Everyone seemed to perk up and move with a purpose after that and it didn’t take long to load the food items that we were taking from the store onto wooden pallets that were being pulled on trolleys and we pulled our vehicles up really close to the doors and quickly loaded them up with the food; it was pouring down rain again which wasn’t a surprise to me and once we got everything loaded up, we went back inside and waited as everyone got ready to form teams for the two tasks ahead. Hugo, Amy, Beau and the others who were still considered part of Covenant One decided that they would handle finding the trailer and they would rendezvous with the rest of us back here once their task was complete—I decided that I would lead the second group to the surplus store and see what we could find for the trip ahead, we would no doubt need all the weapons and ammo we could use with the rising threats that we had been facing since we had left back near what had once been home to us.
“Some of need to stay here and secure this location—I’ll take those who have the most experience dealing with those fuckers outside.” I stated as I shared kisses and hugs with my women.
My group ended up consisting of myself, Jennifer, Sheila, Chloe, Billy, Jake, Kenyia, Josh, Nicole, Richard, Morgana, Darrell, Shaun, Stacey and Rebecca—Hugo’s group consisted of him, Amy, Beau, Marco, Yuri, Seth, Shae, Regan, Thomas, Clancy, LaDonna, Jamie, Kira, Lauren and Ella.
“Watch your asses out there—if you run into trouble, more than can be take down run and get back here as fast as you can.” I instructed to the entire group gathered before me.
I then turned back to the few who were staying in the store and my gaze went to my dad and sister Melody who were both standing close to my mom who looked like she wasn’t feeling good—I turned to Remy, Mace and Ember and they nodded at me as Olivia, Rachel and Roxanne stood close to them with concerned looks.
“Take care of everyone here—I’m counting on you guys.” I stated as I hugged my oldest daughters before doing the same with Darc Aiden, Avalon, Xavier, Courtney, Lorraine Arianna and Scarlet.
“We’ll keep everyone here safe, dad.” Remy stated smiling as she checked the ammo clip in her Dragunov sniper rifle as well as the ammo for her smaller weapons.
I turned to Olivia, Rachel and Roxanne bringing the three of them into my arms kissing them.
“I love you—we’ll be back.” I stated as I smiled at the three of them.
“We love you too.”
“Be careful—all of you.” Rachel stated smiling as she shared hugs with Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe before the other two done the same.
Without further delay, we left the store heading out the back service door that Darrell’s group had barricaded and we saw their vehicle first hand as we left the fenced in area and then once we were out on the rear street we split up heading out toward our objectives—it seemed weird to have my group splitting up at this point but I knew that we would cover more ground that way; I just hoped and prayed in the back of my mind that we didn’t run into something that we couldn’t handle. We followed after Darrell, who seemed to know where the surplus store was located and it took around twenty minutes to arrive at the location due to the heavy rain and the dead-heads and other mutations that were here and there around the area; we were keeping to the shadows and trying to stay mostly out of sight, I knew that we didn’t need a herd coming after us before we could get done what we needed to do. We hunkered down low as Darrell took out a pair of bolt cutters and cut the heavy chain that was keeping the side door to the surplus store shut and then we cautiously headed inside with our weapons ready—the inside of that place was pitch black and even with our flashlights it was rather challenging to see much of anything inside; the floors were a mess with all manner of old junk and debris from the years past as well as traces of long dried blood and human remains were scattered here and there. The guns were still in the display cases along the walls and it looked like only certain ones had been taken in the past by possible survivors—there were an abundance of shotguns, handguns and SMG’s as well as grenades and hunting rifles; I glanced at Billy as he grabbed an M60 squad automatic weapon from the wall rack and looked it over, the bullet belt and cache was nearby and he used the strap on the weapon and slung it over his left shoulder.
