Learning To Live (Zombie Overload Series) (3 page)

I
run back to Rose and put my finger to my lips, letting her know to be
quiet. I grab her arm, give her a yank, and mouth "
Hurry
!"

Pushing
her in front of me, we run as fast as my fat ass can go. Nearing the
barn, I see all the men-except Greg and Sam-standing in front of the
building. Waving my arms in the air to get their attention, Rose and
I keep running until we get closer to the house. I stop and bend at
the waist, gasping for air. I lift my head and watch Rose run into
the house. Once she's safely inside, I turn and watch the woods. It's
not long before I hear the undead.

The
guys come up beside me, guns ready. Dad tries to get me to go inside
with the other women.
As
if! After all I've been through?
Whatever!
Jake laughs as he sees the look I shoot my dad.

We
spread out in a long line, guns up and ready to fire. Slowly, the
zombies stagger out of the trees. As soon as they are within firing
range, we take them down. When the last one falls, we all start
forward to do a sweep through the woods to find the breach in the
fence where they got through. We spread out and I hear a few more
gunshots, telling me there are still more in here. I carefully go
around each tree, alert for danger. I hear a shout, which sounds like
Ryder, and I move in that direction. The shout didn't sound
distressed or in a way to make me think he was in trouble.

I
finally find Ryder standing next to a section of fence that had been
knocked over from the outside, shooting the undead as they come
toward him. The rest of the men show up and we all help
Ryder
keep the zombies back, except Dad and Kurt, who work on the fence.

At
last, the undead stop coming and the fence is temporarily fixed. Dad
and Kurt decide a trip into town is needed for supplies.

Dad
informs me I'm not going and that's
that
!

I
grin and shake my head.
He's known me how long?
If I want
to go, I'll go.

But
I think this time I'd rather stay and protect the others―and
hope it will be quiet and uneventful. So I nod and let him think he's
won. Apparently, he really wasn't expecting that, if his
jaw-dropping, bug-eyed expression is anything to go by.

I
walk away still grinning, thinking how silly some people can be.
I'm
really
not
that difficult!

Jake
stays behind to help me watch out for the others in our group-after
all, we still have a weak fence to worry about. When the other men
are ready to leave, Jake and I go inside and sit in the kitchen in
front of the windows facing the backyard.

"Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"I
think we need to train my sisters to shoot."

"I
think that's a smart idea."

"I
never have stupid ideas." He bursts out laughing...hard. Too
hard.

You are an
ass, Jake!

I
tell Jake I'll keep watch and he can teach them-after all, I only
know how to load, aim, and shoot.
Well, I guess that's the most
important part, huh?
But you know what I mean.
I can't
teach them to clean a gun...and I think that's important.
Can't
they jam or blow up or something if you don't? And he can also teach
them the best way to stand and hold the guns.
I don't think
about it when I do it, I just do it.

So
Jake gathers all the women-except Mom, Ma, and Sara-and explains to
them what he wants to do. They all seem relieved at being able to
have a way to protect themselves, except Rose. She is adamant about
being afraid of guns, until I remind her that the zombies will get
her. I remember scaring her when she was little saying the monsters
will get her if she isn't good or whatever. Always worked then, still
works now!
Ha ha!
She's so funny!

Jake
takes the girls out to the side of the house. I have a clear view of
them through the large bay window to my right. I turn my attention to
the woods. Before long, the two stools beside me are occupied by Bo
and Ash. They ask me what happened earlier when we all went in the
woods and I tell them. They decide they're going to help watch the
yard with me-and that lasts a whole two minutes.

Mom
brings the reheated plate of food she had saved for me and I eat
while keeping watch. She sits next to me and we talk. She asks me how
I'm feeling and lets me know if I need to talk about Will, she'll
listen. I tell her thanks and give her a hug, but I don't talk about
Will.
I just
can't
talk about Will.
I'm not sure I
can deal with the emotions right now.
I've got to keep my head
in the here and now and keep us alive.

After
she leaves, Ma takes her place. I give her a hug, just now realizing
I haven't even said a word to her since we picked her up.
Ugh!
I suck as a granddaughter!

She
rubs her hand in a circle against my back and I clamp my teeth down
on my lip to keep from screaming from the pain. I love her so much
and the comfort she gives me is worth the pain...until about the
sixth complete circle. Unable to stand it any longer, I cry out and
jump away from her hand.

She
gives me a startled look and I explain the whole pain-in-the-back
issue.

"Well,
why didn't you just say so? I could have rubbed your hand―"
I cut her off with an "I don't think so" look.

"Your
arm?" I give her another look.

"Your
head, then!" I give her a final look.

She
shakes her head in astonishment, her eyes wide. "Didn't any of
those men do anything to protect you? Or were
you
the one
protecting their butts?"
Haha!
Damn, I love this
woman!

I
put my arm around her and give her a brief account of what had
happened before we picked her up. When I'm finished, she shakes her
head once more. After a few more minutes, she gets up to help Mom
make something for everyone to eat.

I
take a few seconds every once in awhile to see how the Annie Oakleys
are doing, but otherwise, I'm watching the back. Nothing exciting
happens for about the first hour-then suddenly, that changes. A woman
is coming out of the trees wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of
boots. Her long blond hair is matted and a few patches are missing
from her head.

I
pick up my gun, go out the back door, and walk toward her. When she's
close enough, I put a bullet in her head and watch as she drops. I
hear the other girls scream as the sound of my gun going off startles
them. I turn and look back as they curse me and yell at me to at
least give a warning first. Coco informs me I almost made her shoot
Jake.
And?

