Doug’s deep voice took Cliff by surprise. “Hi, there. Cliff Daniels. Nice to meet you.”
“He was our neighbor from Lawton,” Cassandra explained.
“You’re a pretty big feller. You play any ball?” Cliff asked.
Doug chuckled and smiled. “Not professionally. I played in college, and that was about it. I teach high school math.”
“That’s wonderful. If we get through this, we’ll need a teacher for the kids,” Jake joked.
Doug laughed. “I was planning to retire in three to four years … until all this happened.”
Cliff learned they had been traveling in their car for the last six days. They left the small town of Lawton and had only travelled fifty-two miles. Chris explained that the highways were parking lots full of infected creatures.
“We almost didn’t make it out. The entire town was on fire and most roads were clogged with accidents,” Chris explained.
“That bad out there?” Cliff asked.
Chris nodded.
“I can’t imagine how bad it is in the big cities ,” Doug added.
“You’re safe now,” Jake said.
“It’s nice to see another woman,” Jennifer smiled at Cassandra. “We’ve both been cooped up with men for a week. It’ll be nice to have a ladies’ discussion in the evening.”
“Absolutely.”
Jennifer excused Cassandra and herself from the group and led her to the kitchen.
Cliff learned Chris and his wife, Cassandra, worked for Buy-Mart before the outbreak. Chris was a shift manager, and Cassandra worked as a dispatcher for the company’s truck line. They were lucky to be home together when the virus started to spread in Lawton. They stayed in their home for two nights before the conditions grew worse. Three infected creatures broke through their glass door the second night; it was then they decided it would be best to leave town.
“Where were you guys heading to?” Jake asked.
“Buy-Mart. They have distribution centers all over the state,” Chris replied. “They send items there for holding until a store runs low; then, the computers tell us what to load. The trucks are sent to the stores and resupply. These distribution centers are huge buildings, with practically no windows. Cassandra and I thought it would be a safe place to hide until this crisis blows over.”
Cliff cocked his head to the side, wondering if his new friend had a clue. “Blows ov—”
“What items are there at the distribution center?” Jake jumped in.
“Well, it has everything you see at Buy-Mart. Food, hardware, electronics—it has it all.” Chris smiled.
Jake exchanged a look with Cliff. He wondered if Cliff had the same thought.
“How far away is this center?” Cliff jumped in.
Chris thought for a second. “Where are we?”
“Whittaker is about eight miles from here as the crow flies,” Cliff answered, pointing south.
“It’s up by the interstate. If you take the backroads like we have been and stay off the main highways, I’d say we have two more days of driving.”
Cliff looked back at Jake. The thought of traveling to a place like that would be ideal. Their chances of surviving would significantly increase.
“How about you, Doug?” Cliff smiled. “Think it is a good idea?”
Doug nodded. “Yep.”
Cliff’s lips pursed. The thought of driving everyone to the distribution center Chris described intrigued him. He thought it was a good idea, given they survived the trip. There would be obstacles and unknowns on the way, but they could do it. But could he put his family in danger for the security in the end? What if they got there and it was occupied? Would they be welcomed, or would the occupiers defend it with force?
“Cliff?” Jennifer called out, breaking his thoughts.
He looked up; she bore a serious look. “What is it?”
She motioned for him to come. He complied, and she led him into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. “Cassandra and I were talking about the kids. Did you know her little one, Owen, has asthma?”
“That stinks.”
“He has one day of medication left. They were planning to make it to some place by the interstate, but now, they’re afraid he’s going to run out.”
“Dang.” Cliff sighed and leaned his back against the wall. He slid his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.
“We need to help.”
“I guess we can run into town and see what we can find at the pharmacy. I have no idea if anyone has cleaned the place out or not. Let me talk to Jake.” Cliff looked at his watch. “It will be dark shortly. We’ll run into town tomorrow, but make no promises medicine will even be there.”
“Good. I’ll let Cassandra know.”
Cliff tapped his lip with his thumb.
“What’s on your mind?” Jennifer asked.