My other group members spread out and gathered weapons that they wanted as well as ammunition and I grabbed a cloth bag from the counter and started loading up grenades before carefully handing it to Jennifer, I found a long knife that had a sheath and I strapped it to my right thigh before I found something that was interesting—I called the others attention to it seconds later.
“I found some suppressors—we can attach them to our weapons and it should help keep the noise down when we’re having to fight our way through those fuckers.” I stated smiling as I took them out of the box that I had found them in and distributed them around to the others.
“This looks like about all we’re going to find in here—a lot of it has been picked clean over the years…we better be getting back to the others.” Darrell stated as he and the others with him came up to regroup with us near the front counter.
“Too bad we didn’t find some body armor—that’s what would really come in handy.” Richard stated with a chuckle.
“We’d have to raid a military armory or police station for any chance to find that…probably.” I answered glancing at him briefly.
“Yeah, maybe we’ll find something like that sooner or later.” He added.
“Let’s get back.” I stated as I turned and led the way toward the door.
Several blocks away, Hugo and the others with him had managed to find a trailer that could easily be hitched to the back of the SWAT vehicle that Darrell and the others would be using—they had found various pieces of metal and steel that could be welded onto the sides and back of it to protect the fuel drums and they were working on dragging it back to the store.
“I hope that the others found something worth-while at that surplus store they were going to…” Beau stated as sweat poured down his face as he tugged on the trailer.
“I do too—luckily we didn’t have much trouble finding this thing…really the only issue that we’ve had is this rain—I’m soaked to the skin.” Shae stated as she tried to wring the water from her hair.
“Shit…I just heard something…” Regan suddenly stated as she shifted her assault rifle around in her arms nervously.
Before any of the others of the group could hardly prepare, a mass of dead-heads and other mutations suddenly plowed into the nearby chain linked fence and started screaming horribly as they started to actually tear it apart.
“Fuck me—we have to get outta here!” Hugo shouted as a loud crash from off to their right toward the direction they had come from sounded.
One of the massive Blighter bioweapons suddenly smashed through a solid concrete wall and grabbed Ella who tried to fire a bolt from her crossbow at the monstrosity—Hugo and the others watched in horror as the thing crushed her body in its mutated limb wrapping the tendrils of the mutated corpse that had become its hand around her corpse and then flinging it across the area where it hit the outside of an abandoned camper trailer making a bloody smudge on the side.
“Get back!” Yuri shouted as he grabbed one of the AT4 rocket launchers and pointed it toward the towering creature.
The others got well enough away as Yuri fired the weapon hitting the Blighter in the head sending its body flying back through the concrete wall that it had come from; Amy, Beau, Regan and several of the others gathered up Ella’s body wrapping it in a tarp and putting it on the trailer before they all fled from the area as the dead-heads and other mutations were almost through the fence. Yuri reloaded the rocket launcher and aimed it at the area where they were getting through and fired again creating a massive explosion as the rocket hit a wrecked vehicle that still had fuel in the tank—the explosion blew the dead-heads and other mutations to pieces clearing
the area for the time being as Hugo’s team continued on their way back toward the store. I noticed Hugo and the others approaching through the pouring rain and I saw that they were pulling a trailer and I was pleased that they had been successful—that was when I noticed the grim expressions on their face as they came up before us and then I saw Ella’s body on the trailer covered with blood; part of her torso had been crushed and rib bones and internal organs were exposed. I covered Sheila’s eyes as she covered her mouth crying in shock and disbelief at the sight before us and all I could do was shake my head, I wasn’t sure as to how my sister was going to take this as she and Ella had grown to be almost strangers.
“Let’s get inside—we need to figure out what to do about what has happened.” I stated as Hugo and the others nodded and pulled the trailer through the nearby loading dock doors before everything was locked up behind us.
I led the way into the main part of the store with the dread of the news I was about to have to deliver to my sister and parents—when we entered the main room where we had left the others, I could tell that my dad and sister knew something was wrong.
“What’s wrong…?”
