Roxanne's Story (Vol. II): Survival In The Zombie Apocalypse

by Diane Butler

  Lucky glared at her, “Do you not grasp the danger here, Roxanne? That station-wagon could have six ruthless men in it. Men who would kill us and take everything we have just for the fun of it.”

  “I have felt concern since you told me of the occurrence, but I have not felt danger. However, that does not mean that I would foolishly approach someone without being prepared or without surveillance first.”

  They had covered half the distance back toward the pier when Roxanne pulled over behind a tree on the shoulder. “Fifth house down on the right. That looks like the tailgate of a station-wagon just barely visible on the other side of the house. See it? They could have heard us already. This isn’t the quietest truck around but at least I oiled the doors so they don’t squeak. We’ll get out on your side since the bushes will hide us but I’ll be seen if I get out on my side. Mary, I want you to stay close to the truck since they could have scouts out and I don’t want them coming up behind us or stealing the truck. Mutt will stay with you.”

  They crouched as they got out since part of the truck was visible above the bushes. Lucky hoped that by coming in late last night that the group had not noticed whether other vehicles were parked on the shoulder and would not realize that theirs was a new addition on the street.

  Roxanne and Lucky went through the back yards of the homes as they approached and only saw one zombie that Lucky immediately took care of. Roxanne decided that she would let him use his strength on this mission and test him as a partner. After all, this was his concern and his mission and she considered herself to just be the driver. She wanted to see how he would take control of the situation.

  When they reached the fourth house Lucky told her to stay behind while he attempted to look in the windows and that he would try to circle around to look in the car. Roxanne studied the area making mental notes of what could be used as cover, if necessary. She had her crossbow loaded and ready as she watched Lucky try to see through a window. He turned and signaled that he was going to circle the house to the car which would put him out of her sight. But he also motioned that she should not move up, which Roxanne felt was a mistake since it would take her longer to reach him if he needed help.

  He had disappeared around the corner of the house when Roxanne saw movement at the window. A toddler of about two years old had apparently crawled on top of something and was pushing the curtains open to look out. The child put its forehead against the window when two arms reached out and pulled him away, readjusting the curtains afterward. Roxanne relaxed. A family with at least one child would be cautious, but they would also be the ones needing the most help. Her instincts told her that there was no danger here if approached in the right way but before she could act the back door of the house flew open. A thin man ran out onto the stoop with a gun and leaned over the railing toward the car.

  “Get your hands up and step away from the car!” he ordered. “Come around here where I can see you better!” He had his back to Roxanne and did not see her slowly approach as he kept his eye on Lucky who was now coming into view with his hands up.

  “I’m not here to steal your car,” Lucky said trying to calm the man but he quickly glimpsed over at Roxanne. She stopped hoping that the man hadn’t caught Lucky’s eye movement that indicated someone was behind him. A stupid move, she thought. “Then what do you want? Why are you here?” the man asked. Roxanne could tell that he was nervous and was breathing rapidly. She had seen this kind before but didn’t remember where. She would need to be cautious with him in that he did not fire out of fear.

  In a gentle voice she said, “Sir, please remain calm.” He yelped and turned the gun on her then quickly turned it back on Lucky again, not knowing who to fire at first. “Sir, please look at me. I am going to lower my weapon. We are not a danger to you or your family.” The man quickly turned to see that Roxanne had indeed lowered her weapon and for the first time he noticed that Lucky had not drawn a weapon either. He backed up against the door, gulping down deep breaths, but did not lower the gun having both of them in sight now. “We are a family ourselves,” Roxanne said and caught Lucky’s surprised look. “I have a fourteen year old girl just down the street waiting for us. Both our families have survived this long and perhaps it is destiny that has brought us together, not danger.”

  As the three of them stood frozen in place the door behind the man opened a few inches and Roxanne could hear a woman’s frightened voice softly speaking to him. The man appeared to calm somewhat and he began to lower the weapon when the door opened further and a Mexican woman stepped out. “I am Maria. This is my husband Earl. We have nothing to offer if you seek food but you can search the other houses.”

  “No, that is not necessary,” Lucky said. “We will leave the other homes for you to increase your own supplies. I saw your car go by my house last night. We just needed to make sure that you did not represent a danger to us. I could not see who was inside the car or how many people it carried.”

  Maria stepped forward. “There are others here?” she asked excitingly. “Other families here? Are people coming back? This is my grandmother’s home and the only place left that we could think of where to go. It’s always been a quiet, quaint town and we hoped that the herds hadn’t gotten this far.”

  Lucky and Roxanne looked at each other and both asked in unison, “Herds?”

  “Let me get Mary,” Roxanne said. “Perhaps we could sit down somewhere and you could fill us in.” But it wasn’t necessary as Roxanne turned and noticed that Mary and Mutt were three houses down and approaching them. As she went to meet them Mary said, “Mutt said it was all right to come,” she explained. “We both felt that you had been gone too long, then we saw you standing in the yard with your crossbow lowered and knew it was okay.”

