Story Zombies Aren't Real ... Are They?
- Thread starter Kathy in FL
- Start date
Now I have another Kathy story to keep track of. Oh the trials of life. 
Vulture45-70
Veteran Member
Now that I have began reading where I left off prior to moving to Florida I ended up on page 26 to find it not completed. Oh well, something to look forward too. Guess I'll have to spend my spare time in the gym vice reading Good Stories.
Hope all had a Merry Christmas and looking to a Good New Year.
Hope all had a Merry Christmas and looking to a Good New Year.
I'm continuing my stories at my blog (see my sig). I have multiples running concurrently. There are three I've slated to finish this month ... if not three, definitely two of them. I've got so many stories in the pipeline I finally had to sit down and pencil out a calendar for completion.
You're welcome. Today's additions include new chapters for Up On Hartford Ridge, Linderhall Legacy, Zombies Aren't Real ... Are They?!, and the next edited chapter of A Bunch of Wild Thyme.
Siskiyoumom
Veteran Member
Thank you for the update Kathy!
And for the link to your blog.
I re-read Fel by the Wayside over winter break and it was really nice to read it to the end.
I love Gurl as well and hope to see the rest of her story as well.
As I re-read Fel I was imagining the screen play and who would play which parts.
I see Fel as the actress from the movie the Pianno? It was set in New Zealand and at the turn of the century.
And Francine would be Irma Thurman. Why? Because she needs to play a bad person for once : )
And for the link to your blog.
I re-read Fel by the Wayside over winter break and it was really nice to read it to the end.
I love Gurl as well and hope to see the rest of her story as well.
As I re-read Fel I was imagining the screen play and who would play which parts.
I see Fel as the actress from the movie the Pianno? It was set in New Zealand and at the turn of the century.
And Francine would be Irma Thurman. Why? Because she needs to play a bad person for once : )
Colleen has been sent to Timout pending a review of her membership. The post in question has been deleted.
kyrsyan
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thanks Dennis.
Let the staff here handle this. It is their "job". (grin) I don't want to create a big useless stink around this, there is enough of those going on in the real world as it is. Whoever the individual was/is will reap what they sow sooner or later.
She did it twice. Member three years, ten posts. Email comes back as "permanently rejected by server".
Buh bye...
Buh bye...
Kathy, I still cannot comment on your blog (or even mine) so I just wanted to say THANKS again for all the updates. And the NEW stories!!!!!!I hope things work out with you and your parents and your dad's health. Many blessings!
Thanks. Moved my parents in on Friday. My dad is really frail but mom says that he has already improved just in the two days here. Not sure if I believe it or it if is her wishful thinking. We are having to do wound care at home and I hope to set up some PT for him this coming week and see whether there is a recommendation for him to have OT as well. He is still only about 75% what he used to be mentally prior to the operation. They've determined there were no stroke(s) and that it is all related to a very bad reaction to the sedation of the back-to-back surgeries as well as he had a dangerous reaction to the delaudid (pain med).
Took him for his first outing today in over 6 weeks and guess where he wanted to go? Harbor Freight.
LOL. Pushing him around the store in a wheelchair, trying to avoid all of the stuff on the endcaps and aisle displays because of their big weekend sale. And wouldn't you know it ... almost 200 miles from their home and he still manages to run into someone he knew. Do not ask me how that happened but it made him happy.As for blogger/google ... they are not very cooperative. I am going to try and post tonight but they've been having conniption fits all day for me.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thanks for the update Kathy on how your dad is doing and you to, he really ran into someone her knew that far away from home. wow.
Old Gray Mare
TB Fanatic
Thank you for the update Kathy. I don't know where you get the strength from or find the time. You run a business, have to deal with some really difficult family issues, post and write. I pray that God provides you with the strength, patience, tools and resource you need.
Old Gray Mare
TB Fanatic
I couldn't find the Snoopy happy dance icon! Kathy has been busy posting story updates on her blog. Thank you Kathy.
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Dosadi
Brown Coat
I love the zombies aren't real story.
I use them to represent all the problem children in the news, ya know, the wets, the nogs, the progs, et al.
It is a good parable about em and how some sjw nut jobs think doing for gibsmedats will fix anything, etc.
Love to see the whole thing finished.
I'm re reading this is me surviving, but I get ancy about parts of it and have to take breaks. It is great, but parts disturb me, and probably now what would bother a lot of others.
