Chapter 8

"That's six," said Diane. "The motion is passed. Tim,

will you and Leon pick a team and get to work on strategic positioning and

locations, and start the construction? We might also want to consider some drop

areas with specific markings that are recognizable only by us for in a pinch.

Well if there is nothing else, the meeting is adjourned!"

Andre's limp was barely even noticeable. He, Diane and

I were out scouting a forward observation post. Diane still wasn't used to

being blindfolded. We built a hunter's blind in the trees and stocked it with

some bladed weapons, a few grenades we found in a police weapons locker, some

canned goods, a crossbow with bolts and a few handguns and hunting rifles.

We've also been running barbed wire in the woods to catch errant DCs to

dispatch.

So far, we have acquired or created 18 outposts that

were well stocked and ready. The council decided that any new survivors had to

spend three months underground before we would reveal the location of the ARC.

So far, everything was going smoothly.

The brush was covered in dew and the morning air was

crisp. The sun was shining through the trees. As we traipsed through the woods,

I couldn't help but notice some awkward glances between Andre and Diane.

"What the hell is going on between you two?" I asked.

The question was met with an awkward silence. Diane refused to look at me and

Andre seemed nervous.

"Well?" I asked again.

"Now is not the time to discuss this," said Diane. "We

need to keep our focus on what we are doing."

"Diane, Andre, I'm not some kid that you can hide the

truth from. Just spit it out already," I said. "I'm a big boy. I can handle it."

"Diane and I have been seeing each other," blurted out

Andre.

I figured it was something like this as my

responsibilities were taking me further and further away from Diane. She looked

kind of ticked at Andre's bluntness. But it was only a matter of time before

she fell for his, or T's, animal magnetism.

"I wasn't trying to hurt you, Marvin," she said. "It

just kind of happened. It began that day you had me look at his leg. Things

just kind of grew from there."

"Well, if you two care about one another, it's cool,"

I said. Again, Diane looked a little annoyed. Andre, on the other hand, looked

relieved.

"You don't know how good it is to hear you say that,"

said Andre. "I kind of felt like…I don't know…like I was betraying you or

something."

"Look Diane is a grown woman. She can make her own

decisions, like who she chooses to sleep with," I said.

"But that's just it! I haven't slept with anyone. And

I would appreciate it if you two didn't discuss me as if I wasn't here!" she

said curtly. "Look, Andre, can you give us a minute?"

"Oh! Don't mind me. I'll just stand over there…by

myself…like bait!" said Andre with a snarky tone.

"Look, Marv, we never really discussed anything about us. I thought it was just a one-time

thing since we never consummated it. Was I right?" asked Diane.

"Nothing could have been further from my intentions,"

I said. "I told you that my responsibilities were vast, and that HEAVY IS THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN!

This meant that my social life had to take a backseat to my responsibilities.

But it didn't mean I cared any less."

"You care?" she asked. "…about me?"

"Your tense is wrong. Cared," I said. "You're with someone else now. And I don't suspect

that my responsibilities will decrease anytime soon. I think in the long run,

it will be better this way."

"So just like that, it's over?" she asked.

"Well, it seems so. You were the one who moved on to

the next without regard to the current person you were with," I said.

"Fuck you, Marv," she sneered.

"Almost, but not quite, my dear," I quipped.

It was a fucked-up situation. And if I had to admit it

to myself, I was a little pissed. Wondering what could have been. But we can't

dwell on the past. We can only live in the moment while preparing for the

future.

"Look, I apologize for my insensitivity, Diane. But

put yourself in my shoes. Should I be happy that this happened knowing what has

already transpired and what almost transpired between us?" I asked. "Yeah, it

sucks. But you made a decision and now all three of us have to live with it."

"What did you expect Marv? That you could continuously

put me on the back burner until it was convenient to sleep with me?" she asked.

"No! But I didn't want to fuck you just for the sake

of fucking you! I wanted to actually share some intimacy with you. But I guess

I'm just too slow in my approach," I said. "Look, Diane, I don't want to fight

or argue with you. If you care about the young man, it's cool. But I'm not into

sharing. You've made your choice and I'm cool with it!"

"Psst! You guys! Somebody is running this way,"

whispered Andre.

We hid behind some trees as a woman and a boy ran

through the woods.

"Are we safe now, Em?" asked the boy frantically.

"Just keep running, Joshua," she responded.

Did he just say "Em"? I jumped out from behind the

tree and stopped the woman and the boy.

"Who the hell are you?" she yelled corralling the boy

behind her. "What do you want!"

I just stood there staring at her. It was Em. My Em! What the hell was going on?

"We only want to help," said Diane stepping from

behind a tree. "Who are you running from?"

"The dead. We're running from the dead," she said. "In

case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a fucking zombie apocalypse!"

"How many?" asked Andre as he drew his machete.

