The Hunt Chronicles (Book 2): Revelation (8 page)

“You made it,” she said with a weak smile.

“Yeah, barely.”  I rubbed the new bump on my head from the door of the trunk.

Karina climbed in the back with the still dazed Enrique and I jumped in the driver’s seat.  I winced, noticing the fuel gauge was teetering on E.

“We’re almost out of gas,” I said aloud.

“I was trying to tell you that before we left.”  Karina turned to Enrique and rubbed his shoulder.  “Are you okay?”

“Si,” he replied quietly.

“Hopefully it’s enough fuel to get us to my old house.”  I didn’t waste any time and continued down the road.

Luckily, we made it to my old hold out, which Fish had referred to as Headquarters.  Enrique was quiet the whole way.  Karina was at first, but after she had calmed down from the excitement of our escape, she went back to her normal routine of being a jabber jaw.  Honestly, I ignored her to the point that she was just background noise and can’t remember what she rambled on about.

I decided to stop a few streets away from Headquarters.  I wasn’t going to make the same mistake I did before and park the car in front of the house.  If the scabs saw us leave and knew what our vehicle looked like, they may track us down.  This didn’t guarantee our safety.  They could still locate us after they found the vehicle, but it made our chances better.

The sun was getting close to setting as we finally made it to the house.  Enrique stayed silent for the ten minute walk.  Karina talked until I put down three zombies and told her it was because of her mouth.

As we walked up the driveway and through the front fence, I stared at Judy’s grave.  Sadness crept over me as I remembered her last few hours alive. 

The first scab I had ever encountered had come back for me.  It found my car, but Fish and I were not in the house.  It had infected Judy before we could kill it. 

Fish wanted to put a bullet in her right away, but I stopped him.  I foolishly thought she could be saved or that she was immune like me.  I had to watch her change into a scab and, in the end, it was me that had to put her down.

We had rescued the older woman from starvation and took over her house.  And then we killed her with a scab that had tracked us down to her house.  I had buried her next to her dead husband and son near the black iron fence in the front yard.

I shook away the thoughts as we made our way through the back yard.

We entered the house and Enrique and Karina, along with Boomer, settled in the living room.  I told Karina where to find some stored food as I went back out front to retrieve a radio Fish had stashed in Judy’s old SUV. 

The sun set as I successfully retrieved the radio and I hurried back inside as the moans started growing louder around the city. 

The two of them were sitting on the couch with Boomer lying on Karina’s lap.  All of us were tired and worn out.

“Did you call them yet?” Karina asked with a mouth full of granola.

“I’m about to,” I answered and grabbed a granola bar of my own off the coffee table.  Enrique sat with an unopened one in his hand.  He was staring down into his lap, lost in another world.

After two large bites of the granola bar, I washed it down with water from my canteen.  I clicked on the police radio and ensured it was on the right frequency.

“Campbell.  Fish.  DJ.  Is anyone out there, over.” I said into the transmitter as I took a seat on the mattress in the middle of the floor.

There was nothing but static.

“Are we too far away?” Karina asked.

“Maybe,” I frowned.  “Honestly, I’m not sure how far these things go.”

“Who are you calling?” Enrique said, finally coming out of his trance.

Karina responded before I could say anything.  “Our friends.  We got separated from them.”

“They near here?” he asked.

“No,” I said before Karina could say anything else.  “We were evacuating out of the city when we were left behind.”

“They no sound like good friends if they leave you,” he remarked.

“They didn’t exactly leave us,” Karina said with a hint of remorse.

I tried radioing them again, but still didn’t get a response.

“What you mean?” Enrique started to open his granola bar.

“Christian,” she nodded towards me, “and Chuck came after me when I went to get something out of our building.  We got trapped and had to run for it.”  Karina’s eyes started to water.  I think she was now feeling some sort of guilt for Chuck’s death.

“Who is Chuck?” Enrique asked.

“He was a friend.  He died saving our lives,” I responded as Karina wiped her eyes.  I think back on that and now realize Chuck, or Santa Claus as I commonly referred to him, was the first person to die for me.  He sacrificed his own life so that we could escape.  He was the first among a list that was soon to grow.

“If I wouldn’t have gone back in…” Karina started to say.

“Don’t think about that,” I said before she could continue.  “Chuck went back in to save you.  He was a good man, and died a good man.  That’s all we need to remember.” 

The radio started to crackle.  I jumped up in excitement.

“Chris… there… where… you…  Ver.”  It was Fish’s voice, of that I was sure.  But the message was broken up pretty bad.  He was probably barely in range.

