Z Strain

by SJ Morris

  The drone kind of hovered for a while with no lights blinking, and I knew if Chris were there with Dan, they were arguing at that very moment over what to do. We didn’t have time for this. I assumed the drone ran on some form of energy that needed to be replenished every so often. Therefore, I used that to my advantage.

  “Hey, guys, I assume this little drone of yours runs on gas or battery and it doesn’t last forever, so let’s hurry this up. Chris, if you’re there, then you know me. I’m going to try and save anyone in that house, with or without your help.”I yelled at the device.

  After that, it was only a matter of seconds before the drone was off, flying in the direction of the swarmed house.

  “You really are a pain in the ass, aren’t you, Abby? This Chris guy must really not like having to deal with you being so stubborn and bullheaded.”Said Kamil, smiling at me now.

  “Yeah, you could say he hasn’t been happy with my decision to go out with him and his highly trained soldiers. Hey, I’ll have you know that I can hold my own! I’m a pretty good shot.”I smiled back at him.

  I was so happy for the first time in days. I knew my family and friends, for the most part, were okay and we were going to have help getting home to them.

  This was turning out to be an awesome day.

  I just hoped I didn’t speak too soon.

  After all, there was a group of infected a block away from us, that we’d never be able to fight off if they realized we were here, no matter how strongly built Old Betsy was.

  We all watched in silence as the drone got closer to the house. We all jumped in unison when a loud police siren came from the drone.

  So, they did put some kind of noise on that thing, smart boys! I thought, feeling a swell of pride as my smile widened.

  “Everybody, duck down! We don’t want any infected to know we’re here if we can help it,”I whispered as everyone crouched as low as they could.

  The tops of our heads and eyes were the only things visible from outside the truck.

  Dana, thankfully, had her hand over her mouth to remind herself not to scream, because a few seconds after the siren started going off, there were infected all around us, walking faster towards the sound.

  From what I could see, the plan was working.

  The drone was hovering in the middle of the street, right outside the swarmed house, with the light flashing and the siren blaring.

  All of the infected turned toward the sound, forgetting all about the house.

  When they all appeared to be as close as they could get, the drone slowly took off down the block, away from us.

  It was a scary sight to see.

  The sheer number of all of them was staggering, when they were on the street, instead of clumped up together, against the house.

  Being on a rooftop and watching them pass is one thing. It’s a whole other experience when you are at pretty much eye-level, on the ground with them.

  Dana started shaking and Kamil pulled her close, easing her down to the floor of the truck, so she couldn’t see anything, anymore.

  Chuck pretty much did the same thing, which was surprising, since it didn’t look like he was going to fit under the steering column. For the most part, he did, though. His head was resting on the door and he had his eyes closed. I guess he had seen enough of these things the other night too.

  A good, long while passed, and I waited until I could no longer hear the siren.

  When I was fairly certain it was safe, I popped my head up a little, to have a look around.

  The only infected I saw, were the ones that were pretty much trampled into the ground or stuck under the tires of wrecked cars, and they posed no real threat.

  “Hey, guys, I am going to get out and get rid of the stragglers. Once I’m done, I will come back and Kamil, I want you ready to come with me to the house. I’m going to go knock on the door and see who’s inside but I want you out of sight, with the gun ready, just in case they are not good people.”

  “I’m not that good of a shot, Abby. I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that. Why don’t I go knock and you stay hidden? You already said so yourself, that you’re a good shot. Plus, if they aren’t good people, I think they will be less likely to mess with me over a five-foot- nothing soccer mom in leather pants.”He replied.

  “Hey, I take offense to that. I am five-foot-five and my boys played lacrosse.”I whispered as angrily as I could muster. He did have a point, though.“Okay, Mr. Muscle Man, let’s go take care of the stragglers together and then you can go up to the house and knock. I’m going to be on the porch of the house next door. There are pretty big bushes I can hide in, hanging overthe porch and I don’t think they can see very well out of the windows. They all look barricaded. They would have had to have been, in order to have kept all of those infected out for as long as they did.”

  “Sounds good to me. Dana, stay here with Chuck and keep quiet.”Kamil said kissing her hand. She nodded at him and tucked her head back down.

  “Don’t worry, buddy, I won’t let anything happen to her,”Chuck said, winking as he pulled out his Colt 45.

  “Chuck, let’s not shoot off that cannon unless it’s absolutely necessary. The noise could draw all of the infected that the drone drew away, right back to us and that is not something I want to have happen.”I whispered and Chuck nodded in agreement.

  Kamil and I headed out, using our knives to kill the brains of the infected we came across.

  There weren’t many, thankfully; just the ones that couldn’t follow the group after the drone.

  I tried to stay out of sight, as much as possible, from the house, just in case we needed the element of surprise, and when we were sure the area was as clear as we were going to get it, Kamil slowly walked up to the house with his hands up.

  His eyes searched the house for signs of life, as did mine, while I hid in the overgrown bushes of the house next door.

