Fight 4 Us (Book 10): Ghosts

by Grenda, Brian

  “It’s a little quieter now, but I heard some gunfire and people fighting the dead a couple neighborhoods down,” answers Jordan.

  The old man starts to walk away from Kat and Kat asks, “Where are you going Mel?”

  Mel keeps walking down the hallway and answers Kat, “I’m going to the church. I’m going to pray for you all.”

  Mel enters his bedroom and gets his belongings.

  The young man and young woman look at each other.

  “What do you want to do?” asks the young man to the young woman.

  “I don’t know. What do you want to do?” answers the young woman.

  The young man answers, “I don’t know, but I’m not leaving you. I almost lost you at The Grove and I’m not leaving your side until we are somewhere safe.”

  The middle aged man and his wife come out of their bedroom, enter the kitchen, and ask, “Who is coming with us?”

  The young woman looks at the young man and says, “We are.”

  “Anyone else?” asks the middle aged woman.

  Deb, Kat, and Jordan look at each other.

  Dana and the young man run into their bedroom and get their belongings.

  The middle aged woman asks, “Kat, can you come here a second?”

  Kat walks into the kitchen.

  “What’s up Becky?” asks Kat.

  “I just wanted to say that you did a good job, but we can’t handle it here anymore. We don’t see anything getting better for us here,” answers Becky.

  “I understand, and good luck to you,” replies Kat to Becky.

  Becky grabs a set of vehicle keys off the kitchen counter.

  Becky’s husband, Mel, Dana, and the young man walk into the living room with their belongings and weapons.

  Becky grabs a couple more things from the kitchen, puts them in her bag, and joins the others in the living room.

  “You can come with us Jordan,” says Dana.

  “I’m good here. I can’t leave this place,” replies Jordan.

  “Good luck you three,” says Becky’s husband to Kat, Deb, and Jordan.

  Deb replies, “Good luck to you.”

  Becky and her group exit Kat’s house and get into Becky’s minivan.

  Kat, Deb, and Jordan watch as Becky reverses out of the driveway and drives down the street.

  Deb closes the front door and locks it.

  “What’s up with that church?” asks Jordan.

  “It’s more like a cult. Deb and I went there a while back, and I’ll never go back there,” answers Kat.

  “Remember that lady with the scars on her face?” asks Deb.

  “Yeah, she was creepy,” answers Kat.

  Lucky runs into the living room and over to Kat.

  “What should we do now?” asks Jordan.

  “I think it’s time to talk with Ryan,” answers Kat.

  “Can you send out a drone to check out the water treatment plant and energy company?” I ask Jon.

  “Yeah, Matt and I will send out a couple drones today for sure,” answers Jon.

  “Thank you,” I say to Jon as I place a large box onto the living room floor in Jon’s house.

  “No problem and thank you for helping me bring over my stuff from the sporting goods store,” says Jon.

  I look at Jon’s shield and say to Jon, “We have to get you another sword.”

  Jon looks at his shield and replies, “Well I hope Bakari and his people can find our stuff, but I might have to get another sword.”

  “I think we can look for one at the Haven or World of Trade,” I reply to Jon.

  I see the sad look on Jon’s face and say to Jon, “But I think we’ll find Silencer.”

  “I hope so, that sword means a lot to me,” replies Jon.

  “You gotta have faith,” says Kelly as she walks into the living room and over to Jon and me.

  “Hey Kel,” I say to Kelly.

  “I know Kare Bear, and I do have faith,” replies Jon to Kelly.

  “I’ll let you guys be. Let me know what you find out about the water and electric company,” I say to Jon.

  “I will. Matt and I will get some good coverage of the buildings and see what we could be up against,” replies Jon.

  I say goodbye to Jon and Kelly and then exit Jon’s house.

  I walk down the sidewalk and down the street.

  I make my way to the medical house and keep walking down the street.

  I see Phil enter our armory and decide to go check out our armory.

  I enter the armory front door and shout, “Yo Phil! You in here?”

