Zomblog Saga Box Set (Books 1-6) (22 page)

We will stay put for at least today and tomorrow to e
nsure that that horde has moved a good distance away. All of us are curious and want to go across the clearing to see the area that the zombies passed through.

Thursday, June 5

Went across the clearing. You could smell the stench from about a hundred feet away. The ground was not only trampled down, but bits of gore were scattered everywhere. Not just the insides falling out of open wounds, but entire limbs. None of us were so bold as to suggest venturing into the woods in either direction.

One other particularly grisly discovery was of a couple of zombies in various stages of decay that must’ve fallen and been unable to regain their footing. They were nothing more than smashed pulpy remains. But, the resilience of the skull left the head intact. The eyes, milky and black bloodshot followed our every move and the mouth opened and closed with the click of teeth. Nothing that a good stomping with a pair of industrial boots couldn’t put an end to.

We returned to the trailer and spent the rest of today scavenging everything that we thought we might be able to use. Other than fuel, the best thing we nabbed was one of those big chainsaws with the yard long blade. Hopefully it will work. None of us wanted to start it up because of the noise.

Maybe we’ll move out tomorrow.

Friday, June 6

We have two choices. We can back track to where we split and found the children the first time we made this trip and then hike it to the bridge with whatever gear we can carry. Or…we can make
a run through a handful of populated areas and hope we don’t get mobbed.

The argument is fairly evenly split and this is one of those times I truly wish we had an actual leader. My concern is that we simply decide and get moving. After what we witnessed with that migrating horde of zombies, the folks at Irony are li
ving under false security.

Evening

Well, it took all damned day and a perceptible rift that now exists between Bill, Caren, and Kyle versus Meredith, myself, Roy, and Jimmy. We are making a dash through a few small towns with unassuming names like Cabinet and Lakeview.

In the morning we will reverse directions and then cut north. We do know that the roads we’ll be using are all but washed out.  So, the deuce will be moving slow and we will need to take turns driving the Hummer out front in an attempt to clear a path.

The drawbacks are being uncertain of how slow our progress will be. After all, the reason we didn’t take that route before was because scouting parties had indicated that a lot of debris—both from slides and fallen trees—blocked the way making it treacherous.

Saturday, June 7

I still feel phantom buzzing in my hands as well as my ass. My hands from a lot of time with a chainsaw, my ass from riding on the hood of the hummer as we make painstaking progress.

To the credit of Bill, Caren, and Kyle…they have all worked hard and nobody bitched. We were a real team. Of course our progress did not come quietly and that drew out more than a few zombies.

Tonight we are camped out in some sort of Forest Ranger tower. Jimmy spotted it when he was standing watch from atop the roof of the deuce while Bill and I were cutting a tree that lay across the almost indiscernible gravel road we are following. We made that our goal for today and reached it just about an hour before sundown.

There is a great view, and we can see that the first bastion of what once had been civilization waits at the bottom of a long shallow valley. We were able to get a glimpse via binoculars with the waning daylight that remained, and there are definitely signs of movement. Tomorrow looks to be a busy day.

Sunday, June 8

Early this morning we were all awakened by the distinct sound of large vehicle movement. From our vantage point in the tower we were able to watch a convoy of twelve vehicles roll past and into the town we had scanned visually last night.

We figured that this was probably a band of raiders or perhaps just folks like us. We also agreed to simply let them pass. That would’ve worked fine except the last two vehicles came to a stop on the road, then turned in and came to investigate the tower.

We didn’t have much time to really plan anything so Bill and I grabbed our shotguns, strapped on our pistols and a few spare magazines and hustled down, taking up positions behind our vehicles. Jimmy grabbed three scoped rifles and went up o
nto the roof of the tower. Caren and Meredith also grabbed rifles, but they stayed inside with Roy and Kyle so that somebody could keep an eye in each direction.

Both approaching vehicles rolled into the little clearing and stopped suddenly. Probably the instant they saw Bill and me. One of the vehicles was some sort of dune buggy with three people riding in it. The other was an old, beat-up Volkswagen bus. Neither was overly impressive compared to our military-grade machines. All told, there were six guys and two gals. They weren’t soldiers. Just survivors.

One of the guys raised his hands and came out from the vehicles alone. With all that I’d seen from surviving humanity, this person was either very brave, very trusting, or very stupid. At least, that’s how I saw it at the moment.

Without warning a shot rang out from above. The man walking towards us stopped, looked down and then fell back hard. In no time we were in a nasty firefight..

Jimmy was pretty much the hero. At some point, one of the new arrivals tried to take off in the dune buggy only to catch a round in the face, slump over the wheel and run down two of his friends.

About the time we were considering taking a prisoner to question, Roy yelled down that the convoy was coming back. Then he yelled something down that solidified things for me. These were the people Meredith had escaped from!

They basically moved into position to surround us. Jimmy says he puts their numbers at no more than forty. So…about six to one with the odds in their favor.

I give Jimmy the best chance to survive this. The best news seems to be that they don’t have any exotic weaponry. I can’t believe it’s come to this.

Wednesday, June 11

We did all we could. Held out and fought back. And in the process, we took out a lot of those people who did such terr
ible things to Meredith before that day she first joined up with us. It seems like a lifetime ago.

Still, there were simply too many of them and not enough of us. I’d guess they lost half their numbers. But we did not e
scape—if you can call it that—unscathed. Bill is dead. Kyle and Meredith are missing. We all got separated when we broke south.

