The Orphans (Book 2): Surviving the Turned Read online

  They all peered over and saw a metal chain on Patrick’s wrist. Shaun knelt down next to him and flipped his hand over, reading the words engraved on the on the tag. Diabetic~Patrick Clary~515-555-2541. Shaun rubbed at his eyes, thinking how if Ellie had not been around to be rational, maybe he would have done the unthinkable and shot this poor kid in the head. “He’s diabetic. Christ, why didn’t he say something?”

  Greg murmured, feeling the same tinge of guilt that Shaun did, “Well, maybe he forgot or thought we wouldn’t bring him with us if he was going to have issues going forward or be a liability.”

  Ellie chimed in, “Well, it isn’t that unrealistic, is it? That someone wouldn’t want to have to worry about babysitting a kid who has medical issues.” She felt in his pocket and found his medicine. She pulled it out and showed it to them. They all read the words to themselves, saying insulin pen aloud. “We need to give him some, I think,” Mike said.

  Greg grabbed the medicine, turned it over, and read the directions before looking up with a grave expression on his face. He hit the ejector button for the vile and saw that it had two doses left. The side of the pen had Patrick’s name on it and that he was to take four doses twice daily. “It’s got two left in it, and that’s not even what he is supposed to take for one dose. Here, Shaun.”

  Shaun held up his hands, not accepting it. “What are you giving it to me for? I don’t know how to use it.”

  “Your dad was a doctor, right?”

  “Yeah, I know a lot of kids whose dads are doctors and they are the last people I’d want to be giving me any medical advice.”

  Kristy walked up, held out her hand to Greg who was happy to pass it to someone else, and stared at it for a minute, reading the directions on the side of the pen. She calmly knelt down next to him, picked a spot on his shoulder, and jammed the pen in through his pale skin. She pulled it back out and sat next to him patiently, knowing that it would likely take a while. They spent the next hour watching him and trying to act like they were busy with something else, but all were worried sick for him. It seemed like they needed for him not to be lost because of the amount of sorrow they had already dealt with recently.

  Shaun sat at the kitchen table with his pistol not very far out of reach. Greg sat intensely watching. Eventually, Patrick whispered something that was almost impossible to understand. Greg bent down nearer to him and listened, nodding his head. Mike, not being one for patience, asked, “What did he say? What does he want?”

  Greg had his back to Mike and a troublemaker’s grin on his face that Mike couldn’t see. “Strangest thing… he questions your sexuality, Mike.”

  Mike jumped to his feet. “You ass! He didn’t say any such thing. What did he really say? Come on, tell me.”

  Greg and the others shared a laugh, and it was one that they needed. Shaun looked down at Greg; he might not be the leader, but he was definitely going to be good to have around to keep anything from getting too horribly serious when the tension was getting tight. Shaun was already thinking of the weeks to come, alone and on their own. The word “solitude” was going to have a new meaning for the others. Greg pushed up and patted Mike on the shoulder. “He wants water, and he said something about checking his sugar levels.”

  Kristy knelt down, checking his pockets and found no such item with which they could attempt to do that. “Patrick, if you can hear me, it’s Kristy, and I don’t feel anything in your pants.”

  This statement, meant in the kindest of ways, erupted laughter from Greg and Mike. Kristy glared at both of them. “Really, guys? He could be dying, and you need to make jokes about his crotch? Really?”

  Patrick was moving his lips and Kristy got him a drink of water. Twenty minutes later, the much-needed drugs were moving through his veins and he was sitting up with assistance, though he still looked pale. He explained to the group that he needed medicine, and with all the insanity of the day before, he left without them, not thinking twice. He mentioned how he usually carried a decent supply of it but that his mother had insisted they leave the house, and the two of them forgot everything in the fridge. They had only planned on being gone for a few hours.

  Kristy asked him, “Well, what happens if you don’t get more insulin?”

  Patrick looked up with sad, tired eyes and said it as plain as he could because it was what it was. “I will die… it’s medicine and I gotta have it; there’s no cure for this.”

