"Please help!" the woman screamed again. Randy could see her clearly from up here. She was standing atop the monkey bars of a jungle gym that stood about eight feet above the shredded rubber padding on the ground; she was just inches out of the reach of the zombies below her. She had shoulder-length curly brown hair and was wearing a dark red jacket. She also had a crossbow strapped to her back. She looked familiar, like he had seen her somewhere before.
"Who are you?" he called to her.
"What? Who are you?" she yelled back.
"Not important. What is more important to us before we attempt to rescue you is your identity," he replied.
"My name is Penny Holloway!" she yelled.
"Penny Holloway?" Jamie asked from the ground. "Isn't she the host of that show?"
"You're the host of Survive This, aren't you?" Randy asked her.
"Yes! I am the host! Please, just find a way to get me down!"
Randy looked around and saw a parking lot nearby that had several cars parked in it.
"Hey Jamie! These things are drawn to loud noise, aren't they?" he asked.
Jamie nodded.
"Let's go see if any of those cars have car alarms on them!"
"That's a great idea Randy! Come on guys, let's go make a ruckus!" Jamie led Adam and Jillian over to the parking lot while Randy remained in the tree.
"What's your name?" Penny asked.
"Randy, Randy Eccleston!"
"Please don't leave me Randy!"
"I won't," he yelled.
He heard the sound of breaking glass and several car alarms began to go off. He looked down at the surging mass of infected humans and wondered if this would work. Slowly, the zombies began walking away from the playground, toward the parking lot one at a time. Soon more and more of them began moving toward the cacophony. Eventually, they had all left.
He climbed down from the tree and ran over to Penny. He saw where she had shot a few zombies with her crossbow. He helped her down as the others rejoined them.
"Thanks Randy," she said, hugging him. She smelled horrible, like she hadn't showered in days.
"You're welcome Penny," he said, trying not to wrinkle his nose.
"Save the introductions for the walk back guys, we've got to get out of here fast. First, that's a lot of zombies we just momentarily distracted. Second, we just created a lot of noise that is going to attract the attention of more zombies and soldiers. We've got to scoot!" Jamie said.
They ran back to North Main Street and followed Jamie north to West Summit Street. They followed him to the right into an older neighborhood.
Suddenly, the sound of diesel engines could be heard.
"Hide!" Jamie said urgently.
They all ran into a carport and ducked behind a parked car as three APCs rolled by.
Jamie sighed in relief. "That was close," he said quietly.
Randy nodded.
"Who are you guys?" Penny asked.
"Just some people trying to get out of town, Miss," Jamie replied.
"Okay."
"I'm Adam Doss," Adam introduced himself.
"I'm Jillian Wilson," Jillian said.
"I'm Jamie Daniels," Jamie said.
"Alright, I'm Penny Holloway," Penny said.
"Alright, that's great. Now, let's get going," Jamie said.
They continued on, walking east on West Summit Street.
"How did you end up like that, on the playground?" Randy asked Penny.
"Well, I was running from a bunch of soldiers in hazmat suits and I thought I had given them the slip. Suddenly, there were zombies chasing me and as I ran, I realized I was slowly being encircled by the undead! I saw the jungle gym in the playground and I hurriedly climbed it. Then I realized I was trapped. I figured either the zombies were going to get me if I fell off or if an especially tall zombie happened along, or the soldiers would get me with their flamethrowers. I honestly thought you guys were soldiers at first."
"Yeah, we thought you might be a soldier too," Adam said.
She laughed darkly. "Those guys are terrible! I passed by some kind of battle going on between them and a motley assortment of uninfected people today south of downtown. I can't believe they are using so many flamethrowers! From a tactical perspective, those are dangerous tools to dispatch zombies with. They don't have a very long range, they're heavy, they're dangerous to the operator, the list of cons goes on and on and on and on."
"But the psychological impact is tremendous," Randy said.
