Adrian's Undead Diary (Book 6): In the Arms of Family

by Philbrook, Chris

  “Hey Adrian.” Gavin said as I felt the pull of the morning start to tug me away.

  “Yeah?”

  “Tell Abby I love her. And tell her I’ll understand if she finds someone else. She can’t be lonely the rest of her life. Tell her I want her to be happy.” Gavin’s face was pained, but honest at the same time. He didn’t want to let her go, to tell her to look elsewhere for love, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

  I nodded. And here I am now.

  We’ve got extra water in the event Gavin’s warning is accurate. And also, as weathermen go, those two are dead nuts spot on. It’s hot as fucking balls out there today. The sun is cooking, and the humidity is so oppressive it isn’t funny. It’s only 6:55 now, and everyone outside is covered in sweat.

  I’m putting my body armor on in a minute. I hope it isn’t put to the test.

  I’ll put an entry in tomorrow when I wake up or before bed to let you know how it went. Wish us luck Mr. Journal.

  I’m going to tell Abby that Gavin loves her after we get this done. I don’t want to distract her.

  -Adrian

  August 16th

  I just spent the last three hours tucking my nephew into bed.

  Adam. My nephew. My brother Caleb’s son with his wife Sophie. My sister Rebecca watched over my shoulder as I sat on the edge of Adam’s bed upstairs.

  This was not a dream. Gavin was right.

  This really just happened. I can’t believe my sister, brother, nephew and sister in law are still alive. After all this fucking time, through all this fucking bullshit, they are alive. We are alive. My family. Most of it at least.

  I am really struggling to get this written. I can’t even deal with how much emotion I’ve got right now. Everything that I’m feeling right now has been shoved down so deep for so long. I feel lost in some kind of messed up joy. Relief. Love. I don’t even know quite what to say about this.

  They were hidden in the suburbs on the far side of the city near Caleb’s home. Laying low, blacked out windows, moving only at night. Very ballsy. I would expect no less from Caleb.

  Becca’s boyfriend Max died the other day when they were making their plan to escape. I’m not sure what the whole story is yet. We haven’t had time to go over all of it. Too much to do in the wake of the warehouse hit.

  I owe LaFrenz a tremendous debt. I guess he and Angie, the girl he left Westfield with, ran across Becca and that’s how they found out about me here. Once they knew I was alive and had other survivors with me they immediately decided to make a run to get here. It was only shit luck that we happened to be at the warehouse at the time. We met them about halfway I guess.

  Caleb was shot yesterday in a small firefight right after they met us. Wait. I’m getting ahead of myself. I need to rewind and start at the beginning otherwise I’ll get crossed up and lost. I’m tired as hell but I’ll write what I can before I plank from exhaustion.

  Early yesterday we rolled out with our full warehouse team. It was just after dawn when the semi, the HRT, and both humvees went over the bridge and through our two gates. The roads on the way to the warehouse were eerily empty of undead. I was driving point in the HRT and as I could I hit the undead walking in the road. We had the windows rolled up and the AC cranking as much as we could for as long as we could. The heat was unreal. It was easily 90 degrees, probably closer to 95, and the humidity had to be a solid 60%. It was thick, and hard to breathe right from the jump yesterday.

  The streets became more and more populated with the dead the closer we got to the warehouse, and it was a bit of a chore for us. We slowed our speed down, and I made the plow on the HRT earn its place. I’d comfortably say we hit at least two hundred undead in the streets during the drive to get there. That’s about two zombies every minute, give or take.

  The warehouse itself like Gilbert said was at the end of a row of businesses on a side street running parallel to a more main throughway. On the main street there were a lot of accidents Mike said, and he was really concerned it was a ruse to drive traffic down the side road the warehouse was on. Therefore, as soon as we got close to the turn off we amped up our readiness, and had guns out windows so we could return fire immediately. I tell you what Mr. Journal, rolling down those windows was awful. Fucking humidity hit us like a brick in the jaw. It was so like driving in Baghdad it was creepy. Fortunately, nothing happened during the final leg of the trip.