  Shaun stared around the room. No one was jumping at the thought of going back to town, and at the same time, no one wanted to see the young teen wither away. Shaun did not want to have to dig any more holes up in these woods, which he had loved so dearly all his life. He thought of the words that his dad said and pulled Ellie and Greg aside. “I know he needs medicine… I get it, but we don’t know what's going on down there in town. Dad said to stay here and to not leave for anything. We don’t even know this kid.”

  Mike walked forward, getting closer than Shaun’s comfort level was going to allow. He yelled, “Uh, well, you guys don’t, but I do. I’ll go by myself and pick it up.”

  “Why don’t you back up a foot or two? It’s going to be a long walk, Mike.”

  “No, it’s not. We’ve got a van. I’ll drive it.”

  “No, ‘we’ doesn’t include you yet; you hitched a ride to safety. That van is ours. Now back up, Mike.”

  Mike shoved Shaun back a foot, yelling, “So you’re King Shit all of a sudden?”

  Shaun resumed his place where he’d been standing. “No, but I’m not handing the keys over to someone who doesn't even know how to drive or shoot a gun. You won’t come back.”

  Mike raised his arms to push Shaun a second time, and when he did, Shaun stepped to the side, gripped his wrist, and swung him into the side of the log cabin face first, twisting his arm behind his back. “You see, the chances of you making it back alive are pretty slim… maybe bitten, which doesn’t do much for our overall chances. And if you don’t come back at all, then we don’t have a van to take back into town when we really need to, Mike.”

  Mike looked to the side and shouted, “Let go, damn it! Fine, I’ll walk there. Screw you guys if you are too big of asses to help someone besides your own group!”

  Ellie walked up and pushed Shaun then slapped him on the arm. “Let go, ass. Okay, you win. No more fighting, macho men. It’s time to shut up now. We can’t just leave him here to die for god’s sake, Shaun. I mean, Christ, he needs medicine. How hard can it be?”

  Shaun was getting heated up. He let go of Mike, who spun around, wiping at a bloody nose and rolling his now sore wrist, but he stayed back from Shaun this time. Shaun looked at Ellie, making a conscious effort not to rub the spot that was now stinging with her handprint. He knew there would be zero chance of changing Ellie’s mind about the matter. He was going to have to try to rationalize with a girl who didn’t know what rational meant. He retorted with, “Well, how hard should it have been to drive from Andy’s shop to the woods? We lost what, three people in a matter of an hour?”

  Ellie shoved him. “That’s not fair, Shaun. We have to survive—I get it, but we need to keep people alive as well.”

  She grabbed her rifle from the day before, which Shaun had shown her how to use. Shaun watched this, knowing she wouldn’t make it ten feet in town if she had to actually use that thing without having time to aim and shoot. It was a varmint gun, and she needed semi auto, which was something she wouldn’t know how to use yet. “You can’t tell me that you seriously think it’s a good idea to go down there!”

  Ellie walked over to Shaun, shoving a pistol at him and pointing at Patrick. “You’re right, Shaun. It’s just too damn dangerous, and we can’t go, but we don’t want to risk that if he dies and comes back as one of those things. So, why don’t we go ahead, take him out back, and shoot him in the back of the head!”

  Patrick, who’d been watching with an open mouth, finally tried to speak, choking on his bottle of water and holding up a hand. “Wait! Wait, ple
ase. If you don’t want to go to town then, seriously, let me and Mike go. It’s better than sittin’ here and going into a coma, or being shot, for god’s sake. This insulin pen is almost on empty!”

  Shaun lowered the pistol and shook his head at Patrick, knowing damn well he couldn't walk that far right now if he needed to. “I’m not going to shoot you, Patrick. Ellie, you are such a pain in the ass that it seriously hurts sometimes.”

  He walked over to where the weapons had been stored and selected a few rifles and an additional pistol to the one Ellie already gave him and said, “Fine, I’ll go back and get his damn medicine. I hope that I can be back from town quickly. If I’m just going to his house and straight back, it shouldn’t be more than a couple hours, I hope.”

  Ellie sat up straight. “You know, as much as I love your sense of humor, this joke about you going to town alone as the lone gunman isn’t going to happen. I’m going with you.”

