Zomb-Pocalypse 3 (14 page)

Ryan catches the
tail end of Silas’ thanks as he’s walking up and he claps me on the back. “Yes,
thank you, Jane. I’m glad you thought I was still worth saving.” I reach out
and take his hand in my own.

“Of course, I did
promise to always protect you,” I remind him, and Ryan grins.

“I know you did. I
just can’t believe you had the chance to prove it before I did,” he jokes, and
I shake my head at him as he walks away.

Regg looks over at
me and gives me a nod of thanks as well, but he is too busy talking with my dad
to come over. “We need in on that conversation,” I tell Silas, and he
hesitates.

“Your dad is
pretty pissed at you,” he cautions, and I shake my head.

“So what?” I
challenge. “I’m sick of never being included in any of the decisions around
here. This is my life on the line too, and if I’d sat back and left all the
decisions up to them, you’d still be out sitting in the driveway.” Silas takes
in the stubborn look on my face and gives in.

Dad shoots me a
glare when we walk up, but thankfully doesn’t tell me to get lost.

“It’s too late to
board up the windows,” Regg is saying. “The noise would bring them down on top
of us.” He looks mad at himself. “I should’ve thought of it,” he says with a
self-depreciating frown.

“It’s on all of
us,” Dad reminds him. “We just didn’t think something like this could happen up
here.”

“You might not be
able to board up the windows now, but we can still black them out and cover
them with garbage bags,” Ryan says, suggesting the tactic we used when we were
on the road.

“It won’t keep
them out, but it might keep them from getting interested in what’s inside,”
Regg agrees.

“The garbage bags
are in the pantry,” my mom pipes up from the bed with Sunny. Ryan, Silas, and I
all dig in our bags and pull out our rolls of duct tape—Silas insisted we all
keep some in our bag for emergencies.

“The sooner it
gets done, the better,” Regg says, nodding that Silas, Ryan and I can all go.
My dad frowns. ”Jane...” he starts to say, but I cut him off.

“I’m not a little
girl anymore, Dad,” I snap, making my dad frown. “If we don’t do something, we
are all going to die anyway.” Sunny whimpers from the bed and I instantly
regret my word choice, even though it’s true. “You need to stop treating me
like a baby and let me do what I need to do. I’m not special and you’re crazy
if you think I’m just going to sit up here and wait for everyone else to save
us!” My dad stares at me for so long that I begin to get nervous.

“Fine,” he says
with a sigh. “Go.”

“Arthur!” Mom
snaps, but I don’t wait around to hear the argument. I take off out the door,
forcing Silas and Ryan to follow me, or fall behind. I stop at the top of the
stairs and listen, but again, everything seems normal, or as normal as it can
be.

Thankfully we have
to be quiet down here, and I’m not forced to talk about anything that I don’t
want to get into right now. We move through the kitchen, only bumping into one
chair in the process. We feel around like a trio of blind mice until we locate
the large boxes of garbage bags. We each take a box and fan out. Silas goes to
the living room, Ryan stays in the kitchen, and I make my way into my parent’s
bedroom.

I skip over the
creaky floor board this time and step into the room, coming to a stand-still
when I see the outline of the zombie standing just outside my parent’s bedroom.
He isn’t scratching at the window or anything, but I don’t want him to start
either. I creep forward, my heart beat reverberating through my chest like a
drum. Maybe I should turn around and go tell Ryan and Silas that I can’t do
this, but then my window will be the weak point.

It’s pitch black
in the room, so there is no way the zombie can see me, at least not as long as
I stay back in the shadows. I quickly tear off several pieces of tape and hang
them off my bottom lip for easy access and then I spread out a garbage bag and
hold it in front of my body as I slowly shuffle closer, unable to see around
the bag. I gently bump into the wall and raise the garbage bag higher so that
it will cover the whole window. Then, I quickly tape it in place.

When I’m finished,
I freeze, waiting to hear if I’ve made a deadly mistake. No crazed scratching
or moaning happens, so I sag against the wall and let myself take a couple deep
breaths to calm down before I go back to the living room and help Silas finish
taping all the windows in there. We head back upstairs when we’re done and find
everyone sitting around in silence.

“It’s done,” Ryan
tells them, and Regg nods.

