Z-Risen (Book 5): Barriers

by Long, Timothy W.

  "Voodoo North needs you. We're taking back our city and our country."

  I read the rest and chewed on it. Anna took it from me.

  "All able-bodied men and women are requested to join the effort. Food and a safe place to sleep will be provided," Anna read out loud.

  "Ain't that some shit," Joel said.

  "There's a map and directions for approaching the location," Anna said and handed Joel the pamphlet.

  "We can discuss it later. Let’s get back to the rendezvous point, and then make for Fortress," Joel suggested.

  "Why do you think these guys call themselves Voodoo?" I asked Joel.

  "Got me. Weird name." Joel said.

  "Doughnuts. You guys didn't get out much before all of this," Christy interjected.

  "Doughnuts?" I said.

  "Yeah. Used to be a popular shop in Portland," Christy said. "You know. Bacon on maple bars and stuff like that.

  "That's kinda silly," I muttered, "but it's also kind of awesome."

  "Join us today. We have doughnuts," Joel mocked the pamphlet.

  "I'd kill a dozen Zs for a doughnut right about now," Christy said.

  "Good point," I said.

  "Let's move out, people. Rendezvous is in a few minutes." Joel said as he tucked the pamphlet into his pant pocket.

  We'd stopped in a copse of trees and crouched down to avoid detection. The rendezvous point was in clear view. Joel stuck his gun barrel between a break in the branches and scanned for enemies. Christy, Anna, and I grouped around so we covered his back and had all other directions in sight.

  A group of Zs shambled past us a dozen feet away. They meandered in a slow-moving mass that eventually faded from sight. After a few more minutes, my knees got tired of crouching, and I sat down but kept my eyes peeled.

  Anna took a knee next to me and leaned over to plant a quiet kiss on my cheek. I winked at her, and she winked back.

  We waited another five minutes, but there were no more Zs. Joel nodded at me, and I nodded back. We'd done the right thing and waited, but Erik Tragger and his companion may have gotten lost.

  Then the bushes erupted with activity. Erik staggered out looking so much like a zombie thanks to the wounds on his face that I nearly shot him. Scott fought a Z while Katherine battered the undead man over the head with a rock the size of her fist.

  I waded into the action and smacked yet another Z across the face. It went down in a heap, and that's when fresh hell hit. I got taken down from behind. A big basketball player looking asshole wrapped his arms around me and drove me to the ground.

  I was lucky I'd chosen to wear my overcoat buttoned up to my face because he bit at my neck. Over and over again. He worried at the fabric, lifting his head and ripping upward. I elbowed him, but I barely had any leverage. Guy was so big I couldn't breathe. I tried to lift my body and roll him off, but he outweighed me by at least fifty pounds.

  I was helpless, unable to fight back again.

  If not for my friends, I would have joined the Zs right then and there.

  Joel came in and grabbed the man but he was so big it took Anna and Christy's assistance to get him off me.

  I rolled over and got up on all fours. I'd managed to lose my wrench in the tussle and felt around for it in the overgrowth. I patted the ground pushing leaves and crap around.

  "We gotta go. We lost some of them but another bunch appeared out of no goddamn where," Erik urged.

  "Shit," Joel said.

  Joel ejected his magazine and inspected it. He patted his pockets and his eyes narrowed.

  "Time to go, people," he said.

  "Hold up. Lost my wrench," I said.

  Erik waved for us to join him. Scott stood at his back with Katherine at his side. They all looked harried and were covered in fresh scratches, leaves and, in Erik's case, a large twig in his hair.

  Scott spun and fired at a pair of Zs. One of them dropped, but the other one staggered on. He clicked empty, and then took a few steps back. Erik produced a knife, and fighting what was clearly exhaustion, went to work.

  Scott fumbled in his pockets, but if he was looking for ammo he came up blank.

  I pushed aside more leaves but my wrench was nowhere to be found.

  "Let's go, man." Joel said, grabbing my arm and pulling me up.

