by TW Gallier
Randy was off by himself, just staring into space and softly crying.
I went and found Mike. He and Greg were studying a map of the area.
"What do you have?" I asked.
"As best we can tell," Mike said. His finger was on an intersection on the map. "We're right here."
I was pleasantly surprised. We'd made far better progress than I thought. Still, we wouldn't make it to Ocoee before dark. It was already midafternoon, and we were just halfway down the mountain.
"If we take this road to here," Greg traced a route on the map, "And turn onto 55, that'll take us to the west of Lake Ocoee. Then it's a straight line on Highway 74 into the city."
"Only problem is there will be more zombies on the roads," Mike said. "If we were in cars and trucks, no problem. On foot, big problem."
It was obvious they expected me to make a command decision. I looked up at the sun, and then at the map. Finally, I studied our little group of families. They looked exhausted and rattled.
"We'll follow the road, but stay close to the treeline in case we see any zombies," I said. "Mike, I'm going to need you to scout further ahead than usual so we can have more warning time to hide."
"It's only going to get worse from here," Mike said. "There are a lot more zombies on level ground."
"You, sir, are a beam of sunshine."
Chapter 9
Charlie scouted our route on his dirt bike. I was next in line, in the Jeep. Quinn and Yancy had declined my invitation to join me in the Jeep. They preferred having their own vehicle. Yancy, especially, didn't seem to trust us. She thought Charlie and I took too many chances.
Quinn pulled up next to me on the highway. We waited on a high point, with a good view in all directions. Yet, the road ahead continued to rise so we couldn't see Ocoee. Charlie was out of view, and with no means of long range communications it stressed me out. He would be all on his own if he got in over his head.
We were off the mountain and on pretty hilly ground, but it felt level after the mountain. Zombies had been few and far between. I knew that wouldn't last. Ocoee was right up ahead. It was pretty small, so I didn't really expect to find many zombies. They'd had plenty of time to move on after three weeks, and the small town was off the beaten path.
"What the hell is that?" I muttered.
On the left side of the road was a school bus painted purple. The hand-painted sign out front said it was "Miss Be's." Apparently Miss Be sold "Beads – Jewelry – Bling-Bling." I had no idea what the "Crashed 1995" meant.
It did not look like a secure place for Yancy and the kids to hide while the rest of us scouted out the town and beyond. Now, according to my plan with Sean, we were to meet back up with the group at the intersection of US 74 and US 411.
Yancy didn't want to take a chance with the children, so asked to be left out of town until after we cleared it. Charlie was ahead scouting it out. Everything looked good so far from my vantage point on the highway.
Across from Miss Be's was another business: Green River Products. The building was small and had too many windows, most of which were smashed out. Behind us on the highway was a church. I was beginning to think the church was the place for Yancy to wait.
"Here comes Charlie," Quinn said.
Charlie was hauling ass on the bike. He was having too much fun. It was irritating, but he was getting the job done. After circling behind us, Charlie rode his dirt bike up between the Jeep and ATV.
"At the top of that hill are a big brick Baptist church and a small steel building across the street. Yancy and the kids can stay in either of those," he said. "Ocoee isn't much further up the road."
"Did you see any zombies?" Quinn asked.
"Just a few on US 411," he said. "They were heading south, of course."
I wasn't so sure about that now. The zombies probably heard his bike, and might have seen him riding up and down US 74. That motorcycle might be too loud to be safe. So the zombies could very well be heading toward us.
"Have you made sure we can access both buildings?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "I went through both and there aren't any dead bodies or zombies."
"The church," Yancy said.
"Shiloh Baptist Church it is," he said, and took off like a bullet.
I shared a look with the Jeffers. Charlie wasn't going to be happy about losing that bike.
The church was a brick structure. The windows were all intact, and mostly small. The harder it was for zombies to break in the better. Quinn was stressing out at the prospect of leaving his family there, but at the same time he wanted to be involved and help Charlie and I find a safe path to proceed.
Yancy and the kids stayed up front to keep watch. The intersection was just up the road according to Charlie, but there was no sign of Jenny and the others. I expected that, since we found transportation. Unfortunately, we never really mapped out an exact path to follow down the mountain, so we couldn't backtrack back up to them. Besides, zombies screwed up all plans.
I had Charlie and Quinn leave their vehicles behind. Charlie was not happy. I think Quinn kind of wanted his own vehicle, too. I was more worried about us getting separated and killed. What I had planned was pretty straight forward, so didn't require multiple vehicles.
"We need to make sure Ocoee is free of zombies, and then find some gas cans," I said. "There shouldn't be a problem finding gas."
Charlie was correct. I doubted the intersection was over a mile from the church. The town of Ocoee was pretty flat, and we could just about see all of it from the US 74 overpass. There was a Dollar General store, a pharmacy, a few fast food places, and gas station. And I spotted about five small groups of zombies wandering around.
"Hang onto your panties, boys," I said, and gunned it.
The Exxon and McDonalds gas station combo looked the most promising for gas, since the most cars and trucks were abandoned there. The Huddle House pharmacy was pretty large, but the parking lot was empty. I was hoping we could loot some medicines from the pharmacy, and can goods from Dollar General. The Exxon and McDonalds would provide us with easily siphoned gas.