I use them to represent all the problem children in the news, ya know, the wets, the nogs, the progs, et al.
It is a good parable about em and how some sjw nut jobs think doing for gibsmedats will fix anything, etc.
Love to see the whole thing finished.
I'm re reading this is me surviving, but I get ancy about parts of it and have to take breaks. It is great, but parts disturb me, and probably now what would bother a lot of others.
Dam Kathy this is the second time I have read this story and I love it but GIRL please finish it ok .
I want to read the end some day OK.
I have gone to your bolg many times where you wright to and for some reason I can't read to the end of this story, I don't know why but that is the way it is.
Please girl finish the story on here tb2k for those of us who like what you type and can't read it else where.
PLEAS PLEASE GIRL FINISH IT HERE, I have read it two times and love it to death but have not been able to finish it.
I want to read the end some day OK.
I have gone to your bolg many times where you wright to and for some reason I can't read to the end of this story, I don't know why but that is the way it is.
Please girl finish the story on here tb2k for those of us who like what you type and can't read it else where.
PLEAS PLEASE GIRL FINISH IT HERE, I have read it two times and love it to death but have not been able to finish it.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Okay I have been rereading all her stories and this is the most she has of this one on her instead of he mother hen site.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I sure wish we could get the rest of the story Maybe some day.
Maybe some day.
Moved
Part 153
What came over the next week isn’t worth recording because mainly it was just more of what had already happened. What was notable however was how depressed the adults slowly became. It was getting so bad that Kevyn, Chris, and I started keeping the boys separate from them as much as possible. Or at least as much as you can in an oversized treehouse type set up. And then finally, I had to take it to Sgt. Shelly.
“Look, if this keeps up I’m going to take the boys and …” She tried to stop me with a growl. “That won’t work. You’re good but I’ve been growled at by better.”
Trying a different tactic she started, “Pip …”
Not wanting to get into hot water but needing to cut to the chase I responded, “Yeah. I get it. You gotta a job to do. And so do I. I won’t let you go hungry, but I took on the job of helping to look after the boys and right now the adults are turning into a serious problem.”
Gayle butted in and said, “Explain it.”
She almost made me want to grin because it was the same way she’d said it when she’d asked about me being a micropreemie and when she’d asked about the tea that I’d given to Lucy.
“Most of the adults, they’ve lost confidence. It’s like they’re barely … barely willing to believe that they’ll survive. Barely willing to work at surviving. That attitude is what the boys are picking up on. It confuses them. They personally aren’t to that point yet and you adults are supposed to be better than them so now they’re wondering what they’re missing, what they aren’t being told. It’s giving them the heebies. You see how they’re acting. The crybabies are worse and Kevyn’s boys are getting squirrely.”
Gayle nodded slowly but said, “It’s too dangerous.”
“You haven’t heard the plan.”
“Doesn’t matter what the plan is, it’s too dangerous.”
Before I could tune up Sgt. Shelly said in a voice nearly as tired as I’d yet to hear it, “Radio said the enemy is on all four sides. There is no getting out of this one.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please don’t be like the rest of them. Someone has to keep their head on straight.”
Lucy and Josie picked that moment to get nosey. “Be realistic Pip. This is bad.”
I could see the boys taking a little too much interest in the conversation we were having so I said it maybe in a way I wouldn’t have otherwise and hoped everyone would get it. “No kidding. Of course things are bad. They’ve been bad since Z-Day. But I don’t see that any of us have given up since then.”
“This is different.”
“Is it? Look, I’m not stupid. First thing on Z Day I learned is that everyone eventually dies. People leave even when they don’t mean to. One day I’m going to leave whether I mean to or not. But until that happens you fight. You fight with everything you have. Yeah, you might die but then again, maybe you don’t, maybe you leave, maybe someone leaves you, but then again maybe both of you fighting means neither of you leaves. The bigger your group, the more you have fighting, the better your odds that no one has to leave. Because you aren’t just fighting for you, you’re fighting for all of you. And if it is your turn to leave, the legacy, the thing you leave behind … that might be what helps the others fight, that’s what keeps someone else from having to leave.”
All was quiet around me, too quiet. It wasn’t just the boys that had been listening to me but most of the adults had been as well. Looking around and seeing nothing but an unwillingness to hear what I was saying I finally got up in disgust. “Tell you what. I think Limmer and I should just go on strike. If the lot of you are going to be like this then there is no sense in us cooking, you don’t need it.”
