I'm Tired of Zombies | Book 2 | Full Scale War

by Murphy, James W.

Julia looked in the back of my truck and seeing the chickens for the first time, said, “I gotta hear this story. Coffee’s ready if you two want a mug.” She didn’t have to say it twice ‘cause we were running for the kitchen.

  The house was warm, and a roaring fire was going. Dave and I sat in the recliners sipping from our mugs and enjoying the moment. Julia and Ruth, with their mugs, sat down on the couch and Julia said, “Okay, I want to hear it. Tell me about the chickens.”

  When I’d finished, I thought they were going to wet their pants they were laughing so much. Julia said the picture that came to mind of me chasing chickens with a long-handled fishing net, would never go away. It made for a nice homecoming.

  Dave and I looked at each other and knew we were through with Cheyenne, Chet, and chickens.

  Chapter 7: One More Trip

  It took us two days to unload and split all the ammunition and supplies. We took Julia and Ruth to the quarry and taught them how to fire the M136, LAWS. They had a ‘blast.’ Yeah, I know, that was just wrong. Anyway, we went back to the house and had a real fried chicken dinner with all the fixins. We were one Rhode Island Red short. We’d also cracked another bottle of the scotch, but this time only had a finger - really.

  We’d loaded everything for Julia and Dave onto their truck and trailer and the last few things in my truck. Both families now had 48,000 rounds of .308 and 63,000 rounds of .556 ammunition and eight M136s. We each had two additional cases of the M67 & 68 grenades. The biggest score of all was the almost thirty thousand gallons of fuel in the tanker truck. It had been a great trip.

  Ruth got in, started my truck, and pointed for me to get in the passenger seat. I climbed in and the foursome took off for the Malone Palace. It took us about five hours to carry everything down into their underground armory, which was now full. We placed the excess in the storage room across the hall.

  I told Dave and Julia they would need more room when we unloaded from the next trip. She said, “What all is left?”

  I told her about the millions of rounds in the one bunker and no telling how much more we would find. We told them that for sure, we wanted to get the rest of those AT4 missile tubes and grenades. We also wanted to search for the forty-millimeter grenades for the thumpers, as those would be an exceptional addition.

  Dave said, “We’ll do a three-day trip again. The first day searching the remaining bunkers and load what we can if we find everything we want. The second day, we’ll finish loading then take a break. We’ll go into town and shop for what ever else we may need since we’ll be there. The third day will be for rest and recovery and we’ll head home around noon.”

  Julia looked at him with a confused look and asked, “What do you mean, rest and recovery?”

  “If that trip is anything similar to the one, we just finished, we’ll need rest and recovery time before driving back.”

  “What did you two do while you were over there,” Ruth more ordered than asked.

  “We found that really good scotch and, well, the bottle was empty the next morning when we woke,” I explained.

  “You two need adult supervision,” Julia said.

  “Yes, they do,” Ruth, agreed. “That why you want us to go along next time?”

  “No, we need you to drive trucks with trailers so we can get all the choice material in one trip. As it is, I bet we have to leave a lot behind since we don’t have room.”

  Dave looked at me and I gave him a single nod and smiled. “It’ll be the best date you’ve been on in some time,” I said.

  The two of them looked at me, somewhat stunned, and I just smiled at them. “Date my foot,” Ruth said.

  “Oh, come on,” I said. “It’ll be great. We’ll cook steaks for you and baked potatoes. We’ll find another liquor store and get you the best wines in the place. I’ll go on the prowl and find you some chocolate and candy and what ever else you want. We’ll find it, won’t we Dave.” He nodded yes.

  “Well, as long as it doesn’t snow, I’m in,” Julia said. “Anything for a real good bottle of wine…or two,” she said with a devious grin, looking at Ruth.

  “New clothes. We want some new clothes, too,” Ruth said.

  “And shoes…new shoes, too,” Julie added.

  “We better get the lists going again,” Dave said, chuckling and holding up his hands in surrender.

