Infected Chaos

by Loren Edwards

  “What did you do?”

  “Military Police.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yep.”

  Brian returned from the Jeep and handed Cliff an ammo can of 223 cartridges.

  “I got to say, we’re a little shy of strangers we meet,” Cliff confessed. “We ran into a group of guys in town the other day and they opened fire on us. They eventually found where we were staying and shot up the place, not to mention they dumped infected in the front yard. You can’t be too careful,” Cliff explained as he loaded the cartridges in magazines.

  Poncho placed her hand on Cliff’s hand as he fed a cartridge in the magazine. He paused and locked eyes with her. He swallowed hard and immediately blushed.

  “I understand that. We ran into two guys on the road last week, and for no reason, they began to shoot at us. We level-headed folks have to band together and help each other out.” She smiled.

  Don’t stare too much, he said to himself. But, there was something about her that made it easy for him to stare. He tried not to, but found it hard.

  “Ahem.”

  Cliff’s thoughts were interrupted. Jennifer stepped next to him.

  Poncho smiled at Jennifer then looked back at Cliff.

  A high-pith scream sounded in the distance, startling everyone. Cliff looked to see an infected on the road; three others were close behind. “Time to go! Just follow us, Poncho. We get somewhere safe, we’ll pick back up with the conversation.”

  “We’re going,” Poncho blurted as she sprinted to her Jeep.

  Cliff hustled Jennifer and the children in the Humvee. He tossed Jake two full magazines and two to Doug. He started the engine and drove around the truck. The undead creature that screeched earlier ran toward the Humvee.

  Jennifer yelped when the creature’s face planted itself against her window. Strips of decayed flesh stuck to the glass as it scratched and snapped its jaws, staring at her through the window.

  “Get it off!” Jennifer cried, leaning away from the door.

  “I can’t! It’s too risky. It can’t get in,” Cliff assured, trying to calm her.

  Cliff waited for the others. Once they formed behind him, he turned right toward the distribution center. He had no idea how long it would take to arrive.

  “Hope we have enough fuel,” Cliff said.

  CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

  The twenty-mile drive took two hours to drive; there were a few abandoned cars that had to be cleared from the road. They siphoned gasoline from an empty Chevy truck a few miles past the gas station for Galvin’s van. Other than the two infected creatures by the last car they moved, the drive was uneventful.

  “There it is,” Cliff pointed. “The distribution center.”

  It was larger than he had pictured. Chris and Cassandra were right; the large, white building sat off the two lane road by a quarter mile. It had a long road that led to the complex with a security guard building, sliding gate, and a fence around the perimeter. There were very few windows, but Cliff counted eight overhead doors at the loading dock that made him worry; the doors might be a weak point in the building’s defenses. The fence could help keep infected out, but if raiders knew how valuable the place was, they would try to take it by force—he had no doubt.

  “It looks great,” Jennifer smiled.

  “That’s it, dad?” Jonathan asked, sitting up on his knees in the rear seat.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “The place looks clean,” Doug stated over the radio. “I don’t see any trucks. Are we sure this place isn’t wiped out all ready and drove all this way for nothing?”

  “They might run on a schedule,” Jake’s voice aired over the radio.

  “Yeah, he’s right. Chris is telling me this isn’t abnormal. They have to keep the trucks running, shipping goods from point A to point B. Buy-Mart loses money if trucks sit.”

  Cliff reached for the radio and held it to his lips. “Whew! That’s good to know. I was getting nervous there for a second. And, let’s try to save the gate this time, Doug. We need to keep it looking like it hasn’t been touched.”

  Cliff drove the Humvee to the front of the gate and stepped out. He stood in front of the Humvee staring at the gate when Doug approached.

  “No electricity and you don’t want to bend the gate like we did last time. How are we going to open it?” Doug asked with his hands on his hips, looking the sliding gate.

  “Dunno. I think it will benefit us if this place looks untouched from the road; plus, it helps keep the infected out,” Cliff responded. “We’ll think of something.”

