The Outbreak Series (Book 2): Outbreak The Living

by Deausha Kristal

  “It’s healing up, that’s why it’s itching.” Winching, I push his hand away. We all finish up and grab our packs. Mack walks over to me with concern in his eyes.

  “Mack, you didn’t hurt me. It just makes me realize how I got it. I don’t want to ever think about it,” I say softly. He nods and takes my pack off my shoulder to carry it. Smiling, I make my way out the front door. Nate and Tomas are waiting by Nate’s truck.

  “Be careful out there today, Mom,” Nate says hugging me. He looks over at Mack. “Keep her safe.” He walks over to Mack and shakes his hand.

  “With my life,” Mack says to Nate. They look at each other for a second and something passes between them. Nate nods and heads to the gate. Looking at him for a second longer, I yell to load up. Everyone gets into the trucks, I hop in and shut the door. Making sure my 9mm is ready if I need it. Mack starts the truck and pulls out of our home turning left. Watching out the back of the window, I see everyone is behind us. Except Sal’s crew, they went to the right. The gate, closes and off we go. I have been down this road a thousand times. It still does not get any easier seeing my mom’s house broken into. As we go past, I see more windows that are broken and the grass looks like a hay field. I know this has to be really hard on Hank with all of the work he has put into that house and yard. Looking away, I notice there are still cows in the field right next to his house. A few of them will be in our back yard tonight.

  “Mack, what did Todd want with you?”

  “Just letting me know that he thinks Sal will be trouble for us," he says, gripping the steering wheel tighter to where his knuckles are turning white.

  “Why, he made his choice and so did I for that matter.”

  “I know. He finally knows what he’s lost,” Mack says.

  “He never had me, not really anyway.”

  “I know that, but he snapped. We will keep an eye on him. And if I have to I will talk to him. I do know that he would never let anything or anyone hurt you, Egypt. That is important to me.”

  “I don’t hate him, Mack. I really wish he wasn’t hurting. But my mom always said ‘If you make your bed, you have to sleep in it’ and I agree with that.”

  “I know, and I know I’m never giving you up,” he says, taking my hand in his. Looking down at our hands, I know this is right. It always was.

  We get to the end of Berlin Station Road and make a right. It is really weird seeing all these houses like this. The grass has not been cut all summer. Now the leaves are starting to turn colors. They will begin to fall soon. Then winter will hit.

  “Mack, how are we going to be able to get out this winter? We get a lot of snow.”

  “We may not, Egypt. We have to make sure we are well stocked up, so we don’t have to,” he says. At the end of Duck Creek, Mack hangs a left. We will be going by the school here in a few minutes.

  Mack slows down a little as we pass the school. It feels like it was years ago since I had to get my boys from here. There is just a shell of a building left standing. There are bodies scattered across the front of the building and I know it is the same in the back. Cars are parked haphazardly with their doors open and windows broken. The sheriff’s cars are still there, parked the same way. Shaking my head, I look away and Mack squeezes my hand.

  “Mack, two miles up we are going to make a right on 534. From there it’s a straight shot until we come into town.”

  As we come up to 534, Mack makes the right, turning in my seat, I open the cooler Mack always makes sure we have.

  “Want a drink?” Looking over my shoulder, Mack smacks my ass.

  “Yep, sure do. A pop will be fine," he says laughing. My ass stings from the playful swat he just gave me. Smiling, I grab two and sit back down. Handing him one, I crack mine open taking a sip. I am sure going to miss this when we can’t get it anymore.

  “Mack, I’m sure going to miss pop,” I say laughing.

  “Only you, Egypt. Of all the things to miss. Pop is it for you,” he says laughing. Mack slows down as there is a pile up in front of us. He stops and puts the truck in park. I don’t see anything, but people could be hiding.

  “Mack, be careful, it could be nothing but you never know.” Opening up my door, I slide out of the truck with my gun in my hand. Leaving the door open, I walk around it to stand in front of the truck. Mack does the same thing. I walk over to the piled up cars. I do not see anything moving. Hank comes up behind and startles me. Lowering my gun, I give him a quick smile and keep looking around.