"I don't know! Too many," she said. "I didn't exactly

stop to count them!"

"Well don't worry, we'll protect you! Isn't that right

Doc?" asked Andre.

But I just stood there staring at her. It was Em. How?

Why? What the fuck was going on?

"Em? Is that you?" I asked quietly and unassured.

"How do you know my name?" she asked with a puzzled

look on her face.

I grabbed her and hugged her.

"I thought you were dead," I said. "I know you were

dead. How can this be?"

"Get the fuck off of me," she said shoving me away. "I

don't know you! What kind of sick shit is this?"

Just then four DCs came stumbling into the clearing.

We made short work of them. Dispatching those DCs helped to clear my head a

bit.

"Please allow me to apologize for my forwardness," I

said as Diane was looking at me and Em rather guardedly.

"My name is Marvin, this is Diane and that's Andre. We

have a camp. We have running water, hot showers, electricity and food. You are

welcome to come with us under a few conditions. We will not allow you to know

the location of our camp until your trust is earned. Therefore, we would have

to blindfold you and the boy, and you will have to remain for three months

before we let you out again. It's for our safety as well as yours," I said. "Are

you interested?"

"How do we know you all aren't a bunch of freaks?" she

queried. "I mean you did just push up on me out of the blue!"

"Look at them, Em," said the boy. "They look and act

nothing like the others."

"What others?" I asked. 'What are your talking about?"

"We ran into a group that was pretty handsy," she

said. "They didn't take kindly to me telling them 'no' under any circumstance.

I had to break a nose or two to get us out of there."

"It's completely up to you. If you choose, we'll give

you what little food we are carrying and a few bladed weapons and send you on

your way," I said.

"What's in it for you if we go with you?" she asked

suspiciously.

"There is safety in numbers," I said. "Nothing is more

important than the safety of the people I care about."

Again, Diane shot me a look of amazement and

disappointment. She must have somehow sensed my connection to Em.

"Okay, you convinced me. My name is Emelia, but

everyone calls me Em. The half-pint over there is Joshua," she said. "We got

separated from some people in these woods on our way from Alabama. They're

still out here somewhere."

"Welcome, Emelia and Joshua. Now you're with us. Let's

look for your people," I said.

We walked them back to the car they arrived in and

began to fan out to search for the other survivors. The car was out of gas and

the doors were open. As we came to another clearing, I heard the grunts of a

man as he bashed the head of a DC. He cursed them in Spanish.

"Easy friend, my name is Dr. Marvin Harris. We found

your friends, Em and Joshua," I said. "We're here to help."

The man looked to be Hispanic. He was large, maybe 6'

4", and he knew how to handle a DC. I saw a woman and two kids step out from

behind a tree.

"My name is Rodriguez, Luis Rodriguez. This is my

wife, Mirna and our two children, Elsa and Louis," he said.

I ran down the conditions of our accepting them into

our camp. It took some convincing from Em and Joshua, but they acquiesced. When

we got back to the vehicle, we put the black bags over their heads. Even though

it was quiet the entire ride back, I could feel Diane's gaze on me.

I had Diane take them to the infirmary to give them

all a checkup. I found Ma and T to prepare them for…for…this.

"Ma, T, we found some survivors," I said.

"Big whoop," said T.

"One of them is named Emelia. Em for short, and she is

the spitting image of my Em," I said.

"How is that possible?" asked Ma.

"I don't know, but we need to find out. Ma could you—"

I began to ask, but she cut me off like she has done my entire life, as she

knew what I was about to ask.

"I'll see what I can find out," she said as she walked

past me and patted my chest.

"They're in the infirmary with Diane," I yelled to

her.

"Man, this can't be going over well with Diane," said

T.

"Actually T, Diane and Andre are, I guess seeing each

other." I corrected him.

"What the fu—" he started as Andre walked Luis

Rodriguez into the conference room.

"We'll catch up later, T," I said as T and Andre left.

"This is an impressive place you have here mister,"

said Rodriguez. "How did you find this?"

"My dad worked on a secret government project here," I

responded. "I received instructions on how to activate it on my 25th birthday."

"The hell you say. Why the hell would the government

build a place like this?" laughed Rodriguez. "Unless they knew the end of the

world was coming!"

I nervously laughed with him.

Was fate attempting to tell me something through

Rodriguez? His words cut like a knife. He had no clue of the effect they had on

me, as I awkwardly stumbled through our conversation.

"I really want to thank you for what you did for me

and my family, Doc," said Rodriguez. "Most people nowadays only look out for

themselves. Everything has gone to hell from here to Birmingham where we came

from."

"I'm glad we were able to help you," I said nervously.

"Make yourself at home."

"Doc, I can sense that something is wrong with this

setup, and the way you are behaving right now," said Rodriguez. "But hey,

that's none of my business. Again, thank you."