by Shandy Jo
“Hunting rifles, maybe handguns.”
Lyric looked up at Ryan, he just gave her a wry grin then glanced to a corner of the basement under the stairs. Two very large gun safes sat nestled in the shadow of the steps.
“Hit them tonight, do it stealthy. They'll be on the lookout for more zombies, but might also be tired from fighting last night and the clean up. Hit hard and fast.”
“You got it boss.” There was a chuckle. “I can't wait to get my hands on that fine lil' army bitch...”
A queasy feeling entered Lyric's stomach, reaching up she grabbed Ryan's arm. “Go up and get everyone together. Tell them what we just heard. We need to be prepared.”
Nodding, Ryan ran out of the basement, nearly braining himself on the stairs in the process. Lyric returned her attention the radio but it was silent. Rubbing her arms, Lyric looked over at the gun safes and hoped that there was something at least semi-automatic in them.
Chapter 8
“Are you sure they we're going to attack tonight?” Susie hissed, then yawned.
Lyric gave her a sympathetic look, they were sitting under the windows in the upstairs bedroom. It was close to three in the morning, everyone was tired but on edge. “Yes. I figure anytime now, they want to try and catch us when were asleep.”
Susie lay her head against the wall. “Fine then wake me when they get here.”
Lyric sighed, she wished she could just close her eyes for a few minutes. Her body screamed at her from the clean up, hauling dead bodies was tiring. Just as her eyes were creeping shut the outside light came on. Instantly awake she listened, wondering if it was another raccoon or skunk, then she heard the unmistakable sound of a shot gun. More gun shots people yelling, she scrambled to her knees peering over the windowsill. She saw men a few wounded lay on the ground, other forms hunkered down behind the outbuildings and trucks. Lyric nudged Susie until she woke. The hand held transceiver on the floor next to her screeched static then a mans voice.
“Rev, they're a bit more prepared than we thought. I got a few men down. Call in the boys to enter from the woods.”
“Stay here.” Lyric whispered to Susie then snatched up her gun and the radio. She crawled to the door then bolted down the hall. Ducking into the guest bedroom she skidded to the window and cracked it. Earl gazed at her in surprise, and she gestured to the back yard. He nodded and pushed his window open shouldering the AR15 Ryan had given him. Dark figures crept into the yard and Lyric drew a breath sighting in one, she squeezed the trigger just like her dad had taught her. The target dropped with a howl clutching it's leg, next to her Earl peppered the figures with bullets driving them back into the trees. Lyric fumbled with the bolt for a moment then popped out the spent cartridge and chamber a new one.
Again the radio crackled to life. “Seems they're more on alert than we thought, Boss. What do you want us to do?”
“How many men do you have?”
“Not sure, looks like maybe five, six not wounded out here. Charlie what about you?”
A static pause then another voice. “Three not wounded.”
Earl grinned at her proudly, and she couldn't help smiling back. It was eight maybe nine against nine, but they had the high ground and cover, plus weapons. Unfortunately those doucheconoes had reinforcements. “Can you take it from here?” Lyric asked leaning close to whisper. He gave her a quick nod and turned to the window.
Lyric scooped up the radio and made her way carefully back to the master bedroom. Susie sat hugging her gun, with her back against the wall. Easing down Lyric peeked over the sill again, the people out front hadn't moved. Apparently waiting on orders from the Rev.
“Collect the wounded and return to town.”
Below one of the men stood, waving his arms shouting “We're leaving, just let us get our wounded.”
Marcus yelled out, “Get them but if you shoot we'll fire back.”
Slowly the men helped the wounded limp off the yard and back into the forest.
“Is it over?” Susie whimpered.
“For now.”
****
“You're sure they're gone?” Indie asked, from the kitchen table.
Lyric tapped the radio clipped to her pants. “As far as I can tell. All I can say for certain is no radio chatter.”
Indie nodded, looking much older than her seventeen years. “I think we need some sleep, but should have at least two people on watch one out front and one watching the back. I don't trust these guys and there is still the zombies to worry about.”
