by Diane Butler
At about 3 o’clock they could see the highway that Roxanne used but they stayed in the foliage to avoid any detection by possible scouts that Chen Le could have positioned along the road. He would be expecting them to travel by car or truck, whether they decided to attack or to flee, but Lucky and Roxanne were going by the theory that Chen Le felt they were a bunch of amateurs who got lucky last night and were still at the Park.
Roxanne took off her gear, “I need to see if my car is up there and if we came out at the right spot. I need to get my bearings and see if anything looks familiar. We should be going right along the road unless I led you too far across the mountainside. It’s been a couple of months and things have grown up a lot more.”
She got down on her belly and crawled toward the highway, hoping to keep her head in the bushes and tall grass to be able to see down the road without exposing herself too much.
Everyone knelt down and watched her with baited breath until she crawled backwards and, still hunched down she trotted over to meet them. “The car is there,” she whispered. “But a guy is sitting on top of it as a look out with a shotgun across his knees. He has a motorcycle with him but I wonder if he has a walkie-talkie with him too.”
That’s a possibility,” Lucky said. “If he does then we don’t want to take him out, even silently. They could call for him and get suspicious if he doesn’t answer. Roxanne, how far down the road is the farmhouse?”
“About a mile. I say we back down into the heavier part of the woods but try to keep the road in our sight. It will be tough walking because of the tilt downwards on this side, but the land will even out a little further up. I remember seeing houses built on this side of the road too because the land was level. The farmhouse we want is on the opposite side of the road. I only hope that we see activity outside of the house because we would need to wait until it gets dark to cross the open road to get a look inside the houses.”
After another half mile the land evened out and was level with the road. Their legs were being tested walking on the slope and the previous night’s battle was catching up to them. They were all exhausted and were now practically dragging their equipment rather than carrying it when they finally saw a break in the foliage and could see the houses. “Jesus,” Cami said dropping on her butt and taking a drink of water. “If I don’t get a chance to use this Rocket Launcher I will use it on myself.”
“Cami, Randy and Gene,” Lucky said, “since you three are carrying explosive devices try not to take out all the vehicles. We need one or two to make a quick get-a-way and get back to the Park. If you see someone get in a vehicle, let him start it. One of us will take him out with a bullet then it will be ready for us to jump into. I would like for the whole thing to go down with explosives but we’ve got to be sure that this is the main group and that Chen Le is using this as his headquarters. We can go in and take out the stragglers but I want one alive so I can question him. I don’t want anyone trying to be a hero, especially you Cami or you Roxanne. I know neither of you want to leave the park, but I don’t want this to be your last stand.”
They crept up to the bushes so they could watch the two houses across the street for any activity. There were three men sitting on the porch of the farm house with two trucks parked facing outward toward the road. The brick rambler had its windows and door open to catch a breeze but they caught sight of only one shadow as someone passed the window. They could not hear the conversation of the men on the porch to know whether they were discussing last night’s raid.
“But how do we know it’s them,” Randy whispered, “and not just a group seeking shelter?’ At that moment a man came out of the rambler with a bandage on his head and arm to join the men on the porch. “This is it,” Cami said. “That guy was in the passenger seat of the truck and bailed when Lucky shot the driver. Later we heard screaming in the forest and assumed two of them were attacked by Ze’s. He must have found his way back here.”
“But why are they so casual after last night,” Gene asked. “Why aren’t they gearing up?”
“Perhaps they already sent a group ahead to the park and these remained behind,” Roxanne suggested.
Lucky shook his head, “No, I think others may be on an ammo run. They lost a lot of weapons and three vehicles in that fight when their men didn’t return. I think they’ve depleted their supply down to rifles and hand guns. Neither of the trucks across the street has mounted machine guns, but we don’t know what other vehicles they have. It’ll be getting dark soon so they should be back shortly. I don’t want a second fight with the leftovers that arrive later. I say we wait and make sure we get them all.”
Randy noticed that they were hiding behind blueberry bushes bearing fruit so he settled down to eat some. “Stop it!” Lucky ordered. “I don’t want them to see that bush moving and come out here to investigate. Cami when I give the signal use the rocket launcher on the brick rambler and then the barn, so get into position to be able hit the barn in the background too. Gene you use the grenade launcher on the house. That should rush everyone toward the cars where we can pick them off with gunfire. There’s no room for any more cars in the driveway so if a second team arrives they will need to park on the road which could block your view of the buildings. You two spread out and take a position where you can still see the house if a truck parks in front of it, but be careful not to be seen. When they pull up, wait for my signal. I want to see if anyone calls out Chen Le’s name.”
They didn’t have long to wait when a station wagon pulled up and parked in front of the rambler. Lucky looked over at Cami and saw her move further over to her left to allow for a better shot. When the station wagon arrived a man dressed in black came out on the porch of the farmhouse to greet them. Four men got of the car which now put the count up to nine men against their six but Lucky was counting on the explosion to take out a couple of them on the porch and anyone who could still be in the rambler. He took note of the driver of the car so he would know which body to find the keys on.
