The Outbreak Series (Book 4): Deadlocked

by Baker, Thomas

  Contents

  TITLE

  COPYRIGHT

  MORE BY 6K PRESS

  RAMBLE ON

  COUNCIL

  STOLEN

  FAMILY

  HIGHWAY RUN

  PLAINS

  ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

  RETURN

  BROKEN WALLS

  TRUCKING

  CAVEMAN

  BODYGUARD

  PENNED

  COLD FRONT

  SUGARPUFF

  SHAMBLER

  MAPS

  YOUTH OF THE NATION

  HOTEL CALIFORNIA

  PIT STOP

  LIMP

  DASHBOARD LIGHTS

  ALONE

  ROUND UP

  SLEDGEHAMMER

  DODGE

  THUNDERDOME

  CHEESEPUFF

  MAYOR

  STEP RIGHT IN

  SUPERMARKET

  EXPRESS LANE

  CHECKOUT

  CARTED

  REVEALED

  STAND

  THE BIRD

  STORE MANAGER

  EXIT

  FACE TO FACE

  JUMPED

  ATTENTION

  HELLS BELLS

  OLD TIMES

  WITS END

  SOLID SNAKE

  TICK TOCK

  WARZONE

  SNAKE

  ENTRANCE

  FUDD

  CHILDS

  BRIGADE

  SEEK

  DESTROY

  FLOOD

  JOSH

  SPEECHLESS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JOIN TEAM 6K

  DEADLOCKED

  BY

  ROBERT WAGNER

  AND

  THOMAS BAKER

  Copyright © 2019 by Robert Wagner and Thomas Baker

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  www.6kpress.com

  OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHORS

  SAFE HAVEN

  PURGATORY

  DEAD OF WINTER

  DAUNTLESS: EXPLORATION CLASS

  WELCOME TO COTTONWOOD CREEK

  THE CIRCLES

  RAMBLE ON

  JT stood outside the door to the RV, stretching. The last eight hours he spent driving all over the back roads of the Texas panhandle; he could use one.

  As he reached for the sky, which today was blue and cloudless, he received a satisfying pop in his back. He wasn't cold at all in his athletic shorts and plain black shirt, even though spring was still but a hint in the air.

  He still hadn't figured out what month it was for sure. Neither had Hannah, but winter's bite was coming to an end, even as they headed more north. Not that it ever got real cold in the areas they stayed in since leaving Colorado.

  JT didn't mind the winter so much, his mom said more than once he was literally hot blooded. He knew from Hannah's complaints that she experienced enough of the snow and cold. This was back in the few short months when they trudged across Kansas and Colorado, and she still said that was enough to fill her entire life.

  It was hard to believe how much time had passed since they left the mountains. He judged by the seasons changing it must have been over a year ago. Since they left, it was only he and Hannah, on the road to nowhere.

  First, they ducked down to Arizona, where long empty stretches of desert with no zombies to see in any direction was a sight for sore eyes. The heat was a welcome change for a little while, but he tired of it real fast. Not Hannah, who complained of being cold if it was below seventy five. The time in the mountains seemed to have soured her about all things winter.

  Along the way, they hit small towns every time they needed supplies. Quick in and out jobs. If their scouting detected even the slightest hint of some human population in one of these towns, they moved on to try the next one. JT did his damnedest to keep his promise to Hannah that they wouldn't get involved with anyone again, and he felt damn proud that so far, he'd kept that promise.

  As summer started to bake into Arizona, Hannah suggested heading up into the mountains of Sierra Nevada. She had always wanted to go to California. JT argued that California was the last state they should ever visit. She relented, but JT felt bad shooting her down like that.

  So he studied a map they snatched from a travel shop and after studying it, mentioned to her Schell Creek Range, in Nevada.

  They ended up in a town called Ely. It was one of the best decisions the two of them had made since this whole fucking zombie mess started. It was small, deserted, and very tolerable in the summer. Along the way, and once they arrived, they found enough supplies to keep them well fed for a while.

  Once in town, they searched around until they came across a beautiful blue Victorian style home with the added feature of a six foot wrought-iron fence surrounding the property. They even lucked into finding a seemingly untouched white Chevy Tahoe in the garage along with the keys and a full tank of gas. The Tahoe proved a more friendly option than the RV if they ever needed to make a supply run, or JT got bored and wanted to joy ride.

  One thing they did to pass the time was play games. By now they must have played every board game ever made. They also spent their time doing other things... adult things, which never got old. Hannah kept up a daily routine of exercise and target shooting. JT knew she would never get caught unprepared again.

  Ely made them forget about the zombie apocalypse for a limited time, except for the emptiness. JT fought off loneliness by diving into his music more and more as days passed. He would sift through CD collections he often came across and pick some to listen to while sitting in the RV when he needed some unwind time. Many times while listening to some tunes his mind drifted to missing Tyrone. The kid grew on him, then became a friend, and he didn't deserve what happened to him. The isolation didn't seem to bother Hannah as much as it did him. She did however tell him the same stories about Ashley over and over, more and more, as time marched on.

