by Ann Riley
About an hour from home, as we are crossing a bridge, we see a horde of zombies surrounding a home. Not again, I think.
“What is going on there?” Diane asks.
“Well, my guess is the zombies are trying to crash a dinner party. I think I can try out my 50 cal now” I say.
“May as well, it seems to be burning a hole in your pocket.” Diane says.
“Hey. It isn’t in my pocket.” I say with a snort.
Marc crosses over the bridge and stops at the end. The house is not too far from the end of the bridge. I tell Marc, “You know I have to set this on top of your truck, right?”
“Damn it to hell. Does it not have enough dents?” He asks.
“Stop whining.” I tell him.
I get out and Bobby helps me get the 50 cal into the back of the truck and up on the cab. This bastard is heavy I think to myself.
Since I have been reading the manual, yes, surprisingly a 50 cal comes with a manual, I start setting it up. Fairly easy to set up.
So now I am getting nervous as this is the gun of all guns. It will shoot the distance. And I am pretty sure will knock me on my ass. So I brace myself and get my feet planted. I stuff my ears with some gauze Diane hands me. I lower my head to the scope, and open my mouth a little. I saw that in a move. And I fire. I am glad that I had put it on burst mode instead of auto. Burst mode allows three shots to come out in a fast sequence. That almost toppled me off the truck. Had it been on auto, I would be in the dirt. I hear Marc yell, “You’re fucking up my truck.” I reply back with, “No worse than I am fucking myself up.”
I get back in my firing stance and pull the trigger again. This time, the zombies start dropping like flies doused with Black Flag. Damn, I think I got something here.
Soon, most of the zombies are down. I see a woman peep from behind a curtain in the house. She looks around then steps out of the door. She gives us a wave. We drive down a little closer so we don’t have to yell out and Marc tells her some things she needs to get done to protect the house. She said her husband has gone to get supplies and she will tell him when he comes back. She thanks us for killing the zombies and we continue our drive home.
We finally get to our driveway, and are shocked at what we see. A big ass horde of zombies have congregated around the house. We can hear shots ringing out and they look to be coming from the top of the house? We drive in as close as we can get. The zombies have run down the fencing that was up and have gathered at the house.
“Holy hell.” I say.
“Who is that shooting from the roof?” I ask.
We look towards the house. And what we see… well, something we would have never guessed at. Brittany, Marc’s daughter, and Gabby, Trey’s wife, are on top of the house firing their asses off. I burst out laughing. They have their babies in a baby backpack on their backs. Now I am about to die laughing at this point.
“What the hell are they doing?” Marc asks Becky.
“Looks like shooting zombies.” Becky replies.
Diane and I are still cracking up. Marc is having a stroke and Bobby is laughing. Trey is yelling, “You show them baby.”
“Y’all get the damn rifles out and start shooting. Marc, get my 50 cal back up and get your ass up there and fire it.” I tell him.
“Oh, did it kick your ass earlier?” Marc asks.
“Maybe. Just shoot.” I reply.
I can see Burrell, Diane’s husband, firing from a bedroom window. Gabby and Brittany probably wouldn’t let him on the roof so they wouldn’t have to worry about him falling off.
Marc gets the 50 cal set up and starts mowing down zombies.
We continue to fire for another fifteen minutes and get a clear path to the house. We get out and turn to start firing at the lingering zombies in the driveway. Brittany and Gabby come down off the house and come around to where we are.
“What happened?” Marc asks them.
“The battery power for the fence quit apparently. They started piling in and soon had pushed the fence in. We didn’t know what else to do. We didn’t know how to fix the battery pack for the fence so we found the guns momma got out for us when they left and we started shooting. Paw had his gun out firing so we joined in. We weren’t going to leave the babied inside alone, so we made a quick backpack for them and put them on our backs.” Brittany says.
“Yeah, we weren’t going to let them get too close to the house. But they started coming in droves and we couldn’t keep them all out.” Gabby says.
“Y’all done well.” We tell them.
Well, hell. More work to do at home. Now we have to redo all the fencing and refortify the barns so the zombies can’t get into where the livestock and horses are.
We start unpacking. Kelley goes in to cook us a meal fit for a king. I hope. Diane goes to help her while the rest of us start putting away the items we brought back.
I make it into the house and I am bombarded by Riley. He is so happy to see me he is peeing all over himself. I pick him up and love on him so he will settle down. Not sure why, as he did the same thing when Bobby came in. He is excited to see us. Gabby says he has been howling the whole time we have been gone. Poor them. I know how he howls.
“Daddy, a man came by looking for you while y’all were gone. He said he needs help with some marauders around his area. He said he lives in Jackson, Mississippi and wants to know if you can help. He left me a card with his address and name.” Brittany tells Marc.
Marc takes the card from Brittany and reads it.
“What do y’all think?” Marc asks us.