  “I got it,” Galvin blurted from behind them.

  Cliff watched Galvin scale over the gate with ease. He shook his head. It seemed like every day, Galvin surprised him with something. He watched Galvin walk to the box where the motorized operator was housed and open the cover. He fumbled his hands inside the box.

  “Will you look at that,” Chris quipped as the gate began to slide open.

  “Galvin, how in the world did you do that?” Cliff asked in astonishment.

  Galvin gave him a big grin as he replaced the cover over the gate operator. “Batteries! That operator comes with its own deep cell twelve-volt battery back-up in case of power outages. Do you think Buy-Mart would let power outages stop them from shipping trucks?”

  “Will it close it, too?” Chris asked.

  “Yes.”

  They returned to the Humvee and drove through the gate and to the front doors of the warehouse. Cliff stepped from the Humvee and waited for the others.

  “Stay here until we clear the building,” Cliff told Jennifer.

  “Okay, no problem.”

  Poncho pulled to a stop next to the Humvee and stepped out.

  “Poncho, why don’t you guys find a back entrance and we’ll take the front. Meet somewhere in the middle,” Cliff offered.

  “No problem,” she replied and returned to the Jeep.

  The men walked to where Cliff stood watching Poncho drive around the building.

  “Looks quiet,” Doug stated.

  “Yeah, almost too quiet,” Galvin retorted.

  “Fix bayonets,” Cliff instructed. “They run this building 24/7. There’s bound to be some people in here.” He raised his rifle to his shoulder as he entered the dimly lit reception room. He swung his rifle left then right when he entered. It was empty. The office furniture was covered in a heavy layer of dust, and a dead plant laid across the corner of the desk. There was a door behind the reception desk. Cliff reached for the door lever and held it until Doug stood with his rifle at the ready.

  Doug nodded.

  Cliff swung it open.

  “It’s clear,” Doug whispered when he entered the office.

  The room was open, with offices lining the far corners. Cubicles lined the middle, making an island of workspaces in the room. The grey carpet and grey upholstered cubicle walls made Cliff realize how lucky he was to have worked in a shop. He motioned Doug to go right. He led Galvin and Jake to the left. Cliff saw two glass walled offices in the corner, a conference room, and a third door assumed that led to the warehouse. He scanned the two offices and conference room: empty. He met Doug at the third door.

  “You ready?” Doug asked with his hand on the door handle.

  Cliff nodded.

  Cliff’s pupil’s dilated when two undeads lunged at him from the door opening. He stepped back and stabbed the nearest one. The second creature was seconds from biting Cliff when Jake stepped in and slammed his knife into the infected’s skull.

  “Thanks,” Cliff said catching his breath.

  Jake nodded and smiled.

  “Good God!” Galvin complained holding his shirt over his nose. “Talking about rotten!”

  “Yeah, looks like they’ve been in there for a while.”

  Doug turned his flashlight on and scanned the room; it was the break room. “The whole room smells.”

  Cliff spied a door on the far end, “This way.”

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nbsp; “Would you look at that,” Doug grinned at the vending machine.

  Cliff turned to see Doug rearing his hand back ready to break the glass with his knife, “Uh, Doug? First thing first?”

  “Maybe later,” Doug whimpered.

  “Let’s do this again. Jake, be ready when Doug swings the door open.”

  “No problem,” Jake replied, shifting the rifle against his shoulder. He pointed the rifle at the door.

  Doug opened the door.

  Nothing.

  Jake felt his shoulders stoop forward feeling relaxed. He followed Cliff and Doug into the warehouse.

  The warehouse was larger than Cliff pictured. When he entered, he was greeted by a tall storage rack that ran the entire width of the warehouse. He looked up at the shelving unit and whistled. The spacious warehouse was quiet, except for a bird’s wing fluttering somewhere near the roof.

  “That’s smart,” Doug pointed to the roof. The roof of the warehouse was dotted with clear windows to let natural light in the vast room.

  “Wow! If the next row has just as much as this one, this place really does have everything,” Jake said as he read the cardboard packaging.

