Heidi poked her head through the door, she was carrying one of the smaller children. “We are just going to take the children to bed. It’s been a long couple of days.” She whispered and smiled.
“Thank you I’ll head downstairs, if you need any help let me know.” I followed her into the hallway. She carried on along it as I made my way down the stairs. Andrew came down just after me and ushered the older children up the stairs to bed also.
The rest of us waved and headed outside. We all gathered together and whispered our goodbyes. We headed to our trucks to get our bags. I was lucky that Nia and Will had picked up my bag before they had left. It held the picture that poppy had given me before I had left my home for what was supposed to have been a short-term supply run and also the photo album that I thought I’d lost forever.
They were my most prized possession. I got them out of my bag and hugged them to my chest as we walked along quietly, back to the Winnebago.
Amelia and Adam took Mr and Mrs Snow or Ken and Rita as they had asked to be called, to their Winnebago and showed them and their granddaughters around.
Nia, Will and I carried on with Brian and Sheila to our new home. We hugged and waved goodbye to our new neighbours who were just on the other side of us.
Mr and Mrs Snow on the left, us in the middle and Brian and Sheila on the end. The end one was a smaller trailer and not a Winnebago as Mick had told us. It had a double bed and a double pull out in the lounge. Brian had offered to stay in the lounge as Sheila did not want to stay alone. That was the excuse but I’d seen the way that they looked at each other. I wasn’t going to voice it out loud as it was their private business and I’m sure that they would tell us all if it got serious.
Nia and Will, got a bottle of water between them, one for Amelia and Adam to share and I got my own.
It hit me like a sledge hammer to the gut that I no longer had anyone to share my water with. I tried to smile through the pain but I could feel it bubbling up from my chest to my throat, threatening to burst free from my mouth. Spewing the hurt and rage like hot molten lava over my friends.
“I uh, I’m going to check the perimeter. See you in a bit” Nia gave me the look that she knew what I was thinking but she didn’t say anything. They just let me leave. I walked slowly around the perimeter, the fence didn’t have any gaps in it like the ones back at camp. Not even the gates at either end of the site had gaps. They had big white boards attached to them and barbed wire on the top. Everywhere I checked seemed secure, but as this was only day one I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
Chapter 14
I came across an area at the back of the compound, just behind the set that was kind of like a shelter. It had a back, top and sides, with slats that you could open and close, but no front. I wandered in curious as to what it had been used for, only to find some comfy looking leather bean bags, next to which were tall silver ashtrays. This was a smoking shed. There were outdoor electric heaters bolted to the ceiling which was painted a dark blue and had white and silver stars painted all over it; Mimicking the night sky. I lay back in one of the bean bags and looked at the fake sky. It was beautiful.
It was quite a warm evening and the bag I sat on was so comfortable that I could feel my eyes getting heavier. I let them drop, trying to block out the calls from the dead friends and family that kept trying to enter my thoughts. There was no room for the dead here, neither walking or otherwise. I needed some rest.
The next thing that I was aware of was Will’s voice calling my name. “George? G man are you out here?” I could hear his footsteps getting closer, until he was just outside the glorified shed in which I sat.
“In here Will” I called out. Sitting up from where I was slouched, I stretched and yawned, it was a lot darker outside than it had been when I had first come in here. There were low beams of lights outside from solar lights dotted around the site.
Will poked his head in and handed me a beer.
“Holy shit, where did you find a beer?” I asked, having fully believed that I would never see another beer ever again. I grinned so widely that my cheeks hurt.
“There were two six packs of bottles in the Snow’s fridge and they brought them to us in case the girls found them first. I left the rest back at our trailer” he grinned. I never thought that I would see a bottle of beer ever again, not a full one anyway.
“Cheers” I held out the bottle and savoured the clink of the glass as Will knocked his against mine.
He had sat next to me on a multi coloured zig zag bean bag. “it’s amazing in here” he gestured towards the ceiling. “I could kill for a cigarette right now”
“Me too and I’ve never smoked” I laughed, taking a long pull of my drink. It was warm but oh so good.
We sat there in comfortable silence, drinking our beer and looking up at the starry ceiling. I took small sips, trying to make it last.
“So, two six packs?” I questioned, holding up my bottle in awe.
“Yep, just stored in the fridge behind all the rotten food. We pulled out the beer and put the food back. The fridge is now sealed up.”
“Then why the hell are we only having two” I joked.
Will laughed a deep belly chuckle. “Because my friend, Adam and Lewis also had one and because we should ration them. There are eight left.”
“Not Mr snow? Or anyone else?” I questioned, knowing that Nia enjoyed a beer.
“Nope we asked everyone and they left them to us”
The sudden blaring of horns and men yelling caused us both to jump up and out of our seats.
“What the fuck is that? it’ll bring every zombie for miles around this way.” Will cursed.
We ran towards the main gate, my first thought was that somebody was in trouble and my second was that I should have brought my gun.
The Snows, Adam, Nia and Amelia were outside of our trailers. Brian was just coming out to see what was going on.
“What the hell is that?” Adam called out, jumping down the steps that led into our trailer.
