Fight 4 Us (Book 11): Access

by Grenda, Brian

  “We need a new place to stay. I can’t stand the thought of living so close to Chelsea and her family,” says Sam.

  “We have a couple empty houses left in here. Have Brody show you to one,” I reply to Sam.

  “Thank you Ryan,” replies Sam and Sam gives me a hug.

  I hug Sam back and say, “You are welcome.”

  Sam breaks from my hug and says, “It’s going to be tough without my sister.”

  “Losing someone you love is always tough, but you aren’t alone. You are a member of our Citrus Oaks Brotherhood,” I reply to Sam.

  “Thank you,” replies Sam with a smile.

  BANG! BOOM!

  Gunfire is heard at the main entrance of Citrus Oaks.

  I excuse myself from Sam and start running down the street. I see guards at the closed West entrance of Citrus Oaks, and I hear more gunfire and commotion coming from our main entrance.

  I run by Phil’s house, the Armory house, Buck’s house, my house, Bobby G’s house, and then I see Brody and several armed guards shooting around the outside of our walls around the main entrance gate.

  “What the hell is going on?” I shout to Brody as I run to the main entrance.

  “Zombies! A big ass group of zombies!” shouts Brody.

  BANG! BOOM! SCHHWAFF!

  Bullets, shells, and arrows fly through the air and kill several zombies that are approaching our walls.

  I run up the platform steps and stand at the top of the platform that Brody is on. I see hundreds of zombies along our main entrance walls and front gate of Citrus Oaks.

  “Where the hell did all these come from?” I shout.

  “Probably from the fallen tree,” answers Brody.

  I look down at the zombies and shout, “Will the walls and gate hold?”

  “For now, but I don’t know for how long with all these zombies!” shouts Brody.

  “We need to mow them down and get them away from here,” I say to Brody.

  I pick up my radio and call for Phil. Phil doesn’t answer, and I remember that his radio was off.

  “Secure the walls and entrance, don’t let anything in or out!” I shout.

  “Yes sir!” shouts Brody.

  I run away from the entrance and knock on Shaun’s front door.

  KNOCK! KNOCK!

  Lisa answers the door and asks, “What do you want Ryan?”

  “I want you and Shaun to help protect the front gate. There’s a shitload of zombies there and they could knock the front gate down,” I answer Lisa.

  “You serious?” ask Lisa.

  “Yes, get Shaun and go to the front gate right now,” I answer Lisa.

  I run away from Shaun’s front door, unclip my radio, and say into my radio, “I need all able bodies to the front gate now. Bring your weapons and be ready to kill some zombies.”

  I enter my house and shout, “Lauren! Where are you?”

  Lauren exits from our master bedroom and answers, “Here.”

  “Take your bow and arrows and get to the front gate. There is a shitload of zombies there,” I say to Lauren.

  Lauren goes into our master bedroom closet, gets her bow and quiver that is filled with arrows.

  I exit my house and run over to Matt’s house and tell him to get to the front gate. After some convincing, Matt goes to the front entrance and I run down towards Phil’s house.

  “Hey! It’s not safe at the main entrance! You’ll have to go another way to your house!” I shout to Sam and Kiersten who are still in our cemetery.

  Sam and Kiersten run over to me as I’m standing in Phil’s driveway.

  “Those zombies that were behind the tree might be at our front gate now,” I say to Sam and Kiersten.

  Phil exits his house and asks, “What’s going on?”

  “Security problem at the front gate. A shitload of zombies are there,” I answer Phil.

  “Should I take Betty out?” asks Phil.

  “Who?” I ask.

  “My SUV with the plow on it,” answers Phil.

  “Maybe, but when did you start calling your SUV Betty?” I ask Phil.

  “We’ll go over the closed entrance and sneak back home. Hopefully we can get Andre’s speakers to attract some of the zombies away from here,” says Sam.

  “You sure?” I ask.

  “Yeah, it should work,” answers Sam.

  Sam and Kiersten run towards the closed West entrance. I shout to the guards on the platform, “Go with them and protect them!”

  Sam, Kiersten, and the four armed guards hop over the walls of the closed West entrance and make their way back to Jerri-Lynn’s house.

