Joey looked at Greg while he said everything, “I’m fine staying here, Mr. Clary, only crazy people wanna go out and try and find zombies. I got no problems with smashing zombies with the bat that Mr. Clary made, but I don’t go out of my way to find them.”
“No one ever said that Greg was one of the smart ones. You hang out here, Joey, and just stay out of trouble. Would that be too much to ask, maybe check on everyone?”
“I’m on it, but if you guys really do go to the college, hit up the cafeteria for me, would you?”
“We are headed out to the middle of nowhere to get ingredients for science man over there. We have all the food we need for a very long time.”
Joey, who when it came to food had zero issues with playing the sympathy card, looked down and reminded Clary of a beagle with big brown round eyes. “I know we have food, Mr. Clary, we just don’t have any of the good stuff and I feel like we only have so long before it goes bad and then what, there’ll be no more cakes, or cookies, or candy bars, or…”
“I get it, Joey, and if we aren’t running for our lives, I’ll try and knock over a vending machine for you when we do end up going to the college, okay?”
“That’s all I ask.”
“Ellie, if Scott’s coming, that’s going to make the truck a little crowded,” Clary explained.
“Well I guess that sucks for Greg, doesn’t it?”
“I need Greg on the fifty.”
“Because I don’t know how to use it?”
“No, you rock it, but Greg’s the best. He’s spent a lot of pent up aggression up on top of that roof.”
“You realize that isn’t fair, right?”
“Right, and unfortunately, I don’t like the idea of...no I hate the idea, despise the idea of leaving Greg here by himself at the base. It just seems like a horrible idea.”
Chapter 4
They attached Earl’s gun alongside the mounted machine gun to the armored Humvee. Greg and Shaun piled in, everyone who’d never met Shaun before but had heard the wild tales of what he’d done were watching with curiosity and wonder. Mr. Li handed him a freshly sharpened blade, which he hoped would not need to be used. Shaun set his silenced hi-powered rifle in the passenger seat, ready to rock if he needed it, along with a fully automatic machine gun. Earl, who’d been happy to find something new to wear, came around the corner with a fresh set of camouflaged pants and a black t-shirt tucked in with its sleeves cut off, guaranteeing there would be no confusion who the redneck of the group was going to be today.
Clary took him in, in all his greatness, and leaned next to Shaun, “You make sure you take shotgun; I can’t handle any more of him then needed.”
Shaun seemed to be distant. He’d staked everything on this trip coming back and the future of everyone that he cared about. The last thing he wanted to do was give them an insurgence of false hope, only to rip it from their hands and throw it in the gutter. He opened the door, looking at the group of people watching. Ellie was standing with Joey and Kya, who he’d not seen the day before when arriving. Brandy and Timmy both stood next to Mr. Li, who’d resumed his spot with the only people he knew. Scott saw everyone and whistled at the fire power. Scott waved to his son as he climbed into the Humvee. He asked, “So any chance anyone brought a gun for Earl or I?”
Greg laughed, he knew Clary’s answer before he could say it, “Are you kidding, a couple new guys that have a magical zombie cure and didn’t bring anything but that with them. You don’t get any of our back stock until you can prove we don’t have to worry about you using it to shoot us in the back. You think coming here with Shaun gives you any weight and you would be more than wrong.”
“Cocky little fucker, aren’t you?” Earl said.
“When you’ve been fucked over and had your world ruined more than once, you tend to take the defensive approach. You earn trust around here. It isn’t anything against you, but if we treat everyone the same then we have a lot less to worry about. Besides, you just stay with us and we are going to be just fine. I don’t know if Shaun boy up there can still shoot, but there’s nothing wrong with having Clary and I as your backup. We are more than capable of handling those bastards.”
Earl’s mouth was agape, unsure how to respond to that. Scott said, “We could go anywhere and do this. We don’t have to stay where we aren’t wanted. Is that what you are asking for? Have you ever heard someone say to work smarter not harder? I’d like to think that still holds true, young man.”
Clary held up his hands, “Maybe we should all just settle down. If you really want a rifle, we can get you one. You don’t understand the shit that we’ve dealt with.”
“I can appreciate that your group has not had the easiest of times. I want to make it real clear that we both want the same thing here. I feel like we are getting off on the wrong foot and I can only blame your previous history with people. We are good people, there are still good people, regardless of if you’ve dealt with some that aren’t the highest of moral character.”
Clary realized that he and Greg were quite possibly being dicks and that they
