Brent Acuff - Undead Nation 01 (7 page)

Alex's eyes fluttered open and the face of his five-year-old daughter was in front of him. Her question floated in his mind, a moment of childhood innocence that he was not sure he would hear again. "Of course I am sweetheart. What's the matter?" Alex straightened his back against the wall, wincing at the pain and soreness of his body. He wasn't old by any measure, but the brutality that his body had just taken would take its toll on anyone. Gemma crawled into his arms and curled in his lap.

"Daddy, I'm scared." Gemma's voice quivered and she sounded as if she would cry at any moment.

"Everything is okay, sweetheart. Mommy and daddy won't let anything happen to you, okay?" Alex squeezed the tiny person closer to him, desperate to take away any of her fears.

"Okay," Gemma sighed as if resigning herself to something that she didn't quite believe. She paused for a moment and Alex sensed that there was something else that she wanted.

"Gemma, is there something else that you wanted to say to me?" His daughter had always been a very forth-coming child, but considering everything that she had witnessed over the last two days, Alex was not sure how much she would be willing to confide.

"Daddy," she hesitated. "Did you kill that man back at the school?" Gemma looked up at her father, tears welling in her eyes. Alex could not tell if she was angry or sad at what he might say. He had never lied to his daughter and he supposed now was not the time to start.

"Yes, Gemma. I killed that man. Are you angry with me for doing that?"
 

"No, not really," Gemma creased her brow and looked away from her father's gaze. "He hurt people, didn't he?"

"Yes, sweetheart. He hurt a lot of people very badly. And he was trying to hurt you and Becky. Daddy was just trying to protect you and get you two home safe. If I hadn't done what I did, he would have hurt you and Becky very badly and probably hurt more people too." Alex gently lifted Gemma by the chin and turned her to face him. "Gemma, do you understand that daddy had to do what he did? Can you forgive me?"

Alex and Gemma sat quietly for a few moments before Gemma kissed him and gave him a big hug. The tension and stress of the previous days drained from Alex. His shoulders relaxed and he began to cry. "Don't cry, daddy," Gemma said. "You'll fix everything...you always do."

Alex squeezed his daughter to him a little tighter. "Thank you, sweetie." He broke the hug and pulled her back from him so that he could look her straight in the eyes. "Gemma, can you go and find you grandma and grandpa and tell them that we all need to talk? Tell them to meet me in the big bedroom. Okay?"

With a big nod that shook her entire body, Gemma said "Okay," then climbed out of his lap to run down the hall to find her grandparents. Alex got to his feet to check on Morgan. His body protested the simply act of getting up from the floor, his muscles screamed at him to sit down and fall back asleep. Willing his feet to move, Alex headed for the window, careful to keep away from the sick that still covered the floor and filled the room with an every growing rancid smell.

Alex could see Morgan still sitting outside on the roof, her knees pulled up to her chest, her body rocking slightly from side-to-side. "Morgan," he called as he stuck his head out the window.

Morgan jumped and swung the rifle in Alex's direction. He ducked back inside the window and crouched beside the window leading to the roof. "Morgan, it's me...it's just me." A quiet crying floated in through the window and slowly Alex peered back around the edge of the window frame. The shotgun was still pointed in the direction of the window, but Morgan was covering her mouth with her hand, the barrel of the shotgun resting on the rooftop. Carefully, Alex reached through the window and took the gun from Morgan. She did not resist, but let Alex take the gun from her, the now free hand joining the other in a desperate attempt to hold back the tears and crying that were beginning to overtake her.

"Take my hand, Morgan. Come back inside. You did great." Alex held out his hand to Morgan, who took it and with great effort climbed back through the window. "Wait right here," Alex said as he closed and locked the window behind them. "Everything is okay, Morgan. I promise." Alex placed an arm around Morgan's shoulders and led her out of the room.
 

-----

"You want to do what?" Tony shouted.

"Just hear me out, Tony. I think you'll agree with me when I finish." Alex was trying to keep his calm, but Tony was not making it easy.

