Day 233
I didn’t expect to make it through today…
The morning sun rose.
I handed my shotgun to Tom.
He didn’t say anything. His eyes locked on mine, almost pleading, asking me not to go.
“If I die or don’t come back, give this to Henry.” I said, pressing the gun into Tom’s hands. “He always looks so happy holding it – I know he’ll look after it.” Tom nodded and wrapped the strap around his shoulder. I took out my hatchet. “I want this to go to Amy.” He took it in his hands. Lastly I took off my watch, the one Lee gave me. It still worked. “And give this to Tess… it feels fitting for her to have it – completing the circle or something.”
Tom just looked at me.
“I’ll be holding them for you when you get back.” His stare was unwavering.
“Sure. You do that.” I smiled.
What else could we say? I’d known Tom for years. He’d been one of my best friends growing up, and now he was more like a brother.
“You look after them Tom – they’ll need someone strong to lead them. Troy is barely holding it together now. You have to be ready to drop everything and run. There’s no sense in you and the family dying as well.” I turned to the door, mainly to stop Tom from seeing my tears. “And don’t you dare let Joel call his kid Shaun if it’s a boy – Shaun sucks as a name.” I laughed at my own expense.
I started towards the door.
“It should be you.” Tom voice quavered. “You are strong enough, better than most of us. You could lead all of us. We could win the war. Please… don’t go…” I turned back to him. He was crying freely.
“I’m hoping there won’t be a war. The Boss has made it clear that he doesn’t really need what we have. If he did, he wouldn’t be meeting me here – he would have just attacked. No, he wants me. And when he has me… I think that will appease him. I need to do this Tom. It’s our only hope.” I couldn’t stop the tears.
I walked back to Tom and hugged him. “I’ll miss you, my friend.”
“Not as much as I’ll miss you.” He said, hugging me back.
I patted him on the back and left the warehouse.
I made my way towards the meeting place.
I made sure that I didn’t look towards where Jayani and Danny were hiding, just in case The Boss had sent any scouts out – I didn’t want to give away their positions.
I sat down in one of the chairs we’d set out and waited.
It was about noon when they arrived. I say about, as I couldn’t be sure with out my watch – not wearing it didn’t stop me looking at my wrist regularly though. Some habits are hard to break.
The Boss walked up the pier with seven other people.
Two had bags over their heads.
Jon and Stone.
Well, I hoped so, anyway.
I stood and The Boss levelled his gun at me. The others with him did the same, though one had his trained on Jon and Stone.
I raised my hands.
“I have no weapons on me – feel free to check.” The Boss glanced at the man to his left and jerked his head towards me. The man came over to me and frisked me down.
“Not the kind of weapon you’re looking for, buddy.” I said, raising an eyebrow. The man grimaced at my comment about how thorough he was being.
What? I’m a teenage boy, remember? I figured I may as well have a bit of fun before I died.
I sat back down at one of the chairs and gestured for The Boss to do the same. He hesitated, then joined me.
“Bring the two here – get them on their knees.” The Boss ordered. The five men brought Jon and Stone over to us and shoved them to their knees. I could see that their hands were bound.
“Well.” I said, sitting back. The Boss stared at me. “The places we find ourselves.”
“Let’s skip the small talk – I have many things planned for you, boy, and I want an early start.” The Boss was obviously enjoying himself.
“Let those two go, and we can talk.” I gestured at Jon and Stone.
The Boss looked down at them and addressed his lackeys.
“Take their hoods off.”
I could hardly bear to look at them.
There was so much blood. I could barely make out who they were.
I felt sick.
The Boss admired his work, looking at them with a twisted smile.
“They were fun. That one…” He pointed at Stone. “He cries a lot, and him…” Now he was pointing at Jon. “I remember him from the Island. He caused me a lot of grief, even before he met you. I have to thank you – he seems to have gotten sloppy joining with you. He wouldn’t leave the other behind and escape, even though he had the opportunity. He’s done it before – oh you didn’t know? I guess he didn’t tell you about the group he was with on the island, did he?” I looked at each of the men standing behind Jon and Stone. Four of them looked away, but one met and held my gaze, though his face held no emotion.
I turned to The Boss.
“Let them go – you don’t need them anymore.” It was everything I could do to keep my voice from shaking.
The Boss sucked at his teeth.
“What do I get in return?”
I glared at him.
“Me!”