Bill didn’t go down easy. The second day there was what I guess you’d have to call a charge by a big group. Jimmy yelled warning and we were fending them off as best as we could, but a handful made it to the base of the observation tower. Bill was on what we counted as a rest up in the tower with Caren, and of course Jimmy perched on the roof. I was on the ground with Kyle and Meredith; Roy was in the woods. All I remember se
eing is Bill charging down the switchback staircase with pistols blazing. It was enough for Kyle and I to pop up and start firing. Unfortunately, Bill took about a dozen rounds to the body. He was dead before we got to him. Our one loss was bigger in scope than the handful the invaders had taken. That was when we decided to run for it.

Just after dark that night everybody bailed and loaded i
nto the deuce which was still miraculously undamaged save for a few holes which did nothing to hamper it. We roared out of there headed what we were sure was south.

We drove as hard and fast as possible. There was no way to know where we were going. We simply turned off at random points on the almost invisible logging roads. Try as we might, we couldn’t lose our pursuers. Every time we dared hope, a pair of ghostly yellow headlights would waver into view through the dust cloud we left in our wake.

I never even saw the section of washed out road. The deuce lurched violently to the left and seemed to hesitate for just a moment before toppling onto its side at such an angle that the wheels were practically pointing to the dark sky above.

Then…we tumbled over a steep bank and into a river. All of the winter snow had piled up this year. Coupled with how o
nly recently it had begun to warm…and there was a lot of cold water rushing down this river.

Kyle, Meredith, and Roy were in the back of the deuce. I was driving and had Caren and Jimmy in front with me. We had the windows up. I don’t know how many people have ever tried to get out of a water-filled compartment while strapped in and upside down. I do not recommend it. Once the windows were rolled down and I got free, I made for the surface with all the choking and gasping you can imagine.

The raging water was whisking me along even faster than I think we had been moving in the big vehicle. I was pretty sure that the coldness of the water would prove fatal so I kept angling for the shore. When I finally made it, I was on the opposite side of the river. Roy and Caren both made it to my side, but further downstream, Jimmy was on the other.

Nobody saw Kyle or Meredith.

Our pursuers must’ve seen the accident and been satisfied with the presumed outcome. We actually came away relatively uninjured. At least those of us present.

Jimmy was able to cross early this morning. For the rest of today we will hole up in this rocky area we found. The rocks are high and flat giving us not only a place to dry off, but also relative protection should any zombies happen by, as well as a semi-concealed place to look out.

While everybody is focusing on watching for any sort of approaching danger…my eyes are seeking only one thing.

Meredith.

Friday, June 13

We are going to have to move. It seems clear that our two missing friends will not be strolling up to reunite with us.

While water is plentiful, we have no food. Also, in all the events of the other day, we have one 9mm and seven rounds in the magazine, two baseball bats, and one long sword. Jimmy has the gun, I’ve got the blade, Caren and Roy have the bats.

To say things are bleak might be understating it. We are moving south, following this river. It stands to reason that we should eventually encounter someplace that was once inhabited. We’ll re-supply there and try to obtain transportation.

Then, we’ll return to Irony. This mission is a failure. Let somebody else go to that other compound and “settle” it. I just want to crawl in my bed and sleep for a month.

I know I’m concerned about our little group and the chances of survival we face. That is probably the reason that all I can feel in regards to the loss of Meredith is total numbness. I can’t even grieve for her properly right now.

Saturday, June 14

We have stumbled—almost literally—upon a small town. From the signage still standing, I’m pretty sure this place is called Thompson Falls. We came around the base of the foothills and bingo! The town is right there to our left. There is an open inlet we need to go around. Or…what looks to be a bridge. T
oday we’ll only watch and observe.

Sunday, June 15

Lots of activity. None of it looks to be alive. There are a lot of bodies that look to be decaying in the open. Also, it is clear there were some bad fires.  We have climbed this hill that towers at least a couple hundred feet above town. Had to take out a couple of stragglers.

We can see another road on the other side of the river. That is just one more thing to watch in case those bastards that I now blame fully for Meredith’s death should happen to come this way.

Anyways, hunger is winning. We have to go into that town. We have to find food. Just another thing you took for granted when the world was not dead. The simplicity of walking into a grocery store is long past. I only hope we can find something edible. There haven’t been any fresh delivery trucks in these parts in a long while.

Tomorrow…

Monday, June 16

I can’t believe we didn’t notice!

This morning we snuck into town just as the first hint of light kissed the sky. At least these damned creatures are slow. The plan was to slip into a few houses on the outskirts to find food.

We were not in a position to see the total layout of town. What we couldn’t see was the telltale sign of living people in the form of a large pack of zombies surrounding a building. The place looked like a brick, two-story insurance office.

We found Meredith! Oh yeah, and Kyle.

The problem is getting them to notice us without drawing attention. The way we found out it was our two presumed lost comrades is because they made a journey up onto the roof. O
bviously scouting for an escape.

The only way we could see that would get them out of their predicament would be to make some noise. So, we’ve loa
ded up on some canned food. The second house we hit was still “occupied”, but after clearing it we hit a bit of a jackpot. Seems this was a Mormon family, and I guess they were ready for the apocalypse. (We know they were Mormons because of the
Book of Mormon
sitting on an upstairs nightstand.)  Anyways, we found this pantry that was literally loaded with non-perishable foods, bottles of water, all kinds of stuff. Once we had all we could carry, we snuck back up that hill.