Chronicles of the Undead | Book 1 | Urban Gridlock

by Hernandez, Jaime

  There were several dead shuffling down the street aimlessly. There weren’t any congregated together that she could see, so she told Camille to take a look. Her daughter once again did well, keeping her cool and keeping quiet as she watched the zombies for several minutes. Camille noticed that they didn’t seem to be headed in any particular direction and realized that it was because they hadn’t seen or heard anything to draw their attention. The noise she’d heard a few minutes ago when she’d been at the side of the fence had been the slapping and sliding of the feet of the handful of zombies.

  Camille dropped down without making a sound. She nodded at her mom and they continued. At the board covered wrought iron gate, they both peeked through the tiny gaps on either side. They saw the same few zombies as well as one coming from a little further down the street.

  They made their way past the rest of the wall and to fence that it connected to on the other side of their yard. Every dozen feet or so, Camille would hop up to take a look before they continued on. As they neared the front and side of the neighbor’s house, Camille stopped. She was sure she had heard something on the other side of the fence. She motioned to her mom to stop and she slowly and carefully climbed up a tree branch while keeping her head low and out of sight.

  There were two zombies stumbling around in the yard. A third was pushing against a front window on the house. They made little noise, but where there were three, there were likely to be more or there would be soon. They had probably been drawn by what little noise the boys had made working on the windows but had been unable to track the sound accurately and ended up at the neighbor’s front door. Camille held up three fingers to her mom to let her know that she saw three of the dead.

  Fearing that Camille would get ahead of herself and try to kill them like Damon had done earlier in the day, Anna whispered for her to climb down. Camille shook her head no and showed her mom her knife.

  “Motherfucker,” Anna fumed in barely a whisper. What the hell was it with her kids? At the very first opportunity, both had been ready and eager to kill the dead. She hadn’t expected Camille to react the same as Damon had.

  “Wait for me,” Anna hissed the order. To her relief, Camille nodded and stayed in place. Anna climbed the nearest branch so she could see what Camille saw. There was a slight dead woman standing up against the front window. Both hands rested against the window, as if the woman didn’t understand that it was a barrier and was trying to walk through it.

  Another dead woman was stumbling in the grass near the walkway from the driveway to the front door. About ten feet further back, a rather tall man kept walking into a tree, or more accurately, his feet were unable maneuver the above ground roots.

  “You take the woman by the window, I’ll get the two in the yard,” Anna whispered. “You have to plunge your knife through her eye or her ear. Any other part of the head and you might not be able to push through the bone.” Anna knew that the knife could be driven through any part of the skull with enough brute force behind it, but she didn’t want Camille to take such a risk on her first kill.

  They quietly dropped down into the neighbor’s yard. None of the three zombies heard them. Anna kept an eye on the two zombies that she was going to kill but first stayed relatively close to her daughter in case Camille needed help.

  Camille moved as silently and as quickly as a cat. Anna supposed that junior high track and cheerleading had given her the ability to better control her body movements. The dead woman at the window didn’t detect her presence until Camille was about three feet away from her.

  The dead woman was rail thin, probably in her twenties before she died and was wearing running shorts and a sports bra. Her arms bore several large bite marks. She turned her head toward Camille to reveal that nearly half of her face had been torn away. Her gnashing teeth were visible in the open gap where her cheek should have been. Her lips hung loosely by thin pieces of stringy flesh that looked ready to snap at any moment. Her eyes looked dull and lifeless. Dried blood covered the front and side of her neck and ran down her chest. One of her breasts was completely exposed from a long tear at the front of her sports bra. Angry red scratches led from her breast to her abdomen.

  Camille took a deep breath then lunged for the dead woman, not realizing her own strength. As her weight hit the woman, they both fell to the ground. The dead woman landed on her back while Camille fell face forward but caught herself and landed on her hands and knees. Before the dead woman could do more than turn her head, Camille plunged her knife through the woman’s eye. Camille let out a soft sigh and looked quickly toward her mom.

  Anna shook her head then looked at the remaining two zombies in the yard. They were both aware of Anna and Camille’s presence now and turned to move toward them. Anna carefully approached the dead woman in the grass near the walkway. She was a heavyset forty-something mess even before she had died. Her massive belly, fully exposed beneath her torn shirt, literally hung over the front of her pants. The dead were slow and clumsy, but the woman’s morbid obesity made her even more so. Her belly kept her off-balance as she attempted to step from the grass to the walkway. The woman’s hands showed multiple bites and missing fingers, mostly likely defensive wounds suffered as she’d fought for her own life. She carried so much fat under her chin that the ring of purple bite marks on the front of her throat appeared to have breached nothing but fat. Her upper right arm showed major damage. The exposed detritus was shiny and slimy with congealed blackish blood.

  After seeing how off-balance and uncoordinated the woman was, Anna decided her best option was to rush right up to her and thrust her knife through the woman’s ear. It worked rather easily. Camille hurried over and helped her mom guide the woman’s body to the ground as quietly as possible lest it fall on its own and make a louder noise.

