by Lee Thomas
We pulled out of the parking lot and as I looked in my mirror I could see Jeff waving at the car and saying something, probably telling me to stop. I smiled to myself and turned left to head towards the campground. We headed down the road, watching the tree line, trying to see anything moving. I knew it would be a little ways down the road past the curve coming up before we made it to the actual campground.
Slowing for the curve, we continued looking all directions without seeing anything. No signs of people, infected, or even animals. I expected at least animals. After the curve, I stayed going nice and slow, rolling down my window to listen. Our engine, wind, and an occasional bird were the only things we heard. The others had also rolled down their windows so we could listen and watch from all directions.
We rolled slowly down the street, seeing nothing but trees, brush, trash, and two cars. Both were on the side of the road, doors open and obviously abandoned. After about ten minutes, we finally made it to the turn off for the campground. There was no gate, just a welcome sign. I made the right turn into the park and we started looking around. The trees were a little thinner in the RV part of the park, so we could see quite far. There were RV's still parked here and there, but there were several that had apparently tried leaving that had crashed into trees. Regular cars had also crashed here and there into trees or RV's. It appeared that there had been small fires at some point as well.
We slowly made our way through the park, only seeing trash blowing around and some squirrels roaming around. There was no sign of humans still lingering around though. It also wasn't looking like a very good place to bed down for the night.
"What do you think guys? I'm thinking this is a bust, and we should try the hotel on the other side of the highway.” I asked. Roger at least would give me an honest answer, I was still getting to know Alan.
"I'm thinking hotel honestly. While it would be nice to get out and be in some nature for a little, I don’t think this is safe enough. We wouldn’t be able to see anything coming until it got too close.” Roger said. I glanced back at Alan and he nodded in agreement.
"I'm with you two on this one. A campfire would be nice, but I think the risks are too great right here. We need safety first, then comfort." Alan said.
"Alright, hotel it is then. We'll head back and let the group know. I think most of the group would be more comfortable in a bed anyways. The hotel should be easily secured also, I hope." I said as I turned into a spot to turn around and head back.
As I put it in reverse and turned to look behind me, I saw movement from around the corner of one of the wrecked RV's. I brought the car to a stop and just watched. Roger started to ask what was wrong but I brought my finger to my lips and pointed. Both Roger and Alan then turned to look at what I was pointing at. Three infected, obviously ones infected early on as what little clothing they had left was shredded and barely hanging onto them. Even from this distance we could see they had claws, and they were not walking straight upright, but rather slightly hunched over.
Alan turned back towards the front and gave us a clear look that said ‘what do we do’. I glanced at Roger with a tilt to my head and inclined my chin towards the infected. He nodded back with a shrug. Alan was looking slightly scared, which I knew both Roger and myself were also, but I didn’t want to leave any infected running around to come harass the group either.
"Alan, Roger and I are getting out. I want you to get in the drivers' seat, keep it running, but not in gear. Radio back to the group and let them know we have infected over here, but Roger and I are taking care of it. Have them keep a watch in case there are any more we don’t see. Be very quiet, ok?" I said to Alan. He was very nervous, but I was sure he would be okay with instruction. He nodded his understanding and gulped, looking a little pale.
"You will be fine, promise. Sheldon and I can take on three each, let alone together. Just don’t leave us, ok? You cool?" Roger asked him. Alan nodded back, and gulped again, but after a few deep breaths he looked better, and didn’t appear so nervous. Roger looked back at me and nodded, I returned the nod, and we both opened our doors at the same time. We got out and moved towards the back of the car. Alan also got out and hurried to the drivers' seat.
"Keep the doors shut, but don’t lock them. Roll the windows up as well. We may need to get back in quickly, understand?" I told him before he shut his door. He nodded at me, gave me a thumbs up, and shut the door. Roger and I met at the back, watching the infected walk around. They hadn't seemed to notice us just yet, and I hoped it stayed that way for a minute or two longer.
"How do you want to do this?" he whispered to me. I just watched them for a minute, thinking about that.
"Unless the turn their backs to us it doesn’t look like we can sneak up on them. We may just have to get as close as we can and then hope for the best. Tell you what, grab Alan's shotgun. That would at least slow them down from range. Between that and my pistol, maybe we won't even have to get close to them this time." I whispered back. We weren't sure how good their hearing was yet, and I didn’t want to grab their attention before we had a plan.
As we were talking, the infected moved to our right, still a little ways off. I motioned for him to move back behind the car for now. Roger then went to the front passenger door and retrieved the shotgun from Alan. Once we realized they were still ignoring us, I indicated with hand motions that we should move slightly to the left, which would put us behind them, using the trees as cover, what little there was. We moved slowly, crouched down ourselves, hoping they wouldn't see us until we were ready.
We made it across the road without being spotted, when one of the infected screamed out. They had been making small sounds, yelps and grunts, which made me think of pack animal like hyenas. I wondered if they were somehow communicating like that. We stopped at the scream and looked, but it appeared they hadn't seen us. I wasn’t sure what caused it to yell out, but they were still just moving slowly, like they really didn’t have a direction, they were just moving. Again, almost like pack animals searching for food, or shelter. If they were starting to work together, that was a disturbing development for us. That would make them much more dangerous. If they became intelligent enough to work together and communicate, they could also possibly start planning attacks. Coordinated attacks by these things would be very bad for us.
