Z Chronicles Box Set [Books 1-3]

by White, A. L.

  “If the rivers freeze over, Charlie; they don’t freeze every year,” Boo stated as a matter of fact.

  Virginia started to walk away from the two men, only stopping at the door when Boo had asked her why she was leaving.

  “Looks like we need a few people to help block off your bridges, and I know a few that could help,” she said smiling.

  Boo and Charlie smiled at her and then each other. “There you go, Charlie, another plan like yours has presented itself,” Boo said.

  Charlie smiled and replied, “I will get Zach to take the watch from up here and keep an eye on us.”

  “Good idea let’s all meet down in the lot out back,” Boo stated looking first at Virginia who nodded yes, and then at Charlie.

  Virginia headed to the third floor and tried to enter their room as quietly as possible. The plan had been to very quietly awaken Jermaine and Albert, leaving Zoe to sleep soundly. That was the plan. Unfortunately, Zoe had heard them leave earlier and was lying awake in her bed.

  “What is all this sneaking around in the middle of the night about child?” Zoe asked in hushed tones.

  Virginia felt like she had been caught by her mother with her hand in the cookie jar. “Looks like we are going to need to block the bridges off leading into town,” Virginia replied.

  “I think we all knew that was coming. I was concerned that they didn’t know here,” Zoe replied as she got out of bed. “Albert, you need to wake up and go help these folks out. Jermaine, rise and shine boy, there is work to be done.”

  “Is she always this pleasant in the morning?” Jermaine said through a sleepy voice.

  “This is a good one. You have no idea what the bad ones are like,” Albert replied laughing.

  “Virginia, where is your sister at?” Zoe asked. Virginia hung her head a little and looked away from Zoe, “She thought it was too hot in here, so she took Walter and went to sleep in the RV.”

  Zoe nodded her head and said, “I was wondering if this place would cause a problem. You know what I am talking about?” Zoe asked.

  Before Virginia could answer, Albert butted in, “There is not very much that gets passed ole Aunt Zoe. You may want to remember that for in the future.”

  “Ok, where are we going, and what are we about to do when we get there?” Jermaine asked.

  “The herd is moving toward the bridges, so we are going to go block them off,” Virginia replied as she led them out the door and down the stairs. Once they were outside, she was surprised to see Lori and Walter standing by the door waiting for them. Seeing Virginia’s look Lori said, “That guy Boo banged on the door and asked us to wait for you, and then to meet them across the street by the library.”

  Lori took the lead as they crossed over to where three trucks were waiting. One had Boo standing by it talking to three men that Lori had not met yet, while Charlie sat in the cab of the second truck loading a pistol. He smiled at Lori when he had noticed her, causing her to blush a little.

  “Welcome to our little party,” Boo stated with a large toothy smile.

  “Can’t say I am overly glad to be here, to be completely honest with you. Of course, if it means we don’t deal with the creatures on our doorstep, that is a different story,” replied Albert laughing.

  “I think it will stop them or buy us a little time to find a better way,” Boo said.

  “What is the plan then?” Lori asked.

  “These guys are going with me over to the Main Street Bridge. We will use what is left of the chain link fencing to create a barrier on the far side of the bridge. If you guys could go with Charlie to see what needs to be done down the street on the Jones Street Bridge, that would be great.”

  “Virginia or I will go with you. We know what to keep an eye out for,” Lori added.

  She thought for a minute the old man was going to argue with her until he replied, “Point taken and I agree with you. Is there anything we should know in case we get up close and personal with them?”

  Lori looked him in the eyes and said, “If it is only one or two that you are dealing with DO NOT shoot them! All that does is call the others right to you.”

  “Then what are we supposed to do?” one of the men asked.

  “Cave their head in with anything handy. It is the only way to put them down so they stay down,” Jermaine replied to the group of men so that they all could clearly hear him. “Is this the first time you have dealt with this?”

  “Charlie and I have dealt with them on a limited basis. Most of the others have done their best to stay out of the way,” Boo replied.

