Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Sanctuary (29 page)

The
church group had moved several picnic tables close together and were finishing
with the cooking, using both fires and camping stoves.

“Let’s
go ahead and join them,” I suggested. “We’re leaving after the meal. I want to
take another look at our spot before dark and make some plans as to what we
need to do.”

*
* *

During
the meal, Cherie and Miranda sat with us. They’d discussed matters, and both
decided to remain with our group. Cherie’s reasoning was clear cut. We knew
what we were doing and increased her chances of survival. Plus, she found the
odd, though rare comment about her converting irritating. In short, Cherie was
quite happy being Jewish and had no desire to change. Miranda had grown fond of
us in the short time we were together, agreed that we seemed to be competent,
and wanted to remain in her newfound comfort zone.

Surprisingly,
Timothy and Susan said they were sticking with us as well. After the reception
they received, I thought they would remain with the pastor, possibly even going
out on their own to get supplies from nearby houses. Instead, they found a
dozen others who also asked if they could come along. That caused a stir,
although less than when the pair first departed the church group. The news had
apparently already made the rounds, and most of them stated, unequivocally,
that they were not leaving the lake camp permanently. Rather, they were tired
of sitting around and just needed to do something, anything productive.
Apparently, helping us out was the best they could come up with, and a few
commented that they would like to bring back more supplies as well, if they
could. I had no problems with that.

One of
the newcomers, Dean, said he was moving with us long term, if we didn’t mind.
He was a carpenter and general handyman by trade. On that alone I had no
objections. We needed people with practical skills. Also, he was not a church
member. He’d been camping when the zombies appeared and just hung around the
group for safety. He didn’t care for the constant praying, extreme religious
sentiments some showed, or the insane rescue hopes. The man, like us, knew
there would be none.

*
* *

That
afternoon was spent moving everyone to the new site and searching it a second,
more thorough time. Two of the newcomers left after I stated that this was my
spot so my rules applied, namely everyone sleeps in their car or in a fortified
house on rare occasions. Tents were not permitted until a fence was built and
even then there would be a watch kept at all times. Some people are just
foolish, putting minor inconvenience over avoiding getting eaten. Stupid
breathers. I did not regret their departure.

The
following morning we started planning with most of our discussions reflecting
zombies and how to defend against them. As to those who didn’t think the biting
machines were an issue, that would change tomorrow when we left the national
forest and went on our first group raid. We would be facing zombies then. The
things might be avoiding the forest for whatever reason, but we had never
passed through a town without seeing them by the dozens, if not hundreds. And
that meant risks.

I also
wanted to see a few of the newcomers kill the shambling dead. Not a one had
ever done so. It seemed that those who helped Ray the first night at the lake
were also the ones who went into Chadron and never returned. It was important
that I know they were capable of defending themselves and others.

Mary
immediately volunteered to help kill zombies – she’s full of spunk – but Lois vetoed
the killing part a few seconds later. The others, all adults, weren’t given the
option. We had more than enough guns to equip everyone for the excursion, and
Lizzy gave a few quick lessons. We’d have to keep a close watch and hope there
weren’t any accidents however. The level of inexperience was way higher than I
was comfortable with, and by accidents I don’t mean shooting someone by mistake
– everyone seemed conscientious enough – but I did worry about not switching
the safety off or failing to put a round in the chamber, that sort of thing.

“Dean,”
I said, “we want to set up an initial safe area. It needs to have a six foot
wood fence around it so nothing can get in. We’ll put the tents inside, along
with a shack or something to store food and supplies. The trucks will stay
outside, and people can leave most of their personal stuff and other supplies
in those – it’ll keep animals out and save room. What do you suggest?”

“Can we
build higher than six feet?” someone asked. I didn’t see who.

Dean
shook his head. “Six is standard. Finding boards that length is easy. We can
take them from houses around here, and any lumber yard, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and
whatnot will have them in stock. Couldn’t see over them if higher, hard enough
at six feet.”

“We’ll
put some crates or benches in spots for people to stand on when keeping watch
or in case we need to shoot anything,” I added. “We’ll get a really big one for
Lizzy.”

“I’m not
that short,” she snapped. After a pause she scowled. “Or that heavy, if you’re
implying something along those lines.”

“Jacob
would never be so mean,” said Mary. “Stop comparing him to yourself.”

“There
are houses in the national forest,” I continued, before Lizzy started yelling,
“but not that many, most without fences. The official buildings have some,
probably to hide or secure equipment of some sort. We didn’t look all that
closely.” I tried to remember where we’d seen those. “We can take the pickups
and get what we can from these today, and we can try to salvage more food as
well to stock up. Most will come tomorrow.”

There
was some nervous shifting. None of the newcomers wanted to face the zombies.
Cherie didn’t either, but she would be keeping watch from her pickup with
Miranda working the radio. We needed more of those devices. Actually, there was
a lot that we required. I had Lois start a list. We’d prioritize later.

“We’ll
need concrete too,” said Dean.

“No,” I
interrupted. “No cement. We just dig the posts in.”

“It
won’t be nearly as secure. If enough people pushed on it, it could topple.”

“The
fence is temporary while we build a palisade. I rather be able to pull the
stuff out easily later and reuse the wood. Plus, we’ll have other uses for any
concrete we find. Is there a way to brace it, on the off chance a whole lot of
zombies come at same time?”

