Survive (20 page)

“Cover me,” John said to Jose.

The teen climbed up on top of the checkout counter. From his new vantage point, he carefully aimed the black shotgun around the store, making sure to avoid pointing it at John.

John walked through the store, his MP5 held at the ready. As he reached the back door, marked with a “Employees Only” sign, a female Zed, dressed in a pretty floral dress marred by bloody tears where her breasts used to be, ran soundlessly from an aisle right for John. The big man turned, bringing his MP5 to bear as quickly as he could, but before the Zed reached him, Jose fired. Buckshot pellets hit the undead creature in the shoulder, spinning it around, causing it to crash into a display rack. The rack fell over into the next, a domino effect making that one fall too. John brought his submachine gun up, aiming for the Zed’s head, when another creature burst out of the stock room door, running headlong into him. John went down with the Zed in a heap. The rotting stench of the creature threatened to overpower him as he lay there struggling with the monster. Pieces of flesh fell away where his strong hands gripped the creature. His fingers sunk in to the rotting meat, making it difficult for him to get a hold of the Zed.

The female Zed stumbled up out of the mess it had made of the aisles and ran towards Jose. The brave young teen pumped his shotgun and took careful aim at the undead woman’s head. He fired just as she reached the base of the checkout counter. John just barely glimpsed out of the corner of his eye how the Zed’s head exploded all over the candy rack as Jose yelled, “Take it, bitch!”

He had little time to see anything else, as the Zed on top of him nipped at him, trying to bite him with its rotting teeth. John managed to get one foot up between the two of them and kicked with all his might. His foot sunk into the stomach of the Zed, but the force was enough to make the former man fly off him, sailing up and over him to land hard on the coffee counter, scattering glass pots and stale creamer everywhere. John rolled over and fired, his bullets stitching up the creature from knee to forehead.

Jose jumped off the counter and ran to John, helping him up. The two stood back to back as they recovered their breath. John’s walkie talkie crackled to life with Roger’s voice.

“Everything okay in there?”

“Roger that... umm, Roger. We’re fine,” John said, smirking at his brother-in-law. “How’s it going out there?”

“We’re about done here. All the drums are full and the tanks on the dump truck are topped off. Get your asses out here so we can go home.”

“On our way.”

John nodded to Jose and motioned toward the door. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell your mother or Sara about this.”

Jose grinned and nodded.

On his way out, John stopped at the coffee counter, opened the cupboard underneath, and picked up several silver bags of coffee.

“Ah, Colombian. It would be a crime to just leave this here.” He tossed a couple bags to Jose and took the rest himself. As they walked toward the door, John looked at Jose, raising his eyebrow. “Take it, bitch? Seriously?”

Jose grinned and shrugged. “What?”

John just shook his head.

Together, they left the trashed store and climbed up into the truck. The group drove out of the parking lot with their precious cargo of coffee and fuel, the first step of their plan complete.

* * *

Though everything was ready, they decided to wait until the following morning to begin their journey. Before the Zeds had come, the trip would have taken less than two hours by car, but they anticipated obstacles along the highway, so planned to be gone two or three days. They packed enough food and water for a week, just in case. This left those remaining at the compound with enough food for two or three weeks at the most.

They had a little going away event at the compound that night. Sara, ever the social organizer, put on a great party for everyone, making the most of the dwindling supplies.

“Babe, I don’t know how you did it, but everyone here is smiling. I haven’t seen one frown the whole night,” John said, eating one of Sara’s special chocolate cupcakes.

“That’s because you haven’t been looking hard enough. You know I’m not happy with you going. I’m afraid for you. And for the rest of us here.”

John pulled Sara close with one arm. “I know, Sara, but we don’t have much choice. We need whatever supplies we can get. We’ve been over this.”

“So? That doesn’t mean
you
have to go.” Sara kept her voice down, not wanting to break the festive mood she’d managed to create out of almost nothing.

“We have responsibilities here. The kids...”

“The kids will be fine, you’ll be fine. I’ll be back, and we’ll all be fine together.” John smiled indulgently at Sara around a mouthful of chocolate heaven.

“Don’t patronize me. I’m the one stuck here, wondering if you’re safe, not knowing if you’ll come home or not. And now I have three kids to raise by myself if you don’t make it? That’s not fair, goddammit!” Sara’s quiet whisper managed to convey her anger.

John wiped the chocolate from his face. His expression turned serious. “Nothing – NOTHING, will keep me from coming home to you. Ever. Do you hear me?”

Sara looked up at John, eyes watery but brave. “Promise?”

“I promise.”

* * *

John sat, slowly rocking in the old wooden chair his grandfather had made decades ago, nursing a lukewarm beer. The fall night held a slight chill, and he watched as his breath came out in little puffs of misty vapor. His little porch gave him a great view of the valley. The paper lanterns Sara had made glowed brightly, people milled about, enjoying the little send off party.

Patrick sat next to John, drinking something clear and volatile from a chipped mason jar. “You’re taking a big chance tomorrow. I hope it pays off.”

“Me too.” John took a swig from the bottle, frowning as the warm liquid filled his mouth.

“What’s bothering you, boy?”

“I don’t know. It’s crazy, really.”

“Well, out with it. I’ve seen crazy all over the place lately.”

“Halloween’s coming up. I want to be back before then.”

“Why?”
“It’s supposed to be the time when this world and the next are closest together, or when the walls between the two are the weakest.”

Patrick grunted and took a long pull from his mason jar. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You know, the old legends about Halloween, people used to dress up to scare the demons or monsters away, that sort of thing.”

“Um, okay. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Look, I told you it’s crazy, but how do we know that what’s going on out there isn’t something supernatural? What if things get worse?”

