The radio beeped. “We’re loaded up.”
“Be right there.”
“Don’t be discouraged. This is really good news, but right now, our town needs electricity, and we should get it to them before we move on to the next survival need.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Go get things ready so we can go shopping for my list of stuff.” I tried to keep from bursting into tears. Nobody needed to deal with a weeping female while trying to keep the infected away.
Gulping in a few deep breaths, I wiped at my eyes. Moms didn’t get the option of crying whenever they wanted. I could keep things going until we got back to the farm, but when I was out of danger, all bets were off that I would have a pillow soaked with tears tonight.
Things went off without a hitch, but this time, I was in charge of acquisitions when we pulled up to the back doors of the supercenter.
Tyler hopped out of one of the trucks and helped us back into the loading centers.
The trailers with the solar panels had traveled back the way we’d cleared out, and we were on the way back to the country roads where the going would be much slower. They would have a head start, but most of the extra bodies were in my group to help search and load up.
The two pickup trucks with Linc and Nolan were in the front sitting idle, revving the engines and honking the horns to draw out the undead.
The noise would attract anything that was dead in a few miles’ radius, but it would clear out most of the crowds so that we could handle what was left.
I wasn’t looking forward to killing any infected, but I was going to have to do it eventually.
We cut the engines as soon as we were lined up, allowing the noise out front to do its job.
Tyler motioned everyone to get ready as he opened the cargo door.
A group of about ten stumbled out, giving us a chance to stake, spike, or stab them before they hurt us. I plunged a spike through a middle-aged woman’s head and used her body weight to help pull it free as she dropped to the ground.
I looked around and didn’t see anything else moving.
“Pull these over to the side, out of the way, and watch where you’re walking. The guts are slippery, and nobody wants to drive back smelling like that.” I grinned, because as the mom of two boys and two girls, those words had never come out of my mouth before, and I thought I’d said everything in the book already.
When the other two doors were rolled up, I noticed that the sounds of the horns were growing farther away, meaning that anything that was left inside was up to us to take care of before we started shopping.
The back of the bay was filled with stacked containers on pallets. I shined the flashlight on the words, hoping to find the toilet paper. It was stacked behind the boxes of cereal, so that was a bonus. There was always fresh milk, and cereal would be a quick way to feed the kids, something that had been a part of their previous lives.
“Take the pallet jack and wheel those pallets directly onto the truck just as they are. We can cut the plastic off later, and it’ll keep them from falling on top of other things in the truck.”
I started marking the boxes of different stacks while they started loading them into the truck. At each swinging door, we had a lookout to make sure that there weren’t any surprises that rushed us.
When we began to get full, I motioned to three of the ladies that were with us that we were going through the doors. The other things we needed were inside the store, and it wasn’t likely that we’d find boxes full of them back there.
“Grab a cart and hold tight to your weapon,” I spoke quietly as I pushed the door open.
It was almost totally dark, and that made what we were doing much more dangerous.
“Crap! I can’t see anything, Trish,” Lisa whispered next to me.
I turned the flashlight on, hoping it wouldn’t attract more than we’d bargained for. “Keep our baskets next to each other. Joanne, leave your basket here and walk behind us to make sure nothing comes up that way.”
The groans were still coming from the darkness, but I knew there were a lot less than we’d had before. Thankfully these superstores were setup in the same manner so we could find our way.
“Head for the toy section.”
“Seriously?” Berry’s voice rose in terror. “We’re going toy shopping?”
“We need games and things to keep the kids occupied.”
“Oh,” she whimpered, moving along with the group. “I don’t like this.”
An infected reached out toward us and I shoved the cart into his gut. He leaned over it, and I punched the spike forward into his eye socket.
“There…see? We’ve got this,” I spoke confidently as we turned the corner, into a stumbling group of dead.
“Back to back!” I yelled, because at this point, being quiet wasn’t going to help.
“Oh my God, we’re gonna die.” Berry started to shake.
Transferring my flashlight to the cart, I reached over and slapped her.
“What did you do that for?” she shrieked.
“Fight or you’re gonna die. Kill ’em, girls.”
We waded into the groping group of dripping, smelly flesh, taking out the first line.
“Move back after you kill one so the next one will have to get over the body to get to you.”
‘Rinse and repeat’ was the motto I kept muttering to myself. I was not going to die like this.
Shots echoed around us and the bodies we were fighting didn’t seem to be fighting as hard.
“I don’t know who’s helping, but let’s keep going.”
Moments later, lights shined in my face, and I held up my hand to shield my eyes.
“Thought you could use a little help over here,” Linc drawled from the other side of a pile of slimy bodies.
“Regroup on the next aisle, girls. We made it.”
“I killed those things, but I’m pretty sure I broke a nail,” Berry complained.
“It’ll grow back,” I assured her.
“Um…Trish…?” Lisa called out.
“Yeah?”
“I think I got bit,” she mumbled as she slumped to the floor.