“Well, I think we should help if possible since we just went through the shit we did getting kidnapped. These dumb ass people need to learn that just because we are in an apocalypse doesn’t mean you act like a band of idiots. I do think we need to only have three of us go this time. We still need to work on stuff around here and we can’t leave our home unsecured.” I tell Marc.
“So who will go?” Marc asks.
“I’ll go.” I say.
“Me too.” Bobby says.
“I think we should rest a couple of days before we head out. That will give us time to sort through all this stuff we got and rest some. We also need to pack up some supplies.” I say.
“I will pack that for y’all.” Diane says.
I go to take a shower. And it feels like heaven. I stay in an extra-long time. When I get out, Riley is waiting for me. He sees Bobby getting clothes together and knows we are going somewhere. I dry off and put my clothes on, pick up Riley and head out to where Bobby is.
“What are you doing?” I ask him.
“Just getting some things together. Making sure we got what we need.” He says.
“Ok. I will pack some things in the morning. Go to bed, get some rest.” I tell him.
I go back in to talk to Diane for a minute.
“Are you still cooking?” I ask.
“Yeah, so I don’t have to tomorrow. I’m going to rearrange the storage building tomorrow, so everything will fit and be on a shelf. It’s getting full in there now.” She says.
“I hope this trip goes better than the last two.” I tell her.
“Me too.” She says.
Marc comes in and sits Tammy down and puts her in charge of… security?
He tells her she needs to make a rotation for everyone to take turns being on watch. All day, every day.
Make sure everyone has a rifle with them and a walkie-talkie too so they can communicate.
He said he is going to set up the ham radio again and see if we can use that while we are on the road to check in with them.
He puts Becky in charge of those communication devices and tells her to have someone on them always just in case.
I tell Becky that we will set up a call schedule so we can connect daily and have Trey walk the fence daily to check it from the inside. We will have it back up before we leave.
“How long will y’all be gone this time?” Becky asks Marc.
; “Not sure and that’s hard to answer since we don’t know the conditions that way or what we may run into. I hope no more than a week, but that isn’t a guarantee.” Marc tells her.
I go to bed. Well, I fell into bed. Bobby was snoring soundly and Riley was beside Bobby snoring not so soundly with his feet up in the air laid out on his back. He is rotten. I lie down and pass out as soon as I hit the sheets.
The next morning Bobby is up and gone when I wake and Riley is sitting there staring at me again. So I get up to let him out and Diane and Kelley are cooking breakfast. Well, Kelley is cooking lunch.
“What are you cooking now?” I ask Kelley.
“Sancocho. It’s a stew with five different meats and a lot of vegetables and………
I cut her off.
“I know. It’s a Dominican dish. I ate it when I was in the Dominican Republic. They put goat in theirs’s. Does, or did, Marc have a goat?” I ask her.
“Well, I didn’t kill one if he does, or did, if that’s what you are asking.” She says.
“I have to keep a check on you. We never know what you may come up with. But, Sancocho is great.” I tell her.
I start taking things out to the truck. Bobby has most of ours out there. There are a few things left to take. Marc has his stuff loaded.
“Do you want to take the 50 cal?” Marc asks me.
“I don’t think so. If something happens and we find trouble, I don’t want anyone to take it. I am going to take the grenades and my flash grenades though.” I tell him.
Are you taking the grenade launcher?” I ask him.
“Yeah.” He answers back.
Bobby has some grenades and knives placed in the cab of the truck on the back seat so we can reach them.
Riley is following me all over. He knows I am leaving at this point.
We eat breakfast and get started on the “see you later” and “be careful” lines. We hug one another and promise we will be careful and call every day on the radio. I hug and kiss Riley. Yes, he is my baby, and I hand him back to Diane.
“Wish us luck and safety.” I tell everyone.
They all nod.
And we are off.
I hope we don’t have as much trouble on this trip as the others, but you never know. We just have to be careful and watch our backs. You can’t trust people now. You at least know what the zombies want, but you never know what others out on the roads may want. Most are up to no good. And I just hope we can avoid those this time around.
Epilogue
Marc and I are on our way to Jackson, Mississippi. There is so much destruction. Vehicles are everywhere. We haven’t run into any trouble yet, but we are still on the lookout for some.
“What is that up ahead?” Marc asks.
“Hell, I can’t tell yet.” I say.
“It looks like a semi-truck on fire. Don’t get close it may blow.” I tell Marc.
As we get closer, we can see it is exactly that, a semi-truck burning.
“Get your guns, grenades and whatever else we have ready.” I tell Marc.
“I don’t see anyone around.” He says.
“That doesn’t mean they aren’t.” I tell him.
Then we hear…” Get out of the vehicle with your hands up”
Are you fucking kidding me? Again? What are we, magnets for shit happens?
Again, we hear, get out of the vehicle.
“What are we going to do now?” I ask.
“Damn, can we get a break on occasion?” Marc asks.
“Apparently not.” I reply.
