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The Boys of Momma Dukes [NaNo pt. 5]

TWO MONTHS LATER

It's May 12th, 2011.

It's been ten months since I've seen you, Max. I thought that it would get easier, but it's really true what they say. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. Stupid cliches and stuff.

I miss you, big brother.

I think you'd like the guys I've picked up! Well, I think you'd like Savannah, and maybe Dodger, but definitely not Frankie. He's a bit of a douche. He's always pushing Savannah around and making him feel insignificant. I don't like it. I don't like him. What can I do, though? I was the one who invited them onto Momma with me.

Savannah's cool, though. He's got so much energy that I can't keep up with him half the time! Last week, we stopped in Albuquerque, New Mexico and raided a bunch of stores and stuff for supplies. You'd be surprised how quickly people abandoned big cities. They looked like Alaska does in the winter – empty and cold. Remember how Dad used to make those jokes about Martha Stewart's heart actually being empty and her homemaker ways were actually a cover-up for her being soulless? Yeah, I imagine this is how Martha Stewart feels.

Anyway, Savannah. He literally jumped out of Momma and landed on the bed of a truck, then took off into some store because he needed “a new set of drawers.” Frankie went with him, and they came back out with boxers over their pants. Not just one, but, like, six or seven. It was ridiculous.

As if that wasn't enough, he dragged Dodger around the city just so he could find flowers for me because I looked sad. I wasn't actually sad. I was just zoned out, and he wanted to make sure that I wasn't actually sad. He's sweet. You'd definitely like him. He's really good to me.

Dodger's a little harder to get used to. He's really rough around the edges. He used to be in the ARMY and got trained to be a sniper. How cool is that? He said he was on leave and was headed back to Australia for the winter to see his parents. I thought it was strange until he explained to me that the summer months here were winter in Australia. He said that he'd take me there when the outbreak is over. I really hope he keeps his word. I really want to go...

My birthday's tomorrow. I never told you, but I knew what you were going to get me. I overheard you talking to Warren on the phone about how you needed to find the perfect shade of red to finish the bows. You were making the rainbow bows, weren't you? At least, that's what I assumed, and really hoped was true.

I went back to the house about 8 months ago. I hadn't been back in two months, and it was weird. It was quiet. I've never known our house to be quiet. Ever. If it wasn't Daddy with the TV being too loud to think, or you with your music, or me with my music, it was us. Always us. Even with all the other stuff going on, you always made time for me. I guess you know that, huh?

I miss that.

I miss us.

I can't stress that enough.

Anyway... I went back to the house to look for you. The Blazer was gone, so I guess you got out of there. I saw the gravestone you made for Daddy. I don't think I've ever cried that much. I think that's the first time I've cried and you weren't there to remind me why everything's going to be okay. I didn't like it, so I stopped crying all together. Even on the longest of nights when I could hear people fighting and dying and I couldn't do anything about it, I didn't cry. It gets so easy not to after a while.

I keep getting side-tracked. I went back to the house, got some stuff, left you a note (just in case you decide to head back there), and headed down towards Utah. I met the boys there, outside of Holden. Frankie didn't want to come at first, but the others convinced him. I honestly wish they would have just let him go. He's an asshole, and he's going to end up getting Savannah killed or something.

I've got a really bad feeling about him.

“Mia!” The girl looked up from her journal and in the direction of Savannah's voice.

“Yeah?”

“Honda.”

“Honda?”

“Yeah, come here!” She closed her journal and stuffed it under the pillow of her cot, then climbed out of the tent that Dodger had set up for her “for privacy.” She zipped it closed behind her and joined Savannah at the driver's seat, looking out the front window onto the empty highway. At least, it was empty when Mia went into her tent about an hour ago. Now, opposing them was a small, red Honda Accord with it's headlights on. They flashed their high beams, and Savannah flashed Momma Dukes' in return. The Honda turned off and the doors opened slowly, guns emerging from the inside before the people.

“People.” She looked up as the Australian hovered over her, staring blankly at the two boys who now approached the bus.

“Looks that way.” Frankie uttered, furrowing his brow. “Who wants to be the first to go out and say hello?”

“I-I'll go...?” Savannah said, looking between him and Mia.

“I'll go with you.” She said with a smile.

“Uh, no.” Savannah made a face, shaking his head. “I'll take Dodger. If they're rapists, I'm not hinting that there's a girl here.”

“Come on, Savannah. They look like they're our age.”

“So? That doesn't mean anything!”

“Let's go.” Dodger grabbed Savannah's collar and tugged him towards the back of the bus, taking his rifle from his seat. Savannah laughed as he was dragged off, laughing even as Dodger pulled him down the ladder.

The two circled around Momma to the front, Savannah's pistols in either hand and Dodger's rifle ready to fire at a moment's notice. The two from the Honda approached just as cautiously, their eyes fixed on the weapons.

