“Hey, George, the doc’s here.” Bill grinned as he led Colton into the living room.
George glanced up from the sofa where he was teaching the younger kids how to play poker. “Doctor, huh? Well, Maggie’s a pretty good nursemaid for me and the baby, but it won’t hurt to have someone else look where my hand used to be.” Tears glistened in his eyes. “Don’t mind me, son, I’m mighty grateful for your quick acting. You saved my life.”
“It was your idea.” Colton knelt beside him and unwrapped the stump. No smell, no reddening, and no fatal lines running up his arms. “It looks real good, George. Make sure you finish the antibiotics.” He stood, placing a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “I’m sorry we had to cut off your hand.”
“Had to be done. All I need now is a hook.” George smiled. “Something to give those zombies a little payback with. Have Maggie come rewrap this for me, will you?”
Colton nodded and headed for the bedroom where Grandma paced the floor, swaying back and forth with the baby. “She isn’t taking to the milk?”
“No, spews it back out. It’s too rich for her. I’ve been giving her sugar water, but that won’t last long.”
“I’m heading to the Wal-Mart. Hopefully, there will be something worth getting.”
“You’d have more luck checking houses with toys in the yard. Try the Johnson place first. 1926 Hill Road. They had a baby, and they were preppers.”
*
Chalice checked the address on the mailbox then stared at the green house with black shutters. A swing hung from one chain on a rusty swing set. A blow up pool sat on the front porch. Every window on the house had bars, including a security door on the front. “How are we supposed to get in, if we don’t get shot first? Preppers have guns.”
“There’s a tool box under my seat,” Mychal said. “It doesn’t look as if anyone has lived here in a while. Maybe they left.”
“Or maybe they’re locked inside as zombies.” Colton slowly opened the driver side door, leaving the engine running. “We should have asked your Grandmother how many family members there were.”
Mychal handed Colton a screwdriver. “Front door is always best.”
“Should we announce we’re here?” Chalice gripped her rifle so hard her knuckles ached. Her heart lodged in her throat. “Or just ring the doorbell?”
“Stay behind me.” Colton marched up the steps and, keeping most of his body covered by the house siding, peeked in the window. “It’s dark.” He tapped on the glass.
Chalice shrugged and rang the bell. Westminster chimes played. After several minutes, she tried the door handle. Unlocked. “Well, that’s creepy.” She shoved the door open. It banged against the wall.
“Let me go first.” Colton stepped inside.
Chalice followed, and gagged. If the stench was any indication, there was no one living in the house.
A trail of blood led from the living room through a door to her right. The last thing she wanted was to go through that door. Preppers would hide their stockpile, right? They needed to look for a single storage room or a basement.
Colton glanced in the room. “Not much left.”
Chalice nodded and headed down a hall. She peered in a room to her left. A crib sat against one wall, the duck and frog mobile above it hanging motionless. She would not look in the crib. She opened the closet. Three boxes of diapers and a shelf of baby clothes greeted her. Bingo! “Mychal, there’s diapers and clothes in here.”
“I’ll put them in the truck.” He hefted the boxes. “Does it matter that these are boy clothes?”
“I don’t think so. Angel just needs clothes.”
“Older child clothes in here,” Colton called. “No formula yet though, or guns.”
Chalice stepped back into the hall. “There has to be a room set aside for supplies. There’ll be some things in the pantry and cupboards, but most of it will be hid away.”
“How do you know?”
“My Mom was a prepper.” She rubbed her scars. “How do you think we survived in a storm shelter for as long as we did?” She headed to the kitchen and started piling food on the table. They needed to hurry. Shadows stretched through the barred windows, alerting her to the fact that night was falling quickly.
Once the cupboards were full, she headed back down the hall. It seemed abnormally long for the amount of doors she could see. “I think there’s a hidden room here.” As she walked down the hall, she rapped her knuckles on the walls. “Here.” She felt around the paneling. Finding a small, almost undetectable groove, she pulled off a panel.
