Life In Death (Book 1): Surviving Death (The Struggle)

by Holmes, Ethan

  Frank pointed at the doll. “What’s her name?”

  Isabelle reached out with the doll in her hands. “This is Jenny. I found her in a box in the closet.”

  They approached the front door. Anna was loading up the van.

  “You did! She is very pretty, just like you.”

  He gave her a small kiss on the cheek. Isabelle giggled. He put her on the ground and she ran over to Anna to show her the doll.

  Anna looked at Frank with admiration. She never believed that Isabelle and Frank would become so close. Like a father and daughter. She never thought that she would have this again after her husband died in Israel.

  “Are we ready to go,” Frank asked.

  Jim popped his head out of the JERRV. “Ready when you are. I got a grocery list in my pocket.”

  “Ok. Let’s hit the road,” Frank said, patting Isabelle on her head. He kissed Anna goodbye then got into the truck.

  Later down the road, Frank looked over at Steve who was dabbing at the still tender wound.

  “You sure you’re up for this Steve,” Frank asked.

  Steve looked up. “Wouldn’t miss it. Besides, you all would be lost without me. I’ve got to pick up some meds for Karen and you could look for hours and not find it in a pharmacy.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Jim backed the JERRV up to the entrance with the rear hatch open. As soon as he was stopped, Frank and Tommy hopped out and ran a sweep of the store. Once they were done, he signaled to Jim and Steve that it was safe to enter the store.

  “Steve and I will hit the pharmacy. Tommy, you and Jim hit the grocery section. When we get finished, we’ll give you a hand.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  “Let’s go.”

  They went their separate ways. Frank had to pick the lock for the pharmacy door while Steve held the light for him. Frank got a bit curious.

  “Looks like the tables have turned and I get to ask the embarrassing question. What’s going on with you and Kim? Damn it…” Frank said, accidentally breaking one of his lock picks.

  Steve was taken back a bit but quickly recovered. “Guess the cat is out of the bag. We’re taking it a bit slow. Have been for some time now. Kim is a great woman and I don’t want to ruin it like I did with Will’s mother. We are also trying to take Will’s feelings into consideration. I just wonder how he will take it when he finds out.”

  “Oh. He already knows,” Frank confessed.

  “Wait! What,” Steve exclaimed in shock.

  “Will is no idiot, Steve. He came to me the other day asking about you two. I think he was a bit embarrassed to ask you directly. I believe his exact words were ‘I hope they are. I would be happy for them.’ He said you haven’t been happy in a long time,” Frank stated.

  “He did, huh…” Steve said, starting to choke up.

  “You raised a good kid, Steve. I would be proud if I could raise a son like him,” Frank said as he unlocked the door and opened it.

  Steve quickly wiped his face. “Stop being all mushy. We got work to do.”

  They entered the pharmacy and Steve started searching for the medication that Karen needed.

  “So what exactly are we looking for,” Frank asked, bewildered at all the bottles on the shelves, names he couldn’t pronounce.

  “Karen has a condition where she forms blood clots in her circulatory system. She usually takes clopidogrel.”

  He searched through each shelf carefully. “Whoever ran this pharmacy is an idiot. Nothing is in order here. No wonder people here took so long to fill a prescription.”

  “You would think they would have them in alphabetical order,” Frank said.

  “Nope. I figured out what they were doing. They have them organized basically by what the medication treats, but they don’t have that in alphabetical order.” he rummaged through a bit more. “Here we are. There is not much left.”

  “Is there something else she can take,” Frank asked, with a hint of concern in his voice.

  “Yeah. Oh! They have some name brand stuff. This will work,” Steve said as he took another large pill bottle off the shelf. “And it’s almost full. This should last her a while. We’ll also need to grab a couple bottles of aspirin. Even on this stuff, there is a risk of stroke.”

  Frank looked around outside the pharmacy. “Got a big bottle of aspirin out here. What else do we need?”

  Jim and Tommy rummaged through the shelves, throwing things into the cart and marking them off the list.

  Jim was staring at a can of chicken. “You think this stuff tastes any good?”