Kidding!
Really.

I
laugh at them and they start screaming even more at me. Insults I'm
sure, but I've stopped listening. Turning back to the woods, I find
out why they were really screaming. I jerk my body back just in time
to avoid a pair undead filthy hands.

The
hands are attached to a freakin'
nun
!
This just ain't
right!

I
raise my gun and pull the trigger...but nothing happens!
Oh, holy
shit!

I
trip over some-damn-thing and the Sister is on me. Flat on my back, I
hold her up and away from me with my arms while she's snapping and
moaning at me. As she leans a bit to the right, I see more movement
coming from the woods.
Ah, shit!

Suddenly,
I hear a gunshot over my head and the nun goes limp. I have blood and
God only knows what sprayed all over me.
Damn it!
Now I
have to shower again.

In
disgust, I shove her body off me and get to my feet.

I
look back at Jake as I lift my shirt and wipe off what I can of the
gore, "Thanks. But do you mind getting them off me
before
you blow their brains out? Think maybe you can manage that, you
jackass?"

"Jackass?
I just saved your life!" he says with a grin.

"I
said
thanks
," I snap at him and turn, readying my gun for
the mob coming at us. I hear the other girls coming up behind and
Jake tells them practice is over, now they get to show us what they
got. I step back so that all these barely-trained chicks can shoot
without putting a bullet in me. I watch them, surprised at how good
they all are-even my baby sister, Rose. I had pictured her holding
the gun like she was terrified of it. Maybe holding it with two
fingers on the handle, screaming "Ew, ew, ew" and jumping
from foot to foot. I picture her that way because that's what she
does with everything else that freaks her out. But to my shock, and
relief, she looks like a Charlie's Angel...
uh
...
Jake's
Angel
?
Whatever!

The
only one who didn't really surprise me was Kally, being a farm girl
and all. I figure she'd had some shooting experience. Feeling a
little more confident that I won't be killed by friendly-fire, I step
back into line and start shooting. There are so many of the damn
things!

I
know we don't have enough ammo out here with us, so I tell Jake I'm
going to the truck to get more. He nods to let me know he hears me
and I run to the front of the house. Grabbing the bag of ammo and as
many extra guns as I can, I run inside the front door of the house,
doing a quick check on the kids and Psycho Sara. Unfortunately, she's
still unturned.
That's really too bad.
I have a gun ready
and everything!

I
ask Sam if he would help keep an eye on the kids-and on Sara-and he
agrees. I find Mom on my way through the kitchen and quickly warn her
in case the undead get past us. I see her grab her gun from a high
cabinet and walk to the window as I exit the back door.

I
notice Lindey is out of ammo so I go over to her first. Handing her
another gun that's loaded and ready, I take her first one, reload it,
and lay it at her feet. Showing her it's there, I move to the next.
When everyone has two guns, I get back in line and start shooting.
Eventually, we get them thinned down to stragglers.

When
those are gone, Jake tells the others to keep watch while he and I go
check the woods. We run toward the woods on the far right edge of the
property, slowing to a slow and cautious walk as we enter the dense
trees and follow the fence line. We take down the ones we find until
we get to the part of the fence that was down earlier. It's down
again, but worse than that, an even larger section is down.
I hope
the guys hurry, the sun won't stay up forever!

Jake
has me call my sister and tell her we're staying here by the fence,
and that we will call if there are more zombies than we can handle.
If so, the girls will need to line back up again. She says "ok"
and we hang up.

Jake
and I sit and make ourselves comfortable as we watch the trees and
land beyond the fence. After a half hour with no action, my eyes
start drooping. My eyes and head drop a few times as I struggle to
stay awake. When my head drops far enough to wake me, my body jerks
and I force my head back up where it belongs. Embarrassed, I look
over at Jake to see if he's noticed, but he's not looking at me.
He
had been, though. I don't think looking out at a boring landscape
would have normal people grinning like an idiot. Then again, it's
Jake.
I watch him grin for a few seconds, then I reach over and
punch him hard in the arm.

"Ow!
Damn, woman! What the hell was that for?" he cries out, rubbing
his arm.

I
give him a look of disgust and then a pointed look at the arm he's
still rubbing, "You're letting your girly-side show." I
sniff and lift my chin as I turn my head forward.

I
hear him mumbling under his breath but I can only make out a few
words, most of them calling someone a bitch. I ignore him and
continue watching.

"You
know, I kinda preferred you in the fatigues. Why'd you change?"
he asks me.

I
shrug. "Wanted something different, I guess." He watches me
for a few moments and I keep my eyes straight ahead, although I can
see him out of my peripheral vision. He lets it go and I slowly, and
as naturally as possible, release the breath I've been holding.

By
the time Rose calls and tells us the guys are back, we have taken
down at least a dozen undead, usually one zombie at a time. The most
at one time we had to shoot was three, nothing more exciting than
that. Jake and I wait for the guys. Finally, we hear a big engine
getting close and I stand to look through the trees. I can see a semi
so hopefully they got some good stuff. After a lot of noise, they
start bringing in large metal security panels. They're about ten feet
high and each panel is about eight feet long-obviously meant for
businesses and not residential homes.

The
men dig holes, pour cement, and install the panels while I keep
watch. Eventually, Kally and Lindey come out to help me. We have
enough fencing to do the whole back, but not enough for the entire
property. They tell us they have another truck up by the barn to
bring back here, and after they get those panels up, they will go
back tonight for the rest before someone else gets them.