The Feral Children [A Zombie Road Tale] Box Set | Books 1-3

by Simpson, David A.

  “Stab it! Stab it!” Swan yelled but Cody hesitated. It was just a baby. It was inhumanly fast and was grabbing at Donny’s foot as he tried to get away, tried to kick at it with his falling apart tennis shoe. There was a guttural growl from behind him then the wolves shot past and tore into the scuttling little monster. Lucy and Zero sank fangs and clamped down, both of them ragging and pulling on the thing like it was a toy. A leg and an arm tore off and they dropped them and went after it again. It was still keening and trying to crawl towards Donny, its little mouth still working in hunger. Black blood oozed from the wounds but didn’t spurt out like they expected. The heart wasn’t pumping and very little was spilled. The wolves grabbed the baby again and when they were finished, it was finally still.

  Swan knelt between them, draped her arms over their shoulders and rubbed her face in their fur. Zero licked at the tears she didn’t even know she’d been shedding. No more of the undead came screaming out of the darkness of the store and they all heaped praise on the animals. They had hoped they would protect them, they had hoped they would fight for them but until it happened, they weren’t sure. Now they were. The animals had the same instincts as a family dog would in protecting his master.

  They drug the bodies out to the parking lot, left them by a truck then pulled out their flashlights and started loading up the garden cart. They piled the back of the golf cart high with boxes and boxes of canned goods and bags of dog and cat food.

  The wolves and panther wouldn’t like it much but it would keep them from starving until they learned how to hunt. They avoided the meat and deli section; the reek was almost unbearable. Worse than the smell of the zombies. Murray rolled his chair up and down the aisles making inventory notes as the rest of them hurried back and forth to the cart with the pilfered supplies.

  It didn’t take long until they were loaded almost to the point of being overloaded and the group started their trip home. They moved quietly but with more confidence. They had met the enemy head on and destroyed it. They had fought and killed and their animals had too. They were a team. They were bad asses.

  Eyes and ears were alert. Even though the place seemed abandoned a wandering dead thing could be hidden anywhere. Aside from their quiet passage down the streets and the crunching of leaves, the scurrying of small rodents and the calls of the crows were the only signs of life.

  There was one more stop on their list, they had to get clothes and good shoes. The Outdoor Store should have everything they need. It carried everything from high end camping, hiking and fishing equipment for the well-heeled in town along with military surplus and old war paraphernalia for the collectors. It was already fall season and they hoped winter jackets were in stock.

  They gathered around the single glass door and tried to peer inside but the store was dark and cluttered with too much stuff. Tobias rapped on the glass pane with his pipe hammer and the response was instantaneous. They heard a snarl and low scream from the back of the store then the clatter of things being knocked over as something surged to the front. It was a fat man with a gray hair and beard. At one time he was probably jolly and loved children. He was probably the guy who played Santa at the VFW Christmas party or threw candy to the kids during the Parade. He slammed into the door and despite themselves, they jumped back a little. He still loved kids, which was apparent, just not in the same way he used to. He pressed his face against the glass and tried to chew through it. The three predators crouched low, ready to spring, and there was a low rumble of warning coming from them. Donny and Tobias had to struggle to get the door open enough, he kept slamming into it trying to force his way through. Once they shoved it open a few inches, a hand came out and a spear went in. Cody pulled back quickly before the thing fell and took the spear with him. He was learning. They drug the Santa Clause looking man out onto the sidewalk and left him. This would be a place they would be coming back to from time to time and there was no use letting the body stink the place up.

  Once Murray was inside, they spread out to go shopping. The Outdoor Store was big. It was overstuffed with auction lots of military gear haphazardly stacked beside displays of expensive hiking boots from Timberland, Keen and Columbia. Arc’teryx and North Face jackets hung next to military issue ACU’s. Mannequins wearing World War Two uniforms were standing on boxes of Mountain Home long term storage food. China found a bag of beef jerky and Murray had a captive audience once the wolves and the panther smelled it.