  “I’ll meet you at the entrance,” says Phil to me and then Phil runs into his house.

  I run down to Jon’s house and tell Jon about the craziness at our main entrance. While talking with Jon on Jon’s front porch, Darlene and Jaws Junior come over and ask what is going on.

  “We could use your help at the main entrance. There is a big group of zombies there now,” I say to Jaws Junior and Darlene.

  Jaws Junior and Darlene go into their house and get their weapons and gear and Jon does the same.

  My adrenaline is pumping, and I feel a huge sense of urgency to get back to the main entrance. I sprint back to my house and grab my rifle, samurai sword, and other gear.

  I exit my house and see Phil drive past my house in Betty and he has Jon, Jaws Junior, and Darlene with him.

  Bullets, shells, and arrows continue to fly in the air and take out more and more zombies. I hear and see our guards and residents of Citrus Oaks shooting the zombies that remain on the outside of our walls and entrance gate.

  “How we looking?” I ask as I run to our main entrance and over to Brody.

  “We are taking them down, but there are way too many of them,” answers Brody.

  “I’m getting low on ammo!” shouts an armed guard.

  “I’m out of arrows!” shouts Lisa as she fires her last arrow from the raised platform.

  The main entrance gate of Citrus Oaks is shaking violently, and I start to worry about the structural integrity as the zombies keep coming towards the walls and gate.

  “Any sign of Kiersten or Sam?” I shout.

  Brody looks through his binoculars and he sees Sam, Kiersten, and the four guards make it to Jerri-Lynn’s house.

  “They just made it home!” shouts Brody.

  “We gotta do something about the gate!” shouts Matt.

  Shaun aims his assault rifle at a zombie that is near the main entrance gate and pulls the trigger.

  BOOM!

  A huge explosion goes off, zombie body parts fly into the air, zombies are on fire, and the main entrance gate of Citrus Oaks detaches partially from the cinderblock walls.

  “What the hell was that?” shouts Phil.

  Shaun looks in disbelief at what just happened to the zombies and shouts, “I think it was from me!”

  I see that the main entrance gate of Citrus Oaks is barely holding on and I shout, “Everyone fall back! The gate is coming down!”

  Lauren, Lisa, Matt, Jaws Junior, and Darlene move behind me.

  Phil gets into Betty and shouts, “Everyone that can fit, get in!”

  The main entrance gate detaches from the cinderblock wall, and then falls onto the street.

  Loud music is heard from across the street and some of the zombies are attracted to the music, but more of the remaining zombies start to enter Citrus Oaks.

  Phil starts up Betty and shouts, “Move!”

  I jump out of the street and Phil speeds into the pile of remaining zombies with Betty and his front end plow.

  As Phil drives directly into the zombie horde, he destroys a large chunk of the zombies, but some zombies get by Betty and enter Citrus Oaks.

  I roll away from the approaching zombies and take out a zombie with a swing from my katana.

  Shaun aims his assault rifle at several zombies but fears that his bullet may cause another huge explosion, so he aims his rif
le at another group of zombies outside of Citrus Oaks that were following Andre’s truck and fires a shot into that crowd of zombies.

  BOOM!

  Another huge explosion goes off from Shaun’s bullet.

  BANG!

  BANG!

  Jon and Matt each take out a zombie.

  Lisa runs away from the approaching zombies.

  I see a zombie going after Lisa, and I sprint towards Lisa and the zombie.

  Phil makes a pass at the front of Citrus Oaks and obliterates a large portion of the remaining zombie horde.

  Lisa is running back to her house, as she is running from the approaching male zombie she doesn’t see the female zombie to her right.

  SLICE!

  I slice off the top half of the male zombie’s head that was going after Lisa, but the female zombie comes up on Lisa’s right side and lunges towards Lisa’s right shoulder.

  Lisa and the female zombie fall to the ground. The female zombie is aggressively trying to bite and scratch Lisa, but Lisa is doing her best to keep the female zombie from ripping into her flesh.

  Lisa screams in terror and shouts, “Help someone!” SHICK!

  I stab my katana in the back of the female zombie’s head and the female zombie goes limp and Lisa is able to push the female zombie onto the street.

