“On behalf of my group I want to thank you for helping us and taking us in.”
“You’re welcome, of course,” said Sam. “Besides, saving you means fewer zombies to kill.”
“And more people to fight the looters,” added Tony.
“About that,” I chimed in. “We need to discuss our situation.” I went over the attacks on Tom’s group starting with the attack at Lowes and ending with our ambush last night. “So, the question before the group is this… Do we move?”
“Well, we’re guests here, so that’s your decision,” said Barb.
“Sorry,” said Tony. “We’ve heard that before. Doesn’t work because you’re part of the group now.” I had to smile at that one coming from Tony and Beth just a little while before.
“Thank you, Tony,” said Tom. “It doesn’t make sense for them to come looking for us. You guys have a good thing going here. We should always be vigilant. But, I don’t think we need to leave.”
That was the consensus around the room. It’s hard to pull up and move in the best of times. The way that it usually works is that there is something to look forward to at the new place. We didn’t have that in this situation. We were never going to feel more comfortable, more safe or more like home than at home. Only I felt differently. I was convinced they would come looking for us. We had to at least be ready to move. I had to say something.
“I don’t want to leave my home. But, I am not going to make the big decisions that affect all of us alone. That’s why we talk about this stuff over meals. Today, I am making an exception. I don’t want to leave, but I fear that we will have to. And if we do have to go, we will, most likely have to go quickly. There will be little or no time to prepare. So, we have to prepare now.”
I had everyone’s attention and no one looked shocked. That was good.
“We need to load some supplies into the vehicles so we can go at a moment’s notice. There’s room for supplies and people in the bus, so we get it ready, then the RV and my Land Cruiser. We stage a balance of water, food, weapons and medical supplies in each vehicle. I have a cargo bubble for the Cruiser that we can use. Does anyone have anything to say about that?”
“That actually makes a lot of sense,” said Tony.
“I agree,” said Barb. “It makes sense.”
Everyone seemed to agree. The instructions were to be balanced in the packing so if we lost a vehicle we wouldn’t lose a disproportionate amount of any one thing. Individual back packs had to be stocked with any medicine that person needed and any personal items that couldn’t be parted with.
“After we make a few more supply runs, we will also stage some supplies along an escape route,” I added.
“What does that mean?” asked Sam.
“It means we get a U-Haul truck and fill it with supplies. Then we leave it somewhere we think we’ll drive by if we bug out,” I replied.
“That makes a lot of sense, too boss man,” added Mike. Everyone else seemed to agree as well.
“Okay, make sure someone tells Lois when we’re done,” I said. “Now, there’s too many of us to stay in the house for long. I think we should move Tom’s group next door.”
“Like we were thinking of doing originally?” asked Mike.
“Yeah, after we lost your father I was happier having you and your mom in with us so we never did anything with it.”
“So, what’s the downside?” asked Tom.
“Two things: I think it makes us too spread out. I’d rather defend one stronghold. I think that makes us stronger.”
“Well, like you said, we can’t all fit in here,” said Barb.
“And it might work out better this way,” said Tony.
“How?”
“Someone out front would have to contend with fire from two different directions,” tony said.
“Makes sense,” said Sam.
“Yeah, I can see that,” I replied. “The second thing is that it’s gonna take a little work to move you in.”
“Why?” asked John.
“Mrs. Thompson turned and bit her husband who was caring for her in the master bedroom of the house,” I said. “It’s a mess. We can probably get a mattress from an empty house close by. And maybe an extra for the living room over there. Poor Mrs. Thompson. We were all close. She got sick from the tainted vaccine.”
“She was one of the original vaccine victims?” asked Tom.
Yep,” I replied. “I went over to check on them and she almost got me. That was my first run in with a zombie and I got very lucky.”
“What happened to her?” asked Pat.
“I had to kill her the next day,” I said.
“I’m sorry, Ryan,” said Barb.
“Thanks. Unless there’s anything else, we need to get started.”
Loading the vehicles was surprising easy and didn’t take long. Of course, there were six more people helping. Each vehicle got a mix of supplies like we talked about as well as a radio for each vehicle just in case. As well as extra batteries. If they had to leave in a hurry, communication would be vital.
Over at the Thompson’s the work was going well also. The cleaning was almost done and it was decided that a mattress was just about the next thing to do. Several people had gone across the street into the house next to Eddie’s when a call came over the radio.
“Ryan, copy”
“Go for Ryan.”
“Hey, I didn’t realize that our house was smoldering the way that it is. I just looked up as we were crossing the street and there’s a lot of black smoke wafting up high into the air. If somebody was looking for us, they would know someone had been here.”
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“We need to disappear for a while,” said Tony.
“I agree,” I said. “Let’s get everyone inside. Tom, everybody, acknowledge.”
“Roger that.” Everyone had heard.
People began to move toward the house until just Mike, Tony and Barb remained outside. I went upstairs to see where they were. They were coming out of the house across the street. Suddenly, they stopped and ran back inside, leaving the door wide open.
“Ryan, copy.”
“Go.”
“We heard a vehicle. Couldn’t tell how far away,” said Mike.
