by J. W. Vohs
All of the goods were inventoried and stored, and as soon as the Rover was unloaded the adults gathered around the kitchen table to discuss their next move. Jim reminded everyone that they had food and water for months, and weren’t in a position where they actually needed to go anywhere for quite a while. David was concerned about losing more supplies to other survivors, but Christy argued that nothing out there was worth any of their lives. She continued by explaining that by the time they made their break for Indiana they would need to be certain that all of the members of their group were armed and armored in such a way as to make travel as safe as possible, but that many of the things they needed in order to do that probably weren’t high on the looting lists of survivors. Jerry and Luke had experienced enough zombie trouble to last them for a while, and Trudy was certain that the Cleveland flesh-eaters had arrived. Vickie saw nothing to be gained from venturing out again so soon, and Sal said that he would support whatever they decided to do, but felt that he needed to share the danger next time anybody went on a foraging mission.
Later that day David and Sal were pulling observation duty in the upstairs windows, talking about what kind of work they did before the pandemic and what their hobbies were. Sal loved riding ATVs and dirt bikes when he had the time, and he was a bit surprised to learn that David had little experience with such things and had never ridden a motorcycle in his entire life.
“Well, how did you and Christy get all of that great biker gear?”
“My brother, Jack, sent the stuff to us when we told him that we weren’t going to leave Cleveland simply because a little viral outbreak was causing trouble in D.C. He was one of those SCA-guys, you know, the kind of people who like to dress up in armor and stuff and conduct mock combats.”
Sal’s interest level shot up a few degrees at the mention of SCA, but he politely listened to the rest of David’s story. “I guess when the outbreak started Jack knew what was coming, and figured the best way to fight the infected would be by limiting both the amount of sound you make killing them, and protecting yourself from bites as well as possible. He said that traditional armor was too heavy, and the idea of using Kevlar-laced racing gear just came to him out of the blue one day when he was thinking about tactics. He’d been making medieval weapons since he was a kid, so he had plenty of tools to fight with. Coming up with light-weight armor though, that was pure genius!”
Finally Sal could remain silent no longer, “Listen, David, one of my neighbors was into SCA!”
David was shocked for a moment, then urgently asked, “You mean one of your neighbors around here?”
Now Sal was really excited. “Yeah! Behind our house was a large field, and on the other side of it were houses built around another cul-de-sac. Seems like every weekend we could see and hear people over there clanging swords off one another!”
David had an expression of wonder and hope as he mused, “Do you think they made it through the outbreak?”
Sal shook his head and explained, “Doesn’t matter! I mean, I sure as hell hope they did, but even if they joined everyone else leaving the area when the virus reached Westlake there should still be a ton of equipment in that house!”
David sat quietly staring out the window for a few seconds before declaring, “We need to tell everyone else as soon as possible. I say we take our chances with the zombies, unless their numbers just explode over the next twelve hours. We should get our butts over there tomorrow and see what’s in that house. If the people are still there maybe we can convince them to join us. If not, we’ll try to barter food or other supplies for weapons and armor. Damn, Sal, how long were you gonna keep this information to yourself?”
Sal smiled meekly, “I never even thought about it until we started talking about SCA. I just didn’t put two and two together. The guy’s name is Blake Alberts; he’s about my age and works for the fire department. His wife is an EMT. They may have been like Jim here and preparing for some sort of disaster.”
“Well, I for one have to find out as soon as I can get everyone to agree to a mission over there. Hell, for all we know they may just be hanging on in that house. Forget about what I said about heading over there tomorrow; we need to check this out today!”
CHAPTER 7
An hour later all of the adults and Luke, who’d proven himself a fearsome zombie killer, were gathered around the table discussing what they should do about the new information presented by Sal. Nobody was excited about the prospect of going into harm’s way so soon after the morning’s near-disaster, but David played the best cards he had.
