“I don’t think we should permanently hole up there. Just need a secluded place to rest and recuperate.” Jaimee rolled up the map. “If we get low on food, we can drive down and raid what we can, or if we’re ready to leave by then, just keep pushing east.”
“Are we still going to Palm Springs?” Bobby asked.
“Yes.” Jaimee nodded. “There we can find a good solid base and build a secure outpost. Although, we have to think about summers.”
“Yeah that heat will kill you – and no A/C anymore.” Tom scratched his scruffy beard. Normally clean-shaven, he had not gotten a chance to groom since they abruptly left the fire station in Riverside. A few shoots of grey were starting to show on his chin.
“We may have to scout Idyllwild like Bobby talked about weeks ago.” Diane proposed. “At least for the scorching hot months when we can’t take it in the desert.”
Henry pointed back at the road. “First things first. Let’s get to the area, find a house or two, and plan our next steps from there. Daylight’s wasting.”
Climbing back into the vehicles now full of enough food to keep them all well fed for a short while, they drove onward. What used to take ten to fifteen minutes’ drive time, now could take nearly an hour depending on the amount of debris, wrecked cars, and undead wandering the roadways. Eventually, they reached Bluff Street and turned left, heading up into the foothill cliffs overlooking the town.
A flash of light to the right caught Jaimee’s attention outside the bus’s windows, but nothing was there when she looked. No movement, nothing that she could that would reflect sunlight.
Odd…
Fewer obstacles blocked their path along Bluff. They wanted to go as high as possible along the street, but saw a large property along a side road after several moments of driving. Henry led the caravan in the converted bus and stopped at the intersection, waving for the rest to follow and turn left. Soon they pulled up in front of a large rambling, two-story ranch house, with a three-car garage and large barn set further into the property and a fenced dressage ring beyond for horses.
Henry whistled. “Whew, this is a nice, large piece of land. Too bad, it’s not all fenced. Would make a great compound if it was.”
Jaimee sidled up and sat next to him into the passenger seat. “How many acres do you think?”
Shrugging, Henry shook his head. “No clue, but it’s got to be close to seven. Maybe more?”
“I see trees back along the bluff line. Looks like fruit trees. I hope they have ripe fruit on them. We haven’t had any fresh fruit for a long time.”
“Yeah. Would be nice,” he grunted. “But it blocks the ground level view from the house. That’s bad for security.”
“At least the land is open between the trees and house. Plenty of time to see anything approaching.”
Bobby loped up to where bus stood idling. “Is this where we’re staying? I’ll get the gate – don’t see any rotters around yet.”
Driving through, they all parked with the vehicles pointing back out toward the street in case of the need for a quick escape. If they deemed the area safe and clear of undead, only then would they try to move cars into the garage, if there was room. Blanca and Tom stayed outside next to the bus to watch for zombies and guard against the living hazards. The rest tried various doors and windows, which all were firmly locked shut. Eventually, they determined that with the proper tools, the back door might be forced open.
“Diane, do you still have that crowbar?” Jaimee asked.
“Yeah, it’s in the SUV somewhere. I’ll go look.” She jogged around the corner of the house to retrieve the crowbar.
Jaimee watched Diane’s toned body as she moved away with a smile until a gurgled hiss made her glance toward the barn. A decomposing bag of loose flesh slowly made its way from around the corner of the building and plodded in her general direction. She packed a handgun in the small of her back, but did not want to risk attracting attention with a gunshot, so she pulled out her large knife and waiting as it approached. It was missing an arm and the other hung by shreds of muscle and sinew, swinging useless at its side. The creature snapped its jaw loudly and vocalized a loud burbling hiss again as if in excitement to greet her.
She shook her head. “Well, at least you shouldn’t put up too much of a fight.”
It picked up speed as it came closer and Jaimee hefted the large hunting knife, waiting for the right angle and plunged it into an eye socket when it came within an arm’s length. The movement sent a twinge of pain across her ribcage, making her wince. The zombie fell inanimate onto what once was a finely manicured back lawn, oozing blood and brain gore. She was still cleaning the blade of the weapon when Diane returned with the crowbar.
“Oh!” She said taking in the scene. “Everything ok?”
Nodding, Jaimee re-sheathed her knife. “Yeah. Well other than my damn ribs, but they didn’t stop me from taking it out.”
“Let’s crack this thing open then.” Diane wedged the end of the crowbar into the gap in the doorframe and, with the help of Jaimee, pulled until the wood began to splinter. It took several minutes and attempts, but eventually they were rewarded with the door snapping open.
Side by side, they both slowly walked through the first floor of the home. The backdoor led into a small ‘mud room’ that doubled as a laundry. Garage access was off to one side and the other, a substantial sized kitchen. A dumb waiter cabinet was along a wall inside the kitchen near a tall pantry door.
Walking past a dining room and restroom, they reached the front room and opened the main door to let in Henry and Bobby. Together they walked through and looked around the rest of the house. A small ‘in-law’ bedroom with adjoining bathroom was set off a large space used for games and entertainment on the first floor. A billiard table rested in the center of the room, left in mid game, solids outnumbering stripes. Stairs from this room led up to the second floor of the home.
