by SJ Morris
Well, actually, thanks to my dedication to my school work, my bouts with stupid decisions in the love department held off until I met Jack…and we all know how that turned out!
Allycia would bring Christine and her friend Denise to my room every so often and we would do each other’s nails and hair, just so we could spend some girl time together.
I got to know Christine a lot during those visits and she was a sweet, smart girl with a good head on her shoulders. She told me that her mother, Krista, had died just over a year ago when a drunk driver hit her.
Chris and she had separated two years before that.
Christine said that her mom had a hard time dealing with Chris being away all the time and couldn’t handle it that every time he came home, he seemed as if he had changed a little.
Like, he became a very different person over time, is what Christine said.
I could definitely see how that could happen. Especially after hearing the stories of what Jack, Dan, Tom, and he went through on their missions. That kind of stuff has to have an effect on you.
Christine said that her mom and dad stayed very good friends throughout the separation and she made it a point to tell me that more than once. She repeated that what her parents had was over long before they even separated.
Allycia always smiled at me when she said something like that.
I just wanted to yell at the both of them,‘Yes you want Chris and me to get together and make each other happy, but I’m busy right now with other things!’
Instead, I would just shake my head and ask what color she wanted on her toes, or I would find some other way to change the subject.
During the next five weeks after the infection began, everyone in our little settlement got to know one another better.
We became somewhat of a community.
Sometimes we all ate together in the dining room or outside and sometimes we each stayed in with our immediate families but either way, we were all there for one another and it was turning out to be pretty good for all of us.
There was no fighting like you used to see on reality television shows. We all had our own place and we all fit in somewhere. It was really nice.
Chris came to visit me in the lab with Troy a lot but we didn’t really have time for each other. I knew he wanted to spend more time just the two of us, but I was more worried about learning everything I could about the Z-Strain and testing possible cures. It was my mission to find something to stop this, or even slow it down.
Especially since, after the first week what little news was coming in over the television or the Internet pretty much stopped. There were no longer any television updates. Every channel was static or the emergency broadcast system and then after a few more days there was only static.
The Internet was completely gone and any radio transmissions that Dan and Tyler were able to intercept had stopped too. It was as if someone flicked a big switch to turn off all communications. Our radios were working fine with one another but we didn’t pick up much of anything else after that first week.
After we stopped getting anything from the outside world in the form of news, we all got into our own rhythms, our own routines.
All of us seemed to be living our lives as if the outside world no longer existed. Hell, for all we knew it didn’t exist anymore.
Nothing would ever be the same for any of us and it was a harsh new reality but that is what it was, reality.
It was supposed to be just another normal day, nothing planned outside of the regular daily chores.
I woke up groggy, showered, and got dressed as if it was any other day, but this was not going to be a regular day.
I could feel it in the air somehow.
I knew something was off but I brushed it aside as one of those feelings you get when everything seems to be going too good and you’re just waiting for something bad to happen.
Normally, that bad thing would never happen but nothing was truly normal anymore, so why should today be any different?
Tyler ran into the lab almost knocking over Troy as he was pacing, trying to figure something out in his notebook.
“Mom, Mom! You have to come quick! Dan and I got a message over the radio from Jake, Ally’s boyfriend!”
“Slow down, Tyler. We’re coming.”
The three of us jogged over to the surveillance room and Dan was sitting at his desk with one earphone up to his ear and he was writing something down. I looked at the paper and it read,
“This is Jake. Ally, if you get this, please send help as soon as possible. My mom, a few other survivors we picked up, and I are in an old farmhouse a few miles away from where your mom said the cabin would be. We’ve been surrounded for days by those things and can’t get out. Please, send help fast. We’re at 118 Greenwich Street in Desmond. I love you.’
As soon as he wrote that last sentence he put the headphones down and explained that the message was on a loop. From what he could tell, it was recorded sometime late last night. I wasn’t sure what to make of it because I always air on the side of caution, but Dan said the kid sounded freaked out and scared. I just knew the normalcy we had all experienced for the last few weeks couldn’t have lasted.
Igot all of the adults and Allycia together. I told them what we’d just heard and of course, Ally started flipping out that we had to go and get Jake and his family right away. I was able to calm her down, reassuring her that we were going to come up with a plan to get them as soon as we could. I was leaving the planning part up to Chris, though.
Chris, of course, wanted to hear the message for himself to see if he could pick anything up from it. He listened to it more than ten times and each time, with the same serious face, eyes closed and without saying a word.
I finally stopped him before he listened the eleventh time to ask him what he thought of it.
“Well, he does sound scared, but the thing that’s bothering me is that there’s no other background noise. No one else talking, crying, moving around, nothing. I take it as either he made sure everyone was quiet, so that the message was as clear as possible, or someone made him record this message. Does Ally know if this Jake kid has prior knowledge of how to work a CB radio and possibly put the message on a loop like this?”