  Three more Zs stumbled out of the woods. My hair stood up on end and chills raced along my spine. I knew this game all too well. Two, then three, next there would be twenty.

  "Thought you led them away!" I called to Erik.

  "We did. I don't know where these assholes came from. The whole area is swarming," he called back.

  Joel got me to my feet as more Zs came into view and made for us. One of them reached for me, stumbled on something that glinted in forest floor, then went down. My wrench!

  But more of them came. Five more, then ten. They were an insurmountable bunch, and we had no choice but to turn tail and flee.

  We ran out of the woods as fast as feet could carry us. I was still smarting from all the activity during the day and nearly fell half a dozen times. Joel was no worse for wear as were the rest of our party.

  We were still a good half mile from Fortress, but we couldn't go there because we would lead them to our home. Joel made for the ATVs and we followed. When we broke into the open area, we found our vehicles still there.

  "I'm gonna lead them away. Wait here and I'll be back," Joel said.

  "Wait here?"

  "Just hit the dirt. I got this."

  Katherine didn't need much urging and laid on her stomach. The other's followed suit while Joel fired up his ATV. He headed straight for the mini-horde and stopped a half-dozen feet away from them. The little transport hummed as he stood up.

  "Come on, you jerks, and follow the leader."

  Joel put the ATV in reverse and backed up while waving his hand.

  "This way, this way!" he yelled.

  Like a bunch of half-eaten sixth graders looking for a cookie, they surged after him. Joel continued to back up until he had some distance. He rolled in a hundred eighty degrees backward turn, and then surged forward.

  "Follow my black ass," he urged the Zs.

  "That guy is awesome," Scott said.

  "Yeah. He kinda is." I nodded.

  “You two make a cute couple.”

  Yeah, man. You and Erik do as well,” I quipped.

  “You got me there, bro,” Scott laughed.

  It was an hour later before we made it back to Fortress in one piece. After Joel had departed, with about thirty Zs in pursuit, he cut across the field we had explored earlier in the day, and then slowed. We stayed low and waited for the mass to move past us. When it was clear, we took another fifteen minutes to catch our breath. We had made it about fifty yards away from the woods, and I itched to go back and find my wrench.

  "We don't have time to go find your girlfriend," Anna said as if she had read my mind.

  "She's never let me down," I protested. "Been with her since this whole thing started. I found it on the naval base in—"

  "I've heard this story a hundred times, Creed. And are you implying that I've let you down?" Anna asked.

  "No, baby, of course not. But me and that wrench, we're a pair. Like you and me," I said.

  "That's funny. I don't remember agreeing to be in a polyamorous relationship with you and a wrench," Anna said, eyebrows arched up

  Joel roared into the drive way and saved my ass from an unwinnable argument.

  "Coast is clear for a while. I got them a few miles from here before coming back," Joel said.

  "Thanks, man. Thought we were gonna end up as zombie bait back there," I said.

  "Nice moves," Erik said.

  "It was just the ATV. Allowed me to move fast and keep their attention."

  "Do you think they'll be back?" I asked.

  "Not sure, man. Shit load of them in the woods. Makes me wonder how many more are in there," Joel said.

  Christy had already lowered the ladder so we
could scramble up to the second floor. Erik and Katherine had gone in. Christy went with them, and I assumed introduced them to our ragged-ass mutt Frosty.

  Scott stuck around and waited on Joel with us.

  "I don't know about you guys, but I need some rest. Is it cool to invade your house?" Scott said.

  "Man, I hope you all don't fuck us over," Joel said in his classic no nonsense voice.

  "I swear to you, brother. We're in this together. After you saved our butts, wouldn't think about it," Scott said.

  "So, you would have thought of it if we hadn't saved you?" I asked.

  "Depends. You got any refried beans up there?" Scott said.

  "No. Shit. We barely have enough food for us as it is," I said.

  "We have the MREs," Anna said.

  "Holy fucking shit. We're eating a feast tonight." I grinned.

