“Thanks, Frank,” Max replied. He knew that Frank believed what he said and that the man was most likely right.
As much as Max dreaded the thought of telling Anna and Michelle, especially Michelle, about what had happened to Jesse he decided to try messaging his wife. He typed out his message but after he pressed the send button a red exclamation point appeared next to the words ‘message failed to send’. He hit the retry button several times, but the message didn’t go through.
“Frank, what’s your number? I’m going to try to send you a message. I think the phones might be down,” Max said. After entering Frank’s number into his phone he typed the word ‘hello’ and pressed the send button only to get the same result.
“Damn,” Frank said. “I thought the phones would last longer, at least for text messages. Internet working?”
“Nope. It’s a damn paperweight now,” Max answered. He went to throw his phone but stopped himself. There were hundreds of pictures of his family on his phone and he didn’t want to lose those. He powered off the phone to save the battery.
They heard movement on the ladder as Vince’s face popped into view. “How’s the horde?” he asked.
“Still the same. Can’t see the end of it yet,” Max said.
“Alright. Might as well cook up some more food before we hit the road. I’ll let you guys know when it’s ready,” Vince said.
“Sounds good,” Frank answered, and Max nodded. He didn’t want to waste time sitting around eating, but he knew they couldn’t leave yet.
Inside, Junior went through their gear to make sure everything was set for when it was time to leave, while Vince cooked up some burgers in the kitchen. “How’s the horde?” Junior asked.
“Looked the same when I was up there. No end in sight yet,” Vince replied.
“Damn, okay,” Junior said. He wasn’t exactly in a hurry to leave. Since coming to Vince’s house, they’d slept and been well fed. More importantly, they hadn’t had to kill any zombies. Vince’s house was only safe right now because all of the dead were being drawn to the horde. He knew it was only a matter of time though before the zombies would start coming back around the house and street. Once the horde was long gone, small groups of zombies would start to appear again. Vince’s house wasn’t very defendable. It was too small and too close to the street. They could start boarding up windows, but Max needed to get home to his family and had made it clear that the guys were welcome. And bigger numbers meant more safety from the dead. He just wasn’t looking forward to going back out there.
“I’m going to make a plate of food for myself and take over on the roof. I’ll send the guys in to eat. There’s burgers, beer and water ready to go in the kitchen,” Vince said.
“Cool, thanks for cooking, man,” Junior’s stomach rumbled at the smell of the burgers and he was eager to eat. He was halfway through his second burger when Frank and Max came in. Max didn’t even realize he was hungry until the inviting aroma of the fresh burgers hit his senses. They made up their plates and joined Junior in the living room.
“I really hope that fucking horde is gone before dark,” Max said in between bites. “We’re so close now. Coming to Vince’s place took us off in the wrong direction, but we’re still close. If the roads are clear we might make it in ten minutes, fifteen tops.”
“All the gear’s ready,” Junior said. “We just have to load up and we’ll be ready to go.” He hadn’t loaded any of the gear ahead of time because anything could happen. They made a habit of keeping it close by for that very reason. They never knew when they would have to go on foot. A hundred zombies could suddenly surround Vince’s house. No one expected anything like that, but they’d learned to be prepared.
The guys went for seconds and thirds since Vince had cooked enough food for a dozen people. Well satiated, they let themselves relax with a couple beers. They kept it at two a piece because they needed to have clear heads. After about an hour, Junior said he was going to go check on Vince and the horde.
As Junior climbed up the ladder to the roof, he saw Vince standing with the binoculars. “What’s up?” he asked.
“Looks like we’re finally seeing the end of the horde,” Vince replied and turned to grin at Junior. “Let’s wait a few before we go tell Max. I think it’s a good idea to make sure the tail end of that shit storm is out of sight before we leave, and Max will want to leave immediately.”
Junior agreed, so they hung out on the roof for a little while and enjoyed a few smokes. By that time, Max and Frank came out to check the status of the horde.