  “Did she get you?” I ask Lisa.

  I help Lisa up from the street and Lisa checks her arms and neck. “I don’t think so,” answers Lisa.

  Phil drives into Citrus Oaks.

  BANG!

  Jon kills the last zombie that was near the main entrance of Citrus Oaks with his shield.

  Shaun runs over to me and Lisa and asks Lisa, “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. Ryan saved me,” answers Lisa.

  Shaun and Lisa hug.

  I see that Phil drove back into Citrus Oaks and Citrus Oaks is safe now.

  “Go help the guards around Jerri-Lynn’s house,” says Phil to Brody as Phil exits from Betty.

  Brody nods his head to Phil and Brody takes a couple guards across the street to kill the remaining couple of zombies.

  “We gotta get this gate back up,” says Matt.

  “The hinge is busted out though,” replies Jon.

  “We have a bunch of hinges here, we should be able to fix it easily,” says Matt.

  Matt, Jon, Jaws Junior, Darlene, and two guards put the Citrus Oaks main entrance gate back up and work on repairing it.

  I see Lauren and Phil walk over towards me, Shaun, and Lisa.

  “Are you okay?” I ask Lauren.

  “I’m good, how about you?” answers Lauren.

  “I’m good,” says Phil.

  I smile at Phil and say, “I think we are all okay, but what the hell was up with the explosions out there?”

  Phil looks at Shaun.

  Shaun answers, “I think I made the explosions out there.”

  “How?” asks Lisa.

  “I’m not sure really. I just fired a couple shots from my rifle and the zombies kept exploding.

  Phil hits the magazine release from Shaun’s assault rifle and looks at the rounds inside Shaun’s rifle magazine.

  “You loaded the ER’s from the Ghosts,” says Phil.

  “What are those?” asks Lisa.

  “Explosive rounds,” answers Shaun with a tone like he just figured out what ER stood for.

  “Damn bro, you could have killed us,” I say to Shaun.

  “Sorry about that, I guess I loaded the wrong magazine during all the craziness,” replies Shaun.

  “Did you even know what those bullets would do?” asks Lisa to Shaun.

  “Yeah, I knew,” answers Shaun with an unconvincing tone.

  “Sure you did, but I’m just glad you didn’t kill any of us,” says Phil.

  “I think with a couple tweaks we can make this entrance stronger than ever,” says Jaws Junior as he looks at the partially secured Citrus Oaks main entrance gate.

  “What do you have in mind?” asks Matt.

  “Let’s get those bolts and hinges, and see what we can do here,” answers Jaws Junior.

  Matt, Jon, Jaws Junior, and Darlene go find the supplies to fix the main entrance gate.

  The music from Andre’s truck that was playing across the street turns off. Brody talks with Kiersten and Sam at Jerri-Lynn’s house.

  “We are moving into your neighborhood,” says Kiersten to Brody.

  “Oh yeah? Does Ryan know that?” asks Brody.

  “He’s the one who said it was okay,” answers Kiersten.

  “Great, when are you moving in?” asks Brody.

  “Tonight or tomorrow,” answers Kiersten.

  Sam walks over and says to Brody, “You are to show us which house we can have.”

  “Will do,” replies Brody.

  “Let’s go get our stuff ready,” says Sam to Kiersten.

  Andre drives his truck into Jerri-Lynn’s driveway and then exits from his truck.

  “Good job with the music,” says Brody to Andre.

  “Thanks, good job with clearing out the dead,” replies Andre.

  “Are there anymore zombies roaming around here?” asks Brody to Andre.

  “I didn’t see any, but this group of zombies was the big ass group that was behind the tree,” answers Andre.

  “How do you know?” asks Brody.

  “Because I drove by that tree in the street and all those zombies are not behind the tree anymore,” answers Andre.

  “Any sign of that punk ass Chase?” asks Brody to Andre.

  “Nothing yet, but I’m sure he’s around here somewhere. He has to be close by,” answers Andre.

  “Let’s keep an eye out for him. He needs to pay for stealing our supplies and killing Jerri-Lynn,” replies Brody.

  CHAPTER 9

  WHO IS FAITH?

