Willie led the caravan to the Hilltop Drive exit finding little in the way of obstacles. The exit loop however held several abandoned and burned vehicles blocking their passage. Willie surveyed the wreckage, the steep drop off to one side and the wall of Ponderosa pines on the other.
“Well, this isn’t good. We have to find a way around the wrecks or double back and head for Victor Drive” Willie said to his son. They continued surveying when a knock at the window sent both scrambling for their guns.
“Shit Will, don’t shoot.” Trevor Denton said standing at the driver’s side window.
“Damn, Trevor, you scared the shit out of me.” Willie spoke breathlessly. “We’re fucked. We need to go back to 44 and head for Victor Drive. We’ll double back for the Costco on Dana Drive. Have the rest back down the ramp and follow me.”
“Uh, ok. I’ll spread the word.” Trevor walked away. The caravan was soon traveling further east on Hwy 44 deep into heavily populated neighborhoods. The off ramp for Victor Drive was clear. Willie waited for the light to turn green at the intersection. Nicholas shot him a quick glance.
“Dad, there’s nobody coming. Lets go.”
Willie laughed and pressed the accelerator down moving his truck into the intersection. Victor Drive dipped down into a small valley and intersected with Dana Drive. Along both sides of the street sat large apartment complexes. Nicholas spotted periodic movement in windows, doorways, and even in the parking lots. He began to count.
“Jesus, Dad, there has to be two dozen of them in that building alone.”
“Don’t worry Nick, we’re not stopping for hitchhikers.” Willie was confident his truck was invincible.
“Dad, there everywhere. We need to get out of here.” Nicholas was growing uneasy.
“Nick. Stop. We’ll be OK.”
Nicholas continued counting, not knowing if he was counting zombies or survivors. His father turned onto Dana Drive, managing the minor obstacle course to Costco with ease. The caravan entered the large parking lot and maneuvered around to the loading docks located behind the giant warehouse after taking a cursory lap around the entire building. The parking lot was surprisingly clear. The last shift to work had done a good job rounding up and securing the shopping carts. Willie saw this as a good sign and figured they would be done loading the vehicles in less than an hour.
The loading docks sat empty except for one trailer sitting at the end. Willie backed his truck down the loading ramp as Nicholas anxiously looked out the window. The remainder of the caravan backed down the ramp as well.
The young lady with the keys whose nametag read “Leanne” walked cautiously up to a side door. She stopped just short of placing the key in the lock. The red light on the alarm panel was blinking.
“Hey guys. The alarm is still on.” The group looked around.
“Is the alarm on a back-up power supply?” A man asked as he dropped the tailgate of his truck.
“I don’t know.” Leanne said as she clicked the lock open with her keys. The door opened slowly. Ambient light filtered through the rear storage area. Leanne reached in for the light switch. The overhead fluorescent lights flickered on.
“Sweet. The power is still on.” Leanne stepped in and looked around.
The rest of the group followed suit, entering the storage area. Willie stopped at the door.
“We need a sentry to stand here. Any volunteers?”
“I’ll watch the door.” Mariano, a bulky black man with a shaved head said.
“You sure Mariano?” Willie asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll holler if there’s any problem.”
“Like the Raiders offense.” Willie said with a sly smile.
“You 49er fans are all alike, jealous of perfection.” Mariano remained at the door while the others, eight in all, entered the store.
Willie had never seen a Costco empty and stood for a moment, letting the idea sink in. Before them lay everything they would need to survive for a long while. Some of the group started loading cases of bottled water onto flats moving them to the loading dock. Willie stood with Leanne discussing what best to load in what truck. Gates provided a list they pretty much ignored. Willie eyed cases of beer.
“We need more than water.” Willie walked over to the beer. Leanne followed.
“I agree, but we need more than just beer, we need vodka.”
“Nice.”
Soon the loading dock sat full of supplies. Leanne sat on a case of water eating a Power Bar and drinking a soda. Willie and Nicholas stood near the door and waved to Mariano. The day was slipping away and Mariano knew they should start loading the supplies soon to beat the impending darkness. He shook his head as the group sat, laughed and passed along jokes and stories. Laughter continued as Mariano walked along the loading dock.
Twenty-Five
Rick sat on a lawn chair, reading the last newspaper delivered to Sammy’s house. The headline read “Infection Spreads.” The picture just below the headline was that of a young woman, pale with grey eyes standing in a park. There was something crusted on her shirt. Rick flipped the pages looking for the sports page. There was none. He shook his head tossing the paper down.
Sammy’s parents had done a bang up job keeping the back yard in great shape. The tall wooden fence closed in the whole yard and the small swimming pool. Rose bushes and various other shrubs and plants bordered the yard with the occasional cactus. Rick sat back and relaxed with a cold beer from the cooler sitting next to him. He could hear Sammy working in the kitchen on something, probably a meal for their guest.
Katie sat in the cage of the truck with her knees pulled tightly into her chest. She had tried to stave off the claustrophobic feeling creeping in on her by shutting her eyes. It didn’t work. She dug her fingernails into her palm to relieve some of the pressure. The feeling eventually passed allowing her head to clear.