  “Yeah, I’m in here!” shouts Phil from inside a bedroom.

  I walk into the bedroom and see Phil organizing some of the weapons.

  “What’s up Ry?” asks Phil.

  “I just talked with Jon about checking out some places with the drones,” I answer Phil.

  Phil puts a shotgun on its rack and replies, “Good, I like that you are checking out the areas before we go there.”

  I look at the weapons and weapon racks that we have and see a lot of empty racks that we can still fill with weapons.

  “I guess I can make a good decision every once and a while,” I joke to Phil.

  “Yeah, a broken clock is right twice a day,” jokes Phil.

  “How are we looking with our weapons smart ass?” I ask Phil.

  “Decent, we can always use more ammo and guns though,” answers Phil.

  “I think I remember seeing a gun shop on the way to the water treatment plant and electric company,” I say.

  “Nice, we should check it out,” replies Phil.

  I look around the bedroom that Phil has turned into a weapons storage room and see that Phil took down all of the pictures and anything personal to the family that owned this house.

  “Well, whenever you want to go, just let me know,” says Phil.

  “I will. I’ll let you get back to fixing this place up,” I say to Phil.

  “It’s coming together nicely. It looks a little empty, but we all have our own weapons in our houses, and this is just more for storage than anything else,” says Phil.

  I look at Phil and say, “Well, we got plenty of space for any guns that we find.”

  “Yes sir,” replies Phil.

  I say goodbye to Phil and exit our armory.

  I walk down the street and approach Buck’s house.

  I see the curtains at the front windows of Buck’s house move and I stop walking.

  BOOM!

  I see a hand hit the front window glass from inside the house and then I see the face of the person that just hit the window glass.

  It’s Buck and he’s a zombie.

  I feel a sense of disgust and despair as I see Buck’s zombified eyes, skin, and mouth.

  I walk over to my house and open my front door.

  I grab my keys from the bowl that is sitting on the table near my front door.

  Lauren sees me grab my keys and asks, “What are you doing?”

  I answer Lauren, “Come with me and bring your bow and arrows.”

  I exit my house and walk next door to Buck’s front yard.

  I check my key ring and find Buck’s house key. He gave me an extra house key for when he wanted me to check his mail and look over his house when he went away on vacations.

  Lauren walks over to me with her bow and arrows and sees Buck banging on his front house window from inside his house.

  “I’m going to open his front door. Can you take him out?” I ask Lauren.

  Lauren nods her head and grabs an arrow for her bow.

  I walk over to Buck’s front door and open it.

  I shout, “Come on Buck!”

  I slowly walk backwards away from Buck’s front door and over to Lauren.

  Lauren aims her bow and arrow at Buck’s open front doorway.

  Buck staggers out of his front doorway and I look at him.

  Buck’s eyes are blood shot and they have the same cloudiness that I have seen
every zombie have.

  Buck takes a step towards his front yard and Lauren fires her arrow.

  SCHHWAFF!

  Lauren’s arrow hits Buck above his right eye and pierces his brain.

  Buck collapses onto his left side and lands on his front yard.

  “Good shot sweetie,” I say to Lauren.

  I walk over to Buck and pull Lauren’s arrow out of Buck’s head.

  I examine Buck’s dead body and see that he doesn’t have any bites or scratches on him.

  “How did he die?” asks Lauren.

  “I’m guessing a heart attack or something like that, because I don’t see any wounds or bites or anything,” I answer Lauren.

  I look at Buck’s open front doorway and say, “Let’s go check out his house and see what happened.”

  Lauren and I enter Buck’s house and we see that it’s in rough shape and smells pretty bad.

  “Man, this place stinks,” says Lauren.

  I turn on the light in the kitchen and see some dirty dishes and some open cans of tuna fish and other canned goods.

  Lauren and I walk into Buck’s living room and we find some magazines, papers, and miscellaneous items all over the living room.

  I see a recliner chair with a table next to it.

  I walk over to the recliner chair. I find a handgun, an open bottle of medication, a picture that is underneath a magazine, and an empty bottle of vodka on the floor next to the recliner chair.

