Alaskan Undead Apocalypse (Book 3): Mitigation Book 3)

by Sean Schubert

  “I didn’t have much gas, so I knew that was the first thing I needed to find. Turns out, it wasn’t so hard to get. The gas pumps mighta’ been workin’ but I didn’t have no way of gettin’ gas from those, that didn’t seem to matter much. When people left, they only took one car. D’you know how many homes had more than one car in the driveway? Hell, I coulda’ found enough gas to last the rest of my life given the chance. It only took a coupla’ days before Duke and me was first class gas bandits. We’d just roll on up, empty the tank of the van or wagon or little rice burner that was sittin’ in the driveway and then we just roll on. That was a good few days there. We had us some food and some gas and some quiet. No phone ringin’. No mailman with no bills come a callin’. It was just me and ole Duke. It coulda’ been like that forever...for the rest of my days anyway, and I woulda’ been one happy soul.”

  DB paused again, taken suddenly by a memory with much rougher edges. Neil and Emma looked at one another during the respite, not sure if the story had come to a close. Hoping to rekindle the narrative, Emma asked, “When did you find Ricky?”

  DB nodded his head, remembering the day. “I guess it was about a week later. Me an’ Duke had a full tank and a full reserve, so we was livin’ high on the hog. We had the run of the town for the most part too. The big stores were pretty well emptied by then, but there were lots of places to look for food and other things too. We didn’t take much more than what we needed...typically. I ain’t never been one too fond of fancy things. Seems like all you do is fret over this or that gettin’ broke is all. Never seemed worth the headache to me.

  “We’d been foraging a little further into town. I guess we was just feelin’ a little cocky. We was driving through a neighborhood and I thought I saw someone standin’ in the road down to my right...at a cross street. I hit the brakes and backed up and sure enough. This guy was just standin’ there. I guess it was a guy anyway. I yelled out to, ya know, see if he was all right. I shoulda’ known he wasn’t right just by the way he was standin’. It didn’t look...natural, I guess. When he looked up, I could see, even from that distance, he was one of those things that killed that pretty lady in the CNN video. He was one of them. He started to run, but he was all over the place...’bout as coordinated as a baby moose. He built steam though and was runnin’ right at us.

  “I didn’t need no more encouragement. We just drove on until we saw another one. This one was a little girl with pigtails and all. Her skin was the same color as the thin trees in the yards around her. She was the scariest thing I ever did see. There’s just somethin’ chillin’ about seein’ a little kid that’s been turned into a demon.

  “We shot outta the neighborhood but ended up in another. I didn’t think about it at the time but I guess I shoulda’. But how could I...how could anyone’ve known? We drove close enough to be able to see the hospital, but that was too close. If I thought that little girl and the man was bad, man was I in for it. Like they was waitin’ for me, there were...I don’t know...a hundred, maybe more of those damned things standing around in the street. They saw us and like we was the rabbit at the track and they was greyhounds, they took off after us. Some of ‘em ran pretty damned fast. I was afraid that maybe we was gonna get caught. And then they just kept running. They never get tired, do they? They can just go and go and will unless something else gets their attention.”

  Emma interjected, “Yeah, or they catch you.”

  Neil said, “That’s a theory that we’ve developed anyway.”

  DB raised one of his thick, gray eyebrows. “Looks like you two have worked on more than theories.”

  “We can get to that,” Neil said. “But tell us about finding Ricky.”

  Neil really just wanted to get more information about the Peninsula. It was an option in front of them. He had hoped that perhaps the undead hadn’t become a presence on the Peninsula yet. It made sense that there would be zombies near the hospital, if anywhere. People, bitten and infected, could have been transported south before everyone knew how it spread. Those people would have died at the hospital just like Jules’ brother Martin had. The terror in Anchorage would have been repeated here and probably in Seward too. Neil wondered though, if DB’s account of events was true, then maybe the majority of residents managed to escape. Maybe there was some hope that the number of zombies away from Anchorage was significantly smaller. That was at least some good news.

