Chapter 15 - Haley
A few days had passed since Jeremy and I woke up. We spent our days working out and trying to get our bodies back in working condition most of the time, while the others developed a foolproof plan for heisting the mall. You really don't realize how many muscles you use just by walking, because of the underuse, they were all hurting. Jeremy weighed more than me and was stronger than i was, which made his recovery time become considerably shorter than my own. Due to this, he was almost at one hundred percent, whereas I still had a lot of work to do. I was taking my 5 minutes break outside when Zach came outside. Him and Ryan were like my rehabilitation coaches, considering I've never had to be in a physical therapy session, didn’t know how to properly rehabilitate myself.
"How ya feelin'?" He asked
"Pretty sore, but i guess that's the process of getting better huh?" I responded. He nodded his head and smiled.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked. I nodded, curious as to what he wanted to talk about.
"I talked with the others, when you and Jeremy were out, and I asked them about your leadership skills compared to his." I was shocked. I knew what he was going to say, he was going to tell me they wanted Jeremy back, he was going to tell me I didn't live up to expectations. "We all agree that........." before he finished, i interrupted.
"Look, I know I haven't lived up to expectations, but you have to understand that being leader is very hard an stressful. To know that you are in charge of you're whole group's survival, it's unreal!" It turned from a statement to a yell very quickly.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Zach exclaimed in reply. "Haley calm down, let me finish. We determined that you were the better leader. you handled the gas station and storage unit situations better than Jeremy ever could. We want you to stay as leader, for good." I was stunned. I didn't know what to say.
“Uh….Are you sure?” I asked in astonishment. I had always looked up to Jeremy for his leadership skills, and to know that I had done a better job than he did…….it made me feel great.
“Yeah, I’m sure of it. We all are. Just, please don’t tell Jeremy, I’ve known the guy my whole life, im sure it would break his heart.” I wasn’t sure if Zach was right about my leadership skills, but I knew he was right about Jeremy. He had always taken such pride in being a good leader, it was one of the only things he thought he was good at.
“I’ll keep it to myself, thanks Zach.” I replied. He clapped me on the back and returned to the RV. I continued my physical therapy, thinking about what was better about my leadership skills than Jeremy’s. I was less headstrong than him, but most times that was a good thing. I was also a bit more conservative and I don’t really get caught in rage as much as he does. If the group thought it was best, I figured I would do as they saw fit. Ryan and Zach had told me that tomorrow would probably be my last day of rehabilitation. Our raid of the mall was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, and I would be the one to lead the raid, but I had no idea what the others were planning. After another hour of physical therapy, I went back into the RV, exhausted. I collapsed onto the couch, ready to just relax. Jeremy, Weir, Ashley, and Wilson were all in the booth opposite me having an in-depth conversation, and Zach and Ryan were in the cockpit planning my final physical therapy session. I stared at the ceiling for the longest time, taking it all in. We were a few days away from invading a mall which contains an unknown number of undead and ‘surprises’ with only 7 people. I hope the group put together a damn good plan because that seems like somewhat of an impossible feat. That is one quality Jeremy ad in his leadership that I didn’t, self-confidence. Jeremy firmly believed that there was nothing that we couldn’t do, whereas I look at things to a more realistic level. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, Ryan was above me stroking my hair. When he saw my eyes open, he lowered his head and kissed me gently. He was so handsome and warm. So kind and compassionate. He was the perfect man, and he was mine. I wanted the kiss to last forever, but sadly we had to pull away. It was now dark outside, and it appeared the only ones awake now were myself, Ryan, Weir, and Ashley. Ashley and Weir were playing cards in the booth, while Ryan was still above me. I sat up, and Ryan sat next to me.
“So Weir, what’s the plan that you guys have been developing?” I asked him. Weir put down his cards and reached into his pocket. He then pulled out a layout of the building from what we had seen of it. He started explaining what we were to do; what we were to do if something failed, backup plans, and emergency plans. It seemed like a good plan overall, but it was missing something.
“Did you take into account our lack of ammo?” I asked. Weir’s eyes lit up.
