The Common Cold (Book 2): A Zombie Chronicle-Cabin Fever (3 page)

Tom looked sympathetically at the officer. He could see
reality was slowly sinking in. Being up here in the mountains it was easy to
believe everywhere else was continuing normally. “I know what you mean, Mike. It’s
taken me a while to come to terms with it but it’s all true. As a species we’re
going to be back to the stone-age when current supplies and stuff runs out.
We’ll be hunting wild animals for food and trying to grow crops from scratch.”

Anxious to know how Laurie and the boys had escaped, Tom
turned to her. “I saw the house, all burnt to hell. How did you get away?”

At the thought of it Laurie’s eyes glistened with tears. “We
only just escaped,” she began, swallowing hard to gather her composure before
continuing the tale. “There were so many of them, surrounding the house. All
that moaning and screeching, it was really scary. I heard a sound like someone
being attacked in the most horrible way. I think it was about eight in the evening.
At the time we were upstairs, the boys were in bed and the lights were off
downstairs, so they mustn’t have known we were there. We were lucky. I could
hear banging on the glass of the windows and was afraid they’d get in.”

“You must have been scared out of your mind,” Tom said,
imagining her being surrounded by a sea of those creatures.

“Stevie suggested we get to the car and drive away.” She
tousled the boy’s hair and Tom’s older son blushed at the attention. “I think
it was this idea that saved us. A fire started somewhere down the road; it
seemed to attract their attention. The crowd around the house thinned a little
and Stevie grabbed his baseball bat and ran out of the house, laying into those
left behind, and shouting at them to go away. I nearly died of fright. I
thought he was going to be killed but it was weird, ’
cos
they seemed not to react unless he hit them on the head when they’d just fall
down. Anyhow, he cleared a path to the car. I really thought we were going to
die, but we got away and drove here as fast as we could. I prayed you would
think to look for us here. I didn’t even get the chance to pick up my purse.”
She hugged her husband again.

“Does anyone know if there are any other people up here?”
Chuck spoke up again, trying to instil a sense of urgency into the situation.
Just because it was a little warmer in the cabin didn’t mean they were out of
the woods just yet.

“As the Captain said, we haven’t seen anyone else,” Zoë
replied, suddenly realising that while they had been busy catching up they had
left themselves wide open to possible attack; no-one could see what was out
there in the darkness. It appeared the warm and friendly cabin had lulled them
into a false sense of security that was out of all proportion with reality. “We
did have a look around and found a few supplies but not much. No people though.”

“Well, let’s get the truck backed up to the hut so we can
offload the contents,” Brad suggested. “It would be a shame to lose the
supplies we brought with us.”

“Do you have any night vision goggles with you?” Chuck asked
of the helicopter crew.

“Yeah, each pilot has a pair,” Simms replied, responding to
the seriousness of the older man.

“The perimeter needs to be guarded while the others offload
the goods. Captain, you and I can do that; the others can do the grunt work.”

“Sergeant Hinkley here is a better shot than I, of that I’m
sure,” Simms replied. “He can stand watch.
Alright with you,
sergeant?”

“Yes, sir.
No problem with that, I
can shoot the ass off a fly at two hundred yards with a halfway decent rifle.”
Hinkley smiled; this sort of thing was just up his alley. He stood up and
grabbed the rifle Tom had come in with. “This’ll do nicely,” he said inspecting
its load.

“Don’t come out until we give the all-clear,” Chuck
instructed as he stood up and then looked irritatedly at the uncovered window. “And
can someone please cover this window with something to block the light? I don’t
think it’s a good idea to advertise our presence, it’s a wonder you lot
survived until now.”

Laurie stood up and hurried into the bedroom, returning a
moment later with a thick quilt. “A bit of a waste really but it’s the only
thing we have right now that’s thick enough to block the light completely.”

“Well, it’ll do for now. We can sort these things out
properly in the morning,” Chuck agreed. “Come on Sergeant, let’s go get them
goggles.”

They stepped into the now complete darkness and closed the
door quickly before they lost too much heat from the cabin. The boys peered out
from behind the newly-hung window cover trying to see what was going on
outdoors.

Tom surveyed the room. “Right, let’s make some room for everyone
and the stores. There’s quite a lot. So, who’s sleeping where?” he asked of his
wife.