Wonder of wonders it was Limmer who said, “I’m with you Pip. I ain’t breaking my back if it means nothing, though from the look of your monkeys they ain’t too partial to the idea.”
“Well, if they fight they get fed. If they lay around like a buncha crybabies they get hungry. That’s the rules.”
It was Hector who added, “You better know it. Hermanita don’t keed around about dat stuff.”
It took more time than it should have – they acted like it took a freaking committee to make the decision – but the next day some of the boys, Kevyn, Chris, Josie, and a couple of the militia guys came with me to grab up everything we could find upstream which was the only safe direction we could go to avoid contaminated food and water sources.
I must have been making a face of some sort because Josie asked, “What’s up Pip? You smell something?”
“No, I just don’t like stripping everything like this. The cattails will come back eventually, the arrowroot too. And I know picking the hips won’t hurt the rose bushes. It’s the greens I’m worried most about. Take too much forage and the animals will starve over the winter and then I won’t have nothing to hunt next season.”
“You know something we don’t?”
“Huh?”
“You’ll go where we go. Who knows where we’ll be after the extraction in a few days,” she said, at least letting me know my crew was done thinking about dying in the next day or two, or at least done thinking about it right then. “Ain’t no telling where we’ll be that far in the future.” At my silence Josie asked, “What? You don’t want to be our patrol cook?”
“I … I wasn’t sure you’d still … uh … you left, didn’t come back. I was wondering if you’d gotten someone new and just hadn’t figured out a way to tell me.”
Josie stared down the others and they went back to packing the forage for transporting. Turning back to me she said, “We’d been told you’d been picked up. It wasn’t until Moe made some noise that Shelly checked the logs and back tracked it to the team that was supposed to have extracted you. You were the only one they had to pick up. We weren’t quite sure what to think. The worst was the most realistic.”
“I didn’t leave camp for a while … days. There’s no way I would have missed a helicopter, or them me.”
“You sure?”
Absolutely sure I told her, “Positive. Like I’m positive those Red Cross helicopters saw us but ignored us when we signaled for help.”
Having already heard the story Josie nodded before saying, “Guess we have some looking up to do.”
“I don’t mean to start trouble.”
“You didn’t. They might have. That flight crew is contract and getting a reputation.”
“A reputation?”
“Yeah. Not trustworthy. Not earning their pay. **** like that. I don’t know what to say about the Red Cross helicopter. There aren’t supposed to even be any in this area. Their flyers can have serious attitudes … real copter jockies is what they are; pilots in general are like that, most deserve it … some want it without earning it, just ‘cause they’ve got wings instead of wheels. This flight path was closed down for …” Josie stopped like she was thinking about something unpleasant, then she reached over and tucked the tail of my head scarf back in. “We wouldn’t have left you out here if we’d known.”
Despite not wanting to feel it, a warm spark snuck in at her words. I shrugged it off and said, “I figured. None of you struck me as that type, not after all that babysitting. That’s why I kept your gear safe and as many of the supplies that I could though most of the food is gone now. When we deal with the enemy and then put the puss brains out of their misery … at least those that don’t wander off on their own … we’ll get your stuff. You’ll see I didn’t go AWOL like your other cooks.”
“You’ve already proved it Pip. You’ve already proved it.”
What came over the next week isn’t worth recording because mainly it was just more of what had already happened. What was notable however was how depressed the adults slowly became. It was getting so bad that Kevyn, Chris, and I started keeping the boys separate from them as much as possible. Or at least as much as you can in an oversized treehouse type set up. And then finally, I had to take it to Sgt. Shelly.
“Look, if this keeps up I’m going to take the boys and …” She tried to stop me with a growl. “That won’t work. You’re good but I’ve been growled at by better.”
Trying a different tactic she started, “Pip …”
Not wanting to get into hot water but needing to cut to the chase I responded, “Yeah. I get it. You gotta a job to do. And so do I. I won’t let you go hungry, but I took on the job of helping to look after the boys and right now the adults are turning into a serious problem.”
Gayle butted in and said, “Explain it.”
She almost made me want to grin because it was the same way she’d said it when she’d asked about me being a micropreemie and when she’d asked about the tea that I’d given to Lucy.
