The Outbreak Series Boxed Set

by Thomas Baker

  Five other guys joined the man in red walking over. They were all middle-aged, with full beards, billed hats, and bellies still hanging over their workmen jeans. The men stopped on their side of the fencing. The one in red checked them out with hard eyes. Hannah noticed Ashley flinch from his stare. Not her though, she was used to creepy men like this guy giving her the twice over. She met his stare back with her own stare of contempt.

  "What we got here? Two prettyyoung thangs travelin with a bunch of men. Where are y'all headed?" asked red shirt.

  JT took a step forward. "Just passing through. We are looking for Safe Haven. You ever heard of it? Know where it is?"

  The men laughed gruffly, like this was the best joke they had heard in days.

  "It's safe enough here. We have fencing, barricades and patrols. You ladies would sure be a lot safer here with us than out walking the roads with them," Red shirt guy said as he licked his lips.

  Hannah stepped up next to JT. "We'll be moving on."

  "Now, now sugar, don't be hasty. We haven't even had a chance to introduce ourselves yet. I'm Chet."

  "This here is Bob, Jim, Duane, Berry, and Dicky." Chet pointed at each manin turn.

  "At least come in. Check thangs out. We have food we could share. We got an underground storm shelter, away from the dead. Ain't nothing going to hear us down there." There was an almost too eager tone to Chet's voice. It made Hannah tremble.

  "JT let's stop. I'm kinda done for the day," Ashley said. She moved forward butAlanstuck his arm out in front of her.

  "Wedon't have anyladies here yet," Duane added. "You both would be treatedlike queens." His comment elicited some catcalls from the rest of the men. "Wouldn't you like that?"

  "We just want to be on our way. We don't want any trouble. "Alan said, bringing his tire iron up to rest on his shoulder.

  "What, the lady can't make up her own mind? Is she your prisoner? Any of you who want to stay are more than welcome," Chet said. His eyes darted to where the rest of his men were standing. They all unslung their rifles.

  "No, is our final answer. We will be leaving now and going around your town. I wouldn't try attacking us if I were you. By walking to us, you won't be able to use your rifles effectively in such close quarters." Dusty pulled his Bowie knife.

  "You little shits," muttered Chet, dropping his warm tone for one of rage. "Get em boys!"

  Dusty threw his knife, hitting Duane in the chest. Duane went down face first, the impact drove the knife in deep.

  Bob jumped the sagging barbed wire and rushed Hannah. She kicked out hard, connecting with his stomach. While Bob was momentarily dazed, she used it to her advantage and kicked low. She heard a satisfying crack as Bob's kneecap gave way and he fell backwards into the barbed wire. Howls of pain erupted from Bob as he tried to free himself.

  Someone grabbed Hannah from behind in a bear hug, pinning her arms to her side. She whipped back her body, connecting her head with her attackers. He went backwards, pulling Hannah with him. She landed on top, knocking the wind out of him. She flipped up onto her feet and turned. She saw Chet struggle to his feet, blood gushing from his nose. He let out a yell; it sounded like he was screaming yearkkkk as he ran at her. Hannah kicked high this time, hitting him in the chest. Chet double over, wheezing and wobbling on his feet. Hannah grabbed his hair, pulling his face down while driving her knee up hard. Chet went down on the pavement with a sickening thud.

  Hannah took a moment to catch her breath and looked around. Gus, Tyrone, and Ashley were far out of the way, kneeling under a tree. Gus and Tyrone must have helped move her out of the way, Hannah thought. Ashley was crying and holding her foot. Alan and JT were standing over Jim and Dicky, who looked out of the fight. Dusty was retrieving his knife.

  "Bad enough we have to fight the undead. Now we're fighting and killing the living," Alan said, mouth twisted in disgust.

  "It's the apocalypse son," Gus said in a heavy tone. "Can't expect only the decent folks like us survived. Hell, I bet there are murderers and child molesters still alive."

  "Thanks for that cheerful thought, Gus," Alan replied.

  After regrouping, shouting drew their attention back towards the downtown. More men poured out of the buildings, all armed.