Ira spoke up, “I'll take the front.”
Earl raised his hand. “I'm still pretty amped I'll watch the back.”
“Ok, then I suggest the rest of us get some sleep.”
Lyric felt a tug on her hand and turned to Marcus who stood behind her. He inclined his head down the hall and she followed him into a small office. Pulling her inside he shut the door behind them, as soon as it clicked shut he wrapped his arms around her. Holding her tight against him, Lyric buried her face in his chest taking comfort in his embrace.
“This is crazy.” He murmured against the top of her head. “Killing those creatures is one thing, having to fight people like us is something else.”
Lyric nodded her agreement but stayed silent, she didn't want to talk about it. Tipping her head up she found his lips with her's and kissed him hard. Wrapping her arms around his neck she hung on, until her lungs screamed for air and then she eased away. He grinned down at her.
“Come on let's get some sleep, or it's going to be a long day.” She pulled out of his arms and headed for the door. “Do you think that couch will fit two?”
His grin widened, “We'll make it work.”
Chapter 9
Lyric fiddled with some dials on the radio in front of her, then looked down at the manual on the desk. Flopping back in the chair she shook her head, and picked up her coffee cup. Taking a sip, she made a face and choked down the cold liquid. “Yuck.” She muttered to herself, sitting it back down. No one else was even up yet, other than Ira and Earl who were keeping watch. Unable to sleep, she had slipped off the couch once Marcus had fallen unconscious, made a pot of coffee and came down her to monkey with the radios. The military channels were nothing but static. She'd found one weak civilian broadcast but after listening she'd realized it was just a recording. Jotting down the frequency she planned to go back later and see if anything new came up.
Rubbing her eyes she started when a static voice filled the speaker. “Is anyone out there? If you can hear me, please reply.”
Lyric snatched up the mic then paused, what if it was a trick. Maybe the Moose River Crazies had figured out they were listening. This was just a ploy to get them... to what? False confidence, a trap. Her mind raced over various possibilities, until the voice broke into her thoughts.
“Is anyone still alive out there? I just want to know that we're not alone.” The voice was female, Lyric could tell that through the static and sounded a little lost.
Lyric found herself pressing the button on the side of the mic. “You're not alone.”
For a long moment there was just static and Lyric began to wonder if she'd lost the signal, then the voice came back more excited. “Thank the Goddess. My names Piper I'm with a few friend just North of Adams Center. You?”
“Name's Lyric. We're located up by Eagle Bay.”
“That's way up there, past Old Forged, right?”
“Yeah.” Playing it safe, Lyric decided to offer as little information as possible. She didn't know who this was, or if they were for real. Not to mention who might be listening. Sticking to what she knew others already knew and irrelevant things was probably the best coarse.
“Have you seen anyone else?”
Lyric grinned. “Just some religious nuts, they tried to attack us last night.”
“Really? So we don't just have to worry about zombies trying to eat us.”
“Yeah, the zombies I can deal with. The nut jobs wi
th guns, I'm not crazy about. Of course it's easy when they don't fight back.”
A laugh tumbled through the speaker. “True. We've been hit hard down here. The zombies are moving out of the city, Watertown that is, they've been hitting us in waves. Big waves.”
“Sorry to hear that, will you be ok?”
“Not sure. Supplies are dwindling and we've been talking of heading to one of those fancy islands out by Alex Bay. Know where that is?”
“Yeah, I know where your talking about. Won't most those places be shut up? I mean it wasn't exactly warm when this thing went down, and most those places are summer houses.”
“That's what we're hoping. We'll have to find a marina to get a boat, but at least out in the water no zombies.”
“Until the river freezes and they can walk over.”
“I'm hoping they're all goop before that happens.”
Lyric wasn't so sure about that, given what Indie and Marcus had been discussing last night. Maybe Piper had some insight they didn't. “Do you know what's going on with those things?”
“Only what the news and internet said, before they went down. It was a terrorist attack that back fired going global. They infiltrated meat packing plants and infected the meat with a mutated strain of the Ebola virus. Just before the internet went down we caught some talk of the virus mutating again, but I'm not a scientist.”