  I had a pretty good view of the front door, but I wished I could see the back door, also.

  My worry was that there was a group of not-so-good people inside and they were going to hurt Kamil, or that they were going to have some of them go around from the back of the house to surprise Kamil, and take him, or shoot him.

  My imagination was running wild with all of the negative possibilities when the door swung open and a girl about the same age as my Allycia jumped out into Kamil’s arms. She was thanking him in between her sobs.

  I waited quietly, while Kamil tried to calm her down and talk to her.

  I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he was holding her with one arm while pointing inside the house and then down the street with his free hand.

  I guessed he was asking her if there was anyone else in the house with her and telling her he made sure the infected were no longer out here.

  Soon enough, after they stopped talking, she again hugged him tightly and Kamil gave me a thumbs up.

  I stood up from my hiding spot and walked slowly over to the front porch, where they stood.

  “Hey Kamil, how about you introduce me to your new friend?”I said quietly.

  She jumped, clasping onto Kamil’s shoulders like she was going to jump up, on his back.

  “There is no need to worry, Bernice. This is my friend, Abby. She’s one of the people in my group I told you about, that helped drive the zeds away from your house.”Kamil said while pulling her back around in front of him.

  Her eyes were swollen and red from crying, but she managed a smile and then bolted down the stairs to hug me too.

  “Thank you so much! It’s been almost a week since those things started showing up at the house. I couldn’t get out and I was so scared. My dad left weeks ago to get more food and he hasn’t come back yet. My mom said she thought she saw my dad in the crowd of them, gathering in front of the house so she went out the back door to try to get him. I watched them eat her right over here.”Bernice said, crying as she walked over to the corner of the front yard, where there was only a p
ile of bloodied clothes and bones.

  She dropped to her knees, with her face in her hands, rocking, asking why this was happening over and over again.

  I held up my hand to the truck telling them to wait and I motioned to Kamil, that I was going to go inside.

  “She said she was the only one left in the house, so it should be clear,”Kamil said quietly to me.

  I walked up the steps and into the front foyer of the massive house. There was a couch and a long coffee table, just off to the side of the door.

  I assumed she was using it to barricade the door. The windows were all boarded up with blankets nailed over them, so you couldn’t see outside. Other than that, the house wasn’t too much of a mess.

  It looked like, even during the apocalypse, either Bernice or her mother, were still very tidy people.

  I had my gun drawn, expecting the worst, which I hoped, was just another cat. By now, it was common knowledge, how much cats loved to scare the shit out of me and how much I enjoy it.

  I was not going to be caught unaware, though.

  I searched, room to room and found no one else, dead or alive.

  However, a quick scream from outside made me run for the door.

  Kamil was again hugging a scared Bernice, but this time, she was scared of the drone that was hovering over her head.

  I breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the house to have another chat with my new best friend, the drone.

  I waived to Chuck that it was okay to come to the house and when he pulled up, Kamil and Bernice got in the truck.

  Dana and Bernice were now hugging each other and talking, which was good.

  “So, I’m glad the drone made it back. Thanks for leading them away. I hope you led them out to the highway?”The light blinked twice.

  “Good. I would love to take the highway home because it would be pretty much a straight shot north but I doubt it would end up being easy because of a number of cars and infected out there.”The light blinked twice in agreement again.

  “Do you have enough battery life or gas for another four, to five hours?”The light blinked once for no.

  “Okay, so here’s the plan. You already drew the infected away and out to the highway, so my thought is they will stay there and hopefully keep walking in the direction that leads away from our location. That means this house, which is very secure already, will be a good place for us to hold up while you take the drone back home to charge and then come back. We don’t really need to rest up but I’m sure Bernice, our new addition over there, would like some time to get acclimated to us. Besides, from what I saw in the house, she hasn’t had any food in a while, so we’ll get her something to eat. How many hours do you think it’ll take you to get the drone home, charged and back down here to us?”The drone stood still for a little while, and I assumed Dan was doing some calculating, but the light finally flashed three times.

  “Alright. We will plan for three hours. Hey Chuck, what time is it?”

  “It is 9:40am on the nose,”Chuck replied.

  “If the drone isn’t back in three hours, we’ll head out on our own and you can find us. I’m hoping the rest of the drive back home will only take about five hours, so that puts us at 1:00pm for you to get back here, and 6:00pm for us to be outside the gates. That leaves us about two hours of full daylight for any detours. Sound good?”The light flashed twice and the drone was off, headed north, back home.

  Bernice was happy we were going to take her with us. She was very worried the infected were going to come back and swarm the house again, but instead of rushing inside, she kept looking back to the bloody stain in the front yard.

  I told her to wait on the steps. I went to the house next door and picked some of the beautifully colored flowers from the overgrown front landscaping.

  After all, I didn’t think the neighbors would mind.

  When I returned, I handed the flowers to Bernice and asked her if she knew where there was a shovel. She said there was one in the shed, around back.