“Our new guests. Chris told me they were driving to a distribution center for Buy-Mart. This center apparently has tons of supplies: food, medicine, hardware, etcetera,” he explained, pacing the bedroom floor.
“Well, they can’t stay here and consume our supplies. I love having another woman around, but we cannot feed them.”
Cliff agreed. “I realize that, but what if we go with them?”
“What?” Jennifer blurted.
“If that distribution center serves seven to eight Buy-Mart stores, it will have everything we need to survive and hold out until this thing blows over,” he offered.
“Just pull up stakes and take the family fifty or sixty miles away on a what if? Do you know how absurd that sounds? We have a home. It may not be much, but we’re safe here. Why put the kids in more danger than they currently all ready in?”
“Because you didn’t see what we ran from today. You didn’t see the strength of the one who tried to climb through the window. It’s going to get worse, Jennifer. We will eventually run out of supplies, and then what? Wait till there’s thousands of those creatures between us and a safe location?” Cliff pleaded.
“If Jake thinks it’s a good idea and we can carry what we need, then I’ll go along with it.”
Cliff reached up and cupped both of her shoulders. He pulled her close to him and leaned in to kiss her forehead.
“Good. We’ll start making plans to bug out of here,” Cliff smiled. He started to feel hope again.
“What did you guys find?” David asked when Allen and Dane pulled into the hangar. David had been in a grumpy mood all day, and he didn’t understand why. He had snapped a few words at his kids and Joanne when they wanted him to play a game with them. He hated being in the hangar. He hated the airport. The stress of worrying was getting to him. He worried his brothers wouldn’t return or one would be bitten. He worried some unknown group would try to overpower them and take their refuge.
Dane smiled as he described the cases of bottled water they found and the dresses that looked to be the right size for Bridgette.
David waved his hand; he had no interest in clothes. “Anything important, other than the water?”
Allen shook his head. “Nothing really.”
“Tell him,” Dane laughed at Allen.
“Tell me what?” David’s eyebrow shot up.
“We’re not alone,” Allen blurted.
David’s interest grew. He cocked his head and folded his arms across his chest. “What do you mean?”
“We were out on 1560 and 1660 going through abandoned cars when we heard gunshots,” Allen explained.
“Were they shooting at you?” David asked.
Allen shook his head.
“Did you stick around to see who was shooting?”
“No. There was a group of those undead things running at us. It’s my guess that whoever was there was shooting at the infected,” Allen explained.
David thought for a minute. He rubbed his chin and stood. The chair creaked from his weight being lifted. He walked a slow pace between the chair and the Cessna while staring at the floor. Allen’s story i
ntrigued him, and it was the one thing he worried about the most: an armed threat.
“Let me stew on this for a while. I’ve been thinking about us running into town to grab all the meds from the pharmacy. I don’t want anyone else to get their hands on it.” David paused. “Whoever cleans out the pharmacy is a threat to us. Look around, guys. This is our blood. This is our family. If one of the kids gets sick and we don’t have the medicine, what will happen? Do you think they’d share medicine with us? We’re at their mercy. We can’t let that happen. No one out there is a friend. They are all a threat. Understood?”
Allen and Dane nodded.
“We go tomorrow! Me, Allen, Bruce, Dane, and Montgomery will go. Jimmy and Harry will stay here with the family. Prep the trucks. We leave in the morning.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cliff woke to new voices in the house. It had been a rough twenty-four hours, and his body and mind felt it. He didn’t feel rested; he had tossed in bed all night, dreaming about infected creatures reaching for his legs. He woke up in sweat twice.
“Morning, Chris,” Cliff greeted when he walked into the kitchen. He looked around to see that he was the last one up, but glad there was coffee remaining.
“Thank you, Cliff.” Chris smiled. “The couch was wonderful last night. I almost forgot how wonderful a couch can be after spending six days in the car.”
Cliff took a sip from his coffee mug. “I take it Owen is low on his asthma medicine?”
