Fight 4 Us (Book 2)_Reunited

by Brian Grenda

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Shaun takes down the zombies and the street is clear of zombies. Kylie and Matt embrace. Lisa runs over to Shaun and hugs him.

  Shaun wonders where all these zombies came from. The street has been quiet since they have been back from Tennessee, but something must be attracting the zombies towards Shaun’s house.

  “Let’s get inside and talk about our next step,” says Shaun as he looks at Kylie, Matt, and Lisa.

  Shaun, Lisa, Kylie and Matt all enter Shaun’s house. Matt is the last to the enter the house and locks the front door. Kylie and Lisa sit down on the sofa, Matt sits down in a recliner chair, and Shaun stands by the television.

  Shaun looks at the group and asks, “How is everyone doing? Everyone good?”

  Lisa and Kylie respond, “Yeah. We are doing okay.”

  Kylie looks at Matt and asks, “How are your parents?”

  Matt replies, “Good. They are both alive and doing well.”

  Kylie smiles at Matt and says, “I’m glad they are safe.”

  Shaun looks at Lisa and says, “The new plan is to leave our house and go down to Florida. Matt’s parents will join us for the trip and Ryan’s dad might join us as well.”

  Lisa replies, “Why do you want to leave our house? Florida might be overrun and not safe.”

  Matt replies, “You guys can stay here, but Kylie and I are going to Florida to meet up with Nicole.”

  Shaun walks towards a window and sees several zombies coming down his street.

  Shaun looks at the zombies and says, “We can’t stay here. The street is starting to attract zombies, we don’t have tons of supplies or food.”

  Shaun continues, “We stick together no matter what!”

  Kylie gets up from the sofa and walks over to Matt. Matt stands up as Kylie walks over to him.

  Kylie says, “If the plan is to get to Florida, then let’s get going. Time is of the essence.”

  Matt smiles as he is glad that Kylie is onboard with his plan.

  Matt looks at Shaun and asks, “When do we leave?”

  Shaun replies, “Let’s pack up all the things that we can here, gas up the cars, and prepare to never come back here.”

  Lisa starts to cry and says, “Never come back here. This is our house.”

  Shaun hugs Lisa and says, “I know it is. I love this house, but we can’t stay here.”

  Matt and Kylie run upstairs to their bedroom and start to pack up their belongings.

  Shaun sits down with Lisa on the sofa. Lisa is upset about leaving her house and everything that they have worked for. Lisa and Shaun have lived in their house for 10 years. It was a big deal when they bought a house together.

  “I love this house, but I love you more. I don’t like leaving our home, but I’m with you no matter what we do,” says Lisa.

  Shaun replies, “I love you too. I don’t want to leave, but it’s the right move and I can’t let Matt go by himself. He won’t make it by himself. Plus, we have strength in numbers.”

  Lisa wipes away tears from her eyes and asks, “When do we leave?”

  Shaun replies, “Let’s pack up our belongings tonight and we will leave tomorrow.”

  Shaun and Lisa share a kiss and then exit the living room. Shaun goes down into the basement and starts to gather bags and supplies that they will take with them. Lisa goes upstairs and starts to pack up clothes and personal belongings from their bedroom.

  Shaun’s house starts to become a chaotic mess. Supplies, bags, and items start to pile up in every room. Shaun grabs something from his bedside table and spots his neighbor Frank in his backyard by his bomb shelter.

  Shaun opens the window and whistles for Frank. Frank sees Shaun and waves to him.

  “What are you doing Frank?”

  Frank responds, “I am going into the shelter for good.”

  Shaun responds, “Good luck to ya. We are heading out tomorrow and going to Florida.”

  Frank says, “I wish you all the best. You and Lisa are good people.”

  Shaun responds, “Thank you Frank. I hope you don’t get too bored in that shelter.”

  Frank responds, “Me too. It’s going to be lonely that’s for sure, but I will be alive and that’s all that matters right now.”

  Shaun replies, “Enjoy your 50-year nap!”

  Frank smiles and says, “Oh I will!”

  Shaun and Frank share one last wave goodbye, before Frank locks himself in the bomb shelter. Shaun stares at the bomb shelter and wonders how Frank will do all alone in his bomb shelter.

