Southern Zombies 5: South of Hell

by Ann Riley

  Marc runs to the barn. As he gets closer, he can smell the zombie stench that the lightly blowing wind has brought. He almost freezes in spot as he looks up and sees the mass of undead walking straight to them.

  “Lord help us.” Marc whispers to himself.

  Chapter 15

  “Trey is getting some of the biters to follow him.” I tell the others.

  “I hope he can get a lot of them to follow. We will never be able to fend this many off. There has to be at least 400-500 coming across that field.” Bobby says.

  “I think I see Kelley driving Marc’s truck down the driveway.” Tammy says.

  “You do.” Marc says.

  “Thank you God.” I silently pray.

  “Trey is circling, hoping to get more to stray from the horde. We could see them from highway fifteen and realized where they were heading when we got closer to home.” Marc tells us.

  “Who the fuck did this? Someone had to lead them out here. They wouldn’t just congregate and head out on their own. Would they?” I ask.

  “I hope to hell not.” Marc says.

  “I’ll give you a guess.” Marc tells us.

  “Well, let’s see. We’ve had a few run ins with idiots lately. So, either some from where you and Bobby blew their house for shooting me, Red, that Jared mentioned, or Jared himself. Maybe him coming to trade for the four wheeler was a big damn facade to take us over.” I say.

  “Yeah. I will guess that the woman left at that house we blew may have a hand in this. She ran back in right before we blew it and could have made it out the back.” Marc says.

  Looking back to the horde, I see they are getting closer to the electric fence. The electricity will hold them back a little. But as more approach, they will force the front line in closer and push the fence down.

  We all turn quickly when we hear a four wheeler start. I peer over the edge of the loft floor to see Kelley headed out on one.

  “We need to start firing at the ones that are approaching the fence. We can’t let them pile up there.” I tell them.

  The closest ones are about fifty feet from the fence now, so we try and take those out first. I can see Kelley, who has made it out of the front gate, running full speed across the field at the horde. She follows Trey’s lead at trying to get some to follow her. They graciously oblige her. Then I see a sprinter gaining distance very quickly behind her. She doesn’t see it. As I raise my rifle to aim, Trey comes out of the dust Kelley is throwing up and rams into the sprinter and flattens its ass in the dirt. I take a shot at its head, slightly miss my aim and hit the back part of its head and brains fly. Trey and Kelley continue circling, getting the attention of more biters with each circle they make.

  “Keep the fence clear.” Marc yells.

  We clear the fence line again and see more approaching.

  “Need some extra fire power?” A voice says.

  I turn to see Stephen, Kelley’s husband, stand on the top rung of the loft ladder, pushing a 270 Winchester bolt action rifle over the edge to Marc, along with a wine flask. Kelley found her perfect mate when she met him. Now, I’m not saying they’re drunks. They like their wine. They drink wine like we drink iced tea, or water, for all you non tea drinkers. How they can take a deadly aim while under the influence is beyond me.

  “You want it?” Marc asks me.

  “Hell no. I don’t feel like getting my shoulder kicked off today. Be my guest.” I tell him.

  “Fine.” Marc snorts.

  He takes the Winchester over to where Trey had stacked the hay bales before he left so he can get a steady aim.

  “Where did you get that?” I asked Stephen.

  “I’m a collector.” He says.

  “Of course you are.” I say with a smile.

  The 270 Winchester is a long range rifle. It being a bolt action worries me for a minute, then I remember that Marc has been hunting since he could walk, and he’s faster with a bolt action that most people are with an automatic. Believe it or not.

  He takes aim and starts firing. Biters start dropping like females at a drop it like it’s hot convention. The ones behind the fallen start tripping and falling. Since a zombie can’t spring right back up, they roll around for a minute or two which gives us time to put a bullet in their heads.

  Kelley and Trey’s circling is definitely leading a big group away, but I’m not sure it will be enough.

  I hear Doc yell out “stop, you’ll die out there” and I walk over to the north facing window to see.

  Robert is walking away from the house, rifle in hand, toward the horde at the fence.

