stay alive // jack metzger

four

I sat at the edge of my mattress and stared down at my boots with the strings dangling from the sides. I kept looking at them, hesitant on tying them.
   "Hey, Wilson," Kiana said from the door frame to the bedroom, careful not to wake my roommates. "We are all meeting downstairs in five."
   "Alright," I whispered back to her and she walked down the hallway, her boot steps echoing throughout the house as she did. I looked back at my boots and tied them one by one.
   I let out a sigh and sat up from the bed, stuffing my bag with my essentials that Jack told me to bring during my crash course last night.
   I looked up and the rectangle picture caught my eye in the dark room. The light from the lantern I had on made the gloss of the picture glimmer. Max's tongue stuck out of his mouth and my smiling eyes help a certain happiness that was foreign to me.
   I stared at the picture until I heard JJ's voice echo from downstairs, calling my name and telling me it was time to go. I quickly took the picture from the wall off of its tack and shoved the picture in me bag.
   I turned to the lantern and turned the flame down until the knob stopped with a click and the flame was gone. I did my best not to creek the floorboards as I walked out of the room, leaving behind my roommates.
   "First thing," Ryan said as he issued out guns. "Don't be late on the first day on the job."
   "Sorry, boss," I laughed, taking the gun that was originally mine from him. I looked in the chamber and it was fully loaded.
   Ryan laughed and handed out the guns to everyone.
   "You come back to me safe, you hear me?" Aubrey said to Jack in the corner of the living room as he checked his guns. Aubrey grabbed his face gently to make him look at her. "Jack."
   "I always do babe," he said to her smiling. "And I will this time and the time after that, and the time after-"
   Aubrey smiled and kissed Jack, cutting off his words. Their laughter filled my ears as I watched them giggle over each other.
    Jack smiled and continued to check his guns after the kiss. He looked up from his handgun and caught my glance with his fast. I quickly looked away, pretending to arm myself and holster my guns.
   "We pretty much have Westbrook clear of supplies," Ryan said to all of us as we gathered in the living room. The light from the lantern on the coffee table illuminated his face. "We are clearing out Concord next, sewing what's there."
   "I heard they had a food drive before this all went down," Kiana said, clicking her gun into her holster. "They started gathering food to donate so there should be a church or something holding it all."
   "Good," Ryan said. "Kiana, Ana, and Jack will go find the food and JJ, Adam, and I will look for stuff on the list."
   "Woah," Jack said from his chair in the corner. This time Aubrey was sitting on his lap, taking him in. "Adam's going?"
   "We are low on medical supplies," Adam said, coming from the kitchen. "And I don't think you know the difference of a suture and a sewing needle, so hope of my dick."
   Adam laughed and threw the rest of his granola bar at his brother, making them both laugh even harder.
   "Alright, fair enough," Jack laughed, holding his hands up in surrender.
   "Remember guys," Ryan said to us, reigning us back into the seriousness of the situation. "We only use our guns in emergencies. If there are one or two of the dead, knives will work just fine. Only if there are more than we can handle, okay?"
   We all agreed and Ryan picked up the empty duffel bags off of the ground, throwing one to Jack.
   We all started towards the door, but JJ stopped before leaving the house.
   "What?" Ryan asked at the bottom of the steps of the porch.
   "Didn't say goodbye to Audrey," He said to us and jogged up the stairs.
   "Cmon, lover boys," Kiana yelled to Jack and JJ, who was already up the stairs. "We don't have the daylight to waste."
   "You be careful," I heard Aubrey say to Jack behind me at the top of the porch.
   "I always am," I heard him say, and quick silence followed after that.
   I jumped as Jack appeared beside me, scaring me from his sudden appearance.
   "Ready, Wilson?" He asked me, looking down at me.
   "Anytime, Metzger," I smiled and we walked towards the old red Ford truck, the same one that I woke up in just a few weeks ago.
   Jack threw our bags in the back of the truck, and sat down in the back with them. Ryan took the front seat with JJ giving directions. Kiana, Adam, and I sat in the back, crammed together.
   Ryan slapped the roof of the truck with his hand and Jack responded with a slap to the side. Ryan started the truck and I stared out the window, watching the sun slowly start to peak out of the horizon for the morning.
***
   "Alright, we will meet here when we are all done," Ryan said to us as we grouped off. "Use the walkie-talkies to signal y'all are done finding and getting the food. We will do the same after we get our supplies. If we need more assistance, we will let each other know."
  I kicked at the gravel under my feet as Ryan said the same things he did at the house. I looked over at the sun, that was now completely over the horizon, as it casted onto the morning dew.
   "Stay safe guys," Jack said and gave his brothers quick hugs before splitting off down the main road.
   "So," Jack said to Kiana as we walked. "Where did you see a thing for this food drive?"
   "It's just a big one they did in the county every year," She said walking over to a lamp post. She held her gun with one hand as she ripped a faded piece of paper off of the pole. "See?"
   She handed Jack the paper and it talked about the food drive.
   "Case closed," I said, pointing to the faded words. "It's says 'bring all food items to First Baptist Church' on West Pine Street."
   "Fucking Sherlock Holmes over here," Kiana said in a sarcastic tone. I looked at her in confusion and she caught on. "Sorry."
   "Thanks, Wilson," Jack said to me smiling. "I hope this town brought there community spirit before the end of times!"
   Kiana and I laughed at Jack's fake cheerleader impression and continued down the road. Kiana held out the map to get us to West Pine.
   "So, Wilson," Kiana said as she read the map. Our feet crunched on the gravel under us as we kept along. "What's your background story?"
