Survive Texas Dead

by C. A. Hoaks

  The man had gotten to his feet during the chaos and rose to stand in front of the two women. He held a gun facing the turmoil but made no move to join the fight. He watched the last two of men from the gang killed, his eyes big as saucers. A quick glance and Brian knew the guard was the last man standing. When the man still seemed to be protecting the woman, Brian slowed his pace.

  “Stay back!” The man shouted. “I don’t want to have to shoot anyone.”

  Brian stopped when he got ten feet from the man. He dropped the confiscated gun and raised his hand, palm out. “Look around. Your friends are all dead.”

  “Friends? Hell, you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Please…don’t hurt my daughter,” The middle-aged woman pleaded. “She’s all I have left.”

  “All I want is outta here, lady,” The man’s hands relaxed, and the gun pointed to the ground as he whispered. “I got family.”

  “See we can work this out. My name is Brian. What’s your name?”

  “Henry Dodd. I have to go back to the camp. If I don’t go back, my girls won’t have anyone to protect them from those nut-job survivalists,” Henry answered.

  Brian heard Leon and Billy approaching from behind. He raised a hand. “What are you talking about?”

  “These assholes are not my friends. My neighbor was a survivalist type. He offered to take the family and me to their camp when this shit happened. Hell, how was I to know it was a bunch of nut cases. When we got there, there were dozens of men and only a few women. We were given a choice of either join up and be part of it or die. If I die, my wife and four daughters have no one to protect them,” Henry answered.

  Leon stepped up behind Brian. “You believe ‘em?”

  The older woman stood up and held up her cuffed hands. “I believe him. He tried to stop them when they killed my husband and son. He wouldn’t let them rape us.” She studied the man for a minute then added. “He tried to protect us.”

  She reached out, and Henry gave her the handgun, then he held up his hands while the woman held out the gun to Brian.

  Brian closed the distance to take the gun. “On your knees.” He ordered.

  Henry dropped to his knees as only a defeated man can. His shoulders slumped, and a resigned expectation of dying was evident.

  “Give me the key to free the women,” Brian ordered.

  Henry handed over the key. “What are you going to do with me?”

  Brian walked up behind him and quickly used zip ties to secure his hands. “That’ll depend on what you tell us.”

  Chapter 27

  Aftermath

  The atmosphere of the camp was subdued for a time after the bus drove away. Quietly, two soldiers washed away the puddles of blood. Without the dark cloud of Billings’ radical ravings hanging over everyone, life slowly began to be returned to the usual buzz of activities. Every once in a while even a bit of laughter and joy could be heard from the children on the playgrounds.

  Maggie and the girls were given clothes and supplies. Both of the preacher’s campers were cleaned from top to bottom. Anything left behind that Maggie Sanders didn’t want was either trashed or cleaned and returned to the “trade” storage container for future distribution. Maggie and the girls moved into the larger of the two campers and settled in.

  By six that afternoon, Jenkins and his men’s had returned. They parked the pick-ups then Jenkins walked up to Matt with a quiet smile. “Billings’ wife never shut up. The whole way, she went on and on. God this…God that…judgment going to smite us all for letting that harlot kill God’s anointed. You get the picture.”

  Matt grinned. “I’m glad to be rid of them. Where did you leave ‘em?

  “We left them at a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. I parked the bus, got out, and closed the door and flattened all the tires. Oh, a dozen dead bodies came stumbling out of the barn as we were driving away. I figured it would give them something to worry about besides us.

  “You think they’ll make it?”

  Jenkins shrugged. “Frankly, I hope not after what they did to Maggie’s family and the others.”

  “Can’t say I feel much different,” Matt admitted. “But they got more of a chance than Billings gave the others at their camp. We sure didn’t need that crazy shit around here.”

  Matt looked across the camp and realized how many people it now included. He glanced toward the playground where a dozen children from five to eleven played. The five teens were in a corner yard with Larry learning how to defend themselves with a pointed stick. Soon they would be ready for guns. As it was, they carried spears and knives, and he would bet the kids could hold their own against a couple of the dead.

  Even Carl, the young man with Downs Syndrome, was practicing. Despite his usual ungainliness, he was learning to use the stick reasonably well. Matt hoped it would be enough to save his life if needed. From the looks of it, they had kids who were becoming warriors. Larry ended his class and walked back toward the office while the kids went their separate ways, still carrying their spears.

  “You got quite a gathering here,” Tate commented as she walked toward Matt.

  “I guess about two dozen kids and about forty adults” Matt looked troubled. “Over half of the adults could barely take care of themselves when they got here.”

  “What do you mean?

  “Most of the women were pretty helpless. Only half a dozen or so had the skill to fight back if they got in trouble.”

  “Larry is doing the training for the kids, why not the women?”

  “We try, but the women are pretty busy between wiping noses, chores around camp, and all the damned laundry,” Matt observed as he walked away. “Not enough time, and not enough people to train ‘em.”

  “Then do something about it,” Tate called after him. “I’m moving into the small camper. And you still owe me a trip to Hondo.”

  Matt threw a wave over his shoulder and kept walking. “Fine by me. Talk to Novack.”

