Living Dead 2.0

by Radovick, Ronda

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  After a while, she looked around to make sure that no one would see her. She took out her machete and her camping saw. She stepped out of the Hummer and walked a few feet behind her parking spot. She cut several branches, then covered her Hummer from the front. She cleared a small spot behind her vehicle to sit down, then built a fire to cook. Pepper was sniffing around a few feet away from her. He always stayed close to her. While waiting for the fire to heat up, she walked a little further into the trees. She could not see anything for hundreds of yards. She said, “Well, Boy. We can stay here for the night. Then, we leave out tomorrow, if the coast is clear.” She took some canned food from the back of the Hummer, then cooked her and Pepper some dinner. That night, Ruby and Pepper slept inside the locked Hummer. Sometime, in the middle of the night, Ruby awoke to Pepper growling. Ruby sat up, and grabbed her gun. She whispered, “Sh, Pepper.” She sat there and listened, she could hear voices. Two male voices. They were walking past her and Pepper. One man said, “They aren't back here. She must have stayed on the road. I know that I would have.” The other man said, “Do you know what is down the highway?” The first man answered. “Don't know. She's probably in Indianapolis by now.” The other voice answered, “Come on. Let's go.” Then, Ruby didn't hear any more voices. She stayed awake for hours, after that. She was convinced they would come back. But, they did not. She dozed off for a few hours, until that next morning. Ruby and Pepper had breakfast and washed up. Then, she studied a map of the area. Ruby looked around for a way to get to the highway through the trees, so that, she could look around a bit. She wanted to be sure those men were not around when she left. She walked a ways up a path. She heard voices. A female, and a male voice. She stopped in her tracks. She dove behind a bush. She whispered, “Pepper.” The dog followed her. She whispered, “Sit, Boy.” She peeked through branches, while holding Pepper. He growled under his breath. The woman stopped, “Did you hear that?” The male answered, “No.” They briefly stopped, looked around, then continued on. The female said, as they walked away, “Whose checking out the highway today?” They sounded young. Ruby grabbed Pepper. She held his mouth and buried her face in his ear, “Shh, Boy.” The dog complied. She waited until they were gone. She stood up, and hurried back to her Hummer. Pepper followed her. She opened the door to the Hummer, and let Pepper jump up into the seat. He stepped over to the passenger side. Then, Ruby climbed into the vehicle, and sat there. Now, she wondered how she could get away from them. If these maniacs were still watching the highway, she would not be able to get away. Now, she was worried, again. She had an manned vehicle that, would also withstand most bullets. She knew that those lunatics would not let her, or Pepper live if they caught her. She would wait til dark, and shoot anything that tried to stop her. Will, Scott, and Renee had called a meeting with everyone in the group. Scott spoke, first. “You all know that, we now, are taking extra precautions to watch the walls, and gates. We not only, have the threat of the dead, now. We have a group, we are not sure who it is, or how large their numbers are, yet. This group has come too close to home. We...” he pointed to Renee, Aidan, Kyle, the Pastor, and Jimmy. Then, he continued talking, “have been talking about some precautions that we need to take as a group, to keep us all safe. If these people get to the gates, they most certainly will try to get through. We have an orchard, chickens, cows, and all the food that we need here to survive. We have to protect it.” Mrs. Sandoval asked, “What are you suggesting that we do, Major Scott?” He answered her, “Mrs. S., we have written down a schedule to put eyes at all of the gates. We need every one that can, to volunteer to help. Even if it's for a few hours at a time. Older folks can help with other things. And, I'll let the others explain the rest.”

