"Oh shit! Oh shit!" Howie swerved a bit too much.
Dad rode up and waved him to stop. Zombies were still coming in, but in small groups.
Dad lifted his visor. "Take it easy. You don't have to race over them. Just slow man, just ride over easy. Nice and easy."
Howie nodded a bit erratic. Dad motioned for him to calm down. Howie took a breath. "Okay man, slow."
Dad lowered his visor and coasted his bike back to where Randall was parked on the ramp way.
At the school and on the roof, many watched. The kids sat on the roof under their tarps, high-fiving. Marcus, Cory and Stu were with Steve, still hacking away at the mounds of dead, chucking them into the slow burning dumpster furnaces. They liked what they saw.
Howie howled as he drove nice and easy, around and around, meeting each new group of zombies that came rambling in. Hundreds filled the entrance. They forgot about Randall and Dad parked at the other end of the playground and circled around following Howie's little ramming tank.
He continued his circling, swerving and sliding amidst the incredible gruesome layers of goo. But since he was going slow, the sliding and swerving were minimal.
He got the feel of it as he drove round and round. “Whooh hooh! Round and round I go! Dosey doe! Whoop whoop!” He cackled in laughter as he went.
And it ended. No more came. Howie stopped by Dad and Randall with his Hummer chugging its heated engine. The grill and tires were covered in fetid goo. They looked beyond and saw no more. It was as if the world were clear of evil.
Randall started up his bike again. “Go again?”
“No,” Dad said. “That's enough for today. Let's let Howie get a break. We can clear this and burn it. It'll give us a few days of peace, to do stuff around here.”
"We keeping doing this, gonna clean up the neighborhood!" Howie sighed relief.
Dad walked into the upstairs eating area. "Okay, time to get some stuff. Lena, Lisa, Marcus, and Steve, you be the guards. Amanda, Cory, and Robert, you are, uh, the mules or the salvage team. Get whatever Nick and Amador take apart."
“Ah man, I'm not a mule. I wanna fight,” Cory huffed.
“You will,” Dad said. “Just do your part.”
Cory shrugged.
“Do you think for a minute you won't be fighting?”
"Well, what you doin?" Cory asked.
"I'm gonna be the lead jack ass!" Dad said, showing off his hardened bicep.
Cory nodded, alright.
The others were still working on clearing away what was left of the mounds, clearing the school, and watching the perimeter.
His wife, Beth, and Katrina were mopping, sweeping, doing whatever it took to clear the school of the dead and their stains. Dad was glad someone was doing it. He felt a sense of renewal knowing the women were cleaning. Was he a chauvinist? Who cares!
They stood at the gate. Ray and Tom were there. They had a dumpster smoldering. But there weren't any zombies about, still clear.
"Looks like Howie's Hummer did the job," Ray said.
"Well," Dad said, as everyone stopped around him. He motioned to the nearest house. "Guess we don't have far to go. Lena and Lisa clear it out. Marcus let them fight. You just watch their backs. Steve, stay with us, watch over us."
"Got it. Yes sir," they complied and moved out.
Nick immediately went up to the iron fencing. It was easy enough, yanking and pulling on it. Dad and Cory helped.
Amador came up with a cart he pushed all the way down from the school through the playground.
He went to work on the door, removing the hinges. Dad peered inside. Lisa and Lena came back with Marcus.
"All clear Dad," Lena said.
"Just watch our line as we go back and forth to the gate," Dad said.
They stood along a line and kept watch. Nick and Amador dismantled more doors and fencing, getting anything that was good for barricading. Cory and Amanda packed any food supplies they found. Amanda went back with a dolly cart as Cory helped the others dismantle the building materials. Dad carried some of the larger items to the gate. Ray and Tom helped.
"Tom, don't help. Stick with watching the perimeter," Dad said.
He nodded and walked about.
The steel fences were the most valuable. Dad remembered in his previous life walking Rondo and not caring or noticing steel fencing, but now he noticed. They were everywhere. Some were on windows or used as gate openers for driveways. Others were hidden behind hedges and wood fencing. There was a plethora of it scattered amidst the Hollywood homes and mansions. They were of various sizes and shapes, but all were good for building up and reinforcing the chain link fence.
