Screaming, he tried to push himself away. The hand that had touched her breast slid across her belly landing between her legs. This portion of the story was shared with me later when no one else was around. After Lizzy’s earlier comments I can see why he didn’t mention it during the first telling. There was no further detail, but the fact he had touched her there, in that manner, in that situation, troubled Dean greatly. He needed to talk to someone, and I was the one he chose to confide in.
Dean scrambled to his feet and, just ahead of Jake, sprinted into the forest. He had no flashlight. He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t even know what time it was. He just wanted to get away. So he ran and ran, ignoring the pain in his injured foot and the cramps that began to develop. Dean kept going until his lungs were burning and he’d begun to collide with trees and stumble through the undergrowth. He finally staggered into a clearing and barely managed to pull back before a swinging two by four struck him in the head.
“Stop!”
“Damn!” exclaimed Ray. “I thought you were one of them.”
“What… What’s happening?” He was barely able to speak.
“A bunch are crazy, worse than insane. They’re attacking everyone. Hey! Over here. Help this guy. Get him back to the others.”
Another man hurried forward and guided Dean to where the pastor’s church group was tending the injured and trying to keep the children from seeing what was happening. They were having no luck in that regard, and most were crying or sobbing, many of the adults too.
Dean spent the next few hours helping as best he could, and, after the sun rose and things settled down, he accepted the pastor’s open invitation for everyone to band together for safety, at least until help arrived. He’d been with them ever since. Jake eventually reached the campsite. The burning man did so as well. That one managed to kill a teenage girl in front of her mother before being put down. Pamela, however, never appeared.
Chapter X
Day thirty was the beginning of fall. Woo hoo! Summer was over. The heat was largely gone, at least in northern Nebraska, and the cooler temperatures were certainly pleasant. Things were going well and seemingly becoming easier. After almost a month – it was a full month in some cases; more if it were February – I was feeling confident about the future.
With most everyone needing an extended break to recover from the prior day’s labors, we took the morning off and spent the hours relaxing and talking. Our current plan, which as always was subject to sudden and unpredictable changes, included the large palisade previously mentioned encompassing several storehouses and cabins, each of which would contain a large fireplace. That should provide adequate shelter and keep our supplies readily accessible in case of a nasty bout of winter weather. We still intended to use cars and trucks for general storage, but having the essentials nearer at hand would be beneficial.
Dean was certain he could produce this simple, frontier style fort. We would need some heavy equipment, but that was easy enough to obtain. And with modern tools, the project could be completed in relatively short order, even with our limited numbers. We’d also use chainsaws to prepare large stacks of firewood for the winter.
After lunch, I briefly considered ordering everyone back to work but decided against it. I was still quite sore from all the digging and hammering the day before, and, looking about, the others seemed to be in pretty much the same condition. So, while they relaxed or worked on improving our latrines – there were ample volunteers for that chore – I retrieved my rifle and went hunting.
“Coming along?” I asked.
Briana had the .22 in her hands.
“Oh, yeah. We need to talk. We didn’t last night, so we’ll do it now, since we’re going to be alone in the woods and all.”
“Is this something bad?”
She shook her head. “Don’t be silly. We’re perfectly good. Just talk talk. I wanted to ask you some stuff yesterday after we finished, but that didn’t happen.”
I hopped over the creek and held out a hand. Briana jumped, and I grabbed her arm making sure she didn’t slip. Now, my sweetie is more coordinated than me, so logically it should have been the other way around, but I couldn’t stop myself from trying to help her. I didn’t even think about it at the time, and Briana wasn’t the sort to brush away attempts at politeness or say she was perfectly capable of doing it herself. That was more a Lizzy thing.
“So, what’s the topic of the day?” I glanced about in all directions, keeping an eye out for zombies and anything tasty I could shoot. “Does it involve me getting a backrub?”
“No, I was thinking about marriage.”
“What about it? Are you more ready now, or thinking about details?”
“I… I don’t know. I know we’ve been over it, several times. I do love you, no doubts about that, but I’m still not sure.” She paused. “Though an engagement is in order. You need to find me a ring, something big and beautiful. We should do things in the proper order.”
“I can do that, probably soon. We’re going to check out Chadron tomorrow.”
“Really?” Her eyes were wide. “Oh, the others won’t like that, not after all the stories about how most who went there didn’t come back, with the two who did turning into zombies. That might even be worse, in their opinion, than simply having the whole lot vanish.”
“It’s too close to ignore Briana, no matter how scared they are. We may not raid it like Hemingford. Actually, I want to go back there a few more times to really search the place, but Hemingford is little and we’ll eventually have to loot Chadron. The zombies will need to be dealt with.”
“Lizzy will go, me too of course,” she added. “We should hit a liquor store along with a jewelry store. Maybe we can find some champagne to celebrate. Or just to drink.”
“I’m not sure if any we found would still be good or not.” I had no idea how long champagne would last and what the earlier summer heat might have done to it, or to any wines for that matter, probably ruined them. “We can look though, maybe do some taste tests. Chips and salsa would be nice too.” I’d been having cravings for those the past few days. No idea why.