  Shaun said, “Oh, hell no you aren’t. If anyone is going, it’s going to be Greg; he can drive and he can shoot.”

  Greg didn’t need to be asked. He’d be by Shaun’s side no matter what. He walked over, picking up his rifle and a satchel filled with loaded magazines. He had run out of ammo the day before, and it had been the scariest moment in his young life. He grabbed a pistol for good measure, knowing he probably couldn’t hit anything with it, but if it was all he had, it was better than nothing.

  Tina walked up to Greg, took his gun, and set it back down. “Greg can’t go with you, Shaun. That isn’t fair to everyone else here.”

  “What are you talkin’ about, Tina?” Shaun asked.

  “Greg can shoot. Drive? Well, maybe. Drive badly? Yes, definitely. But he’s the only other one who knows how to use this stuff. If you, god forbid, don’t come back, then no one here is going to survive if any of those things make their way up this hill.”

  Shaun thought about it, coming to the conclusion that she was right. He looked back at Greg and nodded. “You better stay here, Greg; I can do it on my own.”

  Mike said, “Wait, what about me?”

  “You aren’t really someone I’m thinking of for an option, Mike. If you can’t drive and you can’t shoot, you’re just something to be chased after until I shoot them in the head.”

  Tina shook her hands in the air sarcastically and said, “Well, yay for me, because I know how to drive and can get us there and back in one uneaten piece.”

  Shaun wasn't a huge fan of this either but knew deep down she was right. He continued grabbing the gear that he wanted to take and put some food and water in the ammo bag, just in case they got stuck in town.

  Ellie said, “Sorry. It’s early and all, and there aren’t any caffeinated products but coffee that I can see right now, so maybe I’m taking this whole thing a little bit slow, but you two keep using the words like we meaning only you two. Which means you really think that you are going to go to a zombie-filled town, just the two of you?”

  Shaun shrugged and held up his hands in a what do you want me to say here gesture.

  Ellie looked at the group and back. “I don’t know… how about, ‘Come with us, Ellie; we sure could use some help here.’”

  Shaun shook his head no. “What are you going to do for me? Tell me something or someone is there? And since you guys got Greg stuck here, there isn’t much we can do about it, right? It would seem that Tina has got double duty going for her now.”

  Ellie walked over to the supplies and searched for the rifle that she’d used the day before when she helped Shaun clear out the Turned at the school parking lot and keeping Frank, for the time being, from being bitten. Shaun knew better than to try to convince Ellie of something when it wasn’t her own idea, knowing damn well it was pointless, but he wasn’t going to have to worry about her as well.

  With determination, he walked over, grabbed the gun, and placed it back down on the ground. “You are staying. I don’t care what you say, but if you want me to go at all to get his damn medicine, you need to stay here. We’ve lost too much, too soon, and the only reason it’s okay for Tina is she serves a purpose. You need to stay, so that’s my piece.”

  Ellie sat with her mouth open, thinking and trying to decide what she needed to say but realized that Shaun was already doing more for this kid than he wanted to. Pushing the line with him might push him to the point where he wouldn’t go to town at all.

  When Ellie didn’t retort with a comeback, which was very out of her normal way of acting, Shaun walked over, grabbed the van battery, and slid it into a heavy canvas backpack to make carrying it down the hill a little less painful. He took the ammo bag from Greg and packed a few more energy bars and waters into it. Better to have too much than too little.

  Ellie punched his arm. “You two make sure you are good, okay? Don’t go screwing around on your way there.”

  Tina, who looked visibly sick at the thought of having to go back down the hill, tried to add some humor to the situation. “Now, when we get back, kids, I want your rooms picked up and your beds made. I don’t want any playtime happening before the chores are done, and I don’t want any backtalk.”

  They all smiled, shaking their heads and looking worried for them. Greg said, “Well, at least my mom is a MILF.”

  This made Mike and Greg both bust out with laughter.

  Kristy said, “Is there any chance that I can go with you? I’m sure I can figure out someway to be useful.”