“How’s it looking?” Max asked. Vince handed the binoculars to Max and grinned. “Holy shit! That’s the end of it.” Max saw that the intersection in the distance was cleared of zombies. He could see the tail end of the horde to the east, with mostly just crawlers in sight. “They’re far enough away. Let’s get going.”
Frank took a look and a huge smile lit up his face. “Yes indeed,” he started. “It’s time to get the fuck out of here.”
Chapter 40
Day 3
Michelle stalled Anna for as long as she could. “You can’t go out there yet and you know it,” she said. “You have to put some distance between us and the horde. If you have to fire your gun, you could draw half of them back here.”
“God damn it, Michelle! If that were Lucia out there, would you still be sitting around waiting?” Anna demanded.
“I wouldn’t want to be, but you know for damn sure that you’d be stopping me. You’re putting everyone here at risk if you go too soon. This isn’t you. You are being irrational. Sit the fuck down, eat some damn food and chill the fuck out,” Michelle swore at Anna, knowing that she was just about the only one who could get away with it. “You don’t know how long you’re going to be gone and you need some calories. Eat something. Then pack up your gear in case you end up on foot. By the time you do all of that, it should be safe to go.”
Anna gave Michelle the meanest glare in her arsenal but grabbed some dinner from the counter and started eating without tasting anything.
“I’m going with you Mom, and you can’t stop me,” Damon said as he sat next to his mother. “You can’t go by yourself. Someone has to have your back.”
“The fuck I can’t stop you,” Anna said. “You try to come with me or follow me, and I’ll kick your scrawny little ass.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Emily said to both of them. “I’ll go. He’s right, Anna, you need someone to watch your back. I know you’re not going to let any of these kids go with you.” The teens all bristled at the word kids. Emily just gave them a look and waved them off. “Michelle sure as hell isn’t going anywhere without her kids. That leaves you with me whether you like it or not. And I’m bigger than you. There’s no way you’re going to kick my scrawny little ass,” Emily finished with a smile.
Anna couldn’t help but crack a small smile. She was tough as nails, but Emily could probably squash her like a bug. Any woman who could escape the dead as Emily had at the beach was someone she wanted on her side.
“It’s settled then,” Anna said as she finished her food. “We’ll gear up then we’ll get going. Damon, you listen to Michelle while I’m gone.”
Damon knew the fight was over and he was staying home, so he nodded in agreement. Joey and Lucia were eating quietly at the table. They knew better than to get in the middle of the argument and were glad that it was settled, but Joey softly grumbled because he and Damon had really wanted to go. He thought that if Damon went, they would have let him go too.
“This is good, dipshit,” Lucia stuck her tongue out at Joey. “You know Anna will find Camille and Emily is pretty badass, too.” Lucia was still shaken up from seeing the horde approach, watching Camille kill the neighbors and being outside on her own. She kept thinking about Camille’s expression begging her for help and how she had sat frozen in the tree. She felt guilty. That maybe if she hadn’t been so scared and had helped Camille, her friend wouldn’t have had to take off run
ning. She did her best to hide her feelings by striking out at her brother as she normally would.
“What the hell do you know, Miss hides in a tree?” Joey taunted back. He didn’t realize how upset she was until her face turned white. Tears instantly filled her eyes. “Hey, Lucia,” Joey said and put his arm around her shoulder. “Everything is going to be okay. Like you said, they’ll find her.”
“It’s my fault. I was so scared. Camille needed my help and I just froze. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t jump down, I just couldn’t let go of the tree,” Lucia started sobbing in earnest. “If, if I’d h-h-helped h-h-her, s-s-she w-w-wouldn’t have, wouldn’t h-h-have h-h-had t-t-to r-r-run.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Joey consoled her, but Lucia wasn’t having it. She knew that if anything happened to Camille that at least part of the blame lay with her. Lucia’s tears slowed and she started to calm down as she struggled to pull herself together.
