My stomach rolls, and I look away to keep from puking. Todd puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer, away from the window and the city passing by. “Don’t look at it,” he says. “We’re leaving it all behind, and soon enough, we’ll be able to start over in a new place. We’ll be safe, or at least as safe as we can be in this world. We’ll never have to see any of this horrible stuff again.”
“I hope you’re right,” I say, glancing out the window one last time. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take. The only thing keeping me going right now is the hope that we’ll find this place in Colorado. If that doesn’t happen…” I can’t even finish that though; it’s too morbid.
“Aaron?” Daisy asks from her place near the front. “How long do you think it’ll take to get there?”
“I’m not real sure, Daisy. With the roads as blocked as they are, it could take us awhile. My guess is at least nine hours, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was twelve or more. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
“A twelve hour bus ride? What are we supposed to do for so long?” I ask. “We don’t have any books, or games, or anything!”
“Chad, you still have that deck of cards?” Allen asks from behind the wheel.
The soldier from the school—whose name I didn’t know until just now—digs into his pocket and produces a red pack of cards. He tosses it towards the back of the bus, and Todd snatches it out of the air. “Thanks man,” he says, sliding his thumbnail under the flap to open it. Todd and I turn in the seat until we’re facing each other with our legs crossed, and he shuffles the deck. We begin a game of war to pass the time.
The time passes by at a snail’s pace, and after twenty-seven games of war and nineteen of go fish, we put the cards away with a disgusted sigh. Todd and I curl up together, and I rest my head on his shoulder. The two of us do what so many others have done to cope with this living nightmare—we escape into our fantasies. Our fantasies are the last place we have that can make us truly happy, and daydreaming feels like the only thing that can keep me sane at this point.
We make a quick stop a few hours later, and we eat a hasty lunch that doesn’t quite fill our stomachs. Afterwards, we get off the bus and find a secluded place to go to the bathroom. With our guns in hand, Janelle and I watch over the girls in both groups while they stretch their legs, and all too soon we’re boarding the bus and we’re back on the road.
This time I sit apart from Todd, and I stretch my legs out, taking up an entire seat by myself. Instead of retreating back into my fantasy world, I fall asleep, hoping to take a quick nap before we get wherever we’re going.
*****
The bus jerks to a stop later, waking me from my sleep. I rub my eyes and look around, noticing that it’s almost dark out. “Are we there already?”
Aaron looks back at me. “Yes. You slept for most of the trip. We’re about four miles outside of Dayton, and about a quarter of a mile from the base. We’ve decided to walk the rest of the way. Hopefully we’ll find a helicopter before its totally dark out,” he says, looking out the window. “We’re doing a quick weapons check before we get off the bus. You should make sure your gun is loaded and ready to fire.”
“Who all is coming with us?” I ask, taking my weapon out of my bag. I stuff my two remaining magazines in my front pockets where I’ll be able to get to them in a hurry.
“Allen and Chad are coming with us to scavenge for supplies. The rest of their group will stay behind to guard the bus and the baby. Then we’ll get to our helicopter, and Allen and Chad will make their way back to the bus.”
“Do you think they’ll be able to make it back on their own? If there are a lot of zombies in there, the two of them might not stand a chance of making it back to the bus. Are we supposed to leave them to die if things go wrong? What will the rest of their group do without Allen and Chad?”
Aaron puts his hands up to stop me. “Allen and I have talked about this, and he’s willing to risk helping us. His group is in need of supplies as well as more weapons. He knows how dangerous it will be to get into the base, and he knows they may die, but he also knows that his group won’t survive long without the stuff we’ll find here. So calm down, Maddy. You need to have a level head if we’re going to make it to the helicopter in one piece.”
I take a deep breath, letting his words sink in. I don’t feel right about asking Allen and Chad to come with us, but if they need the supplies for their group, I know there will be no stopping them. However, the thought of Allen—the man who has been so kind to us—dying in this base is gut-wrenching, and I don’t know if I can handle someone else I know lying dead somewhere.
