She struggled with the Glock. I thought it would have been easy because of the size, but the kick was a little too much for her. It didn’t help that she was nowhere near the target and I think the oil filter had something to do with her inability to aim.
I let her try the MP5 instead. The size of the submachine gun absorbed much of the recoil, and Karina barely flinched when she squeezed the trigger. Surprisingly, she was able to hit the frame three out of four times.
“Have you ever shot before?” I asked her.
“No. My dad was never a gun guy or anything,” she answered as she walked up to the target. “I only got one in the middle,” she said with a frown.
“Trust me,” I smiled, “you did better than I thought you would.”
“Is that the scratch you got last night?” she asked, pointing at my fresh bandage and the dried blood on my hand.
“Uh…” I stammered, “It wasn’t a scratch.”
Her eyebrows shot up in awe. “It was another bite? Can I see it?”
She didn’t look scared, but more intrigued.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t have that many bandages left.”
She frowned, but then smiled gleefully. “That means you are immune. You would have changed by now.”
“I guess so.” I felt a sense of relief that someone knew, and that someone believed me. It just stunk that it was a fourteen year-old girl.
“So what now?” she asked as we started to load up our gear.
“Well, I figure we need to find some transportation.” I walked over to one of the windows and moved the curtains aside. “We have free skies, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Free skies?” she asked.
“I mean the sun’s out. No clouds. Zombies should be taking cover.”
“I don’t like that word,” Karina said as she hefted my bugout bag onto her back. We decided she would carry some back-up ammo and half of the rations. I didn’t want her starving if we got separated.
“You don’t have to like it,” I chuckled. “They are what they are.”
“Well, scientifically, zombies are not possible. Even the name dead-head is inaccurate.” She sounded like one of my college professors, speaking to me as if I was an ignorant student.
“Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?” I snapped.
“Yeah,” she said, not taking any offense to the way I spoke to her. “Mostly adults, though.”
“Well, I’m an adult,” I said as I walked past her towards the back door.
“Well, you’re not a real adult. You’re more of an ‘almost’ adult,” she said matter-of-factly.
I turned around. “I’m twenty-five.”
“Really?” She sounded astonished.
“Yes, really. Let’s go. And keep quiet. Clouds or no clouds, zombies will definitely be attracted to the sound of your voice.”
Karina seemed like she was going to say something else, but I gave her a glare and she shut her mouth.
“Come on Boomer,” I called out. The canine trotted over next to me and sniffed around the back door. He didn’t detect anything.
I motioned to Karina to stay close to me as I opened the door.
Chapter 3
Run!
April 23rd Morning
The area around the building was clear as we made our way to the road. I had to use my small bolt cutters to get out of the fenced area. In the first days of The Awakening, I would have thought the surrounding chain-link fence would have been a secure place to make camp. I knew better now, though. The fence would last about three minutes against a hoard of the dead.
The sun was beating down on us from the east, barely above the surrounding tree line. It was probably over eighty degrees already, and was bound to reach in the mid-nineties by noon. The humidity was already thick and I was sweating in minutes.
Off to the west I could see dark clouds over the horizon. I prayed that meant rain. The surrounding area was mostly wooded, though I knew that would end as soon as we approached the large urban area that made up the city of Palm Bay.
Boomer was in the lead with Karina following close behind him. I took the rear, regularly peering behind me to make sure we weren’t being followed. I trusted the canine would alert me if he sensed something, but his senses could only go so far.
“Where are we going to go?” Karina asked as we made it to the asphalt road.
“To find a vehicle,” I replied, “hopefully with working air-conditioning.”
“I can drive,” she stated as we headed west.
“Is that so,” I said, not realizing the can I had just opened.
“My father would let me drive in parking lots,” Karina continued. “One time, I almost ran into a red SUV, but I hit the brakes just in time.”
I didn’t respond. I hoped if I continued to ignore her, she would finally give up on conversation. Oh, how wrong I was.
“He was going to give me his Infinity when I turned sixteen. I really didn’t like it though. Guess I don’t have to wait until I’m sixteen now. I can pick any car I want. I really want a Jetta. My older brother has one. He loves it.”
“Are you kidding me?” I said a little too loudly, irritated at her constant babbling.
“What?” she said, turning around and inadvertently pointing the MP5 at my midsection.
I quickly pushed the barrel of her gun aside. “Watch it! Never point a gun at anyone unless you are going to shoot them!”
I was scowling and she gave me a hurt look. I was being a little unfair. The girl had never used a gun before and I never told her the number one rule of handling firearms.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “I thought you saw a dead-head or something.”
I turned her around and pushed her forward toward Boomer. She continued to walk.
“No dead-head, but if you don’t shut up, I’m sure it won’t be long before we’re surrounded by them.” I was being harsh, but I thought I had to be. Karina was not fazed, though.
“My dad said I talk too much. But my mom talked a lot too. That’s probably where I get it from.”
“My God, Karina, can you give it a rest?” I snapped, wiping sweat from my forehead.
