by Ricky Sides
The parking lot outside was just as she had last seen it, so Dana opened the drapes and studied the window. It only took her a few moments to get it open, but a screen covered it. She pulled a knife from a sheath on her side and sliced away at the mesh. The fiberglass material parted with ease beneath her blade and soon she had an exit big enough accommodate her body.
Dana holstered her knife and removed her pack, which she thrust through the window. A pounding sounded at the door behind her. She thought she heard a moan as she was climbing through the window, and then she heard a crashing sound as the door was battered open.
She landed on the ground roughly, skinning her elbow in the process, but she was quick to get to her feet. Dana grabbed her pack and slipped her arms through it, settling the weight on her back and shoulders.
A moan sounded behind her and Dana turned to face the window, backing away as she did so. “You’re too late to get me, bitch,” she said, taunting the female zombie that was reaching for her through the open window.
The zombie stopped reaching for Dana, who paused in her retreat to wonder at this curious development. She had never seen a zombie give up on prey that was still in sight the way this one seemed to be doing. Then, Shaunna, the zombie, bent down out of sight.
“What the hell are you doing? Taking a nap?” Dana said as she took a step toward the window. Then the female zombie rose into view once more. In her hands, she held the anizombie Yorkie, Lily. She leaned out the window as far as she could with the dog in her hands and dropped it the rest of the way to the ground.
The little dog landed hard. It lurched to its feet and began moving toward Dana. The Yorkie anizombie bore the typical blonde and black coat of the breed, but the long hair was matted and coated in blood. The skin around her eyes and mouth had retracted; giving her a bug eyed and buck toothed appearance.
“Stay away from me, you little bitch,” Dana shouted at the anizombie, but the animal just kept coming toward her. She unsheathed her knife once more, but instead of trying to stab the creature, she opted to kick it with her heavy boot. She sent the undead animal sailing through the air. For a moment, she thought it might fly back through the window the female zombie had used to put her outside, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the dog hit the brick wall with a cracking sound.
Dana heard a sound that put her nerves on edge as Shaunna the zombie voiced the only sound she had ever heard a zombie make that wasn’t some form of a moan. She screamed as if in anger. Dana had believed that zombies didn’t feel that sort of emotion. The sound so unnerved her that she decided it was time to go. She spun around and headed for the bicycle she had left out in the parking lot. She mounted the bike and looked back toward the window. She saw Shaunna crawling through the opening, as she began to ride away.
Dana pedaled the bicycle without looking back again, so she didn’t see Shaunna land on the ground beside the little anizombie that had followed her former master for months. Nor did she see Shaunna pick up the broken body of the dog and examine it. Then she began to sniff the air and the ground where Dana had fallen when she crawled out the window. Driven by a sort of hunter’s instinct, Shaunna the zombie was learning the scent of her prey like any top predator might. Had Dana seen that scene playing out, she would have felt a deep seated fear. At that point, she would have realized that the zombies were much more complicated than she believed them to be, which in turn, made them much more dangerous.
The two male zombies, who had also accompanied Shaunna for months, soon found her sitting beside the dead anizombie. She picked it up and got to her feet, and then she started walking. She was following Dana with the two male zombies in tow.
The creature, who had been Shaunna Baugher in life, no longer had the capacity for higher thought processes. She didn’t feel love for her former pet in the manner that she had as a human, but she had enjoyed its presence and wanted the animal to stay with her. When necessary, she had helped Lily feed, so that she would remain with her. Doing that had been ingrained in the female zombie. Yet, when the human woman had struck the dog, it had enraged Shaunna. She wanted to tear the woman apart for what she had done, and she was determined to follow her.
For her part, Dana soon forgot about the encounter. After all, she had survived numerous encounters with zombies in the past, so this was hardly a unique situation. As far as she knew from her past experiences, if she could stay out of sight of any zombie hunting her until they spotted fresh prey, then she would win that encounter. It had never occurred to her that it was possible to anger a zombie to the point that it would harbor a grudge and seek her out selectively.
Chapter 2
The refuge.
The biggest improvement that had been made to the refuge in the past few months was a ditch and a second fence around the property. The ditch was a uniform twenty feet away from the outside of the original fence. The trench was seven feet deep and ten feet wide, and it surrounded most of the compound.
It had been necessary to leave one section intact and that was the area around the gate. They needed the road leading into their grounds for their vehicles to enter and exit. The thirty foot section that remained intact was fenced off to prevent people or zombies down in the trench from gaining access to the road area.
Bernie Richardson had done most of the digging. Bernie was the man who had attempted to murder Herb after the return of the team from the Newport run. He had been sentenced to hard labor and confinement in his quarters when he wasn’t working. He had done most of the digging with a small excavator the team had located and recovered from a large farm fifteen miles from the refuge. The old Caterpillar was in rough condition and subject to breakdowns. It was also hard on fuel, and the team had been forced to scrounge for every available drop of diesel they could locate within a reasonable distance of them.