Gingerly climbing upward, the quartet gained the second floor landing and spread out in pairs to explore the upstairs level. Most of the flooring was wood and did not help to deaden their footsteps. There were three more bedrooms, one a master with an on-suite bathroom, while the other two shared a large restroom between them. The second floor portion of the dumbwaiter opened along a wall in the master bedroom. Nowhere they looked contained any other humans, living or dead. Even the garage was empty, including of vehicles.
They met again outside next to their cars, and discussed the possibility of staying at this location.
“I like it.” Blanca looked around. “It’s nice and has a lot of room for us.”
“Yes, but is it defensible?” Tom insisted. “Not as much as the old firehouse. It’s on high ground, so we can see the town below, but there are no fences outside of that horse rink and barn.”
“There isn’t anything to construct a wall either.” Bobby mentioned. “I like it though. Really nice place.”
Jaimee worried they might become too complacent in such a place and knew that it could not be a long-term base of operations. For that, they needed to find a facility they could call home, but also turn into a fortress for protection. “We can’t make this a permanent home, guys. For now, it’s ok. Just for a week or two, if that long.”
“Long enough for us to rest and heal up.” Tom agreed. “Then we should move on. Unless we find something we like in town here.”
“We have three days of food in the cars. How much is in this house? Do we need to go out and scavenge right away?”
Blanca left with Tori to search the cabinets of the large house as Bobby enthusiastically volunteered to run out to where the fruit bearing trees grew to check for anything edible.
An hour later, after they arranged the vehicles to create a barrier between the house and the road, they met inside around a large dining table. The sun was beginning to set, its weakening rays casting gloomy shadows through the windows onto the table. Odd assortments of candles flickered light onto the assembly.
&n
bsp; “What do we have?” Diane asked.
“Yeah, what’s the situation?” Tom unconsciously rubbed his healing leg.
“I found some apples out there. Picked a few armloads. You can’t beat fresh fruit.”
“Good, good.” Jaimee nodded and looked to Blanca. “Anything in the pantry?”
“Yes. A lot. Some of it went bad, but most is still good to eat. We probably added several more days of food.”
“And we can add to our stash by checking out the other homes down the street later.” Tori gestured to the southeast.
“I wish this place was more defensible.” Jaimee said. “How are we going to do ‘watch’? It’s still too cold out to have someone sit outside for hours at a time.”
“We’ll have to have someone outside walking the perimeter of the house at least.” Henry insisted. “Just dress warmly. To be safer, how about two of us at a time?”
“Naw, that would mean we’d be out there for more than an hour at a time at night. That’d suck.” Bobby shook his head. “Jaimee, you feel up to an hour outside watching yet?”
She agreed, “An hour won’t be bad at all I think.”
Tori insisted that Jaimee get a full night sleep. “You either do your part of the watch at the beginning of the night, or be the last one before morning. Tom, I’m not sure you should be on your feet in the cold like that yet.”
“I’m going to do my part too.”
“But, I don’t think it’s a good idea to…”
“I’m going to! An hour won’t be that bad.”
The tenseness of the group faded after a few moments. As a close-knit family of survivors, the past few days had been trying and stressful. They were glad to be safe and in a comfortable home for the night and near future, but knew complacency could kill them. Together they were stronger than each individual.
They split the three-bedroom house amongst them as living spaces, including the large front room that had a large sofa. Blanca and Tori decided to share the master bedroom while Jaimee and Diane took one of the others. Henry and Tom dragged themselves up to the third bedroom. Bobby declared the sofa was ‘all his’ and promptly flopped down onto it. When it became fully dark outside, Jaimee took a flashlight, gun and few knives with her to take the first watch.
With the exception of a couple intruders of the undead variety, the night passed quietly for the most part. After her shift, Jaimee enjoyed crawling into bed next to Diane’s warm body. She nestled closely and let the chill seep away from her bones.
The next morning, Henry, Bobby and Jaimee walked to the barn to have a look at what was inside. Any horses that lived there were long gone, probably snacks for the dead horde. Some rusty farm implements lay up against a far wall along with antiques. Henry thought some could be used again, as most were tools used before electricity and some still in decent working order.
“Too bad we don’t have a cow for milk. That’s a butter churn.” Henry pointed out the wooden barrel with a large post sticking out of the top. “That’s an old milk can too. If it’s not rusted out we could use that for water collection.”
While preparing the evening meal during last night, Blanca discovered that water pressure was nonexistent in the house. Collecting and storing water was a must if they were to stay at the location for any length of time.
“What’s that?” Bobby scratched his head and walked to a tall, red cast iron antique with large wheels on both sides, and a crank to turn them. It had a receptacle on the top, which funneled into an oval sized chamber between the wheels.
“That’s a Victorian coffee grinder. If it still is in working order, if we find coffee beans to grind, this thing will help make some great tasting coffee.” Henry remembered his parents dragging him to many a swap meet and antique auction house when he was younger. He never became a collector, but appreciated the quality construction of older tools and implements.
Jaimee salivated at the thought of freshly ground coffee. “What I wouldn’t give to have a fresh cup right now. That’s something I really and truly miss.”
