“Frank and Betty are going to play pick-up and delivery service while I guard and you loot.” Bill replied as he took back the Tommy gun, “That should help speed things up.”
Frank and Betty got out of the truck and started loading the pile of loot into the back of the pick-up. “We’ll get this stuff then go back and get the last street. After we go drop that off, we’ll come back and see where you’ve gotten off too.” Frank told him as he took the current bag from Alvin.
“Works, maybe we’ll get this section done by the end of the day now,” Alvin said with a smile at Frank and Betty. “Thanks.”
“I just want to prove I can be useful,” Betty said as she went to the closest house and struggled to pick up the bag there.
Alvin smirked but held back the laugh he felt as he watched her crab walk the bag to the truck. “Okay, Bill,” he said as he turned to Bill, “ready to go wreak havoc in the middle of town?”
Bill checked his gun before he nodded, “Sure thing.” The two of them started towards the main street side by side. “Jacket looks a little big.”
“It is, I’m hoping I can get it adjusted when I pop back to my cell tonight. This should provide me with some armor, unlike my shirt.”
“Guess I should drag out my old gear then, as well,” Bill commented as they reached the corner of the road. “This is going to be a hassle,” he added as he looked at the massive pile up in town.
“Eventually we’ll want to clear the road,” Alvin sighed. “I was thinking of trying to find a trailer for the truck, too. It would make this much easier with all that storage space. If we can clean out the town, then we can get everyone to help pitch in with the looting.”
“Except for Susan, she’ll stay at the cabin. I don’t trust the doc, he was shifty-eyed when I got back with Frank. Might have to take him for a walk and explain things again.”
“Best remember the nurses dote on him. We want at least one of them to stay around for basic aid. Maybe the doc will wise up and get his head together after tonight. I mean, it has only been a day since the event.”
Bill grunted, “Yeah, not many people are known for fast adapting.”
They started down the last stretch of road towards town. The sound of an engine drawing closer made them both stop. Looking west, they made out a car heading down Main Street from the exit off I-70.
“He’ll have to turn onto this street either north or south,” Alvin commented. “The beginning of the wrecks starts just past the corner up there.”
They walked a bit further down the street, watching the car as it slowed at the corner then turned towards them. Alvin stepped off to the right as Bill went to the left.
Alvin raised his hand up, trying to get the car to pause as it came towards them at a slow pace, the driver obviously watching them carefully. As the car came closer it slowed as the driver’s window lowered.
Alvin met the unsmiling face of a young man. “Afternoon, officer,” he said, noting the police uniform the man wore.
The young man grimaced and looked at his passenger for a moment, before he sighed. “It can’t be the same guy, Gran.”
Alvin ducked his head down to look into the car, to see Terry Giardino in the passenger seat. “Grandma Terry, it is a pleasure to see you again. This must be James, then, that you told me so much about when we got you out of the trailer park.”
Terry eyed him before she nodded, “I thought it was you.”
“That isn’t possible,” James said again. “We left there immediately and he wasn’t even in a vehicle.”
“That is true, James,” Alvin admitted, “however, I did beat you here. Where are you two going?”
“Somewhere…” James cut off as Bill walked to the bumper and began to lay down fire back the way the car had come from. James looked in the rearview to see a pack of zombies shuffling down the street. “What the fuck is he doing?”
“Killing the undead,” Alvin replied. “We have a small community forming just outside of town. You being a man who can handle firearms, would make you a valuable member of the community, if you want a safe place to stay. Gran is welcome as well, I know she can keep her shit together.”
“Better than many of the others that we’ve seen,” Terry agreed.
“We have a couple of others loading up our loot, just down there. If you want to follow them, they can lead you back to the cabin. It has a good wall and we’re armed there with enough fire power to hold the zombies off.” Alvin said, raising his voice to be heard as Bill emptied another clip in the Tommy.
“He can’t have enough rounds,” James murmured as he shifted the mirror to watch Bill.
“We have a trick for that that we don’t mind sharing with fellow community members,” Alvin grinned as Bill reloaded the empty clip and began to fire again.
James’s face was dumbfounded as he watched the same action, “How is he…”
“Look, we’re a bit busy right now,” Alvin replied. “Just follow Frank and Betty back to the compound. Once we’re done here we can answer your questions, okay?”
“James,” Terry said jabbing him in the side. “We are going to do as the man suggests.”
“Gran, that isn’t…”
“We are doing as I said, young man,” Terry said firmly.
James sighed then looked away from his grandmother, turning back to Alvin, “Follow the truck down there?”
“Yup. See you all later. James, if you want to help out once Terry is safe, just catch a ride back with Frank.” Alvin said as he stepped back from the window, giving Terry a friendly nod, “Good to see you again, Terry.”
