Survive (Book 1): Salvation

by Veronica Smith

  All four trucks were ready before anyone went to bed. Tamar and Zach would take one to the rear of the camp to release the caged zombies, dropping off Jim, Tracy, & Edd to find places to sneak in on that side. Edd would be dropped off at the rocks where he originally scouted. He was outfitted with bow and arrows, custom made by Izik. There were two sentries in the front and the plan was, if one got too far from Izik, Edd would be needed to take him out. Antonio would drive the truck with the cages of captured zombies and bait. He was to take Izik, Susan, and Em with him. After Antonio and Izik released the bait animals and bait zombies, Izik and Susan would get into place with their bows. There were two sentries in the front and one on the side. Between them, they could take out at least two of them. The other two vehicles with JJ, Paul, and Rodrigo in one and Richie and Chuck in the other would get as close as they could until the zombies drew away the sentries and Izik took them out. Then they would plow through the front gate. The timing was going to be the difficult part. They needed to time the bait zombies at the front with the release of the caged zombies at the back.

  They planned to get up early and stop at the cave they stayed in previously and take the rest of the day to prep and go over the plan. They also needed to make a side trip to the pit monster near the camp and set it up. They planned to work their way close to the Z.E.D. camp when it got dark and the moon came up. Luckily, there should be enough moonlight to see without headlights. If all worked out right, they would all be in position and waiting before the sun was close to rising.

  This was the plan anyway and plans never seem to go right.

  They were up and out of the compound before dawn. Tracy and Mason Henry kissed long and hard.

  “Take care of her,” he said to Chuck and Antonio.

  “I will but I’m not worried about her one bit!” Antonio beamed.

  She smiled through her tears and pulled away, their hands gliding until they were apart. Everyone’s loved ones came out to see them off and there were even more tears shed. As Sabaton drove off, more than one of them looked back at their home. Would this be the last time they drove away from Salvation?

  “Holy shit!” Edd cried, his eyes watering, “How is it possible they can stink even more?”

  Everyone covered their mouths and noses. The smell from the pit trap was horrendous. They peered in and could see that parts of the zombie’s bodies had decayed and dropped off, leaving piles of green and black goo that steamed in the morning humidity. The zombies had nowhere to go but to walk around, bumping into the pit walls and each other. It wasn’t good for the rotting skin.

  “You know if we try to pull them up they’ll rip apart,” Tamar said.

  “I’m realizing that now.” Chuck said worried, “Dammit. Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “Don’t beat yourself up,” Em said, “let’s just figure out how to get them out.”

  Tracy tapped on her arm and took Em aside. They talked for a moment then Em nodded and they both walked to the trucks and pulled down two of the ladders. Using rope and some wooden poles as stiffeners, they created a makeshift stretcher. Chuck’s face lit up when he realized what they were doing.

  “Genius!”

  They attached some ropes to it and tied two of the rabbits to the center of it. While Tamar and Zach distracted the zombies by reaching in down one side of the pit and wiggling their hands, they quickly lowered the converted ladders to the bottom. Tamar and Zach jumped up and each grabbed a pole with a noose attached and got ready. The others spread out around the pit and watched as the zombies turned at the scratching of the rabbits trying to get free.

  “We’re all going to go to Tamar and Zach’s sides when they’re caught,” Antonio said. “No sudden movements or they’ll fall off. And I think they just might explode on impact. We really don’t want that.”

  Several groaned at the thought and the expected smell that would produce. One zombie fell to its knees in the center of the ladders and began eating one of the rabbits. The cry of the rabbit in pain was eerily similar to a human baby and everyone winced.

  “It’s necessary,” Em repeated several times through gritted teeth.

  “Had to be done,” Tracy said at the same time.

  The other zombie tripped on the edge of the ladder and crawled towards the other rabbit. The keening wail of that rabbit was almost too much and tears fell down both Em’s and Tracy’s cheeks although their hold on the ropes never wavered.

  “Steady,” Chuck said, although the sounds had gotten to him as well, “That one is almost on...” It didn’t look like the second one was going to crawl on any further and its legs were still off the ladder.

  “If we don’t get them up now they’ll finish the rabbits and get off,” Tamar said. “The first one is almost done. We have to hurry. Now!”

  “Do it!” Antonio said, “On three. One, two, three!”

  They all pulled and backed up together slowly. Tamar and Zach stayed close to the edge, watching the progress and waiting for their turn.

  “It’s going good,” Zach said, “they’re still on the ladder. If you don’t tilt it, I think it will come up fine.”

  “Tamar, you say clear when we can start coming over,” Chuck said, straining.

  The zombies weren’t very heavy since they were rotting away but they were still dead weight and there were two of them. Besides the ladders were heavy themselves. As the ladders cleared the edge, Tamar and Zach backed up.

  “Clear!” she yelled, “Come over.”

  Everyone side stepped until Tamar told them to stop. The zombies were still eating the rabbits and oblivious to being raised out of the trap, although one was down to a single rabbit’s foot only. Tamar and Zach immediately stepped forward and dropped the nooses around their necks. They tightened them up and paused to let the zombies finish the rabbits.

