Clownpocalypse: Thanksgiving
Katherine Rochholz
All Rights Reserved
Bobby glared at the phone. They were still making their way slowly across the country to meet in Iowa and Bobby had told Jimmy they had to be back in Iowa by Thanksgiving. Bobby did look to the seat next to him and smiled. He had met up with Katrina; they had then ditched her car. It seemed even during the end of the world she was opposed to grand theft auto. There had been an argument about him stealing Mitch's truck. But after a bit of time, he convinced her it was for the best and safest. After all, Mitch wasn't using it and he had filled it up. "Damn it, Jimmy!" He tossed the phone in the dash.
"Bobby, he is fine. He sends us videos all the time!" Katrina stated. "And we talk all the time."
"Look, I know we are doing this slow and collecting all we need to set up some sort of base..." Bobby ran a hand through his long hair, a rebellion after he left the Marines. "I just wish he would take this a bit more serious. Yes, I will state at the first it was fun, I mean seriously the end of the world comes, the dead are walking the Earth and at first they all look like crazed bloody clowns; so, yes, it was funny and exciting. But that is changing; very few have that clown look anymore. Oh, they try, but they can't find the supplies and they turn and kill. I mean now they look like the zombies of the movie, pieces falling off, bones and skull sticking out, yellow eyes if they are fresh that glow with the power of the blood still in their muscles and blood. Once they burn through that the eyes turn dull and grey and rotted just like the rest of their bodies. That is what awaits us if we mess up!"
Katrina took his hand, her new emerald cut diamond glittering off her left hand, "I know you are worried for him. But you both were Marines. You both survived the childhood of being a military brat. You are fine. He is fine. I am fine."
Bobby nodded. "Look there is one of those drug store/convenience stores. Let's get what we can. The last few pharmacies paid out. I bet this one will too. We are in a larger town and the gates are down so we just have to through the back way."
Katrina nodded. "What if there are survivors in there?"
"Doubtful. You know the SOS that went out. Put up a notice if you are held up in the building."
"How do you think the farm back home is doing?"
"You know that our property and the acres around it are safe. Secure. Nothing and nobody can enter that land with the walls we put up when we both left." Bobby stated. "Our stepfather's money was put to good use after he died." He growled at the thought of that man. His mother had married him after his father was killed on a mission so her sons would have a male influence. He was a bastard of a military man who made money out of war profiteering. When Bobby was eighteen he saw the man hit his mother, after a childhood of abuse, and Bobby killed him in a fight. After all, his father had taught him to fight. He was court ordered to join a branch of the military to learn how to control his anger since he was found not guilty due to the family defense and self-defense. He shook his head out of his memories.
Katrina just squeezed his hand. They had met when he came home on a leave. She fell instantly in love with him. Then there was the mess of passing out with his best friend; which they talked about and have moved on from. She looked at her engagement ring. She shook her head. She would never get a wedding but she was his wife in her heart and that is all that mattered. "It will be alright and soon we will be home. Thanksgiving is upon us."
Bobby nodded. "Of course it is, let's break open this bitch." He stated as he jumped out of his truck with his baseball bat, knife, and gun.
Jimmy, on the other hand, had been back home for a while. He wanted to set up a surprise for his brother. Bobby already took care of him, protected him, and he had joined the year after him in the Marines. Bobby’s favorite holiday was Thanksgiving; so Jimmy, being the awesome brother he is, was going to give Bobby a true Thanksgiving. He had about a week before Thanksgiving and about that before Bobby was going to pull up. Bobby had been obsessed with clearing out pharmacies and drug stores; but then again, Bobby always thought about twenty steps ahead. Jimmy was always the leap first, and think about the consequences later type of person. They worked flawless together but they were different. Bobby rebelled by becoming an artist with long hair in LA after his six years in the Marines were done. Jimmy stayed a jarhead. He was a lifer. Was a lifer. He had been on desk duty because of an injury with all this happened, and it was worldwide. Zombies. Damn zombies. He never thought they were going to be real and he been privy to some black ops shit in the Marines. He shook his head out of the past. No, he didn’t want to remember those missions any more than Bobby wanted to relive his missions. He looked at the farm. They had animals, they had fields not tainted. This would be a good place to build some houses. He hadn’t come across any survivors yet. But he hoped. And when they did they would rebuild America. They would rid the world of the zombies and start over. They didn’t have a choice. They had to succeed or they might as well put the bullet with their name on it in their own head.
Bobby finally got close to the home and drove up to the gate. There seemed to be no life, or undead animated bodies, around the place. He put in his code and drove in through the gate, making sure nothing got in that should be on this property. It was Thanksgiving. Well, would have been if the world still turned correctly. He parked his truck in front of the house. He jumped out. He frowned. He heard noises from inside the house. “Stay in the truck Katrina!” He hissed out. He took his bat and gun and went up to the door, it was creaked open. It was cold as hell outside, but he was blasted with warm air as he used his bat to push open the door. He moved toward the noise to freeze in the doorway. “Jimmy?”
Jimmy stood there with a pie in his hand and looked up and smiled, setting down the pie. “Bobby!” He greeted. “Sorry, I didn’t tell you I was home. I wanted to surprise you!”
Bobby rushed over and hugged his brother. “A damn good surprise my brother!”
Jimmy hugged back. “The lands are good. The walls are holding. It would be good to build a settlement. We will have to go out and find survivors.”
Bobby nodded. “Come on, let’s go get Katrina, have a meal. Pack it up and we can spread out.”
Katrina smiled as Bobby and Jimmy walked out of the house and jumped out of the truck. “Jimmy!” She went and hugged the man that was as good as her brother.
“Kitty! We are going to have a real Thanksgiving dinner!” He took her hand and pulled her into the kitchen where almost everything was done.
Katrina smiled. “We really do have a lot to be thankful for this year.” She stated as she sat at one end of the table.
Bobby sat down next to her and Jimmy on her other side. “That we do.” He smiled.
Jimmy laughed. “So I was thinking, we both go north. We go one state at a time. We will need something other than trucks. We got the buses out back that we always worked on.”
Bobby nodded. “That would be good. Pack them with first aid kits and food…”
Katrina sat back and watched them plan how to save what was left of the human race. This is why they were such good men. They may complain about red dripping ledgers, or that they were just a couple of boys that tried to make their momma and daddy proud and didn’t want their ghosts to haunt them, or how being a Marine was all they knew, but deep down, deep down under all that tough exterior and the drinking and partying and even the masks they created to forget, they were good men. And if anybody could help save the human population of this world it would be them. She sat up. “Now, if we are going to do this, I think I should stay back so that way we can make sure the ones coming in are free of bites. Have a decontamination section set up. Clean clothes, showers, etcetera.”
“Good thinking Kitty!” Jimmy stated with a mouth full of pie. “So a good night’s sleep and then Bobby and I will take a couple of buses and start North in Minnesota, and go from there.”
“Sounds good to me! Now pass that pie!” Bobby stated and took the pie from Jimmy. “Tomorrow we worry about the zombies, today we just be thankful for what we have.” The other two agreed and toasted to that with their drink of choice.