  After we got Erik, Katherine, and Scott settled, the three of us gathered around a small battery powered wind up lantern in the living room. We had long since blacked out the windows with a combination of heavy drapes and the old blinds. The drapes had been Christy's idea and were constructed out of some fabric she dug out of an upstairs hope chest.

  Christy claimed she had been bored, an entirely accurate description of most days, and had taken up sewing. She worked by hand cutting and constructing the drapes. The fabric was a rich burgundy, but Christy had brightened them up by being on cutouts from kids’ blankets. Disney figures now adorned the inside of the house.

  The main room had a beat up old leather couch that had reclining seats built in. It faced a television that no longer worked, and even if it did, all we would get would be static. We had dragged the dining room table in here, an old oak affair that was solid enough, so Joel speculated, to stop small caliber bullets. Good thing to know in case we needed to upend it and hide from intruders.

  There was a small hand crank rechargeable radio but it barely picked up anything other than the occasional alert that was months old. As time went on, more and more of these had gone off the air.

  One night we had actually picked up a station playing music, stuff from the seventies, but there was no announcer. It was genuinely eerie to find the working channel, and even more eerie when it went off the air and never came back.

  A picture of a family of six hung on one wall. An older couple with a host of kids from elementary school all the way to college-aged. We often wondered what had become of the family. Had they run off in hopes of finding a camp? Why leave this place with all the food in the pantry downstairs?

  Anna and I shared a chili-mac MRE that was warmed with the included heating unit. You added water, put the bag inside another bag and, in a few minutes, it was piping hot.

  It was one of the best meals I'd had in weeks.

  We sorted out the package's innards and passed squeezable cheese among ourselves. Two of the MREs had included patriot sugar cookies—an absolute treat.

  "Can we trust them?" I asked.

  Joel squeezed the last of a pot roast meal into his mouth and savored the flavor. He lowered the packet and tore the sides off so he could lick them clean. Anna and I split the chili-mac package open and followed suit.

  "As much as we can trust anyone. I have a good feeling about them," Anna said.

  "Had a good feeling about a lot of things. People who have fucked us over. Not sure what to make of them," Joel said.

  "Erik told me he and Scott were prisoners in a shuffler camp a week ago. Said they escaped, then came back and flattened the place," I said.

  "Don't mean any of that's true," Joel said.

  Anna leaned against me and rubbed her stomach. "Damn that was tasty. I say we go find the guys in Portland just for three squares."

  I put my arm around her and wanted to just sit here and feel content. The only thing that would have made the night better was if the damn television worked and we had a mindless action movie to watch. I poked through the MRE wrappers and found a package of cheese that hadn't been sucked clean and went to town.

  "I miss real food," Christy said.

  Frosty wandered into the room and took a seat on her haunches. She watched us while her tongue lolled out. When Frosty was this chill, I knew we were safe for the time being. That mutt had ears that were zombie-seekers. When she got agitated, it meant that the shit was about to hit the fan.

  Frosty watched me and licked her chops.

  "Come here, girl," I beckoned.

  She flopped down next to me, and I let her at one the package. She licked clean every scrap I offered her. I rubbed her head and tousled her ears. Frosty's tail thumped against the floor in contentment.

  "Frosty here misses food, too. What's this beast been eating?" I asked.

  "Leftovers. I've been giving her milk. Some oatmeal. Wish she had some meat. She caught something yesterday and ate it. Had a little tail," Christy said.

  "Field mouse?" I asked.

  "Yeah, I think so," Christy said. "I feel bad for her. The dog food from down in the pantry didn't last that long, and it might have been stale. I tried to stretch it out."

  I opened a package of vegetable stew and spooned some out for Frosty. Joel shot me a sharp look.

  "What. She gets some, too," I said.

  "I guess she deserved it, killer that she is." Joel nodded.

  "We need to go back tomorrow and find my wrench," I said.

  "Man, get something new. Jesus."

  "Me and that wrench seen a lot of action together," I said.

  "You and your hand have seen a lot of action." Anna poked me in the side.

  "Are we going to Portland?" Christy asked.