  “What the fuck is he doing?” I ask Bobby.

  Bobby shrugs.

  “Robert, get your ass back to the house. When those zombies see you, they will tear the fence down to get to you.” I yell at him.

  He ignores me. Damn it. I should shoot him in the foot.

  He starts firing at the ones close to the fence. When they see Robert, they increase their efforts to get through. Pretty soon, the fence is leaning inward about to fall.

  “Fence is going to fall!” I yell out.

  And down it goes. Zombies pour in and wrap Robert in their loving arms, taking him down to his knees.

  “Fucking hell.” I say.

  Bobby slings his rifle and heads to the ladder.

  “Where in the fuck are you going?” I ask him.

  “To get the truck Marc has the horse trailer hitched to.” Bobby says.

  He has lost his damn mind. The zombies must have finally shoved him into the realm of the mentally challenged that we have all tried to avoid.

  Bobby gets in the truck, which is parked by the barn, thank the Lord, and drives it over by the downed fence. He drives over the pile of zombies that are still munching on Robert. I’m so glad Marc and Trey are four-wheel drive freaks. His truck is high enough that Bobby can roll over them and get the truck and trailer lined up alongside the fifteen-foot section of fence that fell.

  “Don’t get close to the fence.” I yell at him.

  “What?” Bobby yells back.

  “Don’t touch the fence.” I yell out again.

  At just about the time I get out the word fence, I see Bobby jerk a little and bend his knees as if he is about to fall.

  “Fuck. Bobby found the fence that’s on the ground.” I say.

  “Is he alright?” Diane asks.

  “He would be better if he will kick his leg out away from the fence.” I say.

  I think Bobby finally realizes what he has done when the tingling gets so bad that he is almost forced to his knees. He looks down at his right leg and jerks it inward to his body. I watch him amble only slightly faster than the zombies do back to the barn.

  When he gets to the top ladder rung, I have my hand held out to help him in the loft. I love the man, Lord knows I do, but he’s greener than grass when it comes to country living.

  “I have been telling you for over twenty years that you don’t listen to me; now you see how much shit you get into when you don’t?” I ask him

  “And how many times have I told you to wear boots? Even when you have shorts on. There is no fashion anymore dear husband. Wear the damn boots.” I tell him.

  “I’ll never hear the end of this, will I?” Bobby asks me.

  “Probably not.” I say, and kiss his cheek.

  We re-join the shooting party and try to keep the bastards from tearing the rest of the fence down.

  Kelley and Trey make more circles to draw them away. Our horde has dropped to about 150 now. They have managed to draw a couple hundred to the north where there are no houses for miles. There is, however, an Ashley Furniture factory not too far from here.

  “Marc? You think we may be able to herd those fuckers to Ashley Furniture and try to get them in the fenced in area where they keep the semi-trucks? That’s a big lot. They’d all probably fit. We’ll cut the lock and take one with us to relock it when we get them in.” I ask Marc.

  “That may just work.”
Marc says.

  “Throw me that walkie talkie. Does Trey have one with him.” Marc asks.

  I nod and throw it over to him.

  “Trey?”

  “Yeah daddy.”

  “Do you still have gas in that can?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You and Kelley see if you can lead them down to Ashley’s big semi lot. Come back to the barn if you don’t have something to cut the lock with.” Marc says.

  “I got tools here. Remember, I use the Pioneer for fence work.” Trey says.

  “I’m coming on Tombstone.” Marc says.

  “Why do you want to endanger my horse?” I ask Marc.

  “He’s faster; that’s why.” Marc says with a snort.

  Well, this will be interesting. A few humans and a horse should be more than enough of an offering to get the zombies moving.

  Marc saddles Tombstone up. Tombstone turns his head to nibble at Marc’s shoulder.

  “Horse, if you bite me, we’ll be fighting.” Marc tells him.

  Tombstone whinnies and blows snot all over Marc.

  “I bet you won’t tell my horse off again.” I say with a laugh.

