All I could hear was the growling of the undead and Milo’s barking. I kept on going. Stabbing them in the skull. I wouldn’t give up until I was on the ground and officially zombie food. Though I felt it wouldn’t be long before I was.
Then I heard yelling. It sounded like a man was yelling instructions but I couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying.
The only thing I heard that I could make out was “Hurry, there are people in this herd.”
I thought I had officially lost my mind as I didn’t believe what I heard was real. I just kept on fighting and very many times came close to getting bit.
Natalie screamed. I looked back and saw her struggling with a zombie that had her pinned against the van and a couple more coming after her. I tried to make quick work of the ones that were surrounding me but they just kept closing in.
I felt the adrenaline running and pumping through my veins but I still didn’t see me making it through this in time to save Natalie.
I said a prayer that by some miracle we would get to the other side of this. Though I didn’t have high hopes. I couldn’t see a scenario where we survived.
Then the voices showed themselves. A man with black hair that stood about six foot maybe above was cutting through the throng of zombies. He was followed by two women and another man. I could see them each fighting off the zombies as hard as we were. I didn’t know what their motive for helping us was exactly but I didn’t have time to think about that.
They had taken most of the ones that were about to get me which freed me to help Natalie. She was pinned by three zombies. They were so clumsy though that they were preventing each other from getting a good bite out of her.
I put my knife in the skull of the first one closest to me. Then I took out another one, which freed up Natalie enough that she put a blade through the last ones chin up into its brain.
There was a small herd on the other side that the group that helped us made quick work of.
Natalie caught my eye. I could see the concern in her face. She was wondering what their intentions were. I was too but I couldn’t help but feel grateful to them that they came along when they did.
I patted Natalie on the shoulder trying to communicate that I understood and we would play it by ear. I couldn’t say it out loud though in front of this group.
There weren’t any more zombies left after about ten minutes time.
“Thank you,” I said to the new group who had helped us but I didn’t dare put my weapon away, not yet.
Natalie followed my lead and kept hers out as well.
“You’re welcome; we were passing by off the main road there when we saw the zombies closing in on you two.”
“Lucky you came by when you did,” I stated. “We are certainly in your debt.”
The guy put away his weapon and put out his hand, “I’m Pierce,” He stated. “This is Joey,” He said pointing to the other guy who had red hair and a red beard and was much shorter than Pierce. “That’s Cindy,” He said pointing to a girl with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. “Lastly, Jessica.” Jessica nodded at us. She had a pretty face with dark skin and dark hair but she had a permeant scowl on her face. I thought she was perhaps pissed about helping us. I wasn’t sure nor did I entirely care. Worrying about other people’s thoughts was something that took up too much time when you’re trying to survive.
“I’m Cate,” I said. “This is Natalie.”
Natalie gave a small wave and a weak smile.
“I hate to ask this, but can we request a tremendous favor?” Pierce asked.
“You can ask, I can’t promise you that the answer will be positive,” I replied.
Pierce smiled and nodded, “Understood. I was just wondering if you could perhaps give us a lift?”
“A lift?”
“Yes, we’ve been walking for ages and could really use the help and wheels,” Cindy said. Jessica shushed her.
“A lift where?” I asked.
“To the Air Force base,” Pierce stated.
“To Luke? You want a ride to Luke?”
Pierce nodded, “If you could please. We’ve been walking a long time. We can share our supplies with you if you want.”
Jessica made a noise in the back of her throat and then said, “Not to mention we just saved your lives.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “And we are grateful but one more smart ass comment like that out of you, even if we agree to take them, you will be walking. Got it?”
She didn’t like that. It was very obvious no one told her to tone down her attitude very often. Pierce looked back at her and made a gesture. She rolled her eyes and looked away.
“We…” Began Pierce, I could tell he was going to try and smooth what Jessica had just said over.
I interrupted him, “Can I speak with you privately?”
He nodded. Natalie looked uneasy as I began to walk with Pierce to the edge of the parking lot.
“I’ll be right back,” I said.
She closed her eyes and nodded.
Pierce and I walked together.
“Look,” I began. “It’s not that we don’t want to help you. It’s just,”
He cut me off, “You don’t know if you can trust us.”
I smiled, “You can understand then. And how are you sure you can trust us?”
“Not many untrustworthy people travel with a teenager and a dog.”
“Well, that could be how I throw people off my trail.”
He smiled, “I’ll take my chances.”
“I’m not saying no yet but please understand we need a moment to think it over,” I said.
“I understand completely.”
We began to walk back to the group.
“Also,” I said before we were in earshot, “I wouldn’t make Jessica walk, I just really wanted her to shut up and I can’t promise I won’t hit her.”
Pierce laughed, “I understand completely.”
“So?” Jessica asked as we approached.
“No decisions have been made yet,” Pierce answered.
