“Sounds like we could use everyone,” Frank said. “If we want to do this quietly, we’re going to need a lot of hands.” He didn’t speak for Junior, but generally, if Max and Frank were going, it went without saying that Junior was too.
“I’m game,” Emily said as she patted her knife. Anna and Maggie nodded in agreement. Joey and Damon were practically going to explode in excitement at the chance to help the whole group by killing some zombies. Camille and Lucia weren’t quite as excited, but they were determined to do their part. Lucia was secretly terrified, but her resolve was firm.
“Damn it,” Michelle said. “Motherfucking hell. Seriously? The kids need to go?”
“We need everyone, Mom,” Joey said. “You know there’s strength in numbers.”
“The kids aren’t kids anymore, Michelle,” Max said gently. “They know what they’re doing. If we don’t take out those zombies, we could lose our safety here.”
“I know,” Michelle said in frustration. “Doesn’t mean I’m fucking happy about it. If the kids are going, then I want everyone carrying a gun. I know we can’t use them, but if we get jammed up out there, I’d rather make some noise than lose someone,” she said with finality in her tone.
With that settled, everyone who hadn’t already geared up grabbed what they needed from the weapons on the counter. It would be dark in a couple of hours, so they had no time to waste.
“Are we hopping fences, or are we walking down the street?” Junior asked. It didn’t matter to him one way or another, but he wanted to know what the plan was.
“The street was clear when we came in,” Anna said. “If it still is, I say we take the path of least resistance. Save our energy for the zombies.” Climbing up one tree over a fence was no big deal, but going over a few of them would be hard for Michelle and Maggie at the very least. Michelle was petite, and Maggie had quite a few years on all of them.
“Let’s just go out the gate and see what we see,” Max said. “If it’s mostly clear, then we’ll cut across the front yards. Let’s get moving.”
They all walked down the driveway to the gate. Max took a quick look and saw a couple of zombies tottering in the street by the edge of the driveway. He pointed and nodded at Frank. He would quickly take down the two while everyone made their way out. Before everyone was through the gate, Frank had split the skulls of both zombies. There weren’t any others within sight, so they cut across to the Wright’s front yard and crossed until they were down to the fourth house. Before they reached the front yard, they could hear the raspy moans of the dead behind the home.
“Frank and Junior, on me,” Max said. “We should quickly take out the few that are close to the gate, or else we’ll all get jammed up before we even get started. Then everyone but Camille and Lucia follows behind us. Spread out and watch each other’s backs. This yard covers nearly a whole acre, so we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. Lucia and Camille, you close the gate behind us and stay near the rear of the house. Kill anything that comes your way and watch to make sure no more get into the yard,” Max finished quietly. He had wanted to make a quick game plan that would protect everyone as well as possible and felt that was about the best they could do. The girls were certainly capable, but he knew Lucia had only killed a handful of zombies herself, so he didn’t want her in the thick of everything.
Frank, Junior, and Max eased into the yard first, with Frank swinging his ax and Max and Junior thrusting their knives. Everyone else followed after they cleared the area just inside the gate. The guys moved deeper into the yard, with Frank taking out zombies left and right. For each one they killed, Frank took down two. They watched each other’s backs as more than fifty zombies slowly closed in on them. They couldn’t even see how many there were in the rear half of the yard.
“Spread out!” Max yelled. “Everyone spread out, or they’re going to box us in.” He felt a twinge of fear at the sheer number of zombies shuffling through the yard. It was much more than he had expected.
“Anyone need help, make sure you yell out,” Frank hollered. “If you get cornered, use your gun!” His height and build gave him an advantage, but he didn’t like what he was seeing. The dead were everywhere. Raspy moans, reaching arms and shuffling feet surrounded them. Zombies stepped out from behind trees and seemed to come from everywhere. He wasn’t sure they were going to be able to pull this off.