“What’s the plan?”
Silas asks after we’ve sat down for a while, and no one else says a word. The
only thing that interrupts the absolute silence is the gun shots from down the
road—that and the angry moans of the dead. I’m glad that whoever’s shooting is
still holding his ground. I really hope we all make it out of this, but
realistically I know that’s probably just a pipe dream.

“We’re waiting for
dawn,” Barry answers when everyone else doesn’t rush to supply the information.

“We can’t make a
plan until we see what we’re dealing with,” Regg adds.

“We have a lot of
ammo,” Silas says thoughtfully, and my heart leaps at his optimism.

“It will be okay,”
I tell him. We’ve made it out of sticky situations before...maybe not quite
this sticky, but I need to have hope to get myself through the rest of tonight.

“What time is it?”
Sunny asks, and I’m wondering the same thing.

Megan and Ryan
both automatically check their watches, and I promise myself that if I survive
this, I’m going to get myself a watch too. “Ten after three,” Megan says,
beating Ryan to the punch.

“We have a few
hours yet,” my dad says, finally speaking, and I’m relieved he doesn’t sound as
angry as he did before. “You should all try and get some sleep. We’ll set up a
watch, but it’s going to be a long day tomorrow no matter what happens. I
settle in beside Silas with my mom on my other side, but no matter how good my
Dad’s advice is, there is no way I’m going to be able to get a wink of sleep.

Chapter Thirteen

I’m woken by a
rough shake to the shoulder, and I blink and look blearily around. “You
should’ve let her sleep,” I hear my mom chastise someone, and then I hear
Silas’ signature grunt.

“She’d want to be
awake for this,” he says, and even though I’m half asleep, I grin. It’s so nice
to have someone who doesn’t treat me like an invalid.

“He’s right, Mom,”
I say as I stretch. I’m a little stiff. “What do I want to be awake for?” I
ask, realizing I have no idea what they’re even talking about.

“The sun is coming
up,” Silas tells me, and I perk up. He’s right, of course I want to be awake
when we can finally see what we’re facing. I can’t believe I fell asleep, but I
guess my body probably crashed from the adrenaline rush of playing zombie tag
in the front yard.

The blast of a gun
firing draws my attention to the window. “That guy is still alive?” I ask in
surprise, and my dad nods.

“He’s been firing
all night long, I’m surprised you slept through it,” Dad says, and I walk over
and give him a hug. I’m thankful when he hugs me back after only a small moment
of hesitation.

“Did you get any
sleep?” I ask, and my dad shakes his head.

“What about you?”
I ask Silas and get another shake—apparently I am the minority here. I look
around and see Abby and Sunny curled up on the bed together asleep. Barry is
sitting on one of the air mattresses, but he isn’t sleeping. He’s staring off
into space.

“It’s almost
time,” Ryan says from the window, and we all gather around and watch as the
dark sky begins to fade to a light gray. The bright orange and pink sunrise is
beautiful, but the scene that it illuminates below isn’t.

Zombies are
everywhere, mostly gathered around a cabin a few houses down, and I’m surprised
that the press of bodies hasn’t collapsed the wood yet. There are several
figures on the roof, and as the sun comes up and they can finally see what
they’re doing, their shooting starts in earnest. We all stand and watch as
zombies start to fall left, right, and center.

They are making a
dent, but it’s a small one. There has to be at least four hundred zombies out
there. “That is a huge hoard,” Silas mutters, and I have to agree with him.

“Do we have enough
bullets?” I ask, and Silas looks thoughtful.

“We should,” he
says.

“The problem here
will be getting them before they get us,” Regg says, breaking in on the
conversation. “That many zombies can cause a lot of damage. They can break in
here by sheer force, and then we would be screwed. We need to make sure we have
a solid plan before we make a move.”

I watch the
figures on the roof blasting away in desperation and shiver. “I don’t think we
should wait too long,” I warn them, and the grim look on everyone’s face tells
me that we are all aware of the time crunch.

Having all this
time to think is so much worse than the usual, see a zombie and fight for your
life, situation. Usually the adrenaline has kicked in and you don’t know how stupid
what you are about to do is, but sitting here waiting to fight four hundred
zombies feels like we’ve been handed down a death sentence.

“Almost all of the
zombies have migrated over to the other cabins,” Regg hesitates. “We could have
time to get into the vehicles and leave,” he says, and I frown.

We all think about
that for a moment. I personally don’t want to leave the cabin. It’s no longer
safe, but it’s our home. Besides, I doubt we will find a place that is any
safer. Nothing is safe anymore, and what would it say about our humanity if we
just abandoned our neighbors to die. We never met them, but they are human
beings.

