by Diane Butler
“Where you coming from son?” Gene asked the boy who looked to be about twenty0 years of age.
“Coming out of PA. Me, my older brother and two of his friends decided we weren’t going to spend another winter in PA. Got as far as Knoxville on our motorcycles and then a gang of thieves and murderers jumped us in the night. I was the only one to make it…,” he voice cracked. “Was out hunting for a rabbit I saw in the brush. Know I shouldn’t have left the group but I’m good with a knife and hadn’t eaten in a couple days. I crawled off, tracking it and that’s when the rest of them were attacked and killed. I couldn’t do anything for them. There were eight of them and just one of me and there’s no way I could have picked them all off before they got me. They come looking for me since there were four bikes and they only killed three by the campfire.” He bit into the peach and wiped the juice off his chin with his sleeve.
“Sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous or excited. I only had the ammo in my revolver because they took my backpack. I picked this one up and some odds and ends along the way but that backpack had everything I needed in it, especially my knives. I’m real good with a knife. Can hit an apple off your head without touching your hair. Always wanted to be a knife thrower in a carnival. Studied and practiced the craft since I was a kid.”
“But why would you head south?” Gene asked. “The theory is that the zombies would be less active up north and perhaps die off in the cold. North is where we were heading before we found our place.”
“Didn’t happen like that. All it did was equal the playing field and not in your favor. In fact it gave them the advantage because they don’t feel cold. Hard to run when your feet are so cold that you can’t feel them hitting the ground. I was out in a blizzard and had to turn my back to the wind to keep the sleet from hitting my face and walked backwards. But they kept coming. Nothing kills them except a head shot. I’ve seen them on fire, seen them fall from a 4-story building and get back up, and seen them caught in a flash flood and get back up. How many are in your group?”
“Eight of us, you make nine,” said Brandon.
“Oh…..” Randy sounded disappointed. “Oh….that’s not good. Not for gangs like the one I ran across or the herds that I kept circling and backtracking from.”
“We may need to revise our evacuation plan,” Gene said. “Especially if north is out of the question.”
“Not going to be an evacuation for me,” Cami said. “I’m done. I’m not running anymore. The park is well protected and we now have the ammo, will have more if we could make that second run back to the NRA house. We have fishing in the ponds and rivers, plants coming up, our borders are fortified and if we could find some farm animals…”
“Chickens!” Gene interrupted.
“…then we have the foundation of a good beginning,” Cami continued. “I will die defending the place, but I’m not evacuating. This is the end of the road for me.”
Everyone was surprised to hear Cami say that. They had all felt that way at one time or another, feeling as if they just couldn’t go on. But they always went through the motion of pretending it was better someplace else, always had a backup plan, an exit door.
At that point Randy became nervous as he watched all four of them pull their handkerchief up over their nose as if they were thieves in the old world getting ready to rob a store. “What….?”, then the odor hit him as they turned off the highway onto a long entrance of some sort. He quickly pulled up his shirttail to cover his nose and mouth, “Jez, what kind of place are you people living in?”
The sun was just coming up when Brandon climbed the tunnel ladder to relieve Morgan and Caleb. Caleb would manage to stay awake for the first two hours, but Morgan usually had to wake him before their relief showed up. He knew the boy didn’t want anyone to find him asleep since he was trying to show everyone that he could be relied upon as an adult.
“Anything to report?” Brandon asked.
“Yeah, we think we saw a car,” Caleb said. Brandon stopped and looked at Morgan.
“Wasn’t sure but it looked like car headlights way off in the distance. Then it turned like maybe it was going to come up the entrance drive. Lost sight of it for a while but then I thought I saw it back on the highway again.”
“Maybe we should put a sign at the entrance,” Brandon said. “We don’t want to chase people off who can help. Randy’s story about that gang has me worried. He’s right. We need a bigger force. We’re going to have a meeting tonight to discuss that and change our destination if we need to evacuate. I was going to suggest that you forget tonight’s shift and join, but if you saw a car last night then maybe we better keep you up here again tonight.”
As Morgan and Caleb were walking back in the breaking dawn they could already smell breakfast of squirrel and goose eggs. Morgan almost broke his stride when he saw Lucky come out of Roxanne’s cabin. “What’s wrong, Dad. Did you trip over something?” Morgan looked down at the ground trying to hide his smile, “No…no son I didn’t trip.”
Lucky caught up with them and asked if he could join them for breakfast. Apparently the scene was also noted by Caleb, “How is Roxanne, Lucky? Is she better this morning?” he asked.
Morgan was struggling to hold his laughter when Lucky answered, “Why yes Caleb. Roxanne is much better this morning.” Morgan burst into laughter, patted Lucky’s shoulder and said, “I’m glad to hear that. Very glad to hear that, Lucky.”
Caleb gave them both a confused look, “What? What did I say?”
