Southern Zombies Three Book Box Set: A Story of Survival, Southern Hospitality, and Southern Blood

by Ann Riley

  Diane is driving and Bobby and Marc are in the back with the guns we took from the guards inside and outside. Trey has Diane’s Ka bar.

  “Trey, if someone tries to hurt you, or grab you, bury that knife in their asses. Well, not literally their asses, but in a part of their body that will kill them. They will kill us if they can. Do you understand me?” I ask Trey.

  He nods yes.

  “Guys, the shit fest has started. We got assholes running from inside the building.” I say.

  “We will start taking them down.” Bobby says.

  “Take the right and I will take the left side.” Bobby tells Marc.

  We hear two shots ring out.

  “Well, it looks like my wife and sister are on a shooting spree. Keep it coming ladies.” Marc says.

  I am firing from the passenger side window and the shots sound like a bong going off in the cab of the truck. I can’t hear shit. Diane clearly can’t either as she doesn’t hear me tell her she has a window licker stuck to her window. Damn, again with the windows. What is it? It’s like crack to the zombies.

  Diane hits me on the arm and points towards the front of the truck. Marc and Bobby are shooting at the idiots coming from the back while me, Kelley and Becky are trying to thin out the zombies.

  It looks like they sent out a moaning call to all their surrounding kin to come and join the big feast at the roadside diner.

  The lot and grounds are full now.

  And the guards chasing us finally see the horde coming at them. We continue to take shots, but they keep coming. We can hear everyone screaming now the zombies have finally gotten to.

  We get closer to the gate and the zombies are still pouring in, only they are ambling toward the way we came up. I guess they have dinner reservations there.

  As we get to the gate, I look over to the right and see Max’s stupid ass at the guard tower, trying to climb it. Since there are not any zombies near our truck, I tell Diane to stop. And I tell her why before she asks.

  I get out and move around towards the guard tower. I get there just in time to kick Max’s leg off the first step. He falls and looks around at me.

  “You bitch.” He says.

  “Well, if you think I am a bitch now, wait a few minutes and I’m sure you can come up with another slur for me.” I tell him.

  “I’m going to kill you bitch.” He says.

  “Again with the bitch. Is that all you got?” I ask.

  He starts to get up and I hear a shot. I look behind me and Bobby has shot Max in the knee.

  “Aw, now Max. Don’t roll around crying, come and kill me. I’m right here.” I tell him.

  He doesn’t move. Probably because he can’t but, what the hell do I care? He tried to kill us. I walk over behind him and whisper in his ear.

  “Do you remember when you took us and I told you I was going to slice your throat so deep I would be able to see your spine?” I ask him.

  Not a peep from him now.

  I pull the Ka bar across his neck from left to right as hard as I can. Blood starts spurting and I drag it back across to get all the way to his spine.

  “That’s for kidnapping us, you son of a bitch. And this one is for threatening to kill us. No one touches my family you bastard.” And I bury the Ka bar in his chest right into his heart.

  Do I like killing? No. Do I feel bad? Hell no, because he used my husband and nephew for his own twisted pleasure for fighting. I hope he burns in hell for what he did to all the people he has come in contact with.

  I walk back over to the truck and get in.

  “Are you ready now?” Diane asks.

  “Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here. Where are the nieces?” I ask.

  “They have made it back through the gate and are waiting on us.” Diane says.

  “Are y’all ok back there?” I ask Bobby and Marc.

  “Yeah, we’ll be better when y’all get the hell out of here.” Marc says.

  “Hold onto your horses nephew. We are going now.” I tell him.

  We get out of the gate and the people that came out with us pull up by us and say thanks for helping them and letting them out of the hell hole.

  We see Becky, Kelley and Tammy waiting so we get on the road and start back towards the highway. When we get to the turn for the highway, we stop and we get out and see how one another is. Becky, Kelley and Tammy run over to us crying and hugging everyone. We are happy to see them.

  “Glad to see you three.” I tell them.

  “What the hell was that?” Kelley asks.

