"Radio, a device mostly used to listen to the music being broadcasted there and daily news but also used as a communication device in tough times."
Two days have passed since the recent events. Everyone, or almost everyone, has gotten used to what role they have been assigned and what their lives will be like for the next few days and even weeks. However, a lot has happened in these two days.
Doug, along with Matt, went to a neighboring town to get some supplies, mostly necessities, and came across an RV that had been left behind. It was quite large, had an extra trailer, and the brunet himself offered to take it. After all, if all this was never going to be fixed, he didn't want to continue sleeping in Joan's father's guest room with his kids and wife.
So it was that the Brennan family had their own modest portable home. Although their twins, the cutest boys Joan had ever seen, weren't too sure about the trailer they were going to share, they didn't want to argue too much. It was still better than sleeping in a room with their parents. That day, however, while Matt and Doug were busy barbecuing and sipping beer, Joan and Jenny were busy taking care of the kids.
"Listen, the kids are heavy..." The brunette began, watching the blonde standing next to him turn over the meat and sausages on the grill. "You think it's a miracle of birth, blood from your blood.... Not that it isn't, but all three of them have character after their mother. It's exhausting sometimes, you know?" He added after a while, taking a big gulp of his beer.
Well, Doug Brennan and his stories about fatherhood. How informative.
"I remind you that when the twins were born, you were in seventh heaven and wanted to name them both after Star Wars characters." Only Matt said, looking at his friend with a mischievous grin on his face.
At the younger man's words, the green-eyed man rolled his eyes and snorted, his arms wrapped around his torso. Still, he had to admit that what his friend was saying was true.
"Look, the fact that I wanted to call them Luke and Anakin has nothing to do with it," he said.
"It doesn't? Really? And you're telling me that?"
"Yes, but let's not forget that at least one of them has the name I wanted." Doug announced, as if he wanted to end the topic, although he was the one who started it.
"Well, unfortunately Luke became your little Luke Skywalker." Matt mumbled, laughing softly at the thought.
But just as Doug was about to reply with something funny, the police radio in the radio car crackled. Both men looked at each other, their eyebrows furrowed in an unmistakable grimace. This could mean a lot, like they were not alone after all.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me? Over." A deep, male voice suddenly came over the police radio.
The two men standing by the grill moved toward the car, but the one who grabbed it was Matt. He pressed a button on the side of the speaker, took a shuddering breath, and looked at his friend.
"We read you loud and clear. Over." He finally said with dark eyes, but the words sounded a bit like it cost him everything to say them.
"Fuck, finally! Okay, my name is Trevor. This is the third frequency I've tried, and so far you're the only one who's responded." The voice on the other side began, sighing softly. "My brother and I are some... hell, I don' even know how far we are from Oregon. 'm not a cop, but I guess you are. Over." He added after a moment and Matt couldn't hold back a small laugh.
Well, whoever this Trevor was, he was right. Matt was a policeman, he was, because the police probably didn't exist anymore like the rest of the world. The blond man adjusted his cowboy hat and pressed the button again, licking his lips as he began to collect his thoughts.
"Well, you're not wrong. I am a policeman. Or I was, seeing how the world has changed in a few days. Over." Matt mumbled in response, biting his lower lip.
For a moment there was silence, only the sound of meat sizzling on the grill, then the radio crackled again and there was laughter. Nervous laughter.
"There are those motherfuckers 'round your place too? The ones that... eat... people? Which, when they bite you, turn you into one of 'em?" Trevor spoke again on the other side of the radio.
"Yes, they are. Just for a few days now. They probably overran our little town in two days." The blond man replied, closing his eyes for a moment.
"A few days... I envy you. We've been dealin' with 'em for two or three weeks. These bastards aren't fast, but in packs, hell, in packs they're dangerous. Have any of you been bitten?" The man on the radio suddenly asked and Matt only furrowed his eyebrows.
This question sounded strange, he was not sure why. But when Matt looked at his friend and he just nodded, the blond said he would answer it.
"No, no one so far. Only one kid got scratched by that... you know." The dark-eyed man replied, sitting more comfortably in the front seat of the police car.
"Good thing he only got scratched, he'll just get a fever. He'll survive."
"How do you know that? And why are you asking me these things?"
"I know because I went through it myself. Besides, 'm curious about the people I've just met. Stupid habit." Trevor mumbled and sighed quietly. "Listen, my brother and I will be heading your way. To your town, if 'm around, you'll know. That's it. Over and out." He added after a moment, and immediately after that the only thing the two former police officers heard was the crackle of the radio.
Doug and Matt looked at each other, not really knowing what to do with the knowledge they had gained. Even if it was small, it did a lot. The message was simple: Don't get bitten, and a scratch doesn't mean you'll turn. They could live with that.
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Some time later, as they all sat at a table near the Brennan family's RV, Matt and Doug managed to exchange a few communicative glances before the blond finally decided to speak up.