  Meanwhile, the tall dead man had cut half of the distance between them. His height put both of them at a disadvantage. When he was about a foot away, Camille kicked at his knee causing his legs to buckle. As he dropped to his knees, arms reaching for both of them, Anna grabbed a fistful of his hair then plunged the knife through his eye. His body slowly slumped forward, almost noiselessly.

  “Mom, there’s another one coming,” Camille whispered and pointed to the yard closer to the street.

  “Damn it,” Anna replied. They had taken out the three dead to help prevent more from joining them. “I’ve got this.” She lightly stepped toward a dead teenaged girl, quickly pulled her close by her ponytail and pushed her knife through the girl’s ear. She held onto the dead body and slowly and quietly dropped it to the ground.

  Anna and Camille climbed up the tree and back onto two large branches that hung over the fence. They held their position for fifteen minutes before deciding that no more dead were heading for the neighbor’s front yard.

  Dropping back into their own yard, Anna whispered to Camille. “You did great. I’m proud of you. But next time, don’t fucking tackle a zombie like that! You could have landed with your arm inside her mouth.” Anna admonished.

  Camille gave her an ‘aw shucks’ look and barely whispered the word sorry. They kept walking toward the rear of the yard, popping up now and then to take a look at the neighbor’s back yard. Anna feared that they might find some of the dead behind their rear fence because of Michelle’s arrival earlier, but the yard behind theirs was empty for as far as they could see. They finished their loop around the other side of the yard until they reached the house. With everything clear, they went back inside and replaced the lift bar across the front door.

  Chapter 28

  Day 2

  It was getting dark outside, so using a combination of duct tape and strips of black out curtains, the women covered all of the newly constructed holes in the plywood that covered the windows. Thanks to the boys’ hard work, they could safely use lights in the house without any light visible from outside.

  They also had perfectly sized and spaced lookout positions throughout the house in the corners of
most windows. From that point on, anyone going outside could get a look outside the windows before opening the door. The rear patio doors were barred over as were most of the windows. An elevated bathroom window on one side of the house was covered but not barred, providing an escape route if necessary. The attached garage was not boarded up in any way which provided another out. The front door was heavily secured with the drop bar on the inside and the metal bars on the outside but was fully accessible for them to go in and out. Anna felt comfortable with the security measures they had taken.

  Joey and Damon finally got to rest after finishing the windows and showering. They crashed hard in Damon’s room. Lucia and Camille were showering in the guest and master bathrooms with instructions to go to bed when they were done. Anna planned to hop in once one of them was free. She encouraged everyone to shower for however long and however often they wanted to because once the power went out, showers would be a thing of the past.

  They filled every empty water bottle, pitcher, large bowl and container they could find with water. Anna dumped out the contents of plastic storage bins in the garage for the boys to fill with water. Anna had buckets and the wheelbarrow sitting out front to collect water if it were to rain. If a big storm were to come, she would empty out more storage bins and place them outside.

  Anna realized that if the house held and they remained undiscovered by the zombies, their biggest problem would be water. She had no idea whether the dead would remain scattered near her street and house or if they were just seeing the tip of a large group of them. At any given time, their street could suddenly hold hundreds of zombies for all she knew. All of the not knowing was frustrating, but Anna just wanted to make sure they were as prepared as possible.

  Being proactive, she decided to take a trip next door to the Wright’s house to search for any bottled water or buckets. To let everyone else get some much needed rest, she asked Emily to go with her. No one did anything alone; it was always in groups of at least two. Emily agreed without hesitation. Anna gave her a sheathed knife that she could wear on her belt.

  Once outside, she led Emily to the brick wall near the front of her yard. She wanted to show her the basic layout and how they had set up additional protection. Then they went over to the tree along the side of the fence closest to the front of the Wright’s house. Emily had no reaction to the elderly woman’s body on the ground as she had seen plenty already. They stayed in the tree branches for about five minutes to make sure the neighboring yard was clear.

  Hearing and seeing nothing, they quietly hopped down, went through the open front door and closed it behind them softly. The house was dark other than the kitchen and hall lights which must have been turned on before the Wrights were attacked by their granddaughter.

  The interior décor of the house was outdated by at least twenty-five years, yet it showed the pride the couple had felt in their home and especially their family. Knick-knack collections lined shelves on one wall of the living room, while the wall behind the couch and the hallway beyond were lined with pictures of family. On the mantel above the fireplace there was a picture of the couple celebrating their 60th anniversary.

  Both Anna and Emily began to grow uncomfortable looking at someone else’s precious memories, so they moved to the kitchen. Beautiful oak cabinets lined the large farmhouse style kitchen. There was a huge island in the middle, larger than a dining room table. Anna opened the refrigerator door, surprised to find it filled to the brim with food. Their granddaughter must have just shopped for them. The freezer was about half as full, but with a variety of food.

  A mudroom sat off one corner of the kitchen. Emily found a large supply of recycled shopping bags and brought them back to the kitchen. She slowly and quietly filled the bags with most of the refrigerated food. Anna found a pantry to the right of the fridge. Nearly the entire floor of the pantry was covered with gallon sized bottles of water. The pantry shelves were full of canned and dried foods. There was a small section of coffee and baking supplies, spices and oils, but the remainder was food. Mrs. Wright must have done some canning herself as Anna looked at row after row of mason jars lining one shelf. It looked like the couple liked to stock up just as Anna did, so she decided to check the rest of the house.

