by Lee Ragans
I got closer, there had to be a hundred of them still moving around. There was no way Jake could take them all before he collapsed from exhaustion. When I got behind him, he yelled, "I can't see. I am having a sugar crash."
I yelled back for him to come toward my voice instead of coming toward me he said, "We have to save them."
I looked around and saw a woman with what looked like a 10-year-old child. There was no one else around. They were standing on a car in the middle of the mini-horde.
"I am going to start shooting, keep swinging.", I yelled.
I looked at the woman and the kid and yelled, "I will clear a path. You will have to run for it."
She shook her head.
I emptied my first 8 shells into the crowd of zombies to the left of the island of safety. I walked back to reload and emptied 8 more. I did this 3 more times, and by then there was a small path. I yelled, "run for the fuel truck."
They ran.
By some luck, they managed to get through, the kid screamed as a hand caught him. My shotgun took off the head that was attached to the zombie's hand.
I grabbed Jake by the shirt and pulled him away. I had to abandon my sledgehammer and immediately missed it. The zombies were moving slowly toward us, but we could outrun them. The kid and the woman had backpacks and well-worn shoes.
Jake was still mostly blind and not all that coherent. I took his sledgehammer, and he grabbed the fuel cans. He said he could see the building. That was enough for me. I led our new friends to the wall and helped them up. Then Jake.
Vendela must have seen us from the window, she was waiting with a shotgun at her side in the lobby. It was the first time I could think of that she had left the building.
We got the fuel up and then the kid. The woman went after Jake, and then Vendela and I were left to shoot it out with the part of the horde that found our home.
When we had a good 50 feet between the closest zombie and us, I had Vendela go up. I followed. I latched the door and hoped for the best.
I knew we had fucked up when I poked my head up the ladder and met a pistol in the kid’s hand.
8
Vendela asked, "Why are you doing this? We saved you."
The woman dripped a reply, "Your mistake. Not mine."
"We would let you stay," I added.
"To what, eat us?"
"No, we would share, we are stupid that way," I snapped.
Brian just glared. The kid and the woman let me up onto the floor. I put down my shotgun. Jake was laying on the floor lightly breathing, eyes wide open but not moving. I was afraid he was dead.
It happened so fast I am still not sure exactly what order everything happened in.
I remember Jake leaping up and a gunshot from the kid. Brian dived for his shotgun and shot the kid. Jake leaped and wrapped his arms around the woman tackling her and then another gunshot as Jake and the woman fell down the elevator shaft.
I kicked the pistol from the kid's hands, but it did not matter, he had no face left, the 12 gauge saw to that. He twitched and was going to die. That was certain.
I reluctantly looked down the shaft, and I could not see anything in the dark. The shaft went down 4 more floors, and the elevator car was at the bottom.
Jake and the woman fell a good 30 feet. I started to get up, but Brian handed me a flashlight. I flashed it down to see Jake was not moving and a lot of blood on his shirt. The woman was on her back and her neck bent in a way that it should not have. Jake's hand was still on her neck as if he had driven her into the impact with the elevator car roof.
I knew Jake was dead. He had been shot twice. He saved us. He saved us from the problem he brought in.
Vendela was crying. Brian walked in tight circles but did not cry. I could not find it in me to cry. I cried for my parents. I cried for my aunts and cousins, but I could not cry for Jake. I don't think I could cry for any of us. We were alive when so many others were not. We had beaten the odds when we should not have.
I climbed down the ladder and then went over to the small emergency ladder on the side of the shaft. I got all the way down to Jake and the woman. I knew we had some time, but not much. Without standing on ceremony, I smashed the woman's head in. I was used to the brains of the dead, but a fresh body was another thing altogether.
I did the same for Jake, wishing I had a better way to do it. I could not let them turn. Not inside our home.
I opened the elevator car trap door below me and pushed the woman into it. I signaled for Brian, and he unceremoniously dropped the dead kid down the shaft. It was now in 4 separate pieces with a smashed head. I pushed the pieces in the hole after the woman's body. The elevator car was open to the parking deck. On occasion, a zombie would wander in. I thought it was fitting that the dead would eat the pair that killed our friend.
I could not bear to just push Jake in there. He did not deserve that.
I tied a rope to his chest, and we pulled him up the lobby. It took a few minutes to clear the lobby of the straggler's zombies, but once cleared Brian and Vendela came down. We dug a grave in the grass patch just off the parking area. We buried Jake with a large stone as a grave marker.
No one said a word. There was nothing to say.
9
Brian and I arranged the new zombie bodies in the lobby, so it looked less like we shot them from the door. Then went upstairs.
Brian spoke first, "Our food will last longer now."
Vendela hit him on the shoulder. Then said softly, "You are right."