Aaron claps me on the shoulder, squeezing it a little harder than necessary. “Are you with us, Maddy? At this stage in the game, we can’t afford to make any mistakes. We have to keep focused. Can you do that?”
“Yes. I’m good to go, Aaron.”
He nods and heads over to confer with Allen one last time before we move out. Todd quickly takes his place, putting his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. “Is that true? Are you good to go?” he asks, sounding worried and apprehensive.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“I always worry about you,” he says softly. “You’re too important to me to lose. Don’t die on me, Madison.”
“I won’t, Todd. I promise.”
He forces me to look at him, and right here in front of everyone, he kisses me. Softly at first, but he picks up speed, kissing me more passionately than he ever has before. Even our one night of passion together is nothing compared to this, and I feel my heart start to race in my chest as his arms go around my waist. He pulls me closer, temporarily erasing all of my doubts and fears, and I melt into his embrace, blocking out the rest of the world for one short, blissful moment.
All too soon, he pulls away, leaving me breathless and just a bit flushed. His cheeks look as red as mine feel, but instead of acting embarrassed, he chuckles. “What was that for?”
“I just wanted to show you how much you mean to me, Madison. In case I don’t get another chance to show you,” he says quietly.
“Todd, everything is going to be alright.”
“You can’t know that for sure. Look at what happened during our last supply run,” he says, showing me the bandaging on his wrist. Beneath the bloody bandaging, I can imagine the jagged, double crescent shaped wound from where the zombie ripped the flesh from his arm. “Shit happens Madison, and we shouldn’t put off saying things because we might not get another chance.”
I nod. “I understand.”
Todd leans forward and presses his lips to mine for one final brief kiss before we set off on our supply run. He jogs over and joins Janelle, having a brief conversation with her while I sling my backpack over my shoulder. I’m not close enough to make out what they’re saying, but judging by the way his arm is around her shoulder and how worried he looks, it seems like Todd is telling her to stay safe.
I almost smile at the sight of them together, but instead I head over to Aaron. “Are we ready to go?”
He nods. “Yes.” He brushes past me. “Everyone, listen up!” Our group plus Allen and Chad quickly gathers around, waiting for some kind of pep talk. When he’s sure he has our attention, Aaron continues. “Alright, here’s the plan. We go in hard and fast—” Todd snorts, and Aaron glares at him, but we’re all trying not to laugh now. “We stay together as a group. No wandering off and no heroics. The quicker we are, the safer we’ll be. Let’s move out!”
With my gun in hand, I take my place at the back of the group, hoping to keep an eye on everyone around me. Allen joins me, and we walk side by side in total silence, making sure we look over our shoulders and all around for any sign of movement. We duck between buildings on the street, hiding in the shadows from small groups of zombies. They shuffle past us, slowly and unsteadily on rotting feet, some of them barely a stone’s throw away.
Daisy cowers against my side, hiding
behind me as a woman walks by. Daisy gasps quietly, and the woman stops and slowly looks at us, revealing a half-eaten face. It looks like one of her eyes has been clawed from the socket, and part of her cheek and her lower lips has been eaten away. She takes a step forward, and Aaron raises his hand, silently warning us to all stay silent. The woman stops and raises her head, sniffing the air around her.
We all stand in the shadow of the building, watching this woman smell the air, probably in an attempt to find us. My heart races at the sight of her sniffing us out, and I can feel my palms start to get sweaty. A few more steps and she’ll be close enough to see us, and we’ll have to make a run for it. A quick glance down both sides of the street tells me that if we’re forced to run, we’ll probably be picked off one by one and ripped to pieces by drooling monsters.
The zombie takes another step forward, and I feel my leg muscles tense as I prepare to run.
