“Well—the way I see it is that this country will most likely fall and even if it was restored what would be the harm in becoming rich now while we have the chance?”
“If it did fall, I mean—those damn zombies are so widespread and hard to kill that I don’t even think that this country has a military anymore to kill them off and the money would still come in handy in other countries.” I stated as I only half glanced his way.
“Yeah—that is if the zombies don’t take over the entire fucking world!” Noah said as he stuffed so much money into his pants that they started to fall off.
“Well…hurry up, I don’t like to just be standing around off guard like this—zombies could be anywhere!” My dad said as he turned to shake his head.
“You know what’s fucked up dude?” Noah asked turning to me with a grin on his face.
“What’s that?” I asked as I continued gathering wads of cash and putting them inside my bag.
“It’s the fact that there’s a bank next door to a damn gun store—I mean, what kind of idiot plans out shit like that?” Noah answered with a chuckle.
“Who knows—the world’s full of half-wits and those half-wits have just seemingly gotten smarter as zombies.” I answered with a laugh.
We gathered more money—all we could carry and then we started for the front door, that’s when suddenly hundreds of zombies appeared outside the glass front doors of the bank; the glass shattered and they started swarming in, we opened fire on them and had to fall back toward the back where we had come in from the roof. Dozens fell to our gunfire, but got right back up, we were running for the stairs to head back up to the roof when Christina shouted to alert us—a zombie that looked like it had once been a security guard was hobbling out of a side door near the stairs. Angie blew its head off and its body fell back against the wall and made a bloody smudge on the wallpaper. I led the way back up the stairs with Angie behind me and the others behind her, Doug and my dad were in last still shooting at the zombies trying to make sure that they didn’t catch up or get too close. We arrived on the second floor and we only had one more flight of stairs to climb then we would be back on the roof, that’s when arms covered with bloody sores and rotting flesh suddenly busted through a door near the stairs and grabbed at several members of the group who jumped back away from them.
My dad tossed a grenade down at the bottom of the stairs and it exploded shaking the very foundation of the building, the zombies could still be seen coming up the stairs—many were on fire; the arms were desperately reaching for us as we passed the door and went up the stairs and after the others had went up Jennifer opened fire on the arms with her AK-74 causing them to fall off and gush blood, the zombies on the other side screamed with rage. Once everyone was on the roof, I shut and bolted the door and then I grabbed a garden hose that was up there rolled in a coil and tied it around the door handle to try to secure it.
“Now what the hell are we supposed to do?” Noah asked in a bewildered tone as he fumbled around in his pockets for more shotgun shells.
“I can’t believe that even a grenade didn’t put them down!” My dad stated in a voice full of disbelief.
“Those things are getting stronger; it seems like the farther we get from Oklahoma City the stronger they get…I’m starting to think that maybe the hospital there wasn’t the only place where they first surfaced…” I stated scratching my chin.
“Yeah…that has crossed my mind as well…it just seems that there are far too many of these things to have just come from one place…” Noah answered in agreement.
“I agree…but where can we possibly go where there won’t be zombies?”
“I mean—we went all the way to Hawaii just a few years ago and look at how that turned out; we’ve lost both Brian and Christy—not to mention Leanna, John and Kaylee…” Doug said in a melancholy tone of voice.
“We’re gonna have to travel on foot until we find a suitable vehicle so I hope everyone is prepared.” I stated as I grasped my M16 tightly.
I looked down at the ground below, there weren’t any zombies around and there was a ladder nearby, so we all climbed down and headed for the freeway going north. After a while of walking, our feet started to hurt so we stopped beside the highway to rest.
“I’m going to build a fire—it’s getting kind of cold.” Noah said shivering as Christina clung to him with their infant son Jude tightly in her arms.
He gathered dry grass and twigs and got a fire going in a matter of minutes, I was cleaning my M16 and Angie was feeding Remy as well as Mace; the sun was setting and the moon was full and bright.
“I hope that none of those damned zombies come around here.” Jason stated as he buried himself in his sleeping bag.
“I wonder if Maine will still be zombie free by the time we get there.” Christina stated as she sat before the small fire with Noah with the rest of us.
“That we’ll just have to find out when we get there.” I answered as I stared down into the flickering flames.
“I’m still wondering what we are going to do with not having a vehicle…” My dad stated as he munched on what appeared to be beef jerky.
“Hopefully we’ll find something soon.” Jennifer answered as she applied bandages to her wounds.
Several people stood watch that night while the rest of us slept fitfully in the damp grass next to the highway, the next morning just about everyone was awake and chilled to the bone; it was foggy and there didn’t seem to be any zombies around—there was however a terrible stench in the air.
“Yuck—smells like rotting flesh!” My mom stated as she used her jacket to cover her nose.