Patrick started to laugh, but stopped as what John was saying began to sink in. He shook his head, as if shaking the thought away. “Oh come on, how could it get worse?”

“I have no idea. I told you, it’s crazy, but I’d still like to be here, just in case.”

“Well, you’ve got six days, that should be plenty of time to get what we need and get back here, right?”

“If we can get through, it could take as little as one day.”

They both snorted at that, and sat watching the party go on well into the night.

* * *

Jose stomped his foot angrily. “Come on, you know I can do it. Let me go with you.”

John put his hand on Jose’s shoulder gently. “I need you here, Jose. We’re already taking too many people with us for my liking. I need someone I can trust here to protect Sara, your mom, and the children. You did really well on the diesel raid, man. I know I can trust you for this.”

The teen looked ready to argue, but John squeezed the boy’s shoulder, forestalling the outcry.

“Besides, I have a special project for you,” John spoke quickly, trying another tack.

“What?”

“That armor you told me about. The plastic armor? Can you make it?”

Jose looked skeptically at John. “What? Are you serious, or just trying to distract me from going with you because you know damn well I’d kick some serious ass out there?”

“No, no, I think it’s worth exploring. We keep having to go outside of the fence, and I’d like us to be as safe as possible. If you hadn’t been there at the store, I’d be one of them right now. We need some advantage over these things if we’re going to make it. If you can make a suit, with what we have here,” John emphasized, “then do it. Think you can?”

Jose thought for a moment, then grinned. “Oh, I can do it. Man, it’s going to be sweet!” The boy ran off, waving over his shoulder. “Good luck, John!”

John shook his head and smiled.
Well that’s one worry out of the way.

* * *

“I’m worried about Kurt. He’s not doing well. He’s got a constant fever and is delirious.” Margaret, the school nurse, said to John. June and May, as well as Kurt’s wife, Franny, and his daughter, Jill, stood in May’s kitchen, listening worriedly.

“Is he going to lose his leg?” John asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t see any signs of gangrene, and the wound itself seems to be healing, but his fever won’t break. I honestly don’t know what it is, but if we had a general antibiotic to give him, we might be able to lower the fever.”

“Tell me exactly what we need. Give me as many alternatives as you can, and we’ll find them. One of the bases must have an infirmary, we’ll get what we can while we are there.”

Margaret handed John a slip of paper. “I’ve written down everything we need, in order of importance.”

John nodded. “Thanks, I’ll do my best, I promise.” He cringed mentally at how many promises he had been making as of late.

* * *

At precisely 9 a.m., with the sun shining over the crisp fall morning, a ragtag band of survivors gathered in front of the big dump truck and the empty tractor trailer. Roger sat in the driver’s seat of the tractor, while Morgan stood next to the driver’s side of the dump truck. John stood facing the group. Marta, Roy, and three of the new survivors stood with rifles on their shoulders, bags of ammunition and food at their feet. Douglas stood slightly off to one side by himself.
I’m still not sure about him, better to keep him close
, John thought. Jack Kensington stood near the tractor trailer with one of his cousins, Richie. They’d asked to come for a share of the supplies, and John had readily agreed, glad for the Marine’s expertise Jack brought to the team.

He turned around, looking at the Mason clan assembled behind him.
God I hate leaving them like this
, he thought.
Not enough people who can fight to go around, but Sara’s here, and Jose. They can handle themselves.
John waved to Sara, who stood with her mother and Jose. The twins, Tommy and Tammy sat on the grass next to them, waving enthusiastically. Marisa stood next to Sara, holding her hand. John chuckled to himself, noticing how Marisa stood exactly like Sara, mimicking her precisely. The little girl had taken to Sara immediately, becoming the teacher’s pet and volunteering with anything Sara needed.

John raised his right hand and whirled it around in the air. They started climbing up into the trucks, when Jill Crawford came running up, rifle and backpack in hand.

“I’m going with you,” she said as she ran past John.

“Jill...” he began.

“It’s for my dad. I have to do something. At least I can go and help you look for the medicine. And I can shoot. You know I can.” She spoke as she climbed up into the back of the dump truck.

Shaking his head, John climbed up into the passenger seat. John switched to his best backwoods Vermont voice.

“Fine! But don’t come crying to me when you get ‘et!”

Folks laughed at the morbid humor as the big trucks roared to life with a blast of dirty exhaust. The trucks pulled out onto the road and chugged past the barricade, heading north.

Chapter 13

October 26, Zed Year One

Interstate 91 North of Brattleboro, Vermont

John Mason sat in the front passenger seat of the big orange dump truck and watched the scenery fly by. He kept a loose grip on his Heckler and Koch MP5 as the beautiful fall foliage slipped past them on their journey north. Looks like it would have been a great season for tourists this year, John thought. Fuckin’ Zeds.

The trip through West Brattleboro went smoothly, as they’d already cleared the road from obstacles on prior supply trips. The group saw scores of Zeds shambling about here and there, but none of the faster, fresher variety. John thought that might be a good sign. They were also lucky enough not to encounter any of the huge Zed packs that they knew to be roaming around the downtown area.

The two trucks pulled onto Interstate 91 and headed north. The northbound lane was fairly free of obstructions for the first part of their journey. They were able to keep up a good pace, sometimes hitting forty miles an hour, stopping occasionally to allow the dump truck to push a vehicle aside.

Their first major obstacle appeared at the Springfield exit. They crested a small mountain and began heading down the other side when they were forced to stop. Ahead of them, just before the exit, a line of cars had been pushed or driven into a makeshift barricade across the highway on both sides.