Total Apoc Trilogy (Book 3): Horde Ravaged (9 page)

            "You could go raid cars out on the street," I said.

            "We thought about that, but everyone's too afraid to leave the building."

            I didn't know what to tell them. They had to take chances if they wanted to do more than exist. Having a working Ham radio seemed like a dream to me. Then I thought of something I'd heard before.

            "What about out west?"

            The crowd fell silent. For a second I thought I brought up something they didn't want to hear. Then Mrs. McKinney stepped forward.

            "What have you heard?" she asked. "Before the batteries died, we were told that there were few infected out west. They said the infected died of dehydration in the desert heat, but…"

            Everyone fell silent, eyes dropping. I shared a look with Olivia. Whatever it was, I knew I wasn't going to like it.

            Mr. McKinney continued in a quieter voice, "The last word we had was everything east of the Rockies was declared a no man's land. Forever. They said no one from this part of the country would be allowed across the Rockies."

            "Why?"

            "They say that most of the people who didn't become the Infected are
carriers
," Brad answered. "The Army is ordered to shoot us on sight."

Chapter 11

            I looked out across the dark city. An unlit city was a strange thing to behold. The moon wouldn't come out for a few hours, but it was almost full. We'd all be asleep by that time.

            "It's beautiful in an eerie way," Olivia whispered.

            We were warned that on the roof strict light and noise discipline was enforced. Only the softest whispers were allowed, and they wanted those kept to a minimum. If we felt the need to discuss something then we had to go into the building. I couldn't argue that, since it's been working for them.

            "Maybe later we can take a moonlit walk across the roof," I replied. Giving my brows a wag, "Or back inside for…"

            "Play your cards right."

            Ralph came out of the stairwell and headed our way, so that conversation would have to be continued later. He brought the pack up. Others were coming up behind him. We were told they all slept on the roof when the weather permitted. Even so, the air was warm and humid after all the recent rain.

            "Did everyone get their weapons reassembled okay?" Olivia asked.

            Before coming up, the three of us had sat down and cleaned all of our weapons. We didn't get the opportunity very often, especially in such a secure location. Seeing us, some of the others asked if they could have some of our cleaning solution to clean their weapons. What were we going to do, say no? It was the least we could do after they allowed us to stay.

            "Yep. They knew what they were doing," he said.

            Ralph stayed with them, while Olivia and I came topside after our weapons were cleaned and oiled up nicely. I was feeling pretty good. Having a safe place to sleep and other people to interact with was refreshing.

            "You do realize that this will be the first good night's sleep we've had in two weeks," Olivia said. "I'm all tingly thinking about it."

            "I'm kind of excited, too," I said.

            Earlier, our new friends had brought up some extra mattresses of us. They even provided sheets and blankets. And pillows.

            "Actually, having a hot meal is what thrilled me," Ralph said. "I love chili and crackers. Mrs. McKinney is the best cook in the world."

            I was most thrilled with the high-powered, prescription pain killers they gave me. I wasn't sure exactly what Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen 10-325 TB was but it kicked my pain's butt, and they gave us a bottle with ninety tablets.

            Everyone quickly went to bed. I noticed they slept in family groups, with as much distance as they could get between them. A few of them had to sleep sitting up because they snored. I wondered how loud their snoring was to necessitate that. So with everyone else going to sleep that is what we did.

            "Do you think it’s safe for all three of us to sleep?" Ralph asked as quietly as possible.

            "Yeah," I replied. "I trust them."

            Olivia agreed, so he nodded reluctantly. That did make me think. So we curled up with our weapons. Of course, we'd been doing that for two weeks.

            I cuddled comfortably with Olivia. Dreams of kisses and hugs filled my overactive imagination, but I was out like a light.

~**~**~

            I woke to a zombie wail in the distance. The moon was up and high in the sky. I felt completely rested. Looking at Olivia's watch, I discovered it was 3 AM.

            "Wow. I slept for six hours straight," I muttered after sitting up.

            Olivia stirred next to me, but remained asleep. I thought about waking her so we could go find a private place, but decided she needed the sleep more than I needed something else. Ralph was sprawled face up on his bed, covers kicked off, and muttering softly in some dream.

            Slowly slipping out of bed, I put on my boots. The rocky roof meant there was no barefoot action going down. Like every night, I slept fully clothed. There was a slight chill in the air, but it was more invigorating than uncomfortable.

            I loaded up with my usual weapons. More habit than anything. I felt naked without a machete, pistol, and rifle. Even atop that secure location the thought of going anywhere unarmed was disturbing.

            "I wonder if I have post stress disorder?" I whispered.

            I moved over to the closest corner. It overlooked the street south of the building and the alley in back. The moon lit the landscape up beautifully. Everything had a silvery cast. I tried to get the lay of the land. The strip mall was below me. Actually, two strip malls back to back between two main streets. There was a residential area beyond them that ended at the edge of a river. I tried to remember what river it was, but couldn't.

            For a few minutes I watched some zombies shuffling down the alley. One of them tested the door, even pounded on it for a few minutes. And then they shuffled off. Did he really think someone would open it?

            Mr. McKinney said the last wave of zombies had passed before we came up on the roof for the night. We discussed leaving right then, but the allure of a full night's sleep was too much. I still wasn't sure if it was best to leave at night or during the day. Both times provided certain benefits.

            Olivia took a deep breath, drawing my attention. Her hand patted the place I'd vacated, and then her head came up. I waved. She sat up and looked around, before putting on her boots. She was able to join me without arming for bear, which I found remarkable. Instead, she wrapped the blanket around herself and joined me.

