Seeking Sanctuary (Walkers)

by Davis-Lindsey, Zelda

  Another explosion, this one farther away, had the herd turning right and disappearing out of sight, letting me move. I sat down on the top shelf among the dust mites, and dangled my legs over the side while I rested my head against the wall. I was gasping large, lungs full of air with each breath but I didn't think I was having an asthma attack, just nerves. I saw Andy's legs weren't doing much better and when I looked at him he smiled a bit and gave me one thumbs up. I returned the gesture.

  Mason jumped down, then after a quick check out the door, motioned to me it was OK, and I jumped down. My legs were too wobbly and I ended up on my butt. Mason grabbed a large tarp and some duct tape and started covering the big picture windows part way up while I struggled to make my legs work. We just needed to cover up the bottom parts so that someone standing on the other side couldn't see inside. The walkers don't jump up and down, although there was this one time a walker saw itself reflected in a window and went crazy. I don't know how long it clawed at that window to get at its reflection. I got bored watching. Andy jumped down and helped him cover up the windows then pulled a display cabinet about eight feet high over to the doorway to keep out any more undesirables. We'd been in the process earlier when the trouble started so it didn't take long to finish.

  While they were doing that, I staggered to the back of the room and let the boys out. When I opened the door about four guns came up and pointed at me. Smiling at them I turned around and went back out to sift through all the merchandise on the floor. We'd made a mess in our hurry to climb the shelves.

  “Riley should be back any time. He'll come back in through the back door.” said Clint. I nodded to let him know I'd heard, then started putting the cans of black powder in the cart we'd stolen from the parking lot.

  I'd met Clint when we were living at the Lodge in Montana. He had established a small colony of his own nearby with his wife Melody and their daughter, Clarissa. They'd been picnicking with us the day the lodge was destroyed. Their place was destroyed too, so we all banded together.

  Riley returned after setting off two more grenades down the street. He was all puffed up and full of himself but looked all dejected when no one paid him any mind. He was married to my cousin Georgina or George as we all called her. He was in the military unit at the nuclear facility when we rescued them. Her and Ken was all I had left of blood relations and I'd become very fond of him.

  I patted his shoulder and nodded to let him know he was appreciated and took the cart back to the door where I grabbed some gun belts and started filling them with ammo. I don't know why this little store hadn't been hit before now. There were enough militia and private citizens still alive that they should have cleaned the place out long ago. The only reason I could come up with was the herd of walkers we encountered when we arrived. In fact, we were so surprised about the amount of goods we found here, we ignored the possibility of trouble. Live and learn.

  There was so much good stuff in the little store that we decided to clean it out and come back another day to finish up the stuff on our lists. We still had a little over ten days before we planned to leave so there was plenty of time. Andy found a pallet jack in the back and we started using it for the bigger stuff. Guns and rifles of every description was removed from the walls and stacked on the pallet. Rifle scopes, binoculars and spotting scopes followed suit. Duffel bags were filled with knives, axes, compasses, canteens and gloves. You never can have enough gloves. My favorite was a 40 MM U.S. Army Ammo Can filled with neat stuff like first aid kits, glow sticks, thermal blankets, ponchos, fire starters, can opener, mess kit and MRe's. Each one weighed about 25 pounds so I left them to the big, muscular guys. I let them carry the five gallon buckets filled with MRE's also. I was busy admiring the crossbows.

  You wouldn't think that a small store would have so much stuff but by the end of the day we had a semi trailer full. The back of the store was a small warehouse with merchandise stacked to the ceiling, so, of course, we had to empty it also. We found that if you just took some stuff and planned to come back another day, when you returned the place was empty. It was better to do it all at once and not have to fight off the crowds, like we did today.