  Our plan worked flawlessly. I drove into the parking lot with the HRT, cleared everything out with the plow as best as possible, and once that was done to our satisfaction, we finished killing the couple of undead there with halligans and bats. Remember, we really wanted to stay as quiet as we could for as long as we could.

  Once that was done the semi came in, backed up to the correct dock, and we entered through the rear door of the warehouse. Fortunately, Abby had gotten the key to the door from Gilbert, so we didn’t have to kick the door in, or rip the thing off the frame. All our practice at the clinic was for naught. The warehouse was completely empty of danger. We went aisle to aisle in the small warehouse, and cleared the few offices in the front with professionalism and attention to detail though. Despite not finding anything, we still did it right, and did it well.

  The clear took minutes. I was surprised at how small the warehouse was. Once done, we hollered out to start the clear, and we tossed open the warehouse doors. Gilbert didn’t have a proper forklift in the warehouse. The place was small, and he had one of those pallet jacks that lifts to the second level only. The kind you walk behind. The battery on it was dead, and with no power to the building it was dead to us. That slowed us down appreciably.

  Luckily, we had a pallet jack inside the truck (yay for thinking ahead), so we could take things off the top rack by hand, stack it on pallets on the floor, and then use our pallet jack to put the stuff in the truck. All in all, it was the mother load. Huzzah to Gilbert for coming clean post mortem.

  Lots of large cans of stuff. I mean lots. Spaghetti sauce, alfredo sauce, pickles, olives, banana peppers, relish, ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, minced garlic, herbs and seasonings out the asshole, canned veggies in multiple flavors, giant cans of a dozen different soups, silverware, plates, napkins, table cloths, tables, chairs, you bet. We left most of the large tables and stuff behind, as we just don’t need them, and focused strictly on the foodstuffs. I am happy to report, that with severe overloading, we were able to remove all the food.

  All of the food. An entire semi truck filled with food, top to bottom. Yeah I said that. Start masturbating. I already did.

  When we were maybe a quarter into the process of removing the food, our blocking humvees called out the presence of undead, and began to engage the light contact. I told them to make the decision to go melee if possible, but fire with rifles if needed. Fortunately, the incoming dead were sporadic, and after firing accurately for maybe ten minutes in total, things calmed down for a bit. That’s when Abby called out over the comms that I had to head to her humvee. She said something like, "I had to see this," and, "That I’d shit a brick." After being a wiseass, I made sure everyone was okay inside the warehouse, and I jogged out to the humvee she was in charge of.

  I was making fun of her as she talked to who I thought was Amanda in the seat of the truck when she moved out of the way and I saw Becca. My little sister. She’s just 21 now, a college senior. Was a college senior. One more thing left permanently undone.

  I lost it. I mean… I held it in check well enough that I didn’t bust out weeping, but I was so close to just going down in the street holding her in my arms it was silly. I can’t believe my little sister is still alive. She started blabbing on about how they were told to come to us by someone (I later learned it was LaFrenz), and that Caleb, Sophie and Adam were in one of the Outsider wagons down the street. They had her walk up because they thought if they drove up, we’d have fired on them, and boy were they right. We’re on a shoot first, shoot second, shoot third, and set on fire fourth protocol
with those fuckers. I told Abby to get the truck down to them with Abby, and to bring them back so I could finish my reunion. I was elated. Stoked.

  Right about then I heard gunfire coming from down the road where the wagon was. One shot, then two, then some more. I panicked. I felt the worst was happening. They were either being overrun by the dead, or the other Outsiders were on the scene. My rage was ungodly. I nearly snapped the grip of the M4 I was squeezing it so tightly. I bolted. I flat out started sprinting up the road with Becca on my heels. I quickly left her behind. She’s never been much of a runner.

  Abby and Amanda got the humvee alive and roaring down the road within a few seconds. They quickly passed us and went around the bend of the road, and I heard them screech to a stop maybe a hundred fifty yards ahead of us, just around the bend and out of view. I heard Abby’s AR start cracking out three round bursts just a few seconds later, as well as Amanda’s .270 hunting rifle a second or two after. Abby was lighting something up.

