“There is probably enough food to hold the entire base over for another two-to-three weeks if we drastically cut all our portions to the bare minimum.” A couple of guys muttered beneath their breath and we all understood what this meant. Higher risk for larger quantities of food and supplies. It wasn’t easy to care for almost a hundred people in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. “As some of you know, we also have another slight problem.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “We have been doing supply runs in this area and surrounding areas for over two years now and the places we’ve scouted, the places we’ve foraged before have basically been picked clean.”
“What does that mean?” The question came from a soldier we’d brought over from the Charlotte base.
“It means we are going to have to go into a larger city. It means this could be a very dangerous mission,” I answered. Jude nodded his head.
“That’s exactly what it means. We need to go out of our normal range and find larger quantities of food, larger quantities of supplies, which means going into zones that we haven’t scouted before and probably running into a lot more of the undead while doing so.” He glanced around the room once again. “If you don’t want to do this run, we won’t hold it against any of you and we won’t think any less of any of you. The risk will be great.” Jude paused. “If there’s anyone who wants to stay … now would be the time to jump ship,” he said seriously. No one made a move.
“As if we’d let you and Melody go out and have all the fun,” Manuel said with a smile. A chorus of “hell yeahs” sounded in agreement. Jude smiled at them and stood up, pulling his knife from its sheath.
“Well, let’s get going then. We’re burning daylight.”
THE DAY WAS OVERCAST AND gloomy as we made our way slowly out of town in a small caravan of vehicles. The plan was simple, but everyone knew that simple didn’t mean easy or safe. Safe was one of those words whose meaning had changed since the end of the world. Safety was really only a state of mind in our violent surroundings. Maybe one day that would change, but for now we could only help survivors until the world started getting back to normal—if it could ever get back to normal.
“So, once we find supplies, how are we supposed to get it all back to the base?” A young man who went by the name “Z” asked.
“The plan is to find a truck big enough to haul everything back to the base. We have several guys who can drive semis on the team, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I’m sure finding an abandoned eighteen wheeler or smaller won’t be a problem either.” Jude answered. Z nodded at Jude and turned to look out the window as we kept driving. It was slow going where we were with a lot of abandoned vehicles and debris littering the road we’d taken to get to city of Gastonia.
Jude pulled off to the side of the road a few hours later, the other vehicles followed his lead and pulled off behind him. I glanced around the area, spotting only a few zombies compared to the large amount of deserted and overturned cars. Jude searched the area one last time and then turned to me. I nodded. This looked as good as any place. We were only a few miles outside of the city limit and needed to walk the rest of the way. Jude cut the engine to the SUV and we all waited for his command.
“Okay, let’s do this then,” he clipped out. We all exited the vehicles and began our journey on foot into Gastonia, North Carolina by cutting down all the zombies in our way for the next two miles. There were plenty to go around. When we made it to the city limits we did what we had discussed and split into two groups. One group, with Manuel in charge, went in search of the two drug stores that were supposed to be only four blocks into the city and we went to find the Sam’s Club that was supposed to be nearly half a mile west of the pharmacies.
We made it several blocks in relative ease, but there was a tension in the air and I couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong. I didn’t voice my opinions though, I didn’t want to spook our group. We ducked into a tiny bookstore, about a block away from our destination, when a larger group of zombies lumbered around a corner and down the middle of the street. I took the time to really study our surroundings through the glass doors of the bookstore as the zombies stumbled past.
“There seems to be a lot of bodies in the streets,” Ghost whispered near me. I nodded and clenched my jaw. Too many bodies were in the street. The stench of the undead wafting off of the pavement was nearly toxic and definitely strong enough to make you tear up as you walked past. I searched the streets beside Jude and Ghost with my heart sinking further and further. Something just wasn’t right.
“It’s not just victims from those first days out there,” I said quietly. “There are dozens and dozens of undead, which look like they’ve been taken down recently, littering every single street.” I shook my head. This couldn’t be good.