“Copy that. Stay there for a bit. We’ll take a look from up here.” Shit. I yelled for Sam to come up.
“Hey, go look out the window in back. Mike said they heard a vehicle.”
“Heard? Not saw?” she asked.
“Yeah, see anything?”
“No, uh, hold on. I see a vehicle, some sort of SUV coming down the street from the other direction. From the Millers.”
“Mike, Tony, copy?”
“This is Tony.”
“Stay put. We have an SUV coming down the street behind us like it’s coming from your house.”
“10-4.”
I went over to the window where Sam was and looked out. The SUV was moving very slowly, obviously looking for us. Then, I suddenly realized that they were going to find us.
“Sam, do you have a walkie-talkie?”
“Yeah,”
“Tell me which way they turn.” Then I was bounding down the stairs to find Tom.
“Get your people geared up. There’s an SUV coming down the street from the other direction. It looks like Tony was right. It looks like they went to investigate the smoke. If they come this way, they’ll see the minivan.”
“Fuck.”
“I know,” I said. “We should’ve moved it. Dammit. I know better, too.”
Karen had been listening to the conversation. She had woken up with the commotion.
“Karen, please get Beth and the kids ready to go.” She nodded and ran off.
“Ryan, copy.” It was Sam.
“Go.”
“They turned left. They’re gonna go right by us.”
“10-4.”
“Mike, I need one shooter in a window, one in the door and one out back on
a corner of the house. Stay out of sight. If you have to shoot, check your target. You’ll be shooting towards the house over here.”
“10-4.” I turned back to Tom.
“Take two people. Go out back and around the Thompsons on the other side. We’ll see if Tony’s thought works. Same thing though, watch your target. Mike, Tony and your wife are on the other side of the street.”
The SUV slowed and stopped in front of the house. I was wondering if I should just give the order to open fire when I saw the man in the passenger seat speak into a walkie-talkie. Shit. Too late.
“Hey, boss man. What do you want us to do?” asked Mike.
“I don’t know Mike. They’ve called it in on a radio. They’ve seen the minivan.”
“Ryan, this is Tom. We’re in place.”
Roger that.”
“Can I give you my opinion?” asked Tom.
“Please do.”
“Their group outnumbers ours. We need to even that up some.”
“Ryan, this is Tony. They’re gonna come back in force. We saw what they did to Tom’s group.”
“And don’t forget my dad,” added Mike.
“I haven’t, Mike. I was there too. I just can’t believe that we’re killing other humans when there are plenty of zombies for everyone.”
“Ryan, this is Sam. Should we try to talk to them?”
“They’ll just shoot him, Samantha,” said Tom. “They didn’t even warn us before they started shooting.”
“And they didn’t warn my dad,” said Mike. I had to pause to think. They were all right, but still.
“But, we are better than that. We will always have to be better. Or, we will live only to create a world where everyone shoots first and only the biggest or strongest survive. I don’t want to live in that world. And, I don’t want my kids to grow up in that world. We talk first.”
“Your call,” said Tony.
“What’s the plan?” asked Tom.
“I’m going around the house the other way from you. Sam, I need you over here in this window. On three we all step out and disarm them. Give me a minute to get in place.” Sam came into the room.
“I don’t want you to do this.”
“It’s the right thing to do. When I get to ‘3’ you open the window and aim down there. If they go for their guns, you have to shoot. I know you don’t want to but you have to or we all die. I love you, Sam.”
“I love you, too.”
“Gotta go. Don’t shoot any of our own people.”
And with that I ran down stairs and out the back door. I got around the corner of the house and quietly climbed the fence.
“They’re getting out of the SUV,” said Tony.
“That’s good, actually. Remember to watch what you shoot at. Okay, here we go. One, two, three.
On ‘three’ I stepped out from around the side of the house.
“Hands up, everybody. Hands up.”
Across the street, Mike emerged from the door with Barb right behind him. Tony was coming around the side of that house yelling for them to drop their guns.
Over on the left, I could see Tom and his people emerging into the Thompson’s front yard. I didn’t turn my head but stayed focused on the four looters. We all continued to yell for them to drop their weapons. We were making a lot of noise. I hope we didn’t have to worry about zombies now, too.
The men had been surprised and startled by the sudden emergence of 7 people out of nowhere but they were starting to recover. You could see it in their eyes. I continued to yell but didn’t move any closer. I had my AR trained on the man who had gotten out from behind the driver.
The driver of the SUV suddenly turned towards Tom and raised his weapon. All at once the defenders opened fire. Again the noise was astounding. I don’t know how anyone could do this over and over in Afghanistan or Iraq. I fired off about 10 rounds at my target then ducked back around the house. It was all over in less than five seconds.
I peeked around the house to see two men down. I couldn’t see anything of the two on the other side of the vehicle. The windows of the SUV were blown out, 1 tire was flat and I could see several holes in the side.
“Can somebody tell me what’s going on?” I asked over the walkie-talkie.
“They’re all down. Two are still moving.”
“I’m hit.”
“Who’s hit?”
“It’s Tony. I’m hit.”
