“Thank you. That’s good of you. Will you have enough men to go on ahead Danny?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, we have enough, Adam are you sure?” Jacks asked walking towards Adam.
Lee and Tom came around the corner slowly in two trucks and the rest of the survivors got in. To go from a full camp to less than fifty people was heart breaking.
“Yeah all is good. If I go back with them then the people back at camp will let us in. If I don’t then they may not let them enter.” Adam explained his thoughts behind volunteering to leave us.
“Ok man, be careful ok. I don’t need Amelia on my back cause you’ve gone and gotten yourself bitten” I joked, but he knew that I cared about him and this was my way of saying it.
“Love you too George” he hugged me hard and jogged over to the first car.
“Let’s go!” he hopped in and tapped at the door through the open window.
I watched as they drove away, and for some reason I felt better knowing that Adam was headed home. Now I just needed to find Billy and the Captain and take them home.
“You ready George?” Jacks called, already heading to our car.
“Yes sir” I replied joining him.
We carried on our journey mostly in silence, horrified by what had happened to camp two and more eager than ever to find our friends safe.
“John, pull over here, we are about half an hour away from our camp. We have to go off road again. There is no safe place for us to view this camp.” Jacks’ voice woke me from a light sleep.
I stretched and looked around, all seemed quiet. Opening my water bottle that I had placed on the seat by the side of me I took a long drink.
“Have you noticed anything strange?” Jacks asked, his question didn’t seem to be directed at anyone.
“Not really, but I just had a small nap” I told him honestly.
“Yeah, we haven’t seen any zombies.” John replied.
“Jacks, come in Jacks” the radio crackled, from the men in the truck behind us.
“Jacks here, what’s up?”
“We have someone approaching our truck”
“Dead?”
“No, living. The infrared camera is picking it up. Two bodies coming towards us slowly.”
“Ok, understood. Be prepared for an ambush, driver stays in the car, the rest of you out. Over” Jacks replied.
“Same here, John stay in, keep the engine running in case we need to get away. George, you’re with me.”
I pulled my gun out of my bag and checked that it was loaded. Then hopped out of the car. It was surreal how easy and natural this now came to me.
No words were used, just hand movements. Jacks indicated that he wanted me to go one way and that he would go the other. John stayed in the jeep. We stood with two men facing one way, two the other way.
The bushes facing Jacks and I started to rustle, the man from the back stealthily moved around, pointing his gun towards the sound. My heart raced, adrenaline pumped through my body. I tried to steady my shaking hand as I aimed my weapon out in front of me. “Please don’t shoot” a disembodied voice came from the bush.
I knew that voice, but couldn’t place it straight away.
“Throw out any weapons you have and come out with your hands up” Jacks called out in a menacing voice.
“We are unarmed, there is only myself and this child. Please. We need help “the voice begged.
The voice finally clicked, “Lewis?” I called out, now certain that the man in the shrubbery was my old friend.
“Yes, who’s that?” he asked poking his head out a little.
“Oh my God, Lewis its George you’re safe man. Put your weapons down” I called out as he came out of the bush pulling a small boy behind him. He was smiling like an idiot whilst also checking out the guns pointed at him.
“Put the guns down” I said through gritted teeth. “This is John’s partner”
“John? Is he here?” I could see the hope light up Lewis eyes.
“He’s right there” I pointed to our car.
Lewis broke into a run “John? John?” he got to the car as John got out, they flung themselves at each other hugging kissing and crying. The little boy had followed him and when Lewis realised he pulled him into the hug too.
“Alright then, let’s set up a perimeter and find out what he knows.” Jacks instructed the men. Who nodded and got to work quickly.
“Lewis? Can you tell us what happened? Where are the Captain and the rest of your team?” Jacks asked, interrupting the happy re union.