  I came around the bend and immediately heard a handful of rounds zing over my head. I saw the two Outsider wagons, one with Caleb and family in it, and the other parked maybe 20 yards behind it, sideways and being used for cover by those dirtbags.

  With my heart pounding hard in my neck I slowed to a combat walk, and started snapping off rounds with the M4 right in the middle of the street. With the ACOG, I watched my first round hit a dude right in the fucking shoulder and send him straight onto his ass behind the wagon. Once he went down, the asshole crouched behind the hood next to him shit his pants, dived inside the driver’s side of the wagon, and got the fuck out. I thumbed to burst mode and emptied the magazine into the vehicle as fast as I could. Dumb bitch ass ran straight over the guy I shot, and did him in. It sucked because he hit the dude in the hip area, and just busted him apart, rolling him like a ragdoll under the car as he drove away. Gross as balls.

  I ran right to the first wagon to see what was up, and immediately had a heart attack. Caleb was covered in blood, and as he got out of the vehicle, he saw me, smiled, and went down in the street. I screamed out to Abby to get the med bag from the humvee, and I attended to my big brother.

  Big brother Caleb. God it’s weird to say that.

  After ripping Caleb’s shirt and pants off I saw that he had two gunshot wounds. One was just under the left armpit, punching through the edge of his pectoral muscle, and out the back. It was superficial. Painful as all hell I’m sure, but not lethal. The second round had hit him in the inside of his right thigh, right near the femoral, and judging by the amount of blood coming from the wound, it’d nicked the artery. Abby radioed for help after tossing me the bag.

  I don’t recall rendering aid. I remember sticking my finger in his leg wound and feeling the small tear in the artery. I grabbed some curlex out of the medbag and started packing the wound, trying to stop the flow. About then Mike was there suddenly, and he was going over Caleb too. I don’t know who to thank, but the curlex stopped the blood flow, and despite being largely out cold, and low on blood he was alive.

  I don’t remember much after that. Mike pushed me away to deal with Sophie and Adam, which Becca and Abby had already begun to deal with. I was covered in blood. Head to toe. Sophie just ran to me, holding screaming little Adam in her arms, and I wrapped the two of them up. I remember saying over and over that he’d be okay, and that he would live, but I remember being so fucking afraid that I was lying to her.

  If my brother had died, and I’d told her differently, I’d always feel like a piece of shit. But he didn’t die, and Doc Lindsey says the artery is good to go today, and now that he’s got blood in him, we’re good to go. I’m O negative, Caleb is O negative, and Becca is as well. In fact, the entire Ring family is O negative. We’re universal donors. Another "Ring" aspect of us. Kind of a neat factoid. I’m happy to report that yesterday and today I gave blood to save my own brother’s life.

  We sent one humvee back to campus with my brother and his family, but Becca insisted on staying with me. I think she just wanted to be near me. I wanted to return with Caleb and Sophie, but losing the two bodies for the casevac was too much to lose, and I had to stay there to make sure we had enough muscle. I should mention that before I left the wagon my family arrived in, I torched it. We’d shot the hell out of it in the prior firefight the other day, and it’d taken some serious fire yesterday too, and I wanted to let those assmunchers know I meant business. I took a small bottle of gas from the humvee and lit the bitch on fire. When they see that, they might understand a little bit more that we play for keeps.

  Granted, Caleb had just killed two of their people, but Sophie and Becca said the two assholes were devious pricks that wanted to capture them. I still need to get more of that story.

  We finished the rest of that day without incident at the warehouse. I worked alongside Becca, and spent the entire time worried out of my mind. It was a weird day to say the least. I should also mention, because it’s relevant, that the inside of that warehouse was a horrid, horrid hotbox. Easily a hundred ten degrees at noon. We had to take breaks every five or ten minutes to avoid dying. We used every drop of the extra water we brought.

