“Building contractor, which is why I let them open up the doors to the tunnels. We didn’t want the walls to fall down around us, but I made sure that we did it safely.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled noncommittally.
“Everyone has had to adjust and do things that we didn’t think were possible only a few short weeks ago. Leader wasn’t something I wanted to do or ever planned on before all this, but I just couldn’t leave these people in the situation they were in when I got here with the girls.”
“Girls?” This was getting more suspicious by the minute.
“Yeah, my nieces, Charity and Hope. People were trying to come in here, and they had no way to defend themselves against the infected. The glass had been busted out, and we were able to walk inside easily. I grew up hunting, so while I’m not a great shot, I was able to kill the ones hanging out before letting everyone out of the room they were trapped in.”
“Now I get it. You saved them, and they follow you blindly anywhere you lead.” I took a sip of the coffee.
Tough guys would have tried to drink it down and prove how brave they were, but I preferred the common sense approach to let it cool off slightly before downing it.
“What? Oh, no. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Most of the members who were here wouldn’t make it out there on their own. Together we’re stronger.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself of that.
Refilling the cup, I didn’t make any other comments, since several of the older ladies were coming in to start making breakfast. It was the perfect time to sneak away, because while this Lee guy might not have planned to be the hero, he could certainly sell anything if he talked to you long enough.
Our group had collected in the basement to move out to the manhole we’d come down in and back to our vehicles. They had gas in them, and it wouldn’t take too long to have them ready to leave versus the group’s vehicles that had been beaten up trying to clear out the area.
“River will you take the A team and go with Jennifer to see if her family is alive.” A peace offering seemed like a good idea, especially since I had an ace up my sleeve.
“Sure.” She eyed me suspiciously. “Now you want me to lead a group?”
“No better time than now to find out if you can handle it. Darren speaks highly of your skills, so let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Where are you going to be?”
“Right here behind you, watching your six.” I held both hands out in front of me in surrender.
“Load up then. And Darren, we’ll keep in contact with you as we get close to the area before we split off.” She slung the bat over her shoulder and climbed into the seat of the reinforced jeep.
It wasn’t until I pulled open the passenger door that she realized I would be riding with her.
“Ah, hell no. Get out.” She pointed to the other vehicle that pulled away at that moment.
“Guess you’re stuck with me now.” I tried to hide my smirk so that I didn’t cause her to explode.
With a dramatic huff, she put the jeep in gear. “Whatever.”
The roads were littered with abandoned vehicles, and in a few spots, we had to get out and push some over to make a path. A few of Lee’s guys would help keep watch while one of the smaller girls would put the car into neutral so that we could use the jeep to get it rolling.
After the first two, River opened up her door and started to get down.
“Where are you going?” I demanded.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but there are quite a few ZITs moving this way since we’ve been making noise, and if we use any more bullets, the group over in that shopping center will have us for lunch.” She tapped the bat. “This baby is as silent as they come.”
The next thing I knew, Jennifer was climbing up into the jeep, and River was proving why she’d been on a softball scholarship before the zompoc hit.
It was a thing of beauty to watch until I realized that I could be out there with her instead of letting Darren have all the fun.
I picked up a metal pole that was a little longer than a bat.
It was perfect.
A growl behind me had me turning to swing before I’d even gotten a chance to test it, but what could be better than testing it on the real thing?
The next ZIT’s head almost separated from its neck with the force of my frustration behind the swing. While I still liked having my gun as a backup, I could get used to hitting for the fences and taking these things out one by one. It was one way to stay in shape.
River waved frantically at the jeep, and Jennifer revved the engine up as she crept forward, until she was touching the bumper of the cars blocking the road.
Once free of the bottleneck, a group of infected swarmed toward us, drawing those that had been lagging behind closer to where we’d taken a stand.
With several of us working to take out the ZITs, the vehicles were able to creep forward a little at a time. What would have normally taken about twenty minutes took closer to four hours, and we were almost to the neighborhood where Jennifer’s parents lived.
Even during the panic, the cars were stacked up on the off-ramp in lines, with only a small space to squeeze through to make it on to the streets.
It was easier to maneuver around the abandoned cars since most people had pulled over before leaving their vehicles. At some point, a group would have to bring a pump out here and empty all the cars of gas. No point in having a resource go to waste.
The wandering dead were fewer as we reached the entrance to their subdivision, and the bricked walls surrounding the housing area.
Those of us that had been clearing the highway had hopped into the back of the trucks until we pulled up in front of a modest home.
I jumped to the ground, glancing around to see if there were any signs of life.
“Jennifer, stay back, and once we’ve gone through the house, we’ll let you come in and get your clothes, or whatever we can take with us. The rest of you split up and make sure this side of the street is empty,” River ordered efficiently.
“I’ll come with you,” Jennifer tried to protest, until I caught her in a hug.
