“What’s happening?” Mauri whispered.
“A guy with a gun is in the house across the street. He keeps shooting. We haven’t seen any zombies, but he has fired four times now. If he keeps this up he is going to attract them.” Abby whispered.
“That must be a hell of a gun. It sounded like the shots were from in this house.” Mauri said.
Mauri looked back towards her boys.
“They are fine. We brought them down so you could sleep. They were watching their wizard movie.” Abby said.
Everyone maintained their positions for the next ten minutes. There were no more shots. Abby and Mauri finally rose to their knees and crawled over to the open window facing the street. They watched for a long time and saw no movement. They were about to stand up when the house across the street’s front door flew open. A tall skinny red headed man of fifty came out carrying a pump action shotgun and a shovel. He was only wearing boxer shorts, socks and sock guards. He was covered in blood. He went to the side of the house into the vegetable garden and started digging. As he did he alternated between sobbing, cursing God and singing “Long Tall Sally.”
“Debbie, get the kids upstairs. Put the show on in the bedroom.” Mauri said.
The quartet went up with no objections. Mauri and Abby watched as he dug three shallow holes in the earth. It took him an hour. When he was done he fell to his knees and cried for what seemed like ten years. Mauri had known from the beginning what she was witnessing. Her heart broke for the man. Abby watched not understanding until he fell to his knees. She sucked in a gasping breath and tears ran down her face.
“I can’t watch this.” Abby sobbed.
“You don’t have to. Go up with the rest of them. It’s alright.” Mauri said never taking her eyes off the kneeling man.
“Are you coming?” Abby asked.
“No. I won’t let him do it alone. Someone needs to bear witness.”
“You’re not going out there.” Abby said.
“No. I’m not. But I’m not going upstairs either.”
Abby turned to walk towards the stairs. The man across the street cleared his throat and spit. He exhaled loudly and got to his feet. Abby turned back towards the window. She watched the man walk back to his front door and go inside the house. Abby and Mauri looked at each other. They were both crying. Abby nodded, Mauri nodded back. Abby reached her hand across the window and Mauri took it.
The two women stood silent and still as the man made three trips into the house. Each time he brought out a body. The first was a middle-aged woman, then a teenage girl and then a pre-teen boy. They each had a large bloody wound on their chest. He placed them each gently in the holes he had dug. He went back in the house and came out with bed clothes. One by one he knelt down and kissed their foreheads and then covered their faces with the cloth. He covered them with the dirt, smoothed the ground and crossed himself. He stood up and picked up the shotgun. Mauri squeezed Abby’s hand in anticipation of what they were both sure they were about to see. The man racked the pump action and put the shotgun under his chin. Mauri yanked Abby across the window, caught her in a hug and spun her away from the window. The man fired the gun for the fifth and final time.
Mauri and Abby held each other crying, each of them wishing their men were here with them.
“We have to get out of here.” Mauri whispered after all her tears were shed.
“Why?”
“It’s not safe long term.” Mauri said.
Abby didn’t reply.
“Think about it. Not a ton of food in the kitchen and unless we want to lug two kids through the woods we have to get back up that driveway and onto the road if we are going anywhere.”
“Three kids.” Abby corrected.
Abby and Mauri jumped as a gun fired off in the distance.
“We need to get to the plaza. There is food, and better weapons and maybe some other people. Three women with three children isn’t the best situation, you know.” Mauri said.
Abby nodded.
“Let’s get packed, we should go before it gets too warm.”
An hour and a half later the three women each had a child attached to their back and Abby had Mauri’s back pack on the wrong way. Abby also had Shawn, the lightest of the three children. Mauri had Michael and Debbie had Rebecca.
“Always run before fighting. Only fight if you have no other choice.” Mauri said to the two women.
They nodded.
“It’s two miles and there are hills. If we need to rest we can try to find someplace. This should take us an hour if we don’t run into any of those things.”
They walked out the front door and down the driveway. They turned right and headed for the plaza. None of them looked at the headless man who had buried his family this morning. Abby distracted the kids by pointing out a non-existent fox on the other side of the road until they were past the yard. They walked the entire length of the street and came to the plaza entrance without seeing a single zombie. Once they had a clear view of the intersection it was a different story. There were dozens of them milling around, all looking in the general direction of the Route 146 onramp. There was a lot of commotion down there. They could hear screams and moans and the occasional gun shot, but it was impossible to know from how far away.
The plaza entrance was on the right hand side of the intersection and was clear if the women cut across the grass and hugged the tree line. There were some creatures on the hill that lead up to the shops, but they were spread out. They ducked down behind a blue Ford.
“If one of those sees us it will alert the others.” Debbie whispered.
“We have to make noise down here and then hide.” Abby said.
The women surveyed the intersection. There was a giant yellow school bus. The bus was flipped on its side and there was a Shipper’s Pride delivery truck smashed and flipped a few feet up the grassy embankment. The two vehicles made a roadblock across the entrance to the shopping center and the road they had just come down.
“Alright.” Abby said and untied Shawn from her back and handed him to Mauri.
