a blessing and a curse. It makes your heart beat faster, your lungs breathe more efficiently and causes your blood vessels to send more blood to your brain and muscles. It's truly a story-book power-up. But adrenaline can also cripple your reasoning, making you falter and unable to move.
Most people have experienced adrenaline rushes at some point in their lives, but there is a difference between those small rushes and ones that occur during a true life-or-death scenario. For the average person, that much adrenaline would cause them to shut down, becoming deer in the headlights, but to a few, that flood of adrenaline only serves to help them fight harder.
"Everyone shut up and listen. What I am about to say will make you all want to panic, but you need to stay calm." I said, stunning everyone into silence as they all started to look a little nervous, "There are walkers nearby."
Everyone shot to their feet, scared at my declaration, but when the first scream ripped through the camp, all hell broke loose. Walkers came out from the woods behind the tents, and from behind the RV.
Everyone started to scream at the sight of the walkers. The kids screamed for their parents, huddling closer to them while the parents screamed for their children.
"Burger! Komm!" I shouted while I sprinted to my backpack.
As I reached my pack, I noted how many walkers had come out of the woodwork. There were too many and too close to be using my bow so I opened my pack and took out my Colt 1911 Classic and two more magazines. I disliked using guns to kill walkers because it was too loud which would inevitably attract more walkers or people, but the circumstances called for it.
BOOM BOOM
Shane was using his shotgun to shoot walkers while Lori, Carl, Carol, and Sophia huddled behind him. Morales and Jim had baseball bats and were in the middle of taking down a walker while Morale's family huddled near him. Dale had Andrea and Amy behind him while he used his rifle and Jacqui was holding a metal rod near them.
Having taken stock of the camp, I quickly moved. Pistol raised, I shot a walker that was coming from behind the RV, one shot, one kill. With my gun firing, two other walkers that were nearby focused on me. I shot the first while the second was knocked down by a leaping Burger who quickly got off it, allowing me to shoot it in the back of the head.
Taking a breath, I noticed that more walkers were coming from the woods and no more from the RV.
"Get to the RV!" I shouted, shooting at a walker who was about to take a bite out of Morales as he crushed another walker's skull while inching my way to the RV.
Hearing my voice, everyone started to retreat to the RV while keeping an eye on the walkers coming from the woods. Shane seemed to have run out of ammo in his shotgun and had begun using a pistol while Dale was no longer firing his rifle, also out of ammo.
"Come on, make your way to the Winnebago!" shouted Shane, as he shot another walker.
"Get the kids inside the RV!" I shouted, reloading as I used my last bullet on another walker, "Get ready to drive that thing out of here!"
The number of walkers coming out of the woods wasn't insurmountable by any means, with good teamwork and guns it would be possible. But the panic, the lack of guns and ammo, and the space we had left meant it was.
If they barricaded themselves inside the RV and managed to keep the walkers out, with a little time and hit-and-run tactics, I could whittle them down.
Seeing them all huddled near the RV with the walkers all focused on them, I realized it would be so easy to just run and leave them behind. There were no walkers behind me and the majority of them were focused on the group. Realistically, I had no attachments to the group, after all, it was my first day.
But I couldn't. Despite how little time I had spent with them, there was something about the group that felt ... nice. Along with that, I wasn't the type of person who would do that to good people.
I quickly focused, using the adrenaline pumping through my veins to its fullest potential. In rapid succession, I used up all seven bullets and took down six walkers. It would've been seven but the last one stumbled, causing my bullet to miss and hit another walker in the torso.
As I reloaded, Burger yanked me by my pants, helping me dodge a swipe from a downed walker that I had somehow missed. I shot the walker and thanked Burger before shooting one of the two walkers that had broken from the group and were making their way to me.
I was going to shoot the second one but before I could, a shotgun blast came from the woods, taking it down. From the woods, the four who left earlier, Rick, Glenn, Daryl, and T-Dog, came out holding shotguns and started blasting the walkers.
As the last walker was shot dead, the adrenaline left my veins and I felt that dizzying feeling, but I powered through it.
"Good job, boy. You saved my ass again." I said, crouching to pet Burger.
Those with family hugged each other, happy to be safe, while everyone else hugged their fellow survivor. A lot of us had survived, but a lot more had died.
"I remember my dream now, why I dug the holes." said Jim, looking out at all the dead.