  “First, let’s make sure it’s safe. Let’s go.”

  Cliff held his rifle tight to his shoulder with elbows down, aiming down each aisle he passed.

  “This place is amazing!” Doug announced as he looked up at the rows of pallet racks.

  “It sure is. It looks like it has all we need to survive. We just need to increase its defenses,” Cliff stated, looking upward at the towering shelves.

  “People will kill to have this place,” Poncho blurted.

  Cliff spun around to see Poncho, Brian, and Patrick standing in an aisle. Patrick was holding a cereal box, scooping out a handful of colorful marshmallows.

  “Ran into the security guard in the back,” Poncho smiled. “The only creature we ran into. How was the office?”

  “Two,” Cliff answered. “Looks empty.” Cliff looked around at his surroundings. It was a massive building. “We have to be sure and check everything before I can sleep with both eyes closed.”

  “Totally agree,” Poncho said.

  “Where’s Jethro?” Cliff asked.

  “Watching the Jeep.”

  Cliff turned to Doug and Chris. “Let’s make this place home. See if we can use this shelving,” he pointed, “and anything we can find to make separate living quarters. One for my family, one for Chris and Cassandra, and so forth. If we’re going to be here for a while, might as well make it comfortable.”

  “Maybe we can find a portable shower in here or baby wipes? You know, the kind you take when you’re camping,” Galvin offered. “Some of you are ripe!”

  “That sound nice, doesn’t it?” Doug smiled.

  “What about Galvin?” Jake whispered in Cliff’s ear. “Some are still not comfortable with him.”

  “He gets his own place, too. Maybe further away?” Cliff offered.

  “How do we move these shelving?” Doug asked.

  Cliff pointed to a row of forklifts on the far wall. “I’ll grab a forklift. Hopefully, we can rearrange the shelves into rectangles to make living quarters. Use tarp and other supplies for makeshift walls?”

  “Sounds like a great idea,” Poncho said.

  Cliff walked to the line of yellow forklifts and stepped on one. He found the key and turned it. To his surprise, the green light above the key came on. He looked over the forklift and learned it ran off electricity. There was a cord plugged in under the steering wheel. He followed the cord to a unit on the wall.

  “It’s a damn charging station,” Cliff said aloud to himself.

  Cliff found a light switch next to the until and tried the light and flipped it, but as he thought, there was no electricity. He studied the wall unit and scratched his head. There were three pipes from the unit ran up the wall to the ceiling. There were two other pipes running horizontally to a nearby closet. He followed the pipes and opened the door, hoping a creature wasn’t inside. He shined his flashlight inside and smiled. Cliff counted twenty-two deep cycle batteries lining a rack. He stepped from the closet, looked at the ceiling again and smiled.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Jennifer opened her eyes and stretched. She looked up at the sun lights and noticed the rain hitting the windows. She smiled at the nice ambiance the rain sounded in the bleak warehouse. The past week had been a nice change, except for seeing Galvin every day—she watched him like a hawk every time he was near. The sleeping arrangement and the creativity of rearranging the shelving units with the canvases they found gave them some privacy. Under the circumstances, she couldn’t ask for anything better.

  The distribution center had everything she could want: furniture, clothing, coffee, soap, blankets, toys, and food. She and Cassandra argued for a large open space between the shelving to make a kitchen and an eating area for everyone. They made a kitchen from camping supplies. Furniture, chairs, and tables were arranged in the open area to be comfortable and home-like. When they gathered, some played board games and cards, and some would read. Everyone had a mattress, a sofa, and chairs in their makeshift apartment; it was all they could want in this new world. The only thing Jennifer would add to their new home would be running water. She hated fetching water from the creek that ran behind the building.

  She had hoped Poncho would help in the kitchen, but she spent more time with the guys, running on scavenger hunts. Jennifer didn’t understand the scavenger hunts; they had everything they needed in the warehouse. Why should they risk their lives by driving around? “To keep an edge,” she was told. Jennifer shrugged it off as laziness.

