Week 29: Something in the Kool-Aid

We were let into the compound and taken to the small park on the west end. Along the way I had a chance to check out the population of St. Matthews. There were a lot of them. Much more than this two block section of fortified city could sustain, and it showed.

The people of St. Matthews are all thin, malnourished and in a bad state of hygiene. It seemed strange to me. Obviously there was not enough food to go around here, so why did the people stay. Sure it is fortified, but it’s not that great. I saw a few points in the wall that could easily be overtaken by a large enough herd of zombies.

Then I realized something. There were no zombies. A compact area like this packed with this much fresh meat? The trenches around this place should be overflowing with writhing undead, greedy to get to the goods within.

Something was definitely odd here. And it wasn’t just the lack of zombies. These people are quiet and fearful of outsiders. I could tell by the way they stared at us as we were escorted through town, pointing and whispering. The whole place had a real David Koresh/Jim Jones feel to it.

When we reached the park we were told to wait there and the “leader” would visit with us shortly. So we waited. After a few minutes one of the braver inhabitants approached us and actually began to talk. Coherently even.

He was young man, probably about 18. His name was Brad. We had a good exchange of information. He asked me about the outside world and I asked him about their community.

I wanted to know why so many people stayed at St. Matthews instead of leaving off on their own. He said it was because of the leader.

At first St. Matthews had just been a waypoint for travelers. It was fortified, but small, so no one stayed for very long. Then the leader came along and brought his ward. The ward kept the zombies away. Brad couldn’t describe it but he said it was true. He had seen it with his own eyes. St. Matthews had experienced wave after wave of zombie attacks and then they just stopped.

It sounded like fantasy crap to me but I guess we are living in a world full of zombies, so who am I to judge?

I was in the middle of telling Brad what the outside was like when the guards came back and chased Brad away. So we continued to wait by ourselves.

…

After another hour someone came by and told us the “leader” would not be able to see us and we needed to leave. With guns drawn they escorted us back to the draw bridge. As we moved along I began to get desperate.

All I wanted to know was if my son had come through St. Matthews. Or maybe he was still there. I pleaded with them to tell me as they pushed us across the draw bridge. I knew they had seen him, I could tell they were hiding something.

And I was right. As they pulled up the draw bridge, Tweedle Dee picked up his megaphone and shouted out at me. “Your son did come by here. It was obvious he didn’t have any supplies on him so we turned him away. Not like you and your jeep full of treasure.”

As the guard laughed Brenda and I ran back to our jeep. Sure enough they had taken everything… including the methadone.