I ran to get Ally and didn’t have to go far. She was already heading down the stairs towards me because she wanted to hear the message for herself. She said she thought he’d taken some computer programming classes where he might have learned it, but she admitted to not knowing much about the boy other than he was the quarterback for her school’s football team. I wanted to tell Chris about the bad feeling I had but every time I almost brought it up I heard how stupid it sounded in my head. I knew, either way, we had to go and try to rescue Jake and anyone else that was with him. I was sure that Chris would have a plan ready, just in case something went wrong.
Chris got all of the adults together and we looked over routes to take to get to the address Jake provided. Dan was able to print out maps of the area and handed them out with the super-duper GPS watch doohickeys to everyone that didn’t already have one. Dan looked up at Chris before handing me mine and Chris nodded at him.
Dan gave me the watch and sat back down. This pissed me off. Dan pretty much asked Chris’s permission for me to be able to go out with them. As far as I was concerned this was still my house and the decisions made about this place and what I did were for me to make. I had my little temper tantrum in my head, though.
Now was not the time to scream,‘I am woman hear me roar!’while Chris was doing his whole,‘Me Tarzan you Jane’bit.
The plan was to pack up all the gear tonight so that everyone could get a good night’s rest, and we would head out at dawn. There were nine of us going out on our little trip.
It was Chris, Tom, Dan, Justin, my neighbor Mark Neigh, who was retired from the Air Force, Reed Fulston, who was a firefighter with Jack and Justin, Reed’s brother Harry, who was an electrician, but knew how to use a gun fairl
y well, John Finch, who was also a firefighter with Jack and Justin, and myself. I was the only girl on an all-boy team and I hoped they were not going to treat me that way. I guessed that only time would tell.
I got Tyler, Allycia, and Lance together in my room and went over what was going on for tomorrow.
Lance wanted to go but understood he was needed to protect the cabin and everyone in it. With the nine of us gone, there would only be a handful of capable adults to protect the cabin and it's now more than forty residents.
Lance and Chase, Dan’s son, had become pretty close friends and when Lance’s friend Chester and his twin sister Tori showed up, they formed a pretty tight-knit foursome.
The teenagers practiced hand-to-hand combat daily with each other under the watchful eyes of Chris and Tom. My kids and I might have had the same bad feeling about this trip, but I knew the people we were leaving behind were capable of taking care of themselves and protecting the cabin.
We hugged each other and said our goodnights. Allycia wanted to sleep with me and I had no objections.
She went to get ready for bed and I got all of my gear together. I had everything laid out and ready for tomorrow when Allycia came back. She had her teddy bear that she used to drag everywhere with her when she was young. I didn’t know she still had him, but here he was. She gave me a kiss and crawled into my bed. She was snoring lightly before I finished brushing my teeth. I needed a hot shower to calm my nerves if I was going to ever fall asleep tonight, so that’s what I did.
I was in there until there was almost no hot water left and climbed into bed next to my sleeping daughter. I wasn’t sure what tomorrow was going to bring, but I knew I would do everything in my power to make sure I got everyone back to our families.
I set my alarm and listened to my daughter’s sleepy noises as I drifted off to sleep myself.
Iwoke up the next morning at four thirty. It was starting to get light earlier now, so dawn meant around five forty-five. I got up quietly, so I didn’t wake up Ally and took another shower. This one was colder, to wake myself up.
I geared up and went to the kitchen where the eight men were talking quietly, sipping coffee and eating breakfast.
I joined in on the coffee and eggs but not the conversation. I was not in a talking mood this morning. My bad feeling was worse than it was yesterday and I guessed it was because we were leaving in a few minutes, but it very well could’ve been because something very bad was going to happen today.
I didn’t want to think about it, though. I only wanted to think about rescuing Jake and his family. My only goal was to bring everyone back here safe and sound.
Chris sat down next to me and I assumed he could tell I was not in a good mood.
“You don’t have to come with us you know? You could stay here and make sure that everyone stays safe.”
“Yes, I know, but Jake is Allycia’s friend and he knows me. He’s already scared and has no idea who you are, so he might think you’re there to hurt him. I won’t take that chance.”
“I’m sure he’s seen Justin, Reed, or John before. They were all firefighters with your husband, so I’m sure he’s seen them around.”
“I’m not sure…So, I’d rather not risk it. Also, I called them and invited them to the cabin. I am responsible for him and his mother. I need to make sure they get here as safely as possible. It wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t go.”
“You’re not responsible for anyone other than your family, who is here and safe.”
“Please, let’s not start this. I can’t today. I want to keep a clear head for when we’re out there and arguing with you is not going to help me do that.”
“Okay. Same thing as the last time we went out, though. You stay close to me and we’ll have each other’s backs alright?”
“Got it. Let’s finish up and get on the road, the sun is starting to rise.”
Chris stood up and looked at me like there was so much more he wanted to say, but he just couldn’t. I was glad he kept it to himself. I had enough in my head to think about for the time being.
