Infected: They Will Eat You!: A Story of Family Survival in a Zombie Apocalypse (28 page)

“We have guests.” I said to Christine as I got out of the SUV.

“That’s what Caleb said.”

“Hi mommy.” Jesse greeted as he walked past her toward the RV smiling. “Is breakfast ready?”

“Not yet honey.”

“I’m hungry.” he said and entered the RV.

Christine and I walked toward Randy and Sarah as they approached. “Stop.” I instructed.

“Caleb, see anything? I called up.

After a moment Caleb yelled down “Nothing.”

“Stay there and watch out ‘till breakfast.”

“OK, can Jesse come up too?”

“I’ll send him up. Just keep an eye out.”

I turned my attention to the couple standing 30 yards away. “If there is any trouble I will not hesitate to put you down as if you were one of the infected.” I warned, “Do you both understand?”

“We understand.” Randy answered.

“This is my wife Christine, Caleb is up top, Jesse is looking for food. You guys hungry….thirsty?”

“Yes.” answered Sarah.

“Would you like some coffee?” asked Christine.

“That would be great.” answered Sarah.

“Yes it would.” agreed Randy.

“I’ll get you some.” said Christine.

“Jesse, bring some chairs.” I called out.

In a moment Jesse had four chairs set up and Christine had coffee served. I sent Jesse up with snacks to keep Caleb company while I finished making breakfast and Christine visited with the couple. They seemed harmless, refugees like us, but we knew letting our guard down could mean someone ended up dead.

When breakfast was ready the boys came down and we ate and talked. Randy and Sarah had been camping when the infection hit the U. S. and by the time they heard about it and gotten home Freemont was nearly deserted. Most of the population had been moved to FEMA Camps the few who hid out and stayed were either infected or shooting at anything that moved. They decided to make their way to Salt Lake City where they both had family.

“Fresh eggs!” said Sarah, “we’ve been eating dry cereal for weeks.”

“We picked up chickens in Illinois.” said Caleb.

“They don’t lay much while we’re driving but when we stop they should lay a lot.” added Jesse.

“You Mormon?” I asked.

“Yes.” Randy answered.

“There’s a chance people around Salt Lake could be safe. You’d at least know the area and there’d be food stored up.” I said.

“That’s what we thought,” Randy replied, “we both have family property in the mountains and can live there for quite a while. And our family and friends would be there.”

“Although the Amish are a segregated community and they didn’t fare any better than anyone else that we saw.” I said.

“Jeffrey! That’s not very nice.” Christine chastised.

“It’s OK,” Sarah said, “We know there is a chance what we find will be no different than anywhere else.”

“Where are you headed?” asked Randy.

“West, North….not positive. Maybe Washington, go out on an island. Maybe the mountains around here. When it feels right we’ll stop.” I had an idea where we were going but didn’t think sharing too much was necessary.

We sat and ate and talked for an hour. It was pleasant having someone new to
visit
with. Christine was especially enjoying female company.

It was 10:30 before we finished and got packed up. “It’s late.” I said, “This was nice but we should have been on the road hours ago.”

“This was great,” Sarah said, “we haven’t seen a living person since we left for camping.”

“We haven’t seen many and those we did see we didn’t want to speak with.” Christine said.

“Yeah, they were shooting people.” added Jesse.

“You guys get ready to go.” I instructed the boys. They walked off talking about people being alive in the world and how many there may be.

“Do you guys need any food or water?” Christine asked the couple.

“We’re almost out of water.” Sarah answered.

“We have some canned food but not much.” added Randy.

“We’ll get some supplies for you.” Christine said.

“Jesse, grab the white paint and a brush and come with me.” I called, “I’m going to borrow your car for a few minutes. I’ll gas it up at that truck stop.

“Caleb, come.” I put my arm around Caleb’s shoulders and walked him to their car. “Get your rifle and stay to the side watching them and all around. I think it’s OK but I’m taking Jesse and I don’t want to come back and find a problem. Understand?”

He nodded.

“I’ll tell mommy. She’ll stack the things for them over there by the car. I’ll be back in 10 minutes or so.”

With that Jesse and I put a box of provisions in the SUV and drove back to the hay bales where we tucked them under some loose hay and painted a cross on a board that we secured to a bale. We then drove to the truck stop, filled the gas tank with the hand pump and went back to the overpass.

“Put our mark on that pillar then stow the paint away.” I said to Jesse.

“All OK?” I asked Caleb as I walked to him.

“Yep.” he said.

“Good, let’s get their car loaded and get going.”

-——————————————

We had agreed to travel together since we were both heading west on 80. We’d be passing Cheyenne and Laramie, two fairly large communities, having extra eyes may come in handy.