  Matt walked into the house to find a home life of sorts. Amy was sitting in the middle of the small den playing with Claire. Jake and Amanda were sitting on the couch and hovering over the new baby while Larry sat in the kitchen cleaning a handgun. Matt settled on a kitchen chair.

  “You look like shit,” Larry commented as he slid a scrap of oiled rage through a gun barrel. “What’s with the look?”

  “Do you realize two-thirds of the people here can’t defend themselves?” Matt answered. “We keep bringing in people that are damned near helpless.”

  Larry nodded. “So what’ve you got in mind?”

  “Not sure but I plan on figuring it out before tomorrow morning. I’ve been thinking. We need a fallback for the kids so the adults can protect the camp without them being in the middle of the action.”

  “We’re all doing what we can,” Larry protested.

  “No. We‘ve let most of the women be too busy to be part of the defense. None of them are carrying guns or knives. That has to change.”

  “I’ve got the older kids training. The fact is they’re getting pretty good.” Larry answered. “I think they would be able to protect themselves from one or two of the infected. I’d like to start firearms training for the women too. We can use pellet or paint guns to keep the noise down.”

  “We have a good setup here. We have the fence across the front and the west side of the grounds, the pond at the back and the bluff at the east,” Larry protested.

  “But if something happens and we get overrun, we’re trapped. We need a back way outta here; either across the pond or down the bluff.” Matt argued.

  “There’s a trail back behind the barn that follows the lake and heads back into the thickets. I have no idea where it goes,” Larry answered.

  “We need to explore all those options,” Matt answered as he rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “Let’s get Jenkins and one of the men over here in about an hour and talk this through. If this is going to be our home, we all need to
be able to fight for it.”

  After a quick shower, Matt settled down in the recliner. Claire crawled across the carpet to pull herself up on the arm of the chair. Matt tickled her under the chin, and she grinned. She bounced on her toes and reached up.

  “She wants you to pick her up,” Amy announced. “Claire Bear walked today.”

  Matt grinned and reached down to pick up the toddler. Claire pulled at his damp hair, giggling and making faces. Matt turned to Amy. “You doing okay princess?”

  “Yes, sir.” She answered as her smile faded. “Claire misses mommy and daddy.” She looked at her feet. “I do too.”

  Matt looked down at Claire then at Amy. “I’m sorry. I guess we’ve gotten sidetracked, haven’t we?” At her sad nod, he continued. “We’ve been helping a lot of people, but I promise, soon.”

  “Okay,” Amy whispered.

  Matt forced a cheerful smile. “What did you do today? Did you have fun?”

  Chapter 28

  Closed Doors

  Liz descended the stairs to the great room to a cacophony of voices coming from the dining room, some voices were raised while others sounded angry. She made her way to the front desk where she clung to the polished wood to catch her breath. From the volume of voices from the meeting taking place in the dining room, she imagined the gathering included all the adults in the canyon compound present. Liz pushed herself from-in desk, and grimaced at her own weakness but refused to let it deter her. She needed to know what was going on. Liz made her way to the door and stopped.

  Will Edmonds voice rose above the din. “Everyone has to contribute, and that’s the bottom line. Your herd of goats produces milk, and that means we all benefit from it. But that can’t be your only contribution. At some point, the goats will need to become part of the food chain in a more meaningful way.”

  An unfamiliar voice countered. “When we agreed to come, we didn’t know it was going to mean moving into a socialist state. You can’t just take our livestock to feed a bunch of Mexicans.”

  “Young man, you have been given a safe haven, homes for your family, your brother’s family, your parents, and younger siblings. Did you expect to show up and contribute nothing?”

  “Our livestock is not community property.” The young man protested.

  “Shut up, Glenn!” A gravelly voice interrupted. “Son, you’re making an ass outta yourself.” After a brief grumble, the older man continued. “What you have outlined sounds reasonable as long as the herd size maintains numbers for healthy breeding stock. We’re grateful for the offer of safety me and mine. As for the suggestion concerning closing all bedroom doors at night, I can see the wisdom in such an action.”

  “Thank you,” Will responded to the older voice. “Now if we can resume the previous issue.”

  Liz could recognize Carrie’s voice as she responded. “From what we’ve found on the Internet we now know the virus has mutated since the initial attack. It has become an airborne pollutant spread by even the slightest exposure. For all intents and purposes, we have all been exposed. There are now reports of people dying of natural causes and reanimating well away from the initial attacks. Considering that, if we each follow these simple rule, we can stop accidents like we had a few days ago.”

  “Accident! You call that an accident?” A voice protested. “A family died, including both kids.”

  “Yes, accident,” She answered firmly. “We’re facing a situation totally alien to anything we’ve ever known. All we can do is adapt as we get new information. From now on, we isolate the sick, no matter who they are. If someone fails to get up and we don’t get a vocal response, we take precautions. That’s all we’re asking. The man involved in this incident had a snake bite. He didn’t tell anyone, and neither did his wife. He died and attacked his family.”

  “You mean that could happen to any of us?” One of the Goodman women asked.

