The road was straight, and we could see a good distance in each direction, but the sides held fields of corn that topped six or seven feet. We wouldn’t detect anything coming from there until it was nearly on top of us.
“Not that far Lizzy,” I called. I glanced over at Simon and Julie. Both were still milling about. “Get to work and hurry. Keep an eye in all directions and stand in the middle of the road.” That last piece was for Lizzy and Briana.
While they emptied their stuff, I set Lois and Cherie to watching the near endless rows of corn on either side. That should help. Personally, I just walked around until they had the spare out. It was one of those little pretend donut tires. That thing would get them maybe fifty miles under current conditions, probably less. This was not good.
BANG!
I spun and saw that Lizzy had shot a zombie. It was close to her and covered with leaves and dirt.
“Did that come from the field?”
“Sure did,” she answered. “Quiet little fucker. Was all the way out before I noticed it.”
Julie frowned at the language but didn’t say anything, although she might have been mumbling under her breath. I wasn’t in the best position to tell.
“Careful. More are likely to show up now.”
I helped Simon jack up the SUV while Julie began putting their stuff back in place. They had several bags with toys and children’s clothes, but not much food or survival gear. We were going to have to stock up, and I needed to be certain every vehicle had plenty of food and water. It would really suck to have to abandon a car for some reason and for that one to have held all the essential supplies.
“Hey Jacob, got more coming.”
Lizzy was backing away from the field that rested between the road and town.
Grumbling to myself, I left Simon to finish screwing in the lug nuts and went to see. “That’s rather a lot of them, don’t you think?” I certainly thought so.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they followed the gunshot.” Lizzy did not sound apologetic. “Might get worse if we start shooting more.”
I nodded. “In the car. We’ll run.”
I headed back and gestured for Briana to join us.
“We need to finish this,” I told Simon. He was almost done with the nuts. They were sticking, and it was slower going than it should have been. “Hurry up.”
Grabbing the rim, which still had a few rings of rubber clinging to it, I tossed the thing in the back of the SUV, atop the bags Julie was so very carefully stacking.
“Watch it,” she snapped. “I don’t want that in here. It’s filthy.”
“Zombies are coming, and we don’t have any more time.”
She whirled about and, spotting the approaching corpses, began to panic. At least Mary was there to help get the children situated and buckled in. Julie might not have been capable on her own. Simon, meanwhile, finished with the tire and was lowering the SUV. The jack was one of those that had a big screw you turned around. They are efficient and easy to use, but terribly slow.
“Ladies, why don’t all of you get back in too and be ready to drive off.”
“I’ll wait until they’re ready,” argued Lizzy. She was pointing her pistol at the oncoming zombies.
“Done,” called Simon.
Thank God for that.
He climbed into his SUV and dropped the jack in his wife’s lap. That earned him more than a few screams which were mercifully cut off when he closed the door and started the engine.
“Time to go Lizzy.”
She said nothing as she ran for Cherie’s car. I headed for the Jeep. The nearest zombies were about twenty feet away when I locked the door and shifted into drive. Leaving them behind, I took a long look in the rear view mirror. There were at least forty of the things on the road, but the corn field, the one nearest the town, was rustling. More were on their way. That had been close.
What we needed was a way to kill zombies without having to use the guns, both to save on ammunition that would eventually run out, and to get rid of the random one without making a lot of noise and attracting others. A sledgehammer to the skull would definitely do the job, but that would splatter all sorts of nastiness. Would getting their blood on you cause an infection like a bite did? I still did not know, and I wasn’t inclined to experiment.
* * *
We made it back to the highway without any further mishaps. There was a brief pause near the north side of the city in case anyone signaled us, but the place appeared devoid of life. So, leaving the area behind, I guided the others into Scott State Park, which was only a few miles from the town. It was getting late, and we needed a secure place to rest and figure out how to proceed, particularly regarding the Bransons’ SUV. They couldn’t keep going on that spare.
Entering and seeing no zombies, or people for that matter, we pulled up beside the lake. It was well off the road, and the ground was flat enough that all the cars could get there, albeit slowly. Hopefully, it would be as safe as the fields Briana and I had been spending our nights in.
“Can we play?” asked Michael.
Juliette was even more pleading. “Please Mommy.”
“Do you think it’s safe?” she asked. Her eyes flicked to the side as she peered about, searching for any sign of danger.
“Should be. Just stay here, near the water and us.”
They joyfully rushed off, promptly stepped into the lake, and began splashing.
“You have dry clothes for them?” I inquired, quite amused.
“Of course I do,” snapped Julie.
Pleasant woman.
While they had their fun – Mary joined in, although she tried not to get too wet – the rest of us began to discuss where we could likely find some new cars, preferably trucks, that would allow for easier and more dependable movement. We needed to upgrade before continuing.
Juliette’s scream was piercing, even for a six year old. I looked over just in time to see her vanish beneath the surface of the water.
“Mary! Get Michael out of there!” I shouted.
