by Diane Butler
“Yes, we know that,” Gene said. “But with both Sally and your dad injured we needed you and Mutt here to protect them.”
They all began to leave the theater when Morgan pulled Roxanne aside. “Had trouble with that one while you were gone,” he nodded toward Caleb. “Wanted to go out and search the grounds. I don’t know what last night’s attack on the park has done to him. I’m afraid he’ll get reckless. Once, when I couldn’t talk him out of it Caleb started to climb the ladder until Mutt grabbed his pant leg and wouldn’t let go,” Morgan grinned.
Roxanne gave him a hug and said, “Last night is still fresh in his mind. You are not alone in raising him anymore Morgan. Everyone here is his family now and will be giving him guidance.”
The walk back to their living quarters was more treacherous than the hike up the mountain and a few of them fell over unseen roots in the dark or tripped over debris. “We’re exhausted,” Brandon said as he picked himself up off the ground. “Morgan, did you and Caleb get any sleep? Can you relieve us this evening?”
Morgan stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. “Are we expecting trouble? I just assumed since everyone is OK that the mission was accomplished. What are you saying? Did you not find them?”
“We found them,” Brandon said as he got everyone walking again. “And we took care of it. It’s not them I’m worried about, it’s the fences. Until we can search the park in daylight we don’t know if they cut other sections of it and there was a large gathering of Ze’s at the back gate. We’ve only temporarily fixed the breaches that we’re aware of but I’m hesitant on all of us going to bed without a spotter on duty.”
Morgan nodded, “OK, we can do that. Can’t guarantee you that we can stay awake all night though, without backup”.
Once they were back to the path that split into different directions Morgan and Caleb peeled off toward the front entrance. After they went through their inner barrier Lucky and Roxanne started to peel off toward her cabin when Brandon spoke up, “Wait a minute you two. Don’t you think you ought to stay in the Admin Bldg. tonight? We don’t know what’s out there in the park and I don’t like the idea of you being separated from the rest of us.”
Lucky had been walking away with one arm around Roxanne’s shoulder. He didn’t miss his stride as he threw up his right hand and gave Brandon the finger. Randy started laughing. “Leave them alone. Don’t think anybody is gonna show up asking for Roxanne again. And what was that all about anyway? I came in late on that.” No one answered him.
Roxanne barely had a candle lit when Lucky took her in his arms and gave her a long kiss. Then he held her to his chest and whispered, “I didn’t know what to do.”
She looked up at him, “What do you mean? You did just fine. The plan worked.”
“No,” he kissed her on the forehead. “I didn’t want you to go with us in case anything went wrong. I didn’t want to watch you die if it did. But I didn’t want to leave you here either, in case the park was hit and you died without me. I would never have forgiven myself either way. I didn’t know what to do.”
Roxanne pulled away from him, “You can’t start thinking like that. You’ll make mistakes and the wrong choices if you think like that. We all have our talents here and work as a team and that is how you must look at us, all of us, as a team.” She stepped up to him and put her hand on his chest. “In this cabin we are Lucky and Roxanne but out there you must continue to see me as a team and nothing more.” He touched her face and looked deep into her eyes seeing that she was emotionally strong about what she had just said. He knew that she would not have become confused over the issue as he had done. A silent agreement was met in their stare until Lucky reached out and began to unbutton her shirt. She smiled as she reached out to unbuckle his belt. “You stink like a man who has been in battle” she whispered.
Morgan stopped at the ladder to the mound after leaving the rest of the group and asked Caleb not to follow him up. “Just let me check a few things first and then I’ll call down to you,” he said as he started climbing. Caleb looked confused but since they had disagreed on most things during the day he decided to keep his peace.
As Morgan topped the mound and the stench hit him he knew it was as he had feared. They had left the bodies of Chen Le’s men as they had fallen, not having the time for clean up before getting their group out of the park unseen. But they also left the bodies for a more evil intent that if another attack was planned by Chen Le perhaps the sight of his dead men would send the message that they were not to be screwed with.
Morgan flattened out and crawled to the edge of the mound to peer below. The zombies had smelled fresh meat and had moved in during the day. There was very little left of the bodies but it was not a sight he wanted Caleb to witness. Dried blood and pieces of bodies were strung throughout the circle with a few zombies still lingering. He was not going to sit up here all night and look at this carnage, nor would he be able to endure the smell. He crawled back to the ladder not wanting the zombies to spot him and become more active.
At the bottom of the ladder he told Caleb, “We’re not sitting up there tonight, I don’t care what Brandon wants.” When Caleb asked why he just sighed and answered, “Because it’s not something that I can stomach and there are Ze’s out there. It’s best they don’t see us. Come on. We’ll walk the fence line and you can practice your shooting with the crossbow if we see any Ze’s. But we won’t be retrieving your arrows tonight. We’ll wait until morning.”