“That’s exactly what my dad would say!” she said enthusiastically, and then her excitement faded. I think the thought of her parents and whatever end they met hit her.
I wanted to snap at her again, but figured that she felt bad enough after speaking of her loved ones. Instead, I rolled my eyes and continued to march. She was annoying, but it appeared that the woods were devoid of any zombies. Either that or they were just as irritated with her as I was and moved out of her vocal range.
After a moment, she started to talk again. She went from one subject to the next as we marched down the barren road. I had to shush her a few times when Boomer would stop and sniff the air. She even ran into him once, distracted by the sound of her own voice.
The trees and grasses in front of us started to show zombie sign, and she finally stayed quiet. Low lying branches had been stripped bare of all leaves and sections of the tall grass lining the roadside had been ripped out from their roots. I was starting to get a bad feeling.
I also could not discount the smell. The stench of rotting flesh became stronger as we moved further west. I wasn’t sure if we were approaching a large hoard, or if this was just the cloud of death that usually encompassed the city of Palm Bay. After all, we were approaching the various residential areas and I was sure there were a good amount of zombies in those areas.
The road started to bend and the view of what was further down was obscured by trees and palmetto bushes.
Boomer had slowed and was sniffing the air. It started to occur to me that I hadn’t seen one zombie since we left the safety of the building that morning. It had only been thirty minutes, but still, there were thousands in the area the night before. They had been drawn toward the compound by all of the gunfire. I wondered where they had all gone.
Boomer, howev
er, sensed them. I couldn’t see any but the canine was giving me sure signs that we were close to some, possibly many, zombies. He prowled slowly and carefully, as if we were going to be ambushed at any time.
I eyed the woods again, just to make sure none were close.
“Karina, you stay here with Boomer. I’m going to go have a look.”
She looked back at me and nodded. I was a little surprised she didn’t say anything. I could see her fair skin was already starting to redden from the sun. Her throat was probably dry from all of her yapping.
“Make sure you drink some water, and give some to Boomer,” I said as I passed by her and told Boomer to stay. She nodded and took out a bottle of water.
I walked further down the road and rounded the corner. I looked back right before Boomer and Karina were out of view. She was actually being smart and looking around in all directions, peering into the woods. Boomer was standing next to her, but was anxiously panting in my direction.
I turned away and looked at the intersection I was approaching. The smell was worsening, and I knew that only meant one thing. The dead were close.
Up ahead, the road intersected with another that went north to south. I glanced up at the street sign and saw it read San Filippo Drive. It was one of the major roads that led deep into the urban areas of Palm Bay.
On my side of the road there was nothing but trees and brush. On the other side, you could see numerous roads leading off of San Filippo Drive heading west. They led to long streets with hundreds of homes on each.
I was near Eastern Florida State college. I wasn’t sure how close to it I was and San Filippo was one of those roads that went on forever. Approximating my distance from the Ace Hardware though, I knew I was close to the college campus. Northwest was the way I wanted to go. But if I were to avoid open areas, I would have to head west and then cut north.
I reached down and grabbed a small pair of binoculars that were attached to my vest and scanned into the neighborhoods.
I could see some now. Zombies were crouched under the overhangs of various roof tops. One of the undead that was only a few hundred feet away was lazily chewing on the bark of a large oak tree.
“Shit,” I whispered.
Going through those neighborhoods was a death sentence. Even though it was daylight, some were sure to be aroused by our passing through. That would lead to all of them grouping up in a mass herd and we would be running for our lives.
I slowly walked out into the middle of the intersection while thinking about what our next move would be. I looked back at where I had come from and froze.
I could see the other side of the wood line that ran parallel with San Filippo Road. I couldn’t really see the wood line as much as I could see through the wood line. The bits and pieces of zombie sign we had seen on the previous road were small signs of the dead. But now I could see another side of the trees.
Virtually all of the bushes were gone. Every tree was barren up to seven feet high and I could see a hundred yards into the woods.
Now I knew where many of the zombies from the previous night had hidden. Packed tightly in the woodland were hundreds of the dead-heads. They were almost spilling onto the very road I was standing on.
During the daytime, zombies rarely made noise while they slept… or slumbered, or whatever they were doing. It made locating and avoiding them somewhat difficult unless they started coming after you or were out in the open.
So far, none had noticed me. I slowly started backpedaling toward the road I had just left when Boomer started ferociously barking.
I broke into a sprint. Boomer was normally quieter when engaging a few zombies. This couldn’t be good if he was making that much noise. I heard the suppressed fire from the MP5 as I rounded the bend.
Karina was walking backwards in my direction with Boomer doing the same a few feet in front of her as he snarled and barked protectively. Two zombies lay motionless on the ground where we had originally stopped, but behind them and off to the south side dozens more were exiting the tree line. Even worse, they were starting moan and grunt. That was only going to attract more.
