by Gallier, TW
"Hands behind your back," I said.
He looked left, right, and then at the shotgun. His hands slowly moved back. I carefully cuffed the right wrist, and then yanked it back along with the left and finished cuffing him.
"God damn, that scared the shit out of me," I said, moving away from him. "Keep the gun on him."
I freed Ralph. Olivia kept the shotgun on him, while Ralph and I grabbed his arms and headed for the house. Once inside, I realized it was a lot bigger and nicer than I anticipated. The ceiling was a long arch. It looked like we were inside of a giant metal culvert. Just inside the door were a couch and two chairs. Past that was a small kitchen complete with small fridge, stove, and oven. He even had a microwave. The inside was lit by LED lights.
"How do you have electricity?" I demanded after making him sit on the couch.
"This house is shielded against EMP," he said. "I also have five wind turbines scattered around my property, with their cables buried underground. Everything is energy efficient, so it doesn't take much."
"This guy's like a super prepper," Ralph said. "There are four bunks past the kitchen. What's behind the door past the bedroom?"
"Storage. Food."
He sounded dejected and bitter. I didn't blame him. He probably thought we'd kill him and take possession of his house and everything he worked so hard to build before the apocalypse. All that work for nothing.
"Olivia, give Ralph the shotgun," I said. "Ralph, Olivia and I are going to check the place out. Don't let him off that couch."
"My pleasure."
Olivia gave up the shotgun reluctantly. "I call dibs on the shotgun."
I took her by the hand and hurried to the storage room. Once inside, I closed the door and whirled around on her.
"Are you crazy?" I said. "Do you know the chance you took out there? He's crazy, and he wants you so bad it hurts."
"It worked."
"Doesn't matter. Promise me you'll never use your feminine charms on a guy again. If it goes wrong then… I can't even think about it. My brain shuts down."
She hugged me. "Thank you for caring, but it's about time being a woman worked for me instead of against me." She smiled, before shaking her head. "Besides, I wasn't throwing myself at him. He thought I needed to go to the bathroom."
"I saw the look on his face," I replied. "He planned to take you somewhere else after you finished."
"I know, but it all worked out," she said. Olivia looked past me. "Is that an open gun safe?"
To call it a gun safe didn't do it justice. Our would-be captor had an armory. I saw a pair of Uzi submachine guns, an AR15, four AK47 assault rifles, and lots of pistols. There were half a dozen other makes and models of assault rifles, none of which I'd seen before. There were hunting rifles and shotguns, too, as well as high-end compound bows. Our pack was dumped out before the gun locker, with our weapons sorted out to the side.
"We'll leave here better armed than we arrived," I said. "And with more ammo."
If anything, he had even more ammo than weapons. He had crates of ammo. The storage room was mostly full of "survivor food." Lots of freeze dried and other long lasting foods. He even had stacks of both C-Rations and MREs in one corner. There were shelves of neatly folded clothes, sheets, blankets, and spare kitchen utensils. Pretty much anything he'd need to survive for years.
"Let's make sure both ATVs are running first. If they are, then we can take more with us," I said.
"I'll check them out," she said, pausing only to give me a quick kiss before rushing through the door.
I separated out the ammo we'd need. 12 gauge shotgun shells. Ammo for the M16A2s. We had enough for the M1911 pistols since we didn't use them much. And finally, more as an afterthought, I checked the AR15.
"M16A1" I said. My heart skipped a beat. "I bet it's full auto." I grinned. "It's mine."
I heard one of the ATVs start up. Olivia gunned the engine a few times, before turning it off. It was a beautiful sound. My feet were grateful.
I returned to the kitchen and checked the fridge. The bottom shelf was filled with cans of beer. You know I was tempted. Otherwise, it was mostly empty.
"I found something interesting," Ralph said. He held up a folded map. "State map. Olivia is right. Pla…" He glanced at the man. "Our destination isn't as far away as I thought. I think we could be there by morning if we traveled all night."