  Marc slings a leg across Tombstone’s back and he shoots out of the barn full blast. Tombstone has to be the fastest horse I’ve ever seen. From the ground to the highest point of his withers, he is sixty-six inches tall. Or, sixteen and one-half hands high. He’s a muscular, dark cream Buckskin with a dark brown mane and tail. He has the dark line running down his spine from neck to tail and amber color eyes. He’s a beauty. And temperamental, as are most studs.

  Marc heads him to the horde. The zombies stop walking immediately upon seeing the new items on the menu and turn their direction to Marc and Tombstone. He slows Tombstone to a gallop and is immediately spotted by Stanley the Stalker. It looks as if Stanley has been through the wringer, literally. The left side of his body is flat and he only has his left arm from the elbow up. Diane sees Stanley getting closer to Marc and fires at him, taking off his left ear and left side of his face. Marc spins Tombstone around to see who had the balls to fire that close to him, and sees his mom waving at him.

  “That is so gross. And Marc is going to question your aiming technique. You know that, right?” I ask Diane.

  She waves me off.

  “Make sure to look for sprinters. Take them out when you see them.” I tell everyone.

  Marc joins in with the four wheelers to get the biters to follow. Soon, the number at the fence is reduced to about seventy-five. We continue to shoot and take out as many as possible.

  I look back to check on our dinner bait, and see a huge cloud of dust. It’s one of those dust clouds that move slowly and engulf everything in its way and leaves you covered in a thick layer of dirt if you choose to stand there in its path. Marc sees the cloud and rides at it full speed. When it finally clears a little, I see the overturned four wheeler Kelley was riding. Marc stops by her and grabs her arm to lift her up on Tombstone behind him. She was holding her left foot off the ground. He turns Tombstone back to the barn and rides up under the hay lift pulley hanging out of the loft door.

  “Get on sister.” I yell down to Kelley.

  “What?” She yells back.

  “Get your ass in the rope. We’ll haul you up.” I tell her.

  “Y’all better not drop me.” She says.

  She gets in and Stephen pulls her up and helps her sit on a bale of hay. Her ankle was twisted when she was thrown from her ride, and her foot is swelling fast.

  “Take her to Doc.” Diane tells Stephen.

  He helps Kelley down the ladder, then puts her on his back and goes to see Doc.

  “It looks like most of them are following Marc and Trey now.” Diane says.

  “Can you see them?” I ask.

  “Yeah. They are traveling at a mind numbing two miles per hour. It’s going to take hours for them to get to Ashley Furniture at zombie speed.” Diane says.

  “Let’s go get the dawdlers out of the way. Maybe we can saddle up and help them move along.” I say.

  “Well, I’m glad we didn’t go on the Atlanta trip. It would’ve been a bigger damn mess if we had.” Diane says.

  “I was thinking the same thing. This is one time my undecidedness paid off.” I tell her.

  “You got that shit right.” Diane whispers.

  Chapter 16

  We continue to clear out the fence riders and soon there are none left standing. Diane, Tammy and I saddle up horses to go out and check on Marc and Trey. Mitchell and Bobby stay behind to start the bonfire.

  Kelley comes out of the infirmary on a crutch.

  “You alright?” Diane asks.

  “Yeah. A bad sprain is all. That’s the last time I try to spin a four wheeler around.” Kelley says with a snort.

  “You dumbass.” I tell her.

  She flips me off.

  Becky is still at the front gate and lets us out.

  “You good?” I ask her.

  She throws two thumbs up at us.

  We head off toward Ashley Furniture.

  As we approach, we can see a line of zombies, about one hundred bodies wide, trailing behind Marc and Trey. It’s hard to see them through the dust Trey’s Pioneer is kicking up, but we can see Marc circling on Tombstone to keep his entourage’s attention.

  I head out to the right so I can get around the horde without being spotted and ride up by Trey.

  “Hand me the bolt cutter. We’ll get the gate open.” I tell him.

  I take the cutter and head to the gate at Ashley’s. Diane soon rides up by me with Tammy trailing behind her.