We walked to the kitchen storeroom and took stock of all that was still there. Some small calculations and I realized, "We have to reduce the portions if we want to make this last another year."
Brian nodded.
Vendela asked, "What do we do when that runs out?"
"We find or make more."
I went to one of the rooms we did not use and walked into the shower, bloody clothes and all. The cold water and mix of shampoos and soap got most of the blood out. I stripped off the soaking wet clothes and rinsed the blood before it had time to fully cake.
I was shivering, but I could not bear to get out of the water. We could have all died. I did not see Ven, but I felt her hand on my shoulder.
She turned off the water and wrapped a towel around me. “You are freezing. Let’s get you dry and in bed.”
I don’t remember much after that. I just collapsed and fell asleep.
10
Vendela and I were spending our days reading. We had finished the complete works of Shakespeare and were taking turns reading a trashy romance novel called ‘Turgid Wave of love.’ To make it more interesting, I read the even chapters, and Ven read the odd chapters. We would then describe the chapters we read to each other. I wanted to say we were bored, but we were not.
Brian did not like to read, so he watched the streets by patrolling room to room and taking the occasional breaks to watch Battleship on the blue ray player when we had the generator running.
The last generator was still going, but we used it less and less to stretch out its life and to conserve the fuel. It was warmer as there was no need for the space heaters. We all took to walking around in shorts. Only Vendela wore a shirt as we moved into summer. Brian would not notice if she were topless, but she cared, and that was all that mattered.
Our days of reading were broken by the sound of heavy trucks pulling into the parking area. Brian alerted me to their approach. Looking out of the window facing the courtyard, I could count 15 soldiers jump off the trucks looking around.
This time, Vendela hid with the shotgun though I was not sure what we could do against 15 soldiers. Brian waited at the top. I went down and opened the door. They did not
raise a weapon or act surprised.
The oldest soldier walked forward extending his right hand, "Karen and her two killers said you had showers?"
I smiled. Shook his hand, “We do, and soap. We have most of a hotel available. Cheap rates too.”
Th
e Sergeant smiled, “Glad to hear it. May we stay a few days?”
“We are glad to have the company.”
“You trust us?”
“Karen did. That is good enough for me.”
We headed up the ladder.
They left 2 men in the lobby on guard duty.
Once inside the Sergeant looked around, "They said there were 4 of you?"
"We lost one.”
“Sorry to hear it son. Too few good people these days.”
Vendela came out of the closet with the shotgun down.
We made a quick meal of an industrial sized can of black beans and canned ham for our visitors.
While eating the Sergeant explained they met up with Karen and her boys in Virginia. The soldiers were trying to get to the CDC in Decatur but needed a safe place to work out of. They did not expect the CDC to be safe. So many people had flocked there and to the Hospital at Emory. They said recon showed a horde of zombies there now.
I pointed out they had gone out of their way. The CDC was back north.
He smiled and said they needed the rest before they had fought their way into what he described as the last bastion of science in North America. Then he offered a portable generator and some MREs in exchange for letting them stay for a few days.
We needed a spare generator after we lost the one over the winter. I traded some canned food for some MREs. The soldiers never asked about our food. They could have easily killed all of us or just taken what they wanted. They were respectful and helpful guests.
It was overwhelming to have so many people around at first. We slowly got used to it. Well, Vendela and I did. Brian was overwhelmed and disappeared into a room by himself for most of their stay. When he was not in his room, he just walked in small circles and watched everyone. The stimulus of living people was just over his comfort line.
The soldiers reviewed out blockades and made some upgrades. They said our plan would work against the dead, but a person with bad intentions could easily get by the blockade.
I was initially worried seeing bright lights flickering in the open stairwells, and then I realized they were welding metal plates in place, permanently closing the outer doors. The stairwells were now clear and easily used for storage or a shelter.
The biggest surprise was when they moved the industrial generator from the construction site nearby into the parking deck next to the elevator shaft. It could not be heard from outside and would run for 2 days on a fuel load. The exhaust was vented out of the air shafts of the parking deck to make sure that we did not have to worry about killing ourselves running it.
Then they got the main parking gate closed so we did not have worry about wandering dead. There were no other entrances, so with their help, we cleared a stairwell down to door next to the generator. 3 Long extension cords and we were in business. Brian could watch Battleship 24 hours a day. He was happy. I made a note to look for other movies next time we went scavenging.
The sergeant asked as they got ready to leave if we minded them dropping by again on the way out. I said we would be happy to see them anytime. They promised to only tell the trustworthy about our place. I did not like the idea of more people knowing we were here, but we had 4 cases of MREs to supplement out canned food, and we were better off now than ever.
