“If you’ll move these two pickups down the lane a bit, Brodie and I will start dragging bodies inside before I splash diesel around the first floor,” Sam said to JR. “This dry wood is a tinderbox. It’ll be nothing but ashes in twenty minutes.” When the bodies on and near the porch were laid inside, he followed Brodie’s directions out past the box truck until he located another body. He shuddered when he saw the man’s throat was slashed ear to ear. Sam thought it was no wonder the guard didn’t yell a warning.
Brodie spoke, “Sam, how about I ride the bike back to your place and meet you there.” He turned and walked six feet, then stopped and turned. “Mona, would you like to ride back on the bike with me?” She grinned widely at JR, then ran to place her hand in Brodie’s.”
Sam cut a section of bed sheet three feet square, put half a brick in the middle, then gathered the corners and tied the cloth tightly at the weight. The four corners were dipped in diesel, then the torch was laid aside. He used a three-quarters full five gallon can of diesel to splatter the fuel generously throughout the downstairs rooms.
JR smelled diesel fumes before Sam walked out the front door. He stood back from the opening, lit the torch, tossed it across the room, and then sprinted away from the house. They stood with anticipation. The fire started slowly but increased in size and intensity for five minutes until the downstairs was consumed in flames. They walked entwined to the truck they would take. One last look at the destruction of the old house where she and Mona were molested helped JR gain partial closure and relax, somewhat. Riley and his trashy friends had paid a terrible price for their evil acts. Smoke and flames roiled out every crack and cranny of the old paint starved structure. They entered the truck, sat with Smokey between them, and headed home. JR turned around in time to see the house collapse down on itself with a rush of sparks and smoke rising in the morning air. Tears collected in her eyes, and she knew she would need Sam close for quite some time to comfort and support her.
JR was silent during the twenty minute ride. Her left palm laid on Sam’s thigh, and she stared vaguely at the scenery. Smokey lay beside her with his head on her knee. Once again, her rage at being attacked and used harshly brought out her violent Bonny Parker like reaction. She had never entertained thoughts of vigilantism; hell, there was no need to. No one in her circle of acquaintances would commit such barbaric deeds. She’d never been a frail snowflake, but now her life was as if the pendulum had swung from one extreme to another. In the new world she’d been thrusted into, mavericks had grown bolder and to survive she had grown tougher and harder. At first her violent reactions frightened and repulsed her. After the Hooper encounter, she finally realized and accepted her reactions were strengths not weaknesses. She and Sam would need to be tough to survive and exist in their new environment. She squeezed Sam’s leg, closed her eyes, and thanked God he had stopped for her in Oklahoma.
Passing through Marion JR remembered a house where a large fenced vegetable garden was planted out back. The sweet corn should be ripe and ready to pick. They stopped and gathered a dozen and a half ears the deer hadn’t gotten to.
Before lunch time Sam and JR hauled the first confiscated load to the cabin with the Kubota. JR smirked as she asked, “How long does it take to walk a mile and a half and then ride five miles on a bright, sunlit day?”
“That depends on how many times you and I would stop for sex. I can’t imagine what’s taking them so long.” Sam grinned, then said, “I’m hungry after missing breakfast, but let’s haul another load, then we’ll stop for lunch whether they’re back or not.”
The pickup was unloaded, and all the booty was staged alongside the cabin. After eating lunch, Sam carried a scoped .22 caliber rifle when he walked a short way into the woods. Over a span of thirty minutes, JR heard five muted shots in the near distance. Minutes later Sam sauntered out of the timber with a smile on his face and four squirrels held by their tails. He and JR dressed the fox squirrels and had the carcasses on spits roasting over an open fire when they heard a motorcycle approaching from the north. She put two more ears of wet corn in the husk in the hot coals.
Sam grinned at JR. “I expected them to come from the west. North of here is where I believe Brodie lives.”
The dirt bike chugged into the clearing and Mona released her hold on Brodie’s waist to step away from the bike. Brodie walked toward the fire with Mona at his side. Close to his side.
“Food will be ready in about fifteen minutes,” JR said.
“It smells good. What is it? Mona asked.