“Most of the adults, they’ve lost confidence. It’s like they’re barely … barely willing to believe that they’ll survive. Barely willing to work at surviving. That attitude is what the boys are picking up on. It confuses them. They personally aren’t to that point yet and you adults are supposed to be better than them so now they’re wondering what they’re missing, what they aren’t being told. It’s giving them the heebies. You see how they’re acting. The crybabies are worse and Kevyn’s boys are getting squirrely.”
Gayle nodded slowly but said, “It’s too dangerous.”
“You haven’t heard the plan.”
“Doesn’t matter what the plan is, it’s too dangerous.”
Before I could tune up Sgt. Shelly said in a voice nearly as tired as I’d yet to hear it, “Radio said the enemy is on all four sides. There is no getting out of this one.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please don’t be like the rest of them. Someone has to keep their head on straight.”
Lucy and Josie picked that moment to get nosey. “Be realistic Pip. This is bad.”
I could see the boys taking a little too much interest in the conversation we were having so I said it maybe in a way I wouldn’t have otherwise and hoped everyone would get it. “No kidding. Of course things are bad. They’ve been bad since Z-Day. But I don’t see that any of us have given up since then.”
“This is different.”
“Is it? Look, I’m not stupid. First thing on Z Day I learned is that everyone eventually dies. People leave even when they don’t mean to. One day I’m going to leave whether I mean to or not. But until that happens you fight. You fight with everything you have. Yeah, you might die but then again, maybe you don’t, maybe you leave, maybe someone leaves you, but then again maybe both of you fighting means neither of you leaves. The bigger your group, the more you have fighting, the better your odds that no one has to leave. Because you aren’t just fighting for you, you’re fighting for all of you. And if it is your turn to leave, the legacy, the thing you leave behind … that might be what helps the others fight, that’s what keeps someone else from having to leave.”
All was quiet around me, too quiet. It wasn’t just the boys that had been listening to me but most of the adults had been as well. Looking around and seeing nothing but an unwillingness to hear what I was saying I finally got up in disgust. “Tell you what. I think Limmer and I should just go on strike. If the lot of you are going to be like this then there is no sense in us cooking, you don’t need it.”
Wonder of wonders it was Limmer who said, “I’m with you Pip. I ain’t breaking my back if it means nothing, though from the look of your monkeys they ain’t too partial to the idea.”
“Well, if they fight they get fed. If they lay around like a buncha crybabies they get hungry. That’s the rules.”
It was Hector who added, “You better know it. Hermanita don’t keed around about dat stuff.”
It took more time than it should have – they acted like it took a freaking committee to make the decision – but the next day some of the boys, Kevyn, Chris, Josie, and a couple of the militia guys came with me to grab up everything we could find upstream which was the only safe direction we could go to avoid contaminated food and water sources.
I must have been making a face of some sort because Josie asked, “What’s up Pip? You smell something?”
“No, I just don’t like stripping everything like this. The cattails will come back eventually, the arrowroot too. And I know picking the hips won’t hurt the rose bushes. It’s the greens I’m worried most about. Take too much forage and the animals will starve over the winter and then I won’t have nothing to hunt next season.”
“You know something we don’t?”
“Huh?”
“You’ll go where we go. Who knows where we’ll be after the extraction in a few days,” she said, at least letting me know my crew was done thinking about dying in the next day or two, or at least done thinking about it right then. “Ain’t no telling where we’ll be that far in the future.” At my silence Josie asked, “What? You don’t want to be our patrol cook?”
“I … I wasn’t sure you’d still … uh … you left, didn’t come back. I was wondering if you’d gotten someone new and just hadn’t figured out a way to tell me.”
Josie stared down the others and they went back to packing the forage for transporting. Turning back to me she said, “We’d been told you’d been picked up. It wasn’t until Moe made some noise that Shelly checked the logs and back tracked it to the team that was supposed to have extracted you. You were the only one they had to pick up. We weren’t quite sure what to think. The worst was the most realistic.”
“I didn’t leave camp for a while … days. There’s no way I would have missed a helicopter, or them me.”
“You sure?”
Absolutely sure I told her, “Positive. Like I’m positive those Red Cross helicopters saw us but ignored us when we signaled for help.”
Having already heard the story Josie nodded before saying, “Guess we have some looking up to do.”
“I don’t mean to start trouble.”
“You didn’t. They might have. That flight crew is contract and getting a reputation.”
