Zomb-Pocalypse 3 (17 page)

“What?” I say,
surprised by his abrupt announcement. “Where are you going?”

“Just to take a
look around,” Silas says mysteriously, and he holds his hand out to Barry.
Barry hands him the keys.

We all watch him
leave, and it breaks the silent spell. “Well, I should be letting you folks
have some time,” Jack says, backing away from the door. “You should definitely
repair this door tonight,” he mentions as he taps the door one more time.

“Thanks, buddy,”
my dad says, seemingly infatuated with our new arrival.

“I’ll stop by in
the morning when I see you up and about,” Jack promises as he leaves, shaking
my dad’s hand and saluting Regg.

“He seems nice,”
my mom says when Jack leaves, and I have to agree. Plus, it can only help our
chances to have another army guy around.

I peer out the
front door, wondering where Silas took off to, but my attention doesn’t get a
chance to wander for long.

“We have a lot of
stuff to do and a small amount of time to do it in,” Regg says, clapping his
hands to get all of our attention. “I don’t want to seem sexist, but I need you
girls on cleanup. This living room needs to be scrubbed with bleach and I want
you wearing protective gloves,” he commands, and his tone leaves no room for
argument.

I bite back the
immediate whine that wants to come from my lips at being assigned the girl
stuff. I glance over at Megan and see that her face is thunderous as well, and
it brightens my mood a little—after all, she was the one that volunteered me as
the zombie bait.

“Ryan, and Art,”
Regg calls out, and they look at him expectantly. “Take a nap,” he says,
surprising us all, and I’m more than a little bit jealous. “You two are on
first watch tonight,” Regg snaps, and my jealousy evaporates.

“Thanks,” Ryan
says as he starts heading for the front door, but Regg shakes his head.

“That damn trailer
almost became our final resting place today,” Regg says, “We are all in the
house now until further notice.” Ryan doesn’t argue, he just changes his path
and heads for the stairs instead. My mom purses her lips at the idea that there
will be boys bunking upstairs now, but she isn’t going to complain about it—at
least not right now.

“Barry and I will
reinforce the door. We’ll probably need to pick up a new one on our next supply
run, but we still need it to shut and lock for tonight.” Regg’s words send
dread coursing through my body at the idea that we could wake up in the middle
of the night and have to do this all over again—with the depleted ammo supply;
I doubt we would be so lucky twice.

“Come on, girls,”
my mom says, taking charge of the cleanup crew, and I drag my feet as I follow
her into the kitchen. We didn’t shoot any of the zombies inside, THANK GOD, or
this would have been so much worse, but the zombies that got in still managed
to leave their mark. We mop and wash goo off of every surface for two hours
straight, while Regg and Barry find spare wood and replace the door frame. The
lock is completely busted, so they settle for an old-fashioned barricade for
now, rather than a deadbolt.

I keep glancing
out the window as the sky gets darker and darker, worry gnawing my gut about
Silas. I’m just about ready to say something to Regg, maybe get a team together
to go out and look for him, when there is a heavy knock at the front door. We
all freeze and stare at it.

“Who is it?” Barry
calls through the door, and I nearly jump for joy when I hear Silas answer
back.

“Where have you
been?” Barry snaps, looking annoyed, and I must admit I’m struggling with the
emotion myself.

“I second that!” I
chime in, earning myself a scowl from Silas. I scowl right back at him though.
He needs to learn he can’t just disappear and leave us to worry sick about him.

“I followed the
tracks, and it wasn’t that easy, at first,” Silas says, coming in and sitting
down on the couch, and we all crowd around him like he’s the six o’clock news.

“Did you find out
where they came from?” Regg asks, and we all lean forward, eager to hear.

Silas nods. “Yeah.
They came from down below. They just followed the road up the mountain.” We
blink. For me personally, this news is very anticlimactic. It actually makes a
lot of sense that the zombies came from down below where there are millions of
them.

“Shit,” Regg
cusses. “We were so stupid to leave that road accessible.” He stands up and
begins to pace as he runs his hands across his smooth, shaved head.

“At least no one was
hurt,” Silas says, and we all stare at him. He’s forgotten about the neighbors.

“Shit,” Silas
mutters, obviously remembering what Jack said earlier. “We should’ve been more
careful.”

Regg puts his hand
on Silas’s shoulder. “We will next time,” he promises him, and it makes me feel
a little bit better, though I wish we had found a way to prevent this from
happening.

