They hugged. They stood like that, with their eyes closed, for a long time. It wasn’t until they felt Nuggets leaning into their legs that they broke their hug with a small laugh.
Instinctively, they both dropped to their knees and petted the dog. Nuggets loved the attention and let them know by licking their faces and generally slobbering all over them.
After several minutes, they stopped.
Sophie and Dean looked at each other.
Tears started forming in Sophie’s eyes again. “Dean, what are we going to do?”
“I really don’t know baby.” Dean said as he shook his head. “I was hoping we could find the cure here. But if Jamie couldn’t find it...”
Nuggets lay down and elicited a small whine. His tail wagged and made a ‘slap, slap, slap’ noise on the hardwood floor.
“Maybe we should just take the stuff that Jamie took...” Sophie’s eyes never left the dog as she said it.
Chapter Twenty-six
October 29, 8:00 a.m.
All was quiet at 423 River Oaks Road. The house stood near the back of a large plot. This is the house of Rafael and Amelia Munoz. Visitors walking through the front door would encounter an impressive wide-open foyer, flanked by stairs that lead to the second story. That second story had barely been used. It was reserved for the kids that Rafael and Amelia were planning to have.
Had planned to have...
Walk straight in and there are an open plan kitchen and living room. These rooms were dominated by stainless steel appliances, marble counter tops, and a massive flat screen tv. Turn left and there is a small hallway with a door. This leads to the master bedroom.
Amelia is standing on the other side of that door. Deadly still.
Behind her stands a bed, the sheets all awry and covered in blood.
That’s where the assault began.
A trail of blood led to the bathroom. There, lying half inside that bathroom, the man that had been the love of her life. Amelia did not remember him. Did not remember the marriage proposal at the family reunion, and all the tears of joy of that moment. She did not know the doting husband, the supportive mate, the gentle soul. She was not aware that he never, not once, tried to fight back.
The nanobots inside her brain have networked together to control her body. They use Amelia’s body as a tool to complete their programming, which is to find other entities, and to destroy any entity that is not transmitting.
Amelia lifted her arm slightly. Her hand touched the doorknob. The hive of nanobots controlling her do not notice that her pinky is hanging uselessly off the side of her hand, and that her ring finger is badly broken with the finger bone sticking through the skin.
She lifted her hand again. This time she hooked her thumb over the doorknob. She stood like that for several long moments. Then, her hand closed on the knob, the bone scratching the door slightly. Once again, Amelia’s body freezes. Until, slowly, her hand twisted. The doorknob turned. She pulled her hand towards herself, and the door opened.
She released the doorknob, stepped aside and shoved through the open door.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Shelley
October 29, 8:10 AM
Shelley awoke with a start. It was just getting light out, the sun not quite risen enough to brighten the room. Shelley lay in her cot and slowly started to stir when there was a ‘tap’ noise from Claire’s cot. This was the noise that had originally woken Shelley. She turned over in her cot and was about to speak when she saw Claire’s face.
Claire’s eyes were wide open, and she held a finger to her mouth to signal for silence. She then extended her arm and pointed up at the far window. Shelley’s eyes followed Claire’s finger. She was unable to stop the gasp from escaping her lips.
Somebody was standing outside the window!
No. Not somebody. Something.
The naked legs were a sickly pale color. She could see the shins, knees, and bottom half of the thighs of the zombie, which was standing almost against the school wall. It was eerie.
Shelley got out of her cot very slowly and signalled for Claire to do the same. The legs at the window did not move. As silently as possible, the two made their way to the classroom door, opened it, and stepped out into the hall. Both women let out their breaths.
“That’s a...”
“I know. We have to warn the others. But we have to be quiet.” Shelley whispered.
Claire nodded. The two women split up to wake the others. Shelley had just gotten to Ern and Nancy’s door when the next door down the hall opened. It was Keith. He instantly seemed to recognize that something was wrong. Shelley met him halfway and signalled that they needed to go upstairs, quietly. Keith nodded and went back to collect Bill.
Within five minutes the group had collected and made their way to the second floor. It took another couple of minutes to get the upstairs folks alerted. Everybody congregated in the hallway and Shelley explained what she’d seen.
Track suit girl was the first to speak up. “How did that thing get into the school grounds?”
Craig nodded. “I’m going to take a look.”
John stepped up to Craig before he could take a step though. He held his hand up. “Let’s see if we can spot it from up here. It will be less likely to spot us.” Craig nodded.
“Let me show you where we saw it standing.” Shelley added.
Craig nodded again. “Ok. The rest of you hang tight for a minute.”
A minute later, they crept up to the window directly above where Shelley had seen the zombie. Looking down, they could just make out a naked figure, standing about a foot away from the wall of the school. The zombie had its face pointed slightly down and to the left – as if trying to listen or concentrate. Shelley’s eyes widened when she realized that it would have likely seen them if the zombie had been looking to the right instead of to the left.