“Chips?” She shook her head. “Back to the main issue. My biggest hesitation is Pastor Wills.”
I sighed. “That man is a major contradiction. Completely rational for day to day stuff and lost when it comes to the bigger picture. I’m starting to wonder if there isn’t some underlying medical or psychiatric condition.”
“Exactly.” Briana stopped. “A rabbit.”
I looked where she was pointing but didn’t see the animal at first. “If you can, pop it in the head. We’ll stick it in the bag.” I carried a large satchel for that very purpose.
She lifted the .22 and took aim through the scope. I spotted the bunny just before she pulled the trigger.
“Got it!” she exclaimed.
We walked over, and I collected the night’s dinner. “Good size. A few more and we’ll have enough for a group stew.”
We pressed on, keeping an extra careful watch. The .22 was not a loud weapon, but anything that sounded artificial, particularly mechanical, and of course human speech, caught the immediate attention of any zombie within range.
“His silliness about someone coming to the rescue was annoying at first. Lizzy really hated that.”
“She doesn’t count,” I countered. “Everything annoys her.”
Briana ran a hand through her long hair, pushing out some tangles. “True, but the point’s the same. Anyway, while I can sort of see how he thought that, since they lost contact early on and weren’t really in a position to know what was happening, Pastor Wills is still obsessed with the idea that others are coming to help. I know he says things are every bit as bad as we’ve told him, but I think that’s just for show so he doesn’t appear irrational or stubborn. Deep down, he really does think there’s going to be a miraculous rescue, and the pastor isn’t doing anything to prepare in case he’s wrong.”
�
�Yeah,” I agreed, uneasily. “I’ve been noticing that all his plans tend to be future ones, things to be started in few weeks or a month, nothing right away, bad practice all around. It’s going to bite them in the ass. On the upside, some of the people, those Simon’s talked to and the ones who went to Hemingford with us, seem to be moving more toward reality. Might be enough to get things going.”
“But none are arguing with Pastor Wills, and he’s in charge over there. It doesn’t matter what they think if they won’t make him act. I don’t think they’ll do all that much on their own either.”
I shrugged. “Not a damn thing we can do about it. I’m not going to get involved. Not worth the grief I’ll get from his flock.”
“Well, I do not want to be married by an insane person, even if he is otherwise super nice.” Briana set her green eyes on me. “It’s bad luck, and I’m not doing that, even if he is the only minister we have.”
“Then we wait and see what happens. We’ll have our engagement soon, and that will give us months for Pastor Wills to get his brain in working order. Let’s just hope Julie doesn’t warp him any further with her crap.”
Briana snorted. “Crazy bitch. Too bad it wasn’t her that got bit instead of poor little Juliette. She was sweet, and it was horrible giving her that name. Shame on Julie for that too. Just think of the jokes once they started studying Shakespeare in school.”
I wasn’t sure if the girl’s name would have been an issue or not, but we dropped the topic and turned our attention to hunting. There wasn’t much more to be said, and neither of us really wanted to dwell on the matter – there’d been enough of that already. Still, the group by the lake was almost entirely dependent upon his leadership, and many of those currently residing with us considered him the ultimate authority. It was a less than optimal situation.
On a side note, I was rather pleased that Briana decided to delay marriage. I was ready to do pretty much anything if it meant she stayed with me, but I preferred to take things a whole lot slower. As stated previously, our romantic relationship had gone from non-existent to ultra-rushed practically overnight. It was disconcerting to say the least and probably not the best thing, long term or short.
* * *
The three rabbits we bagged were indeed turned into a thick stew, supplemented by a roasted goat. I tried to catch the animal at first – it appeared to have escaped from a farm – but the beastie would have none of that. I never got closer than fifty feet. In the end Briana said to just shoot it, and I obliged her, bringing an end to Mr. Goat’s adventures.
For my heroic efforts I was rewarded with a kiss and a quick peek as she pulled her shirt up. Then she, so very cruelly and with intense malice, tucked it back into her jeans stating, with perfect clarity, that there would be nothing more until I found her a proper bed to sleep in. Personally, I think this was completely unfair. First of all, what value was a bed? We were living in a tent. It wouldn’t fit. Second, the timing was simply bizarre. Unwilling to give into blackmail, I chased her down and gave her a good tickle, along with some inappropriate squeezes. Then, without a word, we both got up and looked around for zombies. Damn, undead shits were always on our minds. Can’t even be spontaneous in our new world.
My declaration concerning the trip to Chadron, which was given after we’d finished dinner, did not go over well. I was quick to explain that unlike the previous outing this was not a raid. As such, it was completely voluntary. We weren’t going there to loot or kill zombies. The purpose was to take a good look and see what the conditions were. The town was only a few miles away. It could not be ignored. Additionally, everyone wanted to know what had happened to Ray and the others. The two who returned from the first attempt to scout the town said they were dead but never provided any details.
“I’ll go,” declared Lizzy.
“Me too,” added Mary.
“No,” said Lois, shaking her head. “This one is too dangerous.”
