About half a block before his last turn, a handful of zombies blocked the two-lane road. Max slowed to a stop to kill the dead and clear the road. Eager to make herself useful, Maggie was out of the truck before Max had put it in park. Seeing her in the road ahead, Frank and Junior rushed out of their truck, thinking something big was going on. Before everyone else could join them, Max held up a hand, letting them know to stay put. Four on six was an easy matchup, especially with the zombies staggered across the two-lane street.
“Geez, I thought we had a problem up here,” Junior said as he eyed the dead. “Maggie went flying out of the truck so fast I wasn’t sure what we were going to find.”
“Just making myself useful,” Maggie called back as she took out the nearest zombie.
Frank quickly halved the skulls of two of the dead with his ax. Max and Junior took down the remaining three.
“No more of that,” Max said pointedly to Maggie. “You’ve already proven yourself. We do everything in pairs and don’t take any unnecessary risks.” He returned her unexpected glare. “You jumping out ahead of everyone like it’s some kind of damn race is a good way to make a mistake and get yourself killed.”
Frank and Junior stayed silent as they watched the brief exchange. “Sorry,” Maggie relented. “I was just freaked out about the zombie trap we saw back there. I wasn’t thinking.”
Together they grabbed three of the bodies and moved them to the side of the road to clear the right lane.
“Zombie trap?” Frank asked. Max nodded. “I’ll fill you in when we get back to the house. Everyone’s tired,” Max said. “We need to get home and get settled in.”
They got back in their trucks and made the last turn toward home. Their street was clear of zombies, so Max hopped out to open the gate, and everyone pulled down the driveway. He locked the gate behind them then parked alongside the others.
Everyone headed into the house, leaving most of the supplies out in the trucks. Once they had a chance to eat, catch up and do whatever else needed doing, they’d start organizing the supplies they’d gathered.
Damon and Joey greeted them at the door. They both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that everyone had made it home safely.
“How have things been here?” Max asked the boys.
“Quiet,” Damon said. “It was so quiet that we raided four garages across the street for gas cans. We didn’t go inside the houses this time because we wanted to make sure we could keep an eye on things here while we were doing it.”
“We’ve got six more full cans,” Joey said with a grin. “We brought back two empties just in case you wanted them.”
“I’m proud of you boys. Thanks for handling things here while we were gone,” Max said. “We got most of the supplies we were looking for. Solar panels will have to wait for another day.”
“Everybody grab something to eat,” Michelle called from the kitchen. “The power is out, but the food in the fridge is still cool. There are plenty of leftovers from yesterday so let’s enjoy them while we still can.”
Once everyone had a plate of food, Max started telling them about the fenced-in zombies off Dover. “It was pretty fucking creepy, to be honest,” he said. “I can’t figure out why someone would gather them up like that.”
“Sounds like they’re not all that secure either,” Frank said. “We were wondering why you had stopped. Without binoculars, we had no idea what you were looking at.”
“I say we stay away from Dover,” Anna spoke up. “There’s plenty of other places we can get supplies. Hell, just think about the number of houses around here, not even counting all of the stores.”
“Sounds good to me,” Emily said. Like everyone else, she felt a bit weirded out about the whole thing.
“We’ve gotta figure out a plan for right now. We’ve gathered supplies that we need here, and we’ve gotten a lot of stuff that we’ll need if we have to leave here at some point,” Max said. “We should unload all three trucks then redistribute everything between all of the vehicles and the house.”
“Should we assume that if we leave here, we’re going to do it in a hurry?” Frank asked. “Or should we only pack up the supplies we’ll need on the road and leave those in the trucks?”
Max thought about it for a moment. There were no easy answers when they were trying to prepare for anything and everything. “All of the camping type gear, emergency blankets, things like that, we should split between the Wright’s cars, the SUV, and my new truck,” Max said. “Then put about half of everything else out there and the other half in the house. We’ll keep the three pickups mostly empty so that we can use them for supply runs.”
“If something happens to one of the trucks on a supply run, we’ll always have at least four vehicles here stocked and ready to go,” Junior said. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”
“Four cars seem like a lot for just eleven people,” Michelle said. “A lot of gas, too.”
“Yeah, but we can carry more supplies that way,” Anna said. “If we are forced to leave at some point, I want to have as much stuff with us as we possibly can. I don’t want to be on the road wishing that we’d brought more and having to make any risky stops.”
“Hell, I’d really like to stop at that industrial place off of 83 and get plows for the rest of the trucks and the SUV. Something that can help protect the front of our vehicles,” Max said.
“Junior and I know how to install them. We did a few of them with some of our buddies last winter,” Frank said. “It’ll make some noise, but as long as you can keep the zombies off of us, we can get the job done.”
“Okay, so what’s our priority?” Maggie asked. “We’re talking about a lot of plans here, and we need to make a run for water, too.”
“Well, before we can do anything else, we’ve gotta unload the trucks,” Max started. “As long as we’re unloading, we might as well organize as we go. We can send the boys over to the Wright’s with any supplies we want to put in their car and truck.”