“Linc, what do we do? Is there a way to stop it from infecting her?”
“Not that I know of, but let’s get her out into the light.” He and Nolan picked her up and we followed behind, still on the lookout for strays.
He laid her down on the ground, out by the trucks.
“Good news, she’s not bit,” he announced to everyone crowding around.
“Then why is she bleeding?” Berry cried.
“She was shot.”
“Are the trucks loaded?” I looked at the guys.
“Mostly,” Tyler acknowledged.
“Berry, you and Joanne stay here and help Linc. The rest of us are going to go back in there for bandages and alcohol. Two of you hold the flashlights, and the rest of us will gather what we can.”
“You’ll be okay.” I awkwardly patted her shoulder, knowing she wouldn’t have been shot if I hadn’t insisted on getting the toys.
A mad dash later, we were back with random things pulled off the shelves.
“Will this work?” Tyler handed Linc a few tools to pull the bullet out, and then sew her up.
“Yep. While I’m doing this, why don’t you go back in there and finish getting the last of the things on the list?” Linc saw me start to protest.
“I can’t work if you’re all staring at me. Besides, it’ll get things off our list. Don’t forget the canning jars. Go.” He pointed to the door.
“All right, you heard the man. Let’s do it.”
Two trips later, an unconscious Lisa was placed in the back of Linc’s truck.
“Close the doors so if we want to come back and get more stuff, we aren’t just advertising where the good stuff is at,” Tyler instructed the guys.
When I climbed into the truck and pulled into the convoy, I felt relieved. Yet if this was the kind of thing that the groups who w
ere going out to clear each area were doing, then I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be a part of it.
Maybe I would just stay home on the next trip and worry about which child was going to fall out of a tree or poke their sibling in the eye. Non-zombie problems would be a welcome change, even though the days of groaning about kid problems wasn’t that far in the past.
Window rolled down with the radio playing songs about America made the miles go much faster until we made it to the secure roadblock where we could all breathe a little easier.
“Everyone listen up!” Linc called the meeting to order. “We have a few things to discuss, and we need to get started so that we don’t use up the daylight.”
“You got the solar panels…yada yada. What else do we need to discuss?” Bert in the back yelled. “We all know that the most important people will be getting them. What do the rest of us care since we have to wait?”
“Bert, you know that’s not true.” Wade waved his hand in the air to get the room’s attention. “From the calculations that we made today, we can put together units of three or four and power the whole block. Since we have several homes that are vacant, it’ll make it where we can use the same system as the electric company to distribute it to each home.”
“I’m pretty sure we could use a few volunteers to help get this going. It’s going to be hands-on training so that each person can go on and do the next block, teaching someone else at the same time.”
A slight grumble went through the room, but no one voiced any opposition.
“If we can get some help, I think the panels can be installed by tomorrow or the next day at the latest. We can rest and do other things around here before going back for another load. The next town over is going to get theirs done next week, so if you think you want to add electrician to your resume, now would be a good time to get some training in.”
Hands went up from the youth that were present. They would use any excuse to get out of town and see other people. Their version of a barn raising from the old days when they got to have a dance after the work was done.
I smiled when Carson raised his hand, but I didn’t plan to object. If he could defend the farm with a gun, there was no reason that he couldn’t play with electricity while learning at the same time.
“Now that that’s settled, we have one more item to discuss.” Linc exchanged a glance with Wade. “When we were in the city, we were able to pick up a radio broadcast. It seemed to be coming from Knoxville. A church has taken over the radio station, giving out survival advice to those that need it against the zombies. They’re offering to rescue people who are in need.”
“Why aren’t we contacting them right now?” Berry waved her hand to get everyone’s attention.
“That’s why we’re discussing our options—” Linc tried to continue, but she interrupted again.
“Honestly, I think what we did yesterday was stupid. Not the solar panels, but going into the superstore was a terrible idea. Poor Lisa had to pay the consequences.”
“Um, Berry, can I ask you a personal question? Did you use the shampoo they brought back at the school today? Is it possible that you had cereal for breakfast like everyone else did?” Linc abruptly questioned.
“Yeah, so?”
“Well, you wouldn’t have had any of those things if we hadn’t gone into the superstore. Think of the toilet paper. We were close to using paper or rags. That’s not the kind of smell that you want to have just sitting around until the electricity starts up so you can do laundry again,” Tyler pointed out.
“Whatever. But you have to admit, if it hadn’t been for Trish trying to get toys for the kids, then Lisa would never have gotten hurt.”
“You’re making it sound like doing something for the kids was a bad idea. I think you can be on the kid rotation and help out with the babies who get bored. After two days, you’ll be begging to be put back on one of the other details,” Joanne snapped, standing up for me.
“I’m not being selfish. I just think if we have the opportunity to connect with another group that isn’t all about farms stuff, then we should take it. I for one want to transfer to the city compound.”