  Cramps were the order of the day. When we got back to campus I think everyone sat there sipping water with a little salt and sugar in it for an hour. Well, everyone other than Becca and I. We went right to the clinic in the admin building and saw the rest of the kin. By then Caleb had stabilized, but still needed blood, and I immediately volunteered after eating something and getting a bit more hydrated. I gave a small amount right then, as did Becca. A few hours later once we’d gotten ourselves a bit more juiced back to normal, we gave up some more blood. I held Adam the whole time. I can’t believe how big he’s gotten. He’s a monster. He looks just like Caleb so much. He does have Sophie’s eyes though. Definitely has the Ring genetics. He' a beast.

  Mallory was at the warehouse when it was going down almost the whole time. She was assigned to the other blocking humvee to the north side, and as such, she was the ride for Caleb back here. She had no idea who he or Sophie were, and when Sophie finally told her what was up, she sort of froze up and went weird. I don’t think Mallory had any idea how to introduce herself to my family, never mind while Caleb was potentially bleeding out. “Hi, I’m Mallory, I’m fucking your brother-in-law.”

  I can see how that’s a bit awkward. It wasn’t until today that I told them about her. Becca legit just cried when I told her Cassie was dead. Well, when I told her I believed Cassie was dead. We’re still days away from me telling them about the dreams. Sophie and Becca were nice to Mallory, and Mallory the same to them, but it was weird. Becca was close to Cassie, and I’m sure just days after her boyfriend dying finding out someone you cared about being dead too doesn’t help.

  Doc Lindsey is keeping Caleb fully knocked out for a few days while his leg heals up. I say fully knocked out, but he's just under. There's a special word for it. She doesn’t want him twitching or sitting up, or moving around on a leg that has a slit in the artery. Makes sense to me. Plus it just gives him a few pain free days of healing. I know what’s it like to be hurt bad, and if I could safely sleep off a day or two of that time, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’m a tough guy, but fuck that noise. Pain hurts dude.

  Today we unloaded the semi into the cafeteria, and the various dorms that have in-use kitchens. We wanted to spread the food around more or less equally, and we did. Of course the café itself is storing most of the food, but that’s pretty much normal for us. It’s always been the center of our food storage. I wish we could power the walk-in fridges. That’d be sweet.

  The family—my family—is enamored with the food we have. Compared to what they’ve been eating, we are easily a five star restaurant.

  I should also mention that everyone here is really weirded out that my family managed to find their way here. It is not a coincidence that LaFrenz found them on his trip north, and everyone realizes that. It’s just too fucking impossible to be an accident.
Just too many moving pieces in this machine for that to be random.

  I don’t care how it happened. I’m just glad it did.

  I love my fucking family. I’m glad to have some of them here now.

  Of course now I’ve inherited the task of keeping them safe. I hope I am up to it.

  -Adrian

  August 19th

  Oh man there is a lot to cover here Mr. Journal. We’ve been super busy and there’s a lot changing here.

  The big news I’ll share is that Caleb is still alive, and it appears he will make a full recovery with little to no long term disability. He’ll be down for the count for a week or two while his leg heals up, but after some stiffness, he’ll be fine. Having said that…

  Mike went back to MGR on the 17th with Patty. He took replacement food and water and left in the Prius. It’s fairly nondescript in this neck of the woods, and with the whole ability to run silent it’s a nice little ace up our collective sleeves. It also means we don’t have to store excess fuel at MGR for a normal vehicle. If Mike keeps the speed low, theoretically the Prius will consume next to no fuel. Of course if it breaks, it’s broken. We’ve no idea how to fix one.

  Mike waxed on that the warehouse operation went more or less flawlessly, even in the light of my brother getting shot, but that was a variable we had no ability to control, or ability to really foresee. Shit happens in combat I guess. My brother will be the first person to step up and accept that fact. Not the first time he’s been shot at.

  That same day we got Sophie Becca and Adam fully settled into the third floor of Hall E. As I’ve said, Hall E is strictly reserved for people I trust implicitly, and my family clearly falls into that category. I don’t want my flesh and blood putting head to pillow anywhere on this campus while our arsonist murderer is still potentially moving about. Granted, that asshole could just torch the building, but we’ve got fire extinguishers everywhere, and the buildings are made to last in a fire. Yay private school attention to detail and huge donations from rich parents.