Randy slowed down as he lost sight of the Zombie that’d been trailing them. It was just one Zombie, but the screeching could summon a lot more. He had no desire to be around when that happened. He looked over at Kelly who was leaning forward in the passenger seat staring out the front windshield as the familiar landscape rolled by. They’d driven this road hundreds of times in the past. It looked almost the same today as it had before the apocalypse. It could’ve been a normal drive home from work other than the overgrown median and the occasional car pulled over to the side of the road. It was another of those surreal moments he was worried may break Kelly’s hold on sanity. They were now so close to where they’d left the kids that he knew it was going to start eating at her if they didn’t find them right away. She wasn’t the most patient of people even in the best of times.
They went through the tolls headed south towards Oviedo. The LED signs above each lane through the toll booths were dead now, but Randy assumed they’d said the tolls were suspended when people were evacuating back when there was still a government to issue evacuation orders. In Florida they tended to treat any emergency the same way they treated a hurricane. He shuddered at the thought of how many people must’ve been urged to congregate in shelters in the beginning. Sticking people together under one roof with an airborne version of the virus circulating. He was trying to get the images out of his head of how horrific that must’ve turned out when Kelly tapped him on the knee.
“What the hell is all that up there?” She asked. Her brow creased as she stared down the road towards the bridge that would take them across the lake. Randy slowed down to try and figure it out as well. There were some really large things moving around on the road up ahead.
He continued to slow down as they got closer. Pretty soon they were close enough to make out what was going on. There’d always been herds of cows who lived along the edge of the lake. Those cows were now running together across the road and disappearing down the embankment on the other side. After the cows disappeared down the embankment a handful of Zombies came charging up from the other side of the road. The Zombies didn’t notice the stopped cars or the people sitting in them as they were focused on catching the herd of cows. The Zombies all disappeared over the embankment. Immediately following the Zombies two low slung shapes came up over the side of the embankment and lazily crawled across the road.
“Are those alligators?” Randy asked. It was a rhetorical question as it became very obvious very quickly that’s what they were.
“The cows must be running from the Zombies who must be feeding on them. I assume the alligators are feeding on the Zombies. Let’s just get across the bridge before whatever eats alligators shows up.” Kelly said.
“I just wish I could hear the conversation Gordon and Tony must be having right now.” Randy said with a grin. He was imagining the formal and nuanced reaction of Gordon to the weird circle of life playing out in front of them contrasted to the coarse and vulgar way he was sure Tony would be reacting. Hesitating for another second to make sure nothing else emerged from the swampy lakeside to cross the road in front of them Randy let off the brake and crossed over the bridge. Looking over towards where the cows had gone as they crossed, they could see the heifers retreating around the lake edge with the Zombies following them. The alligators had gone into stealth mode, but Randy was sure they’d be able to track the alligators progress by simply watching for Zombies suddenly disappearing underneath the shallow water and never coming back up.
Still grinning Randy looked over at Kelly to see if his comment had amused her at all. One look told him she either hadn’t heard him or had dismissed off-hand whatever he’d said. She looked upset and teary eyed. The weird phenomena they’d just witnessed had taken her mind off the kids for a second but then she’d snapped right back more worried than ever. With stuff like the weird alligator Zombie parade going on less than ten miles from their house it was hitting her how hard of a time the kids would’ve had trying to survive. They’d have had her mom with them, but this was still too much. It was too much for anyone.
Randy held her hand as they drove in silence. Neither of them could think of anything to say. Kelly was petrified anything she said now would somehow jinx them finding the kids. Randy was frozen because he couldn’t think of anything to say to make Kelly feel better. There was nothing he could say right now and no tone of voice he could say it in that was going to help. He focused on the road and holding her hand and tried to fight back his own fear of what they were going to find when they finally got to the house.
They made it past the first exit after the bridge and were heading up a hill on a curvy part of the road when they saw three trucks driving the other way on the north bound side of the tollway. The trucks were packed with people in camouflage holding guns. Randy put his foot down on the pedal.
“Do you think they saw the plane landing?” Kelly asked him.
Of course, the plane would’ve been obvious to anyone in the area Randy thought. He was kicking himself for being so stupid. They’d cutoff a lot of risk by going around Georgia and Florida over the ocean. They should’ve considered how to hide the plane approaching Orlando. He didn’t know how they could’ve done that short of flying in and attempting a night time landing with no lights on the ground. That seemed like it may have been more dangerous than three pickup trucks full of wannabe Rambos.
Randy glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw that Tony was keeping up. He was sure they’d have noticed the trucks as well. Thinking quickly Randy decided the best course of action would be to get off at the next exit. That happened to be the exit they needed to get off on anyway, so it worked out pretty well. Hopefully the guys in the trucks wouldn’t be able to get turned around fast enough to see them getting off on the exit.