“A reputation?”
“Yeah. Not trustworthy. Not earning their pay. **** like that. I don’t know what to say about the Red Cross helicopter. There aren’t supposed to even be any in this area. Their flyers can have serious attitudes … real copter jockies is what they are; pilots in general are like that, most deserve it … some want it without earning it, just ‘cause they’ve got wings instead of wheels. This flight path was closed down for …” Josie stopped like she was thinking about something unpleasant, then she reached over and tucked the tail of my head scarf back in. “We wouldn’t have left you out here if we’d known.”
Despite not wanting to feel it, a warm spark snuck in at her words. I shrugged it off and said, “I figured. None of you struck me as that type, not after all that babysitting. That’s why I kept your gear safe and as many of the supplies that I could though most of the food is gone now. When we deal with the enemy and then put the puss brains out of their misery … at least those that don’t wander off on their own … we’ll get your stuff. You’ll see I didn’t go AWOL like your other cooks.”
“You’ve already proved it Pip. You’ve already proved it.”
THANK YOU Kathy in FL
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I thought I had posted a thank you, guess that will teach me to think.
Part 154
“They’re looking for ground movement.” I listened as Sgt. Shelly was outlining the plan. The “Red Cross” helicopters had flown by again. “Those ******* are not who they want people to think they are,” she added, more for Kevyn and the boys’ sake than the adults who didn’t need it explained quite so literally.
Another soldier, this one from the group Limmer had come in with said, “The question is are they ours or the enemy’s.”
“Not ours,” one of the other men said. “Not unless they are a rogue group operating outside of protocol. Not impossible but highly unlikely given we control the airstrips and fuel depots. My last assignment was in Administration. All flight plans – and crews flying them – were cross checked to keep accidents down to minimum and to track personnel and assets so that they could be utilized most efficiently and effectively. All the Red Cross vehicles in this sector – earth, sea, and sky – had already been commandeered months ago and their insignia changed. No way is one lone Red Cross vehicle of any flavor going to suddenly pop up out of nowhere like that. Best guess – and all this is is a WAG – is that they are trying to look harmless to keep from getting shot at.”
Sgt. Shelly nodded. “According to intel, the enemy has used that kind of camouflage before, only from the ground. It is how they surprised some of the communities along the border. They also count on us not shooting down something that might be helping refugees.”
Kevyn (and I) had been asked to attend the meeting as representatives of the Boy Squads. He scratched his chin. “Those two units we fought … if there isn’t anything else around close by but Infecteds then maybe they’d seen us or heard us – or the plane saw us – and sent someone to investigate to see what or who we were.”
“The second group was pretty far from camp,” I reminded him.
“Not really. Look at the map. If they kept on the way they were going they would have gotten here with twenty-four hours of us intersecting with them. Or maybe they were looking for the other unit we took out. Either or doesn’t really matter. The question is why were those patrols in this area to begin with if there supposedly isn’t anything worth that kind of manpower. We patrolled the points of the compass twice and never found anything that should draw that kind of attention. Except maybe the plane and that was just a civilian craft that had come down long enough ago that any attention it would have garnered should have been long ago.”
Sgt. Shelly and the other adult soldiers looked at him like he’d started talking their language and it startled them … like watching a puppy develop opposable thumbs or something like that. They asked for a few more particulars about the patrolling they’d done and he got some nods of approval.
“With that kind of intel, combined with what we’ve seen, I will mark the Red Cross plane as the enemy. If they aren’t, they still aren’t helpful. That also means we need to be even more careful with our communications. And …”
It went on like that long enough that I excused myself to go get a meal going. I waved Limmer to stay in case there were questions of supply and he looked a little embarrassed to be grateful he didn’t have to leave the powwow. I’m not saying it wasn’t interesting, but I’d been told over and over that soldiers move on their stomach and their stomachs was my responsibility to fill. That was a big enough job for me to handle, let other people do the logistics and planning of other parts of what was happening.
I swung over to the cooking area and started a big pot of arrowhead and watercress soup. I watched the boys look relieved, and then downright happy when I started finely dicing up some rabbit to go into the soup. They got curious when I started fixing rosehip tea.
Hector swung over and asked, “Que es eso?”