"We had a weird conversation today. Over the police radio." The man spoke up, glancing out of the corner of his eye at his beloved and her father, who furrowed his brow.
"Someone was broadcasting on the police radio? How?" Joan asked quietly, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at her fiancé.
Matt started to answer, but stopped when he heard Kristine's soft laughter. To be honest, she had been so quiet all day that he had forgotten she existed. Well, until now.
"Well, it's not easy, but you have to work at it. Whoever contacted you, was probably some kind of a nerd or ex-cop or... or some kind of robber, for example. Such people are familiar with such things." The dark-skinned woman explained, smiling broadly at the rest of the people as soon as she finished her wing.
Jeremiah, his chin resting thoughtfully on his hands, heard everything even though his mind was elsewhere. He wondered if others were as fortunate as they were. In his reverie, the old man involuntarily glanced at his relatives and their friends gathered around the table.
Jenny was putting more salad on Tommy's plate, Doug was sipping his beer and listening to Matt tell the others about the man they had talked to on the police radio, and Judy and Goldie were talking about school and learning and wondering what was next for their education. The older man rubbed his chin with the fingers of his right hand before he slowly moved his wheelchair away from the wooden table, and once he felt everyone's eyes on him, he just gave them a small smile. Joan, however, bit the inside of her cheek and looked at her father for a moment as he began to make his way toward the barn, before she rose from the wooden bench herself and patted her fiancé gently on the shoulder, as if in a silent signal that she would follow her father.
When the black-haired woman caught up with her father a few moments later, she looked at him and took a breath. There were many questions swirling around in her head, but one forced itself to her lips. So she decided to ask it.
"I've seen your thoughtfulness and I know it too well... you're worried." She began the conversation, glancing at the side of her father's face.
For a long moment, until they reached the barn door, which was wide open, Jeremiah was silent, as if thinking about what he could say to his daughter. One thing was certain, though: she was right. He was worried, worried that he wouldn't be able to defend his daughters because of the condition he was in. That if the brick fence around their ranch collapsed, he would only be a ballast that would weigh them down as they fled. He didn't want that, he didn't want them to pay the price of their lives and sacrifice them, just to keep him safe.
"I am an old man, there is nothing to look forward to." The man began quietly, lifting his gaze to look into his daughter's worried eyes. "I'm only worried about being the nail in your or Goldie's coffin in a critical situation. You're all I have, and I'm not going to let you... to let you die just to save me." He added after a moment, swallowing his saliva with difficulty as he felt his eyes begin to water.
Joan stood as if struck, her mouth open but unable to say anything. Her father's words made her feel a tightening in her chest, so strong that she was momentarily out of breath. Did her father really think he was an obstacle? That they would leave him at the mercy of those monsters if the fence collapsed? These thoughts didn't fit into her head, so she decided to banish them as she crouched down in front of her father's wheelchair and grabbed his hand, squeezing it lightly.
"Dad, I promise you won't be any unnecessary ballast. If the moment comes when we have to run, we'll take you with us." Joan announced, giving the Indian a slight smile. "I won't let you die like this. Never." She added right after that, and it was clear in her eyes that she really meant it.
If anything was true about Joan, it was that she always told the truth. Her father had taught her that it was always better to tell the worst truth than the sweetest lie.
For the next few minutes, young Blackburn continued to talk to her father while the rest of the group finished their meal and began to disperse in different directions. Jenny and Doug headed toward their RV, along with Luke and Tommy, who were still arguing about who would sleep by the window tonight, Judy and Goldie moved slowly toward the Blackburn house, and Matt and Kristine busied themselves clearing the table of leftovers and dirty plates.
When the dark-skinned woman looked at the blond man who was collecting the dirty plates, a frown appeared on her face. The thought that even when the world ended, he would not be hers made the sight of the man sting her eyes. She wanted to get rid of him, get rid of the feeling that made her stomach flutter every time he looked at her, even unflatteringly.
She loved him, loved Matt terribly, but even the mere fact of what she felt could not make her stop hating him. Her hatred for him, for the fact that he hadn't seen through all these years and chosen her, was greater than what she felt deep inside.
"Hey, Matt... I heard Jeremiah say something earlier about going into town tomorrow to get some medicine and food." The woman began, making the blond man raise his eyes to her in interest. "Maybe you'd like to go with me? Doug was supposed to take care of the twins tomorrow, so he probably won't have time." She added quickly, not wanting Wilson's friend to go with them.
Matt just nodded and mumbled something about having to get up earlier than the rest of them to get back to breakfast and that they needed to get their weapons ready since there was no telling how many creepers were in town. Kristine merely nodded her head in agreement with his words before heading off to the Blackburn house.
Meanwhile, a plan for tomorrow's trip to the city was slowly forming in her mind. And it definitely wasn't a good one.
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-ANN'S NOTE
so after a long wait, here we are!
fourth chapter, things are slowly getting darker and- well, let's hope that the trip to the town will turn out to be good, yeah?
till next chapter x