  The remainder of the evening we used to write the supply list and discuss options. Ruth found a map of Cheyenne in the library and we scanned it, with the ladies pointing out different shop locations they would like to see and if possible, enter to ‘shop’. Dave and I didn’t need anything specific. Our goal was to improve our armory situation for the upcoming battle or battles we were positive would happen.

  We decided to make the trip in two days, that way we could prepare for the run properly. Ruth and Julia oversaw food, drink, clothing, and camping equipment. Dave and I would weapon up and do the maintenance needed on all four trucks, prepare, and hook up the trailers, and load the camping supplies and equipment. We loaded the chains as Dave talked me in to attempting to get another fuel truck.

  The next morning, Julia and Dave made a run over to their place. They needed to check it out and pack for the trip. They would each bring a shotgun, M4 and a nine-millimeter handgun. Dave said he’d load a fifty and Julia a .308.

  Ruth and I would have the same basic loads except she would have her AR-10 and I’d bring a fifty. Dave and I had decided to take ten magazines each for the fifties. We’d load an additional can of .308, nine-millimeter, .50 caliber and .556 caliber ammunitions and each truck would have two additional bandoliers of twelve-gauge shotgun shells. We would add a bag of grenades into each also.

  The morning we planned to leave on the trip began with flurries - bummer. So, we threw another log on the fire and waited to see if the weather would develop into a storm or not. By noon, however, the weather had cleared so our little caravan pulled out. Dave led the way with Julia and Ruth following and I had the drag position. We’d topped the rise and as we neared the airport, one of the tires on Julia’s trailer blew, so we had to stop and put the spare on.

  We hadn’t been on the road twenty minutes yet. Dave and I got busy, changed the tire and were back on the road in a half hour. The group had decided to drive on Happy Jack Road again. All of us loved the drive through the forest and today was no exception. We saw moose, elk, deer, pronghorns, eagles, and turkeys. The animals just looked up, not bolting as before, no longer afraid of humans as they once were. The drive through was beautiful and peaceful.

  Going by the bulk-food distribution center, Ruth blinked her lights at me, remembering our first meeting there several years before. That was a good memory, although a tense one. I still thought of it as a meeting arranged by God. The two of us had had a wonderful life since then.

  Entering Cheyenne, we turned on the same road as before. Dave stopped and cut the wire we’d used to close the fence with then we pulled through. I would stop and close the fence back up. Dave drove straight to the bunker with the ammunition and stopped, with Julie and Ruth stopping close by. I parked behind Dave.

  He jumped out and unhooked his trailer as we’d decided we would use his truck to ‘shop’ in town. It was mid-afternoon, and we decided to explore the rest of the bunkers. The next day would be loading the supplies and materials on our trucks and trailers.

  By nightfall, we’d checked almost all the bunkers. The girls went one way, Dave, and I the other and we met in the middle, so to speak. We had pads of paper and wrote what we’d found in each bunker and would decide tonight at dinner what to take and what to leave behind.

  Dave and Julia made dinner while Ruth and I began carrying out cans of ammunition to Dave’s trailer. We did as before, five cans across and back to the axel, one layer only. We didn’t want to overload the thing.

  With dinner ready, we closed the bunker door, lit a couple of lanterns, and ate our dinner. We had a little small talk and laughed at the thought of what we�
�d do on our last day of shopping. After a quick clean up when we finished, we sat together around the lanterns and described all we’d found in the bunkers. Most of the materials had something to do with missiles, so those were out. The girls did find one that had thumper rounds so we would definitely stop there. We still did not find any nine-millimeter ammunition.

  We sacked out and the next morning began to load. Trip after trip after trip; back and forth; into a bunker, out with a load, back into the bunker. The work was tiring and by mid afternoon, the trucks and trailers were loaded with as much as we dared to haul.

  “We should get an eighteen-wheeler to haul all this stuff with,” Julia said tiredly.

  “Boy, do I agree with that,” Ruth nodded in agreement.

  “We could do that,” Dave said. “Maybe next trip since we’ve already loaded everything this time.”