Anna came running up toward Max and plunged her knife through the ear of a zombie that had been only steps away from him. They exchanged a quick look then continued killing the dead. They had all learned that kicking and shoving them away would buy time when there were too many of them. They moved nonstop, stabbing, kicking, and pushing the zombies in every direction. Max barely had time to take in Anna’s movements as he killed one zombie after another, but he was glad to see her plowing through the dead like they were nothing.
Junior, Frank, Max, and Anna found themselves in the dangerous position of being cut off from everyone else. With zombies coming from everywhere, they’d gradually pushed deeper into the yard with dozens of the dead between them and the others. The zombies were relentless, but they were slow as fuck. Adrenaline ran high as they kept killing and killing. Junior wound around two of the dead to plunge his knife into the eye of a tall thin woman who almost got the jump on Frank.
Emily, Maggie, and Michelle wound up together in the same area as the zombies closed in on them. They thrashed out and killed them one by one. When too many zombies bunched up together, the women spread out so the zombies would follow. As long as they could keep them from getting too close together, they thought they could handle them. Michelle plunged her knife deep into the eye of the zombie in front of her then felt a hand grasp her shoulder. Before she could stop herself, she screamed in fear and disgust. As she tried to turn away from the grabby zombie, Emily was suddenly there, thrusting her knife through its ear.
Damon and Joey finished off most of the zombies closest to the house, leaving about half a dozen spread out for their sisters to handle. Hearing Michelle scream, both boys darted toward the women. By the time they got there, Michelle was back to killing the dead with a vengeance. She hadn’t realized it before, but she needed this. She had so much pent-up anger and grief over losing Jesse that each kill brought her immense satisfaction. The thought briefly crossed her mind that she understood why Joey had been so adamant about going out there that night they found out he’d lost his dad. She shifted her focus back to the dead in front of her, careful not to let any distraction allow her to make a mistake.
Maggie cried out suddenly as a zombie grasped her arm with both of its hands. As it leaned forward to take a bite, Damon jumped on its back to pull it away and plunged his knife through its ear. The zombie dropped to the ground, but its grip held tight, causing Maggie to fall with it. It took every ounce of strength Damon had in him, but he managed to pry the fingers loose from their death grip on her arm and helped her back to her feet.
“Damon, behind you!” Maggie yelled. He turned around just in time to avoid the gnashing teeth that were about to tear into his shoulder. “Motherfucker!” Damon yelled as he furiously stabbed the zombie in the eye. The rancid, milky fluid that spurted out didn’t even phase him. “Keep moving,” he called to Maggie. He had lost sight of Joey but found himself paired up with Maggie, so he moved on to the next zombie. He hoped that Joey had met up with one of the others because no one was supposed to be on their own. Maggie and Damon moved together, killing the dead, and he found himself surprised at how capable she was. She looked like a grandma to him, so it was crazy that she was out there killing zombies like everyone else.
Camille and Lucia had been left with half a dozen zombies to kill when the boys had taken off. Camille was used to stabbing them and didn’t think much of it, but it was still pretty new to Lucia. To her credit, Lucia didn’t tremble in fear or hesitate. She went straight for the closest zombie and kicked the back of its knee, causing it to fall to the ground. She stabbed her knife through
its ear, then got up and headed for the next one. The second one wasn’t so tall, so she grabbed it by the hair and plunged her knife through its eye. She gagged at the sight and smell of the burst eyeball but moved onto the next. A few feet away, Camille killed the three that had been nearest to her. With that, their part of the yard was completely clear of the dead. They could hear the others yelling and struggling to kill zombies deeper into the yard and contemplated what to do. Max had told them to hold their position, but their families were in the middle of it and were in danger.
“I’m going to go. I’ll pair up with the first person I see,” Camille said hurriedly. “You stay here. We need someone to keep watch here, Lucia. I have no doubt you can kill any zombie you come across, but someone needs to stay here,” she finished. Lucia nodded, knowing that her best friend trusted her, and Camille took off toward the others.
