My Role in the Great Collapse.3.

3.

I’ve been traveling on foot now for at least a month. I’ve become an expert ninja. You’d never know I was there. If I ever saw a “you” that is. I only ever see “its” anymore. The last human being I saw was three weeks ago. He was a military man before things went south. When I met him he was a slightly insane survivalist with a taste for canned dog food. Not that I was too good to eat it either but I never got to relish it like he did. I got the feeling that if you waved a porterhouse in front of him he’d would still prefer a dogs delight.
Anyways he was a nice enough guy I guess. Not the sort I wanted to spend the rest of the apocalypse with though. I’d rather do it alone. I told him some bullshit story about how I was going off to die because I couldn’t take the life anymore. He didn’t question me; neither did he try to talk me out of it. He just nodded his understanding and said nothing as I walked away.
I never missed him. I did miss Tonya. I missed her quiet delicate laugh. I suppose I’d miss a lot of things if I’d ever let myself but I have this idea of some poor sucker sitting around daydreaming about the things he misses while somebody’s corpse chews on his entrails. Not this guy though. Only the bare essentials.
Sombodys corpse would never know I was there. I was invisible at all times. A true and living Ninja in a world conquered by death. I know I lost something. I just hope I never remember what it is. The military mans name was Rick. Last names don’t matter anymore. The odds of me meeting another Rick are laughable now. Even if I did it would only be a matter of this Rick and that Rick. Anyways who cares?
An day or two into the walk away from Military Rick I came across a trio of stenches so funny looking I had to bite my hand to avoid laughing out loud and losing the advantage. The natural advantage I always had nowadays. Knowing they were there without them knowing me. These three made my day though. The bottom half of the Village People I thought. The Cop the Construction worker and the Cowboy.
I honestly haven’t felt that good in forever. Part of me wanted them to make the Y then the M then the C so badly I would have had to give them an A. A bit more depression and a touch less fight and I might have completed their disco band. Still. They put a smile on my face, which left me feeling like I owed them. Enough so the best way to pay them back is I thought a one-way ticket to Jesus.
Not that the Bible holds any sort of anything for me. I went to Catholic school for my entire educational career and always thought I believed. Who even has time for such foolishness these days? Show me a man to debate that and I’ll show you a corpse snapping jaws at you with a white collar.
Anyways from my vantage point I was able to see the entire tri-fecta. It was a Train bridge pretty close to Downtown Sudbury but still very easy to get to from the wilderness. Just follow the tracks and ten minutes later your out of town. Down directly beneath me was a used car lot and nestled between a few of the new-used cars the Village People stood. Presumably getting prepped for their next gig. Completely unaware of their Saviour looking down on them.
Now comes the kill. I’ve got the 30.30 marlin lever action, I’ve come to love this rifle so much. I named her Tonya. Last name s’revenge. Looks like there aren’t any other ghouls around but I know better than that. I Learn things the hard way but it always only takes me one lesson. If it didn’t I guess I’d be the Indian or the sailor down there making the “A” for the rest of the Village people.
Point being the Marlin is going to attract the bunch of uglys I know are lurking behind the public school at the end of the bridge and the countless apartment buildings built up in this whole area. It will certainly add up to me lightly jogging for days. Not that I’m not conditioned for just such an occurrence it’s just if it can be avoided I will avoid it. I was into impressing the girls in high school but the hordes of indifferent dead I could give a fuck about.
Still this group of good ol’ disco boys deserved their release. The bridge was built up in such a way that I can shimmie down the opposite side and not have K.C. and the sunshine band notice me. Yea I know their the Village People but without our sense of humour what’s the difference between us and them? Aside from warm blooded compassion and everything else I mean.
So it took me a good forty-five minutes to get down to the ground level with these guys though I was still across from them quite a ways. I needed to Ninja my way up to them because something about those moans stir up every dead guy for ten square klicks. The Sun was going to go down in less than an hour and everything had that magic hour orangy-ness to it. It wound up taking me another half an hour to get on the side of the new-used rusted out Toyota Corolla my new buddies were on the opposite side of. Now comes inventory. I’ve got a machete and my two pistols. I’ve got this amazing Samurai sword I took from an infected kid moments before I put his thoughts on the road and I’ve got Tonya. She deserves it.
It makes absolutely no sense to me spending the better part of the afternoon getting here when I could have popped them up there and been done with it. How did I live so long? Tonya is how I lived so long. A beautiful woman laid her life down so I would have the minute I needed to get away. I can never pay her back save for moments like these. So in the second it took me to pull that lever all three of the boys spun around as I stood up. Grinning ear to ear I had stopped trying to come up with cool one-liners maybe two seasons ago. BOOM – clickclick- BOOM clickclick- BOOM! Three first class tickets to stay-downtown. Without wasting a single moment I raced across the street to the support columns I shimmied down from and started spider-manning my way up.
Immediately and predictably I began to hear the chorus of moans our rotten friends are famous for. Still nowadays them being them and me being me I can’t say I feel lonely when the’re onto my scent. I think of the girls my running impressed. I went to high school not far from here.