  Lisa enters the bedroom and sees Shaun looking out the bedroom window.

  “Everything okay babe?” asks Lisa.

  “Yeah. I just said goodbye to Frank,” says Shaun.

  Lisa packs up her last bag on the bed and asks, “Where did Frank go?”

  Shaun replies, “He’s in the bomb shelter. Locked himself in.”

  Lisa replies, “Frank is safe, but I’m sure he’ll be lonely in his shelter. I could never do that.”

  Shaun closes the window and blinds and says, “Yeah. I wonder if it’s better to be alone like Frank or with loved ones in this crazy world.”

  Matt knocks on Shaun’s open bedroom door, then walks in the room.

  “I think we got everything we need for our trip. I think we leave tomorrow morning. First, we go to my parents’ house and then down to Florida,” says Matt.

  Shaun replies, “Sounds good. We have to pack a couple more things and then we are set for supplies from the house.”

  Matt looks at Shaun and Lisa and says, “I appreciate you guys leaving your house and coming with us to Florida. I don’t know how we would do if we split up.”

  Lisa responds, “We are family and need to stick together.”

  Shaun responds, “Yeah. We are sticking together and all going to Florida. We leave in the morning. We’ll pick up your parents and then start our trip to Florida.”

  Matt smiles and says, “Sounds good. Let’s get some sleep, and we’ll get going tomorrow morning.”

  CHAPTER 4

  FLORIDA HERE WE COME

  “You going to sleep all day honey?”

  Matt wakes up to that question from Kylie as he lies in bed. Kylie stands at the side of the bed and playfully shakes Matt by the shoulders to fully wake him up.

  Kylie has been up for about an hour now and is anxious to get going. Matt normally isn’t an early riser, and today is no different. He isn’t in the biggest hurry to get going this morning, mostly since he feels an overwhelming sense of apprehension about the trip to Florida.

  Kylie looks at Matt and says, “We are pretty much ready to go. Get up and get changed.”

  Matt sits up in bed and runs his left hand through his messed up brown hair. Kylie walks over to him and kisses him on his right cheek.

  “Let’s get moving honey,” says Kylie.

  Matt replies, “I will sweetie. I will be down in a second.”

  Kylie exits the bedroom and walks down stairs. Matt slowly stands up from the bed and walks into the bathroom. He turns on the sink faucet and looks in the mirror.

  As he looks at himself in the mirror, Matt wonders if his sister Nicole is okay. Matt and Nicole have always had a close relationship since they were little. Nicole is only a year younger than Matt. They grew up together, and remained close all the way through high school and college.

  Nicole left North Carolina several years ago, and Matt hated the fact that she left. Matt has always been very protected of Nicole and fears that he won’t be able to protect her in this new world. Nicole is his baby sister and he worries about her.

  Shaun and Lisa are organizing their belongings for the trip in the living room. Shaun, Lisa, and Kylie are ready to go, but they have been waiting on Matt to wake up and get moving for about an hour now.

  Matt walks down the steps and sees everyone is ready to go. The living room floor is filled with piles of bags, supplies, and weapons. Shaun and Lisa gathered anything and ever
ything from their house, basement, garage, and shed that they may need.

  “What time is it?” asks Matt.

  Shaun replies, “It’s go time!”

  Everyone has their bags packed and are ready to go. Kylie even has Matt’s supplies and bags ready to go.

  Kylie looks at Matt and says, “Why didn’t you change your clothes? Go back upstairs and change. Then we can go.”

  Matt replies, “No breakfast?”

  “Breakfast!” shouts Kylie, Shaun and Matt.

  Kylie picks up a chocolate chip protein bar and throws it at Matt. Matt catches the protein bar in his right hand.

  As Matt looks at the protein bar, Kylie says, “Now, there’s your breakfast. Go change, so we can leave.”

  Matt starts to walk back up the steps and replies, “Okay. I will go change and then we can go.”

  Shaun walks over to his blue front door and opens it. He checks to see if his street is clear of any zombies or danger.

  The streets around Shaun’s house seem to be all clear of zombies, besides the ones that lay lifeless in the street that they killed the day before.

