by A. L. White
“Yes Sir, I have seen them when Tressa is quiet enough so as not to spook them off. They go all along the fence, playing with it.”
Tressa thought that this had been enough excitement for Todd. She would never get him to go to sleep tonight if this kept up. All night long she would have to hear about patterns within patterns. “Todd, we should be going back downstairs if you want to have that pudding before we go to bed tonight,” Tressa stated.
“Mister, I have to go so that I can get my night-time snack. Can I come up here with you again sometime, if Tressa says it’s okay?”
“Yes Todd, I would like that,” Charlie replied smiling at the small child trapped in a large man’s body.
Todd lifted himself up and started to dust the snow off and said, “Race you downstairs, Tressa! Last one there doesn’t get a snack before bed!” He was off in the same mad dash that had brought him onto the roof.
“Thank you for listening to him, Charlie. It means a lot to him when people talk to him like he knows what he is talking about.”
“My pleasure; I think I may have learned something from Todd that we needed to know,” Charlie replied.
After watching Tressa and Todd go through the door to the stairs and warming up a few minutes by the fire barrel, Charlie walked over to where Todd had been standing. The snow was starting to come down heavily now so the pattern was all but covered up. Ominously, the center group was still visible, and Charlie wondered what it was that made that group behave differently than the other groups that made up the herd.
Looking back out at the herd at Millers farm, Charlie thought for a minute that he too could see the patterns that Todd spoke of; he closed his eyes in amusement at the thought. All he could see in front of him was a bunch of smelly dead creatures that didn’t get the memo telling them that they were dead. Still, Todd did see something, or thought he saw something. Wouldn’t hurt to look into it a little more or keep an eye out for any of them coming up to the fence at night. That was unsettling in so many ways that Charlie couldn’t even pick which one would be at the top of his list. All it would take would be for one person to not secure the gates leading into the school and that would be it. Caught sleeping, the survivors would be an easy meal for the creatures. They would wake up to either the reek of the zombies upon them or the pain from a chunk of flesh being ripped away. Then Charlie remembered that the school was built up so they would have to climb stairs. Even though he could swear that the one he shot was coming down the stairs just fine, unlike his beloved Annie. Boo had told him that in times like that the mind fills in the gaps that it couldn’t account for. He had shot the creature as it was falling down the stairs, but his mind told him that it was walking down them.
The door creaked open behind Charlie and slammed shut, giving him a start. It was Boo, coming up to join him on watch for a few hours. Part of Charlie was glad to have the company, the other part knew that this was Boo’s way of making sure the job got done the way he would do it. Either way, Charlie was glad to have him up there.
“It is cold up here, Charlie. Maybe we should have two barrels,” Boo stated.
Charlie shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Maybe a warming hut would be better than having two barrels. Put two guys up here so one can watch while the other warms up.”
“Next thing you know you will be asking for a coffee pot and a recliner, Charlie.”
“I was going to wait until you got settled in as the Commander of the guard before I started asking for the luxury items,” Charlie replied laughing.
“That’s you, Charlie, always looking out for me.”
Something had caught Boo’s eye as he scanned the horizon, pulling his attention away from Charlie. “Look, out there along the highway, Charlie. Do you see what I see?”
Focusing on where Boo had pointed, Charlie couldn’t see anything at first, but then it was there plain as day. “Headlights! There are headlights just south of the Miller place.”
“Look a little further west. There are three more sets, too.”
Charlie followed the road to where it just rose up on top of a little hill and there were three more sets of headlights coming down the road. “Should we go down to the bridge and meet them?” Charlie asked.
“Let’s wait until they are almost to the bridge; too damn cold to stand out there tonight.”