“But Jacob and Lizzy need somebody to stay way back on the roads and keep watch while they move closer. That’s easy and safe.”
Lois hesitated, then nodded. We’d been toying with the idea of keeping strategic watches, now that we had more people to work with. Placing someone on a rise and giving her binoculars would help determine if there were any less than obvious threats heading our way.
“I’ll come,” said Dean. “I can take a look and see if there’s anything we might not be able to get elsewhere. There’s nothing in Chadron we absolutely have to have, but any specialized equipment we can salvage might make the work easier or faster.”
I was glad for his enthusiasm. As our resident, and only, construction expert, we’d be up shit creek without a paddle if anything happened to him. Still, this was just a sightseeing trip, and having Dean around could be beneficial. If nothing else, he would become more firmly convinced of the danger zombies posed, and that might lead to the creation of designs and plans better focused on security and safety.
* * *
The trip to Chadron was certainly memorable. We took three vehicles. Briana and I rode in the Jeep Wrangler. Lizzy, Lois, and Mary took the Grand Cherokee. Finally, Dean and Alec drove one of the larger pickups. As was so often the case, our initial, simple plan morphed into a more complicated affair.
“That’s a whole lot of zombies,” observed Lizzy, “an awful big bunch of the fuckers.”
“Having second thoughts about going in?” asked Briana.
We were a couple of miles outside Chadron. The roads were what we’d come to expect around small towns, relatively clear with a scattering of wrecks and abandoned vehicles. We could get inside the town proper without too much difficultly. Unfortunately, from our vantage point, there was no way to tell if any internal streets were blocked. We might hit a dead end anywhere.
Then there were the zombies. I had never seen so many in one place before. It wasn’t quite a giant invincible horde of doom, though close enough. As always, those caught in the creation event were wearing whatever they’d been sleeping in, with more and more showing up naked as their clothes steadily tore or rotted away. I found this less disturbing than I used to.
“Where did they all come from?”
“No idea Lois,” I replied. “Well, some might be tourists. Quite a few Mount Rushmore T-shirts out there. Hey, there’s one for the Crazy Horse Monument. I’ll take you all there sometime to see. Probably never be finished now, but it would have been an impressive statue.”
“Weird that they’ve been hanging around so long,” commented Briana. “I’d have thought more would have gone down the roads. Think they’re migrating south toward us? I mean, those places are further north.”
“I don’t think so. They seem to be drifting into Chadron and then just milling about, not leaving. Well, there are some on the east and west roads, but only a few. It could be something random on their part.”
I had no clue as to what motivated zombies, aside from a desire to feed on human flesh.
“We can’t let them follow us back,” said Alec. “That many would overrun the camps real fast, even with our new fence. We don’t want any wandering about the forest either, not if we can help it.”
“No problem there.” Lizzy strode forward and smashed a zombie skull with her tire iron. “We’ll take a side road heading another way and then cut back out of sight. They can’t see for shit.”
“They can hear,” said Mary.
“Yeah, the hearing does suck, which is why I now have elementary school zombie brains on my shirt.”
There were a lot of turned children in the area, something I found personally upsetting. Killing adult zombies wasn’t hard, not any longer, but shooting what had once been a seven year old was still difficult. I mean, they might have pallid cracked skin and the gray filmed eyes and a fucked up appetite for people, but they still looked like little kids. Why couldn’t they be more messed up, like the zombies in movies?
“We’ll drive further out, carefully,” continued Lizzy, �
�to make sure they can’t follow the sound back to the forest.”
“By the way, Alec, you too Dean, and I know you’ve both been told this so don’t get mad.”
They nodded at me.
“Remember, gunshots always attract zombies, so at times like this bash them instead.” Lizzy favored a tire iron but most of us had taken steel crowbars instead. “Try not to get anything in your eyes or in any open wounds. Zombie blood and guts on you won’t cause an infection, not even their saliva. We’re not so sure if it gets inside you.”
“Keep your sunglasses on,” added Lizzy, tapping hers, “and your mouth shut. You may want to tie a bandana over it.”
“Do we get infected if something gets in our mouth?” asked Alec.
She shrugged. “No fucking idea, but it can’t taste good.”
“We should take a closer look,” said Briana, “but we’d get mobbed if we just drove down the road like normal. We would have to turn around before we even got that close.”
“I have a plan,” I began.
“Yay!” clapped Mary. “I so love your plans.”
I gave her a level stare. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?”
“So far,” she giggled, pushing her hair back with one hand. Mary needed a haircut, but then, so did most of us. “What’s the plan?”
“We are going to approach the town, honking horns and making lots of noise. When the zombies converge on us we go around them and drive up some side roads to see what we can. They’re slow enough for us to get a pretty good look before we have to pull back. It’s not a full search, but we can get out again real fast.”
“Are we going to try for any looting?” inquired Lizzy. “I know we didn’t plan on it, but if enough follow us out, we might be able to grab something or at least get an idea of what we can come back for.”
“I don’t think it’s safe enough for that,” said Lois. She looked worried, more so than normal. “Not with that many of them. This is way more than anything we’ve tried before.”
Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Sanctuary Page 28