Max, Frank, Junior, and Anna were in the rear quarter of the yard with the back of the fence in sight. Still running purely on adrenaline, they put all of their focus into killing the last two dozen zombies. They spread out and kept moving so that the dead would do the same.
In the rear third of the yard, Emily, Michelle, and Joey took out the last few stragglers that came out from behind trees. About ten yards behind them, Camille had caught up to Damon and Maggie. She helped kill the last half dozen in the middle of the yard.
Everyone kept looking around in every direction to make sure they hadn’t missed any. Gradually they all came together near the middle of the yard.
“There’s nothing left behind us,” Max said tiredly. “Let’s work our way back toward the house to make sure there aren’t any strays left.”
They walked toward the rear of the house with Frank and Emily taking out two zombies along the way. Lucia kept a close watch on the gate to make sure no zombies came from the street, attracted by all of the yelling and noise they had made killing the dead. Three zombies were moving achingly slow from the front yard toward the gate, but otherwise, the front was clear. Lucia looked back to see everyone coming from the backyard up to the house. A slight noise to her right grabbed her attention, and she saw a crawler on the ground. She quickly bent down and killed it. A moment later, everyone was back to join her near the gate. To her relief, nobody was injured. They were covered with blood and gore, but everyone was whole. They had all fought together and survived. She couldn’t help but smile.
Chapter 28
Day 5
Back at the house, everyone was exhausted. Anna refused to let anyone covered in filth sit on the chairs or couches, so they all took quick turns in both showers. They were able to find clothes that fit well enough for everyone but Frank. Max laughed at him wearing a pair of his sweatpants that were skintight and only came down to the top of his calves. Anna threw away most of the detritus-covered clothing, but she put Frank’s clothes in the washer so that he would have a pair of pants to wear that actually fit him.
“Hell, man,” Max laughed. “Sorry, I can’t help it. You look like you’re wearing my wife’s capris.”
Frank tried to shoot Max an evil glare but burst out laughing himself. “Just be happy I’m not sitting on your couch buck naked,” Frank teased.
“No naked asses on my furniture,” Anna called from the kitchen. “You’ll have your clothes soon enough.”
“Yo, you look like a pendejo,” Junior laughed. “I think it suits you, boss.”
Before long, everyone had showered and settled in to eat the dinner Michelle had prepared earlier. Their zombie clear-out had taken several hours, and it was late in the evening by the time they ate. They had all worked up quite an appetite. Michelle was in her element handing out second and third helpings and then pushing dessert on everyone. She had baked so much that morning that there were enough sweets to last a few days.
With appetites finally satiated, talk began about plans for the next day. “I think we should try to get more gas before the power goes out,” Max said. “It’s going to be a hell of a lot harder to get once that happens.”
“You want to unload the gas cans from the trucks and drive those out again?” Frank asked.
“Seems like a good idea to me,” Junior started. “No need to risk trying for new vehicles when we have so many here at the house now.”
“After we get gas, I think we should look for some generators,” Anna said. “At least a portable one. It’s going to be hot as hell in here when the power goes out.”
“As long as it runs quietly, I think it’s a good idea,” Max agreed.
“We can get a lot of good supplies when we’re shopping for the generator,” Frank said. “Solar panels would be a smart move. The sun hits the roof of your house perfectly since the pool area doesn’t have any trees.”
“So we make a gas run or two, then the next priority is a generator and solar panels and whatever else we need to go with it,” Max said.
“Don’t forget a stop to get Frank some damn pants,” Junior said with a grin. Frank just shook his head, knowing he wasn’t going to live this down anytime soon.
“That will pretty much take the whole day, won’t it?” Emily asked. They didn’t want to make any of their runs in the dark.
“I would think so,” Maggie chimed in. “We might not even get that much done. Although, one can hope.”
“Same plan as today?” Michelle asked. “You guys go out while the girls and I are here and the boys go scavenging? Or are we all going?”
“I think for gas, we should stick to the same plan,” Anna said. “But we may all need to go for the other stuff. Hitting a big store isn’t going to be easy.”
