The Outbreak Series Boxed Set

by Thomas Baker

  She heard firing from her left. Snow puffs danced around the Runner's feet. She tried tracking it from her position. It moved, now booking down the cleared road. She scrambled to her feet.

  Come on, JT. Get it.

  She jogged backwards. Again a shot fired from her left. Again a miss. It was lunging at her now. Clumsily she jumped backwards, not that it would help much. This one could run faster than she could.

  The Runner was about on top of her at a full speed charge. Then its body slammed to the right. It crashed into the side of a brick wall. JT had gotten it. It wasn't a head shot though. Hannah could see the star-shaped hole in its side. One that didn't bleed. The zombie pushed off, stumbling. Hannah took three steps back and fired. There was no missing at that range.

  During the fight with the Runner, the rest of the pack had advanced on JT's position. JT's must have missed several of his shots by the number of zombies still standing. The sound of him firing repeatedlyattracted the zombies towards him.

  Hannah wondered where the hell the others were. They should have been attacking the zombies flank by now. Then a horrible thought occurred to her. What if some of the wounded on both sides had gotten bit? Even now the zombies ranks could be swelling. The other two groups having to fight them off on the way to the main street. There wasn't much she could do right now. She prayed everyone would be okay.

  Mindlessly the remaining zombies pawed at the wall of snow in front of where JT perched. JT scooted, trying to slide off the backside. Without warning, the snowpack collapsed. Hannah watched in horror as a jumble of snow, zombies, and JT spilled out into the street with a rumble and a scream of surprise.

  Hannah cursed herself for not having a close combat weapon and rushed up the street. She didn't dare fire. She saw the other two teams rushing on her position, there was still four of them and they all looked okay. She had to bite her tongue from shouting out finally.

  Instead, she bellowed. "JT is in the middle of this mess. Go!"

  Still a tumbling mass of white, with arms and legs sticking out, Hannah could not make out JT's position. She shot open the trunk of the next car she passed, a Mazda 6. She rummaged inside for something, anything. She found one of those crappy jack handles that came with newer cars. She decided it would have to do. Slinging her rifle on her back, she grabbed the handle with two hands, pointy side out and charged into the fray.

  The sounds of battle surrounded her. Gus was yelling for JT. Lots of zombies now spread out instead of clumped together were getting to their feet. What some of them had left for feet, anyway. She took the first two she came across by japing them point first through the eye with all her strength. When they dropped she took a quick look around. There was a small clump, rolling around on the ground directly to her right. She saw the flash of a blue coat. That had to be JT.

  One zombie went flying up and crashing back down to the pavement. JT struggled up, a zombie on either side gnashing and clawing at him. One he smashed in the face with his rifle butt. It went down, jaw hanging by a few strands of muscle fiber now. JT spun and his attempts to hit the other zombie failed. The one he had thrown was getting back up.

  It limped towards him. JT must have broken some bones in its back. JT's partner engaged it, kicking it in the face. The man slipped in the snow pile. The zombie he kicked got back up.

  Hannah rushed the broken back zombie from behind. She gripped the handle of her rifle like a bat and swung hard. She sheared the rifle across the top portion of the zombie's head. It went to one knee and two more whacks knocked its head wide open.

  More zombies were encircling JT. He jammed his weapon right into the mouth of the one he missed earlier and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. She had been afraid to fire into the mass earlier, unsure of where JT was. Now though, while he had the zombie trapped, Hannah took a shot. Brain matter flewexploded, some landing on JT's coat.

  "You could have warned me,"JT said. disgusted, when Hannah closed the distance between them.He wiped his face with his coat sleeve. His gun then went clickclick. "I'm out."

  Zombies were still everywhere.

  "Guess we do this the old-fashioned way." Hannah handed over her tire iron and put her back to his.

  They walked in a sidestep crab like way. Down the street, away from the other two teams. Hannah wanted to give them room to fire without worrying. Her and JT never started a fight. Instead, they only took on any zombies that attacked them first.

