A metal sign lying against a burning building advertised an all you could eat Chinese buffet. The building looked as if a bomb had hit it. Next to it, flames shot from out of the ground where gas tanks once sat. Who would torch such a precious commodity?
Colton knelt between the two front seats. “What do you make of this?”
Eric shrugged. “Looks like someone is cleaning the town with no regard for survivors coming after.”
“Everyone keep their weapons close,” Colton said. “We’re bound to run into this group before we reach the end of time.” Gunfire punctuated his words.
“Should we head toward the gunshots or away?” Chalice crawled up next to him. “What if it’s a group we could join with?”
Colton scratched his chin. Good questions but they wouldn’t know whether the people were trustworthy or not until the last minute. He didn’t think anyone in the van wanted a gunfight. “I say we try to go around and check out that mall.” His gut told him those torching the town would look on Colton’s group as intruders.
Eric maneuvered the van around discarded vehicles and took a side road parallel to the main one. Holly Point wasn’t a large town, maybe two thousand people once upon a time. It wouldn’t take long for Colton and the others to either drive out of the town or come face-to-face with those destroying it.
A man and a boy around the age of ten burst from between two houses. The man stood in the middle of the road and waved his arms. Eric slammed on the brakes and skid into the ditch to avoid hitting them.
“Are you crazy?” Colton yelled out the open window.
“We need help getting out of here.” The man approached the window, keeping his hands over his head. “There’re ten of us holed up in that house.” He motioned to a house painted a seafoam green. “These crazies that are burning the place down only want children or men willing to sign into their army. We aren’t willing to give up our young or to become mercenaries. Will you help?”
“We don’t have room for that many people.” Rachel put a hand on Eric’s arm.
“We have transportation, we just don’t have anywhere to go,” the man said.
Colton pulled his head back into the van. If they told the others the location to the farm and they were dishonest, he’d be putting his own group in danger. If he left them here, they could be killed. “Is there some place you can hide until we come back through sometime tomorrow afternoon? Maybe you can find some transportation by then.”
The man twisted his lips. “There’s a chicken house about half a mile out of town. Go due east on this road. You can’t miss it. I don’t know if there are any vehicles, but we’ll head that way with anything we can carry. We’ll wait for you.” He grabbed the boy’s hand and dashed back the way they’d come.
“Can we trust them?” Chalice turned Colton to face her.
“I guess we’ll find out. They will either be alone at the chicken house or surrounded by an army. We’ll scout it out first.”
A moan sounded from their right and a non-breather tried to take a bite out of Eric’s arm. He yelled and jerked the wheel. The tires spun in the loose gravel in the ditch.
Colton thrust his spear through the beast’s gaping mouth. More undead emerged from a vacant fast food restaurant. “Get us out of here.”
“I’m trying.” Eric rolled up his window.
The zombies converged on the stuck van and pounded on the walls. The hollow sound of their bloated hands filled Colton’s ears. “Try harder.”
“All I’m doing is digging us in farther. How many are there?”
“Ten!” Chalice thrust her sword through a slit. “I think we can take them. I don’t see any sprinters.” She thrust open the back door.
Colton and the two boys joined her. As the zombies merged at the van’s back door, they hacked and stabbed away. Down the road, an old station wagon pulled from a driveway. In the driver’s seat was the man who told them to head to the chicken house. Good. He’d found them a ride.
The man slowed beside the van. Colton waved him on. They had almost disposed of the threat. There was no reason to put others in danger.
A zombie latched on to Chalice’s leg and tried to drag her from the van. Mychal cut of its head with one swing of his katana, splashing them all with the vile black stuff that passed for the undead’s blood. The head fell to the van floor and rolled toward the driver’s seat. Its mouth opened and closed, its teeth clanking together.
“Holy crap!” Eric lifted his feet onto the seat while Rachel thrust a knife through the zombie’s eye. She grabbed the head and tossed it out the window.
Chalice sank to her knees, her chest heaving. Colton grabbed her shoulders. “Please, tell me you aren’t bitten.”
She glanced at her leather-clad leg. Teeth marks marred the smooth surface. “I’m fine. He didn’t penetrate.”
Colton nodded and jumped to the ground. He located a couple of scorched two-by-fours and jammed them under the van’s tires.
The van shot forward. Colton sprinted ahead, grabbed a handhold and swung inside. They roared down the highway, leaving the burning town in the rearview mirror.
A few yards behind them, two men in heavy tactical gear stepped to the center of the highway and faced after Colton and the others. They’d all have a hard time getting home that way if soldiers were looking for them.
6
Eric drove the van into the mall parking lot and up to the nearest door. Very few cars filled the lot. Most people seemed to have listened to the president’s warning and stayed home that fateful day almost a year ago.
Chalice eased open the back door of the van and peered out. No undead shuffled across the cracked cement. She stepped outside. The others joined her within seconds and formed a tight cluster.
