Infected: They Will Eat You!: A Story of Family Survival in a Zombie Apocalypse (25 page)

“Oh.”

“When we get close to the track I’m going to switch with mommy. She’ll drive fairly close and stop about fifty yards away from the gate, we don’t want to attract too much attention. Caleb and I will get out, don’t slam your door, and work our way to the gate. You guys stay in the truck. If we need help swoop in but otherwise stay put. Everyone clear?”

They all nodded.

Infected were dotted around the fence of the race track primarily in areas where the chain link portion made the fire visible. Caleb and I only needed to put three infected down to make a path to the gate. We wrapped the chain around the gate and secured it with the padlock we had cut. It was secure enough to keep the infected inside from wondering away, if we found a lock somewhere we could easily replace it.

Mission complete we hustled back to the truck and started driving through town. “We’re looking for any changes, curtains moving, cars that were in different places, new broken windows, any movement and infected.” I started explaining as we rode up and down streets.

“I don’t see anything that looks different.” Christine said.

“Me either.” said Jesse.

We drove around for a half hour then pulled to a stop in the middle of town. “Quiet.” I said, “I’m gonna park here and we can look around. It’s clear enough.”

“Can we go in that archery store over there dad?” asked Caleb.

“Sure, but let’s take our time.” I answered.

We paused for a moment scanning the area. It was fairly open with a nice treed square with benches surrounded by retail and office buildings. The American flag still flapped on a pole at the southern end. Flags flew in front of the post office and on street lamps lining the road. As with many older towns this one was dotted with vacant lots where buildings once stood and empty storefronts. There was a charm to the town probably lost on many residents, especially the young.

“Meow.” I said.

“Look, even here daddy can find a cat.” Christine said.

There was a black cat sitting in the shade of a building on the corner. It looked over at us. I started walking toward it talking then got down on one knee. The cat trotted toward me then slowed sniffing. When it was within reach I started scratching it on the head and it rolled on the ground. The boys came up behind me slowly and started petting the cat.

“He’s friendly.” said Jesse.

“Let’s let it be.” I said and we started walking south down the middle of the street heading in the direction of the archery store.

“Gould and Young 1894.” Christine said reading from a building on our right, “Look at that woodwork, it’s beautiful.”

We stopped and looked at the building.

“Yeah, that looks nice. Let’s check out the archery shop.” I said, “I’ll open the door and go in a bit. Caleb you be ready when I call you.”

“OK.” he agreed.

“You guys watch out here.” I directed Christine and Jesse, “We don’t want any infected coming in behind us.”

“OK.” they said nodding.

“Here we go.” I warned and pushed the door. Locked.

“We could brake the glass.” suggested Caleb.

“Yeah, I’d rather be quieter. I bet that hardware store has glasscutters.” I said pointing down the street.

“And pad locks.” added Jesse.

“And padlocks.” I echoed.

We started down the street when Christine commented “We’re J-walking.”

“Yep.” I responded.

“What’s J-walking?” asked Jesse.

“It’s when you cross diagonally instead of going from this corner to that corner to the next.” she explained pointing to each corner.

“You go in a straight line instead of an ‘L’.” I added.

“Daddy would J-walk and cross in the middle of the street and I would get after him for doing so.” she said.

“Oh.” was Jesse’s response.

Once again an odd feeling came over me. Here we were walking, more like strolling down the street looking like guerrilla fighters from the mountains of some third world country searching for survivors of the zombie apocalypse.

“I wonder what Manhattan is like.” I said stopping in front of the hardware store and staring through the windows.

“Smelly.” said Caleb.

“Same thing here right?” I said. They all nodded.

“I hope the door’s unlocked.” added Jesse.

“Me too.” I agreed as we approached the building.

“The door’s open.” Caleb observed.

“It’s broken.” Jesse added.

“It’s a mess inside.” Christine said.

“Looks like people have been rummaging around. Wonder if that was before or after….” I said and stepped inside. “Honey, I’m home!” I yelled out. There was no sound.