“Where is Ella…?” Melody asked as her attention focused on me.
“I don’t know how to tell you this…maybe I should let Hugo explain as it happened when they were on their way back with the trailer…” I answered stepping aside as Hugo and the others with him stepped forward to explain.
“It happened when we were nearly halfway back here—a mass of dead-heads and other mutations attacked a chain linked fence we were passing and then one of those big new bioweapons we nicknamed Blighters smashed through a concrete wall and grabbed Ella…none of us had a chance to react and before we really knew what was happening, the thing crushed her in its limb and then threw her body across the area where it smashed into the side of a camper…” Hugo explained with a look that suggested he blamed himself for what had happened.
Melody turned away weeping as did my parents and I could tell that this had been a blow—Sheila was crying too as she had been close to Ella when she had been a lot younger; I stepped forward getting everyone’s attention with a loud voice.
“I’m sorry for this and I’m sorry if this sounds cold ahead of time…but we have to keep going, we’ve lost so many people that we’ve cared about over the years to this nightmare…Angie…Noah, Christina, Jude…so many others…we have to keep going and survive for their sakes.” I stated firmly.
“I know…let’s at least bury her, it’s all that we can do.” Melody stated as she regained her composure.
“I’m sorry for your loss…there’s an area over here that we were planning to use to create another garden…the concrete floor was broken open and the soil is exposed.” Darrell stated as he led us over to the spot he was talking about.
I nodded and grabbed a nearby shovel and several others helped me dig a six-foot deep hole where we soon after laid Ella to rest—my dad managed to say a prayer and then we covered the hole with the dirt and placed rocks on the top; her death had been a blow to my family but I knew that with time the pain would pass. I couldn’t help but feel like we’d be losing another very important person soon—it was a feeling that I couldn’t shake and I done my best to put it out of my mind as we prepared what little else we needed and then returned to our vehicles as Darrell’s group attached the trailer to the back of their vehicle; we left the area getting onto interstate 39 which we would follow until a little after passing the capital of Madison and then the 39 would become the 94-90 and we would keep following the 94 northwest on into Minnesota.
“I don’t know how much longer I can stand this rain…it’s just all the time no matter where we go.” Chloe stated in a distant tone as I drove through the rain leading my convoy.
“I know babe…we’re all sick of it…” I answered glancing at her in the rear-view mirror.
There wasn’t too much more chatter from the others behind us and the day waned—by nightfall we had arrived outside of a small town called Black River Falls and I switched driving with Jennifer before climbing into the back seat with Chloe, Olivia, Rachel and Roxanne as Sheila stayed up in the passenger seat next to Jennifer helping her with navigation. Some of the others behind us were switching drivers as well and it didn’t take us long to get back underway—we all knew too well what would happen if we stayed in one spot for too long, the dead-heads and other mutations would be drawn to us like flies to shit and we would possibly lose more people; the night passed off rather slowly and several times I woke from a light doze only to see that the dark, bleak road ahead of us hadn’t really changed—I climbed over the seat into the very back of our Bronco where we had our supplies, food and bedding and I lay down as Roxanne joined me. I was surprised when she started kissing me and once she had pulled my cock out of my pants and had started sucking on it I knew what she wanted—this would be our first time as she quickly removed her clothes until she was nude and then she climbed into my lap letting out a little moan as I went all of the way inside of her; her movements got fast as she leaned down and kissed me deeply letting her slender tongue roam my mouth. I was building up in my orgasm quickly as her asscheeks slapped against my thighs and seconds later I came in her as she continued grinding me for another minute or so and then she climbed off letting my cock flop out of her as she settled down at my right side; we watched the raindrops hit the tarp above us and listened to my other women talk nearby before falling asleep together. I was awakened sometime later by droplets of water hitting my face—I opened my eyes and seen that the tarp above us was leaking, I sat up noticing that Roxanne was waking too and she pulled her bra over her large breasts and then she pulled her cut-off shorts on over her thong panties; I shared kisses with her and then with Chloe, Olivia and Rachel who were still in the seat in front of us.
