Aliens Versus Zombies (25 page)

“Uncle Jay, no! Don’t touch it. I’m scared. Can we go somewhere else?”

He stepped back until his ears no longer rang and picked up a pebble. He tossed it at the distortion. The pebble exploded. Jay jumped in alarm.

He backed up ten paces and tossed a broken piece of asphalt at the distortion. It, too, exploded, sending small bits of grit cascading onto the surrounding area.

He shook his head. “Bad.”

“Uncle Jay, can we go now?
Please?
” Amanda was almost hopping from one foot to the other in her anxiety.

Jay nodded. He pointed along the distortion. “Find way out.”

But they didn’t. After several miles of walking along the perimeter barrier, they found no exits.

They were trapped inside the alien-controlled city.

The thirty residents of Casa Paradiso, as they had begun to call their abode, rested after their feast. Twenty-nine of them relaxed outside in the balmy evening air, while baby Abby snoozed in her crib.

A roaring bonfire blazed and most sat around it, singing songs and laughing. At first, the idea of having a bonfire was a concern, but the consensus was that if the aliens hadn’t spotted their cooking fires in all the weeks they been here, they couldn’t be looking very hard for the humans. Besides, they probably had more important things to do than hunt them down, anyway. After all, they had a whole planet to conquer.

Daniels and Chrissy rocked back and forth on the porch swing, keeping time with the current song. The last traces of the sunset still lingered in the form of pinkish clouds on the horizon.

The day couldn’t have been more perfect, from the food to the companionship to the weather.

Chrissy sighed and laid her head against Daniels’ shoulder. A bandaged Hiram, curled up just in front of Daniels’ feet, sighed as well, bringing a smile to his new master’s face.

“Chick,” Chrissy said, “I haven’t been this content in I don’t know how long. Why can’t it always be like this?”

“Don’t I wish. We could almost forget about the aliens and the Zoms.”

“Hush. No more talk about bad things. Just relax and be at peace.”

After a few minutes of swinging in silence, Chrissy began to stroke the back of Daniels’ hand. At first, he didn’t really pay attention. But as her fingers tickled the hairs farther up his arm, he gave her a questioning look.

“What are you up to?”

The corners of her lips curled up into an impish smile as she traced patterns in the hair on his arm. “That all depends.”

“Depends? Depends on what?”

“On you, silly. How much longer are you going to pretend you aren’t interested? I’ve seen you staring at me when you thought I wasn’t looking.”

“Me? I-I…I don’t—”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Chick, but there aren’t a lot of choices for mates around here. Most are already paired off. You’d be lucky to have me.”

“Well, sure, but…but… I’m old enough to be—”

She cut him off. “You’d better not say you’re too old for me. Let
me
be the judge of that. Look, I’m almost twenty and you’re…what? Fifty?”

“
Fifty!
Now see here, young lady—”

“Forty-five?”

“No, goddamn it, I’m only thirty-eight, but—”

“See? You’re not all that old. You’ve got that rugged outdoorsy charm, and gorgeous eyes—and that smile that makes me melt. What’s there for a girl not to like?”

“I—” He was at a loss for words. “I…surrender.”

“Damn straight you do.” She grinned up at him, knowing she’d gotten her man. Then she put his arm around her, wrapped both of her arms around his waist, and put her head on his chest, where her ears caught the pace of his heartbeat increasing.

“Whaddaya say we meet in the hayloft after everyone goes to bed? The bunks are only big enough for one.”

High overhead, a faint blue glow in the sky indicated the passage of a Drahtch battle pod.

* * * *

“Commander,” CommTech GlekMund called out, “the battle pod pilot reports seeing a large fire below his position. He transmitted the coordinates. He wants to know whether you want him to attack.”

FronCar turned from his seat to face the CommTech. “Is he sure it isn’t a wildfire?”

“He’s sure, sir. He says it’s contained, not widespread. It must be the smart indies. Should he attack?”

