AniZombie 2: The Refuge

by Ricky Sides

  “They look perfect to me,” Herb reassured her.

  A knock sounded at the door and Herb turned to face it. “That’s probably the team,” he said as he moved toward the door.

  “Breakfast will be ready in a few more minutes. You men stay in there until I call you, please.”

  “You’ve got it,” Herb said as he opened the door. Randy was standing on his porch, and Herb could see Jason and Ed a few yards from his cabin. “Come inside, guys. Erma says breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. We’re to stay out from underfoot while she finishes up in the kitchen.”

  The men sat down on the small sofa and two chairs. Was that Trevor I saw walking away from your cabin earlier?” Randy asked.

  “Yes, he wanted to ask for another chance,” Herb explained.

  Randy nodded his understanding. “He’s serious about the work. I’ve never known him to mess up while on duty until yesterday.”

  “What was up with that?” Jason asked. “That stunt could have gotten us killed,” he added.

  Herb knew that Randy was aware of Trevor’s background, but not everyone in the refuge was. It was time for the rest of his team to learn the reason behind Trevor’s behavior the previous day. He sighed and said, “It’s not a pleasant thing to talk about when you’re about to eat, guys, so I’ll spare you the details. Trevor was one of the first few people Randy and I brought back to the refuge. He was in a rural area, outside a small town to the east. He had his wife and two kids with him and they were traveling in his truck when the radiator blew a hose. They were stranded on the road, miles from nowhere. The family was forced to walk west as they tried to stay ahead of the spread of zombies from Forrest City. A pack of wild dogs caught them out in the open. They killed his two kids and his wife. They bit him too, but he managed to kill all six of them with his pistol. They were anizombies. He knew that because they wouldn’t stay down until he shot them in the head.”

  Herb grew silent after detailing that much of Trevor’s history. Briefing his men made him feel happy that he had opted to keep the man involved with the guard duty program. Normally, he was rock solid. He just had a thing about anizombies, and probably always would, due to what had happened to his family.

  In the silence that followed Herb’s explanation of Trevor’s behavior, Randy spoke up. He said, “I’ll never forget how broken he looked. He hadn’t even treated his wounds when we got to him. He had sat down beside the bodies of his wife and kids. I think he may have been considering ending it then and there, but he never said as much. Herb and I, we heard his gunshots and found him sitting on the road.”

  When Randy grew silent, Jason said, “It must have been hard on the guy. And knowing that you two had to shoot them to prevent them from becoming zombies wouldn’t make it any easier.”

  “We didn’t have to do that,” Randy said.

  “You mean he...”

  “Gentlemen! Breakfast is ready,” Erma announced loudly, interrupting Jason’s comment.

  “Let it go, guys,” Herb said under his breath as he got up and headed for the table.

  “Everything looks so good, Erma. Thank you for all your hard work,” Randy said politely as he took his customary seat at the table.

  “You’re welcome. Thanks to Martha’s patience with me, I’ve come a long way since the early days of our marriage,” Erma said.

  “You were already a good cook,” Herb said.

  “On a modern stove, and with canned biscuits, maybe, but I needed help with more primitive cooking methods, and with learning to make bread from scratch,” Erma responded. She smiled at her husband, pleased by his praise.

  Herb frowned when he saw the place settings that Erma had laid out. “You’re short one, dear,” he said.

  “Didn’t I tell you I’m not eating here this morning?” Erma asked.

  “No, you didn’t mention it.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. No, I’ve got to get to cooking class with Martha. I promised to help her teach some of the new people how to prepare a variety of dishes with the available food stores. After that, I’ll be going to check on Bill Wiley to see how he’s assimilating.”

  “Okay, don’t worry about cleaning up here. I’ll get that when we finish our meeting,” Herb promised.

  “I was hoping you’d be here long enough to lend a hand,” Erma replied. “You’re not leaving today are you?”

  “I won’t know until we get the radio update. They are scheduled to update us at some point this morning.”