“Let’s get these guys disarmed and get to Tony,” I said. “Lois, do you copy? We need you out here.”
“On my way,” she said.
The driver of the SUV was dead. Somebody in Tom’s group shot really well or they all aimed for the same guy. I didn’t stop to count the holes but there was more blood on the pavement then I’d ever seen. My target was down but not dead, despite what looked like three good hits. I disarmed him roughly.
“You fucking idiot. Why didn’t you drop your gun? Dumbass bastard, now you’re gonna die.” Having another one of my people injured and having to deal with these scumbags was just about all I could take.
“Fuck you. You drew down on us.”
“I wasn’t looking for my next victim you piece of shit.” I reached into my pack and pulled out some duct tape. With it I wrapped the man’s hands and feet.
“Hey, asshole. I need a doctor. Fucking help me.”
“You don’t need a doctor, you need a priest. Or, you will shortly. If the zombies don’t get you first.” He started screaming something but I’d had enough and taped his mouth.
When I got around to the other side of the SUV, I could see that Tom had disarmed the driver and the other guy was dead. I tossed my duct tape to Tom. Lois was tending to Tony.
“Tom, set up lookouts. We made a lot of noise.” He nodded and started giving out instructions. “Lois, how is he?”
“Round went through his thigh. Missed the bone and exited. It looks pretty clean. I’ve got some Quikclot in there and the bleeding is just about stopped. I just need to get him to the house and get it bandaged properly.”
“Tony, how ya feeling?”
“Bastard got lucky. I’ll live.”
“Let’s get you back to the house and get that cleaned up. We can’t have it get infected… We’ve got plenty of antibiotics for now. Don’t be shy.”
I turned my attention back to the front passenger. Tom had wrapped his arms and legs with duct tape and covered his mouth as well. There was a wound in the shoulder and one in the leg. He’d live.
“You should’ve dropped your gun, fuckhead,” I was still pissed about all this. It was gonna get taken out on him. I pulled the duct tape from his mouth as roughly as I could manage.
“You’re gonna regret this, you piece of shit,” he said before I smacked him in the face with the butt of my AR.
“Two of yours dead, one dying. Then there’s one of mine injured and you’re all tied up. Tell me what the fuck we’re all doing out here?”
“Fuck you.”
“I think we’re past that point don’t you? There’s plenty of supplies out there in stores just waiting to be taken. Why are attacking other survivors?”
“Easier.”
“Bullshit. We haven’t lost a single person to the zombies. But you fuckers, that’s a different story.”
“Look asshole,” he said. “People run when they’re scared. Zombies don’t run. They don’t get scared. We roll up and start shooting and the people run away. Then we take their stuff. Easy peasy.”
“Except you killed 3 people in his group,” I pointed at Tom.
“He didn’t run.” Tom stepped over and kicked the guy. I let him.
“You are not going to get away with this shithead,” said Tom.
“Sure we are,” he said, coughing. “We’ve got 25 people on their way here right now. When they get here, you’re gonna run or die.”
“Fuck you.” Tom kicked him again. I reached into the SUV and took the walkie-talkie that was on the seat. It looked intact.
&n
bsp; “When I push this button, who’s going to answer on the other side?” I asked.
“Preston. He’s my father.”
”Is he in charge of your group?”
“Yeah, and he’s gonna be pissed.”
“At you, scumbag,” I said. “You’re the one tied up and bleeding on the road. What’s your name?”
“Frankie,” he said. I turned away from Frankie, took a deep breath and keyed the mic. This bluff had better work. It was our last chance. Our last hope.
“Preston. Copy Preston.” No answer. “Preston, copy. Preston.”
“Who the fuck is this?”
“I’m the guy you sent your boys to kill. I’m Ryan Knight.”
“Well, Mr. Knight, where are my boys?”
“Two are dead, one’s dying and Frankie’s right here. Say ‘Hi’ to your father, Frankie.
“Fuck you. Kill em all, dad,” Frankie screamed.
“That’s about all we’ve gotten out of him, Preston. Are all your children retarded? Or just Frankie?”
“We’re on our way to kill you and all your people, Mr. Knight.”
“No you’re not, Preston. It’s not your MO. You like scared people. We’re not scared. When I kill Frankie here, that’ll be ten of yours that we’ve killed in the last 12 hours. We’re not easy prey, Preston.”
“I don’t care anymore, I want you dead.”
“Well, you’re an idiot, Preston. You think it’s easier to steal form other survivors? It’s not. We have a year’s worth of supplies for 20 people and we’ve only killed zombies to get it.”
“I’ve got 25 fighters, Mr. Knight. We don’t want to risk getting bitten by the zombies. They’re vile creatures that are surely the work of the devil. But I have no trouble stealing all that stuff you’ve worked so hard to get.”
“You’re forgetting something, Preston.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not one of your scared survivors. I’ve already killed ten of your people.”
“That just makes your supplies go further when I get them.”
“You’re sick Preston. I don’t want to live in a world where people have to shoot first because everybody’s an asshole like you. It can’t be a world where only the strongest survive.”
Dead of Knight: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale Page 22