“Wait here.” I instructed then walked back and forth across the front of the store looking as far down each isle as possible. “Yooo Hooo! Anyone around?” Nothing. “Caleb, flashlight on, stay with me. Watch our back guys.”

Caleb and I made our way down the right isle to the back and crossed to the left. The front of the store was clear of human and zombie. We’d leave the rest of the building alone and focus on finding our tools.

“If you see any batteries grab them.” I said as we searched the debris.

“Can you find anything?” he asked, “It’s all a mess.”

“No, this may be a waste of time, let’s go, I guess we’ll just make some noise.” I said as I grabbed a couple crowbars.

We met the others on the sidewalk. “There’s probably something in there we can use but it’s been ransacked. It would take too much time looking. We’ll just use some force.”

“Do you think that’s wise?” Christine asked.

“I don’t know. Seems quiet enough around here. Haven’t seen an infected or anything…..I just wonder why this store has been gone through and the archery store has not.”

“I’d go to the archery store first.” Caleb said.

“Yeah, me too.” agreed Jesse.

“I can understand why the antique mall or the lawyer’s office wasn’t looted but weapons……let’s go, maybe it’s empty.”

“I could see bows through the window.” Jesse said.

“Well, then we’ll find out why maybe.”

In front of the archery store we all stood assessing the doors. “First let’s try the crowbars and see if we can pry them open.” I suggested.

Caleb and I worked at prying the doors open to no avail. “They may have locks on the bottom and top.” I said. “Stand back.”

CRASH! I tossed the crowbar I was using through the glass door panel then took the one Caleb held and cleaned the remaining shards from the opening.

“Watch the glass.” I said stepping through the vacant panel.

It was a dark open space with a counter to the back of the room. “Not much inventory, maybe that’s why no one tried to break in.” I said.

“Maybe they took it.” Caleb suggested.

“Someone looted it then locked the doors?”

“NO, the owner took the stuff.”

“Oh. Let’s see what there is left.”

We took two steps and saw movement behind the counter, “Infected, two.” I said.

Phut, phut
. They were down almost before the words left my mouth. We walked forward and looked behind the counter. “They’re done.” Caleb said.

“Yep, and look at what they have, guns, ammo, water, food…I wonder if they were in here guarding the place when they turned. Careful, let’s look around.”

We searched the rest of the store finding a locked storage room in the back packed full of gear. “We hit the jackpot.” I said after breaking the door open. “Let’s go tell mom and Jesse.”

“Do we really need more bows and arrows?” asked Christine after hearing what we found.

“You can never have enough bows and arrows.” said Caleb.

“I thought that was knives.” she responded with a grin.

“We may not need the stuff now but who knows in the future, and we have some room in the trailer so we may as well take it.” I said.

“How about we look around a bit, maybe there’s other things we could use. There’s a grocery store down that way by the intersection where we burned the infected the other day.”

“Maybe we can find a banjo on the way.” Christine joked.

We spent much of the afternoon picking through the shops along Main Street placing things we were interested on the sidewalk. The cat would appear from time to time when we were on the north end of the street. It was good seeing life anytime it showed up.

By the time we reached the grocery store we were exhausted and dripping wet. It was hot and we needed a rest. “I don’t know about this, it’s a big building and I really don’t want to spend a lot of time inside.” I commented.

“I’m tired.” Jesse added.

“Me too.” I agreed, “We’ll check it out real quick and then decide what to do. We can come back tomorrow if we want. Same thing as before, I’m point, then Caleb, you guys watch our backs. Got it?”

“Got it.” they all said.

As we approached the grocery store Christine said “It smells different.”

“Really bad,” agreed Caleb, “but a different bad than usual.”

“Could be rotting food.” I suggested, “Wait here.”

I walked closer and started hearing a buzzing noise. My hearing is not that great but as I approached the sound became larger until it was a hum, then the odor hit me and my hackles stood on end. I backed up in alarm.

“Let’s go now!” I ordered.

“What is it honey?” asked Christine.

