Dead America The Second Week (Book 10): Dead America: Portland, Part 2

by Slaton, Derek

  “Yoga zombies?” One of the kids asked from behind Lily. “You guys have the best stories.”

  “I have the worst mental picture,” Calvin said, wrinkling his nose. “I think you’ve just killed yoga pants for me forever.”

  “At least until Monique wears some,” Jeremy teased.

  The sniper opened his mouth to quip back, but Zion went over a particularly thick bump of corpses, causing everyone to bonk around.

  “I don’t like how thick this crowd is,” he said. “This is way too close to our side of the city for my liking.”

  “Can we go back through the city and around the outside, skirt around?” Shawn asked.

  Zion shook his head. “I don’t want to take this horde back near Wendy’s while they’re still reinforcing their fencing.”

  Calvin peered over the driver’s shoulder to see where they were. “You know, we’re close to the drainage tunnel. We could do a test run.”

  “But you don’t have the fencing in there, yet,” Shawn cut in.

  Zion pursed his lips for a moment. “This looks like about a hundred or so. Even if some straggled down the smaller tunnels, it wouldn’t be too big of a deal to clean them out again tomorrow before we put the fencing in. At least the bulk would come out into the woods, as long as we make a big enough ruckus.”

  Calvin held up a fist. “Conga line dress rehearsal!”

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Okay, here’s how this is going to go,” Zion said firmly, turning to look at his team. “I’m going to back up to the tunnel and then Calvin and I are going to jump out and head inside. Shawn, you pull the truck up and cut the engine, and we’ll make a shit ton of noise to draw all the zombies in after us. Once they’re all in, you drive the truck around to the other end to pick us up. And haul ass, because we’re probably going to need a quick getaway when we get there.”

  Shawn nodded. “Got it.”

  “You know your way?” Calvin asked.

  The ex-businessman nodded again. “I grew up here, I know where every ditch and tunnel is.”

  “Awesome,” Calvin replied.

  “What can we do?” Alvin asked, having taken over the hatch hole from Lily. His arm snaked out to hold Theo’s hand again, gripping tightly.

  “You can sit tight and wait,” Zion replied firmly. “We’re going to get you kids to safety, but we can’t bring a hundred zombies with us, so you’ll just have to hang out in here a little longer.”

  Shawn stared at Jeremy. “You going to be okay for this?”

  “Do I have a choice?” He chuckled. “I’ll be fine. This wound wasn’t really a bleeder. I’ll be okay. The longer we wait, the longer Amelia’ll fuss over me, anyway.”

  Shawn rolled his eyes.

  “Okay, good,” Zion said, and then slowly backed up the truck until there was just enough space for the duo to jump down. “See you on the other side.” He unrolled the driver’s side window, the snarls and moans of the horde echoing in to them.

  “Don’t worry you guys are safe in here,” Calvin said. He winked at Lily, who peeked out past the older boys. “Z and I are gonna be the tanks this time.” He followed Zion out the window and climbed up on top of the truck.

  His friend stood at the very back, peering down to make sure they’d backed up enough for them to jump down safely. He held out an arm, bowing at the waist.

  “Ladies first,” he said.

  Calvin mimed a curtsey with a flourish. “Thank you, kind sir.” He turned around and lowered himself, hanging from his hands for a moment before dropping to his feet. He immediately drew his crowbar and his blade, peering into the darkness to make sure nothing was going to jump out of the tunnel at them.

  Zion got down as well, and then banged on the back of the truck to signify that they were clear. He drew his weapon and they headed in as the brake lights went on. Shawn slowly pulled away, enough so that the zombies could cluster around the back.

  “Hey, bitches!” Calvin bellowed, hanging his crowbar against the cement next to him. “Come to papa!”

  Zion banged his crowbar as well, and they began to walk together as Shawn cut the engine and the zombies staggered towards the mouth of the tunnel.

  “I really hope you don’t go talkin’ to all women that way,” Zion said.

  Calvin winked at him. “Only if they want me to.”