Unfolding the map, I found Plano. Our location was marked with a red X. I got a chill seeing how close our home town was from us. I thought his estimate on time more than a little optimistic, but I was quite pleased.
"Provided both ATVs are running," I replied. Almost on cue Olivia cranked the second ATV and gunned the engine a few times. "Hey, mister, do you have gasoline?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Don't need it," he said. "I don't have anything that runs on gas."
Olivia walked in as he answered. "Shame. Both are kind of low, with about a quarter of a tank."
That was enough to get us away from him. Gas stations were abundant, though we no longer had the pump. Getting that gas out and into our tanks would prove challenging.
I took the man to the bunks, and then tied his legs together. Then I tied him down to the bed. With him secure, we started loading up the ATVs. Our rifles went into the rifle cases, after we moved the extra case off the three-wheeler and mounted it on the four-wheeler. Why should Ralph get to have two? My old M16A2 went in the case, and we'd keep the M16A1 out for quick use. We filled the pack up with food, and the three storage cases on the ATVs with ammo.
We were feeling good. We talked about finally reaching home. All I could think about was seeing my family. So we were almost giddy by the time it was time to leave, which was early evening. I estimated about an hour before sunset.
"Tell you what we're going to do, mister," I said to the man. "Oh, what's your name?"
"None of your business."
"Okay. I don't really care," I replied, with a shrug. It did kind of tick me off. "We're going to lock all of your weapons in the store room, so that you have to break the door open to get to them. That'll give us time to escape."
"You're going to untie me?"
"Not exactly," Olivia said. "But we are going to tie you up looser, so with some struggling you can work yourself free."
"That's right," I said. "We’re not as dumb as Ralph looks."
"I’m right here," Ralph said.
"We know," Olivia replied, grinning.
All we did was remove the handcuffs, pull his hands around front, and loosely tie them. It wouldn't take more than a few minutes to get free, and a few more minutes to break into the store room. By that time the ATVs will have taken us beyond any danger from him.
"Good luck to you, mister," I said.
He started struggling immediately. We rushed out and jumped onto the ATVs.
"I'm the driver," Olivia said.
"Not this time, sweetheart," I said with a grin. I started the four-wheeler up. "Hang onto the M16 and wrap your arms around me."
Ralph led the way into the breach through the thorn patch. We tore out of there as fast as we could. The whole way I waited for that shot from the prepper. It never came.
Chapter 17
We traveled cross country, only taking to the roads when the forest blocked our way. The trip to the highway took over an hour, mostly due to frequent stops to cut our way through barbed wire fences. It was full dark by the time we reached it.
That highway was almost a straight shot down to Plano from there. Our home town was about ten miles off the highway.
Zombies were wandering down the highway, but only in small groups. I was sure there were more we couldn't see in the dark. All were easy to bypass on the ATVs. The gas station was another matter. Our gauges were on empty by the time we reached it, and there were zombies in the station and coming down the service road toward it.
Stopping on the overpass above the gas station, we considered our options.
Every zombie within sight was heading toward us. I counted about a dozen just in the lone gas station. The moon hadn't come up yet, so it was pretty dark.
"Let's wait until just before they reach us, and then zip down to the station," I suggested. "One of us can be guard and shoot the closest walkers while the other two find a garden hose to siphon gas."
During the trip from the prepper's house, Olivia and I decided a garden hose the only thing a gas station might have that would be the right diameter and length. Ralph didn't argue the point.
"I'll stand guard," I said. "I never got the hang of siphoning."
There was no argument. The zombies were upon us. I put it in first and hit the gas. Ralph followed. I squeezed between two groups, and then Olivia rose up behind me and opened fire. She made good use of full automatic, too. That woman went through two magazines in nothing flat, and then we were past them.