  Eventually their supplies dried up and now here they were searching for another lost paradise, like explorers searching for the lost city of gold.

  Neither had a particular place in mind, so at Hannah's suggestion, they'd headed for Texas.

  Before they left, JT and Hannah scurried around the house, packing this and that, loading what they could fit into the RV. The last thing loaded were the four full gas cans JT rustled up rooting around in people's sheds and workshops. That's something no one in all those zombie flicks ever came up with. Me a clever man.

  "What's up, sunshine?" Hannah said, coming out of the RV to join him.

  Not once did scissors touch her hair since The Outbreak; it was halfway down her back now. She was constantly brushing it aside from her eyes. She looked like a golden hippie child, of summers long past, radiant in his eyes.

  "Just looking at a whole lot of nothing. And I thought our trip through Kansas was bad," he said, putting an arm around her waist.

  She was wearing blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt. In his mind JT had to laugh. He guessed it was at least high sixties outside. She rubbed her sleepy eyes, having missed most of the last hundred miles. Not that there was much to miss. This time JT laughed out loud.

  "What's so funny? It better not be me." Hannah threw a playful elbow into his side before stretching herself.

  "Just a dumb observation. Never in my life would I have imagined I'd be taking the back
road tour of the U.S."

  "Well, did you imagine living in a zombie filled America?" Hannah giggled, she almost couldn't get out whatever seemed so funny to her. "Besides, if Gus was here he'd say you've been traveling through the back door of America."

  JT laughed harder. "He would indeed. I miss that old fart."

  That gave JT the perfect chance to bring up something he wanted to say for the last few days. "Speaking of that old timer, I've been thinking that's the direction we need to head next. We promised to visit, and the roads should be mostly clear of any snow when we get up there."

  Hannah's face lit up, despite the possibility of cold. "It would be nice for us to visit, especially you."

  "What do you mean, especially for me?" All Hannah gave him back was a knowing smile.

  "Besides," she said, "We haven't had much luck finding food in the past few weeks."

  How true that was. It made JT nervous that each town they hit in the last few weeks was sucked dry. That made him think there was some community in the nearby area, along with the fact they'd seen very few zombies.

  A dust cloud caught JT's attention out on the horizon. A sinking in his stomach made him turn back to the RV and reach inside. He pulled out a shotgun he mounted next to the door during the long days of Ely.

  A caravan of five cars, all off-road vehicles, approached over the dusty brown land littered with small scrub bushes. In the lead was a white Toyota 4Runner. Hannah went inside, following their established plan. If JT got into trouble, she'd have his back.

  JT willed the cars to keep right on and pass them by. It had happened a few times, so it wasn't outside the realm of possibility. It didn't happen this time though. The leader changed direction and soon they rolled to a stop a few feet away from JT. Dust formed a cloud around him.

  A woman popped out of the passenger side of the Toyota. JT could only see her eyes. A scarf covered her mouth and a big floppy hat, not unlike a cowboy, sat on her head. She held her hands up to show that she was unarmed.

  "Please don't use that shotgun before we've had a chance to talk, mister." The woman said. To JT she sounded older, and a local to the area.

  "Then get back inside your car and keep on going, so I don't need to."

  The woman's eyes narrowed. "We don't have to lose our manners, along with everything else we have all already lost. We saw you and thought maybe you needed some help."

  JT kept the same tight focus on her, his shotgun pointed at her feet. "I'm good, thanks for being friendly. Now let me cut you off before you start your spiel. I'm not interested in trade or with joining up with you. I'm about ready to drive off. So you guys have a good day."

  "Aren't you a little outnumbered, being all by yourself?" she asked.

  "How do you know I don't have a squad of marines inside my RV?" JT reached back and slapped the side of the RV three times. The siding made a metallic echo.

  "Fair enough. I have something to say as well." The woman raised a fist into the air. "We aren't here to ask you anything. I will call your bluff. Hand over the RV and get to walking."

  One person got out of each vehicle. JT found himself at the muzzle end of four different weapons. He raised his shotgun to kneecap level. If Hannah followed the plan, the situation shouldn't spiral out of control. At least, that was the hope.

  "Still think I'm bluffing." JT called, the metal of the trigger smooth under his finger. He fought the urge to give it a slight squeeze and be done with the situation. "I suggest you and your friends move on. There's no reason for you to lose an arm or a leg over some cans of pork and beans, is there?"

  The woman seemed to chew it over. To JT it seemed an obvious choice, but this was the world they lived in now. Except for rare exceptions, most people they had run across were as bad as the zombies.

  "All right," The woman answered, after enough time had passed that JT's shirt was drenched. "I reckon your right, it's not. I do want you to get into your RV and drive away. This is our territory. If I see you again within even a hundred miles of this place, I'll shoot you dead, no warnings." She raised her hand again and the four people got back into their cars.

  "Fair enough. Texas is shitty anyway." JT pulled open the door and stepped inside backwards, with his shotgun trained on the woman the whole time.

