Chapter 6: CPH

Ugh, gotta piss.

A painfully full bladder woke Eli from his sleep. The bedding beside him was empty. He assumed Julie must have taken over watch duty during the night. As he sat up, a small hand clung to the back of his shirt. Vivi was sound asleep behind him, curled up like a puppy. She had fallen asleep while holding onto him, smiling peacefully. Eli's heart melted at the sight of his way-too-cute little sister. Well, technically his older sister.

Noticing it was still nighttime, he mentally cautioned himself to stay quiet. He removed Vivi's hand from his shirt and placed it gently on the blanket, careful not to wake her in the process. There was an interior doorway at the back of the store, directly across from the main entrance, that Eli figured must be the restroom. Obviously the toilet would be broken, but still, the restroom is the default place to piss. He made his way to the restroom, thankful for the increased light in the store from the moon having moved across the sky to shine directly through the front window.

The toilet had been tipped over and shattered a long time ago. Fan-fucking-tastic. Eli shrugged and resigned himself to pissing on the floor in a corner of the room. He stood in position and unzipped his denim pants.

*Sigh* It feels wrong holding a dick I don't recognize, or any dick besides my own, really. But this one's mine now, guess I'll get used to it eventually.

After relieving himself, he headed back to the main storefront, where Julie sat atop the counter. She smiled his way and waved a hand, signaling him to come closer. Eli was halfway to her when the silence was abruptly broken.

*Thump...thud thump*

Something was bumping against their car. Several somethings. Things with raspy breathing, loud enough to be heard inside the store. Ferals, and they were trying to get into the gas station. Eli dropped to a crouch and moved behind the counter, where Vivi was still asleep. Julie joined him, quietly waking her daughter, machete already in hand.

Shit, do they know we're in here? No, they'd be screaming if they knew. They're not coming after us. So, why are they trying to get in? Let's see, Julie said they're nocturnal, and the moon is going down, so they could be looking for a place to nest for the night. Are their hives not in fixed locations? Maybe they were roaming the streets and simply wandered to the nearest building for shelter. And, just our fucking luck, this happened to be the nearest building. They're not moving away after failing though. That's strange. But, even if they can't get in, the awning over the parking area might be sufficient shelter for them. Damn, this is bad.

Eli's thoughts were racing, adrenaline spurring him to figure this shit out, ASAP. Beside him, Vivi was awake and exchanging rapid hand signals with Julie. Several seconds later, Julie drew her blade from it's case and stood facing the open window.

She wouldn't. There's no way, right? Oh shit, she really is. I thought she was well-trained and smart, why would she do something so impulsive? To protect her children? Dammit, there's no way I'm letting her do this alone. I'm not losing my mother a second time.

Quickly blocking her path, Eli began making his own hand gestures to silently communicate with her. He held both palms out toward Julie, tapped his left wrist where a watch would be worn, then pointed east and raised his pointing finger upward. "Stop. Wait until the sun comes up.", he could only hope she understood his message. Julie's initial surprise turned into confusion as she watched him. He performed the gestures once more. Thankfully, she understood after the second time. She nodded, sheathed her blade, rubbed his head affectionately, and sat down on the spot to wait  until sunrise.

Half an hour later, once the sun had risen and Eli was fairly certain the Ferals were asleep for the day, he made more hand signals to Julie and Vivi. He motioned that they should all to go out the back door and around the building to deal with the threat. They were both understandably skeptical at first, but they had enough training and experience to realize his intentions. 

Julie stood and motioned for her children to follow her. They went over to their luggage, and Julie opened one of the cases. She took out a composite-handled hatchet, which she passed to Vivi, then shuffled through the remaining contents. While she was moving items around, Eli spotted a large hunting knife in the mix. Much to Julie's surprise, he snatched it up and pulled the blade from it's leather sheath, which he dropped back into the luggage case. Her shock lasted only a moment before she retrieved a small metal spray canister the size of her palm.

They crept through the shop to the solid-steel rear entry door. The lightly-rusted, stainless steel bolt lock was still intact. Julie lifted the little canister up and sprayed a clear liquid into the locking mechanism, and all over the assembly as a whole. Then she did the same to all three of the door's hinges.

Mechanical lubricant spray, huh? Did WD-40 survive the apocalypse? That's some damn good thinking, though. Loud, creaky hinges would have fucked-up the whole plan, maybe even got us all killed. Julie really is impressive, and I don't mean her impressive body proportions. If I'm not careful, I might accidentally fall in love.

After giving the lubricant spray a little time to work it's magic on the hinges, Julie unbolted the lock and slowly pulled the door open. They stayed low and quiet as they rounded the store, watching their surroundings for signs of more Ferals. When they stopped at the front corner, Eli peered around the wall to get a look at the Ferals. 

Holy shit, they really are zombies. 

