Chapter 8 - Careful what you wish for

My bathroom break was cut short when someone knocked at my door.

“What is it?”, can’t you people give me some privacy. I am just having some ‘me’ time. Well, no rest for the weary.

“Allen, it’s Camille. I saw you go in half an hour ago. Just wanted to check up on you” [Camille]

30 minutes gone and I reminisced about things that I can’t control. “I am fine Camille. Coming out now” [Allen]

Washing myself one final time and reassuring my mirror self that everything will be fine, I stepped out. Camille stood there with teary eyes and a small bandage wrap around her elbow. Before I could voice out, she hugged me and cried into my chest.

Dismayed by her actions, I looked around and saw Alvin beaming with a huge smile on his face waving his hands saying ‘go ahead’. Go ahead with what? She likes you dude. You blockheaded mule.

“Camille, it’s going to be fine. This place is safe for now. I will think of something. Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to us” [Allen]

Camille whimpered in my arms like a kid. I have never seen her cry like this before. Infact, I have never seen Camille cry ever. I heard that her dad was killed when he was rescuing some people from a hospital fire. I guess, she has never shown her vulnerable self to anyone after that incident. She must be pretty shaken up. Plunged into doom and getting your ass handed down by a giant may be played a big role.

Caressing her hair gently, I said, “Let’s go to our area. I asked Alvin to set up a tent and he might be slacking off”. She held onto me with a tighter grip unwilling to move. I sighed and continued, “besides, it’s embarrassing. Everyone is staring at us” [Allen]

“I don’t care about them. I am not letting you go. YOU got yourself mixed up in trouble. YOU did something stupid, not Alvin”. Her eyes fixated upon mine, she pleaded in a soft mesmerizing voice, “Can you let me hold a little longer? I don’t know what I would do without you”

Before I get any weird thoughts, my brain screams at me You and Camille are friends. Nothing more. Just let her hold until she is better. She is shivering from the earlier encounter. Let her be. This keeps people away from you and gives you enough time to come up with something.

Without protesting further, I stood as long as she wanted me to, staring at a distance awkwardly. Her shivering died out eventually and her grip loosened. She looked at me once more and said, “Thank you Allen” and walked away towards our sleep area.

Can’t understand women.

I followed her to our tent. It was a bright red tent, like taunting your enemies, look over here, this is our commander. Why attract so much attention to us? The tent looked comfortable though, so kudos to Alvin. I should thank him for that. He must have had trouble setting it up, considering he took most of the brunt from the earlier attack. If it were not for him, Camille and I would have been squished into human paste along the walkways.

“He must have been tired. He kept watch over me when I was unconscious. He is relieved knowing we both are fine. He must have fallen asleep”, Camille said looking at Alvin, who was sleeping like a baby. [Camille]

That asshole. Giving me the go ahead and sleeping inside. Fucker. Focus Allen, Camille is your friend. “Yes. He guarded us both with his body. We should let him rest. I am going to check up on our progress. You rest here. You also sustained some injury”, I motioned at her elbow. Come to think about it, was she hurt?

“I am fine. This is nothing but a scratch. Alvin applied antiseptics and covered the wound fearing it might get infected”. She flapped around her arms and did a ballad like movement. “See, all good”

Seeing my hesitation, she continued, “I want to see what we are doing”. Her face dropped on her shoulder. She muttered looking at the floor, ”Do you think my mom is fine?” [Camille]

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Touchy subject. Camille’s mom doesn’t own a gun, so she probably is dead. She might have been with someone who could have helped her, but not likely. “Yes, she should be fine. We managed, so she could have too. Lot of people here didn’t fight the monsters”. I lied through my teeth and that made Camille better. I feel terrible.

Camille held my hands and walked closely all the while fearing the worst. Poor girl, already lost her father to fire and now her mother might not be alive too. She never even got to see her dad’s face one last time. It’s awful to think she might go through it once again with her mother.

“Allen, dad brought all the essential supplies to the meat locker. We have power now, but we are unsure of the future. We have a backup generator and enough gasoline for a week if the power fails us and we use generator sparingly. I have two people standing guard in the generator room. Some people have expressed their concerns in ‘kids’ running this place. I don’t know what to say for that. Dad has assured them we are doing our best and we have to do our best to survive till the army rescues us…...” [Wong]

Looking at me and Camille, his last sentence trailed off with no confidence whatsoever. Can’t blame that guy. He is the only other person to have killed a monster in a face to face confrontation. Assuming the army even knows of our existence, it would be tall order to expect them to rescue us within a week. He knows it too.

