Strictly Business

Chapter 4

  When I wake up the next morning, Zoey is gone. Unlike most nights, she hadn’t called my apartment home. I push myself off my bed and jump to the sound of someone banging on my door. I pull on a shirt and hurry to it. I pull it open and Zoey is standing in front of me with a wide smile covering her face. She lunges forward and pulls me into a tight hug. 

“What is this?” I ask.

“The mission got approved,” she giggles, “Mr. Lou wanted us to leave tomorrow but I pushed it to today. Oh my, that’s fine right. I didn’t even think to ask you.”

“Like I’m doing anything else,” I say with a shrug, “but all that means is that I have to gather supplies a little faster than I had anticipated.”

“Oh, Mr. Lou has that taken care of. Just bring your clothes and toiletries.” 

“Perfect. When do we leave?”

“Noon.”

“I’ll meet you at the entrance,” I tell her as I kick the door shut. I can hear her bound down the steps as I step into my bedroom. I lazily make the bed before yanking out my duffel bag that I keep stored under the bed. I never had much use for it since I made it here and it holds so many memories. I’ve had this bag since I was in middle school. Before the move, before the zombies...before life ever became hard. I trace my hands over the pins from different destinations. My dad had traveled a lot for work and had always brought me home pins from his various worksights. 

I usually don’t let myself get tangled up in memories from before the mess that Earth has become. Those memories linger in the darkest parts of my mind. I can’t be like others who have their old memories plastered around their house. I can’t stand to be constantly reminded of what I had lost. I let out a sigh and start pulling clothing from my closet and filling the bag. I grab as much ammo as I had stored before grabbing my extra pistol. Obviously, I already had my knives piled in there. 

I swing the bag over my shoulder and go to drop it off in the living room. I head into my bathroom and start gathering the toiletries Zoey had mentioned. I pause to look at myself in the mirror and sigh at the curly blond hair that stopped a little past my shoulders. I have to fight every morning with it here. I don’t want to fight with it on the road. I grab a pair of shears from the drawer and start cutting at the curly strands. 

I don’t stop until it is a little above my ears. Not every side is even but it’s hardly noticeable with the curls. I change into a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt before yanking on my combat boots. I grab my duffel bag and hurry out the door. I can see the outpost bustling with activity. I roll my eyes as I feel people pat my shoulders as I head toward the entrance. They always get like this when something relatively out of the ordinary is happening. I don’t exactly blame them. 

Life is rather mundane here, after all. 

“There you are,” Mr. Lou says as he found me near the entrance. I walk up to him and shake his hand as he smiles widely, “Zoey and Kai are already in the truck waiting for you. You should have enough gas to make it, however, I have outlined our allied outposts if you have any emergencies on the map.” 

“Wait,” I say, “Kai?”

“Yeah,” Mr. Lou nods, “he volunteered to join you. The council thought it would be beneficial to have a third and with Kai’s success rate-”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I groan and hurry toward the truck waiting for me. I pull open the front door and face a tired looking Kai. He looks down at me with a smug grin on his face before it turns into a look of confusion as he slides out of the truck. He grabs the sides of my face and I slap his hands away.

“You cut your hair,” he states.

“Obviously,” I reply, “I thought you said this mission was stupid and suicidal.”

“It is.”

“So why are you coming?”

“I have more experience outside these walls than you two,” he reminds me, “I still think we are going to die but I can probably help the chances of our survival.”

“Kai-”

“Oh my god,” Zoey squeals as she climbs out of the truck, “I love the hair! Are you ready to go? I am so excited!” 

“Yep,” I deadpan as I hand my duffel over to Kai. I spin on my heels and move to go talk to Mr. Lou. Kai doesn’t say a word as he loads it into the truck. Mr. Lou smiles as I approach but he soon loses it as I draw near. 

“What’s wrong? Missing something?”

“I can’t work with Kai.”

“Well, you’ll have to,” Mr. Lou explains, “the council was wary about approving it until Kai offered to join you two. It’s either you work with him or you don’t go at all.”

“Why do you have to do this to me?” I complain.

“Stop acting like a child,” he laughs, “and start moving. You’re wasting enough time as it is. It’s nearly noon. They won’t want to open the gates back up until four.”

“You owe me so much,” I grumble as I turn to head back to the truck. Kai gets out and I climb in. It’s one of those small trucks that only have the three seats in the front. The small back area is taken up by supplies. I hold in my complaints as Kai climbs in and squishes me against both him and Zoey. He starts up the truck and turns to smile at me and Zoey.

“Ready?” he asks, grinning widely. 