"We need to find enough vehicles to carry the whole group," I said. "How many do you think there is in our group, Charlie? Forty? Fifty?"
"Gunny said, but for the life of me I can't remember," he said. "But about that many."
"What about a bus?" Quinn asked.
"Perfect. Do you see one?"
"No, but a school bus will carry that many people. Two buses would be better," he said.
"On the way back we'll check the gas station for a local map. Find the school and see if any buses still run," I said. "But first we need to check the road up to Interstate 75."
The road between Ocoee and Cleveland was mostly clear of zombies. We sped past the few we spotted. All of them were headed west just like us, so no threat to Yancy and the kids. We made it to Cleveland, Tennessee in about ten minutes or so. And then it became a problem.
"There be zombies here," Charlie said.
"We've seen worse," I said. "We can pass through that in vehicles, but not on foot."
I suspected the biggest concentration of zombies was south of Chattanooga. Of course, there were numerous cities north of our location with zombie populations headed down I-75. We could probably bypass most of them. And really, with a large truck like a bus I suspected we could drive through them pretty easily. Whether anyone in the group would agree with that remained to be seen. Everyone had different zombie tolerance thresholds. We'd have to deal with hordes as we came upon them no matter what route we took.
"I think we can get through that mess easily enough," I said, and put it in first. I started forward at a nice pace. "We have a hardtop and doors. By the way, lock your door, Charlie."
"Wait, you mean right now?" Quinn asked. "Why do we have to go through them right now?"
"We have to check out I-75, man," Charlie said. "Ocoee is not the end of the line. We're going to Canada."
"Can't we wait f
or the rest of your people to get here before we start risking our lives?"
"Why?" I asked. "Charlie, Mike, and I are the ones who have the experience, so we'll do most of the scouting. I see no reason to wait for them to arrive."
"Quinn's got a point," Charlie said. "No one will expect him to do any scouting."
Quinn winced.
I knew that was his issue, but since Quinn didn't want to mention it I didn't plan to say anything. Charlie wasn't so politically correct. He spoke his mind, which I found admirable.
"You want us to drop you off back at the church?" I offered. "It'll only delay us about half an hour, which is neither here nor there to me."
"No judgment, man," Charlie said. "We're vets, so we're kind of used to risking our lives. We'll take you back if you want."
"No. No, that's not it," he said. Quinn glanced back the way we'd come. "I'm cool. I just don't want to leave Yancy alone too long. These are evil times."
"Yeah, I understand," I said. "This shouldn't take too long."
I was up to about 45 MPH by that time. Signage indicated US 75 veered off to the south at the small cloverleaf east of Cleveland. Charlie and Quinn expected me to follow US 75, but I went straight through and continued into Cleveland. It wasn't a big town, so I expected to get through quickly and easily.
We continued through moderately built up country, mostly retail and industrial. There were quite a few zombies along that stretch of road, but mostly checking the surrounding structures. They all came a-running when we passed through. I guess they could hear us, since everyone I spotted was already running toward the road.
It changed when we reached a residential area. The number of zombies dramatically dropped. My thoughts were they were busy checking houses for survivors, but maybe there weren't many there. It changed again when we hit a more mixed residential and retail stretch of road.
"I'm not hearing any gunfire," Charlie said. "This town might be completely abandoned."
"That would be best," I replied, turning sharply to avoid a trio of teenage girl zombies.
"Hey, one of those girls was topless," Quinn said, turning in his jump seat to look back.
"You see that all the time. Topless. Bottomless. Totally naked," Charlie said. "Most aren't in as good of condition as that girl."
"Yeah, I like them best fully clothed. The less of zombies I see the better," I said. "The worst are the ones missing lips, ears, noses, and eyes."
I looked at Quinn in the rearview mirror. He looked a little sick. Welcome to my world.
Cleveland was proving to be bigger than I anticipated. I'd never been there before, so could only go by what I saw in the map. Never trust commercial maps.
After passing through an industrial district which was almost empty of zombies, we entered what I'd assume was downtown Cleveland, except it looked like it was abandoned before the zombie apocalypse. We were travelling down Inman Street, which was also Tennessee Highway 40, with no parking whatsoever. I spotted buildings that obviously had shops open up to the end, but many looked empty and abandoned. It wasn't until we reached Church Street that I saw what I'd expect in such a large town's downtown area.
"Watch out!" Charlie cried.
About thirty or so zombies were chasing a young man down Church Street, and he ran right in front of us. He barely gave us a second look. The zombies split up, with half coming toward us. Charlie rolled down his window, leaned out and lit them up.
Ratta-tat-tat-tat! Ratta-tat-tat-tat!
"I miss my SAW," he said.
I hit the brakes, put it in reverse, and tore out of there. Turning on the next street back, I took side streets around that intersection before turning back on Inman Street to continue through town.
"We aren't going to try and save that guy?" Quinn asked.
"No," I said. "He showed no interest in us."
"He was winning the race with the zombies," Charlie said. "I bet he has a secret place and is riding out the storm."
