by Morris, SJ
“Oh. So, now we’re not only planning on fighting off bloodthirsty zombies but survivors as well? Awesome.”
“In my experience, it’s smartest to plan for the worst and hope for the best. A lot of us in this room right now have seen the absolute worst that people can do to one another, and we’re not going to let that happen to anyone here.”
“Show me. I want to see these rooms.”
“Mom, you do realize that you just asked Chris to show you his bedroom, don’t you?” Allycia said, smiling and giggling into the shoulder of Chris’s daughter, Christine. I guess they’d become fast friends.
“Allycia. Stop it, what are you talking about?”
“Oh, nothing, Mom.”
“Come on, Abby, I’ll show you ALL of the rooms downstairs.” Chris made sure to put a good punch into the word ‘all’ and he looked at the girls sternly. They stopped snickering right away when he said something. I guess I’d better work on my mean mom face if I wanted these two to listen to me.
Everyone got up from the table and followed Chris and me over to the pantry in the kitchen. I guessed everyone just wanted to see the look on the newcomer’s faces when they saw their secret hideaway homes.
Chris opened the door and walked in. He practically filled up the entire pantry and I had to stop myself from laughing. He kicked a can of lima beans that were stacked on the floor and the cabinet unhinged inward.
“Son of a bitch! You guys built a hidden door in my pantry!”
“It’s one of the last places someone would go looking for people, and almost no one likes lima beans, so yes, we decided to put it here.”
“That’s awesome!” Tyler yelled from behind me, “Can you put one in my closet?”
“No, Tyler, let’s just worry about one thing at a time, please.”
Chris turned away from me and pushed the door all the way in, so it latched on the wall behind it and revealed beautifully carpeted stairs, leading down to somewhere I previously had no idea existed.
Chris went down and I followed. They looked like regular stairs down to someone’s basement recreation room, but this opened up to a sitting area that branched out into four doors. The doors were heavy-duty steel doors that didn’t look like they belonged in this setting, but at least they were painted a lovely shade of cream to match the carpet and blend in a little.
Chris walked up to the door to the right and punched in a code by the handle. It beeped, flashed a green light, and opened. He walked through, and we were in a very long hallway with doors on each side, about every fifteen feet. There was a total of four doors on each side of the hall. Chris explained that they each opened into a two-bedroom apartment. They all had a small kitchenette, one bathroom, two bedrooms, a family room, and most importantly, they each had a hatch in the ceiling of the bathroom that led to the surface, should anyone need to escape.
I looked around astonished, “Wow. This is amazing. You guys did all of this?”
“Well, we did hire out some of the work, but only to private security companies that do this sort of thing off-book. We wanted to make sure it was done right, as well as off the grid.”
“This must have cost a fortune. Where did you get the money for all of this?”
“Well, Jack had a lot of money stashed from the hush-hush military jobs he’d done before, and all of us have, well... let’s just say we’ve done all right for ourselves, too.”
“Okay. One day I’m going to make you explain that, Chris, but right now, let’s go back upstairs and finish breakfast. Kids, we have to empty the supplies we brought from the Rover and get the boat docked down at the lake.”
“As soon as we’re finished with breakfast, we’ll all help unload the supplies. And I’ll help the boys with the boat. It’ll give me a chance to show you the grounds and some of the other upgrades we made,” replied Chris with a smile. He had the look of a kid in a candy store, which was hysterical on this massive bear of a man.
I could hear the girls snickering to each other behind me, and my face turned red again. I really needed to have a talk with Allycia and her new friend.
In the meantime, we finished breakfast and cleaned up. Then, we all headed outside.
The truck was a lot fuller than I remembered it being. I had no idea how we fit all of that stuff inside in the first place. When we got to the boat, I took the cover off, exposing our load of full gas cans, and Chris laughed out loud for the first time.
It sounded like what you would think Santa Clause’s laugh would sound like. He had a deep, baritone voice, and his laugh showed it, but it was cute to see this huge man who looked like he’d never had a day of fun in his life, chuckle.
“What’s so funny, Santa?”
“Santa, why would you call me Santa?”
“It’s your laugh, Dad, she’s making fun of your laugh and how you sound like Santa.”
“Hey, that’s not all that funny. I don’t sound like Santa, do I?”
Christine smiled at her father and winked at me, “Yeah, you do, Dad.”
Chris shook his head, “Well, what is funny is that you probably spent a lot of time and money on this gas, and we already have plenty. Your gas also doesn’t have the additive that will make it last either. Ours does. I’ll show you later, but down by the dock, we installed a tank that’s been topped off with treated gasoline, so it’ll last for years instead of going bad after a few months of sitting like yours will.”
“Now that’s not funny at all. If I didn’t have to stop and fill these damn things up, I wouldn’t have had to risk my life killing two zombies or having my kids watch as some hillbilly prick ripped his friend to pieces. I really wish that Troy had put you and me in contact with each other yesterday so we could’ve worked together on a game plan.”