  A little girl zombie thing in a yellow sundress so faded it was almost white approached. Hannah took it out with one well-placed shot. She then sent up a prayer, the child was with God now.

  A middle-aged man. Tall, bald with the skin on his scalp flapping open and closed with each step emerged out of the snow and was met with two whacks from JT's makeshift weapon.

  Lindsay, her red hair a dead giveaway, pounded pavement towards them, her dog Parka by her side. She took up a firing position at the end of downtown. She was yelling at them.

  "The other wall was good. Guys get moving. I'll take out any that follow."

  Hannah looked at JT. The zombies were thinning out around them.

  "You going to be able tosprint? We need to get out of here before we accidently get shot."

  "That far? Should be. Afterwards, I'll be lucky if I can walk."

  Hannah broke off, putting all her energy into making her legs work as fast as possible. She figured it would be more helpful covering JT than trying to pull him along with her.

  Hannah slid down in the snow when she reached Lindsay. She was back up in a kneeling position, tracking JT. Hannah squinted as the sun glinted off the ice and snow, the glare blocking some of her vision. He was hobbling and grimacing, pulling to the right as he ran.

  He was clear within a few heartbeats. The remaining undead had turned towards the other two firing groups, who were dropping them quickly. A few minutes later, it was over. JT sat with his back to the hotel's wall, panting. He had his hands cupped around his knee.

  "No more forty yard dashes for me." he hissed.

  Hannah helped JT and the other others check among the people lying on the ground in the attack's aftermath. JT was really limping. Hannah tried to talk him into sitting down but he refused until the job was done.

  They were making sure the zombies were reallydead and if any hurt townspeople need help. Josh had found one of the townspeople, lying under some rubble of a collapsed wall with a faint heartbeat. Josh and a man named Colin made a makeshift carrier out of some bedsheets and took the wounded woman to the clinic. A man, the one who had been teamed up with Josh in the last battle, was holding the top of his arm. Blood was turning his light green coat a weird black color. He stumbled off towards the clinic. Hannah hoped he didn't have a zombie bite. She'd find out from Linda later.

  She had sent Lindsay up to the hotel to check on Dr. Childs. She reported back that Dr. Childs was all right. No one had attempted to abduct him again during the confusion.

  "Now maybe he can stop being useless." Was how Lindsay had put it.

  Hannah thought Childs would have plenty to do for the next few days. There were lots of wounded at the main gate and wall. She prayed they could heal all of them and their suffering wouldn't last long. Satisfied she had done all she could where she was, Hannah broke away from them and walked to the wall.

  The burning wreckage of the dump truck was still fouling the air. Its metal skeleton make Hannah think of a dinosaur exhibit. There were bodies everywhere. She checked them. She could see the trauma from gunshot wounds, shrapnel and the evidence of being attacked by a zombie. She felt this was her responsibility.

  Gus joined her."Some had been bitten and turned," Gus said, his mouth pulled when giving her the news.

  She picked her way from the wall back towards town. Each body she checked was trulydead. She sent up a silent wish that the town could bounce back from this. Those who died, she prayed for any family or loved ones who would grieve for them. They were in a better place now; she was sure
. All you had to do was look around to see the truth.

  Closer to town, Hannah came across a woman who at first looked alive. She wiggled on the ground, with some nasty-looking shrapnel protruding from her leg. She was flat on her back, looking up at Hannah. Hannah looked back gazing into her whited over eyes. Dead eyes.

  The shrapnel wound had stopped bleeding. So did the ripped out chunk of her throat, where a zombie had been at her. Hannah put her rifle to its head. She asked for God to welcome his child home and pulled the trigger.

  She had no more tears left for the people she barely knew who had died in the attack. Her grieving of Tyrone, Dusty, Alan and especially her Mom and Ashley had burned them out. At least for the time being. She knew they would easily flow again if something were to happen to JT or Gus, even Linda. She continued across the town which had become an open grave.