“Me and the kids are in this bedroom,” she said, pointing. “The
others are out here hunkering down as best they can. I think Zoë has
commandeered the pull-out,” she said, smiling at the only other woman in the room.
“They didn’t want to encroach too much on our place. At least they have the
fireplace to keep them warm.”

“I think that as people will be here rather longer than they
expected, we’ll have to do something about proper accommodation for everyone.”

“I agree. They can have a couple of rooms if they want. BB
can have his own room, too.” Laurie looked to be in her comfort zone; she
always liked to make a fuss over guests and now was no exception.

“Good. We can put the supplies in the storage cupboard at
the back of the kitchen. Right now it should be all but empty.”

Laurie followed him into the kitchen and watched as he
withdrew a set of keys from his pocket and opened a door off to one side. It
revealed a deep cupboard more the size of a walk-in larder. Snapping on a light
he opened a cover and checked the fuel gauge for the generator he could now
hear rumbling quietly.

“Getting low,” he observed. “Good thing we have some more
fuel in the truck.”

“We really should have had more than one key to this
cupboard; I couldn’t get in to check levels and just had to hope we had enough
for a while.”

“It doesn’t matter, love. We’ll be alright,” he said
quietly.

At that moment they heard the sound of the truck being
reversed up to the door and brake to a halt. Chuck walked in, the night goggles
in his hand.

“The good news is that we can’t see anyone around at all, so
it looks like whatever this thing is hasn’t yet influenced this area. I imagine
people will start coming out of the city if they can get away, but who knows
when that will be. Right, over to you guys to bring in the supplies,” he said
before walking back outside.

Mike Simms and Zoë led the offload, Mike climbing into the
truck to pass items down to Zoë. The rest set up a human chain that finished at
the storage cupboard where Tom placed the packs by type and use. By the time
they finished the offloading of the truck there was just enough room left to
access the generator and its refuelling nozzle.

“Rather than waste fuel, may I suggest we turn off the
genny
and get some sleep?” Chuck asked. He got no argument
from the others; a combination of long days and emotional tension meant
everyone was more than ready to hit the sack. Laurie fussed around trying to
get everyone into a room instead of the bivouac in the living area, but without
success. It was clear that the chopper crew was still restless and uncertain;
they would not be easily separated.

“Would you guys mind if I had a look at the helicopter in
the morning?” Brad asked the Blackhawk crew. “I might be able to fix it unless
a major component has gone.”

“What do you know about
helos
?”
Bill Mitchum asked, doubting an airline pilot could possibly have the skills to
repair such a complex beast as the Blackhawk.

“Pretty much everything,” he replied confidently. “I have a
rotary wing licence and have spent most of every weekend for the last few years
at my local airfield tinkering with them so I reckon I might be able to get it
going again.”

“Jeez, Brad. If you can get it going again I’ll make you an
honorary crew member.” Simms challenged. “I don’t want to be stuck on the
ground forever.”

“Consider me a spare co-pilot, Captain,” Brad replied, with a
pleased look on his face. Then he realised his insensitivity in front of Bill.
“Sorry man, I don’t want to take your place, it’d just be cool to help out.”

Bill smiled. “Don’t worry, buddy. Even blind I’m sure I’m a
better pilot than you!”

“Sounds like challenge number two,” Brad replied, slapping Bill
on the back.

 
“Get a room, boys,” Simms
retorted. “We’ll look over it together, first thing.”

“Cool. Right I’m for some shut-eye. You military types can
work out sentry shifts between you. That’s your thing, right?” he asked
rhetorically.
“’Night all.”
With that he grabbed a
sleeping bag and walked off with a spring in his step to lay claim to a spare
room.

Simms looked at Captain Morgan quizzically. “Is he for
real?”

“You better believe it. If it’s fixable that man can fix it.
He’s also an ex-Air Force F-16
pilot
.”

“Normally we wouldn’t let one of those Air Force sky jockeys
near an Army vehicle, but I guess under the circumstances we don’t have much
choice. I sure as hell don’t want to be trapped up here when the snow comes.”

“You’re right, not a whole lot of choice, I guess. Anyway I
think I’ll follow Brad’s example and hit the sack, it’s been a strange day. Are
you really okay for guard duty?”

