Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place (3 page)

Frazzled reporters were broadcasting from secure areas or even on their station rooftops, showing footage of people looting stores and businesses, and people fighting each other, although Mick began to realize that people were actually fighting for their lives as they were attacked by the ever-growing number of the walking dead. He preferred to think of them as the walking dead, the word “zombie” still smacked of the stuff of fiction. Streets were full of debris, cars, and dead bodies. Sometimes the noise was deafening and Mick couldn’t make out what the reporters were saying. There were sounds of breaking glass, gunshots, sirens, and screaming – lots of screaming. Some of the bodies stayed down...most did not. What surprised Mick most was how quickly everything had fallen apart.

While they watched, Sean and Scott made occasional comments. During their teenage years they went through a phase where everything scary was fun, including all the vampire, werewolf, and zombie stuff. They were busy speculating on everything from would the zombies behave like the ones in movies, to how long would a zombie last until it just shriveled up or decayed away.

In Mick’s opinion though, it just made the situation harder to take. How could something everyone knew was fiction become fact? Sean remembered reading somewhere that there were documented cases of people, through the use of drugs, who became zombies and did the bidding of their masters. To Mick, it sounded pretty far-fetched, but then how did he explain what was happening now? Could the
entire
world be destroyed, with only a handful of survivors here and there? Would they ever be able to leave Hudson Place? Would they be forced to leave, once their supplies ran out?

He didn’t want to think about these things, but he couldn’t help himself. If only they had some way to find out what was being done to stop this living nightmare, surely the government must be doing
something
. He knew Sean and Scott had been waiting for an activation call from the National Guard, when it didn’t come they called other soldiers in their unit; no one had heard anything. To Mick, it was an ominous sign that they may be completely on their own.

Denise and Sarah had moved out to the balcony and were sitting on a small bench talking. Mick noticed both of them suddenly stand up and walk over to the railing to look down at something off to their left. He saw Sarah pointing and she said something to Denise, who then turned and left the balcony, sliding the glass door shut behind her.

She stopped and tapped Sean on the shoulder. He was messing with Scott and whispering, “Brainssssss” in his ear, and Scott was threatening to put him in a headlock if he didn’t stop. Sean looked up sheepishly at Denise as she gave him a disapproving look. “Not funny Sean, quit clowning around,” she said. “You and Scott need to come outside with us, there’s something weird going on.”

Sean’s grin disappeared. “What is it? Looters?”

“
Don’t think so, we’ve been hearing faint gunshots and a lot of sirens, but we think some of those zombie things are heading this way.”

Both twins jumped to their feet and dashed for the door, Mick shook his head as they both tried to get through it at the same time. He got up more slowly and followed them out, as he turned to slide the door shut, Dave grabbed it with one hand.

“
I want to see what’s going on, too.”

Mick stepped aside to let Dave out, the balcony wasn’t especially large and with six of them out there, it was downright crowded. They all leaned over the railing to take a look.

“
Damn!” Scott grunted. “Would ya look at that!”

Mick craned his neck around Sean in order to get a better look. He gripped the rail tighter as his heart began to race. He could see a few people walking down the street and as he watched, a larger group of about fifteen people turned the corner at the end of the block and headed in their direction. They were still too far away for him to be able to tell exactly if he was seeing the walking dead or not, but judging by everyone else’s responses he had a pretty good idea.

He squinted his eyes and said in a low voice, “They don’t seem to walk funny - you know - like how zombies in movies walk.”

“
Yeah,” Scott breathed. “They’re not fast, but they’re not slow either. If they weren’t all messed up, you might think they were alive.”

As they continued to draw closer, Mick squinted harder and he could see what Scott was talking about. Their clothing was stained, torn, and bloody. Most of them looked like they’d been mauled, with bits of flesh hanging here and there. One looked like a woman; half her scalp was torn off and it was hanging down in her face.

Mick had seen enough. He turned away and headed for the sliding doors, then paused and turned back. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be standing out here gawking at them. If they don’t see us, they might keep going.”

Dave was rubbing his chin thoughtfully, still staring down the street. “You have a good point there. Let’s all go in and see if they pass by.”

Everyone was happy to oblige except for Sean and Scott. Mick finally talked them into watching from the roof with binoculars. “You can go up there and watch all you want, I don’t think they’ll see you if you stay down.”

With one more look, they joined the others and headed inside. Dave shut and locked the doors to discourage anyone else from going out on the balcony.

“
Let’s hope they do go by,” he said to Mick as they headed for the kitchen to see if they could help Lilly and Cindy with lunch.

Mick nodded, but said doubtfully, “Oh, I’m hoping, but I have my doubts.”

“
Me too,” Dave sighed heavily. “Me too.”

****

They didn’t go by. As the day wore on, their numbers grew around the building. The noises they made were horrendous. They moaned, groaned, screeched, and wailed; they crawled all over one another, clustering around the building beating their mottled hands on every surface they could reach. Mick began to think there must be something, possibly the simple fact that they were alive, that drew the creatures to them.

The city of Ambrose wasn’t that large, the population had hovered around sixty thousand for the last twenty years, yet it seemed that most of the walking dead were finding their way to Hudson Place. The constant noise was maddening and the children were frightened. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that they would start shooting the creatures. No one wanted to chance the zombies finding their way in and their sheer numbers would spell disaster if they did.