"We have everything here that we need and you want to just up and leave? We've already proven that we can keep the damn things out of the house. Why would we simply walk away from that?" Tony's face was red with anger and his body showed that he was gearing up for a fight.

"Rotting and diseased corpses are not a very good thing to have lying around, Tony. Those things out there are going to start to decompose, and when they do, the smell will be the least of your worries." Alex gestured towards the front of the house where the hundreds of dead bodies were piled so high they blocked all light trying to come in through the windows. "In a couple of days it won't be the walking dead that kill us, it will be the disease that we won't be able to stop. There is no other option here...we have to leave. And the sooner the better. It'll be getting dark soon and I think we can all agree that being outside in the dark with those creatures is the last thing anyone wants."
 

Tony's eyes were wide with anger and he stared at Alex, body heaving as he fumed with rage. Turning to Sam he said, "Do you believe this guy? He actually wants us all to walk out those doors straight in to the damn zombies." Tony was jamming his finger at the front doors of the house.

"Well, actually," Alex began, "I would recommend we go out the back doors. I think those would be a little hard to open." Alex's sarcasm was the last thing that was needed in this situation.

Tony lunged at Alex grabbing him by the front of the shirt and pulling him forward. Tony raised his fist to punch Alex.

"Stop it, Tony!" Sam yelled. Tony stopped suddenly, his head turning to face Sam. "So far he is the only one of us who has had any ideas that have actually been worth a damn." Sam met Alex's eyes. "I think we should hear what he has planned."

"I don't believe this," Tony spat. He released Alex's shirt, giving him a shove backwards in the process. Alex stepped back a couple of paces, then reached up to straighten his shirt. "Sam, I have always listened to what you've had to say in the past, but this is ridiculous. Are you listening to what he is saying?" Tony threw up his hands in mock desperation.

"Well, I'm trying to listen to what he is saying, but I can't hear him for all the damned screaming you are doing. Just shut up and listen. After we hear everything, then we'll decide if it is worth anything." Tony stood motionless staring at Sam. After it seemed that Tony would cause no more disruptions, Sam motioned for Alex to continue what he had started.

"If you just think about it, the answer is simple," Alex began again. "Where is the greatest concentration of people? In the cities. More people, more infected. And the denser the population, the quicker it will spread. If you could get yourself to an rural center, the concentration of infected is going to greatly diminish. Properly supplied and defended, one could hold out for a long time. Maybe even for the duration of the main crisis." Alex looked from one face to the other as he calmly tried to make his point clear. The three women nodded their heads gently in agreement while Sam and Tony remained motionless. "Even a well stocked and defended home is going to need additional supplies, but if you could get yourself set up initially, one could give themselves enough time to make additional plans."

Alex crossed his arms in closing, letting the two men ponder what he had proposed before saying anything else. Sam spoke first.

"So where do we go?"

Tony looked as if he had been struck. "Sam, you can't be serious? Do you know what it's going to be like out there? Can you..."

"No, Tony. I don't know what it's going to be like out there, but I sure as hell know what it's going to be like in here. And I'm not going to resign myself and my family to a slow death from disease when there is another option," Sam crossed his arms, ending any argument from Tony before he could speak. "I suggest you come with us, but I can't force you. You have to choose for yourself." Sam looked again to Alex. "When do we leave and what do we need to take with us?"

Alex was a little taken aback. He had prepared himself for a longer, more drawn out battle concerning this. Sam's almost immediate agreement threw him for a loop. "Umm, I'll have to...give me a minute." Alex shook his head and brushed the hair away from his face.

"Look, Sam. He doesn't have a clue what to do and you are just going to blindly follow him..." Sam interrupted Tony again.

"I told you that we are going so shut up. Tony, you are my friend and I would hate to leave you behind. But I have to look out for my family, and right now the only option I see is getting out of this city. You need to come with us." Sam's eyes were pleading. He knew he couldn't force Tony to leave, but he hoped his long-term friendship with him would be enough to make him change his mind.