“There was no time for that yesterday, Abby,” Chris’s voice softened, “I’m sorry your kids had to see that, and I am sorry that you had to kill those people yesterday.” He put his big hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “You did what you had to do to get you and your kids here safely, and you did a great job. That’s all that matters.”
Just then, Dan came running out of the house, yelling for Chris and Tom.
Through their conversation, I pieced together that the fences were not only keeping things out, but they were also equipped with video cameras every forty feet or so, and there was a special room downstairs by the apartments that was the control room of sorts.
Dan was doing his shift, watching the monitors, and said he saw a group of little kids run past one of the cameras at the east end of the property.
Chris, Tom and I went downstairs to see what he was talking about and sure enough, a few minutes after getting in front of the monitors, there was a group of young children that had to be no more than five or six-years-old, that crept past one of the cameras.
We didn’t see anything in the cameras behind them, so we weren’t sure what they were running from, but what other reason would a group of young children be running around in the backwoods of Northern New Jersey in the beginning of the apocalypse?
I could only think of one thing, and that was that they had zombies after them. I burst from the room and ran upstairs to my closet. I grabbed the bag I had my extra set of leathers in and started getting dressed. Chris barged in just as I got down to my underwear, of course.
“Don’t you knock?”
“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” he said with a grin. “Where do you think you’re going, Abby?”
“I’m getting dressed, and I’m going out there to help those kids.”
“You most certainly are not!”
“Chris, they’re just little kids... you saw them! Did you see the looks on their faces? They were scared and they were running from something. I’d bet everything I own, it’s zombies.”
“That’s exactly why you are not going out there, Abby. Let me go out with Tom. We have guns and more gear than you can imagine, not to mention we also have the training to handle
these types of situations. We can get the kids and make sure they’re safe.”
“Well, you better hurry up and get your gear on, because all I need to do is tape up and get my helmet on and I am going out there. Remember, this is my house, Chris, and I still get to make the rules.” I grabbed my helmet and ran out of the room past a very large and very angry Chris.
I grabbed Lance as I was running out and told him to get his helmet and gloves on and to meet me outside with his bow and arrow. I ran to the truck and retrieved the handgun from under the seat while I waited for Lance.
Lance came out with all of his leather gear on and was soon followed by Chris and Tom in full SWAT gear, including helmets and rifles.
They certainly were a sight to see. Both men, towering over six-feet-tall, in helmets and body armor, was honestly incredibly intimidating.
We made a plan fairly quickly that included Lance staying behind the chain-link fence, following the two commandos and myself on the outside of the perimeter. We were to keep to the tree line, out of sight, until we spotted the kids and figured out what the situation was going to be.
Lance could take out any zombies from the protection of the fence if needed, but that was only as a last resort.
Apparently, Chris and Tom had silencers for their massive guns, so we didn’t need to worry about the gunshots attracting the attention of anyone or anything we didn’t want. They also happened to have a silencer for my nine-millimeter that Chris insisted on equipping for me.
We set out, and I became overwhelmed with fear almost instantly. The three of us got outside of the fence together and my two friends pretty much disappeared. There was no noise from their movements, and I only saw a flash of black race by some trees every once in a while. They were very good at what they were doing. Too good to be hanging around with the likes of me. I was going to have to ask them to train me to be so quiet and stealthy if I made it out of this alive.
I spotted the group of four children about ten minutes after we hit the trees. I was told that once I spotted them that I should whistle twice and not approach them. Chris and Thomas would find me by sound and check out the area before we approached the children.
I froze in place, fighting the urge to run out to the frightened kids that looked like they had stopped for a breather.
All I wanted to do was grab them and tell them everything was going to be okay and that they were safe now. All four of the children were crying and looking around furiously.
There was one little boy who seemed to be kneeling on the ground, clutching his wrist. This worried me intensely. I tried to whistle, but my mouth and lips were so dry that nothing came out.
I started to panic a little, trying to figure out what I was going to do to try and get Chris and Tom’s attention when a large hand grabbed mine, and I heard a shushing sound from my left.
I almost peed myself when Tom did this. He was virtually silent, and it didn’t help that my stupid helmet blocked my peripheral vision.
Chris showed up on my right soon after and made some hand motions to Tom. He nodded, and Tom went off to the left. Chris lifted my visor and looked me straight in the eyes, “Do not move until I give the all-clear, do you understand?”
I just shook my head in agreement.
“Now, I mean it, Abby, don’t go being a hero. I know you want to run to those kids and get them to safety. So do I. If there are any infected out here, if we run out to those kids without playing it safe, none of us may make it back. I’ll check out the right side, and once you see me go like this, that means you can come help us with the little ones.” He signaled with his hand in a circular motion over his head.
And just like that, he was gone again. Chris virtually melted into the trees.
I waited for what seemed like forever, staring at these helpless little children, and finally, Chris exited the wood line about fifty feet away from where the children were. They hadn’t seen him yet since he was coming up behind them. He put his hand above his head and made the all-clear sign.