Nick used power tools to dismantle them but it wasn't the easiest. There was a bit more noise than Dad cared for and a lot of banging to get things out of the earth or to get rusted cement screws loose. Nick and Amador had a cart of tools, using whatever they had to unscrew, unbolt, hacksaw, crowbar or plain ole hammer loose the steel.
Amador tried banging on stuff with a cloth between so it wasn't as loud. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
They got the easier stuff first, then tried getting the harder stuff. If it was taking too long to free up, they moved on. There was so much to choose from.
Lena and Lisa did their part. They were like Amazonian warriors.
Zombies came up the street, hearing the power tools. They weren't fast or barking, but they were excited and strutted along in a gathering wolf pack. Once spotted, Nick and Amador stopped and armed themselves, waiting to see if they'd need to fight. Dad had everyone pause what they were doing and slowly get ready.
Lena and Lisa met the outliers. They legged them, meeting their gnashing with shield bashes then they sliced low at position three, at the leg.
Stepping back, they drew them to Marcus who was a wall of power and hacking. He clobbered a group of them, bashing and smashing them with his football ferocity. Zombies went down from all three of them.
The mules: Amanda, Cory and Robert, led by Dad met a few coming in. Though the others couldn't see Dad's reaction, he was proud of their fighting ability. They lined up with him, a wall of weapons hacking and slashing as zombies came in. They cleared the area of any threats. Cory tried high-fiving but Dad smacked him with the flat of his blade, to keep vigilant.
Nick and Amador looked up, anxious to determine if they were needed.
Dad turned to see them and waved them over with is sword. "Better safe than sorry."
"Yep, sure," Nick realized, standing, ready to fight.
Amador quickly went back to work.
"Amador, wait till we're set up again, wait till we're guarding," Dad motioned for him to rise and be on guard.
"Okay boss," he quipped, holding his power drill like a weapon.
Lena, Lisa, and Marcus came back and focused on keeping watch. Steve watched the front of the house. Dad waited till they were all set. He then motioned for everyone to get back to work.
"Watch the back, the yard, the side, the streets," Dad reminded them. They looked ready and alert, spaced like guards.
After awhile, after some clearing and guarding and laboring with Nick and Amador, Dad switched out the team members to give everyone a change of pace. He reminded them to not get lax.
"Dad, tell them to call out softly in an area, move slowly, call out, see what's what," Lena said.
Dad looked at Cory and Amanda, "You got that?"
They nodded nervously but ready.
"You're on guard duty. Don't mess this up," Dad said, pounding Cory's shoulder pad. Amanda waited for her shoulder pad to be pounded. Dad tapped her gently.
When it got warmer in the day, they took a long break at lunch, going back to the school. Benjamin was helpful here, switching out phones for their entertainment, keeping things charged. He was busy and cheery.
"Thanks Benjamin," Dad said. "Where's Ruth?"
"Oh, oh, she's not feeling well," Ben replied.
His wife looked at him and Dad
noticed her look. It wasn't good. Dad gulped. He didn't want to say anything.
"I'll go see how she's doing," Katrina said, giving his wife the knowing look.
Dad went up to his wife, avoiding Benjamin who was cheerfully going around dispensing phones and getting drained ones. He made the others laugh with his old Jewy style.
"She's dying," his wife whispered.
He nodded.
"We'll take care of her," she added.
"Okay." Dad was glad there were women and children in this world still. The women were good at taking care of those that couldn’t take care of themselves. And the kids were giggling and laughing with Benjamin and Duanne and the others. They were having a blast together, even in this hell hole.
Seeing Katrina go off to help, seeing Eva clean up, seeing Amanda sew stuff right in the lunch area, seeing Beth and Randall have a moment together, holding each other and playing with Carl and Maggy, seeing family really helped Dad feel it was all worth it, no matter what may come.