Just then a noise from somewhere distracted it. With a swift jerk, it turned its head to look over its shoulder. With another jerk, it rotated its body and started walking towards where it had heard the noise. It moved with a stiff gait, with its knees bent slightly. It’s upper torso in a slight crouch, with its shoulders hunched forward. It reminded Shelley of how a primate would move. It moved off towards the parking lot. As Shelley tracked its movement, she saw something else.
“Look” She pointed. Craig and John saw it instantly. John shook his head in disgust. Craig motioned, and they made their way to the back of the room, where the rest had gathered.
“It has moved off a-ways.” Craig told the group. “As for how it got in. The gate was left open.”
Track suit girl was first to respond. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
Shelley heard Nancy exhale sharply. She clearly disapproved of the use of foul language. Shelley could see the old lady bite her lip instead of saying something.
Joe’s reaction was to point at Bill.
“You should go out there and take care of it! You’re the army! Go grab your gun and shoot the damn thing!”
“What about the noise? You want to attract more of these things?” Emily asked angrily.
John walked back to the window and scanned for the zombie. His eyes narrowed. He looked for another moment and cursed as he turned back to the crowd. “Guys, I don’t see it anymore...”
Several people came over to look out the window. After a few moments, Ethan pointed. “I think I see something on the other side of that container. I just caught a glimpse of something white!”
“Let’s stay out of sight for now.” John said and gestured for people to get back.
People had moved to the back of the room, some standing against the far wall, while others took their places in available chairs. Shelley could sense the nervous energy. Ern had lowered himself into a chair and spoke up first. “Ok folks, we need a plan.”
Bill Moyers, who had hardly uttered a word since their arrival at the school, was the first to speak. “We’ve got other problems beside that
zombie.”
He fidgeted with his sling and looked uncomfortable as the rest of the group looked over at him. Shelley watched the young soldier struggle for a moment, until he met Craig’s eyes. Craig smiled and gave him an encouraging nod. Bill licked his lips and continued. “Our perimeter is compromised with that open gate. We should go close it. Also, this building is not secure enough. The windows... they are double pane but won’t be able to stand up to any real assault.” His voice tapered off as if he had run out of conviction and energy.
Craig responded first. “You’re right. Thank you, Bill.”
Shelley was thinking back to Craig’s drawings of the school. There was something he had written down that was important. She racked her brain. Then it came to her.
“I know! The shutters! The windows have those storm shutters.” Several group members walked to the window to investigate. Sure enough, the windows were equipped with aluminium hurricane shutters. Craig smacked his forehead. “Of course! Ah, why didn’t I think about that?!”
“Do we have them on all floors?” Joe Collins asked.
“We got storm shutters on all lower level and main level windows as well. The only ones that don’t have shutters are the ones in the gym, but those are over twenty feet up.” Craig confirmed.
Ern had inspected the one in the media room and asked for everybody’s attention.
“The storm shutters are electric, but you can also lower them manually. There is a box along the bottom. In the box is a crank.” To illustrate, he walked back over to the window, flipped the front cover off the box, and slowly moved the crank. The shutter outside started to lower.
Craig looked around at the gathered people. “Ok. Thanks Ern. There are a bunch of windows. So, how about we split up and do one each?”
“What about the noise though? Won’t the noise of lowering the shutters attract that thing? Or what if that thing sees us?” Rachel Collins had a good point.
“That’s true. Ok. We need to find it and, um... destroy it first. We’ll need to do it quietly.” Craig responded. “More importantly, we need to close that gate.”
Keith spoke up from the back of the group. “I’ll go.”
Craig looked past the turned heads at Keith. “Thanks Keith, but I think we should send more than one person out to do this.”
He looked around at the group. “I’m with you. Who else is going to help?”
John spoke up instantly. “Me.”
“I will.” This came from Jack.
Before Craig or Sarah could argue with their son, Ethan Collins volunteered as well.
“The hell you are!” Was Joe’s response. Sarah also piped up, telling Jack he was not going out there. The group started arguing amongst themselves at that point, and despite everybody still speaking in low tones, it started getting noisy.
“Bloody hell, stop it!” Emily’s angry comment cut through the noise. “You’re practically inviting the thing in here with your jawing.” That stunned the group into silence.
She continued. “Look, I have military training, so I’ll go with Keith and John. You blokes” –she pointed at Ethan and Jack– “are still kids. You got bollocks, but let your dads do this.”
“Now wait just a minute! I never said I’d go!” Joe was outraged.
Rachel gave him an ugly look. “Well, you’re not sending our son!”
Craig stepped in with hands raised. “Ok. Keith, John, Emily and I make four. Can we get one or two more volunteers please.”
“Yeah. I’ll go.” Track suit girl was standing near the classroom door, leaning against the wall. She said it as if she were offering to run down to the corner store for some milk.
“And me makes six.” Mel said. “John, you’re not going anywhere without me.” She stepped up to stand beside her husband and grabbed his left hand. The two exchanged a quick smile.
Craig nodded. “Ok, John. What are you thinking?” He invited the former soldier to speak.
