by Beus, Kris
My strength was matched by this woman who continued pinning me to the wall and pushing her head forward attempting to taste my face. Jaime finally saw the safety and clicked it off. Taking aim she put a bullet in the side of the woman’s head. Once again I witnessed the white eyes die this time instantly. The woman fell to the ground and was without movement or sound. I pulled her off my pallets. We picked all our supplies up and left Zac to fend for himself.
“What a coward,” I muttered under my breath as the thought of the security officer running away entered my head.
Even though the trip was small we were beginning to lose daylight. We hurried the rest of the way to the gate. When we reached the gate they opened it then immediately asked where Zack was.
“Your guard ran away when we were attacked.”
The gate guard didn’t look surprised, but seemed a bit sad at hearing the news. On the way to our lot we passed Timothy who stopped us asking if we required any assistance. I asked if he had any tools and some nails or screws. He said he did and would meet us down at our vacant lot. We reached the spot where our new house was to be constructed. Timothy was quick to respond bringing his tool box and a couple boxes of nails. I began tearing apart the pallets placing the wood away from the center of the lot. Amanda, Jaime, and Timothy helped sorting and before long we had everything in piles ready to go.
I started working on the floor and asked the others to begin building walls for our house. Timothy ran back up the road and came back with three guys which had more wood and metal from around the town. With all of us working flawlessly together it only took a half hour to put all the materials we had together into a nice starter home. The building was small and would require us to once again sleep together. We thanked Timothy who left us returning back to his house. The boards kept us high enough off the ground to prevent heat loss. We all slept next to each other like we had previously so we wouldn’t freeze. Without the constant fear of attack all three of us found it easy to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep the entire night.
Chapter 12
We awoke the next morning to the sounds of gunfire. The horde that stalked our town decided to attack. Quickly Jaime and I rose and ran to the front gate to see if we could offer any assistance. Luckily we didn’t need to stop at the security office since we all had our guns from the previous night on hand. We found out quickly that being security officers meant we were the ones who would go outside the walls and combat any threat. Jaime and I were both let out to help the others who were attempting to quell the attack. As we stepped through the gate the team of security had made progress pushing the evil that hunted us back. They seemed now to just be picking off any of the dead that had not fully retreated.
Within a couple seconds Jaime and I met them on the field awaiting any instructions. We asked how we could help.
Earl was the one leading the group. To our question he quickly replied, “Head that direction and yell if you find anything.”
He was pointing to the left and both Jaime and I headed deeper into the forest. As we lost sight of the group fear began pouring through us. With adrenaline pumping we both became extremely alert to our surroundings. We were moving almost silently and with perfect unison. We walked into a part of the forest which offered a bit more visibility and realized we were not the only ones out there. The dead were alert and ready for a fight. We yelled to Earl, “Over here” which caused the three or four visible zombies to begin running straight at us.
The white eyes shined in the sun. Bringing up my pistol I slowly pulled the trigger taking one out instantly leaving it face down in the dirt. Jaime took aim with her pistol pulling the trigger a little too soon shooting an undead in the shoulder. Luckily the 9 millimeter does not kick off of aim and she was able to shoot once again hitting her target. The undead had closed the distance and the two were upon us. We heard multiple shots out in the jungle dropping the last two right at our feet. After a couple seconds Earl stepped forward and said, “Nice timing huh?”
We both shook our heads very grateful he had reached us in time and we were not forced to resort to melee combat. The sounds in the jungle were becoming quieter. Our group new they were out there, but the remaining stayed deep in the forest not wanting to end up like the others. These dead only attacked when they had the upper hand or at least stood upon equal ground. They reminded me of the ones at the pawn shop who refused to come in the door knowing their death laid in wait. We could hear them travelling, the sounds growing faint as distance between us and them increased.
I looked at Jaime and asked, “You ready to head back?”
Earl and his group had already started back to town leaving us. We followed the group and as we walked through the gate and past the parked trucks I saw one painted with “The Dozer” across the back. Taking a minute to walk around the heavily modified vehicle I saw they added spikes which stuck out from the rims. Walking around to the front of the truck they had taken a snow plow, cutting it in half and welding it onto the truck in such a way it pointed out a couple feet in the center and came back towards the truck on each side. The grill had also been reinforced with steel pipes making it nearly indestructible. A couple guards noticed me looking at the truck and came over excited to tell me about it.
“Looks nice doesn’t it,” The one on the right said.
Laughing a bit I replied, “Hell yea it looks like it would do most of the killing for you.”
Both guards nodded agreeing. The same guard who seemed to be in charge said, “It does well in the city, but is still no rifle.”
At this I was very surprised. Looking at the truck and at them I wondered how they could have gone into a city of millions. My town was full of undead and it had less than a hundred thousand. Wondering I asked, “How often do you guys head into the city?”
Both looked as though they should not have said anything. It was clear by looking at these men they had some terrible experiences. Slowly they looked down then back up at the truck. The one who had kept quite said, “We have lost a lot of good men trying to get into Denver.”