  “This just could be people getting out of their cars and making a run for it,” I say looking over my shoulder at Hank.

  “Could be,” he says. Watching Mack move around the cars, he heads back to us.

  “I don’t see anything that would suggest foul play. We can go around them, but it will be a little bumpy going off into the ditch. Hank, tell the others to put it in four wheel drive before they go through,” Mack says.

  Hank walks back to the others. We all get back into the trucks and go forward. Mack swings off the road so that the left side is down in the ditch and my side is up in the air. He steps on the gas more so that we make it through. Once we clear the pileup Mack drives a bit further and stops. We both turn around to watch the others go around. No one got stuck so Mack starts forward once again.

  We drive for another twenty minutes and the houses are starting to get closer together.

  “Mack, we’re coming into town,” I said, grabbing the walkie. “OK, be sharp, we’re coming into town and there’s going to be a lot of turns coming up. We’re about five miles out from the armory,” I say, putting the walkie down in the console.

  “How we going to go about getting in?” Mack asks.

  “We’re going to have to play it by ear, Mack. I don’t know who’s in there, alive or dead. I’m sure there’s going to be zombies.” Looking over at him he nods and gets ready to make the turns. Coming into town, there are zombies everywhere. They are paying special attention to a little blue house on the corner.

  “Mack, I think there’s people alive in that house. Look at the zombies.” Mack slows down and we watch for a little bit. The curtains on the second-floor move. “Mack, did you”

  “Yeah I did, nothing we can do. Way too many of them. They need to just wait it out,” he says.

  "I know and we have to think of ourselves right now,” I say shaking my head. We get through Niles. We only have a few miles until we get to the armory. The houses start to get further apart.

  “Egypt, can you please stay close when we get there. Don’t go off by yourself,” he murmurs.

  “I will stay in view the whole time. Don’t ask for anything else, Mack. I’m just like anyone else doing this.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Egypt.” We leave it go for now. Now is not the time to be fighting. I know he just loves me, but I love everyone that is with us today. There is nothing I would not do for them and I know they all feel the same way. That is what you get when you have a very close family like mine.

  Chapter 27

  We get to the intersection and stop to park. All is quiet. There are woods on three sides of us. Then across the street is the armory. Opening up the door, I hop out and slide my gun on my side. I leave the door open just in case I need to get in fast. I walk over to the front of the truck. Mack comes over and stands with me. The others walk up behind us.

  “Someone needs to watch our backs.” Turning around, I watch Pete turn and keep an eye out. Hopping up on the truck so that I can see better, I watch the armory. It is quiet in there, but I know that is just an illusion. There has got to be something in there. I have no clue what it is though.

  “Egypt, what are you thinking?” Hank climbs up next to me. I look over at him for a second, then back at the armory.

  “This is too easy, they can’t be untouched.” Walking over to the edge of the bed, I grab Mack’s hand and jump down. Walking across the street, I make my way to the fence. Taking a closer look, it is still secure. There
is dried blood on the lock. Walking along the fence, there is blood all over it. I see there is blood inside the fence too.

  I walk back to the gates. “OK, cut it. I want everyone in the trucks just in case. Let’s go in,” I say walking back to the truck. I hop in and shut the door. The others do the same, but Mack. He cuts the gate and opens it. Swinging the gate wide, he comes back to the truck and gets back in. Starting it, we make our way inside the gate. Grabbing the walkie. “Let’s drive around and see what we find…over.”

  “OK, we need the last building for the guns and ammo…..over,” Hank says.

  “I want to make this fast, something feels off…..over.”

  Mack slowly drives through the base. The buildings look shut up tight. There is no way to check the whole place out. It is huge. We do a sweep of where we are going to be close. The vicinity close is going to have two people watching at all times. This is unfamiliar to us. We do not need any surprises. We pass tanks, Humvees, and other military vehicles. We turn the corner of the last building and that is when I hear the moaning start. I see a fenced off area.

