“I think our focal point should be on finding an area that has few dead people and clear that out like you’ve done with most of the downtown. If we can include a park or play area, that would be a huge asset,” Stacy chimed in, backing up River’s thoughts.
“Our biggest problem with trying to clear out highly populated areas is that we don’t have the weapons or the trained manpower for that kind of operation,” Lee protested.
“Lee, you and I both know that putting guns in the hands of untrained people can cause just as many casualties as it would be helpful.” Sarah Beth let out a sigh.
“Okay, I’m new here, but my friends and I have a few skills that can be helpful. Not only are we tech-savvy, but we were all taking some different engineering classes. Finn was a double major as an electrical engineer and IT, which he did just for fun. Caleb was an agricultural mechanics and sciences major. He was our plant guy. Rob was working on his second degree in environmental energy since he’d finished his environmental development degree two years ago.”
“You’d like us to believe that the stoner-gamers all had the motivation to get not one, but two different degrees?”
“Yep. What can I say? We were bored after the first one, but our parents were expecting us to attend school for four years or more. We didn’t want to disappoint their expectations.”
I exchanged glances with Darren and Lee. If these guys could do even half of what they were claiming, then we might have a chance to put the world back together again. Since when had I begun including Lee in my circle of approved people?
“Can you make solar power for our buildings so that we can quit using fuel and keep that for the vehicles?” River brought everyone back to the task at hand.
“I believe so. There are a few areas that have more energy efficient homes in the area, and we can do one of two things with them. First, clear them out and put people groups in them, and then we can look for the local provider who should have extra panels stored in a warehouse. Once the communication channels are available, it’ll be easier to coordinate between the small communities that we setup.”
“We’re missing a part of the equation here. We need medical staff to make sure that we stay healthy. There isn’t anything to tell us how this virus got started, and most of those that were trained are dead since they were called into the hospitals and clinics to help the infected before they were overrun,” Sarah Beth pointed out.
“Those are going to be few and far between in the near future, but hopefully the military can start training some individuals. Our friend Angela is a nurse, but she could at least help diagnose minor ailments.”
“Ed, the guy we brought with us today, had a bad cough. I couldn’t leave him there, but what if he’d had the infection? We have no idea on how to treat it. What can we do in this instance so that we don’t get all the others killed?”
“I asked him some questions because I was worried about that very thing. The cough medicine seemed to work, but we put him in a room by himself,” Sarah Beth reassured us.
“Can we have someone that patrols the sleeping quarters at night just in case something like this were to happen? I don’t want us to jump from the frying pan into the fire,” I suggested helpfully.
“Certainly. It makes good sense anyway, in case someone was trying to sneak into the building or out of it. At the moment, we haven’t come across any of the more violent elements that could be harmful to the community, but the more we grow, the more likely it’ll happen. We don’t want to be unaware of what’s going on around us, either.” Lee tried to take the meeting back, but at this point, even though he and River were standing at the podium, it had become a group discussion.
More ideas were thrown out and dismissed, or details worked out, but after two hours, I couldn’t take anymore.
“Is there a point we can take this up again in about a week? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m exhausted and would like a chance for some down time.”
“Lee?” River moved the ball back into his court.
“Nope, I’m good. Let’s go with this plan for the next few days, and if we have any large things we need to adjust, we can have a small meeting.”
“Great. Sarah Beth, can we go check on Ed to make sure he’s okay?” River had taken charge, and no one else in the room even realized that they had been prodded in the direction that she wanted them to go.
I followed them out, intending to keep an eye on them while they talked to Ed, but Darren stopped me.
“Go get some shut-eye. I’ll take the first walking shift tonight. I’d rather sleep when Stacy does if that’s okay with you?”
“Yeah, dude.” I covered the yawn that was trying to escape. “I guess you have the right idea. Night.”
The room I’d been in had two cots, but at the moment, I was the only occupant. If the planning group had anything to say, we would have to start rotating our sleeping areas into shifts to accommodate all the people they hoped to find alive.
I was a bit more of a cynic, and didn’t find that dreaming about the future was enough to keep me awake as my head hit the pillow.
One Month later…
River
My eyes opened as the sound of eerie music filled the room. It sounded like a pipe organ was playing quietly throughout the building in the middle of the night.
I sat up, swinging my legs over the side of the cot, and slid my feet into the no lace tennis shoes. There wasn’t much light that filtered into inner classrooms, but it also meant there was less chance for a ZIT to attack.
The door opened without squeaking as I clutched the bat in my hand and followed the music.
Noise would attract the ZITs, and I couldn’t imagine anyone intentionally playing an organ in the dark as I felt my way to the stairs.
The closer I crept to the sanctuary, the louder the strains of a song about Christian unity and love echoed around me.
Had no one else heard the music? Was I finally going nuts and it was all in my head?