  I helped Bernice bury what was left of her mother and she put the flowers on the mound of dirt as she cried. She hugged me again, strongly as she sobbed, quietly.

  “Thank you for burying my mother. I have no idea what happened to my father, but I have to think he’s gone too, so she was all I had left.”

  “You are very welcome. We have to remember those we lost by thinking of about the good memories with them and what they meant to us. She died thinking she was saving your father and I am sure you have some great memories of all of you together.”I told her softly.

  “Yes, they were the best parents anyone could ever ask for and not many kids I know can say that.”She replied.

  “You have to be strong for yourself now, though, Bernice. We will get you out of here and to a place that’s safe, with lots of other survivors. I promise you, you will be safe.”I hugged her tightly, hoping I could keep that promise.

  We headed inside where Dana had already started cooking some of the MREs.

  They smelled awful to me, but to Bernice, who hadn’t eaten in a few days, it seemed to be Thanksgiving Dinner.

  She had such a big smile, as she ran to get plates and forks for everyone. I felt bad saying no after Bernice set the table for everyone to eat, so I forced myself to have some of the beef stew Dana had made.

  It was really nice to see Bernice smile and it made me think of my own kids, who I was severely hoping to see in the next few hours.

  With that said, time seemed to stand still, after everyone ate their fill.

  Chuck was annoyed since I asked him what time it was, almost every five minutes or so. Chuck finally handed me his watch and said he was going to lay down and try to take a nap before we headed out.

  After Bernice packed a backpack, with clothes and other necessities, she sat with me, staring at the watch too.

  I guessed she couldn’t wait to get out of this house, either. It probably felt more like a prison to her now, after all, she had been through.

  Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, the clock struck 1:00pm.

  I went upstairs to look out the window, to see if I could find the drone, or if there were any infected in the area.

  I found neither, which made me annoyed and happy, all at the same time. I gathered everyone in the front of the house, on the porch, and we waited another fifteen minutes.

  Still, nothing.

  “We have to go along with the plan as is. We said we would leave and that is what we should do. Anyone think otherwise?”I asked. our now group of five.

  “Nope, we said we would leave at one, so we should leave at one.”Replied Chuck as he headed to the truck.

  We all smooshed in, as best we could, which was a lot more intimate that I would have liked, but at least we were all together. We headed north, as planned, and I kept my eyes on the sky, waiting to see the drone.

  Thankfully, I only had to wait about twenty minutes, because I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin not knowing what happened to it.

  The drone appeared just ahead of us and the light was flashing violently.

  Chuck pulled over. Kamil and I immediately got out to perform a quick search of the immediate area for infected, but we didn’t find any sign of them.

  I stopped in front of the truck and waved towards the done.

  It hovered at about ten feet in front of me before it landed on the road. I was expecting the worst when I walked up to it and saw there was a piece of paper tied to it.

  I pulled off the paper and read it out loud.

  “We are so happy you are safe, Mom! Lance, Tyler, and I were so worried about you. Chris and Tom have been going out for days at a time looking for you. We can’t wait to have you home, again. Love Allycia, Tyler and Lance.”I started to tear up, reading the letter and Kamil gave me a pat on my back to console me, which did more to remind me I was in front of other people, and therefore, I needed to stay strong, for them.

  “There’s more here…”I told
them and read aloud again,“Abby, we are all glad you’re safe, especially since we had our own brush with a huge number of the infected recently. We feared that even if you were still with Liam and his group, that you would have been overrun. Glad to see we were wrong on both fronts. I don’t know how you did it, but I expect a lot of time with you when you get back to us, so you can tell me what happened. For now, we need to get you and your group back here to the cabin safely. As expected, Route 206 is completely off-limits, with a large number of infected and accidents that make traveling on it nearly impossible. On the back of this letter is a map where I highlighted the best route for you to take back to the cabin. It will take about six hours, if you travel straight through, at forty-miles-per-hour, but it is the safest way we could find. We are going to have the drone travel ahead of you guys, but hopefully not completely out of sight. If the drone stops in front of the truck and flashes three times, please pull off the road and be quiet. This will mean there are infected in the area and we will use the siren on the drone to lead them away. Wait at least fifteen minutes before continuing to follow the mapped route and the drone will find you again. We all can’t wait to see you again and meet your friends, but you have to be careful. The infected seem to be gathering in groups a lot more than before. See you soon. Love, Everyone.”

  Tears were running down my face and I hadn’t even noticed. Dana jumped out of the truck and hugged me tightly, enough to remind me that my ribs were still really sore.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Abby.”Said Dana softly as I winced.

  “No worries, Dana. My ribs are still tender, but I’m going to be okay once we all get home safely,”I said, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

  “You heard the woman, let’s get crammed back in Betsy and get this show on the road.”Said Kamil with a huge grin on his face.

  We all got back in the truck and I handed Chuck the map for him to look over since he was driving.

  We all had smiles on our faces and it was awesome to see that in the wake of all of this tragedy, that we could still be excited about something and find something to look forward to.