Serene Dreams in a Chaotic World Pt 12

The little remote controlled vehicle slid across the rocks unevenly. We all held our breath, hoping it wouldn’t overturn, and when it didn’t we sighed with relief. Caden maneuvered it over the rocky terrain, and through the grass. When it was far enough out that we wouldn’t get the shock from it, he veered to the left. “We want to divert their attention to a different spot, that way they don’t know we’re up here” he said, his tongue sticking out as he cleverly played with the controls. Looking at him, I imagined him as a child with a toy car. He was probably the child that smashed the other boys’ cars, then put his arms skyward in a victory only he knew. Currently, that victory was stopping the undead from breaking into our fortress and killing us all.
When the car was almost out of sight, he stopped it. Tim pulled a second control out of his pocket. This remote had a single button on it. I assumed that button would change life as we knew it. I was correct. Tim pushed the button with a fierceness of a lioness protecting her cubs. There was a slight delay in time, where I saw a flash of light, but heard nothing. Everything was still, and seemed to move in slow motion. Then the noise made it to my ears. Ahh, the sweet sound of victory. And an explosion of course… For a split second, my ears rang. The ground below us rumbled, like when thunder sounded off it’s triumph. It was a slight rumble, but we all looked fearfully at each other for a brief moment. When the rumbling stopped, the fear was gone from our eyes… Then all was still once more. “I am going to go check on the kids and make sure they’re okay” Tim said, and fled down the stairs gracefully. When he was out of sight, I turned to Caden. “Do you think we got most of them?” I asked, hopeful. Caden looked through one of the holes in the window, squinting to see in the darkness of the night. “I’m not sure. I can’t see them yet. I think we’ll have to wait til morning to be sure.” I was alarmed for a moment. “What do you mean wait til morning? What if there are still tons of them and they make it to us?” I had started to panic. Caden turned to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. We’re in a safe place. They won’t get in here. We’ll sleep in shifts, and watch for them. It will be okay.” he said, and in that instant I knew he felt we were going to be okay. I nodded. “You and Tim can sleep first. I slept for a while, I’ll be lookout for a while.” A look of relief washed over him. I could tell he wanted so much to just close his eyes and drop into a dreamless sleep. “Thank you. I need it.” was all he said. I smiled. “I know you do.” He turned and walked down the tower, his shadow chasing him until he reached the bottom of the cold steel steps. I picked up a pistol, at least I could shoot it one handed if need be. As I gazed out the hole in the steel, I couldn’t help but wonder if life would ever be normal again. Not in the ‘I’m going on the internet, texting my friends and watching tv’ normal, but if we would ever again live in a world not riddled with the undead. Despair and danger hung around every corner at this point. Losing those you loved, having to scavenge for food, hiding out of sight… These were not ‘normal’ things. I wondered if life would ever become normal in the sense that my children could go outside to play without fear of being bitten, that we could once again go to the beach and have our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That things would just be okay.
I was so engulfed in my thoughts that I didn’t hear Tim come up behind me. Only when I felt his hand on my shoulder did I realize I wasn’t alone. I jumped slightly, and turned around. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.” he said, and smiled. “What are you doing up? I thought you were going to sleep.” I said, softly. He released my shoulder and turned away from me. “I don’t need to sleep right now. I’m not even tired. I’m more worried than anything.” he said. “Worried? About what Tim?” I asked, confused at his statement. “I’m worried about a lot of things. I’m worried about survival, I’m worried I’m going to run out of supplies, that I’m not going to get to see Lily grow up… Or she’s not going to get to have a full life, the kind of life she should have. I worry about things that I shouldn’t worry about… Like how I am ever going to get to remember these things without the use of a camera.” I turned to him. “I have a camera. I have a printer too, and extra cartridges. It only prints small prints, but it’s something Tim. Because while you think it’s not things you’re supposed to worry about, I worry about them too.” It was true. In my pack placed carefully in the center was a digital camera and a small dock printer. I had scavenged a few extra cartridges for it in various stores we had raided for food. If I had to leave this earth before my time, I wanted evidence that I had lived. That my kids had lived. That we had been. Tim looked at me. “Thank you.” was all he said. He walked up to me and hugged me tightly. “You are an angel.” He let me go, and took my good hand in his. “I have an idea.” I looked at my hand in his, for some reason I couldn’t look him in the eye. I think I knew what his idea was, and I was dreading it. “We need to pack up supplies, and get on a barge. We don’t have to go very far into the lake, but it would be far enough that those fucks couldn’t get to us. We could come in from the lake if there’s a storm, or if we need to get more supplies…” he had a flicker of excitement in his eyes as he spoke of his plan. I listened, and when he was done speaking, I chose my words carefully. “If you promise me we’ll be wise about this, I will try it. For my kids to see sunlight again without fear would be more joy than they’ve had in a long time. But they have to be safe. And so does Lily. If you can promise me that, then we will try.” He looked at me, tears brimming in his eyes. “Yes. I promise you. I promise you we will give those children a life.” he said. Looking into his eyes, I believed whole-heartedly that he meant it too. I let out a long sigh. “First thing’s first Tim. We need to get out of this mess we’re in right now. All those bastards out there,” I turned to the holes in the window. The light was starting to come through where the sun was now rising. I looked out the windows to see how many undead were left outside. Not too many, but not ‘just a few’ either. It was workable. I turned back to Tim to finish my sentence. “We need to take care of. Then we need to find a ship. We can’t get ahead of ourselves or we’re going to fall, and hard.” He nodded in agreement. “After Caden has had some sleep and it’s a little brighter outside, we’ll go out and take care of them. When they’re gone, we’ll work on a plan to get the ship. One step at a time.” I said. So now, we played the waiting game.