  Erma wrapped her arms around her husband and hugged him. He returned her embrace. “You don’t leave without seeing me, okay?”

  “Like I’d do that?” Herb responded.

  “You would if you thought it would save a life,” Erma said. “And in that case, I wouldn’t hold it against you. Just make certain you don’t do it for any other reason.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Good, then I’ll see you later,” Erma said, and then she gave her husband a quick kiss.

  “Thank you for breakfast, Erma,” Ed said as she headed for the cabin door, prompting the others to voice their appreciation as well.

  “You’re welcome, of course. You men watch after Herb for me when you go on your missions, so I never mind feeding you guys.”

  Erma left and the men settled down to their breakfast. They ate in companionable silence. When they finished their meal, Jason said, “Earlier, you said that you and Herb didn’t have to shoot Trevor’s dead family to ensure they didn’t become zombies. Does that mean he had already done it?”

  Herb nodded, but said nothing in response. Randy also nodded his head, but he added, “Trevor was a Sheriff’s Deputy in St. Francis County, over in Forrest City. He knew, better than most, what would happen to his wife and kids.”

  “He didn’t shoot them before they died, did he?” Jason asked.

  “No,” Herb answered. “Their throats had been ripped out by the dogs. It was a big pack. He killed three before they closed with his family, but then they were all over them and he couldn’t fire at the animals attacking his wife and kids for fear of hitting them. As he explained it to us, one leaped at him. He used his left arm to fend off the attack. The dog bit that arm and knocked him down. He lost his pistol during the fall, but grabbed it as the dog let go of his left arm, trying to get at his throat. He killed it, and then got to his feet to help his family, but by then it was too late. The pack had them all down on the ground. He had to walk up to them and shoot them at point blank range to ensure that he wouldn’t hit his family. When he killed the last dog, the kids were already dead and his wife was dying.”

  “Damn, man. That sucks,” Jason said. “That had to mess with his mind.”

  “He was a mess,” Randy admitted. “He had just made sure his family didn’t turn when we got to him. I think he was a minute or so away from turning the pistol on himself, but Herb told him we had a cure with us. That’s why he reacted the way he did yesterday. It was his first encounter with a dog he thought was an anizombie since he lost them, and he knows for a fact the immunizations won’t help one damned bit if they get to you and rip out your throat.”

  The men were silent for a moment, and then Jason said, “I was mad at him yesterday, but now I understand why he did what he did. I think you did the right thing pulling him off gate duty, but I’m glad you let him stay on as a tower guard. He’ll need something to occupy his time.”

  “He’s a good man in a fight,” Herb agreed. “He’s too good not to use in some capacity as a fighter.” He looked at Jason and Ed and said, “Don’t take what he did as a sign of cowardice. The man’s not a coward. He just has a better reason than most to know what an anizombie can do to a human. He really felt what he was doing was best for the people of the refuge. Had Sheba been an anizombie, who knows, he may have been right. She might have survived long enough to permit the human zombies to close with you while you fought her. An anizombie won’t run away. They’ll circle around and come at you from another
direction, but they won’t run away.”

  “I’ve heard you fought a pack of anizombie German Shepherds,” Ed said.

  “Yes, I did,” Herb said. “And I didn’t come away from it unscathed either.” He took a few moments to relate the story to his team. Randy had heard it before, but it was new to Jason and Ed who listened with rapt attention as he detailed the battle.

  When he finished telling them about his fight with the anizombies, Herb glanced at his watch and said, “I’d hoped we’d hear from the people in Newport by now, but we haven’t. I guess we need to discuss the mission and decide if we want to take it on or not.”

  “What if they don’t contact us again?” Randy asked.

  “Then that means they have probably fallen to the zombies, and we won’t be going,” Herb said bluntly. “I won’t risk the vehicle and our team on an impossible mission. They were going to try to move to a safer place where we would have some chance of getting to them and extracting them. If they fail to make contact, then I’ll be forced to assume they all died trying to relocate.”