“Where are we?” I asked as I caught a glance from Jennifer in the rear-view mirror as she was still driving.
“We’re near a town called Clearwater, Minnesota—the roads have been really bad and those dead and rotting sons of bitches have been thick at times but we’ve all managed to get past them…St. Paul was pretty bad; luckily we bypassed most of the city.” Sheila answered from the front passenger seat.
“Stop up ahead somewhere and I’ll relieve you.” I stated as I opened a nearby bottle of water and took a swig.
Jennifer shortly afterward stopped along the interstate and I got out of the back and got into the driver’s seat meeting her with a wet kiss as she switched places with Sheila—the others behind us looked like they were switching drivers as well as getting food rations from their supplies and I waited a few minutes until Beau stated over the CB that they were all ready and then I picked back up in the lead as the late morning drizzle continued around us; as the day dragged on I started noticing that more and more dead-heads and other mutations were gathering along the sides of the interstate we were on and I couldn’t help but worry—many of them took chase after us and some I was forced to smash into in order to get past them. Several miles down the road I spotted a huge plume of smoke that was coming off of what looked like a field—as we got closer we seen that it looked like a large vehicle had plowed through the fence and crashed into several large buildings that were burning out of control despite the rain; the whole area had went up in flames and I could smell burning fuel and oil through my driver’s side busted out window.
“Damn…” I stated as I was forced to swerve around a section of the interstate to avoid the fire which was quickly spreading.
That was when I heard Hugo’s voice shouting over the CB stating that we were under attack—that was followed by the sound of the machine guns on Billy and Kayla’s dune buggy firing at something; I swerved as the sound of bullets tearing into the back end of our Bronco could be heard and seconds later I seen at least three dark vehicles back a ways behind our convoy that were firing at us—they were no doubt maraud
ers.
“Shit—more of those assholes!” Chloe shouted as she grabbed her assault rifle and pulled the cords to the tarp aside before standing up out of the top of our Bronco.
She opened fire and Olivia joined her—I saw Billy swerve around us and turn to where they were facing the enemy and Kayla opened fire with the big machine gun; the first enemy vehicle exploded as the driver lost control and crashed into the ditch off to the left and their vehicle turned over onto its top as it burned out of control. The second enemy vehicle swerved and hit the rise on the right side of the roadway sailing through the air hitting the other side of the interstate where it flipped up onto its top—I saw Beau open the side of the Zetros and aim one of the rocket launchers at it and fire; the rocket soared over at the disabled vehicle and exploded creating a large cloud of fire, smoke and debris as the third and final vehicle sped up and actually rammed into the back of the large truck my kids and several of the others were driving. I stopped in the middle of the road grabbing my M16 and I got out of our Bronco running toward the scene and once I was only a few yards from the enemy vehicle, I opened fire sending a hail of bullets into the side of the enemy vehicle and I watched as the marauder who was driving was pumped full of lead from my weapon and then one of the other marauders popped out of the back of the vehicle with their weapon pointed at me and I was preparing to evade when a shotgun blast rang out from my right side as Rachel appeared at my side—the Marauder was hit in their upper torso and this caused them to fall to one knee but it was clear that most of the shotgun blast had been absorbed by the body armor that the marauder wore; that was when Rachel aimed her shotgun at the marauder again and fired, this time their head exploded in a cloud of blood and brains as their lifeless body slumped to the ground motionless. Rachel kissed me hot and heavily and then I checked on my kids and the others in their big truck and I was pleased to see that none of them had been injured—the size of their truck had kept the enemy vehicle from being able to get at them; after I was sure that everyone was okay, Rachel and I returned to our Bronco where the rest of my women were waiting and they wrapped their arms around me kissing me before we all got back into the Bronco.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 75