As the last note died out, a scuffling scrape came from the platform, and I gripped the bat tighter.
A hand reached to cover my mouth, and with a small gasp, I turned to find myself staring into the blue eyes of Cole.
Ugh! At least I knew I wasn’t crazy, but I must have been radiating anger because he dropped his hand from my mouth before I could bite him.
“Sorry. It’s Gerald. He thinks if he plays at night no one will know,” Cole whispered inches away from my mouth.
“Unless he knows how to hook up a hundred-year-old organ to headphones, people are going to hear him.” I inwardly groaned as my body started to realize there was a healthy man standing in front of me.
I turned to go stop Gerald from playing, but Cole placed a hand on my arm. “He only plays that one song.”
“You mean, I’ve slept through that every night?” I asked, a little incredulous.
“Evidently. I’m sure you need your beauty sleep, Angel,” Cole chuckled in the darkness.
I wanted to slap the smugness I knew was on his face, but it would only encourage him more.
Since the moment we’d met a few weeks ago, he’d been constantly telling me I was pretty or beautiful. Seriously, we were in the middle of the ZIT apocalypse, and this guy was acting like we were just going to start dating. Plus, the nickname he’d come up with for me was just a little obnoxious—Angel.
“Look, Cole, I don’t know how many times your small amount of manhood can take being rejected, but it’s going to keep happening. I’m not your Angel or anyone else’s. If I even have a halo up there, it’s being held up by horns, and my tale has quite a sting to it, so can you back off?” Exasperated, I didn’t know how else to explain to him that it just wasn’t going to happen.
He leaned against the open door. “I adore your horns because they’re cute. Besides, you have a lot more good in you than you think. Not once have you complained about our situation, or the things the other girls worry about.”
“Yep. Makeup isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Don’t get me wrong, if a woman wants to wear makeup, dye her hair and get her nails done, I’m all for it if that’s what she wants. Wash all that off and you’ll find out more about the real person underneath.”
“Oh, so anyone that uses makeup to look better and not scare the human race should just forget it because we just need to look at their hearts? Did they even let you date when you were in the military? I can’t imagine that you’ve had experience with many women with attitude.” I tried to move through the doorway, but he blocked me with his body.
“Cole?”
“We can discuss my experience or preferences all day long, but until you let me in past those walls you’ve built, it doesn’t matter who I’ve dated before. I’ve sampled all sorts of women who were willing, but they’re not the kind of girls who could hold my attention for very long. Cheesy as it sounds, I’ve wanted to kiss your bare lips since the moment I saw you.”
A shiver ran down my arms as he took the bat from my hands and ran a finger under my chin. I’d never been wanted for just being me. It was always some guy trying to get a quickie and move on to the next conquest.
He leaned closer and I didn’t stop him, but jumped when his lips gently touched mine. Tenderness wasn’t something I’d expected from him, but I found myself responding.
When he pulled back, it left me breathless.
“What is it?” I assumed he’d stopped because I had done something wrong.
“Nothing.”
“Why’d you stop then?”
“Because I wanted to give you a chance to say no before I continued. I’m all about mutual consent.”
Cole was one of the few honorable men I’d come across, and this was my chance to overlook his constant banter. No one had been able to make me feel scared and excited all at the same time. Forgetting all about Gerald and the reason for our meeting here in the first place, I pulled him into the room and to the pews.
“I consent,” I whispered before I let down my guard and embraced the moment to let him in, just a little.
Morning after regrets were horrible, but I’d hoped that Cole would take the hint and keep our little session secret.
My face blushed as I realized exactly how there were really horns on my head. We’d done it in a church sanctuary. Bright side, we hadn’t been struck by lightning, so maybe we weren’t the first to do it there.
If I delayed leaving to go downstairs, then maybe he would already be gone by the time I showed up.
A knock on the door had me wishing a zombie would attack just so I didn’t have to answer it and face whoever was on the other side.
Stacy’s head appeared, and I sighed in relief.
“You okay?” she asked, closing the door to give us some privacy.
It was a reasonable question since I was laying on the bed fully dressed.
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “It was a long, restless night. I’m just trying to psych myself up enough to be around people today.”
“So Cole is really getting under your skin, huh?”
“What?” I sat up quickly and tried to figure out how she knew about Cole.
“River, we’ve all seen the way you two react to each other. We’re just placing bets on when you’ll actually give in and do it.” Stacy grinned as she took a seat on the end of the cot.
“He’s really into you, and you can’t hold out on his handsome face forever. Although, he does come up with some great pickup lines.”
“What I’m wondering is, did any of those ever really work in the pre-ZIT world?” I pulled my legs up to make more room for Stacy.
She giggled. “Honestly, I think he’s using them to get your attention. The big question is, are you going to do something about it, or just leave him walking around with a lost puppy face?”