Wade laughed out loud. “I’m sorry, Berry. The world has changed, and if we want to have food and shelter when winter comes, then everyone will have to become some sort of farmer. Those in the city don’t have fresh eggs, milk, or vegetables. They’re having to learn those things just like we are out here. What it would mean is that we could do some trading of goods with them and get a picture of the overall cleanup.”
“The military’s involved at different points across the U.S., but what we don’t know is how badly each city was hit. If one in five people got infected, then that means each person has at least four dead people trying to kill them. I think we can get a few areas cleaned up, but it will take working together. We want to be cautious because we don’t want to have another dictatorship that we join forces with, only to be murdered in our beds.” Linc tried to explain the cons of meeting with other groups, but other than a few nods of agreement, the majority wanted to find out more about the Church Against Zombies.
“Can we agree that we need to get the solar panels up and running?” Wade interjected, getting back to the vote.
“I guess we could wait that long,” Nolan offered. “The next group that goes to get more panels could see about a meeting after the trucks are loaded, and all they have to do is drive back. If something goes wrong, they can always lose them in the city and come back another way.”
“Sound advice, Nolan,” Linc complemented the younger man.
“Instead of trying to setup a meeting, we can take a group of about three or four guys and go over that way. If they’re what they say, then they’ll have a roadblock setup somewhere that we’ll run across trying to get into the city,” Wade suggested.
“Isn’t that just like the leadership around here? Always trying to get the best of everything, you’ll come back and sugarcoat it. If you all leave, you might not be in charge when you get back,” Bert threatened.
Tyler smiled. “That’s why you’re going to be one of the ones to go meet this Church Against Zombies.”
“I’m not a zombie killer, though. I wouldn’t know how to defend myself and I could die.”
We wish, I thought in my head. None of us are that lucky.
“Uh-huh. So you don’t want to be on the exploratory group that’ll be finding new people? After all, those are the really cool kids, and we don’t want you to feel left out.”
“It’s not about that. I have this bum leg from that car accident, and it’s impossible for me to outrun anything that’s chasing me,” Bert claimed, making excuses.
“You mean, you got drunk and ran into the telephone pole, pinning your leg,” a voice snickered behind me.
“Is there anyone else that feels like Bert does? I mean, if you want to go out there and fight the zombies, it would be my pleasure to show you how to do it.”
Carson raised his hand from beside me, but I reached up and pulled it down.
He started to protest.
“I’ll let you do the solar panel thing, but I’m still your mother, and you will not be going out there to fight those things. At least not for a few years, or when your father comes back and takes you, whichever comes first.” I felt that was the end of the subject, but I should have known that an almost teenager was the beginning of trouble.
Linc would never approve of him going on a trip like that. I’d have to find a way to make him feel like we needed him at the farm. Maybe I could give him the video game system I’d borrowed from another family.
A few of the others volunteered to go, but Wade would be staying to make sure that we didn’t have any problems with a coup.
The solar panels got put into place without any extra drama, and for the first time in months, I could see the lights in the sky from the town. Before the zompoc, even though Jessica’s farm was out and away from the big cities, the town’s lights had
blended in with others in the surrounding area. Now, you could see the lights from several miles away, and when I joined everyone up in the hayloft, it was obvious that we were going to have a big problem.
If there had been electricity in other places, our town might not be as noticeable. But it was going to attract all sorts of unsavory people who wanted a town with safety.
“Blackout curtains, with only a few exceptions should keep things quiet,” Tyler commented.
“Yep. They’re not going to like it, but it’s not like we have much choice. I’ll have to alert the other towns so they can take the same precautions. It’s a good thing we hadn’t added the street lights back into the system yet.” Linc ran a weary hand through his hair.
“Don’t worry. The more things return to normal and all the cities get cleaned up, things won’t seem as bad.” Jessica put an arm around his waist.
“Sweetie, cleanup from this is going to last years. The world is never going to be normal. All it’ll take is one person that was stuck in a closet or dies of the sickness, and we’ll have a new outbreak.” Linc looked at me, but he didn’t say what everyone was thinking at this point.
There wasn’t going to be a cure. Even if Cooper was alive, someone in our family might still die.
Without a word, I left the hayloft and went back down, settling in on the porch step to try and keep the hopelessness from overwhelming me. A tear escaped as I imagined the world my children were going to be faced with in the future.
The screen squeaked, and I turned to find Trevor coming out the door.
“Mommy?” he whispered.
“I’m right here, baby.”
“Can you hold me? I’m scared of the monsters.” Trevor crept closer and fixed his big eyes on me, looking for an answer.
“Yeah, come here. The monsters can’t get you if I’m holding you,” I reassured him, as his little body gave me comfort that I hadn’t realized I needed.
“Are we going to live here forever?” Trevor snuggled into my arms, trying to get as close to me as possible.
“I hope so. I like having your Aunt Jessica around, and there are lots of fun things to do on the farm.” I smiled, knowing he couldn’t see it. But it made me feel better.
Against Zombies Box Set, Vol. 1 | Books 1-4 Page 40