“I was just so scared. I’ve never killed a zombie, and I panicked. After Camille ran, I just quietly climbed down from the tree. There were hundreds of zombies coming down the street, and I didn’t know what to do. I could see glimpses of them through the gate at the front of the wall. I could feel the ground moving like a mini earthquake, and I sat in the corner like a coward,” Lucia shivered at the memory. “Eventually I went back inside the house. I was worried about all of you next door, and I was afraid I’d never see any of you again. I kept hoping Camille would show up, that she’d get far enough ahead of the zombies that she could circle around and come back. For hours I sat there alone waiting, worrying and blaming myself.”
“You did the best you could Lucia,” Joey said. “No one is blaming you for anything.”
“They don’t need to because I blame myself! I need to learn how to do better,” Lucia said with a false bravado but with true determination. “You have to teach me how to kill them. I can’t freeze up again. Camille could be… she could be dead and it’s all my fault! I can’t let anyone down again.”
“Everything’s going to be fine. Dad should be here soon, and you know him and Max can fix just about anything. If Anna doesn’t find her, you know they will,” he said firmly. He knew that his dad and Max could do just about anything they set their minds to.
Michelle was helping Anna and Emily gather their gear, so she missed the entire exchange between her children. Emily didn’t know how to use a gun, but Anna insisted she carry one anyway. Better to have it and not need it. If she did need it, Anna figured it would be at close range and it was an easy gun to fire and reload. The women both wore belts with a sheathed knife and a holstered handgun. They filled two backpacks with a couple extra guns, a lot of ammo and a half dozen bottles of water each. They didn’t pack much else. Michelle insisted upon adding some food to the two packs just in case they didn’t make it back within a few hours.
“Damon, would you give Emily a quick tutorial on how to use that gun?” Anna asked. Max and Damon did a lot of hunting, so he was well versed in how to operate all of their guns. She’d chosen one that she thought would be easiest for a beginner.
“Sure, Mom,” He answered then went over to talk with Emily.
“How and where are you going to search?” Michelle asked. Finding Camille would be no easy task.
“I don’t know exactly. I’m going to drive slowly straight down our street, so if she’s hiding she’ll see the car. Then I’m just going to have to wing it, I guess. I’ll go down the side streets and I’ll call her name as I go down each one. I know there’ll be zombies around, but with the horde gone there shouldn’t be many. If the dead get a little thick, I’ll use my gun. I’m not overly concerned about making noise as long as we’re well away from the house,” Anna said. Her plan was to take their SUV so they could cover more ground, but she figured it would be slow going regardless. If they had to ditch the SUV, they’d go on foot with their backpacks.
“Just be careful. You know how much trouble we had getting to your house. They’re slow as fuck but they can overwhelm you quickly. Try not to hit any. Trust me, you don’t want one flying through your windshield or blowing one of your tires,” Michelle shuddered, thinking of their trip to Anna’s house. “Maybe you should come back here to check in, I don’t know, maybe once it gets dark? Just in case Camille makes it back here on her own. I don’t want you out there a minute longer than you have to be.”
“It just figures the damn phones went out today. I wish we had some kind of radios. I don’t know, Michelle. I’m not sure when I’m going to check in. We’re just going to have to play it by ear,” Anna said. “I promise I’ll be careful.” They embraced and said goodbye.
Damon and Emily came over. Emily looked a little flustered after the quick gun lesson Damon had given her. No one expected her to be a good shot. But if they got caught in a situation where the guns were needed, it would probably be at or nearly at point blank range. Damon’s instructions were enough for her to handle that.
Anna gave Damon a hug. “You listen to Michelle while I’m gone. Make sure you do perimeter checks, and you always take someone with you. I love you, kiddo,” Anna said as she squeezed him tighter.
“Love you too, Mom,” Damon said. “Be careful out there.”