“Follow the wood line to the edge of the road and duck down behind the stone wall.” Abby said. I’ll go make noise and run back over here. We wait until they are all down the hill past us and we can go.”
Debbie and Mauri took their position with the children. Abby watched from the blue Ford. Once they were in position and gave the thumbs up, Abby sprinted for the school bus. She climbed up the suspension and muffler and stood on the passenger side of the bus. She looked in the windows to see if there was anyone or anything in there. The bus was empty. The door was locked in the open position. Abby climbed down into the bus and made her way to the rear emergency door. She stood on the thin edge of one of the sideways bus seats and lifted the “emergency only” bar and shoved the door open. It opened at the top and swung hard towards the ground. The alarm sounded at the same time as Abby lost her balance and toppled out of the emergency door. She did a front flip and landed hard on her back. It knocked the wind out of her and she saw stars. It took her twenty seconds to catch her breath and look around. There were three zombies within a yard of her. She scrambled to her feet and dove back into the bus. She hurt her leg, elbow and knee scrambling over the seats towards the open door. Those things couldn’t get into the bus, the opening was too high, but she had to get clear of the bus before it was surrounded. It took her a lot longer than she thought it would to climb back out of the bus. There were no good footholds, and she ended up making three attempts before she made it. By then it was too late. There was a moat of the undead surrounding the bus. She could car hop a few cars in either direction, but there was no clear path, the cars weren’t as bumper to bumper as they were on Route 20. In any case, if she ran for it she would lead those things to the others.
She started yelling over the whooping alarm.
“Just listen, don’t talk. Get the kids up there to a safe place. When the battery dies I will be still and quiet u
ntil they go away, then I will run for it.” She yelled.
Mauri started shaking her head.
“It’s the only way. If I run now they will follow. You are too slow with the kids. I’m up high and I have the food and water. I can be here until it’s safe.”
Mauri continued to shake her head.
“You have to protect the kids. Fucking go. I’ll be along in a bit.” Abby yelled and put her hands on her hips in a pose she saw her mother do a hundred times when she wanted to end an argument.
“She is right.” Debbie said in a low voice. “She will get us killed if she comes now.”
“Alright, we get up there, find a safe place for you and the kids and I will come back and help her.” Mauri said.
“That sounds good.” Debbie said. “Let’s go.”
Debbie had no real intention of letting Mauri come back down the hill, but telling her what she wanted to hear got them moving. They waited for one creature to go by on the far left and then they started up the hill. Half way up two more zombies staggered down the hill. The two women froze against the right hand fence. They went by forty feet away and never even looked at them. The school bus alarm was much more interesting.
In the confusion they never communicated a meeting place. They had talked about Target casually on the long walk over the cars, but nothing was decided on.
As they got to the top of the hill they could see there were hundreds of the creatures milling about. A large number of them were starting to make their way towards the school bus alarm, so the women took a sharp right at the top of the hill and got out of their path. They ran to the first of three dozen stores that lined that side of the plaza. Based on what time of day this all went down yesterday Mauri wasn’t optimistic about finding any of these stores unlocked. They were all clothing and household goods stores, nothing that should have been open at seven AM. The first store she figured they might have a shot at was the Staples six or seven doors down. They walked quickly and quietly. There were no zombies within twenty five yards of them. They arrived at Staples and stood in front of the door. It didn’t open. They tried sliding the door manually, it didn’t budge.
“Shit.” Mauri said.
“Shit.” Michael repeated from her back.
“We need to get across the lot. There is a Panera over there. It’s closer than the Target down back.” Mauri said.
“There are a lot of them between here and there.” Debbie said.
“I have a plan.” Mauri said smiling. “Do you see that alley between the two restaurants?”
“Yeah”
“That’s where we are heading. There are dumpsters back there. When we get back there we get in one and hide until they go away.” Mauri said.
“How do we get from here to there?” Debbie asked.
“Trust me.” Mauri said.
Five minutes later Mauri and Debbie were running full steam across the parking lot each pushing a thick plastic shopping cart. In Mauri’s sat Michael and Shawn, Rebecca in Debbie’s along with the baseball bat and the golf club. They followed the driving paths and steered towards the least populated parts of the lot. When they couldn’t avoid one of the creatures they rammed it and kept running. They were making a racket as they ran and were attracting a stream of creatures behind them, but their momentum brought them down the alley and around the corner with plenty of time to get everyone into the dumpster. It was half full of corrugated cardboard and pretty comfy all things considered. Before jumping into the dumpster herself, Mauri pushed one of the shopping carts back towards the alley. It had enough momentum and a smooth enough surface to get past the opening before coming to rest against a garbage can on the far side. If any zombies were already in the alley, it might draw them in the wrong direction.
They sat quietly in the dumpster for what seemed like a very long time. The boys were starting to get antsy. Mauri slowly lifted the flimsy plastic dumpster cover and peeked out. She turned and looked behind them. There were no zombies behind the store. Once again it appeared the school bus alarm was more interesting.
“We are good.” Mauri said.
“None of them came back here?” Debbie asked.
“If they did they are gone now.” Mauri answered.
“Wait. Why don’t I go find an open door so we aren’t all running around out there.” Debbie said.