  “That was an ass who thought that he could just steal supplies and shit from people instead of getting his own. And use the women for free slave labor and the men for fighting in his little fight fests he would set up. Bobby and Marc had to fight or they would have killed Diane, Trey and I.” I tell them.

  “Son of a bitch. He threatened my baby?” Becky says.

  You never want to make a mother mad. I should have just told Becky Max threatened Trey and turned her loose on him with a knife.

  Marc grabs Becky and hugs her to calm her down so she doesn’t run back in with guns blazing and shoot everything she sees.

  “We took care of him.” Diane says. “We made him act sick so they would leave him alone.”

  “Yeah momma, I’m fine, stop embarrassing me. I am a man now.” Trey says.

  We laugh.

  “But you’re still my baby you little ass.” Becky says.

  “Fine, fine momma.” Trey says, with the blush spreading all over his face.

  Chapter 8

  We get back on the highway and start back home. On the way we come across a Motel 6. I don’t see a light on though. Well, I had to say that. We pull in and Becky suggests we stay there tonight. Everyone is tired as hell. Marc and Bobby are still tending wounds and Trey has already gone to sleep. We get out, with rifles, and walk around. There aren’t any cars around, but now days, that doesn’t mean anything. We decide to get a couple of mattresses from another room and just stay in one room for safety. We get a door kicked in and Bobby goes in to search and make sure it is empty. He gives us the thumbs up sign and we go in. We get the mattresses placed on the floor and we are happy to find that somehow, there is still water running. Cold water, mind you, but water nonetheless. So we take turns cleaning up. I wish I had some clean clothes, but just having water is like a miracle to me.

  We finish with the water and start to lie down. I ask Becky how was Riley when she left.

  “Getting spoiled some more. Brittany is baby-sitting him.” Becky says.

  “Right up his alley.” I tell her.

  As soon as I lie down, I am out. Bobby was already out when I laid down. So was Marc. I slept all night. I swear that was the best sleep I have had since all this shit started a few months ago.

  The next morning, I smell…. bacon? What? It seems that Kelley, being the connoisseur of food and wine that she is, saw fit to bring the Coleman stove, a skillet and a small pan. Oh, and let’s not forget her thermos of wine. God bless her soul. That shit they were feeding us tasted like zombie stew would smell if you were so inclined to cook a zombie. So, while Kelly was enjoying her morning glass of wine, Diane was cooking. No, No, it is not early am morning, it is lunch time morning. We in the south say anything up to noon is morning.

  Diane is passing out food. It seems Kelley also brought plastic wares too. It’s good to have a foodie and wine-o in the family.

  I go over and hug Tammy. She is the baby in the family. I want to see how this is affecting her. Yeah, yeah, she is grown with her own children, but she’s still our baby.

  “How you doing girlie?” I ask her.

  “Oh, I’m fine. Just sitting here thinking about all this shit. Trying to understand how they could let something like this happen with all the medicines and testing we have now.” Tammy says.

  She is an RN, so she knows her medicine.

  “Yeah, messed up, huh?” I tell her.

  “Yeah.” She says
.

  “So y’all made it here ok, no trouble?” I ask her.

  “Yeah. We went right to the house y’all had gone to and talked to Todd. He told us to check out the road that y’all went down. Well, we did. And they tried to take us. Or shoot us. But we shot them up and they ran off so we followed. They led us to where y’all were being held. So we hid the truck and waited around. I had the binoculars out looking. I saw Trey’s red head walking around when y’all escaped and then saw the rest of y’all. So we rolled down to the guard tower, took out the guard, I pushed the gate down and we came in with the zombies.” Tammy says.

  “Nice.” I say.

  “We are going to have to watch for humans as well as zombies. There are people taking advantage of the situations now. There is no law and people with twisted minds are doing what they always wanted to do without any consequences now. It’s not enough to have to deal with zombies, we have to deal with the marauders too. And don’t you be afraid to shoot to kill. They will kill if they have a chance.” I say.

  “Yeah, I think we just saw that.” Tammy says.

  “Yeah.” I say.