  DB continued, “We put a little distance between those things and us and were heading back out onto the highway when we saw this skinny kid walking along the road. He had his head down and was carrying a rifle. When we came to a stop, he looked up and I could see that he was just a kid. Hungry and dirty to the bone, but a normal kid. He looked lost. I asked him where he was headed and he pointed to the sign that said hospital. I told him what was waiting for him at the hospital and offered him a warm spot at my trailer. I guess the trailer was more his speed ‘cause he hopped in the truck and we took off. He and Duke hit it off right away.

  “He ain’t never said a word. I started calling him Ricky and he hasn’t complained once about that. He don’t eat much more than he says but I guess I like his company. He does what I tell him to do and don’t make no fuss. He’s a good kid. I guess he musta’ lost his family or somethin’. “We been scavenging but keepin’ a low profile ever since. We wanted to get our hands on every scrap of food we could get. We knew that whatever was out there was it for what looked like would be a long time. Soon we knew that we weren’t alone on the Peninsula, so gettin’ the cans and boxes and bags of food and batteries and whatever else was still lyin’ around was our top priority. There were others around, and not more of those monsters either. Just others who was lookin’ out for their own and not lookin’ to share with no one.”

  The last comment rang in both Emma’s and Neil’s ears. They wondered what he meant by “others”. Neil’s encounters with “others” so far hadn’t been too encouraging. His first thought was of Maggie and her treachery. Neil could hear the alarm bells ringing in his head. Subtly, he started to look around for anything that might catch his eye as a waiting threat, an ambush ready to pounce. Emma too could feel the foreboding. The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stood on end to get their own look around, wanting to contribute their vigilance to the greater good. Both of them, almost casually, slipped their shotguns from their shoulders and couched them in their arms instead.

  Neil stopped dead in his tracks. “DB, where are you taking us?”

  DB too stopped. He had been doing his own sizing up, trying to maintain caution without venturing into paranoia. He said finally, “We’re not monsters. Not Cannibals, rapists or plunderers. We’ve seen a lot of that sort and I am hoping that the two of you aren’t that sort either. We’re...I’m puttin’ a lot of faith in that hope and I guess it’s too late if you two aren’t what you appear to be. Just up the road a spell is a van. That’s where we’ve all been holed up the past few days.”

  “So there are others then?” Neil asked expectantly.

  DB looked at him again, wondering if perhaps he had both trusted and said too much.

  Reading the look, Neil said, trying to reassure, “It’s just exciting to learn that we aren’t the last of us. Sometimes it started to feel that way. I guess we went looking for hope and found you.”

  DB smiled and nodded his head. He looked over at Ricky and smiled some reassurance, though Ricky’s deadpan expression did little more than acknowledge his own understanding.

  13.

  Hope can be a funny thing. She’s the pretty sister of reckless Luck and the mother of Possibility. The progeny of idealistic parents, Hope can appear under the most random of circumstances or never show her welcome face. Fickle and unpredictable, Hope was always welcome by those who sought her.

  Now walking along the highway at DB’s direction, Neil was discovering a newfound respect for Hope and her euphoric elixir as the four of them approached a seemingly abandoned touring van, a blue and gra
y Ford Econoline. The van looked like any other vehicle stalled along any stretch of rural highway awaiting its owner’s eventual return. To look at it, one would never guess that it was now a home to an endangered species. Which was, Neil surmised, the desired intent. If it looked abandoned, maybe it would be passed by without a second look back. A gamble borne of Hope but kept alive by Luck.

  Neil’s first thought was that it was unrealistic and perhaps a bit naive to believe that the ruse would work long-term. He wondered if DB had any plans because Neil would like to hear them. Most pressing upon his thoughts, though, was to learn why DB was this far north. If he had come from Kenai, he would have passed by the Portage and Whittier access road. Why? As seasoned as DB appeared, the prospect of Whittier being a safe haven from the infection had to have occurred to him. With its lone access through a tunnel cut through a mountain and the city’s ability to close that tunnel, it seemed to him that Whittier was as likely a place as any to find safety.