“That’s ok. We can’t please everyone. So, how long do we have before our food supplies run out? And what of our barricade and weapons?”. Let’s focus on what we can accomplish. [Allen]

“We built a makeshift barricade. We had a few construction workers help us put this together. I have no confidence it would stop anything more than a slow moving car. The shutters are dropped and they might stop most of the force. At best, this buys us few more days. We have not encountered any monsters other than those dead in the road. We didn’t meet the trevor guy either. May be he only rewards us once. Weapon pile is over there”. He pointed towards a small pile of metal objects and wooden objects. I assumed there would be more. Has kitchen knives, sticks sharpened as spear tips, shovels, pitchfork, some cooking oil”.He turned around and pointed at a group of people doing their best to attempt cooking with what they have. “We have set up cooking camp over there. Some of us made holes in the walls for smoke to exhaust. It’s not ideal, but it’s manageable”.

Hapless chap. Doing so much more than I could have asked. Still staring us, his eyes wandered to Camille, who was still holding my hands timidly. We might have looked like a couple taking a stroll criticising his hard work.

“Wong, this is Camille. She is a friend.” insisting on friend, I introduced the two of them.

“Camille, this is Wong. He is the other person who killed a monster. He also has a gift box”. Yes, what happened to it. Has he opened it yet?

He gritted his teeth as if restraining his urge to punch me in my face. “I have seen Camille work here. I know who she is. You are the one who doesn’t notice other people.” [Wong]

Bastard, insulting me in front of a girl. [Allen]

He turned towards Camille and continued with concern, “Are you injured? We have a nurse here. We could help her take care of you.” [Wong]

“No need for that. I am fine. This is a superficial wound. It’ll heal. Please continue with your work” [Camille]

Answering politely, Camille returned to holding my hands and ignored Wong who was still glaring at us with his death ray vision. In your face asshole. Atta girl Camille.

Wong nodded after a while and left to do about his business. I should probably take a walk around the set up. See if I can improve on things.

With Camille still stuck to me like a chewing gum, I strolled around the store. 100+ people inside a store that was not built for shelter is no small ordeal. Bathroom breaks had to be monitored. We only had 4 bathroom stalls and had to control the queue of people flooding almost immediately after their meals. The food was not up to pre-apocalypse standard. The people who made food have never catered to more than 10 people at a time. 100+ is a huge number no matter how you think about it. The quality of food dropped and people were still adjusting to their poor rations. The food here could last us for 10-15 days may be.

Ventilation was a problem, which was solved by some quick thinking. A portion of the wall was taken down and exhaust systems attached. Fancy way of saying, fans were put to suck out air. I hope no one tries to break in through those.

It was almost midnight and the occasional howling noise far or near, unable to discern the distance in the dark, haunted us. Everyone tried their best to ignore the noise, but one could only do so much. No new survivors came knocking. It either meant people found shelter somewhere else or no one other than us survived. I hate to think we are the only remaining survivors. I don’t like these people very much. Neither do I trust the lot.

Despite their mood swings and imminent death hanging around the corner, most of them adapted to the situation and consoled themselves that this would pass. There were some who took their share of food and lived like they owned the place. Some people are just born that way. Never to accept reality and trample on people who try their hardest to survive. I have to do something about these people before they damage the morale.

Alvin finally woke up after his nap and signaled me to take some rest. I don’t trust any of these people and who knows what they would do while we sleep. I told alvin to keep an eye and take turns to sleep. He understood my implications and let me and Camille rest while he took the night watch. Camille held my hands and slept through the night. I don’t understand. Wasn’t she suppose to be with Alvin? She must have been extremely terrified to have fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

I was no good either. I slept as sound as can be. I saw sheep jumping through hoops. Pleasant dreams. I might have even suckled my thumbs like a baby.

“You are good. Building a shelter, barricading yourself, leading the ignorant and even making others work for you. As expected of you, should I say”

What? Who was that?

“You know who I am. You wanted to meet me, remember?”

Trevor? Why is he in my dream? Is he reading my mind.

“Ha. I knew our fate was intertwined. So, why did you want to meet with me? Most natives do not wish to see me again. I am magnanimous, so here I am”. His almost chuckling tone changed ever so slightly into a harsh warning, “Don’t disappoint me Allen”.

Me and my stupid wish. Why did I not ask for drugs? Or sex.