Baxter Peters
Considering Writing Again
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Dungeon Master
Inner Sanctum Nobility
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"Just talk to the camera," Stevie told the nervous looking, middle aged man.
Seamus pointed toward the lens, his eyes questioning. Reassured by Stevie's nod, he cleared his through. "Umm... Hello. My name is Seamus McDaniel and I'm the groundskeeper." Pulling a threadbare ball cap off, he ran a work scarred hand over his shiny, bald plate. "Sorry, I'm a bit hot."
"No worries, Seamus. Just relax. I can edit this afterwards. We want to hear your story, record it for the rebuilding. You're a hero, people need to know that."
Sun kissed cheek reddened as he shook his head. "Nahh. Heroes died in the early days. I'm just a guy who got lucky." After chewing on his lip, he cleared his throat again and steeled himself. "I've been a groundskeeper for basically my whole life. Started mowing lawns to get money as a kid and just... never stopped. Got a job after graduation here at the school and just... stayed. Cutting grass is honest, steady work. Yeah, it's a bit seasonal, but having the school job helped. Steady, you know."
"Even though it was summer when it all started, I was still working. Watering the grass and keeping things trimmed up and neat. A lot of it was maintaining the athletic fields. Them soccer kids, they can tear up some sod. Not sure why you put little kids in cleats, but they do it, yanno?" After a shrug at the silliness of kid's sports, he shrugged. "So, I listened to the radio while working. Well, suppose like everyone I was listening to music on my cell. Just still think of it as radio. Still listened to the radio in my car. Never took to that Siruis stuff. Anyhow, I'm working and the alerts start coming in. Nobody knew what was going on at first. It was just crazy. Riots, mass shootings, terrorists attacks. Guess, like everyone, it was those first YouTube vids that really got me. I've seen people get hurt before. Remember in the early aughts when that kid in metal shop had the jack slip and got his leg crushed? Hollywood wounds look Hollywood. Seeing that thing bite out that lady's throat... well, I never thought it was fake. I'm a simple guy. If I see a zombie, it's a zombie right? I'm not gonna spend a lot of time wrestling with 'Oh, shit... sorry, Oh shoot, that ain't a zombie. There's no way.'"
"Fu... forget that. Zombies are zombies. Soon as I saw that, I started thinking. The school here, right smack in the middle of three rural counties. Nothing too close, sturdy fence, lots of space, tools, some decent supplies, generator in the basement, secure entrances. I mean heck, I couldn't think of a better spot to try to hole up. Certainly better than my trailer. I started calling up folks and they started calling up folks, and before I knew it we had a few hundred people here, bringing guns, food, clothes, and a shit ton of kids. Jeez, so many kids. S'was like school was back in session."
Stevie asked from off camera, "A lot of people credit you with getting us an early start, Seamus. Sure, people would have probably thought of the school, but the government was still telling people to shelter in place."
"Like I said, just lucky. I just as easily could have overreacted. Everything could have been cleared up by the morning like that first zombie movie and people would have thought I overreacted. Instead, I guess whatever prion thingy turned folks left them able to run and things escalated quick." He pinched the bridge of his nose, "And it's not like everything went smooth here. When the Simmon's boy turned..."
"Wasn't anything you could have done about that, Seamus. His parents hid the bite. And hadn't the vice principle taken over by then?" Stevie corrected.
"Oh, I ain't trying to blame myself. It's just... It's hard to forget things like that, yanno?"
"I know. It's why we're making these videos, so things don't get forgotten. Let's jump ahead again. After a few weeks, once we knew we were basically alone here, how'd you end up cutting the grass again?"
Seamus laughed a bit and shrugged, "Someone had to. It's funny, I remember back in the day, I watched one of those zombie movies. 28 Days Later. It really stuck out to me because once he was out of London, I was like, 'Who's cutting that grass?' It's been four weeks and the grass still looks perfect? Are the zombies grazing between chasing folks?"
"Feels like there's more important things to worry about than the grass."
"Well, yeah, of course there are. S'why the athletic fields have been tilled up for crops, but that doesn't mean grass ain't important. S'why Mr. Blevins lets me use the biodiesel. Keeping the grass cut is important, not for aesthetics, although a nice cut field is beautiful, but just think how hard it'd be for the spotters if the grass reached waist high, much less chest high. And those raiders from Magnolia County? You can't let those fools just belly crawl up to the fence. Cutting grass might not be glamorous work, but it's important and it keeps folks safe." Seamus laughed a bit and rubbed the back of his neck. "Now, there's no reason to wonder who keeps the grass cut during a zombie apocalypse. It's me."