9. The Hood
Ray, Amador, Howie and Nick had a ton of material laid out across the perimeter. Howie and Ray had dropped off a bunch of the salvage material along the barricades using the Hummer. Eventually, they got to work fastening the metal gates, building up some bulwark of junk. They were using practically everything in the neighborhood. They found plenty of security gates, business size ones, that were easily disassembled. Every business down the street had some kind of security gate or fencing made of metal.
They used some at the windows in the school to block off future mounds of besieging zombies from breaking into the classrooms. The first floor already had steel bars. Some were bent in, broken. Amador fixed those up.
But these plus the steel doors helped cover the large expanse of windows on the second floor. It made the whole place dim and foreboding. However, it was better that than zombies breaking in.
“Looking more and more medieval,” Nick scoffed.
“Wonder if we could make candles out of zombie goo... zombie oil!” Ray chimed. "Guess we'll be back to oil and wax soon enough. Medieval times."
They saw Dad march by in his armor.
"Yep."
They worked with cars too, whichever were close by. Most still had decent tires though somewhat deflated. About half of the batteries were dead now.
"Hey man," Ray said. "If we just unplug the batteries, they can last a long time. Maybe a year or two. Till we need'em. We just need to remove the cables."
"Yeah, let's do it," Nick said.
They opened up car hoods and wrenched loose the cables. They started with the ones in the teacher's parking lot. The place was still a mess of broken fencing and a ton of dead.
"That the damn thing that got Darryl?" Stu asked Randall, remembering his dear friend. His lips quivered. Both were on guard duty as Nick and Ray worked.
Randall and Stu stared a long time at the mangled burnt mound. It had limbs and heads sticking out at grotesque angles, all covered in a burnt sheen.
"Some kind of beast man," Randall gaped. "If another one of those comes again, run like hell."
"Amen to that," Stu teared a bit. "How come you guys haven't burned it down yet?"
Randall looked around and shrugged. "I think Amador is still scared of it."
Stu chuckled.
"Goddammnit!" Nick growled. He banged on the cable. After a dozen cars, he was getting tired of doing it. It was just wrench work on loosening the cables and popping them off the batteries. But the tedium of figuring out how to get to the hood release without making too much noise, then finding the latch, lifting up, propping the hood, angling oneself, reaching in, and affixing wrench to odd greasy nuts in odd places was tiresome.
The sun was getting hotter too, even in the cool of late December.
"Man, can you help me?" Nick looked up at Stu.
Stu shrugged and went over.
"Hey hey," Randall stopped him. "We're on guard duty. No helping."
"What?" Nick looked up frustrated, tired, sweating. "Just need him to hold the hood up. He can watch too, just holding it."
"King said, we guard. We can not help. We gotta keep watch," Randall warned.
"King, king, king... King Ronan! I'll keep watch man, just helping the dude out," Stu said, going over.
"Definitely keep watch. I'm just loosening the cables," Nick said, letting Stu put down his weapon and reach up to hold the hood.
Ray was at another car nearby, doing his own work.
Randall wasn't sure. He looked about slowly.
"See, my weapon is right there. I am still keeping watch!" Stu said, glancing about a bit dramatic.
Randall shrugged. He turned and peered at the mound of mangled burnt limbs. Did it move? Was one part of it still alive? He waved his sword across it, poking a few bits. It was crispy and rotted. Stuff oozed from the middle. He must have released a stench. He gagged as he stood back.
"You okay man?" Stu chortled. "Sick shit man!"
"Yeah yeah," Randall held his noise as his eyes immediately watered.
"Keep an eye on that," Stu reminded.
Randall waved his blade a bit too nonchalantly while he cringed.
"Okay man," Nick said, getting out from the car. "Done."
Stu let go, and the hood slammed down hard. It banged with an incredible and echoing metal crash.
Ray looked up.
Randall flinched.
"Oh my God," Stu exhaled.
The burnt mound suddenly lurched. No one noticed.
Stu cringed at his own stupid thoughtless mistake. Nick gritted his teeth. He looked across and saw the mound move.
