Some of the dead-heads noticed the door had slid partly open and started banging on it. If the last garage I was trapped in was any sign, we didn’t have long before they caved part of the garage door in. That would make opening from the inside all but impossible. I looked back at the door leading into the laundry room. It wasn’t moving and no noise was coming from it.
“Damn scabs,” I cursed.
I was treating them like zombies when I escaped into the garage. The walking dead were mindless enough to keep following me. The scabs, however, were too smart for that. They knew I had firepower they couldn’t match and were not about to follow me blindly. It was as if they had shrieked to call any nearby zombies to the house and cover their escape.
I pushed the thoughts aside. Zombies were sure to swarm the inside soon, if they hadn’t already. We didn’t have a choice but to open the garage door and drive away in the car. I formed a plan, though it was reckless and dangerous.
“Karina!” I shouted.
“What?”
“Pop the trunk!”
“What? Why?” she asked.
“Just pop the damn trunk! Now!” I ordered.
I heard her fumbling around the seat and a moment later the trunk popped open.
I rummaged around the trunk and threw out as much junk as I could. The garage door was shaking and a few hands were reaching underneath, grasping at air. I ran back to the driver’s side window.
I took my rifle off and tossed it past Karina and next to Boomer.
“When the garage door opens, you hit the gas, okay?” I said quickly.
“What about you?” she cried.
“I’m going to jump into the trunk. We don’t have time,” I added as she started to shake her head. “When you get to the road, put it in drive and go until we are free and clear. Got it?”
“Christian…” she stammered.
“Got it?” I asked forcibly.
“Yes…” she reluctantly nodded.
I ran back to the trunk and made sure I could easily close it from the inside. The metal on the garage door buckled as the zombies pounded on it. I was almost caught by a hand reaching underneath and I stomped on its fingers. There was a crunch, but it didn’t stop the hand from reaching toward me again.
I unstrapped my Glock and shoved it in my vest for easier access. The trunk was approximately four feet from the garage door. That didn’t give me a lot of wiggle room, but it would have to do. I couldn’t wait any longer and so I bent down and grabbed the bottom of the door.
The garage door creaked and groaned as I used every muscle at my disposal to push it up. Hands reached in and grabbed at me when the door made it to my waist, but I couldn’t stop. I gave one final push and the door slid all the way up.
Hands gripped my vest and arm as I tried to spin around and go for the trunk. The car engine revved as I pulled and yanked to free myself, but the zombies held fast. I didn’t think I would be able to make it to the trunk.
Instead, the trunk came to me. The car screeched backwards and I dove in just in time to avoid being ran over.
When I landed in the trunk my head bumped into the trunk door. One of the zombies was ripped off me as the car smashed into it. Another zombie, however, was still holding tight.
I tried to position myself in the trunk. My legs were dangling and the zombie had a tight grip on my vest. Karina maneuvered down the driveway, bouncing me around in the process. The car came to a sudden halt and the force rolled me over. Before I could get a grip on the situation, the car jutted forward.
The hand that was clasped onto my vest was still there, and I felt like I was being pulled out of the trunk. I wiggled and squirmed until I could lift my head over the edge.
Dragging behind us was the zombie that was locked onto my ammo vest. Its other hand was gripping the bumper and pulling its body toward me.
It was raining hard and I saw that the hoard of zombies was limited to the area around the house we were in. That was good.
The dead-head dragging behind us was gnashing its teeth as it slowly got closer and closer. I could smell its skin burn as the pants around its legs shredded from the friction of being towed across the asphalt. After a brief struggle, I was able to pull my handgun out and put a bullet between its eyes.
The zombie instantly released its grip and rolled twenty feet behind us before it came to a stop.
Karina drove for another minute before she stopped. I climbed out of the trunk and looked around the street. I knew where we were, and it was only a few miles to my old hideout. A couple of zombies took notice of us and started shambling our way, but we were not in any real danger at that moment.
Trudging through the rain, I made my way to the nervous teenager, whose knuckles had gone white from gripping the steering wheel. Karina was staring at me from the side view mirror. Her eyes showed relief as I came into view.
“You made it,” she said with a weak smile.
“Yeah, barely.” I rubbed the new bump on my head from the door of the trunk.
Karina climbed in the back with the still dazed Enrique and I jumped in the driver’s seat. I winced, noticing the fuel gauge was teetering on E.
“We’re almost out of gas,” I said aloud.
“I was trying to tell you that before we left.” Karina turned to Enrique and rubbed his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Si,” he replied quietly.
“Hopefully it’s enough fuel to get us to my old house.” I didn’t waste any time and continued down the road.
Luckily, we made it to my old hold out, which Fish had referred to as Headquarters. Enrique was quiet the whole way. Karina was at first, but after she had calmed down from the excitement of our escape, she went back to her normal routine of being a jabber jaw. Honestly, I ignored her to the point that she was just background noise and can’t remember what she rambled on about.
