TeenZ

Back to Town

The same dream I had been having since this all began plagued my mind again. I awoke early once more “Will I ever sleep well again?” I thought to myself. I looked over at the clock ticking in the kitchen, squinting I could make out that it was 1:30 in the morning, I lay back down and tried to drift back to sleep. Eventually I managed to fall asleep, this time the horrible dream didn’t play through my head, but still I slept badly.
After what felt like only a few minutes of sleep, I was awoken to the sound of someone rummaging through the box of food. My eyelids flicker open, Shannon was going through the box of food and everyone else was sitting at the dining room table. “Morning” Shae said from the table “Morning, what’s the time?” I asked “About 10:30, you slept in” Shiro said “Sorry, I didn’t sleep very well” I said standing up “I don’t think any of us have really” Kaycee said “How’s your leg, your stitches ok?” I asked Ebony walking over “I think so, the bandages might need changing though” She replied “Ok, well we can do that later” I said sitting down “They ate most of the food” Shannon said standing up from the box holding a can of food, she handed the can to me “Thanks, have you all already ate?” I asked taking the can, everyone nodded. I opened the can and started eating. After finishing the can I walk over and left it on the bench “Has our ‘friend’ left?” I asked sitting down “Yeah, he was trying to get in earlier, saying that he can’t survive on his own” James said “And” I said questioningly “And eventually he left, I don’t know where he went but he left” James continued “But not before smashing the front window of the bus” Shae said “Shit, we can’t drive the bus around with the window smashed, the zombies could easily climb in” I said sitting back down at the table “I think there is some aluminium roofing in the shed from when my dad was replacing the roof” Jess said “That could work, but we would have to cut a gap so the driver can see” Ebony said “Ok, well then. Lead the way Jess.” I said. We all stood up from the table and walked outside.
We walked over to the large shed which I noticed when we first drove into Jess’s property. She walked over and slid the door open. The shed was dark and it was difficult to see anything, Jess reached her hand around and tried the light switch. It clicked but nothing happened “Hold on, I’ll go turn the generator on” Jess walked slightly inside and climbed a wooden ladder into the loft, there was the sound similar to a lawnmower starting then the lights turned on as the sound of rumbling echoed throughout the shed. The whole shed illuminated, it was a large rectangle and looked similar to a barn, shelving racks were up the ladder and the generator was on them. Jess was standing at the top of the ladder, “There…, I’m not sure where the roofing is so we will have to search” She said climbing down the ladder “Do the generators power the house as well?” Tom asked “Yeah, they do, but there isn’t much fuel left” Jess replied. We started searching around the shed for the roofing, eventually James found it hidden behind a work bench, “It’s over here” He said from the corner of the shed, we walked over and pulled the roofing outside. Jess climbed back up the ladder and turned off the generator.
“Where would your dad keep saws Jess” I asked “They would be over on the bench the roofing was behind” Jess answer, I walked back into the darkened shed and waited for my eyes to adjust. I walked over and grabbed a few saws including a power saw. I walked back outside and set them on the ground, “We may need the generator again if we want to use the power saw” Shannon said “It will make it easier to cut…” Shae added, Jess walked back inside and climbed up to the generator for a third time. We dragged the roofing back into the shed and lifted it onto the work bench. “James, you did woodwork, you cut it” I said handing him the power saw, James plugged the saw in and turned it on. The blade started spinning instantly, he lowered it onto the roofing and cut a rectangular hole near the centre. James reached over and switched the saw off “Better leave the generator on, just in case I need to cut it more” James said lifting the roofing off the bench, we carried it over to the front of the bus. Shannon climbed into the driver’s seat and we lifted it into place. “How’s that?” James asked “The gap needs to be bigger I think, I can’t see very much. We carried the saw back into the shed and cut the hole bigger, this time the hole was big enough. “Kaycee, go grab some screws and use your drill to make it stay in place.” I said holding a corner of the roofing. Kaycee ran inside and grabbed a box of screws, Ebony and Jess helped lift her onto the roof of the bus, she crawled over to the front window of the bus. She reached over and quickly drove two screws into the top 2 corners of the sheeting before sliding off the roof of the bus. She drove two more screws into the final two corners before we stepped away. The sheeting stayed in place. “I guess the bus is sort of fixed then” Shiro said “Yeah, I’ll go turn the generator off again” Jess said walking back into the shed “You know, there is still quite a lot of roofing left, we could protect the other windows…” Tom said. We spent the next few hours, cutting and drilling roofing over the windows of the bus. By the time we were finished, the inside of the bus was as dark as the shed. A few seconds after James cut the final piece of metal the generator ran out of fuel. “That was the last of the gas” Jess said listening to the generator turn off. Shiro looked around “We could take the fuel from that ute, we need what fuel is in the Land Rover and bus to get around” Shiro said “I guess so, but we need to move the ute closer” Jess said “Well, where does your dad keep the keys” I asked “That isn’t my dad’s ute, I think it was theirs” Jess replied nodding in the direction of the bodies.
We walked back down the driveway towards the bodies, the remains still sitting in the same place we left them. We stopped about 2 metres from them, “Who is going to search for the keys?” Shannon asked, we all looked at each other and said nothing, no one wanted to search through the pockets of dead people. “Fine, I guess I’ll search then…” Kaycee said stepping forward “I’ll help, I guess…” Ebony said stepping forward also. They walked over and crouched down beside the bodies, after a few minutes they rolled the first body off the pile “This is really weird” Kaycee said beginning to start searching the next body “Yeah, not how I woke up wanting to spend my day” Ebony said jokingly. The rest of us just stood there, not sure what to do while waiting. Eventually Kaycee stood up holding a single key, “This could be the key” Kaycee said “Well, let’s go try it then” Shiro said, we walked back down the drive way and over to the ute. Kaycee passed the key to Shannon and Shannon climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the ute on.
Shannon drove the ute over until it was directly in front of the shed doors, Shannon then reversed the ute into the shed and stopped once inside. Jess walked over to a work bench in the corner and grabbed two fuel cans and a plastic hose. She walked over and set them down beside the gas tank door as Shannon popped the door open from inside the car. The rest of us walked into the shed and stood beside the ute. “Does anyone know how to get fuel out of a tank?” Jess asked “I think I do…” I said walking over and putting the hose in the tank. I inhaled slightly into the end of the hose then I quickly removed the hose and shifted it into the gas can. Gas started pouring into the can. Once the first can was full I swapped it into the other. Tom walked over and grabbed the can “How do you know how to do that?” Tom asked “A movie, I wasn’t sure it would work” I said. He carried the can over to the ladder and climbed up “Can you pass the can over to me someone?” Tom asked, Shae grabbed the can and passed it up to him. Tom walked somewhere and I heard the sound of pouring. “This other can is almost full, and I think there is still quite a lot of fuel left in here” I said Shiro walked over with the now empty can, I quickly swapped them over and Shiro carried it over to the ladder. This repeated once more before no more fuel was pouring out. “That’s all the fuel that’s in there” I said walking away from the ute “That should be plenty of fuel anyway” Jess said “But we should still only use it when we really need it” She added “Well, what do we do now?” James asked “Well, we need more food, but I think we have enough for a few days” Shannon said “What do we do next anyway?” Shiro asked “I have no idea…” Kaycee said “Does anyone have any ideas?” She asked, everyone shook their heads “We have to do something…” Tom said “We could try helping survivors… giving them a place to stay, but, with conditions” I said “Like them not having weapons when staying here, just in case” I added “But first we should get enough food and water to support everyone” Jess said “So, are we going into town again?” Ebony asked “Look’s that way” I said.