  Shaun exits the front door and starts to load up his jeep. He loads several bags and various supplies into his trunk and back seat. Lisa comes out and helps him.

  The sun is shining brightly and it is surprisingly quite hot on this morning in North Carolina. However, a cool breeze is in the air. It looks like it will shape up to be a beautiful day, and nice weather for a road trip.

  Matt and Kylie start to load up Matt’s black sedan. Kylie playfully smacks a bag of clothes on Matt’s right thigh as they are loading the bags into the trunk.

  Shaun walks over to Matt’s car to see how much more room Matt’s car has for more of the supplies. Matt’s car is pretty full already, but there is room in the backseat for a few more supplies or even another person.

  Shaun asks, “How much gas do you have left? Will you make it to Florida?”

  “Let me check. I should have a good amount left,” says Matt.

  Matt enters his car and starts the engine. The dashboard lights up and the gas gauge shows how much gas is in the car.

  Matt says, “I have just over half a tank left.”

  Shaun replies, “That won’t make it to Florida. I’ll have to siphon the gas from Lisa’s car.”

  Shaun walks over to his jeep and takes out a gas container and hose. Shaun looks at the hose and shakes his head, as he is tired of siphoning gas.

  Siphoning gas out of a car is annoying and can be dangerous. Shaun has never siphoned gas from cars so much in his life. He hates that he has to do it, but knows that it’s important and is willing to put up with how annoying and dangerous it is.

  Shaun walks over to Lisa’s car and starts to siphon the gas. Lisa comes out of the house and puts the last bag into Shaun’s jeep. Lisa sees that Shaun is taking the gas from her car and gets upset.

  Lisa is upset as she knows that she can’t take her car with her and says, “I’m going to miss my car. This totally sucks. Everything I worked for up to this point is for nothing now.”

  Shaun finishes siphoning the gas and closes the gas tank cap of Lisa’s car.

  Shaun looks at Lisa and says, “It does suck. You work so hard for all of this. A nice house, a car, and whatever else you wanted, but it means nothing now.”

  Shaun continues, “I guess material positions are pretty useless now, unless they provide safety and protection.”

  Shaun walks into the garage and grabs his other gas containers that he siphoned from the truck he found. He fills up his jeep with one of the gas containers and places the empty container in his trunk.

  Matt comes over to Shaun and grabs one of the gas containers.

  As Matt grabs the gas container, Shaun says, “Man siphoning gas sucks. I can’t keep doing that.”

  Matt picks up the gas container and replies, “I bet man. Hopefully, it’s the last time we need to do that.”

  Matt takes one of the other gas containers and puts it in his trunk.

  Shaun and Lisa walk into their house and take a final sweep of their first home. Shaun washes his hands in the sink, while Lisa takes a final look around the house.

  Lisa gets upset as she walks around the house and realizes that she will most likely never see this house again. She pictures them working on the house, having parties in the house, and other great memories that she had with Shaun.

  Shaun sees that Lisa is upset and gives her a big hug.

  “I know this sucks sweetie, but we have to leave. It’s not safe here. Our safety is the only thing that is important to me right now,” says Shaun.

  “I understand why we have to leave. I just don’t like it,” says Lisa.

  Shaun replies, “I don’t like it either, but I like having you alive. You are everything to me.”

  “I like being alive as well. All I need is you, but I do love our house. We had some great times here,” replies Lisa.

  “We sure did. We had some great memories here and that can’t ever be taken away from us,” says Shaun.

  Shaun and Lisa finish walking through the house and exit the house. Shaun locks the front door as Lisa walks to Shaun’s jeep. Kylie and Matt watch Shaun and Lisa exit the house as they stand by Matt’s car.

  Lisa enters Shaun’s jeep, as Shaun walks towards Matt.

  “Matt, you lead the way to your parent’s house,” says Shaun.

  Matt replies, “No problem. Let’s get going.”

  Matt and Kylie enter Matt’s car and drive off. Shaun gets into his jeep and backs out of the driveway.

  As Shaun backs out of the driveway, Lisa and Shaun take one last look at their house. Lisa looks at the house and whispers goodbye to their house.

  Shaun drives away from the house and catches up to Matt’s car.