"Do you think he'll be all right?"
"Not really," I said. "It's not going to be safe for the living around here for a long time."
After crossing Keith Street, things cleared out to heavily-wooded residential all the way to Interstate 75. There were a lot of zombies, but not necessarily on the road. I stopped atop the overpass above I-75.
"There are a lot more of the bastards than I was anticipating," I said.
The highway wasn't covered with them, but I spotted a dozen sizable clusters of zombies just from that vantage point. It wouldn't be impossible to pass through them, though I wasn't sure the Jeep could manage it. We would need larger, harder to overturn vehicles.
"What's to the west down this road?" Charlie asked.
I shrugged. I didn't remember checking it out on the map.
"The Tennessee River and Chickamauga Lake," Quinn said.
Charlie and I looked at each other. How far north was the Tennessee River navigable?
"If a person or group found some running boats, how far north do you think they could go?" I asked.
"Knoxville."
"Do you know of any marinas?" I continued.
"Yes."
"Perfect," I said, putting it in first and heading west. "Let's check it out."
Chapter 10
"We failed to meet expectations, Jenny," Sean said, staring at the setting sun.
I shrugged. My boys were arguing off and on, so worn out they barely had the energy to act out. That seemed to be the problem for all of the children, and adults, too.
"Sorry, Sean, but there was no way we were going to go that far on foot in one day," I replied. "Maybe tomorrow, but right now we need to find a place to spend the night."
Mike, Greg, Sean, and I stood at the front of the stretched out line. Sean called a halt to give the stragglers time to catch up. That wasn't going to be enough. Everyone was just too tired and stressed out to go on.
"I think it's too dangerous for us to move at night," Mike said. "We had people falling off the trail in daylight. I can't imagine how many we'd lose at night."
I was too tired to correct him. We had three deaths from a zombie attack, but everyone who'd "fell off the trail" was helped back up. But he was right to worry about the dangers of leading them down a mountain in the dark.
"I need to stay here and calm everyone down," Sean said, looking weary just at the prospect. A lot of people blamed him for their misery. "I'll need the three of you to split up and find a good place for us all to spend the night."
"No problemo, Gunny General," Mike said. Sean gave him a dirty look. "Hey, they have Sergeant Majors, Lieutenant Generals, and Major Generals, who don't outrank a mere General, by the way, so why not a Gunny General?"
Sean and I just stared at him a long second. I recovered first and shook my head with a chuckle. Mike's mind worked in weird and wonderful ways, and sometimes just weird ways. And I had to agree, why didn't someone who was a "Major" General outrank someone who was just a General? In fact, a Lieutenant General outranked a Major General. Military logic was strange to me, and I grew up in the military.
"Just go," Sean said and walked away.
"I think you stumped the chump," Greg said.
"I heard that," Sean called, but continued walking away.
Mike was a happy man. We moved off in different directions. Mike and Greg left the trail immediate, going up and down to begin their searches. They gave me the easier path of straight ahead down the trail.
Sean wasn't specific on what he considered a suitable spot to spend the night. I wanted overhead cover, such as a barn or house. It would be best if we could lock ourselves inside so that zombies couldn't detect us inside. Roger, Mike, and Charlie claimed to have spent nights locked inside homes, and the zombies that tried to get inside quickly gave up and moved on. For that to work everyone would have to be perfectly quiet while the zombies banged on the doors and windows. I wasn't sure that was possible.
It wasn't long before I spotted the roof of a home
through the trees. Dropping to a knee, I studied the place from above and listened intently for any kind of movement. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up and it was hard to hear movement. Then I carefully left the trail and half-slid down the slope to the house's back yard. Still no signs of occupation or zombies.
"Here goes nothing," I whispered and quickly crossed the open back yard.
There was a deck with a sliding glass door. The stairs, and then the deck boards, creaked and groaned under my weight. I paused to decide if it was worth the risk. The curtains were closed across the door, but the small window wasn't curtained. Moving slowly, I eased up to the glass door and tried to open it. The door was locked, so I pressed my ear to it. I didn't hear anything inside.
Moving over to the window, I looked inside. It was darker inside, so I mostly just saw my own reflection. Pressing my face in close, with my hands to either side to block out the dim moonlight, I was able to see a little of the kitchen.
"Promising."
The stairs creaked behind me. I froze, heart racing. Slowly, I turned my head and looked back at the stairs. A dark, shadowy man was coming up on deck. He was wearing all black, so I couldn't tell if he was a zombie or not. Sometimes blood soaked clothes was the only clue someone was a zombie, unless you were close enough to see their eyes. His face was in shadows, too.
"Hello," I said, my hand easing over to the spear leaning against the wall. "I'm Jenny. Who are you?"
He rushed me.
"Shit," I cried, and swung the spear at his head like it was a club. I don't know why I didn't try to stab him first. "Stay away from me."
He still wasn't speaking, which screamed zombie.
Striking him with the rather light spear didn't faze him in the least. Before I knew it I was pushed across the deck and forced to bend backwards over the railing. His arms went around me, trying to hug me close. I barely got the spear across his throat, my hands to either side, and holding his open mouth at bay.