Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place (16 page)

“
Sounds like they’re in no position to make demands on anyone,” Mick said angrily. He smacked a fist on the arm of his chair. “How dare they!”

Dave looked at Mick with troubled eyes. “Yeah, how dare they. They thoroughly screwed up and the terrible thing is they want to do more.”

“
Like what?”

“
They want to use everyone who took shelter as guinea pigs, Mick. They’re working on a new vaccine and they want to use it on us when it’s ready.”

Mick jumped out of his chair. “What! That’s insane! They’ve already pretty much wiped out most of earth’s population and they want to what – wipe out the rest of us?” Mick stared in disbelief at Dave, his chest heaving. “I’ll be damned if they touch my family, or anyone else here! You hear me!”

“
Whoa there!” Dave cried as he stood up, placing a hand on Mick’s shoulder. “That’s what Bill, myself, and others have been talking about; we’re not going to let them near us, no matter how hard they try.”

Mick realized he was trembling with anger and took a deep breath. “How do you intend to stop them? We’re talking about the
military
here!”

Dave nodded. “I know, and that’s why Shady Oaks is so important, for us at least. Bill and the others are also trying to find places to move to so the military will have a tougher time finding us all.”

Mick lowered his head, deep in thought. “So if we can secure Shady Oaks and get everyone there, it might buy us some time to figure out what to do.”

“
That’s it exactly,” Dave affirmed as he sat back down, motioning Mick to do the same. As Mick lowered himself back into the chair, Dave continued. “We can’t let them get their hands on us or we’re as good as dead. Things have gotten so serious that now do you see why I was afraid to tell you what was going on?”

Mick nodded his head, still stunned by what he had learned. “Is everyone still fairly safe? I mean, the military must have their hands full right now, have they moved on anyone yet?”

“
No, not yet, but they’re planning on it and

soon,” Dave said miserably, not looking at Mick.

Mick stared at his friend and when Dave refused to meet his gaze he felt a sinking feeling in his gut. “We’re first, aren’t we,” he asked softly.

Still not looking at his friend, Dave nodded. “Yeah, we’re first. We’re the closest city to any military base.”

“
We’ve got to get out of here!”

“
You’re telling me something I already know my friend. Bill and I figure we have maybe ten days to two weeks before they show up, and in that time we’ve got to pray that Shady Oaks is secure enough for us all to go there, it’s about the only thing we have that will keep us alive.”

“
Yeah, but for how long?” Mick demanded, growing angry again. “How long before they come here and find us gone and start looking for us?”

Dave sighed deeply and held his palms up as he shrugged. “No idea, when we get to Shady Oaks we’ll have to plan further on what to do and where to go next.”

“
We’re in a hell of a fix aren’t we?” Mick asked quietly.

“
That’s putting it mildly my friend,” Dave said with such a sorrowful look on his face that it made Mick want to cry.

Chapter 16

Once again, Dexter sat in the SUV scanning the town through his binoculars. So far they had not seen any movement except for their group at the apartment.

“
You guys see anything?” he grunted in frustration.

“
Nope,” said Barry Walters as he lowered his own binoculars and shifted in the backseat. He was almost seventy, but in Dexter’s opinion, one of the best shots in town. “Can we get out for a bit? I need to stretch these old bones.”

Dexter did a quick look around. “Sure, why not, keep your eyes peeled.”

Casey McMillan, the other man with them, immediately opened his door and climbed out. He was even older than Barry, and he sighed with contentment as he stretched his skinny frame. Dexter grimaced slightly when he heard the man’s spine crack as he twisted from side to side.

“
Careful there Casey, might break something,” he teased as he stepped out. He hadn’t really wanted to bring Casey along, but he and Barry were buddies and Barry wouldn’t come without him. Besides, Casey was a fairly good shot and that counted for something in Dexter’s book. Dexter’s eyes fell on the backpack between the front seats.

“
Might as well eat while we’re standing here,” he said as he reached inside and pulled out the backpack. He quickly doled out the sandwiches and water while keeping one eye on their surroundings.

“
I can’t believe it’s almost noon and we haven’t seen a damn thing,” mumbled Casey as he chewed. He swallowed and motioned toward the school with his water bottle. “I was sure we’d see something down there by now.”

“
Me too,” Barry responded with a nod. “It’s really strange; I haven’t seen a zombie, a dog, cat – nuthin’.”

Dexter merely nodded, then belched loudly and laughed. “That felt good!” he exclaimed as he lightly pounded his stomach with a fist, which produced another belch and more laughter. Casey and Barry exchanged glances then both looked the other way. Finishing his sandwich, he took a big swig of water. “Well, I think we should call it quits in about an hour, what do you guys think?”

“
Whatever you say,” Barry said as he glanced at his friend again and rolled his eyes. Casey grinned back at him and he continued. “You’re the boss man on this here trip.”

Dexter turned toward Barry with his eyes narrowed and Barry kept his face carefully neutral although he wanted to laugh in the other man’s face. Dexter squinted at him for a moment then relaxed. “Ok, then. Another hour and we’re...” Dexter trailed off as he stared at something over Barry’s shoulder.

Barry gave him a puzzled look and slowly turned around to see what had Dexter’s attention. “Oh damn,” he said softly. He pointed toward the school. “See that, Casey?”

Casey leaned forward, squinting. Damn his old eyes couldn’t see anything that far away without the binoculars. “No, see what?”