  They walked at a casual pace, glancing over their shoulders every now and again to make sure that they were a safe distance ahead but still close enough to be tasty, effective bait.

  “So what do you think of the kids?” Calvin asked.

  Zion shrugged. “They’re kids.”

  “Not gonna lie, it was pretty cool to see you connecting with the nerdy one,” his friend said. “I think you put her at ease.”

  The bigger man shook his head. “They’re just scared kids. Bein’ this young in such a fucked-up situation ain’t gonna be easy to navigate. Especially for the little ones.”

  “It’s not easy to navigate for some adults,” Calvin pointed out. “The kids might be easier because they’re less attached to the world the way it was.”

  Zion shook his head. “Maybe, maybe not. My childhood was like a fucking apocalypse. Took me a long time to get my shit together. And even after, people still treated me like I was a fuckup.” He scowled. “Not like it matters now.”

  “It does, though,” Calvin replied. “So you had a fucked up childhood. You made whatever mistakes. But you’re doing good now. You’re taking care of people.”

  He shrugged. “They still don’t trust me, though, I don’t think. They maybe trust that I can protect them, but they fear me.”

  “Because they don’t all know you as well as some,” his friend insisted. “And unfortunately reputation is a bitch.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Zion replied bitterly. “Going to jail at nineteen was a blessing in disguise because it forced me to turn my life around, but having that three years hanging over my head made my life difficult, before and after the zombies hit the fan. Spending every minute trying to prove myself is exhausting, sometimes.”

  “I didn’t have a bad childhood,” Calvin said, not unkindly. “My parents were loving, sweet. They took good care of me, and I didn’t want for anything. When I decided to help out the family business they were ecstatic. But gaining a reputation amongst the suits in the city wasn’t fucking easy.

  “They all looked at me like I was this dumb country bumpkin. Especially considering my carefree sense of humor. For a long time I tried to pretend I was one of them, deny my roots, fake it til I made it. But it didn’t work, man. I was trying to prove myself to people that, in the grand scheme of things, I didn’t have to.” He paused, glancing at the snapping horde behind them for a moment. “What I’m getting at here, is that you don’t have to prove yourself anymore. You’re living your life, keeping people safe, building communities, saving lives. Do it because you want to, because you know it’s the right thing to do. Fuck what others think.”

  Zion chewed over that for a moment. “I’m not a good man.”

  “Are any of us?” Calvin replied with a shrug. “And really, isn’t that in the eye of the beholder, or some shit? Is it your fault you were born in Compton and taught to shoot guns and run gangs? What is your fault that you turned your life around. You could have done your time and then come out and continued to do the same damn thing.”

  “It would have been easy to do that,” Zion admitted. “I still had all the connections, all the power. But my momma… she wanted so badly for me to have a good life. That’s how I ended up out here when the zombie outbreak happened. I was visiting Monique and looking at a local college. I thought if I could stay away from the mean streets, they’d stay away from me.”

  “This isn’t Compton, man,” Calvin said. “And I bet your mom would be really fucking proud of everything you and Monique have accomplished here.”

  Zion rolled his eyes. “You’re a big fuckin’ sap.” But his voice was a little thicker than n
ormal. He clapped his friend on the shoulder, and glanced behind them again to check on their progress.

  Calvin let out a noise of surprise, and as Zion turned back to the front, he skidded to a stop. There was a group of zombies ahead, apparently stuck in the tunnel. It was like a writhing living wall, as if they’d all wandered in together and then gotten too close in too narrow a space.

  “Motherfucker,” Calvin breathed, and looked back at the approaching horde. The walls were closing in.

  Zion raised his crowbar and blade. “Let’s dismantle this shit, brick by fuckin’ brick,” he declared, and stepped forward.

  Calvin joined him as quickly as he could. The plus side to the ghouls all being stuck this way was that they could take out the heads easily without the bodies being able to lunge at them. But the game of three dimensional whack a mole was a little more intense with the wall of corpses breathing down their necks.