“We can’t just
leave those people over there,” Abby burst out, and I hadn’t realized she was
even awake.

“I agree,” I say,
hoping I’m voting for the right choice. Abby looks surprised that I would side
with her, and I’m a little bit offended.

“Hey, I don’t
agree with running either,” Regg confesses. “But I needed to let you all know
that there are options here, other than taking a stand.”

“Where would we
even go?” Barry asks, and I momentarily think about that Wal-Mart
warehouse—Silas still has the keys.

“There is nowhere
else to go,” Silas says, breaking the silence. “We’ve seen that even military
strongholds can be overrun. I say we stay and fight. We already have a lot of
supplies for winter. There is no way we’d be able to take it all with us, and
it’s getting late in the season to start over somewhere else.”

“I vote we fight,”
Ryan adds, and we all turn and look at my mom and dad.

“Stay,” my dad
says after a moment of looking over at my mom. ”But we have to be smart about
it.” He motions to Regg. “You didn’t have a bad idea about the vehicles. I
think if we can get to the trucks, it would pay off to have some mobility.”

Regg grins.
“That’s a great idea,” he agrees as he pulls a piece of paper and a pen out of
his pocket and begins jotting down plans. “We’d need one driver, and one
shooter in each vehicle,” he mumbles as he scribbles notes. “Some of you could
stay here and shoot from the roof, like those people are doing.” Regg turns
towards us and takes a deep breath. “I need some volunteers to ride in the
trucks,” he asks. Ryan, Silas, and I automatically put up our hands. I want to
help.

“No way,” my dad
says, and I frown at him.

“It’s just as
dangerous to be here as in a vehicle,” I point out, but he isn’t going to hear
it.

“I’ll go,” Barry
volunteers, surprising us all.

“You aren’t going
to drive away are you?” Regg asks bluntly, and Barry flushes with anger.

“I won’t. I have
nowhere else to go either. I need to fight, same as ya’ll,” Barry defends, and
Regg nods.

“Okay then. We
will need our best shooters out there. Barry, you can drive the first truck,
and I’ll shoot,” Regg says, and he isn’t bragging. The Sergeant is military and
has the training to prove it, he’s even a little bit better shot than Silas.

“Thanks man. I
won’t let you down,” Barry promises, and Regg gives him the nod.

“Silas,” Regg
says, and my breath stills in my chest. “You’re our next best shooter. Are you
willing to go out there?”

Silas doesn’t even
hesitate before nodding.

“I can go too,”
Ryan volunteers, but Regg shakes his head.

“You’re too good.
Your talents would be wasted driving. We are still going to need good people
here too.” Regg turns and looks at my Dad. “I hope you don’t take this the
wrong way, but you kind of suck at shooting. Would you be willing to drive
Silas?” I hear my mom take a shaky breath, but my dad doesn’t hesitate before
agreeing.

“I will,” he
promises, and Regg dips his head in thanks.

“That leaves Ryan,
Jane, and Megan here to shoot from the roof.” He looks over at Abby and my mom.
“Unless you two can shoot?” Abby and my mom shake their heads.

“That needs to
change,” Regg snaps at them both, and I feel a little swell of pride at being
acknowledged as useful. “For now, they can show you how to reload,” Regg says,
looking uber stressed out.

“I think we need
to barricade the stairs before we leave,” Silas suggests, and Regg nods.

“That’s good
thinking. I’m not sure if those fuckers can climb the stairs or not, but if
they do get inside we don’t want them getting upstairs,” Regg’s words bring a
vivid image to mind of zombies streaming through the cabin.

“Let’s divide up
the ammo and get moving,” Silas says, and I rush into his arms and hug him so
tightly his back pops a little. I hadn’t realized we would be separated. Silas
hugs me briefly, probably feeling awkward with the PDA, but he does plant a
quick kiss on my lips. “It’ll be okay, Blondie, you’ll see,” he reassures me as
he shoulders his beloved AR-15.

I look up and see
Ryan watching us with a miserable look on his face, though he smiles when he
sees me looking and turns away quickly. I feel a little stab of guilt, but I
ruthlessly suppress it. This could be the last time I ever get to see Silas. I
can’t send him out there without knowing that I care about him.