  Tina shook her head. “Someone needs to stay and take care of Patrick, and so far you are the only one who seems to have a knack for it. Besides, Ellie will need help balancing out the stupidity to intelligence ratio.”

  Kristy sighed. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us with these two here. I don’t know how long I can handle the jokes. Please, please hurry back. There’s going to be too much testosterone in the air for me. I don’t know if I can handle it.”

  Shaun nodded. “I don’t know if there is any hope for either of them, but over time maybe we will be able to change them—but I can’t make any promises; it's too soon to tell.”

  As they walked out, Greg yelled, “Bye Mom! Bye Dad!”

  Ellie, who was standing by the door, leaned over and pecked Shaun’s cheek. She whispered into his ear, “Thank you for going… and, god, please be careful, Shaun.”

  The two left the cabin. It was still early, and neither of them was overly concerned with running into rush hour. Shaun took his steps slowly down the hill, as did Tina. They didn’t want to fall, especially with everything they had in their packs.

  They didn’t make it halfway down the hill when they heard the sound of crunching leaves, and it seemed to be moving at a rapid pace. Shaun held up a hand to Tina to stop for a moment, waiting to see what was going on or what was coming. He pulled her down on the ground behind a fallen tree and they waited. Shaun used the tree as a gun rest and pointed it in the direction where the sound was coming from. As the sound got closer and louder, Shaun rested his finger on the trigger, waiting to get it in his sights. Just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, Ellie came into view, face red from the run, carrying her rifle from the day before and a small pack. She saw the rifle pointed directly at her, and her face went white. As she ducked behind a tree, she saw that it was Shaun and she screamed, “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! It's just me. I figured you didn’t really want me staying at the cabin, so I came by myself, hoping that I’d catch up with you.”

  Shaun pointed the gun down, cursing under his breath, trying to think of something that was a bigger pain in the ass than a cute girl—one who had nothing but his best interest on her mind. “Ellie, you realize I almost blew your damn head off, right?”

  Ellie came out from around the tree, smiling nervously. “Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t.”

  They walked the rest of the way to the van, keeping a watchful eye for any of the Turned. Ellie wouldn’t admit it to Tina or Shaun, but she was scared to death at the thought of having to deal with one of those th
ings again so soon. It wasn’t something she was sure she could handle after the previous day and the horrible nightmares she had during the night.

  When they saw the van at the bottom of the hill still safe and sound, they felt that they had achieved a small victory. Tina unlocked the doors, and Shaun went to the front of the van and popped the hood. He took his time, being careful to reconnect the battery properly as his dad had shown him the day before. He only had one and wasn’t interested in screwing it up… especially since he knew nothing about how to fix anything on a car.

  Shaun slammed down the hood and shook the keys. “Who wants to drive this bad boy?”

  Tina took the keys from him and the three teenagers climbed in. Tina sat at the steering wheel and revved the engine. “Well, I guess this is it then. Let’s go,” she said as she pulled the van forward.

  The ride back to town was uneventful. Shaun got a pit in his stomach as they passed the abandoned stretch of highway where his dad had been bitten the day before. The Turned were gone… or at least they appeared to be. Shaun never let his rifle touch the floor of the van, knowing very well that they were still out there.

  He stared from the passenger seat at the bloody hole in the window. Hair and pieces of skin hung from the pieces of glass, and it wasn’t the freshest smell. “We need to fix this window and the roof, or this thing is never going to last us.”

  Ellie leaned up between the two of them smiling. “Well, actually… maybe if everything in town went to hell, which by looking around I’d say it did, why don’t we just upgrade?”

  Tina said, “You sinner! Are you suggesting we steal a car?”

  Shaun cut in, “That really isn’t a bad idea. Might not be bad to get more than one. If that dealer turned, then what will he care? Money won't do anything for him ever again, right? We should hit the grocery store too. We have a ton of food now, but how long is it going to last all of us, eating three times a day?”

  Ellie’s shoulders sank a bit. “How are we supposed to do all this when Patrick needs medicine? The dose that Kristy gave him wasn’t even what he is suppose to get for the morning; he’s almost out.”