John was ready. “We need to have somebody volunteer to be our lookout. From this floor, for a better field of view. How about you be the lookout?”
He pointed at Ethan, who immediately nodded his assent.
“We also need one person to man the door. Close immediately after we’re out and open when we’re back. “Jack, can you man the door for us?” Jack agreed right away.
“I want four of us to take out that thing. The other two close the gate.” John continued. “Mel and I have military experience. It’s been a while, but we can still kick ass.” He turned to Mel and they smiled at each other. “Count us in for zombie smashing.”
“We’ll take a couple of guns but should only use them as a last resort. Noise attracts them. So, we need to find some suitable weapons.”
After a short discussion, it was decided that Keith and Craig would join John and Mel, while Emily and track suit girl would go close the gate. Emily and Mel would carry a sidearm.
Joe had pulled the rest of the group out into the hall to organize for ‘shutter duty’, while John gave his team a quick tutorial on squad tactics. He used one of the tables and various classroom objects to show the team their path of approach, the spacing between squad members, and how they needed to respond if the zombie was discovered.
They all met in the hallway a couple of minutes later. Everybody was set to start when Craig put up his hand. “Sorry guys but I need to ask something.” He turned to track suit girl. “Hey. So, I think you’re the only person in this group of whom I do not know their name. I keep thinking of you as ‘track suit girl’ but would rather call you by your actual name...”
Shelley had to laugh. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one that had labeled her ‘track suit girl’.
The girl moved from foot to foot, her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “I’m Nat. Natalie. ... Call me Nat.” The girl blushed as she said this.
She really does have a pretty face. Especially when she’s blushing. Shelley felt for the girl, so stepped up to Nat and extended her hand. “I’m Shelley, Nat. Nice to meet you.” Nat took her proffered hand and shook.
One addition was made to the plan. Bill would join Jack at the door. He was armed. He would be shooting left-handed, but that didn’t sound like it would be an issue for the him.
Every team member had armed themselves a few minutes later. Emily and Mel had pistols in addition to their melee weapons. The group had an assortment of weapons ranging from a shovel and the long handle of a mop to short lengths of pipe, and a fire axe. Keith had his hammers.
The fear was palpable. John recognized this and delayed a few more minutes for some basic weapons training and taught them some hand signals so they could communicate quietly. Several minutes later, John figured that they were as ready as they were going to be. Everybody else got into their positions at the windows downstairs and on the main floor.
Craig looked at the gathered team and nodded at his son. “Jack...”
Jack pulled the lever that pulled up the sliding steel bar out of its secure position in the ground. John pushed on the center bar. Light poured into the school as six men and women quietly filed out of the door.
Chapter Twenty-eight
John
The sun had risen, and rays of light lit up the driveway and parking lot in front of the team. The sky was completely clear, a pale blue background to the browns of the trees and grass and the grey of the concrete driveway and parking lot. The team stood in the shadow of the school, the morning chill clinging to the shadow was slowly being eaten away by the encroaching sun.
The six people that had just stepped out into the open air did not notice any of these things though. Their minds were preoccupied with the mission at hand. And controlling their fear.
John and Mel stepped towards the storage container, which was the last known location of the zombie. They kept their steps light. All the training from special ops coming back to them, despite it having been years since either of them had donned the green and blue patch of the 75th Army Range
r Regiment. Slowly, the two made their way closer to the sea can and started slicing the pie – a tactic for movement, with the intent of opening up visibility around a corner or obstacle, without exposing yourself.
Kind of a silly exercise without guns. John tightened his grip on the shovel with his good hand. The custom-made prosthetic worked fine, but John still couldn’t trust the damn thing.
Keith and Craig hung back a little and positioned themselves to intercept, hammers and axe held at the ready. They held the shorter-range weapons that would be employed to destroy the zombie’s head. This was to be a classic bait, flank and dispose tactic.
As John and Mel moved towards their target position, John took note of his surroundings.
Eyes and ears, soldier.
It’s too damn quiet. No planes in the sky, vehicles on the road. No sound of tools, equipment, people. ... Nothing.
No wait. That’s not true. It’s just there at the edge of your hearing.
There it was. Definite sounds – hard to place what they were, but they were noises. The world wasn’t completely dead yet. Or was it just the dead moving around?
Never mind that soldier. Eyes. What do you see?
John saw that the army grunts had left a few things behind. The Humvee and the army transport truck could come in handy. They could probably move the entire group in that vehicle if they needed to. A good backup plan to the bus.
Then there was the sea can itself. It was one of those half length sea cans. John had no idea how they had gotten it into the school yard in the first place – but there it was. John wondered what kind of goodies were in there.
Focus soldier. Eyes. What do you see?
Other items in the parking lot included a gazebo canopy tent, the water tanks, and of course the school bus. Plenty of places for a zombie to hide...
Don’t lose your focus. You’re about to engage contact. Check your team.
Apocalypsis Immortuos | Book 1 | Syndrome Page 16