State of Decay✔️

Chapter 34: Meet the Neighbors

"I hear tell you're the man who gets stuff done."

Marcus stared at the two men before him. All three of them stood in front of the gate next to the watchtower. The men had introduced themselves as Jack Ferris and Bob Macklin. Jack seemed amiable enough. He looked to be in his forties, he was tall and athletic in a rangy kind of way. There was an ease to him, a calm certainty that came from certain men who were used to doing everything themselves, and competently. He admitted to running the Grange, which was what they called the truck stop just outside of town where his crew was staying at. He wore a form-fitting t-shirt and cargo pants with work boots and carried a machete and a pistol.

The other man, Bob, seemed somehow shady and mistrustful. He was tight-lipped and he seemed uncomfortable. He had a thin figure, though not very athletic, with shaggy brown hair and angry blue eyes. His face was narrow and seemed of the variety that sleazy used car salesmen wore. He had a shotgun across his back and a crowbar in his hand.

"Bob Macklin...there's something incredibly familiar about that name," Marcus replied.

The man suddenly broke into a smile. "Well, I was a lawyer in Danforth," he said. "Quite successful, I might add. You may have seen my commercials..."

Marcus shook his head. "No, that's not it. It's that name..." Suddenly, he had it. "Now I know! Parks and Rec! Burt Macklin. That was the name of that stupid FBI persona that Chris Pratt created. Oh man, that's hilarious."

"Yes, riveting...I didn't watch Parks and Rec," Bob replied glumly.

"So, what needs doing?" Marcus asked, giving his attention to Jack.

"One of our own has gone missing. He's been gone since last night. All we have to go on is that he was in town, on this side of the river, over in a cul-de-sac of houses. We were going to go ourselves, but when Becca, the other member of our group, mentioned it to your radio operator, she suggested that we ask you for help."

Marcus considered it for a moment. He felt relatively ready and raring to go, he had supplies on him, and he knew where the place was.

He nodded. "Okay, yeah. Sure. You've got a car?" he asked.

"We do," Jack replied, pointing at a big black four-door pickup truck. "My own personal vehicle. Bought it just last year, brand new."

"Damn. Very nice," Marcus replied.

"I thought so as well. Come on," Jack said. "You can ride shotgun, show us the way."

They all got into the truck. As they began driving, Marcus picked up their story. There were four of them out at the Grange. The missing man was named Quentin. He'd been an employee at the Grange. Bob's car had broken down and he'd heard that Jack Ferris had the best mechanic shop in town, so that's where he'd brought it. He was still there when the zombies struck. Becca was apparently a girl in her early twenties who had just kind of showed up one day. They were doing pretty well for themselves, but Jack knew that they couldn't last forever on the supplies they had. So they'd started heading into town to look for more.

Quentin had apparently gone on his own last night, looking to hit up the cul-de-sac for food, water, maybe some building materials. Apparently talking with Lily had given them the idea to build a watchtower all their own.

They didn't really run into too much trouble on the way up there, but as soon as they drove up the road into the area with the houses, Marcus knew there was going to be trouble. The area was basically laid out like T, with the road they had to drive up being the base. It was at an incline, leading up to a large shelf of land that overlooked the rest of the town. Two short streets that ended in cul-de-sacs extended away from the top of the first lane. Marcus counted seven houses, one of which was just skeletal, in mid-construction.