Silas looks grim,
so I move in beside him on the couch and hold his hand. He gives my hand a
brief squeeze before he lets go and stands up abruptly.

“You boys are
bunking upstairs now,” my mom tells him, and Silas murmurs his thanks as he
starts to head for the stairs.

“Anything else to
report?” Regg asks, making Silas pause.

“Yeah,
actually...there was a chewed apart deer carcass halfway up the road. I think
they were probably chasing the poor thing and it tried to run away up our
mountain road,” Silas lets out a big sigh. “It was a fluke that they found us,
or bad karma, whatever you want to call it. I call it pure shitty luck,” he tells
us, and then he continues upstairs without another word.

I watch him go and
can’t help but feel a tug of disappointment at the way Silas is acting towards
me. I know he’s tired, and upset...we all are, but I had kind of hoped we could
lean on each other. I take a deep breath and shove my feelings down deep
inside, dwelling on them won’t do me any good. If I had wanted someone who
would hold my hand and reassure me that everything is going to be okay—that was
Ryan. I chose Silas.

“Why don’t we all
go to bed?” my mom suggests when we all just sit around like boneless skeletons
melting into the couch. I’m not sure I even have enough energy to make it
upstairs, but Abby comes along and offers me her hand up. After a second of
considering sleeping on the couch down here with the patched together door, I
grab her hand and we lean on each other as we make our way upstairs to bed.

Chapter Sixteen

I don’t want to
get up the next morning. Since no horde came in the night to attack us, I know
what my day is going to consist of—and it’s going to be gross, backbreaking
work.

“Ugh,” Megan moans
from her bed, echoing my own sentiment. I know we are all awake because we’ve
gotten used to rising with the sun, but today nobody wants to jump out of bed
looking forward to a full day’s work.

The door opens
after a sharp knock, and Regg pokes his head in, surprised that we’re all still
in bed. “Rise and shine,” he barks, looking way too eager to start with his
day, and then he’s gone, slamming the door shut behind him.

The door closes,
wafting in the smell of pancakes. It’s what finally motivates me to roll out of
bed. Once I’m up, it’s like I give the other girls some ambition, and they
follow me up. Sunny’s bed is empty, and I feel a slight wave of panic wash over
me before I realize that I’m probably being a dummy. She’s most likely
downstairs with my mom. Just to be on the safe side, though, I quickly throw on
some clothes, run a brush through my hair, and head downstairs to check on her.

I find her safe
and sound, sitting with Ryan at the table as she shovels pancakes into her
mouth. Mom looks up with a smile when I enter, and I give her a half-hearted
attempt at one back.

I just sit down
next to my dad and get some pancakes on my plate when a loud knock at the door
makes me pause mid-pour of my syrup. Regg throws the door open to find Jack
standing on the front step, and I can’t help squinting at him. It is way too
early to be as motivated as all these guys seem to be.

“Come in,” Regg
invites, motioning for Jack to join us, and my mom pours him a coffee without
even asking if he wants it first.

“Thank you,
ma’am,” Jack says with a nod, and my mom actually blushes.

“Help yourself to
some pancakes,” my dad motions, handing Jack a plate, and Jack gives us all a
lop-sided grin.

“If you folks have
enough to go around, then I don’t mind if I do,” he says as he fills his plate.
I watch Jack eat like he hasn’t seen a pancake in months—and maybe he hasn’t.
Finally, he sits back and wipes his sleeve across his blonde moustache to get
rid of any trace of syrup. “I have an idea,” he announces, and we all lean
forward in interest.

“What did you come
up with?” Regg asks, and I’m wondering the same.

“I can’t stand the
idea of just surviving day to day, anymore,” Jack says, starting what sounds an
awful lot like the beginning of a sermon. “We need to do more than just scratch
out a meager existence up here, and the biggest key to doing that is not being
afraid. I’m so tired of knowing that any minute could be my last—or that we might
have to bug out and leave everything behind.” He stops and looks at each one of
us in turn. What he’s saying sounds nice, but he hasn’t exactly explained how
he’s going to accomplish it.

“Any thoughts on
how we could actually get ourselves to that point?” Regg asks, echoing my exact
thoughts.

“Heavy machinery,”
Jack says with a grin, like it’s the greatest idea since sliced bread. I
swallow down my pancake and stare at him in confusion. Jack takes a look around
at our blank faces and his bravado fades a little. “We need it to reinforce our
camp,” Jack elaborates. He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a rough sketch
of the area and a bunch of weird squiggly lines.