She scowled and rolled her eyes. I didn’t like this girl. Don’t bite the hand you want to feed you; you won’t like how it turns out.
“Natalie, can I speak with you?” I asked.
She nodded and followed me to the grassy area where I had just spoken with Pierce.
“What do you think?” I asked.
Natalie looked at me confused and shook her head, “It’s up to you.”
“No, it’s not. It’s you and me kid, I told you that. And if we’re in this together these decisions should be made together. It’s only right.”
“I don’t know,” She said. “They seem nice. Well, three out of four seem nice.”
I laughed at her comment as I knew she was referring to Jessica.
“It might not be a bad idea to go to the Air Force base,” She said.
I had my doubts about the base but didn’t voice my opinion about it. Instead I asked the other question on my mind.
“What about Prescott?” I asked.
She screwed up her face a little as she thought a few minutes. “We can go there if the base doesn’t work out.”
“So, we’re doing this? We’re going to trust these strangers?”
She nodded, “Yes, but we should keep them at arm’s length.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
We headed back over to the group.
“We were talking,” I began. “And we’ll take you. We should get going. We probably don’t have enough daylight to make it there today but we should get out of here after that attack.”
Pierce smiled and nodded, “Agreed and thank you. You have no idea what this means to us.”
Everyone piled into the van. I took Milo for a quick walk around the parking lot, which was difficult as he was excited to greet the new people.
After he had done his business, I got in the driver’s seat and started the van. We really didn’t have much light left in the day so we didn’t go very
far. The area looked clear that we stopped at.
We all sat around the van and ate dinner. As Pierce said, they did deliver and shared their food. I explained we had plenty of food but he insisted that we let him share.
They had beef Jerky and canned green beans. I was very excited about the beef jerky as I hadn’t had any since before the plague of the dead had started. It wasn’t something that one found very easily as it was something that people stocked up on early. It made sense since it would last forever and it cost so much before, people were sure to be excited to get it for free.
I offered to take the first watch and Pierce insisted on taking it with me. It was too crowded in the van now to stay inside so we got the folding chairs and sat outside as everyone drifted off.
“Thank you again,” He said as we sat down.
“Don’t mention it,” I said.
“No, it means everything to us. We’ve been traveling on foot for a while and kept running into all these mishaps. There was a lot more of us when we started.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He shrugged, “Thank you but it’s the way of the world right now I’m afraid. And I wanted to apologize about Jessica, she just lost her sister.”
I made a sound that I hoped was sympathetic as I didn’t want to stay on the subject of someone losing their sister.
Pierce took out something from his pocket. Instinctively I grabbed my knife, worried he might be about to pull out a weapon on me. I was wrong; he pulled out a flask and took a swig. He reached out to offer me a sip. I took it.
“Thanks, but is it a good idea to get drunk?”
“It’s not getting drunk, just a sip to take off the edge,” He said.
I laughed, “Whatever works right?”
I took a sip and was disgusted to discover it was rum. Never my favorite even when it was deluded and mixed with something else.
I swallowed the rum and tried not to show how grossed out I was.
“Thank you,” I said handing it back to him. After I cleared my throat I asked, “So is giving me the rum your way of telling me you’re a pirate?”
He laughed, “I wish but no. Not a big fan of rum it’s just what I was able to find. Alcohol is very hard to come by these days.”
“Yeah, well who wouldn’t want to be wasted these days?”
“Sad but very true. But who can afford to be?”
“Well, everyone since it’s free,” I replied.
He gave out another chuckle, “Not good for the survival though.”
“Who knows? Maybe the zombies are turned off by the stench of someone who is hammered,” I stated.
“I’m not going to take the risk of trying to find out,” He replied.
“Me either,” I said. “So, why the Air Force base?”
He shrugged, “Seemed like a good, potentially safe place to go.”
“You’re not worried they might be on lock down or something?”
“It’s a possibility but kind of running out of options I’m beginning to think.”
“Well, I hope it works out.”
“You know you and Natalie could stay if it’s a safe place,” He said.
I nodded, “Maybe we will. We’ll see what happens.”
We sat in silence for a little while. The night air was nice but not relaxing. It was getting colder and even though there weren’t any zombies nearby we could still hear the growling carrying in the air.
“What’s your story?” I asked just to drown out the growling.
He scratched the back of his head and said, “Just a tumble weed in the wind.”
I knew he didn’t want to tell me so I let it go. I was about to say something else when there was a loud growl coming from just the other side of the van. We both stood up with our weapons ready to take on the zombies.
Pierce signaled for me to stay where I was and he went closer to the noise. A single female zombie came around the van, growling and chomping at him.
He put a knife in her head. She seemed to be alone.
“What do you think happens to you?” I asked. “When you turn? Do you think you have any sense of who you once were or any emotions at all?”
He shook his head, “No, I think you’re just motived by the need to eat our flesh.”