  I pick up the picture and see that the picture is of Buck and a woman.

  Lauren walks over to me and looks at the picture.

  “I guess that was his lady friend that he told me about before,” I say as I look at Buck and the woman in the picture.

  “I wonder if she didn’t make it and that’s why Buck killed himself?” asks Lauren.

  “Could be, and I’m guessing that Buck took some of those pills and washed it down with some vodka,” I answer Lauren.

  Lauren and I look through Buck’s house a little more and we don’t find any signs of forced entry or anything suspicious.

  I exit Buck’s house with Lauren and walk back over to Buck’s dead body.

  “What should we do with him?” asks Lauren.

  “I think we have to bury him,” I answer Lauren.

  Phil exits the armory and walks over to Lauren and me.

  “What happened?” asks Phil.

  “We think he killed himself and then turned into a zombie. We found an empty bottle of pills, a gun, and an empty vodka bottle,” I answer Phil.

  “Shit, I guess he couldn’t handle it anymore. What do you want to do with his body?” asks Phil.

  “Buck was a pain at times, but overall, he was a good guy. I want to bury him in our graveyard,” I answer Phil.

  “I knew you would want to bury him. I’ll help you,” replies Phil.

  I look at Lauren and ask, “Can you find a sheet in his house?”

  “Yeah, but I’m grabbing the first thing I find as I can’t stand the smell in there,” answers Lauren.

  “Okay sweetie, any sheet will do,” I reply to Lauren.

  Lauren runs back into Buck’s house.

  “She has a thing with smells,” I say to Phil.

  “I understand. Nicole does also,” replies Phil.

  Phil and I see Matt walking down the street towards us but on the other side of the street and Matt asks, “What the hell happened?”

  “Suicide I think,” I answer Matt.

  Matt, while walking on the sidewalk on the other side of the street, replies, “Shit, that sucks.”

  “Where you going?” asks Phil to Matt.

  Matt answers, “To Jon’s. We are going to launch a couple drones and get some video now.”

  “Nice, have fun,” I say to Matt.

  Matt replies, “You too.”

  Lauren runs out of Buck’s house with a black bed sheet.

  “Here ya go,” says Lauren as she hands the black bed sheet to me.

  “Thank you, sweetie,” I say to Lauren.

  “I gotta wash my hands. I’ll see you later,” says Lauren.

  Phil and I wrap Buck’s dead body in the black queen sized bed sheet and pick him up.

  Phil and I carry Buck’s dead body down the street and towards our graveyard.

  We make it to Phil’s house, we put Buck’s heavy dead body down on Phil’s driveway, and Phil grabs two shovels from inside his garage.

  I look down the street, the sidewalk, and at the two empty houses that are between Phil’s house and our graveyard.

  I wait for Phil and sit on a chair on Phil’s front porch.

  Phil hands me a bottle of water and sits in the other empty chair on his front porch.

  I look at Buck’s dead body and say, “That guy is heavy.”

  Phil replies, “Yeah, dead weight is no joke. In the academy and even for our annual testing, we had to carry a heavy ass fake body and it sucked.”

  Phil and I finish our bottles of water and we bring Buck’s dead body and the two shovels down to our graveyard.

  I look at Phil and ask, “You like living so close to our graveyard?”

  Phil jokes, “Yeah, it’s quiet over here. My neighbors don’t make any noise.”

  “Wow, what a guy,” I joke as I start digging Buck’s grave.

  “I know it was a bad joke, but I couldn’t help myself,” replies Phil as he picks up his shovel.

  “Yeah, I guess you being a dad now has turned your jokes into dad jokes,” I joke with Phil as I empty the dirt from my shovel onto the grass.

  “I guess so, but I’m okay with that,” replies Phil as he digs into the ground.

  I glance at Bobby G’s grave and remember a couple of his dad jokes from when I was growing up and a couple of other good memories.