After parking next to the three steel caps to the underground tanks, Ralph and Olivia went to work sorting out which was the unleaded tank and getting it open. I moved back to the ditch next to the service road and settled down for some sharpshooting. The zombies were still far enough away I could pick them off one at a time. Full auto would overheat my barrel and waste ammo at this point.
After a while I heard Ralph, "Fuck this. We're idiots."
"What?" I called.
"We have to have a pump," Olivia said. "To siphon the ATVs have to be lower than the underground tank's gasoline level."
I felt so stupid. Any ten year old probably knew that. We'd been using a pump all along, until we abandoned it with the jeep. Before I could respond, they were pushing the ATVs to the nearest parked car. There were three cars left at the gas station.
It took them a few more minutes of cursing and accusations, but my friends figured it out. They had to siphon into a five gallon gas tank they got out of the station's store, and then fill up the ATV tanks.
"Hurry up! Walkers are getting thicker than flies over here!"
So many were coming toward us I worried about breaking through them. Quite a horde was forming as they converged on us. I concentrated my fire to the south in an effort to keep that path open.
ATV engines revved up. Ralph passed by me, heading toward the south at full speed. Olivia stopped next to me.
"Hop on back. I'm driving now," she cried.
No time to argue. I got behind her, leaning over to the right to shoot around her. That way the brass was ejected away from us. With Ralph in front of us and the ride bouncy, I couldn't shoot much, but I did what I could.
Walkers turned to close the gap behind Ralph. Olivia veered to the right, skirting the treeline dangerously close. That forced me to move the M16 to the other side and shower her with hot brass.
"Sorry."
"I'm fine!"
She plowed through a small group, sending two flying over us and the others grabbing at our arms. I almost lost the rifle when one grabbed the barrel. I lashed out with a foot to the chest, and she went tumbling away.
And we were clear.
"Wahoo!" Olivia cried.
"I just realized you lost your helmet," I said.
"Wow. I lost it back at the prepper's house," she said as she guided the four-wheeler back onto the road. "Are you already taking me for granted? What color are my eyes?"
"Black and blue if you don't watch where you're going."
Distracted, she almost ran into an abandoned car. She swerved, clipped two zombies, and fell in far behind Ralph. The three-wheeler was a good hundred feet ahead of us.
"Oops."
She gave it the gas to catch up to Ralph. I leaned in, pressing my lips close to her ear.
"The most beautiful shade of brown I've ever seen."
Olivia smiled, but said nothing.
The night went by mostly uneventful. We passed through a few hordes that stretched across the highway, but we came up behind them so fast the zombies didn't have time to react. The M16 opened up a hole pretty nicely, and we led Ralph through every time. We did spend almost as much time off the hardtop as on it. For some reason zombies seemed to prefer walking on the road.
A little after 2 AM, we stopped for more gas. We didn't need a gas station as long as there were abandoned cars on the road. And then a few hours later we were stopped by the biggest horde of the night. I didn't see how we'd get through it.
"Turn around," I said. "We're close enough that I recognize where we are."
"Where to?" Ralph asked.
"My family's farm."
I told them the last overpass was a county road that passed by my family's farm. No one lived there. My parents' house in town was nicer, but they wanted to retire on the farm so didn't sell it after my grandparents died.
My body was all tingly thinking about it. Ralph and Olivia looked excited, too. None of us had been home since Christmas. That seemed so long ago. Hell, the zombie apocalypse was only three weeks old, yet it felt like a lifetime.
The farm was a special place. All holidays were celebrated at the farm when my grandparents were alive. Even after they passed, the Big 3 were still celebrated there: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Independence Day.
The county road was a long, dark corridor through the forest for the first few miles. Then it opened into farm country. In the past, I could see the lights of Plano from there. I looked for the town's huge water tower's blinking red light. It was painted white, so I spotted it in the bright moonlight. Plano and the farmland that surrounded it were all dark. Not a single light was to be seen.
