Roxanne's Story (Book 1): Survival in the Zombie Apocalypse

by Diane Butler

  Sally quickly picked up the scissors to get them out of KC’s reach and said, “I’ll do the best I can KC, but you do understand that it won’t look exactly like Roxanne’s because her hair is straight and yours is frizzy.” KC did not answer and with a shaking hand Sally reached out to touch KC on her shoulder, “Do you understand KC?” but she received the same answer of “Cut”.

  Sally decided that she was going to have Gene put something up against their door at night. When she told him what happened at the well Gene said, “I always thought she was bat-shit crazy.”

  “I thought she was traumatized by being left alone and we don’t know how long she was in that K-Mart,” Sally said. “I thought she would come around eventually. We don’t know who she was with or how they treated her.” She sighed, “Whatever it was it has left a permanent mark. Before this I was concerned for her, now I’m afraid of her.”

  Gene put his arms around his wife, “Sweetheart, some people aren’t given the time to heal when we face death every day in this nightmare that we are forced to live in.”

  Lucky stopped and chuckled when he saw what Morgan was doing to Roxanne’s cabin. “I hope you aren’t using florescent paint,” he said. “I don’t want to get the fright of my life while making rounds tonight.” Instead of painting a bulls-eye target for Caleb’s crossbow practice Morgan had painted a thin outline of a man and next to that he had painted two heads.

  Morgan stepped back to view his work and smiled. “Think they’ll like it?”

  Lucky walked up and shook his head, “I don’t know why Roxanne wants to do this. I’ve seen her fight using a staff and using a knife. I haven’t seen her shoot yet so maybe she’s more comfortable with a weapon that doesn’t kick back.”

  “I really don’t care if her motives are self-serving, Lucky,” Morgan said as he dabbed paint on the wall to represent an eye on the target. “I have seen a change in Caleb’s confidence. He is so proud that I can see the old strut coming back,” he laughed. “I didn’t know how to help him Lucky,” Morgan became serious. “We were always running, always looking for food and I could see his confidence ebbing each time he missed killing a zombie and was forced to run instead. But there was always another threat and no time for more training. Now Roxanne has come up with this idea, well two ideas really, that include Caleb and it just……” his voice broke up and he had to compose himself, “it just fills my heart to see Caleb happy and excited about something normal again.”

  Lucky patted Morgan on the shoulder and said, “We may still need to bail them out in the mornings though. That was a pretty bold pitch she made to the council asking if she and Caleb could go to the fence-line alone in the mornings to kill zombies.”

  “Oh, did you see that as a request?” Morgan asked. “Sounded more like orders, telling us what she was going to do from now on. If I hadn’t seen the pride in Caleb’s face and the fact that Roxanne would send Mutt back for help if a problem occurred I’m not too sure I would have let him do it.

  There were two zombies left and since Caleb had used all his arrows Roxanne decided to let him kill the last two with her staff. “I did better this time,” Caleb said, “but seven arrows just isn’t enough. Wish we could make a run to a sports shop somewhere.”

  “All in due time Caleb, but you aren’t through yet,” Roxanne handed him her staff. “We need to get you trained in how to use other weapons. I can use the knife, staff, pickaxe and gun, and now I’m learning the crossbow.”

  Caleb looked up at her in a confused state and took the staff, “You…..you want me to kill them with your staff?”

  “Does the thought turn your stomach? Turns mine every time” Roxanne said. “They’re horrible, horrible things but that’s all they are, things. Don’t think of them as people when you get closer, Caleb. Is that what’s bothering you?”

  Caleb nodded, “It’s different when you’re further away.”

  “OK, I won’t push you into anything you aren’t ready for but I’ll give you a few tips and then you can decide.” She took the staff back and approached the zombies who became agitated with the desire to feed. “For your height you will need to hold the staff above your head and then lunge forward one step, but only one step so if you lose your balance you won’t fall into them. The other method we found which is effective is that you can kill them in the neck if you plunge the staff upward toward the back of their head. This would probably be the most effective for you. Do you want to just hold the staff and tell me which is more comfortable to you?”

  Caleb tried both stances and found he had more strength if he stood sideways and plunged the staff upward. “Just lay the tip on the fence and let the zombie come to you rather than chase him around through the links,” Roxanne advised. Caleb did as she instructed and was able to kill a zombie by plunging it through the neck. But as the zombie dropped Caleb let go of the staff and stood there rubbing his hands against his jeans, unable to take his eyes off the zombie.

  Roxanne could see that Caleb was close to tears so she came over and pulled the staff out of the zombie and back through the fence. She thought that Morgan would probably come after her if he found out that she had upset Caleb but she hadn’t expected this reaction. “The first kill is always bad,” she said and stabbed the last remaining zombie in the head. Mutt came up and started licking Caleb’s hand as if in sympathy. It also brought Caleb out of his trance and he started scratching Mutt behind the ears.

  Roxanne touched Caleb on the shoulder and said they had better get back. The two of them walked in silence until she asked, “By the way, do you know how to drive a car?” Morgan heard the laughter from the trail long before he saw them come into view and was comforted by it.