  Tommy looked up from his list just in time to see a Biter stumbling just behind Jim, ready to pounce. Tommy, without thinking, drew his sidearm and instinctively took the shot. The round slammed into the Biter’s skull just over the left eyebrow, splattering blood and brain matter over the canned food behind it. Jim jumped and shook by what had just occurred. He turn around to see the lifeless corpse that Tommy had saved him from.

  “HOLY SHIT! I didn’t hear him coming,” Jim said, checking his body over just in case.

  “Neither did I.” He reached down for the can of chicken. “Who knew a can of chicken could save lives,” he said jokingly, throwing the can of chicken in the cart.

  Seconds later, Frank and Steve came sprinting up the lane.

  “Are you guys ok,” Steve yelled, out of breath.

  “Yeah. We’re ok. Tommy just saved my ass…” Jim said, still shaking. He looked at Tommy. “That was a hell of a shot. I owe you big time.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Let’s finish up and go home,” he said, holstering his sidearm. He looked at Steve. “Are you guys good?”

  Frank looked at him with pride. “We’re good.”

  When they got home, Jim told the “Canned Chicken” story of how Tommy saved him in a split second all because of a can of chicken. The can in question was now part of a chicken noodle soup that Natalie was preparing. She walked over to Tommy and wrapped her arms around him.

  “I always knew how great you are,” Natalie said as she kissed.

  Tommy held up his right index finger flexing it. “Yeah. I still got it.”

  Everyone at the table laughed. Tommy looked at Frank. “I had a good teacher.”

  “All I did was teach you how to shoot. It takes a hell of a soldier to use it when it really counts, especially in a split second,” Frank said still feeling proud of the man he trained.

  Natalie brought over the pot of soup and sat it in the middle of the table. She ladled out a portion for everyone.

  “That’s a big pot. Are we getting seconds?” Steve said, hoping.

  “You bet. Give me just a second. I also have some bread in the oven. I made it while you guys were gone,” Natalie said.

  “You made bread? We have milk,” Karen asked, surprised.

  “I had to use almond milk. Not as good but works pretty well. It is a garlic loaf,” she said as she reached into the oven and pulled her creation out. It was a beautiful free formed loaf with a crispy outside and the inside was still warm. As the aroma from the oven filled the room everyone couldn’t be still, shifting excitedly in their seats, ready to have a piece.

  “That looks really good. And you made this with almond milk? I’m impressed,” Karen said as her mouth watered.

  “Well, this was the last of the eggs. I had to use them since they were about to go bad. I would love to get some chickens but they make too much noise.” Natalie said.

  “True. Will the powered stuff work,” Frank asked as he tore his piece of bread in half, looking back and forth from Karen and Natalie.

  Natalie and Karen looked at each other. “I have no idea,” Karen said.

  “Neither do I. It’s definitely worth a shot though. Can we add that to our next trip,” Natalie asked, looking back at Frank.

  “If you keep cooking like this, you can have whatever you want on that list,” he said then bit a chuck off of his bread.

  Chapter 13 />
  Winter comes

  Weeks passed and winter was in full swing. Inches of snow covered the ground. Frank and Jim traipsed through the forest looking for a meal. They had been out for hours and even Frank was getting bored.

  “Hey, Frank?” Jim whispered. “Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be a Biter? Like, what goes through their minds all the time?”

  “If I were to take a guess it would be ‘oh hey, meat. Om nom nom,’” Frank said jokingly.

  Jim chuckled. “That’s pretty funny. So like what if the person they were is still in there, trapped in their own minds and they have to sit there and watch as their body does all this terrible stuff?”

  Frank had never thought about it.

  ‘What if something like that were true? It’s extremely unlikely but I guessed that it could be possible.’

  Then he felt bad for them. “We would be doing them a favor by ending it for them. What’s with this, all of a sudden?”

  “Just thinking about people we’ve lost… people I lost. It’s a damn shame all this happened. We’ve lost a lot of good people,” Jim said.

  “Jim, you’ve never said anything more true. But through all of it we have a new family and friends. We can’t give up. Why do you think we’re out here freezing our balls off?”