With that they slowly walked back to the gait now silent. The mood in the air had changed dramatically from when they first walked over. Jaime and I slowly walked towards our house trying to figure out what else we needed. The only thing done well was the floor. We headed back out to collect all we could grabbing Amanda who had begun helping Timothy with a power network. For now everything was ran off a small gas generator. Next to the generator were a couple large solar panels which looked like they were torn from a roof or off the side of a building. Timothy was standing over one swearing at it and Amanda looked lost, as she attempted to help him.
There was a few minutes of silence then Timothy looked up knowing exactly what we wanted. “You can’t have her,” he said with a smirk then looked back down at his work.
We sat stunned not sure if he was serious or not. After a few moments without looking back up from the panels he said, “Help us out and I will help get your house going.”
Thankful for any extra help we could get I instantly jumped in with Jaime following right behind me. We held the panels as Timothy attempted to wire them in with the generator so they both fed the archaic electric grid. After twenty minutes of Timothy switching out panels and rewiring the entire system over and over sparks began flying. He grabbed a meter quickly looking to see if the panels were generating electricity, as he looked down his face lit up.
“Finally,” He muttered under her breath speaking more to himself then any of us standing around him.
Standing up we all began walking to the front gate. Once again they sent a guard with us. Grabbing the materials went much quicker knowing most of the undead around the camp had been either killed or scared off. We were able to take our time looking through all the best pieces and Timothy pointing out especially useful items. Hours passed with us making multiple trips and over time more and more people came to help. By the time evening came we had over twenty people buildin
g with us. The house was erected extremely quickly with Timothy and Earl both doing everything they could to help. It felt wonderful knowing not only we had found a home and had become accepted so quickly.
As the sun set, our group was putting in the final additions to our new home. The last piece was a door which looked as though it had been ripped from its frame. Without much trouble we screwed it in place and to my astonishment we had a good sized house with numerous rooms. We followed the group up to the community kitchen which was located by the security office. As we walked in cans were stacked to the ceiling. Every imaginable canned food was available. There was three or four people further in who were all throwing things into different pots. Stacks of metal bowls were right next to the door. I grabbed one and noticed it had been a flat piece of metal pounded until it resembled bowl form.
The smell as I entered the room with the cooks was pretty amazing. I suppose with a town of seven hundred random people someone had to know a thing or two about cooking. I asked the cooks what was on the menu.
The man who seemed to speak for all of them smiled and said, “You are very lucky, they shot a deer yesterday so we are having deer steak stew.”
He filled my bowl and I walked outside finding a stump which was placed along the road. The sun began to fall behind the metal wall and I sat back taking in the moment. Both Jaime and Amanda sat next to me and we enjoyed our first real meal since we began our journey. Everything about the stew was marvelous. We all took our time eating it not wanting this to end quickly. As we finished one by one, each waiting for the others disappointment came across our faces once we finished the stew. Walking back in we cleaned our bowl in the clean water they had for dishwashing. Before exiting we made sure to give our regards to the cooks letting them know the dinner was excellent.
Now full and darkness setting across the town we walked back to our newly built house. It looked like a thrown together death trap, but being part of the construction crew I knew it would hold up. We walked in grabbing our three bags and began dumping all of our things into what would become our living/storage room. The floor was made of boards and the walls mix matched metal. There were three rooms besides the main living room, it had one right behind it, one to the left, and one to the right. Besides being dark and a bit airy the living conditions were much better than what we previously had.
The supplies sprawled across the floor really didn’t look like much especially with all our guns and ammunition now stored in the security office. We began picking rooms, Amanda immediately deciding on the left side. She took all her belongings and two blankets to build a makeshift bed. I took the smallest bedroom right behind the living room leaving the right for Jaime. I helped both the women make their beds then went and built mine out of left overs. As I laid back looking at the somewhat holey roof my mind began wandering. I wondered what type of life I could lead here and if it was the right place. Overall I was extremely happy with the leadership in place and both the brothers who took a somewhat vice leadership role.
Laying back slowly closing my eyes I noticed I could see my breath. It would be a very cold night and there was no one to lay next to for warmth. As the thought crossed my mind I heard some rumbling in Amanda’s room then saw her dark figure in my doorway. In a whisper she asked, “Could I sleep with you? I am freezing.”
I told her yes then not more than a second later I heard a voice from Jaime’s room asking the same thing. I told her to bring her blankets and once again we huddled together for warmth fighting off the freezing October frost. The house provided reasonable cover keeping most of the wind off us. We slept quite well that night, not waking until late in the morning.
When I awoke Amanda remained, but Jaime had already risen. I sat up stretching and hesitant to give up the warmth of the bed. As I stepped out into the street I found the quiet workings of the city very comforting. It was a brotherhood, we were all stuck in the same situation and all wanting our old lives back. Walking up the street in order to get a work detail and perhaps some breakfast I saw Jaime running towards me. She quickly hugged me extremely excited to be given a job. Her first words were extremely jumbled and I could only able to catch a couple.
