Stumptown Survival: The Complete Collection

by Noah Porter

  “Hey you two, you done over there?” Andrew said as he got close.

  Lily turned to look at Andrew as he advanced, “Yep, all done.”

  “Guess I missed it. The party’s happening back there, and you are more than fashionably late. You might want to go get ready to work your magic on the door.”

  “Ah, right. I’m up now.” Lily handed Felicity back to Mason. “Thanks Mason, that was a very pleasant experience, one I would love to repeat sometime.”

  “Sure thing, but only on special occasions.” He winked at Lily. She turned, patted Andrew on the arm, and trotted toward the group. The walkway seemed clear of zombies, so she could move hands free for a while.

  Andrew moved forward, Angelica extended, “Here you go Mason. Angelica is also a beauty. Her alignment is the best I’ve ever seen on something less sophisticated than a sniper rifle.”

  “Only the best women make it into my arsenal.” Mason pulled Tina out of her position on his back. “Just so you know, Tina is fine enough to make it. You’ve got a good one there, take good care of her and treat her right.”

  Andrew’s smile lit up his face, “I know, she’s the best.” He looked at Mason for a second then couldn’t help but ask, “So how many weapons are you caring there?”

  Mason held up a finger and waved it in Andrew’s face, “Gentlemen don’t kiss and tell.” With his other arm he raised his crossbow, he turned his head and shot a couple of zombies who were closing in on them.

  “Well, you can’t have too many more surprises in there. It’s not physically possible,” Andrew said, disappointed to be shut down again.

  Mason turned back around to face Andrew, “Are we talking physics now? Don’t you worry about it,” Mason reached up and squeezed Andrew’s face in his hand, “Stay close to me and I can protect you, you little cutie pie.”

  Andrew knocked his arm away, “Alright, fine, keep it to yourself.” He turned to the face the others, “Hey, anyone want to help us keep them from advancing?” He shouted down the bridge.

  Claire, Kyle, Seth, and Phillip started to trot their way.

  “Come on Mason, you should come take a break when they get here.” What Andrew didn’t say was that it was time some of the others took action. Almost everyone was capable, but right now everyone was tired. They needed to switch out to make sure no one got sloppy. When Mason didn’t respond immediately, Andrew pressed on, “I know you have your magic lamp arsenal, but even you will eventually run out of bullets and bolts. And since you just cleaned your swords, you know, maybe give all your ladies some time off.”

  Mason moved his head left and right as if weighing the options, “Alright, once they get here I’ll head back. You staying here or are you going to join me in loafing?”

  Andrew snorted, “I’m not going to sit around, but sure, I’ll head back with you.”

  Andrew high-fived their replacements as they reached the stairs. “Pretty easy going now. Don’t get cocky.”

  Seth grinned, “Us, cocky? What are you talking about? Cocky is right there beside you.”

  Mason took a bow and started toward the doors. Andrew watched him go, “Seriously guys just be careful. Things are looking easy, and you know what that means.”

  Claire nodded, “It means things are about to go wrong. We’ll be careful. Are you guys going to do cleanup?”

  Andrew looked at her, “What do you mean?”

  Phillip responded, “Cleanup crew. They are going to get rid of the remains so that the walk is clear while Lily gets us in.”

  Andrew nodded, “Seems appropriate to add more to the bonfire here.”

  Reaching into her bag, Claire retrieved some gloves, “Here Andrew, I’ll help you get some of these onto the pile. I don’t think that we need so many of us fighting here, it’s pretty well contained.”

  They heard a ruckus coming from the other end. Mason was standing on the circle with a dictatorial stance, apparently trying to order people around, “Remember everyone, we are back in the stone ages. Slavery is only natural. I will let you know when you can take a break.”

  They could see Paige standing on the edge. Her voice carried too as she scolded him for being so noisy, “If you can’t keep your mouth shut I will change my vote and you will be down here working with the rest of them.”

  After that, their discussion dropped to tones too low to be heard at the other end of the bridge. Claire laughed, then looked toward the door, “How do you think Lily is doing? It looks like a strong lock.”

  Seth took out the closest zombie, “It might take her a bit, but she’ll do it. That door isn’t as tough as some of the stuff she broke into in Portland. Whatever she did before this all happened,” he gestured at the creatures around them, “I’m glad she did because she has mad skills and some pretty awesome tools.”

  “Lily’s interesting, I’ll give her that,” Phillip said. “But you could say the same about most of the people here.”

  The others nodded. Then cheering went up from the door and they noticed someone trotting up to them. There was activity on the other end of the bridge.

  Seth greeted them with the news. “Come on guys, Lily got the doors open. We are going to do a sweep of the inside, but they want everyone on the other side of the door. We should stay together and all that.”

  Seth took out a couple more zombies closing in as the others turned to head down the bridge.

  Phillip stopped and turned, “Coming Seth?”