  Neil was almost too afraid to ask when his mouth involuntarily spilled, “What about Whittier? Why didn’t you...?”

  DB turned around, screwed his face into a doubtful question, and then continued on. “Della!” he shouted. “It’s just us. C’mon out.”

  To Neil’s surprise, a matronly woman with skin so dark it shined, emerged from the opposite side of the road. She forced her large frame up the side of the ditch, stopping as she got her feet onto the pavement. In tow, she had two children, neither of which appeared to be hers, and an old Golden Retriever who wagged his entire body at the sight of DB. The dog yelped with excitement and ran across the road toward its human. Their reunion was enough to make both Emma and Neil smile. DB’s rough exterior softened somewhat as he showered the dog with affection, rubbing his ears and patting his head.

  Though malnourished and wearing threadbare rags for clothes, the woman and two children didn’t look wide-eyed with fear. With the calm, searching eyes of the Sphynx, the woman DB called Della scanned her surroundings and the new faces with DB. The whites of her eyes flashed like neon bulbs against the contrast of her flesh. Neil knew immediately that, though she possessed the appearance of a kindly motherly figure, this was not a woman with whom to trifle. She exuded strength and wisdom and caution.

  Behind her, like a pair of needy ducklings, were the two children. The older of the two was a white boy who appeared to be about as old as Jules perhaps. The other child was barely more than a toddler. She had the skin tone and facial features of an Asian, maybe of Korean descent.

  Neil couldn’t conceal his pleasure. He said warmly, hoping not to offend, “Well DB, you’ve got yourself quite a family here. Who would’ve thought?”

  DB tried to hide his smile by spitting and looking away, though his body language betrayed his more austere veneer. There was little reason or attempt to do so though when he looked back at Neil.

  “I ain’t never really had one really; a family that is. I wasn’t home enough when my ex-wife and boy lived with me. I was always workin’ on the Slope and then doin’ jobs around town when I was home. I mostly just paid the bills until I came home one day and they was gone. Duke was the closest thing I ever had to a family and he’s just a dog.”

  Duke didn’t seem to be insulted by the comment as he made his way over to Neil. The dog sniffed and wagged and wagged and sniffed. Neil was all too eager to scratch the grateful dog behind his ears and pat his side with a friendly hand.

  DB continued, “I don’t know if what I got now could be called a family or not, but I can say that I’m feelin’ more and more protective of them every day. Della there, she don’t need no protectin’ from nobody. She’s hard as nails but don’t let her kid you though. When it comes to those kids and even Ricky here, she’s all mama.

  “Me, Ricky and Duke found the three of them back in Soldotna. She said she was working at a hotel...the Aspen I think. She found both of those kids at the hotel. Can you imagine? I always wondered what happened to their parents and Della ain’t never said. I guess I pretty much figured out what happened to their folks but I never got how them kids stayed alive. They’re just so little.”

  Neil answered, “Without her and then you, they wouldn’t have. They couldn’t have. You’re what’s kept them alive.”

  Emma asked, “How long have you been on the road? And where’s your truck?”

  DB shrugged, doing little else to answer. Instead, he said to Della, “We got visitors,” as if he was coming home from work with company for dinner. Della was not as casual with introductions. She was as deliberate as a glacier in her movements, always careful to keep the children shielded behind her ample frame. She measured the newcomers, trying to divine their intentions. Her expression was guarded, her eyes filled to their bright yellow corners with questions and calculated assumptions.

  Neil felt completely disarmed by her eyes. There was little to no discernible distinction between her irises and her pupils, which appeared be swirling, dark eddies in small but consuming seas of yellowish-white. Neil found it impossible to guess her age. She appeared neither overly young nor old and frail. Her face, though, bore the wisdom of experience arrived at only after several decades of hard decisions and toil.