She was ushering Juliette’s older brother out of the lake as I ran in with Simon close behind. I made it to the spot where Juliette had gone under when the ground suddenly gave way beneath me. There was a massive drop off. The water was murky, but I was just able to make out her flailing form. Grabbing an arm I pulled her up and scrambled back to where I could stand. Lifting the child carefully, I handed her off to Simon.
“Her leg,” gasped Cherie, placing a hand over her mouth.
Blood was gushing from a wound, a bite on her inner thigh just beneath the spot where her pink shorts ended.
“Tie it,” I said, whipping my leather belt off and handing it to Simon who was better positioned to act.
He began to affix the tourniquet but stopped as she convulsed and fell still.
“Juliette?” Her mother began to shake. “Juliette!”
“Fucking zombie,” snarled Lizzy.
My attention shifted to the lake. One of the shambling dead was clambering up the steep incline into the shallows. Its movements were slow, even considering it had just fed, and the thing clearly did not float. In fact, the zombie seemed to be significantly denser than the water. Additionally, being submerged hadn’t caused it any apparent harm. The skin wasn’t wrinkled and did not look any different from the others we’d encountered. The clothes had largely rotted away, but enough remained to identify him as a park ranger, most likely assigned to this very place.
“Bastard,” fumed Lizzy.
She picked up a large rock and smashed it against the zombie’s head. It staggered and fell a few feet from the bank. Standing in the ankle deep water, Lizzy glared down at the thing before she proceeded to beat it mercilessly. The skull shattered, and she was sprayed with blood and gore. It appeared that we’d find out how dangerous zombie fluids and guts were after all.
“Enough,” said Lois. She grabbed Lizzy’s arm and pulled her back. “It’s dead.”
“Very dead,�
� added Mary, softly.
Michael, Julie, and Simon were in a huddle, holding one another and crying, standing beside Juliette’s tiny body.
“Jacob,” said Briana, “she’s going to rise soon.”
Julie heard the words and rounded on her angrily. “My baby is not going to be one of them!”
For a moment it appeared she would strike Briana – I’d wager heavily that Briana could trounce the older woman – but Simon held her back. She began to fight and struggle with him, refusing to calm down. Then Juliette’s eyes opened. I was reaching for my gun when Lizzy stepped up, still holding the rock. It only took a single blow.
“Juliette!” wailed Julie.
“Lizzy,” began Cherie, accusingly.
“It had to be done,” I said quickly, interrupting the lot. “It might have been handled better, but it had to be done. Cherie, Lois, keep a look out. Everyone stay away from the water.”
I scooped up Juliette’s body and carried her away from the parked cars. Finding an indentation in the ground – at this point Julie was completely inconsolable and pretty much clueless as to what was happening around her – I began to pile stones on and around the corpse. I had no shovel to bury the girl, but I wasn’t about to leave her lying there, in the open, where everyone could see the body. A cairn would have to do. Lizzy joined in, as did Briana. It didn’t take long.
At that point the sun was beginning to set.
“Should I cook something?” asked Briana, breaking an extended silence.
“I can’t eat,” said Lizzy, with a shake of her head. “Not tonight.”
It was an incredibly distasteful moment. I don’t like thinking about it, even months later. And what was up with a single bite being so deadly? Did the zombies target spots with major arteries? I know that’s stupid. They go for the nearest, most convenient piece of flesh they can find. Not that it would have mattered if Juliette had been bitten anywhere else. A bite is a death sentence. Better she bleed out fast than suffer the infection for several days before dying in agony.
“If anyone’s hungry they can have whatever in their car. We’ll be sleeping in them here at the park.”
“I don’t know if we should stay,” said Simon. His arms were around his sobbing wife. He looked little better himself, but he seemed to be holding it together. At least he didn’t comment on my burying his daughter without consulting him. Thinking about it, that could have been a major mistake on my part.
“Too late in the day to find a better spot, and you can’t go far on that spare. It’s going to blow on you, sooner or later. Sooner, I think. We stay here tonight.”
Briana and I did have something to eat after it got dark and everyone was ensconced in their various vehicles with the doors locked and triple checked. The crackers and Vienna sausages weren’t very appetizing, but they’d keep the pangs away till breakfast. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day and almost certainly exceedingly depressing.
* * *
The next morning Cherie returned Lizzy’s pistol. She had insisted on taking it in case the stout woman became infected and started acting irrationally, though with the three day time frame between infection and death, we weren’t worried about her turning into a zombie during the night. Originally, Cherie had tried to keep Lizzy out of the car altogether, but there was nowhere else for her to sleep. After this had been pointed out, repeatedly, Cherie relented but did insist that Lizzy strip and leave the blood stained clothing elsewhere. I loaned her a T-shirt and some shorts which barely fit. It was the best we could manage.
The zombie blood splattering her skin apparently had no ill effect. Lizzy showed none of the symptoms the infected demonstrated, and it appeared she was safe. Everyone was keeping an eye on her to be certain, which did nothing to lessen her innate combativeness, but the reasons were more than valid. After a few hours of on and off griping, Lizzy accepted the situation and tried to make the best of it.
“I am not going to turn into one of them.”
