Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place

by Char Robinson

  “We’re fine,” Mick managed to say. “Brooke honey, let me set your Mom down on the couch and we’ll talk, ok?”

  Brooke immediately moved back and followed them to the couch. As soon as they sat down, she grabbed Cindy’s arm and clung to it. Cindy gave her a faint smile, Mick noticed she had stopped crying and was trying to get herself together.

  “It’s ok Brooke,” she said in a faint voice, as she wiped her tear-streaked face with her free hand. “As your Dad said, we’re fine.”

  Brooke peered closely at her parents, then straightened up and smiled, satisfied that her parents were all right. She looked over their heads and said in a loud voice, “Sean...Scott, they’re ok!”

  Mick turned his head to see them standing off to the side, their own arms around their wives, but their eyes were on Mick and Cindy. He gave them the best “we’re just great” smile he could manage. Both of them smiled back at him, although he could still see the worry in their eyes.

  “Listen up!” Dave said in a commanding voice and immediately everyone quieted. “We’ve all had a big scare, but I think we’re ok. We had a few windows broken out, but I think that’s the worst of it, other than all of us being half frightened to death.” He continued in a lower voice. “I think an oil tank exploded, and if I remember correctly there’s a gasoline storage area over there that may have went up too, that would account for all the explosions. Lucky for us, they’re far enough away that we shouldn’t be in any danger, so I think the best thing we can do is keep an eye on the situation for now.”

  Cindy looked around and asked with a slight frown, “Where are the kids?”

  “No worries Mom,” Scott answered. “When we heard the first explosion, I think everyone except Dave rushed in to check on the kids and believe it or not, they seem to be sleeping through the whole thing. Lindsey’s feeling a lot better so she and Megan are keeping an eye on them.”

  “That’s a relief,” she replied. “I’m glad they didn’t wake up. If it scared us this bad, just think what it would have done to them.”

  Mick hugged her to him, he was doing his best to calm down and he knew she was still upset because he could feel her still shaking.

  “Tomorrow we should get a better idea of what happened,” Dave said. He looked at his watch. “I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but we should all try to get some sleep. The kids will be up bright and early tomorrow and we can’t be dragging around.”

  He looked at his watch again. “It’s my turn on the balcony, but I think I’ll stay inside and watch from in here. Scott, your shift is after mine, you do the same. I don’t want anyone outside until we can be sure it’s safe.”

  Dave walked over to Lilly and put an arm around her waist. “Goodnight everyone, see you in the morning.”

  Dismissed, they all began talking again as they headed for the third floor. Mick stood up and turned to help Cindy, but Brooke had already pulled her mother up to her feet.

  “Can I stay with you guys tonight, pretty please,” Brooke implored, her eyes darting between Mick and Cindy.

  Mick’s heart melted and he was glad when Cindy told her she could. Together they walked through the kitchen and down the stairs.

  ****

  Mick knew all three of them wouldn’t fit in the full bed, so he spent the night in a sleeping bag on the floor. He didn’t sleep well, and as soon as dawn broke he got up. After taking a long hot shower, he headed upstairs for a much needed big cup of coffee.

  He was surprised to see Sarah and Denise already up and deep in conversation. For some reason, he’d always thought when the boys married, that they would have similar tastes in a mate, but Sarah and Denise were as different as night and day. Sarah was on the short side and slender, with a rosy complexion and hair so dark it was almost black. She had the prettiest blue-gray eyes, Heather and Sally looked just like her. Denise on the other hand, was almost as tall as Sean, and had a trim, athletic build. She was tanned from sunning on the rooftop, which was striking against her long blonde hair and bright green eyes. Even though they looked so very different, they were the best of friends and he was sorry he’d interrupted their conversation. He was also relieved to see they were speaking to each other again after the argument they’d had the other day.

  “Morning ladies,” he said with a grin as he headed straight for the coffee pot. “Are we the only ones up?”

  “Megan’s up,” Denise said. “She’s supposed to be out on the balcony, but since everyone’s supposed to stay inside, she’s taking a quick break.”

  “I see,” Mick murmured as he fixed his coffee. After taking a sip, he wandered over to the sliding doors to look outside. “Wow,” he said softly. “Whatever that is over there, it’s still burning.” He could see flames mixed with thick black smoke billowing up into the sky. Thank goodness the wind usually blows from the south, he thought. Twice now they’d been spared from dealing with smoke from fires.

  “I hope the wind doesn’t change,” he remarked as he continued to stare out the door. “But some rain would be nice, might put out the fire.”

  “You know, it hasn’t rained since we’ve been here,” Sarah replied. “It would be nice; we wouldn’t have to water the gardens so much.”

  Since the power had gone out, they had resorted to using the water well Dave had installed out back where the animals were kept, and he was a stickler for conservation. They all tried to do their best, but they used a lot of water.