  The streets on the way to Matt’s parents’ house are clear, but have the occasional abandoned car that is off to the side of the road.

  Twenty minutes go by and Matt and Shaun pull up to Matt’s parents’ house. Matt’s parents’ house is quiet and clear of any danger, but several houses down the street from Matt’s parents is a different story.

  Several houses are swarmed by a large group zombies. Zombies are banging on the windows and doors. Someone must be living in the homes and have attracted the groups of zombies.

  Matt and Kylie exit Matt’s car and walk towards Matt’s parents’ front door. Matt knocks on the front door and the door is opened by his dad.

  Shaun and Lisa stay in Shaun’s jeep and provide a look out for any trouble. Shaun is concerned about the zombies down the street and grabs his shotgun.

  He hands Lisa the handgun and says, “Use this, if anything happens around here.”

  Matt and his dad Michael exit the front door and start to load up Michael’s silver sedan. Kylie and Ann follow behind them and bring out several bags to the car. Ann sees the horde of zombies at the neighbor’s house and gets scared.

  Ann is worried about her neighbor’s safety and can’t stop looking at the zombies.

  As Ann is staring down the street at the zombies, a zombie comes from around the side of the neighbor’s house and makes his way towards Ann. Michael sees the zombie coming directly for Ann and tells Ann to get out of the way.

  Ann turns towards Michael and doesn’t see the zombies coming at her. Michael runs to Ann and pushes her out of the way.

  As Michael pushes Ann out of the way, the zombie latches onto Michael’s left shoulder. Blood flies all over the place.

  Matt sees the zombie bite into his father and screams, “Dad!”

  Kylie runs over to Ann and helps her get up from the grass.

  Shaun exits his jeep and runs over to Michael. Shaun grabs the zombie off Michael and throws him to ground. Shaun points his shotgun at the zombie and shoots the zombie in the head.

  Boom!

  The shotgun sound and screaming attracts several zombies from down the street. Zombies start to slowly walk towards the group.

>   Matt runs over to his dad who is lying in the front yard and covered in blood. Matt sees that he is bit and not going to make it.

  Matt helps his father stand up and walks him into the house. Kylie walks Ann into the house and shuts the front door.

  Shaun runs back to his jeep and checks on Lisa.

  “I’m going to check on what’s going inside the house. Stay in the jeep. Honk the horn if you are in danger,” says Shaun.

  Shaun runs inside the house. He goes through the front door and sees Matt and Michael in the kitchen. Michael is bleeding all over the place. His white t-shirt is now red. Ann is crying in the kitchen and Matt is pacing back and forth.

  Shaun runs over to Matt and asks, “What do you want us to do now?”

  Matt looks at his father. He is in shock to what just happened. He looks at his mother crying in the kitchen and instantly gets mad.

  Matt says, “I don’t know what to do.”

  Matt looks at his dad and knows that he can’t save him. He knows that his father won’t make it, but isn’t sure if he should be the one to put him out of his misery.

  Ann walks over to Michael and starts to cry. Michael raises his right arm and hugs Ann.

  Michael looks at Ann and says, “You need to get down to Florida and make sure Nicole is safe.”

  With tears in her eyes, “What about you though? I don’t want to leave you.”

  Michael responds, “You have to leave me here. I’m not going to make it.”

  The sound of Shaun’s horn goes off.

  Honk! Honk!

  Shaun shouts, “That’s Lisa in my jeep. Zombies are close. We need to go.”

  Shaun runs towards the front door, and he exits the house.

  Boom! Boom!

  Shaun fires two shots from his shotgun. Lisa exits Shaun’s jeep and shoots a zombie with her handgun.

  Kylie and Matt exit the house. They run over to Michael’s car and get the bags out of the trunk.

  Shaun runs to his jeep and loads three rounds into his shotgun, while Lisa shoots another zombie in the head.

  Zombies are becoming more and more attracted to the gunfire and make their way towards Shaun’s jeep and the house.

  Matt and Kylie load up the final bags from Michael’s car into Matt’s backseat and trunk. Michael comes out the front door with his rifle. He aims the rifle at a zombie that is walking in the middle of the street and shoots it in the head.