  "Time to beat a retreat," Dusty said.

  Tyrone and JT got on either side of Ashley and scooped her up.

  "Think you can run?" JT asked.

  Ashley was still sobbing and could only shake her head yes.

  "Damn Hannah. I saw your moves out there. Don't ever get mad at me, you know what I mean," Tyrone said, impressed.

  "Cheerleading combined with self-defense classes my Dad talked me into taking. Thank God he did."

  A crack echoed out as tree bark exploded in front of them.

  "Enemy fire! Time to move it!" Dusty commanded.

  Hannah didn't argue with him. No one did. They ran.

  Everyone was dragging their feet. Morale was at an all-time low. JT didn't know how long it had been since they had left Greensville but it felt like weeks. Since then they had walked and walked. To JT it felt like they had covered hundreds of miles by now. For a few days they had lucked out and found an abandoned vehicle that worked and used it till it wouldn't run anymore. JT wished they had a car now.

  The days had been getting hotter, and rainstorms had soaked them on more than one occasion. We're probably quite the sight by now, JT thought. Dirty, stinky, wearing the same clothes day after day. He didn't know what was at the top of his wish list, a hot shower or a reclining chair with a video game controller in his hand. More and more he secretly agreed with Ashley. She whined at least once a day... Were they ever going to find some place they felt safe to stop at? Would they ever get to sleep inside instead of in a crappy tent? JT didn't want to approach any more towns, at least for the time being. He ignored Ashley's whining as best he could and ground his teeth instead.

  He seconded guess his decision of leaving the truck stop. Maybe staying there wouldn't have been such a bad idea. He couldn't remember a time his feet hurt as bad as they did right now. Not to mention his back too, from lugging around all the camping equipment. He glanced over at Gus several times during the day, worry lining his face. If it was this hard for him, how was the ole Gus holding out?

  The road they followed rose slightly. JT had been plodding with his head down, thinking these thoughts repeatedly. Now he looked up. He saw they were coming up on a bridge. It was an old metal one, painted green. He was about to say something to the group when Dusty spoke up.

  "I see a bridge ahead. Cluttered with cars. Everyone take five while I go scout it out." Dusty trotted off.

  "Hold up Dusty. I'm going with you. I don't think anyone should go anywhere alone," JT said.

  Gus dumped his pack on the side of the road. "I'm going with you guys too. You need a supervisor."

  "Gus, that's really not necessary. Why don't you take a break?" JT said.

  "You forgot to add old man in there. I want to go. Ain't you ever heard about respecting your elders?" Gus was firm.

  "If you are coming, let's go, daylight's wasting." Dusty strode off.

  JT glared at Dusty's back, then dropped his backpack and followed, with Gus beside him. All three carried their weapons. At this point they were like extensions of their arms.

  "We need to approach the bridge at an angle, so we can get the best view of what's going on up top," Dusty said, as JT and Gus caught up.

  The three of them headed off down the embankment and alongside the river, perpendicular to the bridge. They hadn't gone far when Dusty stopped. He used the binoculars he had around his neck to survey the bridge.

  "I didn't expect to see that," Dusty said, after a few minutes.

  "See what?" JT asked.

  "There's a woman running across the bridge in our direction. She has one of those baby carriers on her chest. Behind her it looks like about twelve zombies. It's slow going. Cars every which way, jamming the bridge."

  "Well
, what are we just standing here pulling our peckers for? We gotta help her," Gus said, heading back the way they had came.

  "Why is that?"

  That stopped Gus. "Why is that? You just said a woman with a child is being chased by a herd of zombies and you have toask me why is that?"

  "Yeah, I don't see why we should risk our necks for someone we don't know again," Dusty said, "We're living in a new world now. Besides, look how things have gone down every other time we've run into other people. It's almost got us killed every time."

  Gus looked incredulous.

  "You've got to be fucking kidding me Dusty! Gus is right, we're going up there," JT said.

  For a moment JT thought Dusty would stay put. He and Gus were almost at the point where the bridge met the road before Dusty followed.

