“Good, because we’re going to need to do it again,” Sarah advised.
Spirits were high that day with the rescue of Casper and the others. Sarah and Scott explained to the new arrivals what they had planned, which Walter and Casper were willing to jump right into. Jeremy wanted to go back out to look for more people, and he asked to join Sarah’s crew.
The safe zone survivors set up a series of small cubicles along the back of the store. They gathered as many cots and mattresses as they could find. It was a temporary setup until they could find a better place to live.
Sarah and Tracy shared the break room with Craig, April, and Walter’s family. She was amazed and relieved that her seven-year-old daughter didn’t fuss or ask any questions about the situation. Tracy simply accepted it as a necessary thing while all the bad things were happening outside. Sarah’s daughter was safe, and that’s all that mattered.
Scott and Sam had jury-rigged the store’s alarm to go off to let others know that a large group of shamblers were coming to close to the safe zone. The alarm sounded around three as many as four hundred were incoming.
The survivors scrambled to Robert and Edgar at the front of the store, and the pair posted a large number of them along the inside of the fence on the west side of the store. Another crew was put on the roof with bows, and Edgar had set large pales of arrows in five locations along the edges.
“Incoming from the west,” Robert said after he joined the team in the fence.
“We got them. We’ll make sure they’re herded along the fence,” Sam responded.
“Let the roof team do their thing by leading them. They’re going to thin them out along the fence. Don’t let them grab you. If they do and you get bit, you are going to join them. No questions asked. Spear their heads. Anywhere else is a waste of time,” Robert instructed.
Craig and Walter joined Robert at the fence, while Sarah, Scott and Jeremy were assigned to cover the entrance fence that was built by Jerry and Sam.
The shamblers arrived. Some moved at a brisk pace, while most moved as if they were walking in molasses. Arrows rained down from the roof, and some of them hit the heads of the incoming swarm. Other arrows struck non-critical body parts, but knocked more shamblers to the ground which slowed them down. Volley after volley whistled down with no mercy and shamblers fell one-by-one.
When the Shamblers were closer, Sam had three people from the roof team blow on whistles to pull the group apart.
The first reanimated to arrive at the fence was a teenager who was killed by an errant gunshot that ripped through his stomach, and he was left to die. He was taken down by Rob as an example to show how they were destroyed. He speared the teen with a furious jab, and pulled the spear from the boy violently.
Eighteen spears were thrust out at the shamblers as they came to the fences. There was such a complete butchery of the remaining three hundred undead who were powerless and driven by the scent of those who destroyed them. Rivers and pools of blood ran thick below the feet of the living and the undead alike. Arms reached into the fence, which were accompanied by horrendous moans and growls.
For some of the safe zone defenders, the experience proved too much. They left the line and were quickly replaced by fresh participants. No one blamed those who left, as most of the people involved suffered from the sounds and sights before them. Many would have nightmares of the massacre, if they could even find sleep at all. Those who stayed for the entire length of the attack took their actions as a form of sacrifice.
A problem the defenders faces was how the spears became slick with the blood that ran down the poles. At times, people accidently dropped their spears when they jabbed their targets, or the spears would almost be pulled out when the spear-wielder lost their grip. To counter the problem, a few of the people who left the line helped wipe down the spears that were handed to them, then give them back when they were free of blood.
The destruction of the moderately sized swarm was a complete team effort, and they were all destroyed within an hour. Sarah and Jeremy went outside to spear the remaining stragglers and barely mobile.
“That’s it, they’re down,” Robert said on his radio when Jeremy speared the last of them, and the victory was theirs. Sarah and Jeremy helped pile the bodies along a line on the other side of the parking lot. There were a total of twenty piles when they were done, and the survivors watched as the piles burned.
Later that day, Sam and Jerry took Scott, Sarah and Robert to show them some of the improvements they had planned to better fortify the safe zone. The number one aspect was the maze they started to create with ply wood throughout the building, and “invisible doors.” You had to know where the handles were, which were blended in with the doors. Sam showed them two rooms they were building as armories.
The rooms were still a work in progress, but looks of glee spread across the faces of Sam and Jerry when they talked about the plans.
Sam wasn’t just a planner. As soon as he visualized something, he implemented it. Now that money wasn’t any longer a factor, he was able to use his wild imagination. Sarah liked the former army special ops soldier who Robert had hired personally when he was a night support manager at the store. Sam was pleasant, jovial and well mannered, and he was a masterful inventor.
Jerry was a tall, heavy-set man who worked as a bike assembler during the overnight shift, and he was also known as the most annoying sales associates to any customer he felt was shady. He was married, with a ten-year-old daughter. Edgar was able to find both Jerry’s wife and daughter and bring them to the safe zone, as Jerry’s family had an escape plan whenever anything went wrong.
When Sam and Jerry weren’t manning the main guard stations as the “doorway dual,” they would go to their workstation and bicker about everything that came to mind. It was amazing how they worked as fast as they did while they argued as much as they could.
Sarah liked most of the people that worked at the store before it was converted. Scott had worked hard to create a team he could trust to do their job efficiently. While most of the night crew ran, Scott kept his core group intact. They would reap the benefits of staying together for a better chance to survive.
