Zombie Dawn Exodus (8 page)

The quirky landowner was ever the optimist. He was
in his early sixties and had never really had to work much, having
been born into money. Sadly, this luxury meant that he owned no
livestock, nor knew anything of farming, other than how to keep the
place looking tidy.

“We need to go where the good stuff is,” said
Tommy.

“We’ve been through this before, laddie. We go where
it is relatively safe and nothing more,” said Roger.

“But there are massive shops full of stuff waiting
for us, we just have to go and get it,” said Tommy.

“We’re just a handful of survivors in a world that
wants to eat us, we cannot afford just one life lost,” said
Roger.

“Then we do it quickly,” said Tommy.

“I’m sorry, but I will not hear anymore of this, you
must accept that we’re doing what is best for all of us,” said
Roger.

“Come on, Tommy. We’ve been through this before,”
said Dave.

Tommy huffed in frustration, knowing this was a
battle he couldn’t win. He knew that he could bring back the best
food any of them had seen since this began, but his superiors held
him back. The hierarchy in this compound was a tricky thing. In
part, your authority was dictated by how long you’d been there,
Dave being one of the first handful and who commanded respect. Dave
had never wanted power, but he’d settled well into being one of
Roger’s key men.

Roger had allocated ranks or positions to everyone
in the group. His closest allies were known as Captains, which were
Dave and one other, Luke. Roger considered combat training a
priority, with everyone practicing regularly, though more recently
he had begun to emphasise the need for self sufficiency. He’d
almost lost two survivors in a raid that strayed too far into a
town just a month before. He knew all too well that the food they
could find in shops would only last a couple of years more, and
that the real solution came in making or growing your own.

Dave noticed Kailey walking out of the house towards
them, an ever growing smile stretching across her face. The very
knowledge that he could see and talk to her each and every day was
willpower enough to keep going. A reason to work at living was
never something any of the survivors were used to, the protection
of society was provided for them. Now, each and every one of them
had to be determined to live.

“Good trip?” asked Kailey.

“As good as can be expected,” said Dave.

“You ready to eat?” asked Kailey.

“Fucking right,” said Tommy.

The group assembled inside the house for a meal.
Roger had insisted from the moment the compound was secure, that
they always sit down for a meal each evening. He said it was
important to hold onto what little they had left of society and
normal living. He was right, every man and woman in the group
looked forward to the communal gatherings. Roger organised it so
that five people were always on watch at any one time, meaning
fourteen, at current population, could enjoy the meal together.

Food wasn’t what it used to be. Fresh food had gone
off just days after the Zompoc started. Meals now consisted largely
of canned food. But junk food played a large part of their daily
intake of calories, as it at least stayed edible for years. They
could procure more supplies of decent canned food, but it would
mean much more risky operations into population centres.

The one thing that was never in short supply was
alcohol, as it never really went off. Roger saw alcohol as an
important element of morale within the compound, but he always
restricted every individual’s intake per day. Having your diet
controlled was not always popular, but it insured everyone got what
they needed and had nothing to excess. There was no place for
obesity and drunkenness in this world anymore.

After the meal, Dave and Tommy headed up to bed,
their missions to procure supplies counted as their watch time, so
they rarely carried out guard duty. Guarding anything was boring,
but most of the survivors were more than happy to stay within the
safe confines of their home than risk their necks in the
wilderness.

Being so far from any population centre the compound
only ever saw the occasional zombie. Everglade had its own zombie
pest control squad, five men who acted as a clean up squad. With
the sparse population locally the squad could outnumber the
creatures in combat, allowing them to fight in relative safety.

The two men lay down on the mattresses that were
laid out across the floor, a luxury in the world they now
lived.

“You know what I wouldn’t give for a can of corned
beef, or tuna?” said Tommy.

“I’m with you there,” said Dave.

“Then why don’t we go get some?” asked Tommy.

“You know why,” said Dave.

“Fuck that, we could get in and out safely,” said
Tommy.