  They went a few feet onto the bridge, each picking a car to use as cover. JT gripped his pistol. His heartbeat quickened and his breath sped up as the adrenaline rush kicked in.

  "All right, here she comes," Dusty shouted. Gunfire erupted.

  JT stood up. He saw the lady running towards them. The baby in her carrier jiggled as she made her way left and right through the maze of cars. He looked to his left and saw Dusty extended over the hood of a Mustang, his rifle flashing as he took down the zombies. The woman didn't even respond to the sounds of gunfire, she just kept coming forward as fast as she could.

  She ran past them a few feet from JT's position, in between him and Gus. She didn't even acknowledge their presence. She just ran on. JT got a good look at the baby in her carrier. He then looked at Gus, who looked liked he might blow chunks. JT closed his eyes for a second, then went back to killing zombies.

  When the last one was down, Dusty turned to JT,clearly pissed. "See, you see what happened! She didn't even stop, not even a word or a thank you. For all we know the noise we just made could bring a much larger herd down on our heads!"

  Gus turned to look at JT, then to Dusty. His face was grey. "Did you not see the baby she was carrying? That might be the most disgusting thing I've seen yet, and by this point that's saying a lot."

  "No, I was too busy killing the targets. Why, what was wrong with it?"

  "It was dead," JT said in a harsh whisper. "No, worse than that, it was a zombie. Its eyes were white, its skin was pale. She had put duct tape over its mouth. Yet its arms and legs were still moving."

  This stunned Dusty into silence. "That's crazy," he finally said. "Why would she do that? Why wouldn't she just put it out of its suffering and then bury it?"

  "Mother's love," Gus answered, shrugging.

  "I'll go back and get the others," JT said. "I think it'll be clear for at least long enough to cross safely. Maybe we can even check a few of these cars, see if they have anything good in them."

  "Before we go, let's not mention the woman or the baby to the others," Gus suggested. "Everybody's down as it is. Let's not add on one more sad moment to their mood."

  "Agreed. Morale is important."

  "Okay. We'll just tell them we had to clear out some zombies to pass and leave it at that." JT turned to leave.

  A few moments later, JT was leading the group across the bridge. They searched the vehicles as they went. Someone had already hit the area. All the cars werefairly picked over. Most still had keys in the ignition but had either been left running until their tanks were empty or had been siphoned of all their fuel. None of the ones JT tried would even crank over.

  They were a little more than halfway across when JT heard Ashley scream out in pain. He rushed back to her, joined by Hannah, and arrived to hear a string of expletives.

  "What is it?" Hannah said.

  "My fucking ankle. I thought I could squeeze between those two cars, but when I tried, my foot got caught and I fell. I heard a pop and now it hurts like holy hell. Even worse than before." Ashley was on the verge of tears. "It was just getting better too."

  Back in the direction they came from, they heard a voice call out. "Hey is somebody there?"

  Another voice said. "I swear I just heard a woman scream. Let's keep searching but be careful. They're probably armed."

  JT saw the look of panic in Ashley's face.

  "Don't worry, we're getting out of hereright now," JT assured her.

  "Tyrone!" JT hissed. Tyrone popped out of a car he was searching. "Help me prop up Ashley. She hurt her ankle again and we need to get out of here. Someone is coming."

  Again they each took a side and picked Ashley up. The two went as fast as they could as she hobbled between them.

  "Hey!" JT whispered when he caught up to Dusty and Gus. "I hear people behind us. Sounds like they're searching for us."

  "Who knows what their intentions may be. We're in no shape right now to find out," Dusty's voice was hushed but still commanding. "All right, we need to double time it people. Let's get across this bridge and into the woods. I'll cover our flank. Move it people, move it."

  Harold looked down from the ridge upon the mass of people shuffling, stumbling, and heaving themselves down the highway. Somehow, even with all their random movements, the group of people were steadily going south down Highway 10. Except you couldn't call them people anymore, not really.