The boys had been teaching me a little Spanish – or I was learning it in self-defense. Either way I understood he was asking what’s that. “Something to make you lot ask questions. Though why I should I don’t know since that’s all you guys do.” When he just grunted I explained, “Rose hips have a lot of Vitamin C in them. After all the trouble I go to to feed you guys, I don’t want everything wasted by you guys getting sick. Besides, I figure you deserve a little something special for putting up with …” I nodded my head in the direction of the adults. “Just don’t let on or the medicos might stick their noses in,” I added when I grabbed my carefully hoarded jug of honey.
Hector grinned and swung back over to the rest of the boys and soon the whole lot of them looked way too innocent, or at least innocent for them. I was hoping no one would notice and had just bent over to pick up the next ingredient for the soup when a shot rang out and would have taken me out. As it was I was splashed when the soup pot took the brunt of the shot, and not being prepared I slipped and nearly went over head first.
“Aye!”
“Hermanita!”
“Get down! As flat as you can!” I ordered as some of them tried to come to my rescue. I was scrambling to climb back onto the limb I’d nearly been knocked off of.
There were more shots but all it did was stir up the puss brains. Then someone fell but it wasn’t one of us and I realized they were in the trees. It wasn’t from a shot from our side because none had been made yet, we were low on ammo. That meant that they’d lost their footing or fallen while trying to climb higher.
“Don’t let them get above us!” I heard someone order, letting me know that I wasn’t the only one that had realized where the enemy was.
I felt a hand grab my belt and finish pulling me back up. It was Chris. “Where are you hit?” he asked.
“I’m not. Just got doused with hot soup. Where are the boys?!”
“Easy. Kevyn has them organized. He moved faster than some of the olders. Good thing we hadn’t lit the torches yet or we’d be fish in barrels.”
“Yeah,” I said, admitting that bit of foolishness had been sloppy to start with.
Their first mistake was it wound up they thought with their superior fire power that they could just climb to our trees with impunity. They only saw a bunch of wounded and kids with just a few ambulatory uninjured adults; they thought I was one of the primary caregivers. Apparently, that’s why they took a shot at me first, or so said the lone enemy that had been captured and … er … questioned. Their second mistake was in thinking to take the boys “hostage” and force the adults to drop their weapons. Yeah right. The three enemy that tried that didn’t even survive to make the threat. That caused a pause that gave Kevyn just enough time to organize a counter-attack. Sgt. Shelly saw it just in time to stop our side from shooting into the trees.
A few minutes later I heard someone say, “******* rabid little monkeys.” But there was more awe than snark in their voice. When all was said and done that pretty much expressed all of the adults’ thinking, even my patrol.
Kevyn and the boys took it in stride … at least with the adults. The other boys suddenly understood better what was being asked of them and they stopped looking to the soldiers for protection and started looking to Kevyn for training … training they no longer completely trusted the adult soldiers to give them.
Over the next two days I watched the change in dynamics – the boys were easy to figure out, the confusion of the adults not so much. They’d simply taken for granted the hero worship they’d been receiving. When it stopped, despite a successful battle, they didn’t understand why. Josie followed me out of camp again as I went in search of uncontaminated water sources.
I got up the nerve to ask her, “Why is everyone scratching their heads over it?”
She knew exactly what I was talking about and she said, “They’re just little kids.”
“No. They’re survivors.”
“They’re little kids.”
“Okay fine, they’re little kids … but only kinda sorta in age. They’re more survivor than little kid and have been since before Z Day; at least Kevyn’s group is.”
“The other boys are scared of them.”
“They were. And still are but in a different way. Now they want to be like them.”
“But …”
“The adults froze.” She looked at me sharply. “They did and you know it. Kevyn got his crew moving first. And they were a whole lot faster about it … because they were prepared to do what had to be done. The adults froze. Maybe it was only for a few seconds but they still froze. And the boys saw it. And the new kids picked the group they think will help them survive better for the longest. You people may have guns, you may have seniority, but the adults have been treating the boys like scuts … and the boys just realized they’ve got more potential than you’ve been giving them. I’m just glad it is Kevyn and his crew they are choosing to look up to.”
“You think they shouldn’t be looking up to us?”
“I think it wouldn’t have taken much to make that happen, but the adults were too busy being unhappy with their lot to think that far ahead.”
“Huh?”
“It’s like I said, the ‘adults’ need to start realizing that the ‘kids’ need to learn there is more to loyalty than someone that can fill their belly.” I shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it any better than that. They need to understand that loyalty is important. It means survival … not just not being hungry … but apparently the adults need to understand that loyalty has to be earned and respected, not just expected just because you’ve got a few more years under the belt than they do.”