With that, Anna and Emily got into the SUV and left.
Chapter 41
Day 3
The guys loaded up in the black SUV they’d gotten earlier at the gas station. Vince had a truck in his garage, but there wasn’t much point in switching vehicles. With their gear stowed and everyone settled in, Max backed out of the driveway. There weren’t any zombies nearby. He turned left at the end of the street and headed west toward his home. Anticipation hung in the air and everyone could feel it. Max’s grief for Jesse was momentarily abated as he thought of finally seeing Anna, Damon and Camille.
They headed west for about a mile before turning left onto another street. Max weaved around a few vehicles scattered about, but they’d only seen a handful of zombies so far. It seemed as if most of them really had joined the horde.
“This is the fewest dead I’ve seen since this thing started,” Frank said with wonder in his voice. The other guys nodded in agreement. It was almost eerie to see the streets so empty. Junior felt like he was sitting on the edge of his seat waiting for a crowd of zombies to come around some corner or another, but there still weren’t many around.
They crossed a highway overpass and found a couple dozen zombies there. They were wandering aimlessly until they saw the SUV. In the absence of most everyday noises, the SUV sounded incredibly loud even though it ran perfectly smoothly and quietly. With no planes in the sky, no cars on the road, no people out and about, no bikes riding by, no children playing in their yards, no one outside washing their cars, no one splashing in swimming pools, no kids playing ball at the park, no buses stopping, no trains rumbling, no traffic in the distance, no approaching cars, no car horns, no lawn mowers running, the sound of a quiet SUV driving down the road was almost a dinner bell to the dead. Their heads slowly turned to seek out the new noise and their feet began to move with a shuffling gait.
The guys were over the bridge before the couple of dozen zombies were able to fully turn in their direction. Max turned right at the intersection onto what was normally a very busy two lane road. There were far more abandoned cars here than they’d seen since leaving Vince’s place. “I’m going to try to weave my way through. If the cars get too thick, there’s plenty of smaller streets to use to cross over,” Max said.
“Sounds good,” Frank said. “You know the area.”
“We’re so fucking close,” Max replied. Approaching the next intersection, a huge multi-car accident had the entire road blocked. Max reversed and cut down a side street. It was easy enough to loop around a couple side streets then get headed back in the right direction. His biggest obstacle was the cars that were stopped all over the place. It was frustrating, but it was a hell of a lot better than zombies.
They passed at least two
dozen of the dead on one street. “It’s that wall running behind those houses,” Vince pointed to the houses on the right. “They tried to follow the horde but couldn’t maneuver around that.” The entire row of houses had a six foot wall running behind them, most likely to limit sounds of traffic from the busy main road and the highway. The dead quickly zeroed in on the SUV, but they moved achingly slow. Max was able to swerve around all but one, which bounced off the front passenger side and cartwheeled through the air.
The sound of gunfire in the distance caught them all by surprise. With the horde gone, it seemed strange to them that anyone would be firing a gun. The noise would draw in all of the zombies in the area. The guys talked about it a little bit and figured someone must be in a pretty desperate situation to risk firing a gun. They would have helped if they could have, but the lack of all other noise caused the gunfire to echo and they couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from.
They passed another intersection then came upon a larger group of the dead. They were wandering around in the middle of the road between several wrecked cars. There was no way around, so Max backtracked. A few turns later and they were turning down the street with the big red barn that Michelle and her kids had been stranded in on the first night. A couple more turns and they were finally on Max’s street. His side of the street was heavily wooded with deep parcels of land mostly hidden from the road. The houses on the other side sat much closer to the street with far fewer trees.
Max slowly drove past his house. He saw no movement through the trees and the wall was just hidden from view. “I don’t want to lead any of the dead to my door, so I’m going to make another pass first,” Max said.
“Another pass?” Vince asked. “Where the hell is your house?”
Chronicles of the Undead | Book 1 | Urban Gridlock Page 28