  “Becky, I am so glad you loaded up and came looking.” I say to Becky.

  “I couldn’t not come. I was worried so I got Tammy and Kelley and we came.” Becky says.

  I walk over to Kelley and she is still sipping.

  “Hey.” I tell her. She hands me her thermos.

  “Get you a drink.” Kelley says.

  “Don’t mind if I do. I need to settle my nerves.” I tell her.

  “Now you sound like Tammy.” Kelley says.

  “What? She has been on the bottle too?” I ask.

  “Oh yeah. She had to settle her nerves a couple of times.” Kelley says with a snort of laughter.

  “Have y’all just been down here drunk the whole time? Hiding from us? Sloshed in the tree line?” I ask laughing.

  “I wish.” Kelley says.

  We finished eating and got everything loaded back up. Marc comes over to us and says we need to go look for some supplies while we are out because of the band of asses taking all ours. Since all we have in our area where we are now and the area we live in, we will have to go to Tennessee to get weapons. I mean, unless we want to go get golf clubs and sports equipment that is. I’m in no hurry to get close enough to a zombie to hit it with a golf club.

  So we head out towards Tennessee, specifically, Memphis. We are a couple of hours away if we have no problems along the way.

  We make it to highway 78 west. Along the way, we see vehicles parked, wrecked, left with doors open all along the road side. Some even look to still have people… err zombies, in them. Looks like they were attacked in the car with seat belts on and after turning didn’t know how to get the belts off. Zombies are ambling around the vehicles. I guess looking for live food. We continue our way into Memphis. We aren’t sure where to go since we have no navigation system. Then, lo and behold, Kelley pulls out a map. We stop and get a phone book from a convenience store that has a broken out front door. We get out and go in to see if there is anything we can bring out, like water, food and beef jerky. Tammy and Trey collect all those supplies and Diane and I look around for soda or juices. Bobby loads up the truck with oil for a vehicle. You can never tell when it will come in handy. Marc and Becky are looking for Sporting Goods stores in the area. They have found 2 so we decide to try them both. One is a Mossy Oak store, so maybe they will have ammo and weapons.

  We load back in the trucks and head out to Mossy Oak. Since there are 8 of us, 4 will go in and 4 will watch the trucks.

  “So who is going in and staying?” I ask.

  “You, Bobby, Marc and Becky go in and the rest of us will stay out.” Diane says.

  “Oh gee, thanks.” I tell her.

  “Get the flashlights out.” Marc tells Becky.

  So in we go with rifles and flashlights.

  We head over to the firearm section first. Bobby gets behind the counter and starts handing them over. Me and Becky walk over to the knives and start picking up some, thankful we got a shopping cart as we came in. Marc goes over and grabs ammo for the guns Bobby handed over. Becky and I wander on over to the clothing section and grab some boots for everyone and coats. We also get a box of MREs. Meals ready to eat. I heard they taste like shit, but are full of protein for the military to eat while in the field. And I pick up a camouflage doggie coat for Riley. Well, he needs a coat too.

  Suddenly we hear a shot.

  “Zombies or marauders?” I ask.

  “Not sure.” Bobby replies.

  “Let’s go.” Marc says.

  We head back out of the store and duck down at the exit to see what is going on. Zombies. Just great.

  We put rifles to shoulders and start firing.

  Tammy, Kelley, Trey and Diane are in the back up the truck firing. It looks to be about a hundred or so. Give or take a few dozen. And looking out on the other side of the trucks, it looks like another horde coming.

  We have cleared a path out to the trucks. Becky and I push the carts out while Marc and Bobby continue firing. We get to the trucks and start throwing stuff up to Diane to load. Trey, Kelley and Tammy are still firing.

  “A 50 cal sure would come in handy now Marc.” I say.

  “Well, we saw a military supply store in the phone book, we are going there next. Keep your panties on.” He tells me.

  “Oh goody, I may get my 50 cal.” I yell.

  “You need help.” Diane says.

  “Yeah, help getting this shit loaded, move it woman.” I tell Diane.

