Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place (4 page)

“
Penny for your thoughts,” said a voice behind him. Mick shook himself from his reverie, turned around and grinned at his wife. “Just worrying about everything as usual,” he admitted as she put her arms around his neck and smiled at him.

“
You were a million miles away, time to come back to reality, at least for now.”

“
You got it,” he said as he put his hands on her waist and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “C’mon, let’s get some lunch before the boys eat it all.”

Cindy laughed as they walked hand in hand across the large room. “Think we’re too late,” she chuckled as she nodded her head toward Sean and Scott jostling each other to be the first one to get their meal.

Mick grinned and replied, “Some things never change, do they?”

“
Nope,” Cindy affirmed. “Some things never do.”

****

On their third day at Hudson Place, Mick and Dave sat on the couch vainly trying one TV station after the other. Dave had noticed the night before that stations were slowly going off the air and he was visibly upset.

“
I knew this was going to happen,” he lamented to Mick. “But not so soon! I was hoping we’d have at least a few more days of news.”

“
The internet is going down for longer and longer intervals too,” Mick added.

“
Yeah, don’t remind me,” Dave grumbled as he continued to flip from one channel to the other.

After what they’d seen on the news yesterday, it didn’t surprise Mick that their last lines of communication or information were going down. National news painted a grim picture, the infection spread faster than even the myriad of experts they interviewed predicted. As he had suspected, the military was unable to stop it, they were busy fighting the infection themselves. Hot spots were flaring up in other areas as far away as Europe with no rhyme or reason, but Mick suspected air travel was responsible.

The cell phones had stopped working sometime earlier that morning. Mick had been on the balcony the previous night with Jeff when they had spotted a glow in the sky to the northeast that eventually erupted into a large fire. After talking to Dave, they figured it must have taken the cell phone tower out. Fortunately, the wind was blowing from the south, so the smoke drifted away from them.

Dave gave up and turned off the TV with a loud groan. “I’m going downstairs to check the internet and see if I can raise anyone on the ham radio,” he grumbled. “Want to come?”

“
Nah, think I’ll go see if Cindy and Lilly can use any help getting breakfast on the table. Hope you get lucky on the radio,” Mick said with what he hoped was an encouraging look on his face.

“
I’m going to try to raise Bill, but I’ve had no luck with the radio either. I’ll probably be back in about ten minutes,” Dave said dejectedly.

Mick sat on the couch for a few minutes thinking about how fast things were changing, when he heard a loud whoop from Sean out on the balcony. He jumped up and turned toward the balcony; there was a sudden burst of gunfire and Scott shot through the sliding doors.

“
We’ve got survivors! Where’s Dave!” he yelled as he ran past Mick. “We gotta get them in quick, Sean is going to try and hold off zombies that are right on their ass!”

Mick stared after Scott’s retreating back as it took him a second to process what Scott had said.
Survivors
! “Wait! I know where he is!” he yelled as he raced after Scott.

Chapter 3

Despite their trepidation that there would be no survivors, they did trickle in. Dave remembered he had strobe lights in the camping gear; they mounted them on the rooftop and turned them on at night. The lights did the trick and the first to find them was Dexter Reed, his wife Rose, and their nine-year-old son Kevin. They arrived in an old battered jeep, Sean and Scott had done a good job of picking off the zombies trying to mob them as they tried to make their way down the street.

Mick’s first impression of Dexter was not a good one. He was too loud, too belligerent, and often yelled at his timid wife and son. Over six feet tall, Dexter had the build of a wrestler that was turning to fat. His mousy brown hair was crew cut, but it was his flinty blue eyes that grabbed attention. They were cold and hard, and seemed to reflect the soul inside the man. Rose was also tall at five foot nine and extremely thin, with lanky blonde hair, green eyes, and a perpetual pinched look to her face. Kevin favored his mother, both in looks and demeanor. They really did not fit into the tight-knit group already at Hudson Place, and things could have gotten difficult if it hadn’t been for Charlie Thompson who arrived from the opposite direction on a motorcycle the next day.

Whereas Dexter was a pain, Charlie was like a ray of sunshine. Charlie was of average height and had the type of tan that marked him as someone who spent a lot of time outdoors. His curly black hair was graying at the temples, but his lively deep blue eyes missed nothing. He had only one thing on his mind, which would eventually turn out to be a blessing in disguise. He was desperate to get to Shady Oaks, a small town fifteen miles to the west. His daughter Jenny lived there, he’d explained. She told him during the last call he’d received from her that several people, mostly the elderly, women, and children had retreated into an old bomb shelter located under the town hall. They had enough supplies for awhile, fortunately there were boxes of MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) but she estimated the food would probably run out in about ten days.

Hudson Place really started to become crowded when the Schmitt’s showed up two days after Charlie. There was Matt and his wife Diane, and their three children. Kendra, who was fifteen (and reminded Mick a lot of Brooke, although they looked nothing alike), Parker, the oldest at nineteen, and Abigail, who was a nonstop ball of energy at ten years old. Matt was tall, heavyset, and balding, but there was always a sparkle in his hazel eyes. Diane was very petite, with jet black hair and even darker eyes. Parker and Kendra favored their mother, whereas little Abigail looked just like a miniature female Matt. They loved to laugh and joke around, and they immediately began to pitch in and help out, which endeared them to everyone.

The evening after the Schmitt's arrival, when dinner was over and all the younger children were in bed, everyone sat down together to discuss the possibility of heading out to Shady Oaks. Only Sean and Scott were absent, they were taking their shift out on the balcony. As Charlie revealed his plan, they listened quietly. When he finished, Dave spoke first.