“Not enough. That just brought me out here.” He said, leaning back in his chair.
“What do you want?” I said through gritted teeth.
“Other than to watch you squirm in your seat trying to figure your way out of this? Not much. I’ve got you anyway.” His tone was insolent.
“Part of getting me peacefully was letting them go. That’s what we agreed on!” I said angrily.
“Oh, was it now?” The Boss just smiled.
“So you are going back on your word? I suppose that you can do that if you want – just know that it will lay a seed of doubt in your men there. They see you doing that too often…” I shrugged. “You seem like the type of man that rests a lot on the value of his word.”
The Boss considered this, then nodded.
“You make a fair point. They’re no fun anyway.” He flicked his wrist and his men dragged Jon and Stone to their feet.
“Don’t do this Shaun!” Stone broke his silence. “Don’t you give up!”
I stood, and The Boss pulled his gun on me.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He asked me, his gun pointed at my stomach.
I spoke, not looking at him.
“Stone, I’m not giving up. This is all part of my plan – it’ll be okay. Take Jon and get into that warehouse – you’ll be safe.” I tried to sound soothing but Stone glared at me. Finally, he nodded. He took Jon’s arm over his shoulders and they stumbled together towards the warehouse.
“You have people here!?” The Boss stood, moving his gun to my head.
I looked at him, puzzled.
“You thought I’d come here alone? I guess I gave you too much credit. Of course I brought people with me, to make sure Jon and Stone would make it back safely. How have you even made it this far?” I shook my head in disbelief.
The Boss didn’t like me laughing at him. He used his pistol to hit me across my face. I fell back, stumbling over my chair. He walked over to me, and dragged me by the shoulders to the edge of the pier, wrenching them up behind my back, causing the wound to open up. The edge had concrete blocks about knee height – I guess they were to stop people driving off.
It’s funny what goes through your head when it has just been hit.
He placed my hand on one of the blocks. Blood started to seep through my shirt.
“Hold his hand there!” He yelled back to his men. The stone-faced man moved without hesitation. I looked up into his face when grabbed my arm. He was smirking – he was going to enjoy this.
“Give me that!” I heard The Boss behind me. I heard a whooshing sound and then my hand exploded with pain. He was hitting it with a crowbar. I could hear the bones in my hand breaking under each strike.
“The other one too!” I was disgusted by the delight in his voice.
My other arm was pulled up and my hand placed on the block.
The next bit is fuzzy.
Both my hands were bleeding freely, as was my shoulder, and I was aware that I had lost a fair amount of blood. My vision started going blurry and I came in and out of consciousness.
Suddenly, the beating stopped.
I saw a flash of red.
The Boss’ face red with ecstasy.
Black.
He was gone.
Black.
The man standing above me pulling his gun out.
Black.
The man on the ground, red blood spilling from his head.
Black.
Tom, standing over me, looking relieved. “It’s going to be okay.”
Black…
I awoke in the warehouse. My hands had been bandaged up. The pain was excruciating.
I looked around.
Jayani and Danny were standing over the remaining four Boss’ men. They were sitting against the wall, everything but their clothes stripped from them.
Tom saw that I was awake.
“Here – you must be thirsty.” He placed a canteen of water at my lips and I realised he was right.
I tried to sit up but Tom held me down. “No, you rest. You lost a lot of blood.”
Less than I thought I would today.
I shook my head. He frowned at me then surrendered, helping me up.
I sat for a moment, getting my balance… then I threw up. Mostly water. It burned my throat. Tom wiped my face with his shirt then gave me more water.
What would I do without him?
He just smiled. “Better out than in I guess, and better that you don’t drown in it either.”
“Jon…? Stone…?” I got out. I had to know that they were okay.
“They’re fine.” He said, pointing to them lying asleep on a pile of tarps in the corner.
Jayani saw that I was awake and came over.
“I’m so sorry, Shaun. I would have shot sooner… but… but, you told us not to do anything if he attacked you. Then the zombie came out of nowhere and attacked The Boss. I think it came from under the pier… it ran so fast, faster than any I have seen before. It and The Boss went into the water. The guy standing over you pulled his gun out, and I shot… I’m sorry. I fucked everything up haven’t I?” I looked at her. Tears streamed down her face.
“Did… did the zombie… have red hair?” I asked.
“What?! Ah… yeah, it did, why?” Jayani’s face screwed up in confusion.