  Roxanne and Lucky sat on her porch which had become a habit between them at the end of their day. “What’s up with Cami?” Roxanne asked. “She carries enough ammo to take out a small country and I was told that she is an excellent fighter, but all she does is walk the fence. I haven’t seen her help with anything. Even when they were ransacking the other buildings for cots to create their living quarters I saw her sitting outside the doors with her rifle across her knees.”

  Lucky shrugged, “I don’t know and I’m not going to interfere with anyone under Gene’s control. Maybe they use her as a spotter. I’ve seen her come to lunch covered in cobwebs and dirt so I assume she is still exploring the park.”

  At that moment they heard a door slam, “Well then I wish she would find where that sound is coming from,” Roxanne said. “Been driving me crazy since I got here.” There was a pause as Roxanne rocked and Lucky leaned back to put his feet up on the railing. “I would like to go toward Pigeon Falls tomorrow and scavenge for some things” Roxanne continued. “Caleb only has seven arrows and I’d like to find him a dirt bike.”

  Lucky was stunned for a moment and then started laughing, “A dirt bike? What on earth have you two been up to?”

  KC watched them on the porch although she could not hear what was being said. She did hear Lucky laugh and that really got her goat. Lucky had noticed her at dinner and had complimented her on her new haircut. He actually smiled at her which gave her a strange sensation that she mistook for love and romance. But to her Roxanne was the enemy. She needed to get rid of Roxanne. KC watched her as often as she could to learn her habits, her faults or any oversights Roxanne might have. She didn’t know how she would get rid of Roxanne, but with Ze’s around there could always be an accident. A zombie could get inside the fence and be led to Roxanne’s cabin late at night and no one would suspect anything.

  At that moment she heard a twig snap behind her and quickly turned to see a man’s silhouette standing in the darkness. Her hand immediately went to the knife on her belt. She backed up against the bushes to try to hide her presence.

  “So that’s what you want, huh KC? It’s Lucky you’re after.” She recognized Ed’s voice. “Well, no problem there. I can help you with that because a man understands another man better than a woman wo
uld.” He took a step forward and the moonlight illuminated his skinny face. “And I can tell you right now that Lucky is the kind of man who wants a woman, not a rookie teen.”

  KC, not liking the criticism, drew her knife and hissed at Ed. “Don’t worry child,” Ed continued. “I traveled with Lucky and we met many women along the way. So I know not only what he wants but how he likes it. Roxanne doesn’t know that about Lucky so you can get a heads up on her. I can teach you, train you, advise you on how to get Lucky to fall into your open arms and he will never know that you trapped him. Hehe.”

  KC was silent and Ed took that as a sign that he was getting through to the crazy bitch. “You think on it KC, just remember that each night Lucky spends on that porch with Roxanne that she is dragging him further in and pretty soon he will be out of your reach altogether. Just how much time do you have and how badly do you want him? When you decide, you know where I live.” He turned and left as silently as he had appeared.

  KC stood there looking down the path, then swung around when she heard Lucky laugh again. It infuriated her to see them together. Not being able to watch anymore she dropped to her knees in the dirt and began stabbing the earth with her knife, over and over again.

  The original plan had been for Lucky, Roxanne, Cami and Brandon to go to Pigeon Falls for ammo and supplies that the park did not provide. Brandon’s air mattress had a hole in it and he needed a replacement but he would take a mattress from a home or one of the motels along the strip if all else failed. They wanted towels, shampoo, blankets and everyone needed more clothing since the few extra pieces they had with them were becoming threadbare. The women needed personal items and the men wanted to shave again so they divided the team into two men and two women each knowing what was needed for their gender. They had found the storeroom for the public restrooms so they had plenty of paper towels, toilet tissue and soap. Cami scoffed at the idea of finding female items saying, “It’s all ammo and weapons I’m looking for, although I could use some more jeans.”

  They hooked up the trailer to the hitch on Brandon’s SUV and filled it from the only gas pump on the premises. Ed had managed to connect a generator enabling them to use the pump but had not been able to read the gauges to know how much gas they had left in supply. Since they were going to be gone overnight they left the SUV to get their sleeping bags and came back to find KC sitting in the backseat of the car.

  “KC, what are you doing? It was decided who was going and your name wasn’t mentioned,” Brandon said. KC continued to stare straight ahead and did not answer. Brandon went around to her side of the car but she quickly locked the door before he could open it. “KC, get out of the car right now!” he yelled pounding on the door but she only added to the drama by yelling in return.

  “Going!” she screamed. Then she stabbed her finger toward the front of the car, “Going, Going, going!” Brandon sighed and stepped back unable to deal with a stubborn teenager.

  “Let her go in your place Brandon,” Cami suggested from the other side of the car. “She knows how to fight but I can’t say that I’ll be watching out for her.” She paused, then banged on the window, “You hear that KC? I’m not going to watch out for you!”

  Brandon came around to Cami and objected to the idea, “But that leaves Lucky with three women.”

  Cami put her hand on her gun and turned to face him, “I swear to God Brandon, if you continue to put me into the category of a helpless female I’m going to beat the living crap out of you.”

