Chapter 17: You Are What You Eat

Nicole and I had finally gotten some rest on "decent" beds: inflatable pool floaters covered with bed sheets. Night had just fallen, and everyone seemed preoccupied with their own way of passing time: two of the soldiers played cards, three others looked like they were passing around a joint, and Sarah was in the corner, fidgeting with a radio.

Charlie:"Well well well, if it isn't sleeping ugly."
Ben: "Good morning, sunshine. You hungry?"
Peter: "Yeah, starving..."
Ben:"There's some apple pie in the cooler over there, help yourself."
Peter: "Thanks."

I open the blue cooler and find dozens of small plastic bags, each one containing bits of meat or processed pastry; In an attempt to keep them from spoiling, the bags have been submersed in ice-cold water. Grabbing a bag of "spam cubes", I walk over to Sarah who is still at work on her radio.

Sarah: "Hey."
Peter: "Any luck?"
Sarah: "No, unfortunately...Ugh! This damn thing keeps dying out on me..."
Peter: "Once it starts working...do you think you'd be able to call for help on that thing?"

Trey: "HA! ....funny guy." He bursts in amusement. "And who do you think would come? There is no "Help", don't you get it? We ARE the help."
Charlie: Hate to say it, but the man's tellin' the truth; Once the shit hit the fan, management went AWOL and we lost all communications with HQ...it's like they just vanished into thin air..."
Trey: Psh! Everyone's just trying to save their own ass.
Ben: "Yeah, well, can you blame em'?
Trey:"...Shit, guess not."

Sarah: "I got it!!!" She exclaims, as music begins to blare from the speaker.

"Welcome back to End of Days Radio with me, your host, Donovan Spokes. Transmitting live from my oh-so-cozy bunker, I'm here to keep you brave souls posted on what's happening across the globe. OK, here we go people: Today's first bit of news comes from the East coast; the rising tide of the walking dead have quelled yet another large scale rescue attempt made by an armed-civilian party. DOH! (the voice of Homer from The Simpson's erupts) The rescuers were unaware that their attempts were made in "Dead Zones". Alright, listen up people cuz this is some heavy shit: A "Dead Zone" is an area of High Hostile Density, meaning, it's a place where there's still a shitload of dead people running around. If you're smart, you'd stay clear from these places. The only way you can tell you're in one is if you see a large orange X spray painted on any of the buildings around you, if you see that, you better (a clip from Forrest Gump cuts in) RUN, FORREST, RUN! Now, onto the West; things have begun to quiet down in the West, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad. The last transmission I got is over three weeks old, which is not a good sign for any of you waiting for a rescue.

Trey: "What I say? Was I right or was I right?"
Charlie: Shut up man, I can't hear.
Trey: "..."

"China, Guadalajara, Venezuela, India, Myanmar, Singapore, Italy, Germany, and the entirety of North America have been witness to the most fatalities, with a death count sum of two-hundred fifty-thousand and counting. Australia is the least affected with an estimate total of only fifteen thousand dead. Well, that's all I have for right now...stay tuned ya'll...and stay safe..."

After the brief intermission, the radio goes back to playing music; "Sending Out An SOS" by the band "The Police" begins to play. The irony brings out a well needed smile from me, as I finish the last piece of spam.