Anticipation was making me crazy as we approached the farm. The house, barns, and outbuildings were all intact. Olivia and Ralph came to skidding stops in the gravel-covered farm yard, right in front of the dark house.
Anyone inside would know someone was there. Not wanting to be shot as road warriors, I called out.
"Hello! Mom! Dad! It's Kyle!"
Nothing. No response. No shambling zombies coming out of the woodwork, either.
It wasn't a working farm anymore. There were no crops in the fields. There should've been a tractor parked next to the barn, but it was missing. My parents didn't keep livestock since they needed tending.
It was deadly quite. Not exactly the homecoming I was wishing for. Still, it was better than finding a zombie infestation there.
Better yet, the farm was on high ground with a great view of the town below. There was just one problem. When I lifted the binoculars to my eyes to look Plano over more closely, searching out my childhood home first, I saw them. Zombies.
Chapter 18
"That sucks greasy monkey balls," I said.
"My worst nightmare is coming true," Olivia said. "Ralph, is that your house that's burned down?"
Ralph just looked grim as we looked down upon our hometown through binoculars.
"There aren't very many zombies," I said.
Seeing Plano abandoned to the zombies sucked all of the hope out of me. Exhaustion swept through me. I went through so much just to arrive too late.
"I blame those fuckers in Emory," Ralph muttered. "If they hadn't captured and enslaved us we'd have gotten home two weeks ago."
He was right. We might've made it home before the zombies descended upon our families and friends. Maybe not, but I chose to believe we could've made a difference.
"Just because the town's empty doesn't mean everyone is dead," I said. They were most likely dead, but there was a slim chance they figured it out in time. "Let's do a quick search of the farm, maybe get a couple hours sleep, and then sneak down there after dark."
"Daylight, dark, does it really matter?" Olivia asked.
Truth was, I was afraid of what I'd find down there. After trying for so long to get there as quickly as possible, now I wanted to delay.
"It doesn't. I'm just so tired," I said. "I expected… I don't know what I expected."
They nodded. M
y friends looked as dejected as I felt. So we searched the barn first. Dad's Chevy Blazer was gone. That gave me hope that they were able to drive away to safety. Of course, I was kind of hoping to use it, too. The barn didn't have anything of use to us, so we checked the other outbuildings, working our way back to the farmhouse.
The Holt Family farmhouse was a two hundred year old log cabin that was expanded over the years. Only one corner was logs, the rest looked like a wood frame house. It didn't have indoor plumbing until the early 60s, or AC until the mid 70s. Even to that day there were only three window units in it. My father installed a heat pump window unit for the kitchen, dining room, and den. And the two back bedrooms each had a window unit. My parents didn't plan to move in until after a renovation and adding central heat and air, which they planned to fund with the sale of the house in town.
We hid the ATVs in the overgrown shrubbery behind the house, and entered through the kitchen door. The house wasn't broken into, so everything looked like the last time I saw it. Once we conducted a search, just to be sure, we hauled all of our weapons and ammo inside. We made sure all of the doors were locked before deciding on a guard rotation.
Ralph took first watch. I took second. Olivia got the last watch. That way both of my friends could have uninterrupted sleep. After her watch, we were all pretty much rested and ready to go. It was coming up on 1 PM.
"I was thinking," Olivia said as we loaded everything back onto the ATVs.
"Oh god, shoot me," Ralph cried.
"Don't tempt me," she said. "There are still zombies down in town. They will hear our engines as we approach."
"Good point," I replied, glancing toward town. The water tower was visible from the backyard, but nothing else. Plano was spread across two hills, with downtown in the middle. "I think most of the zombies are in the downtown area, so if we approach behind one of the hills I think we can get pretty close before they hear us."
"You're point?" Ralph asked.
"We approach the city slowly, keeping our noise level down as much as possible," I said. The ATVs were pretty quiet at low speeds. "And then we leave our rides by the water tower."