The taller of the two was skinny with brown hair and green eyes. He was leading by a few steps, and his clothes were stained with blood. His eyes were tired, but focused and his mouth was set in a firm line. The shorter one had a rounder face than the other boy, his jet black hair clinging to his dark skin from sweat. His dark eyes jumped from the boys of Momma Dukes to the boy he had exited the Honda with as if looking for an answer.

“Hey...” Savannah spoke warily, his grip on his pistols tightening. “Who are you?”

“Tyler...” The taller one spoke first. “You?”

“Savannah...”

“Like the city?” Tyler snorted a laugh.

“It's where I was born.”

“Your mom wasn't very original, was she?” The green-eyed brunette smirked as he chuckled, and his eyes couldn't hide his amusement. Savannah laughed as well, shrugging.

“Not at all.” He glanced back at Dodger, then back to Tyler. “Who's that?”

“This is Kevin.” Tyler motioned behind him to the other boy, then motioned to Dodger. “Who is that?”

“Dodger,” The Aussie spoke for himself, looking them over. “How old are you two?”

“I'm eighteen,” Tyler said. “And Kev's fifteen.”

“They're just puppies!” Dodger lowered his gun and shook his head.

“We're what?” Kevin's voice was dry and small, but Tyler looked back at him anyway.

“Puppies. You're still so young.” Dodger rolled his eyes, then looked back to the front windshield of Momma. “They're fine.”

“We are?” Tyler smirked and looked down at himself, clearly taking that comment as a compliment of his outer beauty. Kevin rolled his eyes behind him, but Savannah laughed.

“Dude, you're warped.”

“Yeah, but I'm awesome.” Tyler shrugged and smirked again. “So, where are you guys coming from?”

“All over, really.” Savannah led the other two around to the back of Momma, his pistols still in hand. “Frankie and I are from California, Dodger's from– ”

“Australia.” Kevin cut in, then quickly covered his mouth. “Sorry.”

“Nah, it's cool.” Savannah laughed. “Yeah, he's from Australia. And the princess is from Montana.”

“Princess?” Tyler furrowed his brow, looking up at the back door of Momma. “You have a princess?”

“Yeah,” Savannah laughed again, pulling down the ladder. “Wait 'til you see her. She's perfect.”

“Savannah!” Mia, standing near the door now, blushed heavily. “S-stop telling them that!”

“Sorry, Mia.” Savannah said with a smile, climbing up the ladder to join her in Momma. Tyler and Kevin followed closely behind him, looking around.

“Welcome to Momma Dukes!” Mia giggled, extending her hand to the boys. “I'm Mia!”

“Tyler David Anderoth.” He flashed an oddly white smile at her, taking her hand. “That's Kevin.”

“Kevin?” She looked at him.

“A-actually, it's Davi Thiago Filipe Alexio Virgillio Henrique Fortunado Maeus Lino Marques-Sancho,” Kevin shrugged sheepishly, looking down at his feet.

“What?” Savannah tilted his head, an unattractive but amusing look of confusion on his face.

“I'm Brazilian...”

“Uh...?”

“Just call me Kevin.”

“Yeah... will do.” He looked at Tyler, who nodded.

“That's ridiculous.” The group turned and looked back at Frankie. He had stretched out along a seat and was picking at the toe of his sneakers with a pocket knife. “Why can't you just have a normal name?”

“Th-that's why I'm called Kevin...” The young Brazilian looked up at Tyler, who was glaring at the other brunette on the bus.

“What's your problem?”

“Oh, no problem here.” Frankie scowled at them, looking up at them with just his eyes. “Just don't like unwelcome guests.”

“They are welcome, Frankie.” Mia snapped, putting her hands on her hips.

“Whatever.” He stood and closed the knife before shoving it in his pocket. “Come on, Savannah. I need to blow off steam. Let's go kill shit.” He grabbed a gun and pushed past the small group, sliding down the ladder. Savannah lowered his head slightly, nodded at the other two, then followed Frankie down the ladder.

“What just happened...?” Kevin looked between Tyler and Mia, and the girl simply shook her head.

“It's nothing you did,” She put her hand on his shoulder. “He's always that way. You learn to tolerate him after a while.”

“B-but...”

“Why don't you come over here with me? We can talk and let the boys chat.” She motioned to Tyler and Dodger who were watching the other two walk away from Momma.

“O-okay...”

Kevin allowed himself to be led towards the front of the bus and took a seat next to Mia's tent. She sat next to him and turned her body towards his, blocking his view of the door.

“So, tell me, Kevin, where have you been?”

“What do you mean?”

“Since the outbreak. How long have you known Tyler? Where have you been? All of that nonsense.”