“This is Christian!” I said into the transmitter.  “We’re alive! Over.”

“Thought… driving… range,” the receiver squawked.

“We’re at Headquarters.  Your message is breaking up, over.”  I walked toward the back of the house and peered outside.  The sun was completely down now. 

“Can you hear me yet, dumbass?”  Fish’s voice was crisp, clear, and regardless of the insult, refreshing as ever.

“I can hear you fine, asshole,” I said, grinning.  “Took your time getting back to us.  Over.”

“Yeah, well, I had laundry to do.  I’m stopping near the interstate.  We can’t risk going into the city at night.  Over.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head.  I thought that would be the case.                

“Roger that.  Did everyone make it? Over.”

There was a pause.  A pit started to form in my stomach.  I started to think they had lost one of the vehicles on their escape from the city.

“We lost Combs this morning,” Fish replied. 

Specialist Combs had been critically wounded two nights before when the scabs attacked the Ace Hardware compound.  One of the beasts had hurled a small flag pole that had impaled the soldier.  “Everyone else is fine, though.  What’s your SITREP?  Over.”

SITREP was military jargon for Situation Report.  Soldiers commonly used it when they wanted a quick update.

“We lost Chuck the night of the evacuation,” I said somberly, “but Karina and I are okay, and so is Boomer.  We picked up another survivor on our way to our old Headquarters. We’re here now and should be able to hold up for the night.  Over.”

Fish let out a heavy breath.  “Alright.  Are you sure you’re secure?  Over.”

I considered that for a moment.  I wasn’t sure if the scabs we had faced earlier would be able to track us down.  There was always that possibility but, for the night, we should have been fine.  After all, scabs were food for zombies as well.

“I think so.  We ran into another group of scabs, but I’m pretty sure we lost them on the drive here.  And before you ask, yes, I parked a good distance away from the house.  Over.”

Fish chuckled, “Guess you’re finally starting to learn something, kid.  We are planning a supply run at first light.  I’ll break off and meet up with you first.  Start tearing down those solar panels when you wake up.  We’re going to load up as much as we can.  Over.”

“Roger that,” I transmitted back.

“Alright, kid.  You guys get some rest.  I will contact you when we are back in range tomorrow.  Fish Out.”

Relief washed over me.  We were going to be okay.

Chapter 7

A Promise

April 23
rd
  Evening

Karina seemed to cheer up after I put down the radio. 

“Is there anything else to eat?” she asked hopefully.

“Yeah, we still have plenty of supplies here.  Come on.  Let’s start getting stuff ready for tomorrow.  We’ll eat afterwards.”

Boomer slept while Karina and I gathered the stored supplies into the garage.  I wanted to be ready to move out as quickly as possible the next day.

Enrique got up after a while and helped us.  He tried to keep to himself as we worked, but that was hard with Karina constantly talking and asking him questions.

We finished a couple of hours after nightfall and settled around the kitchen table to eat.  We had a good store of food to choose from, which excited Karina.  She was a victim of the strict rationing at the compound for the last few weeks.  Even Enrique seemed shocked at how well supplied Fish and I were and picked four various cans of food to eat.

“How long have you been on your own?” Karina asked Enrique as she finished her can of raviolis.

Enrique stared at a clump of beef that rested on his spoon.  “Only few days.”

“So you were with others?  What happened to them?” I asked after I put an empty can of chicken corn chowder on the floor for Boomer to lick clean.

“I think they okay.  I no bring her back.  I cannot.”  He lowered his head.

“What happened, Enrique?” Karina asked sympathetically.

He sat there a moment and then looked up at us.

“We lost our children on first day.  Soon, we meet others.  Stay at post office.”   Enrique took a drink of water.

“Which post office?” I asked.

“West Melbourne.  Big wall.  Zombie no get over.”

I knew which post office he was referring too.  It was just north of us and indeed had a tall cinderblock wall surrounding the back side of it.  It sounded like a decent location to protect from the hordes of zombies.  Scabs, however, were a different matter.

“Why did you leave them?” Karina inquired.

“Irene, that my wife, and me leave to go for supplies two day ago.  We went into house and find many bones.  We try to leave, but screamer is there.”

“What’s a screamer?” Karina asked.

“Those things that attack us today.  You call them scabs.”

“Ahh,” she nodded.

“You stumbled onto one of their nests?”  I was sure that was what he was describing.

“What is ‘nest’?” Enrique asked.

“Like, where the scabs sleep.  Their home,” Karina told him helpfully.

“Yes,” Enrique confirmed.