“This place has possibilities against the non-breathers,” she said. “But anyone can drive right up to the door like we did. I think we need to find something stronger to keep out other survivors.” A place like the detention school they’d once stayed in. High fences, brick walls, grassy areas. Until the undead swarmed the place and pushed through the fence by their sheer numbers. No amount of them could knock over the concrete walls of the mall.
She studied the surrounding area. There was no way to fortify the huge amount of space between the mall and the road. But…the cement block building wouldn’t burn easily. They could do this. “Are we going inside?”
“I think we should clean the place out before bringing the others,” Colton said. “We’ve got to pack up everything, including what we can from the garden. Load up the animals. There’s a lot of work to be done here before it’s fit for living. If there isn’t a place for a garden and livestock, we’re in a bad fix. We need the renewable resources they bring.”
“Then we’ll keep that in mind as we clean this place out.” Eric shoved against the four glass doors. When they didn’t open, he moved to the single glass door of a nearby restaurant and bust out the glass with the butt of his gun. “Here’s hoping there’s nothing around to come in this way.”
Chalice entered the building behind Eric. Skylights cast the inside of the building into a late afternoon dusk. Metal grates covered storefronts and food court restaurants. Behind them hung racks of clothes, shoes, and other conveniences people used to think they couldn’t live without. A sour smell wafted from the food court. Spoiled food most likely. That and the undead.
Four of them shuffled down the atrium.
“There are at least twenty more down there somewhere!” A middle-aged man leaned over the glass railing on the top level of the mall.
“How many of you are here?” Colton stepped forward, his spear held in front of him.
“We’ve got fifteen. All mall employees. We’ve been living here since the outbreak, but we don’t have any weapons other than handmade knives and barbecue utensils. You can have whatever you want, just kill those things and leave us be.”
“We aren’t here to harm you,” Chalice said as she and the others moved
toward the zombies. After what they’d been through before, taking out four would be a cinch. She eyed the escalators. Good thing zombies were stupid. “We’re looking for a place for our group of women and children to grow and expand.”
Using both hands, she swung her sword and took off the head of the nearest shuffler, then without missing a breath, jammed the sword through the eye socket. Within seconds, they had a group of cheerleaders watching from above. With each kill, they’d cheer despite Colton and Rachel’s attempts to get them to shut up so they didn’t attract the other zombies until the fighters were ready.
A man in security blues and two others in slacks and button up shirts thundered down the escalator while clutching the type of pronged forks a person would use on a grill. All three forks were shiny clean. Wonderful. Chalice shook her head. “Newbies at one o’clock.”
“Dead coming down the hall.” Colton stepped next to her. “If those fools hadn’t have been so noisy, we might have been able to take on the zombies in smaller groups.”
Chalice shook the aches from her arms and watched the shufflers come. Thank God for small favors. There wasn’t a sprinter in sight.
They formed their tight fighting circle, spears and swords in front of them. Mychal took out two shufflers with his crossbow before the others stumbled close enough for the fight to begin. .
Too soon they were surrounded by the gnashing teeth of ten undead. The unskilled mall employees stumbled into the more skilled, setting everyone off their mark. Chalice elbowed a man not much older than she out of her way before she lunged forward and drove her sword through the temple of a teenage girl.
The young man cried out and fell to his knees. Chalice whirled, taking out another zombie who had focused on the fallen man as its next meal. “We’re overrun here. Retreat!” The group dashed to the escalators. Mychal raced up first, then took up position from the top where he could rain down arrows.
The rest took turns at the bottom. What started as ten zombies, soon turned to much more as more came out from their hiding places in the mall’s alcoves.
One of the employees, a woman, was pulled over the handrail of the escalator. Her screams as the undead ripped her gut open echoed through the mall. Chalice closed her ears to the sound and kept fighting.
Perspiration poured down her back under the leather shirt she wore. She swiped a hand across her forehead in an attempt to keep the sweat out of her eyes. The sword in her hand seemed to increase in weight. Each lift pulled on her muscles. She retreated a few steps back and let Rachel take her place.
“Eddy, get up there with Mychal. You’ll be safer,” she ordered.
“I want to fight.”
“You can take anything that gets past us. The same with those of you who haven’t fought before. Get out of our way!” She shouldered aside a man old enough to be her father. “Move!”
She leaped over the dividing wall and stabbed another zombie through the eye before he could grab the employee. Chalice stumbled, but kept fighting. Had the employees really said there were only twenty zombies on the lower level? It felt more like fifty.
“I’m out of arrows,” Mychal yelled.
*
Colton collapsed in a heap after the last zombie was dead. They were all covered with gore and had lost three of the mall employees to the ravenous monsters. Once they could catch their breath, they’d comb the rest of the bottom level to be sure there weren’t any non-breathers lurking anywhere, then head to the farm and make preparations to return and start a new life with room to grow.
He pushed to his feet. “Let’s check out the rest of the place. See if there’s room for a garden.”
“The upper level has sunlight,” one of the employees said. “There’s a retractable roof but we’ve left it closed. There are a few…of those things wandering the roof.”
Colton groaned. They’d need to clear the roof.