“Hell, it’s barely noon,” Frank said. “When everything is done, we can head out for water. We’ve still got nine hours of daylight.”
“Camille, Lucia, you’re on cleanup duty. Damon and Joey, do a perimeter check,” Anna said. “By the time you’re done, we’ll have plenty of stuff ready for you to move.”
“Let’s get to it,” Max said.
Chapter 32
Day 6
Forty-five minutes later, they had everything unloaded and semi-organized on the ground near the trucks. They had enough propane to cook for months and enough gas to drive the cars and run the generators minimally for a few days. Gas was going to be a priority after they stocked up on water. They planned to get the generators set up in the morning since they were going to make a Costco run and because they didn’t want to do that heavy lifting in the heat of the afternoon.
“The boys can sort through everything like we talked about,” Max said as the last of the supplies were unloaded. “We’ve gotta head out soon if we want to make the water run today. I don’t want to be out there in the dark if we can help it.”
“I’ve got the new radios set up on channel ten with extra batteries for each one,” Frank said. “We leave a radio with the boys, and we take one for each truck.”
“Sounds good to me,” Junior said. He wanted them to be able to communicate with each other from the trucks. After seeing the assholes shooting up that house and setting it on fire, he wanted to make sure they could talk if they needed to without having to pull over.
“I don’t want the girls on this run,” Michelle said suddenly. “We’re hitting a big fucking box store. Who knows how many zombies will be in there? It’s too much.”
“I agree. All of the kids stay at the house,” Anna said. They all bristled at being called kids. “Knock it off. You know what I mean.”
“We could use more numbers at the store. There’s safety in numbers,” Frank started. When Michelle’s deathly glare fixed upon him, he stopp
ed. She was a little scary, and he didn’t want to get into it with her when it came to the kids.
Max looked at Anna. “How about we leave the girls and bring the boys?” he asked. “We could use the muscle.”
“Really? What happened to leaving the boys at the house to keep any eye on things?” Anna asked with a hint of anger in her voice. “The girls aren’t up for that if something happens.” She couldn’t help but be fiercely protective of her kids. “They’ve done enough for today. It’ll take them hours to organize the stuff from the tractor place.”
“The kids are staying here, end of conversation,” Michelle said in her don’t fuck with me tone of voice.
Max relented because he knew he wouldn’t win the argument. He couldn’t blame Anna and Michelle for being protective over the kids. Hell, he was protective over them, but life was different now. As time went on, he figured both moms would adjust to their new normal. Michelle was already trying to learn how to live without Jesse. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to make sure her kids stayed safe.
“Alright, sounds like a plan,” Max said. Joey and Damon had expected to sit out this trip. They were going to organize the supplies and keep an eye on things. Camille and Lucia didn’t mind sitting home. They would have gone, but the morning trip had been a lot for them. They would make themselves useful while all of the adults were gone.
Everyone grabbed their restocked backpacks with water, weapons, and ammo. Frank handed out radios to Max and Maggie, Anna, Michelle, and Emily, two for the kids to err on the side of caution and one for himself and Junior. Michelle and Anna fussed over the kids for a moment then everyone loaded up into the trucks. Damon ran ahead to check the street to make sure it was clear of zombies, then opened the gate so everyone could pull out. He locked the gate behind them.
As usual, Max led the way. He felt responsible for everyone in the group and thought it was up to him to lead them and keep them safe. He would have liked to have Anna ride with him, but everyone had gotten used to working in their regular pairs. He was happy to see that she had bonded with Emily because Anna was slow to trust and rarely let a new person into her circle. Michelle was her best friend and was like a sister, but she had to let herself check out at times with her grief over Jesse, and Max didn’t blame her. His heart was heavy with the loss, but he had to push it aside and compartmentalize things so that he could function.
They slowly drove west toward the Costco, about three miles away. If it wasn’t looted yet, there would be enough water to fill the three trucks, which would leave them well stocked for a while. Max ran his hand through his dark beard as he thought about what they might find once they got there. If it were overrun with zombies, they’d have no choice but to make a plan B.
“Max, are you seeing this?” Maggie asked as she pointed at a convenience store to their right. The building was shot up. Quite a few zombies were wandering about the parking lot, but there were no visible bodies on the ground.
“Shit, I hope it’s that same group of idiots that we saw out there this morning,” Max said. “I’d hate to think of even more of them out there being reckless.”
“If it’s the same group, they sure do move around a lot,” Maggie said.
As they approached the next intersection, a blue minivan went speeding down the cross street. Before Max could say anything, he heard Frank’s voice coming through the radio. “What do you make of that?” Frank asked.
“Hopefully, it’s more good people out here surviving and getting supplies. We might have been too far away for the driver to notice us,” Max replied.
“A minivan driving around on its own makes me think the same thing,” Frank said. “Doesn’t fit the pattern of those idiots.”