Katie could smell the blood left behind by the cage’s previous occupant as it dried in the trucks bed. The fucking rednecks have built a pretty good cage. She quickly refocused on the peril she was in. She probed the corners of the cage with her fingers attempting to find a weakness. All she found was bits of flesh and hair.
The trip across town had taken the better part of a day. At one point she had passed out from pure exhaustion and failed to dream, or at least she couldn’t remember dreaming. The idiots had stopped a few times on the trip and taken target practice. Katie could hear them congratulating one another for good shots. Day had turned to night and the truck continued to move. Katie thought back to the words the one redneck mouthed to her. He would be her ally, whether he liked it or not.
Katie heard a door open. Suddenly the bed of the truck was flooded with light causing her to squint. The cage door was unlocked and she felt a hand grab her ankle. She kicked hard connecting with Sammy’s Jaw.
“You bitch. You like it rough.” Sammy reached in and grabbed her with both hands dragging her out of the cage quickly. Katie reached for anything she could use as a weapon but to her dismay, there was nothing. She looked up from the tailgate of the truck into the face of her abductor. He pulled his hand back to strike her. Katie covered her face. The strike wasn’t delivered.
“Dude. Not cool.” Rick stood there keeping Sammy’s hand from swinging.
“Man, you’re not going all gay on me are you? We had a plan.” Sammy stared Rick in the eye.
“No, I’m not going all gay on you. I just don’t think we need to treat her like this. Try being a little nicer and maybe we’ll get a lot further faster.”
“Whatever. You can have this one. I don’t like emo girls. Don’t let her out of your sight and keep her cuffed.” Sammy handed Rick a set of handcuffs then stormed off into the house.
Rick turned looking straight at Katie with the best puppy dog eyes he could muster. She punched him square in the nose nearly breaking her wrist. Rick crumpled to the garage floor holding his bleeding nose. Katie hopped off the tailgate and ran for the side door. The jolt o
f electricity sent every muscle in her body into spasms. Her world lit up for a brief moment then went black again. Sammy stood near the back of the garage holding a spring-fired Taser. 50,000 volts ran through her body.
“She’s a fighter. You really need to be more careful. If we’re going to build our own society we’re going to need women. Now secure that bitch and lets eat.” Sammy tossed the Taser to Rick and walked back into the house.
Rick slowly picked himself up. He held the Taser in his right hand with his finger on the trigger just in case she acted up again. He didn’t want to use force; in fact he wanted to shield her from Sammy. When it came to women Sammy had the tact of a drunk pissed off Irishman. Rick knelt down by Katie and quietly asked her not to fight anymore. He told her he would do everything he could to protect her. With a soft hand Rick removed the Taser darts from her back.
Katie was dazed and couldn’t understand what the man was saying. Her body hurt all over and her throat was dry. She could feel herself being lifted up off the ground. Thoughts ran through her mind. She drifted. She thought about all the time she had wasted in her life. Dropping out of college her first year because of partying, drugs and such. All the shitheads she had dated and lived with. The time she failed to spend with her mother while she suffered from cancer. She continued to drift. Her early years had been good. In high school she had been an honors student, a cheerleader and part of the popular crowd. It all went downhill when her father died early in her senior year. He had been her best friend and mentor. His death, unexpected, became her excuse to abuse herself and others. She knew how disappointed her father would be but she couldn’t help it. Even Oprah wouldn’t be able to help her and she had watched her plenty of times while getting high in the afternoons. The only good thing she had learned over the years since her father’s death was how to beat down any fuck that laid an unwanted hand on her.
Rick carried her into the living room and placed her gently onto a sofa. Sammy stood nearby. He grumbled gaining Rick’s attention and pointed to his wrists. Rick shook his head. He handcuffed the girl with her hands in the front not having the heart to place her hands behind her back. She barely stirred when he put the cuffs on her.
“She’ll come around in a while. Make sure she doesn’t mess the place up.” Sammy walked into the kitchen.
Katie suddenly looked up at Rick startling him. Her hands were cuffed. She struggled for a short moment with a look of terror on her face. Rick sat up and reached for her. She drew back. Blood from his nose had dried on his hands. The stress sent Katie reeling. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Rick sat on the floor watching over her. Tissue was stuffed in his left nostril to keep it from continuing to bleed. Katie continued to shake slightly and whimper. In her dreams, the zombies were coming, all of them.
***
Outside the modest four-bedroom house, they walked. The dead’s undeniable hunger could never be satisfied. They were driven to eat the living.
Twenty-Six
The gate sat on rusted hinges. Whispering Pines Luxury Apartments was a pit of affordability. Ty and Jess had found their respective apartments quite cheap but maintenance and upkeep on the building left a lot to be desired. Ty had found himself fixing things around the complex on his days off to subsidize his rent. Unfortunately, he hadn’t worked on the front gate and knew it would come down easily.