-----
“What’s the smoke from?” Specialist Alex Smith asked his commanding officer while a crowd gathered to look at the multiple lines of smoke that rose into the afternoon sky.
“I’m not sure,” August replied while she watched the smoke in wonder.
“I don’t know this city well, but I think that’s Dearborn,” Alex advised.
“Maybe you should go down and check,” Nikolai Grayson said snidely to the guardsman.
Alex ignored the remark, as they have begun doing with the doctor since the night before.
August looked over the nearly fifty people that had come out of hiding to see the smoke rise. Another two-hundred stayed inside to take care of children, food and injuries.
“Knock it off, Doctor,” August told the doctor heatedly.
“What? It was just a suggestion,” Nikolai rebuked.
August gave the doctor a cold glare when she turned and went inside the bowling alley they had taken refuge in for the night. August hadn’t made her mind up whether she would leave the next morning or stay for another day to see if help appeared. The smoke worried her, and it scared the people she took with her when she escaped.
Alex looked at August for any thoughts or an order.
“He’s right,” August said to the specialist. “We should see what that smoke is coming from. Take two people and check, could you? If it’s other survivors, see if they need help. But mostly, just get information.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Alex responded obediently.
He gathered his two companions and they left promptly.
‘I hope I didn’t just send more people to their deaths,’ August told herself.
-----
The morning of the day, and the travelers already felt it would be a long, hot day ahead of them. Doug, Eva
n, and Nikki discussed what they discovered the day before. Edward, Mary, and the kids were still sleeping as the trio discussed how to destroy the monstrosities. Evan told Nikki about how the man in the Radisson that was pinned and killed, but still came back, even though he had not been bitten.
"Possibly an experiment that had gone badly," Doug pitched in.
"It could be something in the air, like an airborne virus or even something in the water," Nikki guessed.
"Even a terrorist weapon would make sense," Doug added.
“I’m still confused about the bites,” Evan said. “What do bites do?”
“Let’s make sure we don’t find out the hard way,” Doug suggested in a partial joke.
“What if you can be saved?” Nikki asked. “I get that you can’t save someone that’s already dead, but what about if you get bitten?”
"What if you can’t be? Do you want to risk turning into one of those things?" Edward asked as he joined them. He was still half asleep and half dressed. “Doug, we need to talk about rules.”
“What kind of rules, Edward?” Nikki asked.
“We need to have some type of order. Anarchy never works, and it could be easy to lose yourself if you don’t follow some sort of code. It’s pretty simple really. We shouldn’t tolerate murder or rape, and we should set ourselves to a higher standard.”
“So what do we do if somebody commits a rape or murder?” Mary asked.
“We execute that person,” Edward said with a sharp look at Doug.
“Doug was a cop, Edward. He wasn’t an executioner,” Nikki protested.
“Times have changed,” Edward countered.
“We’re not making Doug an executioner,” Evan said, then cleared his throat. “You’re outvoted Judge. On another note, I’m the only one that hasn’t held a job in law enforcement or the medical field. What should my role be?"
“Do you know how to use a gun?” Doug asked.
“No, not really,” Evan said with a look of embarrassment. “I really didn’t need one with a cop as a brother. I was just a writer.”
“I’ll teach you how to use one then,” Doug offered.
“I’m willing to learn, since I have people worth protecting,” Evan said with gratitude.
“What about me?” Matt asked after a large yawn
The kid attempted to hop up onto the hood of the cruiser next to Evan, but failed. Evan got down and helped Matt up and got back on himself. “I know I am just a kid to you all, and I may be small, but I can really kick some ass. I want to help and not shuffled off. I’m not stupid and I’ll listen.”
“You are a kid. That is true, Matt,” Evan replied with a stern look at Matthew. “Survival should be your first priority.”
“I want to help, Evan,” Matt insisted.
“Is it that important to you?” Evan asked.
He leaned forward and looked Matt directly into his eyes. If Evan saw doubt, he’d tell the boy no on the spot, but there was none.
“Yes, it is. I promise I can help you. It doesn’t even have to be a gun.”
“We’ll talk about this later, but I get the idea that you mean what you say. We’ll talk about it,” Evan promised with a firm squeeze of Matt’s shoulder.
An hour later, after a quick breakfast, showers and getting everything into the two vehicles, the group started their trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The tanks were full and the group had enough food and water to last the trip. Along Interstate 40, numerous zombified individuals appeared out from the tree line moving south until the caravan got clear of Flagstaff. There were no road obstacles for nearly two hundred miles until they came to Gallup, New Mexico.
As soon as they entered the small city, the air was choked with thick black smoke. The caravan was forced to go at a crawl in order not to drive off the road, into a burned-out vehicle or even an undead swarm.
“What the hell happened here?” Evan asked as he drove.
Edward merely shook his head. He was trying to see out of the windows but it was useless. Out of the smoke, a horribly burned figure stumbled into the cruiser. It pounded on the glass, which left bloody smears, and snarled as the truck continued to drive.