“You’re talking
booby traps?” Silas asks, brightening as he leans forward to examine the paper,
and Jack nods enthusiastically.

“We would need an
excavator, which might be a real pain in the neck, but just think of all the
uses we would have for it,” Jack says. He points one enormous finger to the
largest squiggle, which I now realize is the main road up the mountain. “We
could dig up the road and install a pit with a drawbridge so we can still get
back and forth, but the zomb’s wouldn’t be able to cross. They’re stupid. They
would just fall in the hole.

A drawbridge—the
whole thing sounds ludicrous to me—but when I look at Regg, I realize that he
is seriously considering the idea. “What would you need from us?” Regg asks,
and my mouth nearly falls open.

“Man power,” Jack
replies right away. “It’s just my sister, wife, and me over at our cabin. The
only other men we had didn’t make it through last night’s siege.” He stops and
stares at his paper for a minute. “We would need to do a supply run, find the
equipment, and get it back up this mountain.”

“It would also
require a lot of extra fuel,” Ryan points out.

“We do have the
external fuel tank,” I chime in, glad I can actually add something to this
crazy conversation. I hate just sitting here eavesdropping like a little kid.

“I think we should
do it,” Silas says, voting before a vote has even been called. Regg shoots him
an exasperated look.

“This needs more
planning, but I think you have a good idea,” he turns around and looks at all
of us. “All in favor?” he asks, and as one we all raise our hands, even Sunny,
who has no idea what they’re talking about, she just wants to be included.

“When do we
leave?” Silas asks, and Jack shoots him a conspiratorial grin.

“As soon as you’re
done with your breakfast,” he announces like we’re all on a game show and just
won a prize. I can’t help but gnaw my lip in worry.

“The bucket will
be great for a quicker cleanup of the bodies,” Regg muses. “We can dig a hole,
push them inside, and burn them.” My ears perk up at the idea that I might not
have to spend the next week hauling decomposing bodies around a mountain top.

“I’m in!” I say,
and everyone at the table chuckles.

“Jane,” Mom says,
making the grin fall off my face. “You aren’t really in. You’ll be staying
here, where it’s safe.”

I look at Silas,
who I know will for sure be going, and shake my head. “No offense, Mom, but
nothing is safe anymore, not even this cabin. I’m going where I can be most
useful,” I tell her, and I can tell my mom wants to argue, but my dad puts his
hand on her arm to restrain her.

“I’ll go too,” Dad
volunteers as he turns towards my mom. “And don’t worry, I’ll watch over her,”
he promises, though it doesn’t exactly make the worry lines ease from her
forehead.

I gobble down my
breakfast in nervous excitement and listen to Jack and Regg make even crazier
plans for once they get this piece of machinery they need.

We are packed and
standing around outside the trucks within the hour. Silas, Barry, Dad, Jack,
and Megan have all volunteered to come. Even though I’m not the biggest Megan
fan right now, I know we need all the people we can get. I thought we would all
be taking separate vehicles, like we did on the first supply run, but since the
plan is to drive the equipment home, we all crowd into the pickup instead. It’s
a tight squeeze, and I end up in the back sitting in Silas’ lap, much to my
delight and the disapproval of my dad. I don’t care though—it’s super cramped
and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Megan sit in his lap instead.

The ride down the
mountain is quiet and bumpy, but Silas wraps his arms around my waist and keeps
me from bumping around too much. “So what’s the plan?” I ask when we reach the
pavement at the bottom and no one has said a word. I shrug helplessly. “What
are we looking for?”

“We’ll know it
when we see it,” Regg says mysteriously, and all the men nod in annoying
agreement as he accelerates the truck down the deserted road. I can’t help
looking around, and the desolation makes my heart ache. I know it’s been a
couple of months now, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the emptiness of
a world without people.

We’ve been driving
for over an hour. Each time we pass a small hick town, the guys perk up and
stare intently out the window. It’s like a secret club and only they know what
in the hell is going on. I see a bunch of large machinery up ahead and point.
“What about that?” I ask excitedly, but everyone shakes their head right away.

“That’s a tractor
dealership,” Megan tells me snidely, and I want to slap her—like do I look like
a farmer or something? I don’t know about this stuff.

“We will find
something soon,” Dad reassures me, and I give him a strained smile. The waiting
is always the worst part.

“I’ll be damned,”
Jack exclaims from the front seat, and I twist around, trying to see if he’s
found this mysterious place we’ve been looking for. I’m curious, but I don’t
open my mouth again to ask. I don’t want to get mocked.