“Squirrel,” JR said, “and sweet corn is roasting in the hot coals. Squirrel and rabbit pieces are also excellent rolled in flour, seared in a skillet, then sautéed with a little water and a lid on it. ”
Sam didn’t waste any time in prying. “What have you two been up to?”
“We went to my place to talk,” Brodie offered somewhat sheepishly.
Mona said, “I’m moving in with Eli temporarily to see if we’re compatible . . . then we’ll see if there’s a possibility for a long term relationship.”
Brodie was sober as he said, “She’s already acting like a wife; she scolded me because the cabin needs a good scrubbing. Hey, it’s a bachelor’s pad. We don’t do windows and such.” He turned to Mona, “But you’re free to put your mark on it.”
Brodie put his arm around Mona’s shoulders possessively. “It gets lonely out here month after month without anyone to talk to. So we’ll give it a go and see if we can adjust to living with each other.” He grinned. “Personally, I think we can.”
Mona looked up to Brodie. “I’m a city girl, so there’s a lot for me to learn about living in the backcountry. Are you going to be my teacher?”
Brodie grinned. “Oh yeah!”
JR addressed Mona, “Let me know when cleaning day is scheduled, and I’ll help.”
While the men talked hunting and such, Mona motioned for JR to enter the cabin with her. Mona searched her bag of drugs and found what she wanted. “I don’t want to take a chance of being impregnated by any of those animals who raped us. These are morning after pills the hospital furnished to rape victims. They’re effective for up to seventy-two hours after having intercourse.” She extended a small package to JR.
“Thank you. I dreaded the possibility of getting pregnant because of those multiple rapes. I can’t stand the thought of carrying a child of any of those sexual predators to birth.” She turned to a plastic water cooler and lowered a dipper into it. She took the pill with a drink, then offered the dipper to Mona. “In fact, I’m having serious second thoughts about even having Sam’s children in this violent world we’ve inherited. As living conditions are expected to get worse for each generation, do we really have the right to bring children into the world to face that?” Tears dribbled down her cheeks. “Sam and I will need to have several long discussions on that subject.”
Mona embraced JR. “I understand. I intend to have that same discussion with Eli. I’m nearing the age where I’ll soon not chance having children, so it’s an important subject for us to broach, discuss, and agree on. It will be an important factor in whether we can live together.”
Mona and Brodie left well before darkness settled. JR and Sam sat outside on the bench in the waning light before JR approached the subject of children. “Most of my life I longed for the time I would have a man I loved and would have children with. You are that man.” Sam sensed some underlying emotion in JR’s austere tone but held comments lying at the tip of his tongue. “These past weeks since we left Oklahoma have been plagued with danger. The zombies I can accept, handle, and live with. They were something totally unexpected, but our most perilous encounters have been with rogue humans. Like the Hoopers and others. We’ve spoken in the past about them and agreed those evil individuals will probably be an ongoing threat all our remaining lives. In view of that we need to discuss our future plans and decide what choices we’ll make.” She paused for a spell. “I’m rambling and talking around the poin
t we need to discuss. It’s difficult to bring up because it goes against one of my major goals in life.” JR took a deep breath and exhaled. She turned to face Sam. “Children are the issue. Our children specifically. Is it fair to our offspring to birth them into this shitty and dangerous world we’ve inherited? I question having children who will be exposed to the dangerous situations we’ve endured. I can’t imagine my reaction to having a daughter raped and beaten like the Hoopers treated me and Mona. I would go completely apeshit and retaliate viciously. Have you given any thought to this?”
“Actually I brushed against the thought but not in depth. I do see your point and share your concern. Frankly I’ll need some time to come to grips with this from a new point of view. I just assumed we would sometime soon have a child. But your concern is valid. Give me a few days to think this through. We grew up with the knowledge of conditions continuing to improve for our offspring because they always have from one generation to another. But that was mainly due to advances in technology. I don’t believe mankind’s intelligence level has changed over the centuries or advances in true underlying intelligence would have done away with the animals like the Hoopers and others. Today’s environment is seriously impacted by the loss of the fruits of technological advances. In fact, when the manufactured goods and food items we still have are expended our lives will become exponentially more difficult year after year—I promise to think on the subject of children and follow up with you soon. Immediately I think of pros and cons, but that’s straddling the fence and not making a decision.”