  I was anxious to get back because I was nasty. I wasn't the only one, so I didn't feel too self conscious about it, still I stunk and was yucky. I tried to ignore it the rest of the day but on our way home, the closer we got to the bath I had in mind, I felt nastier so I bailed out of the truck head first in my rush for the hot springs and clean clothes. The guys would unhook the trailer near the entrance to the valley to be emptied a little at a time. Then they were on their own with the baths. I had a special place to get clean, a small two person pool in a secluded area out of sight of everyone. There were three trees which shaded it and it was about six feet deep and surrounded by bushes, making it nice and cool in the hottest part of the day.

  It didn't take me long to shuck the clothes I'd worn and jump in. The bottom was a bit warmer than usual but I ignored it and scrubbed myself raw. I discovered some gunk in my hair that made me shudder so I paid special attention to shampooing. I had a plastic tub that I kept a change of clothes and bath stuff in nearby. It seemed I was always stripping and jumping in then wondering later how to get to the camper and clean clothes without being seen. So the tub was kept ready and it was a good thing. After I was pretty sure I was presentable to the general population and especially the kids, I relaxed in the pool and let the tensions of the day go away. The picture of the staring walker, though, was seared into my pupils and I was going to ask the guys about it when I returned to the cabin.

  I was anxious to look at my new crossbow. I had a thing for the things. I'm not sure why, except they're fun to shoot. I got a boatload of arrows or bolts and several buckets of tips. I was a very happy camper to say the least. The kids would start taking the survival kits to various places in the hills for backups. I'd come up with the idea in Montana to fill a trailer with additional emergency supplies just a month before we ended up needing them. It had saved our butts when the lodge was destroyed. There were three places here that would be used for backups just to be on the safe side. I think the cliff dwellings was one but that was their cup of tea and I let them keep their secrets. When we left to for Montana, they would need to feel as safe as possible and this was one way to accomplish that.

  I hated to leave the relaxed comfort of the springs but someone, I think it was Lacy, had been trying to scale the wall I'd built in my mind so I needed to find out what she wanted. When I'd closed off the telepathic part of my mind to Mason, I'd closed it off to everyone who had the ability, namely, my sister Lacy and cousin George. Some of the little kids were good at it to but they didn't use it much with me. They weren't very good at telegraphing their thoughts to just one person yet, so I had to teach them. So far, its been a frustrating process. Young minds are just as hectic as their bodies. Always in motion. So I spent an a hour a day with them trying to teach them some control, which always left me exhausted. I'd come to almost dread it, but it needed to be done so they could teach the others.

  We'd about done all the teaching we could here. All the things we'd taught them had been written down by Sandy, our resident nurse. She'd been writing a manual of all the medical things she needed to impart to Lucy and Angie, since they would be taking over the medical part of the duties. Joe, our ex military medic, was feeling pretty confident about how good they were picking it up on the medical procedures. That made me feel a bit better.

  I met George halfway back to the cabin. Her hair was a bit darker than mine but she wore it short also. Smiling green eyes made me smile as she approached me. Her slim build was similar to mine and many people thought we were sisters. She had a lilting almost Irish brogue which was beautiful to hear although where she got it is beyond me. Still, I could see how Riley fell in love with her.

  She was looking better than the first time I saw her, under a mountain in Arizona surrounded by military men and sitting on a nuclear bomb. She'd been he
lping her father, my Northern Uncle Bill, with research on the cause and elimination of the zombie virus. He thought he was pretty close to an antidote when the bomb went off. We'd managed to get her and her husband out just hours before and took them back to Montana with us. Then the backup information was destroyed with the lodge so it seemed we were stuck with the virus again.

  She walked back to the cabin with me. “The kids went through the houses in the area again. We were pretty confident they'd be OK, but Howard shadowed them to be sure. He said they were very careful and we shouldn't worry about them anymore. That helped but not as much as I'd hoped.”

  I mumbled something while trying to concentrate on my walking. I was unsteady because the hot springs made my muscles loose but also because the adrenalin I had in abundance earlier had disappeared leaving me almost weak and teary eyed. I knew the reason for the tears that fell but they were there just the same. George turned me into her shoulder and I wept. We'd all been doing a lot of that lately with the move creeping steadily up on us and I think we'd probably just cry till we were a hundred miles down the road. Leaving has that affect on everyone.