“We know,” replied Mary, “but you’re still sneaky and need to be watched.” She tried to sound something other than completely downtrodden but failed, badly.
Lois put an arm around Lizzy, and the two began to whisper. From her car, Julie stared hatefully at all of us. Michael was inside with her, and she was not allowing him out except to relieve himself. I understood the desire to keep him safe, really did, but keeping the boy locked up was not going to work, nor was it sustainable behavior, not to mention emotionally healthy for either.
“We are going to have to find better vehicles,” I announced, “like we talked about. We’re doing that today, first thing.”
“And more of them,” added Cherie. “It’s too cramped.”
“That’s for fucking sure,” agreed Lizzy.
The two were not getting along. Their personalities were very, very different. Separating them, and keeping things that way, would be necessary if we were to continue functioning as a group.
“I figure me and Briana can take the Jeep. You two can go in the Toyota. We’ll find something and drive it back here. Lois and Mary will stay with the Bransons.”
“Think it’s safe?” asked Lizzy.
I handed Lois my .45 automatic. “Know how to use this?”
She nodded.
“Show me.”
It wasn’t that I distrusted her so much as I wanted to be certain there’d be no mistakes. Within a minute I was satisfied.
“If lots of them show up, climb a tree. I don’t think they’ll be able to follow. They have the strength but not a whole lot in the way of agility. We’ll be back, hopefully in a few hours, before nightfall no matter what.”
I then went to tell Simon what we were doing. I barely got the words out before Julie informed me, clearly and with no uncertainty, that I and I alone was responsible for poor Juliette’s death. That hurt, a lot, but I kept my face as blank as possible. Her reasoning was simple. They came with me after I convinced them it was the best course of action. They got the flat because they followed me over a bad road. They entered the park because I led them there. Juliette went in the water because I said it was safe to play. She was bitten because I was talking to them instead of watching out for her and Michael. Her determination of my guilt was going to have many consequences later. I should have done or said something. Instead, I just walked away.
Quite glad at that point that she was staying behind, and that I’d given Lois the gun, I left the state park and began scouring the checkerboard of nearby agricultural roads looking for anything useful.
* * *
We returned around three o’clock with two new trucks. First, we had Cherie’s new Ford F-150. It was a few years old and had a good forty thousand miles on the odometer, but it seemed to run perfectly. Additionally, there was plenty of room inside the cab for Cherie to sprawl at night. She was quick to point this fact out and to mention how two could easily lie side by side while looking at me. Briana was more than pissed.
The pickup also had one of those metal box things mounted in the bed against the cab. The keys were found in the glove box, and after tossing some random tools that were not needed, along with the other crap we found inside, it provided a good sized trunk where Cherie could store her personal belongings. The cab didn’t have a back seat, so that worked out well.
We decided to use the bed to hold spare tires, for the time being at least. We found an SUV of the same make and model the Bransons were driving and took all four wheels off it. We snagged some Jeep tires that were almost identical to mine as well and did the same for the pickup and for Lizzy’s new ride. The slew of wheels filled the bed completely. It was overkill, and we all knew it. Still, until we needed the space for something else, there was no reason not to take them.
Lizzy now drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee, which, while nice, is still only a wannabe Wrangler. It did provide more than enough room to hold their stuff, of which there was next to none. Mary, sitting in the back seat, would likely have the best of it, being
able to lie down and comfortably relax.
We’d also searched a few cars, or rather the luggage contained within. It seemed sordid, going through others’ personal belongings in that fashion, but Lizzy and her crew needed clothing and basic day to day items. We managed to find some toothbrushes in the original packaging – I have no idea why someone had packed seven in what was otherwise an overnight bag – along with toothpaste and soap. Lizzy came across a wide variety of clothes that appeared to be clean, but she washed them using water from the lake just to be certain. Lois and her sister received several changes that fit, but Lizzy unfortunately had to make due with a single pair of jogging pants and some extra large T-shirts. I promised we would raid the first department store we came across. I didn’t think that was actually going to happen anytime soon, but we’d try to find something.
After returning, we changed the tire on Simon’s SUV. The new one fit perfectly, and we put the spare back in its slot. We then tossed the rim I had insisted they drag along. Mary rolled it into the lake, much to Michael’s delight. His mother had him by the arm and kept him well away from the water. He still said he hoped it landed on a zombie’s head and squished it. Good lad.
Since it was dinner time when we finally got things sorted out, I ruled we would stay there for the night. Julie was not pleased. She wanted away from the memories of the spot, although she did take the opportunity to pray by Juliette’s grave. The meal was communal with everyone sharing. It was somber, and there was little talking.
I took back my .45 before turning in. That left Lizzy’s gun in their car, Simon’s gun in his, and Cherie with my .38. I really hated loaning out weapons, at least when I didn’t have a huge surplus of them, but each vehicle had to have one, in all honesty several. Hopefully, we would find some soon so everyone could be more appropriately equipped. Until then I was determined to make sure the Jeep Briana and I shared was the most heavily armed, as it should be.
Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Sanctuary Page 12