She sat on the ground next to the body for a few minutes. Then she worked her way back over to me. I moved in and gave her a silent kiss on the lips. We held each other in the early morning chill until Reeves and crew decided to show back up.
They showed up in style though. Reeves had found a bike rental place on the tourist map within running distance. Armed with that and the last pair of bolt cutters we had, they had been able to get there and procure three bikes. One of which had the attachment you could shove your kids in to pull them along behind you. If a Zombie happened to see us rolling by we were going to be dead. At this point, it was our best chance of making Dollywood by daylight though.
Entry 40: Welcome to Dollywood
We made it to the sign saying to turn there to go towards Dollywood before the sun was over the horizon. We were seeing a lot of Zombies starting to move around though so we took the simple step of stopping the bikes and going into the tree line to hide for the day. I had to work myself out of the tiny kid chariot thing I was wedged into. Ann and Reeves helped me get out of it and into the woods. Once hidden in the shelter of the trees and bushes we spread out some blankets and lay down. Thomas took first watch and the rest of us tried to get some sleep.
We were still not talking for fear of attracting Zombies so it was the thrill of laying on blankets on the hard ground surrounded by my closest friends. My body hurt like crazy. Being shoved into that little children’s chariot had not been a pleasant experience. It had worked though. Now all we had to do was wait until nightfall and hope that our guesses about the sanctity of Dollywood held true.
Ann had the third watch. About an hour into it she poked me awake to say she had heard something behind us. She was just letting me know she was going to go and take a look so I didn’t wake up and freak out if I didn’t see her laying near me or walking around the camp. She grabbed a hard metal pole and casually disappeared into the brush.
She had heard moans and movement behind us. She walked for about two minutes and emerged onto a path through the woods. Looking up the path towards Dollywood she saw a bridge crossing over a small creek. Running towards her, arms extended and mouths curled back in feral screams were two Zombies. Ann stepped forward, her own teeth pulled back in a grimace, knowing she needed to silence these two quickly or we were going to have much bigger issues.
Stepping towards the taller one she swung the metal pole straight into its face. Clotheslining the speeding demon and sending it crashing to the ground. Knowing she’d have to come back and make sure it was dead, she took a step forward and swung the metal pole straight down on the smaller Zombie. It crumpled to the ground with its brains seeping out through the crack in its skull.
She went back to the taller one and calmly shoved the metal pole through its head to make sure it was not going to wake up.
She had then run back to us. We were all sitting up. Having heard the yells of the Zombies. Reeves and Ginny met up with Ann and they all came back into the makeshift camp together. Ann had another layer of disgusting on her arm and the pole she carried was dripping with something or other. I tried not to focus too much on the bodily fluids coating my girlfriend. Yet another instance of serendipity. A year ago, this happening would have been all over the news and a nationwide manhunt would have ensued. Today, all we were worried about was the fact that they had screamed before Ann had put them down. That meant more were probably coming.
It would also add two more characters in Ann’s nightmares. Two more steps closer to the PTSD I was assuming would catch up with all of us soon enough. We heard some echoing screams from all around us. Everyone went up in the trees except me. Ginny and Ann rolled me into some bushes and built a quick teepee over me before they disappeared into their trees. We were hoping there was a lack of enthusiasm among the Zombies to do a thorough investigation based on just the quick screams that had gone out.
It turned out the local Zombies were lazy. After a few moans in the distance nothing else happened. Expect that I discovered the bush I had been rolled into had an excessive number of ants and a little colony of some sort of ground wasp. If I had to sit there for more than a few hours I would have probably just gotten up and risked the Zombies.
Night finally settled in and everyone came down from their perch. I happily crawled out of the bug-ridden compost heap they had left me buried in for the day. I told them to leave the blankets. We’d find some more.
A whispered discussion left us opting to go down the path Ann had discovered instead of heading out to walk the main road. Reeves and Thomas went and grabbed chariot for me in case I needed it. I felt ok for now, but knew from the experience of the previous day that my strength could give out unexpectedly. We began hiking down the random path Ann had discovered that ran in the general direction of the park.
We walked past the bodies of the two girls Ann had taken out. In death, they looked like young women who had been murdered instead of like Zombies that had been killed in self-defense. Ann’s face was stone cold as we walked towards the girls. As we got closer, her composure melted away and her lip started trembling as her eyes filled with tears. I moved closer to give her a hug. The girls should be buried, family should cry over their graves, a preacher should say some words about god and how they were take from this earth and called to his bosom. Later, there should be a wake and everyone should share their favorite stories about the two. These two mounds we were walking past had been real people with real lives.
I was silently glad to see that it impacted Ann still. The experience we were going through could do a lot to rip away our humanity. Ann was a caring, loving person and even though I knew those traits were a huge impediment in today’s world, they were not traits that I wanted to see her lose. I hoped at some point we could find a place to settle where being loving and caring could once again be safe things to do.
