Dead Hunger III: The Chatsworth Chronicles (10 page)

Or recreated them.

Why did I let my mind go like this?  If Charlie knew it worked like this, she’d slap the shit out of me, and of that I have no doubt.  She is not a defeatist, and she sees this sort of thought process as seeing it all as insurmountable.

But I don’t see it that way.  I’m excited at each
opportunity to kill
more of these
abominations, thus r
educing the percentage of advantage they have over us
through
their sheer numbers.

We are faster, better equipped to kill, and far more alert.  There is nothing they can do better than us.

At least I don’t believe so.  I still hadn’t figured out the gas entirely.  The pink haze, or fog, or whatever the hell it was.  Thanks to Charlie and my experiments, we knew it emitted from the tear ducts, and I believe it is a bi-product of the gas and decomposition.

But is it more?  Is it some sort of offensive mechanism?  Here I go again.

“Baby?”

Charlie was staring at me.

“Yeah?”

“I saw you.”

I smiled.  “Saw me doing what?”

“Chewing the inside of your cheek.”

“I’m hungry.”

“You’re thinking.  About everything.  Aren’t you?”

“It’s what I do, Charlie.”

“I know.  Give me the latest.”

“Okay,” I said.  “I’m just wondering if all of this is by some strange design.  Maybe it was all in the cards all along.  Creation.  Evolution.  Whatever.  We’re here.  Now the gas.  It’s here.  What it’s doing is undeniable.  The abilities these things seem to have.  Ability to smell brains, for Christ’s sake.  The ability to knock people out with a gas that emits from their tear ducts.  The ability to –”

Sobbing from behind us interrupted my words.  Charlie turned, then disappeared behind me.

“Kimberly, don’t worry.  We’ll protect you, and we’ll teach you how to protect yourselves.  It’s going to be okay.”

Her tears continued, and I think I heard her sisters crying along with her.

“I’m sorry for my lack of consideration. 
I
tend to
think out loud, and I’m sorry.  You need more time to digest our approach to this
situation
.  I’ll be more considerate.”

“Thank you,” came a weak voice from behind me.  Then two more.

Charlie was back beside me.  She took my arm again and looked at me, smiling.

She leaned over and kissed my cheek
, whispering, “If I’d have just let you roil over it in your head, that wouldn’t have happened.  I’m sorry
.
”

I
smiled at her and
drove in silence, my mind running over a hundred and one scenarios.

Some good, but most of them tiresome.

****

Concord
was to be upon us in just three hours, but nightfall was coming, we were all exhausted, and we had to stop.  We’d agreed that
a daylight arrival
was far preferable to a nighttime arrival
, especially if they had road barriers set up, which was likely if the survival rate was what I hoped
.

As was our practice
,
when we arrived in
Albany
,
NY
, we looked for a
secure building in which to
stay.  It presented itself off exit 2 at the
Port
of
Albany
.  A Waste Management building, all steel with two nice, big bay doors wasn’t exactly visible from the highway, but several
other less desirable buildings
were, and that’s how we found this
one
.  Using my lock picking skills, we accessed the buildings and found them to be deserted.  All the vehicles fit inside, and we even found some cases of water and a warm refrigerator full of moldy sodas.

And
something that had been strangely absent since this thing had begun, rats.  All dead, and almost in a pile.  They were concentrated in
one far corner of the warehouse like puppies in a litter
cuddled together sleeping
.  I wasn’t sure how long ago they’d died, but they didn’t appear
to be
decomposed yet, and there was no severe odor beyond what you might expect
to exist
in a waste management warehouse.

We tossed a tarp we found over them and kept the kids away from the area.
  It was only one night.

That night
,
while the
other refugees
slept like the dead once did, Flex, Gem, Charlie and I sat in the front area of the lab, speaking quietly so as not to awaken the three ladies who had made the mobile lab their temporary sleeping quarters. 

“So,” said Gem.  “Big day tomorrow, huh?”

“The biggest so far,” said Flex.

“I’m excited about it,” said Charlie.  “Got a good feeling.”

“I’m apprehensive,” I said.  “But that’s to be expected, I suppose.  I feel a bit of pressure for leading us in this direction.”

“We had to go, Hemp,” said Gem.  “
If this doesn’t pan out, we think of something else.  Meanwhile, we kill off some of the walking dead, maybe spread the word about urushiol and what it does to them.”

Flex arched his back in a big stretch, and opened his mouth in a yawn big enough to match.  He laughed softly.

“I’m fuckin’ beat,” he said.  “Feel like I’ve been driving for a month.”

“It’s all the running,” I said.

“Are we running?” asked Gem.

“It feels like we are, doesn’t it?” said Charlie.  “But I know we’re not; we’re advancing, not retreating.  That’s the way I see it.”

Gem was sitting in the passenger captain’s chair and it was turned around, along with the driver’s seat, to face the larger area behind them.  Charlie was on her stool, I was in the driver’s seat, and Flex was plopped down on the floor, leaning against the cabinets.

Gem put her arm around Charlie and pulled her in for a quick hug.  “I dig your attitude.  If these ladies weren’t sleeping, I’d throw the Back in Black CD in for you.

“You do love me,” said Charlie, smiling.

