Slow Burn: A Zombie Novel (48 page)

“
Boy am I glad to see you!” Dan exclaimed through the smoke. “What the hell happened and where is Mattie?”

“
And Mike,” Chris added.

“
I’ll be glad to tell ya buddy, if you let me breathe,” Stephen chided. “But first of all, where is my dog and where are my guns? I want ta know, in that order.”

Stephen soon heard Buddy bay in delight, the way only a beagle can do, as he ran up to see his master. Chris relayed that all the group’s extra firearms were safe and sound in the prison fire station. Stephen filled Dan and Chris in on what had happened after his last radio transmission and how he and the others had spent the last couple of days holed up.

“
It’s a well-fortified all brick house,” Stephen told them. “They should be fine for now. I told them we would be back tomorrow morning at the latest to get them.”

A small crowd had gathered around the trio, and Stephen didn’t pay much attention at first. When he realized it, he grinned.

“
Hey, how many people have you rounded up?” he asked to a chorus of laughs.

“
We found at least eight just between yesterday and today. A couple more came in a few hours before you,” Chris replied. “And we can use the help. There’s plenty to do.”

Stephen took the time to shake everyone’s hand and introduce himself.

“
We’ve heard a lot about you,” an older gentleman, who called himself Andy, said with a smile.

“
All good I hope,” Stephen laughed.

“
Yes of course,” Andy replied with a wink. “And if this Mattie is anything like Dan says, I’m looking forward to meeting her.”

Everyone laughed as the group walked towards a small camp set up around the fire station.

“
Wait till you see what we have done to the place so far,” Dan said as he led Stephen towards the camp. “And let me tell ya, this place has lots of potential.”

“
Let’s go, chowder head,” Dan snarled, firing up their retrofitted mini school bus.

“
I’m coming!” Chris yelled back while jogging towards the bus, rifle in hand, lugging a large backpack. “I just wanted to make sure I had everything.”

“
I’m coming…that’s what she said last night, now move your ass!” Dan replied around the cigar that was clenched in his teeth. “You locked and loaded, Stephen?”

“
Roger that,” Stephen replied from inside the bus. “I think we celebrated a little too much last night, my head is pounding.”

“
Man up, pussy,” Dan smirked, with absolutely no pity. “We got work to do.”

Dan looked out the driver’s window at the buxom Hispanic woman that they rescued last night near the prison. She was wearing a purple sweater that showed curves in all the right places. They had gotten pretty intoxicated around the fire last night, but the woman had driven up to the prison and honked her horn loud enough to get their attention. Chris had suggested placing a large banner that read “Survivors Inside” over the prison walls, and she was the group’s third drive-up customer. Dan gave the woman a sly wink as he put the bus into gear when Chris climbed aboard. She giggled and turned her head slightly and blushed red.

Yes sir!
he thought.
I still got it
.

“
Open sesame, amigo,” Dan called to the Hispanic man near the closed gate. We got some buddies to go rescue!”

Dan leaned out the window, and the Hispanic woman gave him a kiss.

“
I cannot wait for your return, Dan,” she said in halting English as the bus lurched forward.

Dan sat back into his seat and noticed Chris staring at him in amazement.

“
You got something you want to say?” Dan growled.

"No," Chris said laughing, all the while wondering how the hell Dan did it.

As the bus left the prison, Chris settled in. Thinking back over the last week or so, he realized how far they had come since arriving at the prison. It had taken them a few days, but things were starting to fall into place. The prison had been neglected and needed a lot of work, but it was looking better already. Much time was spent putting newcomers in charge of various tasks, and providing them with the tools to get it done. Most of the refugees were terribly unprepared and did not have the slightest bit of survival knowledge. However, so far they had gotten lucky in the fact that everyone was eager to help out and thankful for the safety provided by the prison.

“
Baby steps,” he reminded himself.

Maneuvering the bus around stalled vehicles, Dan managed to get through the cluttered streets and prepared to drive across the downtown area and again cross back over the Des Plaines River. Driving west down Jackson Street, Dan abruptly stopped the vehicle.

“
I think we got a problem, guys,” Dan said without looking away from the street.

Chris walked forward to look out the windshield. Ahead of them appeared to be a roadblock at the railroad viaduct that the road passed under near Scott Street. Several armed people stood on the other side with their weapons trained on them, and they didn’t look friendly. The armed men also ignored several zombies, who clawed helplessly at their roadblock.

“
Back up slowly; don’t do anything to spook them,” Chris warned.

“
Nice and easy,” Stephen added. “But if they start something, I’m going to unload a world of hurt on them.”

Dan did so and backed up to where he could safely turn the bus around.

“
Who the hell were they?” Dan asked. “And when did they show up?”

“
I have no idea,” Chris replied. “But they didn’t look like they wanted to be our friends.”

“
I didn’t see anybody yesterday,” Stephen remarked while keeping his eyes trained on the men. “But several zombies were headed this way. You guys didn’t see anybody when you went looking for us a couple days ago?”

“
That’s a big negative,” Dan answered. “Looks like we will have to find another bridge to cross.”

Stephen was now up by Chris near the front of the bus with his rifle at the ready. “Take it slow, buddy. We don’t need to run into any more surprises.”

“
I second that,” Chris added.

All three of the men suddenly flinched as a zombie slammed into the door of the school bus and began to claw at the seal. He was immediately joined by two others.