We all stand at
the top of the stairs and watch Silas, Barry, Regg, and my dad stack a ton of
stuff in front of the stairs. They slide the couch across the bottom of the
stairs and then launch the love seat over the top so it creates a wall. The
zombies will have difficulty climbing over. Next they decide to use the table
too, and they slide it over top, almost like a lid of sorts, and it hangs over
the railings covering the first six feet of the stairs, creating a smooth
surface that won’t grant the clumsy zombies any traction, if they do manage to
get over the couches.

“That should be
good,” my dad says, scratching his head as he stares at their handy work, and I
know he is second guessing if he’s doing enough to protect us. “You guys need
to push stuff across the top of the stairs too—that couch from Barry’s room is
a good one,” he reminds us, and I nod, tears welling up in my eyes. We already
said our goodbyes before they barricaded us up here, but now that the time has
actually come, I’m finding it really hard to let go.

“I’ll lock the
door behind us, don’t worry about that,” Silas says, looking up at me, and I
can’t believe those are the last words he wants to leave me with—typical Silas.
I watch them all move as one towards the door. Regg peeks out the window, and
Silas turns around and surprises the hell out of me by blowing me a kiss. I’m
stunned, but I still manage to pretend to catch it and blow one back at him.
It’s such a small gesture, but its huge coming from Silas. My knees go weak,
and my heart gets heavy as I watch them all slip out the door, and then we’re
all just standing around staring at an empty doorway.

I run into the
third bedroom and press my nose to the glass, watching with my breath held
while the four of them move out into the open, drawing the attention of several
zombies. They take them down quickly, and while everyone else runs for the
trucks, Silas goes the opposite direction. “What is he doing?” I cry out as I
see him heading for the trailer with three zombies on his tail.

“He’s going for
the extra ammo we keep under the bed,” Ryan says softly, and I hadn’t realized
he was beside me. Silas reaches the trailer and jumps in, slamming the door
shut behind him, and the three howling zombies at the door are soon joined by a
fourth.

“For Christ sake,”
I mutter as I almost rip the window off its hinges getting it open. I aim my
gun out the window, but the angle is awkward.

“Let me do it,”
Megan snaps, slapping my hand away like a naughty child. I withdraw without
complaint since Megan is the better shot, and I would probably throw myself out
this window headfirst if I accidentally shot Silas.

Megan takes them
out with four neat shots to the head, and only after the last one falls does
Silas emerge, lugging a heavy, black canvas bag. I watch him jump safely into
the truck with my dad, and I sag against the window in relief. Being in the
truck doesn’t mean he will be completely safe, but as long as they don’t get
trapped in the middle of the horde, they are probably safer than any of us.

I turn around and
run down the hall, back to the bedroom I share with the other girls. “They made
it,” I tell my mom breathlessly, and she takes a big, deep breath. We all turn
to watch out the window as the trucks come into view, accelerating towards the
cabin with the neighbors stranded on the roof. The horns start honking like
crazy to get the attention of the zombies, and I nearly scream when the crowd
turns towards the vehicles with a hungry moan.

“The loud pop of
the AR-15 cuts through the other noise. Silas has obviously taken the silencer
off to catch the attention of the zombies. I really hope they have earplugs
because the noise must be deafening in the truck. Zombies begin to fall like
Moses parting the Sea. I’m sure they can’t all be head shots, but the body
count is already building. Regg joins in, and the men on the roof take a moment
to cheer, jumping up and down and waving their hands before they get back to
shooting. I’m not sure how much ammo they have left after last night though.

“We can’t just
stand here and do nothing,” I bellow at the others, and Abby and I surge to our
feet and lead everyone to our secret window that leads out onto the roof. My
mom stays inside with Sunny, but Abby comes out with us, and I’m proud of her.
I show her how to reload clips, and she gets the hang of it much more quickly
than I did at first.

I pull my gun from
my hip and check the magazine, and then I do one of the top five craziest
things I’ve ever done. I open my mouth and start screaming. Hundreds of heads
snap around, searching for the source of the noise. Some head towards our
cabin, some stay with the neighbors, and the rest head in the direction of the
trucks. Even split into thirds, it’s a terrifying number of zombies that start
marching towards us.

When the zombies
lumber closer, bringing with them the horrible smell of putrid, rotting flesh,
I pull my bandana up over my nose and aim carefully at the closest one. Before
I can squeeze the trigger, its head explodes and I look over at Megan.