I park my SUV at my house, and I have Phil park the truck in my next-door neighbor Martha’s empty driveway. We are starting to collect too many vehicles to park by our house, so why not use Martha’s vacant driveway now.
I exit my SUV and look around the neighborhood. I can’t help but to want to secure the neighborhood entrances. The chaos at Jon’s parents’ condo makes me want to lockdown the neighborhood.
Nothing in or out, unless we allow it. My neighborhood has a South and West entrance. The two entrances are unprotected and wide open. Anything or anyone can enter.
I want to put a major priority behind securing our neighborhood entrances. As it’s not a matter of if the neighborhood becomes in danger, but when the danger finds us.
Phil exits the truck and walks over to me. I open the trunk of the SUV and look at the 4 solar panel boxes. Phil and I start to unload the boxed solar panels from the vehicle. We carry the boxed solar panels to the garage door and start to place them on the driveway in front of the closed garage door.
As we are unloading the boxed solar panels, Buck exits his house and comes over to us. I notice Buck moving quickly towards us as we place the last of the boxed solar panels from the SUV on top of the others.
Buck walks right over to me and asks, “Did you guys get the converter by any chance?”
“Yes sir, we did!”
Phil walks to the SUV, opens the back-passenger door and grabs a boxed solar panel converter. Buck is anxiously waiting for the converter and becomes impatient about us giving it to him.
Phil hands the converter to me. Buck tries to grab it from my hands. I block Buck’s hand before he can grab the converter though.
“Easy Buck. I will give you the converter on one condition.”
With an annoyed look on his face and tone in his voice Buck replies, “What’s that?”
“You help us when we need it.”
“Done,” says Buck.
“I’m serious. When I need your help. I hope you honor what you said. We need everyone to help out around here.”
Buck anxiously replies, “I will. Can I have the converter now?”
I hand the converter to Buck. He grabs the converter aggressively from my hand and walks back to his house.
I watch Buck walk away and feel a mix of annoyance, understanding, and anger towards Buck.
Buck is a good guy, but this new world is a trying place for everyone and tension can build quickly.
This new world is stressful, and I’m looking for the right people and environment to provide safety and security from everything this new world brings.
Phil walks over to his truck and lowers the back-truck bed.
Phil shouts, “Ry, help me with these other panels!”
I run over to the truck and help move the remaining solar panels with Phil. Phil and I carry the solar panel boxes and place them next to the other boxes we placed from the SUV in front of the garage door.
As we are removing the last solar panel box from the truck, I pause and look at Martha’s house. I want to search through Martha’s house for supplies and food, but will do it another day.
I realize that Phil and I need to search all the houses of the neighborhood for survivors, food, supplies, and anything dangerous. The neighborhood can provide the ability for us to survive if we find the right people, resources, and supplies.
Phil and I place the last solar panel box in front of the garage, and I go inside the house. I walk into the garage and manually open the garage door from the inside.
Phil and I push the solar panel boxes into the garage. I walk to the SUV and grab the converter boxes from the back seat. I close the back door of the SUV with my foot and walk back to the garage.
The Florida sun is beating down on me as I walk back to the garage. It must be 90 degrees today.
Phil and I organize the solar panel equipment in the garage for when we are ready to install the solar panels on the roof and hookup the converter to the electrical box.
Lauren hears us in the garage. She walks into the garage from the door inside the house and sees what we are doing.
“You guys okay?” asks Lauren.
Phil says, “Yeah we are getting pretty setup here. We got the solar panels and should be ready to install them pretty soon.”
Lauren replies, “Great. Solar power is such a great idea for the house.”
Phil asks, “How are Nicole and the babies?”
Lauren smiles and says, “They are doing great. Nicole is getting more energy and the babies are doing well.”
Phil goes inside the house and leaves Lauren and I in the garage.
Lauren looks at me and says, “Phil definitely cares for Nicole. You see how concerned he is about her and the babies?”
“Yeah, I know he cares for her, but we will see what that turns into down the road.”
I close the garage door and walk inside the house with Lauren. Lauren and I walk into the kitchen. I wash my hands and face and try to relax for a second. Lauren hands me a bottle of water as I sit in a barstool chair by the kitchen countertop.
Lauren looks at me and says, “I’m glad you are safe sweetie. How did the trip go?”
“It was crazy. We got the solar panels and converters from the solar company and then stopped by Jon’s parents’ condo. The condo building lost power and zombies started to enter the condo lobby. Just imagine living in a million-dollar condo and then being attacked by a zombie.”
“Are you serious? Holy crap. Chaos and danger keeps finding you,” says Lauren.
“It seems like it. That’s why I want to close off the entrances to our neighborhood, check the neighbor’s houses for survivors and supplies, and make this place like a fortress. Nothing in or out, unless we allow it.”
Lauren looks at me with a reassuring look and says, “That sounds great. I know you can do it. You going to dig a moat?”
Phil and Nicole come walking out of the back bedroom and meet us in the kitchen. They are each holding a baby.
“How are you doing Nicole?”