They got to the exit and it was completely blocked by a wreck that looked like an ambulance had slammed into a UPS truck.
“Go across the median! We can go down the other side. Or try the next exit.” Kelly exclaimed from the passenger seat. She was staring at him while he sat there frozen in place trying to figure out what to do next. Deciding any action was better than just sitting there he drove slowly into the median. The median was about forty yards across at this point. It was a large, gently sloping drainage ditch in between the north and south bound sides of the tollway. The long grass and weeds that’d grown up there covered the stream that was running lazily through the thick mud at the bottom of it.
The van hit the stream and stopped. Randy pumped on the accelerator and felt the front of the van dig into the mud even deeper as they lurched forward a few feet. Behind them they heard Tony beep the horn of the little red sedan. This was exactly why they had him driving a chaser car. Randy and Kelly bailed out of the van and ran over to the red car. It took them a minute to navigate the thick mud and tall weeds to get to the car. Once there they opened the back door and piled in. Tony put the car in reverse and started driving them backwards up the hill to the side of the road they’d just tried to leave.
They hit the asphalt at the top and Tony spun the steering wheel to get them lined up correctly on the road. The he slammed down on the gas pedal to accelerate with all the power the poor little car could muster. The tires spun out for a second on the dirt and grime covered road before gaining traction and rocketing them forward. Tony was driving while Gordon was looking behind them to try and see if he could see the trucks coming. Randy and Kelly were trying to get comfortable in the cramped back seat on top of Gordon and Tony’s gear with their own gear hanging off of them at crazy angles.
“The trucks are coming!” Gordon squeaked out. If his words hadn’t been so terrifying, they’d have made fun of his squeaky voice. Tony filed it away in the back of his head to use to make fun of Gordon at a later date if they happened to live through the next ten minutes.
Kelly and Randy turned around to look out the back window.
“They’re back there but they don’t seem like they’re trying to catch us o
r anything.” Randy said.
“Probably afraid if they get too close, we’ll start shooting at them.” Tony answered from the driver’s seat where he was simultaneously trying to look in the rearview and keep them from crashing into anything on the road ahead.
“Do we know they want to fight us?” Gordon asked. He seemed to have gotten control of his voice for now.
“They’re chasing us, and they have guns.” Kelly answered sarcastically. That seemed to settle the matter for her.
They drove on. They drove for another ten minutes with the trucks behind them maintaining about a hundred yards of distance between them. They were heading up another hill when all of the tires on the little red sedan blew out simultaneously.
Tony cursed in surprise while struggling to regain control of the car. They were sliding down the road sideways at about sixty miles per hour. The car felt like it was going to flip at any second. There was no telling what they may hit. The steering wheel was completely useless in Tony’s hands. The brakes weren’t doing anything to slow them down either. Just for kicks Tony pulled the emergency brake. The emergency brake didn’t help them slow down any at all either since they were sliding sideways on four blown tires. The metal guardrail they bounced off of a second later ate up a lot of their momentum though.
Randy was disoriented by the impact with the guardrail. He struggled to clear his head as the car finally stopped moving. The trucks were pulling up in a semi-circle around them. The men in the trucks looked like they were ready to jump out as soon as the they came to a complete stop. Randy worked the handle on his side of the car, but the door wouldn’t budge. He reached across Kelly who was struggling to sit up and pulled on her door handle. Kelly’s door opened easily. Randy started to crawl over Kelly to go out on that side, but she put her hand on his chest and pushed him back. She’d pulled herself together enough to know what was going on. Making sure the safety was off on her M-16 she lurched out of the car and went around to the side opposite where the trucks were working to encircle them.
Randy followed right behind her. The men from the trucks had scrambled out of their pickups and were setting up in firing positions. They were using their vehicles as cover the same as Randy and Kelly were. No shots had been fired yet. Randy was thankful that if they did need to start shooting, they were each carrying a small arsenal.
“Now what?” Tony asked. He’d gotten out of the car and was standing on the other side of Kelly. All three of them had their rifles resting on the hood of the car.
“You cover the truck on the left, Kelly take the middle and I’ll shoot up the right one. Unless you guys have any other ideas? Is Gordon ok?” Randy asked.
Gordon had smashed his face into the dashboard during the collision. He was sitting up in the front seat moaning and holding his chest where the airbag had hit him. His face was covered in blood. He looked like the poster child for severe head trauma.
“If the shooting starts, he’s pretty much going to die in the crossfire if we leave him there.” Kelly said. She was trying to figure out what they could do with him. The way the trucks were circling them they didn’t have much in the way of cover outside where they were already standing. She was thinking they should pull him out the driver’s side door and lay him down on the road by their feet when another vehicle drove up to join the party.
The black Range Rover parked beside the pickup trucks. Everyone shifted around to acknowledge the new arrival. Tony asked if they should wake up Gordon. He pointed out now they had four cars to shoot at instead of three. They waited with weapons ready until the passenger door to the luxury SUV opened up and a large man dressed in fatigues, a leather jacket and a t-shirt got out. He looked over at them and smiled.