They let Randy sleep in that day knowing what an ordeal he had been through. None of them had forgotten what it felt like when they had first arrived. You needed a couple of days to adjust to living without the constant fear of losing your life. They remained alert and diligent but the horror of it was more bearable while living behind fences and barricades. Sometimes they felt that they had had a normal day and could push the thought to the back of their mind that humans were being hunted as food.
After Randy was up, filled with a breakfast and given a bucket to wash in, he sought out Sally inquiring as to the type of knives that were in the cafeteria. “I’d like to find three of a similar design for quick non-stop action. Needs to be a smooth handle of solid weight because lightweight knives will wobble after being thrown. Then I need to visit Morgan in the tool shed because I can throw hatchets too, hell I can throw anything with a sharp point and good balance to it. Those suckers stole my knife belt. I had everything I needed hanging off that belt.”
Sally had stood listening to him in silence and then shifted her glance to Cami who was standing off behind Randy. Cami shrugged her shoulders and made a motion with her hands to shoo them toward the kitchen. Sally turned to lead Randy away, saying, “Okay?”
That night Randy was starting to feel like a part of the group as his knowledge and information was sought during the meeting. His older brother seldom listened to his suggestions although he was admired for his strength and accuracy in knife throwing.
“I would have liked for Morgan to be here since only he, you Roxanne and you Lucky were not with us when we picked up Randy”, Gene said. He went on to tell them of Randy’s experience with Ze’s in the north and of the killing of Randy’s brother and friends. “This leads me to think that we should make some additional plans and change others. We need additional people to fortify our group, but how can we tell who to let in?”
“I’m street smart,” Cami said. “You should let me talk to them first.”
Lucky was silent, struggling to keep his past life in the past knowing that some people would think he was part of the cause of the ZA. Finally he spoke up, “I think between Cami and I that we should be the first to greet new visitors at the door. If you’re wondering why me, it’s because I was Secret Service. And no, I did not know that this was going to happen.”
At that moment the door opened and a confused Morgan stood there. “Morgan, is anything wrong?” Brandon asked.
“Uh……Ed just pulled up to th
e front gate………and he said he’s not leaving without his wife.”
“Wife”? Sally whispered.
Morgan’s eyes took in the group and settled on one person. “Roxanne.”
All eyes turned to Roxanne. They remained in silence as Roxanne nervously fingered the hilt of her knife. “But we were told that you arrived first,” Sally said. “Or was that a con too, Lucky?” she turned to him. “You tried to con me about Roxanne’s knife wound. Were you still at it when we first arrived here?”
“No one was conning you, Sally,” Roxanne stood up. “I did arrive alone and had been alone on the road and here for almost a month. Let’s just say that I obtained a divorce ZA style along the way. Right now the issue is Ed and that only Caleb is left on the wall.”
“Mutt is with him,” Morgan said, “but I think we should probably go.”
Everyone including Randy climbed the wall to look down on Ed who was waiting by his car. ‘This is getting good’, Randy thought. ‘These people still have real lives with normal issues.’
Ed stepped away from the car and yelled up to Roxanne. “Roxie, you gotta’ let me in!”
She looked down at him. “And why should I do that Ed?”
“Because you run this place. You own this place! It’s yours and they know it. Come on Roxie! Tell them to let me in!”
Suddenly Lucky grabbed Cami’s arm and whispered, “The back gate! Damn it! He’s a decoy. Let’s hustle.” He motioned to Brandon to follow them. “Let’s get the car. It’s too far to run and they’re probably already working on the chain and lock.” Gene overheard them and nodded his agreement to the plan.
“OK, Roxie!” Ed continued to divert their attention. “If you won’t let me in then come out and join me. We made a good team. We’ll hit the road again and find a better place.”
They ran to the truck and each threw in a satchel equipped with ammo for the weapons they carried. While Lucky drove, Cami and Brandon began putting additional ammo in their clothing in case they could not get back to the truck for more. “They don’t know the layout of the park, which is in our favor,” Lucky said as he drove without the headlights on. “I’ll pull up to the bike trail tunnel and we’ll go by foot through that. It will bring us out at the petting zoo and we’ll get a clear view of the gate. Fan out when we come out of the tunnel, don’t stay in a group. Use the high grass and sheds as cover.”
“Maybe this is the group that Randy was talking about,” Brandon said as they got out of the truck to run through the tunnel.”
“Maybe,” Lucky said. “But depending on how many there are I’d like to take one alive so we can question him as to whether more are camped out in the vicinity.”
They came out of the tunnel to see that the gate had already been cut and that a truck was driving through. Lucky ran ahead through the tall grass with Cami fanning to his left and Brandon to his right. Lucky knew he couldn’t let that truck get further into the park and jeopardize a battle with the rest of the group. He could see two men in the cab of the truck and one in the bed behind a machine gun that was mounted on the frame. He threw himself to the ground to avoid being seen by the headlights as the truck swung around to follow the service road, and then took aim at the driver who had his window down.