“Oh.” She pulled a small flashlight from her pocket and shined it around a cornucopia of food, ammos, and baby items ranging from formula to diapers to jars of food. “Where will we put all this?” If the people who’d lived here were preppers, why would they leave and not take their carefully collected supplies?
“The trailer has a hitch,” Colton said coming up behind her. “I’ll hook it to the Hummer, and we’ll take what we can. This is great!”
“But where is the family?” Nobody would have left all this unless they were dead. “Were there bodies in the first bedroom?”
Colton hung his head. “Mom, Dad, and two little kids. Looks like Mom caught the virus. Dad took care of the kids, and then himself.”
“So sad. Some people have no hope, Colton. We can give people that.”
“We can’t take in every stray we find.” He shook his head. “We have to think of ourselves.”
“You saw Mrs. Willard’s face when she saw the kids. She had hope. The kids are the future, Colton.” She stood in front of him. “I’m not going to send anyone away. We’ll find a place to hole up and start a new life.”
“So, now you’re on board with bugging out?”
“Not immediately, but yes. Someday, we will have to leave.” She stormed past him. “Let’s get this stuff loaded up and get home. Daylight’s wasting.”
How could he be so self-centered? This room alone would feed all of them for months. With the ammunition, they could hunt. There were bullets, guns, arrows, food, and water. She’d bet her next meal there were also medical supplies. They’d stumbled upon a gold mine, and she intended to share it with whoever they ran across. As long as those yet-to-be-met people didn’t try to take it by force, she intended to help any survivors the best way she could. The zombies would not win!
She continued to search the house, but found nothing else of value besides some adult-sized clothing. She added them to the pile on the table. By the time she carted out her first armload, Colton had the trailer hooked up to the Hummer and Mychal had already started unloading the stock room. But, they wouldn’t make it back by nightfall.
Dumping the armload of clothes in the backseat, she scanned the yard. Nothing moved. No dogs barked or birds chirped. It was as if the world had died. Maybe it had. But with death there is life, and she had every intention of making sure her family lived.
Somewhere, there was a safe place for them to start a colony of their own. A place they could fence in to keep the undead out, until they weathered away to whatever zombies became when their food ran out.
She kept watch until the sun disappeared over the mountain and Colton announced they had all they could fit in the trailer and back of the Hummer. She grinned at the pile. They’d fill that chicken trailer to the top, and not want for anything for a good long while.
Casting a glance heavenward, she mouthed a silent prayer of thanks, then climbed onto the front passenger seat. “Let’s go home, boys.”
9
“Wow,” Grandma said, looking at the cart. “We’ve enough food and water to last a year. No wonder you were late. I admit to getting worried with you gone so long.” She leaned closer. “Is that vodka and beer?”
Chalice grinned. “It’s for bartering.” If they were to ever run across any survivors that didn’t end up staying with them, that is. “We’ve lots of supplies for the baby, too, plus clothes for us.” She hung her gun strap around
her shoulder. “We’re a regular department store.”
“I’m not sure Bill and George will let you barter the beer. They were complaining last night that they drank the last one.” Grandma grabbed a jar of formula and bustled back to the house. “Once y’all get all that transferred over, come on in. Supper’s waiting. It’s been quiet while you were gone. No zombies within sight or smell. Except for that…one.” She pointed to a lone figure in the shadow of the tree line.
Chalice couldn’t tell if the person was a man or a woman, living or dead, but if they weren’t coming any closer, she wasn’t going to walk up and introduce herself. The world was no longer a friendly place.
She stood watch until everything was packed away and the trailer unhitched. If they had to bug out, the trailer would slow them down. As it was, with all the people and the two dogs, things were going to be a tight squeeze.
Taking care to latch the porch gate behind her, Chalice followed the men into the house. No lanterns or candles were lit in the front room, but a yellow flicker came from the dining room. She shook her head and walked forward, astounded that she could’ve forgotten the date.