  “Yeah. I can’t think of a better bunch of people to be stuck in the zombie apocalypse with,” Jim admitted.

  Frank put his fist up signaling Jim to stop and be quiet. Jim knew the signal and knelt quickly, weapon at the ready.

  Frank knelt down to check some print’s in the snow. They weren’t from an animal. He examined the prints. They belong to a person who was barefoot and were small and slim. Maybe an adult female. With the print’s so visible and it snowing heavily, Frank knew they were fresh. He signaled for Jim to move up.

  Jim moved up next to Frank and saw the prints.

  “Shit,” Jim whispered.

  Jim had enough hunting experience to know what he was looking at. Jim turned around and was back to back with Frank, scanning his area for threats. Frank pulled out his radio and gave it two mic clicks.

  “Bravo here,” Tommy whispered over the radio.

  Tommy and Kurt was on the west side of the forest.

  “Bravo, we got fresh Biter tracks here. Looks like it’s alone, heading your way. Search and destroy. We are going to follow the tracks. See if we can’t catch up to it,” Frank said over the radio.

  “Roger.”

  “Come on. We got to move,” Frank said as he stood up.

  “Never a dull moment, huh,” Jim said as he followed Frank along the path.

  Moments passed. Frank heard a rustle behind some bushes in front of him. Frank stopped and pointed his weapon toward the sound. He motioned for Jim to go around and flank the source. Jim started to move. Frank went to the other side of the shrubbery. When they got a clear view, they saw their target. It had caught a fox and was chewing on it as if it were a chicken leg. Frank gave a slight whistle, he had caught her gaze. She dropped the fox and it laid on the ground, twitching, missing a leg that was probably in the Biter’s stomach. She stood up slowly and sluggishly. She snarled at Frank, still hungry, with what was left of her lips baring her teeth. Frank took out his knife but was beaten to the punch. Jim had crept up behind as silently as he could and buried his knife through the base of her skull, driving it skyward. Her body went limp and Jim let her fall to the ground, the knife still in her skull. Jim knelt down, poking her head with a stick, being cautious before he tried to retrieve his knife. The body laid lifeless. He reached for his knife slowly. He grabbed a hold of it and yanked it from her skull. He took a rag from his pocket to clean off the blade, and place it back in its sheath.

  “Good work,” Frank said replacing his knife.

  “Thanks. I aim to please. How do you do this,” Jim asked.

  “What do you mean,” Frank asked suspiciously.

  “Well, I know you were Special Forces or something like that. I’m sure that you were forced to kill before. Killing an animal I can do just fine but these use to be people. Does it get any easier to deal with,” Jim asked still staring at the corpse before him.

  “No, and it shouldn’t. Every kill I’ve ever made still haunts me. I still remember their faces. It never gets easier. What gets me by is remembering why I had to do it. Whether it was for my country, for my brothers in arms, or to protect those I care for. I can live with the things I’ve done as long as I know why I did it,” Frank confessed. He placed his hand on Jim’s shoulder. “I know things are tough but all we have is each other.”

  “You’re right. You’re always right. Thanks, Frank. How did you get so smart,” Jim asked, feeling better.

  Frank patted Jim on the shoulder for reassurance. “My momma raised me right.”

  Jim chuckled. “Must have been one hell of a woman to raise a hellion like you.”

  “True enough. She was a guard captain in a man’s medium security prison. Tough as nails. My aunt helped to raise me too. She was Army.”

  The fox began to snarl and growl. The infection was taking hold. Frank didn’t hesitate and stomped on its skull, crushing it.

  Frank took out his radio again and clicked the mic twice.

  “Bravo here.”

  “Bravo, target is down. Continue the hunt. Any tracks yet?” Frank ask.

  “None. We may have to start baiting again,” Tommy said.

  Frank looked at his watch. It was getting late.

  “Well, we’ve got two kills today. Let’s head back. Meet us at the rally point,” Frank called out.

  “Roger,” Tommy acknowledged.

  Frank replaced his radio and reached around Jim, who was still sulking a bit, and placed his hand on his shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

  “Sounds good. I can’t feel my feet,” Jim said.

