The Rotter Roads: Highway Patrol : Origin

Chapter 4- GoldMine by Kilo Kish

OFFICALY EDITED 

"Girl." Tameka looks me up and down. "If you got something to trade, you can get your hair braided."

This is an HBCU, if there's anything I know it's that many braiders getting their degree have a professional hand. They have to so they can hustle to pay tuition. What style would I get? Nothing super long to avoid being yeeted by a Burner. I think my hair is long enough to be braided without extensions.

"You think they can do box braids without too many extensions?" I ask Tameka as we go into her room. It's very small. Definitely built for a student. We go in the front door and a kitchenette is to the left with a small living room to the right. Her room is red and purple and there are vines all along the walls. A purple candle burns on her desks and it smells of lilacs. There's even an old poster of Mindless behavior and some other shirtless rappers. A small bathroom branches out from her room with a standup shower, a sink, and a toilet.

"Do you mind?" Tameka asks, referring to if she can touch my hair. I welcome the polite inquiry and nod my head. She runs her fingers through my scalp and I almost purr in enjoyment.

"Yeah, Girl, your hair is so thick and long! Kat is gonna have some fun with you!" Tameka laughs.

I wonder what Kat will want? Maybe my hair products? Or some fresh fruits and vegetables? A gun?

Lupita hands me Jaden so she can change out of her bloody clothes in Tameka's bathroom. Afton and Shawn talk in the corners about something morbid. That's the vibes I'm sensing, anyway. I sit on Tameka's computer chair and bounce Jaden up and down. Then I wonder...

"How have you guys been defending this place consistently?" I ask Tameka who is sitting on the bed. She gets up and goes to her bookshelf. Tameka hands me an orange book and a gray book. I'll be damned: World War Z by Max Brooks and A Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. I can't believe other people have read this too. I assumed these books are owned by zombie nerds like me and Afton: People who obsess over the characters of the Walking Dead and Dead Island. People who sit in their gamer chairs and play zombie video games for a living. People who read zombie books. Nerds. Geeks. Weirdos. But who am I?... because I left my copies at home.

"All the HBCUs have been communicating via radio. It started with Spelman, then Morehouse, then Howard. Alabama A&M followed suit after Miles closed its campus. There was at least one person on campus with these books. If not, some risked their lives to go to a Books A Million or Barnes & Nobles. Huey Cane is our leader from Morehouse. He organized our defense against the Rotters and brought the gangs together in Atlanta to defend against a horde a couple days ago. We all have our roles and we go about them as needed: Shooters, Architects, Stratigizers, Runners, and Citizens. We no longer have to worry about money. So we focus on survival."

Tameka looks proud of herself. Hell, I'm proud. A door opens.

"What did I miss?" Lupita comes out in jeans and a TSU T-Shirt and her combat boots. She looks nice. Anyone would look better, not bloody and dirt ridden, though. Tameka fills Lupita in while she changes her son's diaper.

"So what are you? What's your role Tameka?" I asked.

"Since, I'm a communications major, since my freshman year I've maintained a 4.0 GPA. Therefore, I'm in charge of communications. I run our twitter and have been patching us to other HBCUs. I'm trying to get in touch with FSU, Fayetteville State in North Carolina. But no one has read my DM's."

"We're headed near there on the last leg of our journey. To Hope Mills, North Carolina. That's, like, right next to Fayetteville." I said. "My grandparents are serious preppers and they live there."