by Unknown
“The moaning will draw others. We need to take care of it.” Amy said.
“The rifle shot already attracted any infected in the area,” Butch said.
“Get our stuff and let’s move. Open the hay access door and throw things down to me.” I said as I climbed over the loft edge and dropped to the bloody floor. Between Butch and me we had the ladder back up in position and the girls had the hay loft access door open and ready to drop our supplies to the truck waiting below.
“Check the tractor out back for gas,” I said to butch as I headed towards the infected still crawling on the ground.
With a jab to the eye socket of the crawling infected, I dispatched the last one eliminating the moaning and headed back into the barn to help finish the pack up process with the rest of the group. Butch was at the truck stowing the supplies and the women were getting in the truck, ready to leave.
“The tractor has a full tank,” Butch called out, so I headed back to the barn and found a hose that we could use to siphon the gas. I also grabbed two gas cans I found in the corner of the barn.
Butch had the truck started and was heading over to the tractor when I walked out of the barn. I walked over to the tractor and with Butch, we siphoned the gas from the tractor to the gas cans. As each gas can fill up, I moved to the next and Butch emptied the can into the truck. Working together we were able to empty the tractor in about five minutes and were back in the truck and headed to the farmhouse and the driveway, ready to get on the road.
Waiting for us was a crowd of infected heading down the driveway to the noise they had heard from my rifle. “Head back to the barn or drive through the crowd.” Butch looked at me and winked as he pressed on the gas and sped directly at the crowd not giving me time to warn the others in the back of the truck.
The fastest of the group hit the front of the truck and was dragged underneath the wheels. I opened the back window and warned the women to get down since there was a chance that one of the infected could end up being flung over the hood and land in the bed of the truck.
The next couple of infected bounced off the front and sides of the truck, but a smaller woman was flipped up over the cab of the truck, rolling up the windshield and then falling into the bed. We heard a thud as it landed on the back of the truck and startled the women. Jamie shielded Cindy, but the momentum of the truck moving forward forced the infected towards them as the truck continued to move forward. The infected reached for Jamie’s arm and was just about to lunge forward when Mary grabbed it getting the infected to focus on her instead of Jamie.
Amy was thrown to the side of the truck and then the truck hit the main wall of the horde and was instantly slowed down, causing everyone to move forward due to the momentum of the truck slowing down.
The infected in the back of the truck had a hold of Mary while Amy was on the floor of the truck and Jamie was too scared to do anything to help Mary. The truck lurched forward as Butch jammed on the gas and we made our way through the crowd, but Mary and the infected tumbled backward from the momentum and ended up going over the tailgate hitting the gravel road as a mess of arms and legs. Butch didn’t realize what happened and continued to punch the gas to get us out of there.
“We lost Mary! Stop!!” Amy yelled from the back of the truck. “Stop NOW!!!”
Butch slammed on the brakes throwing everyone towards the front of the truck once again, but the truck came to a stop on the gravel driveway. I opened the door and jumped out as Amy jumped over the tailgate and headed towards Mary. We both arrived at the two bodies on the ground, with the infected on top of Mary and Mary’s throat was already torn out. Amy drove her knife into the head of the infected and kicked it to the side.
Mary was gone, but she would turn if we didn’t do what needed to be done, so I drove my knife through her brain and finished the job. Some of the infected from the crowd were now back on their feet and headed our way, slowly, but making their way towards us. Amy was standing over Mary, tears starting to fall as I headed towards the infected that were closest and used my knife and spear to dispatch them.
There were four infected I had to deal with the first one taking my spear to the head. The second infected was tripped by the first and fell to the ground. The third one got the knife shoved into its eye and the fourth was knocked to the ground by a shoulder to the chest.
I stomped on the fourth’s head and squashed it like a melon. Grabbing the spear, yanking it out of the first one I had killed, I rammed it upwards through the last infected mouth.
I went back to Amy as more of the horde were still headed our way and pulled her back to the truck. After getting Amy into the cab of the truck closing the door, I climbed into the truck bed with Jamie and Cindy.
I got Jamie and Cindy situated and tapped the cab roof letting Butch know to get moving. Thankfully Butch didn’t punch the gas and instead just took off in a normal speed heading towards the main road.
After we were a few miles down the road I had Butch pull over jumping out of the bed and opened the door to talk to Amy.
“That was bad, but it was an accident. We need to keep moving. We’re going to lose people. This is how the world is now. We can do everything to save as many as possible, but we can’t grieve for everyone we lose. Maybe sometime soon we can mourn the ones we lost, but not right now.”
She was crying again and staring through the front window not acknowledging what I was saying I let her go for a few minutes until she turned to me and said, “I get it. I know that we need to keep moving forward. But we have to take the time to mourn the people we lose. That’s what makes us human, we care about the one’s we lose.”
I knew she was right, I knew that, but mourning for Mary right then and there wasn’t a safe thing to do. It put us all in danger.
“We can and we will find time to grieve and mourn our friends and family that we lose, but we have to do it at a time where we aren’t at risk.” I gave her a hug and then asked, “Can Cindy and Jamie sit in the cab and will you sit with me in the truck bed. At least this way, if we have another problem like what happened to Mary, you and I are better with dealing with it?”