  “STOP, Mack.” Pulling on the handle, I jump out before the truck has even stopped. I hear Mack swearing like a sailor, but that does not stop me. Pulling my gun, I walk slowly to the fence. Mack runs up behind me and falls into step beside me.

  “Damn it, Egypt! You can’t be doing that shit,” he says angrily.

  “I have to check this out, Mack. You should have stopped sooner,” I say grinning. Mack mumbles something under his breath, but leaves it alone. I am sure I will hear about it later. Mack grabs my arm and pulls me back hard.

  “What the fuck, Mack?”

  “Shut up and look, Egypt,” he says. Looking over to where he is pointing I can see why he has stopped me. Looking closely at the gate, I can see fingers poking through. As pissed as I am, I cannot believe I didn’t see it before. If I could, I’d be kicking myself in the ass! The fingers are rotting, bloody and some are missing. I do not go any closer. The chain and lock holding it closed it looks new. It should hold them in there. The moaning gets louder as the hunger springs upon the undead. Taking a few steps back, I bump into Mack.

  “I got you, Egypt.” He grabs my shoulders so I don’t fall, “That fence will hold, but I think we need to get away from them. We seem to make them crazy.” Shaking my head, we turn to head to the truck.

  “Mack, do you think anyone is alive in here?”

  “It’s possible, I mean this place is huge,” he says.

  “Where did everyone go? Did they leave to go help or just run?” Looking over at him, he starts the truck and we drive around the corner.

  “I would hope they went to help. But we will never know for sure,” he says. Looking at him, he really looks lost in thought. Letting it drop, we pull up to the others. Mack backs the truck up to the door of the building. Getting out, I walk over to where Hank and the rest of them are.

  “We’ve got zombies in the back, but they are contained for now.”

  “We saw two other places like you're explaining,” Hank tells us.

  “OK, I see you guys got the doors open. Let’s get in and get out. Hank, Mack, you guys know what we need so tell us what to grab.” I walk over to the doors and walk in. It is dark in here compared to the outside where the sun is shining. Hank walks in behind me, tapping me on my shoulder. He points to the far wall where there are boxes stacked to the ceiling. Nodding, I make my way over there to help Liam.

  “Hey, Mom, want to help me with these?” he asks.

  “Yep, Hank told me to come over here. These heavy?” I say. Looking at the wooden boxes, they look heavy.

  “Yep, but with the two of us, we should be able to move them,” he says smiling. He is up to something. It is the way he is grinning at me.

  Liam and I start moving the boxes and taking them to the trucks. They are heavier than they look. By the time we have ten boxes out, I have to stop. Liam goes to the truck and pulls out two waters from the cooler. We sit on the tailgate and watch the others. Looking at the two other trucks they are filled up. They are sitting low on their suspension. Just our truck needs to be loaded. All the boxes are on the ground.

  “Why don’t we eat lunch and then we can finish up.” Looking around, I don’t think anyone will say any different. They all look tired and in need of a break. Pete walks to his truck and pulls out the cooler. Walking over, he sets it down in front of us all. Opening it up, he pulls out a baggie with egg salad sandwiches in it. He grabs two and passes it around. By the time it gets to Liam and me, there’s three left. Liam goes to take one and passes it to me.

  “Liam, take the other one, I can only eat one.” He smiles at me and hands me the last one. I know he is starving. I mean come on, he is a teenager. They eat all the time. Everyone sits down and starts eating. Mack is sitting by Pete talking in low tones while Hank and Liam are talking and laughing. I am happy to just be quiet and eat. Finishing up my sandwich, I hop up and go over to the cooler. There are baggies filled with fruit. Grabbing them, I hand Hank and Liam each a bag. Walking over to Pete, I toss his to him. Laughing, Mack pulls me into his lap. He takes one of the bags and starts eating it. Moving a little bit, I get comfortable in Mack’s lap. And open my own. There is watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries, and strawberries in them. I love all fruit, but these are my favorites.

  “So what do we have to do next?” I ask.

  “We have to finish up packing our truck, and then we’re out of here,” Mack says.