  “Great.” he grumbled. “I’ll just wait here, feeding your animals. You guys have fun!”

  “Thanks Murray.” Swan said as she disappeared into the gloom, completely missing, or maybe ignoring, his sarcasm.

  “Don’t forget Vanessa!” he yelled after her. “Size six!”

  China grabbed the bag out of his hand and darted to the top of a pile of old BDU uniforms tossed in a bin, chittering happily as the wolves watched their food disappear. They tried to go after her and things started falling over, clattering to the floor and starting a small chain reaction.

  Cody chuckled and headed to the rear of the store as Murray cursed, the monkey chittered and the wolves whined. Yewan ignored them all with a flick of his tail and padded after Donny.

  The animals hadn’t alerted to any more undead but he wanted to be sure, wanted to check the bathrooms and managers office before he completely relaxed and started hunting for a pair of hiking boots. He shone his light around the door leading to the storeroom and saw the dirty handprints, blood smears and scratch marks on it. The jolly zombie had been trying to get in. Cody turned the knob and pulled opened the door, his hammer ready to bash something in the head if he needed to. The smell nearly made him gag. It wasn’t a dead smell; it was a bathroom smell. A raw sewage, unflushed toilet and unwashed body smell that may have been worse than the rotting meat of the zombies. There was a stack of boxes blocking the pathway but he easily shoved them aside. The room was crammed with more military stuff and a set of small, dirty windows set up high in the block wall let light filter in.

  “I’ve got a gun. Move one more muscle and I’ll blow your stinking head clean off.” A trembling voice came from deep in the shadows.

  “Whoa.” Cody said. “I didn’t come to steal your stuff. We didn’t know anybody was here.”

  “What happened to that thing outside the door?” the voice said and Cody zeroed in on it.

  “We killed it.”

  “Bullshit. Those things are invincible. It’s been out there for months. It doesn’t eat, it doesn’t sleep, and it scratches on the door day and night, week after week. You can’t kill them.”

  “We’ve killed a bunch of them.”

  “Liar.” the voice spat.

  Cody kept the flashlight trained on the wall of junk in front of him but his eyes were adjusting to the gloom. He spotted a kid no older than himself huddled in the corner with a machete in his hand.

  “Don’t look at me.” he barked “I’ll shoot you! I’ll blow your friggin’ brains out!”

  Yewan walked up, curious about the new voice and Cody spun the light full the kid. He was blinded but not before he saw the giant, black cat. He squealed and dropped the blade. Yewan stood beside him, as tall as his waist, his baleful yellow eyes pinned the kid to the spot. A wet spot spread across the front of the boy’s camouflage pants as he covered his face and whimpered.

  “Don’t let him eat me.” he begged. “Please don’t let him eat me.”

  “Dude, chill out. He’s harmless.” Cody scratched the cats’ neck then pushed him towards the door. Yewan left with a flick of his ears and small snort. He didn’t like the smell either.

  “Geez, you’ve been trapped in here since the beginning?” Cody asked, trying to put the boy at ease. “That had to suck.”

  He was repulsed by what he saw. The kid had made a toilet out of a wooden ammo crate and liquids were oozing out of it, staining the floor in one corner. His makeshift bed was only a few feet away, a bunch of clothes thrown on the ground. There were old gir
lie magazines laying on it, open to his favorite pictures. There were empty MRE packets and other garbage strewn around but not a trash can in sight. Stacked against one wall were cases and cases of the standard military field food. Probably recently expired and bought cheap at a surplus auction.

  “You really got rid of the zombie?” the kid finally asked when he realized he wasn’t in any immediate danger.

  “Yeah, easy as pie once you know how.” Cody couldn’t help but brag a little.

  “Who are you talking too?” Swan’s voice drifted back to them from the shoe section.

  The boy’s eyes got big when he realized there were more of them and at least one was a girl. He looked quickly around the room, at the open toilet, the squalor and his filthy clothes. He’d even pissed his pants. He looked like a cornered animal, not grateful somebody had freed him but mortally embarrassed that they were going to see how he’d been living.