“Hey there. I’m Amos. I’m in charge around here. I’m assuming you all flew in on the airplane earlier?”
“You always welcome visitors with spike strips and ambushes?” Randy asked in return. Amos ignored the question.
“If you folks want to put down your weapons, we’ll put ours down and we can have a civilized conversation and maybe help each other out. Here, I’ll start it off.” Amos drew his pistol and laid it in the passenger’s seat of the Range Rover. The he started walking over towards them. Randy, Kelly and Tony all had their weapons up and at the ready.
“Just stand over there. We can talk fine with you over there.” Randy said. In his peripheral vision he saw the men in the trucks shifting around. If it came down to a straight up shoot out, then the guys in the pickups were going to have all the advantages. Randy knew if he pulled the trigger it was really likely they’d all die. Even if they won the fight there was no way they were getting out without getting shot up pretty bad. The guys in the pickup would have to be complete morons to let that happen. Looking over at how they’d spread out he could tell they had some discipline which probably translated into some skill with the weapons they were holding as well.
“You guys flew in to my town loaded for war. Then you drove in two stolen cars from my airport. My guess is you’re here looking for somebody. Children maybe? Parents? I can tell you right now we keep tabs on everyone living around here. So, who are you looking for?” Amos looked at them expectantly.
“We’re looking for our children.” Kelly blurted out. “All we want to do is grab them and we’ll be out of here. We can leave the guns and everything for you if you want them. We had no idea anyone considered the airport and the cars parked there to be their property. We just want to get our girls back.”
A strange look crossed the man’s face. He took a few steps forward to stare at Kelly then at Tony and Randy.
“How many girls do you have?” He asked.
“We have four.” Kelly answered excitedly.
“Hmm. Is one named Caitlyn and one’s named Maria or something like that?” Amos asked.
“Yes! Yes! That’s them! Where are they? Have you seen them? Are they ok?” Kelly had pretty much forgotten she was supposed to be pointing her weapon at the guy in her excitement.
“Saw them all about a week ago. The older ones have your eyes and hair. I thought you looked familiar for some reason. We sent them to one of the houses we’re protecting. I can take you over there to collect them if you’d like.” Amos said with his hands spread and palms up in front of him.
“Yes. Yes. We’d like that very much!” Kelly agreed.
“Ok. We’re going to need you guys to put down your weapons though. I can’t allow people I don’t know to go to one of our safe houses packing heat. I’m sure you understand that right.”
Chapter 7: Better Living Through Pharmaceuticals
Eric swallowed the pills Myriah had handed him then sat back down again. Myriah had thought he was going to take the pills and they were going to roll out of there and back to the lake house. She squatted beside him and asked him quietly what was wrong.
“I just need another second to rest. My arm feels like it’s on fire. Give me ten minutes then we’ll be on our way.”
Myriah nodded with a worried expression on her face. Eric wasn’t the type to want to rest or to hold anyone up. He was normally the one leading them through the swamp fighting off Zombies with one hand and carrying one of the little kids with his other arm. The man had always seemed like a force of nature to Myriah. To see him weak like this was freaking her out. She sat down next to him and looked around in the darkness. She knew there was a large plaza on the other side of the street that had a Publix and a bunch of other plaza type stores. If this pharmacy had been a bust the plan had been to go across the street and see what they could find at the Publix pharmacy instead.
Myriah impatiently counted off the ten minutes in her head. Deciding it’d been long enough she nudged Eric to get his attention. Looking over at him when he didn’t respond to the nudge, she saw that he was fast asleep. Judging them to still have a few hours before daybreak she decided to give him another thirty minutes to rest. Then she was going to wake him up no matter what so they could get moving. It wou
ldn’t be good to get caught out in the open like this once the sun was up.
Myriah jerked awake. She was leaning against Eric in the doorway of the pharmacy. Eric was sleeping with his neck at an awkward angle. Myriah punched him in the arm hard. He woke up and slowly looked over at her. It looked like he was going to ask her to let him sleep another ten minutes. She watched his eyes widen as he slowly registered that they were asleep in the pharmacy alcove in full view of anyone who walked by. The sleepiness was wiped off his face in an instant as he went into survival mode.
He held his finger up to his lips to remind Myriah not to say anything. At night you could get away with making some noise here and there since the Zombies were mostly sleeping anyway. During the day the Zombies sat around hyper alert just waiting for any noises that might lead them to their human prey. If it’d been daytime when they got here looking for the medicine Myriah wouldn’t have dared to hammer away on the wall like she had. It hadn’t generated too much noise outside of the store, but it still would’ve been a lot riskier to do during the day.
Zombies! (Book 3): Violence Solves Everything Page 7