At my sigh she said, “Deep thoughts.”
I shrugged then asked, “What was it like when your parents picked you from the orphanage? Did you trust them right off? If not, what did they do that made you trust them? That made you understand that you were now a family and all that that meant?”
When she didn’t say anything, I turned to look at her and realized a light bulb had come on for her. “Well hell Pip.” I was just hoping that maybe more lightbulbs would start coming on for the others.
“They’re looking for ground movement.” I listened as Sgt. Shelly was outlining the plan. The “Red Cross” helicopters had flown by again. “Those ******* are not who they want people to think they are,” she added, more for Kevyn and the boys’ sake than the adults who didn’t need it explained quite so literally.
Another soldier, this one from the group Limmer had come in with said, “The question is are they ours or the enemy’s.”
“Not ours,” one of the other men said. “Not unless they are a rogue group operating outside of protocol. Not impossible but highly unlikely given we control the airstrips and fuel depots. My last assignment was in Administration. All flight plans – and crews flying them – were cross checked to keep accidents down to minimum and to track personnel and assets so that they could be utilized most efficiently and effectively. All the Red Cross vehicles in this sector – earth, sea, and sky – had already been commandeered months ago and their insignia changed. No way is one lone Red Cross vehicle of any flavor going to suddenly pop up out of nowhere like that. Best guess – and all this is is a WAG – is that they are trying to look harmless to keep from getting shot at.”
Sgt. Shelly nodded. “According to intel, the enemy has used that kind of camouflage before, only from the ground. It is how they surprised some of the communities along the border. They also count on us not shooting down something that might be helping refugees.”
Kevyn (and I) had been asked to attend the meeting as representatives of the Boy Squads. He scratched his chin. “Those two units we fought … if there isn’t anything else around close by but Infecteds then maybe they’d seen us or heard us – or the plane saw us – and sent someone to investigate to see what or who we were.”
“The second group was pretty far from camp,” I reminded him.
“Not really. Look at the map. If they kept on the way they were going they would have gotten here with twenty-four hours of us intersecting with them. Or maybe they were looking for the other unit we took out. Either or doesn’t really matter. The question is why were those patrols in this area to begin with if there supposedly isn’t anything worth that kind of manpower. We patrolled the points of the compass twice and never found anything that should draw that kind of attention. Except maybe the plane and that was just a civilian craft that had come down long enough ago that any attention it would have garnered should have been long ago.”
Sgt. Shelly and the other adult soldiers looked at him like he’d started talking their language and it startled them … like watching a puppy develop opposable thumbs or something like that. They asked for a few more particulars about the patrolling they’d done and he got some nods of approval.
“With that kind of intel, combined with what we’ve seen, I will mark the Red Cross plane as the enemy. If they aren’t, they still aren’t helpful. That also means we need to be even more careful with our communications. And …”
It went on like that long enough that I excused myself to go get a meal going. I waved Limmer to stay in case there were questions of supply and he looked a little embarrassed to be grateful he didn’t have to leave the powwow. I’m not saying it wasn’t interesting, but I’d been told over and over that soldiers move on their stomach and their stomachs was my responsibility to fill. That was a big enough job for me to handle, let other people do the logistics and planning of other parts of what was happening.
I swung over to the cooking area and started a big pot of arrowhead and watercress soup. I watched the boys look relieved, and then downright happy when I started finely dicing up some rabbit to go into the soup. They got curious when I started fixing rosehip tea.
Hector swung over and asked, “Que es eso?”
The boys had been teaching me a little Spanish – or I was learning it in self-defense. Either way I understood he was asking what’s that. “Something to make you lot ask questions. Though why I should I don’t know since that’s all you guys do.” When he just grunted I explained, “Rose hips have a lot of Vitamin C in them. After all the trouble I go to to feed you guys, I don’t want everything wasted by you guys getting sick. Besides, I figure you deserve a little something special for putting up with …” I nodded my head in the direction of the adults. “Just don’t let on or the medicos might stick their noses in,” I added when I grabbed my carefully hoarded jug of honey.
