Survivors Series (Book 1): Heroes Aren't Born

by Voeller, Cody

  “Yeah.”

  “Well then, I think I’ll stay up here.”

  “Don’t worry, there’s plenty of manual labor to go around. I’ll make sure you get your turn,” I said jokingly.

  “Well, thanks so much.”

  I got down off the roof and went inside. People were still eating and I decided that I wanted to take a quick nap. It was already after one so I set my watch for one forty-five, plenty of time for everyone to eat and for me to sleep. I picked up my radio. “Thomas?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m going to rest for a bit, report any movement but otherwise, try and keep radio silence, I’m going to have this baby up pretty loud.”

  “Sure.”

  I went to my room, laid down on the bed and fell asleep. Thirty minutes passed in a heartbeat and I was back on my feet before my eyes had time to know they were closed. When I got up I saw Liz and Jessica playing with Michelle in the living room and I heard noise coming from the garage. When I opened the door I saw the rest of the group working on cleaning out the garage. I was told that Sarah and Jason had orchestrated the start of the cleanup.

  “Good job, guys. Let’s start moving everything that we don’t want down to the burn pile near the tree line. Also, each group headed down to the pile should be escorted by at least one armed person.”

  Box after box of useless crap was carted out of the garage and the shelves were lined with potentially useful items. Soon enough the garage floor was completely empty and over half the shelf space had been packed tight, leaving the other half empty. They had all been wiped down and the floor swept. I guess when you have eight people working on the same task it can get done pretty quickly. It was a little after five and the sky was already darkening. I went inside with everyone else and as they all went to clean up I grabbed the night binoculars and scope and climbed up to the roof.

  “How’d the cleaning go?” Thomas asked me with a smile.

  “Quick, actually. They started before I had even got up,” I told him. “So are you tired of guard duty yet? You’ve been up here almost the entire day.”

  “You know it’s not that bad, but I would love to come down after dinner. This roof is starting to wreck my back. I might have to get a chair up here or something.”

  “I think we can make that happen. Maybe we can look into building a platform up here or something,” I smiled.

  “Sweet, I really appreciate it.”

  “No problem,” I told him, “I’ll take over for you, and don’t worry about any night shift, you’ve more than earned the sleep.”

  I climbed down and went inside to wash before I helped to make dinner. I had pulled several pounds of frozen elk burger out of the fridge early in the day and it was thawed for dinner. We had elk burgers and baked beans for dinner, after which I headed up to the roof to let Thomas stand on level footing for the first time that day.

  I settled down in the same manner that I had on the first night of guard duty, sleeping bag, Powerade and granola bars in hand. I trusted that the others would have no problem getting to bed and securing themselves in their rooms.

  When my four hours were up it was only nearing ten and since I was wide awake, I decided to stay on watch a little longer. After another two hours of watch duty, I decided to call it a night.

  “Jason?” I said expecting silence but I receiving an immediate reply.

  “Yeah?”

  “Your watch, dude.”

  When Jason reached the roof he asked, “I thought it was supposed to be my watch like two hours ago?”

  “Yeah, I wasn’t all that tired so I figured I’d just stay up here for a little longer.”

  “Well, you won't hear me complaining.”

  “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a boring watch.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

  I went inside, collapsed in my bed and, after setting my alarm, fell asleep. I woke four hours later to the sound of my alarm and second later to the squawk of the radio. I didn’t even listen to what was being said I just reset my alarm and fell back asleep. I woke up with Justin and followed him outside with my rifle. Instead of going to the roof I headed to the pole barn climbed up to the roof. It was a two-tiered roof that offered a completely different sightline of the driveway and highway. I was checking this angle just in case anyone had to fortify themselves in or on top of this building, or if we had to have another line of defense or attack.

  By the time I got back inside breakfast was already well underway. It’s good to see them working together, I thought as I got in line for some food. After I went out to walk the perimeter, figuring that, for now, we could secure parts of the forest line with pieces of reinforced plywood and fencing. We’d obviously have to get something better in the long run but for now, it would have to work.

  I went inside and got a work team together. I told Thomas to take the roof and for Justin to join me and Jason. I had Sarah head to the roof as well, I wanted our two best shooters, besides me, watching both our backs and the road. Without even asking several of the girls, Hannah, Carrie, Jessica and Christina joined us along the tree line.

  I looked at the group, “What we’re going to do is start putting up some light fencing along the tree line. We have big sheets of plywood and two-by-fours behind the pole barn along with quite a bit of fencing. I want to get as much of the tree line secured as we can.”

  We started by digging out sheets of plywood and lining them up along the trees. With the use of many hammers and dozens of nails, we were able to put up a sizable line of fencing at the back of the house, about fifty yards beyond the pump house. It was Hannah’s idea to attach small bells taken from Christmas decorations to the fence. That way anybody on night watch could hear if the fence was disturbed.