“Damn it,” Jude muttered darkly as we stood there watching the majority of the larger group of zombies pass us by. “There has to be another group in this area.” Ghost muttered something beneath his breath and backed away from the door, leaving me with Jude.
“Maybe they’re not hostile.” I tried to sound hopeful. But, the truth of the matter was that if there was a large enough group in the area to clear out hundreds of zombies at a time, more than likely they’d laid claim to all the supplies in the area or at least would make it very difficult for other groups to pilfer anything worth taking. Jude swore again and we both stood quietly wondering if we should move forward or head back the way we’d come and find the rest of our group. We used the walkie-talkies we’d brought with us to tell the other group to be extra careful as they moved through the city. I pulled the map and list of stores, hospitals, pharmacies, and such we’d made before we left camp.
I hunched down and spread the papers out on the ground and used my mini flashlight to look over them. I found what I was looking for and pointed it out to Jude as he squatted down next to me to look at my papers.
“That’s where we need to go,” I said, pointing to the scribbles.
“Ashbrooke High?” Jude questioned with a raised brow. I smiled broadly and snatched the papers off of the ground.
“Think about it, Jude. The schools would have had hundreds of kids on a daily basis. Most schools have high fences for security and not many people would try to loot a school during a zombie outbreak.” Jude stared at me like he knew I was getting to a point, but he wasn’t sure what it was. I rolled my eyes at him and sighed. “How much food do you think a regular sized school would have stocked up to feed hundreds of hungry teens at any given time?” I asked with a smirk. Jude eyes widened and then he grinned at me.
“I knew that,” he said. “I was just testing you.” I chuckled under my breath and followed him over to the rest of the group and listened as he told them about our change in plans.
The road to the high school was paved with more bodies and even more of the undead. We tried to play it safe, only engaging the zombies when we had to, keeping to the buildings and ducking behind cars as much as possible. Sometimes, though, we had to fight tooth and nail for our lives, for the lives of our comrades, and to make it further into the city and closer to our destination. As careful as we were, we still lost one of our people on the way.
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE. THE sense of apprehension that used to plague me every time I went to school certainly hadn’t. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t apprehension for quite the same reasons like—who was dating who, what my friends would think of my new hairstyle, or wondering if Lisa Kasey was pregnant or had just gained a lot of weight, but there was some major stress involved in breaking into a high school. Most of it having to do with the fact that we had no idea what lay on the other side of the barbed wire fence we were cutting into. Was the school completely deserted? Was there a mob of undead waiting for us, or had another group already thought of what I did and were just inside the school? I could have led us straight into an ambush. I adjusted my grip on my knife and wiped a droplet of sweat from my forehead as I fought off a few straggler zombies with Jud
e as we waited for everyone to get through the fence.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” I muttered darkly as I ducked through the fence opening.
“It was a good idea, Mel. It’ll be alright,” Ghost said with a wink. I smiled back, but I still couldn’t help but feel out of sorts. Nothing had really gone right since we’d started this mission and that was never a good sign of things to come. We made our way across the front of the campus and to the front doors of the school without running into a single zombie. So far, so good. The doors were locked tight. We didn’t want to use our guns if we didn’t have. No reason to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves.
“Find another way in? Maybe break out a window?” I asked with a shrug. Jude smiled at me and stepped away from the doors, motioning for Ghost to come over.
“It’s all you. Ghost.” Jude patted Ghost on the back as he approached the locked double doors. Ghost took out a tiny pack from one of his large pants pockets and pulled out a few tools. Not two minutes later, the lock popped and Ghost stood up and held the door open with a flourish. I wondered, as I grinned over at him, how many times Ghost’s special abilities had come in handy over the past two years.
“I vaguely recall spending my teen years trying to sneak out of school,” Ghost said with a shake of his head as we all entered the hallway. I turned quickly, my knife coming up in defense as the sound of approaching footsteps alerted the group that we were not alone.