  “What the hell happened here?” asks Brad to me as I talk with Brad on my front porch with Shaun and Phil the next afternoon.

  “A zombie horde attacked us,” I answer Brad.

  “Everyone okay?” asks Brad.

  “Yeah, we didn’t lose anyone. What’s going on with Channelside?” I answer Brad.

  “Well, Sal is leading Channelside with an iron fist, he’s got us patrolling the water, so I’d stay away from the Gulf and Bay right now,” answers Brad.

  “What’s he doing with the water?” asks Phil.

  “He’s got groups from Channelside patrolling every couple of hours and seeing if they find any boats or yachts to rob,” answers Brad.

  “So he’s a pirate,” I say.

  “Is he at the stadium now?” asks Phil to Brad.

  “Yeah, he left with a group of his goons right before I left to come here,” answers Brad.

  “Do you want us to go there now Ry?” asks Phil.

  “If you are up for it. DK’s tracker is still there, so you could see both of them,” I answer Phil.

  “What does Sal look like?” asks Phil to Brad.

  “He left in an electric truck. He has on some old ass faded green Army fatigues and his goons are wearing all black tactical gear,” answers Brad.

  “But what does he look like?” asks Shaun.

  “Oh, he’s about 5’10”, black hair with a good amount of gray in it, he’s got a belly, and he basically looks like an older New York mobster,” answers Brad.

  “Ok, so we’ll look for an old time mobster with old ass green Army fatigues,” jokes Phil.

  “Be careful guys, we don’t know what’s up with the stadium,” I say to Shaun and Phil.

  “How can we just get in there?” asks Shaun.

  “Tell the guards that you are from Channelside, you know Brad, and you are looking for Faith,” answers Brad.

  “Who is Faith?” asks Phil.

  “She’s hopefully still there. She works in the medical tents and she’s good people,” answers Brad.

  “Is the stadium safe for my guys?” I ask Brad.

  “I don’t know, I haven’t been there, but
Faith should look after them,” answers Brad.

  “What makes you so sure that Faith will look after us?” asks Phil.

  “Faith I guess,” answers Brad with a smile on his face.

  “Wow, that’s reassuring. Thanks Brad,” replies Phil.

  “You guys don’t have to go if you don’t feel good about it,” I say to Shaun and Phil.

  Phil replies, “We’ll check it out and keep a low profile.” Phil and Shaun walk away from Brad and me as I sit and talk with Brad in chairs outside on my front porch.

  I talk with Brad on my front porch for a couple hours while Shaun and Phil go to the stadium.

  “Looks like it’s just you and me for this trip,” says Phil to Shaun as Phil exits from his electric truck that he just parked in front of Shaun’s house.

  “Why?” asks Shaun.

  “Jon and Matt are finishing up the entrance. A small group is better for this trip anyway,” answers Phil.

  Shaun sees that Phil has his oversized cloth face mask around his neck and asks, “You think the Ghosts will be there?”

  “Who knows who we will see there,” answers Phil.

  Phil and Shaun get into Phil’s electric truck and Phil exits Citrus Oaks.

  “Is Nicole okay with you going today?” asks Shaun.

  “Yeah, she is a little worried, but she’s okay with it. Is Lisa okay with you going?” answers Phil.

  “I don’t know, she’s been on my case lately,” answers Shaun.

  Phil drives down the street and says, “She’s just worried about ya man.”

  Shaun thinks about Lisa, how Lisa has been lately, and the future of things.

  “Do you see yourself staying here forever?” asks Shaun.

  Phil speeds down the open road and thinks about Shaun’s question. Phil thinks about Nicole, Mason, Mia, and them living somewhere safe together in the future.

  “I don’t know, but I just hope that I have the chance to decide that one day. Just hope we get all this zombie shit settled and we can get rid of them all,” answers Phil.

  “You and me guns a blazing. Crushing skulls and killing zombies,” jokes Shaun.

  Phil smiles and replies, “I mean the world. The world and military and governments need to figure out what to do and how to turn the world around.”

  “What if there isn’t any way to turn this around and this is the way of the world as we know it?” asks Shaun.

  “Eventually all the zombies have to die off. I mean there can’t be an infinite number of respawning zombies all over the planet,” answers Phil.