“Oh... well... I started out in Boston... I was studying nanotechnology at Harvard. The virus was made there... I didn't really know what was going on at first, since I keep to myself, but soon everyone was gone and I didn't know why... Eventually, I turned on the news and found out, so I ran... I ended up at the Harbor and ran into Tyler there. I guess I've been with him since the beginning...

“We headed to New York City first, because we heard there was a safe zone there, virus-free. We couldn't chance not going, you know? It was kind of our only option. We got there by August, since we had to walk a lot of the way and sleep in random cars because we ran out of gas.” He laughed humorlessly. “Turns out that the city was a lost cause. The infection was out of control there. Too many people in that little of space was basically a breeding ground for it. We almost didn't make it out...

“When we got out, we headed down the east coast until we reached the Baltimore area. We headed west into Virginia, and we met a woman named Holly. She seemed really nice until she tried to run away with our stuff a month later. A digger got her, and–”

“A what?” Mia furrowed her brow. “What's a digger?”

“That's just Tyler's name for them.” Kevin shrugged. “He came up with names for all the mutated ones.”

“...mutated ones?” Mia's eyes widened, staring blankly at the other. Kevin nodded, looking back and forth between her eyes.

“Yeah... There's a bunch of them... Tyler named them all...”

“Hold on.” Mia jumped up from her seat and scurried into her tent, pulling her journal and pen out from under her pillow. She dropped next to Kevin on the bench again and flipped to the next open page and started writing as he spoke.

“Tell me all of the mutated ones you've seen.”

“W-well... there are diggers... they burrow underground and come up to attach when they feel the vibration of footsteps or hear voices. They're blind...

“There are also Smarties, which are infected who kept some of their intelligence. They hide and strike when it's easiest. They've got the survival instinct thing, but they don't have the intelligence to use a weapon or anything. You have to be really careful of them, because they know that people have to sleep as some point...

“There are the Runners, which are just what they sound like. They run really, really fast and are really strong. They're not smart, though, so they'll charge right at you if they're startled.

“Most of the population became what Tyler calls 'the horde'. They're unintelligent, slow, and usually attack in packs. Sometimes they attack when they're by themselves, but that's because the virus has stripped them of their fight-or-flight instinct. They just charge. They're really sensitive to lights and sounds, so be careful.

“The biggest threat, though, are the Poppas. They've mutated twice or three times the size of a normal person... They're slow, but they're strong, and they don't seem to feel pain until they drop dead.”

“Shit...” Mia looked up from her notebook and placed her hand on Kevin's knee. “You've had to deal with all of these?”

“Yeah...” Kevin nodded. “I guess since the virus started on the east coast, the mutations haven't reached here yet. We haven't seen many mutated infected since we left Texas...”

“You were in Texas? We were headed there. Dodger said there was a military base there.”

“Don't do it.” Kevin looked her in the eyes pleadingly. “There was a base, but it's not there anymore. Tyler and I were there two months ago. They got over run. Please, please, don't go!”

“O-okay.” Mia leaned back slightly, watching Kevin tremble slightly. “I promise we won't go.”

“Okay... good.” Kevin nodded and relaxed, settling back against the seat.

“What happened after that...?”

“We ended up here.” Kevin shrugged. “Just kept driving. It's been kind of nice... just being the two of us.” He smiled fondly, glancing back at Tyler who was telling Dodger a story with ridiculous gestures. Kevin laughed lightly, then turned his attention back to Mia.

“So where are you headed now?”

“Mexico,” He laughed again. “We were supposed to be there already, but I kind of read the map wrong...”

“It happens!” Mia laughed. “I have an idea!” She got up and scurried back into her tent, returning a few moments later with a notebook and a couple of pens. “Okay, you know those signs that have letters in them that you can rearrange and stuff? Every time we stop in a major city or something, we'll let you know where we're going by putting them on those signs. That way, we'll know you're still alive.”

“...I don't want to sound rude... but why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why does it matter if we're alive after we separate? What are the chances we'll see each other again?”

“Look, Kevin... There aren't a lot of people left in the world that aren't getting infected. If there's a bull's chance in Hell we'll see you again and know that there are still people fighting, I'm going to grab it by it's big, dirty horns and hold on for the ride. I'm not ready to give up on people.”

Kevin stared at her for a moment, then nodded. “I see...”

“Do you, though?”

“Yeah, I do...” He smiled meekly at her. “Would you mind if we stood with you guys tonight?”

The girl nodded, gently putting her hand on top of Kevin's. He looked at her again, and she could see just how tired he was. The dark bag under his eyes were very prominent for a fifteen-year old, and she couldn't help but squeeze his hand. If she understood nothing else, it was that tired feeling. The days were getting longer, although the hours went by as usual.

#nanowrimo #day 6 #11960