"Yeah, but who are they trying to spook? It's not like any of the people who succumbed to Owasa Disease are influenced by fear once they become zombies."
"Think about all the people you saw today fighting with the soldiers. How much do you think it would impact you to see your best friend get torched with a flamethrower?" Randy asked.
She visibly shuddered. "I had to endure and witness a lot of things on my TV show, but I had never seen a human being die by immolation."
"It's pretty awful," Jamie said as they turned on to North Linden.
"Where are you all from?" she asked.
"Me, Adam and Jillian are all from Chicago," Randy said.
"I'm from Southern Illinois," Jamie said.
"How did you all meet?" she asked.
Randy laughed.
"No, really! You guys are headed in opposite directions right?"
"I saved their skin," Jamie said.
"Yeah, we were about to get torched when he and another guy named Juan saved us," Adam said.
"Yeah, we have two other friends who are with Juan," Randy said. "Now, where are you from?"
"Phoenix," she said.
"Wow, you've come a long way in a short time!" Jillian said.
"I commandeered a helicopter and that got me most of the way here," Penny said.
"Wow," Randy said.
She laughed. "Well, you know, hosting that show helped me acquire some useful skills."
That evening they all gathered in a circle in Juan's garage. The group had grown to eight.
"So where are you all headed?" Penny asked.
"Chicago," Randy said.
"But you told me earlier that you all were coming from Chicago," Penny said, a confused expression on her face.
"No, that's where we are from originally; me, Adam, Jillian and Casey. We're coming from Saint Louis, Missouri though. Me, Adam and Jillian were there visiting Casey and Missy when everything went down. Then we decided to head back to Chicago," he explained.
"And we decided to come with them," Missy said.
"Oh, okay. That makes sense now," she said, laughing.
"I don't know where I am heading once I escape from Bloomington-Normal," Juan said.
"I think I’m going to go with them to Chicago," Jamie said.
"Well, it's funny that five of you are headed to Chicago, because that's where I'm headed too!" Penny said.
"Really?" Adam asked.
"Yup! I have extended family I hope to find there."
"Penny, your optimism is welcome here," Juan said. "But I don't think you'll find them."
She shot him a cold look. "Why would you say something like that?"
"I'm sorry Penny, I guess it's just the insurance guy in me," he said as he looked down at the floor.
"I really hope they're still alive! I mean, come on! My parents are dead! My boyfriend is dead! All of my friends are dead! If my family in Chicago is dead, then I have nothing left, no one left in this world!" She started to cry.
Randy stood up and walked over to her. He put his arm around her.
"Thanks Randy," she said quietly.
"I'm sorry Penny," Juan said. "I shouldn't have said that."
"No, it's okay," she said, blowing her nose into Randy’s sleeve. "I mean, I see where you're coming from."
"Even so, I'm sorry."
"I forgive you Juan."
They all sat there for a few minutes in silence.
Finally, Jamie cleared his throat. "Alright, so in addi
tion to rescuing Penny, we also followed the perimeter from Empire Street all the way north to North Main Street. It was pretty secure. What about you guys?"
"We followed it from South Morris Avenue, where you and I had left off Jamie, to West Washington Street. We saw a secure perimeter and witnessed several battles between soldiers and uninfected residents. It looks like several neighborhoods in Southwest Bloomington banded together to begin battling the soldiers," Juan replied.
"Really?" Jamie asked.
"Yeah, it looked like they were pretty evenly matched," Casey said.
"Huh, maybe we can help them retake the area," Jamie said. "Maybe we just need to find the rebels and link up with them."
"If I could add something?" Penny interrupted. "I saw similar battles from a different angle. It looked like the 'rebels,'" she made quote marks with her hands, "were getting their butts handed to them. Besides, I came in from the west side along College Avenue. After I passed the skirmish between soldiers and rebels, I saw thousands of zombies. Even if the rebels manage to defeat the soldiers, what are they going to do about the zombies?"
"She has a good point," Randy said.
