The Caravan/Issue 4

This is Issue 4 of The Caravan, entitled "It’s All I Can Do".

104; It’s All I Can Do
It was late as Tim approached the lorry, Lisa still standing outside trading with a few residents of Hakenstedt. An elderly man handed a small bag of rice to Lisa, getting a fresh fish in exchange. Lisa smiled to the man as he turned around to walk away, then she turned to face Tim. “Where have you been all day?” She asked, as a woman in her 30’s approached them. “Hunting.” Tim replied, handing over a bagpack to Lisa. It was heavy, and as she opened it, it revealed a lot of deer meat. Tim always went hunting if he had nothing better to do, which was often. “This is great.” Lisa said with a big smile, returning the bag to Tim. “Good job!” Tim returned the smile, then headed into the lorry. Lisa turned to face the woman. “Hi.” Lisa said. “How can I help you?” The woman had ragged clothing and looked like she hadn’t slept for a long time. “I need…” The woman began, avoiding eye contact with Lisa. “Do you have blankets? Or anything to keep me warm at night?” A lot of people in communities were homeless, living in ruins or simply on the street. That seemed to be the case with this woman. “Sure.” Lisa said, aware that the woman likely had nothing to trade with. “What can you give in exchange?” The woman shook her head, still avoiding eye contact. Lisa found a ragged blanket from the ‘charity box’, as she called it. Dirty and ruined towels, blankets, clothes and cloth scraps were placed in the charity box and given to homeless people that were unable to trade with them. “It’s alright.” Lisa said comfortingly, handing over the blanket. The woman took the blanket, nodding silently as a ‘thank you’. She didn’t leave though, and after a few moments, she finally looked Lisa in the eyes and said “I’m just so hungry.” Lisa sighed. It was late and she wanted to finish up the trading for today. “What’s your name?” Lisa asked. The woman looked at Lisa for a few seconds before saying “Mary…” “Mary? Mary, I can’t help you anymore than I’ve already done. We can’t just give out supplies to people without getting anything in exchange. That’s not how it works.” Lisa explained, aware how harsh it sounded. She had given the speech many times. “I’m sorry, Mary, but you’ll have to talk to Marcus, I can’t do anymore unless you’ve got something to trade with.” Mary teared up. “I don’t have any job here, I don’t earn food.” “Well, you could ask for a job, right?” Lisa said, starting to place everything back into their respective boxes. “As what?” Mary said, on the edge of crying. “I’m a former HR rep, I don’t have any qualifications. I’m good for nothing.” “I’m sure that’s not true.” Lisa said, trying to sound as comforting as possible, although she was a little annoyed. “Listen, I can’t help you. Come back tomorrow, see if you can’t find something to trade with, okay?” Mary wiped away a few tears as she nodded. “Yeah… okay.”

Inside the lorry, Muse was laying on Tim’s couch. Adler and Tim were standing, arguing with him. “I’ll be happy to find you a mattress or something, but that’s…” Tim said, trying to find a compromise. “Nah, I’m fine with this couch.” Muse interrupted. “But you can find a mattress for yourself.” “Who do you think you are?” Adler said, getting annoyed. He was usually quiet, but when something bothered him, he would let it out. “You’re nothing special.” “No, you’re right.” Muse said indifferently. “You need me though, so you better treat me right or I’ll just leave.” Adler was about to say something as Lisa entered, interrupting. “Muse, we have a mattress for you. Tim is usually sleeping there.” Lisa said, finding the mattress from under one of the couches. “I’m not sleeping on a mattress, friend.” Muse said, still not caring. “You are though.” Lisa said, already tired of the doctor. Muse didn’t say anything, just laying silently on the couch. “It’s alright.” Tim said, not wanting to make it a bigger problem than it was. “I’ll just sleep on the mattress for tonight.” “Alright.” Lisa said. “But tomorrow I’m gonna talk to Jake about this.” She looked at Muse. “If you continue this act, I’ll personally push you into a zombie horde.”