“Same here.” Lyric decided to offer up a little piece of her own information. “We think that the newer zombies might have mutated to be more hostile and last longer than the original ones.”
Piper was silent for a moment. “Ok, are you studying them or something?”
“No, just an observation.” Lyric heard movement upstairs. “I'm going to get off now, but if you want to talk later or tomorrow I'll try to catch you.”
“Sure, how about around the same time tomorrow?”
“Ok. Talk to you then.” Reaching up she turned the radios off, grabbed up her coffee cup and headed upstairs.
*****
Lyric leaned against the counter only half listening to the argument going on at the kitchen table. Exhaustion was finally catching up with her.
“We should attack now while their weal.” Earl was saying and for some reason Lyric found this highly amusing, laughter bubbling out of her.
“Attack? It's nine of us against a group of who knows how many of them. Sure we wounded a couple, but they still out number us. We only survived that attack, because we had a heads up.”
Marcus shot her a worried look, but nodded in agreement. “She's right. What we need is some recon. Find out what's going on over there then plan.”
Indie sat looking from one face to another, her gaze lingered on Lyric for a brief moment. No doubt taking in her dark circled eyes and tired posture. Lyric drew herself up, as Indie stated. “Tonight Ryan, Marcus, Ira and I will go to the town. We'll see if we can get an idea of what's going on.”
Oh hell no, Lyric was not letting her boys go without her, she was the one who knew how to use the radios and they could use that to keep tabs on the men. “I'm not staying behind.” Lyric crossed her arms over her chest.”
“You're dead on your feet.”
“You're not Calgone fresh either, Missy. Beside who's going to use the radio to keep in touch here, and keep tabs on the rednecks?”
Ira chuckled and held up a hand. “As much as I would love to see a cat fight, Ly can have my spot. I mean, she has a point. Plus it's a good idea to have people here who can shoot if they come back or another wave of dead heads hits.”
Indie drew a deep breath, eyed Lyric again then spat. “Fine, but go get some sleep.”
****
Trotting downstairs Lyric felt a hundred times better after a few hours of sleep. Entering the kitchen she found Indie, Ryan and Marcus studying a map. With a quick glance, she headed for the coffee maker and poured a cup surprised it was still warm. Grabbing a chair she settled next to Marcus. “So what's the plan?”
Without looking at her, Indie replied. “We're going to take the horses to here.” She pointed to a spot on the map that looked like a hiking trail. “Leave them off the road, and go through the woods. We need to check on the gate, you told us about, and the church.”
Lyric nodded taking a sip of her coffee, then sputtered. “Oh my God this is awful, what the heck is it?”
“A mix of dried chicory root and coffee. We need to ration certain things, it's not like we can go to Star Bucks and get a Frappacino now.”
“Like you could before.” Lyric muttered, taking another sip and making a face.
Indie shot her a smile, and Lyric grinned back, turning back to the map Indie added. “We're going to leave around five it's a lot of ground to cover. I'd like us to be at the town after nightfall.”
Lyric glanced at the clock, it was just after noon. “Good, I told Susie I'd go over the basics of the radio downstairs with her and set every thing up so we could keep in touch.”
Under the table Marcus gave her leg a squeeze. “Good idea.”
Indie nodded, “We'll meet up downstairs in a few hours to get geared up and ready to go. Lyric can you still shoot a rifle?”
“I'm a little rusty but I think I can manage.” Lyric gagged down the last dredgers in her cup and stood, taking the cup to the sink. “I'll go find Susie and start teaching her about the radios.”
Chapter 10
Lyric gave Marcus an encouraging smile as he grabbed the pummel of his saddle to steady himself. “Use your legs to hold on.” She murmured bringing her horse along side his.
“I'm trying.” He gritted out of clenched teeth, as he held onto the saddle with one hand and reins with the other.
She placed a hand on his leg, “and try to let the horse do all the work. Just roll with her.”