  When Zion wasn’t able to find any more gnashing heads, he started to grab skulls and yank, throwing bodies behind him. Calvin kept his weapons handy, as ghouls fell, taking out snapping teeth as zombies who’s heads hadn’t been exposed fell in as the wall came apart.

  “Go!” Zion cried, wrenching his arm free of one of the zombies staggering right up behind him. He took one of the wall corpses and flung it backwards into the approaching horde, tripping them up a little as Calvin scrambled over the pile.

  The smaller man started stabbing heads on the other side to make a path for Zion to get over safely, and his friend practically slid down to the tunnel floor. They backed up a bit, spinning around at the next intersection to make sure there were no more surprises ready to jump out, and then turned to the pile.

  The zombies that had been following them were attempting to crawl over the wall, but they weren’t faring very well.

  “Probably going to need to fix that, huh?” Calvin asked, his tone insinuating that he really didn’t want to.

  Zion nodded. “If we each grab two and pull, we should be able to drag them back enough that they can climb over.”

  Calvin cocked his head, and then took a deep breath, sheathing his blade and crowbar. He bounced back and forth from foot to foot, psyching himself up. Zion put his weapons away at the same time, and they crept forward.

  The zombies stuck on the other side of the pile began to shriek even louder, apparently extra frustrated and excited with this turn of events. The living duo took care to grasp limbs of separate bodies, keeping their heads back and out of grabbing range of their hungry opponents.

  “Ready?” Zion asked. “One. Two. Three!”

  They both heaved backwards, and the wall came down. One of the limbs Calvin had grabbed tore clean off, and he fell back into his ass on the wet pavement. Something squishy and warm fell onto his torso, but he couldn’t kick up with his legs to get it off of him.

  Zion grabbed the zombie’s head and twisted, tearing it clear from the corpse’s shoulders and throwing it back into the horde. He took Calvin by the collar and dragged him backwards until he could hook an arm under his armpits and haul him to his feet.

  They jogged a little away, until the zombies were at a safe shambling distance once again.

  “Jesus fuck, thank you, man,” Calvin huffed, scrubbing his hands down his face.

  Zion nodded. “You good? You bit?”

  “No, I’m good,” the smaller man replied, and patted his pocket until he found his last joint. He lifted it to his lips and shakily lit it up, taking a deep drag to try to calm his nerves. “Fuck.”

  Zion looked back to make sure that the flow was good and the zombies were getting over the corpse wall they’d dismantled. “At least we know to be prepared for clogs, now.”

  “Yeah,” Calvin agreed, and held out his hand for a fist bump. “You think you’re not a good man, but you saved my ass. That makes you good in my books.”

  Zion rolled his eyes as the end of the tunnel came into view. “I’d miss not having your wiry ass around to make fun of.” He bumped his friend’s fist despite his words. “Plus, I’m waiting for the day you finally make a move on my sister and she obliterates you.”

  “Oh, ye of little faith,” Calvin replied, pointing a finger at him. “I’m biding my time, slowly letting her fall in love with me. Don’t worry, I’ll be a good brother-in-law.”

  “Too far,” Zion said with a grimace. “Too far.”

  They exited into the fresh air, glad to see the truck parked and waiting. When Shawn spotted them, he moved into the back seat to make room for the duo. They ran and clambered inside. Zion fired up the engine and quickly drove away, not wanting to chance leading the zombies in any other direction other than the woods.

  “Well, how did it go?” Shawn asked.

  “I almost got eaten,” Calvin replied casually, offering his joint to Jeremy. “But Zion had my back. Apparently the zombies have figured out how to build walls.”

  Jeremy took the join and laughed. “What?”

  “We’ll have some clearing out to do tomorrow,” Zion replied. “And we’ll have to be careful when we’re leading them through to watch for clogging. There was a pile of the stuck in there.”

  “Gross,” Jeremy declared.

  “Are you guys okay?” Theo asked, eyes wide.

  Calvin nodded. “All good in the hood,” he said, and then turned to Zion. “Sorry. Is that offensive?”

  Zion sighed with fake drama. “Why did I save your ass again?”