   "Um," I said, trying to think of specifically what she was wanting to hear. "I mean, I was raised up North and-"
  "Hon, I can tell your from North by your accent," She said stopping me. "I meant like where were you when the world ended?"
   "I feel like that should be on a tee-shirt," Jack laughed, looking at us two.
   "Most definitely," She laughed then quickly turned her attention back to me. I laughed before answering.
   "I was actually in class," I said to her. "I was sitting there, bored out of my mind as my teacher talked about the different vertebra in our spine. My professor got the call during the lecture that there was an emergency lockdown because some kid was going on a rampage on the west green of campus. We all locked down and from there, our phones started blowing up with news reports and-basically everything turned to shit from there."
   "Damn," Jack said, looking at the ground. "Did you get back to your family?"
   I looked down at my boots, feeling as if I just got punched in the gut.
   "I tried, but-" I said, continuing to stare at the gravel. "The transit was shut down and the phone lines were cut in a matter of no time. I didn't have time to get back to my home town in enough time before we were evacuated."
   "I'm sorry," Kiana said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "It sucks, it all sucks."
   "Yeah," I said, trying to shake off the awkwardness that I made the vibe of our conversation go.
   "Well in good news," Jack said, pointing to the street sign. "We made it to West Pine and judging by that huge building with a cross at the top, I think that's our destination."
   "God bless," I said. "Literally, I suppose."
   We all three laughed and walked towards the church, the morning wind giving us a slight cool off of the already blasting sun' heat.
   As we walked up the steps to the church, I stopped before entering as I heard the moan of a dead.
   The corpse came around the corner of the building and stumbled towards the steps where we all were standing. The corpse wore a pastor's outfit, something that made me stop my breath for a second.
   "I got him," Kiana said and walked down the stairs again. She pulled the knife from her boot and entered the blade right into the side of his head. "God couldn't save you, huh?"
   "Kiana," Jack said to her to shut her up. Kiana looked at him and shrugged, laughing as she met us back on the stairs.
   "What? Just some light humor," She said as she opened the chapel doors.
   I shook my head in laughter and we walked into the church. We weren't expecting what was in front of us.
  "Holy shit," Kiana said, looking in awe at all of the can goods. "Literally, holy shit."
   Cans and boxes of imperishable foods lined and stacked up on the stage of the church. Boxes full of first aid kits and food were filling the pews.
   "You were right Metzger," I said to him as he opened the duffel bag. "This town brought their community spirit."
   "Hell yeah they did," He laughed as he started to shovel cans and boxes into the bag.
   "Hey," Kiana said to him. "Watch your mouth in the house of God."
   "WaTcH yOuR mOuTh In ThE hOuSe Of GoD," Jack mimicked her, something that sent all of us in a fit of laughter.
   "Ryan would probably yell at us right now if he were here," Kiana said, filling her bag.
   "Oh yeah, 'hey you guys get to work, this is serious stuff'," I said, mocking Ryan's sternness.
   "Hey," Jack said, stopping us. "So what, the guy is a little stern. Give him a break."
   "I just wish I got to know him before this," I said, gesturing to the grey world we were living in. "I guess before Cam."
  "I wish I could remember how he was before this," Jack said looking at me. "Before what happened to Cam."
   "Damn shame," Kiana said, continuing to grab as much food as her bag could hold. "It would be nice to have another set of hands around the house."
   "Not just nice to have help," Jack said, a serious tone filling his voice. "But to have her back. That would be nice."
   Kiana help her hands up in surrender and continued to grab food. We all filled our duffel bags to the brim in silence, all of us struggling to zip them up.
   "Ryan, copy," Jack said into the walkie-talkie. Ryan responded to Jack, giving him the clear to talk. "We found the food drive and we got as much as we could but we can always come back when needed, plenty of food."
   "Good," Ryan said from the other line. "We are just finishing up at the hardware store near the truck so we will meet there in ten and head back."
   "Alright brother," Jack said smiling into the black box.
  He stuffed the box into his pocket and we walked back towards where we came, this time a little more sluggish because of the filled bags.
  We threw the bags back into the bed of the truck as Ryan, JJ, and Adam started back towards us on the road opposite.
   "Holy shit," Ryan said smiling at our filled bags. "God the mother load, huh?"
   "This will probably get us through the fall, plus," Jack smiled, climbing back into the bed of the truck, grabbing our personal bags from us.
   "Good, the pantry downstairs needed a restock," Ryan said, climbing into his seat up front.
   "At least we have a lot of canned pickles," I said. "Lots and lots and lots of pickles."
   "Yum," Ryan laughed and started the pick up truck. He hit the gas with a jolt and headed back down the road we came, towards home.
***
  "Country roads," Jack sang from the bed of the truck through the open window. "Take me home. To the place I belong."
   "West Virginia," we all chimed in, screaming the lyrics that followed. I looked out the window and saw the house as we pulled into the yard. "Mountain mama, take me home."
   "Country roads," Jack laughed and jumped out of the bed of the truck before Ryan put it in park.
   Aubrey came running out of the house, eager to see Jack. Jack ran to her and she jumped into his arms. Jack squeezed her tight as she continued to thank god.
   Ryan, JJ, Kiana, and Adam all started to grab the things from the back of the bed as I looked at Jack and Aubrey, pretending to help.
   As I was looking, something odd from the forest line caught my eye.
   "Ryan," I called for him, running up to the wooden fence. He looked over at me from the porch. "Come here."
   He walked down the steps and everyone that was outside gathered by the fence.
   Just then, an army of the dead filed out of the forest line. With each passing second, more and more of them continued out, coming towards the house with their moans growing louder.
   "Shit," Ryan said.