Amy agreed and everyone changed where they were in the truck. Jamie and Cindy traded spaces with Amy. After everyone was settled, I tapped the cab of the truck letting Butch know we were ready to get moving. Butch gave the truck some gas and we headed down the road.
Chapter 21
We had been on the road for two hours, without any seeing any living persons and just the occasional infected wondering down the road. We passed homes, farms, small businesses; some of them looked like they were inhabited by the living and some looked like the living had escaped as quickly as possible. We didn’t stop at any of these places, we’d had enough of the infected for today and really just wanted to get to Butch’s parent's place, a place that would provide safety for all of us.
We eventually came to the corner of Rural Route 4 which was where we would turn southwest to head to his parent's place. We turned the corner and headed up the hill to a crest that would take us into the Squaw Valley community, home to farms, a high-end housing community for some of the wealthiest people from Charleston and a small one street town that in the past we would stop at to have a drink before the last leg to Butch’s parent’s farm.
As we came to the crest of the hill, Butch slowed the truck down and finally stopped. At the top of the hill and we looked down into the valley. We saw that the road was blocked about a half mile down.
We could see a line of cars and trucks parked across the road forming a blockade. There were newly dug ditches on each side of the road which would make it impossible for us to drive our truck on the shoulder of the road to bypass the roadblock. From this point of view, we were stuck; no way to get around it and going through the roadblock presented a ton of potential problems.
In the distance, we saw the high-end housing community known as The Commons. Some of the homes were on fire and smoldering, there was smoke in the
sky and what looked like multiple vehicles and people moving around the main area of the community. I pulled out a set of binoculars from my backpack and stood against the cab, peering into the valley.
“We’ve got a problem,” I said to Butch, handing him the binoculars through the open rear window. “We either try to make it through the roadblock or we continue on SH 8 and backtrack to the house. We could go north and east to come in a back way. What do you think?”
“Continuing on SH 8 will mean backtracking down dirt roads across multiple farms for hours to bypass this place.” He said lowering the binoculars and turning to me. “They know we’re here. Look, they’re already starting to get people together and head our way. Maybe they’re good people, just protecting their community from the infected and the creeps.”
“Could be, but are we willing to risk it? We’re not really ready to deal with a threat. We have three people who are capable of fighting and two that aren’t. If their intent is bad, then we’re in trouble. I think we have to go the other way, deal with the time it takes to backtrack.” I tapped the cab letting Butch know that we should get going.
Butch didn’t argue and put the truck in reverse and started heading backward to get us out of there. As we pulled into the intersection and started to head north, we could see the cloud of dust heading our way from The Commons neighborhood.
“I think they’re following us,” Amy said to me.
She was right, we were being pursued. They had motorcycles and trucks heading our way and based on their speed they were in a hurry to get to us. I didn’t have a good feeling about this situation. “I think we need to punch it and get somewhere safe, NOW!” I yelled to Butch through the cab window.
He turned the wheel and headed the truck north on SH 8. “We need to get off the road and away from these guys.”
“I got this. I know these roads like the back of my hand, I know where I’m going” Butch said through the window. He got the truck speeding down the state highway and as we moved up a hill, we could see the pursuing vehicles heading down the hill we had just come down. After cresting the next hill we lost sight of them. We needed to turn off the highway when they were behind a hill so they couldn’t see where we had turned off. “Find somewhere to turn off on the way down a hill so they can’t see us,” I told Butch.
After another couple of hills, Butch took a right onto a road that went into the forest and we headed east. If you hadn’t been looking, you would never have noticed the turn to the forest road. It was well hidden from the highway. The road headed in the wrong direction from where we wanted to go, but I had to trust Butch to get us somewhere safe. Lord knew I had no clue where we were.
As we turned, I looked back to see if we had made a clean escape and since I didn’t see any of the vehicles that were pursuing us, I was pretty sure we had made it. Butch continued to speed down the partially paved road till he came up to a fork in the road. He pulled to a top and said, “We have a choice, south takes us into the hills and eventually back around to SH 8 about five miles south of RR 4. To the north, we end up using switchbacks to cross the next valley and will end up around county road 10 which will get us to Johnson’s Corner and then 40 miles back to my parents. Either way, will take us all day.”
“I vote we head north and find a place to camp for the night,” I replied. “If we can get to Johnson’s Corner, we could crash there and then head south.”
“I agree,” Amy said. Jamie and Cindy were quiet, seemingly still shocked by Mary’s death. Butch turned the wheel north and headed into the valley.
The trip took us into a small valley, following gravel switchbacks down the mountain and then switchbacks up the other side. We had just gone through our fourth switchback on the upslope when I noticed a cloud of dust coming down the mountain on the other side. It had to be someone from The Commons neighborhood. They must have split up to search for us once we had disappeared. We had to come up with a plan to put more distance between us and the people trying to catch us.
For all we knew, there would be another truck heading south on this gravel road from further up the highway. “We need a plan,” I said to Amy.