  “Why are you letting them finish?” Richie asked disgusted.

  “Because if we take their food from them, they’ll get agitated. I don’t like agitated zombies,” Zach said, “Right now they’re calm. When they finish eating we can force them into the cages.”

  “Oh gross. Look at the ladders,” Susan said.

  The ladders were covered with decayed zombie flesh and globs of green ooze. There was even a finger caught in the corner of a rung.

  “I really don’t want that dripping on us in the trucks.”

  “We still have two more ladders,” Antonio said. “I suggest we leave these here and come get them after the mission.”

  “If they’re still here then,” Izik pointed out.

  Antonio nodded but replied. “No one would steal those. If you came across them with all that zombie goo on them, would you take them?”

  Everyone laughed and backed up while Tamar and Zach forced the zombies into the cage. They weren’t sure how well they’d go up the ramp but surprisingly it worked out fine.

  “That is that hot stripper from Outland Bar,” Edd pointed to her shirt while elbowing JJ. The two of them used to visit the bar occasionally and everyone used to tease them.

  “Nikki,” Edd read aloud the name hand stitched on what was left of her clothes.

  “What a damn shame,” JJ looked at the other zombie and took a quick step back.

  “What’s up JJ?” Edd asked him as he looked at the other stripper zombie.

  This one was in much worse shape than Nikki. Its chest was nothing more than a gaping hole and a few dried-up intestines hanging from the edges.

  “I kind of always wondered what happened to her,” JJ replied. “I had no idea she went like this.”

  “Who was it?” Susan asked him.

  “My ex, Krystal,” he answered. “I thought I’d feel sad but I don’t. She chose that scumbag over us; she never came back once to see how her own daughter was. I just feel numb.”

  “They’re going to be used as bait,” Antonio asked him, concern threading his voice, “Is that going to be a problem?”

  JJ looked at its dead eyes, looking for
any part of the woman he used to love.

  “Nope,” he sighed, “Let’s get this mission on the road.”

  They had everything put back in the trucks except for the zombie-painted ladders.

  “Damn, that was easier than I thought it would be,” Chuck exclaimed.

  Em and Tracy both coughed loudly.

  “That is after we had the smartest women in the world come up with a great idea,” Antonio added quickly.

  “Good save,” Richie whispered from the side.

  The trucks drove long and hard to reach the cave. It wasn’t yet noon by the time they stopped and set up for the day.

  “We’ll sleep during the day in two shifts,” Chuck said after checking the area for intruders, “First shift sleeps now for six hours. Half of those awake will stay here while the others go prep the pit monster. When everyone’s awake, we’ll have a meal and go over everything. Then the second shift will sleep. That should get us packed up and ready to leave around midnight. Any questions?”

  Everyone shook their heads. Chuck, Tamar, Tracy, Jim, Susan, Paul, and Richie would take the first sleeping shift inside the cave. It would be cramped but dark enough to sleep during the day.

  They went out to the pit monster by taking a long route around the camp. They were there for over an hour, tossing pebbles to test the reach of the pit mutant. It didn’t seem to have as far of a reach, or be as big, as the one that had been near Salvation. Rodrigo stayed ready with N5P bombs in case anything happened. They marked the ground by pulled up a few weeds around in an unnatural pattern. They learned their lesson the hard way with using rocks as markers. Then they waited another hour to make sure the pit mutant calmed down. Antonio carefully rolled out the long coil of rope they brought. It rolled gently to the edge of the pit and the last foot lapped over the edge with hardly a sound. It didn’t cause any reaction from the mutant so they tied off the other end to a boulder and left quietly. Now it would look as though they had an escape route in this direction. If things went as planned, they wouldn’t need to use it on the Z.E.D.s, but just in case...

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Based on the moon’s location in the night sky, Chuck figured it was a little after midnight. Everything was packed back in the trucks and they were about to embark on the mission. They had brought the majority of their guns and ammo, leaving only a scant few back at Salvation for protection. All the guns were loaded and they wore them like cowboys of old. Each still had all their trusty melee weapons; they planned to use those first; bullets ran out too fast. If they were lucky, they wouldn’t have to get off a shot. Axes, knives, and machetes were sharper than they’d ever been. Chuck’s massive war hammer was gleaming and shone in the moonlight, as if it were eager to begin. They stood in a circle so Chuck could have one last word with them.

  “This is the most dangerous thing we’ve ever done. Even all the zombies and mutant zombies were nothing. They couldn’t help what they were. The cannibals were dangerous but sloppy. These people are pure evil and trained to kill you. They murder people who don’t conform to their rules, they breed their daughters to repopulate the Neo-US, and steal our children. If they surrender, fine; if not, give them no mercy. They won’t give you any.”

  He paused and bowed his head. The others shifted uncomfortably; Chuck didn’t usually show much emotion. When he looked back up he was smiling but his eyes were glazed with unshed tears, “It’s been an honor to work and live with each and every one of you. I usually don’t let anyone get close to me; not after what I’ve been through. Somehow you’ve all wormed your way in and I love you all.”