“Relax. It’s just us,” Manuel said, his hands up and a smirk on his face. I lowered my knife and relaxed a fraction, as did everyone else in our group. Ghost clapped Manuel on the back and they did some manly fist bump action.
“How did it go? Everyone okay? Jude asked. Manuel lifted the long duffle back off of his back and motioned to two others in his group. All three of them were carrying large, bulging duffle bags. Looked like their pharmacy run had been successful. “Good. Let’s all move quietly and find the cafeteria,” Jude said seriously. “The quicker the better.” We moved through the eerily empty hallways with only the sound of our shoes echoing around us. I tried not to look at the bulletin boards, the award cabinet, and the depressingly empty classrooms as we passed. But the fact that a place which was once so full of life and promise, a place that once held so many teenagers with dreams and aspirations for their future, was now sitting abandoned like a ghost town wasn’t lost on any of us.
We made a right turn down a hallway and saw what we had been searching for directly in front of us. A sign over the double doors read “Cafeteria”. A door to the right of the cafeteria entrance led out into an open courtyard where tables and chairs sat, inviting kids to sit outside and enjoy their lunch in the fresh air. My heart felt pained by the reminder that I had been one of those teens sitting outside eating lunch with my friends, the majority of whom were probably dead now, just months before the outbreak. It felt like it had been a lifetime ago.
“Melody?” Jude was staring at me as I stood there with my thoughts in places they had no business being.
“I’m good,” I said quietly as I approached the rest of the group with a sad smile. After Ghost worked his magic once again we all entered the cafeteria and made our way to the back, where supplies would have been kept. Ghost and three other guys decided to scout out the room and other doors that led into the cafeteria to make sure the room was as secure as possible. When Jude opened the back room, he let out a whistle. I followed behind him and Z as they entered the storage room. I couldn’t stop grinning like a fool. Jude and Z shone their flashlights on the shelves that lined the rather large room. I spotted huge cans of peas, carrots, fruit cocktail and tons of other vegetables all stacked in neatly organized sections.
“Holy Shit,” Z muttered. I walked over to where he stood as he was rubbed his hand along a can like he’d found the holy-grail. “Pulled pork,” he whispered lovingly—a man entranced. I laughed out loud. Thirty minutes later, after everyone had oohed and ahhed over the storage room, the school had been well scouted, and everyone had sat for a few minutes to rest, I was itching to be on the move again.
“Now, how are we going to get all of this out of here?” I asked. I was sitting with Jude, Z, and Manuel in the main room of the cafeteria. After a moment, Jude answered.
“We need to find a truck.” I nodded. Right. Find a decent sized truck with a decent amount of fuel.
“Bus.”
I turned to face Ghost as he strode across the room.
“Bus?” Jude asked. Ghost nodded and looked over at me.
“According to our maps and the info we have, there should be a parking lot between here and the elementary school … probably half a mile further into the city. They keep the buses for all the surrounding schools there.” Jude rubbed his chin. “They would be filled with gas and we could fill the entire bus with supplies and still have room for everyone to sit.” Ghost glanced at me quickly before turning back to Jude. Jude narrowed his eyes.
“What’s the catch?” he asked. Ghost didn’t flinch beneath his stare.
“Looks like our luck has run out … I scouted out back, around the school and from this block over, the undead are swarming the streets. It would be dangerous.” Jude started to shake his head. “It might be our best bet … it seems the zombies are moving in huge packs, like some kind of herd.” I shuffled on my feet and stared uncomprehendingly at Ghost. Herd?
“They are moving in groups? That’s nothing different than what we’ve dealt with before …” Ghost rubbed a hand over his dark, shaved head.