We walked down the path. The woods opened up into a clearing with a bunch of warehouses and some barracks / dorm looking buildings. The dorm looking buildings were probably where the interns and actors who came out for the summer were provided with housing during the busy summer months. The warehouses were hopefully full of food and supplies. Up ahead was another line of trees separating us from what I assumed was Dollywood proper. Visibility was scary good as there were multiple street lights that were illuminating the main drag through town here. We walked as close to the side as we could to try and stay out of the light, passing under the overhangs of the warehouses and walking across the front porches of the dorms.
I was trying to look at the tops of the warehouses and into the structures to see if maybe they were hooked up to the solar panels the same as the street lights were. That could make for a very comfortable winter if they were. The one thing I did not see was Zombies. I had not seen a single one, or signs of one, since we passed the two Ann had taken out. I was starting to feel pretty good about this amusement park refuge plan. Especially since the accidental discovery of the back lot.
Up ahead, Ginny and Reeves took a minute to pry open one of the doors to a dorm looking building. Keeping an eye out behind us I moved up towards where everyone was slowly moving into the building to check it out. I was hoping there was a bench in there as I was more than happy to stop and rest for a few minutes. Every part of my body still hurt like hell. Being squeezed into a kid’s attachment to that bike and then spending the day curled up in a bug infested bush had not been a day at the spa.
I went in behind everyone else. There were stairs leading up to a second level, a receptionist desk behind a high counter, and then a long hallway with door after door that I assumed were all dorm rooms for the seasonal help. Reeves came out from behind the receptionist desk with a large ring full of keys. Him and Ann started opening doors and clearing rooms. I went in the first room that had been cleared, lay down on the bed and closed my eyes. It felt unbelievably good to be laying on a bed.
“Really?” That was Ann. Obviously questioning my decision to take nap while they were clearing
the building. I patted the bed beside me, inviting her to take a load off and join in the laziness. I have to say; it did not take a lot of effort to sway her. She hopped into the bed and put her head down on the pillow next to mine. I was just happy they had these tiny twin beds as it forced Ann to basically be on top of me. Which would have been much more enjoyable if every part of my body hadn’t been in pain.
“Really?” That was Reeves, followed into the room by Ginny and Thomas.
“Get a room.” Thomas quipped.
I pointed around us at the room. Thomas looked around as well. Obviously not getting my point, or just trying to annoy me. Teenagers.
“All good? Find anything cool?” I asked.
“It’s clear boss. Just standard off-season dorm stuff. Extra blankets, pillows, costumes for the workers, that kind of junk. Seems safe here though. We pushed the doors back together. I was thinking it may not be a horrible idea for us to rest up here for a day before trying to figure anything else out. Then maybe I take Ginny and we scout the place out a little bit.”
“Thanks, I agree, I know I could use some rest and it’s not like we’re on a timeline or anything. We need to try and figure out what our next steps are. I’m hoping we find enough food to hang out here for the winter but we’ll have to see. Maybe we can check out some of those warehouses later and see if they’re jammed full of canned whatever. That would be a good day.”
Reeves and everyone nodded along. There really wasn’t a lot of options as to what we could do. Most of our time up until now had been spent hiding in one place or another or fighting tooth and nail to get to a place we could hide out in. I was hoping this may be a place we were able to stay in for a good long time. Nowhere was going to be safe forever but this one had promise. Especially, if the tons of Zombies over in the valley would decide to go somewhere else. The presence of such a large mass of them was what concerned me the most about this plan.
There were literally thousands of Zombies within range of a gunshot. We’d have to be careful and practice some serious noise discipline if we wanted to survive here. We were used to it though. For the time being, I was lying in a real bed next to my real woman getting ready to get some real sleep.
Entry 41: Grief is the Price Paid for Love
We woke up and explored. We did so as quietly as possible. My idea was to make an inventory and look for the buildings where we would be safest for longest in the event we were swarmed. I was also hoping to find weapons, which we did. An entire cache of civil war replica swords was in one of the costume warehouses. I threw a Calvary saber over my shoulder, it felt good to have a blade I could use to bash my way through Zombies again. My body was starting to bounce back. Everything still hurt but now I was able to carry weapons and walk around with everyone else without getting excessively tired.
We had slept for about twenty hours straight, or something ridiculous like that. Well, I had anyway, I got the feeling everyone else had been working while I was sleeping but it had been pretty obvious I needed it. Either way, I was feeling better now and ready to help. Green field jacket slung over my shoulders, weapons dangling off of me, we moved into each of the buildings on the backlot.