Hector grinned and swung back over to the rest of the boys and soon the whole lot of them looked way too innocent, or at least innocent for them. I was hoping no one would notice and had just bent over to pick up the next ingredient for the soup when a shot rang out and would have taken me out. As it was I was splashed when the soup pot took the brunt of the shot, and not being prepared I slipped and nearly went over head first.
“Aye!”
“Hermanita!”
“Get down! As flat as you can!” I ordered as some of them tried to come to my rescue. I was scrambling to climb back onto the limb I’d nearly been knocked off of.
There were more shots but all it did was stir up the puss brains. Then someone fell but it wasn’t one of us and I realized they were in the trees. It wasn’t from a shot from our side because none had been made yet, we were low on ammo. That meant that they’d lost their footing or fallen while trying to climb higher.
“Don’t let them get above us!” I heard someone order, letting me know that I wasn’t the only one that had realized where the enemy was.
I felt a hand grab my belt and finish pulling me back up. It was Chris. “Where are you hit?” he asked.
“I’m not. Just got doused with hot soup. Where are the boys?!”
“Easy. Kevyn has them organized. He moved faster than some of the olders. Good thing we hadn’t lit the torches yet or we’d be fish in barrels.”
“Yeah,” I said, admitting that bit of foolishness had been sloppy to start with.
Their first mistake was it wound up they thought with their superior fire power that they could just climb to our trees with impunity. They only saw a bunch of wounded and kids with just a few ambulatory uninjured adults; they thought I was one of the primary caregivers. Apparently, that’s why they took a shot at me first, or so said the lone enemy that had been captured and … er … questioned. Their second mistake was in thinking to take the boys “hostage” and force the adults to drop their weapons. Yeah right. The three enemy that tried that didn’t even survive to make the threat. That caused a pause that gave Kevyn just enough time to organize a counter-attack. Sgt. Shelly saw it just in time to stop our side from shooting into the trees.
A few minutes later I heard someone say, “******* rabid little monkeys.” But there was more awe than snark in their voice. When all was said and done that pretty much expressed all of the adults’ thinking, even my patrol.
Kevyn and the boys took it in stride … at least with the adults. The other boys suddenly understood better what was being asked of them and they stopped looking to the soldiers for protection and started looking to Kevyn for training … training they no longer completely trusted the adult soldiers to give them.
Over the next two days I watched the change in dynamics – the boys were easy to figure out, the confusion of the adults not so much. They’d simply taken for granted the hero worship they’d been receiving. When it stopped, despite a successful battle, they didn’t understand why. Josie followed me out of camp again as I went in search of uncontaminated water sources.
I got up the nerve to ask her, “Why is everyone scratching their heads over it?”
She knew exactly what I was talking about and she said, “They’re just little kids.”
“No. They’re survivors.”
“They’re little kids.”
“Okay fine, they’re little kids … but only kinda sorta in age. They’re more survivor than little kid and have been since before Z Day; at least Kevyn’s group is.”
“The other boys are scared of them.”
“They were. And still are but in a different way. Now they want to be like them.”
“But …”
“The adults froze.” She looked at me sharply. “They did and you know it. Kevyn got his crew moving first. And they were a whole lot faster about it … because they were prepared to do what had to be done. The adults froze. Maybe it was only for a few seconds but they still froze. And the boys saw it. And the new kids picked the group they think will help them survive better for the longest. You people may have guns, you may have seniority, but the adults have been treating the boys like scuts … and the boys just realized they’ve got more potential than you’ve been giving them. I’m just glad it is Kevyn and his crew they are choosing to look up to.”
“You think they shouldn’t be looking up to us?”
“I think it wouldn’t have taken much to make that happen, but the adults were too busy being unhappy with their lot to think that far ahead.”
“Huh?”
“It’s like I said, the ‘adults’ need to start realizing that the ‘kids’ need to learn there is more to loyalty than someone that can fill their belly.” I shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it any better than that. They need to understand that loyalty is important. It means survival … not just not being hungry … but apparently the adults need to understand that loyalty has to be earned and respected, not just expected just because you’ve got a few more years under the belt than they do.”
At my sigh she said, “Deep thoughts.”
I shrugged then asked, “What was it like when your parents picked you from the orphanage? Did you trust them right off? If not, what did they do that made you trust them? That made you understand that you were now a family and all that that meant?”
When she didn’t say anything, I turned to look at her and realized a light bulb had come on for her. “Well hell Pip.” I was just hoping that maybe more lightbulbs would start coming on for the others.