“Sure. We can cover that off. We’ll be eating your rations
if we stay here. Quid pro quo, as they say.”

“Great. See you guys in the morning. Ah, nearly forgot to
say, we have some more friends coming, not sure when they’ll be able to get
here. Probably tomorrow but it could be during the night so be careful what you
shoot at.”

With that Tom checked the front door was secure, retired to
the bedroom and got into bed with his family and slept the sleep of the dead.
It was going to be a bloody cold night, not that he’d notice.

“Hey, Captain. Wake up,” came a whispered voice out of the
darkness above him. He felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently in an
effort not to disturb his slumbering family. “We’ve got company. I think
it’s
Danny and co.”

Tom peered into the darkness and realised Brad was standing
over him. “Righto,” he whispered back and slowly disentangled himself from the
family nest. “Could have done with a few more hours but I guess I can catch up
when I’m dead,” he whispered. Laurie stirred and appeared to remain asleep. She
had a slight smile on her face, just discernable in the semi-darkness; there
was faint torchlight coming from the living area.

Pulling on his heavy coat and boots, Tom followed Brad out
of the small bedroom and into the main area. Sergeant Hinkley had remained on
watch, nursing a rifle and peering past the edge of the hastily erected window
covering. Other than the small torch, it was dark in the room so there was little
danger of anyone inside being seen observing the occupants of the incoming
vehicle. The rest of the crew had managed to get some sleep but had been
disturbed by the activity around them and were now stirring.

“The truck has no lights on. Sensible, I’d say,” Hinkley
observed. “They’re headed this way for sure. Looks like they know where they’re
going.”

“I gave Danny adequate instructions so it probably is them.”
Tom picked up a rifle and checked a round was chambered. “Before they get here
let’s go outside so we’re not cornered.
Just in case it’s not
Danny.”

Tom, Hinkley, and Brad slipped quietly outside and took
cover. From his vantage point Tom could see the approaching vehicle was an M35
troop carrier, its rear covered in dark canvas. A second identical one followed
behind. “That’s new,” he muttered to himself feeling less certain of exactly who
was in the vehicles. Taking aim at the cab of the lead truck, he waited with bated
breath as they rumbled into the clearing and came to a halt. The silence that
followed was unnerving. Tom heaved a sigh of relief as the door clicked open
and Rob emerged.

“Rob,” Tom called in a forced whisper. Clearly stressed and
on edge from the long journey, the driver swung around, gun up and aiming into
the darkness. Peering intently as Tom slowly stood up and stepped into the
moonlight, a smile crossed the man’s face as he recognised the silhouette.

“Tom! Hi,” he replied in a similar whisper, his smile
visible in the moonlight. Sandy now stood behind her husband. Danny descended
from the second truck, rifle slung over his shoulder and pistol in a holster.
He was followed by Janet, the kids and the dog they’d rescued from the plane, a
black greyhound called Oskar. The dog took the release from the cab as a signal
that it could lay claim to one of the wheels. They gathered round to greet each
other; Brad and the sergeant emerged from their positions of cover and joined
the small reunion.

“Hi there, Tom.
It’s great to see
you again,” Daniel said with pleasure in his voice. “It was easy to get here,
your instructions were perfect.”

“Yeah,” Rob agreed. “We stopped on the way across town and
availed ourselves of a sporting goods shop and have plenty of clothes and stuff
for everyone.”

“That’s looting,” Hinkley responded, his face hard with
disapproval. Rob’s face darkened in welling anger; he had been told in detail
what had happened to Sandy at the hands of the military not twenty four hours ago
and to have one of their number challenge his actions was beginning to feel like
a step too far.

“Whoa, Cliff.
That’s a bit much,”
Tom protested on behalf of the newcomers. “Welcome to my humble abode, guys.
Glad you seem to have gotten here in one piece.” Tom then turned to the
sergeant. “Cliff. You still seem to be holding out for civilisation to return.
It won’t, not any time soon that is.”

“He’s dead right, Cliff,” Danny interjected, recognising
Rob’s anger even in the darkness. “My name’s Danny, we came in on Tom’s flight
into Denver.”

“You’re Brits?” the sergeant asked, detecting the accent.