As we watched, they seemed to turn slightly, away from us. I motioned to Roger and we started moving, slowly, keeping low and behind the trees. We picked up the pace a little when they moved so that a RV was between us. We moved down the side of the RV and peeked around the corner. The three infected had moved a little more left and stopped. There was a burnt out RV sitting close to them, and it appeared like they were using it as shelter. As we watched, another infected came out of the door. I looked back at Roger in amazement, and he peeked around me at the group. The new one was larger, had no clothes on it at all anymore, and appeared to be a leader of sorts. The other three made small yelps and snorts when it appeared. I just added this sign to the growing list of reasons why I thought these things were acting like pack animals.
"Still want to do this, or just head back to the car and get the group to safety?" I asked Roger. I wasn’t sure I wanted to take on four, even with our guns.
"If we don’t take them out now, what happens if they find the hotel? We would have to deal with them then. But if we engage now, who's to say there aren't more that would come running?" he said. I saw his point, and had already considered that myself.
"Good point. But what if we just let them go, and the see us leaving? We would just lead them right to the group anyways. I say we go for it.” I told him. He mulled it over for a minute or two as we watched the four infected interact. They really were acting like a pack. As informative as this was, I pulled my pistol, nodded to Roger, who readied the shotgun, I aimed and fired. My bullet caught the closest infected right in the forehead, dropping it instantly. It also caught the attention of the other three who immediately began screeching
and looking around. They were moving, so I couldn’t get a good bead on another one this far out, but they were staying close together. Finally one stopped long enough to let out a loud, long scream. I took advantage of it being still and fired. I caught it in the throat, which turned its scream into a gargle, but it didn’t go down.
The largest one must've seen the flash, or just me as it turned and ran straight at us. Roger stepped around the corner into view and raised the shotgun. I dropped to a knee and fired as both uninjured infected ran at us. I caught one in the leg and it stumbled, but didn’t fall. As they got closer, Roger fired. The buckshot caught the lead one in the chest and it stumbled to a stop as the force of the shot hit it. My next shot hit the second one in the shoulder. It didn’t slow it down however so I fired again, this time hitting it in the chest. If these things reacted like a human did, it would have dropped immediately, but it only faltered a step or two and kept coming. Roger fired again and the head of the closest infected exploded. The body teetered there for a second, then fell in a heap, twitching like it still wanted to come for us. The second one that I had shot twice tripped and fell only a few yards from us. I stood and fired at its head, three shots in quick succession. It finally stopped moving.
The one I had originally shot through the throat was now making its way towards us. It kept snapping its jaws and making a sound like it was trying to clear something from its throat. Blood was pouring from its wound, so obviously I had hit something vital. It stumbled a few more steps, then fell. It tried to get up several times, but fell back down each time. I waved for Roger to hold his fire. I started walking towards it, keeping an open eye out for others. Every time it tried to get up, it seemed weaker. Finally it stopped trying to get up at all. As I moved closer, I could see it still breathing, but even that was slowing, and eventually stopped. I just looked at Roger after we made sure it was dead.
"So they can bleed out. Interesting.” I said to him as I raised up from the body. "Let's get back to the car, I want to secure that hotel quickly. Then we will call a meeting." He nodded in understanding and we headed back to where we left Alan. I hoped he didn’t panic and drive off with the gunfire. As we rounded the RV we had hidden behind, I saw Alan pulling out and moving. I waved to him and he started moving towards us. He must've been looking for us and was coming to meet us.
I motioned for him to stay driving as he pulled up to us, and Roger and I climbed in. Roger got in back as I climbed in front. I nodded at Alan and he drove off, heading back towards the main road. We kept our eyes and ears open, but saw no sign of infected along the way back. I wasn’t entirely sure our little skirmish would have gone unnoticed.
I radioed back to the group and told them that we would be pulling out as soon as we got back, and to start gathering everyone back up. I was told that Jeff and Dave had already set a watch and had people staying close to the RV's anyways. I let them know we would be back in about five minutes, if that long, then signed off. We continued on, still listening and watching for anything out of the ordinary. We saw nothing but a few birds take flight, so I hoped we were in the clear for a little bit.
Pulling back into view of the group, it appeared that there was no one outside of the vehicles. I radioed to confirm that, and then informed the drivers to just follow us. We could hook the car back up to the trailer after we got to the hotel. Alan waited just past the gas station until the first of the RV's made it to the entrance, then started moving himself. We drove back under the interstate without incident, seeing another gas station on the right, along with what appeared to be a couple of restaurants. I hoped maybe they still had some edible food left in them.