“We were ambushed just before we got to the camp. Most of our team succumbed to the zombies. The Captain, Billy and I managed to get back to my car where a driver was waiting but he had been bitten badly. He tried to drive us to safety into the other camp but turned during the drive and we crashed through the camps fences. We made it to safety but not before their camp was under attack, we got to the radio station and made the sos call to you.”
“And you two are all that’s left?”
“No there’s about 30 people in a barn about 5 minutes that way” he pointed back the way he had come from.
“Well, we can fit two in our Jeep. Two in with Ben in the car behind and the rest will have to try to fit in the flat bed. It will be a squeeze but we should be ok.”
“You two get in with John. John turn the cars around and get ready to leave. Give them food and water from the back. We will go and get your friends Lewis.”
“You two, George. Let’s go. Ben, you too we may need medical assistance”
We moved quickly through the grass, I could see the huge barn from where we started. I couldn’t wait to see Billy and get him home safe. When only Lewis emerged from the bushes I thought that we had lost Billy and the Captain.
There were screams and shouts. We suddenly saw people running from the barn just seconds before a huge explosion hit us off our feet.
There was a ringing in my ears, I had landed hard on my back, it stung from where the solid ground had grazed my skin, and I was slightly winded.
“George? Are you ok?” Jacks was staggering towards me, holding out his hand to help me up. I could hear him but his voice sounded far away and muffled. I nodded, not sure if I could speak just then.
“Let’s go and see if there are any people left to help” he yanked me to my feet and held me for a few seconds whilst I got my balance back. We checked and saw Ben and our other men getting back up onto their feet. Without hesitation, we ran towards the fire hoping that we would find the Captain and Billy safe.
Chapter 12
By the time we got to the barn, there wasn’t much left to find. Jacks disappeared into what was left of the building before I could stop him. Ben and the other men stopped to check on people. I continued around the exterior. About half way around, a low guttural moan stopped me. My hearing was coming back to normal but was not as it should have been. I stood as still as I could, moving only my head from side to side as far as it would go. Until finally I turned to face back the way I had just come, but I couldn’t see anything but trees. I had a terrible feeling in my gut, something was telling me to look up. I think it was paranoia rather than experience.
And sure, enough stuck up in a tree was one of the undead, tangled in its branches with not enough brain power to work out how to get down. What was left of its clothing looked a lot like my military gear and selfishly I hoped that I it wasn’t someone I knew.
“Hey” Jack’s voice startled me and caused me to jump. I turned to look at him just as the main branch holding the zombie snapped causing it to fall. The body landed with a hard thud and I could have sworn that I heard the crack of ribs breaking, maybe and arm too. But it wasted no time in pulling itself towards me, trying to get a taste.
Jacks walked up behind it, and held his knife above its head. It didn’t even notice because it was so focused on me. He knelt and thrust his knife through the temple, he made it look a lot easier than I had done it earlier that day. There w
as no shout of alarm, or squeal of pain, just a sort of angry grunt that it had been stopped from its final meal. Just for a second or so as the knife sliced through its skin and into its brain, or what was left of it anyway.
I closed my eyes and remembered back to the beginning, well a few months in, when that’s all we had left was radio. They encouraged us to stay indoors, lock all doors and windows and stay out of sight. But if we were attacked then we were to attack the head and try to destroy the brain.
Kelly and I had discussed it one evening, over candlelight when the kids had gone to sleep. We had both agreed that shooting someone in the head or worse, having to stab or beat them to death in the head was something that neither of us could see ourselves doing. How that had changed. Now if it needed doing I could do it, I never took enjoyment out of it but if it was down to them or myself and my friends then the zombies would lose with their heads destroyed each and every time.
I closed my burning eyes, breathing through my mouth, trying hard not to smell, the acrid burning of flesh. I could hear the crackle as the fire made its way through the dry grass and trees.
“George, I’m sorry for your loss” I opened my eyes and met with Jacks’ looking sorrowful.
He held out a pair of dog tags and then knelt to the floor to go through the pockets of the now still body.