I pushed her back away from me gently and asked, “What?”
“We are going out on a security scavenge mission today!”
Her eyes lit up, as if this was the first time she had ever had a mission where she was expected to protect others rather than be the one protected.
She looked at me trying calming down a bit and said, “You need to eat, the mission will last all day.”
We walked up to where the kitchen was, I went in and once again there was deer, this time being fried on a propane stove. With it they served a nice mix of baked beans and mixed vegetables. I walked out sitting next to Jaime who was sitting on the stump we had eaten at the previous night. The sun was coming over the wall pushing the chill away. As I ate Jaime sat poised next to me as if thinking “Hurry, Hurry, Hurry”. It was easy to see how excited she was. The breakfast was as good as last night’s dinner. After finishing I walked with Jaime to the security office. I still have my .357 on me, but needed a couple extra rounds.
As we walked in Earl was in the back giving commands to four men who looked well-armed and ready to go. When he saw us he raised his hand giving me a wave to come in with them. As I walked into the room everyone turned and Earl said, “Thank you for joining us this morning. We are heading out on a scavenge mission and the target will be gas, guns, and food. Well pretty much anything you guys find that you think will be helpful for our community. I know this will be your first mission away from the quarry and I hope this doesn’t scare you off.”
Before I was able to speak Jaime answered for me saying, “No not at all.”
The answer seemed to thrill Earl, he gave a chuckle and said, “Good to hear.”
I simply smiled and nodded then stepped forward closer to the other security guards. Earl was showing us a map pointing to a small town to the east. Earl said no one from their camp has even seen the area, so they had no idea how many undead there are. He also instructed us to be watchful of any normal people who would consider our approach on the town as an attack of their ground or look at us as an easy target for a raid. He also handed me my 300 asking if I was any good at range.
“So far I have only killed two men 50 yards out and one took two bullets.” I said this with a little shame knowing a skilled shooter would only use one bullet per kill.
“Excellent, if you have shot down the scope hitting live targets at range that is more than most the men in this town.” As he said this the other men shook their heads in agreement.
He then handed what looked like a 270 to a very grizzled looking man. He wore complete camouflage and handled the rifle as though he had a thousand times over. As Earl handed him the rifle he asked, “I am guessing you want this Aaron?”
The man answered with a smile, “You know it.”
“By the way Aaron is our resident marksman, if you need any training with long range weapons he is the man to speak to.” Earl said giving a wink to Aaron as a sign of respect.
“Ok I will, good to know who will be teaching us.” I was less excited than Jaime, but still enthused to learn.
“You six will be taking two trucks. The Dozer and the white Ford. Since this is your first trip out I want you two split up. Jaime you ride in The Dozer with Arron and Jake you will be behind sniping out of the Chevy.”
As the words fell from Earl, Jaime immediately interjected, “I want to stay with Jake.” The words fell bluntly and confidently.
Earl looked at her and said, “You both need someone with experience in case you get separated. These two have gone out on multiple missions, they know there way around the area and know what to expect when raiding towns. Putting two brand new recruits in the same truck would be asking for disaster.”
As he said this his face showed that he had made this mistake before, and would not change his mind ov
er some mild discomfort on Jaime’s part. We began walking up where all the different trucks were parked. As Aaron jumped in the back of The Dozer with Jaime I felt a bit of jealousy. Not only for being close to her, but also getting to ride in that bad ass truck. It was a massive diesel which roared when the driver turned it over. The white Chevy wasn’t a bad truck, just not nearly as modified for survival. I supposed following that beast would be the safest spot. Anyone dead or living coming to attack would certainly focus that truck over our smaller one. The truck itself screamed “Bring it on!”
With that thought we pulled up to the gate. I had the 300 lying on the roof of the truck and .357 tucked in my beltline. The man next to me had what looked like a Ruger. Even though Earl only let one gun per man plus the two long range rifles he made sure we were set with ammo. Between us all we could easily kill over a hundred.
Chapter 13
Pulling away from the safety of the city was absolutely terrifying. We fought so hard just to reach the quarry and now here we were headed away. It was as if we were now fair game for any danger the world could throw at us. The only thing that held my confidence was knowing the man in front of me standing in the back of The Dozer could kill whatever we saw. As we began down the dirt road, the man with opened a small chest pulling out spotter binoculars. He instantly began scanning the entire forest line looking for any movement. He then pulled out two large machetes which served for melee protection. As I looked through the scope into Aaron’s truck I saw him pointing down to a similar case and Jaime dragging out the same tools.
The dirt road was just as miserable leaving the quarry as coming in. We reached the highway without incident. The drive to the small town would be a couple of hours. The town sat far away from civilization which made it a good target to scavenge. Rolling down the highway with the brisk October air blowing through my hair and the sun beating down on my face for a while took me to another place. Even though I carried my 300 it felt completely different as if perhaps we were going target shooting. Our Chevy pulled off the road quickly following The Dozer. We pulled right up next to them so Aaron and I could speak.