WorldLost- Week 1: An Infected Novel (23 page)

We heard a truck start and a motorcycle rev up, and then they
both sped past us heading to the rear gate. We continued to hear gunshots from
the front of the house so we made our way around the clubhouse and found two
bikers stuck behind a truck trying to get to the doors. Between Amy and me we
ended their lives and the sound of gunshots came to a stop.

“Butch, Brian. All Clear” I yelled. Amy and I moved to the
front of the clubhouse and waved towards the area that Brian was perched and to
where Butch was hiding with the prisoners. After a few minutes, Butch showed up
with a group of men and the woman we had set free. Many of the men and older
boys were gone. “They didn’t want to stay around, they wanted to get away and
get way as quickly as possible,” Butch explained. “I wasn’t going to stop
them.”

“We need to get out of here, and quick. There’s a bunch of
infected gathering at the gate. It could be the horde we saw at the farmhouse.”
I explained. We all headed towards the remaining trucks where we found the keys
in the ignitions.

“What’s your name?” I asked the guy that I had seen get taken
to the center tennis court. Of the people that stuck around, he seemed like he
might be the leader of the group.

“Randy.” He replied, hugging the women from the house. “This
is Betty. Thanks for saving us. This was our neighborhood before these infected
showed up.”

“Are any of the guys that are dead the leader, Ripper?”

“No. I saw him head out on his motorcycle.”

“Where’s the rear exit go?”

“It heads to the east and then around to the rural route to
the north. We used it for service vehicles.”

Amy, Butch and I looked at each other, knowing this was not a
good thing. Having failed to get Ripper could be a bad thing.

“We need to get out of here and back to the truck stop. If
they are headed north, they may try to hit Shannon.”

There were ten of the survivors that stayed behind and wanted
to come with us. Some of them were from the neighborhood and some were just
travelers who got caught by Ripper and his gang. They didn’t want to stay in
this hellhole that was their home for the past week, so we told them we would
take them with us.

We quickly loaded up four of the trucks with what supplies we
could find and headed to the rear gate of the neighborhood. Butch was there
waiting for us as we pulled up. He jumped into the truck I was driving and we
headed out to find the remaining bikers, away from the horde and back home to
the truck stop.

Brian opened the rear window and said to me, “I couldn’t get
a shot at the bikers that got away. Too many things in the way and they were
gassing it out of here. If we find them, get me close and I’ll get it done.” He
sat back down and started to reload his rifle cartridges. He spoke again after
a minute through the window. “I did notice a large group of the dead heading
north, straight to the neighborhood. It might be a problem soon.”

I raced down the dirt road trying to catch the remaining
bikers while thinking of what we should do about the horde of infected heading
north. Do we keep trying to avoid them or do something about it? Every chance
we got, we needed to kill these things. We needed to start thinking about how
we could take the offensive with this major problem going forward. If we could
build a network of people that fought these things like it was a war, which it
was, then we might have a chance.

When we finally reached the rural road, we stopped and discussed
our options. The biker group could have gone either east or west or they could
have split up. In the end, after spending too much time discussing it from my
point of view, we decided that we would take two trucks each way and try to
catch them.

Some of us thought it would be best to stay together and head
back to the truck stop, others wanted to split up. I wanted everyone out of the
truck I was in so I could go and find Ripper. I wanted this to end. No one
would listen to me, so a decision was made and we spilled up and headed in
opposite directions.

Amy and Brian headed northeast and Brian and I headed North West.
The rest of the Common’s group was spread out in each truck. I hoped that if we
ran across a problem, they would be able to help us.

Brian and I finally came across the truck the bikers had used
to escape. It was dumped on the side of the road with nothing in it, not even
some gas. The bike that Ripper was riding wasn’t here either. We didn’t see any
tracks leading away from the truck into the woods or fields around the truck.
We figured they had come across another vehicle and continued to head North West.

We continued to head to the truck stop checking every house, barn,
and store on the way looking for the missing bikers, but came up short; we just
couldn’t get a win. We pulled into the back lot of the truck stop and saw the
other two trucks parked close to the garage doors. Amy and Butch had made it
back to us, which was a good sign and I was happy to know they must be safe and
they had delivered another group of survivors to this safe spot, which might .keep
humanity alive for a bit longer, but we didn’t find Ripper and his remaining
few gang members. This posed a new problem for us because Ripper would come
back and take his revenge.

We spent a few hours getting everyone situated in the truck
stop, unloading the few supplies we had scavenged from the neighborhood and
locking down the place in case Ripper and his crew showed up. The survivors
were very happy with the new accommodations and that food was provided to them.
Even after only a week in this new apocalyptic world, they were looking like the
infected due to the lack of nutrition. We were told that Ripper and gang would
only feed them once a day and only a small bowl of watered down soup.

With the new arrivals fed and given the basics to live, the
main group met in the office to discuss what was next.

On the way to the office, I ran into Jamie standing guard in
the café area. “Hey Jamie, how are things?” I asked.

“There OK.”  She replied.

I could tell something was wrong and asked her about it.
“What’s the problem? What’s wrong?”