  “Maybe we should get moving so that we can cut down on the chances of changing that. I will go with you guys and cover you while you work. Charlie will be in good hands between Virginia and the dogs, while Jermaine and Albert help him,” Lori said as she walked over and climbed into Boo’s truck.

  “You heard the lady, let’s get going fellas,” Boo ordered the group.

  Chapter 19

  The sun was just starting to rise off to the east as Boo pulled onto the bridge. In front of him stood a sight that would send fear deep into the soul of most battle-hardened veterans, and Boo was no different. It was the type of sight that the mind could not comprehend, that it had no way of processing. With the sunlight to their back the masses of the moving herd looked as though they were glowing. It nearly hid the fact that they were around fifty feet from being on the bridge.

  Boo made a U-turn at the far end of the bridge and jumped out of the cab. Opening the tail gate as quietly as he could, he motioned for the others to get out.

  “Hank, you grab a few of those ten-foot chains there and take them over by the railing on the walkway. Tom, you and Jim give me a hand with the chain link,” Boo ordered. When he noticed Hank standing petrified looking at the creatures Boo yelled, “Hank, if you don’t get a move on, we will be getting a much closer view of them!”

  Hank grabbed the chain and went where he was told to go.

  The chain link scraped across the bed of the old Ford, causing the herd to go silent. Lori motioned to Boo that they needed to be as quiet as possible. Boo nodded his head yes and then shrugged his shoulders. They dragged the heavy chain link fence roll over to the walkway, loosening the end so that Hank could work the chain through it as best he could, fastening it to the post.

  Boo pulled out a padlock and handed it to Hank. “Lock the ends together, Hank, and then get another section of chain.”

  They rolled it to the first support beam on the bridge, where Hank once again wove the chain through the links in the fence. Lori noticed a lone zombie closing in on them, so she drew an arrow from her quiver and sighted it on the creature. As it grew dangerously close to Boo, she let fly watching the arrow as it found its mark in the side of the skull. The creature fell at the feet of Boo, just between him and Tom.

  “You let that one get a little close, didn’t you?” Boo joked.

  Lori smiled back at him and shrugged her shoulders as he had done earlier, walking over and retrieving her arrow from the skull. Seeing that the herd was within fifteen feet of them now, Lori shouted to Boo, “We need to move quicker! They are too close now!”

  “One more beam to latch to, and we are done,” Boo replied as the three men unwound the chain link fence across the road. Lori brought down three more zombies as the guys reached the end with just enough fence left. There was a three- or four-inch gap, but Boo didn’t think anything could squeeze between that, and if it could, there was the length of tow chain fastening it to the beam. They all stood back and looked at their handy work when Boo noticed that the angle of the beams caused the fence to bow downward in the center. Looking around he saw old lady Morris’s antique, beat up Volkswagen Beetle parked in front of her house. “Tom, stay here with Lori and help her keep them off the fence. You two meet me over by the beetle,” Boo said as he climbed into his truck, starting the engine.

  Lori watched as Boo pulled the truck out from behind the beetle. He got out with what l
ooked like a tire iron and smashed the driver’s side window in, and reached in, unlocking the door. The three men then pushed the beetle onto the bridge up to the fence, where Boo started to angle it up next to the fence. There, they worked it back and forth until the passenger side was snug up against the fence causing it to bow outward, instead of inward. In all of the excitement Lori had lost track of where the herd was at. When she finally did look out the fence, she could see that they were unbelievably close now.

  “How is that for just-in-time suspense?” Boo asked.

  “Do you think it will hold?” Hank asked as he backed toward the middle of the bridge, making it clear that he was ready to get off.

  “I think it will hold for now,” Boo replied looking over at Lori. “We will post someone down here to signal us if it doesn’t.”

  “That would be the best idea, just in case they do push it down,” Lori added.

  Before Boo could say another word, Tom spoke up, “I will take the first watch if I can come back with something to sit in, and something that I can use to warm up a little every fifteen or twenty minutes.”

