by Diane Butler
The three of them were continuing to work on the inner barrier when Roxanne stood up and said, “Wait…” She put out her hand to signal them. “Stop… Listen.” Lucky and Ed froze in their places tools still in their hands. After a pause Ed said, “I don’t hear anything Roxie.”
“I could have sworn that I heard a car engine.” They continued to stand still, waiting but no one could pick up any unusual sounds. Finally Ed said, “Sound travels in these hills. Could be anywhere.”
“I say that we stay on alert today,” Lucky said checking his gun. “If Roxanne said she heard something then I trust her judgment. She’s been here longer than we have and knows what sounds are unusual to the place.”
“Still, I’d feel better if I crawl under the bus and check the peephole to the front gates,” Roxanne said. “I’ll send Mutt back if I see anything.”
From under the bus Roxanne could only see the tires of Ed’s abandoned vehicle, the ground surrounding it and that portion of the lot that a car would enter. Everything was clear from this angle. She did not see any additional cars or the legs of anyone walking around. After crawling out from under the bus Roxanne put the ladder up against the hill covering the tunnel and climbed up with her rifle. From here her view was of the parking lot and surrounding trees, but the heavy woods kept her from seeing beyond that. She could see only a portion of the road further down the mountain, but it was only a small section. She carefully looked around for any movement in the foliage, for any sight, sound or smell that shouldn’t be there. She paced to her left and scanned the mountainside that she had used when she first arrived. Then she walked over to her right and looked down into the ravine bordering the west side of the park.
Cami and Brandon knelt further down into the brush. “Do you see that?” Cami whispered, “Only one guard. Must not be a large group.”
“Yeah”, Brandon said, “and a female guard at that.”
Cami glared at him, “What the hell does that mean?”
“Sorry”, Brandon looked away, “Keep forgetting that there are women like you Cami. No disrespect.”
They waited until Roxanne was out of sight but Cami felt that the guard appeared to be alert and looking for something or someone. She wasn’t completely certain that they were undetected. “Let’s check the rest of the perimeter so we can see what’s on the other side of the fence.”
Roxanne left the ladder up after she descended feeling that she would be checking the front entrance several times before and after nightfall. She and Mutt walked back to where Lucky and Ed were still working on the inner barrier. “You were gone long enough” Ed whined.
“Didn’t see anything, but something doesn’t feel right,” Roxanne said with concern.
“Roxanne,” Lucky said, “The Park is huge. We can’t guard it all. If someone is out there they will make themselves known to us.”
“So what are you saying Lucky? That we should just stand here in a group where we can easily be picked off,” Roxanne’s sarcasm was coming through.
Lucky stood up from his digging and leaned on his shovel. “Well if you stand over us with that rifle while we’re working they’ll think we are your captives and they won’t mess with you,” Lucky said with a smile on his face. Roxanne hated it when he got that twinkle in his eye.
After a lunch of spam, green beans and applesauce Ed left the cafeteria saying that he was tired and was going to take a nap. Lucky and Roxanne watched him leave and turned to each other with a knowing look. “He’s going to clear out some more brush so his car can access the logging road,” Lucky said.
“Most definitely” Roxanne agreed. “He hasn’t checked out that road yet, doesn’t know how far it goes or if it’s blocked. He wouldn’t venture that far from the park or from the gates.”
“Do you know where your road leads, the one you parked your car on?” Lucky questioned.
“It obviously a service road and would swing back toward the main highway but no, I haven’t checked to see if it’s blocked.”
“Well, while he’s busy let’s check the gate again to see if more Ze’s have accumulated and if it’s clear we can walk up the road a piece before Ed misses us,” Lucky said as he picked up his sharpened pipe.
The Security Office had not been helpful to Roxanne when she first arrived and searched the place. She found a rifle but it appeared that Dollywood was only equipped for shooting wild animals that may encroach too close to the property. The three of them had agreed to use a gun only in an extreme emergency and to adapt to using the pipes that Ed had sharpened into a point although they always wore their holstered guns.
Roxanne picked up her staff and followed him out when they heard several gunshots and Ed screaming. Both ran in the direction that they knew Ed would be working and were met by Mutt running toward them. They found that there were Ze’s trying to push through the fence to get to Mutt while other zombies were slowly surrounding Ed in the brush that he was clearing. Ed had panicked causing most of his shots to go wild, not hitting anything but creating a danger to both Roxanne and Lucky. They heard his cylinder click on empty but he had the presence of mind to pick up his pole while continuing to scream.
Lucky and Roxanne concentrated on the Ze’s pushing through the fence. Once the zombies had spotted humans they bunched up trying to push at once. This made it easier for Lucky and Roxanne to kill them quickly by stabbing them in the head but it didn’t look as if they would get to Ed in time. After dispensing of the zombies they climbed through the fence opening, pulling out their pistols at the same time. Before either of them could fire off a shot gunfire rang out from the foliage on the opposite side of the logging road. They froze in their tracks and watched as each of the zombies were carefully picked off with a headshot. Then there was silence.