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  He looked at Renee. She stood up, “We will need volunteers to keep watch permanently. But, for now, we need extra people. Just until, we get it all worked out. Around the clock. We also need anyone who can shoot to see Aidan, Jimmy, or Scott …. A.S.A.P. And, we have to implement a couple of safety, and escape plans, in case they get through the gates. The guys are working on putting cameras in, and giving us a way out, just in case. ” Jimmy said, “We have two plans, in case anyone gets through the walls. If possible, get out through the back. We have been working on some safe rooms behind the Orchard, and at the school. Also, vehicles need to be stocked with supplies. Ready, just in case we all need to escape.” Some people were murmuring. He continued, “If we have to leave, because we are over run, we have two meet up places that we can reunite at. We will do this only if the place is surrounded, and they breach the walls...” Jennifer repeated, “Surrounded?” Renee answered, “Yes. We have to be ready for any type of situation, now. Things are not the same as they were. And, these people have already shown us that, they are dangerous.” Jennifer looked, as though, she was struggling with the fact that, if they wanted to survive, they all needed to fight. She looked at her sister, she was worried. They all were. Charlie said, “Yes. We need to be ready for them. All cameras are up, and I need to wire two more.” Aidan asked him, “Can you shoot?” Charlie said, “Yes.” All heads turned towards him. Kyle, who had been quiet until now, asked, “Who wants to start training?” Many of them blurted out a, “yes”. Scott smiled, “Good. We start tomorrow. Be here after breakfast.” The Pastor started to speak, “Okay, then. We need volunteers for everything. Mostly, to keep watch, and be ready to defend, if we have to.” Imogen spoke up, “I need to have a place that is medically efficient. So that, if anyone get's hurt, I or Scott can get them in and treat them.” Renee said, “That is a good idea. There are a bunch of empty rooms in the school building. You should go look, let me know which ones will work out.” Imogen said, “I will. Thank you.” Renee spoke, again. “Okay. If there is anything that anyone thinks will help, anything not mentioned here, please let us know. Oh, and also, we will start using the school cafeteria.We will have something made everyday, for breakfast and lunch. So, anyone can go there and get some hot food.” Will said, “We need to keep extra people at Rose's place. Her place will be attacked first, if it is going to happen. She is out there alone with the children, and Ms. Clea.” Scott said, “Yes, I think that is a good idea. Jimmy and I have been talking about that.” Will asked, “What do you have in mind?” Jimmy said, “Well, two of us military guys should be there at all times. After everyone gets a little training, maybe any two of us. We need a building that is kind of hidden, or disguised. A place where we can make a mini-base. I think that someone needs to be there all of the time.” Charlie spoke up, “He's is right, and I can link in the cameras to some screens there. I think that I have everything that I need.” Scott said, “Can you link several computers to the cameras?” Charlie said, “ Yes.” Scott looked over at Rose and Clea. He continued, “What do the two of you think? We can use one of the tractor-trailers?” Clea said, “You sure can.” Kyle cut in, “We should construct a plan of attack. We need a way to sneak up on any one breaching the gates or walls.” Aidan agreed, “Yes. Once Charlie finishes up on the cameras, it should be easier. But we need to get one of the trailers over there.” Pastor Dom asked, “Do we have a plan to inventory and ration supplies? Are we okay with everything?” Will said, “We are good on meat, for now. As long as, we can protect what we have.” Rene said, “ We have the orchard and a supply of canned food. We should count all of that. We have some other crops. We need to have more than one green house.” Scott said, “We need to take a count of guns and ammo. If that group is bigger than us, we may not have enough fire power to keep them out.”

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  Rachel listened to everyone speak. She exchanged a look with Stella. Renee was writing everything down on a clipboard. She said, “Okay, Nina, will you help me do some inventory in the group closet?” She answered, “Yes.” Renee wrote a few lines on her clipboard. She then, looked up, “I will leave the clipboard here. Any of you that will be willing to help out with other things, sign up and state what you can do.” She
lay the clipboard down on top of the picnic table. She said to Aidan, and the men, “You guys need to try to get an idea of our gun count.” Jimmy said, “Yes Ma'am.” The men started talking amongst each other. Chloe over heard Ben and Jose planning to sneak outside the walls to see if they could get a look at the roadway. She waited until they walked off. Then, she followed them. Once they found a place in the back to climb, they did. They jumped down onto the ground. Following them, Chloe jumped down off of the wall. She pulled the gun from the back of her waist band. She unlocked the gun, and held in in her hand. She could feel her hands shaking as she walked through the trees. She whispered, “Calm down, Chloe. Don't be a baby.” She followed her two friends. They had no idea that, she was right behind them. They walked for a little while. Jose said, “I don't think that we should let them see us. If we walk along the highway, they will. Ben answered, “No. We can't go out onto the highway. We stay back behind the trees. If we can spy on some of them, maybe they will talk about some of their plans, or something. Then, we'll know how many of them there are. Then, we tell Aidan and the others.” Jose said, “There is the highway.” He pointed through the trees in front of them. They stopped at the edge of the tree line. He pulled out some small binoculars, and held them to his eyes. He scanned in both directions. “There is nothing. Maybe, we should walk that way a little.” They headed the way Ben pointed to. Chloe followed. After walking a ways, they came to an old pathway. They stopped, and tried to see as far away as they could. Ben started to look through his binoculars, again. He said, “We have not been down that way, yet.” He pointed away from the road. Jose said, “We should mark some trees, if we are going that way.” He took a knife out of the sheath strapped around his waist. He started to mark X's on the trees, as they walked up the trail. Chloe still followed. Ben said, “Maybe, there is no one out here. We should go back. Those guys were blocking the road to stop us from using it.” Jose said, “Yeah. And, we can't do anything, anyway.” Ben said, “I was thinking that we could sneak up on them. Just, watch them for a while.” Jose said, “There is not much to watch out for here, Dude.” They turned around and started back for the orchard. Chloe stood on the pathway, with her hands on her hips. “What are you guys doing? Are you two crazy?” They were caught. “Jose said, “Oh...busted.” Ben accused her, while asking, “You're following us?” She said, “Uh, yes. What are you doing?” The two boy-men exchanged a look, again. Jose said, “She's your girl. You explain.” Chloe, now put the gun back into her waist. She said, “We need to get back. No one knows that we are out here.” Ben said, “We were just heading back.” Just then, two men came walking out from behind the trees. “Well. Well. Well.” one of them sarcastically blurted out. They were all caught by surprise. Jose said, “Come on!” Chloe, Ben, and Jose took off as fast as they could. The three of them ran back up the path. One man took out a gun, and started firing at them. Ben yelled, “This way!” He grabbed Chloe's arm, tugging her to the side. They ran off of the path, in an attempt to dodge bullets. Jose blurted out, “We need to go that way!” He pointed to the trees. They all jumped behind a large clump of wild, overgrown, bushes. They ran through some grass. Suddenly, one man jumped out from behind some trees. He grabbed Chloe by the arm. She tried to pull away from him. “Leave her alone!”Ben tackled the guy.