“I got one, but we need to stop once we get to the top of the mountain.” She said. “Butch, pull over once we get past the top of the hill.”
As we crested the hill, Butch drove the truck little ways further and then slowed down to pull to the side of the gravel road. “What now, Boss?”
“Get out of the truck and get in hidden so they don’t see you. Jamie and Cindy can go right and get hid behind those rocks over there.” She pointed to an outcropping of boulders to the right of the path. “You and Butch go to the left and get hidden behind those trees over there. Be ready when I need help.” She climbed out of the bed and moved down the path a bit. “When they stop to check me out, cover them and come out of the trees. Make sure they hear and see you so they are distracted.”
We really didn’t have time to discuss the plan or think of other options so we headed into the woods and the girls headed behind the boulders. From our vantage point, we couldn’t see the girls and we couldn’t see Amy as she was behind the passenger side of the truck, the opposite of us. The truck that was pursuing us came around the last switchback and crested the hill slowing down as they noticed our truck.
Amy was squatted next to the passenger rear tire, acting like she was trying to fix a flat. The truck rolled up and stopped opposite of her so she was now hidden from them. There were two guys in the truck and they both climbed out. The driver moved to the passenger side of the truck and stood next to his pal.
There was a short guy with a beer belly and a tall skinny guy that was carrying a shotgun. They stood by their truck and the short one called out to Amy. “Hey sweetheart, how about coming out here and talking with us for a minute.”
“I’m fixing a flat. How about you come over here and help me.” She said as she stood up and smiled at them. One hand was on the truck and the other was below the bed of the truck. “I can’t get the lug nut to turn and could use some muscle.” She kind of winked and turned her head a little.
I’d seen Amy use this trick on guys at the bar; it was very useful when she was dealing with someone who had too much to drink. Flirting a little could go a long way. I guess when a guy thinks there’s a possibility; they start to think with a different head, which puts them in a vulnerable position. At least, that’s what happens to me.
The short guy laughed, started to move to the back of the truck as he pulled up his jeans and slung his rifle on his back. “I’ve got this Jerry. I’ll get her loosened up and then you can finish her off.” He smirked at his pal as he turned the corner of our truck.
At that point, I knew these guys were trouble and if they were from the Common’s neighborhood, then no one there could be trusted.
Amy was waiting for him and just as he turned his head to smirk, she moved forward and shoved her pistol into his beer belly. He stopped short and she smiled at him.
“How about you ask your friend to put the gun down and then we can talk about how you can help us.”
“Us?” He said with some fear in his voice.
“Yea, me and my friends,” Amy said louder so that we would hear her.
Butch and I stepped out of the woods behind the tall guy pointing our guns at him. “You’re making a mistake here missy.” The tall guy said as he aimed his gun at Amy. “You’re dead already and don’t know it, bitch.”
He was so involved with dealing with Amy; he didn’t hear me approach him from behind. I used the butt of my rifle to try and knock him out, but it only made him drop to his knees. A swift kick to his back got him to hit the ground where he lost his grip on his gun. Butch followed up with another hit to the head and the tall guy was out for the count. The short guy took this opportunity to grab Amy’s wrist and twist the gun away from his stomach. Amy tried to wrestle the gun away and get control, but the short guy was too strong for her and they struggled behind the truc
k for control of the gun.
I moved towards them and was just about to round the corner of the truck when the gun went off. The sound of the gun echoed through the valley and it seemed like time stood still while everyone tried to figure out if they had been hit. From behind the outcropping of boulders, Jamie came running and used a large rock to hit the short guy in the head. He crumbled to the dirt ground just as I reached Amy and moved her away from the body.
“Are you OK?” I asked as I looked her up and down for any blood, not sure if she had been hit by the bullet.
“I’m fine, I think...” She stuttered and began to back up to the truck bed for support. “I don’t feel anything, I mean...like I was hit.”
Jamie used the rock to hit the short guy again which made me turn at the sound of his skull cracking. I grabbed the rock from Jamie and threw it to the side. “You did good Jamie. It’s done.” She was shaking and crying as she stared at the short guy’s body. I moved her away from the body and sat her down in the passenger seat. Butch continued to cover the taller guy who was still on the ground.
“Cindy, you can come out now,” I called as Cindy moved out from behind a boulder and headed to Jamie in the truck. “Can you watch Cindy?” I asked Jamie. She nodded at me acknowledging my request.
I grabbed my backpack and pulled out some rip cord to tie up the tall guy. I moved over to him and began to tie his hands and feet together. “We’ve got to get them off the road and hidden ASAP before re-enforcements show up. Help me get them in the back of their truck.” I said as I grabbed the tall guy by the wrist and started dragging him to the back of the truck. Butch grabbed his legs and together we swung him into the bed of the truck.
“Is the short guy dead?” Butch asked as we moved back towards Amy.
“I don’t know and I don’t care right now. Let’s just put him in the truck and get out of here.” We both grabbed the short guy and moved him to the truck laying him next to his buddy. The tall guy was coming to and noticed his buddy lying next to him.