FronCar was in a good mood. The heat of the day had broken and a cool breeze blew through the open windows of the command center. The colonization effort was proceeding ahead of plan, and the indie nuisance within the perimeter had dropped to almost nothing the past few days. All was right with the world.

“Tell him to return to base. We know where they are now. They haven’t caused any trouble since they left here. Let the feral indies have them. We have other priorities.”

“Yes, sir.”

* * * *

Jay was frantic. After three days of searching for a way through the perimeter they had found no chinks in the armor. Even the river was protected. The shimmer extended all the way across, and there was a faint glow beneath the surface.

Crossing the footbridge over the water was a scary time for the foursome. They were completely exposed the entire time, but they had no choice. The larger automotive and train bridges were even longer and more exposed. But they saw no patrols and crossed without incident.

On the far side of the river, they came to a large fenced-in complex. The sign on the nearest building said ‘Water and Sewage Treatment Plant #2’. There was no entrance within sight, but the fence was mangled in one place where a car had run into it and created just enough room to crawl under the crumpled fencing.

Amanda tugged on Jay’s shirt. “Why are we going in here, Uncle Jay?”

“Safe. Not hot. Water.”

The afternoon was scorching and they had no water with them.

They entered the building, which was unlocked. The hallways within were much cooler than the air outside. Windows let in enough light to see by, but the rumbling of giant pumps somewhere in the building attested to the fact that the complex had power.

“Find water.”

“How ‘bout over there?” Amanda pointed to the sign that said, ‘Break Room’ and had an arrow pointing down the corridor to the left.

They walked the short distance to the room, where the refrigerator stood ajar. Green and black mold grew inside sealed plastic lunch containers. Some of the cabinets were likewise open. Plastic utensils and napkins littered the floor alongside ketchup and mustard packets.

“Look,” she pointed again, “a water cooler.”

Jay walked over to the five-gallon plastic bottle sitting upside down on a stand against the wall. He reached out to lift the bottle when Amanda stopped him.

“Not like that, silly. Like this.” She demonstrated how pressing down on the small plastic lever in the front of the stand dispensed water from the spigot.

Fascinated, Jay pressed the lever several times and watched the water spill out. Then he put his face under the spigot and pressed the lever again. The water splashed all over his face and caused him to sputter.

Amanda laughed and clapped her hands. “You’re funny, Uncle Jay. Like this.” She pulled the last little conical paper cups from the dispenser alongside the bottle and filled it for him.

He drank and passed the cup to Amanda, who filled it, drank, and then passed it to Suzie, who in turn passed it to Joanie. They continued in like fashion until everyone had their fill.

“Need more,” Jay said.

He looked around for something bigger to put water into. A thermos bottle lay on the counter by the sink. After puzzling over it for a moment, he figured out how to open the twist cap. Inside was a small amount of ancient coffee residue. Amanda showed him how to rinse it out in the sink and then he filled it. It wasn’t a huge amount of water, but it was better than nothing. He put it inside his pillowcase. They also picked up a few snacks from the smashed vending machine before they left.

The group continued to explore the complex. Some rooms were locked, some not. Most rooms held nothing of interest. Still, there was no way to tell what was inside a room until they looked.

They found their way down two levels to a cavernous space that had water rushing through two giant concrete troughs out of the building and down to the river. Between the sound of the water and the pumps that propelled it, the noise was deafening.

Jay went along a catwalk beside the torrent to the opening where the water cascaded outside. A metal staircase led down. He gestured to the others to wait and he went down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, he walked far enough toward the river that he could look back toward the city. There he saw the familiar distortion in the air, but above and behind him now.

They had found a way out of the city.

He frantically waved at the others to join him. When they caught up, the foursome set out along the river. Amanda walked between Uncle Jay and Aunt Suzi and held their hands.

* * * *

The foursome started out strong, but Amanda’s little legs gave out quickly. For the next few hours the adults took turns carrying her. Exhausted, she napped most of the way. Although she was little, she grew heavy quickly. By the time they reached the first house, miles down the road, the other three were ready to rest in the shade of the stately oak tree out front.