  Boo thought about it for a few minutes, looking up at the sky in that way people do. He looked like he thought the answer was waiting for him to pluck it right from the clouds.

  “I will send Hank back with Smithy’s tow truck. Hank can follow him in my truck to give him a ride back.”

  “That will do just fine, Boo. I always wanted to drive that thing,” Tom replied grinning.

  “All kidding aside, Tom, if they start to push through that fence and that bug starts sliding, push them back with the tow truck.” Tom shook his head yes, confirming that he understood what to do.

  ***

  Charlie did have a plan for his bridge. He was still not used to the idea that they were not using the school buses to block them off. Boo had told him that the ‘cry uncle’ scenario would require the buses to get all of the people out of Rivers Crossing if it came to that. When Boo put it that way, there wasn’t a whole lot of argument that Charlie could come up with. In the meantime, he was being drawn to the idea of using the empty fifty-five gallon drums that they were saving to collect gas for the generator. Knowing how Boo would react to that was one of the reasons that Charlie had kept the idea to himself, until now. Charlie thought Boo had given himself the easy bridge to work with. Strong iron beams running all over the place while Charlie had the early 80’s concrete bridge with only concrete sides. No place to fasten a fence or anything else to it, hence the metal drum idea. They could line them up across the road, and then use the fresh water pump to fill them with water. Allowing for expansion, the water would freeze and they would be too heavy to just push out of the way. The bridge was just barely wide enough to fit two modern day, mid-sized cars on it going in opposite directions. Even then, the two cars were awfully close when they passed, causing the drivers to have to slow down to a crawl.

  After pulling into the lot behind the library and hooking up the homemade trailer that held the empty barrels in it to the truck, Charlie headed down to the bridge. Once they went through the train viaduct, they could get a clear view of the bridge, which was just roughly a football field’s distance from the viaduct.

  Moving around on the bridge, there were close to fifty zombies. They were just aimlessly wandering around, but they were still there in Charlie’s way. Stopping the truck, Charlie let out a loud sigh and felt like all was lost at that point. Just on the other side was what looked like hundreds of zombies just standing there, waiting for anything to come by.

  “Well, that is a real problem,” Albert said.

  “Maybe we can block the bridge on this side?” Charlie asked the group, still shocked.

  “We can move them off the bridge. How long to fill the drums?” Virginia asked.

  Charlie shook his head no as he replied, “Not quick enough to get it done before the rest of them come on to the bridge.”

  “Those gas cans full in the bed?” Jermaine asked pointing behind him.

  “I don’t think that is going to help us, Jermaine,” Albert said pointing down at the water where Zombies were already walking across.

  “I didn’t think that they could cross water!”

  “They can’t swim, but they can walk just fine! How deep is that?” Virginia asked.

  Charlie rose up in his seat so that he could get a better view, “This time of year, depending on the weather, it can be a few inches there or several feet.”

  “Looks like it is just a few inches to me, and they are moving across it just fine!” Jermaine stated.

  Charlie’s mind was racing now. The whole reason for saving the bridge was to have access to the water, without which there wasn’t a really good way to bring water into the school.

  “Any ideas?”

  “We can go back and block off the viaduct. That should stop them for now,” Albert replied, looking for input from the others.

  Charlie shook his head yes as he put the truck into reverse and began to back up toward the viaduct. He knew that Boo wouldn’t be happy with this one bit, but there really wasn’t another option left. It would open up a Pandora’s Box of issues that would have to be addressed but at that moment those were not Charlie’s concern.

  Once on this side of the river all that stood between the creatures and them was the embankment the train tracks were on, and the levy. The latter wasn’t even complete anymore as people took down sections here and there to get a river view from their homes.

  Just as they backed through the viaduct, Boo’s truck pulled up with him slamming it into park, bringing it to a sliding stop.

  “Charlie, what the hell is going on here?” Boo shouted over to Charlie.

  Charlie shook his head and yelled back, “The river is too low! Damn thing is only a few inches deep off to the right of the bridge.”