I decided to stop a few streets away from Headquarters. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake I did before and park the car in front of the house. If the scabs saw us leave and knew what our vehicle looked like, they may track us down. This didn’t guarantee our safety. They could still locate us after they found the vehicle, but it made our chances better.
The sun was getting close to setting as we finally made it to the house. Enrique stayed silent for the ten minute walk. Karina talked until I put down three zombies and told her it was because of her mouth.
As we walked up the driveway and through the front fence, I stared at Judy’s grave. Sadness crept over me as I remembered her last few hours alive.
The first scab I had ever encountered had come back for me. It found my car, but Fish and I were not in the house. It had infected Judy before we could kill it.
Fish wanted to put a bullet in her right away, but I stopped him. I foolishly thought she could be saved or that she was immune like me. I had to watch her change into a scab and, in the end, it was me that had to put her down.
We had rescued the older woman from starvation and took over her house. And then we killed her with a scab that had tracked us down to her house. I had buried her next to her dead husband and son near the black iron fence in the front yard.
I shook away the thoughts as we made our way through the back yard.
We entered the house and Enrique and Karina, along with Boomer, settled in the living room. I told Karina where to find some stored food as I went back out front to retrieve a radio Fish had stashed in Judy’s old SUV.
The sun set as I successfully retrieved the radio and I hurried back inside as the moans started growing louder around the city.
The two of them were sitting on the couch with Boomer lying on Karina’s lap. All of us were tired and worn out.
“Did you call them yet?” Karina asked with a mouth full of granola.
“I’m about to,” I answered and grabbed a granola bar of my own off the coffee table. Enrique sat with an unopened one in his hand. He was staring down into his lap, lost in another world.
“Campbell. Fish. DJ. Is anyone out there, over.” I said into the transmitter as I took a seat on the mattress in the middle of the floor.
There was nothing but static.
“Are we too far away?” Karina asked.
“Maybe,” I frowned. “Honestly, I’m not sure how far these things go.”
“Who are you calling?” Enrique said, finally coming out of his trance.
Karina responded before I could say anything. “Our friends. We got separated from them.”
“They near here?” he asked.
“No,” I said before Karina could say anything else. “We were evacuating out of the city when we were left behind.”
“They no sound like good friends if they leave you,” he remarked.
“They didn’t exactly leave us,” Karina said with a hint of remorse.
I tried radioing them again, but still didn’t get a response.
“What you mean?” Enrique started to open his granola bar.
“Christian,” she nodded towards me, “and Chuck came after me when I went to get something out of our building. We got trapped and had to run for it.” Karina’s eyes started to water. I think she was now feeling some sort of guilt for Chuck’s death.
“Who is Chuck?” Enrique asked.
“He was a friend. He died saving our lives,” I responded as Karina wiped her eyes. I think back on that and now realize Chuck, or Santa Claus as I commonly referred to him, was the first person to die for me. He sacrificed his own life so that we could escape. He was the first among a list that was soon to grow.
“If I wouldn’t have gone back in…” Karina started to say.
“Don’t think about that,” I said before she could continue. “Chuck went back in to save you. He was a good man, and died a good man. That’s all we need to remember.”
The radio started to crackle. I jumped up in excitement.
“Chris… there… where… you… Ver.” It was Fish’s voice, of that I was sure. But the message was broken up pretty bad. He was probably barely in range.
“This is Christian!” I said into the transmitter. “We’re alive! Over.”
“Thought… driving… range,” the receiver squawked.
“We’re at Headquarters. Your message is breaking up, over.” I walked toward the back of the house and peered outside. The sun was completely down now.
“Can you hear me yet, dumbass?” Fish’s voice was crisp, clear, and regardless of the insult, refreshing as ever.
“I can hear you fine, asshole,” I said, grinning. “Took your time getting back to us. Over.”
“Yeah, well, I had laundry to do. I’m stopping near the interstate. We can’t risk going into the city at night. Over.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. I thought that would be the case.
“Roger that. Did everyone make it? Over.”
There was a pause. A pit started to form in my stomach. I started to think they had lost one of the vehicles on their escape from the city.
“We lost Combs this morning,” Fish replied.
Specialist Combs had been critically wounded two nights before when the scabs attacked the Ace Hardware compound. One of the beasts had hurled a small flag pole that had impaled the soldier. “Everyone else is fine, though. What’s your SITREP? Over.”
SITREP was military jargon for Situation Report. Soldiers commonly used it when they wanted a quick update.
“We lost Chuck the night of the evacuation,” I said somberly, “but Karina and I are okay, and so is Boomer. We picked up another survivor on our way to our old Headquarters. We’re here now and should be able to hold up for the night. Over.”
Fish let out a heavy breath. “Alright. Are you sure you’re secure? Over.”
I considered that for a moment. I wasn’t sure if the scabs we had faced earlier would be able to track us down. There was always that possibility but, for the night, we should have been fine. After all, scabs were food for zombies as well.
“I think so. We ran into another group of scabs, but I’m pretty sure we lost them on the drive here. And before you ask, yes, I parked a good distance away from the house. Over.”