“What is it?”
Megan asks instead, surprising me that she doesn’t just automatically know
everything.

“Snow,” Jack says,
pointing out the windshield. I have to squint, but after a minute I can see the
tiny flakes that are starting to swirl around in a fury. It doesn’t take long
until they increase in size and start hitting the window, leaving wet splotches
everywhere.

Regg turns on the
windshield wipers and curses under his breath. “This is just what we didn’t
need today,” he says to the rest of us, and I’m kind of hypnotized by the
beauty of the snow. The rest of the landscape is battered, brown, and covered
with the dead that still walk the earth—maybe the snow will help cover all that
up, and hide some of the ugliness.

“It’s really
coming down,” Jack agrees with Regg’s assessment that this is not the opportune
time for a snowstorm.

“Yeah, we’d better
get this stuff and get back as fast as possible before the roads ice up,” my
dad warns, and we all sit and think about that in silence for a while. I,
personally, am trying to imagine running away from zombies, but with ice
skates. It would be hard for them to walk, but it would also be hard for me
considering I don’t know how to skate...

“Bingo!” Jack
shouts, nearly deafening everyone in the cab, and I glance up from my
self-reflection to see that he’s pointing at a large yard surrounded by a tall
chain link fence. The huge sign outside the gate reads
PJ’s Construction,
heavy duty, landscaping, pools & more.

Regg pulls up to
the gate, and Silas gently slides me off his lap as he opens the door, letting
an icy blast of snowflakes inside the cab. He grabs a pair of bolt cutters off
the floor and heads for the gate. I wait for a moment to see if anyone else is
going to get out and watch his back. No one moves, so I shove the door open and
follow him out without asking permission.

The wind is biting
and the snowflakes sting my eyes as it drives relentlessly down. “I’m behind
you,” I yell to be heard over the wind. I see Silas stiffen, but he doesn’t
turn around or acknowledge he heard me. I turn my back to him and pull my gun
from my hip as I scan the surrounding area. We lucked out a bit; this
construction yard isn’t in the middle of town, more like a sparsely populated
industrial area just outside the town limits. There are a few large buildings
on either side of us, but I don’t see any movement.

“Get ready,
Blondie.” Silas’ shout pulls my attention back to the task at hand just as I
hear the snap of the chain breaking underneath the pressure of the cutters. The
chain link rattles and hisses, but it’s not the only thing. I look over his
shoulder and see a zombie on the other side of the chain link. He is dressed
like a security guard and is stalking Silas’s every movement. When Silas starts
to slide the gate open, the zombie’s bloated black tongue snakes out of his
mouth, and he actually licks at the fence.

I almost burst out
laughing when I see his tongue stick to the metal—frozen. The zombie doesn’t
feel pain, of course, and tugs his tongue loose, leaving behind a good layer of
rotten black skin, and I wince, no longer seeing as much humor in the
situation.

“Shoot him,” I
urge Silas as he continues to slide the gate open, but he shakes his head. Then
the gate is open and nothing stands between Silas and the zombie. Silas
surprises me by raising the heavy bolt cutters and violently cracking the
zombie across the top of the skull.

I wince and step
back when Silas hits him again and again until his knees buckle and the zombie
falls lifeless to the ground. “What in the hell was that?” I ask, looking down
at the zombie in disgust.

“Do you have any
idea how many bullets we used the other day?” Silas challenges. “We need to be
more resourceful.”

Silas steps aside,
pulling me with him as he motions for the truck to pass through. Everyone in
the cab stares at Silas as they drive through the gate. Silas quickly rolls the
gate back together and wraps the busted chain around the post a couple times.
Then he grabs my hand and pulls me back inside the truck. We squish back in
with Megan and my dad, and the blast of heat feels good.

“It’s freezing out
there!” I complain, rubbing my numb fingers together, trying to circulate the
blood, and my dad reaches out and holds my hands between his warm ones.

“You need to make
sure you’re wearing your gloves,” he chides, but I shake my head.

“I can’t shoot
with the gloves on,” I complain.

“So what’s the
plan?” Silas asks Regg, completely ignoring my conversation with my dad.

“We need to get in
and out quickly and carefully. Hopefully that fence kept all the zombs out, and
this will be easy.” Regg laughs when he realizes that he just jinxed us, and we
all watch as he reaches out and knocks against the dash, pretending the plastic
wood grain is real wood.