  Becky lets out a snort and says, “Y’all are crazy.”

  “Runs in the family. And it has rubbed off on you, so shut it little woman.” I tell Becky.

  We get all the goods loaded and Becky gets in to drive Marc’s truck and Tammy slides through the back window to drive Becky’s truck. And we are off again.

  We find our way out to the military store and it’s like a weapons hoarder dream come true. I have fallen in love.

  The parking lot is empty, again that means nothing. We drive alongside the store and to the back.

  Yep, loading dock doors are open. And probably full of zombies waiting for dinner guests to join them.

  Again, Marc, Bobby, Becky and I go in. It’s so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face. So we pull out flashlights. We go through what looks to be a break room and through a swinging double door and out into the store area. It has been rambled through, but there are still a lot of items here. So we start looking for more weapons. Of course I set out in search of my 50 cal.

  “Look at all this stuff.” I tell Bobby.

  He just looks at me like I am crazy. He probably thinks I am.

  My first find? M84 stun grenades. Oh yes. They may be nonlethal, low hazard, non-shrapnel producing explosive device intended to confuse, disorient or momentarily distract potential threats, but they will produce a temporary incapacitation to a threat. I load up on these. Next I find hand grenades. And they produce shrapnel. Watch out ass hats. I continue my search and come upon…. I don’t know.

  “Hey Marc, what is this?” I ask.

  “An RPG.” He says.

  “Ah, rocket propelled grenade. I’ll pass on that I think. I would probably blow myself up.” I reply.

  “But you want a 50 cal?” Marc asks, with a snort.

  “Shut it.” I say.

  Oh, but I do know what this is. I find an M120 mortar. And finally, with a tear in my eye, I focus in on my beautiful Browning M2HB belt fed, 200 link 50 cal. Oh the joy. I know people think I may be crazy, but, you can mow zombies down like you are mowing the lawn with a brand new sharpened blade on your mower.

  Bobby and Marc walk over.

  “Well, I see you found it.” Bobby says.

  “Yes, yes I did.” I reply.

  “Are you crying?” Marc asks.

  “Leave me alone and let me enjoy my bliss.” I tell Marc.

  They shake their heads. />
  We got all we came for. So we head back out of the store.

  Gunshots ring out.

  “Damn, again.” I say.

  “It’s not zombies this time.” Bobby says.

  “How many?” Marc asks.

  “Looks like four or five. They probably think the women are alone out there.” Bobby says.

  I look over at Marc. Well, it seems that the nephew has found himself an M4 carbine with a 40mm grenade launcher attached to it. And he is getting it ready for first use.

  “Are they far enough away from the trucks so grenade doesn’t impact Tammy and the others in the back of the trucks?” I ask Marc.

  “I am going to the front doors. I am going to fire from there. It may rattle our trucks, but shouldn’t do any damage to them or the people in there.” Marc says.

  Marc heads to the front. Becky goes to watch his back and Bobby and I get ready to fire from where we are. There are no shots being fired right now. The idiots are obviously trying to take Tammy, Diane, Kelley and Trey right now.

  I am looking right at Becky’s truck. Kelley looks over at me and I hold my hand up and make the gesture for them to get down. She turns back around and I can see her look over towards a side window that’s kind of catty cornered not far from where the band of idiots are. She sees Marc I assume. She has apparently told everyone quietly to drop down, because everyone drops from sight in the truck. And a window breaks and idiot’s car blows. It doesn’t just blow, it blows about twenty feet in the air and lands in a ball of flames. That was almost as good as my Molotov cocktail.

  Chapter 9

  We get back in the vehicles and start to leave. Of course we have some adoring followers now. We start taking them out so we can get around and out to the highway.

  If everything goes well, we should be at the foxhole in a couple of hours. We are all tired and ready for sleep at this point. We pull over at a rest stop when we get out of Memphis to get a bite to eat and stretch our legs. We don’t get to stay long as some errant zombies have spotted us. So we get back in and leave out. Damn, I could stretch some more. I am tired of riding.