James shook his head as he pulled away, going towards Frank and Betty who had kept looking over at the car. As James went he rolled the window back up.
Bill paused to reload and glance back at Alvin, “So?”
“He’s going to follow Frank back up. I rescued the old woman earlier, like I did you. She has a story from her childhood that you have to hear to believe.”
“We good to continue then?” Bill asked as he saw another group of zombies turn onto the street.
“Yup. Let’s open the doors as we go so any zombies inside will come out. We can get some of the others to do the actual looting while we just go kill shit.”
“Works for me,” Bill said as he began to fire again.
Alvin and Bill held the street free of zombies for close to an hour, opening unlocked doors as they went. Alvin picked the few locked ones. They didn’t find anyone still alive in any of the houses, though they did find two zombies in one locked house.
They made it to Main Street, with an auto supply store on one side and a fast food place on the other. The massive pile up started on their left and stretched down the street further into town. They could see movement from further into town as well.
“Auto supplies could be useful, at least for anything that could be used on our current vehicles,” Alvin opined.
“Might take a bit to figure out what we’d want, though,” Bill grunted as he stretched, trying to ease some of the muscles that were being punished by the constant firing of the Tommy.
“If the cop comes back, we can always sic him on that job.”
Before Bill could respond they heard the truck coming up behind them and stopping. Turning, they saw Frank, James, Betty and the redheaded nurse getting out of the truck. “Looks like we have more help,” Bill replied. He waved the group over as they walked back a bit towards them. “Thanks for coming out. The houses are clear, so grab the same things we’ve been grabbing.”
“James, if you can loot the supply store over there,” Alvin added, waving at the auto supply store. “Grab anything that can be used on your car, the truck, and if they have anything for the rig back at the bunker.”
“I don’t feel right about looting people’s things, or robbing a store. But if I have to choose, I’ll take the store,” James’s emotional conflict was easy to read on his face.
“Hate to say this, James, but the law you upheld is gone no
w. We will be establishing rules and regulations at the Holdout though, and you could be a big help there. Are you with us?” Alvin asked as he watched James.
“Gran says you’re okay, but I have my doubts looking at you. She is insistent that we’ll be staying at least for a time, so for now at least I’m with you.”
“Welcome aboard,” Bill grunted before crushing the cop’s hand. “Mind yourself around my daughter, though.”
James winced as his hand was engulfed by Bill’s mitt, “I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”
“Al and I are going to take a stroll down Main for a bit, then turn back up the next set of streets, which should be mostly clear by now. Frank, you’re the security for the ladies. If you doubt if something is down for good then put a round through its head.” Bill said as he took off his Ivory handled 1911 and held it out to James. “Just reload the empty and go back to firing,” he added as James took the gun with a questioning look. “Frank, I see you have Susan’s shotgun. She tell you about it?”
“She did. I have to say it takes some getting used to the idea. I put it through a test run on the range, so I’m good with it now.”
“What do you mean, about loading the empty and keep firing?” James asked as he looked at the gun.
Alvin fished one of the empty clips he still had on him out of his back pocket. He held it out to James, “Take that, eject the clip in it currently then put that one in.”
James did so slowly as if he expected a trick. His eyes widened as he felt the gun get a touch heavier a split second after the empty was seated. He popped the empty clip to find it fully loaded. “How in the hell?”
“We’ll explain later tonight,” Alvin cut in. “Just know it will keep doing that every time. You have effectively unlimited ammo, and we can see about doing it for your own firearms later tonight.”
James blinked at the 1911 before he got the holster onto his duty belt next to his Glock. “I think this is going to take some explaining.”
“Okay, Bill, let’s go take that stroll. You all have fun and make sure we grab all we can,” Alvin said over his shoulder as he and Bill began to walk back to Main.
Alvin used his tools to hotwire those cars he could and move them out of the street. It didn’t clear up the mess, but it helped thin things down a little.
“If we can make a path through this clusterfuck, I could drive them up the road towards your place,” Alvin said as he got out of a Cutlass.
“Need to find a winch to pull the rest of this mess off to the side one at a time,” Bill grunted. “Or it will take all of us pushing them in neutral.”
“Tomorrow or the day after, but yeah, I think clearing the road is still a really good idea.”
“Company,” Bill said as he raised the Tommy. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to do this again tomorrow.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” Alvin replied as he thought of getting a medkit for Bill tonight, to help with the damage that he was doing to his shoulder.
The trip up the next side street was anticlimactic after all the zombie killing they’d done on Main. Alvin got the locked houses open, which resulted in another round of zombie deaths. He handled the zombie kids out of Bill’s view. They had cleared several blocks going north by the time the sun was starting to sink. They walked back to a cross street just as Frank and crew turned onto the street with the truck.
