“Sounds like quite the bitch.” Riley scoffed with his eyebrows raised. Harper and Damon nodded in agreement. Damon did not look forward to meeting the woman and whoever she had in the wagons.
“We need medical attention.” The woman shouted wrenching on the chain-link with her bleeding fingertips. She tried to hide that she was shaking. She must have been so cold.
“Look! There’s Damon now. Take your problems up with him.” Damon jumped out of the blazer to meet with the woman. He walked around the front of the brown horses. Both looked like they had one hoof in the glue factory. They snorted as he walked by. Their black manes were covered with silver pellets. Damon was expecting to see the bearded lady, but what he saw was the exact opposite. He was looking into piercing green eyes that were perfectly fit into a beautiful pale face. Her olive skin was set off by her short black hair. Her tight leather jacket squeezed her perky breasts. Even though she was covered with dirt he could tell she was perfect. His mouth went dry when she started for him, swinging her lovely hips from side to side. Her brows were drawn together, and her jaw was tight. He’d seen that look before. She’s pissed. “So you’re this Damon guy she’s talking about?”
“Yeah that’s me.” He said finally, finding his voice. “What kind of place are you running here, Damon?” “A safe one.” He responded quickly. “But nobody can get in if you’re not here?”
“You don’t like our rules you don’t get in. It’s as simple as that.” Damon shrugged his shoulders making the shotgun clank against his belt.
She hiked up a thin eyebrow. “Rules?” “Every newcomer has to be watched for a day in our watch tank and basically once you're in...you're in. If you go out you don't get back in. Unless you work for us and go out looking for supplies.” Damon stopped for a minute. “Once you're in make sure not to cause any trouble.”
She nodded. “Not terrible...vague...but not terrible. Do we get to keep out weapons?”
“Sure. They got ya here didn't they? Just know that if you try to use them against us, we'll kill you.”
“Fair enough. I’m Victoria.” She extended her gloved hand. “I’m Damon. Nice to meet ya.” Damon looked away from Victoria and down the line of wagons. Just passed the last wagon Damon could see more zombies coming. They were moving slower than normal, but they were still heading in their direction.
“Chloe open the gate.” He looked back to Victoria. “Get all your people out of the wagons...and I suggest that you hurry.” Victoria opened her mouth to protest when she saw the zombies but then quickly snapped it shut again. “You heard him.” She shouted to the wagon inhabitants walking down the line of them. “Hurry your asses up unless you want to be zombie food.” That got the people moving. Out of the first wagon were a mother and father with three kids all under the age of five. A man in his twenties who clutched a crying infant like a defensive running back gripping a football came out of the second wagon. He was followed by two young women and an elderly couple. The last wagon must have been for the sickest of the survivors. One woman walked hunched over and held her limp arm protectively. Another man was being carried over the shoulder of two other sick looking men. The ragtag group made their way through the gate under the watchful eyes of Riley and Harper. The two marines led the herd into the watch tank. Victoria led the team of horses through the gate and parked them next to the Welcome Center, which had drawn a lot of attention from the Vail survivors. Keegan and Marley tried to calm the small children down that had to go in the watch tank. They talked in high pitched voices telling it was okay even though they clung to their parents’ legs crying. “It’s okay. The beds are really fun to jump on. ” Marley said with a wide smile.
A middle aged woman with long curly hair attempted to take the infant from the man. He quickly turned his shoulder away. “Don't worry.” Damon caught the man on the other shoulder with a calm hand. “Diana's a nurse. She'll watch over the little one while you're in the tank.”
The man turned his sad face to Damon. The dark circles under his eyes made his skin appear bluer than it was. “I-I-can't.” He looked down at the baby that was wrapped in old T-shirts. “I promised her mother that I'd protect her.”
“Trust me. I know about a father's love, kid.” The man tried to calm the baby with a purple pacifier. “I'm not her dad. The baby's mom got bit and changed two weeks ago. She told me to keep her safe. We were holed up in an abandoned house outside of Denver when Victoria's crew found me.” Diana held out her arms, and the man hesitantly handed the infant to her. “She's probably hungry. She hasn't eaten since yesterday morning.”