The next day the crew covered their mouth and nose, put on gloves and threw the remaining bodies in the back of the only truck that Randy did not blow up with grenades. This was the mounted machine gun that Gene wanted before he knew that the same type vehicle had entered the back gate. Morgan was unsuccessfully trying to get the bus started not only to bring the vehicle into the park, but to give them access when they wanted to leave. Randy and Cami tossed and kicked debris caused by Randy’s explosion, out of the parking area to allow Gene and Brandon to drive the bodies down to the park entrance and toss them in with the others, now adding human to zombie bodies.
Morgan got out of the bus and approached Lucky, “I don’t think we’ll ever get that bus started,” he said. “They shot it up pretty bad. We would need a tow truck, and one designed for heavy equipment to get that thing out of there.”
“Maybe we can just leave it there,” Lucky said as he walked around it. “It makes a hell of a good barrier. We’ll try to create our own exit, between two buildings perhaps with two wooden doors and put a couple of bars across it.
“I see what you’re saying,” Morgan nodded. “I saw some concrete bags in one of the sheds. I could encase the frame into cement, but the problem would be a road. Only road we know of is the back entrance and we need two exit points. If Ze’s should take that gate down, we need another way out and I’m not talking about driving across a field or through the woods.”
Cami overhead the conversation and came up to them, “That would mean the west side since the east side is where we hiked up the mountain. What about that logging road that Ed was so keen on using? It is on the west side of the fence but it runs north and south. South should take us down to the highway where we’re dumping the bodies.”
At that moment Brandon and Gene came back in the truck and Lucky filled them in on their idea. “Cami, you go with Brandon and Gene back to the highway and see if you can find where that trail comes out. It may be overgrown and hard to spot at first. I don’t remember seeing one, but then I wasn’t looking either. And be careful,” he nodded towards the woods where he saw movement. “Zombies are starting to come in from that direction again.”
Cami got in the back of the truck and stood holding onto the mounted machine gun, “Damn, wish we had ammo for this thing. I’m telling you, we need to get back to that NRA house” she yelled as Gene pulled off.
They had driven a mile when Cami banged three times on the roof of the truck. “Over there,” she pointed. “See the high vo
ltage power lines? There would be a dirt road following them and dirt bikers like to use them for fun. They must cross the highway somewhere and that would be our entrance.”
The power lines crossed the highway further up but they could not see a road. They stopped the truck and got out to walk through the bushes to see if they could pick up any signs of a trail. As soon as Brandon stepped off the road he could see a ditch in front of him. “Nothing is getting through here,” he said. “We wouldn’t be able to cross that ditch and climb onto the road with a vehicle, especially if it had rained.” He looked up to survey the area and saw a farmhouse in an open field. “Let’s try that farmhouse with the barn in the back. Looks like the power lines back up to their property. Maybe access would be easier from that angle.”
They drove to the driveway of the farmhouse and continued driving around to the back of the house to see if any Ze’s appeared. They stopped and let the truck idle while waiting but there wasn’t any movement from the house and the barn door was shut. “Think we ought to check it out?” Gene asked.
Brandon shook his head, “No, maybe on the way back but finding where that gravel road leads at the park fence is our priority right now. Drive around to the back of the barn but take it easy in case there is equipment or tools hidden in this tall grass.”
There was a cleared area leading from the back of the barn as if a tractor always used that route to go out to his fields. They followed it until Cami banged on the roof of the truck again. “I see it. Over to our right and its easy access from here.”
They drove through some dried corn stalks with Cami guiding them as she had a better view from the back of the truck. Then suddenly they were through the wasted crop of years ago and at the site of the trail. Cami yelled for them to hold up and got out of the back. She opened Brandon’s door and said, “Move over, I’m riding the rest of the way with you. The back is getting too rough for me to hold on. I’ll get thrown from the truck if you hit a ditch or something.”
It wasn’t a bad trail although bumpy and wouldn’t make for a quick get-a-way but for an emergency back-up plan it wouldn’t be bad. They were encouraged as they followed it until they crossed under the wires and started driving into the forest toward the park. Then it became dense with the woods brushing up against the truck. In some places there was loose gravel making the truck slide as it tried to get traction. As the forest began to thin out again they came to an area that Brandon was not pleased with.
“This looks like a flash flood area,” he said. “See those banks over there and how they’ve eroded? That was fast moving water that did that and the trail went through here. I can see where it picks up again on the other side. We could get trapped here in rainy season.”
“We don’t know if this is the right trail yet,” Cami said. “Don’t know if this comes out at the park where Ed was clearing land. Let’s keep going. It’s leading away from the power lines at this point and since we can’t see any of these lines from the park we may be on the right road.”
After a short time they started to see zombies, then they started to see strange things in the trees. A wind-chime, a child’s stuffed clown nailed to a tree, various types of shoes hung together on a rope strung between two trees, a Frisbee nailed loosely to a tree so it would turn with the wind, a Japanese parasol looped over a branch. They looked at each other as Gene slowed the truck down to a crawl. Without saying a word they both put their windows up.