  “Okay, so what are we going to do? Should we wait to hear from them before trying to plan the mission?” Randy asked.

  “Certain parts of it, yes, but there are some things we can do now. First, we need to decide if everyone is willing to go on the mission. If we decide to do so, then we need to prep the vehicle and stow weapons and ammunitions, as well as supplies aboard it.”

  “I’m game,” Jason said.

  “You haven’t heard the details yet,” Herb pointed out. “We’re talking about a city with around 8,000 zombies. I’m sure some have left the town and gone into the surrounding countryside, but that would still leave a very large number of them for us to face.”

  “What can you tell us about the group?” asked Ed.

  “Not much. There are eight people involved. I don’t have the demographics of the group.”

  “I’d have thought that would have been one of the first bits of information they would have transmitted,” Jason said with a surprised expression on his face.

  “So would I,” Herb agreed. “Frankly, I’m beginning to think they’re trying to hide something.”

  “You do?” Randy asked. Then he said, “You didn’t mention that yesterday.”

  “Bill’s arrival interrupted us before we could finish that meeting,” Herb pointed out.

  “If you’re suspicious of them, then why are we even discussing a mission?” Randy asked. “You’ve got good instincts. I trust your opinion. It’s not like you are prone to mistakes on that score.”

  “Thanks, but I’m not at all sure I’m right to be suspicious. There could be very good reasons for them to be evasive. There may be several women among them. Mentioning them on the radio to strangers could lead to the wrong kind of people showing up to get them.”

  “Yeah, that’s true. These days, there are men out there taking women captive,” Jason said somberly. “Like the incident we investigated last month. I’m pretty sure someone killed those two men because they were traveling with women.”

  “That’s the way it looked to me too,” Herb stated. He had seen the women’s clothing that was strewn along the road. “Yeah, there could be good reasons to be evasive, but I can’t ignore the fact that there could also be some sinister reasons involved. That’s why I wanted another contact with them before committing us to a rescue attempt.”

  “Well, I’m with you in whatever decision you make,” Randy said.

  Jason and Ed also voiced their support for following Herb’s lead with regard to the mission.

  “All right, then it’s settled. We go if the radio contact warrants the mission. You three see to prepping the bus. Randy, you make certain to load enough ammunition for a serious firefight, and be sure to double check the hydraulic gunner’s seat. Jason, you see to the food and water. Make it enough for several days for twelve people. It should be a one or two day mission, but you never know what could happen. Ed you’re the team medic in the field, so you go to the clinic and get an advanced medical kit together. Draw a hundred immunization syringes from the clinic too. Make certain they are in one of the hard-shell, padded containers, and I want that stowed in a safe place inside the bus. I’ll be along as soon as I finish up here.”

  “We could help clean up the breakfast stuff before we go,” Randy said.

  “Thanks, but I want the bus ready in case we do need to go today, so you’d best get to seeing to the preparations. And don’t forget to draw plenty of diesel fuel. Top off the tanks and get a few extra cans.”

  When Randy gave him a puzzled look at that order, Herb added, “I know the trip shouldn’t use anywhere near a tank of fuel, but anything can happen. I don’t want to have to abandon the bus because we run out due to a leaking fuel line.”

  “You can say that again,” Randy said as he got to his feet and led the other two men out.

  ***

  Herb was still stacking the dishes on the countertop beside the sink when a knock sounded at his door. The knocking was loud and fast, as if the caller was impatient. Herb went to the door and opened it. He saw one of the radio operators waiting.

  “Good, you’re here,” the man said. “Those people you’ve been waiting to hear from just made contact on the radio. They made it to a safer area in the city.” He handed Herb a sheet of paper that he had made notes on while talking with the survivors. “Can you read my writing? I was in a rush and I’m afraid it’s pretty sloppy.”