Cassandra turned after placing a plate in front of Tyler. “Yes.” Her voice was full of concern.
“Then today, we go into town and stop at the pharmacy,” Cliff announced.
“Not until you’ve had your breakfast,” Jennifer stated as she cut Jonathan’s eggs.
“Of course,” Cliff smiled.
“While we’re there, Cliff, we should take every pill bottle we can carry. You never know when we’ll need medicine, and we can always use meds to barter with,” Jake suggested.
Cliff agreed. “That’s a great idea, Doc.”
After breakfast was finished and Jennifer was pleased everyone had a healthy plate, Cliff asked for volunteers to drive to the pharmacy. It was unanimous: all the men elected to go. He instructed everyone to grab a non-firearm weapon and meet him at the Defender. He handed Doug a twelve-gauge shotgun, Chris the Ruger 10/22, Jake an AR15, and Cliff grabbed the Ruger Mini-14.
“That’s a heck of a Defender,” Doug whistled.
“Yours?” Chris asked admiring it.
Cliff’s jaws clenched thinking of where Jennifer found it, “Eh, no…It was a found. The previous owner is dead.”
“Oh,” Doug mumbled.
Jake, Chris, and Doug climbed into the Defender, each armed with a rifle and a melee weapon. Jake chose the wooden baseball bat with nine-inch nails hammered through it. Doug carried a crowbar. Chris chose a two-foot-long iron pipe, and Cliff carried the small, wood tire-thumper. Cliff’s mind flashed back to his first tour in Baghdad when he and his platoon loaded in Humvees. Different crew, same stuff, he thought. He swallowed hard and pushed the fear from his mind. We have a simple task, he told himself. Drive to the pharmacy, find the asthma medicine, and collect the rest of the medicine, then head back to the farmhouse.
No one spoke on the fifteen-minute ride into town. Each were mentally rehearsing for the dangers they might encounter in town. Cliff noticed three walking infected in the distance near a barn. He laughed under his breath when a lone zombie chased a slow-moving cow. The creature had its arm stretched out for it as it approached. The cow simply jogged three to four steps each time the undead creature grew near. He watched the quirky exchange twice before driving from view.
Cliff realized what Chris meant about how the highways would be if they traveled; the country roads would be a better choice. Cliff drove across the divided highway and up the hill that led into town. As he entered, there were more infected walking aimlessly, with just a few in the middle of the road. Cliff piloted the Defender around the cars and two infected that were lumbering in the middle of the road. The thought of running one over was quickly put to rest when he couldn’t bring himself to damage the beautiful Land Rover.
Cliff turned the Defender left at the intersection, going around a crash scene in the middle of the turn lane. Birds flew off from feasting on the two bodies in the wreckage. The flight of wings gave Cliff a shock. He felt his heart race when the fluttering broke the silence.
After passing the intersection, Cliff spied the pharmacy. Its red siding and white trim stood out from the rest of the light-colored commercial buildings along the street. Before Cliff turned the wheel, guiding the Defender into the pharmacy’s parking lot, he swallowed hard. There were six undead creatures near the front entrance.
“Be ready, guys,” Cliff announced.
“Gotcha,” Doug said from the backseat.
“No guns unless you absolutely have to use them. We don’t want to bring attention,” Cliff explained.
Cliff drove the Defender to the front of the pharmacy. He jumped from the driver’s seat with the tire thumper in hand when two infected four feet away turned. The nearest creature screamed before running. Cliff raised the small club and swung it down on its head as it approached, sending it to the ground. He spun to his left as the second creature approached, ready for it to attack, when Doug stepped from the rear seat and struck the creature across its temple with the crowbar.
“Thanks.”
Doug nodded.
He looked over the hood to see Jake striking two infected people. Chris was dancing with a female who suffered from the infection; she was trying to scratch at him. Chris swung and missed twice. His third swing landed a blow to her cheek. Three more infected walkers in the far corner of the parking lot caught Cliff’s eye. He let out a whistle.