  Later, as drained and exhausted as she had ever felt, she sat on the couch in her home with JT. Her head was against his chest. She could hear his heart through the thick sweatshirt he was wearing. She was thinking about Ashley now and how JT was right; she wasburied in the ground. It was wrong to bury them from our thoughts and feelingsas well. All the death they had been a part of wasn't their fault. They were not bad people. They deserved to live and be happy. They owed it to the people they lost.

  "You know, if Ashley was here, we would never hear the end of her whining. She was a summer girl, through and through. We spent just about every day of summer together growing up. This one time we were at the first summer camp I attended after my dad had died. Ashley never even knew her dad. He skipped out on her mom as soon as he found out she was pregnant. Her mom had boyfriends as Ashley got older, none ever stuck around. Anyway, we were silly girls, teenagers. We would talk about our crushes. Ashley's big one was Jesse McCartney. Guess I had a thing for older guys even then as I loved Leo. Something else we would talk about, in secret whispers...we would talk about who we would want as our new dads."

  "Who's your Daddy?" JT interjected with a terribly put on accent.

  Hannah gave him a sour look. "JT, I'm trying to be serious here. I've never told anyone this before."

  "Sorry, sorry," he said, looking like he genuinely meant it. "It's a reflex. People set them up, I knock them down. Go ahead, I'm listening."

  "Ok. Even though, now I'm saying it out loud, it sounds pathetic."

  "No, I can understand it. Your dad sounded like a cool guy. Ashley, well that's too bad, my heart goes out to her. Girl didn't have an easy life and a hell of a death but at least she had you."

  Hannah smiled up before continuing. "I used to always pick Danny Tanner. My Dad was a listener like him, even though he could be a lot tougherat times. Ashley would flop between Dan from Roseanne or Sandy Cohen from the OC. She would either want a friend Dad or one who would tell her the right thing to do. I would tease her about it all the time. Even if Sandy told her, she wouldn't do it. She would do the opposite. Kind of mean now I think back. We were like sisters though."

  JT didn't reply, he just held her. She was happy being there. She didn't know how long they sat. She watched the fire crackle across the room. The flames doing a hypnotic dance. She twitched a small amount when JT spoke up again.

  "What do you think will happen now?"

  Hannah reflected on the question. "There is a good thing going on here. I see that now. I think we help rebuild. Whoever attacked us, we spanked them good...twice. I don't think they will be back. Isn't it nuts they followed us all the way up here in the first place?"

  "Sure would have been back in the old world. Now?" She felt JT shrug. "So you think it's a good thing, this group?"

  To Hannah it sounded like a charged question. She sat back up. There was a knock at the door before she could ask him what he meant. It was Josh standing on her porch.

  "Oh, JT is here," Josh's eyes opened wide, and he adjusted his glasses up. "Dr. Childs wants you two to come up to the clinic tomorrow. He was surprised you didn't come straight there, after, you know."

  "Why?" JT asked, coming up behind her. "We were a little tired after, you know, saving his ass."

  Hannah gave him a soft elbow to the ribs. "Josh, what does he want?"

  "He just told me he would like to check you both over. Make sure you are okay. A complete physical. Since JT is here, I guess I don't have to go over to his house now."

  Josh left without another word, turning around once to give Hannah what she couldn't mistake as a look of longing mixed with anger. She hoped JT didn't see it. He was calm now; the anger didn't need to be stirred over nothing. After the day she had, she didn't want to have to deal with two guys puffing out their chests at each other on her front porch.

  "Well, I guess I better take off too," JT said, sliding by her. "It was nice tonight Hannah, just sitting and talking. I missed more than I realized. And I missed you. We need to hang out again. See you around tomorrow?"

  Hannah watched JT lurch down the stairs favoring his knee and closed the door amid a flurry of second thoughts. Those thoughts quickly got the better of her as she opened the door back up. JT still stood there,seeminglystaring up into the starry night sky.

  "Did you forget where you live?" She joked.

  "Nope, just taking a moment and thinking about Red Dawn and Randall." JT was straight with his answer. He pulled a DVD case out of his coat pocket and twirled it.