“Yes, some of us are. Considering the way this thing hit UK
Plc
, hopping on a plane seemed the right thing to do at the
time. The only complaint I have was the rough landing, but other than that
we’re glad to be here.” Danny smiled at the sergeant. “Can we get everyone
inside? We have a wounded woman and another four people on board. I asked them
to stay out of sight until we found out what’s what. It’s been a hell of a long
journey up here, especially without using lights.”

Hinkley went over to the trucks and pulled back the canvas
backs to look inside. He whistled when he saw how full one of the trucks was
with supplies, and if he wasn’t mistaken he could also see a number of ammo boxes
off to one side.

“I think it was more than just sporting goods. There are
military ammo boxes in here.”

“Yeah, they were already in that truck when we picked it up.
I’ll be happy to tell all when we’re inside again with some coffee down my neck
- if you have any, Tom?” Tom nodded. With that Rob and Danny helped the injured
Jackie and her friend Stacey, the two shop assistants they had saved from the
grasp of a cheetah zombie late the previous day, into the cabin.

Jackie’s leg was still stiff but it was clear she was
recovering from the ordeal; the best piece of news so far was that a scratch
from a zombie, no matter how deep, didn’t appear fatal. Or at least not this
time. An elderly couple appeared from beneath the pile of coats, looks of
uncertainty on their faces.

A young woman, her face pale white and seemingly luminous in
the starlight, was wrapped in coats and spare blankets, sitting by herself off
to one side.

“May I introduce Joshua and his wife, Ethel,” Danny said,
helping the older couple down from the truck. “And this is Angela,” he added as
the thin young woman landed nimbly on the ground next to them. “They were
survivors from Rob’s street. We found them before we left to come here.”

“Hi. It seems the more the merrier.” Tom seemed pleased that
others had survived. The cabin was probably going to be a little crowded but large
numbers were a good thing for the end of world party, he thought wryly. “Did
you three come from the same house? Are you related?” he asked innocently.

“Absolutely not,” Angela said emphatically, then, realising
her error softened her tone. “I didn’t know them before today. I am a Daughter
of the Lord.”

“Ah, right,” Tom said recovering quickly to cover his
surprise at her tone and assertion. “Well, come in anyway, I’m sure you could all
do with a warm drink.” Before anyone could reply he walked off, pretending to
lead the way. Thanks Danny and Rob, he mumbled to himself. And they boarded two
by two, except the last one who seems to want to be alone with her God.

With everyone now inside, the conversation volume had been
turned up fully as people talked eagerly over each other, excitement and relief
evident in them all; their various adventures were still vivid and frightening
in their minds. The camaraderie and the smell of fresh coffee in the air were
beginning to make the cabin feel more like a home, of course the biggest
problem Tom saw was the sleeping arrangements; with all these people, some
twenty one in all, they would have to sort something out in the morning because
although it was pleasant and novel right now, it would eventually become
challenging for all. Laurie was already rising to the occasion; Tom had no idea
that such a large coffee pot existed in the cabin. At that moment he wished
there was whiskey available; it was late, or more like early in the morning and
he yearned for a little Irish or Kentuckian in his coffee.

The helicopter crew had brought the ammunition boxes indoors
as none of them felt comfortable leaving them unattended, even though it seemed
likely that there was no-one within miles of this spot. While rummaging through
the truck they had also found several brand-new rolled up sleeping bags and
distributed them around the cabin. Now everyone could get warm; not that heat was
likely to be a problem with so many people in the same small building.

Tom looked at his watch and saw it was four am. He was tired
but wanted to talk with Rob and Danny, to find out what they’d encountered and
make enquiries as to the new folk, especially the self-styled Daughter of the
Lord. Surreptitiously he gathered Brad, Danny and Rob together as well as
Captain Simms and the sergeant. Clutching their coffee they went outside and
gathered around the engine of one of the trucks, eager to steal its remaining warmth
while they talked.

“So, Rob and Danny,” Tom kicked off. “I’m really glad both you
and yours got here in one piece. Sorry BB and I couldn’t wait, but as you can
see I found my family.”

“No problem, Tom” Rob replied. “We’re just really glad you
found your folks. BB, have you worked out a way to get to your wife yet?”