“That’s
easy enough,” admitted Dean. “Bracing the top with angled poles that are dug in
will actually make it harder to knock over than a couple hundred pounds of
concrete at each base. This’ll take up a lot of interior space, but if it’s big
enough that won’t matter. Your palisade’s going to be harder.”

“Yeah
Jacob,” said Mary, “stop making everything so hard.”

“I
rather have a nice stone wall, but I don’t know how to make one that won’t fall
down.”      

“I can
do bricks and cinderblocks,” said Dean. “Stone stone is not something I’ve
worked with, outside of minor decoration work, but I can experiment.”

Several
people were nodding. Stone did seem safer and more comfortable than a wooden
fort. It would certainly last longer.

“Want to
get started with the nearby stuff then?” I asked.

“Hell,
yes,” said Lizzy. “You talk way too much.”

“Not as
much as Lois,” added Mary. She nudged her sister with an elbow. “She never
shuts up.”

Most of
the people didn’t know us well enough to get the joke, but Susan and Timothy
chuckled.

“One
team or two?” I asked.

“Two,”
said Briana, quickly. “There are enough of us for that, and we’ll get more
faster, save on driving too.”

“Who
with whom then?”

“I’ll
stay here with Miranda,” said Cherie. “We’re central communications. Leave me a
couple of the ladies, and we’ll have a proper dinner ready for when you come
back. Let’s anticipate you get here an hour before the sun goes down. Leave
someone who can shoot and we might have rabbit or venison.”

That
sounded feasible. It got Cherie out of any hard work, good for her, and it kept
Miranda and those Lizzy and I already thought the least likely to be useful in
a crisis from under foot.

“Keep in
touch with Simon and the pastor as well,” I suggested.

“Lizzy
and you need to be on separate teams,” said Susan.

Lizzy
narrowed her eyes at that. We worked extremely well together, and she knew it.

Susan
hurried on. “The two of you have done this before. You know what you’re doing.
If one of you isn’t with the others, then it’ll be new people doing it for the
first time.”

“You
were with us too Susan,” pointed out Briana.

“But I
never saw a zombie, not after that one night when it was so crazy and bad. I
know how you do the house and rooms, calling out for them, but it’s not the
same. I’ve never tried anything like that.”

“Zombies
are rarely in the buildings,” I explained, for the benefit of the newcomers.
“Most seem to go right outside into the streets. It’s not a big issue. Still,
it is a good point. For today I lead a team. Lizzy gets the other.”

“I want
the ones most likely to bow down before me and lick my feet,” she said.

“Yeah,”
I replied. “You get Susan and Timothy. They’ve been around you long enough to
only get moderately offended when you open your mouth. Take Dean and another as
well. That gives you two pickups to load up. Lois and Mary can keep watch while
you’re working. I’ll take two pickups with two each as well. The rest can stay
here with Cherie.”

We only
had five pickups, almost all that had been at the lake camp. Since we would be
doing plenty of heavy work, the pastor hadn’t minded us taking them. Two each
with a team seemed sufficient.

“Shouldn’t
you have two watchers as well?” asked Dean. “I assume it’ll be you and Briana
as always.”

“As
always?” asked Briana.

“Mary
said that you were a good team and were never apart,” he clarified.

“Well,
contrary to what the pipsqueak may have told everyone,” she continued, in good
humor, “we are separate on numerous occasions. For instance, when using the
toilet or after eating beans.”

“Beans,
beans,” I broke in, “the musical fruit.”

Coming
from someone my age that sounded quite silly, but it still brought out a few
smiles. I sometimes wonder if I say these things to maintain morale and keep
spirits high or if it’s just the way I’ve become since the apocalypse began. My
personality has definitely been changing, I’ll assume for the better.

“We find
an awful lot of beans,” said Briana. “For real. That’s why we gave so much of
them to the pastor.”

“True,”
I said. “We’ll probably still be finding those after we run out of all the good
stuff.”

I should
probably give a breakdown of the current headcount. I’ll do a simple list for
simplicity, since that, quite rightly, makes sense.

Glorious
Jeep Wrangler

      Jacob

      Briana

Inferior
Jeep Grand Cherokee

      Lizzy

      Lois

      Mary

Nice
enough Ford F-150

      Cherie

      Miranda

Nameless
pickup

      Timothy

      Susan

Three
pickups & minivan

      Dean

      Larry

      Patty

      Jonda

      Montgomery
(Monty)

      Scott

      Carol

      Alec

      Burton

I know
I’m not giving a lot of details on who is who or what they were like or looked
like or pretty much anything, but it isn’t very important. Many of them, most,
did not last past the end of the year. I’ll get to that later. For now it will
suffice to say that it went from Briana and me to eighteen people total. Of
these, ten, all the newbies other than Dean and possibly Susan and Timothy,
were capable of jumping ship and rejoining the church group at any time.
However, I thought they would stay once they understood what we were doing.
Seeing zombies again, as well as some destroyed towns, would allow them to
better recognize the dangers this new world presented. I wanted them to stay. I
needed the labor, if not the company – Briana, Lizzy, Lois, and Mary were
enough to satisfy my needs in that regard. Oh. My. God. All my close friends
were now women. I just realized this. Distressing.

I took
Larry and Patty, husband and wife, in one of my pickups and Alec and Burton in
the other. Dean rode with Monty, joining Lizzy, Susan, and the rest of her
band. The remainder of the newcomers stayed with Cherie who put them to work
digging latrines. After we brought back lumber we’d build outhouses and bolt
some toilet seats to them so no one would have to sit on bare wood.