Hopeless Protectors: Chapter 4
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The world seemed to close in. Somehow, it felt more cramped than it had before. My lungs found it harder to breathe. The rhythmic sound of the pistons pumping reverberated through my body, making it feel like a drum was being pounded on my chest: a drum that became the beat to my death knell.
“Ryan, snap the fuck out of it!” Natalie’s voice had the tone that told me she had already tried to get my attention. “Where are we going to go?”
I took a deep breath and steadied my voice, “We aren’t going anywhere. If we’re smart we can probably barricade this place pretty well. The front door is has a heavy duty steel frame. We can tier our barricade so nothing can get in, and the backdoor is only opens from the inside, so I’m not that concerned about it. Since the break room has the most supplies and is right off the rear door, we can fortify this room and use it as a place to sleep. All I know is that I’m not going to end up as lunch for one of those things.” I shuddered, thinking of the DJ on the radio. “The one in the parking lot looked like it had at least been human at one time. If it was, that means it can be contracted somehow, so we’ve got to hole up and make sure it doesn’t reach us.”
Panic flooded her eyes, “We can’t just wait here! We’ve got to get out of the city.”
“Whoa. Whoa. Calm down. There is no way we’re going to make it out.” As I said this, her shoulders dropped a couple of inches in despair. “The roads are probably jammed with other people trying to do just that. If we’re going to make it, we’re just going to have to wait for some sort of rescue.”
“What about the government? Won’t the army or something be coming?”
“I doubt it.” I paused, “I mean, at least in this area. The radio made it sound like the streets are teeming with them. We’ve got to hope that the government will be sending in more troops from somewhere else.”
“We're just going to wait?” She asked incredulously. She took a deep breath, and continued, “I can’t just wait on those things to come get me.”
In this moment, I saw that Natalie wasn’t just talking about right now. Back when the excuses were long and the makeup was thick, she kept telling me that she just needed to wait. That he still loved her, and would get better if she just waited. Eventually her faith broke, and now she didn’t trust when anyone told her to wait.
"We can’t just leave, though." I pleaded. My mind was scrambling for a reason to keep her here: to keep her occupied. “What if there are other survivors? They are going to need water, and there is no way this pumping station is going to stay running by itself. Our situation may be hopeless, but right now we are the protectors to those who are even more desperate than we are.”
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