  Brandon threw his hands up in surrender and backed away, “OK, OK, if it’s agreeable with Lucky then I wish you luck.” They turned to look at Lucky for his approval. Lucky in turn looked at Cami and asked, “You can vouch for her ability to take care of herself?” Cami nodded, “I can.”

  KC unlocked the doors to let everyone in but before getting in the car Roxanne called Brandon back. She took the rawhide off her neck and handed him the key to the back gate. “Why don’t you put this in the ashtray along with the key to the car back there?” Brandon took the key but covered her hand with his before she could pull away. “Thank you Roxanne” he smiled. “This means a lot to us.” Roxanne blushed and pulled her hand away. As she got in the car she noticed that both Cami and Lucky were grinning. She studied both of them then said, “What? Are we going to sit here all day? Let’s get a move on!”

  Roxanne gave orders to Mutt to stay behind but when Brandon turned to walk away he realized that Mutt wasn’t following him. He looked back to see Mutt still standing in the same spot watching the car approach the tunnel where Ed had moved the bus. Brandon walked back and leaned over to scratch Mutt saying, “She’ll be OK Mutt. Lucky will look after her.” Mutt continued to stare as if he were thinking this over and then with a “woof” he turned and walked with Brandon.

  “I didn’t approach the park from this highway so I don’t know what’s around here,” Roxanne said after they had been on the road.

  “The hard part will be ammo,” Cami said. “By now most places will be thoroughly ransacked. Everyone is living on borrowed time now. The last man standing will be the man with the last bullet.”

  “I don’t expect to find anything in the Sports Stores Roxanne”, Lucky interjected. “I’m only going there because of the possibility of arrows and to get Brandon an air mattress. Maybe some sterno cans so Ed doesn’t need to fire up the generators for Sally to cook on the stoves so often. Those generators are our prime asset and should be used carefully since we don’t know how long the gas will last. We need to find more candles and kerosene for our lamps. We’ll start with Pigeon Falls first since that’s a small town and then see how close we can get to Gatlinburg before hitting heavy zombie traffic or the roads are blocked. Anyone going south to get out of Tennessee from this area would have taken those roads.”

  The going was slow, especially because of the trailer that they were towing. Lucky not only had to maneuver the SUV around stalled traffic but had to manage the trailer through too. They did not stop to inspect any of these cars for supplies nor did they stop at the houses they passed. If the search in the town was futile then they would resort to searching as many houses and cars as they could on the way back.

  They found a small shopping center that had a hardware store, sports shop and clothing store and thought it ideal to find all three stores in one place. They were able to get several air mattresses, sterno cans and Roxanne found both recurve and compound crossbows. Celeb said the compound was heavier and good in small places. The back room had some unopened cases of arrows and she was ecstatic about that. She also picked up several books on survival methods, medicinal herbs and more seeds from hardware. They took anything that could be used as a weapon including hoes and pitchforks. The hoes would be good for killing snakes. Cami was disgusted that nothing in the way of ammo was found.

  KC did not get out of the car until they went to search the clothing store. They looked through the window first but everything standing in human form looked to be a mannequin. The door was locked leading them to believe that the place was clear of zombies. Lucky used a tire iron to pry the door open and once in they fanned out, each seeking what was on their list. Cami went directly to the boots, Lucky to men’s shirts and jeans, Roxanne to ladies undergarments but KC went to cosmetics.

  It was when they heard that familiar moan that they all turned at once to find the source. At that moment a zombie tried to push through the racks to reach KC, succeeding in getting one arm and his head through. She quickly drew her knife and with a yell of “HA” stabbed him in the head, wiped her knife off on her pants and continued spinning the rack to select eye shadow. She hadn’t moved an inch. Roxanne and Lucky looked at one another with raised eyebrows then turned to their own shopping.

  Cami took some shopping bags from behind the counter and started filling them with jeans of all sizes, “We’re going to need something to weigh these bags down in the trailer or they’ll fly out.” They heard KC grunting and turned to see her dragging
a mannequin out the door to the truck.

  “Well,” Lucky said, “I think you have your answer to that problem.”

  Cami became more disappointed with each place that they stopped at which did not have ammo, and her attitude was quickly turning sour. “Looks like these places have been picked over Cami, and only trash is left,” Roxanne said.

  “Not just picked over once, but many times,” Cami said. “Someone has hunkered down and is raiding these towns over and over again, probably going a little further out each time. We should be careful since they will consider this area as their home base. They’ve probably been at it from the start and will be getting desperate.”

  “Well, let’s change our plans and go directly to Gatlinburg today instead of tomorrow,” Lucky suggested. But the closer they got to the city, the heavier the pockets of Ze’s became. Lucky was able to drive through most of them but knew that for each zombie he didn’t run over that they would turn and follow the truck. Eventually the stragglers would gather and become a mob. As he reached a crest in the road and could see into Gatlinburg he came to a stop. In silence they all looked down to see that the city was heavily occupied by Ze’s. The streets were filled with them aimlessly wandering, the moans putting chills down their spines.