Zomb-Pocalypse 3 Read online

  “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.

  “Pull in here,” Jack instructs, pointing to a rectangular modular that is just ahead. “It has to be the office; hopefully we can find some keys.”

  Regg steers the truck into the marked parking spot reserved for PJ himself and slams it into park as Jack, Dad, and Silas all jump out of the truck. I follow them, much to my dad’s disappointment, though thankfully he doesn’t waste time arguing anymore.

  We try the door, and I’m surprised when it actually opens. Jack throws it wide and stands with his legs apart and his gun up, ready to blast anything that moves. The interior of the building is dim even though there are a few windows, and our breath puffs like big, fluffy clouds in front of our faces as we study the layout of the room.

  It looks like we’ve walked into the receptionist’s area with the large wood grain desk sitting front and center and mismatched chairs lined up against the wall for a waiting room. Silas points to some pegboard on the wall behind the desk that is filled with keys, and we all gather around it. “Which ones do you think w
e’ll need?” I ask. Silas pulls the ball cap off his head, holds it upside down like a bowl, and tosses in every single set of keys.

  “All of them,” he tells me once he’s plucked the very last key from its hook.

  “Hot dang!” Jack exclaims as he slides open one of the desk drawers and starts pulling out quality walkie talkies. “These are exactly what we need,” he exclaims, taking them all out of the drawer and shoving the extras into his bag after he hands us each our own.

  “These things have a range of like sixteen miles,” Silas tells us. Once again, I have to marvel at all the random bits of information that he has stored in his head.

  “Let’s all turn them to channel two, so we’re on the same page,” Jack suggests, and I fiddle with my dial until the eight in the LCD screen changes to a two.

  A scraping sound draws my attention down the hallway to my right, and I grip Silas’s arm and point. Silas makes a cutting motion to everybody else and we all freeze, straining our ears, trying to discern if something is going to come after us from down the hall.

  An all-too-familiar, phlegm-filled rattle sound gives us a brief warning before a construction-zombie comes staggering down the hall towards us. The zombie is wearing blue jeans, a flannel work shirt, and bright orange suspenders. He looks like one of the guys from the YMCA song—all that’s missing is the bright yellow hard hat. Silas steps forward, gripping the bolt cutters, but Jack beats him to it, raising his gun, he pops him right between the eyes.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here,” Jack suggests as he turns and pushes through the door. The snow is still coming down like crazy outside, but I’m mentally prepared for it this time, so it’s less of a shock when it attacks my eyeballs.

  Regg gets out of the truck when he sees us and walks over, digging through the hat full of keys and plucking a few out. He hands one to Barry, Jack, and my dad. “I need you guys to find a truck that runs, hook up a trailer, and get some equipment loaded,” he tells them before motioning to the rest of us. “Silas, Megan, and Jane, you guys are on guard duty. Watch our backs while we work,” he tells us and then walks off.