  “It’s fine. This is better than mine on my best day,” Herb said as he read the contents of the notes written by the radio operator. “Thank you. Get them back on the radio and tell them we’ll be there at some point tomorrow. They should sit tight and don’t do anything to draw attention to themselves.”

  “I’ll get them on the radio as soon as I get back to the shack,” the man responded, referring to the small radio building.

  “Good. If you are able to get them and give them the message, you needn’t bother coming back and reporting. If you can’t reach them, or anything seems wrong when you talk to them, then let me know. I’ll be here for thirty minutes, and then I’ll be joining my team at the bus. We’ll be leaving in a couple of hours, but don’t mention that on the radio.”

  “You’ve got it, Herb,” the man responded, and then he jogged off to make radio contact with the people in Newport.

  Herb finished washing the breakfast dishes and left them to dry in the rack beside the sink. Then he wiped off the countertop and table. He grabbed his rifle on the way out and went to see his team at the bus.

  Chapter 5

  Bitten.

  The grey Mercedes Sprinter minibus was stored behind Herb’s cabin. It was kept underneath a roof that was attached to the side of the armory. He found the three members of his team at the bus going over their preparations to ensure that they hadn’t forgotten anything.

  Randy noted his friend’s approach and greeted Herb when he arrived. “We saw the radio man heading for your cabin,” he informed Herb.

  Herb nodded and said, “They made it to their pickup point. I told him to tell them we would be there sometime tomorrow, but we’re leaving today. We don’t know what the roads will be like on the mission. We may need that extra time to get there, but I’m hoping we can pick them up today and head back here.”

  Jason nodded in approval. “I take it you’re thinking someone might be aware we are coming and seek to set up a trap, so you want to arrive early.”

  “There is that to consider, yes, but my primary concern is the condition of the roads. We may hit sections that are impassable due to traffic jams that were never cleared. If that happens, who knows how far we’ll have to backtrack, or how many times we may have to detour in order to get to them.”

  “Okay, well, I reckon we’ve got everything loaded except the extra fuel,” Randy stated. “I was going to get that next.”

  “Do that, then go see Amy and let her know we’re leaving and hope to be back by tonight,
but most likely it will be late tomorrow,” Herb instructed his friend. “If you two want to see anyone before we leave, now’s the time. We leave in an hour and a half.”

  “Then you’d better go find Erma,” Randy advised his friend.

  “I’m going to do just that,” Herb responded. “Don’t make me have to come looking for you guys when it’s time to go,” he added, and then he left to go find Erma.

  “I think I’ll go see a friend before I leave too,” Jason said, surprising his teammates.

  “You’ve got a girl now?” Ed asked.

  “Not yet, but I’m working on it. We’ll see how things develop.”

  Ed frowned at his friend and cautioned, “Don’t move too slow. You know the men still outnumber the women here, so you’ve got competition for her attention.”

  Jason shook his head and said, “I won’t rush her. She lost her family to the zombies. She’s vulnerable now. I don’t want to see her hurt.”

  “Most everyone has lost someone you know,” Ed said. “That won’t keep most of the guys here from going after her.”

  “Let him do it at his own pace, Ed. I for one think it’s good that he’s worried about her,” Randy interjected.

  “I do too. I just don’t want to see him lose out because he’s taking too long. Some of the guys here would ask a woman to form a relationship with them the day after they buried their husbands,” Ed replied.

  “Yeah, I know, and I think that’s disgusting,” Jason said, scowling at his friend.

  “I never said I would,” Ed replied defensively. He raised his hands as if to ward off an unwarranted accusation.

  “What about you? Aren’t you going to see your girl before we leave?” asked Randy.

  “Of course,” Ed replied.

  “Okay, well, you guys get to it. I’ll get the fuel loaded up, and then I’m going to find Amy. Remember, Herb said not to be late, so we meet back here on time,” he admonished the men as he was leaving to follow his friend’s orders. As Herb’s second-in-command, Randy took the position seriously.