A dog bursts out from under an old truck, startling the group of zombies. Barking like mad, it dashes across the street, knocking the female zombie over in an effort to get away. The zombies all turn and give chase to the dog, running after it with uneven, lopsided strides. Aaron forces us to wait a full minute after the last zombie is out of our sight before he allows us to emerge from our hiding place.
We run single file down the middle of the street, Aaron leading the way. We’re all sweating from the heat as we stop beneath a streetlight to take a quick break. We all struggle to catch our breath for a quick second, trying to suck down lungful after lungful of dry air like fish out of water. There’s a cramp in my side that pulls painfully with every move I make, and I silently hope it won’t slow me down.
All too soon, Aaron is ushering us down another street. Daisy struggles to keep up with the rest of us, and Allen and I make sure to always keep her in front of us. On more than one occasion, I shove her on the back—a little harder than necessary—just to make sure that she doesn’t fall behind and get eaten.
It isn’t long before the base appears out of seemingly nowhere, sitting at the top of a slight hill. The incline isn’t much, and it probably didn’t offer the soldiers nearly enough protection from the horde of zombies wandering the grounds aimlessly. I try to do a quick count and get a rough estimate, but there are just too many of them to count. Most of them appear to be on the grass outside the fenced in base, and I look for whatever drew most of them out.
About sixty feet from the front gate, there’s a fresh dog carcass lying in the grass, and even though there isn’t enough of it left for me to be sure, I assume it’s probably the dog that ran past us earlier. It must have doubled around in an effort to get away, but gotten trapped by the creatures near the fence. The smell of its blood would have drawn many of the others out from the base, leaving it partially deserted.
“There’s too many of them,” Daisy says, moving closer to me.
“No, there isn’t,” Aaron says. “Many of them are out in the grass trying to get a piece of that dog. If we can make it into the base, we can close that front gate behind us. They won’t be able to get in behind us.”
“But Aaron, this place got overrun, and by the looks of the intact gate, that wasn’t the way they got in. I mean, it’s not like the military personnel would have left that gate open for the zombies to waltz right in. That means there’s probably at least one breach in the fence, and we don’t know where that breach is or how big it is. Closing that gate might not do as much good as you’re thinking,” I say quietly, looking at him. “What if we close that gate behind us, and end up leaving us with only one way out? A way with a steady flood of zombies pouring in.”
Aaron groans. “Dammit.”
“I say we just go for it,” Michael says quietly. “We run for the gate, shut it behind us, and hope for the best. We’re at the end of our rope and we don’t have a lot of other options. Let’s just pray this works.”
Aaron looks at me. “Maddy? I want your opinion. It’s only about a hundred and fifty feet from here to that gate, but there’s no where to hide out there if we get caught. What do you think we should do? Can we make it?”
I look at the horde of zombies trying to tear into what’s left of the dog, and my stomach clenches painfully. The thought of our group having to run past them—even while they’re occupied with their meal—is a horrifying one. But I don’t see any other options at the moment. So I take a deep breath to swallow down my fear, and nod my head. “I agree with Michael. I say we go for it. The base could be mostly deserted on the inside. We might be in luck.”
Todd snorts in disgust. “I hardly consider anything about this lucky.”
“Shut up,” Aaron hisses quietly, turning on Todd. “I have no time for your shit right now!”
Todd looks ready to pick a fight, but one look at my stern face, and his shoulders relax and he looks away. He stays mercifully quiet while Aaron considers our options, and none of us rush him. It doesn’t take long for him to reach a decision, and when we see him square his shoulders, lift his head, and set his jaw, we all know what his decision is.
“Let’s do it, and let’s do it fast. I’ll go last and make sure that gate gets closed.”
We all gather our supplies, checking to make sure that backpack straps are tight enough so that they won’t slip, but loose enough that we can slip them off if they get snagged on something. There aren’t a lot of things that are scarier than getting caught on part of fence or something and becoming stranded zombie bait. Being trapped, unable to run away, all while waiting to be torn to pieces by monsters…
I shake that thought away and quickly take my place beside Aaron at the back of the pack. “I’m with you, Aaron.”