We found a decent amount of food in one commissary building. It had not been the treasure trove I had been hoping for but looked like there were still enough cans and bags of food to keep us going for over a year if need be. We found blankets, fireworks, costumes, tools, and a room full of first aid supplies. The fireworks were an interesting find. I was thinking we may be able to shoot them away from us in the evet of a Zombie attack and distract them long enough for us to make a run for it.
We also found the motor pool. The parade vehicles and regular cars were parked in there next to all the supplies used to keep the cars running good. We stocked up a couple of nice looking Toyota pickup trucks and had them on standby if we needed to get out of town quick. We piled canned food and bottled water in each as well as some of the swords. We had found muskets but none of us had ever played with black powder. Reeves was interested in trying to figure it out though so it looked like he would have a hobby over the winter.
We found roof access in several of the buildings that would give us a way to get on top of the roofs if need be. There was a security building and in it we found golf carts and such but there wasn’t the big cache of guns that I’d hoped to see. Over all, it was looking like we had made the right choice in coming here. We had food, shelter, vehicles, water, and some cool looking fireworks.
We had searched the back lot pretty good and were think going it was time to explore Dollywood proper. I was a bit hesitant since I did not see what was going to be gained by going in the park. We had already discovered most of the items we were going to need to survive were right here. We had managed to avoid attracting Zombies. There had been some light coatings of snow but not anything that stuck around for long yet. I was looking forward to the snow as I figured it would at least slow the Zombie’s down if they decided to charge into the woods as a big group.
To mitigate the risk of charging into Dollywood and coming face to face with a bunch of blue rednecks. Would that give them violet necks? We stationed Reeves and Ginny up on buildings overlooking the park for a day to see if they saw anything moving around. There was a line of trees in between and the park is a pretty big space but after a day of sitting up there they both agreed they had not seen anything moving around. We decided to check out the park.
Getting in was easy. The main gate was closed but there was a personnel gate beside that was open. We walked right through the turnstiles and into the park. We came in the section behind the large roller coaster and the go karts you can drive around in a circle. I remembered my parents taking me around that track about a million times when I was a kid and we were staying up in the cabin for part of the summer. It was odd seeing the park shut down and boarded up for the off-season.
We moved in, everyone had there ‘quiet’ weapons out. If we needed to pull guns out, then we would need to run from the fight immediately after shooting and get in the pickup truck and commence some serious driving. Not to say that we were not carrying. In the new normal you wore a gun pretty much everywhere you went. It wasn’t odd at all to see someone disappearing into the woods with a nine-millimeter handgun and a roll of toilet paper. We moved through the park, keeping our guard up although we were not seeing anything suspicious.
We came up on Granny’s restaurant and buffet and it dawned on me that a lot more food may be onsite in the actual restaurants. We moved to the front door and jimmied it open. Going to the back of the restaurant we found nothing. There were some cleaning supplies but I wasn’t too worried how clean the floors were back in our dorm. Any visitors we had would probably be more focused on eating us than making comments about our housekeeping abilities. Ann found a tea kettle she thought she may be able to use to make tea so she handed that to me to carry and we moved out.
Reeves lead the way out the front door with Thomas behind him. I was just stepping out when three Koreans stepped around the corner and leveled their weapons at us. I went for my gun, pulling it out and aiming at the Koreans as soon as I saw them. Everyone else had done the same. The Koreans had probably been hoping we’d stick our hands up in the air and surrendered like good little sheep.
This explained the complete lack of Zombies in the park. I had expected there to be at least a few of them but if there had been these guys would have cleaned them out. We were in some kind of weird Mexican stand off now. They kept waving their guns around and pointing at the ground and yelling at us in Korean. Reeves was yelling back in English. Mostly references to different body parts and what they could insert in said parts.
None of us could actually pull the trigger since we all knew doing that would lead to an avalanche of death speeding towards us through the trees. We couldn’t communicate that point when none of us spoke each other’s languages and everybody was busy trying to threaten the other side with weapons we all knew we co
uldn’t actually shoot. I assumed these guys were leftovers from the attacks on the Bass Pro Shops. They must have ended up here when they hit all the Zombies moving into the area after the noise from the bombs.
I started sliding to the right along the eating area at the top of the stairs. I had the guy on the right in my sights. I knew Reeves had the leftmost guy and the middle guy was going to get a lot of lead from Thomas, Ginny, and Ann if it went down. We had drilled on this and worked it out so as to know hot focus our fire without having to tell the enemy about it. They don’t like hearing you yell which of you is going to shoot which one of them. Although.
“Reeves, if it goes down you and Ann go left, Thomas, you and Ginny go middle, I’ve got this asshole over here.” It had dawned on me them not speaking English meant they could not understand us planning who was going to kill who. We were going to have to leave Dollywood as soon as we pulled the triggers. This sucked.
Zournal: Book 3: Scorched Earth Page 22