  Earl told them of being in the Shreveport Hospital as Maria was having their baby when the ZA hit. The hospital was shut down and no new patients were admitted. None of the patients there were being treated for bites and at first it appeared that the city was going to be spared of the disease. When it did hit many of the first-responder people and hospital staff brought their own families to the hospital since it had been safe for so long. They managed to survive there for six months but that was the longest they had been able to stay anywhere.

  “When we had to leave the first place I went to was my job site.” Earl said. “I’m a demolition expert and I knew the job site had fuel tanks and a supply of dynamite. If you need to clear a path through a herd, dynamite was the quickest method I knew. We stayed at a FedEx warehouse for a few months, then a UPS warehouse, we met up with other people then became separated, all the while being pushed by herds. The herds always catch up coming out of the north. People say it’s because the north is too cold for them but none of us can get to the north because we can’t get around them. There’s just too many of them even though they are weaker.” He smiled, “But I think I put a good stop to them coming out of Baton Rouge. I just blew the bridge up behind me,” he laughed.

  Lucky sat up. “I have a friend on a riverboat who goes under that bridge over the Mississippi. Have you blocked his access?”

  “No,” Earl shook his head. “If he was able to travel around the mess the military made when they blew up the old bridge, then he won’t have trouble with mine. I just blew it up at one end. It’s still standing. A riverboat?” he looked over at Maria. “We’ve talked of that in the past but neither of us know anything about boats. Seems the safest place until all this passes is to have access to a boat. Otherwise we’ll be pushed into South America if this keeps up.”

  “How fast are they moving?” Lucky asked. “How much time before they reach here?”

  Earl looked at him in confusion, “But they won’t reach here. I told you that I blew everything up. The only way left to get into Mamou is to come in from the west and I haven’t seen or heard about any Z’s going from west to east. It’s always been the other way around, going from east to west or north to south.”

  “But if the
y could get here,” Lucky said with urgency, “how long do you think it would take?”

  “Lucky”, Roxanne asked, “What is your concern here?”

  “The Mill. Its north of Baton Rouge and most of the boats are out of fuel and Jenny is loaded down with supplies from the Mansion. She’ll be sitting low in the water if Brandon attempts to take everyone on board. On his next trip back we were going to concentrate on gathering gas as a supply for those who do not have sailboats and, of course for Jenny.”

  “North of Baton Rouge?” Earl looked at his wife. “They should be seeing an increase of zombie activity by now.”

  ***

  Brandon saw the activity of people on their sailboats as he approached the dock. “Wonder what’s going on,” he said to Morgan. “I don’t know,” Morgan answered. “There’s been some friction between families lately. Maybe some have decided to cut out and try other places. People always think that they have a better idea. Sort of ‘the grass is greener on the other side of the fence’ type of thing.”

  Once they docked they walked down to talk with some of the people preparing their boats. Thomas shook his head, “The zombie activity at the fences is making some of us nervous. If it turns into a herd, those fences will never hold. We’ve already had to put in extra support at the weak places. I’m not going to take a chance with my family that the fence collapses at night and that we’re unaware of it until it’s too late. I’m going to sail out to the gulf and see how the tip of Florida looks. Maybe by now Florida has emptied out. Monty, Cliff and Walter will be sailing in their boats along with me so we will make a group.”

  They were walking toward the factory when Richard ran up to them, “I don’t suppose you brought gas back with you? I would love to leave with the rest of the guys, but I just don’t trust sailboats. I’ve capsized in them too many times to want to get on another. I’ll take my cruiser anytime but I barely made it here with what little gas I have left.”

  Brandon shook his head, “Just enough for the generators.”

  “Well,” Richard said, “the generators will probably be abandoned so there’s no reason to hoard the gas. We need the gas for the boats!”

  “Let us look the situation over before we make any decisions, Richard.” Morgan said to calm the man. Morgan had always been the voice of reason in the group, he and Toby who people respected because Toby had brought so many of them here in his tugboat. Richard stopped and let the group approach the factory where they could see people moving things out of the headquarters and into the safety of the factory.

  They saw Toby giving orders within the factory and called out his name as they approached. Toby pulled them aside and asked, “What about that town Mamou that you said Roxanne has relocated to? People are starting to panic here with no way to get out but the river. I suggest you guard Jenny at all times until we can get everyone under control and a plan of hope for these people.”

  Brandon looked over the crowd that was busy bringing in their personal effects from the headquarters, others arguing as to who had what space or how much space they could have. “Are the fences that bad?” he asked Toby. Toby shook his head, “The way the Z’s are gathering, we can no longer control them. We had spotters out there killing every day, but it never decreased or leveled out. The men are exhausted and since this place is fortified we decided to put all our efforts into moving essential equipment in here. At least until you got back, then we thought perhaps you could take groups of people down river someplace and keep coming back for more.”