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  Chloe lost her footing, and fell to the ground. Ben and the man started fighting. The man started yelling for his friend. “A.J.! A.J. Over here!” Ben punched the man in the face. The man struggled with Ben, then punched him back. Jose picked up a large tree branch. The man started to get the best of Ben, now. The man yelled, “You little son of ...” Jose smacked the man in the head. That gave Ben the edge that he needed. The man yelled, “ Ow! I'm going to kill you little punks!” Now, Ben was on top of the man. He had started to beat the holy hell out the guy. Chloe cried, “Ben! Stop! That's enough!” Jose blurted out, “Get his gun!” He didn't wait for Chloe, he bent down and took a pistol out of the man's holster, while Ben held him down. Chloe picked up an AR-15 rifle that the man had dropped in his struggle. Ben stood up. The man sat up, while still sitting on the grass. Both he and Ben, were a mess from the struggle. Chloe pointed the rifle at him, “Who are you?” He laughed, “Honey, you aren't going to shoot me. But, me and my friends, we're going to kill you. All of you.” She shot out, “I asked, who are you?” The man had a real creepy look to him. He laughed, again. Ben asked, “What do you guys want? What is wrong with you?” The man focused on Ben, “I am living in a freaking zombie apocalypse, man! That's what is wrong with me, you little fool!” Jose asked, “Sir, are you on any medication? You know, any of those psychotropic meds that make you a lunatic?” The man looked at Jose, in surprise. He laughed, again, “Sir? Meds? Really?” Just then, the other guy came rushing from behind the trees. He was pointing some kind of a rifle at them. “Drop it, Girl! Now!” Chloe now, pointed her rifle right at the man. “No.” The man peered down at her. He was trying to intimidate her. Chloe held her gaze, without flinching. “If you shoot, so will I.” Jose protested, “Chloe, don't be crazy. Just put it down.” She blurted out, “No. They are not going to win, this time. They killed Keith. What do you think they will do to us?” The crazy looking guy, now stood up. “She has a point.” He laughed, his creepy laugh. “So, come on. Hand it over.” He ordered, as he held his hand out. His creepy smile, turned into a creepy glare. She turned, and aimed at him. She was jumpy. She swung her aim between the two. She yelled, “Get back!” Ben didn't know what to do. Should I go for the guy with the gun? he thought to himself. The man raised his gun higher. Jose yelled, “Whoa! Can we talk about this? Please?” The creepy man answered, “I think we should talk after you hand my guns back over. Then, you can tell us where your camp is.”