Diana hugged the baby close to her and cooed. She looked up at the young man with kind eyes. “Don't worry, we'll get her fed and back in your arms before you know it.” She smiled, and then hurried to take the little bundle somewhere warmer.
Damon supervised the newcomers while Riley and Harper corralled them into the glass cage. The sickly woman with the bad arm shoved herself in the far corner making sure to not look at anything but the floor. Damon watched as the unconscious man was laid down on a cot. He wasn't sure if the man was dead or just sleeping, but he was sure that he would be watching him very closely. The young couple was sitting closet to the door with her children hanging tightly to their mother. The others sprinkled themselves around the room trying to get as comfortable as possible. Damon felt almost sorry for them because the area was so small. He never figured so many people would show up at the same time. He observed Victoria as she walked around from person to person checking to see how they were doing. Damon could feel his chest tighten as he looked her over. He realized that he was holding his breath and tried to tear his gaze away from her and back to the young man that came with the baby. He didn't notice that the young man had started sweating.
“Hey Damon.” Riley said as he plopped down next to the mechanic, propping his feet on the steel chairs in front of him. Damon hardly muttered a hello. “She's a total babe, huh?”
Hell yeah. “Who?” Riley laughed. “Yeah like we haven't noticed you eyehumpin' her.” “Shut it.” Damon pulled his gaze away from Victoria. “Where's Chloe and her book? I figured she'd be here by now.” He said immediately changing the subject.
Riley shrugged his shoulders. “Donno. Probably with that kid again. She can barely stay away from him longer than two minutes.”
Damon growled. “Can too.” Chloe piped from behind them nearly making Riley jump out of his skin. She had the black and white composition notebook tucked under her arm. “I was busy that's all.” Damon eyed the teenager with furrowed brows. She skipped along the glass and to the door. She opened the small window they installed to deliver supplies through. She announced who she was and what she was doing there.
One by one the new guests gave their names, birthdays and where they were from. Chloe flipped another page as she finished one with her pen that had purple feathers sprouting out the top. She got to the man that came with the baby. “It's...Billy. November 20th 1982.” He choked and coughed. Chloe noticed there was bright red blood on his lips. “And Denver-”
There was a scream. Everyone started scrambling around like spooked chickens in a coop. Damon shot upright in his chair and moved to the door. Chloe bounced back to his side. The unstoppable scene unfolded in front of the mechanic's eyes. The sickly woman in the corner with the bum arm watched the inhabitants with milky eyes. Her head hung at an acute angle dangling her stringy hair in front of her open mouth. Blackish blood covered her teeth. Victoria stood in the middle of the room protectively in front of the family. The zombie lunged-Harper rose his rifle-there was a metallic scrapping-the zombie's head was severed at the bridge of the nose before the big marine could get a shot off. Damon watched as the top of the old woman’s head hit the floor with a splat. As rapidly as she took out her sword, Victoria sheathed it across her back. The children in the tank buried their faces into their parents. Everyone else barely flinched. It seemed all the survivors had seen more than their share of death.
Through the commotion nobody noticed that Billy had stopped breathing. A trickle of blood ran from his nose. His closed eyes snapped open revealing clouded irises. A vicious growl rumbled from his chest. Billy's body hit Victoria from behind, his bleeding fingertips trying desperately to rip open her throat. She countered with a hard elbow to his jaw knocking him back, but his speed was much faster than regular zombies.
“Get down!” Harper' voice boomed as he flew through the glass door and fired his rifle. The bullet landed in Billy's frontal lobe before he could tear into anyone.
Damon followed the big marine through the door. “Anyone else bit?” His question echoed off the glass. His adrenaline was pumping. The watch tank had proved itself effective and a damn good idea. He rounded on Victoria. “It would have been nice of you to tell us that you had infected people with your group. You almost got these people killed.”