“Everyone stay in doors for now.” Will called as he kept running.
“Adam stay here and keep a watch over everyone, just in case get their weapons ready. Put all the kids and the Snow’s into our trailer. Just for now ok?” I called out, not slowing down either.
Will got to the gate first and opened the peephole as quietly as possible.
“Come on Mick, you said you’d help us man, we even have an offering for you.” Came a voice from the darkness.
I tapped Will lightly on the shoulder “What’s up?”
“I see two trucks in front of the gate and what looks to be a car further back. They seem to be full but I can’t really tell in this light.” He whispered, not wanting to give away that we were watching them.
“Friendlies?” I asked, hoping that it was the case as I didn’t want to fight anymore. I just wanted to have our first night in our new amazing home in peace.
“It’s hard to tell” Wills face looked grim and I knew what he was thinking. That these were not friendlies at all.
“I’m going to get Adam and Lewis and check out the other gate. Keep an eye out here” he was off like a shot.
I took his place behind the gate and peeped through the hole. There were two men sitting on the bonnet of the vehicle smoking whilst another urinated over the back tyre.
The two on the bonnet talked amongst themselves but so quietly that I couldn’t hear what they were saying. The one on the left, looked tall and muscular, his hair looked to be back in a hair tie and he had a large bushy brown beard to match the colour of his hair.
“Come on Mick, it’s me Jed, I’m losing patience here.” He said sliding off the bonnet and sauntering towards the gate.
I shuffled my feet not realising how close to the gate my right foot was and I kicked it causing a giant clang.
“Oh, so you are there Mick? Well for not answering me I’ll give you your present and then take it away.”
“Richa
rd, get her” Jed called out.
The guy at the back of the car, had finished urinating and was doing up his trousers. He gave Jed an evil smile and nodded, walking to the truck behind.
“Lee, get ready to ram that gate.” he spoke to the man still sat on the bonnet who jumped off and sauntered back to the driver’s side and into the seat.
Upon hearing footsteps behind me I turned to see Will, alone. He carried two handguns, I guessed that one was mine.
“You know, for an old guy you sure do move fast” I whispered.
He clipped me across the back of the head but before he could reply, the guy shouted out again
“Come on Mick, I know that you’re familiar with this one” I heard a woman cry out.
Looking back through the small hole I saw the man they called Richard shoving a woman so hard that she staggered and fell.
“Come now Mick! We only want to share that lovely looking camp of yours” Jed called.
“Please just let me go” she begged.
Richard grabbed her roughly by the hair and placed a large knife against her throat.
Blood and Dirt streaked her face and clothes.
“Oh no” I whispered moving from the peephole so that Will could look.
“Amy” I whispered, my mind racing to catch up with what my eyes were seeing.
Before even thinking about it I started to pull open the first lock on the gate.
“No!” Mick was standing on his porch, well being held up by John and Ben anyway. He wore blue striped pyjamas that reminded me of a book that I read when I was younger. Cory peeked out from behind John.
“But they have-“ Mick cut me off again.
“No Please” he was getting out of breath, the warning in Bens eyes was enough. Mick was weak and this stress was not helping.
I wanted to save Amy but I also wanted to respect Mick. After all this was his place. I would go and let him know about Amy and plead my case. I placed the bolt securely back across then followed Will over to Micks.
“Listen Mick he has a woman out there from our old camp. He’s threatening her with a knife. God knows what he’s capable of”
“Oh, I know exactly what he’s capable of. Robert is my brother and Amy is my ex-wife”
“Then why the hell aren’t we letting them in?” I asked utterly confused.
“Because my brother is a serial killer” Mick told us grimly.
I started to laugh, this was just completely insane and had to become kind of sick joke. Perhaps to test us on our loyalty to him and this place?
“I’m serious, before this Jed was in a home for the criminally insane. He escaped during the confusion of the outbreak. I think that it was just pure luck that he found me or is even still alive, he never was the brightest but he is evil.” Mick started to cough uncontrollably.
“I have to take him back indoors, he’s not well enough for this” Ben told us.
“Ok let’s get him inside”
“don’t…open…cough…Gate…Cough” Mick gasped out before being led away.
Will and I walked back to the gate quietly.
I took the peephole as he climbed a tall ladder to the side of the gate. There were a few large planks of wood that it was leaning against. It seemed that Mick had been trying to build a platform.
I watched amused as Will tried to balance his huge frame without revealing himself to the men below.
“What will it be Mick? Let us in or Amy loses her head.” Jed’s voice brought my attention back to what was happening outside the walls.
“See Mick isn’t here at the moment and sorry to say that we don’t have any room for more people.” I was hoping that by informing him that Mick wasn’t here then he would let Amy go.
“We have no need for her then” he nodded to Amy and gave Richard a pointed look.
“Wait! There’s no need for anyone to get hurt. You go on your way and just leave the woman there. She can find her own way.” I tried to reason with them.
Adam and Lewis came up on either side of me as backup, guns at the ready.
I would have loved to have pulled open the gate and let them lose on the bastards outside but we didn’t know how many people were in the trucks behind and which of those were innocents.