“Oh! We forgot to tell you guys? When you and Jeremy were out we found a gun store down the block and robbed it. We even found stuff for the AK’s and the minigun.” He replied. I was ecstatic. We were more prepared than I had originally anticipated. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a sinking feeling in my chest, as if something were going to go horribly wrong on this heist. However, I didn’t express this with the group; I didn’t want them to worry.
“I think we all should get to bed.” Ashley expressed with a yawn as Weir finished explaining the plan to me. “It’s kinda getting late.” I hadn’t realized how late it was, considering the nap I had just had. It was 2 in the morning and everyone was tired. Including myself, physical therapy was definitely taking its toll on my body. I laid back down on the couch with Ryan right next to me. Zach crashed in the booth and Ashley went in the bedroom, where Jeremy was sleeping. I then closed my eyes and went back to sleep. Considering the amount of sleep I got yesterday, I expected to be the first one awake, but that wasn’t the case. I woke up and started walking around the RV, when I noticed there was something on the roof. I saw the back of I through the sunroof and questioned what it could be. I got out of the RV and climbed the back ladder to the top. It was Jeremy. He was staring into the beautiful sunrise, knowing him he was probably thinking about something.
“Hey, good morning” I chimed. He didn’t respond, he didn’t even look at me or acknowledge my existence. After a few moments of silence, he finally responded with a dull
“Hey”. I walked over to him and sat down next to him. The sunrise was beautiful, but I was starting to wonder if things like this were a bad omen. The last time I had seen something as magnificent as this was the drive to Colorado Springs, which had led to my week-long incapacitation and near-death experience.
“I heard you and Zach talking yesterday.” He broke the silence. At first, I didn’t know what he was talking about, but a few moments later I caught on. “I’m proud of you Haley, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I feel like a failure. I feel like I was putting the group in danger for not providing them with the best leadership possible.” Zach was right, Jeremy was hurting badly.
“It’s not your fault Jeremy, if anything you taught me how to become a good leader, I just put my own touch to things.” I tried to comfort him, but it didn’t seem to work. After a while, I stood up and returned down the ladder. As I entered the RV, I saw Zach emerge from the booth and told me what he and Ryan had planned for my final physical therapy session. About an hour la Zach had awoke fully; we began the session without Ryan. I started with push-ups for about 15 minutes, then sit-ups for half an hour. Finally, Ryan woke up and congratulated me on my progress. I kept up the therapy, and by 3 I was finished. Ryan and Zach had told me to take it easy the rest of the day and tomorrow I should be good to go. I looked around and saw fields and lakes as far s the eye could see, except behind us, which was the city of Colorado Springs. The others must’ve drove out of the city while Jeremy and I were out. Jeremy……….I felt so bad for the guy. However, he should’ve seen it coming. It was only a matter of time before reality set in. Before the outbreak, no one thought very highly of him, but when he stepped up to try to save us all, it gave us the impression that
he was superhuman, when in reality he was just ballsy. The group still needed someone who is a good thinker, a good planner, and apparently it was me. I looked at the city, the mall in particular. It seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, as was the lake a half mile away from me. This was undoubtedly the calm before the storm, as we were going to take on the biggest challenge of our lives tomorrow. I looked back up at the roof of the RV, and Jeremy was still there, in the same position. I wanted to go comfort him, but I knew he wanted to be alone. I returned to the RV to find Weir putting the final touches on the ‘master plan’.
“Hey Haley” Zach called “Do you know what’s up with Jeremy?” He asked. I told him Jeremy had overhead us talking and immediately Zach was kicking himself.
“I’ll go talk to him” he said and left the RV. I walked over to Ryan, who was helping Weir finalize the plan. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him closer to me.
"I haven't said this to you in a while, but I love you Ryan." He looked back at me with a huge smile on his face and replied
"I love you too babe." He put his hands on mine and went back to helping Weir.
"It doesn't matter ok! you don't have to lie to me anymore. I'm fine!" Someone was yelling from the top of the RV. It was Jeremy yelling at Zach.
"Jeremy, we didn't want to hurt you, thats why I told Haley to keep it quiet." Zach responded.
"That's not the point! the point is you guys didn't tell me straight off that i was a bad leader!"
"You're not a bad leader!" They kept bickering back and forth for about half an hour before they made up, as per usual with those two. It was a good thing too, because if this heist were to go smoothly, we would all have to be unified.