"We'll leave in the morning," Alex said. "That will give us enough time to make our plans and get things ready. It will also give us the maximum amount of light for the trip to Liam and Trinity's."

"Liam and Trinity's? They live just a few miles from here. Do you think that is far enough away from the city to be safe?" Doubt was seeping into Sam's voice.

"No, no. Liam and Trinity's house is just a place to stop, rest, and supply before the long trek out. Liam has enough guns and ammo in his house to supply a small invasion force, and their family farm in Eustace will be the perfect place to hold up. I just hope the cell phone towers are still operating enough that I can get word to them we are coming." Alex reached for the cell phone in his pocket, a piece of technology that was all but useless now.

"Eustace? Isn't that in North Texas near Dallas? How do you plan to get us there?" Sam was now starting to doubt his decision to go along with Alex's plan.

"I don't know, Sam. But once we get to Liam's, we'll come up with something brilliant. We always do." Alex smiled. He and Liam had been friends since college and the two of them always came up with weird and creative ideas. The two of them together could come up with something.

"Morgan, try your brother again. They'll be close enough that they might be able to get to Eustace, too. Paula, try to get a hold of your brother and I'll try mine. Both of them live in town and we need to see if we can get them to Liam's if we are going to get them out. There's not a lot of time, so everyone start thinking about what we need to take with us. We'll be on foot until we get to Liam and Trinity's, so think only essentials. And think light."

Alex punched a number out on his cell phone and raised it to his ear. "Everyone know how to handle a gun?"

-----

Morgan was awakened by the racking of a gun slide. Alex was standing across the room from her, inspecting the rifles and guns in front of him in preparation to leave. "What time is it?" Morgan asked.

"Just before dawn," Alex replied without even looking at her. "I'm going to start waking everyone up soon to get ready to leave, so try to get a little more rest."

Morgan pushed herself up from the floor and sat up, stretching. "How long have you been awake?"    

"I never went to sleep last night." Alex looked at her. Even in the dim light she could see the dark circles under his eyes.

"Alex, you need rest. It's going to be a long day and we need you at your best. I'll get everyone ready, you get some sleep." Morgan started to get up from the floor, but was stopped by Alex.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You get a little more rest and I'll finish getting everything together." Alex stood up from where he had been sitting. It took quite a bit of effort on his part. His body was sore and every muscle screamed at him to sit back down. "I'll wake you up in a little while."

"Sit down, Alex. You never listen to anyone, but dammit, you're going to listen now. We need you today, and we need you to be at your very best. If you haven't slept in twelve hours, then you are not going to do us very much good." Morgan crossed the room in two strides and forced Alex to sit down. "Sleep. And if you can't sleep, then at least rest without thinking about or doing anything. I'll finish packing and I'll wake everyone up." Morgan glanced around the room to form an idea about what Alex had been doing. She reached for a gun. "Which of these has been checked?"

"I'll take care of..." Alex started.

"No, you won't." Morgan's voice was firm and commanding. "I told you to get some rest and that I would take care of things. You've shown me how to do this, so I'll do it. Now, which ones have been checked?" Morgan looked at Alex like a mother looks at a child who will not listen. What could he do?

"I've checked all of them but these two," he indicated the revolver and the shotgun. "Everything looks good in all the others. These two probably just need to be loaded."

"Okay, I'll take care of that. What else needs to be packed?" Morgan was determined to get things finished without the help of Alex.

"Everything is packed. I was just going to double check it all." Alex gestured towards the pile of backpacks and rolls stacked neatly against the adjacent wall.

"Well, if everything is already packed, then there is definitely no reason for you to be here. Go!" And with a motion for Alex to exit the room, Morgan set herself to checking and arming the last of the weapons they would need.

-----

There was surprising little sound that Alex and the others could hear outside. Alex had determined that they would head out through the back door and then through the neighbor's backyard. The pile of bodies at the front of the house would be nearly impossible to navigate around, and Alex was positive that he did not want to submit Gemma to any more horrors than he had to. The men were able to quietly pry boards off of the back fence, opening a large enough gap to allow access to the neighbors back yard.