“Sweetie, if they’re alive, then you’ll be right here to greet them, but no one should have to see their family dead or have to put them down like that.”
Everyone else moved away from us, and I decided to stay right there, because if left by herself, Jennifer was going to do something stupid.
“We good to go?” River asked.
I nodded and stood next to Jennifer as they unlocked the door.
“Anyone home? Mrs. Hill, are you in there?” River called out.
Nothing came to the door, so she and the two others behind her moved inside.
It was really quiet for a few minutes, then a crash had me tightening my grip around Jennifer.
“What was that? Is she hurt?” Jennifer started crying. “I can’t take it.” She buried her face in my shoulder, sobbing harder, drenching my shirt.
Seconds later, the team emerged empty-handed.
“No one’s inside,” River quietly announced. “Is there anywhere she would go?”
“Is her car there?” Jennifer took off running for the house.
“Did you clear the closets as well?”
“Yes, I did, sir.” River saluted me before following her inside so they could load up anything the church could use.
Frustrated that River was still being sassy, I walked to where the other group was opening the garage of the house three doors down.
A spotless pickup truck was sitting inside, and they were carrying laundry baskets full of pantry items out to the bed of the truck.
I was beginning to feel like a third wheel, until I heard growls starting to grow in volume.
Everyone else was occupied, so I went to the corner of the block and discovered a herd of dead moving in our direction. While we’d been really quiet, it hadn’t been quiet enough.
I took of
f at a run and waved to the group filling the truck. “Make that the last load. There’s a group headed our way.”
But I didn’t stop until I was inside with River.
“What’s wrong?” she questioned seriously.
“There’s a herd about three blocks away and they’re moving fast. We need to get out of the housing area now.”
“Let’s go. Everyone out, now!” River urged, counting heads as they left with whatever they were carrying out to the trucks.
“Jennifer, we have to leave now.”
River started to go back, but I pushed past her into the house.
Jennifer was standing in the hallway, looking at the pictures on the walls.
“Come on.” I grabbed at her arm, only to have her turn back toward the bedroom.
She came back lugging a large suitcase behind her.
I shook my head. Trying to pry clothes from a woman was like asking them to leave part of themselves behind.
“Go, I’ve got it. Hurry!”
The handle on the suitcase was broken, and it had to be pushed to the front door.
River had started up the truck and turned around, facing out by the time I got it to the tailgate. One of the church guys, Wayne, hopped down to help me lift it into the truck.
I jumped in and pulled it closed after me. River sped away quickly, catching up to the other vehicles waiting for us at the end of the street.
We’d made it out in the nick of time, because the first of the infected were in Jennifer’s front yard.
We were going to have to set some ground rules for the next few stops, and I would have to help tell Darren’s group the same thing when we all got back this evening.
Jennifer’s dad’s house was two major streets down from where we’d ended up. It was highly unlikely that anyone was alive in that subdivision.
Unlike the last neighborhood, this one seemed eerie, like there were eyes watching us.
As everyone piled out of the vehicles, I motioned them all to gather around.
“We almost got screwed over last time. We can’t afford to make mistakes or it’ll mean going home with fewer people. If it means getting the supplies or living, leave it. Nothing is worth your life.” I gave Jennifer a pointed look. She had the common sense to look ashamed.
“From now on, we’ll have someone on lookout at the end of each street in a vehicle, with another person who can run inside and warn people. There may be a few stragglers that pop up, but we don’t want to get pinned in by one of those large groups that we won’t be able to outrun.”
Proud of my speech, I was taken off-guard when a gunshot rang out inches from where I was standing.
I ducked and found the shooter two doors down, peering out from a window in the house.
Raising my hands in the air, I started to approach.
“Cole, what are you doing?” River ground out from the front of the truck.
“I’m gonna go get us a few recruits.”
“Cocky idiot.” Her words lingered as I moved toward the house where the shot had come from.
A man showed up on the porch, holding his weapon in front of him in such a way that I knew he had never been taught gun safety.
“We’re just looking for Al Hill. We’ve got his daughter Jennifer with us, and we’re trying to find out if he’s still alive.”
“I don’t want nothin’ to do with you, but if Al’s still alive, he’d probably be hiding in his shed.”
I was close enough to see that the unkempt gentleman was shaking.
“We’re from the First Church downtown. I’m not much on religion myself, but they have hot showers and coffee. We could always use someone else to help with watch duty. If you’ve got anyone else with you that you want to bring, it would be okay with our group.” I moved closer, never taking my eyes off his finger until he pointed the gun to the ground.
“Church? We’ve been taking care of our own and haven’t seen any group that wasn’t looking to ransack our houses. We’ve managed to take care of ourselves just fine so far.”
“Really? Well, I guess we’ll just be checking on Jennifer’s dad and see if any of your neighbors feel the same way.” I turned back toward the group when he spoke again.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to go someplace that had electricity.”