  CHAPTER 11

  I THINK

  “I never thought I would dig a grave or have a graveyard,” I say to Phil as we sit outside on Phil’s front porch after burying Buck in our graveyard.

  “Me either,” replies Phil.

  A cool breeze comes by and moves some tree branches and bushes.

  “How you holding up Ry?” asks Phil.

  I take a sip from my beer bottle and answer, “I’m doing okay. I have my moments for sure, but overall, I think I’m okay.”

  “Well, it’s okay if you aren’t. You don’t have to put on a tough act for everyone. We all know how hard it is losing a parent, and we all loved your dad,” says Phil.

  I think about Phil’s statement and I feel thankful to have Phil and everyone here at Citrus Oaks with me. I lost my father, but I’m just glad that I had these couple months with him.

  “I’m just glad and thankful to have had the time I had with him. I’m sure some people haven’t found their loved ones, and they may never find them,” I say to Phil.

  “I like the positive outlook Ry,” says Phil.

  I give Phil a half smile and reply, “Thanks. I have always tried to keep it positive. Well, I have tried to work on it.”

  I finish my beer and put my empty beer bottle down next to Phil’s radio that is on the small table that is between the chairs that Phil and I are sitting in.

  “You have come a long way Ry. I remember when you were so anxious and pretty negative. They called you a loose cannon,” says Phil.

  “Who called me that? I’ll kick his ass,” I joke.

  Phil and I laugh.

  “I guess people can change,” jokes Phil.

  “That was a long time ago, and I have definitely changed a lot since high school,” I reply to Phil.

  “Remember those chicks we met down at Myrtle Beach the weekend before you left for college?” asks Phil.

  “I remember choking out that guy when he went after you,” I answer Phil.

  “Yeah, you always had my back,” replies Phil.

  “Someone had too, you were always getting into trouble with the ladies… Somehow your little ass always ended up meeting some chick who was having relationship problems w
ith their boyfriend,” I say to Phil.

  “I guess I knew how to pick them,” jokes Phil.

  “Well, you picked a great girl now,” I say to Phil.

  Phil smiles, finishes his beer, and replies, “Yeah, I definitely did.”

  I say goodbye to Phil and make my way down the street towards my house.

  I walk down the street and I see a bird fly overhead.

  I look at the bird and I believe it’s the same small white bird that I have seen a couple times when I visited Bobby G’s grave.

  I continue walking down the street and I see two of our drones flying back towards our neighborhood and towards Jon’s house that is in the back cul-de-sac of Citrus Oaks.

  I enter my house and find Lauren and Fran making dinner in the kitchen.

  Milo and Callie are eating food in their separate food bowls.

  “Everything go okay with Buck?” asks Lauren as I enter the kitchen.

  “What happened with Buck?” asks Fran.

  “Everything went well. Phil and I buried him,” I answer Lauren.

  “Who is Buck?” asks Fran.

  “He was our next door neighbor,” answers Lauren.

  “I don’t think I ever met him,” replies Fran.

  “Probably not, he kept to himself mostly,” I say to Fran.

  “What’s going to happen with his house?” asks Lauren.

  “I think we go through his house and see what supplies and food he has… And then I guess we leave it vacant,” I answer Lauren.

  “I think we air it out first,” replies Lauren.

  “Good idea sweetie. I’m gonna go shower,” I say to Lauren.

  I take a shower, while Lauren and Fran prepare our dinner.

  Phil stands up from his front porch chair and reaches for his radio.

  “Hello, Ryan are you there?” asks someone over the radio.

  Phil replies into his radio, “This is Phil, who is this?”

  “Hey Phil, it’s Brad,” answers the person over the radio with a low tone of voice.

  “Why are you whispering? Is everything okay?” asks Phil into his radio.

  “I have to be careful. Channelside is being run by a new person and I’m not sure they want me to talk with anyone outside of the community,” answers Brad over the radio.

  “I thought you were going to run Channelside?” asks Phil into his radio.

  “I lost the election, but I’m somewhat connected with our new leader,” answers Brad over the radio.