  I'd let down my shields in the process of crying and found it was a big relief. Keeping that kind of barrier up all the time was energy draining. Mason swept through just then bringing me warmth and love and I stopped being mad. At least, until I turned the corner and there was the little monster sitting on Mikey's shoulder. I couldn't help myself, I groaned. Mikey saw us and jumped down from the rock with the little monster staying right with him.

  “Look JD, he likes me. All the other kids are jealous cause he likes me better. Can I keep him? Please.”

  “Mikey, this is a wild animal. He isn't a pet.”

  “I know. Sarah explained it to me. But he wants to stay and he likes me better than anyone so can I keep him?”

  “Yeah, JD. Can he keep him?” Mason seemed to be a bit out of breath so he must have been running to get here so fast. Maintaining the shields must have been hard on him too.

  “If it wants to stay, we'll let it but you can't keep it in a cage. I don't believe in cages. It will have to wear a diaper at night if it stays inside, because, well you know why. Anyway, I don't care as long as it stays away from me.” I let Mason take my hand and we walked to the cabin to eat.

  Duke in all his glory explained that the little monster was a Capuchin monkey and “was considered a New World monkey. With the exception of a midday nap, they spend their entire day searching for food. At night they sleep in the trees, wedged between branches. They are undemanding regarding their habitat and can, therefore, be found in many differing areas.” I tried to raise one eyebrow to let him know that I didn't give a shit, then I kept eating my venison steak and ignored the little monster in question. The monkey, not Duke, who filled us in on everything

  Later that night it wasn't the monkey that woke us but the screaming. Mason hit the roof, literally, as he jumped out of bed to dress. Pretending I hadn't see him rubbing his head, I dressed because with my luck we'd be up all night again. Lacy let me know she was flooding the area with light so don't look out the window. Boy did she. I found out later it was several million watt flashlights from Lacy, George and Duke. The panther was finally located. So now what?

  I grabbed my crossbow and got a surprised look from Mason. Lacy was yelling at me to stay in the camper but I was determined. I was just abut to go out the door when Lacy reminded me who the man of the house or cabin was. Dammit! Not wanting to make Mason look bad, which would be a pretty hard thing to do anyway, I offered him the crossbow. He gave me a funny look, grabbed his rifle and night vision goggles and crept out the door. I sat at the table and entered his mind to tag along for the ride. (I referred to it as piggy backing because I was literally in his mind looking out of his eyes.) I hated the thought of destroying such a beautiful animal, but with so many kids running around we had to do something. The kids came first.

  While Lacy and George gave him directions, we saw him look up into the trees. It was somewhat disorienting hanging around in someones head as they walked around and doubly so in the dark. Add to that the green glow from the goggles and I had to hold onto the table in front of me to keep from toppling onto the floor. He knew I was there but ignored me as he looked for the panther. We both spotted the big cat at the same time. When he brought the rifle up to sight it in, I looked away, mostly because the motion made me woozy. I'd tried to do this several times with Lacy and had the same results.

  The rifle shot startled me just the same. The cat screamed when the bullet hit it, then it was silent. I left the camper and joined the others to look at it. It was a beautiful animal, and in good health. His fur gleamed in the glow of the flashlights and you could see the muscles in his shoulders, so it'd been eating good. It was a shame and I truly regretted his death. I let the guys take care of the animal while I went back to my camper and made some coffee. I was sipping from my mug which read, “I do all my own stunts.” Lacy got it for me but I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean. That's where Mason found me when he came back. We sat at the table and discussed the past few days until we ran out of coffee then walked back to the cabin to eat breakfast and plan the next run into Storm City.

  It was the biggest city near us and we needed to get what medicine we could for the trip and more clothes. Since we'd been feeding the kids they'd grown in every direction. Even Lucy and Angie needed something else to wear, so we were dragging them along, kicking and screaming it seemed. They never wanted to leave the security of the springs and said so, loudly. Well, I never wanted the lodge to be destroyed and have to drive a million miles to live someplace for a few months just so I could drive back a million miles...etc, etc. etc. They went but they didn't like it.