Marcus nodded tensely as Indie called, “We're almost there I see the parking lot just ahead.”
They trotted up the road and turned into a gravel parking lot. Indie headed straight for the trail, which was big enough for them to ride side by side. Lyric and Marcus rode behind Indie and Ryan as they made their way up the rocky path. When they were about half way down the trail, Indie held up a hand stopping them. That's when Lyric noticed it was quiet, none of the normal animal sounds. Even the birds had stopped singing. A crunch sounded from their left, then another, like footsteps. Slow uneven footsteps, branches broke and they heard more footsteps. A zombie popped out on the trail several yards ahead of them. It paused and sniffed the air.
Ryan raised his rifle, but Indie stopped him as two more followed. Lyric felt her heart hammer in her chest and she urged her horse to back up. They hadn't been noticed and maybe they could get the hell out of dodge before the creatures knew they were there. Beside her Marcus's horse snickered nervously as the wind shifted bring the smell of decaying meat toward them.
Two more zombies burst out of the woods behind the first and the sound of feet crunch through underbrush magnified. It was a whole group of the undead marching through the woods, heading in the same direction their little spy group had been planning on going. Indie made a small gesture for them to turn around. Lyric was already half way turned and Marcus followed her example as quick and quietly as possible. His horse fought slightly, bumping into Ryan's causing the other beast to snort and shield away.
On the path three desiccated heads shot up and turned in their direction. Staggering steps hesitantly moved in their direction. Marcus gained control turned the animal and bolted down the trail, with Lyric on his tail. She glanced behind to see Indie and Ryan turning their horses as more of the undead poured on to the trial. These didn't stop they lumbered on, sweeping the first three along with them. When they reached the parking lot, Lyric pulled her horse to a stop. The others followed suit, nervously glancing at the trail head.
“Those things we're headed toward Big Moose, weren't they?” Lyric asked, Indie who had the map. Indie nodded, her face set in a worried frown.
“Good let the zombie
s take care of those trigger happy red-neck.” Ryan grumbled.
“We need to warn them. There are women and kids up there.” Lyric interjected, remembering the little faces. “If we follow the road can we get there before the dead heads do?”
Indie shrugged, “It's longer, but we're faster.”
“We should at least try.”
There was a round of reluctant head nods, and Lyric jerked her mount toward the road. The horses hooves sounded like thunder against the pavement as they rode them hard up the twisted road. Adrenaline pumping, heart pounding, her stomach twisting Lyric wondered what they'd find when they finally got to the town.
They heard the gun fire before they even were in eye sight of the gate and fence that surrounded the town. A howling siren pierced the night air. They were to late. Slowing to a trot Lyric first noticed the deserted gate. The plywood Ira had rammed had been replaced, she noted absently.
“What do we do now?” Ryan asked, eying the gate and fence.
As they exchanged glanced, screams and gun fire erupted from some where down the road farther into the town. Part of her wanted to say fuck it, these ass holes were well armed and could take care of themselves. Another part reminded her of the kids and they fact that these guys were down men. Undecided she looked at Indie, her cousin's gaze was hard and unreadable. It was not a good look for her. Suddenly their eyes met and it shifted to one she'd seen a thousand times, at pageants. Determination.
“We're going to check it out and help if needed. If they have it under control we'll haul ass out of here.” Indie said, turning her horse and barreling straight for a low section of fence. Lyric followed, hoping she didn't take a digger when the horse landed. She didn't but knew she'd be feeling the impact in her tail bone for weeks.
The siren went silent leaving the screams and gunfire to fill the air. Cautiously they plowed forward, bodies both zombie and human littered the area. Slowing Lyric took out her rifle and popped a few of the remaining undead who were gnawing on recently fallen. A group of the creatures converged on the church surrounding the stone structure making escape from the front or back impossible. For now the solid looking wooden door was holding.
Coming up beside Indie, Lyric asked in a whisper. “What do we do know oh great leader?”
Indie jerked her head toward the woods across for the church. “Hide over there and take out as many as we can.”