Seamus pointed toward the lens, his eyes questioning. Reassured by Stevie's nod, he cleared his through. "Umm... Hello. My name is Seamus McDaniel and I'm the groundskeeper." Pulling a threadbare ball cap off, he ran a work scarred hand over his shiny, bald plate. "Sorry, I'm a bit hot."
"No worries, Seamus. Just relax. I can edit this afterwards. We want to hear your story, record it for the rebuilding. You're a hero, people need to know that."
Sun kissed cheek reddened as he shook his head. "Nahh. Heroes died in the early days. I'm just a guy who got lucky." After chewing on his lip, he cleared his throat again and steeled himself. "I've been a groundskeeper for basically my whole life. Started mowing lawns to get money as a kid and just... never stopped. Got a job after graduation here at the school and just... stayed. Cutting grass is honest, steady work. Yeah, it's a bit seasonal, but having the school job helped. Steady, you know."
"Even though it was summer when it all started, I was still working. Watering the grass and keeping things trimmed up and neat. A lot of it was maintaining the athletic fields. Them soccer kids, they can tear up some sod. Not sure why you put little kids in cleats, but they do it, yanno?" After a shrug at the silliness of kid's sports, he shrugged. "So, I listened to the radio while working. Well, suppose like everyone I was listening to music on my cell. Just still think of it as radio. Still listened to the radio in my car. Never took to that Siruis stuff. Anyhow, I'm working and the alerts start coming in. Nobody knew what was going on at first. It was just crazy. Riots, mass shootings, terrorists attacks. Guess, like everyone, it was those first YouTube vids that really got me. I've seen people get hurt before. Remember in the early aughts when that kid in metal shop had the jack slip and got his leg crushed? Hollywood wounds look Hollywood. Seeing that thing bite out that lady's throat... well, I never thought it was fake. I'm a simple guy. If I see a zombie, it's a zombie right? I'm not gonna spend a lot of time wrestling with 'Oh, shit... sorry, Oh shoot, that ain't a zombie. There's no way.'"
"Fu... forget that. Zombies are zombies. Soon as I saw that, I started thinking. The school here, right smack in the middle of three rural counties. Nothing too close, sturdy fence, lots of space, tools, some decent supplies, generator in the basement, secure entrances. I mean heck, I couldn't think of a better spot to try to hole up. Certainly better than my trailer. I started calling up folks and they started calling up folks, and before I knew it we had a few hundred people here, bringing guns, food, clothes, and a shit ton of kids. Jeez, so many kids. S'was like school was back in session."
Stevie asked from off camera, "A lot of people credit you with getting us an early start, Seamus. Sure, people would have probably thought of the school, but the government was still telling people to shelter in place."
"Like I said, just lucky. I just as easily could have overreacted. Everything could have been cleared up by the morning like that first zombie movie and people would have thought I overreacted. Instead, I guess whatever prion thingy turned folks left them able to run and things escalated quick." He pinched the bridge of his nose, "And it's not like everything went smooth here. When the Simmon's boy turned..."
"Wasn't anything you could have done about that, Seamus. His parents hid the bite. And hadn't the vice principle taken over by then?" Stevie corrected.
"Oh, I ain't trying to blame myself. It's just... It's hard to forget things like that, yanno?"
"I know. It's why we're making these videos, so things don't get forgotten. Let's jump ahead again. After a few weeks, once we knew we were basically alone here, how'd you end up cutting the grass again?"
Seamus laughed a bit and shrugged, "Someone had to. It's funny, I remember back in the day, I watched one of those zombie movies. 28 Days Later. It really stuck out to me because once he was out of London, I was like, 'Who's cutting that grass?' It's been four weeks and the grass still looks perfect? Are the zombies grazing between chasing folks?"
"Feels like there's more important things to worry about than the grass."
"Well, yeah, of course there are. S'why the athletic fields have been tilled up for crops, but that doesn't mean grass ain't important. S'why Mr. Blevins lets me use the biodiesel. Keeping the grass cut is important, not for aesthetics, although a nice cut field is beautiful, but just think how hard it'd be for the spotters if the grass reached waist high, much less chest high. And those raiders from Magnolia County? You can't let those fools just belly crawl up to the fence. Cutting grass might not be glamorous work, but it's important and it keeps folks safe." Seamus laughed a bit and rubbed the back of his neck. "Now, there's no reason to wonder who keeps the grass cut during a zombie apocalypse. It's me."