“Just go,” I grumble and fold my arms across my chest. Kai laughs as he starts forward, driving past the protective gates of the outpost. I grab the large map away from Zoey. Mr. Lou had circled where our cellular service would end and I can see where all the other outposts are. Several are cross off, as they are not friendly. I shiver as I think of the horror stories that have birthed from them. Some speak of them k********g women to help populate their society. Others claim that some are experimenting on zombies to better help them attack other outposts. Each idea is horrifying. It is strange to think that even now humans are still trying to destroy each other. 

My hands trace over the route we needed to take before I hand the map over to Zoey. We have a gps right now but it will cut out as soon as we get out of range, which will be a little outside of Texas. I sit back and Zoey is instantly ready to talk my ear off about absolutely nothing. Though she won’t admit it, this is how I know she’s actually scared about this trip.

When she’s confident, she’s quiet.

“Kai,” I mutter as I sit forward. There are two cars blocking the road. We’re only ten miles from the outpost and this is the main road in. These would have been cleared long ago. Not to mention that we drove this road yesterday without issue. I look back and forth between the cars but I can’t see any movement. The vehicles themselves seem to be in relatively good condition. They definitely aren’t cars that have been sitting around in the elements. 

“I see it,” he says as he pulls the truck to a stop. 

“Can’t we just ram through them?” Zoey asks, “we have an armored truck...something designed for this kind of thing?”

“Well, yeah,” Kai answers, “but this was planned.”

“Either they’re ready for an armored truck,” I say, “or they’re planning something for the outpost. They have to know there is one nearby.” 

“So, what’s the plan?” Zoey asks.

“Is there another route we can take?” Kai asks.

“What if we just drive around? This truck will be fine on rough terrain, right?” I ask him. 

“No matter what we do,” Kai says, “it probably isn’t going to turn out well.” 

“For them,” Zoey says as she pulls her rifle out of the back. Kai lets out a soft groan as he pulls his shotgun out as well. He hands it to me and presses a button next to the wheel. I look up and notice the sunroof window opening up. I nod as I stand up and raise the gun toward the cars. I can see the tops of heads of the people crouching down behind the cars. 

“There are four of them,” I tell Kai. I move to sit back in the truck, “but they’re right behind the cars. If we ram them, they’re dead.”

“What the hell are they thinking?” Kai says and reaches for the radio attached to the baseboard. He starts contacting the main people and I push myself into the open sunroof. I tilt my head as I notice a cloud of dust in front of us. 

A semi truck that would probably crush all of us. 

“Kai,” I call out. He stops and looks up at me, “there’s a truck coming. I don’t think this guy can handle it.”

“Can they handle it?” he asks.

“No,” I say, “they are going to go splat.” 

“Tell them!” Zoey calls out, “maybe they don’t see it!”

“Hey, idiots,” I call out, “do you not see the truck behind you?” 

“They aren’t moving,” Kai says as he starts backing up. I feel him and Zoey wrap an arm around each leg. I hold onto the top of the truck as Kai drives off to the side. The truck bounces and tilts as we go off road. I watch in horror as the truck nears the cars. I desperately want to jump out and help them but my comrades' hands stop me. When the truck is just a yard away from the bodies I let out a gasp. 

They aren’t people. They are zombies chained up to the rusty metal. 

“What the hell?” I call out as the truck slams into the cars. Kai swerves the truck over toward the road and I watch as two people step out of the semi truck. They quickly grow small as we speed away. I slowly lower myself back into the truck. Kai replaces his hand on the wheel but Zoey simply moves it so it rests in my knee. 

“What did you see?” she asks.

“They weren’t people,” I tell them, “they were zombies. Someone chained them to the cars.”

“To make us think that there were people behind them?” Kai suggests.

“I think so,” I nod, “maybe they were hoping we would try and save them.”

“And we’d get squashed in the process.”

“Did they answer?” I ask.

“Yes,” he nods, “they are sending a squad out to check on it.”

“Well, this is a great start to our little trip,” Zoey giggles, “what other exciting things are going to happen? Oh, maybe we’ll find a cute hitchhiker!” 

“Why does it matter if he’s cute?” I ask.

“Really, Cassidy?” Kai laughs, “you can’t guess why?” 

I look over at him and roll my eyes. Zoey laughs and the ride grows quiet. We are left in our own minds, waiting for something besides the dull road ahead to occupy us. Zoey was right. That was probably the least exciting thing that is going to happen to us. This mission is full of uncertainty. It is so full of potential danger and conflict. As a whole, none of our outpost knows much beyond what we mapped out. We don’t know if there are zones that are still highly infested or if there are groups of baddies that want nothing more than the downfall of the already struggling human populations that are simply trying to survive. 