“I didn't know. We don't strip our people down and treat them like animals when they come to us for safety.” Victoria had her hands on her glorious hips, which Damon couldn't ignore even though he was angry.
Damon walked away and back out into the Welcome Center's main hall. He heard her yell about what was going to be done with the dead bodies. Damon nodded for Riley and Harper to take care of it. They reluctantly drug the two bodies out into the street. After they were finished with disposing of the bodies, Damon instructed the new patrol to keep an eye on all the watch tank inhabitants. Damon had hired them more than a month ago so that Riley, Harper and he didn't have to work so hard. Of course, there was no pay. Money was worthless in the new world they all lived in. Food and shelter were the new silver and gold.
A month before Damon and the group decided to give the survivors jobs. They had the hospital mostly up and running. They just needed more professionals to fill the positions though. They were up to one doctor and two nurses. The doctor was actually a heart surgeon from Omaha that happened to be in Colorado for a meeting. With the increase in population Damon had to delegate jobs for other survivors in the safe zone. Patrols made regular rounds now. Damon hadn't been on a patrol since they were established. All the streets and buildings had been cleaned up so the safe zone didn't look like a horror movie set anymore. All useable supplies were transferred from all the buildings and into the fire station where it remained under lock and key. Marco delegated the rations for the people. Damon hoped they had enough food to get through the winter.
Chapter 42
“We're almost out of food, Homes.” Marco was counting the boxes of Mac-N-Cheese. “If you call this powdered cheese food. Nothin' like momma used to make.” He sat back against a short stack of canned peas. “What I wouldn't give for some tamales and beans.”
Damon took the count and went over the list not listening to Marco's rant about food. It was only making him hungry. He had been hearing complaints from everybody all winter. They did have a point though. There was one thing they all had in common...wanting fresh food, mainly meat. I guess there's a little zombie in all of us. “We need hunting parties.” He said plainly, the answer was right in front of him.
Marco stopped mid chew of a pork rind. “Hunting? I ain't from the backwoods like you, Homes.”
“We'll just have to find people that can hunt.”
“We can do that.” Riley said and clapped a hand on Harper' shoulder.
Damon cocked an eyebrow at the marine. “You hunt?” Riley looked a little offended. “What? We used to hunt down insurgents in Afghanistan.”
“But we have to do this without wasting ammunition.” Harper added. “We're gonna need more than two people to hunt and bring back the kills. I better call a meeting so we can see how many people we got that know how to hunt and clean meat.”
“Sounds like a plan, but I don't want to be a babysitter out there.” Harper said. “We will only let people go that we think won't screw it up.” Damon looked back at the deteriorating food supply. “We are going to have to have people go out and look for food and supplies too. Maybe we can find someone to use that crossbow.”
Riley whistled and sat on a bench near the fire suits. “Who'd a thought this would be so hard?” “It keeps us young.” Damon responded.
“It keeps us busy.” Harper replied quietly.
Damon needed some air. All of a sudden he was feeling rather stressed. He walked through the doorway. His head was down when he ran into Victoria. Over the last couple of weeks the two had talked nearly every day. “Whow…sorry.” He said as he side stepped her.
“No problem. I was just coming to see what I can do to help around here. It feels wrong to sit around do nothing when other people are working around you.” Her frozen breath puffed in his face.
Damon watched her thin lips as they moved. “Well, uh we are getting a meeting together to figure that out. Mostly we need hunting groups and people to look for supplies.”
Victoria listened and fidgeted. “That means going outside the fence...I'm totally in.” She didn't try to hide her excitement. “Well that's mighty nice of you, but we don't want anyone to get hurt.” Faster than Damon could register she took a dagger from her belt, turned to the tall maple tree behind her, and skillfully threw the blade. It stuck into a knot just at the base of the first limb. “That's nice of you to worry, but don't waste your time on me.” She winked.
“I'd say she can come along.” Damon was speechless. Harper said for him. “Finally someone else can watch your back.” He cracked.