She moved closer to me and pulled me further away from the
other person in the room standing guard. “There is a small group of people here
that are not happy with how things are being run. They’re starting to group
together and talk about taking over.”

“Who are they? What aren’t they happy about? This is a good
situation here, at least till the government fixes everything.” I said knowing
that wouldn’t happen. There just wasn’t any way that the government would be
able to fix this. After only 7 days, our society had fallen apart and the world
as we knew it was gone.

“His name is Rick and he’s getting everyone anxious with his
ideas and talk of providing a better place than what Shannon is providing. He keeps
saying we are going to run out of food and that the more people we let in, the
worse it will get.” She said in a whisper to me.

This was wonderful. We as a species were on the brink of
extinction and one guy was about to potentially destroy an island of humanity.
All because he was used to being in charge and “leading” people. I was going to
have to do something about this “Can you keep track of what is going on and let
me know?” I asked her.

“Yes, of course. I owe you my life.” She replied with a soft squeeze
to my arm.

I thanked her and continued my walk to the office.

I met everyone else in the office. Amy, Butch, Shannon, Brian
and Rob were all there. It was a cramped space, but I was standing up against Shannon,
which I didn’t complain about. The slightest touch from her gave me the shivers
and made the hair on my arms stand up. I might have been shaking a little
through the whole conversation.

“What’s next?” Brain asked. “Do we get a party together and
go hunt this maniac down and end this?”

“I’m in,” Butch said. “My parent's place is in their area,
they’re in danger as long as this ass-hat is alive.”

“We don’t even have a clue where he is,” Amy said. “We can’t
just split up and go in every direction to find this guy.”

“We missed our chance yesterday. It’s that simple.” I said. “We
need to decide next steps for the next few days. Butch wants to get to his
parents and I think that’s a good idea.”

“I agree, but we can bring all of these people down there,”
Butch said. “We don’t even know what it’s like on the farm. It could all be a disaster.”

“You’re assuming we all want to go,” Shannon replied. “This
is my home. The one place I am comfortable in and know how to protect.”

“So we get a small group together and go see how things are
on the farm,” I said. “You guys have a lot of people here, so if Ripper did
come by you should be able to deal with him. Amy, Butch and I can go to Butch’s
place and check it out. We’ll send word to let you know how things are.”

“I don’t like it, but OK. It sounds like the best plan we
have.” Shannon said to me.

“We also need to discuss the horde we saw moving north. It's
headed directly towards the truck stop.” I said. “They’ll be here in the next
few days, so we need to figure out what the plan is and what happens when the
plan fails.”

“We stay here, stay quite while it passes and then moves on
with life till the next problem,” Brian said.

“There could be a ton of them headed this way. If the
infected are moving away from the city, then there will be a lot of them.” Amy
replied. “You should think a way to reinforce this building.”

“And a way to reinforce this building,” I said. Even with the
current security they had set up, the building could be breached by a horde of
infected this large.

“What if we moved the trailers in front of the building, so
the dead would have to get through the trailers first before the windows,” Rob
asked. “We’ve got a shitload of trailers and semi’s out back.

“That’s not a bad idea. You know how to start them off you
don’t have a key?” Butch asked.

“I’m the head mechanic, man. Of course, I know how to start
these things without keys.”

“Sounds like a plan, lets rest today and then the three of us
can head out tonight. Yesterday’s travels at night seemed to work just fine, so
might as well do it again instead of wasting another day.”

Everyone agreed as they left the office leaving Shannon and
me alone.

“You sure about this?” She asked me.

“Yeah, we need to find out about Butch’s parents. They’re a
second family to Amy and me and besides, Butch would just up and leave by himself
to find out. I can’t let him do this alone.”

“How long do you think it will take you? I was kind of
getting used to having you around.” She smiled at me.

“You were?” I blushed. “I’m happy to hear that.” I pulled her
close and kissed her.

Later that day, I met with Amy and Butch and we made our
plans to head down to Butch’s parents, planning the route and the supplies we
would need.

“Where were you and Shannon after the meeting this morning?
You guys seemed to disappear for a while.” Butch said to me as he loaded his
rifle and supplies into the truck we had parked in the garage bay. “You guys
hook up, dude?”

“Why would I tell you if we did?” I said to him.

“Because we’re pals, dude. Pals tell each other everything.
Come on, give me the juicy details.”

“No. This is between Shannon and me. And to get you off my
back, we did spend some time together, but the details aren’t public.” I said. “I
really like her.”

“Apocalyptic Love.” He laughed at me. “That could be a killer
song, dude.”

The End

I hope you enjoyed this short story about a group of young
people trying to make the most out of this new world and will recommend it to
others as a quick and easy read. I’m constantly looking for feedback on ways to
improve (believe me, I know I have a lot of things to learn) and ways to make
the characters more engaging.

The second book, WorldLost- Week 2,  will be out in 2017 and
will find Matt, Amy and Butch making it to Butch’s parents, but also finding
out that the world has truly changed for good, both in a good way and a bad
way. Ripper’s story will be explained in more detail as he has a lot to offer
that this first book didn’t have room for.

If you have comments, please email me at
[email protected]
.

Thanks again and look forward to hearing from you.