“We can test it when and if we ever find some.” Henry said as they walked back to the house.
“Absolutely!”
*****
Three days passed while they rested in the ranch house and searched nearby properties for more food. Both Tom and Jaimee began to look decidedly better as wounds healed, bruises faded and bones started to knit together. From one house, Tori liberated a few bottles of penicillin and made Tom take them to stave off infection from the bullet hole in his leg.
Bobby and Diane prepared for a drive back into the town to look for better options to find supplies, food, and gas for the cars. They decided to take the SUV for ease of carrying what they would find and were topping off its gas tank when Jaimee walked up to Diane.
“Can I talk to you a sec?”
“Sure. Bobby, I’ll be back in a few.” Diane said and followed Jaimee around the corner of the house pulling her dirty, blonde hair behind an ear.
Both shared the same bedroom on the upstairs floor and enjoyed spending time with each other at night when not on ‘watch’ duty. Jaimee found the ache in her ribs frustrating. Any sort of physical activity would send shots of pain lacing into her sides, and her ribs generally did this at the most inopportune time. Still, she took Diane into her arms as soon as she rounded the corner and kissed her into breathlessness.
Reluctantly breaking from the embrace Diane smiled. “Well, someone is feeling better.”
“Enough for that…yes.” Jaimee leaned back against the wall of the house. “I’m not good for much else yet.”
“Soon hun. Just let yourself heal.”
Nodding Jaimee looked into Diane’s cool blue eyes. They reminded her of the ocean and easily became lost while gazing into them. “Look…I wanted to ask you to be careful out there. It kills me that I can’t go out raiding with you. We’re good at watching each other’s backs.”
“We also are good at getting distracted by one another if I remember correctly.”
“Ha! Yes.” Jaimee laughed. “Just…make sure you come back in one piece. Bobby too. Who knows what’s out there.”
“Lots of zombies, I’m sure.” Diane motioned at the knives and guns tucked into her belt.
“It’s not the undead I’m worried about.”
Saying their goodbyes and clasping arms around each other one last time before she left, Jaimee watched as her lover climbed into the car next to Bobby. He waved and gunned the engine, steering the car down the street and toward the city below.
I can’t shake this feeling. Jaimee struggled to tap down the unease creeping from her stomach. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but I feel as if I may not see them again.
Rolling her eyes at her own foolishness, Jaimee strode back inside in hopes of finding something to occupy her mind in Diane’s absence.
Chapter Four
Tires squealed as they took the corner at a sharp angle. The SUV struck a walking corpse slowly lumbering toward the rapid-fire gunshots and revving engines, splattering blood and gore across the windshield. The body rolled off the car leaving streaks of matter behind as they accelerated.
“Bobby, turn there – there!” Diane yelled as she clung onto the door and dashboard.
He swerved too late and sent the vehicle into a skid, losing traction. For a few seconds, time seemed suspended as the SUV balanced on two tires until slamming back down on all four.
Three cars sped around the corner in pursuit, firing off bullets intent on crippling their ability to escape.
“I can hardly steer this thing. I think they’ve gotten at least one of the tires!” He struggled to control the steering wheel for another turn.
“Oh crap!”
The SUV slammed to an abrupt stop. The street ahead lay blocked with derelict cars and debris. With no way forward or around, they both leaped out of the car and ran behind cover. Hunched low, they scrabbled around the corner of a small real estate business and sprinted to
put some distance between them and their pursuers. Running up a small side street, they crossed behind a business park and stopped on the other side of a large trash bin to catch their breath.
Diane carefully looked around the corner of the metal bin and saw an armed group in pursuit. She thought furiously of ways to escape.
“They’re still coming,” she said harshly. “And there’s a lot of them.”
“If they didn’t immediately start shooting at us, I wouldn’t be too worried.”
“Yeah, well they did. Which means they aren’t friendlies.” Diane checked her ammo and nodded at Bobby. “How much do you have?”
“Almost a full clip. You?”
“Same.” Diane saw they had a few directions they could flee to, but knew the odds were against both of them getting away if they stuck together. “Bobby, you’re not going to like this, but I think we should split up. We stand a better chance of getting away.”
“What? No way!”
“No time to argue. Just do it! Make sure you lose them before heading back to the hills. I’ll go that way,” she said pointing “and you go there.”
“But..”
“Go!” she said and raced forward, skirting around the corner of the building and down the sidewalk.
Bobby knew she was right, and reluctantly leapt out from cover and dove to the right using trees and deserted cars to shield himself from those following. He varied his direction, ducking around buildings and burnt vehicles until finding a bolthole between two homes to hunker down inside. Shifting his weight and kneeling, he readied a gun in case the hunters discovered the hiding spot. Long moments passed until he heard running feet and car engines gradually fade in the distance.
Long minutes turned in to what felt like an hour to him. The need to run was overwhelming, but the risk was too high. He knew they had to be canvasing the area for him and Diane.
I hope she got away. Man I hope she did. He rubbed the grime and sweat from his face and grimaced. I want to get the hell outta here!
Hunting Party (Still Alive; A Lesbian Love Story in an Undead World Book 3) Page 6