“Just keep going. I see the tail lights on the SUV ahead of us,” Edward instructed.
“I can barely see anything but the tail lights. It’s as if someone just decided to burn the entire city to the ground!” Evan was vexed on the cause of the destruction.
“Could have, or an unattended gas leak that took it out. That biter back there had some extensive burns on it. You couldn’t even tell if it was a man or woman.”
A few minutes later the smoke got thinner, and finally they were out of it completely. Flames were seen through thick smoke burning most of the north side of the city and the south was thoroughly burned to the ground.
Doug led them about fifteen miles out of Gallup when he pulled to the side of the road.
“Matthew and Mary, both of you stay here, please,” Evan instructed the pair. They complied with a “yes, sir” as Evan got out.
Doug met Evan by the SUV.
“What the hell do you think that was all about back there?” Doug asked.
“Edward was saying it was likely a gas line rupture.”
“Maybe,” Doug said, but gave Evan a look. “Maybe it was set on purpose.”
“We got by safely, that’s all that matters.
“That’s true. Look, we’re nearly a hundred and fifty miles from Albuquerque. I’m at half for gas, how about you?” Doug asked Evan.
“We’re about a half full too. We’ll likely make it to Albuquerque with what we have,” Evan stated.
“I don’t want to take any chances. Grants City is the next town ahead of us. We’ll fuel up there, and take a meal break. How are Matt and Mary doing?”
“Well, we had a small fried biter mishap that startled them, but they seem to be doing ok,” Evan assured Doug.
“Good, Nikki and the kids are doing well. Eliot had to pee, so that’s why I stopped.”
In the Cruiser, Matthew decided to clear out Evan’s voice mail box. He deleted message after message from agents, sales managers, and other assholes that wanted Evan’s money and credit for his work. If they wanted to talk business, the message was erased, until…
“Evan, its Colleen, I know you don’t like listening to your voice mails, I just need to hear your voice Evan. Please, I’m really scared. Oh, Evan, please answer… I love you.”
When the group arrived in Grants, it was nearly 1:30 in the afternoon. They stopped at the first gas station to find it completely locked down. The other on the opposite of the street was the same. Doug had started to worry until they got to the second set on the other side of Grants and found a working Shell station there. There was still power at the station, and they filled up both vehicles. They all took turns using the restrooms and met to eat lunch. Evan and Doug had pulled the SUV and Cruiser next to each other.
While Evan watched over them, armed with his bat, the group sat and ate. Doug began to work on the mood of the group, although a bit jovial, he wanted to instill hope and resolve within everyone.
Signs spread out throughout Grants directed residents to Albuquerque for protection, food and water. Grants had become a virtual ghost town.
Mary was telling the group about a story she ‘heard’ about some friends of hers who had gotten in trouble for driving without a license to Albuquerque, just to be stopped by the cops. When the cops asked them what they were doing, her friend Melissa told the others ‘Damn, I knew I should have taken a left turn out of there.’ The cops were not amused and neither were their parents. They had to go all the way from Denver to get them.
“I don’t get it,” Simon quipped with a lost look.
“It’s from Looney Tunes, with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck,” Doug explained to his son, “One of the toons would get lost somewhere and say ‘I knew I should have taken a left turn at Albuquerque.’”
“Oh man, do you remember those S
aturday mornings when they had that show on? It was a great way to wake up, wasn’t it?” Evan asked as he sat on the hood of the cruiser.
Matt decided to sit by Evan and the man patted the boy on the back.
“I always liked Porky Pig and Speedy Gonzalez, but I hated Wiley Coyote,” Nikki told them.
“You mean when he would fall out of the sky with the bomb dropping sound and the bang?” Evan asked. He laughed with the visual image of Wiley Coyote’s constant bad luck.
“Exactly… it annoyed the hell out of me.”
“I always like Sylvester and the rooster, what was his name again?” Evan thought about it for a second.
“I think it was Foghorn Leghorn,” Edward reminded him.
“That’s it! I loved that guy. It was him and that dog, and the chicken hawk,” Evan laughed from recalling the memory. “I remember the episode where his wife was going on and on about leaving the egg he was sitting on unattended and his description of her. The creators of that show treaded some very fine lines.”
“That’s for sure. They’d never get away with half that stuff these days,” Doug agreed.
“Was it a cartoon, Dad?” Eliot asked Doug.
“Yes, Eliot, and probably the funniest one ever made.”
“Doug, I’m appalled,” Evan said with a serious tone. “You’ve denied your kids Bugs Bunny? I thought you were a good father.”
Doug gave Evan the middle-finger. Nikki was relieved that the two had been getting along so well.
“Can we see it sometime?” Simon asked.
“We might be able to find it in a scavenging run for you in Albuquerque. We’ll pick you guys up some things there. Maybe check out a Walmart or something,” Doug told his youngest son.
“I tell you, I say, I tell you, people!” Evan said to the group with an unexpected snort from Nikki.
“Thith thombie apocalypthe ith dethpicable,” Doug finished.
“It’s about time we get moving. We want to get into the city and back out before night fall. We’ll camp east of there as far out as we can.
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