The work had been dangerous. Three times, guards had saved Bernie from groups of zombies that had been attracted to the noise of the loud excavator. The prisoner was unarmed, but once, he had used the scoop of the excavator to fight for his life as zombies swarmed the machine. He had knocked several to the ground and used the bucket to beat them to a pulp.
Bernie had enjoyed his time working with the excavator and thought that if this was a sample of the hard labor he would be forced to do in order to remain in the refuge, then it wasn’t so bad. That ended abruptly when he completed the work that the machine could do and was given hand tools to do the remaining work, which consisted of digging out a portion of the earthen ramp the excavator had used to exit the trench. Fortunately for Bernie, the earth moving machine was able to dig out the majority of the ramp from ground level, but it had taken the prisoner several days down in the trench to finish the job with hand tools.
While Bernie had been occupied with the trench work, other men had been erecting a second fence midway between the edge of the ditch and the original barrier erected by the army. Now, any enemy wanting to attack the refuge would have to first navigate the obstacle of the ditch, and then get through two fences.
The ditch around the refuge did present one problem for the defenders. A savvy human enemy could use it to provide cover as they assaulted the compound. To counter that threat, some of the dirt from the excavation process was trucked inside and used to construct several berms, or artificial earthen ridges. They were spaced so that men could ascend them during an attack and fight from the high ground, where they could shoot down into the trenches.
Pointed stakes were pushed into the soft earth of the trench until they were concealed by the muddy bottom on both sides near the entrance to the refuge. Longer stakes were left standing erect as a sort of punji pit trap. If an attacker saw those and jumped in the trench beside them to clear the stakes, then they would land on those concealed beneath the mud.
Herb and Randy walked along the interior perimeter of the refuge examining the security improvements. Ox was trailing behind the two friends, as he usually did when Herb walked the perimeter.
“I see
Bernie is finished with the digging,” Randy observed as he regarded the completed section of the trench to the left of the gate.
“Yes, he finished up yesterday,” Herb responded. Then he said, “I asked you to think about his next long-term project. Have you come up with anything yet?”
Randy took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. He was tired. He’d spent the night on guard duty and was ready to get some sleep, but he’d been scheduled to meet with Herb that morning to discuss some issues involved in the management of the refuge. “Yes, I have, but I don’t think he’s going to like it,” he explained to Herb.
“It’s punishment. He isn’t supposed to enjoy it,” Herb quipped.
“You’re right there,” Randy agreed. “All right, the defensive berms need to be fortified.”
“What have you got in mind, and what role would he play?” asked Herb.
“We have that surplus of empty sandbags. I was thinking we could have him fill the bags. Once they’re filled, they could be stacked up to give the men manning the berms some protection from enemy fire.”
“Let him fill them and carry them out to the berms. That should keep him busy for a couple of weeks,” Herb said.
“Okay, I’ll put him to work doing that,” Randy replied. Then he said, “There are some people who think we should consider ending his punishment because he’s been a model citizen since that woman was banished.”
“There are?” Herb said. When Randy nodded, he added, “What do you think?”
“I think he tried to kill you. I don’t know that I’ll ever trust him, but it’s your decision to make.”
“No it’s not. It’s ours. The last time he targeted me, but if he ever tried something like that again, he could go after you or any of the council members. No, it’s not just my decision. I’m not the only person he could target. If that were the case, I’d suspend his punishment today and take my chances, because I’ve also heard the murmurs from those who are disenchanted with our decision to punish him this way,” Herb explained. He shook his head and added, “Maybe we should call for a vote from all the people here.”
Randy looked troubled by that suggestion, which prompted Herb to say, “From the expression on your face, I’d say you don’t care much for that idea.”
“I am worried,” Randy responded, “and I won’t pretend I’m not concerned. I just think that’s a bad precedent to set. The council set the punishment. Opening this up for a vote will be seen as a sign of uncertainty on our part.”
“And you’re afraid that could undermine the confidence of the people in our leadership. Is that it?” Herb asked.
“Yes, that pretty well sums it up,” Randy admitted. Then he added, “Aren’t you concerned about that?”
Herb shrugged and said, “Not really. We could always point out that in all fairness, everyone should have a say in when we grant the man his freedom. After all, he would be a potential threat to every man, woman, and child here, and not just the council.”
“You make it sound so simple,” Randy said with a somber expression on his face.
“It really is that simple, buddy. No matter which way they vote, not everyone will be happy with the outcome, but at least they’ll have their say, which should silence our detractors. In my opinion, not addressing this dissatisfaction in our midst could be a major mistake. It could lead to the people here splintering into factions. Some might even want to leave with a lot of our supplies.”
Randy’s facial expression reflected his alarm as he stared at his friend. “We can’t have people wanting to take off with a large percentage of our supplies of food and weapons. That could lead to the failure of the refuge to sustain us.”