  When we reach the gate, both sides are slung open, and not one semi-truck is in sight. The lot is normally lined with trucks.

  “Looks like someone wanted some trucks.” Tammy snorts.

  “Yeah. Apparently.” I say.

  With the trucks gone, there will be more room for the biters. Diane takes the bolt cutter and rides to the opposite end of the lot to cut the lock and open the gates, so Marc and Trey have an exit when they get the biters in.

  Finally, we see Trey approach the gate. Marc is bringing up the rear.

  Diane, Tammy and I ride back out away from the horde to make sure there isn’t any strays ambling around. We see a few and lead them back into the group.

  Marc and Trey start circling in the open lot to draw their crowd in.

  We spend the next three hours trying to get all the stragglers in the lot. This is worse than cow herding. With the last walker in the lot, I shut the gate and wrap the chain back around the gate frame that was left from the break in and put a new lock on it. I don’t think anyone will be in a hurry to get in the lot anytime soon.

  I see Marc and Trey ride out of their exit and Tammy jumps off her horse to help Trey close the gate. They get it locked and ride over to where Diane and I are.

  “I’m fucking tired.” Marc snorts.

  “Yeah? No shit. I feel like I was trampled on by the zombies.” Trey says.

  “Let’s go home.” Diane says to us.

  When we get back home, the stench almost chokes us out.

  “I see Bobby and Mitchell have the fire going.” Tammy says, with her shirt pulled over her nose.

  Bobby and Mitchell, along with Doc, Gabby, Brittany, Hayley, Preston and Taylor, have managed to pile the biters into two piles. The stench will linger for days.

  “Robert died.” I tell everyone.

  “He said he didn’t want to live without Rosa anymore. She was his reason for going on in this fucked up world, and without her, he didn’t want to stay.” Doc says.

  “We’ll give her a funeral and place a marker for him beside her.” I tell them.

  They all agree.

  “We’ve got to find out who led those fuckers out to us. They didn’t just wander out here by themselves. They were led here. And there’s nothing stopping them from doing it again.” Marc says.

  “That will be our next project. We need to go back to that ho
use you and Bobby blew to see if anyone could have survived.” I say.

  “By the way Doc, Mr. Radley is fine. He feels and looks better. He said he felt like he could run a mile now.” Marc tells Doc.

  Diane and I smile. He’s a nice old man, and we’re both happy that he lived.

  “That’s great. That means my vaccine works faster than the old Toxo vaccine. It’s not a cure for zombiism, but at least it’s a speedy cure for Toxo.” Doc says.

  “I don’t think there will ever be a cure for zombiism Doc.” I say.

  “Probably not.” He replies.

  Chapter 17

  Three days later, we have the zombies cleaned up and burned, the fence back up, and everything back in some kind of order. Marc and Mitchell dug a grave for Rosa under a Chinaberry tree by the barn. We all gathered around as Mitchell read a eulogy he had written for her and said a prayer before lowering her to her final resting place. Tammy was the most affected of us all. She had cared for Rosa while she was suffering through cancer and had become close to her. That makes three that we have lost. Janice, Rosa and Robert. This apocalypse has taken so many. I’m not sure how we aren’t extinct yet.

  With the funeral over and Rosa buried, we head back to the house.

  Kelley goes in to start dinner, along with Stephen, Diane and I stop by the garden to pull some tomatoes and squash to add to the meal.

  We get back to the patio and sit in the swing.

  “Bring me a knife.” Diane yells to Kelley.

  “Two knives.” I add in.

  I can hear Kelley coming, mumbling something about why can we not come in and get the damn knives.

  “She may stab us when she gets out here.” I tell Diane.

  She snorts out a laugh.

  Kelley hands the knives over and goes back in.

  “I just wish this shit would be over. The zombies and evil ass people, I mean.” Diane says.

  “Me too. I wish people had as much of a desire to rebuild as they do to destroy.” I say.

  “That would be nice.” She says.

  I look over and see Marc staring past the barn to the edge of the woods.