Max agreed and set the radio down. Up ahead, there was a large, long since deserted car accident involving at least half a dozen cars. There were no curbs on the side of the road, so he was able to carefully steer to the right while staying on the shoulder and watched his rearview to make sure the others did the same. They didn’t see many zombies shuffling around until they came upon a church to their left. The old brick building with a bell tower occupied one large corner of the intersection. The heavy ornate doors to the church hung open with zombies inside that were visible from the street. The church lawn was full of several dozen of the dead stumbling around. Max sighed, thinking of how many people had probably rushed to churches back on day one. He guessed that most of them were probably full of zombies.
As they drove through the intersection, he almost missed the store on the opposite corner. It looked to have been fortified. The doors and windows were covered with sheets of plywood, and the place looked deserted. A week ago, it had been a thriving store, so someone had to be holed up in there. No one was surrounded or asking for help, so he wasn’t going to stop and approach. That could be an excellent way to get himself shot, even by good people. It gave him hope to see evidence of others surviving. On this short trip, seeing first the minivan and now the store felt like a good sign.
His radio chirped again, only this time it was Anna. “Did you see that store?” she asked.
“Yeah, and I’m hoping there’s a family in there safely getting by,” Max said. “I don’t want to stop and draw in zombies or maybe find that we’re not welcome.”
“Me either. I was just happy to see it,” Anna said and put her radio down. She knew there had to be pockets of people spread out in the suburbs. They weren’t the only ones to survive. She felt good seeing that someone was presumably safe inside that store.
Max was surprised that they hadn’t been forced to take any detours yet. They weren’t on the biggest main street, but the road used to see a good amount of traffic. It was nice to drive for a change without having to zigzag all over the place to avoid zombies. They were only about a mile away and were making good time. It wasn’t long before they could see the big sign in the distance. Maggie grabbed the binoculars to see what the parking lot looked like then gave Max the details. “There aren’t that many cars, and I can only see about a dozen or so zombies. It might not be too bad,” Maggie said as her optimism grew. Max smiled in response. Somehow or another, the day was turning out to be a good one. They needed it to keep everyone’s spirits up.
Max slowed as they neared the parking lot to make sure there weren’t any unseen surprises. There were three zombies on the side of the store and two in the street, leaving them with about twenty to kill before they tried to go inside. Max picked up the radio and called out to Frank. “Can you take care of the two in the street? Then meet us by the front door, and we’ll take out the rest of them together,” Max said. “On it,” Frank replied.
Frank, being a beast of a man, was able to kill both before the others had pulled up to the store, and he parked alongside them just as they all stopped by the front door. “Let’s spread out in pairs and get this done. Shouldn’t be too hard,” he said. He and Junior went straight for a group of four that were clustered together. Max and Maggie killed the three on the side of the building. Anna, Emily, and Michelle went further out into the parking lot to start taking out stragglers. As a group, they finished the last few that had hovered near the front door of the building.
“Does everyone have their radios?” Max asked and got nods and murmurs in response. “Okay, until we know what we’re dealing with inside, let’s stay together. If it’s completely overrun, then we head back out and find a plan B.” They all knew from previous experience that the huge entrance inside the store and the entire front end with the cash registers were wide open. They hoped to get a good feel for what was inside as soon as they went in. The automatic sliding doors were stuck in the open position. This made it much easier for them to get inside and boded well for what they might find. If the store had been full of the dead at one point, a lot of them might have made their way out the open doors.
As they walked in, they were relieved to find that the large skylights all over the store allowed the sun to shine brightly inside. They ha
d flashlights but probably wouldn’t be working in darkness. A lone zombie with horrific bite wounds slowly shuffled toward the group. The store vest he wore indicated he had been working when everything went to hell. His bottom jaw was exposed entirely from all of the skin and tissue being ripped clean from the bottom of his face. A large chunk was missing from the side of his neck, and bite marks covered his shoulder and hands. His teeth gnashed as he lurched forward in anticipation of a fresh meal. Frank casually stepped up and shattered its skull with his ax. They all stood quietly for a couple of minutes to see if any others would make their way toward them, but none of the dead appeared.
“Alright, this place is huge. I say we start down this first aisle along the wall and make our way to the opposite end,” Max said. “We’ll be able to see down all of the aisles in this half of the store.” Everyone nodded in agreement as Max led the way.
They could hear the sounds of raspy moans and shuffling footsteps, but they hadn’t seen any of the dead yet. When they got to the third aisle, they saw two zombies down at the far end, slowly making their way toward them. With Junior at his side, Max motioned for everyone else to stay where they were. The two of them quickly took out both zombies then rejoined everyone else. With moans still echoing around the store and unable to pinpoint their locations in the large space, they continued with their plan. They passed three more aisles before the noise got louder. Confident that there were dead down the next aisle, Max paused at the end and took a quick peek. Six zombies were stumbling forward, only about ten feet away. “I’ve got six up close,” Max said quietly to the others.
SUBURBAN JUNGLE: A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Survival Thriller (Chronicles of the Undead: Book 2) Page 23