“No one is leaving permanently with more than a three day supply of food, and they leave with the weapons they brought with them when they came here,” Herb assured his friend. “Those are the rules the army recommended in the beginning, and everyone agreed to them at the time. The rules were also explained to the newcomers as they came here, and we’re not about to change them at this point, because you’re right about what would happen if we did that.”
“All right, Herb. If you want to open this up for a vote by everyone, I’ll support your decision,” Randy pledged.
“Good. I think it’s the best thing to do, under the circumstances. Now, we need to run this by the rest of the council.”
Randy nodded in agreement and was about to add a comment when he was distracted by Ox’s behavior. The big dog was facing the fence and looking toward the dirt road that led to the refuge. His body posture was at rigid attention with his nose lifted high in the air as if he was scenting the wind.
“What’s wrong, boy?” Randy asked the big dog.
Herb turned his head to see what had prompted Randy’s question. The instant he saw his dog, he knew that the animal had scented something it didn’t like in the breeze.
“The wind is coming from the direction of the entrance,” Randy pointed out.
“We’d better get to the gate,” Herb replied. Then he amended his statement when he added, “You run on ahead and get the red flag hoisted. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”
“Right, I’m on it,” Randy responded, and then he ran toward the gate in a mad sprint.
Herb followed at a more sedate pace. Although months had passed since Bernie had shot him in the thigh, the leg still gave him problems when he pushed it too hard. The previous day, he had done just that when he had climbed atop each of the newly constructed berms in the refuge. He had wanted to get a first-hand view from those perches so that he would know what sort of coverage the men who manned those positions could expect. Climbing up those loose dirt and rocky slopes had been an arduous process, but he made it. However, today he could feel the effects of that unaccustomed exercise as it took its toll on his leg.
Herb had covered about half the distance to the gate when he saw the red flag going up on the twenty-five foot tall makeshift flagpole. He nodded his head in satisfaction as he glanced around the refuge and saw that all of the people within his range of sight were reacting to the signal. He knew that those responsible for the safety of the children would be herding them inside one of the community shelters that they had fashioned out of some of the empty shipping containers that were buried on the back side of his property. They would be joined there by most of the adults as well as a strong guard contingent, under the command of Raman Chandler, the former leader of the Hunter community group. Soon, only the guards would remain in plain sight.
By the time Herb reached the front gate, a group of men armed with rifles was running toward the berms along the front fence. Those men had strict instructions not to fire a shot unless the compound came under fire by human enemies, or zombies breached the fence.
The men on guard duty were armed with bows as well as rifles. Their instructions were to use bows only on zombie foes, unless there was a danger of the refuge being overrun by the undead. They were all well aware that the sound of gunfire traveled long distances, and that it invariably drew more zombies to their area. Therefore, the gate guards were all disciplined enough that Herb wasn’t concerned about their behavior. After all, they had to deal with the threats that materialized when someone got trigger happy. Herb wasn’t as confident about the men manning the berms. They had much less experience at guard duty, and most of them had never done battle with zombies. Herb breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Hernando Garcia, the twenty-seven year old leader of the Newport survivors, and Jesse Colton, his former second-in-command running toward the berms. Hernando, the Hispanic former truck driver, was experienced and he would help keep the men on the berms calm.
Herb saw Hernando look at him and wave to get his attention and then he pointed to another berm beside the one where most of the men had gathered. He spread his hands out, indicating he felt that the men should cover both berms. Herb nodded his head and waved, giving his permission for the team to split up and cover both berms.
Her
b nodded his head in approval as he saw Hernando and Jesse organize the men into two groups. Jesse took half the men and went to the berm that overlooked the left side of the gate while Hernando remained at the one overlooking the right side.
Herb knew he was fortunate to have the versatile men from the Newport run as part of the security team at the refuge. They were fearless in battle and knew what they were doing. Even now, he could see that Hernando had the men checking their weapons and securing their safeties. A quick glance toward Jesse was all it took to see that he was doing the same thing.
Beside Herb, Ox remained silent as they walked between the two berms and approached the men near the gate. “What have you got?” Herb asked Randy when he reached him.
“We thought we heard something about a minute ago, but couldn’t be sure,” Randy reported. “It sounded like someone screamed in pain, but it was faint.”
Herb frowned. “Is someone getting the bus?” he asked.
“It’s still down for maintenance,” Randy said. “Jason and Ed have gone to get the truck.”
“That will do. If nothing shows up before they get here, then I’ll go with them on a patrol sweep,” Herb said.
“Let me take this one. You’re not 100%,” Randy said quietly. “I saw you limping on the way over here.”
“I’ll be riding in the truck. It’ll be okay,” Herb said dismissively.
“How do you know you won’t have to bail out of the truck to help someone out there? You can’t know that. Leave it to me this time. You wouldn’t let me go on a mission with a hurt leg, not when you were healthy.”