Colony Z: The Complete Collection (Vols. 1-4) (20 page)

The truck was oddly quiet in the morning. They had finally reached a point where, even once they had the truck repaired and ready to go, three of them had to ride in the back like army men.

But it seemed that there was no one around to pull them over for it. Because it seemed that Owen was right.

They didn’t see anyone that day. No guards, no workers, no moving cars.

Owen
was
right.

Everything had ended last night.

No television screens played in store windows, there was nothing on radio stations but static…it was like everyone had disappeared overnight.

“We’re stupid if we honestly believe that there aren’t more survivors,” Willa said as they drove toward Detroit. “There have to be more. We can’t be the only ones who were smart enough to hide.”

“And if we come across them, we’ll help them.” Owen said simply. “If not…they’ll have to be a smart as we were and find help. We can’t afford to stay here much longer.”

Willa nodded with a knowing smile on her face.

“Hannah is pregnant.” Owen announced to the rest of the truck. Some answered with congrats, others cheered, but the oldest in the car were silent, for they knew what this meant.

“We need to get somewhere safe…and soon, don’t we?” Eric asked. Owen nodded.

And that was the end of the celebration.

They passed through Detroit that afternoon, and it was Nathan who, in the sweltering heat, suggested they get ice cream from an abandoned parlor. There was enough sunlight going in to ensure that there wouldn’t be any infected inside and, besides, they all needed a bit of a pick-me-up.

Even though they’d come to terms with the end of the world, they weren’t exactly prepared for how lonely and broken it all felt.

So they agreed and stopped. Everyone piled out and, soon, Nathan was behind the counter, scooping out ice cream like it was his job.

It was the first time in Owen’s life that ice cream had no brought any cheer. There was no happiness in the first spoonful, and each sugary bite didn’t make him smile. No, this was the first time in Owen’s life that he’d had to eat ice cream like an adult. And he was sure the other teenagers were experiencing the same thing.

That was when Owen heard the tiny squeak coming from the back.

“Stay here.” He said to Hannah, setting his ice cream down on a table next to her and following the noise.

The squeak came again, and then there was a loud knock.

When Owen opened the door to the back of the ice cream parlor, he saw boxes upon boxes stacked on top of one another, blocking a freezer door. Why was someone barricaded
in
and not barricaded
something
in?

…Unless the squeaks he heard belonged to the zombie inside.

“…help…” A small voice said.

“Get back here!” He yelled, and Eric, Phillip, Nathan, Carlos, and Robert came running.

“There’s someone in there,” Owen explained, pointing. “He’s trapped in.”

It took them fifteen minutes to get all of the boxes out of the way. Whomever had trapped the child inside the freezer had not wanted him to get out on his own free will. And, from the smell that was coming from the room, the child hadn’t handled being trapped very well.

Owen decided to spare the child inside the embarrassment of being seen with that filth. He told the men to go back to the parlor, and then opened the door slowly, staying behind it so as not to look inside.

“Come on out, kiddo. I’m gonna shut the door right behind you.”

A boy, who couldn’t have been older than eleven or twelve, came out, shivering. Whoever had shut him inside hadn’t bothered to turn off the freezer, and he looked pale and blue with the cold. Owen, ignoring the wet spot on the front of the boy’s pants, picked him up and carried him out the back, through the parlor (where he received confused looks from the group), and out to the truck. For the second time, he searched through his bag for something a young boy would fit into.

He pulled out some of his older boxers, a pair of pants, a belt, and a t-shirt.

“It’s gonna be big on you, kid,” Owen said, tossing the cold boy the clothing. He seemed to be taking in the heat of the outside world. “You can change out here. Trust me, no one’s going to see you. I’ll stay here, you go to the other side of the truck.”

The kid did what he was told, but he still hadn’t spoken a word. Once he was changed, he tossed the clothes as far away from him as he could, and Owen got the odd feeling from the flying garments that the boy was a little fed up.

“Come on, we’ll talk inside.”

The boy followed Owen’s comforting figure and, soon, after Owen did his own explanation, they were all listening to James’ story.

“My dad wanted to…to keep me safe,” He said quietly. “But I didn’t wanna stay in there after a while. It was cold and he didn’t come back…but then the door wouldn’t open. I screamed…and screamed…and I heard my dad yelling at me to stay there.”

“How long have you been in there, James?” Willa asked, concerned.

“…I dunno. I don’t have a watch or anything…I think two or three days…it felt like forever…”

“Two or three days in a
freezer?”
Nathan asked, sounding angry. “What dad does that to his kid?”

“…I don’t think he thought he had a choice,” Owen said, shushing Nathan. “Sometimes, in dire situations, we don’t think clearly about what we should do. We just do what we can and consider the consequences later..when it doesn’t matter anymore.”

James looked at Owen in a serious way.

“You said the world’s gonna end?”

“…it already did, son.” Phillip said.