  Will answered. “As terrible as that sounds, yes. It’s important to take care of each other, so come to the clinic with any illness or injury. We already enforce examination of returning salvage crews. This is just another level of ensuring our safety. We have to adapt.”

  Liz realized why her bedroom door had been closed when anyone left and why they always knocked and waited for her to respond before entering. She covered her slightly rounded middle. What would happen to her baby? Was she feeling sick because of the pregnancy or was it because of the virus? With a wave of dizziness, Liz stepped into the room slipped into a chair at the side of the gathering. After a couple deep breaths, she calmed and looked around the room. She realized she didn’t know most of the people.

  There were two distinct groups. Each crowd clustered together acting more than a little suspicious of the other. Liz recognized Pablo, Miguel and their extended family and gave the women a quick nod and smile of recognition. Elaina and her mother, Maria whispered at Pablo and Miguel. Both men turned toward Liz and smiled. They turned back to the assembly, their faces still appeared troubled.

  Sam Goodman, dressed in overalls, sat next to a graying woman with the two younger men, and women that appeared to be the younger generation. Two teenagers sat on the other side of the gray-haired Goodman woman. Randy stood next to Liz’s father. Not far from him, sat John and Harry.

  Will raised his hands to quiet the assembly then continued. “Now that we’ve settled that let’s work on setting some priorities. I realize we still don’t have enough folks to do everything we need to get done yet, but for now, we’ll do the best we can. Safety and becoming self-sufficient is the two most important tasks at hand. Planting the new gardens need to be done by the end of the week to take advantage of the remaining growing season. At the same time, we need to finish fencing the goat pen at the back of the cabins until the fencing for a permanent location is completed.”

  Mr. Goodman stood up. “Me and mine can work on it. I ‘magine two days and we’ll be finished. The wife and girls are milking twice a day. We’ll keep what we need and bring the rest up here. You can pass it along to who you want. I got a spot picked out to put in our own garden….”

  Will interrupted. “Sam, this is a community effort, I think you seem to be missing that point, here. You and I obviously need to discuss individual efforts, but for now, let’s move on.” He turned to Randy and nodded.

  Randy began. “We still have to try to gather livestock and supplies while we can. We’re not the only people trying to create a secure stronghold to live in. As time goes along, more and more infected will leave the cities and make it to dangerous to be out there. As people get more desperate, some groups will be raiding others to survive. We need to be prepared.”

  “What makes you think the government won’t get this under control. Early on, there were reports of the CDC working on a cure,” Glenn Goodman interrupted.

  “Have you heard something I don’t know about? We’ve had a couple people monitoring communication channels and the Internet. Unless you know some other means of communications we don’t, by all means, share your wisdom,” Will responded with more than a little bite to his voice.

  “Well….” Glenn mumbled.

  “Yeah, I thought so. Randy continue, please.” Will continued.

  Randy began again. “Before most of the country went dark, there was hope this could be isolated and controlled. Now, there’s no place left without the dead rising up to prey on the living. All of the US is affected now. Before the Internet went down, we learned China, Russia, Europe, Africa, Canada, and South America were affected. We have been monitoring a ham radio as well. Believe me, I’d like to be able to say it’s different, but now our only hope is to learn to live with this hanging over our heads.”

  Liz heard a woman sitting next to the second Goodman son begin to cry.

  “It’s hopeless.” The woman whimpered. “What about my baby?”

  Cassie stood up. “Honestly, we don’t know. We have three pregnant women in the compound right now. All we can do is watch and wait. We have no reason t
o believe it has any adverse effects on a healthy pregnancy and delivery.”

  Will interrupted. “We’re not here to discuss things we can’t change. Life is as it is. We make this a safe place with what we need to survive and learn to live with the infection. If you’re not willing to be part of that, pack up and move on.”

  “But….” Abe Goodman began.

  “No buts!” Will answered. “Everyone commits to long days working for the community or leave. I’m not arguing or excusing anyone. You’re here as part of the community or not. It’s up to you. I won’t beg anyone to stay.” He slammed his hand down on the table. “Talk to Randy, he’s setting up work crews and prioritizing what needs to be done. Be part of it, or leave.”

  With that, Will turned and walked toward the door where he caught sight of Liz. He hurried to her side and squatted in front of her. “What are you doing out of bed?”

  “I’m tired of being up there alone,” Liz answered as she wiped at the moisture on her top lip.

  “Come on. Let’s get outta here.” Will grabbed her hands and escorted her from the room.

  “Dad, please.”

  “Liz, you’re exhausted, you have malnutrition, and you’re pregnant. Cassie says you've worried yourself sick for weeks.” Will’s expression failed to mask his frustration. “I understand you’re worried about the girls. The girls are alive. God willing, they will return to us and so will Brian.”

  Liz swiped at the tears on her face. “I…I’m scared I’ll never see them again.”

  Will smiled sadly. “I have faith, honey.” He led her to a quiet alcove and sat down pulling Liz to the cushion beside him. “We have to keep the faith. I choose to believe the soldiers caring for the girls are brave men who will do everything they can to protect them. Harry told me about the car seat box they saw. No one stops to get a car seat for a baby then abandons the child.”