  CHAPTER TEN

  As soon as Zion pulled up to their apartment complex, people swarmed the truck. Zion was used to a nice, warm welcome, but at this point he was more concerned about Jeremy getting medical help.

  “Hey, hey, Big Z won’t be taking any questions at this time,” Calvin joked as he jumped down into the crowd of what he liked to call ‘adoring fans.’ “We’ve got an injured dude here.”

  Shawn helped Jeremy down and Amelia, their resident medic, headed forward with a smile, taking his arm.

  “Been a while since I’ve had to do a bullet wound,” she said. “How are you feeling there, tiger?”

  Jeremy hissed and chuckled. “Oh you know, just another day at the office.”

  Shawn gave Zion a little salute and headed off to assist with his friend’s recovery. Meanwhile, Calvin opened the back door of the truck, revealing the eight youngsters they’d liberated.

  Cheryl stepped up behind him, eyes wide. “Where did you find these kids?” she breathed.

  “Holy crap, you’re outside,” Calvin balked.

  She glared at him. “I came out to tell Zion to call his sister, but I got distracted by the fact that you have a bunch of kids packed in a truck. Jesus, let them out already.” She held out a hand to one of the girls and offered a smile. “Hey there sweetie, come on, you’re safe now.”

  Zion leaned on the side of the truck, staying out of the way. He wasn’t sure if some of the kids found him scary, being the big hulking zombie killer that he was. Alvin and Theo peeked around the corner, and then approached him, hand in hand.

  “Thank you, I know it’s not even enough to just say it, but thank you,” Alvin said. “I was pretty sure we were screwed back there.”

  Zion shook his head. “One of these days I’ll introduce you to Adam and you can thank him,” he replied. “He’s the one that saw Theo’s light from the office building. If it weren’t for that, we would have never come a knockin.’”

  Alvin cocked a brow. “Light?”

  “I found an old flashlight in one of the janitor’s closets,” Theo replied, blushing from the attention. “When I saw that tow truck, I figured if I could get their attention… but I didn’t think it worked, because they just drove away.”

  “Adam’s got a machine shop in the city,” Calvin explained as he joined them. “He’s a handyman, not a fighter. That’s our job.”

  Tiny arms clamped around Alvin’s waist, and he turned to see Rhea glomped onto the back of him. “I’m a barnacle!” she declared, and the group couldn’t help but
laugh at her enthusiasm.

  “I’ll take you to see Amelia,” Calvin suggested, motioning to Theo.

  The kid shook his head. “I’m good for now,” he insisted. “I really want her to be able to focus on the guy I, you know, shot.”

  “I can’t believe you shot that guy!” Alvin gushed.

  Theo blushed even harder. “I didn’t mean to, I was just trying to scare them away.”

  “Well I’m glad you didn’t,” his boyfriend replied, and kissed the top of his head.

  Rhea peeked around him, gazing up at Zion. “You killed all the monsters,” she said.

  “Not all of them,” he replied. “But enough to keep you safe.”

  “I bet you’ll get the rest of them,” she said, raising her chin in determination. “And then we can go find our mommies and daddies.”

  Cheryl poked her head around the back of the truck, and then headed over. “A few of the other kids are talking about their parents, too.”

  “Is it possible your families are still alive?” Zion turned to Alvin. “Some of these kids could be pretty traumatized, and not realize that… well.” He bit his tongue and looked down at Rhea.

  She put her little hands on her hips. “My mommy is dead,” she said matter-of-factly. “You don’t have to pretend she’s not. But my daddy is big and strong like you.”

  “It’s possible that some are, yeah,” Alvin said, putting his arm around the little girl. “Theo and I were babysitting, and most of our parents were out at this fundraiser dinner on the other side of town. Then all of a sudden the city was overrun with zombies, and it was all we could do to just try to stay alive.”

  “There were no other adults in the building?” Cheryl asked.

  Theo shook his head. “There were a few, but after we looted all the apartments for food and water and realized we didn’t really have all that much, they went out to try to scrounge supplies from other places. Only one came back, but he had such horrible injuries that he didn’t want to turn and kill us.”