Mauri nodded.
“Be careful.”
While Debbie was gone Marui entertained the children by quietly singing Queen songs. Debbie came back and whispered as she lifted the lid.
“We are good. The back door to Panera is unlocked and there is no one in the store.”
A gunshot rang out close by, then another, then the school bus alarm stopped.
“Abby” Mauri said.
“We need to get them safe first.” Debbie said.
“Hurry.”
One by one Mauri lifted the children out of the dumpster and handed them to Debbie. First Rebecca, then Michael then Shawn. She climbed out herself, picked up Shawn and slung him over her back. They had left the bed sheets where they found the shopping carts, so the baby had to hold on.
“Michael I need to you walk like a big boy. Hold my hand please.”
“Alright Mom. I’m brave of the bad guys.” Michael said.
Mauri and Debbie smiled. Debbie picked up Rebecca and they made their way to Panera. There was massive commotion on the highway down the embankment from the shops. Neither woman went near the fence to see what was happening. The sounds were enough to tell them everything they needed to know. Another gunshot rang out. They slipped in the back door to Panera, locked it behind them and took a deep breath.
They were in a hallway with the bathrooms on their left. Straight ahead was the main seating area. Once in the seating area the kitchen and prep area were on the left separated by a tall counter and the bakery items. Mauri ran to the front door and tested it. It swung open. She ran back to the register and searched. She found the keychain where she expected to and ran back to the front door. She locked it quickly and got back from the door as one of the zombies had noticed the door swing open and was shambling over to investigate. She looked at the key ring and then went to the bathrooms. They locked from the outside with keys.
“Debbie, get the kids in a booth and help me.”
Debbie herded the kids into a booth and brought over 3 kids menus and some crayons she found in a bin beside the register. They were all happy to color. There was still power in the restaurant, but the phone when dead when Mauri checked.
“I want to get two booths into the ladies room. We should be able to drag them.” Mauri said.
“Will two fit?” Debbie asked.
“I think so.”
“What’s it for?”
“A bed. The door locks from the outside with a key. It’s safe.” Mauri said.
Debbie looked puzzled.
“Just come help me.” Mauri said and started dragging one side of a booth towards the ladies room.
Both booths fit. They leaned the first one back to the sinks and positioned the second bench to bench against the first creating a bed with the world’s tallest safety rails.
“We can fill in the center crack with aprons and clean table cloths. They will fit three across. Can you get them fed and asleep?” Mauri asked.
“You can’t go back out there.” Debbie said.
“I can and I will. Abby is down there. We need her and she needs us. I won’t leave her.” Mauri said
“What about those gun shots and the alarm stopping?” Debbie asked.
Mauri was thinking the same thing but didn’t say so.
“I have to go see. I will be careful.” Mauri said.
“You have kids.” Debbie said.
“That’s right.” Mauri snapped. “And we need Abby. I can’t carry the two of them for very long. If we have to get out of here we are fucked.”
“Jesus Mauri.” Debbie whispered.
“Get them fed and get them in the bathroom. I
’m taking one of the keys, you keep the other. Lock yourself in the bathroom with them. Bring some food and water in there. Get some rest. When we get back I will unlock the door and let you know we are alright. Leave the back door closed but unlocked. Do you understand?” Mauri asked.
“Yes. I’ll take care of them.” Debbie said.
“Thank you.” Mauri said and reached out her arms.
Debbie leaned in and they gave each other a very hard squeeze.
“We’re gonna survive this. We made it this far.” Mauri said.
Debbie smiled and nodded. “I know.”
Mauri went to the table where the kids were coloring and sat down next to Michael.
“Hey bubba, you are in charge while I’m gone.” Mauri said.
“OK Mom, Where are you going?” Michael asked.
“To go get Abby.”
“On the school bus?” Michael asked.
“Yes. I’ll be back before you are done your nap.”
“But I’m not tired.”
“You will be after lunch. I think Debbie is going to make macaroni.”
“I don’t want any sauce.” Michael said.
“No sauce either.” Shawn said, but only Mauri and Michael understood him.
“I know pal.” Mauri said.
Mauri nodded at Debbie. Debbie smiled and headed for the prep area.
“I love you guys. Please play nice and share with Rebecca. I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye mom, I’m in charge Shawn. Give me the green one.” Michael said and snatched the green crayon from his brother’s fingers. Shawn looked at his empty hand, picked up the red crayon and continued coloring.
Mauri looked around and decided to stick with the youth baseball bat.
“I’m going Debbie. I’ll be back quick.” She said and headed out the back door.
Once Mauri was gone, Debbie fed the kids, rotated potty duty for Michael and Rebecca and checked Shawn. He was damp, but no poop. She hoped Mauri came back with Abby and her backpack because the good luck with the diaper situation wouldn’t last long. Once the kids were all in their makeshift bed Debbie gave them some jackets she found on a coat rack in the break room to use for blankets. They were asleep in seven minutes. Instead of locking herself in with them, she shut off the light and went to make herself something to eat. She locked the door behind her and put the bulky key ring in the buzzer return basket.
Sawkill [Omnibus] Page 11