While they walked the lower level, they found two areas outside of two doors that would serve well as gardens. There was even room for children to play. When they headed back to the farm, they’d leave Rachel and Eric behind to guard the employees while they worked at building perimeter fences. If the employees wanted to stay, they’d have to work. He didn’t feel bad about taking control of the mall. If not for his group, those people would still be confined to the upper floor. He glanced at a light flickering overhead.
“Does the electricity work?”
“There are several large generators.” The man who had originally greeted them, nodded. “But they’re almost out of gas. We have no way of getting more. By the way, my name is Larry Conroy. We’re happy to have you here.”
Colton made the introductions, each of his group giving a nod when their name was called. Finding gas meant another chore for Colton’s group. But gas meant lights and running water. Flushing toilets. They’d need a small convoy to get everything from the farm to the mall, not to mention a run for gas, if there was any left in the surrounding area.
The responsibility thrust upon him from the moment he had joined up with Chalice and her siblings weighed on him. Not so much the three of them, but all the others that had joined the group since. Nineteen years old and looked upon as a leader. He shook his head. Him, Colton Morgan, rebellious foster kid, leader of a group of worn out survivors.
They ended up at the food court on the upper level. Not another non-breather could be found.
“Rachel, Eric, we’re leaving you here to guard the place. Try to look as if no one lives here, if possible. No sense in attracting attention.” Colton plopped into a plastic chair. “The rest of you will be the workers, because you suck at fighting.” He held up a hand at their protests. “Nothing against you, it’s just that we’ve had experience. We’ll be bringing a group of women and children, a few men, with us when we return. Should take us about a week. We need the spoiled food disposed of in one of the garden areas for compost. There needs to be strong fences built to protect the kid’s play area and gardens. There’s a lot to do while we’re gone.”
He motioned around the area. “Everyone will need private living quarters. I suppose the offices will work the best, leaving the stores as places to get supplies. Any nonperishable food needs to be contained in one or two places. The other refrigerators dismantled. If we do find gas, we’ll need to conserve it for running water. Any questions?”
The employees shook their heads. “We’re glad to have a purpose now,” Larry said. “For too long we’ve hid up here. It’s time to turn this place into a community.” He rubbed his hands together. “There’s plenty of garden tools in one of the large department stores. We’ll start first thing in the morning.”
“Any guns or ammo?”
Larry nodded his head. “We haven’t been able to break into the place, though. It’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”
“We’ll find a way,” Eric said. “It will all be done by the time you return.”
Mychal joined them after retrieving his arrows. “Don’t forget about that group we found in town. We promised to go back for them.”
“I know.” Weariness weighed on Colton’s shoulders. “We’ll stop and send them here with a password.”
“Hope,” Chalice said. “The password is hope.”
He couldn’t have said it better. “No one is allowed to stay without the password. If anyone wants in, have them return in a week’s time. We’ll vote on whether they stay or not. The object here is to build a place to set down roots and keep out those who are up to no good.”
He glanced at Chalice, Mychal, and Eddy. “Ready to fetch the others?”
“More than ready,” Chalice said.
Colton grinned. “We’ll have a regular little city here, with clothes and stuff for a good long while.”
“We should probably set up some kind of system so folks don’t just take.” She moved closer, and he put his arm around her shoulders. “There’s a jewelry store on the lower level full of bartering stuff. There are still fools out there willing
to trade for something shiny.” And there were wedding rings. He’d pick the biggest and prettiest for Chalice. Someday, maybe sooner than he’d thought, they’d get married, with or without a preacher. In today’s world, their pledge to each other would have to be enough.
He motioned for Eddy and Mychal to join them and the four headed back out the door Eric had shattered. Within minutes, Eric had piled furniture in front of the opening. He’d have the door fixed and working by the time they returned.
The future looked promising. Although he’d missed the openness of the farm, this place gave them room and security. He scanned the parking lot for sprinters, then opened the door to the truck.
He couldn’t wait to fetch the rest of his “family”.
7
Colton stopped the SUV on the edge of town. Fire rose, grey against the gathering pumpkin and purple of dusk. Chalice peered through the window at the two military issue trucks blocking their way.
“What do we do?” She asked. “We don’t have the man power for a fight.”
“You’re right. We’ll have to meet that other group at the chicken house another way. We could really use Eric right now. He seemed familiar with this town.”
“What if you drive without the lights and take the side streets?” Mychal asked. “It would take longer, and we’d have to go slow, but if you head in the general direction you’re bound to come out on the main road at some point.”
“If it isn’t guarded, too.” Chalice slapped the dashboard. Every time they had smooth sailing something happened to slow them down. She didn’t want to spend the night on the road or to approach the farm in the dead of night. They were vulnerable waiting for the gate to open.
Colton shut off the lights and turned left. They cruised through the burned out neighborhoods. No living creatures walked the streets. No lights glowed from the shell of houses. Not even the undead shuffled in the shadows.
The Zombie Awakening (Complete 6 Volume Series, plus prologue) Page 25