“Aaron, we did our job. This shit has been going on for six months. Finding resources is getting more difficult. Not to mention the constant threat of having our throats ripped out by the undead.”
“Cate, I don’t like excuses.”
I laughed at his idiocy. “Excuses? Aaron it must be very nice to live in your cushy world. Ordering us around and delegating jobs for everyone but never actually doing any real work. Never tasting and seeing the danger that is the world now. You have all this power but you have no idea what’s really going on.”
I could see the anger on his face but he said nothing.
The office door opened behind me. I turned to see Laura walking in.
“Cate, to what do we owe the pleasure?” She asked.
“Cate was just telling me how I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”
“Oh,” Laura said, “Well she’s entitled to her opinion. Though honestly Cate based on how little resources you got on your last run, I wouldn’t be telling anyone else they can’t do their job.”
I laughed.
“Was that a joke?” Laura asked.
“Yeah, it was. You both are. I don’t do these runs for the two of you; I do them for the other people here who need food. The food that you find ways to not give them because you have gone crazy with power.”
I went to walk out the door when Laura grabbed my arm.
“I’d be very careful how you spoke to people Cate,” She spat.
“Or you’ll do what? Laura, when’s the last time you wrestled with one of the zombies?”
She said nothing but didn’t let go of me.
“That’s what I thought. After that, the living doesn’t offer much of a fight. If you’re going to threaten me, you better be able to back it up and neither you nor your joke of a son can. So I suggest you take your hand off me right now before you get your arm broke.”
She released me from her grip and I walked out of the office. I knew that fight was pointless and stupid but I was at my breaking point. I’d had enough of it.
I realized though why I hadn’t left and why I couldn’t leave. The people here needed help and I couldn’t leave them high and dry. I didn’t want to leave them. I wanted to help them survive and help them get everything they needed.
I stopped by the Martinez’s and got Milo. Maria kept trying to get me to stay and eat something but I couldn’t stay. Plus I couldn’t eat their food. Maria was one of the sweet people who felt she needed to always feed her guests. She didn’t understand that things were different now and that wasn’t the best thing to do. I loved that about her though. Someone who was a touch of the world prior to all this.
I met up with Ian. I opened the back door and Milo hopped into the back seat, almost taking up the whole thing.
After we left the gates, I told Ian about my fight.
“Not smart Cate,” He said and laughed.
“I know. It’s just ridiculous.”
He nodded, “I know. But you’re not going to knock any sense into those two. They’ve gone mad with power. They’re great architects. What they’ve done for everyone in setting up the place has been great but they’re not leaders. You can’t tell them that though, they’ll never get it.”
I nodded, “What do you think they’ll do to me?”
He looked at me with a curious expression, “You scared?”
“No, I just wonder what they would even try.”
“Probably put you on garden duty or something.”
I laughed, “Yeah. So what’s the plan?”
Ian sighed, “I don’t know. I’m running out of ideas.”
“Um, there’s this antique place in Goodyear that had a bunch of vending machines. We could check that out because who’s really going to think of that. Plus there are a few restaurants around too. Worse comes to worse we can raid them and hope for the best.”
Ian nodded. “I just don’t get how we didn’t get enough. We’ve brought back less than that before. I mean if we’re going to have metrics like a damn call center or some other job like that, can we at least be told what our metrics are?”
“Ian, there’s no fun in that. They want to keep us guessing.”
“More like they want to keep us failing,” He said.
“Like a real low paying life sucking job that never gives you a promotion.”
Ian laughed.
The drive took a while as we had to stick to the back roads. I-10 was a car graveyard and impossible to drive. There were cars lined up for miles. People had abandoned them in panic. There were also zombies walking aimlessly between the wreckage looking for food. Ian and I had decided to try to raid the vehicles for fuel. We made out pretty good but almost died in the process. We had discussed going back there for another raid in a different spot but hadn’t done it yet.
The parking lot was mostly deserted except for a car or two. I told Ian we should check for fuel until I noticed that the gas caps were missing on both vehicles.
There were a few zombies walking around the parking lot towards the other stores but they were paying no attention to us. We learned that unless they’re trying to attack you, it’s best not to engage.
We headed to the front doors with Milo following behind. They were shut and the glass was still intact. That was unusual to find but promising. No one probably thought about going into an antique store. Though it had potential for more than just vending machines since they’re could be weapons in there