  Brandon shook his head, “Would be better if I could get more gas and let some of these people take their own boats. The people you picked up on your tugboat could get on Jenny and that would be at full capacity.”

  “But where would you find that much gas and how could you get it all here? Even if we gave you all the gas cans that we have, it wouldn’t be enough,” Toby said.

  “Boaters would need to double up, maybe even triple the number of people,” Morgan said. “Everyone can’t have their own boat, the same as in New Orleans. We can drop off the supplies we have on Jenny. Take one load of people with us tomorrow to Mamou while we get gas and they will serve as extra help to do it faster. Then come back to distribute the gas and take another load of people. Close the gates to the river so the Z’s can’t get down to the boats.”

  “I see a couple of problems with that idea, Morgan.” Toby said. “I’m not sure that the fences will hold long enough for you to get back and that means the yard will be filled with zombies making it near impossible of getting the rest of us out of the factory and onto Jenny. Other people will have the same fear and there will be a fight as to who goes with you. And what do you do about more gas cans? Takes a lot of gas just to fill up one boat.”

  “We won’t be filling them up,” Brandon said. “Just enough gas to get to Mamou on Richard’s cabin cruiser and he will be at full capacity. The rest will need to leave their boats behind. Jenny is a slow paddlewheel so it won’t take Richard’s cruiser one and a half days to get to Mamou. He should anchor before nightfall and wait for us to catch up the next day and lead him in. If he runs out of gas he’s still safe on the river and I can make a run back to his boat after dropping off my passengers.”

  “But you still haven’t said where you are going to get all that gas or how you will get it here.”

  Earl, Lucky and Roxanne had spent the morning of the next day gathering all the large trash cans on wheels that they could find, washing them out in the river and setting them on the dock to dry. Then they gathered smaller trash cans from inside the homes and did the same.

  Lucky did not know what the situation was at the Mill but he put a plan in place for evacuation after listening to Earl’s report on the herds. “Remember all those cars lined up at the fairgrounds? Those cars were from town and neighboring areas, so most of them will have gas because they didn’t need to travel that far. We were going to concentrate on scavenging for more gas on the next run but I would like to have a supply ready for him when he gets back. I’m very nervous about Earl’s report on the zombie activity and the Mill is much further up north. It sounds as if it could be close to getting overrun. My only hope is that the herds will stick to the highways and will by-pass it, won’t notice it perhaps, since the Mill is on the river. If the people stay inside and take the pigs that Lance is raising, perhaps the herd won’t smell fresh meat.”

  Roxanne had mixed emotions that she did not share. She was surprised at seeing this side of Lucky that showed how he cared about other people. He had come across to her as someone who had what was called “The John Wayne Syndrome.” A very dangerous persona to have in the ZA world and she never felt comfortable with his decisions or actions. Neither did she like the idea of the town being invaded either by the undead or by people. A town filled with people? She couldn’t get her mind around it and knew that she wouldn’t stay. In the long run, at least Mary would be protected. She couldn’t talk Mary into going to the Mill but now it appeared that the Mill was coming to her. Roxanne hadn’t made plans on where to go if the town became too dangerous but she did know that her next move would be to get supplies back to Shoes.

  At noon she approached Lucky. “I need to make a deal with you since I feel that time is growing short and I can accomplish my task faster with you helping me.” Lucky raised his eyebrows since Roxanne had always turned down his offers of help in the past and he had learned to ignore her protests. “I need to get that boat we rescued in the water as soon as possible and I need help with the motor. Tomorrow you want us to spend time scavenging for gas so for the rest of the afternoon I would like for you to come over and help me with that motor. I assume that you have worked on Jenny and will be familiar with motors.”

  Everyone including Mutt and Cowboy had been together during the day going from house to house. Maria and Earl Jr stayed close and Roxanne made sure that neither animal went near the child. She did not want them to become too familiar with other humans, did not want to d
omesticate them having considered Mutt to be just as wild as the coyote. Maria thanked Roxanne for the applesauce and canned peaches and the family went back to their cottage. The rest of them got in the truck to go to Roxanne’s.

  “I don’t like leaving them,” Lucky said looking behind them.

  “They seem well established in her grandmother’s home and appear to want their independence,” Roxanne answered. “Still, the way Earl came barreling out of that house it didn’t seem to me that he has it all together,” Lucky said. “He missed you standing there because he was concentrating on me. You never assume that someone is alone even if he’s snooping around your car.”

  As they were taking the motor apart, oiling it down and replacing a few bolts that had rusted Lucky asked, “Are you concerned about a herd of zombies coming through and want to have something faster than your pirogue?”

  Roxanne shook her head, “No, I’m more concerned about a herd of people coming through although it’s good to be prepared for zombies too. After we help you with the gas tomorrow I will be towing my pirogue filled with supplies for the bayou.”