As the men started to unload the station wagon one of them addressed the man who had come out on the porch, “We didn’t find much Chen Le. Pickin’s were slim this time.”
Lucky gave the signal to Cami and the woman had been so anxious to use her weapon that the rambler exploded before he could lower his hand. Debris flew everywhere and the men dropped their boxes and ducked. Another signal from Lucky and Gene used the grenade launcher, exploding the farm house which sent two men flying off the porch. Chen Le had already stepped down to greet his men and was thrown to the ground but not badly hurt. There was pandemonium as no one knew where the attack was coming from. Some ran for the vehicles while others ran toward the barn. Chen Le gave out orders which no one appeared to be listening to. The barn suddenly exploded sending everyone back to the vehicles. They were now boxed in as the buildings were on fire and their only cover or escape was by their cars. No one had drawn a weapon until Chen Le started pointing to the bushes and yelling at his men.
Rifle fire came from the bushes as Lucky, Roxanne and Brandon started to pick off the survivors as they tried to take shelter behind the cars. Two men on fire ran screaming out of the rambler and Cami took them out with her rifle. Chen Le jumped in the lead truck and pulled out while under a hail of gunfire from Roxanne but he managed to make a right while keeping his head down and floored it going down the road. Gene knew that Lucky wanted to question Chen Le but he wanted revenge for putting his wife in danger. He stood up knowing that he could be sighted but managed to get off a quick shot from the launcher while his group gave him cover. The truck exploded and swerved off the road, hitting a tree.
Lucky signaled for them to stop shooting so he could hear if there was return gun fire, but there was silence except for the burning building. “Is that all of them?” he asked. “No,” Brandon said, “I think two are hiding behind that last truck.” In the silence they could hear a motorcycle coming and knew the look-out was responding to the noise back at camp. “Let hi
m go in,” Lucky said, “and see if anyone answers him. If he keeps going, Brandon you take him out before he gets away.”
The motorcycle pulled up and stopped on the road in front of the farmhouse. They could hear the rider say, “Jesus” several times as he surveyed the damage. He got off the motorcycle and began walking toward the house calling “Chen Le, Shaun, anyone here?” A guy glanced out from behind the last truck and said, “Get down, get down, they’re across the road.” The man quickly ran behind the truck and joined him.
“Gene,” Lucky said, “Go down the road and make sure Chen Le doesn’t get away if he’s still alive. Randy come with me, the rest of you stay here,” he ran at a crouch to where Cami was. “Cami and I are going to use the station wagon as cover and go across the road. They won’t see us approach at that angle. But first, Randy do you think you can lob one of those great grenade shots of yours behind the truck, but not close enough to kill them? I just want to flush them out toward the rambler so Cami and I can pick them off. Randy nodded, “Sure, no problem.”
The first throw that Randy tossed was too far away from the truck. “Damn, what the hell?” they heard one of the men say, “What are we gonna do? Where do we go?” Another voice said “the best way outta’ this would be behind the rambler then make for the woods. Wish I had driven my motorcycle back here instead of leaving it on the road.”
Lucky nodded at Randy who tossed another grenade, this one closer spraying dirt and pebbles on the men. “Next one’s gonna hit us. We gotta’ make a break for it.” Cami and Lucky ran across the road to the station wagon as the three men made a break to the back of the rambler firing random shots as cover. Lucky shot one of them but Cami’s shot hit the side of the rambler and two of them disappeared from sight.
Randy moved up to join them at the car. Lucky motioned for Cami and Randy to run to the left while Lucky ran to the right and checked behind the truck to make sure no one was hiding there. He glanced up to see two men running for the woods. Lucky motioned to Cami and then stepped out into full view, “I got the one on the right,” he said and Cami took the one out on the left. “Be careful. We don’t know if there are more inside the houses”. The fires had been more of a burst of flame when the rockets hit and were starting to go out in the rambler. The barn was in full flames and the farmhouse was in more of a crumbled, shattered condition from the grenades. He signaled to Brandon & Roxanne to come over and had them search through what was left. Cami went out into the field to finish off the guys and get their guns.
Lucky found the keys on the driver of the station wagon and tossed them to Roxanne. “Get everything you can find into the car and then drive down to pick up me and Gene. I’m going to run down there and see about Chen Le.” Chen Le was not in good condition. Most of his skin and hair had been peeled off by the blast. They could smell burnt flesh but he was still alive. “You get anything out of him?” Lucky asked.
Gene shook his head, “Nope, all I get back is a fuck you.”
Lucky walked up to Chen Le still sitting in the driver’s seat and hit Chen Le’s torn, bleeding arm with the butt of his rifle to get his attention. He screamed out and yelled, “Death to you. Death!”
“Are there more of you?” Lucky asked.
“More coming…..every day……more coming.”
“From where?”