A few hours later, when they were all asleep, the door to the lorry was silently opened. Not silent enough though, as Muse woke up from the noise. Discretely Muse looked, seeing a woman with a plastic bag silently taking things from one of the boxes. Muse assumed it was just a simple thief. After being threatened by Lisa, he decided to get revenge by not doing anything and let the thief steal away. But then he thought about it. He wanted to manipulate Lisa, not just piss her off. He needed her and the others to trust him. He had often found that it was easier to manipulate people who trusted him. And so, Muse said out: “Hold it, lady.” This woke up the other three, all getting on their feet when they saw the woman stealing. Lisa went towards the thief, taking the bag from her. That’s when she saw who the thief was: Mary, the homeless woman from earlier. “Mary?” Lisa sighed. “What are you doing?” “I’m hungry.” Mary sobbed. “I just want some food.” Lisa shook her head as she threw the bag to Adler. “Leave, Mary.” Lisa said, gently pushing her towards the exit. “I’m gonna have to tell this to Marcus.” “Please…” Mary sobbed, leaving the lorry. Lisa closed the doors, and all four of them went back to sleep.

When the outbreak started, Lisa was visiting her sister in Copenhagen. It took only a few days for the streets to fill up with zombies, trapping them inside a small apartment. After a few days, the military rolled in, trying to evacuate the town. They sent Lisa and her sister to a refugee camp, which quickly got overrun by zombies. Lisa’s sister died, and Lisa began traveling on foot. Eventually she was picked up by a man in an RV; Jake. He brought her with him to the small community him and his family had established, though Lisa wanted to stay on the road with Jake and his daughter. Ever since that day, Lisa had been a part of The Caravan, and at several occasions had she been forced to deal with thieves like Mary. It was never pleasant. The first thing she did as she woke up, was head for the RV. She wanted to talk to Jake before going to Marcus. Jake was playing the board game Tsuro with Martin, Maddie, Adelina, Ashley and Helen. Ralph was sitting in the driver’s seat, reading a book. “Hi, Lisa.” Jake said, moving so there was room for her. “Wanna play?” “No, thank you.” Lisa said, sitting down. Martin placed a tile on the board, making Ashley let out a quick laugh. “Jake, we had a thief last night.” Jake shrugged. They had thieves often, and usually just went to the leader of the community with it. “Go to Marcus.” “Marcus is going to kick her out, Jake.” Lisa said. Hakenstedt had no form for jail or anything like that, so criminals usually just got kicked out of the community. That was close to a death sentence, living on the road with no protection. “It’s not our decision, Lisa.” Jake said, laying down a tile on the board. He moved his piece, then looked at Lisa. “Just go to Marcus.” Lisa sighed, then nodded. As she got up to leave, Martin place a tile, seemingly eliminating himself and Adelina from the game. Adelina cursed loudly. “I’ll go with you. Need to have a chat with Muse anyway.” Lisa wasn’t in mood to talk about Muse, not feeling good about sending Mary away. She followed Martin out the RV, into the main hall to talk to Marcus.

Lisa was standing at the main gate with Marcus as Mary was sent away. Marcus handed Mary a bag of supplies, then gave her a vague smile. Mary was trying to control her sobbing as she walked out the gate. Lisa was full of guilt. She knew that Mary most likely would die within a week, despite the small number of zombies in the area. Surviving on the road alone wasn’t easy. That was why Lisa decided to prepare a bag of supplies, then follow her without telling anyone. After running for ten minutes or so, she caught up to Mary. “Mary!” Lisa yelled out, causing Mary to stop up. She was crying, aware of her chances of survival. “What do you want?” Mary sobbed. Lisa handed her the bag. “I just wanted to give you this. It’s not much, but it’s all I can do.” Mary didn’t say anything, as she took the bag and began walking again. Lisa sighed, still feeling guilty. As she turned around, preparing to head back, she spotted something in one of the fields. “Mary…” Lisa said, squinting. She quickly realized what it was. Mary looked too, also seeing it. A large herd of zombies were headed right for Hakenstedt. Lisa grabbed Mary and together the two ran back to the community to warn them.

Appearances
Jake Swane Martin Syberg Lisa Lorimer Muse Valentine Adelina Iria Leslie Adler Ralph Burnet Madison “Maddie" Swane Ashley Tandel Helen Tandel Tim la Cour Marcus Grey Mary Miersch

Deaths
None