I ushered everyone in front of me, “Fast.” I said.

“What is it!?” she asked again.

“Get up the road and I’ll tell you.” I answered.

“We were a block away when I said “OK, we can slow down.” I turned and walked backward watching for any movement.

“What is it daddy?” Jesse asked.

“Did you smell it?” I asked looking at Caleb.

“What?” he asked puzzled with a look on his face, “It smelled really bad.”

“The night in the golf course……the smell of those things…..I smelled it again.”

His eyes widened and he raised his head, “Yeah, I did smell it. It’s different than infected or the food.”

“If those things are here we really need to be careful.”

“They move really fast.” he agreed nodding.

“What do they look like?” Christine asked.

“Not sure, it was dark and we moved by them quickly. I just know that smell.” I answered, “And, there was a buzzing coming from inside. It sounded like a swarm of something. I could hear it from twenty feet away. Nobody’s going near that building. I don’t even want us going toward that end of the street anymore. Let’s grab the stuff we have set out and go home.”

-——————————————

We were tired, exhausted, and now on edge. We had spent the past few days feeling more and more at ease with our situation and now we were faced with a new danger. We hadn’t seen anything but I knew it existed.

-——————————————

It was another fine morning with clear skies and a slight breeze blowing off the fields that cooled things down just enough. I had been sitting at the pic-nic table since first light sipping coffee and thinking about my family, home, Farmer City, where we were going and yesterday. Yesterday, that was a kicker. I believe we were all starting to think this may be a good place to settle but no, that smell told me it was time to move on.

“What are you doing?” Christine asked as she walked up and put her arm around my shoulder.

“I’m writing some notes about what we’ve found here. We can leave them in the house, they may help anyone who follows.”

“That’s a good idea.” she paused, “You don’t think we can stay do you?”

“It’s not the right place.”

“Because of what we found yesterday?”

“If those things are here it is much more dangerous, I guess. We only had one run in with them and it was so brief, who knows. I just know it shook me and when I smelled that smell yesterday my warning light came on big time. But it’s not just that, this is just not the right place.”

“OK, I trust you but I really like it here.”

“You liked it at home too but it was a mistake to stay as long as we did.”

“I agree. What should we do today?”

“We have to pack up. We can give others one more day to get here but we have to be ready to leave early tomorrow, and do it.”

“OK then, we’ll be ready.”

Breakfast was solemn. Christine had told the boys the plan and they were upset. This had been a fun place and seemed to have everything we could need but it was not the
right
place. We had seen what overstaying could bring and we weren’t going to risk another event like we experienced back home. Today was all about preparing the vehicles and ourselves for leaving.

“Here’s a list of things we need to do today. Everything on the first page is essential and must be done. The second page has things that would be good to do but are not essential. The third page is for things we’d like to do or for us to write things down that are not on the first two pages. Got it?”

Everyone nodded.

“Let’s get going. If we get done we can have some fun.”

This was a work day, in the past, in our previous life, that would mean a lot of work for me and a lot of whining and bickering from the boys with Christine playing umpire. It was different now, there were still an occasional “
I’m tired
.” or “
I’m hungry
.” but for most of the morning everyone went about their duties with purpose. By lunch we had the vehicles packed and ready.

“I did not think we would be done with the trucks ‘till dark.” I said as we sat down for lunch, “It’s just one thirty and we could drive off now and not be missing a single thing. I’m proud of everyone.”

“Now can we have some fun?” asked Caleb.

“Hasn’t’ this been fun?” I asked.

“NO, this was work.” Jesse answered.

“We have a few hours before dark we could go fishing in that pond over there or read a book….”

“Can we just play around here?” Jesse asked.

“Yep. Have at it.”

With that they took off for tree climbing and tire swinging.

“I’m going to finish writing notes to leave, do you want me to help with dinner?”

“That would be nice. Are there any fish in that pond?”

“Not sure. I could go see.”

“Fish would be nice to have for dinner.”

“Then I’ll go catch some fish.”