“Happy Birthday!” Grandma held out a strawberry frosted cake. “You forgot, didn’t you?”
“I did.” Tears sprang to Chalice’s eyes. She’d turned seventeen. Instead of worrying about what to wear at school the next day or who might ask her to prom, she carried a rifle across her back and fought the undead.
Colton put his arm around her shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged. “Not a lot of reason to celebrate.”
“You survived to see today,” he said, planting a kiss on her nose. “That’s enough of a reason. Wait here.” He dashed outside, returning a minute later with a leather sheath. “I grabbed this today. I want you to have it.”
“Thank you.” Chalice pulled the machete from its covering. The lamplight glistened on its smooth surface. “Wicked.”
“You can cut off a lot of heads with that,” Mychal said. “Here’s something from me.” He handed her a black leather jacket. “I didn’t forget your birthday. When I saw this hanging in a closet at that house today, I knew it was perfect for you. It’ll be hard for the zombies to bite through, too. I found a man’s one, for me.”
She hugged him and laughed. “I’ll never take it off, during the winter, of course. Maybe we should try getting everyone leather clothes.”
“Might not be a bad idea.” Grandma handed her a slice of cake. “It’d be hot, but safer than a tank top and shorts.”
“How about chain mail?” Chalice took a seat at the table. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but wearing only leather all year isn’t practical.”
“No, it isn’t.” Grandma joined her. “But, it’s a subject that needs addressed.”
“If we’re serious, any type of thick denim might hold off a zombie’s bite long enough for you to put an axe in its head.” George held up his stump. “If I would’ve been wearing work gloves, I might still have my hand.”
“So,” Chalice set her fork beside her plate. “You’re saying that every time we’re attacked by zombies, we should stop and put on our zombie battling uniforms?”
“When there’s time, yes.”
Colton leaned against the door jamb. “I agree with George. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, we’ll be surprised, but there are other times when grabbing a thick high-collared jacket and a pair of gloves would be the smart move.”
“Best place to get all that,” Bill said, coming into the room. “Would be a motorcycle clothing shop. Lots of leather in there.”
“If we go to a Harley store,” Mychal said grabbing a piece of cake. “I’m getting a hog.”
*
Chalice could roll her eyes all she wanted, but Mychal was serious. The vehicles were getting too crowded, and now there was a baby to listen to. Caleb and Faith weren’t bad, he’d bet they could pull a trigger if they needed to, but Trinity was too young to be of much help. While traveling, he didn’t think it would be very smart to put all the kids in one vehicle. If that particular vehicle were overrun with dead heads, they couldn’t defend themselves.
No, if he had a motorcycle, he could scout ahead when they traveled the open road and alert the others before danger surrounded them. He finished his cake while thinking about the situation. “Maybe Eddy could get one, too.”
“Awesome.” Eddy gave him a high-five. “We’d be like Mad Max and the Thunder Dome.”
“Like what?” Mychal wrinkled his forehead.
“Never mind.” He leaned back in a chair, balancing on the two hind legs. “It’s a movie. Guess we won’t get to see those again. We’ve gone back to the olden days; no lights, no TV, no cell phones. Eventually, even the gas will run out.”
“No play station,” Caleb said, glancing up from his cake. Pink icing rimmed his lips.
“We’ll have gas for a while.” Mychal handed Alyssah his empty plate. “Most of the population doesn’t have the intelligence to drive anymore. Gas pumps might not work, but we can always siphon.”
“Maybe, but I’m more worried about the lack of breathing girls that I’m not related to.” Eddy laughed.
“Me, too.” Mychal stood. “Come on, Eddy, we’ll take first watch tonight and talk about good looking girls we used to know.”
“Then guess I’d better get to bed.” George clapped him on the back. “I might have only one hand, but I’m capable of sounding an alarm if trouble comes.”