“We need to hit a few of them,” Max said. “Sporting goods, Lowe’s, and eventually Costco. Those are closer to us than any of the others. I’d rather not venture out any farther than we have to at this point.”
“Isn’t there a small place off Dover?” Maggie asked. “Farm Surplus or Tractor Supply or something, but they have generators and a lot of camping and survival gear, probably radios too. It’s not that small, but it’s better than the big box stores.”
“I forgot about that place,” Max said. “Nice call, Maggie. After the gas run, I think that should be our next stop. They’ll even have clothes for you, Frank.” Max grinned.
Damon, Joey, Camille, and Lucia sat and quietly followed the conversation. Damon and Joey shared a quick smile and a quiet high five when they realized they would get to go back out to scavenge more neighbor houses. Camille didn’t like being left at the house, but she understood that someone had to keep an eye on things there. Everyone had to work in pairs, so it made sense to leave her, Lucia, and Michelle at home. Michelle would cook, and knowing her, she would wash every dirty towel and piece of clothing in the house while she still could. The girls would keep watch and do occasional perimeter checks.
“Seems like we’ve got a good enough plan for tomorrow,” Anna said. “We should all try to get some sleep.”
“I’ll take first watch,” Emily offered. “I’ll wake someone to take over in a couple of hours.” With their setup, no one had to stand watch, but someone needed to check the view, now and then, just to make sure nothing got into the yard.
“Thanks, Emily,” Max said. “Feel free to wake me up first.” Everyone said their goodnights and headed for beds or couches to get some sleep. They had a big day ahead of them in the morning.
About two hours later, Emily was bored with staying in the house, so she went outside for some fresh air to help keep her awake. As soon as she left the enclosed front porch, she heard the telltale sound of zombies shuffling around. She couldn’t see anything in the yard and didn’t think there had been a breach in the fence, so she went for a quiet walk out front toward the wall. Peeking through the small openings on either side of the gate, she noticed that the zombie population was getting pretty heavy on their street. All of the noise they had made earlier must have gradually drawn them to the area. From what she could see, there were at least two dozen out there, maybe more
. They were unfocused and stumbling around aimlessly, not interested in any particular house or yard. She thought it might be safe to leave them be as long as their numbers didn’t grow too much but thought it was best to go ahead and wake Max to see what he wanted to do.
She went back inside and went to Max and Anna’s bedroom door for a moment to listen and make sure she wasn’t going to interrupt anything. Hearing nothing, she pushed the door open and softly called out Max’s name.
“Huh? What?” Max mumbled as he woke up. “I’m awake. Give me a second.” Emily stepped out and went to the kitchen. Max came in a moment later.
“Sorry, I was going to let you sleep longer,” Emily started. “But there’s quite a few dead in the street out front. At least two dozen or so that I could see. They’re just shuffling around like usual, but I figured you’d want to know about it.”
“Fuck,” Max shook his head. “We did make a hell of a lot of noise killing those zombies earlier. Mind heading back out with me so I can take a closer look?”
“Not at all,” Emily said. “Let’s do it.”
They quietly made their way to the wall near the front of the yard. Max looked through the openings around the gate but couldn’t see far enough in either direction to know what he was dealing with.
“I’m going to pop up to get a better look,” Max mouthed to Emily. It was a risky move, but the wall sat back far enough from the road that as long as he didn’t make any noise, the zombies were unlikely to notice him in the dark. He boosted himself up and carefully climbed up the wall, crouching on top of it. There were at least a hundred zombies wandering around his street. He silently watched them for several minutes and saw that they were shuffling eastward down the street. They moved so fucking slow that it was hardly noticeable until he actually settled in to watch them instead of just taking a quick peek at them. As long as nothing distracted the dead, they’d keep moving on the path they were on and wouldn’t be a problem.
SUBURBAN JUNGLE: A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Survival Thriller (Chronicles of the Undead: Book 2) Page 20