Jake turned to see Cliff pointing at the three infected creatures running toward them. Jake tapped Chris on the shoulder and pointed, then gave Cliff a thumbs up.
Cliff ran to the front door, with Doug right behind him. It was locked. He gestured for Doug to use the crowbar, but Doug swung it with both hands, crashing through the door’s glass.
Cliff smirked. “That’ll work. We shouldn’t be long”
Cliff glanced over his shoulder to see Jake and Chris killing the last of the three infected walkers.
“Inside!” Cliff yelled as he entered the pharmacy.
Jake looked around the parking lot. He didn’t see any more creatures near. “Head inside,” he told Chris.
Cliff took two seconds to study the layout of the pharmacy. A row of shelves ran perpendicular to the check-out lanes. He spotted a sign that read “PHARMACY” in the rear of the store.
“In the back!” Cliff announced then jogged toward the sign.
“Wait, Cliff!” Doug called.
Two infected zombies stepped in front of Cliff at the end of the aisle. His eyes widened when he spotted the two creatures.
“Oh, crap!” he cussed. He fell to his knees when the first creature reached for him and slid under its arms. Cliff jumped to his feet as soon as he slowed and swung his weapon at the nearest undead, striking it across its head. The second creature grabbed Cliff’s left arm and pulled it toward its mouth. He tried to pull his arm away, but the strength of the creature was overwhelming. His face grimaced as he struggled with its death grip.
“Help me!” Cliff yelled.
The creature growled. The smell of it caught him off guard. Cliff turned his head from the stink of its breath. The grotesque sight of the creature’s decaying flesh inches from his face was second to its horrid smell. Cliff heard his stomach churn. He pushed the creature’s head with the tire thumper. The creature’s strength was more than he would have believed.
Cliff’s muscles began to burn in the struggle, then the pressure let loose. He blinked and adjusted his vision. The creature was at his feet lying motionless. Doug stood in front of him; black ooze dripped from his crowbar. Cliff collapsed.
Cliff woke
to Jake slapping his left cheek. “Hey, hey! Stop!” Cliff asked feeling his head.
He shook the daze from his head.
“Anyone have any aspirin?” Cliff asked, holding his head. “Here, help me up.”
Doug looked to his right, found a row of aspirin bottles on the shelf, and tossed one to Cliff.
He threw four aspirins in his mouth and followed the pills with a swish of water from a bottle he kept in his cargo pants. “Thank you, Doug,” he said, bracing himself against the shelf.
“Sure you’re all right?” Jake asked.
“I’m okay,” Cliff began as he balanced himself and collected his thoughts. Jake and Chris stood by his side, watching him.
“Don’t want you to fall again,” Chris stated.
Cliff thanked him and then turned to Doug. “Doug, go back to the Defender, and drive it around back. We’ll open the back door and load from there.”
Doug jogged to the front door and slid outside.
“I’m good now.” Cliff smiled. “Let’s get this done and head home.”
The “employees only” sign on the swinging door between two counters meant nothing anymore. Cliff walked into the room where they kept the prescriptions. There were three floor-to-ceiling shelving units full of miscellaneous medicines lining the walls.
He heard the Defender’s engine rumble outside the door and told Chris to open the rear door and help Doug retrieve the bags they brought from the farmhouse.
Twenty minutes after entering the pharmacy, they had ninety percent of the prescription medicine loaded. Cliff told Doug to drive the Defender to the front parking lot where they would meet him.
“I want to load some non-prescription meds from the shelves. We need to load all we can carry. There’s no telling if this stuff will be here tomorrow,” Cliff explained.
Doug nodded and returned to the Defender. He closed its rear doors and nestled himself behind the wheel before starting the engine and shifting into drive. As he inched forward, a red truck came to a stop in front of a stop sign across the street. He gazed at the truck. Two men sat in the cab staring back at him. He reached for the shotgun and placed it across his lap. He lifted his foot off the brake, then stopped the SUV again when a second truck drove up next to the red Chevrolet truck. Doug spotted three men in the second truck.
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