"Penny, Randy, the zombies could be dispatched with organized resistance probably," Juan said.
"No, I disagree," she said. "I saw every military post between Phoenix and Albuquerque get overrun by zombies."
"What about the ones past Albuquerque?" Jamie asked.
"They were all overrun. Zombified soldiers roamed the grounds. I notice that all of you have guns. Those are great at taking care of flamethrower-wielding soldiers, but terrible at taking out zombies."
"How so?" Jamie asked.
"They require a great deal of accuracy to deliver a fatal blow to a zombie, they produce a lot of noise that attracts more zombies, and they require a limited resource: bullets."
"Okay, I see your point. But what about you? Your crossbow might not make much noise but it still requires a lot of accuracy and requires arrows," he said.
"Bolts," she said, correcting him.
"Yeah, whatever."
"Maybe so, but I can easily reuse bolts. Plus, I have a lot of training using a crossbow. I'm guessing you all don't have much training with guns, do you? Let's see, our motley group has an insurance salesman, a sound engineer, a Wal-Mart cashier, a blood bank guy, an accountant and a music teacher. None of those jobs screams 'expert marksman' to me."
"Okay, so what, we should walk around with swords?" Jamie asked.
"Well, if you can find one, sure. I'd recommend just having a handy weapon to crush skulls with, like a baseball bat."
"Or tire iron," Adam said.
"Or crowbar," Casey said.
"Sure," Penny replied. "Something that doesn't require bullets or ammunition that can still get the job done."
Suddenly the garage shook as several helicopters flew overhead.
"Helicopters?" Casey asked aloud. "I didn't know these guys had helicopters."
"We told you they had seized the airport east of here," Juan said. "Still, they hadn't flown anything in or out of it since seizing it."
"Hmm," Jamie said. "We should probably set up a watch rotation, so that we have someone awake tonight. The soldiers may have just gotten reinforcements."
Chapter Eighteen
Adam Doss
Day 7
"Adam, wake up buddy, it's your turn at watch."
Adam sat up and saw Casey silhouetted in the dark.
"Quiet night?" he asked.
"Here, yes. There's been a lot of gunfire in the distance. There have also been more helicopters flying nearby. I guess the soldiers are dropping the hammer on the rebels."
Adam nodded. "Thanks." He stood up. "Get some sleep Casey."
"Thanks man, good night."
Adam walked downstairs and sat down at the foot of the stairs, pistol in hand. He heard the distant gunfire Casey had mentioned. He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. He hoped it would be a quiet night.
He sat there for a while and then stood up to stretch. He walked around the darkened house and returned to the stairs and sat back down.
He thought about his parents. He wondered if they were still alive. He had honestly been optimistic, but Penny's description of what things were like now sort of shot down his hopes. Still, he was determined to return to Valparaiso and see for himself if his parents were still alive.
He thought about the little ranch style house he had grown up in; 250 Michigan Avenue. He thought about his dad. He had been a tax lawyer who had encouraged him to be an accountant. Adam had looked up to him so much.
Adam shook his head and realized he was crying.
He thought back to the last time he had seen his parents, during Labor Day weekend.
"So Adam, when are you going to pop the question to Jill?" his dad had asked him as they stood in the kitchen. Jill and his mom were outside on the back patio.
"I don't know dad. Probably in the spring."
"Good. You know son, I'm proud of you. You keep doing everything like you have been and I can see you ascending to the top by the time you're forty."
"Thanks dad."
"Have you and Jill talked about kids yet?"
"Yeah, we're thinking after we get married."
"Good, good. How's Mass been?"
"Honestly dad, I haven't been in a few months."
"It's okay son," he said, patting Adam on the back. "I just figured I'd ask. You know how your mother is, she's always asking about you and praying for you."
"Yeah."
Adam awoke with a start. What had woken him up?
