The Rabid Mind Two

by Bruce Buckshot Hemming

  Ben ran back to the General, “What are you doing? Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  He showed the grenade to him. “With a little luck, we might be able to close the cave opening buying us some precious time. But I don’t want to waste it without killing as many as we can.”

  “You give me covering fire, kill any that come through. If we can push them back the cave will fill up.”

  “Got it, General.” He started firing as two made it out. The General joined in shooting until they fell back. “After I toss it, take cover behind the boulder.”

  He couldn’t see in the cave but he could hear them. It sounded like thirty or more inside. Suddenly, powerful arms wrapped around him pinning his arms to his side. With a kick, Ben was knocked off the cliff falling to his death. The man that had him was huge and powerful, six feet tall and three hundred pounds, all muscle. He carried the General with ease. It grunted at the others and they gave him a large berth. The thing had crawled up and around the boulder. He was the main man for the leader.

  He carried him down into the main cave where hundreds and hundreds of the infected surrounded him. They stayed back. He sat the General down in the middle of the cave. A fire was burning lighting the cave and the light flickered and danced off the walls like a bad dream. One of the infected, smelling the fresh blood on the General face, charged forward with one thought, to feed. The huge man grabbed him and broke his neck. He grunted and the others backed off.

  The crowd spread out as their leader walked in. “Stupid human. I told you we would win.”

  The General stood up and looked around the cave. A huge smile on his face. He held out the Grenade and pulled the pin. “Hey loco you know what this is? Yes, big boom, this time you can’t escape.”

  A flash of fear crossed the things face. It somehow understood. The General thought just maybe I can escape. “You do understand. I am leaving alone and you’re staying here. Understand loco?”

  “Oh, human did you really think I would let you leave alive? We can barely contain the rest of them from tearing you apart right now.”

  “But you do have control of them. Yes?”

  The General watched its face. It smiled a crooked, evil, uncaring smile. Like a psychopath with no compassion.

  “Ah, your toy is a bluff. We are going to feed on you now.”

  The General laughed. He tossed the grenade up in the air over their leader and counted. The grenade floated up in the air above the crowd surrounding their leader. He counted, one, two, three, the Grenade was falling now about two feet above the crowd. Four….. Boom. The sound was deafening. It shredded those around the leader and in the flash before the General was cut down he thought, “See you in hell, fucker.”

  The explosion caused the top of the cave to collapse killing hundreds of his followers. It had died before he witnessed the destruction. But there were still several hundred of his followers outside, feeding on the dead.

  Diego stopped on the trail and turned around, looking as the mountain rumbled and shook. What the hell was that, he thought. The General must have gone out in one hell of a blaze of glory. God, bless you, General. He stopped and waited, how many made it out? As the men passed him he counted them. A man came up and he said he was the last one.

  They continued into the night. Silent, grateful, sad, and wondering, what’s next.

  ***

  The next morning, as the sunshine brightened the day. Matt climbed down the tarp, the three-women holding the other end. Once he reached the ground they hauled it back up. Staying low he worked his way to the front gate. Openly the lock he unwrapped the chain. So far so good. He bend over and fast walked to the truck, the key in one hand, his Glock in the other. Almost there, ten steps. You can do it. He heard a clang, something bouncing on the roof.

  “Fuck.” Claire said, she accidentally knocked over one of the propane bottle and it rattled down the roof.

  Matt heard the shriek from inside the house and ran for the truck. Shit. He closed the door and the backyard was filling up with the infected. He heard the ladies shooting as he started the truck. Tossing it in reverse he floored it. Turning around so he could see as he cut through them. Come on truck, faster, he urged the truck on. He bounced over bodies. The truck was jumping all over and he had a hard time controlling it. He straightened it out as the infected rammed the truck, some jumping on the bed. They crawled up, pounding on the rear window. He hit the gate and it flew open and bounced back hitting the passenger door, while slamming on the brakes as he jerked the wheel to the right. Lining the truck up on the street he slammed it into drive smashed the gas pedal, the ones in the back fell over and slid to the back of the bed. He heard the cannon boom. Looking up in the rear-view mirror he saw twenty cut down, falling to the street behind him.

  Great job ladies, he thought. The three in the bed of the truck had climbed back to the front again and were feverishly beating on the rear window, he heard it crack. The next street was coming up. Slamming on the brakes he cut the wheel to the left skidding around the corner. Two were tossed out of the truck and he completed the stop, putting it in park. He jumped out, firing as soon as the last one in the back lined up in his sight. That one fell over dead. The other two had recovered from being tossed from the truck and charged.

  He looked past them as another twenty-five cleared the corner, running straight for him. He got back in the truck and took off. One managed to grab hold of the side mirror. He saw its dirty face on the bottom of his driver side window. Being dragged along. He hit the button to lower the window. Smiling, he waited until the window was clear and fired, hitting it in the head. It fell to the street, skidding along behind him. At the next corner he stopped and allowed the horde to catch up.