Sounds of barking howls arose across the streets. Stu, Randall and Ray fearfully looked up the various streets.
Burnt zombies stuck in the mound wriggled and unfolded. Nick tried to move, to warn Randall.
Howie and Amador heard it too. Everyone did.
"Howie!" Dad was with him and Amador in the courtyard side, unloading the Hummer. “Get your ass down there to the gate. Amador open it. I'll draw the bastards to Howie!"
Dad hustled to the classroom where the motorcycles were. Howie and Amador got into the Hummer.
Ellie, Robert and Eva came from the gardens as he ran past them. "Get everyone up on the roof, top floor, up there!"
They waved and hurried back inside.
He got to the east end courtyard as he put his helmet back on. He was near the east side barricades. They were decently blocked up now. He noticed a few zombies run by. They didn't notice him. He went into the classroom and got on his bike. He rode it out a little too fast and noisy, but got out of that area and down to the playground pretty quickly.
Howie and Amador were there at the main gate with Duanne and Tom. Amador got out the Hummer and worked with Tom to open the gate. Duanne got in with Howie. He sat in the back with a new spear. He could jab it in all directions, especially to help out the driver.
Dad drove through and was on the street. He looked up to the parking lot. He wasn't sure where the noise came from or what exactly it was. The zombies were forming up at the parking lot fencing.
As he drove up, a small gathering was building. He saw Randall, Stu, Nick and Ray inside the lot. They were fighting some black tangled thing. It was one of those abominations only not as big or crazy. Could they handle it? He drove by and swung at a series of zombies grabbing at the fencing.
In some areas, it was still bent over so the zombies would eventually crawl on one another and stumble across to get over. Dad rode quietly and steadily, slashing out at the gathering horde. It wasn't big and the area wasn't dense, but if left unchecked, a large group could form. He drove around them until enough turned and followed him.
He was trying too many things at once, swinging, maneuvering, glancing and peering toward the others. What was going on with them? He slammed his bike and armor against a car, breaking the rear view mirror. It didn't hurt but it almost took him down.
He had to control it while ban
ging against weak zombies. They immediately tumbled under as he hit them. The bike wobbled and skidded with each accidental impact. Dad lost control and rolled off as the bike skidded and crunched against another car.
He got up and tried to pull out the two-handed claymore. He practiced earlier and had the right angle for the scabbard, but with his movements and crash, it shifted. He couldn't get it out. Damn it! Zombies crashed into him. He had to hammer bash with his gauntlets and twirl about. He pulled out the smaller blade and swung instinctively. Zombies dropped. A new row of them came in. He did a series of molinet swings. More zombies dropped. He saw Randall fall. Stu ran away. Nick and Ray hesitated. They were unable to act.
"What the hell!" he grunted.
He charged through the zombies, slicing and punching, forgetting about the damn claymore. A mound of them were crawling up and over the fencing. He could see the black aberration swirling its limbs. It was broken and flopping but pulsating and rolling nonetheless.
Dad went for it and stepped up on the bent chain link. He grabbed zombies from the back, using heads and limbs to hold on to as he stomped up and over them. His ankles screamed at the uneven slipping terrain. The chain was more sturdy then the zombies. He found chain to step on instead. In that moment, he almost fell back onto the gathering zombies, but he gritted and growled an exertion that brought him forward and so he leapt over.
Well, it was more like he flopped over. His armor wouldn't let him leap at all. He slammed hard against zombies and a hood. It took his breathe out just a moment. Nick and Ray knew they had to man up. They came over, swinging haphazardly at the crawling dead.
"Ronan! Get up! Help us!"
"Fuggg..." Dad huffed, pushing and sliding off the hood. Nick and Ray did okay. They at least distracted enough zombies so Dad could recover.
He got to his feet as his ankles screamed and he almost fell. He wobbled a bit as the pain subsided. He let out a big sigh of relief.
"Agghh!" he heard the distinct cry of Randall, muffled by the wriggling beast.
Knight of the Dead (Book 4): Realm Page 6