“Still working on it but I have an idea or two.” It was
clear he didn’t want to expand on the subject for some reason. With no phone signal
in this area - assuming phones were still an option - whether or not his wife
was still alive was the biggest question he had to answer; he would always find
a way to get to her.

“BB?” the sergeant asked.

“BB was my air force call-sign. It’s
kinda
stuck ever since.”

“So what’s the skinny on Denver, guys?” Mike asked, eager to
work out whether there was something to get back to or not. He was lucky, he
had divorced a couple of years earlier and had no kids, so he was pretty bomb
proof as far as family needs were concerned. He was more worried about his crew
and was primarily concerned as to whether, upon finding out the worst from
these newcomers, they would want to get down the mountain and do some personal
rescue missions. Without the use of the helicopter he suspected the risks would
be exponentially greater by road.

“Well, our journey to Castle Rock wasn’t too bad all in
all,” Rob replied. “The military looked like they took a pasting, especially
around our house. From what my wife told me, they came to our area, got creamed
and most died.”

“What happened to the rest?” Cliff asked.

“Well, when I said most died I meant they all died but quite
a few came back to life. A lot are walking around having become infected. There
don’t seem to be many fast ones; we only came across one of them at the Factory
Outlet when we were gathering supplies. All the rest seem slow so they aren’t a
big threat unless you’re trapped in a confined space with a large number of
them.”

“When we got to Rob’s house we had time for a quick bite to
eat,” Danny interjected. “We discovered the hard way that the smell of cooking
does attract them; it was touch and go for a while there. I’m sorry to say we
let our guard down when we got to Rob’s, we were just so bloody exhausted.”

“Oh, yeah,” Rob agreed, playing the slaughter through again
in his mind. “Good thing we had loads of ammo. Having said all that, one upside
of our mistake was that Joshua and Ethel found us by following the smell of our
cooking. When they
came
a’knocking
they warned us the infected were gathering in the street. We had to shoot a load
of them in order just to get back out to the truck. We just chucked as much as
we could in the back and drove away. Angela threw herself out in front of us as
we neared the end of our street so we had no alternative other than to bring
her with us. She was damn lucky we didn’t run her down, I nearly didn’t stop.
Maybe God is looking out for her after all; she certainly seems to think so.
Whatever, she’s a strange one, that’s for sure.”

 
“I got that
impression earlier,” Tom agreed. “Bit of a bible thumper I’m guessing.”

“Maybe we’ll need the Lord’s help in the coming days,” Cliff
interjected, sounding defensive on Angela’s behalf.

“You may be right, sergeant,” Mike replied with an eyebrow
raised questioningly. Cliff seemed not to notice.

“We stopped off at the Factory Outlet near Rob’s home,”
Danny continued, “and denuded the winter sports shop of its coats, clothing and
other supplies. I think we’ll be alright for a few weeks until we can sort
something out. Strange thing was we didn’t see too many people around. I can’t
imagine where they’ve all gone. And the military, they just seemed to have
abandoned their vehicles and weaponry. It’s really weird. That’s how we came
across the second truck. Just as well, we needed the space for the people and
supplies.”

“That’s why it’s not stealing, sergeant,” Rob argued, his
previous annoyance still evident in his voice. “We have a pressing need right
now to do what we have to in order to survive. We can work out who owes who
what if things return to normal.”

“You may be right,” Cliff acceded reluctantly.

“We also got some more after-shave and perfume, Tom. I’m
sure we’ll find it of use when we go out on forays for food.”

“Of course.
Well done,” Tom agreed.
Looking at the quizzical expression on both Mike and the Sergeant’s faces he decided
to explain. “From what you’ve told me of your experiences, you’ve seen less of
their behaviour up close than we have. You’ve already noticed how the infected
people change and then attack, trying to bite us. They seem to want to eat us
for some reason known only to
themselves
. These two lads
discovered the fact that if we spray ourselves all over with after-shave that the
infected people can’t detect us as either food or the enemy. Seems to work
pretty well; it sure as hell saved Brad and me more than once.”

“I thought you guys smelled a little too fresh when we first
met but I didn’t like to say,” Mike stated, grinning at the misunderstanding.
“If it works I’m happy to use it.”