Outside the front gate several zombies moved about in the bright noon sun. Their bodies were beginning to swell with the putrid gases building up inside. A harmony of escaping gas could be heard below Ty’s patio. Tom leaned against the railing watching the zombies careful not to draw their attention. Inside, Ty and Jess discussed plans for the near future while sipping on cold beers. The power had gone off a couple of times, once sending the apartment building and the surrounding blocks into complete darkness. A creepy orange glow filled the city. Heavy clouds of smoke from burning buildings blocked the moon. Luckily, the power returned and remained on.
The cold beer tasted good but Ty knew it wouldn’t last. The food was dwindling fast and having two extra mouths around wasn’t helping. It didn’t matter though, Ty wasn’t the type to turn his back on a friend and he wasn’t about to throw Tom out, he was just a kid. Smoke from the fires continued to loft through the air. Ty asked Tom to keep watch on a fire burning near the apartment complex for fear it would soon be licking at their walls. Without the fire department, the fires were free to spread. The city was burning.
“I still think we should stay here or go to the convention center. We have everything we need here.” Jess was convinced the apartments were the safest place for them for the time being and the center would be their next stop.
“I have to disagree. That gate down there will come down if a few more of those things push against it. How long do you really think we can keep them out? We’re sitting in our graves if we stay here.” Ty looked Jess directly in the eye to push his point.
“Those things down there don’t know how to cooperate with each other.”
“We don’t know anything about THOSE THINGS except that they want to kill us and I for one don’t want to wait around for them to learn how to get in here. The Bixter Building is our best bet.”
“What about all the noise coming from the direction of the Convention Center? If we decide to leave, we should head that way. Safety in numbers.”
“I don’t like the idea of being around a bunch of refugees. Who knows what’s happening over there? Hell, they could be killing people off.”
“You’re like a survivalist, aren’t you? You just want to go off on your own?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I was planning on leaving the city if this crap gets worse. And looking out there it doesn’t appear to be getting any better.”
“Leave the city, where the hell would you go?”
“The mountains. Sandra’s parents own a cabin near the national park. It’s secluded and there is no one around. I think the first snows of the season will freeze any of those things up there.”
“You just said we don’t know anything about them but you think they’ll freeze.”
“The average human will freeze up in those mountains if not properly dressed. I doubt those things know how to dress for the weather.”
“I can’t believe you want to go off on your own. We should be around others. We should go to the Convention Center.” Jess was becoming more insistent.
“If you want to go, I’m not stopping you. I’m sticking with my own plan and I could use your help.” Ty really didn’t need the help.
“I…Shit man. I don’t know what to do. Let’s have another beer and think about it.” Jess turned to go to the refrigerator.
Ty was about to follow Jess to the refrigerator for a cold beer when Tom interrupted them.
“You guys should see this.”
Ty and Jess looked at each other then at Tom. Tom stood there pointing to the street.
“Come on.” Tom walked back out to the patio and peered around the corner.
Ty and Jess stepped out and looked in the same direction. Smoke billowed out of a lower story window in the apartment building. It was at least three apartments over, but it wasn’t good. As they watched the smoke, flames suddenly licked at the side of the outside wall from the apartment.
Ty looked at Jess.
“Time to go!” Ty said grabbing Tom by the arm leading him inside.
Twenty-Seven
Mariano Davidson stood by the small door to the loading docks. He watched over the vehicles. The large rollup doors were ready to be opened and the booty was prepped, separated, and ready to be loaded. The group had taken too much time prepping the loads and precious daylight was running thin. Mariano knew they would be heading back in the dark. Leanne walked over to him.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat? We have plenty.” Leanne said with a large smile.
“We have been here too long. I’m sure we have drawn unwanted attention. We need to load fast and leave.
” Mariano said without looking at her.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Leanne said looking out the door and noticing the fading daylight.
The large doors rolled up and the group began loading supplies. Mariano left his post for the first time since arriving to assist the others. Mariano worked up a sweat and wished for that bottle of water he was too stubborn to take earlier.
Across the street, behind large industrial dumpsters, they gathered.
Mariano, in his previous life had been a bus driver for a local school district. He’d been a faithful and dedicated employee. He never had much to say and mostly kept to himself avoiding lunchroom conversations about sports, politics and the union. He enjoyed the children and their naïve innocence. Their enthusiastic smiles and laughter on the bus helped him through the day. During his time off he volunteered at a local home for the disabled. Mentally, physically, he didn’t care, they were just people. Over the past two years he had become good friends with a young man named Dayton. Dayton suffered from Down Syndrome and wasn’t really a kid. He was forty years old with the mind of a nine year old at times but they became fast friends.
Dayton’s favorite place was Whiskeytown Lake. Mariano would take him during the summer and they would swing from a rope and drop into the warm clear water. Dayton was a great swimmer. He also liked going to movies on weekends. It didn’t matter what the movie was, Dayton just liked the theater and the popcorn. Mariano hoped Dayton was alive. He knew after the supply brigade returned he was leaving to find his friend.
The vehicles began to sink under the weight of the supplies. Mariano, Willie, and the others completed loading three of the vehicles when they realized they would not have enough room for everything. Nicholas looked across the street and could see a trailer stashed near the dumpsters.
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