Fish chuckled, “Guess you’re finally starting to learn something, kid. We are planning a supply run at first light. I’ll break off and meet up with you first. Start tearing down those solar panels when you wake up. We’re going to load up as much as we can. Over.”
“Roger that,” I transmitted back.
“Alright, kid. You guys get some rest. I will contact you when we are back in range tomorrow. Fish Out.”
Relief washed over me. We were going to be okay.
Chapter 7
A Promise
April 23rd Evening
Karina seemed to cheer up after I put down the radio.
“Is there anything else to eat?” she asked hopefully.
“Yeah, we still have plenty of supplies here. Come on. Let’s start getting stuff ready for tomorrow. We’ll eat afterwards.”
Boomer slept while Karina and I gathered the stored supplies into the garage. I wanted to be ready to move out as quickly as possible the next day.
Enrique got up after a while and helped us. He tried to keep to himself as we worked, but that was hard with Karina constantly talking and asking him questions.
We finished a couple of hours after nightfall and settled around the kitchen table to eat. We had a good store of food to choose from, which excited Karina. She was a victim of the strict rationing at the compound for the last few weeks. Even Enrique seemed shocked at how well supplied Fish and I were and picked four various cans of food to eat.
“How long have you been on your own?” Karina asked Enrique as she finished her can of raviolis.
Enrique stared at a clump of beef that rested on his spoon. “Only few days.”
“So you were with others? What happened to them?” I asked after I put an empty can of chicken corn chowder on the floor for Boomer to lick clean.
“I think they okay. I no bring her back. I cannot.” He lowered his head.
“What happened, Enrique?” Karina asked sympathetically.
He sat there a moment and then looked up at us.
“We lost our children on first day. Soon, we meet others. Stay at post office.” Enrique took a drink of water.
“Which post office?” I asked.
“West Melbourne. Big wall. Zombie no get over.”
I knew which post office he was referring too. It was just north of us and indeed had a tall cinderblock wall surrounding the back side of it. It sounded like a decent location to protect from the hordes of zombies. Scabs, however, were a different matter.
“Why did you leave them?” Karina inquired.
“Irene, that my wife, and me leave to go for supplies two day ago. We went into house and find many bones. We try to leave, but screamer is there.”
“What’s a screamer?” Karina asked.
“Those things that attack us today. You call them scabs.”
“Ahh,” she nodded.
“You stumbled onto one of their nests?” I was sure that was what he was describing.
“What is ‘nest’?” Enrique asked.
“Like, where the scabs sleep. Their home,” Karina told him helpfully.
“Yes,” Enrique confirmed.
“What happened after that?” I asked, very interested in how he escaped.
“The one that jump on me today. He only one there. He knock me down with big blade.” He was referring to the giant lawnmower blade Enrique was carrying when we first saw him. “My protection stop me from dying,” he said, tapping his makeshift armor.
“That’s when he got your wife,” I stated. There was no need to ask.
Enrique nodded. He took in a deep breath and continued. “I still hurt bad. Could not move. He gra
b Irene. She scream and he bite her arm. But he no kill her. He throw her to floor and stand over her. He watch her.”
He started to get upset. Tears filled his eyes and his chin started to tremble. I was about to tell him he didn’t have to continue, but hesitated. There was something in his story that I had to know more about.
He sat there for a few seconds, as if wanting one of us to stop him. Karina didn’t speak. She, too, was teary eyed.
“Go on,” I said. I sounded heartless. Karina turned and looked at me as if I was being cruel. I ignored her, caring more about where the story was going than Enrique’s feelings.
He swallowed hard. “She try to get up. He push her back down. I feel like I can move again. So I grab gun and shoot him in back. He fall to the ground and I shoot again. But my gun no work when I shoot three time. He try to move, but I pick blade up and hit him on head. He fall.”
“And you and your wife escaped,” I said, finishing his story.
He nodded.
“Did you know she was going to change?” Karina asked.
“Yes. I see people change. But I no want to let Irene go.” Tears were rolling down his cheeks now.
“We understand, Enrique,” Karina comforted him, rubbing his hand.
“I’m sorry we took you away from her,” I added, “but we—”
“I know. You must. And I thank you for it. I know my Irene dead. I just…” he trailed off, trying to suppress more tears.
The rest of the night was quiet. Enrique slept on the couch. I pulled a second mattress out for Karina while Boomer and I lay in my old bed in the middle of the living room.
I didn’t say anything to Enrique or Karina about the thoughts I was having. We learned the night the scabs assaulted the compound that they worked together. Like Fish thought, they were evolving and learning.
Had they learned that their bite would change someone who wasn’t infected into a scab? That was certainly what it seemed like with Enrique’s wife. That group of scabs was trying to grow their numbers.
That wasn’t the only thing about that day’s events that struck a raw cord with me. They had hunted Enrique down. Not just to kill and eat him, but to rescue the scab that used to be his wife. It must have been why that scab acted differently when it approached the bedroom window. They didn’t come to attack Enrique or us. They came to free one of their own.
The Hunt Chronicles (Book 2): Revelation Page 8