Anyone who could shoot including Megan, Darrell’s wife, who had served in the Marines and was a crack shot, would take turns in pairs on the balcony. They would watch for survivors and kill off any zombies in the immediate area. Mick was hardly surprised when Sean and Scott volunteered to take the first shift.

They headed down to the second floor to gather up the weapons and ammunition they needed. Mick and Darrell went down with them to bring up a metal gun cabinet that could be locked. Always mindful of the kids, they knew they needed a way to secure the guns that would be kept on the balcony when not in use.

The children were scared with all noise going on outside and it was decided that Lindsey and Megan would watch over them and try their best to gently explain what was happening and what to expect. They thought they had handled it fairly well until the first shots rang out. The littlest ones all tried to climb into their laps at the same time; they were all crying.

Lindsey looked around the children’s room, trying to think of something to take their minds off of what was happening. She spied the CD player and gently disengaged Sally off her lap. Heather was still clinging to her leg when Sarah appeared in the doorway.

“
Help,” she said in a small voice, motioning toward Heather. Sarah immediately strode over and took Heather in her arms. “I’m gonna play some songs for the kids,” she explained as she hurried over to put a CD in the player. “Let’s try to get them distracted.”

Fortunately it worked although it took a while. They sang songs and danced along with the music until the children were calmer. Megan left for a bit and returned with a tray full of juice boxes, crackers, and cheese.

Although shots were still ringing out, Lindsey was amazed at how quickly the kids adapted, after awhile they barely flinched. She was still worried though, and when Sarah suggested they bring up a TV from storage so the children could watch movies on DVD, she readily agreed. They wouldn’t need to constantly change CD’s and the noise would help drown out more of the sounds from outside. They could even leave it on at night until the kids feel asleep. Lindsey set off to find Dave.

****

“
I got ‘em!” Sean lowered his rifle and grinned. “Let’s see what you can do!”

Scott merely grinned back then turned his attention to the street below. “Noooo problemo bro,” he said lightly. He slowly lifted the rifle to his shoulder. “See the guy in the blue jean jacket? Watch this.”

Sean picked up his binoculars, eager to see what his brother could do. “I bet you can’t hit him from here,” he goaded.

Scott whispered as he concentrated, “Just watch, little bro.”

Sean smirked and said, “Little bro my ass, you’re only a minute older than me and that doesn’t mean much in my book.”

Scott glanced at his brother, winked and turned back to the task at hand. “Watch and learn....just watch and learn.”

“
Just get on with it already!” Sean let out a gush of air as though getting tired of the exchange, although the truth was he was curious to see if Scott could hit his target.

Scott turned toward the street and began humming as he slowly squeezed the trigger. He turned triumphantly toward his brother. “Ha! Look at that! Sweeeet!”

Both watched the creature topple headfirst onto the concrete, most of its head blown off by the single shot.

“
Damn! Nice shot! I was certain he was too far away,” Sean acknowledged with a shake of his head as he once again grinned at his brother.

“
Oh yeah! Uh huh!” Scott crowed and did a little dance that got Sean laughing. They were just high-fiving each other when Mick stepped out onto the balcony, walked past them and glanced over the railing at the pile of bodies below. He turned and eyed his sons.

“
You two sound like you’re having too much fun out here, ready to come in for some lunch?”

“
You don’t have to ask us twice,” Sean replied as he eased his lanky frame out of the chair he’d been sitting in. He put the binoculars down on a table next to the gun cabinet. “What are we having?”

“
Your favorite, chicken and noodles,” Mick replied as he headed back toward the door.

“
Don’t have to tell us twice,” Scott said as he carefully placed the rifle into the gun cabinet, then closed and locked it. Rising up he asked, “How are the kids doing?”

Mick hesitated for a moment before stepping through the doorway and smiled. The night before it had been difficult for the children to go to sleep with all the shooting, but none of them had woken during the night, and they were being kept busy now that they were up and about. “They’re doing a lot better. Today they don’t even seem to notice the shooting, and now that all the noise those things were making has pretty much stopped, they’re a lot calmer.”

“
That’s a relief,” Scott responded as they all went inside. “I’m planning on taking Sarah and the girls up to the roof after lunch to spend some time with them and take their minds off all this for at least a little while.”

As they walked away to clean up, Mick watched them with a thoughtful expression on his face. Being identical twins, they were both tall, almost six foot, and so slim they could almost be called skinny, but despite that, Mick knew they were very strong. They kept their brown hair cut short military style (or high and tight as they called it) and both had hazel eyes that often flashed with humor, and they always had big smiles for everyone. They were twenty six years old, but he still thought of them as boys,
his
boys, and he was worried about them. They didn’t seem to be afraid of anything, perhaps it was because they were still young enough to think they were invincible. Even when they went to Iraq, they hadn’t been a bit worried about coming back home in one piece, which is exactly what they did. Hell, Mick thought with a shake of his head, he and Cindy had worried enough for them a thousand times over.

Thinking of his sons caused Mick’s thoughts to turn to Brooke. A lot like her brothers, she was a free spirit and could be a handful at times. At 17, she had beautiful big brown eyes and thick blond hair that flowed past her shoulders, and to Mick she was still his innocent baby that he needed to protect from all harm. Since arriving at Hudson Place, she had been texting and calling her friends almost nonstop. He was worried that she might try something rash if she wasn’t able to reach her friends, there were already several she was no longer receiving replies from.