“You don’t know that, we cannot risk the lives of a
single person,” said Dave.

“But what about that supermarket, it’s what, fifty
miles from here, waiting to be plucked,” said Tommy.

“Yes and it’s attached to a town that had, and
likely still has, a population of tens of thousands,” said
Dave.

“We can’t go on eating nothing but shit,” said
Tommy.

“And we won’t, you know Roger is already well into
setting up the farming here, next year we’ll have some good food of
our own,” said Dave.

“But that’s a year, assuming he even knows what the
fuck he’s doing,” said Tommy.”

“I’ve heard enough, we aren’t going anywhere near
that town!” shouted Dave.

Tommy fell silent as both men finally began to
relax, neither happy with each other’s standpoint. Five men shared
the room that they now used. Despite the house having so many
bedrooms, many had to be used for storing supplies such as food,
weapons, protective gear and other essential equipment.

Dave had been for the first time since the outbreak
beginning to feel that things were starting to go his way. He’d
managed to settle into a survivable location with decent people and
some resemblance of a future. He forgot all about Tommy’s
grumblings and turned his mind simply to all the good things. Dave
fell asleep, a welcome rest after the day’s driving and work.

Dave was harshly awoken by Graham, the driver from
one of the other vehicles the group used, it was 7.30am. He was
barely awake but the adrenaline was quickly bringing him to an
alert state. The zombie infested world had taught all of them that
laziness and slack living was a death-trap.

“Dave, Dave, wake up!” shouted Graham.

Graham was nearly sixty years old. He’d arrived at
the compound with his Land Rover Discovery a month after the
outbreak, everyone was surprised he’d survived alone all that time.
Graham was a widower used to living alone, and a highly practical
man, if not a true fighter.

“What is it?” asked Dave.

“Tommy and three others have taken Kate and the
Fourtrak driven off,” said Graham.

“Where did they go?” asked Dave.

“No idea, Kyle and Amy on the gates assumed they
were leaving for a genuine mission like always,” said Graham.

“Shit!” shouted Dave.

Dave was still mostly dressed in his clothes from
the night before as it was rarely warm enough to go to bed without
them. He leapt to his feet, slipped his boots on and ran
downstairs. The ground floor of the house was empty when breakfast
would usually be happening, something no man or woman would miss.
He could already hear a ruckus outside. He ran out of the front
door to see Roger and several others arguing.

“What the hell’s going on here?” asked Dave.

“Tommy, Richard, Brian and Chris have taken your
truck, and these idiots let them do it,” said Roger.

“How were we supposed to know they weren’t allowed
out?” asked Amy.

“Alright, alright. That doesn’t matter, how long ago
did this happen?” asked Dave.

“About forty minutes ago,” said Jodie.

“Shit, he could be anywhere by now!” said Dave.

“Really? Surely you know what his intentions were?”
asked Roger.

Dave thought about it. It was indeed true that he
had an idea, the conversation from the night before flooded back
into his head. The possibility that Tommy had been stupid enough to
go ahead with the idea was depressing, and to risk so many of the
survivors foolhardy and selfish.

“There’s a supermarket about fifty miles from here,
he’s been raving about wanting to raid it for a while,” said
Dave.

“Exactly,” said Roger.

“Shit,” said Luke.

Roger’s other right hand man had arrived on the
scene just seconds after Dave. Luke was a competent and reliable
fellow, but also a gun hoe one.

“Let’s get after them and drag their arses back!”
shouted Luke.

“No, we have no idea what they’ve got themselves
into, we have already lost four men and two vehicles today, let’s
not risk any others!” said Roger.

“What if they need our help?” asked Jodie.

“Then they’re probably in too much trouble for us to
assist them, either they come back here okay or not at all, it’s
out of our hands now,” said Roger.

“This is bollocks,” said Dave.

