Valuable Resources

“It’s not that complicated, kid. Just run in grab the bag and run out.” He said this so matter of fact in his gruff voice. His wrinkled face relaxed into an expression of careless annoyance as he attempted to downplay the risk of the plan.

“Okay… then why don’t you do it?” I meant it to sound more biting, yet the quivering fear took the hostility out of the tone. My eyes were scanning the motionless huddles that lay on the other side of the dust covered window. I barely registered his deep rattling sigh, the damage from years of smoking cigarettes.

I reached up bracing my hands on the windowsill, trying to prepare myself for what I was about to do. My hands were smooth, not even a callous or cut to be found on my soft palms.

“This isn’t my mistake to fix.” The old man said.

My eyebrows drew together, “then go find the guy who made the mistake.” I retorted.

The old man’s laugh rasped out of him. I could smell the hint of tobacco and rot coming from his breath, I recoiled from the stench.

“The man your looking for would be right down there.” He said pointing down into the gymnasium. This drew me back short, “He is infected?” I asked a little louder then I’d meant and he shoved my arm hard. I nearly toppled off of the narrow scaffolding we were perched on.

After a moment of the man calming is angered temper he continued, “Yeah he didn’t make it. The dead got ahold of him right after he dropped that bag.” I looked back down at the red duffle bag that seemed to shine in the darkness like a beacon.

“But what happened to having eyes and ears on us?” I said in a hushed tone that still help a firm edge of panic. I remembered his earlier promise that if things took a turn for the worst then they would intervene

“We didn’t have the…” he hesitated trying to find the right words. “Resources.” He shrugged with a lopsided smile that revealed his stained yellow teeth.

I suddenly felt colder than I did before, fear rushing in waves… crashing over my exposed skin. I realized then the exact kind of person I was at mercy to. Shocked at the trueness of his implications. I knew without him voicing it that they had left him for dead and did not hold any remorse or regret. This man before me even found amusement in his death…

Yet, I had no choice. I would risk my life anyways to go in to retrieve that bag, a bag I was completely unsure of what it even contained. I would do this for my family, for them I would do anything.

That currently included climbing through a window onto a set of unstable gym bleacher into a den of infected. Infected who would be more than pleased to rip me to shreds and turn me into one of them. I shuddered before bracing my shoulders trying to stand tall against my fear. The bravado only went as far as my posture.

I knew I was in the hands of some very heartless people. People that did not care about me, who were willing to use me and anyone else to get what they wanted.

‘Two favors left,’ I chanted in my head over and over again. The first three were equally terrifying, however this one felt different. This felt like a suicide mission, an impossibility.

Only five risky favors and I would receive a full month sanctuary with my mother and little brother. We would have warm food, soft beds, and a place we would be safe. The first time we have felt truly safe since the outbreak occurred months ago.

My goal, or the goal they constructed for me, was to sprint as fast as I could grab the bag and escape down four hallways. There I would find the room that held a window I would elude my inevitable pursuers. I had to be quick, stealth was not optional.

The only light came from the windows we peered through now. Barely touching the shadows that seemed to hover over every corner of the old school gymnasium.

The hallways beyond the set of double doors would be completely dark and I have no way of knowing what awaited for me there in the darkness.

“I don’t think I can do this.” My voice cracked on the last word. I was only a thirteen year old boy and I was about to die for a red duffel bag. The click of a gun drew me up short. Where my breathes were beginning coming out in quick pants, they had stopped altogether at the sound of a bullet being loaded into the chamber.

My eyes shifted to the old man who gripped a now loaded gun in his hand. He didn’t point it at me however the look of disgust on his face confirmed the threat well enough. If I didn’t do this I would die regardless and so would my family.

“Okay okay…” I said as I held onto my unshed tears, I would not cry… I would be strong for my momma and my baby brother...

He twisted the gun in his hand and I flinched before realizing he was holding the gun out to me. I took the gun unsure, I’ve never held one before. Where I expected the metal to be cool to the touch it turned out to be warm from where the old man gripped it in his sweaty palm. The feeling of its warmth and the weight of it repulsed me.

For only a brief moment I played with the idea of turning the gun on him. Remembering the way his hand had cupped my mother the first night we arrived at the camp. How his whiskey soaked breath washed over her face as he whispered into her ear.