Again, my thoughts travel to my parents. I never had any doubts about their intentions, nor did I ever care to look too deeply into them. The city was boring to me and they hardly spent any time with me there anyway. My aunt, however, was very suspicious of them. Before she got sick, she’d always say something was suspicious about their work. Especially since the first breakout was in Chicago. I, of course, never entertain these ideas until boredom takes over. Part of me also wants to tear my mind away from the zombies strapped to the cars. It’s a rather inhumane thing to do to them even if they are mindless monsters. It is something I respect about both Kai and Zoey. A lot of people in their profession like to play with them as if it is some sort of game. I never understood the videos that would show people acting like idiots around these poor creatures. 

“What are you thinking about?” Kai asks, glancing over at me as he speeds down the road. I feel a weight on my arm and glance over at Zoey’s sleeping form. I must have been lost in thought for who knows how long.

“They tied zombies to a car,” I say, shivering at the thought, “sure, it’s messed up what they were trying to do to us but...they should have just put them out of their misery.”

“Ah,” Kai smiles, the expression lighting up his whole face, “I forget about how you humanize them.”

“I don’t humanize them,” I argue, “I just don’t see the point in playing with them. You’re putting yourself in more danger, for one thing, and two...I don’t believe we should be inhumane to any creature. You’re just wasting time and energy being an asshole.”

 “Very true,” he laughs. I forget how much I missed that sound. I glance over at him as he watches the road, his smile stuck in place. He glances over at me, catching me in the act. I look away quickly and try to stop the blush that is quick to follow. 

“What?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” I shrug, “I guess I’m just thinking about how much life has changed, even within the outpost.”

“Such as?” he asks. I open my mouth to speak but quickly close it. I can’t simply mention our friendship nor can I say much else. Most of the things that had changed were because of our separation. After he left, Zoey soon followed and nothing else came out of my life. 

“Cas?” he asks, speaking softly. 

“I don’t even know where to start,” I lie as I lean back.

“I see,” he says. I glance over at him, curious as to why he sounds so disappointed. I let out a sigh and lean back against the seat. I remind myself that I shouldn’t care about his thoughts. He is the one that left me. It wasn’t the other way around. I let myself get taken away as I closed my eyes…

“Wakey, wakey,” Kai’s soft voice brings me out of my dreamless slumber. I open my eyes and curl closer to the soft surface I’m laying against. When I hear laughter, I realize what that “soft surface” is. I push myself on Kai's shoulder and look around. Zoey isn’t in the truck but rather sunbathing on the hood. I rub the sleep out of my eye and Kai laughs as he gets out of the truck. I follow suit and stumble a bit as I climb out of the truck. He steadies me and I mumble a thanks. I lean against the truck and poke Zoey’s side.

“Oh, hello, sleeping beauty,” she grins, “did you enjoy your nap or your pillow better?”

“Shut it,” I slap her shoulder and glance back at Kai, who is looking over something in the back of the truck. She laughs and sits up before scooting over. She pats the hood and I move to sit down beside her. We had pulled over along a quiet road without any houses to be seen. I don’t know if we’re still in Texas but we aren’t in any danger.

“Have we heard anything from the outpost?” I ask,

“Nothing,” Kai answers, walking up beside me. I sigh as I slide off of the truck. It is moments like these where I am jealous of Zoey’s height. I stretch my back as Kai hands me some jerky. I take it and start chewing it as he goes over to talk to my best friend. 

I step down the slight incline and into the long grass. I take a deep breath as I take in the cool, open air. There is never much time for me to enjoy the outside like this. Where I am free of work or danger...this was how life was before the zombies took over. I had taken it for granted as a kid and I am regretting it with my entire being now. I take another deep breath as I slide my hands into my jean pockets. Life is different now, I remind myself, there is no good in thinking of the past. 

“Cas?” Zoey calls out from the truck. I glance back with a grin as I turn toward her, “you good, girl?”

“Just enjoying the…” I pause as I consider my words, “the freedom.”

“Crazy, isn’t it?” Kai said, “how quiet the world actually is.” 

“Was the world ever like this?” Zoey asks as she leans back against the glass, “or is it just quiet now since most of humanity is gone?”

“It was always quiet in places like this,” he says, “where humanity never fully touched.”

“You say that like humanity was a bad thing.”

“I just think we should of appreciated the natural beauty of things,” he shrugs, “instead of using it more so for our own gain.”

“This is becoming too much now,” I giggle as I climb back up, “shall we go on?”