  “Yeah, we’re definitely due for some,” Sarah said as she stood up. “Well, I’m going to go drag Scott out of bed, so I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

  Both Mick and Denise grinned. They knew from experience how hard it was to get either Sean or Scott out of bed.

  “Good luck,” Denise replied, laughing. “I’m not ready to wrestle Sean out yet, think I’ll let him sleep awhile longer.”

  Mick chuckled as he continued to sip his coffee, and then cocked his head to one side. “Do you hear something?” he asked Denise.

  Denise tilted her head up and listened for a few seconds before replying. “No, can’t say that I do. What are you hearing?”

  “Not sure,” Mick said with a frown. He suddenly held up a finger. “There it is again! It sounds like...”

  “Banging,” Sarah finished for him as she stood up. “I heard it that time.”

  Mick turned to face her. “I think someone’s banging on the door downstairs.”

  “Zombies?” she asked with a sliver of fear in her voice.

  “Don’t think so,” Mick said with a shake of his head. He walked over to the kitchen counter and set his mug down. “Sounds different, more deliberate. I’m going out on the balcony and I’ll let you know what I see.”

  “Ok,” Sarah said nervously.

  Mick was relieved to see that Dave had only latched and not locked the door. He really didn’t want to wake him if it was nothing important. He leaned over the railing and looked down. He immediately turned toward Sarah. “Get Dave,” he said firmly. “Have him meet me downstairs at the front door.”

  “Will do,” Sarah replied as she hurried off.

  Mick continued to stare down at the group below him. They were a rough looking bunch, and he wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to let them in. He’d decided immediately that this was a decision he didn’t want to make on his own. Quietly he retreated and silently slid the door closed behind him before heading down to the first floor to wait for Dave.

  Chapter 10

  Charlie sat on a stool watching the doctor work on Gordon. Once he’d cleaned the scratches, they didn’t look so bad. As he glanced at his watch for what felt like the tenth time, there was a knock on the shelter door.

  “Let me in,” a muffled voice said.

  Charlie immediately recognized the voice as Darrell’s and jumped up to let him in.

  “Hey,” Darrell said as he grinned at Charlie. “Sorry we’re taking so long, but we’ve had some problems.”

  “What kind of problems
?” he asked as Darrell slumped down on the stool Charlie had just vacated.

  “We had trouble finding something suitable enough for Dexter to cover the downstairs windows with,” he replied as he sat down and took a drink of water from the bottle Charlie offered him. “And they’re still cleaning up a mess in the basement.”

  Charlie frowned. “A mess?”

  Darrell nodded. He looked around and whispered, “Yeah. He didn’t tell us what was down there until after you left. Charlie, it’s bad, like something out of a horror movie. They’re still down there cleaning up body parts and hosing down the basement, there’s blood everywhere.” He licked his lips as he looked up at Charlie with anxious eyes. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Dexter said it would probably take another hour to finish, but they have to clean up the worst of it before we can let all these people go over there.”

  “Agreed,” Charlie said dismally. “But that’s gonna cut it close, it will be dark in a few hours.”

  “I know, Dexter said. “They’re hurrying as fast as they can, but it took them awhile to find enough stuff to clean up with. When I left, they were bleaching and hosing the whole basement down.”

  “We may need to keep everyone here one more night,” Charlie said as he glanced around the room. “I hate to do that to them, but we may have no other choice.”

  “Dexter said if they’re not back in an hour, to let everybody know they’ll have to stay here.”

  Charlie nodded, then asked, “So what do you think happened down in that basement?”

  “Not sure, but Dexter has a theory.”

  “Really? And what is that?”

  Darrell leaned forward and lowered his voice even more. “He thinks the zombies took people down there by force or lured them there, then ate them.”

  Charlie drew back in surprise. “He thinks that? What makes him think the zombies could be that smart?”

  “I asked him the very same question. He thinks they’re smarter than what we give them credit for.”

  Charlie rubbed his temples as he tried to digest what Darrell was saying. “If they are capable of thought...even a little bit...then we could be in big trouble.”

  “That’s what we were thinking,” Darrell agreed in a weary voice.

  Both men looked up as Jenny approached with a smile on her face. “Darrell! I didn’t see you come in,” she said as she sat down on a cot next to Charlie. “So, are we leaving this hell hole soon?”

  At Charlie’s warning look, Darrell smiled feebly. “We were having some trouble getting the place secured, but we’re still hoping to get everyone moved today.”

  At Jenny’s disappointed look, Charlie patted her hand. “Look on the bright side. If we rush it, we could have problems. If we have to wait until tomorrow, it’s only to make sure it’s safe, we don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

  “You make a good point.” Jenny admitted. “We have a lot of little kids in here and I’d hate to see anything happen to them.” Changing the subject, she continued. “By the way, what’s the plan for defending the place?”