“What happened after that?” I asked, very interested in how he escaped.

“The one that jump on me today.  He only one there.  He knock me down with big blade.”  He was referring to the giant lawnmower blade Enrique was carrying when we first saw him.  “My protection stop me from dying,” he said, tapping his makeshift armor.

“That’s when he got your wife,” I stated.  There was no need to ask.

Enrique nodded.  He took in a deep breath and continued.  “I still hurt bad.  Could not move.  He grab Irene.  She scream and he bite her arm.  But he no kill her.  He throw her to floor and stand over her.  He watch her.”

He started to get upset.  Tears filled his eyes and his chin started to tremble.  I was about to tell him he didn’t have to continue, but hesitated.  There was something in his story that I had to know more about.

He sat there for a few seconds, as if wanting one of us to stop him.  Karina didn’t speak.  She, too, was teary eyed.

“Go on,” I said.  I sounded heartless.  Karina turned and looked at me as if I was being cruel.  I ignored her, caring more about where the story was going than Enrique’s feelings.

He swallowed hard.  “She try to get up.  He push her back down.  I feel like I can move again.  So I grab gun and shoot him in back.  He fall to the ground and I shoot again.  But my gun no work when I shoot three time.  He try to move, but I pick blade up and hit him on head.  He fall.”

“And you and your wife escaped,” I said, finishing his story.

He nodded.

“Did you know she was going to change?” Karina asked.

“Yes.  I see people change.  But I no want to let Irene go.”  Tears were rolling down his cheeks now.

“We understand, Enrique,” Karina comforted him, rubbing his hand.

“I’m sorry we took you away from her,” I added, “but we—”

“I know.  You must.  And I thank you for it.  I know my Irene dead.  I just…” he trailed off, trying to suppress more tears.

The rest of the night was quiet.  Enrique slept on the couch.  I pulled a second mattress out for Karina while Boomer and I lay in my old bed in the middle of the living room.

I didn’t say anything to Enrique or Karina about the thoughts I was having.  We learned the night the scabs assaulted the compound that they worked together.  Like Fish thought, they were evolving and learning. 

Had they learned that their bite would change someone who wasn’t infected into a scab?  That was certainly what it seemed like with Enrique’s wife.  That group of scabs was trying to grow their numbers. 

That wasn’t the only thing about that day’s events that struck a raw cord with me.  They had hunted Enrique down.  Not just to kill and eat him, but to rescue the scab that used to be his wife.  It must have been why that scab acted differently when it approached the bedroom window.  They didn’t come to attack Enrique or us.  They came to free one of their own.

They were getting smarter.

Closing my eyes, I listened to the hum of the dead throughout the city.  I hoped it was going to be the last night I had to hear that.  Camp Holly was far enough away that we shouldn’t hear much of anything from the city.

Boomer woke me just before the sun came up. 

I stretched as I stood up.  I was sore from the past few days of fighting.  I had bumps and bruises all over and my head still had a decent sized lump on it.

I grabbed the radio and walked to the back patio.  Boomer ran out and did his business.  The sky was starting to lighten as the sun rose in the east.  It appeared there would be free skies for at least the first part of the day.  I could hear a few zombies shuffling about and was sure to stay as quiet as possible.

We went back inside and I woke the others.  After, I went into the bathroom to check the various injuries from the previous two days of fighting.

I didn’t recognize the man staring back at me in the mirror.  I had a gash on the side of my head from the night we had escaped the Ace Hardware.  A scab had tossed a PVC pipe at me, tearing my scalp just above my ear.

A large abrasion was speckled across my forehead.  Random small lacerations peppered my face which was grimy from dirt and sweat.

I cleaned the bite wound on my forearm, and bandaged it up.  Thankfully, my shirt that I was wearing the night I got bit had distorted the zombie’s bite outline.  I could easily pass it off as a wound from something else.

I grimaced and used some water and a towel to clean up.

“’Dog Two, come in. This is Stallion Four.  Over.”

I racked my brain trying to remember who Stallion Four was as I grabbed the radio.

“This is Christian.  Over.”

“Fish said to let you know we’re breaching the highway underpass soon.  He and I are going to break off and rendezvous with you in approximately one hour.  Over.”  I was pretty sure now that Stallion Four was Specialist Gardner.  He was the first of Lieutenant Campbell’s men that I had met.

“Roger that,” I responded.  “Enrique and I are about to get on the roof and start taking down the solar panels.  Batteries and everything else are packed and ready to go in the garage.  Over.”

“Who’s Enrique?” Gardner asked.

