Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place (24 page)

“
I’ll give you both a gold star, how about that?” Cindy said with a chuckle.

The sudden sound of gunfire caused Mick to frown, which caused instant pain. “What’s going on?” he managed to say through clenched teeth.

Cindy held up two tiny white pills. Mick quickly took the pills and swallowed them down with the glass of water Brooke handed him.

“
All the noise and commotion apparently attracted zombies so everyone’s inside. The military, including our boys, are busy eliminating them.”

“
Ah,” Mick said with relief. Zombies they could handle.

Cindy stood up. “We’re going to let you get some sleep now; I’ll be back in a bit.”

He nodded and after Brooke kissed his forehead, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 28

“
What a beautiful spot!” Cindy exclaimed as she stepped out of the SUV. Mick slowly looked around at the meadow; he could hear water flowing nearby. This is a peaceful place, he thought as he listened to the chirp of birds. A military detail had already readied Dave’s final resting place and more formed a protective perimeter around the area.

“
Dave loved it here, that’s why we chose it,” Lilly said with a sad smile.

Captain Sears came up to them, saluting Lilly and taking her by the hand. “We are ready for you all to line up.” He glanced at the group now surrounding him. “If you’ll all follow me, please?”

Two lines were formed and the people making up those lines grew silent as the large truck carrying Dave’s body pulled up. Mick began to choke up as he watched the honor guard step forward; they gently slid the coffin out, turned, and began a slow march forward with the Captain and Lilly following. Since Dave had served honorably as an officer in the Army, Mick was glad to see he was receiving a full military burial, he was pretty sure Dave would have been embarrassed but secretly pleased at all the fuss.

He watched everyone’s reaction as their beloved friend passed by, most were sobbing quietly. Charlie bowed his head; Mick saw a tear drop off his down-turned cheek. Sean and Scott both saluted, Mick could tell they were struggling to maintain their composure. Mick noticed even Dexter looked uncomfortable, his face was red and his eyes darted everywhere but on the coffin passing by.

The service was short but beautiful. They all felt fortunate that Captain Sears felt it was safe enough to accomplish, but he didn’t want to push their luck. There was no 21 gun salute, the noise could bring problems. As they watched the coffin being slowly lowered, Mick saw a flat headstone had already been placed.

“
How’d they manage a headstone?” he whispered to Cindy.

“
Lilly told me they had one made about a year after they bought this piece of land,” she whispered back. “Wait til you read the inscription, you’ll see why she could place it now.”

Another short prayer was said by the chaplain, Mick was glad that this platoon still had one. He had a real talent for making the most well-known prayer sound fresh to the ear. Solders started escorting people back to the vehicles. The funeral was over.

Mick hesitated. “Be right there,” he said in a low voice to Cindy. He walked over to look at the inscription. He had managed to do his grieving in secret so far, he wanted to be strong for his family and friends, but when he read the simple words on the small headstone, he lost it.

Mick could hear Dave’s voice as he read: “For Dave and Lilly. There are no dates of birth or death on this stone because we do not wish to be remembered that way. When you think of us, think of how passionately we lived, how deeply we loved, and how we did our best to share all we had. This is not goodbye, but see you one fine day on the other shore.”

Mick fumbled in his pocket, finally fishing out a wrinkled handkerchief to wipe his eyes and blow his nose.

“
Mick? Time to go, honey,” Cindy called softly.

“
Coming,” he replied, giving one last, sad look toward his friend to say goodbye before turning away and joining his wife.

****

In honor of Dave, Hudson Place was renamed Dave’s Place and the next few days were busy, which was a relief to Mick. People were anxious to get back to Shady Oaks and new folks were joining them. Sean and Denise were going back to help. Scott felt he needed to stay with Sarah and the girls until it was safe, and then they planned to head out too. Megan was leaving with Darrell, and both Jacob and Mark’s families were going.

Brooke was moping because Jimmy was leaving with his parents, but Mick and Cindy sat her down and told her to give them a month and they would leave when Scott and Sarah left. They both felt they needed to stay to help Lilly for awhile, especially after she declined any further assistance from the military. Captain Sears had generously offered to leave a contingent behind, but after much discussion it was decided that the platoon needed all the men. They still had more places to check - they knew the elusive Connor Group was still out there planning to do harm and the Captain wanted them out of the way so they could focus on the zombie problem.

Mick hated to see them leave, but as they stood waving goodbye to the platoon, he was somewhat relieved. He knew all the extra mouths to feed had been a huge drain on their supplies, much more and they would have run out of many essentials a lot sooner.

The next day dawned bright and clear. Everyone was up early, some were packing and some were once again saying their tearful goodbyes.

Mick stood with Cindy waving until the final vehicle faded from sight. He dropped his hand, lowered his head and sighed.

Cindy eyed him with a grin. “Don’t be sad, we’ll be seeing all of them again real soon,” she soothed.

Mick looked up and gave her a crooked smile. “I know, it’s just so much has happened, I feel like I need a week to digest everything.”

“
I know what you mean,” his wife said with a chuckle. She cocked her head toward him thoughtfully. “You know, with that scar across your cheek, you look positively rakish.”

Mick grinned at her. “Oh really? Is that a good thing?”

Cindy laughed. “Oh yeah, I think it’s a good thing.” She gave him a wink and they both laughed. Linking arms together, they walked up the stairs as the garage door slammed shut behind them.