Nicole looks up from holding Mia and says, “Great. I’m feeling a sense of claustrophobia though. I spend all day in my room and need to get out of that bedroom for a second.”
“I understand. This is your house now, so you need to enjoy living here.”
Nicole says, “Thank you, Ryan. I will start my takeover of the Briggs household soon.”
I laugh at Nicole’s joke and ask her, “How are the babies doing?”
“Pretty good. They are little eating, sleeping, and pooping machines,” says Nicole.
Phil is holding Mason, while he is in kitchen. He always has a big smile on his face when he is holding a baby, but especially when he is holding Mason.
“You doing okay Phil?”
Phil responds, “Great. This little guy Mason is such a funny guy. He keeps making faces at me.”
Phil has always wanted to have kids, but never had any. At least to his knowledge, but Amber and Phil never had a child when they were married. It’s nice to see Phil happy again.
I look at Phil and hate to break up his happy moment holding Mason, but I feel a sense of urgency to secure at least one of the neighborhood entrances.
I look at the group as we are in the kitchen and ask, “Have you guys seen or heard anything strange or dangerous going on the neighborhood?”
They all reply, “No.”
Nicole says, “I haven’t heard anything actually.”
Lauren says, “It’s actually been very quiet around here.”
“Phil and I checked a couple houses out, but we need to check the neighborhood out again. We need to see which houses are empty, which have people in them, and secure any dangerous areas.”
Phil asks, “You want to go out around the neighborhood again?”
“Yeah. I want to make sure this place is safe as quickly as possible.”
Nicole says, “I like that idea. This is home base for a while, right?”
Lauren re
plies, “Yeah. I think so. I can’t imagine going anywhere else.”
“Yes. This house and neighborhood are our safe zone. We need to protect them and that’s why I want to secure the entrances.”
Phil walks over to Lauren and hands her Mason.
He looks at me and says, “Alright, let’s go check out the neighborhood.”
I walk to my bedroom and gear up for our venture around the neighborhood. Phil exits the kitchen and starts to gear up also.
I finish getting ready and wait for Phil in the living room. Phil walks into the living room. Phil put his body armor on this time and is holding his shotgun.
I walk towards the front door and am met by Lauren who is holding Mason. Lauren motions for me to kiss her. I kiss her on the lips. Phil walks past me and goes out the front door.
On the way-out Phil says, “Bye Lauren. Bye Mason.”
I exit the front door and close it. Lauren locks the door and I catch up to Phil. Phil and I stop at the end of the driveway for a second.
“Let’s check out the South entrance to the neighborhood first and then some of the houses around that part of the neighborhood.”
Phil and I start to walk down the sidewalk and towards the South entrance. I visually inspect the neighbors’ homes as we walk past them. Most of the homes look to be empty, but a couple of homes show signs that they might have people living in them.
We arrive at the South entrance and see that it’s going to take a lot of big objects like cars, or some trees to block this entrance. The street is open for cars to drive through of course, but the bigger problem is that the entrance is made up of two homes that both have big open front yards. One on each side that are wide open to intruders.
The front yards of the two homes located at each entrance do not have fences or any obstructions, and will provide tons of open space for zombies, people, and anything to get in.
I don’t want to completely block off the road, so no cars can enter or exit, but I want to at least narrow the space around the entrance, so that only a car can get through the road and the open spaces of the lawns are closed off.
The neighborhood South entrance connects to a main road, which can get busy at times. The roads are quiet for now, but I can see potential problems brewing if we don’t lock this down.
Phil and I get a couple of ideas for providing a road block and narrowing the entrance to the neighborhood. We don’t have huge construction equipment right now, but hopefully we can find something in future supply runs to help us.
My neighborhood was mostly comprised of retired elderly couples, families, and middle-aged working professionals before the zombie apocalypse. I’m hoping some of the people that are still alive can provide help and resources for us.
Phil and I decide to check out the houses around the South entrance of the neighborhood. Most of the houses are showing clear signs that people aren’t living in them. Front doors are open, house windows are broken, and driveways are missing vehicles.
We come across a house that is showing signs that people are alive inside. I get excited and hopeful that someone might be alive.
A truck and a black minivan are parked in the driveway. The windows and front door are shut and in good shape.
Phil and I approach the front door. I knock on the white door, but no one answers.
We wait a couple of seconds, and Phil knocks again on the door.
I see several fresh cigarette butts in an ash tray sitting on the front porch as Phil and I wait at the front door.
I shout, “Hey neighbor. It’s me Ryan from down the street. We mean no harm. We are just doing a check of the neighborhood to see who is still living here.”
I hear someone walking towards the front door. They don’t open the door, but I can feel their presence behind it.
“Is everyone okay in the house? I’m your neighbor and I don’t mean any harm.”
A man shouts, “We are fine. I have a shotgun and I will shoot you.”
“Please don’t. My friend and I mean no harm. We just want to secure the neighborhood.”
The man asks, “Who are you?
“I’m your neighbor. Ryan. I live around the corner next to Martha.”
Silence.