He doesn’t say anything. He just gives me the most grateful smile I’ve ever seen, and I realize how terrified he must be right now. But now isn’t the time for fear. We have to keep a level head and get this done, or we’ll end up as sitting ducks out here in the open. So without another second to waste, Michael and Allen move us out, and we begin our mad dash across open ground with nowhere to hide.
A few zombies look up from their meal as we approach, but with bleeding food already in front of them, they leave us alone. It’s the zombies that can’t get close enough to the dog to feed that are our biggest problem. They’re all just wandering around aimlessly, waiting for more food to appear. And here we are, all grouped together and tired and scared. We just pass the dog, with only another sixty feet to go, when the first zombie breaks away from the pack to chase after us.
He swipes at Daisy and she screams as his cracked nails barely miss her. I grab her arm and shove her ahead of me, taking her place at the outside edge of the group. The zombie lumbers after us, surprisingly light and quick on its feet. Apparently not all of these zombies are slow and deteriorating; some are still new, and ready to put up a fight for their next meal. This one puts on a dangerous burst of speed, and I can feel its hand reaching out for me, coming so close I can smell the stench of his rotting skin.
Aaron takes a shot, and I hear the zombie hit the ground behind me. Aaron grabs my hand and pulls me along, making sure I don’t fall behind. The zombies begin to close in around us, cutting off our path to the gate. At the head of the pack, Michael and Chad blast a path to the fence, and we charge through, knocking aside zombies as we run. They reach out for us with bloody, torn hands.
Michael is the first one through the open gate, and ushers everyone inside while Chad and Allen take out the few stragglers near the fence. Aaron and I are the last ones through the gate, and we immediately turn and slide the gate shut behind us. It snaps into place just as the first of the zombies throws itself against the chain link material. Aaron and I back away from the fence, hearts racing, sweating from terror, and trying not to jump for joy.
When we turn around, we wish we hadn’t.
There are bodies lying everywhere. Hundreds of them. Some are in pieces, and those pieces have been scattered around the base by either zombies or other scavengers. And unfortunately
for us, many of the bodies are not those of soldiers, but of their children, who would have been living on base with them. The body of a little boy in cowboy pajamas catches my attention, and the sight of his missing arm causes my stomach to roll, and I turn away from Aaron, puking all over the ground.
Over the sound of my puking, I listen to the frightened chatter around me.
“If all of these people were killed by zombies, why aren’t they zombies, too?” Daisy asks.
“These ones were put down,” Michael says sadly. I look over my shoulder and see him peering down at the boy. “They all got a bullet to the head, probably before they could reanimate and spread the infection even more. They’ve been dead for awhile now. Whatever went down here, it happened quite some time ago. I doubt we’ll find anyone here that is still alive. They’re either dead, or they’re long gone.”
“Let’s just hope they left us some supplies before they took off,” Chad says. “How are we gonna find what we’re looking for?”
Allen sighs. “We’ll have to wander the base, checking off the buildings as we go. It’ll be a lot of work, but we need whatever supplies we can find, or we won’t make it to Chicago. At least, not in one piece.”
“Do we split up?”
“No,” Aaron says, looking at the two of them. “We need to stay together. We’re more powerful in a group.”
“We’re also a bigger target.”
I look at Allen. “If we’re all looking for supplies, we should stay together. We can go our separate ways after we’ve filled our bags. Until then, I think we should stick together. The two of you aren’t going to last very long on your own, especially since we’re not the only moving things in this base.”
We all go silent as a small group of zombies walks into view, drawn to the front gate by the sound of our gunshots. “We need to find someplace more isolated and defendable to catch our breath and come up with a plan,” Aaron says, taking charge once again. “Let’s get out of here before every zombie on base is at the front gate.”
Zombie Country (Zombie Apocalypse #2) Page 23