I took my helmet off and tried to walk up to the kids as slowly as possible, so I wouldn’t scare them, “Hey guys, are you okay?”
The kids jumped at the sound of my voice and huddled closer together. One of them, a little girl with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes, stepped out from the group.
“My friend, Cooper, is hurt, and we’re tired of running from the bad people. Do you have any juice? We’re thirsty?”
“Oh sweetie, it’s okay. You can stop running. My name is Abbigail and my friends, and I will help you,” I motioned for Chris and Thomas to come over. “These guys are like police officers, and we’re going to make sure that you’re all safe, okay?”
The kids all looked cautiously at me, and then Chris and Tom. Their eyes lit up, seeing the two men fully clad in riot gear and shook their heads yes.
“We’re going to get Cooper’s arm fixed up and get you all some juice and snacks. How about that?”
“Thank you. Miss Sammy didn’t get to give us our snacks yet today.”
I couldn’t imagine what these children had all been through, but they apparently had been taken care of earlier this morning. Now they were dirty and sweaty from running through the woods. I grabbed who I assumed was Cooper, since he was holding his right arm, which was bleeding pretty badly. Even through his clothes, I could feel his body temperature was extremely high. I immediately thought back to the little boy with one arm I’d seen yesterday on the news attack and devour his mother. I was scared for this little boy. I was afraid for him instead of scared of him, like I should’ve been.
This is probably why the virus was so successful. Our own humanity made it that way. Instead of staying away from those that we knew to be infected, we automatically wanted to help and treat them.
I pushed the thought out of my head to leave this little boy here as soon as I had it.
I looked up at Chris with a somber face and held up the little boy’s arm. I showed him an obvious human bite wound, and he shook his head gravely. Yet, Chris lifted his face mask and spoke in a pleasant tone to the kids.
“My name is Chris, and this is Thomas. How about we get going, kids? I think I want some chocolate chip cookies, how about you?”
All of the kids, even Cooper looked up at him and said, “Yeah!”
In a matter of seconds, Chris had made these kids happy and let them forget whatever it was that they had just experienced.
I could have kissed him.
We all walked back to the gate together. I stayed in the back of the group with Cooper since he was walking slower than the others. He seemed like he was just tired, but I knew what would be next. I just had no idea how we were going to deal with it.
Troy would hopefully be here by tomorrow night, so maybe he could help this kid, but something told me that Cooper didn’t have until tomorrow night. I hoped I was wrong.
Chapter 8
We were met by Lance at the gate and then by the rest of the group at the front door. Justin saw that one of the children was bleeding and looked at me. I couldn’t help but shake my head, and he quickly grabbed Jessica, Dave, Allycia, and Christine to shuffle them in the house. I knew what was going through his mind. He wanted to keep all of our children safe, and I was glad he was thinking of them, rather than possibly hurting the feelings of these children.
No one said anything as we walked up to the house with our new guests.
What do you say when four kids under the age of six show up at a secluded cabin in the woods with no adults, possibly carrying a virus that’s all but sure to wipe out mankind?
I crouched down to the kid’s height and looked at Cooper, who seemed to be declining quickly. He was already sweating profusely.
I decided I needed to introduce these kids and get them inside and snacking so I could pull Cooper aside and take a look at him away from everyone else.
“Everyone, this is Cooper and his friends. They are going to stay with us for some snacks and lunch.
What are your names?”
The kids introduced themselves. Amelia, the blond girl with the pretty blue eyes, said she was five. Gia was adorable, with her short bouncy brown, curly hair informed us that she was four, almost five. Last, there was Christian. He had light brown hair and green eyes. He was very quiet and just seemed scared.
Amelia jumped in and said he was five also, just like her. Everyone said hello to the children, and we all walked into the house together.
Afterward, we got the kids settled at the table for some juice and cookies, which Tom was delighted to serve.
Tom seemed like he was going to turn out to be a huge teddy bear with the little ones.
Chris pulled me aside and asked me what I wanted to do with Cooper since we knew he was already infected.
I explained I had already seen his symptoms worsen in the last fifteen minutes, so I wanted to separate him from everyone else. I needed it to be somewhere no one could hear him if he started to change.
To this, Chris informed me of yet another excellent added benefit to the cabin I didn’t yet know. Downstairs with the underground apartments was an infirmary. Good to know we were going to be able to have some sort of handle on any medical situations that may come up.
Cooper only took one bite of the cookie in front of him and drank all the juice he was given. I remembered that being one of the main symptoms the soldiers I previously treated were plagued with, being incredibly thirsty.
I went over to him and told him I was a nurse, and I needed to have a better look at his arm, but he didn’t want to leave his friends. I decided to take a very basic approach with him.
“Sweetie, I need to clean up your boo-boo. Let your friends eat their snacks, and I’ll have you back in no time.”
“I’m scared. When my Mom cleans my boo-boos, it always hurts, and this one hurts bad already.”
The fear was clearly written on his face. He knew something was wrong, even though he wasn’t old enough to really understand. I didn’t know what else to say when Amelia jumped in.