  She believed Poncho was always trying to impress the guys by acting macho with her guns. The way Poncho laughed when she was around Cliff made Jennifer think of her as some Jezebel. If they didn’t need the extra gun, she would have Cliff ask Poncho to leave.

  It was still early when Jennifer decided to roll out of bed. She moved softly, so as not to disturb Cliff. She slid her feet into a pair of house shoes Cliff had found her. They were her favorite color: pink. She picked up the robe on the night stand and tightened it around her waist. She moved the canvas door to the side and exited the bedroom. Jennifer grabbed her water bucket from the table in their makeshift living room. She used it every day, from washing dishes to washing hands.

  She smiled at Cassandra when she walked into the common area by the kitchen.

  “Off to the creek?” Cassandra asked as she opened a water bottle standing by the coffee maker.

  “Yes.”

  “The kids asked to play outside today,” Cassandra stated.

  Jennifer sighed. She knew it wasn’t safe outside the walls, but she relented. She understood how it could feel being stuck inside four walls for days. The kids found a pallet of footballs and basketballs yesterday and asked if they could go outside to play.

  “It would be a nice distraction for the kids and healthy for them, but let’s wait till the afternoon.”

  “I was thinking the same. It looks gloomy out. Let’s see if the sun comes out by then.”

  Jennifer walked past the line of forklifts and to the door they used to go outside. She picked up the knife she used anytime she stepped outside the warehouse. She opened the door and looked around, making sure it was safe. The thought of a creature meandering its way in the compound never escaped her mind.

  The morning rain had lifted, only to be replaced with fog. She tightened the robe and tugged the collar closer to her neck when the cool, crisp air brushed her cheeks. She walked past the vehicles and to the back of the property where the creek flowed.

  She had made the same trip for the last four days; some days she filled the bucket three times a day. The morning temperature had put a layer of ice across the surface of the creek. She knelt down and laid the bucket on the bank next to her. She used the hilt of her knife to break the thin layer of ice. As she turned to retrieve her bucket, a hand cupped her mouth.

>   She dropped the knife and grabbed the arm around her chest. She tried to scream, but the hand pressed tight against her lips. Her eyes bugged in fright as she was lifted off her feet. She kicked, but her feet hit nothing but air. She thrashed her body about, trying to free herself from the grip around her body. Her right slipper fell off her foot in the struggle.

  “I got you now, Missy,” a man’s voice announced.

  She kicked trying to break the stranger’s hold. She was muscled over and saw another man come at her. The second abductor grabbed her legs. Who are these people? What do they want? Why me?

  She saw Galvin’s van drive up and screech to a stop. Damn Galvin! The door slid open and she was thrown into the van, bumping her shoulder on the van’s cold floor. The second man unmasked a roll of duct tape and wrapped her ankles. They punched a strip of tape across her mouth before they turned her onto her stomach and wrapped her wrists. The two men in front of her smiled and laughed. She blinked, trying to clear her eyes, when one of the men punched her in the face, knocking her unconscious.

  “Where’s Jennifer?” Cliff asked Cassandra when he walked into the kitchen.

  “She went to fetch some water from the creek. She’ll be back,” she answered, then turned back to the camping stove.

  “That sure does smell good,” Cliff said, referring to the coffee.

  Cassandra smiled and poured him a cup.

  “Make that two,” Jake announced.

  “Three,” Poncho blurted when she entered.

  She gave Cliff a smile. He smiled back.

  “You’re a married man, now,” Jake whispered, leaning over toward Cliff.

  Poncho took a seat across the table.

  Cassandra carried three cups of coffee to the table.

  “Plans today?” Cliff asked Poncho.

  “There’s talk between Jethro and Brian about a National Guard armory twenty miles to the north. We’re discussing going there to see if we can find some ammo and other handy equipment. If that doesn’t pan out, we’ll try to hit some local police stations.”

  “We need ammo. Two thousand rounds aren’t enough. I’d feel better if we had more,” Cliff said.