The mechanic narrowed his mahogany eyes and glared. “Remember who found you in the cooler marinating.” He fired back. Harper held up his hands in surrender but said nothing. The big marine was still smiling. “Well you can start by helping us get a meeting together. We need at least one person per household. You can tell your people and the rest at the apartment building.” Damon got into the Silverado.
Once they had as many survivors as they could fit into the Welcome Center Damon called them to order. The myriad of people stood shoulder to shoulder looking up at Damon who stood on a replica of Vail in the center. He looked out across the heads of his people; he lost count after about fifty. He quickly found Victoria who melted into the dark backdrop of the wall. She was standing next to a man Damon had never seen before. He felt an odd sensation boil in his stomach. He ignored the man and started the meeting. “I'm gonna make this quick because we are packed in here like sardines. We need volunteers to form hunting and scavenging parties. This means that as a group you will go out and find supplies in surrounding cities.” There were a lot jeers from the crowd. Damon raised his hands to hush the mob. “I know what I'm asking because I have been forging for supplies for a long time now. I know most of you have done the same, but it's the only way we are going to survive. We still have probably another month of winter, and we have a lot of mouths to feed.”
“But those things are out there.” A woman shouted from somewhere in the middle. “Well if some families didn't eat so much.” A man in the back said. His red bread draped down to his gut. He pointed at the couple with three kids that showed up with Victoria's group. The father ignored the brute and continued staring forward as he shook his head.
“What if the people that go out get bit and bring the infection back here?” A fat man in front asked. He reminded Damon of his brother. He wondered what Keith was doing at that moment, and what he would say about all Damon had accomplished. Probably, see what happens when you want to take care of a lot of people.
“The parties will be inspected upon return and spend the night in the tank.” Most in the crowd thought that sounded like a good idea, while others shook their heads and grumbled. “Who will volunteer?”
It seemed nobody in the crowd wanted to risk their hides for the means to keep them fed. Victoria stepped forward, which Damon was thankful for because he was starting to feel awkward. “Count me in. I'll hunt or scavenge it doesn't matter to me.”
“Hunting.” A rough looking man in the corner said. He was dressed head to toe in camouflage and looke
d like he was ready to leave that very second.
The father of the family raised his hand. “I'm no hunter, but I can look for supplies.” His fearful wife clutched tightly onto his hand. More followed after that. Damon was happy with the turnout, two hunting parties of five and two scavenging parties. Damon decided that he, Riley, Harper and Chloe would be a single party that would be more opportunistic. He dismissed the other non-volunteers to their homes. He instructed the parties to check every room of every house and building. The rest was simple. Stay together, find anything useful, and don't get bit. Everyone seemed to agree on the last part.
“Make sure to bring back all the food you can, expired or not.” Damon reminded them just before they split for the evening. They used the map in the Welcome Center to choose locations.
Victoria snaked up next to Damon as the room emptied. She was close enough that he could smell her short hair. Roses. “Your plan is good, but may I make one suggestion?” She smiled at him with a playful grin. She looped her arm in his as they walked out of the Welcome Center.
Are you flirting with me? “Shoot.” “I think we should look for seeds and stuff like that. There should be lots of them in the stores since the outbreak was in April.” “Seeds?” Damon hadn't thought about a renewable food source.
“Then we could grow vegetables in the spring.” “That's a great idea.” Damon saw Victoria blush with pride. “We'll go tomorrow.”
“Can I join up with your group?” Damon thought about it. He hesitated. Would I be distracted if she were there? “Sure, if you don't mind doing things by the seat of your pants.”
He saw Harper walk down the street. He knew where the big marine was headed to. He had recently moved into the contemporary house on Main and Woodlawn. He removed the toys from the front yard and took them to the apartment building where most of the families were staying. Damon was sure that Liz was with him because he hadn't seen her in almost a week. Marco moved into the house down the street that fit more his style. Damon, Chloe and Riley were the only ones that still lived in the fire station.
Zombie Revolution Page 25