  “There you go,” I said. “I agree with Dave since I don’t want to unload and then reload all this stuff again. On and off once is enough.”

  We agreed and decided to take the truck we got from the warehouse in Centennial, next time, as it was a flatbed trailer. That would make it easier to load. As it was, we were a tired foursome when we broke for the day and made dinner. I’d snuck a bottle of wine along with us and brought it out for dinner. What a hit. After dinner, we all collapsed on our sleeping mats and bags.

  Morning brought a clear, yet cool sky. No clouds, so it looked like we would have a great day for shopping. Looking at the map Ruth had and went north to Yellowstone, Road, beginning the shopping spree.

  It was an interesting day. When we stopped at a store, the four of us would get out and clear the building. If it was a place for the girls, Dave and I went back to the truck until they finished. If it was for the guys, the Julia and Ruth went back to the truck. The girls had hit several clothing stores and together, we’d gone through another liquor store and really cleaned that place out, taking all the scotch, bourbon, whiskey, rum, and most of the wines. We even took cases of soft drinks for mixers.

  I wanted to look in a farm store that was north of town on Yellowstone. We drove up to it and checking the place out, found it to contain several Zs. Dave had knocked on the door and a few of them came at once to the sound and began banging and scratching at the glass. The four of us prepared with our suppressed nine millimeters, and when Dave gave the signal, each dropped one and began shooting at any others that presented.

  We entered the place and once inside, one knocked Julia to the ground. Dave reacted swiftly and using a sidekick with his right foot, knocking the creature to the floor before it could get on top of her. Ruth began firing as soon as the thing hit and after five rounds, finally hit it in the head.

  All of us had been concentrating on that issue and didn’t notice another pair coming from another aisle. One was almost to me when Dave yelled and fired almost at the same time, hitting the creature in the chest several times. I brought my gun up to fire and hit it in the neck the first round, then with the second, the head. It dropped at my feet. Dave and Ruth were firing at the second, hitting it in the chest and neck, but finally dropping it with a round through the left eye.

  The four of us were breathing heavily when the firing stopped. We all switched to fresh magazines and waited for more of the things to show but were relieved when no more came out.

  Dave helped Julia up and said, “That was too close for comfort,” and gave her a kiss.

  “We haven’t run into a group like that in a while,” Ruth said.

  “Caught us off-guard if you ask me,” I said. “We need to be cautious in the future.”

  “I’m just relieved we came through okay,” Dave said, still holding Julia.

  “Julia, you okay?” I asked her.

  “Yes, thanks, that was too close,” she answered.

  “Doug, what do you need here?” Ruth asked me.

  “Chains and towing materials - I want to go back over to the refinery and if there is another full fuel truck, we should take it back to Dave and Julia’s place,” I answered. “We’d both have enough fuel for a long, long time.”

  Dave said, “We would be set for several years I’d think with a load like that.”

  The wheels turning, we grabbed carts, went to the hardware section, and put all the heavy-duty chains and latching gear, we could find in the carts. Dave added rope and two come-a-longs he found. Ruth and Julia having put all the seeds they found in their carts, came around the corner and said there were two, 12,000-Watt generators back the way they’d come.

  New generators would always be welcomed, especially ones with that much wattage. We took both, along with all the sparkplugs we could find for them. These two units were a welcomed find. One would go with the Malone’s and the other with Ruth and me.

  We left and went back to the south and turned east on Dell Range Boulevard. The ladies did a bit more shopping and Dave and I stayed in the truck and kept watch. By noon, we’d almost filled the bed of the truck with items and decided to go back, unload and eat lunch. We would go back out, shop some more and the final stop would be the refinery.

  We were sitting in the front of a bulk product store the ladies wanted to check out when Dave lifted in his seat and said, “You hear that?”

  I perked up and listened, cocking my ears this way then that. “No, I don’t hear anything. My ears are still ringing somewhat from the farm store encounter. What do you hear?” I asked.