  The moonlight was just bright enough to keep the trucks from slamming into rocks or trees. As soon as they got to the split-off point, JJ and Richie stopped and parked in the middle of a group of shrubs just tall enough to block them from view. They pulled out some old blankets that were dyed green and brown haphazardly and had branches and leaves woven throughout. When draped over the trucks they were virtually hidden from any eyes in the dark. The difference would be apparent when the sun came up. But they wouldn’t be there then.

  Antonio drove to the same group of boulders that Chuck and Susan had been at when they previously scouted. They knew the boulders would block out any noises the caged zombies would make. The animals in the other cages were agitated from being so close to the zombies but they weren’t worried about them making noise; animal sounds would be natural and might even work to their advantage. Despite telling Tracy that the animals could probably outrun the zombies, he really didn’t know if they would survive. He only knew he wasn’t risking this entire mission on the loss of a coyote and wildcat. Once there, they carefully unloaded the zombie cage using poles and rope and prepped it for release. They set the animal cages close, within sight of the zombies but out of their reach. As long as the zombies could see them, they should go after them with their nonstop hunger urging them on. Izik found a niche in the boulders where he had the entrance gate sentries in plain sight. Susan moved around until she had a clear view of the sentry on the side. They were ready. Their cue was the moment the sun peeked over the horizon. That would start everything in motion.

  “When did you learn how to drive?” Jim asked Tamar as she pulled behind the group of trees that were hers and Zach’s previous scouting location. As they got out of the truck, she looked behind them, knowing the pit monster was back there and hoping they didn’t have to use that part of the plan. Not very much scared Tamar but that thing did.

  “When they trained us at the camp, one of the last things they taught some of us was how to drive. I was the only one to complete the training,” she replied quietly. “We ran before the rest could be trained. They trained the tallest first.”

  “Tallest? Not the oldest?” Jim asked.

  “Had to reach the pedals,” she winked. “At the time, I was the oldest and the tallest, anyway.”

  “So that place we dropped Edd off was also part of the original scouting mission?” Tracy asked, looking at the group of rocks that was even further to the front gate than they were.

  Edd was somewhere nestled in them and probably already had his arrow trained on the front entrance. It was too long a shot to the gate from where he was at, but if the bait happened to go in his direction, he’d have a better chance of taking them out than Izik or Susan. Tamar and Zach showed Jim and Tracy the best places to hunker down until it got closer to dawn. They planned to sneak closer to the back of the encampment and be ready for the moment when the sun’s edge reached the horizon.

  Once that happened they needed to wait for Edd to wave a white cloth behind the rocks. That was the signal that the front sentries had moved away from their posts, chasing the bait zombies that Antonio would release. Jim and Tracy would kill the sentry positioned between the latrines and the cages, and Tamar and Zach would then go release the zombies from their cages. Jim and Tracy would wait by the latrines until the chaos started, and then run in, hopefully not right into the arms of the caged zombies. Their timing was extremely critical. It all depended on the front sentries leaving their posts.

  “Come on baby,” Edd whispered, circling the arrow over the head of one of the sentries, made small from in distance, “Let me see those baby blues.”

  He kept glancing at the horizon, wishing he could make the sun rise faster. He was more nervous than he’d ever been in his life and wanted it to hurry up. He reached for the white cloth that hung off his belt and had a moment of panic when he found nothing there. He set down his bow and felt around on the ground. He couldn’t see anything in the dark but frantically patted the dirt for it. He finally found it and sighed audibly. This time he stuck a corner of it in his pocket, the rest hanging against his leg. He was about to pick up the bow and realized he would need to have his hands free to signal Tamar. He kept his hand on his machete and looked around, straining in the darkness. Unlike the others, he was alone; no one had his back if a zombie came upon him. He set a few items on the ground a couple yards behind h
im that would warn him if they were disturbed. He really hoped a zombie wouldn’t come around and screw up this mission… or kill him. That would ruin his entire day. He sighed. It was almost time.

  Richie and JJ sat talking through their open windows. They were parked across from each other in opposite directions so they could keep an eye out. They found an area between the cave and the road that had enough trees and boulders to hide them. Any Z.E.D.s driving in would be using their headlights and would give them plenty of warning. Paul was getting more nervous in the backseat behind Rodrigo.

  “How long until sunup?” he asked him, fidgeting.

  “Probably less than fifteen minutes or so; not long now,” Rodrigo answered.

  He was also listening to JJ and Richie discuss their driving plans. Based on their maps, the camp’s only tank was to the right, so that was the direction JJ would take as soon as they cleared the entrance gates. JJ would pull in close then Rodrigo and Paul would jump out and get the tank. Richie would drive straight to the center to the commander’s quarters with Chuck. Chuck wanted to capture the commander as soon as possible; maybe avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Chuck stared at the horizon, which was starting to glow.

  The arc of the sun peeked over the horizon; momentarily blinding the world. A new day had begun.

  The instant the sun shone its first sliver of light, Antonio and Em opened the doors to the cages, the animals only a second or two before the zombies. As predicted the zombies went straight after the animals, shambling as fast as they could, ignoring their human captors. The animals split off. The coyote going straight across the road in Edd’s direction and the wildcat taking off down the road, away from the encampment.

  Antonio groaned, “Good thing we had two of them.”