Charlie wanted to go now and make sure that they got into town safely. For all of his talk about leaving in the spring, and being out in the world on his own for the first time in his life, Charlie liked to have people in large numbers around him since the apocalypse had happened. There was something about knowing that others were feeling like he was that made him feel better about the situation. If asked a few days ago, he might have felt differently. Today he had met Tressa and Todd, was part of the assembly in the cafeteria, and now he too felt like he was a part of something. He had to give it to Doc and Boo when it came to that; this place was alive for the first time today, and Charlie was getting caught up in it too.
“Charlie, does it look to you like that first set of headlights are coming to a stop?” Boo asked.
Charlie squinted in an attempt to see better then replied, “It sure does, Boo. And why in the hell would they be stopping there? They have nothing but open space from there all the way to the bridge?”
“Not sure, Charlie. Unless they are having motor troubles or ran out of gas. We will keep an eye on them. If it looks like they are stuck there we will head out and bring ‘em in.”
Charlie nodded his head in agreement, then remembered that there were binoculars down in their sleeping quarters. “I will be right back, Boo,” he stated as he ran off to get them.
CHAPTER 14
The going had been at a slow, but steady, pace so far. Lori thought that they were possibly closing the gap between themselves and the headlights ahead. Then it dawned on her that the headlights were stopped in the middle of the road. It even looked like the little car had backed up so that the rear hatchback was facing off to the farm. That was when Lori realized that two people had gotten out of the car and were running toward the herd. Not wanting to believe that she was seeing two more suicides by zombie, Lori strained her eyes to see what they were running to. Nothing jumped out in an obvious way, so she began to worry if the bus and RV would be able to navigate around the car. From where she was now it didn’t look like it, but they were still a little ways off. Her first thought had been to slow down and give the car time to do whatever the two outside of it were planning to do. If they were committing suicide she could nudge it from the road and the problem was solved. Then Lori saw what they were doing—rather she heard it first. A shot rang out and a dog sized creature fell to the ground. Lori knew that would bring the herd closer to the farm, and down on them quickly.
The two were trying desperately to drag whatever they had shot back to the car. A third person exited the car and opened the rear hatch, waving them on. As they grew closer, Lori could see that it was a small woman no older than herself. The two dragging what she could now see was a pig, were not making much headway at all. The herd was closing in fast, and Lori knew soon it would be too late for them. Pulling up behind the car she yelled out her window to the woman, “They don’t have time to drag that thing back here. Get them out of there before it’s too late!”
The woman waved Lori off as if she was meddling in their business and needed to go on her way; Lori would gladly have done so, if it wasn’t for the beat up old Chevette blocking the path. Closing the final distance between them, Lori could see that there were children in the back seat staring blankly at her and the truck. Slamming the truck into park, she grabbed her bow and climbed out. Taking aim at the zombies closest to the two figures, Lori began dropping them to the ground. Virginia and a few of the others joined her, dropping as many zombies as they could. Soon the futility of it began to become apparent as the two figures were surrounded and disappeared from their view. The woman at the back of the car pulled out a handgun and began firing w
ildly at the herd. Lori wasn’t sure if she was actually doing any damage to the zombies. It was more likely that she was calling the zombies to them. This was not a place that Lori or the others wanted to be. There were just too many zombies in this herd to fight off with any chance of walking away. Lori grabbed the woman’s arm with one hand while taking the gun away from her with the other.
“If you don’t want you or your children to die here, you need to get in that car and drive as fast as you can!”
There was no answer from her, just a cold blank stare with tears running down her face. Lori began to tell the others to grab the kids from the car, but it was too late. The herd had converged around all but the back of the Chevette now. Had it not been for Virginia and the others, Lori might have been pulled into the herd as well. The woman broke free of Lori’s grasp and ran to help her children, which was the last Lori saw of her as she went down.
“There are too many, Lori! We have to go now!” Virginia yelled.
Lori looked around and could see that even while using nearly everything they had, they were unable to hold the encroaching herd back. “Get in the cars; we’ll make a run for it!”