I pulled out my Glock as Karina ran up to me. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide with fright. Behind her, the zombies were already crowding into the street, blocking off the way we came. I started to hear movement in the foliage on the opposite side of the road and saw the first of the undead push away a large palmetto leaf just a few feet away from me.
The zombie’s face had been completely eaten away revealing his muscles. Some of those had most likely been torn off as well, and were now replaced with oddly unnatural grey strands of meat laced with purple tracers that allowed the jaw to snap open and shut.
I shuddered, realizing that the freakish zombie had grown back the necessary muscles to allow it to feed. I fired a single shot from my Glock and put it down just as it crossed onto the asphalt.
“What now?” Karina shrieked as we both quickly jogged toward the intersection I had just left.
I looked down at her, not sure if my expression betrayed how scared I was. She didn’t know about the hundreds of zombies just around the corner, nor did she know about all of the zombies that were scattered around the neighborhoods we were running towards.
“We run,” I said as I fitted my Glock back to the side of my leg. It wasn’t that easy considering we were jogging. “We don’t quit running until we are free and clear!”
She nodded and kept pace with Boomer and me.
We made it to the intersection and my fears were confirmed. The zombies just to the south that had been packed in the woods were already moving toward the sounds of moans that were approaching behind us. Once they saw us, however, their direction shifted and the dead-heads started shambling our way.
Karina slowed down in either awe or horror, I didn’t know which. I grabbed her and continued running to the nearest street.
Gripping my AR-15 that dangled in front of me, I aimed at the zombie who I had seen earlier, munching on the oak tree. It was already turning in our direction and we were twenty feet away when I squeezed off two shots. It fell as the side of its head exploded in a blackish mist.
Those two shots alerted every nearby dead-head. Zombies started to come from around houses and from underneath trees as far as I could see. I looked behind us, and we had made a pretty decent gap between us and the hoard. I spun back around as we jogged and found little comfort. There were easily fifty or so coming toward us from all directions. We would soon be cut off.
“Stay in the middle of the road!” I ordered as I took the lead and slowed to a quick walk. Boomer galloped next to me, snapping his teeth and growling at the nearby zombies.
We may have stirred the hornet’s nest, but the dead-heads were still slow. It also helped that there were no large groups with the exception of the hundreds we had left behind us.
We walked quickly down the middle of the road and I picked off three zombies that got too close.
A suppressed shot went off behind me.
“Save your ammo!” I snapped at her.
“But I can help,” she argued.
“You may need that ammo later,” I retorted. I didn’t tell her why, but I knew. I think some of the old cop’s chivalry had rubbed off on me. Maybe it was because Chuck had told me to make sure Karina survived, or maybe I was actually willing to die before I let them get her. I’m not sure. But I wanted her to conserve ammo just in case I didn’t make it.
We continued walking west on the long urban street. Each round I fired was like a dinner bell being rung. In hindsight, I probably should have used my Glock. But changing magazines was something I was worried about. Besides, the cat was already out of the bag.
I finished off thirty rounds and had put down over twenty zombies, but more were grouping in the direction we were headed. The dead-heads I hadn’t shot were growing in a mass behind us. I changed magazines and let the AR-15 hang in front of me. I scanned the neighborhood as I pulled out my Glock.
The closest zombie was still fifty feet away when I formed an idea. Two houses down I noticed a garage door had been left partially open. Normally, I wouldn’t have tried to run into an unsecure house. The windows would be useless barriers for the zombies and we would just be trapping ourselves. But there was a silver lining about garages in Florida.
“This way,” I called out and started jogging toward the garage. Karina didn’t question me and she and Boomer followed behind.
Only a few feet away from the garage door was a zombie. This one was different though. It was a little girl before she died, and only around ten years-old. She must have survived for some time before she fell to the undead because there wasn’t that much decomposition.
The zombie child moved slowly. Her left leg had been ripped open, exposing most of her femur bone. Between the bright sun and her handicap, she was barely making any progress toward us. Other than that, I couldn’t see any obvious wounds. She still had the pale complexion of a recently dead victim, and the purple veins in her eyes were prominent, but something about her being a recently changed little girl gave me the creeps.
We made it to the garage.
“Go Boomer!” I ordered and pushed him underneath the two foot gap at the bottom.
“We’re going to get trapped!” Karina cried in protest as I pushed her down.
I gave her a weak smile, hoping it was enough to comfort her. “Trust me.”
Zombie girl’s croak got my attention. I pushed Karina again and turned with my Glock in hand toward the small dead-head. She was still fifteen feet away when Karina scurried under the door.
Do it! A familiar voice said in my head, but I hesitated.
I looked at the small girl approaching. A part of me knew she wasn’t a girl anymore, or a living person for that matter. But another part of me saw little Kayla from the Compound. I rationalized that there was no reason to waste a bullet. There would be more than just her by the time I made it into the garage and shut the door. One little zombie wouldn’t make a difference. But the truth is I didn’t have the stomach to shoot a child… yet.
The Hunt Chronicles (Book 2): Revelation Page 4