We started walking down the freeway heading north and around 10 am we came to a wrecked semi—the kind that had a long narrow flat trailer that was used for hauling logs and I checked the driver; he was long dead and already in the late stages of decomposing, I tossed the maggot-ridden corpse out of the driver’s seat and cleaned it up a bit; the cab looked like it could fit a maximum of four or five people, plus it took a person who knew how to drive a semi to drive it and I had no experience. Doug stepped up and said that he thought he could drive it so we all got on board, a few rode up front in the cab while the rest of us rode on the trailer in the back; the tank was just about empty and we knew that we would have to find a station with diesel fuel soon. We started out and managed to make it to a little place called White Plains, Kentucky, there we stopped at a Texaco station and Doug and Noah worked on refueling our truck by attaching the hoses from a nearby abandoned fuel truck to the tanks in the ground near the pumps; after some effort they were able to get the power up and working to where the pumps would work and they refueled our truck while some waited on the trailer—some of us went into the store to look around. Angie had to stay and change our daughters; Christina had to do the same with Jude, so Subotai and I checked around inside. The isles were littered with the decaying bodies of victims as well as others who had become zombies, I took my gas mask out of my pack and put it on over my face—the smells were terrible and what little heat the cold winter sun was throwing wasn’t making it any better.
“This place is a tomb; let’s go see if they’re done pumping the gas.” I said taking the lead.
Subotai started to follow when suddenly we heard a snarling sound, there was a female zombie coming out from behind a shelf of animal crackers—I raised my M16 and fired three rounds into its head and it fell dead as we continued outside and over to where the others were waiting.
“What happened in there honey?” Angie asked with concern in her voice.
“It’s alright sweetheart—it was just a zombie, kind of startled us, but we killed it.” I answered wrapping my left arm around her shoulders.
“The fuel is all pumped; I suggest we move on, I do not like those sounds coming from those woods and that neighborhood over there.” My dad stated with worry as he ga
zed behind us at the nearby woods.
We all got back either inside the truck or on the trailer and Doug pulled out of the station, we went down the road a little ways and we could see the neighborhood better where the noises had been coming from; there was a mass of zombies—several were eating a corpse right in the center of the street, Doug gunned it and ran them over causing us to feel the bump as the truck’s wheels crushed them. That’s when the road suddenly became overrun with zombies, I stood up and opened fire with my M16, Noah with his shotgun—a zombie tried reaching for Angie but she blew its head off at close range with her magnum. Remy and Mace were both screaming in fear at the sounds of the zombies as well as the gunfire, Angie covered their ears and tried to keep them out of range; we weren’t getting anywhere killing the zombies off that were now surrounding the truck, Doug put his foot to the pedal and we sped away from the zombies—them still chasing after us.
“Stupid bastards!” I shouted still shooting at them.
“Did anyone get bitten?” I asked sitting back down.
“No, we’re all okay…luckily.” Jennifer answered as she wiped the blood and other bodily matter from her skin.
Angie was doing her best to get Remy and Mace back to sleep, I put my arm around her and kissed her and then we snuggled close; Christina was also trying to get Jude to go to sleep. Before long, we came to a big parking lot and seen that it was empty which was surprising; there were several big stores nearby that looked like both department stores and electronics stores as well as a hair salon.
“Maybe we could find something useful inside these stores—it might be our only chance to get supplies.” I stated as I stood up on the trailer.
Everyone got out with their guns ready and Angie and I along with Noah and Christina led the way through the parking lot and up to the doors to the electronics store; we passed a corpse that had been partially eaten away, flies were buzzing around the exposed intestines and we turned our heads, covered our noses and walked on.
“Alright, everyone don’t spread too far out—we need to be able to stick together—if we get separated and meet up with zombies in there we’ll be in some nice trouble, so try to stick together.” I instructed as I got my weapons ready and made sure they were loaded.
I pushed the glass doors open and we were greeted by darkness.
“Damn…I wonder where the light switches are.” Noah stated as he strained to see through the darkness.
“I don’t know—usually these places have a little security room that has the power switches and all that good stuff, usually.” I answered as I took out a small flashlight and turned it on.
“But how the hell are we going to find a security room when it’s pitch dark in here?” Alex asked in an annoyed tone as she bumped into a display knocking a bunch of objects to the floor with a loud clatter.
“It can’t be too far from the front of the place—there should be flashlights and batteries in the hardware isle.” I answered pointing toward the isle that looked to be the hardware.
We all spread out and started looking for flashlights, we were able to find six of them that we could use and soon after Noah and Christina were able to find the security room and turn the power on; Doug flipped the switch and the lights came on, they were dim but we were able to take our first look around the place. The entire area was rather a mess, bodies of people who had apparently died inside the store were in the isles and the air was foul—Christina and Noah were checking an isle near the computer section when they came across what looked like a woman bent over a shopping cart; she was wearing a dark blue dress with faded flowers and it was ragged and torn in places, her head was covered with frizzy hair and they could not see her face. Noah walked closer to examine her when she suddenly started moving, turned around and looked at them; to Noah and Christina’s horror, it was a zombie—the flesh was peeling off of her face and you could see her exposed cheekbones, they also noticed the corpse of an infant in the shopping cart—which had probably been this woman’s child before she had turned and devoured it. Noah cocked his shotgun and stuck it into the female zombies’ mouth and pulled the trigger blowing her head into a thousand tiny pieces, her rotting body fell to the floor and oozed a good-sized puddle of blood; I heard the shot and went over to see what had happened, Angie at my side.