“Yes it is, Dave. But there’s nothing more we can do
about it without knowing more. None of us know how many survivors
there are in this world, but all of us are very aware that it’s a
very small number. The very survival of the human race is in
danger, and we cannot afford to take stupid risks,” said Roger.

He was right, none of them wanted to condemn these
friends to their deaths but Roger had, as always, proven why he was
the right man to control the group. Roger didn’t have much in the
way of skills, but he was always cool headed no matter the
situation, his calculated thinking and nerve had got them all this
far.

“Right, those not on watch get some breakfast, we
will pray for the four men but beyond that, life goes on,” said
Roger.

The group broke apart and went about their morning
routine. The loss of the men and vehicles was weighing heavily on
all of their minds. The number of survivors was ever decreasing.
The only way for that to turn around would be for people to stop
being foolish, and of course for some to start having children.
There was no doubt that Roger’s leadership and facilities had
provided a safe life for all, but they had to keep improving.

After finishing his breakfast, Dave went on watch
with the guard at the gate, out of desperation rather than duty.
The guard tower at the entrance was an old tractor with a guard
station built on the roof. The rusty Massey Ferguson tractor had
belonged to Roger’s father, but was long beyond operation now. Dave
sat in the tower with Jodie and Kyle for an hour without speaking a
word to either of them. There was a deathly silence across the
whole camp now, all too depressed by the loss of their friends, a
reminder of how brutal the outside world still was.

Finally, after the long wait the group could hear
the sound of an engine in the distance, the sound of a Land Rover
engine. The vehicle was clearly being driven hard. Eventually it
came into view but the second vehicle wasn’t with it. Jodie jumped
to use the church bell that had been setup there to alert the camp
of anything serious.

“No!” shouted Dave.

Jodie looked quickly at Dave in shock. She couldn’t
understand his reasoning. The sight of the vehicle had been a
joyous sight, all sensibilities melted away.

“That bell alerts everything in the valley, not just
our camp, that is for emergencies only,” said Dave.

He jumped down from the tower.

“Roger, Kate is back!” shouted Dave.

Roger didn’t look particularly enthusiastic. The
fact that one vehicle had returned rather than two was a bad sign.
Despite the fact that the vehicle had returned, he knew all too
well that this could lead to a number of unfortunate and dangerous
situations. Dave wrenched the gates open and his beloved Land Rover
pulled into the camp. Brian was driving but there was no sign of
any passengers.

He stopped the vehicle and leapt out. Before his
feet could barely touch the ground, Luke had pounced on him. The
hardy captain threw him against the side of the vehicle in
anger.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?”
shouted Luke.

“Luke! Let him speak!” shouted Dave.

Luke released his hold on the man. Roger stood back
and simply waited for the bad news, praying that further survivors
would not be pulled into this disaster.

“Where are the others?” asked Dave.

“We went to the supermarket in the town and it was
all fine and quiet. But once the lads got inside the place was just
flooded with zombies, there was nothing I could do!” shouted
Brian.

“So you just left them there?” asked Dave.

“I was outside in the truck, there were dozens of
them, more all the time, what was I supposed to do?” asked
Brian.

“You were supposed to do as you were told in the
first place!” shouted Luke.

“Fuck you! We were trying to make things better for
all of us!” shouted Brian.

“And now you can understand the very reason we do
things my way,” said Roger.

“So where are the guys now?” asked Dave.

“They said on the radio they were held up in the
security room and it was fairly safe for now, but the shop is
flooded with creatures,” said Brian.

“Then there’s nothing we can do for them, they
condemned themselves,” said Roger.

“Fuck that, we can’t afford to lose anyone, we’re
too few already!” shouted Dave.

“And we’ll be even fewer if you attempt some
ridiculous rescue attempt!” shouted Roger.

“I don’t need your permission,” said Dave.

“Please, Dave. You should know as well as I how
futile this is,” said Roger.

“Surely our concern for our fellow man, our hope and
comradeship is what makes us human? We don’t have much else left,”
said Dave.