Decaying, pale bodies, thy wore tattered remnants of their filthy clothing. The stench of rancid, rotting meat filled the air. The ugly fuckers were mostly bald, with sparse patches of greasy hair hanging from their scalps. Each of them had chunks of their body missing, eaten by other Ferals when they were still human. One Feral, a tall, skinny man, was missing his entire left arm, dangling strands of putrid flesh and tendons hanging from the stump.

Two nasty freaks were asleep on their backs by the passenger side of the car, another three lying similarly on the other side, just visible below the gap made by the vehicle's raised suspension. A lone Feral, the least decayed of the bunch, stood in the fueling area. He was facing the street, its back to them. The one-armed bastard on the ground beside it.

One lookout. The sentinel, as Julie called it. We need to drop him first.

Eli, keeping his sights on the sentinel, patted Julie's back to get her attention. Well, he meant to pat her back. Forgetting his new body was much shorter than he used to be, he accidentally patted her big, round ass. Luckily, she didn't seem bothered by the soft spanking. Of course, he made sure to memorize the feeling of her butt, for future use. More material for the spank bank.

He made quick hand signs to convey his plan. "Julie takes down the sentinel and the Feral beside it. He and Vivi take down the Ferals by the car. He targets the closest two, Vivi circles the car to kill the other three." He repeated his gestures twice to make sure they both understood. Though visibly unhappy about Eli taking part in the operation, Julie nodded her approval and sneaked around the corner, Vivi and Eli following closely behind.

Without hesitation, Julie thrust her machete through the base of the sentinel's skull. The blade stabbed through its mouth, sending a spray of blood, flesh, and teeth flying through the air. Its brain stem severed, the dead Feral went completely limp. She grabbed it from behind before it could fall, and quietly lowered the corpse to the ground.

The instant he saw Julie's blade rip into the sentinel's neck, Eli stepped up to the nearest sleeping Feral. Holding his knife in a reverse grip, he swung it down, into the dead woman's right eye, pushing the blade into her soft brain, twisting the knife for good measure. He heard the dull thud of Vivi's hatchet separating a head from a body. Yanking the knife from the dead Feral's scooped-out eye hole, he moved to his next target. A quick stab through the eye socket, a twist of the knife, and his job was done. He wiped the gore from his blade onto the Feral's shirt. 

Shit, I haven't done anything that nerve wracking since the old man made me hunt black bears in the Ozark Mountains.

Julie and Vivi met up with him by the car, everyone having succeeded their mission.

"Eli.....nice work. Mama's proud of you, but you need to promise me, right now, that you won't try to do anything like this on your own. Ever." Julie was staring down at him, her gray-blue eye still fierce from her recent kills.

"Uh, yeah, okay." An awkward reply from an uncomfortable Eli.

"No, not 'yeah', promise me. And if you want to act like a soldier and fight Ferals, you will speak like a soldier, answering with 'yes ma'am' or 'no ma'am'. Is that clear?"

Eli snapped to attention, back straight and shoulders squared, the result of years of secondhand military training, courtesy of his retired drill sergeant grandfather.

"Yes ma'am! I promise, Ma'am!" The sound of a young boy speaking like a military man was comical, even to Eli.

"Good." Julie's expression softened into one of motherly love. She kneeled down and pulled him into a hug. "My sweet baby wants to be a warrior like mama, does he? It's kind of sad that you're not the shy little boy you were last week, but I love you all the same, no matter what. You did well sweetheart, thank you." She kissed his cheek and stood up. "Now then, I'll move the roller away from the doors so we can load up and move out."

"Roller" she says. It sounds so lame every time I hear it. Military vehicles are supposed to have acronyms for names, like the APC¹Armored Personnel Carrier or the FSV²Field Support Vehicle. No fucking way will I ever call it a roller. It's a cyberpunk Humvee, a CPH, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I'll make a t-shirt that says "It's a CPH: change my mind". Shit, there's no one left who could understand that joke.

"Hey, Eli!" Vivi playfully punched him on the shoulder, a little harder than necessary. "That was pretty cool! If this is the new you, well, I like it. I think mom might train you now, same as me. You know what that means? It means I'll be your superior officer! Don't worry though, I won't be a hardass like other commanding officers." Laughing to herself, she went into the store to pack up their belongings.

Eli smirked in amusement while rubbing the sore spot on his arm.

Heh, this girl, life's going to be fun with her as a sister. 

They made swift work of loading their luggage into the CPH, taking some time to wipe the Feral gore off themselves and thoroughly clean their weapons. Also, having finally remembered to ask about it, Julie gave Eli a toothbrush and some minty powdered toothpaste, along with an aluminum bottle filled with purified water.

Eli took one last look at the seven rotting corpses strewn around the storefront before climbing into the back seat. The car's all-terrain tires kicked up red sand as Julie sped away from the little convenience store, eager to get out of the city and away from all the Ferals. Eli stared blankly out the window, watching the decrepit buildings rush by, seeing nothing but sand and decay wherever he looked.

Damn. It's barely been twenty-four hours since I got here, but I already miss the green Arkansas forests. I wonder if any forests still exist. The air is still breathable, so there must be green places somewhere on Earth. But where?