Barry grinned and gave his friend a playful shove saying, “You old coot, at least your hearing isn’t as bad.”

To Dexter’s surprise the old man tottered and would have fallen if he hadn’t grabbed him by the arm. “You two clowns stop messin’ around,” he said gruffly as he released him.

He handed his binoculars to Casey. “Zombies, they’re not at the school but close by,” Dexter said as he started stuffing the remains of his lunch into the backpack. “They’re under the bleachers at the football field, saw three or four of them go under there and only then did I notice that there’s more – a lot more. Those bastards are getting smarter, just like I thought,” he said with nod of his head.

“
I see ‘em,” Barry said as he turned and headed for the SUV. “Guess we should go tell the others.”

“
Did you see Gordon?” Casey asked as he tottered to the other side of the vehicle and climbed in.

“
No, but I’ll bet ya fifty bucks he’s in there,” Dexter said. He slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “And we’re gonna take ‘em all out. Should be as easy as taking candy from a zombie.”

As they drove down the incline and Dexter roared with laughter at his joke, Casey shuddered and closed his eyes.

****

“
See if you can get Dave on the walkie,” Scott said quietly as they all stared at the bridge. “We need an alternate route and pronto.”

“
Don’t have to tell me twice,” Sean muttered. He fiddled with the walkie then pushed the button. “Dave – anyone at Hudson Place – you copy?”

They all sat there silently staring at the walkie. Just as Sean started to send again the walkie crackled to life.

“
Lilly here – this Sean or Scott?”

Her voice was faint, but Sean grinned, relieved to hear her voice. “Sean here, Lil. Listen, we have a small problem. We can’t get across the bridge, there’s a pickup that was hauling a trailer and it flipped and burned on the bridge, it’s completely blocking our way. We need another way to get to Shady Oaks.”

“
Damn,” she said softly and Scott chuckled. “Let me get Dave, be right back.”

“
Thanks Lil,” Sean said as he lowered the walkie and sat back to survey the bridge. “That was some fire,” he remarked to the others. “Even if we could get past the mess, it looks like the bridge itself was badly damaged from the fire.”

Scott put the SUV in reverse and began to back away. “I don’t like sitting here like this, I’m gonna turn around.”

When they were facing the other direction, he idled slowly up the road. “Did anyone notice another road on the way up here? I think there’s a dirt road, but I haven’t been this way too often.”

“
I saw a dirt road a ways back,” Mark said. “Have no idea if it went in the right direction though.”

“
Oh that’s just great,” Scott groaned. “Means we have to go past those damn dogs again.”

“
What, you scared of a few mongrels?” Sean teased with a laugh, ducking as Scott took a fake swing at his head.

“
You know better than that, it’s their damn barking and growling that gets on my nerves. They so want to eat us for dinner and they let everything within earshot know it.”

“
Sean, this is Dave – do you copy?”

“
Yo Dave, did Lil fill you in on what’s happened?”

“
Yeah, sorry you guys had trouble.”

“
Not your fault, what do you suggest,” Sean asked.

“
About two miles from the bridge there’s a dirt road, it will take you in a roundabout way to Shady Oaks. Just make sure you stay on it, don’t take any of the side roads that branch off.”

As Scott accelerated, Sean said, “Ok, got it. Will it take us longer to get there?”

Sean’s heart sank a bit as he heard Dave sigh. “A little bit, about thirty to forty five minutes, but that’s because it’s a piss-poor road.”

“
Gotcha,” Sean replied. “Thanks for the help.”

“
Anytime, just be careful out there and keep us posted on your progress.”

“
Will do, we’re out for now,” Sean said. “Talk to you soon.”

“
Right, ok then I’m out,” Dave replied.

As Sean placed the walkie back between the seats Scott chuckled grimly. “Oh look – our little buddies.”

The dogs were still there, although they had spread out and were busy sniffing the area.

“
Just plow through ‘em,” Jacob said good-naturedly.

“
My pleasure,” Scott said with a grin as he gunned the engine.

****

“
Are we ready yet?” Dexter growled at Charlie. “We shoulda been gone an hour ago.”

Charlie sighed and tried to remain calm as he watched Dexter pace back and forth across the lobby. “Look Dexter, they’re doing the best they can. These folks aren’t soldiers and a lot of them haven’t even fired a gun in years. We’re lucky to have so many that are willing to go, so try to be a little patient with them, ok?”

Dexter grunted in reply and strode out the door. Charlie sighed again as Dexter began yelling at some hapless soul who was unfortunate enough to cross his path at that moment. He watched Darrell come down the stairs and make a face when he heard Dexter.

“
Man, he’s hardcore isn’t he?” Darrell said in a low voice as he hurried over to help. Charlie had been loading ammo boxes into the back of a pickup truck and as Charlie picked one up, Darrell grabbed the last one and followed Charlie out the door. “He keeps this up and no one is going to want to go with us, they’re all scared of him.”

Charlie heaved the box up into the bed of the truck. “Well, he does get them moving, but I did try to get him to tone it down a bit. Guess it’s against his nature.”

His gaze flicked around as Darrell placed his box next to Charlie’s with a loud thump. There were five pickup trucks and the SUV lined up in the yard. As soon as everything was loaded they were planning to head over to the football stadium. Charlie hoped they had enough people and firepower to take out the zombies and most importantly, to find Gordon.