  When we finished with the back of the house we were sweaty, dirty and tired but we were a little safer. I told everyone that we would be done with construction for now and to go ahead and go inside to clean up. “Enjoy the hot water, we may not have it for much longer.”

  As the work crew headed inside I radioed Thomas and Sarah, “Hey you guys, I’m going to take a sec and duck into the pump house. Watch my back.”

  “Already am,” I heard Sarah say.

  I smiled and walked into the well house, the musty smell of old insulation assaulting my nose and making me sneeze. I checked the water level of the big above ground tank and found that it was almost full. We didn’t have to worry about running out of water, the aquifer deep down in the ground would last a long time. We would have to worry about getting the water out of the ground and to the house when the power ran out. I already had a plan to get the water out of the ground and we would probably just have to cart it by hand to the house each day.

  My idea was to hook a generator up to the well pump so that we could get water even without power. My dad had been talking about it but I wasn’t sure if she had gotten around to it. I walked around to the back of the well house and smiled, a new generator sat on a fresh concrete pad and insulated cables ran into the small structure. He must have installed the generator after the large storm that had knocked out our power for nearly two weeks.

  I left the well-house and headed inside, radioing the roof on my way. “Sarah?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You can come down now.”

  “I think I’ll stay a little while longer, get used to walking on the roof.”

  “Suit yourself,” I said and then mumbled off the radio, “Stubborn.”

  It was nearing lunchtime and I was starving. I dug into a bowl of chili and decided that it was time for a little teamwork. If we were going to leave the house to gather supplies we would need to be able to work together smoothly and with minimal chatter.

  After ensuring that the two on the roof would have food taken to them I gathered everyone in the living room and had them gather around the whiteboard. On a blank space, I started writing down radio and combat phrases like SitRep, Copy, Over, ETA and RTB. I explai
ned that these words would be used when we were out scavenging and using the radio so as to best convey messages while keeping speech to a minimum.

  “SitRep?” questioned Carrie.

  “Situation Report. It means explain to me what’s going on,” I replied.

  We would be working in two separate four-person teams. One team composing transportation and the other the scavenger team. We would be taking all four vehicles so as to maximize the cargo space. “Ok,” I said, “time for practice.”

  Years of watching action movies and playing tactical video games had exposed me to proper close quarter’s formations and the correct way to clear a building. At least what I took to be the proper method. Paintball, airsoft, and laser tag helped to further my education and I drew on those experiences to help teach the others.

  The four-man scavenger team would be responsible for clearing whatever building we entered and securing supplies. We formed a diamond formation, me as point, and traversed the house, working on taking cover along walls, securing hallways and watching each other’s backs. I knew there was little we could do to prepare for the actual thing but I had to keep confidence up. I had kept them safe so far and if I was going to continue to do so we would need all the food and supplies we could get our hands on.

  I decided that our first location would be the small market about a two and a half miles west of my house. I was sure that there would be few if any Walkers in the area and figured it would be ideal practice for the larger stores I had planned to raid in the future. I decided that since it was so close and unpopulated that I would check it out by myself. I would leave early the next day, at first light.

  For the rest of the day, we took turns working on the fence and guarding the property. That night, over dinner, I explained my plan to investigate the small market in preparation for our first raid.

  “Are you crazy?” Matt asked.

  “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Sarah exclaimed angrily. For some reason, I don’t think she actually wanted an answer.

  “Dude, that’s insane,” Thomas told me, having been replaced by Justin on the roof.

  “Would everyone calm down,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the combined objections. “No, I’m not crazy, and I don’t want to get killed, but this is the safest way to do this. We didn’t see any cars blocking the highway on our way here, so I can travel the two miles or so on a bike. Going alone will allow me to move faster than if I went with a group. And besides, this is probably the safest market around, there probably won’t be any Walkers.” They glanced around and shifted in their seats. They didn’t voice any more objections, but I could see they still disagreed with me, except Matt. He looked at me and only nodded, understanding what I was trying to do.

  I opted out of guard duty for the night, Sarah volunteered to cover for me so I would be rested for the next day. I rose around six-thirty and after a quick breakfast of cold sausage I was out the door and on my bike. The bike was far from new, but it was a rugged mountain bike that had gotten me through rougher terrain than this. I took my Beretta with extra magazine, a large hunting knife, and a couple bottles of water in a small string backpack, my bow and quiver slung across my back and a pair of binoculars, leaving my radio at home. I didn’t plan on needing the handgun or the bow but I wasn’t going unarmed. I also brought an empty backpack, planning on grabbing what I could in case the store was empty. After a quick weapons check, I was coasting down the driveway, the cold morning air biting at my face.

  The ride there was uneventful, seeing nothing but empty road and near silent woods, the birds doing their best to keep the forest alive. As I neared the market I steered off the highway and stopped. I got off my bike and left it and the two backpacks on the side of the road. I stood in silence, soaking in the tranquility that seemed to permeate the very air. There wasn't a single vehicle or person around and I marveled at how silent it really was. I shook my head and focused on the task at hand and reminded myself that there could be danger all around me, even if I couldn't see it.