I chuckled to myself then gasped at the pain it caused.
“Nothing.” I smiled up to her. “You did fine.” I turned to Tom. “Did you find his body?”
“Yeah, he was caught in the struts under the pier – his head had been taken off. We didn’t find it.” He shuddered.
“Help me up.” I said, reaching a hand up. Tom frowned again, then took me under the arm and held me up. I wasn’t as steady on my feet as I would have wanted to be. “Take me to them.” I pointed to The Boss’ men, now leaderless.
Once there I looked to Danny.
“Holy shit, Shaun, what are you doing up?” Danny looked impressed.
“Got things to do.” I shrugged. “Have they given you any trouble?” He looked down at the men who were hanging their heads.
“Nah, threw down their weapons when Jayani shot the other guy – they’ve been complacent ever since.” Danny said. I nodded.
“Good. You four.” They looked up. “I want two of you to come with us. The other two, I want you to go back to your camp.” They looked at each other, confused. “Which of you had the most sway with your people?” They exchanged glances. Finally one raised his hand. I guessed he was the eldest, maybe thirty. “Name?”
“Rodger, sir.” He didn’t look at me.
I was amused by the ‘sir’.
“Shaun is fine. Rodger, pick one of the other three and take him with you. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want this war to happen.” He looked up at me in surprise. I continued. “Both sides will lose too much. We have many other enemies out there, zombies obviously being a big one. They seem to be getter smarter too, as I am sure you saw today. When you get back to the camp, I want you to talk to your people. I want you to get everyone’s opinion on this – there are some big decisions you need to make, and they need to be made as a group. When you have decided on what you will be doing, get us on the radio and tell us what you have decided to do – we’ll be waiting.” I tried to keep the pain out of my voice.
“Why do you want to take two of us with you?” One of the others asked.
“So you know we’re telling the truth. I’m sure Rodger will feel a lot better talking to one of you on the radio rather than to someone he doesn’t know, and I assume the same would be true for anyone else in your camp.” They still looked unsure. “You wouldn’t be hostages – you would be welcome to join the community as equals. I just want to make the communication between you easier. Would you be prepared to do that?” They all nodded. “Great. Rodger, let me know who you pick and when you want to go. We’ll give you your weapons and supplies back.” Danny went to speak and I felt Tom shake his head. I pretended not to notice.
After half an hour, Rodger came up to me. Still not able to stand by myself, I sat on the floor trying to flex my hands and failing.
Rodger crouched beside me and winced at my hands.
“I’m sorry about that.” He said. He sounded genuine.
“Not your fault.” I said, looking at him. “What have you decided?”
“Max and Henry will go with you.” He pointed them out to me. Max was almost as tall as Tom, but without Tom’s muscle. Henry was short and stocky – he didn’t remind me of my Henry at all.
“Good to hear. Hope to hear from you soon. Danny! Give these men their stuff.” Danny came over and handed their supplies. “Good luck guys – stay safe.” Rodger looked back at me.
“Thank you for this. I hope we talk soon, too.” He smiled briefly and led the others out.
Tom came over to me.
“Home?” He asked, helping me up.
“Home.” I replied. I could feel my muscle relax at the thought of it.
It only took about three hours to get word from Rodger. They want to meet with us, hoping to work out how to best deal with this situation. Most of his group want peace, just like we do.
The entire camp roared with applause when we told them.
Rodger did say that a few of them can’t handle it and are going to leave. I can’t help but feel a bit sad about that, but it’s better than the situation we had before, so I guess I’ll have to settle for it.
I can see that I’m not going to be able to write for a while – I can’t even hold the bloody pen to write. Henry, my Henry has acted as scribe for me, sitting with me the last couple of hours, writing down everything I say – even this, apparently.
As I won’t be able to write for at least the next few weeks, I’m going to leave it here. I won’t be able to take up Henry’s time writing regularly, and I doubt I will have the time myself anyway – everyone seems to want me running things… I guess sick leave went when the apocalypse started.
I came so close to death yesterday.
It has made me acutely aware of all the things I nearly lost.
Despite the pain, I’ve never been gladder to be alive.
To know that I’ll get to see Amy grow up.
To help Joel become a father.
To be an uncle myself.
To watch Henry grow into the man I know he will become…
I didn’t expect to make it through today…
But I am glad I did.
The Diary of Shaun Michaels 