  Hannah let out a giggle at his reply, unsure of what it even meant. Must have been some inside joke. She didn't think JT and Randall even got along.

  "The Sheriff was right about a lot of things, some I didn't even give him credit for. But, I'm realizing it now." JT seemed self assured in his comment.

  "Well, how about you come back, I can make us coffee or cocoa and we can talk about it if you want,I will even rub your knee for you," Hannah said smiling.

  "That is an amazing offer but I don't think Icouldwalk home after a knee rub so may-"JTdidn't get to finish. Hannah interpreted him.

  "Well then, it's a good thing I don't want you to leave tonight." Hannah said trying to conceal the smile she felt as she opened the door wide and JT came back in and hugged her.

  Hannah was the first to awake early the next morning. Even she had to admit to herself it felt good to wake up in JT's arms. So why did a creeping feeling of regret waiting to sneak back in?

  Even though nothing more than cuddling happened, she felt like maybe she was leading JT on too soon or worse, that he was playing on her emotions to reignite the feelings they once seemed to feel for each other.

  After letting herself dwell long enough Hannah opted to slip out before JT woke and eased herself from the warm embrace of his arms. JT groggily protested before falling back asleep long enough for Hannah to dress and sneak out to go check on how things were around town in the daylight.

  It was crazy to think about how they had been attacked. What happened to all the remaining people since The Outbreak? Did the virus kill most of the decent people, leaving the crazies to inherit the Earth? Hannah didn't know, so she just said her morning prayers and left it up to God.

  Hannah ran into Lindsay a short ways down the road, she was out taking Parka for a walk.

  "So, I heard you and JT might've spent the night together." Lindsay smirked at Hannah.

  "And how did you hear that news? Is this the small town gossip cliche in action?" Hannah was more amused than anything. "I'm sure our night was less entertaining than the one you spent at his house." Hannah reminded herself to turn down the anger level.

  "Whoa! Hey babe, don't get me wrong,after everything you guys have been through I'm sure you need any release you can get." Lindsay said, brushing off the rising tension with a smile. "TTFN!" She led her dog Parka off.

  Hannah had to admit Lindsay was prettycool. She could tell at that moment she would like her. As Hannah walked on towards where the main street massacre occurred she kept thinking back and forth about JT and all the what ifs and what could be. Her mind studied the details of all the people and
situations that had got them to this point and more importantlykept them alive.

  JT was a little sore in the feelings department after waking up alone in Hannah's bed. He felt almost as bad now as he half heartedly picked through the wreckage. It was the only way to describe how the front of the town looked now after the bombing. Wreckage. The wall was all but gone, along with most of the houses near it.

  JT towed some charred wood behind him as he debated with himself about what to do next with Hannah, with the town. And what the hell was he going to do about Lindsay?

  Damn, maybe Dusty was right all along. Every time we meet up with or joined someone, tried to make a stand in one place, terrible shit happened. Still same shit different day.

  Between his body aching this morning along with confusing thoughts of Hannah after yesterday, he felt the nagging need for a drink.

  Damn! No, no, no. He kind of sang the words in his head as a distraction.

  He toiled a long time. He felt the dull ache still in his shoulder area from being shot, along with the never ceasing pain in his knee, both irritating, constant reminders of what a few drinks could erase.

  Yet even with these distractions he still came back to his mixed feelings for Hannah. After getting home from her place that morning he poured himself a drink. Then he would think about how nice it was to hold her. To listen to her voice, softer than he had heard it in months, tell him about her past. To trust him. Then the drink went down the sink. He must have done it five times. After the last time, he threw the bottle across the room where it shattered, stalked out the door, and walked a couple laps around town before stepping in to help with the clean-up process.

  Lindsay came bounding over as he threw the wood into the back of a truck. Her red hair, in dual ponytails again today, stood out against the whitesnow. It was like watching a rose bloom in winter. She stood out in a pleasant way, unlike all the blood and body parts smeared and scattered amidst the stained snow. Not that you could tell the horrific aftermath of the battle had affected Lindsay in the slightest.