Alan turned into the hotel parking lot and pulled the car up near the entrance. Everyone else pulled in and parked where they could, but with enough room to move out quickly if needed. As Alan stopped, Roger and I were looking at the hotel. Most of the windows seemed intact on the ground floor, which was a good sign, and there didn't seem to be any sign of fortification, which meant there was a very good chance no one was inside, or had tried to stay here before. He killed the engine and started to hand me the keys. I shook my head and told him to leave them here. We all got out as others started piling out of the RV's. I saw mostly the men getting out with weapons, and it appeared most of the women and children were staying inside. It just seemed to be a natural assumption that the men would clear the buildings, and the women and kids would stay behind, safe, until we did. I tried not to foster that train of thought, as there were some men I didn’t trust with a weapon, and some women I would trust who were better shots. Unfortunately, I had a lot of macho men and old fashioned guys that still had that 'protect the women and kids' mentality at all costs. While I had old fashioned values myself, I also understood that if I wanted to protect this group to the best of my ability, I needed to use the best people for the job, and that included some of the women.
Leaving that fight for another day, I waved to the others to form up near the door. I already had my armor and weapons on as well as Roger and Alan. Roger handed the shotgun back to Alan, who put it back in his back holster. Everyone was checking ammo and armor as we prepared to go in.
"Alright, here's the deal. It looks like most of the windows are in good shape. I'm assuming that means no one has tried to use this place as a hideout, so we shouldn’t have any problems. No less than two people per room, and try not to shoot each other. Alan, Steve, and you four go to the second floor. You five hit three with Dave. Jeff, take these five and go to four, I'll take Roger and the rest on one. Once we have cleared all floors, we will pull the rest in and start securing the windows. Any questions?" I stated. I wanted to do this quick as it was already past dark. Everyone just stared at me and shook their heads, so I motioned we were ready and went in.
We went in and spread out, looking for the stairs as well as movement. The air was stale, and there was some trash laying around, but nothing that screamed of infected presence. The others found the staircase and headed up. Roger and the rest of us finished sweeping the lobby and front desk area. Finding nothing, we moved to the hallway and prepared to start checking the rooms. Since there was a hallway going either way, we decided to go to the left one first. Since there was no power, I hoped the doors would be unlocked since they used the keycard type locks. Otherwise we would have to kick in each individual door.
Roger and I stayed together, and I used hand motions to instruct the others to leap frog rooms. Once everyone had a hand on a door handle, I nodded and we all turned them at the same time. They opened easily and we all stepped inside. Roger went first since he opened the door, and as he went into the room, I turned into the bathroom and checked it. While this was a decent hotel, the rooms were normal sized and therefore easy to clear. I cleared the bathroom and shower and stepped out as Roger was raising up off the floor from checking under the bed. We stepped back out into the hallway about the same time the other two teams did as well. We nodded at each other and continued on.
Room after room we went, taking turns opening the doors. The air was musty everywhere but we saw no signs of human or infected. Some of the rooms looked like they were left in a hurry, but for the most part everything was clean. It took us about half an hour to clear that first hallway, which pushed the time to around ten pm. We jogged back to the lobby area and began clearing the other hallway. The doors opened just as easily down there and it went about as quick. The only exception was there was a conference center down this hallway as well as a laundry room and some supply closets. Around ten thirty we finished that hallway and met back up in the lobby.
"You two, go tell the rest to start gathering their things for the night and start coming in. you two head upstairs and see if any of them need any help clearing rooms. Roger and I will start securing doors.” I pointed to the men I was making assignments to. As they went to their new jobs, Roger and I went to check the outside doors to make sure nothing could sneak in on us as we slept. We walked down the hallway to the end door fi
rst. It was also a keycard lock, so I stepped outside and shut the door while he waited inside to let me back in, but when I pulled on the door, it opened easily.
"Is there a lock on this side?" I asked as I stepped back in. we checked the inside of the door, and it did have a keyed deadbolt. I stepped back out, heard him turn the lock, and pulled. It didn’t even budge, as hard as I yanked on it. I finally knocked and Roger opened the door for me. I turned the lock back and we jogged to the far end of the hallway to check that one. As we went through the lobby the first of the group came in with food and supplies. We waved to show there was nothing to worry about since we were running, and continued to the end of the hallway.
We saw it was the same type of door as the other end, so Roger went outside this time and I turned the lock and waited for him to knock. The door shook as he yanked on it repeatedly, but it held. I opened it back up for him and we relocked it. We walked back to the lobby as more people filed in. None of the other teams made it down yet, so I instructed the people to spread out on floor two and find a room, but keep the drapes closed. Roger and I then headed for the stairs to check on the rest of the teams.
We opened the door for the second floor and listened for movement. Hearing nothing, we proceeded to the third floor. Again, we heard and saw nothing. Moving up one more to four, there was again nothing. We moved up again to five and we heard footsteps and hushed voices. Seeing movement, I flipped my flashlight on and off to get their attention. Two lights swung and hit me, and a voice called out 'who goes there?’
"Dave, it's me.” I called out, recognizing his voice. The two lights lowered so they weren't right in our eyes as we walked down the hallway. The two other groups came out of the rooms once they heard our voices. They were all at the far end of the hallway, so it appeared that they were finishing this floor now. That meant the other team must be up on six already.