  “Did we get any medical supplies, Pete?”

  “Yeah, we sure did. Enough to last for a long time,” he says. Looking over at him I see him looking at my bruises on my wrists. He reaches out to take one of my hands. Jumping up, I pull my hand away so he can’t touch it.

  “Don’t!” I start walking away.

  “Egypt…” Pete says. Mack stops him. Walking over to the truck I lean against it looking over to the next building. I hear them talking.

  “She was tied to the bed when I got to her, he didn’t get her then. I got her out,” Mack murmurs to Pete.

  “But?” Pete asks.

  “He raped her four days later,” Mack says.

  Pete jumps up and runs his hands through his hair. “Mack, I swear to god you better have killed the bastard.” Pete said.

  “I did and it wasn’t slow, Pete. She does not like being touched, I’m lucky I can touch her. But anyone else, well you saw what happens.”

  Mack gets up and throws our stuff back into the cooler. “She’s a strong woman, and she’s handling it, but some things bring it back,” Mack says. I can’t hear what Pete says back, because they walked away. Looking over at Liam, he is just talking away he did not hear what was said. Looking at Hank, I know he overheard. Shaking my head, I walk over to that other building. I try the door and it is locked. I swear I can hear moving around inside. Shaking my head, I turn to watch the guys load the last of the stuff we took. Walking closer to them, I hear a noise behind me. Looking up at the guys they have all stopped what they were doing. Pete is holding Liam back from coming to me. I do not hear moaning or smell rotting flesh. Moving my hand to my side, I grab the handle of my gun. I feel the cold steel of a barrel sticking me in the neck. I freeze. Mack has got his gun pointed at whoever is behind me.

  “Don’t move none of you. I don’t want to shoot her, but I will,” the deep voice says. An arm slides around me and pulls me backward. Shaking, this can’t be happening again.

  “Let her go now,” Mack growls. Moving forward as he says it.

  “Fuck you, man, I let her go and you’ll kill me," he growls. Looking over, I see Hank has his gun out and making his way to the side of us. That man is a crack shot. This poor guy doesn’t stand a chance.

  “You know what, fuck you all. I’m so tired of being the one caught in the middle of flaring hormones, let go of me or I will kill you. I’m giving you this one chance.” I hear laughing behind me and it sounds like more than one person. Fuck this! Just be
cause I am a woman does not mean that gives these assholes the right to manhandle me.

  “You’re just a little thing, what the hell are you going to do about…” Slamming my head back, I smash into his nose. He drops his gun and loosens his hold on me, that’s all I needed. Turning around I kick him hard in the balls. “Oh fuck!” he yells. Not stopping there, I give him another kick there for good measure. He takes me down with him. Struggling, I get on top and pull my knife; holding it against his throat, pressing enough pressure to draw blood. My left hand goes for my gun and I point it at the other two. Straddling the shit on the ground, I look at the other two.

  “Drop them, boys, or bitch boy here will be missing a head,” I say. Tossing a look behind me, Hank is about two feet from me

  "Well shit, Egypt,” Hank says. I can’t believe what I just heard. Hank never swears. I look down at the guy that I have straddled. He has a smile on his face.

  “Hey, darling. As much as I love the feel of you on top of me, could you move the knife? I’d like my head where it is,” he says chuckling. Mack walks to us and points his gun point blank at the guy. Slowly I get off him. Watching the other two, they get down on their knees.

  “Tell me why did you grab me? All you had to do is try to talk to us,” I ask angrily, looking down at him.

  “How were we to know what you would do?” he says gruffly.

  “Get up,” I say to them. They look over to the guy on the ground, he nods and they all get up. Looking over at Mack, he lowers his gun so I put mine away and walk over to Hank.

  “Let’s get the rest of this stuff loaded up and get out of here. As it is, it’s going to be dark before we get home,” I say looking over at Liam. He starts over to the trucks, so does Pete and Mack. As he passes, I look into his eyes. I can tell he is not happy that I pulled rank on him.

  “I’d like to talk to who’s in charge here,” the guy says.