The man opens the door and asks, “Who are you?”
“I’m Ryan from down the street. I have lived in my house for several years now.”
The man asks, “What do you want?”
Phil says, “We just want to make sure everyone is safe that is living in the neighborhood still. We are doing checks of all the houses for any problems.”
The man shows that he believes us and changes his voice to a nicer tone.
The man says, “I’m sorry about being hesitant. I just want to make sure you aren’t robbers or anything. My name is Carlos. My wife Gloria and our two kids are here.”
I am relieved to find survivors and am happy to hear that it’s a family. I am under the believe that, if anyone in this new world intends to make it out alive then we need to rely on people. The right people though, not just anyone that we come across.
“Have you seen any neighbors or people around the neighborhood?”
Carlos replies, “Yeah. I have seen a couple people, but the last people I saw live in the blue house over there in the cul-de-sac. They are Chris and Jamie.”
Phil replies, “Thank you for your time Carlos. Do you mind if we stay in touch from time to time? Strength in numbers.”
“Yeah. I will be able to help you guys for somethings. I have a construction background,” says Carlos.
“Great. If we need your help. We will stop by again.”
Phil and I walk towards the blue house that Carlos told us about. I have never met Chris and Jamie formally but have seen them around the neighborhood.
Chris and Jamie live in one of the four cul-de-sacs that we have in our neighborhood. They have the center home in this cul-de-sac. As we approach their home, Phil and I take notice of the other homes in this cul-de-sac.
Chris and Jamie’s home looks to be the only one of the homes to be in good shape. The other homes have broken windows and lifeless bodies in the lawn. Almost every home has a car parked in the driveway though. By the looks of it, the owners stayed in their homes, but didn’t survive.
Phil and I stop at a home, before going to Chris and Jamie’s house. A body is slowly moving while looking face down in the lawn. I know the body is clearly a zombie as it is making zombie moans as it tries to pull itself through the grass into the driveway.
Phil takes out his knife, kneels next to the zombie, and stabs it in the head. The zombie goes lifeless and limp. Phil stands up and we continue walking down the sidewalk.
We arrive at Chris and Jamie’s house. We stop by the sidewalk next to the mailbox. The mailbox has a last name on it.
Marchetti.
I take one step towards the house and immediately hear a gunshot. Phil and I duck down and take cover by a car in the driveway.
Several more gunshots go off. Phil and I stay covered by the car. I can’t make out where the gunfire is coming from, but I don’t feel that it’s coming at us.
Another shot goes off. I stand up from the car and feel that the gunfire is coming from a distance. It sounds like a rifle being fired from another neighborhood.
I step away from the car and look towards Chris’ house. As I look at the front door of the house, a man comes running out the front door and towards me.
He tries to attack me, but I dodge out of the way. The man falls into the street as I sidestep him.
“Relax man!”
The man gets up and starts throwing punches at me. I easily block his punches as he doesn’t know how to throw a quality punch.
“Why are you attacking me?”
The man gets frustrated and tries to tackle me again. He jams his right shoulder into my stomach but I stop him from taking me to the ground. I throw him to the ground and take out my handgun.
I point it at the man and shout, �
��What’s your problem? Why are you attacking me?”
“Because you are shooting at my house,” shouts the man.
Phil walks over to my right side and glares at the man.
“No, we weren’t. The shooting is coming from down the street,” yells Phil.
“Are you Chris?”
“Who wants to know?” shouts the man.
“Your neighbors.”
A woman runs out with a knife and tries to attack Phil. She points the knife at Phil and hits him in his body armor chest plate. The knife breaks as it hits Phil in the protective chest plate. The knife did not hurt Phil at all.
Phil takes out his handgun and points it directly at the woman’s face. The woman kneels in fear next to the man.
I look at Phil and say, “This isn’t how I wanted this to go. What should we do with them?”
CHAPTER 14
LIVE OR DIE
It’s a tense scene. The man and woman that attacked us are pleading for their lives as they sit on their front lawn.
“Who are your people?”
With tears in her eyes, the woman says, “Who cares? Just kill us already?”
The man tries to move in front of the woman as to protect her.
“I’m only going to ask one more time!”
The man shouts, “I’m Chris and this is my girlfriend Jamie. Why do you want to know?”
Phil says, “Just the people we were looking for.”
Chris has a confused look on his face as he isn’t sure why we would be looking for him. Jamie is crying and hiding her face as she covers her face with her hands.
“We aren’t going to kill you. Stand up.”
Chris stands up and helps Jamie stand up as well. Chris is hugging Jamie while looking at Phil and me. I lower my gun but Phil does not.
“We are your neighbors. We live next to Martha in the white house.”
Chris replies, “Oh. Alright. I thought you were married to that little blonde chick. Who is this guy?”
I look at Phil and laugh. He’s one of my best friends. I am married. My wife’s name is Lauren.
Jamie says, “I know Lauren. We take kickboxing classes together.”
“Yeah. That’s my wife. Kickboxing four times a week religiously.”
Fight 4 Us (Book 2): Reunited Page 13