Southern Zombies 3
Southern Blood
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events and incidences are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2015 Ann Riley
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used, reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Self-published by Amazon Publishing.
Cover design by Ann Riley.
Copyright © 2015 Ann Riley
All rights reserved.
Prologue
The world we live in now is one where you have to fight or die. There are no exceptions. If it isn't zombies trying to make a snack out of you, there are people who try to take what you have because they are lazy. The world may never be the same again. I’m thinking it won't. How could it be? We have lost 75% or more of the human population. Since there are no communications, that number doesn't even include the whole world. No one knows how it is in other countries. We have always said the government was incompetent, well they finally proved it with the zombie outbreak.
Chapter 1
I sit and think about this new world we live in. Will things ever go back to normal? Will they find a cure for this? Will we be able to rebuild? I don't know. But I know we have to continue to try and not give up.
I feel too old for this. I am 48 years old now. Isn't this the time we should be planning for retirements and stuff? I should be tending to my house plants, my little Riley and working. Reading on my Kindle and watching favorite TV series like Game of Thrones, WWE Wrestling and The Walking Dead. Yeah, ironic isn't it. Now we can see the walking dead up close and personal everyday. I guess we have to get used to the fact we may never be able to do the simple and enjoyable things again.
I miss working. That is insane, I know, but I miss my job. I was a supervisor for a major satellite company, I'll let you fill in which one you think it was.
I still have family in other states that I haven't had any contact with since this started. My husband has family we need to find.
Besides the zombies, we have to be aware of the surrounding survivors. You can never tell if they are bad people or not. It's amazing how people that had the thin line of restraints totally lost those in an apocalypse. Don't get me wrong, the apocalypse hasn't changed anyone from good to bad. If you were good before it, you will probably still be good during and after. But those who were at the brink of turning on society have used the apocalypse to do just that. They use it as an excuse because there are no consequences for actions now. They steal from those of us who are trying to make a decent, safe life.
Surviving has become the top item on your to do list these days. There is no more going to the bank, grocery store, work, shopping, paying bills or any of the mundane stuff we did each day. We simply try to survive each day now. Yes, we have a pretty nice place that we have fortified to keep the dead out, but still, you can never be relaxed and comfortable. You always have to have someone on watch to stay safe.
I have always been one who could get things to work. If it didn't, I would think of a way to make it work. My daddy was a mechanic who could work on and fix anything so I guess I picked that up from him. I use my knowledge and sense of surviving, oh, and common sense, you can't not have that if you are trying to make it these days. My nephew Marc is the same way. He is a hunter, and an all-around handy man who can make anything work.
I grew up with my nieces and nephews. Being sixteen years younger than my sister, she took on the task of helping mom raise me. Her oldest child, Kelley is a couple years younger than me. So we all were raised feeling like we were siblings instead of an aunt and nieces and nephews.
When this first hit, I knew the best place to go would be my sister’s as Marc lives close and I knew he would be getting things ready for defending. Marc is a jack of all trades. So he was the one I knew would have his shit together when the zombies came. He says he is too old for this shit too. He is 44 and said he didn't see his golden years being spent killing zombies.
We are trying to help people. We are trying to do the right thing. But marauding idiots make it hard. I guess if you had no morals before zombies, then you had no chance of gaining any after.
The truck hits a bump in the roa
d and I come back to my senses. We have been driving for about three hours now. My rear end is asleep and now I'm squirming.
“What is wrong with you? Be still.” Marc tells me.
“How can you not have an ass ache? Do you have padding back there?” I ask.
“I'm looking for somewhere to stop for a minute.” Marc says.
“Thank you much.” I say to Marc.
And stick my tongue out at him when he isn’t looking. Hey, we have to have some form of entertainment.
Marc sees a Chevron store and pulls in. The window in the door is broken which tells us it has been ransacked probably and it has a zombie or two in it. Lovely.
We get out and stretch. Rifles slung over our shoulders, we are on alert. The last thing we need is to get caught unaware.
I walk over to the door and look in. There is still some stuff left in the store so I go in and grab a couple of bags and fill them with chips, jerky and a few candy bars. I head to the Pepsis and grab what's there. I look to see where Marc is, and it looks like he is watching me and checking out the storage room in the store. So I walk over to the cooler and pull out a case of Bud Light. Yep, nectar of the Gods and I'm getting some.
“You got everything?” Marc asks me.
“Cigarettes. Grab some.” I tell him.
I walk back to the truck and take my bags and put them in the box in the back Marc put in to hold our food and drinks.
“We ready?” Marc asks.
“Was there not any gas?” I ask.
Marc shakes his head no.
“So I guess we are ready.” I tell him.
We get ready to leave and coming from behind the store are a couple of zombies looking for a meal. Well, we just had to be so lucky.
I take an aim and drill both of them in the head.
“Let's go.” I say.
We get back on the road and to keep my mind from wandering I pull the map out and see how much longer we have. A few more hours.