  "Hannah, keep them covered," he whispered as he passed her on the way to the driver's seat. Multiple rifles stuck out the windows, Hannah behind one of them.

  He started the RV up and kicked up as much dust as he could as he turned around on the little two-lane road. It might have been childish, but he enjoyed it.

  After a few minutes of driving, he called back to Hannah. "They following us?"

  "No. They're still sitting where we left them." She moved away from the window and hung the rifles on two wall mounts beside it. She slid the window closed, rubbing her arms once done.

  "Good idea with the multiple rifles, Hannah," he said, as she joined him in the passenger seat.

  "Thanks. It's nice when a plan works like you envision. I got it from some silly movie my dad used to watch. I think it had Steve Martin in it."

  JT laughed hard. He knew the movie she meant. "That's a Gus movie too, I bet a hundred bucks.

  Hannah joined him with a giggle. "I have to say, good for you for not getting all riled up back there."

  "Hey, babe," JT said, taking a moment to give her a cheesy smile. "Those days are behind me. I got my pride, but you are more important."

  "Awe, I'm going to blush." Hannah made fake fanning motions with her hand. "You trying to sweet talk me?"

  "Always." JT deadpanned the word. The two then burst out in laughter.

  COUNCIL

  Gus sat at one of the casino tables, trying his damnedest not to stare at the wall with the ugly ass picture across from him and zone out. It was a grand challenge he almost invariably failed at.

  Every meeting over the last month always devolved into the same thing. Childs and Henry, bickering back and forth like two hens. Then Josh would jump in, followed by Lindsay. Last, he would get in the middle of it all and calm everyone the fuck back down. It was always over the same topic too, food.

  "You said last year we would start planting in the spring and we never did," Henry said. "The patrol people needed to range out farther and farther over this past winter on the mobiles, wasting gas, risking their lives. We need to do it this year. What are you so against?"

  "I'm not against anything." Dr. Childs sounded defensive, like he always did when they brought up an idea that wasn't his. "I'm worried that the manpower needed would pull too many people away from their other vital jobs. Plus, what if the crops fail and we have no one out looking for and stockpiling food?"

  Gus huffed and wished the conference room had windows to the outside. Why they didn't move these meetings somewhere else, he couldn't understand. They had the pick of anywhere in the town. That was one of the first suggestions he offered after being talked into being on the council by Linda. Childs acted as if he couldn't wait to shoot him down. So here they remained in the shadowy room, lit by battery-powered lanterns, which didn't help with his drowsiness.

  "It's been long enough since The Outbreak started that most of the food lying around is rotting. We need fresh fruits and vegetables. Some chickens too, if we can find anymore nearby. Protein will be a big problem soon. I've given you my report on the state of the caves."

  "Yes, you did," Childs said. "Now where are we going to find chickens? Seeds for planting? Feed? We must continue to go out ranging. If we do that anyway, why not keep up the scavenging efforts?"

  "It's fucking dangerous, that's why?" Lindsay said, her voice projecting her annoyance. "There has been no zombie presence since we cleared out that bunch at the airplane crash site, but we're making plenty of noise to draw more to us. Not to mention we can never tell what we will find when we go into a town, zombie or people wise."

  "I agree, Lindsay. That's what I keep trying to point out, Childs. The last thing we need is to attr
act attention of people like those crazy dump truck loonies again. That's an even bigger issue than the food. If we're planning to stay here and we're up to making a real community, then food and security needs to be our top two priorities." Josh pushed his glasses up his nose.

  "What's wrong, Childs? Are you afraid of any hard work?" Lindsay jabbed.

  Here we go. Gus had to hold back chuckling to himself.

  He jumped in before the hollering started up. "Come on now, children." He repeated what had almost become a joke line at this point. "Don't forget those people out there are counting on us. Are we continuing to be a council of helpful people, or act like politicians?" It amazed Gust that this time, the line seemed to work, or at least get their attention.

  "You're right, Gus." Lindsay spat out her next words. "Sorry, Childs."

  "I accept." Childs was quick to reply. He took a deep breath, held it, and let it out in one huge puff before he continued. "Okay, I'll admit you brought up some valid points, but that is all that they are right now though. Points. You need to have actual plans, with real numbers of both people and resources, before I would feel confident enough that we can move forward with farming and still survive. Henry, you know this."

  Now it was Henry's turn to be a little more compliant. The shocks keep on coming.

  "You're correct, Childs. I'd never start an engineering project without a good plan. The start of one for this proposal is to obtain a list together of everything we would need to grow enough food to sustain the population. I'll get two people, like Carla and Steve, to go over to the library, do some research. They both love reading."

  "Then we must come up with a way to get a head count," Josh said. "Right now we have a vague idea of the number of people in town, but if we're going to do this, we'll need an exact count."

  "Once we know what we need, we should make one big push," Lindsay said. "Send everyone out who'll go, in every vehicle we have, for one final roundup. Then close up the place."