  “Yeah. Just going to get one more for an even ten today.” Seth was still on the other side of the stairs. The fire was still going strong, but it was not a problem as long as he stayed on the far north side while going up the stairs. Claire stayed behind while the others went back.

  “Screw this,” Seth said and rushed a zombie shambling across the driveway. Claire noticed another one coming around from the southern side of the bridge. “Seth! South side.” She ran down the stairs to intercept it.

  Seth brought his metal rode around, down, and through the head of his original target. He smiled at the sound and the way the creature folded at his feet. He felt something grab his shoulder. He quickly dropped and brought his foot around, knocking a zombie off of its feet. Claire plunged her weapon into its head.

  “Sloppy Seth, really sloppy. Now get up the stairs.”

  Seth didn’t argue. He dashed up the stairs with Claire right behind him.

  “Please don’t tell anyone about that,” he asked as they made their way across the bridge.

  “I won’t. You already get less respect for socializing with Karen,” Claire said and smiled at him. They were now jogging beside each other.

  “Sure she can be a real pill, but who here isn’t as often as not? She’s not as bad as all that.”

  “You don’t need to defend you or her to me.” Claire said looking forward.

  “True. Just so you know, I’m not picking sides. We need to work together, especially when we are at our worst. Abandonment is not an option.”

  “Pulling stupid stunts should be even further down the list,” she said throwing him a look out of the corner of her eye.

  “Yeah, alright, I’m really sorry. That was the stupidest thing I’ve done since Hood River.”

  “It sure was. Don’t do it again and we’ll be just fine.” Claire paused, “And for what it’s worth, thanks for helping keep things a little friendlier. I mean, apart from your inability to recognize zombies for what they are,” she saw him cringe out of the corner of her eye, “you are one of the easiest to get along with.”

  “What can I say? I was a waiter in my past life,” Seth smiled at her. A few second later and they reached the door.

  Kyle and Andrew were taking the front this time. Mason and Paige were standing furthest away from the door. They continued shooting anything that showed itself at the end of the stairs. They used their bows to minimize the noise; no reason to keep attracting shamblers from the grounds.

  “Alright, everyone listen up. Stay as quiet as
possible when we get in. Phillip and Dylan are going to stay at the doors. They will monitor the outside while the rest of us do a full sweep through the inside. Andrew has been here before, so he is leading this half,” Kyle made a motion toward people standing on the right side of the entry way, “in and to the right. I’m going to lead the other half of you in and straight through. We are going to clear this floor, then we will head up the stairs on the east and west ends of the building. Lily and Ben will stay on this floor while the rest of us head upstairs. Once those are clear, we will meet up in the lobby to start a sweep of the downstairs. Any questions?”

  Everyone shook their heads and they headed in. They piled into the museum trying to anticipate what would happen next.

  As they pressed into the room they were pleased to see it was already clear. Chairs, tables, and other items were on display around the room.

  “Oh, I love this game. Even better than Where’s Waldo,” Mason said from the crowd.

  “Shhh,” a coupe of people hissed.

  Kyle glared at all of them. He pointed to the right indicating it was time for Andrew’s team to split. As they headed out, Paige whispered, “Gift shop!”

  They turned and saw something dragging itself out from behind the desk. Ben picked up the cash register and dropped it on the creature’s head. It stopped.

  “Keep the change,” he muttered at the still corpse.

  A general groan went up for those around him. “What?” he asked.

  They continued to sweep through the floor, which took less than a minute. They were about to head upstairs when Lily said, “Wait, here everyone take one.” She handed out maps.

  Seth looked at her, “It’s not like this place is huge. I don’t think we need a map.”

  “It’s four floors,” she said giving him an annoyed look.

  “What?” was the resounding response. They opened up the brochure and saw she was right.

  “At least there will be plenty of room to split up once we get this cleared up. Anyone who needs personal space will have it. Like me,” Kyle said, “Thanks Lily. Now come on guys let’s get moving.”

  Lily nodded, then she and Ben headed to the entry with the gift shop. They were going to move the creature outside before it stunk up the place. Ben moved to help them while Dylan watched the activity outside.

  There were no undead roaming the upper floor, so the two crews headed to the lower floors. To their surprise, there were only a couple of zombies wondering around inside. The displays inside the museum were a very pleasant surprise. On one side of the floor under the entry way was a collection of Native American items, on the other side was an exhibit of Rodin. Several of them showed enthusiasm for these finds, and they were beginning to make plans for how they were going to spend their afternoon.

  “Focus people,” Kyle said. “We have a few offices and bathrooms. And no using the toilets until we establish that they work and that there are no creatures roaming anywhere else. In other words, just hold it for a little longer.”

  They encountered nothing else of note on that floor. Looking at their maps they saw that the way to the next floor was a hallway jutting off of the hall between Rodin and the Native American items. When they got there, a collective intake of breath was audible. The entire hall was glassed in, which meant they could see the zombies moving around outside. If they thought they had made progress getting rid of the menace, the sight made all of them realize just how many were still loose, far more than they had originally estimated. With less lighting inside, they cautiously made their way to the stairs, keeping movements as minimal as possible to avoid being seen.