The others fell back to the bus and RV, fighting their way through the beginnings of the herd. While they were taking care of the wave coming from the farm, another group moved in on their flank from the field on the opposite side of the road. For the first time, it seemed like their luck had run out; today would be the day that they all bought the farm.
In the safety of the truck, Lori could see just how desperate the whole situation had become. It looked like the bus was loaded up again, but Virginia and Jermaine were standing outside of the RV still fighting. A broadside, fired out the windows of the RV, sent the herd sprawling backward a little as the zombies in front were knocked to the ground. Lori watched as Virginia scampered back into the RV with Jermaine close behind.
Now that everyone was safely in a vehicle, Lori started the truck back up and tried to move forward. Giving it a little gas, then some more, the truck groaned against the mass of animated dead bodies until it reached the Chevette. For a moment, Lori could see the pieces of flesh that had been tossed about in the initial feeding frenzy. Trying to force that from her mind, she pushed the gas pedal a little harder. The herd had grown so large that it was like shoving a mountain out of the way. The little car moved a little then settled into a stubborn rest. The snowy road offered no traction for the truck’s rear wheels, and it started to look like they might have to back their way out of there. Trying to look behind her, Lori couldn’t see if the bus was boxed in as well. Even if it wasn’t, there would be no way to tell them what she wanted them to do now.
CHAPTER 15
By the time Charlie returned with the binoculars he could see without them that the situation had become dire. The tops of the bus, RV, and the pickup truck were still visible, but the small car seemed to have vanished under a sea of zombies. Every now and then a burst of gunshots would ring out. The herd would shift a little then close back in, filling the gap.
“It looks like we don’t have to worry about meeting them at the bridge,” Boo stated.
“I agree. Maybe we should head out there and offer some help getting through there.”
“Charlie, you barely held it together with a few coming at you in the preacher’s house! That is a whole different ball game out there right now. They are coming from everywhere!” Boo yelled at him.
“So we just let them die out there?”
“Charlie, I feel for them too. Do you want to add two more bodies to the body count?” Boo asked, trying to defuse the situation a little.
“No, I do not!” Charlie exclaimed. “Boo, you do what you want, but I am going out there and bringing them in!”
Charlie grabbed his old hunting rifle and headed to the door as fast as he could without losing his footing in the fresh snow cover. “Charlie, hold on a second. I think I have a plan that just might work!” Boo yelled at him, causing Charlie to slide in the snow as he stopped and turned around. Charlie stood there staring blankly, waiting for Boo to reveal the plan.
“Meet me down at the dump truck. You know the old village one with the plow on the front?”
Charlie shook his head yes, even though he was somewhat bewildered by Boo’s choice to use that old thing.
“On your way down there, grab the AR-15s that I taught you to shoot, and enough ammo to last us. If you ain’t struggling from the weight of it, you don’t have enough. Now get moving, Charlie, if you want to save those people!”
Feeling like he had just been scolded, Charlie ran down the stairs into their dorm room and grabbed the two AR-15s, stuffing boxes of ammo into the coat pockets of the old winter parka. Charlie was in a mad dash down to the main level, as he passed other survivors who jumped out of his way. Once outside, he ran as fast as he could on the snowy ground, expecting to be at the truck ahead of Boo, and possibly grabbing the driver’s seat. Boo tended to do things well, but at his own pace. Charlie didn’t feel like this was a time to be cautious, they need to be quick. Unfortunately for Charlie, Boo was climbing into the driver’s side as Charlie made it to the truck. Without a word, Charlie opened the door and set the AR-15s into the cab before he climbed in himself. Boo was sitting there smiling as he waited for the light to go off telling them that the glow plug had warmed up enough to start the old diesel engine.
The engine roared to life with a puff of thick black smoke exploding from the exhaust pipe. Grinding the gears as he tried to find first, Boo started the truck up with a small lurch, sending them on their way.
Charlie felt like he was the cavalry in some old black and white western movie. Even fear couldn’t dampen the excitement that passed through his body at the prospect of saving the day and bringing those people to safety.