  ***

  Sandra and Claire had managed to get two shots from the cannon before the horde disappeared. Now they wanted to clear the house of the remaining infected inside. Opening the door to the main floor. Claire peeked around. She whispered to Sandra. “Clear.”

  They lowered the ladder. Whispering to Lisa, Sandra said, “You kill any that come near the ladder.” She nodded her head.

  They climbed down, Glock ready to fire. Claire was in the lead. Her mouth was dry. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. Her hand was sweaty and the gun was difficult to hold. Her hand was shaking. She stopped at the corner to the living room. She could see the chairs and couch torn up the floor was littered with trash. The smell of urine filled the air. She wanted to gag, but held it back.

  She peeked her head around the corner. On the floor in the corner were legs. Turning to Sandra, she held up two finger and pointed to the corner. They stepped out together side by side. Claire, not being the patient type, shot the thing in the leg. He popped his head above the chair and Sandra shot it in the head. Their ears were ringing now but they heard the sound coming from the kitchen as five came running out at them and they both opened fire. Dropping the last one at their feet.

  Sandra yelled. “Come on Motherfuckers. Come and get us. Here we are.”

  Claire gave her look like, are you crazy? They checked the kitchen, it was trashed, the table broken in pieces on the floor, chairs knocked over. It looked like a tornado had come through.

  The pantry door was still closed. Claire walked over to the door. Looking at Sandra she nodded and whipped open the door. It was empty.

  They cleared the rest of the house and it was free of any more infected. Back at the ladder they called Lisa and the baby down. Opening the window to get the smell out, they started hauling bodies outside.

  ***

  Matt was driving at fifteen miles per hour. Fast enough so they could barely keep up. He took them outside of the small town and into the desert. He noticed they started falling off. He stopped the truck. Stepping out he walked to the back of it. Waiting for the last five to get in range when they hit ten-yard mark he dropped them, one after
the other.

  The rest must have run for cover to get away from the sun, he thought. Looking at his watch, forty-five minutes had passed. I wonder how the ladies are doing; he turned the truck around and headed for home.

  Did it work? Were they ok? Driving he kept an eye out to see where the other infected had scurried off to. We still must clean them out, can’t leave any wandering around this area. He pulled into the driveway and saw Lisa and Sandra hauling a body out. Guess the ladies had cleared the house. Damn they are tough women, he thought.

  ***

  Diego looked around, how many had they lost in the fighting last night? The General was missing, presumed dead. Eight more of his men and six of his own missing, or confirmed dead. From a large fighting force to a ragtag of beaten refugees in a single night!

  Jim walked up to him. “My friend, this is where we part ways. We’re heading back to our people.”

  Diego was in shock they wanted to split up, further weakening his force. “Now?”

  “We will get our CRV, and take the children back to our place. We can travel with you till the highway splits. I take it you’re heading north to the General’s camp?”

  “Yes, but why don’t you join us? The General was right, we have to build up a huge fighting force if are going to survive.”

  “Diego, my thoughts are that a large group will attract larger hives. I believe we have a better chance on our own.” Jim said.

  “Ok Jim, but know the door is always open for you and your people.”

  “Thank you, that is very much appreciated.”

  They loaded everyone up in the vehicles and drove back to the camp. Dropping Jim, Debbie, and the children off at the CRV. They all drove out. The General was correct, the camp was a total disaster.

  They stopped a few hours later where Jim was to turn off and head to his place.

  They all got out and said their goodbyes. “You guys get your ham radio set up so we can stay in touch.” Diego said.

  “First thing. Call you at 8 PM every night. Give us a week to haul the ham radio over to our camp.”

  “Stay alive. That is the most important thing.”

  “If all goes good we’ll drive up and see you in the spring.”

  Each group headed on their way. Jim, Debbie and her children were excited to get home. A new beginning. A new chapter in life.

  After a few hours, they pulled up to the gate. Honking the horn Matt stepped out, followed by the rest of them. Debbie and Jim could not believe their eyes when they saw Lisa and the baby. How she survived by herself was a miracle.

  “Lisa, you never found your group?”

  “I found what was left of them. They were slaughtered by a hive. I think it was the same one that attacked us here.”

  Debbie hugged her. “I am glad you’re safe.”

  Matt filled them in on the attack, Jim shared their story with the group.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  EPILOGUE

  A week later Jim looked over the fence. It had worked but proved it couldn’t stop a large hive. His mind was trying to come up with a new plan to make them all safe. Matt walked over with a cup of coffee as Jim studied the fence line. “Ok slave driver, I see the wheels turning, what is your plan this time?”

  “You guys did great work. But it’s the design that is our problem. We need to keep this as our Alamo so to speak but we need a first line of defense out farther.”

  “Jim, you ever watch the Zombie series, “The Walking Dead?”

  “No. I never watched Zombie movies or shows.”

  “Same type of event but Zombies that were slow. Anyways they come up to this town that had a fence build out of metal roof sheeting, all around the community. Ten feet tall. We know they hunt us by sight. We build the fence say all around these six houses in the cul-de-sac. We can find barns to strip the metal off. Tons of metal barns in the area. Get a tractor with fence post hole digger. We can use telephone poles as our main beams, put them what, four feet in the ground?”