“We’re coming out,” a woman’s voice said. “Don’t know if ya’ll are as crazy wild with a gun as he is, but we don’t want to be ducking for cover.”
“Holster your gun” Lucky whispered to Roxanne, “but keep your hand on the handle.”
Roxanne stood at the back door of the bus and watched as each person came through. Ed was standing in the isle while Lucky waited outside the bus to lead everyone to the Admin Building. Lucky had been trying to get her to move into the Admin building for a long time, saying it was safer than the cabin. He was now delighted that it would be put to use.
She could hear Ed mumbling behind her, “What’s the problem Ed?” she asked.
“How are we going to feed all these people, Roxanne” he whined.
Morgan, who was a construction laborer before the ZA was passing Ed and overheard the comment. He stopped and answered, “You don’t need to worry about us. We know how to take care of our own.”
Then a teenage girl and a boy of about twelve years old came onto the bus and Ed had more comments, “Damn, we have kids too! What the hell were you thinking, Roxanne? This is a bad move, bad idea!”
By that time everyone was through the bus. Roxanne locked the door and walked up to Ed, “You just keep your mouth shut and your opinion to yourself until we find out more about these people. They saved your life, Jerk” she hissed at him. She regretted that, calling him a Jerk. She didn’t want to alienate him at this point since he was still very useful mechanically. He had managed to get a few generators going and knew how to use the welding torch to construct the barrier.
She walked to the Admin Bldg. where Lucky was proudly showing off the offices. “I know it is filled with desks and files right now,” he gestured into one of the rooms, “but we can clear that out and each person could have their own room. The Medical Office has some cots we can use but some of you will still need your sleeping bags. The Lobby would make a good meeting place for everyone.”
“The Lobby has glass doors,” Cami said. Cami was the woman who had called out to them. She was a small black woman but she made up for that by strapping as many ammo belts across her chest that she could carry. “We will need to fortify those.”
“Yes”, Lucky replied, “We haven’t been here that long and there’s still so much to do. We can certainly use the help and suggestions.”
Roxanne stepped up and announced, “We will show you where everything is and you can get settled in. It’s up to your group to decide who gets what room and what is needed for your comfort.”
While everyone began wandering through the rooms and making claims Lucky pulled Roxanne aside, “that was rude” he whispered.
“We’re not their protector,” she said. “Everyone pulls their weight around here. What talents they have remains to be seen.”
It had been an exhausting day for Roxanne and it showed in her body language as she sat in the rocker on her cabin porch. It had been nothing but questions and criticism from the new group on what should have been done or could have been done better. She believed that they had been in a group for so long that they had forgotten how hard it was for a woman to survive alone.
There were seven of them, most not related and found as stragglers along the way. Gene who appeared to be the leader was married to Sally; they had picked up the black man Morgan and his twelve year old son Caleb in a small town that had been overrun. Brandon was their point man on scouting missions; Cami, a small black woman who equipped herself with enough ammo to invade a small country and KC, a teenage girl with wild hair who they found alone in a K-Mart. She was so traumatized that they had not been able to get her to say more than a few words and had nicknamed her KC since she could not remember her name. She was reclusive but they had seen that she was good in a fight.
The day had started when Roxanne came upon an argument between Ed and Morgan which had probably lingered from Ed’s remark of the previous day. “How are we supposed to fix this place up if we don’t know what we have for tools?” Morgan was yelling. She intervened and asked what was going on.
“Ed won’t let me inside the mechanic bay,” Morgan said. Ed glared at Roxanne silently asking her to take his side.
“That is Ed’s home, Morgan. He lives there, bunks there. You can’t ask someone if you can search their home. If you need something just tell Ed and he will let you know if we have such a tool, right Ed?” She glared back but Ed looked away. “Right Ed!” Ed mumbled compliance and shuffled away.
Later Cami approached Roxanne and asked what sections of the park had been left unsearched. Not wanting Cami to know of the back entrance she pointed in the opposite direction and said, “We haven’t searched the pavilion, the concert hall, the music hall or the entertainment section. We know there aren’t any Ze’s because they would have heard us by now, unless they are locked in somewhere.” Cami said she would get some help and check it out.
“Oh Roxanne”, Sally hailed. “Could I ask you to show me the cafeteria and what you have in the pantry? I’m a good cook and it will be nice to cook with propane again.” She must have seen Roxanne’s look of concern. Pantry or not, food still needed to be rationed. “Oh, we will be contributing” Sally added. “The men are good at hunting.”
She met Brandon on the path coming from the bus where he had retrieved more items from their vehicles. “Roxanne, why did you jamb the bus into the tunnel rather than park it outside the tunnel where you could move it out of the way to bring in vehicles? Then move it back against the tunnel when you want to secure the place again. The way you have it now, you’ve cornered yourself in here with no way out.”