He heard something on the front porch get knocked over. He peered around the corner and saw a shadowy figure standing on the front porch scratching at the window. He realized it was a zombie. He felt around for his pistol and found it on the step above where he was sitting. He picked it up and watched the zombie shuffle around on the porch. It looked like it was sniffing the air.
After a few tense moments it turned and ambled off the porch. Adam walked into the living room and watched it stagger out to the street and continue walking away. He looked down at his watch. It was 5:20am. Everyone would be getting up soon.
He yawned and stretched his arms as an explosion rumbled in the distance. It sounded like the soldiers' campaign to eliminate the rebels had been running all night.
He shook his head. They needed to find a hole in the perimeter and escape soon.
"Quiet night?" he heard Juan on the steps above him.
"Yeah," he said.
"The morning patrol should be coming through any minute," Juan said.
Adam nodded. "It sounds like a battle has been going all night."
"Yes, I'm quite concerned. We need to make escape a priority."
"I thought it already was a priority?"
"We need to make it more of a priority now," Juan said as he walked down and sat down a few steps above Adam. "With Penny, we can possibly divide into three groups to probe the perimeter now."
"Yeah, we can I suppose."
Soon several Humvees rolled by outside. They continued on without stopping. Everyone woke up soon after that.
"Alright, today we're going to split into three groups," Juan said as everyone ate breakfast. "Escape is our top priority."
"Me, Adam and Penny," Randy said.
Adam looked at Jillian. She shrugged.
"I'll take Casey," Juan said.
"Fine, I'll take Jillian and Missy," Jamie said.
"Alright, Jamie, why don't you and the ladies go back to where you left off yesterday on North Main? Randy, why don't you guys head west to West College and I-Fifty-Five and head south and Casey and I will go to West Washington and head north to Randy and crew?" Juan suggested.
"Sounds good," Jamie said.
"Sounds alright to me," Randy said.
"Alright, let's set out after breakfast."
A few hours later a cold wind blew as Adam, Randy and Penny crossed Cottage Avenue. They had walke
d for a couple of hours and had each found some tools to supplement their armaments. Adam had grabbed a crowbar, Randy had grabbed a baseball bat and Penny had grabbed a three-foot long piece of rebar.
It had been a quiet walk so far when they reached Cottage Avenue. Suddenly, zombies emerged from a house a few dozen yards away.
"Uh guys," Adam said. "I think we're going to get to test our weapons."
"Remember," Penny said. "Swing for the head."
Adam ran toward the zombies and swung the hooked end of his crowbar into the skull of the first one he reached. It collapsed with a growl. He pulled the bar out and swung it into the eye of another zombie.
He stepped back as Randy and Penny each dispatched a trio of undead.
"Nice work guys," Randy said.
"Indeed. It's nice to have some help," Penny said.
"So Penny," Adam asked as they resumed their walk west. "I think you've figured out by now that we're all huge fans of your show!"
She laughed. "I figured as much. You all recognized me."
"My favorite episode is when you were in the Atacama Desert and had to eat scorpions to survive!" Randy gushed.
She laughed again. "Yeah, I hear that a lot. That was actually my least favorite episode to tape. I seriously got stung by scorpions at least four times!"
"That sounds painful," Adam said.
"It was."
"My favorite episode is probably the one where you had to escape the glacier in Greenland. The ice caves were beautiful."
"Yeah, the aurora borealis were pretty too," Randy said.
"Thanks guys. I'd like to think that show prepared me for this," she said.
Adam nodded. "I'm sure all the survival skills help."
Soon they neared the perimeter. Adam watched as Penny studied it through binoculars.
"I see two Humvees and some chain-link fence up ahead," she said. She lowered the binoculars. "You know, I came in just south of here. If I remember correctly, nobody was guarding the perimeter down there."
"Let's check it out," Randy said.
They wound their way south through a subdivision to West Hovey Avenue, killing a few zombies along the way. They turned onto the road and walked west. Suddenly Adam heard gunfire up ahead and screaming.
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