“Great,” I enthusiastically announced. “Maybe you can help us knock on the right doors so we don’t leave anybody behind?”
“Sure, sure. There are the four houses here, and then one on the back side. We’ve pretty much been through the area and cleaned out all the houses of anything that was edible,” he admitted, rubbing his beard. “I’m Ed, by the way.”
I held out my hand. “Cole Jackson, nice to meet you.”
A squeal brought my attention over to the group where Jennifer was jumping up and down between a man and woman.
“That would be Al and his ex-wife, Nancy. I guess your girl found her parents. I’ll just grab a few things and meet you outside in a minute.” Ed coughed and turned back to his house.
Crap! He’s sick, and I’m going to bring him back to the others, but it could just be a cold. Maybe I’m overreacting.
“Hey, Ed is going to come with us.” I introduced the neighbor as we got a little closer.
“You must be Jennifer’s parents. Good to see you all in one piece. Ed here was telling me that you’ve searched this area pretty well. We’re going to knock on a few of the doors and get ready to head out, if no one has any objections?” I glanced around at the group, and other than River, no one even seemed to care that I’d taken charge.
“If you two could pack a quick bag of clothes, we can make it back to the church before dark hits and get you fixed up with some food.” I smiled at the reunited family.
“Does anyone have any extra ammo or food that needs to be taken with us?” I asked as the other neighbors gathered around, preparing to leave.
“No. I used the last round on warning you.” Ed grinned sheepishly. “We’ve been out of food for a few days now, and were about to draw numbers as to who we should eat first.”
The horror in my thoughts must have shown on my face, because Al chuckled. “We weren’t gonna eat anyone. It just meant that we were gonna have to leave the neighborhood to scavenge some more. Nancy’s house still has food, but I didn’t want to travel that far over with only the two of us. We managed to take out those that got sick and died. If you get around more than one or two of those things, you can be overwhelmed really fast.”
“Well, are we missing anyone?”
River shook her head no, as did Ed.
“Let’s get on with it then.”
The trip back was much easier because we were going against the traffic back through the path that we’d already cleared. While it was a faster trip, the open spaces made it where the ZITs could move more freely and group up easier.
I just hoped that the other group had had as happy of an ending as we had.
Andi
I was shocked when Cole went with the other group, until I realized that he was going to follow River around like a little puppy trying to protect someone that clearly didn’t need it.
Darren was a wonderful substitute with his military training, and I knew that if we had a chance of finding Sam’s family, he would be the reason.
While I love my friend Sam, she wasn’t the sort to hold up under pressure, and I’d tried to convince her all evening that she wouldn’t want to go with us, that it was a gory, violent mess out there. I wasn’t far behind her in the hating anything that consisted of exercise, but she had always been protected from everything by her family.
She was going to have to get a thicker skin in this new world of the zompoc. At least my family had always made sure that I was at least trained in self-defense, even if they never really let me practice it. Maybe things were changing—not that I really wanted to live out the world of video games on the streets of a real city.
Sean had moved out of his parents’ house
a few years ago, but still managed to hit them up for laundry and to raid the refrigerator.
Our group had decided to stay off the highways and take the back streets, hoping that if we found something the group could use, we could stop on the way back if we had enough daylight left.
The infected were out here and there, but the groups were a little harder to ignore, and seemed to congregate in the shopping areas, which would have the best supplies.
Sam’s house was in the older part of town, with many of the homes needing to be remodeled on one of those TV fixer-upper shows.
“Tony, take a few of the guys, and keep a lookout for any signs of life while we see if Sam’s family is here.”
He aimed his weapon at the door and I turned the knob.
The sight that greeted us was horrible, and the smell was worse. There wasn’t anything alive in this house, but for Sam’s sake, we went ahead and checked.
I slid my T-shirt over my nose, but all that did was make me smell how sweaty and nervous I was at the thought of what we were going to find in the house.
The long hallway might have been a good idea at some point, but it simply heightened my fear as I crept into the living room, with Darren at my back.
Two people were sitting on the couch with their heads having bled out from the wounds inflicted by a gunshot. I wasn’t an expert, but it looked like they had been covered before someone had put them out of their misery.
“Are those Sam’s parents?” Darren asked, looking into the kitchen before he motioned me to the hall leading to the bathroom.
“Yeah, it looks like Sean might’ve been here at some point. I just hope we don’t find him up there. It would be really weird to stay here with the dead bodies while you were still alive.”
“Sounds like a movie, but it is kind of creepy. All this is enough to make normal people go a little crazy, so be prepared for anything, okay?” He gently tried to get me ready for whatever else we found.
The upstairs was empty, but when we looked in the kitchen to see if there were any supplies, they were all gone.
“Can you think of anywhere else he might have gone?”
Against Zombies Box Set, Vol. 1 | Books 1-4 Page 43