  “You really put some thought into this, I see.”

  “Yes, after we saw how they attacked. They’re learning getting smarter. We need to step up our game. This is what I think we need, a small tractor here anyways. Planting crops. Sooner or later the canned food is going to run out.”

  “I agree, plus we need to go collect all the solar panels we can. Silent power is the only way to go. But first the fence, once that is up we’ll move out into the house across the street.”

  “We need to set up a water catchment system on the other houses too. Collect and save rain water for the garden.”

  “Matt, you are really thinking. I like that.”

  “We don’t have a choice….. work hard or we die.”

  “How are Lisa and Claire working out?”

  “Claire has really turned into a great asset. Too soon to say either way on Lisa but she jumped right in the fight and stood shoulder to shoulder with us.”

  “We have six adults now. We need to stand full time watches at night. Switch off every other week. Three people for one shift like you Sandra, Claire. Next week Myself, Debbie and Lisa?”

  “What about the baby?”

  “You’re right, ok. You and I can switch off. You work three days in a row and then me. That way neither one of us will get burnt out.”

  “Ok, fence project first?”

  They found the telephone poles were too heavy. Instead, they decided to use eight-inch diameter logs cut to fourteen-foot lengths. Using a post-hole digger attachment for a tractor they quickly dug the holes and planted the logs. In-between they used 4x4 lagged bolted in the logs. These were spaced two feet from top to bottom. Once they were in place the metal roofing was put up. It took them two weeks to get it up. They were working sunup to sundown. The main door was set up on roller to push from side to side.

  Next was watchtower on the front. Jim looked it over with Matt. “Ok, I like it a lot. Great job. The only weakness I see is raiders with a truck could get in.”

  Jim smiled. “I talked to a World War II Vet and he told me about building a tank trap.”

  “Tank trap?

  “We take logs and plant them in ground. Start out with two feet sticking out and work up to four feet. Spread out across the lawns. If they try to drive over them they will get caught high, centered, and stuck.”

  “Great, what about the main road?”

  “l’m thinking trucks. You know dump trucks, Semi’s trucks, farm trucks, plow trucks, whatever we can find. Big heavy trucks scatter them along the road so they would have to weave in out slow them down.”

  “That also gives them cover to shoot at us?”

  “Ok, what is your idea Matt?”

  “Cars. Something we can shoot through to kill them. Make up a bomb if they get by. You know, something to blow them up. Got to be some road crews with dynamite. You know the ones that work on keeping the roads safe from falling rocks.”

  “That is a great idea.”

  Lisa and Sandra were talking in the back yard hanging clothes. “Lisa, tell me, what is your story, how did you end up here.”

  Lisa had the girl next door look, brunette hair, one hundred thirty-five pounds, she stood at five foot four. “Pretty simple really. I’m twenty-four years old, had my baby last year just before the world ended. My husband was killed in the first wave that hit our city. I escape with a small group. We had been doing good avoiding people and the infected and staying out in the woods. The only problem, you can’t carry enough ammo.”

  “Yes, we are learning that fact all the time. That is why my Dad wants us to get crossbows and start building bolts for them.”

  “What are bolts?”

  “The short arrows for the crossbows.”

  “Oh, okay, I didn’t know that. Anyways we came into a small town to look for wheels. That is when
the raiders hit us.”

  “But how did you end up here?”

  “Debbie told you how they save me right?”

  Sandra nodded yes.

  “After I left Debbie and Jim I worked my way back to the last place I had seen my group. Started tracking them, hoping and praying I would find them. After who knows how long I found their remains.” Her eyes teared up as she remembered the gruesome sight. “Their bodies were so torn up I couldn’t tell who they were. But the backpacks looked familiar. I opened one and found the clothes and knew right away it was my friends. I saw another pack I recognized and some guns our group had carried.” She paused looking away from Sandra fighting the tears streaming down her face.

  Sandra walked over and hugged her. “It must have been horrifying, I’m sorry.”

  Lisa broke the embrace and continued. “I was lost and alone in a world gone mad. I thought of killing my baby and myself instead of allowing the Zombies to kill us.”

  “Oh, my God, kill your baby?”

  “I never could do it, looking down at her. I kept going, sticking to the plan of heading North. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “I came into this town and was looking for a place to spend the night when the hive attacked me. I would have been killed if Matt had not come racing down, shooting the Zombies and helping me escape. He’s a real hero. You must be proud to call him your man.”

  Sandra felt proud and a hint of jealously pop into her mind. Oh, great, another woman that wants my man. “Yes, I’m very proud. We have been through thick and thin together.”

  As if she read Sandra mind she said. “No worries Sandra. I have Chloe to take care of, not looking for a man and sure as hell don’t want another baby right now.”

  ***

  “They had set up ham radio and stayed in contact with Diego group. They left the radio on at night scanning, listening in for other survivors.