“All right, first of all, our ultimate objective is to reach my brother’s retreat in Indiana. We have food, water, and other supplies for the trip, but we aren’t fully prepared for the fighting that’s gonna happen over a two hundred mile journey. Christy and I are geared up to snuff, and we wrapped up Jerry and Luke well enough before we headed out today, but we really need to figure out better protection for everyone in our group. We also need more weapons like the ones Jack sent us. Now we know that somebody only a few hundred yards away from here was involved with SCA, and the longer we wait to get over there, the greater the chance of him leaving or dying. We have to get over there now.”
Everyone except Sal looked like they’d just swallowed a lemon as they digested the new information, and surprisingly it was Vickie who broke the silence. “Blake and his wife are really nice, and they have a ten-year-old girl who used to come over and play with the boys. I know that I’ve been avoiding thinking about what might be happening to our friends and family during this ordeal, but since these folks might really be able to help us out I say we need to try to help them too. I’ll go myself if the rest of you don’t want to do it.”
Jerry cleared his throat, “Thanks for volunteering Vickie, but that won’t be necessary. I say we eat dinner and then gear up. I know you guys have two sets of NVGs and I have one. David and I will go, the only question is who will be the third?”
Christy and Luke both volunteered immediately, but Vickie interrupted them by explaining, “Sal knows the Alberts the best. He would talk to Blake about the Browns and Indians, and a few times he helped move things in the house so Lori would know him too. Sal needs to be the third person.”
Sal looked as if he’d just been sentenced to death but he bravely nodded his head in agreement with his wife. “I’ve never been much of a fighter; I don’t like hurting people. But these critters aren’t human. I can do it. I’ll go with you.”
As dusk approached the three men dressed in the garage, using what parts of Christy’s kit they could and improvising with the rest of their protective gear wherever necessary. When they were finished armoring up they all had helmets, gloves, boots, bite-proof jackets, and leggings. Sal was huge, so nothing seemed to fit him properly, but at least he was as safely armored as David and Jerry. Finding ways to fit the different night vision devices beneath their helmets was a challenge, and Jerry could only use his scope by holding it up to his eye, but in the end they managed to make it work. Jerry and David carried the assorted weapons Jack had sent a few weeks earlier, while Sal carried a spear, Luke’s axe, and a long kitchen knife with the handle modified to provide a better grip during combat conditions. Finally, at full dark they were ready to go.
They had agreed during the planning phase of this operation that Sal would be on point, leading them to a place where they could observe the Alberts’ home from a secluded hedge between the two backyards. Moving quietly between the fences once again proved to be a sound tactic; although they could hear distant zombie moans on both flanks, none of the creatures had yet to discover the pathway between the backyards of the homes. They also heard gunshots two or three times, proving that at least some people were still alive and fighting back. The men knew that whoever was doing the firing was probably just making things more difficult for themselves, but they hoped that the shooters managed to escape whatever situation they were facing with the zombies.
Finally, their t
iny column reached the end of the fences providing their cover, and Sal held up a gloved fist to halt their progress as he knelt down to scan their approach to the bushes they would be using as an observation post. They watched for ten minutes and saw nothing, but the sounds of zombie moaning and occasional human shouts in the distance made them hyper-vigilant. At last Sal turned and pointed at himself, then pointed at the group of bushes about forty yards away over open ground. David and Jerry nodded their understanding and Sal immediately took off for their next patch of cover, hunched over and trotting as fast as he could in his gear. As soon as he was in place he looked back and gave a thumbs-up sign, so David ran to join him, followed by Jerry a minute later.
Again the three men spent ten minutes scanning about with their night vision, everyone on edge due to the noises indicating nearby zombie activity that they’d been hearing since they left Jim’s garage. When they’d discussed a night-operation earlier everyone hoped that the NVGs would give them an advantage over the zombies since the creatures seemed to rely mostly on their hearing when hunting for humans. Nothing had happened so far to prove this theory wrong, but still they remained extra-cautious as they kept watch in every direction while Sal eventually began scrutinizing the Alberts’ house for signs of life.