We cleaned up and headed out to the trucks. Lance and Tyler were already outside waiting for me. Lance quickly gave me a hug and headed back to the porch where Chase, Chester, and Tori were waiting.
“Good morning, Tyler.”
“Morning, Mom. I just wanted to wish you luck and let you know that Dan showed me how to track everyone with your watches, so I’ll be keeping an eye on all of you. Kristen is going to be with me monitoring you guys and the radios so we can stay in contact.”
“I’m very proud of you, Tyler. For all that you’ve done to help out and everything you’ve learned from Dan.”
“Oh, it’s no problem. Dan is a great teacher and all the stuff he showed me is so cool, how could I not love it!”It was good to see him excited to learn. It was good to see him excited at all with everything that was going on.
I gave my son a strong hug and he gave it back to me. I kissed him on the forehead and got in the truck with Chris and Tom.
I waved goodbye and we pulled out of the gates.
Chapter 16
Desmond was only a few towns over and it was all farmland we were going to cross, but I expected the drive was not going to be the twenty to thirty minutes the GPS had it estimated to be.
Chris still wanted to make sure we stopped along the way to take out any infected we came across. He was worried that when we’d need to come back this way if we were in a hurry, they would pose a problem.
I didn’t doubt him, but it was making the drive take so much longer than I wanted it to be. There were a few car accidents here and there, where we had to get rid of the infected to be able to navigate the trucks around.
Chris, Tom, and I were in the lead Jeep. Dan, Justin, and Mark were in the second Jeep behind us. Reed, Harry, and John were at the end of our convoy in a big, black van.
We tried to make as little noise as possible but the infected seemed to just appear out of the trees in front of us. I assume the noises of the three vehicles were like ringing the dinner bell.
“Hey Chris, do you realize that we’re stopping about every ten minutes or so to take out a group of five or six infected?”
“Yes, I did, especially since I’m shooting them. Why?”
“Well, when we first left the cabin, we didn't see any infected for at least the first twenty minutes. I think the infected hear the cars and are attracted to the road because of them. When they come out of the trees, they seem to know right where we are.”
“Okay, so what do you think we should do?”
“How close are we to the house now?”
“We are about two miles away, just a few minutes out.”
“How about we pull over and shut the trucks off, clear the area we’re in of infected and wait a bit to see what else shows up?”
“I’m not sure I’m following you, Abby.”
“We know they are almost blind after they’ve been infected for even a few days. They have to hunt by sound. The trucks are making a lot of noise and every infected for miles is probably following the noise the trucks are making and the traveling moans of the infected that hear us. It’s like they’re playing telephone.
Sound can travel pretty far, even in the woods. If you figure the trucks are making enough noise to be heard in these quiet woods for a half a mile or so, we should expect every infected within that half a mile to be headed in our direction. They are more than likely moaning and their moanwill carry for another half a mile, and so on.”
“So, your suggestion is to stop and let them catch up?”
“Yes and no. Well, more yes. Listen, if we stop now and be quiet the ones that are close will probably continue in the same path the sound was coming from and make it to us eventually. Without the noise continuing to attract them the others might just lose interest and wander back off somewhere else. But if we keep going we’ll just be ringing the dinner bell and leading the infected that are on our tails right to
the farmhouse. Since we have no idea what we are going to be dealing with at the farmhouse, we might not want to have a large number of infected just show up while we’re trying to get Jake and anyone else who is there, out.”
“That does sound like a better idea than bringing them with us. Let me radioto the other cars that we’re stopping. Let's clear the area here and then maybe Tom and I can hike up to the farmhouse and get some intel on what we’re going to be dealing with when we get up there.”
“Sounds good to me.”
We turned to Tom in the back and he nodded in agreement. Chris keyed up the radio to let the rest of the team know what was going on and we pulled over.
We tried to get as far into the woods as the trucks would allow so we were off the road.
It only took about fifteen minutes before the first group of about ten infected showed up.
As I suspected, they came out of the woods about a thousand feet from where we pulled off and just walked down the road, right in our direction. We all sat completely still and made no noise. They walked right past us but kept following the road. Chris and Tom got out with their silenced rifles and got rid of the group. They hadn’t made it back to the Jeep when another group of fifteen came heading up the street behind us.
Before they made it to where we were parked, Chris and Tom quietly took them out too. I was so busy watching the action behind us that I didn’t see the huge group heading right towards us from up the road until they were all around the truck. I had to stifle a scream from escaping my mouth as they started bumping into the Jeep and rubbing against it. Thank goodness the trucks all had tinted windows or they wouldn’t be walking past me I was sure of it. They might be almost blind but I was sure they could still track movement at least.
Just as I thought my situation couldn’t get any worse, the radio keyed up. I reached for it to silence it but the damage was done. The horde of infected that were all around the Jeep were now very aware that there might be something inside the tan box on wheels that was worth checking out.