“Charlie, when we get over the bridge we’re going to plow our way through everything that gets in our way; we’ll have the advantage of having cleaned the road off for the return trip home,” Boo said with a big smile.
Charlie nodded his head in agreement with the plan, despite the fact he wasn’t quite sure how it was going to work. The one thing he had learned was that Boo Peterson didn’t do anything without thinking it out first. Knowing that raised his expectations of the plan’s success rate more than just a little bit. Once they reached the opposite side of the main Street Bridge, Boo stopped the truck and lowered the plow to the road.
“This is where we can turn back, Charlie, if you’re having second thoughts,” Boo stated.
Charlie thought for a few minutes on the gravity of what they were about to do and the utter craziness of it, “I don’t think that I could live with myself if we didn’t try, Boo.”
“That’s good to hear, Charlie, because we may not live for trying,” Boo replied as he started to pull forward. Out of habit, Boo turned the knob on the radio to the on position and started looking for a station to listen to. Finding only static, he turned to Charlie and stated, “We’re going to have to find an old eight track player for this thing.”
When Charlie failed to see the humor in it, Boo started to explain about eight tracks, then thought better of it. He had seen plenty of young men go into battle for the first time, and he knew Charlie was sorting it all out in his head right now.
“Charlie, did it look like this group was this large from the roof?” Boo asked.
Charlie shook his head and said, “No, I think it has grown in size since we were looking.”
“Makes you wonder exactly how many there are out here in the farms.”
“Now that you mention it, I was just thinking that also. How do we hold off anything this big? Do we have enough guns and ammo to keep them out of town?”
“Oh, I think we can come up with a few things until the river freezes over. If it freezes over we may have an issue or two come our way,” Boo replied. “Get yourself ready, the fun’s about to start now, Charlie! Keep a very close eye out for that little car. I don’t want to smack i
nto it at this speed.”
Charlie shook his head yes and leaned forward before, “It was right in front of that pickup truck, so we have a ways to go yet.”
“Yup, about a mile I would guess. Shows you just how many creatures are out here, doesn’t it?”
Charlie nodded yes as the plow struck the outside of the herd, sending bodies and snow flying everyplace. It was hard to hold in the enthusiasm for Boo’s choice of the old plow truck now. The zombies were no match for the large truck moving at forty or fifty miles an hour; it was cutting a clear path through them. Every now and then the plow would skip up, off the ground, and the sound of cold steel on pavement would be gone; having trapped a body beneath it. Once the zombie was worn away or cut in two, the plow would lower and the sound would return.
Charlie looked behind them and saw that the herd was closing in on the road again. It was unsettling at first because it was their way home, but it passed quickly. The truck would cut a path through them; going back that way would come just as easily as heading out was going. Boo started to slow the truck down as the pickup grew closer. Charlie could see that no one was left in the small car that he judged to be an old Chevette. Charlie was amazed that there was still one running after all of these years. He had never thought they were a very durable car.
“Charlie, we can’t get past that,” Boo stated, pointing at the Chevette. “I think we can push it off the road, but that truck is too close to it. I think I would end up pushing it off the road too. Do you think you could climb up on the hood and yell to them to try and backup?”
Charlie thought Boo had lost it and gone completely crazy at first. Then he could see it was the only way to get any type of word to them. He rolled the old window down as best as he could. It was sticking from a year of being in the up position, but finally gave way and lowered. While climbing out the window, the true size and horror of the creatures around him became strikingly apparent. This was so much different than in the preacher’s house. Those moments in that house had been the scariest moments in his whole life up until climbing out of that truck window. Finger tips of flesh or bone were brushing against his legs, trying to grab hold of anything reachable. Luckily, the cab sat high enough so that only the tallest zombie could even come close to reaching him. If they had the ability or sense to jump, Charlie knew he would be torn to pieces.