  She neither extended her hand nor shared her name. She merely watched and waited as she walked slowly across the pavement toward the van. Without so much as a look over her shoulder, she said, “We ain’t got much, but what we have we can share.”

  “Likewise. I’m Neil. This is Emma.”

  “Okay, Steve.”

  “No, I said my name is Neil.”

  “Yeah, I heard you the first time, Steve.”

  Neil looked at Emma and was all set to ask a question when DB said, “I’ve been with her for a few weeks now and she still calls me Steve. I don’t think it’s an accident and I don’t know why she does it, but I don’t see any point in fightin’ it.”

  Neil knew that DB was right, but Della’s seeming disregard for his identity bothered him nonetheless. He watched Della walk away and wondered to himself if her attitude was a product of their current circumstances or if it originated sometime in the past. Had she been hurt by some man or a series of men who had melded into a single amalgam of personalities all with the common title of “Steve”? Who was “Steve”?

  What a weird day it had become.

  14.

  Reunited.

  It took some convincing on Neil’s part and some trusting on DB’s and Della’s parts, but finally it was decided that they would all venture up the railroad track and join the others at Neil’s and Emma’s camp.

  Neil offered to help with carrying supplies only to learn that there were no supplies to be carried. There was nothing. Well, not precisely nothing. There were five more mouths to feed...six if you counted Duke. What was the sense of adding more? More mouths? More children needing care and protection? More responsibility? Despite any misgivings or hesitation, he knew that it was the right thing to do. They would simply figure a way to make it all work. And by they, Neil always assumed it meant he would figure a way.

  Figuring was just what he’d been forced to do these past several weeks and it didn’t appear to be slackening any. Dr. Caldwell had been right. Neil needed to accept his role, regardless of how uncomfortable it made him feel. He knew this to be true and yet he found himself, on occasion, trekking further and further from that reality.

  The biggest challenge to Neil accepting his role as a leader was that he had always gone the direction of the Beta male; rarely first but never last in sports, academics, and with girls. He was usually good at most things but he was never the best at anything. He never considered himself leader material. Bureaucrat, middle manager, crew leader at the fry station, but never head manager and certainly never leader. It wasn’t hard to understand Neil’s present reluctance.

  And yet, he’d just successfully rationalized himself into leading a larger tribe. Sometimes he was his own worst enemy.

  Jerry spotted the approaching group an
d immediately recognized Neil at its head. He was relieved to see that both Emma and Neil were still armed and smiling. Without taking his eye from his hunting scope, Jerry said, “They’re baaacckkkk! And they’ve got friends with ‘em.”

  Meghan leapt up and ran for her own rifle, fearing that Neil’s friends may not be friendly. “Does everything look...? Is he...?”

  Jerry nodded and said with a smile, “Relax. It’s okay. Couple adults. Couple of kids. And a dog. Danny, it’s a Golden. D’ya think your dog followed you up here? What was his name again?”

  Danny answered from somewhere out of Jerry’s limited vision, “Roman. Romie. Do they really have a dog with them?” Danny’s reaction to that piece of news was especially excited. There was just something uplifting to him to have a dog around.

  Standing next to Jerry, Meghan could see all of them now without the aid of a scope. Claire was there too. She could see the emotion starting to color Meghan’s cheeks. She touched Meghan’s shoulder and rubbed it gently.

  There was no point trying to deny her feelings. Meghan was always so excited when he returned from his excursions, of which there were entirely too many. Truth be told, she was always relieved and pleased to see everyone return from any jaunt whether long or short. But with Neil it was something different...something special.

  She knew that she loved him but was surprised at her increasing dependence on him. She had loved Brian, her former fiancé, but was far more independent and self-reliant. Of course, to be fair, times were significantly different then. She had a job and an apartment then. She slept inside then and wasn’t a potential nightly special on the menu back then. She wondered how Brian would have done in Neil’s position. Would he have ever found himself in Neil’s position?