“It’s crazy,” I stated. “What causes it? It seems like such a strange disease.”
Pierce nodded, “Yes, it’s odd. People get fevers before they turn. Like crazy hot fevers. My wife had a fever of 108 before she turned…” He said and trailed off.
I could tell by his face in the moonlight, he didn’t mean to bring her up. I didn’t pry any further than that.
“But what caused it to start? And why is it transmitted by a bite or a scratch. Seems like it should be transmitted in their blood or something. And why is their blood that thick dark black color? I know they’re dead but it seems odd that their blood would be black.”
Pierce laughed at me a little.
“What?” I asked somewhat amused with his amusement.
“You never let yourself ask these questions out loud before have you?”
I chuckled. I hadn’t. I never stopped long enough to wonder about the disease itself. I was always making plans. Thinking about the next run, making lists and thinking of places to go and what was needed. I didn’t put stock in what was really going on. I let survival distract me. Survival was still on my mind but I had finally stopped long enough for the questions to penetrate through the force field my mind had built to deal with what was happening.
“You think they will find a cure?” I asked him.
He sighed, “God, I hope so because if not the whole world will be zombies if it goes on much longer. But who is going to discover it? Is the CDC still up and running?”
“So many questions,” I said. “No answers.”
“There will be answers one day. This will all come to light at some point. Right now we just need to ride the wave of this Dead Sea.”
We sat out there for another hour or so. We did have a couple more zombies come by and visit, hoping for some food. Pierce and I took turns putting sharp objects through their skulls.
Jessica and Joey came out to take their turn at the watch. Pierce and I got in the van. Milo was a sleep on the floor of the van. He began to wag his tail when I got in the van but didn’t make to get up. I patted him on the head as I headed back to the bed to the spot Jessica had vacated.
Cindy and Natalie were both still sound asleep. The bed wasn’t really made for three people but it could be worse. At least it was cooling down outside so it wouldn’t feel like a sauna sleeping next to two other people.
Pierce sat in the passenger side front seat and laid the back down as far as it would go. By the time I got comfortable in the bed, Pierce was sound asleep judging by the snoring.
I slept a little but had dreams that Pierce, Joey, Jessica, and Cindy were robbing Natalie and me. I also had one where Jessica pushed us off the top of the van into a pit of zombies.
Every time I had one of these dreams I woke up panicking because it had felt so real. But every time I woke up everyone was sound asleep. First Pierce, Natalie, and Cindy then when I woke up after the changing of the watch. Jessica and Joey replaced Cindy and Natalie.
In the morning after I’m guessing what must’ve been maybe three hours of good solid sleep, I got up and took Milo for a walk.
We ate some breakfast bars and headed on west. We would be at the Air Force base by the end of the day, given we didn’t have any car trouble on the way there.
I drove the long road to the base. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been for the abandoned vehicles. It could be like navigating through a maze. Ian had done all the driving on our runs. I loved driving before the apocalypse but this felt like driving in a badly arranged video game.
Pierce offered to drive at one point because I was so obviously tensed up on the wheel but I declined to let him. It wouldn’t have been a big deal to let him in reality but
I was feeling very weary of him and his group after my dreams.
It didn’t help that there were groups of zombies walking along the road. And though hitting them wouldn’t come with the same stigma of guilt that would have come from running them over when they were living it still was never a good idea if it could be avoided.
Zombies could do major damage to a vehicle. Ian and I had experienced it first hand with the Jeep Wrangler we had. I also hoped to get another Jeep because they were so perfect and fun for our runs. Though it was a gas guzzler like no other, it was still an awesome vehicle. I never could find one that ran again after that. I could of course have fixed it with the right tools and enough time but there wasn’t always time. I also worried about my safety when working on cars outside the gates. I preferred to work on cars in the confines of the safe haven with parts I had stripped off other cars.
Parts were always super easy to come across but one always had to be careful. It seemed a lot of people had turned in their cars. They were usually pinned in by their seat belts. They would sit in the driver or passenger side seat just chomping their teeth and trying to grab you.
It made me wonder though, why didn’t zombies die from hunger? There went the questions again. There were so many unanswered questions and they just kept piling on top of each other.
As we turned down Litchfield Rd, it became even more difficult to navigate. The deserted cars were almost as bad as those on the ten. I hadn’t seen a regular road like that. Litchfield wasn’t busier than Baseline or any of the other roads Ian and I had traveled down so I didn’t understand why it was so jam packed.
I was barely inching the van along at this point. Maybe going 5 MPH but I doubt I was even going that fast.
“We should just walk the rest of the way,” Jessica suggested.
I wasn’t sure if she meant all of us or just her group should get out and walk. I didn’t get a chance to ask her to clarify because after she said it a swarm of zombies began making their way through the cars. They were headed right for us.
Plague of the Dead (Book 2): Plague of the Desert Page 9