  Boo shook his head angrily, “I told the mayor that we needed to have that dredged out again. Damn fool said no boats go pass that bridge, so there was no need for it!”

  “Boats? No. Creatures coming across? Yes,” Charlie stated.

  “What do you guys propose we do then?” Boo asked.

  “We were thinking about blocking off the viaduct and keeping them on the other side.”

  Boo turned to Hank and said, “Take Charlie’s truck and drop the tow truck off with Tom. Then go over to the creek bridge and use those barrels to block either side of it. You guys pick which side looks like it would work best. Take that hand pump and fill them with water, okay?” Both men nodded their head that they understood and left.

  Boo joined the rest of the group looking through the viaduct at the herd moving across the bridge and river.

  “Why don’t we use that old van there to block it off on the outside over there?” Charlie pointed over to the far side where he was sure that no matter how hard they pushed against the van it wouldn’t move an inch if it was set up against the sides.

  “Not a bad idea, really. We could easily pull it away if we needed to get through there,” Jermaine added.

  Charlie nodded his head in agreement and then sprinted over to the van. Once inside, he was glad to see that Boo had insisted that any vehicle in the school lot have a key in it, just in case they needed to use it. Anyone still alive that didn’t want to leave a key in their car was welcome to park it up the street away from the school. This old clunker didn’t belong to anyone that was alive as far as Charlie knew, nor did he care at the moment. He turned the key, and with a sputter, the old V8 roared to life and he threw it into gear. Within a few minutes the short nose of the van was against one wall, and the tail end was against the other side. Charlie went through making sure that all of the doors were locked on the passenger side. Not that he thought the creatures were smart enough to open them; he just didn’t want to take that chance.

  Walking back to the group, Charlie could see the faces plastered against the windows of the school and the small crowd that had formed against the fence. Pointing to them he
told Boo, “This is going to be a problem, Boo.”

  Chapter 20

  Virginia was amazed at just how prophetic Charlie had been earlier. The one they called Doc had insisted on having a meeting with everyone, except the people that Boo had put on guard duty around the school and bridges, attending. They were packed into the gymnasium like sardines, with more people sitting on the stairway leading down to the area. Doc had given a long speech about how they had all but beat the odds so far to make it there, and how they could hold out for as long as they needed. All they had to do was stick together like they had been doing all along. Virginia didn’t think he was winning anyone over that had already decided to take flight and look for a better place to go. He may have even tipped the scales to the leaving side for those who weren’t sure if they wanted to stick it out or not. Virginia wasn’t all that sure it was a good idea to stay now either. Then Doc opened it up to questions from the crowd, which, again, Virginia thought he had made another big mistake and rolled her eyes.

  At first they were all yelling questions at once. Some were just yelling out profanities and pointing fingers at who they thought caused it. Then Charlie rose up and motioned everyone to be silent. They all grew quiet in anticipation of his words.

  “Many of you here know me. You have known me for my entire life, knew my parents, and later you knew my sweet Annie. I am not going to stand up here and tell you that everything is going to be all right. I don’t know if any of us will live through this or not. I know that there are more creatures out there than I can count. In some places, there are so many of them that you can hardly make out the landscape or any landmarks.” Charlie took a deep breath then continued, “I spent my whole life trying to get away from this town. I wanted out of here so bad, there were times that I felt like I was going to burst if didn’t leave. My Annie made me see just how special it was living here without all of the hustle and bustle of the big city. Looking back now, I think we survived because we were here—and not there.”

  Charlie looked around the room to make sure all eyes were on him now. The people on the stairway had even moved to the bottom, trying to hear him better. “All I am saying is this: if you want to leave, where will you go? Here, we have the school with heat and a water supply. Out there you have you, and your vehicle, and the creatures. Everywhere you stop you will have to look for them and deal with them or move on quickly. Is that what we survived for? Did we survive just so we could run by day and cower in our cars by night? If we have to deal with the creatures; zombies, demons, or whatever you choose to call them, then let’s do it here right now for our home!”