  Cody hesitated before he answered. Would he want to be found like this? No, he guessed not. Who knew what the kid had been through? He wouldn’t humiliate him any further.

  “Myself!” he yelled back. “Did you find a jacket for Vanessa?”

  “Working on it.” Came the reply, far away and echoed.

  “Look, we have a pretty good place if you want to join us.” Cody told the boy.

  “You guys have food? Is it safe?” he asked

  “Yeah, completely fenced in and we have food now, we just raided the store. Besides, we could always use more help.”

  “I’m not going to be your slave.” the boy said, getting some of his bravado back.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” Cody replied, a little exasperated. “I mean, it’s a big place, we all have work to do and somebody else helping out would make things easier for everyone. You don’t have to, you can stay here. I don’t care.”

  “No, it sounds good. I’ll come.” he said, afraid the boy with the panther would change his mind.

  “Okay. Cool.” Cody said. “Um, if you want, go ahead and get cleaned up. I’ll wait for you outside.”

  The boy eyed him coldly as he backed out of the room, shut the door and took a deep breath of the fresh air. How could anybody live like that? Why hadn’t he just killed the zombie and been done with it, there was only one. Why hadn’t he at least used a plastic bag for a toilet and tossed it out the window? Cody went over to the military boots section and started prowling around, looking for his size.

  The kid took his time getting cleaned up. Cody had given up waiting around the back of the store for him, had loaded his boots and coats into the cart and was helping Murray back to it. He told them about the boy he’d found, glossing over the grossness of it, and finally finished by saying he wasn’t sure if he would be coming with them or not.

  “If he doesn’t show up in the next few minutes, let’s go.” Cody said as he laced up his new boots.

  “I want to get back before dark and he may have changed his mind. I think the animals scare him.”

  Swan snorted. “He won’t be much good at the Park then. Let’s go.”

  “Give him a chance.” Harper said. “He’s been trapped for weeks. Poor guy.”

  Donny signaled you want me to start? Indicating him and Yewan would lead the way.

  Cody shook his head. “Let’s all stick together. Those things could be anywhere, more may have wandered in while we were here and be on the road.”

  Donny nodded and waited, one hand gripping his spear, the other scratching the panther behind an ear. The twins spotted a tattoo parlor and slipped over to peek inside.

  “We’ll be back in a sec.” Tobias said and they were gone before Cody could say anything.

  The door finally opened and the kid stepped outside on the sidewalk. He stared at them, at their animals, at the cart and trailer loaded up with supplies and announced “I’m ready.”

  He was wearing all new military gear that didn’t quite fit. The pants legs and sleeves were too long. He had on brand new shiny black boots, not the dull brown ones or hiking boots everyone else had chosen. He had a machete on both hips tucked into a belt and a big oversized pack stuffed full of things on his back. Even though the uniform was too big, his belly still hung over the belt. The baby fat, as his mother called it, on his cheeks reddened as they stared at him and didn’t say anything.

  “This will need to go in the cart somewhere.” he said as he came over to them. “I guess we have to walk? How far is it?”

  Cody hid his annoyance and signaled Donny to get him started on a slow jog back, running point and looking for danger. The big cat loped along beside him.

  The twins came back out of the tattoo shop and sprang to their mounts. They had grins on their faces and a bulging satchel.

  Harper introduced herself and stuck out her hand from the driver’s seat.

  “Gordon Lowery.” he said and handed his pack to Cody to put on top of the stuff in the already overloaded cargo area.

  “Gordon Lowery, the guy that owns half of the county?” Murray asked

  “That would technically be my father but since he hasn’t been heard from in a few months, yes, I suppose it would be mine now.” Gordon replied.

  Cody caught his time reference again. It had only been a few weeks, not months, since the outbreak. Maybe being trapped in the store room messed with his head.

  Swan rolled her eyes and led her wolves to the rear. She didn’t bother to introduce herself and was already wishing Cody hadn’t invited him to join them.