“We’re done killing for the night,” Alvin said, Bill nodding along with his words. “We’ll help you guys loot this stretch then it’s back to the Holdout for the night.”
While looting the guys heard the nurses scream and ran for the house the women were in. Both nurses inside were screaming in horror. As they got to the house, Alvin realized why. He stopped in the doorway, holding out a hand to stop the other men, “Bill, stop.”
Bill skidded to a halt, his gun half raised, “Get out of the way, they need help.”
“There are no zombies in there, just a few bodies that you don’t want to see,” Alvin replied. “I’ll go help them and James can come with, but you stay out here, Bill.” With that Alvin went into the house.
Bill frowned but took up position by the door as Frank finally came running up, having been the furthest away. “They have it,” Bill said gruffly as he looked away, ashamed of his own weakness.
“What was it?” Frank asked as he stopped next to his friend.
“Kids,” Bill said, his voice trembling for a moment. “They can become zombies as well.”
Frank blanched, “Shit.”
James came out with the two nurses, all of them grey faced. Alvin came out ten minutes later with the bag of loot. “This house is done.”
“Little cold aren’t you?” Frank asked in a hard voice.
Alvin met Frank’s eyes with his own emotionless ones, “I don’t like the idea of killing zombie kids, but I will if others can’t or won’t.”
Frank’s jaw clenched for a moment before he turned to walk back to the truck, “I don’t like it.”
Bill stood there for a moment, “What did you do with the bodies?”
“Put them in the bathroom and covered them in oil. I’ll light the house after we’re ready to go.”
“We’re done, the others can’t finish tonight after that.”
Sighing, Alvin nodded as he handed the bag to Bill, “This might cost us more of the town if it spreads, but I’ll be back.”
A few minutes later Alvin came walking out of the house as smoke began to pour from an upstairs window. He jumped into the bed of the truck with Bill and James. He met the gaze of the other two with a grimace as the truck began to move.
Chapter Fifteen
When they got back to the compound, the brunette nurse, Susan and the doctor were all waiting for them, asking what happened in town. Alvin looked at them blankly for a minute before he looked over his shoulder at the column of smoke. It was rising straight into the air, as there was no wind to disturb it. He was pretty sure that just the one house would burn, leaving the others intact.
When he finished his quick explanation, Alvin was still showing no emotion. “I know most of you can’t deal with even the concept of what happened. I will shoulder that burden. Why don’t we head inside though, and we can go over what the world is now.”
When they reached the main room, everyone chose spots to sit or stand. Bill looked over the group, “Everyone has seen a demonstration of the guns, which might make this a little easier to deal with. If you would be kind enough to tell them the story, Alvin?”
Alvin went to the middle of the room, aware of everyone’s eyes on him. He looked around, meeting their eyes. Most were curious, a couple of them were more or less hostile. “Let me start at the beginning. I woke up in a small grey room…” He gave them the edited version of what he had been going through. By the time he finished, all of them looked shocked, “Which brings us to now. So, if things go well, we might find a few more people to join us.”
“This is all because of you, then?” Rahim asked with anger in his voice. “We would be having normal lives if not for you?”
Alvin blinked, as he hadn’t considered how it might look that way. “No. Either you wouldn’t exist at all or another person like me would be here. The only fact that matters now is that the world you knew is gone. This world is very different in some ways, very much like a video game. To prove the point, all you have to do is think about your stats and you should get a pop-up screen, bluish in color, that tells you all about yourself.”
A few people gave startled gasps as they caused their screens to appear. After a few minutes, most of them looked a little more unsettled but with a firmer set to their jaws. “How do we change these numbers or gain more things like the gun upgrades that you’ve been doing?” James asked, his eyes glued to the screen hovering before him.
“Experience, which is gotten through combat, loot acquired, or doing a job for the community. There may be other ways as well, but those are the ones I know for certain. The settlement can be
modified through the draftsman table you all saw outside, but only I can access it. I can’t do anything to it until we have enough people here and I finish my task for Bill. Don’t yet know what I’ll be able to do, but I should be able to add rooms to this place at least.”
“Why don’t the rest of us have equal access?” Rahim demanded.
“Because this is apparently his story,” Bill said simply. “Other people might gain access later, we don’t know and won’t until we check more into it. Right now, we’ve been more concerned with finding survivors, like Frank and yourselves, and stockpiling as much as we can. For the next few days we will continue to do so, and if Alvin gets any update he will tell me and we’ll go from there. For now, you are allowed to stay as long as you help. Don’t act up or cause trouble, and you can stay. We’ll set up actual rules and laws later, and we even have a cop who’s impartial enough to help us abide by them.”
Rapture (Apocalypse Gates Author's Cut Book 1) Page 16