  Joel stared at the lantern for a few seconds before meeting my eye. "What do you think?"

  "I think it's what we've been wanting. You know. A place to belong. When Christy and I were at that Costco, it almost felt like we were part of something bigger. Of course, didn't hurt that they had a lot of fucking food," I said. "But that didn't go over so well. I hate making new friends."

  "So why did you rush in and save Erik and his crew?" Joel asked.

  "I don't know. Seemed like the right thing to do," I said.

  "I guess you're right. It's done so no going back now," Joel said.

  "Fucking A." I nodded.

  "Why do you have to swear so much?" Christy said.

  "I don't know, once a squid, always a squid? I never claimed to be that bright," I said.

  "Ah, honey. I'm not with you for your brain," Anna said.

  "Yeah. It's for my—"

  "No. Stop. I can put up with it anymore." Christy's face turned red.

  "Sorry," Anna said and poked me in the side. Girl loved physical contact, especially if it involved some form of hitting me.

  "Let's sleep on it," I said. "We need to get to know our friends in the morning anyway."

  "I got first watch," Joel said.

  "Wake me in three," I said.

  "I'll take third watch," Anna offered.

  "I don't need to say it, do I?" Joel looked between me and Christy.

  "No man. The new folks are an unknown. We'll keep an eye on them," I said.

  "They do anything stupid—"

  "Yeah. Shoot first and ask questions later," I finished Joel's sentence.

  Home on the Range

  After ending my watch, I managed to get a few more hours of sleep before the sun rudely interrupted my dreams. I should have asked Christy to make some heavy drapes for our room. I'd add it to my shopping list for our next excursion.

  Watch had been quiet. I peeked in on our new friends, but they had passed out in an unoccupied bed after hauling up enough water for a bath. I was quiet, but I had the feeling someone had their eye on me when I cracked the door open. Neither Katherine or Erik Tragger moved, but I was certain a gun pointed at me from under the heavy blanket. I slowly closed the door and went off back downstairs.

  Scott sat on the couch when I came down the stairs and just about gave me a heart attack.

  He turned, an
d I caught the glint of his teeth in the pale light that was provided by a single windup lantern.

  "Fuck me, dude. I thought you were a Z for a second," I said.

  "Sorry, bro. Thought no one was down here. I caught a few hours of sleep but, man, I get bad insomnia these days."

  "Anytime I can sleep more than a few hours, I count my blessings," I said and moved around the couch.

  I was worried about what Scott was up to down here. It was one thing to have someone like Joel hanging around, someone I knew and trusted. Scott, Erik, and Katherine were unknowns. For all we knew, they were trying to get on our good side so they could screw us over.

  But it weighed on me, this constant feeling of distrust. Ever since this whole thing had begun, we had found very few true friends. Turned out that the Zs weren't the worst enemy in the world. It was other humans who were always maneuvering around us, trying to take our shit or outright kill us.

  "The light sucks down here, but I can read that look, man. I know there ain't a damn thing I can say to earn your trust. None of us can. I get it, dude."

  Damn mind reader.

  "Do you blame us?" I asked.

  "We've been pretty lucky. Got a nice group together and had a great protected location where we welcomed new folks. Had groups going out on scouting missions and food runs all the time. But there's always discontent. Always gonna be someone trying to one up."

  "The shufflers," I said.

  "Heard you call the ghouls shufflers. Yeah"

  "Came up with that nickname when we were in San Diego. The first time I saw one, he shuffled around on all fours like a freaky man-crab."

  "Not bad. But they've changed. Gotten smarter. They've hunted us a few times," Scott said. "Erik wants to kill every single one of them."

  "Me and Joel have the same attitude. Eradicate them all. Problem is, they're like fucking flies. Get them near a pile of shit and they multiply."

  I took a seat on the opposite side of the couch and stared at the dead television.

  "Way I see it? We're going to have to figure out how to coexist with them. We can't seem to kill them all." Scott had procured a glass of water from the kitchen and sipped it. "So, the question becomes, how do we make peace with them?"