A flicker of movement behind him was enough proved that we were not alone. One of his men was perched in a tree a few yards away and it was enough to remind me of my place… if I failed or did something reckless I would not be the one to pay for it… my family would. My head dropped low as he explained that the chamber held three bullets.

“-two for the dead and one for you if you find yourself… stuck.” I began to feel numb, dread coursed through me. But what I felt most of all was hate. Hate for this man standing before me and hate for the circumstances that brought me here.

Before I realized what was happening the old man leaned forward and with a grunt slid the window open. The smell of the gymnasium was strong enough to gag on. Death reeked in the stale air.

I didn’t have another moment to be scared or to dwell on the smell. I only had to move and move fast because my timer had begun.

Immediately the corpses around the room violently stirred at the sound of my feet crashed down the bleachers.

I briefly heard the old man’s laugh as I prayed to myself that the entire thing wouldn’t collapse under my feet.

My eyes were tunnel vision on the red bag. I reached it gripping hard onto the rough fabric. However, when I tried to lift, my arms failed and it slammed to the floor loudly.

Still unsure of what was inside, whatever it was it was very heavy… They didn’t warn me it would be so heavy. The sound of metal clanged against metal as it hit the ground.

I wanted to reach back down and grab it now that I could anticipate the weight but my time was spent.

I didn’t need to turn to see that the infected had gathered behind me, around me. I ran forward feeling the ghost of their fingers around my throat.

My panic skyrocketed as I looked for an open path however the double doors leading to hallway the was my escape route was already blocked.

The sounds coming from infected ranged from panting groans and deranged shrieks that echoed against the tall ceiling. A whimper escaped my lips… too scared to cry out as I lifted the gun firing at the closest infected. The sound blasted in my ears. Startling me enough for the gun to fling from my hands and go skidding across the gymnasium.

I ran towards the door closest to me and burst through it. I quickly realized it was a locker room by the maze of locker doors spread throughout. It was so dark I felt like I was being smothered as I continued to pull myself hopelessly forward.

In the back of the locker room was a separate bathroom that held two arches on either end of the the concrete wall. I ran through the side closest to me and without thought I flung my body underneath the first stall.

Remaining on the ground I began to crawl as fast as I could. I did not feel or think of the many bruises forming from my nose dive under the stall. Or what cold liquid I was crawling through that was seeping into my loose shirt.

I placed one arm in front of the other as my feet kicked, pushing off anything I could to boost me forward. I heard a slam behind me as they bursted into the stall I had first escaped under.

I made it under at least five stalls and I had nearly reached the last one. When I reached the wall I twisted and kicked off the toilet climbing to my feet and continued my dash out the opposite arch, exiting the bathroom.

I twisted my way through the lockers unable to believe that I was even still alive. All I could do right now was to keep moving, I knew that stopping would mean my death. It was this point that I realized just how truly desperate I was to live.

I crashed through the locker room door I had entered from shocked to find the gymnasium clear of infected. The horde must have followed me into the locker room but I was sure it wouldn't take them long to find their way out after me.

I started for the window I had entered through that sat at the top of the bleachers. I stumbled, nearly tripped over none other than the red duffel bag.

With a moment of pure insanity fueled by adrenaline I grabbed the bag and hurled it over my shoulder.

I climbed the bleachers two at a time before reaching the top and leapt through the still open window. I felt the scaffolding wobble unsteadily as I landed hard on the rough metal.

“Holy shit.” The old man exclaimed at the sight of me. I shoved pasted him knowing they would be upon us at any moment. I could hear their stampeding feet climbing the bleachers.

I began to climb down the side, I saw a glimpse of the old man struggling above me, keeping a steady string of curses my way.

Once my feet hit the earth I heard the man body slam to the ground behind me. I allowed myself one glance over my shoulder. By the man’s red heaving face I could tell that he must have had the wind knocked out of him. His eyes were fixed above him as the first of the infected hurled themselves off of the top of the scaffolding.

I turned away however I could not stop the sounds that came from the old man as the infected began ripping into him. It was a dreadful sound… even from the despicable creature it came from.

I didn’t dare slowing down but I knew that with the man captured behind, the infected would be well distracted now.

I would run all the way back to camp and not one infected would follow me. I briefly wondered why no body bothered to save the old man as I remembered the man perched in the tree… not one shot fired out to even attempt sparing his life.

Suddenly a humorless laugh escaped my burning lungs as I recalled what the old man had said before. I guess there was not enough resources worth saving the old heartless drunk.