I turned over the tags in my hand, B.S was crudely scratched in. Billy Sanders.
My heart was in my stomach, we were too late. How in the hell was I going to tell Nia that I wasn’t good enough to save her friend? Jacks handed me another set of tags. These had been engraved with the Captain’s initials and were a lot more worn than Billy’s had been.
“Found them in the breast pocket of Billy’s shirt.”
“I guess that’s our answer” I voiced out loud, my voice breaking. I had honestly thought that we would have found them alive and well and ready to come home.
“Yeah” Jacks had fallen onto his backside in the grass, his eyes were wide and glassy. The captain had been his friend also.
“I’m sorry” I clapped him on the shoulder.
I could see Lewis and John running towards us with weapons in hand. Ben just behind them carrying his doctors bag.
“We better go” I nodded towards our friends. Jacks followed my gaze and nodded getting up slowly.
They stopped when they saw the looks on our faces.
“Billy?” Lewis asked.
I shook my head.
“None of the others survived, sorry” Ben told us.
“Your other men went back to the car when we came running to try to call for backup” Lewis told Jacks.
The five of us carried on walking back towards our cars, each lost in thoughts and grieving for our lost ones.
The little boy had stayed with the other army men, and ran to Lewis as soon as he saw him. Hugging him tightly, burying his head in Lewis’ chest.
Jacks went to let the other men know our situation whilst John and Lewis got our new little friend Cory, comfortable in the back of the car. Ben didn’t say another word he just got into the back of his truck.
Followed by the soldiers, Jacks came walking back to us, head high. “Let’s go home gentlemen. I have a base to look after now.” His voice was sombre.
We all nodded, he got in on one side of the child and I got in the other; no car seats anymore. John and Lewis took the front seats, holding each other’s hand as we pulled away.
John did a three-point turn and started to follow the other truck. He drove for as long as he could without putting the lights on. When it was too dark to see, we pulled over and took it in turns to keep a lookout. Cory, slept throughout the night, I placed my black fleece jacket over him. The poor boy must have been exhausted, god only knows what he had been through. Lewis said that his family had been in the camp when they were over run and Cory’s father had begged Lewis to take Cory to safety whilst he and his wife stayed to fight. That was the last they had seen of them. I wasn’t sure what was worse, knowing that your family was dead or not knowing.
I took my watch post just as dawn was breaking. I made sure that everyone was safely in our car and instructed the driver behind that we should leave asap. I was eager to get back home. To make sure that Will, Nia, Adam and the rest of our people were safe.
Jacks who had now taken the front seat woke up groggily. “What the?” he looked around, squinting at the bright sunlight.
“Go back to sleep, ill drive for a while. I just wanted to get home quickly” I spoke quietly, careful not to wake anyone else up.
Jacks grunted a reply and lay his head back against his seat. Within moments his low snores filled the car.
John and Lewis had moved to the back seat with Cory, each of them embracing the child as they slept.
It was kind of peaceful driving on the open road like that, everyone sleeping, the only other moving vehicle was the one in front of me that I was following back to home camp. There was peace in this new world, there was still beauty if one cared to look past the rotten flesh and dead people walking.
We stopped again after a few hours for a bathroom break. Everyone was awake although still extremely quiet. Each if us thinking about our loved and lost ones. Lewis took over driving, I was in the front with him and Jacks, Cory and John stayed in the back playing eye spy. I knew that it was the last thing that Jacks wanted to be doing but he did it anyway, knowing that Cory had lost a lot of people too and that it was harder for him.
“Heads up, there are trucks coming towards us” the crackle of the radio informed us.
I grabbed up the radio quickly as Jacks and John checked their guns.
“How many?”
“Uh we see three” came the reply.
“Ok start slowing down. We don’t know if they are friend or foe. Get your weapons ready” Jack instructed me.
I repeated Jacks message, word for word as he told me.