  Harold raised his binoculars up to his eyes for a closer look. It tinted everything green, allowing him to see at night. He scanned the horde of fortyor so, he saw a mass of rotting limbs, decomposing faces. A woman with one eye hanging from its socket by a tendon, like a grotesque spider dangling from a sick web. A man who bounced back and forth in the group like a pinball, his entrails painting red lines behind him, marking his path. Even, God forbid, a little girl who would have looked normal, if she still possessed her arms, instead of just bones sticking out of her shoulders.

  As far as Harold knew, as far as anyone knew, there was no explanation why they always seemed to clump together like this. There was no explanation he knewfor any of it. The zombies were like a cancerous tumor roaming the countryside, devouring people. If you were unfortunate, they attacked you but you lived through it. Then you wereadded to their ranks. You became a brain dead zombie.

  The way the group of formerly dead moved made it easy for Harold to spot the other group. The regular people, off on the side of the road, in the trees. They must be eitherreallystupid or reallydesperate, Harold thought, to get so close to the horde. If they had survived this long, Harold doubted they were stupid.

  Harold adjusted his binoculars, taking in the group of normals. He counted seven. He strained to make out more, until the image became blurry. He couldn't tell for sure but he thought one of them was an attractive young woman, who looked to be limping. Could be why they were taking such a risk. One of them suddenly stopped, turned, and seemed to look right at him. Instinctively Harold jerked back from the binoculars. There was no way they could have seen him, could they? Harold could barely pick out the group among the trees and he knew where they were.

  He thought about looking again, but realized there was nothing more he could learn about the situation. He raised his left hand into the air, pointed up with this index finger and twirled it three times. From behind him in the brush emerged two figures dressed in camo cover suits and hunting boots. Both carried bolt-action hunting rifles at the ready. The two carefully made their way to Harold, who spoke to them in hushed tones.

  "Down there, across the road in the woods, is a group. I count seven. One of them is possibly injured. On the road is a group of about forty dead, shambling down the highway. The two groups are on a collision course. Mike," Harold said, pointing to the man on his left. "I want you to go back to the cabin perimeter and wait for my signal, Thomas," He continued to the other man on his right. "You stay here with me and we'll keep tracking them. Let's hope we don't need to bail them out. If we do, you have tobe ready Thomas."

  The two men complied without a word. Mike raced back uphill. Thomas looked nervous beside Harold. Harold set a brisk pace as he made his way down the ridge and ahead of the pack. Harold was quiet, like
the rustling of the wind. The same could not be said of Thomas. When the two got to the tree line close to the highway they stopped.

  "Thomas, you stay here. Things must be done delicately from here on out. Stay in cover and when we come back this way, be ready."

  Harold raised his rifle up to look through the scope. He swept it both ways across the highway and took off silently again. He crossed the empty highway like a soldier crossing a war-torn no-man's-land. When Harold reached the other tree line, he increased his speed again. He judged that he should reach the other group in only five minutes.

  Harold came to a small clearing and decided it would be better to wait here for them. There was less of a chance of getting shot by a panicked trigger finger. He lit a flare and tossed it, hoping they would be smart enough to come towards the light. He heard them before he saw them.

  Lucky that pack isn't chewing them up already, Harold thought.

  An older man stepped into the clearing, pistol raised. Nice move, coming alone. Maybe they are smarter than I am giving them credit for.

  "What's going on here? Looking to lure us all in here and ambush us? How many more ya got?" the older man said.

  "I don't know if you know of this or not. Just through the trees is a group of about forty flesh eaters. How they haven't already heard you and come tearing through the forest like a ravenous wolf pack, I don't know. I saw you from the other side and came to see if you would like some help."

  He could almost see the old man's gears grinding as he tried to decide what to do. Before he could reply to Harold, another man came into the clearing. He walked in with an attitude that was all business.

  "Come on Gus! I knew I should have gone first instead. I seem to be the only one here capable of making a good decision."

  "Yes, you shouldhave. Fuck it all, I am too old for all this shit. Sure as hell too old to put up with a pecker like you. Always on everyone's case," Gus said.

  "Can we stop this and focus please?" Harold said through his teeth. "In case you forgot, I'll remind you again. There is a zombie pack almost on top of us. I have no problem leaving you here to fight them. This is the last time I am offering you my help."