“This way,” he said, waving them over.
Without any other option, Kim ran over. The rest of the group, not knowing what else to do, followed behind her.
The man leads them to a small opening in the wall on the right side. As everyone piled in, he pulled shut a metal door. “Let ‘em rip, boys” he shouted. The men on top of the cars began firing at the zombies. Judging by how quickly they stopped shooting, they made quick work of them.
Inside the fort, it was practically empty. It was a lot bigger than what they she originally thought though. The wall of cars turned out to only be a façade, as the rest of the fort was made up of just about everything: lumber, rocks, large pieces of furniture that must have come from some of the cars, and mostly fallen trees. It gave more of the impression of a fort, as all the junk was about ten yards wide down the road.
It was also practically empty. There was only the man with the shotgun and five guards. No buildings or tents but six small makeshift beds lined in the center.
“Welcome to our cozy little home. My name is Victor, and let me say that it is a pleasure having you here today.”
“Well Victor, can’t help but notice how empty it is here.”
“Yeah, I’m afraid we do have a few… issues that need sorting out. That’s where we’ll need your help,” he said with a grin.
“What kind of help would that be?”
One of the guards grabbed Victor on the shoulder. Victor looked at the man but shrugged him off. Whatever this was about it wasn’t something he, or judging from the looks of the others, something everyone liked.
“There’s a group of settlers not far from here. They’ve got food, water, and better shelter than we do. We tried to settle in with ‘em but they turned us away. If they aren’t going to help us then we have no choice but to take what we can.”
“Oh, great,” Ronnie said behind Kim.
“You want to go over there and kill those people?” she asked.
“Not kill them, per se, but I know what you mean. They aren’t going to give up their supplies without a fight.”
“Can’t we just find stuff somewhere else?” asked Anna. For the first time, Kim thought she sounded timid.
Victor walked over the girl and looked her in the eye. “Where?” he asked, holding his hands up as if to say there’s nothing here.
“I certainly hope you don’t think you’re going to force us to attack these people with you,” said Ronnie, pushing past Kim and pointing an accusatory finger in Victor’s face.
“No, you can leave if you want. But we’re pretty far from the city out here, and there’s not much to the east until you get to Chicago, a good hundred miles away. Not to mention winter’s coming. We’re just trying to survive out here, and those people are hording— “
“Something they have the right to do,” said Ronnie.
“Why? Finders keepers? Is that what we’ve come to?”
“He’s got a point,” said Shaun. “No way in hell we’re going to make it to Chicago whatever the weather is. Whatever they got; we need.”
“Just think about it, that’s all I ask.” Victor stepped away from Kim and the others and huddled in the corner with his guards.
“It’s worth thinking about,” said Shaun.
“The hell it is,” argued Ronnie. “If they don’t want to help then it’s their right. We can’t force everyone to play Mother Teresa.”
“They’re going to have us all killed because they’re greedy,” said Anna.
“We don’t know anything about them. They probably don’t have enough supplies for themselves, let alone eleven more.”
“Enough, Jesus Christ,” interjected Kim. “Arguing like this isn’t going to get us anywhere. We have to each say what we think and move on, and make it quick because I don’t think we got much more time.” She motioned to Victor and the others standing in the corner, impatiently glaring at them.
“We do it,” said Shaun.
“No, we don’t,” said Ronnie.
“I’m with daddy,” said Anna.
“Um, I dunno,” said Boyd. “Ow, okay, yes,” he said after Kim punched him in the arm.
Oh joy, I get to be the deciding vote, thought Kim. They both had a point, but at the end of the day, they’d die without any food, and it didn’t look like Victor had enough for himself, let alone all of them.
“We don’t have a choice,” she said, “we’re doing it.”
“What the hell, Kim? We don’t know anything about these people or this settlement. How can we trust Victor, you’re just going to take his word for it?”
It wasn’t about that, Kim thought, it was about surviving. The five of them had to stick together, any more than that and they’d be a burden. They’d need those supplies, one way or another. What has this world turned me into, she asked herself.
She turned to Victor. “Okay, we’re in. But we’re gonna need to come up with a strategy, and we need weapons.”
“But of course,” Victor said.
Ronnie, Shaun, and Boyd walked over to Victor, who produced two pistols and a knife.
“It’s all we got left.” Kim heard Victor tell them behind her.
Shaun was about to walk over to the others but Kim grabbed his shoulder. He stopped and looked at her. She walked over to the side of another stack of cars and he followed.
“We need those supplies,” she said.
“Yeah… that’s why we’re doing this,” he said, puzzled.
“No, I mean us.”
Shaun thought about this for a moment before it dawned on him.
“I see. Yeah, you’re right. We need them.”
They nodded at one another, and Kim walked toward Victor.
“Give me one of those shotguns.”
The woman took Will to a