A zombie banged on his window but Gene ignored it and kept driving. They passed another wind-chime, a bicycle tire tied to a wire and swaying in the slight breeze while a zombie stood watching it. A “No Trespassing” sign hung on a rope was banging against a tree; more toy dolls and stuffed animals were nailed to trees.
“Do you think the people at the house did this?” Cami whispered, “to attract the Ze’s back here and away from the house?”
“No,” Brandon shook his head. “It’s too far away from the house to be effective.”
“Do you think a hermit lives back here?” Gene asked.
Again Brandon said no. “He would have looted the food at the park a long time ago.” Another zombie banged on Gene’s window and two more began to bang on Cami’s side. “I think you should speed up Gene. The zombies are starting to thicken here.” Gene increased his speed, passing a row of umbrellas scattered in the trees, lampshades hanging by twine, colorful Christmas bulbs that were peeling and chipped from the weather. Cowbells were strung so low that the roof of the truck touched them, sending off sounds of rattles and clangs.
Suddenly Gene threw on the brakes as he saw two old tarps tied across the road. They were shredded from the weather of changing seasons but enough of them still existed to block their view. “I’m not driving through that” Gene said, “Could be a trap on the other side. In fact, since there are zombies coming up behind us, I would say we have already walked into a trap.”
“Ordinarily I would say to get out and blow these suckers away,” Cami said, “but this place creeps me out. Put it into reverse and floor it, Gene.”
She didn’t need to ask him twice. Gene put it into reverse to back over four Ze’s on the trail behind them. Their bodies snapped and tore apart splattering the truck with organs and slime. The truck bounced and jumped over them, throwing them around in the cab. Cami rolled down her window and leaned out to shoot three on her side of the road. As they backed the truck up zombies started to fill the road in front of them, following them out. When they had traveled in reverse all the way to the dried creek bed Gene was able to turn the truck around but not without fear that they would get stuck. When they finally made it back to the corn field he stopped behind the barn and wiped the sweat off his face. “What the hell was that all about Brandon? Can you figure it out?”
Brandon was deep in thought but finally shook his head, “No, it has me puzzled, but I know one thing for sure. We’re not letting this go. We either need to find a way of moving the bus out of the tunnel to continue using it as our main entrance, or we need to find a second access road for escape if the back fence is breached. We can’t leave the vehicles loaded with supplies parked outside the entrance or it could all get stolen and then we would be left with nothing to run on. Come on, let’s go back to the park.”
After the occurrence in the woods no one suggested that they stop to inspect the barn or the house. Cami was thankful that it was conveniently forgotten since she felt the whole place was cursed. She would have helped with the barn although she suspected that they would find a body hanging from the rafters. But if they wanted to search the house, it would be done without her because she did not have any intentions of setting foot across that threshold.
Once they were back on the highway Brandon asked, “Are you two still up for finishing this today? I say we go through the fence where Ed was clearing land and walk the trail back. No truck this time so they won’t hear us coming. I don’t think anyone is back there. I think whatever they were setting up has been abandoned or didn’t work for them and that they are long gone. Are you with me because I’m going to walk that trail only this time it will be from the park side?”
“You’ll need a larger group,” Cami said, not looking at him. “And you can count me out,” she turned to look at him then. “I’m sorry Brandon but there was just too much voodoo going on back there. Take Roxanne, Lucky and maybe Sally.”
“No,” Gene shook his head. “I don’t want Sally mixed up in this. Whether it’s voodoo or just some sick mind, I don’t want her walking into it. I’ll still go with you Brandon,” he said as he pulled off the highway to the park entrance, “and it’s time Randy does more to earn his keep. Roxanne, I’m not so sure of.”
Cami wrinkled her brow and looked over at him, “Why? You think she’ll be freaked out too?”
“No,” Gene shook his head. “I keep thinking of what Ed said when he showed up again. Something like, ‘This is your place’ or ‘You own this place.’ Think about it. Roxanne has been in the thick of t
hings ever since we got here. She has never stopped fighting beside us and in fact, had to fight KC to stay alive. She and Lucky couldn’t have fought off Chen Le all alone but she was the first one to say that we needed to go after them and attack them first. She’s always leading, always raiding, always attacking and now we’re going to ask her to cover our back because we have the heebie-jeebies?”
“I don’t see Roxanne that way,” Brandon said. “I see her as a team player when needed, but also someone who has isolated herself from the human race. She’s an individual who can survive on her own and a force to be reckoned with if you invade her territory.”
Cami shook her head, “You’re both wrong. Now that she has hooked up with Lucky she realizes that she’s still human. And will start making mistakes.”
When Brandon approached the group with his idea of walking the trail he only mentioned the strange items hanging from the trees and that an accumulation of zombies forced them out. Sally thought the plan was misdirected. “That can’t be the only other way out of the place,” she said. “We have missed something. A park this big would have more than a front entrance and one service road. I say forget the logging trail and let’s advance further into areas of the park that were destroyed and we ignored.”