Several days passed while JR struggled with her treatment at the hands of Riley Hooper. Frightful nightmares at night were the worst, and she was thankful to waken in Sam’s tender embrace. She and Sam stayed close and talked about her abduction and treatment daily. Early one morning they drove to Kalispell for materials to build a meat smoker and to find packages of wood chips for their initial smoking attempts. While there, Sam decided to also load hickory base and wall cabinets for their kitchen area onto the trailer to save them from making a separate trip later. Fuel was still available if they searched for it, but soon it would become scarce and eventually become unattainable. Sam decided to build his own storage racks for lumber and stock up ahead of the best materials being taken or wantonly destroyed as some had already been.
After leaving the building supply store, they searched out a residential area to plunder. Turning a corner onto a street in an above average looking neighborhood, they witnessed two young people being chased by three undead monsters. They stopped two hundred feet away and each grabbed a sniper rifle.
The zombies caught the couple as they reached a green SUV they appeared to be heading for earnestly. The young man tried to fend a zombie off using a shotgun as a club, and the woman threw a handgun at one of the zombies grabbing at her. The couple were bitten and dragged to the ground before JR and Sam could intervene. JR and Sam shot all five zombies after the new victims turned and stood slobbering among their attackers.
JR looked to the houses on their left and saw several large cloth bags and cardboard boxes stuffed full at the front doors of four houses. The door of the next house to the left stood open, but there was no sign of claimed items. She and Sam cautiously approached that house first.
Sam examined the door. It had been forced open. A crowbar lay nearby on the ground. The vinyl siding beside the door had been blasted with shotgun pellets about chest high. “Two of the original zombies we shot were missing their stomach and chest areas. The young couple must not have been aware of using head shots. I’m guessing their guns were out of ammunition, so he used the shotgun as a club, and that’s likely the reason she threw her handgun at the zombies attacking her. They must have run out of ammo and couldn’t reload while being chased.”
They turned and walked to the next house where bags and boxes sat. The harvested booty was mostly canned and boxed foods with some baby formula powder along with other household goods. She pointed and exclaimed, “They must have had a baby! I wonder—"
At the last of the four houses with items stacked out front, they stood opposite a green Dodge SUV where the five undead lay. The only car nearby. They approached the car to look inside and stared in awe.
A small, dark haired male child about two or three years old lay asleep in the back seat. In the front passenger seat laid an infant maybe six months old. JR met Sam’s eyes and said, “The decision of whether to have children to raise has just been made for us.”
-THE END-
I hope you have enjoyed my second zombie apocalypse tale “Running to Escape”.
Robert Schobernd
About Robert Schobernd
Hi, I publish my writing as Robert Schobernd, but my family members and friends know me as Bob or Bud. My wife and I have three children, five grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. When I'm not writing, we share the work that an extensively landscaped yard requires. Our home is in the United States northeast of St. Louis, Missouri.
Currently I have ten novels published at Amazon. com and Smashwords.com. All are in the crime or horror categories. Type my name in a book retailer’s search box and visit my book page.
A favor please, will you please write a brief review of Running to Escape and post it at your favorite book retailer. This is my only form of advertisement.
Thank you,Robert Schobernd
Other Books by Robert Schobernd
Outnumbered Volumes 1 thru 6
A Zombie Apocalypse Thriller/Horror Story
59 Hours
A Short, Dark Thriller/Horror Story
Three books in the Irrevocable Change Trilogy
The Evolution of An Assassin
Book one – Reverse Metamorphosis
Book two – The Assassin Evolves
Book Three – The Devil’s Homecoming
*****
A Carter A. Johnson Thriller
The Blonde Heiress
Carter A. Johnson & Kate Menke Thrillers
The Dogtrot Murder
Cape Abigail
The Three Monkeys
Acceptance First: Revenge Second
*****
Running To Escape: A Sam & JR Zombie Thriller Page 20