“You’re right there’s no need for anyone to get hurt. But asshole, we’ve seen inside those fences of yours and we want a slice of the safety. We are willing to do whatever it takes to get inside and that includes violence.” Was the reply I got.
I watched as he gave Richard a thumb up. Richard pulled Amy’s head back even further with his hand wrapped tightly in her hair and dragged his knife across her throat. Blood flowed freely down her throat and soaked onto her once light pink top.
“No!” I called out hitting the gate with the palm of my hand in anger.
I closed my eyes trying to rid the sight from my mind but I couldn’t get away from the gurgling sounds as she choked on her own blood.
Will came down the ladder fast. “Hey guys, we have a load of zombies, I’d say at least three dozen coming this way.”
“Oh shit, what do we do?” Adam looked worried.
“Round up all of the able adults. Get Mr and Mrs Snow over to the Price’s and keep all of the children there, with Heidi. Let John stay with Mick but get Ben out here. We may need all hands available.”
Adam nodded and ran back towards the trailers, Lewis towards his new house without another word.
“So what’s it going to be? Are we just going to stand here all night taking out more and more people.” Jed called.
Will put his finger to his lips asking me to be quiet and hopped back up the ladder. After a few moments he pointed to his eyes and then to me, then back outside.
I looked through the peephole, it took me a few moments to work out what he was showing me. Then I saw them. Dark shadows moving towards us like a huge black wall of Death and decay.
I looked to see if any of the men outside had noticed but they were too caught up in attacking us.
Before they had murdered Amy in cold blood I may have warned them so that they would have gotten a fighting chance. Now I hoped that every one of them would get what they deserved, I just hoped that the innocent people would not get hurt also. That they could make a run for it.
Richard had gone to the back of the truck to pull out another woman. Annabelle.
Her tear streaked face pulled at my heart as Amy’s had earlier. Amy, I looked to where they had let her fall, blood tuning the concrete a crimson slab.
Her hand twitched, did they know anything about zombies at all, the idiots.
What the hell had happened back at our old camp? How had Annabelle and Amy come to be hostages with these assholes?
“Please just let all your hostages go, I’m sure there are plenty of other places that have room for you” I called out, I looked up for Will but he had disappeared. I had no idea where, I hadn’t even seen him come down the ladder.
I looked behind me but still couldn’t see any sign of him, Adam had not returned either. John and Lewis came quietly out of their house and jogged towards me.
“G, Adam just radioed, they are covering the other gate just in case our friends out there get a little creative. Where’s Will?” Lewis asked peeking through the hole and shaking his head in dismay at what he saw.
“I have no idea, one minute he was up there and the next poof” I tried to explain.
The men outside had gone quiet, I spied back through the hole. They were huddled together, whispering. No doubt about how they were going to ram the gates.
Something at the back of their trucks caught my eye and I feared that the zombies were closer than we had thought. But it was Will and Adam, something must have told him that I could see them because Will looked at me and winked. They were leading another two women away from the trucks and around to the side of our compound. I assumed that they were bringing them in through our back gate. It was a risky move but the outcome outweighed those odds.
Now we just had to get Annabelle away from them. I had no idea how to do that without shooting at them and then possibly hitting her in the crossfire.
I had turned to talk with Lewis to see if he had any ideas when we heard Jed yell. “Ahhhhh get it off me”
I jumped, heart in my mouth my pulse raced faster.
I looked back through the gate to see Amy, now one of the undead, with her mouth clamped firmly around Jed’s ankle, trying to tear through his trousers to get to the juicy flesh below.
Her skin had turned a mottled grey and her eyes now just two white orbs.
Richard put his gun to Amy’s head and pulled the trigger, once again Amy’s body slumped to the ground. This time she would not be getting back up again.
Rest in peace Amy, I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I sent up a silent prayer to the higher powers that they take her in with Kelly and the kids and look after them all.
“Aw hell thanks ma-“ Jed’s thanks were cut short by Richard putting his gun on Jed’s head and pulling the trigger for the second time. Blood, Brain matter and bits of bone flew as the bullet exited Jed’s skull.
“What the hell man?” the driver of the first car got out, followed by two men from the second truck. As far I could tell nobody had gotten out of the third car.
Annabelle used the drama to run around the corner to where Will had taken the other two women. I hoped that they all got to safety.
The men did not notice.
“He had been bitten” Richard said shrugging his shoulders. As if shooting a friend was a normal, easy-to-do kind of thing. The driver thought about it for a moment or two and then also shrugged and nodded his head. Easily accepting the fate of his fallen leader.
I suppose these days, shooting a friend was normal, but for me I don’t think that it would ever be easy.
“Hey fellas, you didn’t tell us that you were bringing more friends” I pointed to the zombies that were closing in around them. I tried to sound cocky and confident, but my insides were rolling around like I’d just gotten off the world’s largest and fastest roller coaster.
Watching Amy die and then return as one of those things, a fate that she did not deserve was not something I’d never want to see any of my friends become.
George (Book 2): The Long Road Ahead Page 13