  “It sounds like an engine of some kind, way off in the distance, but an engine noise,” he answered, holding up his hand and listening intently.

  I was listening intently also, and finally heard it. It was an engine noise of some sort and sounded as if it was getting closer. I looked at Dave and whispered, “I hear it and it sounds like it’s getting closer.”

  “Yeah, I think it’s a drone,” he said and we both looked up and out of our windows.

  I couldn’t see a thing and asked him if he could. He said he didn’t. We were scanning the sky when Julia and Ruth came out the door of the store, laughing. I yelled to them to go back inside and be quiet. They immediately complied, dropping their goods, and going for their rifles. They stood in the doorway with their weapons up.

  Dave and I continued to scan the sky, still hearing the thing, and knowing the sound came from above us. I was leaning out the passenger side window looking skyward when I heard another sound over my left shoulder. Looking back, I could see a black pickup truck heading our way. I yelled at Dave to get ready and opened my door just as bullets began hitting the truck. I dropped to the ground and belly-crawled to the front where Dave and I met.

  “Who’s shooting at us?” Dave yelled.

  “Black pickup truck to the southeast. I heard it coming up just in time. I didn’t see how many were in it,” I said.

  Ruth cut loose with her AR-10, firing single-shots at the truck. Julia began firing with her M4. Dave and I peeked over the hood of the truck and saw the pickup screeching to a halt at the corner of the street. Four men boiled out and dove for cover, firing what looked like M4 carbines.

  Bullets began peppering all around us and striking the glass front of the store. I rose and began firing three-round bursts at the group of attackers. Dave rose and fired single shot at them. I yelled at him to go around to the back of the truck and fire over the bed, watching to the rear so they couldn’t flank us that direction. He finished firing his mag and stooping, went around to the left rear tire, changing out mags. I changed to another mag and could hear Julia and Ruth doing the same.

  I went around to the driver’s door and got out the bag of grenades. I gave Dave two and went back to the front of the truck. I began firing at the attackers again when Ruth came up beside me and said, “We’re going back inside the store and going down to the eastern entrance. Maybe we can get a better shooting angle at them down there.”

  “Okay, here, take four of these,” handing her the grenade bag, “and be careful. We’ll cover.”

  She pulled out six
grenades and giving me a peck on the cheek, ran back inside. She and Julia ran down to the eastern entrance, peered around the corner, and did have a better advantage. They put several rows of carts in front of where they wanted to fire from and when ready, began pouring fire from the M4 and AR-10 through the window towards the four attackers. One immediately went down and the other three changed positions.

  Two of the attackers moved their fire to Julia and Ruth, blowing out all the windows in the eastern entrance of the store. One continued his fire at Dave and me, with the truck receiving most of the hits. All three switched their fire to us as another truck pulled into the parking lot, near an old restaurant, about one-hundred, fifty yards away. Four more men got out and began shooting at Dave and me.

  Dave moved back to the front of the truck, we ducked together, and I said, “Man, are we in a bind now.”

  “We should go inside the store,” Dave said. “It’ll be safer than out here, since they have seven shooters.”

  “I agree, but we need the ammo from your truck. Where’s the can?” I asked.

  “On the hump in the back seat,” he answered.

  “Okay, how about we both open up on full auto, you to those guys to the west and I’ll fire at the eastern guys. Then I’ll go around, get the can, and run inside the store. You follow.”

  “I’m ready,” Dave said.

  I switched my magazine for a fresh one and giving Dave’s shoulder a squeeze, we both popped up and cut loose with full automatic fire into both positions. As soon as my mag went dry, I ran around, opened the door to the back of the truck, grabbed the can of .556 caliber ammo and raced back into the store. Dave had begun firing another mag on full auto, shooting at both positions. When his mag ran dry, he sprinted into the store on my heels.

  By now, all the glass was out of both entrances and glass littered the ground all around us. It made for some slippery conditions. Dave put another fresh mag into his rifle and began sending single shots to the southern group of attackers. I reloaded mags for the two of us.