“No, not this time. They are kind of moving across the city in a wave, like a flock of birds would.” His eyes met mine and then he clenched his jaw and caught Jude’s stare once again. “That wave is already headed this way.” I glanced out the windows and realized how late it was. The undead were making their way across the city and they were moving in our direction. No way we’d be able to get back out of town before they arrived … not without leaving behind all the supplies we’d found. Another question popped into my confused mind.
“If they’re moving in waves during the day, maybe by morning they’ll have moved past us or back the way they came?” I stated. Ghost nodded.
“That’s what I’m thinking, but who knows? I’ve never seen them move together quite so in sync. And when they do blow through, will they be able to get onto the school property or are we relatively safe here?” he asked.
“And there’s still the problem of needing a way to get out of here with all of these supplies, so no matter what, we need some wheels,” Jude interjected. Ghost nodded. He’d already figured that. Jude sighed loudly. “What do you need?” he asked Ghost. Ghost’s lips tightened into a thin line.
“I’ll need two volunteers to come with me and I’ll need … Melody.”
“Why?” Jude asked after a pregnant pause.
“You and Manuel will need to stay here with the others and organize all the supplies so we can load them when we get back … and you’ll need Manuel to help if the herd comes through and the shit hits the fan while we’re gone.” Jude’s eyes were on me as Ghost spoke. “Melody has the most experience besides the three of us in the group. She’s fast, smart, and deadly with a weapon. She’s the only person I know can handle her shit under pressure beside you and Manuel. I need her backing me up.” My mouth dropped open quite unattractively when Ghost finished talking. I never realized Ghost thought so highly of me. I shut my mouth and glanced over at Jude to see how he was taking it. He was staring at the ground, his jaw clenched so hard, I’m sure he’d have a head ache later on.
“Alright, so Melody?” Jude looked at me questioningly. I nodded. I was in. “Let’s see who else is crazy enough to volunteer. Jude broke the news to the rest of the group and told them our plan. Manuel and the majority of the group began organizing all of the supplies for easy and quick loading and then went to make contingency plans, just in case the shit did indeed hit the fan while we were gone. Z and a short guy with shaggy brown hair named Nate join
ed Ghost and me to go out into the city to find a bus and bring it back to the group.
OUR SMALL GROUP HEADED TO the back of the school. We only had a few hours of daylight left and we definitely didn’t want to get stuck out in the middle of an unknown city at night. Jude walked silently beside me as we approached the gate in the back of the school. I glanced over at him several times as we walked.
“Be smart. Don’t take any unnecessary risks,” he said softly. I smiled. Life was a risk, but I understood what he was saying. Come back to me safely.
“Will do, Sir.” I snapped a salute and he smiled. Lord, please, please let me come back to him, I willed out into the universe for good measure. I ran to catch up with the guys. Ghost turned to look back at Jude and tsked beneath his breath. I raised a brow at him.
“What?” I snapped. He rubbed his hand over his chin like he was thinking.
“I don’t know, I guess I just figure if I was leaving behind the one thing that meant most to me in the entire world, I’d leave them with a little more than a nod and a see ya later,” he said with a shrug. I stared at him. His eyes were smiling at me, but he was a hundred percent serious and I knew he was right. What the hell was I thinking? None of us were promised a tomorrow. I turned on my heel and ran back to Jude. His eyes were wide in question, but when I launched myself into his arms, he didn’t hesitate.
Jude jerked me off of my feet and his mouth immediately found mine. His lips weren’t gentle, they weren’t patient. He seared me with his kiss, his lips claimed me as his own. And I did the same in return. I broke away breathless and stared up into his face.
“I love you Jude Harrison. I will love you as long as I live and even after I’m gone, I will still be yours.” Jude bent down and placed one more lingering kiss on my still-tingling lips.
“Glad to hear it, Mel. I plan on loving you for a lifetime, so make sure you come back to me.” I nodded, removed myself from his arms, and ran back to the group waiting at the fence with huge grins on each of their faces.
State of Decay (Omnibus (Parts 1-4)) Page 17