  I took stock of the zombies we had seen, the classic shuffling undead. These were former dead people that we were dealing with. Their muscles had become rigid, their joints locked up and their organs had ceased to function, they were literally the walking dead. Slow and easy to kill in small numbers but dangerous if you became overrun.

  I knocked an arrow and moved very slowly toward the store, keeping my head on a swivel and straining my ears for any noises that might warn of the presence of a Walker. I reached the front of the store and saw that the lights were still on and the door was unlocked. There were no cars in the small parking lot, and I was hoping that if I had to deal with any zombies that it would just be the few employees that had worked here. Before the end of the world, I had only ever seen three employees in the small store. I reassured myself that I could handle three. I opened the door very slowly, reaching up to silence the bell which hung above the door and entered the store. I closed the door and quietly cut the string holding the bell, I didn’t want to have to worry about it making noise later.

  The small building consisted of five aisles, a produce section, a small meat section and two registers. From the door, I could see the produce section and down the first aisle. So far so good, I thought, keeping my bow raised. Moving along the wall I glanced down the second aisle and found it empty. The third and fourth aisles were also clear. The fifth aisle, however, was occupied by three individuals, all facing the back wall, all female, and all motionless. Fuck, I thought, How to do this? I could move closer and use the pistol, stay far away and use the bow or get up close and personal with the three undead and use my knife. The third option was the most dangerous and the most disturbing so I decided to take it off the table. The pistol was the fastest but could possibly draw other Walkers in the area to my position. I decided to stay back and use the bow, it would be slow but it would be quiet.

  Drawing back the arrow I aimed for the closest zombie, furthest to the left. The silence was broken by the deep resonating thrum of the bowstring, followed by the whistle of the arrow, tipped with a hunting point. Before the second zombie could turn to face me another arrow was knocked and on its way. The third was taken out with an arrow through her open, moaning mouth. Clean up on aisle five, I thought. “Fuck that’s dark,” I said, shaking my head.

  I went down the aisle to retrieve my arrows, my next target being the meat counter and back room. Of the three zombies I had taken care of only one was an employee. That left the possibility of two more zombies in the back room. I checked behind the counter and, after finding it clear, I moved to the door to the back room. It was too cramped to use a bow or even the pistol, so I pulled out my hunting knife. I was risking a lot using the knife, more than I wanted to, but I wasn’t going to chance more Walkers. Slinging the bow across my back I quickly slammed the lightly hinged door open and prepared to meet resistance.

  “Well,” I said out loud as I found the space empty, “that was anticlimactic.” After checking the store again I walked briskly towards the front of the store to get my gear. Reaching my bike I rode it to the front door, set it down and took the empty backpack inside. The first thing I grabbed were batteries. Their weight would quickly make my pack heavy but they were a necessity. Next was the medicine. It didn’t matter if it was for a cold or a migraine, it all went into the bag. After the medicine, the bag was already almost full. I went to the small toy aisle and grabbed a coloring book and a puzzle book for Michelle and shoved them into the bag. I took the now full bag back to my bike and realized that I could fit some stuff into the drawstring backpack that held my rations. I picked up the bag and headed back inside. As I was browsing the aisles, confident in my solidarity, I committed a classic zombie foul. I got comfortable in my surroundings and nearly paid for it.

  Finally picking out a couple of goodies I turned to leave and almost ran headlong into a Walker. “Oh fuck,” I swore. The thing was a mere foot from me and my hands were full of fo
od. I dropped the bag and the food and kicked the zombie in the stomach, trying to put some distance between me and the gruesome creature.

  This was the closest I had ever been to one of them while it was still moving, and it was bad. Its skin was gray and blotchy, I could see broken and missing teeth in its mouth and the skin on its fingers was almost gone, some of them were bloody stumps. I wondered how hadn’t noticed the smell, let alone of how the thing had snuck up on me. I pulled my knife and backed up slightly. Cutting the things throat, slicing its stomach or stabbing it in the heart wouldn’t work. I wouldn’t be able to severe the things head but I was sure cutting its spinal cord was possible.

  I continued to back away slowly drawing it to the back of the store where there was more room to maneuver. I let it get within arm’s reach before I ducked behind it and kicked it in the back of the knees, forcing it down to the ground. In one quick motion, I slammed by knife into its neck, at the base of the skull. It went limp and I pulled out the knife to wipe it off on its tattered work shirt.

  Gathering up my gear and supplies I took off for home. The increased weight of the pack made the ride a little slower but not by much. I wanted to make sure that no zombies had spotted me and planned to follow me back. I circled the area, and eliminated two more with my bow, ensuring that we wouldn’t have any unwanted visitors.