            We sat in the corner together, the blanket around us both, and stared out over the dark, serene city. I savored that moment, knowing we'd be fighting for our lives too soon.

            "Shh," she said.

            I perked up, listening intently for any sounds of danger. Instead, it was one of the others. He stood up, looked around, and then put on his shoes. I figured he was going downstairs to one of the bathrooms. The toilets still worked. That made me wonder if we should try for another shower before leaving. We never knew when we'd be able to bath again.

            "I have to go pee after he comes back," Olivia said. "Come with me."

            I completely understood. Even up there, it was scary to be alone. One day, maybe, we wouldn't have to be afraid of everyone and everything.

            I was starting to drift off when I heard an odd sound down in the alley.

            "What was that?" Olivia asked.

            We stood up and looked down into the alley. I was stunned speechless. The back door stood wide open and Scott was creeping down the alley.

            "What the hell is he doing?" she asked. "Should we wake someone?"

            "No. This is not a good time to make a ruckus," I said.

            I could imagine a few of the survivors getting angry and loud. Scott was risking their lives with his little quest. If he was discovered by zombies, and then they spotted him running back through the back door, then all hell could break loose. We might even be stuck here with the others until winter or beyond.

            Visions of zombie hordes surrounding the high-rise like back in Emory filled my mind. My heart raced and my throat tightened.

            "Arm up," I said. "Wake Ralph. We might have to haul ass."

            I continued to watch Scott. At least he was being as careful as one could be, looking around corners before moving and such. It didn't take long to figure out his objective. He went straight to the nearest abandoned car, opened the door, and popped the hood. Unfortunately, he made enough noise removing the battery that I could hear him.

            Looking around, I spotted lots of movement. Small groups of zombies were everywhere, though none in line of sight with Scott. Not yet. Some of them started heading toward that noise. Scott was fast, though, and I was confident he'd get the battery out and back into the building before any of the zombies discovered him.

            All hell would break loose when his companions found the chance he took. I really didn't want to be around for that firestorm. Some of those people were high strung.

            "What's happening?" Ralph asked when he and Olivia joined me.

            "He's after a car battery," I whispered. "I guess he wants to get the ham radio running again."

            "He better hurry," Olivia said. She pointed to the street on the other side of the building. "Walkers coming.

            I'd missed them. There had to be hundreds of them. Scott hefted the battery. I sighed. He'd make it. No problem. It'd be close, but it would all be okay. And then he went to another car instead of coming back inside.

            "Oh my god," Olivia said.

            "Zombies!" Ralph cried when three walkers burst out of the night shadows just feet away from Scott.

            He dropped the battery and pulled a pistol.

           
Pap! Pap-pap!

            "What's happening?" Mr. McKinney said as most of the others sat up in bed.

            "Scott snuck out and was trying to get a car battery," I said. "Looks like zombies caught him."

            Everyone rushed to that side of the building to look down. It wasn't good. The zombies had closed with him. Scott was putting up a pretty good fight, even winning. But we could see more coming from both directions on that street. Other zombies were moving between the surrounding buildings across the street, too.

            I aimed my M16A2 down. "We can help him if you allow us to shoot down from up here," I said.

            "No!" a woman cried. "That'll alert the zombies that we're up here."

            "That's my son!" Mrs. McKinney screamed.

            "Hush, Doris," the woman said. "He put us all at risk, so he's getting what he deserves."

            "How dare you!"

            "Shhh," several others urged.

            "Oooh, shit," Ralph said, pretty much voicing everyone's thought when Scott went down under a pile of zombies. "It's too late for him."

            "Oh God. Oh God," Mrs. McKinney gasped, before starting to sob uncontrollably.

            My eyes burned. I blinked away tears. What could I do? Was there something I could've done differently? Even if we'd warned the others as soon as we spotted him there was no way we could've stopped that from happening. In fact, there might have been more people out there when the zombies converged on him.

            I froze, all the air rushing out of my lungs. I looked over the side at all of the zombies in the alley, and entering the back door.

            "He left the back door open."

            Everyone on that roof turned to stare incredulously at me. Then they rushed to the alley side and looked down. No one moved or spoke for a long moment. There were so many of those vicious monsters down there. And now they were coming up after us.

            "Your god-forsaken son is going to be the death of us all!" that woman screamed.

            "We have to get out of here!" I shouted. "This building is no longer a safe haven."

            "Follow us," Ralph called as we headed for the stairwell.

            "Grab any and all weapons," Olivia said. "Fighting our way out is our only hope!"

            Zombies started pouring out onto the roof.

Chapter 12

            I opened up on the zombies. They began splitting up, spreading out across the roof. There were survivors all over, and mostly children between us and the zombies. That limited where we could shoot. So we just advanced on the stairwell door.

            Ralph's and my M16A2s filled the air with
Ratta-tat-tat-tat
. Olivia used her shotgun right off, and it
BOOMED
like thunder. A half dozen other pistols, and the McKinney's shotgun also joined the chorus. Zombies were dropping left and right, but there was just too many of them.

            The stairwell might be full of zombies from top to bottom, but what else could we do?

            "Ralph, shoot a grenade into the stairwell," I called.

            "Hell yeah," he said.

           
Ka-Boom!

            That scared a lot of the survivors, but the zombies already on the roof were unfazed. A woman threw herself screaming off the roof. Then a child followed her. I couldn't imagine such despair that I'd rather commit suicide rather than go down fighting.