  18

  Tribe

  The flames licked at the night sky as the bonfire burned brightly. Smoke drifted lazily on the breeze. Everyone was boisterous and cheerful, happy they had something new and different to eat. They sat around the fire roasting Vienna sausages or marshmallows on sticks celebrating the success of their first raid and their new member. Otis smacked his lips in anticipation of the tasty treats Cody shared with him.

  Gordon tried to be pleasant with the group but was in a foul mood. He looked on in disgust as Cody and Otis shared the tiny sausages. The bear was obviously a danger to everyone, it was running around without a chain or muzzle or anything. His feet hurt, he had blisters. Nobody told him he’d have to walk miles and miles. They should have let him ride, he could have drove or the cripple in the wheelchair could have rolled along, he didn’t have to worry about getting blisters. Nobody had really spoken with him, they stayed separate on the endless trudge back to the Park. The animals didn’t like him much, either. That was okay. He didn’t like them. Cody had promised him food and warmth. This wasn’t food, not like he was accustomed to before the world collapsed. Junk food and canned meats. Potato chips, snack cakes, and stale crackers. Cody had made it sound like they had a good setup, that it was nice and almost normal like it was before. It wasn’t much better than where he had been staying. The only good thing he’d seen so far was there wasn’t an undead thing constantly scratching at the door. He was already thinking he should have stayed in town. If he’d have known all the zombies were gone, he probably would have. There had to be better places than this crappy zoo left in the world. There wasn’t any electricity or hot water. There weren’t any steaks or ice cream and that creepy quiet kid actually ate cat food. He wrinkled his nose as he watched the mute boy spooning some out of a can and smearing it on crackers, eating one and giving the other to the huge black panther that never left his side.

  The house was old and drafty. The rooms dusty and the floors creaked with every step. They seemed content, but the whole situation felt beneath him. They all slept in the same room, too. There was no privacy. You had to carry a bucket to the bathroom to flush the toilet or walk to one of the fancy outhouses along the trails. Cody told him there were rooms on the top floor if he wanted and that was probably just a ploy to get rid of him so they could talk about him behind his back. He told them he had blisters but nobody seemed to care. One of those weirdo albinos told him there was an aide station if he wanted to get some Band-Aids but nobody went
to get him any. They all acted like they were too busy unpacking the cart and feeding the animals. Nobody had cooked, either. They were eating junk. He hoped it wasn’t like this every night. What was the use of all that food he’d had to help lug into the house if nobody was going to whip up something good? He sat by himself and listened to the talk as they worked on improving their weapons. Most of them had dangerous animals right beside them. He’d tried to join in to different conversations but they were talking about stuff he didn’t care about. Easier ways to file spear points. Fish traps and logs they’d spotted for firewood. Proper ways to wrap a handle so the paracord wouldn’t come loose. All they cared about was work and the stupid animals. What was with all the mediaeval weapons? Why didn’t they all have machine guns? And didn’t anyone play video games anymore? His iPad was full of them and when he found out they had a way to charge it, he wanted to plug in. They said he had to wait, Murray needed the charger for his book reader.

  The twins made him uncomfortable. They were strange. The kid in the wheelchair was always amped up, fueled by energy drinks and junk food, the monkeys always climbing on him and making noise. It was disgusting to watch him take a bite out of a candy bar and then share it with one of them before taking another bite himself. Savage Ones, he’d heard the term used about the scavenger animals, but to him it seemed like these kids were pretty savage in their own right. He eyed Harper, now that was a good-looking girl. He liked blondes. All of his favorite girls in the magazines he’d brought were blonde. The other girls were pretty too, but other than Vanessa, she was the only one who didn’t weird him out. Swan and her wolves were creepy. Annalise, her polar bear and the tribal tattoos she drew on her arms was a little disturbing. He moved closer to the fire and a little closer to Harper. At least she didn’t have some animal sitting beside her. She’d said she had a giraffe and he’d almost laughed at her. Out of all the animals here at the Safari Park, she couldn’t pick out one more practical? A dog maybe?