Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Transfiguring the gate doesn't take but a few minutes at most. I use one of the containers to create a two-gate system. The inner door will open into our compound while the outer door opens away. This leaves a narrow space between where our guard can set up safely on the ground if they don't want to be on top of the containers.
Danny runs up with Malcolm as I'm finishing up. Both stare a bit dumbly at the new gate. Malcolm shakes it off first, "I'll take first guard shift but Danny wanted to head out with you."
"If that's okay with you," Danny rushes to add, brushing a hand through his dark blonde hair.
The brothers are already waiting in the truck so I wave Danny to join me in the back of the truck, calling, "Sure, let's get going."
Malcolm opens the inner gate, going slow as he checks the strength of the bars and the ease with which it moves, making an impressed hum. Merle drives us through, waving absently as Malcolm hurries to open the outer gate. Then we're off, heading to the southern edge of the city where another shipping container yard should be. We will loop wide around the city, avoiding the areas where the herds of dead are likely to be waiting. Merle and Daryl found a few places on the map that we could hit up without entering the city proper. Not just places with containers but distribution centers, animal feed stores, and food banks. We probably should get more maps because our current one is covered in squiggly marks and multicolored circles.
We don't get more than thirty miles along our trip when Danny perks up with a frown. He stares off to our right as we pass an older but well built subdivision. He settles back down, frowning at his lap.
"Whats wrong?"
He shakes his head so I nudge him again and he answers with a sad, "I just heard a kid crying but it stopped."
"A kid!" I nearly shout, smacking the back window with a shout of, "Merle!"
The truck stops immediately even if we weren't going very fast. Danny raises his hands, "It stopped!"
"Where was it?" I demand, "Can you track the sound?"
"No it stopped," he pleads before stopping, tilting his head with a faraway look in his eyes.
"Whats goin on," Merle calls through the open window.
"A kid crying," I answer.
Merle doesn't question it. He just nods, puts the truck in reverse and backs us up to the road we passed that leads into the subdivision. There was a sign but a minivan crashed through it and into the front of the right corner house. The house on the left is immaculate with a gorgeous front garden and large blue hydrangea bushes growing near the stop sign. The next two houses have their sides to us with roads opening up just after them. Then it's two more homes with their fenced backyards meeting before the next set of roads open.
Danny looks around nervously but when I prompt him, he motions further up the road we are on. It curves first to the left before dipping down a hill and rising up another while tilting to the right. Homes line either side, facing us as we pass. They sit silent and abandoned but not really damaged beyond a few broken windows or blood smears on the pavement. As we crest the top of the hill, it opens to a small lake or large man made pond along our left as the road circles it with homes facing the water.
There are piers jutting out a few feet ever so often. A few boats are left abandoned, pulled up onto the muddy shore but that isn't what takes our attention. In the middle of the lake are several boats tied together around a few wooden platforms anchored to the spot. Some of the boats have sheets tied up on thin poles to offer some sort of shade. And standing among the boats and platforms are about thirty or so people, mostly children.
Merle curses, stopping the truck without me having to ask. I jump down from the back as the brothers hurry to follow. Daryl shoulders his crossbow to grab out the cooler of sandwiches we brought today so I grab the one full of bottled drinks. Danny jumps down, taking the cooler from me with a muttered apology. I hurry down to the nearest boat, pushing it back into the water as Daryl and Danny toss their coolers in and help. I stop Danny from climbing in the boat, waving him back to the truck.
I shout up to Merle, "We're going to need a way to transport them."
"On it, Hoss," Merle shouts back, waving Danny to get in the truck.
Daryl turns on the small engine by flicking a switch. Then he turns us around, directing the boat towards the others with expert movements. Merle and Danny are already driving off.
The first thing I notice is just how sunburnt they are. Bright red cheeks, foreheads, and noses, several peeling or blistered. Their tank tops, t-shirts, bathing suits, and shorts don't do enough to shield them from the sun or the heat of the summer. They all have dry cracked thin lips and almost lifeless eyes. As if they don't believe we are even real.
I start talking once we get close enough that they should hear, "Hello, people, we're here to help! My name is Harry and this is my friend Daryl. We're here to help!"
A few are crying. Relieved or overwhelmed, I'm not sure. Others continue to stare at us with wide disbelieving eyes. Dry rough hands reach for us as our boat bumps lightly against theirs. I open the drink cooler, grabbing up bottled drinks that are quickly snatched by desperate hands. Daryl makes quick work of tying our boat to theirs before hefting up the sandwich cooler and passing it to a couple strong teen boys with young faces that take it eagerly.
Daryl helps steady me as I climb onto the boat but leaps over before I can offer my arm to him. The people must've been starving because they are all stuffing the sandwiches into their mouths as fast as they can. A few are helping the younger ones to eat or drink but most are so focused on the food and drink in their own hands that they don't notice much else. They probably would not have lasted another day or two before passing. The first few to pass would turn, devouring the rest who would be too weak to fight back.
I try to tell them to slow down. "We have plenty," I tell them, "We are here to help. Everything will be alright now."
Most of them will, no doubt, be sick from eating or drinking too fast but they don't listen. I understand the urge though. I remember being so desperate for food that I would shove it down my throat until I threw it all up again. Sometimes I was so hungry that I would try to eat it again. It took years for me to learn to eat slow even when my hunger was so bad that I would eat anything, do anything, just to ease the pain.
I shake away the bad memories, focusing on the here and now. These people are hungry and thirsty and just desperately need help. It's okay though. We have them now and we can help them.
A few do get sick, scrambling to the edges of the boat to get throw up into the water before slumping down weakly. Daryl and I pass them their drinks and try to sooth them with promises of more to come. Or rather I try to sooth them. Daryl just mutters at them and moves around, checking all of the boats within this little floating cluster.
Merle and Danny get back about an hour after they left, Danny driving the truck and Merle driving a dusty yellow schoolbus with broken windows and bloodsmears along the sides. It's a bit of a hassle getting everyone to shore. Merle and Danny take guard positions, taking out any of the dead that stumble forward.
We head back with the bus full of stunned, shaking people before lunchtime. Malcolm opens the gates, frowning in concern but hurrying to let us through. It will be an adjustment, adding so many people to our group, but we can make it work.