“Damn, that’s a shame…” I stated as I noticed the corpse of the infant.
“Chaz!” Subotai shouted drawing my attention.
“Yeah?” I asked as I walked toward him.
“I found a GPS—it works as an electronic road map…it should help us with directions.” He stated with a grin.
“Yeah, I know what a GPS does—that’s good; we’ll install it into the cab of our truck when we get ready to leave.” I stated as I patted his shoulder and turned back toward Angie.
“Is there anything else we need from here?” Noah asked as he and Christina came up to us.
“Not really…all this kind of store sells is televisions, DVD players, computers, video games, compact discs, and whatnot.” I answered as I gazed around at the various merchandise.
“I’m going to take along this laptop, maybe I can find out some info if I can get it to work.” Subotai said grabbing one off the shelf.
“Go ahead—you’re good with electronics.” I answered glancing at him briefly.
“This place is a treasure trove of pre-zombie junk in my opinion.” Doug answered with a scowl as he and Roxanna walked past me.
“Maybe to technophobes like yourself.” I answered glaring after him as I grabbed a few Heavy Metal CD’s and put them into my pack along with a portal Discman with headphones.
“How is everyone’s ammo supply?” I asked turning to look at each member of my group.
“I still have enough for a while anyway.” Noah answered as he checked his ammo supplies in his gear.
Christina had enough as did everyone else, so we left the store and went back to our truck; Doug and my dad worked on installing the GPS inside the cab of the truck while Subotai fiddled with his laptop. I was sitting beside of Angie with my arm around her; we were kissing and playing with each other’s tongues. Noah and Christina were near the end of the trailer looking out at the interstate, the wind was picking up and the cold biting air drove everyone to huddle together; the sky was getting dark and before long, snow flurries started coming down. We were on our way further north now and the snow was getting heavier, I held Angie tight in my arms and she held Remy and Mace securely under their blankets where they were warm.
“Damn…I’m freezing my balls off out here!” Noah said his teeth chattering.
“We can’t go on like this…this isn’t good for any of us!” I stated shivering badly.
Roxanna opened the rear cab window and reported that we would soon be crossing the state line and going into West Virginia and the first town would be Huntington; we stopped at a station that was near the freeway and decided to change trucks. There was a Ryder truck sitting under the canopy of the station—apparently it was refueling when all of its passengers had been eaten alive as their bodies were sprawled out in the snow in pools of now dry blood, I checked the cab of the Ryder truck; it had a CB radio as well as a cellular phone. Noah rose up the sliding door in the rear of the truck looking to see what was inside. There were piles of furniture as well as many boxes and there was a light bulb on the ceiling that worked, so we decided that most of us would ride back there where it would be comfortable while a few rode in the cab; I took the task of driving this time and with a welding torch that was on a fire truck that just happened to be nearby, Noah cut a small hole in the outer metal before knocking out that section of wood that was on the inside walls of the trailer so the people riding in the back could breath as well as converse with the ones in the cab.
I got into the driver’s seat and started the engine, I examined the fuel gauge and seen that it had been completely f
illed up; Angie climbed in next to me with our daughters in her arms and Noah stuck his head through the hole behind us and reported that everyone was ready to go so I put the truck into gear and pulled out onto the ramp leading back up to the interstate. We arrived in the city of Charleston the next day and we stopped to look and see if the supermarket we were now parked in front of had any food supplies because we were running low—I led the way into the store, Angie was a ways behind and she hadn’t had been too talkative even to me that morning and I was wondering what was wrong. She walked past me as I had to stop and tie the laces of my combat boots, I shrugged and followed—we entered the store and everyone spread out; I couldn’t stop wondering so I went up to where Angie was standing and I asked her what was wrong.
“I-I just…I don’t know…I need some time alone to think.” She answered walking off.
“I hope you’re okay…” I stated walking the opposite direction.
“What’s wrong?” Noah asked as he noticed my face.
Jennifer joined him in wondering what had happened, I told them and they even seemed confused; after several minutes of it eating away at me I decided that the only thing to do was to find Angie and try to talk to her, so I left where I was and searched for her but after several minutes passed with no sign of her I didn’t find her anywhere in the store—I was just about to go back when I saw Angie standing out near our truck, she was just standing there with the wind blowing through her hair. I walked up behind her and put my arms around her, I had noticed that something seemed to be bothering her and she seemed to be calm now that we were alone and together.
“Chaz…I’m sorry baby…I was just thinking back at all the things that have went wrong in my life—my mom doing what she done and everything else…” Angie stated in a distant tone.
“It’s okay baby, I’m here for you.” I answered in a calming voice as I ran my fingers through her hair.
“Chaz…you were wondering about what was wrong…” Angie said turning to look at me.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 10