For over an hour nothing happened and the men gradually relaxed a bit as they began to believe that they had made it to their hiding place without being detected by any of the flesh-eaters. Then they felt Sal stiffen, and after a moment he turned and whispered, “I saw a light upstairs! Looked like somebody was using a candle and accidently brushed a curtain back, but I definitely saw a light in there.”
Now came the most dangerous part of the mission: making contact with the occupants. They had discussed their options at great length earlier in the day, and eventually decided on one of Jerry’s ideas. As a former cop he had investigated a lot of burglaries and home invasions, and he knew that many times criminals would simply wrap up a screw driver in a rag and crack the covered tip against the corner of a glass window. This usually shattered the pane inward in a relatively quiet manner, after which it was rather simple to push the rest of the glass aside and either reach in and turn the lock or crawl in through the opening. Jerry’s plan was to break a window and toss in a message wrapped around a glo-stick he’d grabbed from the sporting goods store.
The only problem with the plan was that if the Aberts were still in the house they had almost certainly boarded up their first story windows as Jim had done when the outbreak was first reported in Cleveland. Sure enough, all of the windows in the home appeared to be covered with plywood and two-by-fours, but the back door had three, rectangular-shaped planes of glass above the handle. The bottom two were less than six feet from the ground and had been covered in the same manner as the windows, but the top pane was above even Sal’s height, and the piece of plywood on the door left about an inch of glass uncovered at the top. Jerry decided to make his move.
While the other two kept a careful watch, he ran up to the rear of the house and stood for a few moments with his back to the siding to see if anyone, or anything, had noticed him crossing the open ground. After a minute or so he appeared satisfied that he’d made it undetected, and he quietly slid toward the door. After he reached it he again spent a minute watching and listening, and when he made his move he made it quickly. David and Sal saw only a blur as Jerry cracked the window and shoved the message inside in one fluid motion, then they silently urged him to hurry as he ran back toward the cover of the bushes.
The former cop was with his two comrades in less than ten seconds, and once again they looked about carefully to see if he had been noticed or followed. After a long moment they decided that their luck had held, and Sal turned his gaze to the Alberts’ home while Jerry and David continued to scan the perimeter. The letter they’d just inserted into the broken window was two pages long, explaining who they were and why they were trying to make contact. The most important detail of the message at this point was the part about signaling a desire to meet. If the Alberts were interested in establishing contact, all they had to do was shine a small light out of one of the upstairs windows to let the guys know they were welcome to approach the back door. Luckily for them, Vickie had written the note, and the first thing she had done was profusely apologize for the broken window and promise restitution.
The men planned to wait for up to an hour, and the letter explained that they would return at nine the next night to wait another hour in case the Alberts needed more time to consider the offer of contact. Fifty minutes later the guys were about ready to call off their vigil and return home when Sal whispered urgently, “There’s a light!”
All of them looked toward the upstairs windows where they saw a dim light flash at them three more times. Sal flashed his light, covered with a red lens for this mission, and then stepped out of the bushes and began moving toward the back door. Jerry and David had decided to stay put while Sal established contact, and if the Alberts seemed friendly he would wave for the other two to join him. As soon as Sal reached the back of the house the door opened enough only to allow the big man to enter, and a long two minutes went by before he stuck his uncovered head out and waved David and Jerry forward.
Once they were all safely in the house and had removed their helmets and gloves, Sal introduced his buddies to Blake and Lori Alberts, as well as their daughter, Jenny. Blake was of average height, but with the thick-shouldered build of a weight-lifter. Lori was short and wiry, but she radiated toughness. The couple seemed very happy to meet the two men, and Blake exclaimed, “We really thought that we were the last people in the neighborhood. I can’t tell you how happy we were to see Sal, and now he tells us that you all have formed a group to help one another survive this mess. We read the letter a couple times. Sounds like you guys know what you’re doing and have a plan. Which one of you is the brother of the soldier who fought these things before?”