“…then my parents…they’re…”

Phillip nodded. But James didn’t cry, as they’d all expected. No, James just looked at the ground for a real long time, basking in the silence. Then, he lifted his head with an odd sort of smile on his face.

“I don’t have to wear these anymore.” James took off his glasses and threw them on the floor. Everyone tried to jump forward to stop him, but James crushed them into the floor before they had the chance.

“What are you doing? We can’t get you new ones!” Hannah yelled. But James just kept smiling.

“I don’t even need them,” He said. “Mom and Dad just wanted me to, cause they thought it’d make me fit in at school.”

And, as everyone stared at him in wonder, James, the nerd-boy, decided it was time to start a new life for himself.             

There was an arsenal in Detroit.

It was funny that they happened to stumble upon it, actually. Because they had just been getting ready to head south when James pointed out his window at it.

“Dad talks about that place all the time,” He said, somehow not realizing that he was talking in present tense about a father who probably belonged to his past. “He says there isn’t a better place for weapons anywhere. They keep it guarded all the time…I’ve never even be able to get this close.”

The building James was talking about looked like nothing more than a giant warehouse. And Owen wasn’t exactly sure that an arsenal was such a good place to be with a pregnant woman.

“Look,” He said to the others. “If you men want to go in and find us some weapons, I’m not gonna argue. We could all use some combat training. But I’m staying here with the women and children.”

“I’m going!” James said, jumping up and following Eric, who had already gotten out of the truck. Aaron, who had been sitting on his lap, fell into Hannah, who held him tightly to her. She and Willa had grown awfully attached to the mother-less boy over the past few days.

“Can I go too?” Aaron asked, almost excited about something for once. But Owen just shook his head.

“Sorry, son. But you better stay here.”

Aaron nodded slowly, accepting what the only fatherly-figure he had left in his life told him to do.

“Owen…can we go for a walk?” Hannah asked. “I’m sure Willa and Jennifer can handle themselves and Aaron while we’re gone.”

“…Okay. But a quick one.”

Hannah and Owen left the car and began walking around the enormous structure.

“I don’t really like the idea of you walking out in the heat, Hannah.” Owen said, looking her over. “I’d much rather you be in the air-conditioned car.”

“Where are we going to stay, Owen?”

“…I’m not sure, Hannah. I’m not sure.”

“I think I might know a place we can go to.”

“….where?”

“Do you remember when I lived in Chicago?” She asked, and Owen nodded.

“Well…everyone there used to talk about this school out in the middle of Illinois that they treated like a prison. No one could come in, no one could go out. At least, not without the watchmen opening the steel gate. The whole thing is surrounded by metal fence, solid too…I’m not sure exactly where it is…but I’m sure, if we found it, they wouldn’t be able to get in at us like they can now.”

Owen took all of this in, and realized that his girlfriend had a truly good idea. A place like that would be almost impossible to penetrate, and would allow for each observation of their surroundings. Was it a permanent place to stay? By no means. Eventually, they’d find their way in. But was it a place to stay?

Yes, yes it was. And Owen liked the idea very much.

“I think you might have a point, Hannah.” Owen said, wrapping his arms around her. “I think we can give that a shot, if you want. I’ll run it by the others. But, on our way down, you have to let us stop and try to save more. Understand?”

Hannah nodded.

“We have a decent sized clan, and that’ll be enough to keep us alive, for now. But we need more skill-sets and more people. We have to think long-term here….like, repopulating the Earth long-term…and in order for us to think like that, we need more people. Ten or fifteen of them.”

Hannah nodded again, unsure of how else to respond to this. She didn’t like the idea of the repopulation of Earth falling on their shoulders, but she didn’t like the idea of her children being in danger, either. Owen was right, they would have to find more of them if they wanted to live.

When they returned to the car, Eric, James, Phillip, Nathan, Carlos, and Robert were waiting for them, alone with the women.

Owen explained to them the plan, and how they would carry it out.

“Just one problem, Owen,” Phillip said. “There’s no one running the gas stations anymore. How are we supposed to keep the car running?”

“How much do you have left?”

“Half a tank.”

“That’ll be enough to get us to the border. Once we’re there, we’ll either take a new truck, split off into cars, or find some diesel. Got it?”

Phillip nodded and they all piled back into the truck.

Owen was impressed with all that they’d done. A group, a clan, a tribe. One made up of three women, six men, two children, and an unborn baby (of course, Owen wasn’t aware that his count was all wrong). For once, since the Zero-Hour had begun, Owen had done something right. Owen had stepped up and pulled together these people.

Soon they would find the safe-place in Illinois, the school that Hannah had spoke of. Of course, they would pick up more people along the way, lose the car, and gain a much more grumpy version of Hannah. But they made it, all the same.

And Owen could not believe, once he finally got there, how beautiful absolute safety from the outside world honestly felt. Never before in his life had Owen felt so alive, so free, and so very much like the man he had always wanted to be. If only the peace could have lasted…

To be continued…