“He has a lost puppy face?” I asked, perking up.
“Every time someone walked into the room this morning and it wasn’t you, he’d frown and go back to eating. He’s got a bad case of the wannas.”
“The wannas?” I knew that I wasn’t always up on the most popular sayings, but this one was completely new.
“Yep, the ‘I wanna do you all night long.’”
“Oh my gosh. Really? Can everyone just grow up and leave us alone?”
“No way,” Stacy exclaimed, grinning.
“Huh?” My head was starting to hurt from all the emotions I normally held inside.
“You already did it with him, didn’t you?” She wagged a finger in my face.
“Yes, okay. This is the reason I so didn’t want to get involved with someone. It’s way too complicated. I don’t want to deal with all this stuff.” I groaned and pulled the pillow over to cover my face.
“So if I told you that Cole is already gone, and we girls are going to go kill some zombies, there’s no way you’d be up for that, right?”
I raised my head. “You know what? That’s exactly what I need today. I need to kill something and get that man right out of my head.”
“That a girl. We’re sneaking out and heading toward the edge of the city to see if we can find some gardens or farms that might have some worth.”
Throwing the pillow behind me, I jumped up and picked up the bloodstained bat from the floor. “Let’s go pop some ZITs.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Stacy saluted and followed behind me.
“I know there were several families and groups that were alive when I came down from Bethel two months ago. Unless they tried to go into town, they should still be on their farms, and the infected won’t be wandering the woods.”
“You can be our peace offering and work something out to exchange goods. Although, I don’t know what we could offer those on the farms, even if they are willing to trade for food. Winter’s going to come and we’re not going to have the option of a stockpile ready to keep everyone warm and fed.”
“Most of our farm families could use extra labor for free. I think it should be mostly the guys that we send to help them, because if we send any women, there’s no telling if they’ll be safe.” Seeing the looks on our faces, Sarah Beth hurried to explain further. “No, the farmers wouldn’t necessarily do anything, but they would be willing to trade them to someone bigger and stronger if they came along and wanted them. The fact that it would keep their own families safe would be the main reason for something like that to happen.”
“That’s completely barbaric,” Stacy exclaimed, horrified.
“Well, just because we don’t like it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense. These mountain people are loyal to family, but outsiders can’t be trusted, so they can be traded for something that’s worth it to the group’s greater good.”
“So what you’re saying is, don’t piss these farmers off because they might kidnap us and sell us off to the highest bidder?” I couldn’t keep the fear off my face. It was way more than I’d planned on for a day outing.
Sarah Beth thought there were a few farms that might still have people there, but they were empty, with no signs of ZITs.
In a couple of places, we were excited to find animals grazing out in the pastures, still alive.
“What should we do with these, guys? We can’t just leave them out here to fend for themselves. I don’t believe their owners have been gone too long, but they do have fresh water in the pond.” Stacy patted the friendly horse’s mane.
“My Uncle John’s house is only a few miles over. If he’s still there, he can send one of the boys up the mountain for help.” Sarah Beth had full confidence that her uncle would be willing to help.
“How can you be so sure that they’ll help us out? Why would they even want to? It’s safer up there where there aren’t any ZITs trying to kill them.” I still wasn’t used to people trying to help others
without something exchanging hands.
“These are farms that need people to take care of them. There are so many extra people up there, which is why we send some down here to live, and if the farm land is open, they’ll jump on it. Plus, there are animals that need taken care of, and nothing bothers a farmer worse than animals that will starve if someone doesn’t help them.” Sarah Beth grinned just thinking about the opportunities her community had available now. “Besides, if someone doesn’t warn them, and by some crazy chance a zombie does make it up there, they need to know how to kill it. I don’t want them to be defenseless.”
“That makes sense,” I agreed. “I’ll reserve judgement until we see if they come down and work with these animals. How many farms have we cleared out that had animals that were still alive, or crops that needed to be harvested soon?”
“I have a list put together on a spreadsheet of all the assets we’ve found. I’ve been using the truck to keep the laptop charged, and when we come back, I’m updating it. All I’ll have to do is upload it to Sean, and we can find people who know how to run the machinery, or if they can learn it easily. Some of the older people may have more experience, but then again, they’re all city people,” Andi informed us. Our jaws dropped.
“Don’t look so shocked. Just because there isn’t internet access, doesn’t mean that I can’t use my tech skills for good. I’ve listened over the years on Jackson Mountain, and may have picked up a few things about crops and animals. Doesn’t mean that I want to milk a cow, but I know someone who does.” She grinned and pointed to a map on her computer. “Is this where your uncle lives?”
Sarah Beth glanced at it. “Yep. What’s this over here?”
Against Zombies Box Set, Vol. 1 | Books 1-4 Page 45