“
Jesus Christ,” Chris said. “Those assholes always show up out of nowhere.”

“
Let’s roll, Dan,” Stephen added. “We can cross farther south.”

Dan made his way towards the next bridge crossing and carefully approached. As he grew near the river, Dan abruptly braked to a halt in front of a small brick store front.

“
Champions Pawn Shop,” Dan read aloud.

He frantically fished inside his front pants pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

“
That’s where my bitch girlfriend pawned my grand pappy’s pistol!” he brayed. "She was back on the dope for sure if she pawned it on the east side of Joliet.”

Dan threw the bus in park and would have run out of the bus and into the store until Chris grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“
Dan, we have to go get Mike and Mattie," Chris reasoned. "If your gun is inside then it will still be there when we get back. I’ll even help you pick it up later.”

Dan looked longingly at the building and muttered to himself, “I knew she was back doing drugs, thieving whore!”

He angrily closed the bus door and threw himself in the seat.

“
Do it for Mattie, Dan,” Stephen said with a chuckle. “Your gun’s not going anywhere.”

“
Fine!”

Putting the bus into gear, Dan slammed down the accelerator and sped away and across the bridge.

* * * * * * * *

I sat in the morning sun in front of a window, drinking a cup of coffee. My nasty head wound had all but healed, and I felt good to go.

This few days of rest had done us a world of good. We were ready to move out.

Staring out the small front door window at the increasing number of those damned infected bastards, I couldn’t help but think that the longer this went on, the less of us there were left to fight back. It seemed as if they tracked by sound, and possibly scent, and once one discovered you, others zeroed in and swarmed your location in minutes. That was why the front yard of the house was now littered with bloated stinking corpses with crushed skulls. After my shootout to cover Stephen, we tried not to use our firearms. Mattie would get their attention, and I would sneak out the back, come around front, and dispatch them with my bat.

“
Remind me to thank Stephen for grabbing it,” I told Mattie.

It was messy but effective and good exercise. Satisfied that we were secure in the residence, I broke one of Stephen’s rules and didn’t post a guard last night, and Mattie and I both got good night’s sleep.

Stephen promised to be back soon with Chris and Dan, provided he made it. Mattie thought she heard some shooting to the east a few hours after he left, and we decided that that was probably a good thing. I had complete confidence that Stephen had arrived safely at the prison.

“
Finding anyone else still alive, now that would be a welcome sign,” I decided.

My stomach pulled me from my daydream, suddenly reminding me of all the chili I had been eating, and I rushed to the bathroom in the nick of time.

Walking back out into the main living room several painful minutes later, Mattie was sitting up rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“
Phew, what is that stink?” she asked.

“
Zombies,” I answered with a shrug.

“
What time is it? And how long do you think it’s going to take for them to get here?” Mattie asked.

“
It’s still early, and it won’t be long,” I replied. “Let’s just make sure we are ready.”

Shortly after, we heard sustained shooting coming from the east and figured that they were on their way.

“
It sounds like Stephen made it!” Mattie cried, her eyes filling with tears.

By the time Dan’s bus came rolling around the corner, the two of us were sitting outside on top of a pile of boxes like kids going to school. Dan screeched to a stop next to us and opened the boarding doors.

“
Hey folks, you all need a lift?” he asked.

Mattie cheerfully stepped onto the bus and gave Dan a hug.

“
I’m so glad you guys are alright. I missed you both!” Mattie said with happiness as she boarded the bus with the first load of supplies.

“
Yeah, we sure missed you too, Mattie,” Dan replied while looking at her ass in the mirror and started to close the bus door on me.

Bastard would have done it too if I hadn’t stuck my arm into the way to keep it from closing. He even gave the door lever a few more forceful pulls, then he tried to act all surprised when I cleared my throat.

“
Oh sorry, Mike, I didn’t see you standing there! Good to see ya guy,” he said with a grin and popped a fresh cigar into his mouth.

Stephen and Chris bailed out the back of the bus and were now engaging several zombies that were closing in from all sides.

“
Fuckers never quit coming, do they?” I remarked as I boarded the bus with another load of goodies.

It took us a few minutes to throw in the new supplies, but now with us all loaded, Dan closed the doors and got the bus turned around.

“
We would’ve been here a lot sooner,” Chris said, “but there’s a group of survivors inside the downtown area that have a lot of it barricaded off.”

“
Yeah, they didn’t look very friendly either," Dan added. "Just mean mugged us with guns pointed our way. We were pretty much forced to detour around them.”

“
Interesting,” I replied. “I wonder who they are and what they’re up to.”

“
It’ll be worth looking into,” Stephen said. “Especially if they are going to be living just down the road.”

While Dan backtracked the bus using the route he came, Mattie again filled him and Chris in on what happened at the safe zone after they left for the prison. She relayed in detail its collapse from the massive zombie horde, and how it was finally destroyed. Both Dan and Chris whistled in unison at the explosion part of her story.

“
Sounds like a military airstrike for sure,” Chris said with authority. “I wonder who put them up to it.”

Chris started asking me detailed questions as well, and I cut him off by holding my hand up.

“
You’re asking the wrong guy, Chris,” I said, all the while pointing at the ugly bruise still on my head. “I was busy getting my brains scrambled by a door and a falling porch at that time. One thing I haven’t forgotten is that we left Frank, the bridge tender, here several weeks ago and I want to check on him.”