David raised his hand as Blake continued, “What’s his name? If he makes SCA gear I might know him.”
“His name is Jack Smith; he was the curator of the armories section of the Frazier Museum down in Louisville.”
Blake smiled broadly, “Yeah, I know who he is. I’ve never met him but I mail-ordered one of his halberds a few years ago. Probably still the best medieval weapon I own.”
David returned the smile, “Yeah, that would be my brother. He loves those halberds, and I’ve already blooded the one he sent me.”
Blake looked shocked, “You’ve had to fight the infected?”
“Dude, we don’t even call them infected anymore, those creatures are zombies just like we used to see in the movies! And yeah, I’ve killed them with every type of weapon Jack sent me before everything went to hell. He tried to get me to leave Cleveland and join him in Indiana, but we waited too long and barely escaped the city before it caught fire. Look, as we mentioned in the letter, my brother fought these things in Afghanistan over ten years ago. He sent me a manual along with all the gear. We have plenty of food, water, medicine, a doctor, and five fighters who’ve faced the zombies and lived to talk about it. You’re welcome to come check out our operation.”
Blake looked at his wife before asking, “Is it safer to move at night or in the daytime.”
They all shrugged and Jerry explained, “Hearing seems to be the main way they find us, but they can see as well as a human can. We don’t know if they have a good sense of smell, and we don’t know if the virus led to mutations that enhanced any of their senses. We know that they’re mutating now; some of them move faster than they used to, and many of them seem to be forming into packs. It’s possible that they have better vision than us, but until we learn otherwise we’re going to assume that we have an advantage with our NVGs.”
Blake nodded, “Makes sense, I guess, as much as it makes sense that zombies are taking over the world.”
David spoke up, “The taking has already happened, Blake. Humans have slipped a notch on the food chain o
ver the past few weeks, and we are outnumbered at least a hundred to one. Hell, probably a thousand to one. We have to be constantly vigilant, because we have become prey animals.”
Jerry interrupted, “Prey animals with some pretty deadly defensive systems.”
David chuckled, “Between us all we’ve probably killed a hundred or so of the monsters, so yeah, we aren’t exactly helpless.”
Sal added, “Look, we can fill you two in on everything we know later, but right now our families are going to be extremely worried about us. You guys could come over with us now, or keep one of the radios we brought and call when you feel ready to make the trip.”
Blake and Lori took a few moments to discuss their options, then Lori asked, “Is there a room there for us to sleep in?”
Jerry spoke up, “Luke and I are staying in my parents’ house across the street from these guys. My mom and dad are missing and I don’t think they made it. The house is huge and all of us are sharing supplies between homes. You’d just be a lot closer down there in case the zombies begin breaking down doors, or bad humans start trying to take what they want from the rest of us.”
“Can you give us ten minutes to pack a few things, and then can we come back when the situation improves to grab more of our stuff?” Blake asked.
“Sure,” Sal promised, “Vickie and I went through the same process.”
“All right then,” Lori declared, “we’ll be ready in ten!”
The Alberts quickly tossed some clothes, toiletries, and a few of Jenny’s toys into some backpacks and then began gearing up for the trip. Each member of the household had their own set of SCA armor, and Blake had bought the good stuff. Plastic polymers and Kevlar had been used in the designs as much as possible in order to keep the weight low. The helmets were full-faced models, with the only openings being small holes for the eyes. Gloves and boots were tough and strong, and David felt certain that they would stop a zombie bite. The only weakness in the Aberts’ SCA kits were their weapons. They simply weren’t made for killing, or even serious wounding in the mock combats they were designed for. Blake’s favorite sword did have a sharp point, but the edges of the blade were beyond dull. Lori didn’t even bother with her SCA weapons for now, instead selecting her Glock .22 in nine millimeter.