The trucks stopped, still facing us, and for a while nobody got out. Then the driver’s door on the front truck opened. Will stepped out and held up his hands. I was out of the car before anyone could stop me and was running towards him. I knocked him over with a bear hug. Even though it was only a few days since I had last seen him I had missed him, I had missed them all and the loss of Billy had only strengthened that longing to be amongst my friends again.
We landed on the floor with a thud, quickly joined by Nia and Adam and eventually a very reluctant Amelia. We all just sat there on the dusty road, hugging and crying. We finally checked the perimeter and set up a camp fire to boil some water that we gathered in a nearby river to try to save our bottled water.
We told them of our adventure and wept with them when we told them of the previous teams demise all except for Lewis. We grieved as a family, hugging and comforting each other.
Their group was made up of Nia, Will, Adam and Amelia. Mr and Mrs snow, an elderly couple whose name matched their hair colour. They seemed jolly and nice enough. They had with them their granddaughters who I vaguely remembered seeing back at camp two when we rescued them. They were called Maddie and Amber.
Another couple, the Price’s, Heidi and Andrew. They had five children, Molly was 15, Leo was 14, twins Paisley and Peyton were 9 and the youngest was Ollie who was 7. Molly was their child and Leo was their nephew, the other children they had taken in as their own when the little ones had lost their parents.
In the third and final truck was Frank, Jack’s friend from camp two, Brian Cook, Nia’s teacher friend and the chef and my new friend Sheila.
“What Happened?” I asked after all the introductions were complete.
“Bloody Gary, that’s what. As soon as you guys left he rallied his men and they took over. There was just too many of them to fight, I’m sorry Lt.” Will explained.
“We started putting some food and water away and talked to our group about leaving. Most wanted to stay. They are blinded by what they think is a safe place. But Gary will run that place into the floor.” Nia chipp
ed in. She looked angry and hurt, I could see the fire in her eyes.
“That asshole. Ill show him when I get back” Jacks also looked annoyed. I knew that he wouldn’t take any nonsense off Gary. I just hoped that there was a camp left when he arrived.
“We decided to leave. He made it clear that we are not welcome back” Adam told us.
“Ok then, what’s our plan?” they knew that I would not leave them behind.
“We don’t know yet, we understand if you would like to go back to camp and try living there in relative safety.” Nia said, she looked at me and then bowed her head.
“What? And miss all the zombie fun out here on the road? Never!” I grinned at her. She looked up, smiled crazily back at me and ran into my arms.
“Yeah us too” John and Lewis agreed nodding their heads. Lewis pulled Cory in close.
I guess that they were taking the boy in. My heart grew larger for them, they would make amazing fathers.
“I’m going to go back to camp and see if I can straighten things out. I’ll need to check on Annabelle and Rochelle.” Jacks told us.
I wasn’t going to try to talk him out of it, he had a duty and nothing would get in the way of it. So, I just nodded.
“I’ll go back with you Danny” Frank said.
“I uh know of a place we can try. A friend of mine called me at the start of this damn apocalypse and told me of a secure location. The only reason we haven’t tried it before now is because we have never travelled this far North. But since we’re already halfway there should we try?” John asked. He hadn’t given us a lot of information about the new location to make our decision but since nobody else had any other ideas then we agreed that we would give it a go.
It was decided that we would keep the largest of the military vehicles to take with us. Jacks and his two men along with Frank kept what food and water that they needed for the drive home and gave us the rest to go on with. Nia and Will showed me the loot that they had left with.
“Ok then, let’s go. Jacks be careful, please. You know where we are headed should you need to find us” I hugged him. Daniel Jacks was a good man, a man I had come to like. I knew that he needed to go back and see if he could save the camp but if they didn’t choose to come with Will and his group then maybe they didn’t need saving. Maybe they were happy to sit back and let Gary tell them what to do and how to live.
George (Book 2): The Long Road Ahead Page 11