“
Charlie, I know you’re itching to get over there and I must agree that your plan is as sound as anyone can make in this situation, but we have things here we’ve got to attend to first. First, we have to go out tomorrow or the next day at the latest, and get rid of those stinking bodies outside. Besides the smell and the obvious health hazard, they’re attracting a lot of dogs that are turning wild and beginning to run in packs. Second, we need to decide who will go with you and how many supplies you’ll need. Third, we need to be able to communicate with you. We have two ham radios, I had planned on keeping the second as a backup, but I think we can spare that and some walkie-talkies, but you have to realize if they’re lost or broken they can’t be replaced.”

Charlie nodded solemnly and replied, “I understand, and we’ll make sure before we leave that this place is cleaned up. This will be our home station so to speak, until we can clean up Shady Oaks, and I know how important this place is to any survivors who may happen this way. As I said before, with a good vehicle and plenty of weapons, we should be able to get there in one piece. The main problem we might encounter is getting everyone out of that shelter so they can help us with the zombies in town.” He rubbed the top of his head briskly and sighed. “I know I’m asking a lot, but I
have
to do this, all I need to know is who will go with me?”

Two hours later, all the details had been hashed out. Dexter, Charlie, and Darrell would go. They would check out Shady Oaks, and then plan on how best to proceed in getting everyone out of the shelter as safely as possible. Once that was accomplished, they would stay long enough to help them clean out the town. Only then would Darrell and Dexter return. Dexter planned on taking his family back to Shady Oaks, which was a relief to everyone.

The next two days were a bustle of activity. Supplies were packed and the ham radio tested. Then the men turned their attention to the pile of bodies surrounding the building.

Sean and Scott once again manned the balcony; both had rifles at the ready. For some reason, the last few days had seen the number of zombies steadily decreasing, but no one wanted to take any chances.

Charlie and Dexter suited up in protective gear while Dave went to get a flat bed truck sitting on the far side of the garage. He had previously used it to haul supplies and never dreamed it would be put to such a use. He backed the truck as close possible to the largest pile of bodies, and then glanced up at the balcony. Parker was there with the Carter twins, they’d been giving him shooting lessons and he gave Dave the thumb up sign to let him know it was safe to get out. Dave didn’t waste any time and ran back around the garage and through the steel reinforced door, slamming it shut and securing the locks. Then he headed for the front door where Dexter and Charlie were waiting.

“
You ready?” he asked as he approached them. At their nods, he keyed up his walkie. “Sean, they’re ready...is it safe?”

“
Roger,” Sean replied in his deep voice. “No worries, we’ll be watching every second they’re out there.”

Mick, who had been standing by, slowly opened the heavy front door, peered out and nodded. “It’s clear.”

Dexter and Charlie glanced at each other and picked up the large hooks Dave had provided them.

“
Let’s do this,” Dexter grinned as he slapped Charlie on the back and strode out the door.

Good grief, he’s actually enjoying this, thought Mick in disgust. He caught Dave’s eye and unspoken words passed between them before Mick turned away with a shake of his head. He headed over to a table where Darrell had finished laying out another two sets of protective gear. He and Dave were going out next and each team would work for an hour. When the flatbed was loaded, Darrell was going to drive it to a baseball field four blocks away, from the roof they’d been able to make it out with the binoculars and it seemed the perfect spot. The road looked clear enough to make it, and all of them would unload and burn the bodies.

Sean, Scott, and Parker watched from above as Dexter sank a hook into one of the bloated bodies and began to drag it free. A huge cloud of flies erupted from around the corpse and the smell increased dramatically. All three immediately turned away, holding hands over noses.

“
Man, that’s
rank
!” Parker exclaimed as he promptly headed for the sliding doors. “I can’t take that smell, no way!”

Sean grinned and rolled his eyes at Scott. “What a wuss, let’s get those re-breathers on pronto though, we gotta keep watch and we’re not much use if we’re puking our guts out because of the smell.”

Scott nodded and shoved a re-breather into Sean’s outstretched hand. Leaning over the railing, Scott mumbled through the mask, “That’s one job I’m glad we didn’t get picked for.”

“
Yeah,” Sean agreed as he picked up a pair of binoculars to scan the area. “At least not yet, let’s hope they get that mess cleared today.”

“
I’m with you bro, I am
so
with you.”

The men worked all day and Mick decided he would probably have nightmares the rest of his life. Dave and Charlie looked as green around the gills as he felt; only Dexter seemed to not be bothered by their grisly task.

Mick was surprised that they actually finished by early evening, they only had to stop once when a pack of dogs were spotted, but they wandered slowly away from the building. They’d even been able to haul off the trash that had been accumulating that they couldn’t use for compost. Once the bodies were dumped and set on fire, they returned and hosed down the entire area around the front of the building. When it was dry they spread lye all around to destroy the smell. They stripped off their stained and reeking gear in the large enclosed back yard and sealed it all in garbage bags. Then they tried to rinse off some of the stink before heading back inside where they immediately took long, hot showers.

He didn’t think he could eat for a week, but once Mick got upstairs, he could smell dinner cooking and his stomach rumbled in response. After a large meal of roast beef, potatoes, beans, and cornbread washed down with sweet tea, Dave decided they needed to go over the plan for Shady Oaks again. Mick didn’t mind, although he was beyond tired and sore, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep for awhile. When they were finished, he headed straight for bed to at least try to get some rest. Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was snoring.