The sound echoed throughout the countryside when Lucky pulled the trigger, followed by rapid gunfire from the mounted machine gun. Gene had kept Ed busy talking so he wouldn’t notice that part of the group was missing from the entrance but there was no mistaking that a gun battle was taking place. Roxanne made a dash for the ladder but Gene grabbed her arm and stopped her. “No, they could be trying to draw us away from the entrance, knowing that we would all rush to gunfire. Let’s wait and see if headlights appear on the highway below.”
“Jesus Gene,” Roxanne said trying to pull her arm away as she continued to hear gun fire. “That’s a heavy gun fight going on back there. Let me go.”
“Car coming!” Morgan shouted. “Caleb, you and Randy go to the shed below for rifles and ammo and bring them up. Then I want Caleb to go the Admin Bldg. and wait for me there.” “No, dad. I want to stay and fight” Caleb objected.
Gene interjected, “Morgan, if I may? Caleb, after you bring up the weapons I want you to go down and make sure no one comes through that bus. You know what we had planned. You know where the cord is that we strung the grenades on. If anyone comes through on that bus it means we were no longer able to defend it. Do you understand me?” Caleb was wide eyed with the implication, but he nodded agreement. “You blow it then you take your dirt bike and go through that portion of the fence that Ed had been clearing. Use the dirt trail and get as far away as you can.
“Shit” Morgan said. “Make that two vehicles coming in.” At that moment Ed jumped in the car and released the trunk latch, allowing two men to jump out.
The truck slowly rolled to a stop after Lucky shot the driver but the man at the machine gun hardly paused before opening fire. Cami and Brandon flattened out in the tall grass as bullets whipped through the area around them. The man in the passenger seat jumped out and fired a few shots over the hood into the darkness not knowing where the shooter was. Another man not previously seen jumped out of the truck bed and hid behind the fender yelling out, “Hold up. We don’t know what we’re shooting at. Lenny, keep using the machine gun as cover fire as we fan out.”
Since Brandon had moved to the right he was closest to the open gate when he saw movement, nothing more than shadows, along the chain links. It was a second group of what looked like four more men dressed in black, very silent and very quick. Brandon decided to concentrate on those four while Cami and Lucky took care of the truck. If this second group was undetected by them then Cami and Lucky could easily be surrounded. He quickly took out one man with his rifle but the other three immediately flattened into the grass and were lost from sight. Brandon crouched and ran to a small shed where he could stand up and get a better view. He studied the grass in the moonlight until he saw one section swaying, coming directly toward him. He calculated and took aim to where a person’s head would be if lying down in the grass before he pulled off another shot. The grass stopped moving, but he could not see the same pattern elsewhere and became concerned that the other two were creeping up on Lucky. He moved to the other side of the shed to get a better view of Lucky’s position.
When Cami heard the man’s order given to lay down cover fire she immediately sprayed a round of bullets into the body of the truck, forcing the men to hide behind it again. Unfortunately that brought her position to the attention of the machine gunner and bullets began to wiz all around her. She heard a couple of rapid shots from Lucky’s direction and took the opportunity to crawl behind a shed for more cover. Each time Lucky drew fire she would roll out from behind the shed and lay down more fire at the machine gunner until she finally saw him topple over. That left the two men behind the truck, that is if they were still there and had not moved off into the woods. She reloaded then came out running to her left to swing a wide circle around the truck.
Lucky saw Cami make an assault on the truck after taking down the gunner. Not knowing where Brandon was he made the same wide circle to the right of the truck, looking for the man who had previously given orders. Lucky was just coming out of the tall grass and onto the asphalt road when he heard the crunch of gravel behind him. He swung around to see a hooded man in black raising his arm to stab him when a shot rang out, tearing through the man’s throat. He looked up to see Brandon in the distance frantically pointing toward Cami. Another man in black was approaching her from behind but was upon her before Lucky could fire. Cami must have felt his approach at the last moment because she turned in time to throw up her gun and block his arm, then hit him in the face with the butt of her rifle. The man went down behind the tall grass and Lucky saw Cami continue to pound the butt of her gun into what he assumed was the guy’s face.
Brandon caught up with Lucky and they both ran over to Cami. “There are still two,” Lu
cky said. “These two were not in the truck.”
“No,” Brandon said, “They were outside the fence and came in when you and Cami were laying down fire on the truck. There’s been gunfire at the front gate for a long time too.” At that point they heard screams in the woods nearby and single shots rang out. Brandon turned to look back at the gate and saw that zombies were starting to come through. “Lucky, come with me to hold off the zombies while Cami backs their truck up to the gate. It is only a temporary solution, but we need to get back to the front entrance. I don’t think we need to worry about those other two right now.”
The plan was for Gene to shoot out the window of the car as it entered the circle and when the occupants abandoned the vehicle that Sally, Roxanne and Morgan would pick off the stragglers. But they hadn’t expected a machine gun to be mounted on the cab of a truck, nor at the speed in which it approached. As the truck came into the circle it turned so the machine gun could take out all the windows in the bus. The night was filled with the sound of breaking glass; of bullets hitting metal and everyone flattened into the grass before being able to fire off a single shot.