“I need to hit the hay,” said Flex. 

They
had made their sleeping arrangements
on a queen-sized inflatable mattress just outside the motorhome.  They had two sleeping bags from the church that they’d zipped together, and it looked pretty comfortable.  We were entering Fall now, and we were far enough north that the weather was beginning to
turn colder.  I wasn’t absolutely sure, but I believed it was around October 22nd, and it would be getting worse from this point forward.

If there wasn’t anything promising up north, then we might all find ourselves full circle back in
Florida
for the winter.

“Okay,” said Flex.  “Let’s crash, get up early, load up on grub and hit the road.
  I’d love to pull into
Concord
before noon and give us plenty of daylight to explore.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Charlie.  “Babe, expand the dinette and let’s get horizontal.”

“Do you want all of me horizontal, or is there any particular area that you would like to remain vertical?”

“Oh, my God, get a room,” said Gem, trying to suppress her laugh
as she and Flex opened the narrow door. 
Then she whispered,
“See you tomorrow.  Don’t let the zombies bite.”

I nodded toward a spray bottle sitting on the counter.  “Absolutely not, Gem.  It’s why I keep my special blend close at hand.  Got yours?”

“We do,” said Gem.  “Tickles the shit outta me that all we have to do is give the bastards a little mist
ing
and it takes the fight right out of ‘em.”

“One eye open,” I said.  “If they get you with
their
mist first
, you’re not spraying anything.”

“Buzzkill,
”
said Flex.

“Night,” I said.

They stepped down and closed the door with a soft click.  I didn’t lock it.  I wanted them to be able to get back in with no delays if needed.

I wanted to make love to Charlie so bad it was distracting me. 
Unfortunately
,
with this guest list it wasn’t possible, so I held her to me and we just enjoyed the closeness and warmth of our skin against one another.  It would have to do for now.

This was my wife.  I know I mentioned that we got married, right?  On this very trip?

Her breath grew steady, even as I stroked her back with my fingers.  I rested my chin on her head and that smile returned to my face.

That smile that meant I loved this woman and no matter what we faced, I wanted to face it with her beside me.

****

The next morning we fired up an emergency generator in the facility and found it to be running top notch.  It allowed us some lights and a microwave, and we even found some more canned foods in a small area used as a break room.  So far
,
all the expiry dates were well in the future, so we could be eating Dennison’s Chili and Libby’s vegetables for years to come.

The smell of food cooking was glorious.  The small microwave that remained in the mobile lab was fine, but the two-burner electric stove allowed us to make a pot of food that filled the metal warehouse with the aroma of the old days.

Neither Charlie nor I could stand it any longer.  We had to have our family back for just a short while, and because we’d all been required to drive, we couldn’t ride together.

So
,
we relegated the three sisters to the Crown Vic with Cynthia and Taylor, which wasn’t even a tight fit with that car, and Todd drove the big pickup. 
Rory
and
Pete
offered to ride with him, which worked out just fine.

Slider rode with us in the mobile lab.  He was growing into quite a big pup, and he was like glue at Gem’s side.  I know she’d mentioned he was her boy in her chronicles, and I can verify that.  As much as Slider was attached to Gem, Bunsen had taken to Charlie and often seemed desperate to be where she was.

Both dogs were curled up together sleeping to the sway of the behemoth motor home, and Gem had the wheel for the final leg of the journey into
Concord
.

So we had
some space in the motor home, but just barely.

Flex sat in the passenger seat with his seat halfway spun toward the back, with Trina practically laying down in his lap.  The seat belt was stretched over both of them. 

Not likely one hundred percent legal by old standards, but Gem kept her speed down in case
we happened upon
any roadway obstructions, so it wasn’t a problem in our eyes.

Me, Trina, Flex, Gem, our dogs, and Charlie.
  The old gang.

Our family.  I really felt that.

We’d
taken a far more rural route through
,
and
had
seen several distant hordes of zombies and even more dog packs out there.  Luckily, we didn’t run
headlong
into very many, and our need to open up with our weapons was minimal.

Dave was driving the school bus
, and while he’d been bringing up the rear initially, at
Rory
’s suggestion, we put the Chevy crew cab in the rear in case the bus had any mechanical issues.  The pickup was almost new, so we didn’t worry about that, and while the bus appeared to run well, there were too many people riding in it not to have some protection.  We’d already mounted a gun and cow catcher on the pickup, so we felt good about having a fortified vehicle at both ends.

The turrets on the mobile lab still sported guns, because while we felt
adding some
urushiol jets would be very effective, we hadn’t had time to engineer all that
just yet.

I already knew what I was going to do, and Gem had even sketched out the plans, but so far the
gun turrets would
have to do.

Everyone had two-ways in their vehicles in case something went wrong, so we were a pretty content convoy and I think everyone was anxious to get to
Concord
and see what the situation was.  The population was only around 46,000, so at worst, if the percentages held out as I earlier predicted, we’d have
fewer than
42,000 zombies to contend with.

But we weren’t in the clear yet, and all hell broke loose an hour outside of
Concord
.

“Hemp!  Flex!  Do you read?”

It was Dave Gammon’s voice over the radio.  “Stop!”