  After an hour, Frank and Jim made it to the rally point that was one mile south of home. They were the first ones to make it. Frank clicked his mic twice, no response. Frank tried again. Still no response. Frank knew that they were either in trouble or were sneaking up on dinner. Frank did not want to take that chance. Jim looked at him with concern.

  “Come on. Let’s go find them.”

  As soon as it left his lips a shot cracked in the distance and a moment later another. Frank knew that was not Tommy’s AR15. That shot came from a hunting rifle.

  Frank paused for a moment to see if another would ring.

  Static came over the radio and Tommy’s voice came through intermittently.

  “Say again Bravo,” Frank called out, desperately.

  “Kurt popped his cherry! Got a nice sized buck! Give me half an hour to gut it and we will head your way,” Tommy called out. He always gets excited about having meat for dinner.

  “Sounds good. Congrats on your first kill, Kurt! Don’t take too long. Weather is getting worse,” Frank said as he looked at the clouded sky.

  “Will do.”

  “Base? Did you get that?” Frank called out over the radio to Anna.

  “Roger that. Were already getting the kit out for you,” Anna’s sweet voice distorted by static.

  He could never hold back a smile when he heard her voice. It always put his mind at ease. He looked back at Jim and put the radio away.

  “Moments like this are worth fighting for. Wouldn’t you agree,” Frank asked.

  “Definitely,” Jim said with a smile.

  After an hour passed, Tommy and Kurt dragged out their prize on Tommy’s cart.

  “That’s a big one! Think I count 8 points. This should feed us for a while. Wish we had a taxidermist. That’s wall worthy,” Jim said as he gave a congratulatory slap on Kurt’s back.

  “Thanks. I kind of feel bad, though,” Kurt said with a sad look in his eye.

  “That will go away when we start eating,” Frank said as he examined the shot. “Not bad. You just missed the heart by maybe a half inch. Nice work.”

  “Thanks,” Kurt said, feeling
a small bit of pride.

  “Alpha, come in,” Anna came over the radio.

  “Alpha here,” Frank replied, feeling panic come on.

  “Alpha, we have company. They don’t seem hostile but we need you back here, ricky tick,” Anna said, as calm as ever.

  Jim walked up to Frank. “You and Tommy go. Kurt and I can drag the beast back.”

  “Be careful.” he handed Jim his radio.

  Tommy and Frank began jogging back home to meet their “guests”.

  It only took them about ten minutes to get back to the house. The guests saw Frank and Tommy’s figures coming over the hill dawned in their white camouflage and ski masks. Anna and Nick still had the people at gun point but it was this image that nearly tipped them over the edge into a panic.

  The newcomers did not seem to be a threat. It was a young man, two young women and a small boy about Isabelle’s age.

  The man started to take a step back when Frank got to the group.

  “Can we help you,” Frank asked.

  “I…We were just passing by and saw that there were actually people alive. I hate to ask but we haven’t eaten in days and I can’t risk taking them into town. We were hoping it would be safe to search the outlying houses. I’m thinking I was wrong,” he said.

  Sweat dripped off his nose. This man was scared enough to sweat in the cold weather. Frank looked at the women and child. They were shaking. One of the women held the child ready to protect him if necessary. These people were desperate.

  “No. You weren’t wrong.” He took his white ski mask off and looked behind him to the others. “Lower your weapons. Get them inside and get them warm.”

  They all complied. Anna motioned for the newcomers to follow her.

  Frank walked next to the man as they headed for the house. “What’s your name, son?”

  “It’s Jesse. You’re not just luring us inside to kill us and eat us, are you,” He asked, still a sound of terror in his voice.

  “What? No. If we wanted that, we would have just shot you out here. Less of a mess to clean up,” Frank said, jokingly

  “…” Jesse was not amused.

  “Don’t worry. You’re in good hands. The only trouble you’ll get from us is the trouble you create. Treat us with respect and we will treat you like family. Sorry about the guns. We’ve been attacked before, so everyone is a bit paranoid.” He patted Jesse on the back, reassuringly.