“Florida…..Florida toast. Everyone leave…..go north…..but they come here to you. I found you….they will too,” he attempted to laugh but only managed to spit up blood and began to gurgle. Lucky shot him in the head as Roxanne pulled up in the car with Cami and Brandon but Randy had elected to take the motorcycle. Lucky glanced in the back and saw that they had made a pretty good haul of weapons and food.
“We saw zombies starting to come out of the woods behind the houses,” Cami said. “We need to get a move on.” Lucky got in the front with Roxanne and Gene squeezed in the back with Brandon and Cami. Randy followed behind in the chopper and looked like he was having fun doing it.
Everyone was silent until they passed the car that Roxanne had abandoned. “I can’t believe that we pulled that off,” Gene said. “I was expecting more after the methods they used to hit us last night.”
Roxanne turned on the headlights not being able see the road without them anymore. “They were a terrible force to others less fortunate than us,” she said. “We had the weapons, the ammo and had built a small fortress. They’ve probably been killing people all along the way and became overconfident because of it.”
“Which is why we need to get back to that NRA house and get the rest of those weapons,” Cami insisted.
“We haven’t forgotten Cami,” Lucky said. “Sally needed to get medical supplies and then this happened. We need to get that bus out of the way so we can get in and out of the park by the front entrance. It’s been shot up all to hell and we don’t know if it will start anymore to move it. We can’t leave the tunnel open so we need to find a replacement. We should work on some ideas but we’re all too tired right now.”
Roxanne stopped when the highway turned north and her headlights caught an unmarked road leading off to her left. “Is this the service road?” she asked. “You would think that it would be marked for deliveries but I didn’t see any signs that it goes to the park.” She backed up so her headlights would shine down the road. Randy pulled up beside her and said that he would look on the side of the road for a downed sign. He got out his flashlight and walked the cycle along the road until he spotted something and got off the bike to investigate. He went into the brush and they could see him lift something. When he got back on his bike he motioned for them to follow him.
It was slow going for both of them since the concrete was broken and washed away in places. The trees hugged the road not allowing the moonlight in to help them and to make matters worse the fog was drifting in. Randy almost fell off his bike when a deer suddenly darted across the road. They rounded a turn to see the fence but they couldn’t see the truck that they had parked up against the gate because of a crowd of Ze’s. “Oh shit” Gene said, “I’m really not up to this. I just want my comfortable cot.”
“Just don’t shoot up the truck while we deal with these zombies,” Lucky said. “We need to be able to move it to let us in and then move it back into place again until we can fix that gate. Leave your headlights on Roxanne,” he said as he opened the door. Randy was sitting on his motorcycle in front of their car and had his pistol out shooting the zombies coming toward him. The rest of the group lined up on each side of him and started firing at the twenty to thirty Ze’s that had been attracted by the noise the night before. The mist made it more difficult to get a head shot but the zombies were easy targets since they hadn’t eaten in a long time and were slow. Brandon and Cami were on the two ends of the line and watched the woods for more Ze’s coming out of the fog unnoticed. They alternated their focus between the herd coming toward the headlights which gave the area an eerie nightmare affect and any possible attack from the sides.
After several reloads of ammo the herd was put down. Lucky ran forward to open the gate and move the truck that had been abandoned by Chen Le’s group. After the cycle and car went through Brandon ran back to Lucky and said he had found a chain and lock in the station wagon. They chained the fence and after Lucky put the truck in place he got back in next to Roxanne.
“Morgan, Sally and Caleb must be worried sick about us,” Gene said.
“To say nothing of Mutt,” Roxanne added. “I told him last time that I wouldn’t leave him again. I hope he understands that he was more help to them than to us.”
CHAPTER 5
As they drove to the Admin Bldg. they did not see any Ze’s or signs that their hidden members had faced any danger on the grounds while they were gone. They parked the car at the admin bldg. and went on foot to reach the Entertainment Section. They had not used or visited that section often except for Cami, so they let her lead the way through the overgrown grounds and shattered debris caused by a stor
m sometime in the past.
Knowing that Morgan, Sally and Caleb would hear their boots on the hardwood floor of the theater Gene started calling out their names so as not to frighten them. “Sally, are you OK? It’s safe,” he yelled as he used his flashlight to thread through the overturned seats of long ago audiences.
The trap door opened and Morgan stuck his head out. “Damn it! We know you said it could possibly be two days but we were worried sick after it got dark.” Roxanne could hear Mutt barking below as Morgan climbed the ladder from the trap door. He almost tripped on the last rung when Mutt darted up the ladder, jumped off the stage and ran to Roxanne.
She laughed and got down on her knees so he could lick her face, “Good Boy. You did good. You kept them safe” she rubbed and kneaded his skin the way he liked it.
Sally was helped off the ladder by Gene and given a big hug. “Everything was quiet here,” Morgan said. “Too quiet. Damn spooky place at night. Wouldn’t want to spend another night down there, but I suggest we leave some supplies there for this very purpose. It was a good spot to hide in, Cami,” he said as he patted her on the shoulder.
“I wanted to go,” Caleb said as he shut the trap door. “I could have helped.”