Mychal and Eddy moved to the porch and sat in a couple of rickety lawn chairs. Crickets chirped, and tree branches rustled. A bat flew low, grabbing a drink from the bird bath. Same as any other summer night, except no lights glowed from houses across the pasture. No cars drove down the road, kicking up dust. When the sun went down, the dark became absolute; capable of hiding anything and everything.
Propping his feet on the porch railing, Mychal laid his bow across his lap and thought about the conversation a few minutes ago. There were definitely pros and cons to wearing a lot of clothing. Too little and a zombie’s teeth would rip into your flesh. Too many, and you had no maneuverability.
A light flickered at the edge of the woods. He slowly lowered his feet to the floor and leaned forward. “Do you see that?”
“Fireflies?” Eddy suggested.
“Too far away.”
“Swamp gas?”
Was he crazy? “We aren’t in a swamp.”
“Then there’s somebody out there with a flashlight.” Eddy stood. “I’m going to get Bill and Colton.” He left, letting the door bang shut behind him.
Mychal cringed. The light blinked off. He shook his head. Whoever, whatever it was, would leave now that they knew they were being watched.
Within a few minutes, Bill, Colton, and Eddy returned. “What did you see?” Bill asked.
“We’re not sure.” Mychal glared at Eddy. “A light. But when Eddy let the door slam, it blinked out.”
“Sorry.” Eddy melted into the shadows.
Bill and Colton joined Mychal at the rail. If they stood silent enough, for long enough… “There,” Mychal whispered. “Is that a flashlight?”
“I think so. Looks like we aren’t alone, boys.” Bill sighed. “Now, why do you think someone would be wandering around in the woods without coming over to say howdy?” He straightened and arched his back. “That house you went to today…any sign of the family?”
*
“They were all dead. I saw them myself.” Colton perched on the rail. “You think we were followed? Someone saw us unloading the house?”
“Maybe so.” Bill took a cigarette from his shirt pocket. “Appreciate all the barter stuff you brought. I haven’t had one of these in way too long. Doesn’t make much sense to quit now, if I don’t have to.”
“If someone watched us, why didn’t they try to take the stuff then? It took us a long time to load up that trailer.” Any one of them, him, Chalice, or Mychal, could have been shot, the others am
bushed, and the load of supplies taken.
“Maybe there weren’t enough of them at the time, but I’m thinking by morning, we’re going to have company, and not the dead kind.” Bill inhaled, held his breath for a moment, then closed his eyes and exhaled. “We need to get loaded up and get out of here by daylight. We’re no match for a group of armed men.”
“We’re going to have to shoot survivors to keep our stuff.” Colton shook his head. He’d prayed things would never reach that point. Considering how few they’d encountered, and how spread out survivors seemed, he’d almost come to believe it might never happen.
He didn’t want to shoot anyone, and he didn’t want anyone shooting at him. “We need to come up with a plan for getting everyone out of the house and to the cars without being shot. Who’s going to sit where, that kind of stuff. I’d rather we didn’t fire a single shot.”
“I agree.” Bill took another puff. “If we board up the porch, we can get folks into the transporter. Maybe the Hummer in back is close enough to the mud porch, but my truck is in the open, and I planned on Sarah driving it. I’ll take the chicken transport, and you, Colton, drive the Hummer. The kids will ride with you and Chalice.”
“There isn’t room. Not for us and the dogs. You’ll have to take Buddy with you, and either Mychal or Eddy. The other one will ride with Sarah. That still leaves me and Chalice with Lady and the three younger kids.” He didn’t like the plan at all. They were taking a huge risk getting everyone loaded up. They needed a better plan. Now. They didn’t need to wait for daylight.
He shoved away from the railing. “We need to start preparations under the cover of night. Whoever is out there, knows we’ve discovered them. We can’t wait until daylight, which means no time to board up the porch. Stealth is what we need now.”
*
“Wake up.” A hand shook Chalice awake. She peered from her sleeping bag into Colton’s dark face.
“What’s wrong?” She got sleepily to her feet. “Zombies?”
The Zombie Awakening (Complete 6 Volume Series, plus prologue) Page 14