Of course, by then Amanda was refreshed and ready to play on the swing hanging from one of the big branches.

“Push me, Uncle Jay!”

“Rest first,” Jay pleaded. He leaned back against the base of the tree.

Amanda was now full of energy and not about to sit still. “I’ll go look inside the house for food.” She scampered off toward the front door.

“Careful,” Aunt Suzi shouted after her.

Amanda reached the porch and then the door. It wasn’t locked. She entered into the hallway that led straight back to the kitchen. It hadn’t been looted, but small animals had obviously gotten into the dry goods. A cereal box lay on the floor, with a large hole chewed through the side. Other boxes and bags were scattered around. Traces of flour, cereal, and breadcrumbs littered the counters and floor, mixed with animal droppings.

Amanda pushed a kitchen chair over to the counter on the right side of the sink and climbed onto it. Then she shimmied up onto the counter. She stood and opened the cabinet door. Nothing but dishes. She continued down the line until she’d opened them all. No food; just plates, glasses, and casserole dishes.

She stepped into the sink and then across to the counter on the left side and repeated the process there.

“And Bingo was his name-o,” she sang. With a big grin, she began pulling out jars of peanut butter, home-made jam, and other assorted bottles, jars, and cans. She carefully placed them on the counter around her feet.

The top shelf was too high, though. She stood on her tippy toes and stretched as far as her little arms would let her for the last few cans. She could
almost
touch the nearest one. Then a sound startled her. She lost her balance and fell backwards off the counter.

And into the arms of Aunt Suzi. “Careful!” she said with a smile.

“Thank you, Aunt Suzi.” She hugged the woman tightly. “I can’t reach the stuff way up on top. Can you get it?”

“Okay.”

As Amanda had done earlier, she dragged the chair over to where the food was and stood on the chair to reach the top shelf. While she took down the last few items, Amanda searched through several drawers until she found what she was looking for. “A can opener! Yippee! I found some yummy canned peaches. Now we can open them!”

Aunt Suzi smiled back. “Need bag.”

There was
way
too much food to carry in pillowcases. They needed something better.

Amanda went tearing around the house, as fast as her little legs would take her. She quickly found the bedrooms upstairs. One had two bunk beds and a twin bed; another had two twin beds. The three beds were in what must be the boys’ room, decorated with sports posters and some deflated footballs and basketballs. The room with two beds was decorated in pinks and fuchsia. Clearly the girls’ room.

Amanda raced back downstairs with five empty backpacks, two pink, one bright orange, one navy blue, and one black. She had dumped out the school books and other assorted stuff. The smaller of the pink ones was just Amanda’s size.

“These are called backpacks. Can you say backpack?”

“Back…pack.”

“Yay! You’ve gotten so smart, Aunt Suzi!”

Suzi grinned “We put food in back…packs.”

“That’s right! And it’s easier than using those dirty ol’ pillowcases.”

They stuffed all the food they’d found into the backpacks. It all fit, with little extra room. Then they carried the backpacks to the front door. It took two trips because they were heavy and Amanda could barely manage her own.

Amanda called out to Uncle Jay, who had fallen asleep under the tree. “Uncle Jay, Aunt Joanie! Come see what we found. Food!”

Jay sat up and smiled, and then jogged to the house, followed by Joanie.

“Look!” Amanda showed off the backpacks and the food inside.

“And there’s clothes upstairs. We need some new clothes. Your tushie is starting to show, Uncle Jay. “ She giggled. “Follow me!”

She ran up the stairs, followed by the others. She led them to the master bedroom.

“There’s not a lot left. I guess they took most of the clothes with them, but there’s still some stuff left that might fit.”

The three adults tried on a number of items. The woman’s weight had evidently fluctuated considerably, as there were many different sizes in the same closet. The smaller sizes fit Suzi better, while some of the larger ones fit Joanie better. Unfortunately, the man’s clothing was far too big for the slender Jay.