Follow The Buzzards

IX (Dean's Story II)

I felt a sudden jolt and sat up. I was still in the truck with the soldier and other survivors. I turned my head to look out the rear window to see we had just gone over a speed bump. Given the speed we were driving, I'm not surprised that startled me.

We were all sitting on the floor of the truck, the window came low enough for me to just look out while sitting against the wall.

The man with the marking on his face was sitting across from me looking at the palms of his hands with a cold look.

The soldier was leaning out of an opening to front seat, he was talking to the driver, and that young couple was asleep in each others arms in the far corner.

"I'm sorry about your girl." I say softly.
"That was really fucked up back there."

The man didn't seem to acknowledge my condolences.

Before I could get any other words out, he looked up at me

"I was holding her in my hands when it happened." He cleared his throat as if he was holding back a cry.
"I was holding her, and then they threw the bomb. It landed just infront of us. Before I could turn around and get between her and the blast, it had already gone off." He said with a shake your voice.

"Maybe she's in a better pl-"

"She had leukemia." He interrupted.

I was struggling to find the words to say. We went over another speed bump, I saw that we had entered the country side, the city and rubble was being left behind us.

"I knew she wouldn't make it. I was prepared to lose her. I just wish she didn't have to go like that." He said with pain in his eyes.

"You were being strong for her before, now it's time to be strong for yourself." I said while looking back out the window as the war went on in the city.
"I'm Dean by the way."

"Marcus." He said, now we were both looking out the back window of the truck, watching our lives as we knew it disappeared in ash.

The young couple had woken up and overheard us introducing each other.

"I'm Glenn" He mumbled while struggling to sit up. He propped himself up against the inner wall of the truck.
"And this is Mia" He added.

He did not look like he was in good shape, his leg looked very beat up. The spot he slept in had blood smudged all over.

We all shared a quick look of acknowledgement and then we went back to silence. There was not much to be said.

About twenty minutes later the truck came to a stop. We looked around wondering where we were. All I could see out the window was an endless field or dry grass and and some trees in the distance.

The driver got out and opened the back door. The sky was gloomy, almost like a greyish blue. It must have been near sunrise.

The soldier stepped past us and got out, he ordered us to get out as well and line up along the wall of a brick building next to us.

As I stepped out I looked at the wall, then the building it was part of. Then I looked around to see where I was.

There were chain link fences about 20 feet tall, lined with barb wire all around us. There were tents scattered throughout. Soldiers walking in squads all armed with weapons. This was a military base.

We stood against the wall. Glenn needed help out of the truck, and he leaned his weight against wall, and Mia helped him steady himself so he wouldn't collapse. My back was sweating and felt cold against the bricks. Marcus stood next to me, he was a large man, built like a grizzly bear.

"Any of you ever shot a rifle before?" The soldier boomed.

I shook my head no, and looked to my side to see that the rest of them all said no as well.

"I can learn, hand me one." Marcus eagerly asked, reaching his hand out.

The driver stepped forward and pushed Marcus back in line.

"Easy there big man. You'll all be learning." He said with a laugh in his voice.
"We didn't bring you here to live a peaceful life."

"He's right. We've lost too many troops in New York, Texas, and Los Angeles. Any survivors are fighting this war with us, or you fend for yourselves." The soldier said with thunder in his words. His voice was so strong I was surprised the bricks didn't crack behind me.

"What- what happened in New York? I have family there." Glenn said with fear for the worst.

"Exactly what happened in Chicago. Hell, we got off easy. They gave us the baby bomb. The one they gave New York were easily eight times the seismic blast we took." The driver said sounding unaffected, he looked numb to war.

Glenn slowly slide down the wall till he was sitting in the dirt. He broke down in tears knowing his family must not have survived.

While Mia tended to him, Marcus and I were directed to our tent, and told to take Mia and Glenn, we were all going to stay crammed together.

Marcus and I walked over, still letting this all set in. Mia and Glenn were slowly making their way behind us. Marcus seemed very eager to help out in the war. For some reason, I wasn't so apposed to it. Maybe things could get better one day and the people in the Vault could come up.

I could see Ellie again.

We got in the tent which felt a lot more spacious on the inside. We all sat in separate corners, except Mia was still comforting Glenn.

Suddenly a small boy peaked in, he was carrying a tin that usually was used for carrying ammunition. He reached in and dropped a handful of crackers on the ground between us and a bottle of foggy water.

"Eat up, get rested. Target practice is in a few hours."

And then he disappeared into the crowd of soldiers outside.

×××××

Hey guys, just a heads up I'm only going to try to keep the "Dean's Story" chapters as a trilogy. Meaning the following chapter will be the last, and then back to Ellie's perspective as she is the protagonist.

I may go back to a Dean perspective somewhere down the line as a follow up.

-Much love.