  “Camp?” asked Chloe. She glanced over at Ben. All of the sudden, Ben lunged at the man with the rifle. He tackled him. The man pulled the trigger on the rifle. It went off, as the two of them went down. The creepy looking man lunged for Chloe. He grabbed the AR-15. She held onto it. They struggled. Ben and the other man were wrestling around. They were fighting over the rifle. Jose watched the scene unfold. They both needed his help. The man who Chloe was struggling with started to over power her. He pushed her up against a tree. He held the rifle across her throat with one hand. Then, slapped her with the other. “Let ….it … go...you little brat!” Jose rushed him. He grabbed him around the neck and yanked him backwards. “Leave her alone!” he swung the man around, throwing him to the ground. The other two were still rolling around. They were fighting over the other man's gun. The man that Jose had thrown down, jumped up to his feet. He pulled out a hunting knife. He started swinging the knife at Jose. Jose jumped back. The man lunged at him, while swinging the knife. Chloe pointed the rifle at the man. She shot once. They all stopped, and looked at her. She looked down at the rifle. Then, she looked back at the man with the knife.

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  She missed. Ben, and the other man, started to fight harder. The man with the knife, smiled a crooked smile. He started to walk towards Chloe. He said,“Give me that gun!” She pulled the trigger, again. He stopped. He looked down at his mid-section. She did not miss that time. The look on his face changed from a glaring-smirk, to instant shock. He said, “I'm hit.” he looked up at her. “You shot me.” Now, pure hatred came over his face. He lunged at her with the knife in his hand. They all heard another shot from behind them. The man drew back. His jaw clinched in pain. He went down. They all heard an unknown female voice.”Let go of that boy!” Ben, and the other man stopped fighting, again. They all turned to see a middle-aged woman, accompanied by a German Shepherd dog. They stood behind them. She was pointing a gun at the man. She had a machete hanging from her side. And, an odd looking weapon slung over her back. Now, the man struggling with Ben let go, and jumped to his feet. She glared at the man. “Get him Pepper!” The dog took off and headed straight for the man. The man tried to run, but the dog jumped at him, grabbing his arm with h
is teeth. Then, pulling him to the ground. The man was screaming. The dog shook and pulled at him. He tore into the man. Jose, Ben, and Chloe all stood there, in shock. The woman marched over to the man. “Stop Pepper! Enough.” The dog let go of the man, walked to the woman, and sat next to her. The man moaned, in pain. He was bitten in several places on his arm. He had a long tear from the dog shaking him. He yelled, “You're dead! You're all dead!” He struggled to his feet. The woman aimed the gun at him. She shot him, point blank, in the head. He fell to the ground. She walked to the body of the other man. Then, stabbed him in the temple. She turned to the three that she had saved, “Are you kids out here alone?” All three were confused. They all exchanged a look of confusion. Chloe said, “For now. Are you alone?” Ruby said, “Yes, I am alone, Little Girl. Do you all have somewhere to stay?” Ben said, “Miss. Would you like to come back with us? To where we live?” Jose added, “We need to hurry. There may be more of these guys. They killed our friend.” The woman said, “I'm Ruby. And you're right, we need to hurry. I have been running from these guys for awhile, now. There are more of them. And, they are all dangerous. You kids should not be out here, alone.” Jose said, “I am Jose. This is Ben, and that is Chloe.” He pointed to his friends. Ben said, “Why don't you come back with us?” Chloe said, “Yes. It's not safe out here for you. And, thank you. Thank you, for helping us.” Ruby smiled, “You are welcome, Chloe. Are you with others?” Chloe said, “Yes. My Mom, and some other people.” Ruby looked around. She looked concerned, “We better hurry. Let's go back to my Hummer.” Ben said, “We'll have to go in through the back. They had to close off the driveways.” Ruby said, “That's a good idea. If any more of those guys can get to where your group is, they'll kill all of you.” Jose said, “ That, and a herd of zombies, bigger than a city. They are coming this way.” Ruby stopped, and looked at him in surprise, for a few seconds. Then, she turned, and continued walking. They followed her to her vehicle. When they came to the Hummer, the three watched, as Ruby removed large-leafy branches from around it. All three, started to help her. After it was uncovered, both Ben and Jose, focused onnthe steel plating, and other attributes of a totally revamped, armored and manned vehicle. They stared in wonder. Jose said, “Whoa!” Ben blurted out, “his is yours?” She said, “Yes. Come on, now. Those guys have friends that, are never far behind.” They all climbed into the Hummer. Ruby started it up and said, “Okay. Point the way to your place.” They showed her the way. When they came to the back entrance. Renee and Aidan stood on top of the steel container-wall, Aidan yelled, “Step out of the vehicle.” They had their rifles aimed at the Hummer.