Roxanne could feel the exhaustion starting to creep up and her patience wearing thin. “Because I was alone Brandon, without a running vehicle, with only a dog to guide me and I did the best I could.” She turned and walked away with Brandon staring after her.
Unknown to her Brandon spoke to Gene and Morgan of this conversation. “I don’t think Roxanne likes the idea of taking us in.”
Gene put his hand on Brandon’s shoulder, “This was their home Brandon, and right now I’m sure that they feel we are guests here. Let’s walk softly until they get to know us.”
Morgan objected, “We can contribute and I can’t say that they did a very good job of securing this place.”
“Let’s not tell them that Morgan. There is only the three of them and let’s face it, they’ve had to deal with Ed.” They started laughing but cut it short when Ed walked by.
Lucky walked up to Roxanne’s porch and took a seat on the bench beside her rocker, “Very productive day, don’t you think?” Roxanne cut her eyes at him but did not give an answer. “OK, this will make you feel better” as he pulled two bottles from his satchel and put them before her. “Gin and Tonic, your favorite. And it hasn’t been opened so we won’t get sick from gut rot.”
“Where on earth did you find those?” she asked.
“At the Entertainment Section” he got up to get two glasses from the cabin. “Cami and I checked it out and the bar hasn’t been touched.”
Morgan realized why Roxanne and Lucky had kept Ed around when Ed managed to start the bus. He had been working on it for two days but only grumbled when anyone asked him about his progress. There had been a group meeting and everyone agreed that the entrance could not be permanently blocked, thus impeding a speedy exit if necessary. The bus loudly backfired amongst a cloud of smoke and Morgan could hear Ed stripping the gears trying to get the transmission to cooperate. Everyone held their breath as the bus moved a foot, then another and finally they cheered as Ed managed to catch a gear to back the bus out of the tunnel. Morgan couldn’t help himself and gave Ed a thumbs-up as he went past. Ed was beaming with his own success and nodded back to Morgan.
Ed waited until everyone drove their car into the park and was about to move the bus across the entrance when Morgan pounded on the door, “Let me in. I’ll ride with you and help guide the bus against the wall.”
Ed opened the doors but didn’t move the bus any further. “I don’t know if this is a good idea Morgan. This bus is in bad shape. The clutch is stripped and once I park it we may not be able to move it again. The clutch isn’t something they would have parts for in the park. They would have taken the bus into town for something that big.”
“Well” Morgan replied, “We can’t leave the entrance open. Let’s just follow the instructions we were given and let the group know tonight what your suspicions are.” Later that day Morgan saw Gene and gave him a heads-up on the potential problem with the bus.
“There must be another entrance” Gene said. “A place this big would have a separate road for deliveries.”
“Well, didn’t you say that you found Ed clearing out brush to access a road?” Morgan asked.
“Yeah, but that was just a dirt road and not much of one. Was probably used for utility purposes like the power lines. Could even be a logging trail or a dirt bike trail. Not something I would want the cars on. We’ll bring it up at council tonight.”
Roxanne was directing the cars into places inside their barrier when she saw Ed coming back from parking the bus. “That was a good job you did Ed. Made me proud.”
Ed told her of the condition of the bus. “They are gonna’ bring it up at the council tonight. They’re gonna’ look for another way out.”
Roxanne stopped in her tracks, “What?”
“Yeah, I heard Morgan tell Gene about it. Gene said there must be a service road. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that instead of cutting brush to some dirt trail. Why didn’t you think of that Roxanne?”
Roxanne caught up with Lucky before the council meeting and pulled him aside. Those meetings had been awkward since they were conducted by Gene and she did not feel part of their group. She would let Gene conduct his meeting and would give out an answer only when he directed a question to her. Lucky was more comfortable with them but Roxanne had too many secrets to hide including her burning desire in the past to kill Ed. Only Lucky knew of the car outside the gate and Ed was not aware that Lucky knew of his own secret car.
She pulled Lucky aside and said, “I’m feeling boxed in here. How far do we go withholding information or giving misinformat
ion?”
Lucky gave her a confused look, “what do you mean? I haven’t been withholding information, have you? Although I noticed that you are rather withdrawn from the conversation at the meetings.”
“Ed overheard Morgan and Gene talking about finding a service road, a back entrance and we haven’t told them of the car that we have stashed outside the gates. Also, I’ve been sheltering Ed from them finding out about his car” Roxanne said.
“I’d completely forgotten about our car with all the excitement around here so I don’t think it will come across as hiding anything from them. If they ask us about a back entrance we tell them the truth. In fact we could use their help if the road needs to be cleared. We haven’t checked and if any trees are down or portions of the road have washed away we will need extra hands to clear it. As far as Ed’s car, they have plenty of their own so I don’t think there is a need to mention it. If they discover it I’ll act just as surprised as they since Ed thinks he has been successful in hiding it from me. Are you worried as to Ed’s reaction when the subject comes up about a back entrance?” Lucky asked.