11
The quiet when it was just the 3 of us again seemed odd, but it only lasted 2 weeks. The soldiers were back, with 10 people and some cases with medical markings. They introduced the new guest as doctors from the CDC and asked for shelter for a few days while they evaluated the situation. I noted they only had 12 soldiers and one of those looked injured.
One of the doctors a man in his late 50s was fascinated by the fact we were alive. Vendela explained her Asthma, I pointed out Brian, and the doc seemed to grasp that he was Autistic without many conversations. He asked me, "so what is wrong with you?"
I could not help but laugh and explain that I used to be clinically depressed. I have been off my meds for a year and honestly could not be happier. He seemed intrigued but did not ask more.
He turned back to Vendela and started asking her about her asthma. He was shocked that she only had 1 inhaler left. He made some suggestions that we already knew, but one suggestion of vitamin c was new. He ended his list of homeopathic remedies with, "It could not hurt."
The injured soldier had been bitten. The doctors kept watching him and talking amongst themselves. One of the other soldiers, the one with a small lisp, told me they had injected the guy with something they hoped would hold off the change. It had been almost 12 hours, so it looked promising.
The injured soldier got better 3 days later. The bite looked like a normal wound. There was hope after all. I asked if they had some of that medicine to spare. They explained they had used most of it on the subject as they called him. They needed to get somewhere with medical manufacturing facilities to make more.
The CDC was gone. Survivors rushed there in the first days after the outbreak. When they turned the damage had been overwhelming. Between fires and a crushing number of undead, the labs were useless. They lamented that they wished it were some kind of super bunker like in the movies. It was just medical buildings and offices.
The entire group left a week later after deciding to head toward Augusta. They were hoping the medical college was less damaged than the CDC and Emory.
They left another case of MREs. Also, the soldiers patrolled the surrounding 5 block area clearing out any obvious zombies and bringing back some tools and clothes they found. Someone commented our clothes were looking a little worse for wear.
12
The person who lived in the building north of us stopped using a light at night after the soldiers left. Brian watched for them each night, but we could not see where they were.
I read a book about farming, and I could not get the idea out of my mind. I had no idea how I was going to do anything, but I wanted to try. I prepared the spot on the roof that had once been grass next to the pool and considered that we could probably find seeds at a Home Depot or Lowes. I knew there was no farm supply store for 50 miles. Without my iPhone, I had no idea where the nearest Home Depot was for that matter.
I gathered soil from the green areas around the build and carried it up to the roof. I found some flower pots and a plant trough. I had nothing to plant yet, but I was preparing the area. I had no idea where we were going to find seeds, but I was getting the planting area ready.
We had gone a week without using the generators. We read during the day and slept in the dark. Well, Vendela and I slept some. It was summer, and it was too hot to be under covers or covered for that matter. The W did not have great airflow, which was good in the winter. Some nights we lay on top of the bed trying to not move. Others, we are a little too energetic for our own good and ended up having to take cool showers.
I had no idea when Brian slept. If I walked around at night, I would find him looking out of one window or another. He would tell me if he saw anything. He said nothing most of the time.
One morning I woke first to find a note next to the open elevator. It read, "Gone to get seeds. Be back. Lock the door."
I woke Vendela. We stared at the note. Brian had never done anything on his own. He was difficult to read, but this was a total surprise. We were worried. But he was an adult. It was a miracle he was alive. It was a miracle any of us were alive.
I locked the door in place and then Vendela, and I took an armload of books and MREs to the roof. It was our new favorite spot to spend our days. With the doors open, a light breeze we were able to read and relax.
We stayed up on the roof for 6 days until we heard a knocking on a metal pipe up the street. It was Brian hitting a street sign with a hammer.
I waved at him from the roof. He waved back. There were a few zombies in the area that were attracted to the sound. I rushed down the stairs, Vendela followed slowly behind me.
I got the door open in time for Brian to climb up before the first z
ombie made it to the lobby. We could hear them hitting the door for hours. Until I flung a dish late that night from the roof to attract them to the sound almost a block away.
Brian set down his backpack on the counter and pulled out hundreds of packs of seeds. Cucumbers, tomatoes, snap beans, corn. I had no idea where to start.
I asked where he found them and the only response we ever got was, "The store." I assumed he meant a store he knew of. I asked different times and different ways, but always got, “The Store.”
Brian started going on fuel runs by himself. I never asked, he just started doing it.
I became very concerned when he just said, "I am going to kill zombies." The next thing I knew he had gone to the office building attached to the W and started killing the zombies with a hammer as they tried to get through the main door. It was ingenious. It looked like an assembly line of zombie killing. The next zombie would move the dead one out of the way. I watched him go at this until space was hopelessly jammed with the dead. He had eliminated half of the inhabitants of the office building in less than an hour.