“A survivor we rescued.  I already let Fish know.”  I replied as we both relaxed our radio etiquette.

“Roger.  Fish said to keep your radio handy just in case.  Over and out.” 

There was Fish, treating me like an imbecile again.  Of course I was going to keep it handy.  Well, sort of.  Before climbing on the roof, I handed the radio to Karina. 

Enrique and I went to work on the solar panels.

Karina stood watch and I was impressed when she took out three zombies in only four shots with the MP5.

Our mood was good, knowing that we would be with the others soon.  Even Enrique made a few light hearted jokes as we worked.  I thought that was good considering what he had to go through the last few days.  Then again, getting use to loss was an unfortunate result of the apocalypse.

Disconnecting the solar panels from the roof proved a little harder than expected.  Florida rain and humidity had made unbolting them difficult, and we had only removed two of the six panels by the time we saw Fish’s truck pull onto our street. 

Behind his truck he was towing a trailer.  Upon closer inspection, I realized it was the airboat trailer from Camp Holly that we had seen earlier that week.

“You’re not done yet?” he scolded as he got out of the truck.  They had opened the gate and backed the trailer up to the garage opening.

I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but I didn’t care.  I had a shit eating grin wrapped around my face when I saw him exit the truck.

“Nice to see you too,” I smiled.  Enrique had just gotten off the ladder and was preparing to receive the third solar panel.

“Who’s this?” Fish asked as Gardner walked over to help Enrique receive the panel.  They were both eyeballing Enrique’s awkward armor.

“That’s Enrique,” I grunted as I pushed the panel over the side of the roof.  They grabbed it as I slowly lowered it down.

“Hey Enrique.  I’m Gardner,” the soldier said as helped bring the panel over to the trailer.

“Enrique, huh?” Fish scoffed.  “I guess Gonzo will have a buddy.”  Fish was referring to PFC Gonzales, a Hispanic soldier in our group.

“That’s messed up, Fish,” I chuckled.

We spent the next hour taking down the rest of the solar panels and loading up the truck with everything we thought we may need. 

Fish radioed with DJ with an update on our status.  The big man had driven Big Red for the other scavenging group, which consisted of PFC Gonzales, and Chad. 

I was shocked Chad and DJ were around each other, but surviving was more important than holding grudges.  DJ had beaten Chad up pretty bad the previous week.  He held Chad responsible for Jared’s death.  DJ and Jared were friends pre-Awakening. 

The story was that Chad had previously antagonized another group of survivors.  That group later ran into DJ and a team of scavengers near a Walmart.  When the shooting started, Jared took a round in the stomach and died.  I couldn’t blame DJ for holding Chad responsible.

I’m sure there were not that many people who could operate the big fire truck, which forced DJ to drive even though he was still harboring a pretty severe wound to his shoulder.

While we were loading up everything, I relayed what Enrique had told me about his wife.  Fish seemed off as I told the story.  It must have brought up the horrible memory of what Fish had to do to his own wife. 

Gardner and Karina stayed out front while Fish, Enrique and I did one more walk around the house to make sure we got everything we needed.  Boomer walked next to me as I checked the back patio to make sure we got all the seeds for gardening.

I was on my way back in when I overheard Fish talking to Enrique.  I stopped and eavesdropped.

“You going to be okay, Pablo?”  Fish asked.

“What you mean?”

“I mean, you just lost your wife to the infection.  I see that look in your eye.  Christian is vouching for you, but I can tell you’re about to lose it.”  I heard footsteps and peeked around the corner.  Fish had walked up to him.  Fish was shorter than me, but still stood almost a full head over Enrique.

“I be fine,” Enrique said.  Fish had a threatening look to him.

“You better be,” Fish dipped down so they were nose to nose.  “If you do anything stupid and endanger my friends, I’ll feed you to your wife.  You get me?”

I could see Enrique visibly flinch.  He gave a slight nod.

“Good,” Fish backed up.  “Christian!  You ready?”

I composed myself and joined them in the living room.

“Ready,” I said, glancing at Enrique.  He was still shaken by Fish’s threat.  I didn’t blame him, knowing what it was like to be in Fish’s crosshairs.

Gardner drove the SUV with Karina and Enrique, while Fish, Boomer and I took our truck with the trailer.  We wound our way north around the back roads of Palm Bay and into West Melbourne.

“Where are DJ and the others?” I asked.

“A construction site off of 192.”  Fish turned down another back road.  “We’re gathering building materials.  Camp Holly is nice, but it’s not secure.  We had a little pow-wow yesterday after I got back.  Put together some pretty good plans.”