  The hallway to the bedrooms held three large closets. One held mops, brooms, cleaning supplies and a vacuum. Another was an oversized linen closet that held the expected linens as well as soap, shampoo, medicine and other things generally found in a bathroom. The remaining closet was full of paper products such as toilet paper, paper towels and tissues.

  Anna closed the door then went to the master bedroom. She felt awkward and uncomfortable but wanted to look for weapons and prescription medications. Both bedside tables held prescription bottles but nothing of value for her or her family. She was surprised to find handguns in both nightstands. A quick sweep of the walk-in closet revealed a loaded shotgun hanging on a custom rack. She grabbed the guns and what ammo she could find then went back to meet Emily in the kitchen.

  “I never had any idea how huge this house was,” Anna started. “I found four bedrooms and every room and closet in this place is oversized. There are supplies everywhere.”

  “There’s probably even more than what you found, because we haven’t checked the basement or garage yet,” Emily said.

  “I was thinking. Maybe we should just take the food that you bagged up and leave the rest. We know it’s here if we need it. It’s a hell of a lot of stuff to carry over the fence especially when we need to do it quietly,” Anna said.

  “Maybe tomorrow we should have the boys cover the picture window, so no more of the dead get into the house. Maybe bring over some of the water too.” Emily suggested.

  “Good idea. We have plenty of supplies at our house for the short term. Whenever there are no zombies around, we can make little supply trips here and there. Eventually get it all into our house,” Anna said. “Well, let’s lug these bags to the fence. Plenty of fresh food here for tomorrow.” To Emily it looked like a week or two worth of fresh food, but then she remembered they were feeding four teenagers that ate like horses, not just the three adults.

  “Oh!” Emily said suddenly. “The bodies. Either we take all of the supplies out of the house tomorrow or we remove the bodies. It’s going to get rancid in here pretty fast with two dead bodies lying there in this heat.”

  Anna agreed. They’d discuss it with the others in the morning and come to a group consensus.

  They quietly carried the bags over to the fence. Emily went back to make sure the front door was secure. She saw Anna climbing the tree and quickly walked over to hand her the first bag. One by one Emily lifted bags to Anna then Anna quietly dropped them to the ground.

  Just as they were finishing up, they heard a raspy moan. Emily turned to find that a zombie had managed to get within two feet of her while she’d been preoccupied. With its arms reaching for her, Emily’s first instinct was to kick it in the chest. The dead man stumbled backward, giving her the time she needed to pull out her knife. She kicked him again, this time causing him to fall flat on his back. She hurried over and thrust her knife through his eye. She was used to scissors and found she had a much greater appreciation for the knife. Breathing hard, she looked back to Anna and nodded.

  Emily climbed up the tree back over to Anna’s side of the fence. They each carried four bags of food which they quietly set down at the screen door. They opened the screen door and maneuvered one bag of food at a time through the bars, then repeated the process at the front door.

  Inside Michelle marveled at the amount of food they had collected. They carried everything to the kitchen and Michelle loaded the fridge. “Looks like we’re going to eat well tomorrow,” she said.

  “The kids?” Anna asked.

  “Asleep. I didn’t even have to get on them about it. They were all exhausted,” Michelle replied. “Are we going to keep watch or is everyone going to bed?”

  “I don’t mind keeping watch,
” Emily said. There wasn’t really a watch position to take, but rather having someone check through the windows every now and then.

  “Thank you. I’m exhausted. I’m going to shower and get some sleep,” Anna said. To Michelle she added, “We found a shitload of supplies next door. We figured we could all talk about it in the morning to see how we want to go about getting them.” She checked the phones on the counter and saw no new messages.

  Michelle nodded then headed for the small family room at the back of the house. It held a mini-sectional, a fireplace, a TV and videogame consoles. A tiny bathroom sat off to one side. It was the room the teenagers usually hung out in and played videogames. Michelle pulled a blanket off the back of the couch, lay down and fell asleep almost immediately.

  Chapter 29

  Day 3

  Max stayed at the front of the semi with Jesse’s body until morning. He’d had a few beers, smoked too many cigarettes and had been unable to sleep. His mind wandered but most of his thoughts involved Jesse in one way or another.

  His mind kept replaying the scene of Jesse being bitten. He felt tremendous guilt and unbearable loss over his friend’s death. He just couldn’t imagine a world without Jesse in it. Jesse was a brother to him. From the beginning, it had been Max and Jesse all the way back in grade school. Then it had been them and their wives. After that it had been the four of them and their children. They were one big family.

  He’d put Jesse’s wallet and phone in his pocket so that he could give them to Michelle once he finally got home. He figured there were probably pictures and messages she would want to keep. Max hadn’t messaged Anna because he didn’t know how to talk to her without telling her about Jesse’s death and that was something that he just wasn’t ready to do yet. He felt bad knowing that Anna was probably worried but pushed that thought aside.