  I stayed behind to help Sarah make caramels and teach the kids mind control. Mikey was picking up on it quite well although, he nearly turned blue in the face from the effort, making Mandy yell smurf every time. We finally had to send her outside because he was getting so self conscious about it, he was reluctant to try. The kids from the warehouse were much better at it than the others mostly because they'd had more practice and that was the safest way to communicate without being caught by Burly, the fat bastard who ruled them. He died there and good riddance. I was teaching them to focus their thoughts directly at one person without broadcasting to everyone within five miles. I was actually teaching two classes, with Nevada helping me with the warehouse group since they already knew her and Bobby helping with the novices. It was tiring but I enjoyed it just the same.

  Sarah had finished with the candy, while Abby, her 13 year old helper and budding chef, did the cleanup. She was a funny girl, always joking and making everyone laugh. Not to mention she was going to be beautiful when she grew out of the awkwardness of her teens. I'd noticed her eyeballing Andy several times so there might be a romance in the making. I didn't want anything to do with that. I had enough troubles of my own. I did notice the addition of makeup to the shopping list and she might have been the one to put it there. I'd check with her before my next trip to Storm City to see what exactly she wanted since the term 'makeup' was a pretty broad one.

  Duke was setting up a command center in one corner of the dining room. The Dukemobile was going back with us to Montana. I didn't see him leaving it behind anyway. Those left behind would all be included in the security of the area and several, of the kids, Andy, Sid, Abby, Bobby and Kevin were being taught a lot of the major details like repairing and replacing equipment. I was pretty sure Bobby would be going back with us cause he had a thing for the Dukemobile where he slept. We'd see. Abby and Nevada was learning to cook and preserve meats and vegetables, while they all had a hand in the gardening. Flynn was teaching them how to shoot, reloading the shells and gun safety.

  Flynn was veteran of the Iraqi War and he carried a scar on his face, from his left ear to his corner of his lips. His six foot, muscular frame was topped by a bald head and a neatly trimmed mustache which framed a sexy sm
ile. He fell madly in love with Melody who was nearly always at his side. At the moment he was having entirely too much fun, since he had every gun known to man lined up on the two picnic tables.

  We'd learned early on that an assault weapon was good in a crowd but you had to hit each walker in the head to destroy them and that was hard with a gun like that. After the first bullet was fired all it did after that was recoil and accuracy diminished. So they were kept as a back up, but the kids were still taught how to use them.

  Howard and Samantha took as many people, young or old as wanted to learn how to mechanic. Bruce, whose wife Nancy tried to kill me so she could have Mason but was killed instead, seemed to be a pretty fair mechanic so we were looking for another tow/mechanics truck for him before we left. He had pulled an old shed over from one of the houses to store his tools, which he'd 'borrowed' from all the surrounding homes. Air compressors, saws of every description, drills and all the little things that go with them. All the guys liked to gather around the old shed and talk about the stuff. I think its a guy thing cause I could care less. The only female involved is Samantha. She was what was left of a para military unit that overtake us. We killed the rest of them. Her and Howard had formed an attachment with their shared love of mechanics. He was her age which was around 50 or so and were always together. Bubba, our resident mascot and Chi-weenie dog belonged to Howard.

  Bruce and Angie seemed to be hitting it off so Mason and I gave him a box of condoms for his birthday. We didn't trust birth control pills anymore since they were so outdated and condoms was the only thing we found in abundance. It seemed we were having a birthday party every time I turned around. I'd picked up a trailer of gifts a few months ago and it was kept locked all the time. Sarah had the key so if you wanted anything you had to go through her. She planned a big ceremony to hand over the key the day before we left. I don't know who the unlucky recipient would be and that was ok. Everyone was sweet talking her hoping she will give it to them. I was looking forward to that part of the going away party.