  “We found a ladder and two people will be up on the roof, we might cut a hole in the roof so we don’t need the ladder to change out people, but they’re still thinking on that,” Darrell said. “If we need to, we’ll have lookouts on the upper floor stationed at some of the windows. Then we’ll have a few folks patrolling both floors. Fortunately, the area around the apartment is clear, so we should be able to see all around us in plenty of time should those walking nasties appear. If they do come and it looks like we can’t hold them outside, we’ll move everyone upstairs and take them down as they come in. Worst case scenario, we’d have to blow the staircase.”

  “Blow the staircase! How would we do that?” Charlie wanted to know.

  “Dave gave Dexter a few goodies,” Darrell explained with a wry look on his face. “He’s got a couple of flash-bangs and hand grenades.”

  Charlie whistled softly. “Dave’s just full of surprises, isn’t he?”

  “I can’t wait to meet this Dave,” Jenny remarked with a shake of her head. “From what I’ve heard, he’s quite a guy.”

  “Yeah, he is,” Charlie acknowledged. “If it wasn’t for Dave and Lilly, I wouldn’t have made it here so soon, if at all.”

  At the mention of Dave’s name, Darrell’s eyes widened. “That reminds me, we need to get that radio set up as soon as possible and let them know we’re ok.”

  Charlie nodded. “We’ll try to do that first thing tomorrow, we have way too much on our plate right now.”

  As they continued to chat, everyone was startled by a sudden loud rapping on the door. Darrell jumped up and listened for a second before pulling the bolt and opening the door. Dexter stepped in with a big smile on his face as he looked around the room.

  “Let’s go ladies and gents, your escorts have arrived,” he announced in a loud voice.

  As everyone gathered their belongings, two older men that had been standing behind Dexter entered and began helping the ones who would have trouble making the short trip. Charlie noticed that Jenny immediately went over to the young doctor to help him. He smiled to himself as he watched their interactions, which confirmed his suspicions. Yep, he thought, they’re sweet on each other. As Jenny stood up with her arm around Jake, she saw Charlie’s smile and blushed, causing Charlie to smile even more broadly at her discomfort. He gave her big wink and was rewarded with an even deeper red flush to her cheeks. As she ducked her head and turned toward Jake, Charlie walked over to them.

  “Anything I can do to help?” he asked innocently, staring intently at his daughter.

  Not meeting his eyes, Jenny nodded toward a black duffle bag on the floor by her feet. “Can you get that, Dad? Thanks.”

  Jake gave Charlie a small smile as he said, “I appreciate this, Mr. Thompson. Jenny’s told me a lot about you, she never doubted you would come for her...and us.”

  “Glad to do it.” Charlie bent down and easily picked up the duffle. “I’ll stay with you two, Jenny if you get tired, we can switch off.”

  Together they made their way slowly toward the door. Most of the people had already filed out, carrying babies, small children, and belongings. Once they were all gathered outside the shelter, Dexter broke them up into two groups. He explained that it would be safer to move everyone that way. Once upstairs, the first group was met by more people who began to shepherd them across the street.

  Charlie watched through the back door and breathed a sigh of relief as they all made it across safely.

  When their turn came, Charlie glanced at his daughter and Jake. “You two ready?”

  At their nods he grinned. “Well, as Dexter says, let’s get this show on the road.”

  With that, they exited the building and slowly headed toward the apartment. Dexter fell back until he was walking beside Charlie.

  “Darrell fill you in on what we found?” he whispered.

  Charlie nodded as his eyes darted here and there. He had that watched feeling again and it was making him nervous. “Really bizarre, Dex. I hope your theory proves incorrect.”

  Dexter let out a guffaw. “You and me both. But if I am right, we may be in for some major problems.”

  Suddenly someone in front of them yelled and pointed off to the left. Everyone halted and jerked their heads in that direction. Dexter raced up to the front of the line, his shotgun up and ready. Across the street from the apartment, sat another home similar in design to the one they were heading for. This one had been converted into a funeral home and Charlie didn’t see anything at first. There was a carport with a hearse sitting underneath and most of it was in shadows. As Charlie squinted to get a better look, he saw one of the shadows move, then another.

  “Shit,” he muttered under his breath. He shoved the duffel bag into Jenny’s free hand. “Let me take him,” he said briskly, and not waiting for a reply he moved over to Jake’s other side and grabbed him around the waist. They began moving again, more quickly this t
ime. Charlie saw Jake grimace with pain, but he had to get them to the building as fast as possible.

  “Sorry,” he murmured apologetically. “But as you can see, we don’t have time to waste.”

  Gasping in pain, Jake nodded. He had seen them too. “No problem, I can handle it.”

  “You’ll have to,” Charlie said grimly as he picked up the pace. There were now at least five of the things heading straight for them. To his dismay, they were moving faster than his group.

  “Dexter...” he said in what he hoped was a loud but calm voice.

  “We got ‘em Charlie,” Dexter said without turning around. “Just keep movin’.”