Chapter 29

Early the next morning, Mick woke before everyone else. After making himself a steaming cup of coffee, he joined Scott, who was sitting on the balcony with his feet propped up on the railing.

“
When’s your watch over?” he asked as he leaned against the railing to look at his son.

“
Not until ten,” Scott replied. He turned his full attention to Mick. “What are you doing up so early?”

“
Can’t sleep,” Mick said with a sigh. “I can’t stop thinking of Dave and what happened.”

Scott nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean, it seems unreal.”

Mick turned and looked out over the street. “Yes, it does,” he said somewhat distractedly. He pointed to the left. “Is it just me, or do you see something moving way down the street?”

“
Huh?” Scott mumbled as he stood and stared where Mick was still pointing. “Yeah, I do see something, not sure what though,” he said, excitement creeping into his voice. “Maybe more survivors?”

“
Still too far away to be sure,” Mick replied. He walked back toward the door, retrieved the binoculars off a small side table, and handed them to Scott.

Scott quickly adjusted the focus, watched silently for a moment, and then swore under his breath.

“
Dad, there are survivors down there headed this way,” he exclaimed. “Looks like at least ten or twelve and there’s a ton of zombies right behind them.”

Scott handed Mick the binoculars. One glance and like his son, he too swore under his breath.

“
This looks bad,” Mick muttered, handing the binoculars back to his son. “I’m going to get Jeff, Matt, and Cindy up, give me a yell on the walkie if you need to,” he instructed Scott on his way out.

“
Will do,” Scott replied without turning; still focused on the approaching group. “I’ll let you know when they get close.”

Mick quickly slid the balcony door open and stepped through. Cindy was walking toward him with her own cup of coffee in hand. She slowed when she saw the worried expression on his face.

“
What’s going on now?” she asked with a frown. She glanced over his shoulder. “Is that Scott out there? Is he all right?”

Mick held out a hand. “Whoa, Scott’s fine, we spotted a whole group of survivors headed this way and of course they have zombies after them. A lot of zombies.”

Cindy’s eyes widened as she looked back at Mick. “We better get moving then, think we need to stop and get weapons on the way down?”

“
Tell you what,” Mick said, taking her arm to hurry her toward the stairs. “You go rouse Jeff and Matt and I’ll start pulling weapons, ok?”

“
Gotcha,” she remarked. “We’ll meet you downstairs.”

As Cindy trotted down the stairs with Mick following, he started thinking about how after the fight with Bill’s group, the military had easily taken care of the zombies drawn to the noise and chaos when they got too close. How would they fare now that there were so few of them left to fight? At that moment, Mick wished more people had stayed behind. They planned to be a temporary refuge for survivors before moving on to Shady Oaks, this was not a well-manned fort.

Cindy peeled off from Mick on the third floor, headed for Jeff and Lindsey’s room first, then on to Matt and Diane's.

Mick quickened his pace until he reached the second floor vault. Once inside, he grabbed a duffle bag and placed an assortment of pistols and rifles inside. He quickly searched the ammo cans lined up on one shelf and selected four. Once everything was outside the door, he realized he needed help to get everything downstairs. He grabbed the duffle bag and began dragging it over to the door. Cindy didn’t have a walkie; he’d have to wait for her and the others to show up. By the time he got the last ammo can to the door, he saw his wife hurrying toward him.

“
They’re coming,” she said, slightly out of breath. “Let me help you.”

Mick picked up the duffle bag with a grunt; Cindy grabbed two of the ammo cans and they headed downstairs. Mick figured the others would see the cans left behind and bring them along.

“
If this keeps up,” Mick huffed. “We might want to think about adding a weapons cabinet downstairs.”

“
Good idea,” Cindy agreed as they reached the first floor. “This takes way too long and there might come a time when we need weapons immediately down here.”

Mick put the bag on the ground and grabbed his walkie. “Scott, what’s going on?”

“
Dad, they’ve stopped,” Scott replied. “They had to; the zombies were gaining on them. They’re shooting at them now.”

He frowned and glanced at his wife before replying. “Ok, keep us posted.”

To Cindy he said, “Do you hear any shooting?”

“
No, I don’t,” she said with a shake of her head. “Guess they’re too far away and with these thick walls we can’t hear it.”

Mick was about to reply when Jeff, Lindsey, and Sarah came down the stairs toward them.

“
Brooke and Diane are going to stay with the kids and Matt went to help Scott,” Sarah told Cindy and Mick. She walked over to the duffle bag, unzipped it and began rummaging through the guns, pulling out a .22 automatic. “I’m not as good a shot as Megan,” she mumbled while Mick handed her a clip. “But I think I can handle this.”

Mick grabbed an AR-15 rifle and slapped a clip in it. “And I think I can handle this,” he said with a grim chuckle. Funny how things change, he thought wryly. There was a time he wouldn't touch such a weapon, now it felt familiar in his grip.

Once everyone had the weapon of their choice, Mick started to key up the walkie when they heard rapid gunfire coming from above.

“
Oh, that’s not good,” he said worriedly. If Scott and Matt were firing that meant the group of survivors were close. He looked at the others. “I’m going to open the door; I don’t think we have time to wait for Scott to give us the all clear. Jeff and I will go out first. Cindy, you and Lindsey follow; Sarah guard the door. Is everyone ok with that?”