  Once on the lower floor, they again split up and carefully looked around. Two small teams checked the bathrooms and a third team, much to their delight, found a kitchen area on the right side of the hall. Everyone began to converge in the kitchen. There was food that could still be recognized as food, which was an absolute delight to everyone present.

  Andrew spoke up, “Everyone take a bag of chips and one other food item, and a drink. Don’t forget we have people upstairs who deserve food too. Put all food in one of these bowls and we will carry it all upstairs. Carry your own drinks.”

  “Who’s going to clean up the two zombies in the other room,” Karen asked.

  Kyle looked at the group, “Any volunteers?”

  No one answered, they all wanted to eat. “Fine, I’ll do it.” Karen stepped forward. As much as she didn’t want to clean, and even though she was hungry, she did realize that this was more her area than anything else. She wasn’t much of a fighter, and she was no entertainer.

  “I’ll help you Karen,” Andrew said giving her a smile.

  “We will too,” Vanessa and Seth said.

  She flashed a smile at all of them. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

  “Sure thing,” “No problem,” “Pleased to be able to help.”

  Kyle, Ben, and Paige carried bowls filled with food. Seth waved as they headed upstairs, “You guys be careful now and we’ll see you upstairs.”

  Karen and her team were left to figure out how to get rid of the bodies. There were doors leading to the outside, but a few of the monsters were visible roaming outside. Again, glass was their enemy; however, the numbers were manageable. Four survivors should be able to easily eliminate the threat and dump the bodies over the rail.

  As the main crew reached the second floor, they were greeted by the first cleanup crew. They all laughed as Lily hailed them “Food!”

  Before anyone was allowed near the food, Kyle insisted on updating them on what little had happened. He told them where they had found zombies and who had stayed behind to cleanup. He also cautioned them about the glass hall and dinning area.

  Dylan put his hand up, “Hold on. We need to get cleaned up first. Are the bathrooms working?”

  “Don’t know yet,” Kyle replied. “Let’s try the bathrooms on the floor directly below us. Men’s bathroom on east, women’s on the west.”

  The genders split up and headed toward the two different staircases. As he was heading to the stairs Dylan stopped, “Wait. Where’s Mason?”

  They looked around, afraid of what they may find. There worst fears were confirmed: Mason was nowhere to be found.

  ~ Volume Two - O.M.S.I. ~

  Three Months Earlier

  Dylan opened the door for Karen, and then grabbed her arm as she tripped over the entryway.

  "Are you alright?" Concern creased his otherwise flawless face.

  Karen smiled up at him; it was all right if he thought she was a little clumsy. It was totally worth it to get him in her personal space. And that look of concern, how cute!

  "I'm fine. Thank you. Guess I shouldn't have worn these heels with so much dress." She flashed her 4-inch heeled platform shoes from under her tattered prom dress. Even with her massive heels, she was still only about 5 foot 7 inches. At 6 foot 2 inches Dylan towered over her.

  Dylan smiled at her and offered his arm. "Here you go, my damaged prom queen."

  Karen giggled as she took his arm. "I'm supposed to be Carrie."

  "I can't imagine you hurting a fly."

  "Neither could Carrie," she said lowering her face and looking at him from under her messy bangs.

  Dylan threw his head back as he laughed, "Like that you look more like The Grudge." Karen covered her mouth as she giggled. Dylan continued, "Who are you trying to fool? You’re no psychologically addled teenager looking for acceptance." They got in line to enter OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and enjoy the Halloween After Dark Brewfest. "You are a lovely physical therapist who is keeping an eye on one of her former patients."

  She playfully hit his arm, "Oh please, this is entirely for pleasure. No business tonight." Karen realized how that sounded and blushed furiously as Dylan looked at her with one eyebrow raised. "But I am glad to see you have made a full recovery. You showed those doctors something about determination."

  Dylan shrugged, "I’ve n
ever been very good at listening to doctors. If they say that I should do something, I’m far less likely to do it."

  Karen beamed at him, “Well, we will make sure not to do anything that could harm your arm tonight. Wouldn’t want to break it again so soon after it’s healed.”

  “Luckily, this is a party, not a war zone.” He turned from the Halloween decorations to give his date a look, “So long as you promise not to overwork me, everything should be fine.”

  Karen blushed and giggled, “I certainly promise to go easy on the dance floor.”

  They continued to chat while waiting to get to the front of the line. Couples and groups of adults surrounded them, all dressed up for Halloween, even if it was still a couple of weeks away. Their date had only been made earlier in the week, and she knew it must have taken Dylan a long time to work up the courage to ask. His focus over the last seven months had been on his recovery. Even though she’d been angling for the date and dropping hints about the OMSI event for over three weeks, he’d completely taken her by surprise when he asked. Despite having less than a week to prepare, Karen knew that her costume was one of the better ones. She had strategically applied blood, making sure that it didn’t mar her features.