Our trip was uneventful, seeing no infected as we drove between towns and only small groups around communities. The hills made travel slow and our late start combined with more frequent stops to “stretch” and chat made the day drag on, but Christine and the others appeared to enjoy each other’s company. I wanted to make better time.

It was late afternoon when we approached Rawlins, Wyoming.

“Let’s pull over at this exit coming up, over.” I said into the radio.

“Roger.” answered Caleb.

“Roger.” said Sarah. We had offered them a radio so we could all keep in touch. Christine and Sarah had spent talked on it all through the day.

We exited the highway at Sinclair and pulled to a stop. A truck stop to the right with a dozen or so trucks we could use for refueling. It was also a good distance from town and other buildings and a possible resting place for the night.

“Jesse, get up top and start clearing that truck stop if needed. I’ll get Caleb to help.” I said.

The two of them downed eight infected in the parking lot and two in the building. They were proud of the shots they made through the windows, I wasn’t.

“Quietly guys!” I called up.

“The noise will bring any we can’t see in the open.” said Caleb.

“OK, as long as you don’t make too much noise. We don’t want the whole town coming out.”

It took a few more minutes for the boys to draw out five more infected and put an end to them. We got in our vehicles and drove into the parking lot. I could see three infected inside the building, three quick
phut’s
as we walked to the door took care of them.

“You guys don’t seem afraid of those things.” Randy said trailing the boys and me.

“Nope.” answered Caleb.

“Not really, we’ve studied them and have learned what to watch for.” I said, “That doesn’t mean we aren’t careful, we are very careful, we just have an understanding of their habits and have a system of dealing with them.”

“These are old, see how dark they are.” Jesse observed.

“They move slower than new ones.” added Caleb.

“Old?” questioned Randy.

“They have been infected a long time, probably three weeks or so.” I explained, “If they are light grey they have recently turned…”

“And move faster than older ones.” inserted Jesse.

“The darker grey the older and slower.” I finished.

“They are attracted by sound mainly and movement and maybe smell.” Caleb said.

“Stay at least 50 feet from them and be quiet and they don’t know you’re there.” added Jesse.

“Then there are the other things.” warned Caleb.

“Other things?” Randy asked.

“They’re different, they move fast, they smell different, almost sweet in a putrid sort of way. They aren’t mindless like these.” I started to explain.

“They have red eyes and hunt you.” Caleb added.

“Yeah, we’ve run into them twice.” I continued, “The first time a pack seemed to be hunting us and setting up an ambush on a golf course. The other time we saw one staring at us from inside a grocery store.”

“They were hunting you?” Randy seemed startled.

“Like a pack of wolves hunt its prey. We were just jogging to get home and all of a sudden there they were running around us, jumping out of hiding…..we were shooting and running not thinking anything of it until later. It was dark. It was daytime when we saw the other one but it was in a dark grocery store looking out.” I explained.

“They like the dark.” Jesse said.

“Apparently.” I agreed, “We’re more careful to be in a safe place at night.”

We had been talking while checking the truck stop. There were no nasty’s left that we found but there were cases of water and sports drinks and foods that were still usable.

“You guys load up on whatever you want.” I said to Randy, “I want to check some of these trucks.”

I hadn’t thought about what treasures we may find but seeing a Safeway trailer gave me an idea. I shot off the lock on the trailer, opened the doors and found it half full.

“If you don’t like what you find in there maybe you’ll find something in here.” I called to the others inside the truck stop.

It took over two hours for us to pick through the trailer and truck stop. Randy and Sarah had a car full of food and drinks, we crammed every space we had in our trailer with canned and dry goods then we shut the trailer doors, the boys made our mark on its side and we started preparing dinner.

“We’ve been afraid to go into buildings or near towns.” Sarah said, “This was wonderful.”

“You just have to be careful and know what you’re dealing with.” I said, “It’s the living that we have had to watch out for more than the infected.”

“Your wife told us about what you had to do. We’ve worried about that as well.” Randy said.

“Living are more unpredictable, that’s why our caution when we met you.” I said, “It’s getting late and we need to be on the road early tomorrow. You are heading west?”

“Yeah.” Randy answered, “We’ll take 80 to Salt Lake City.”

“Then tomorrow we will say goodbye, we head north.” I said.

We said our good nights and went to our vehicles and to sleep. In the morning after a quick breakfast we said goodbye and headed our separate ways. It had been nice having others around. It was encouraging to find living people who were not trying to kill you. The first few miles after we split felt empty.

“Do you think we’ll see them again?” asked Caleb who was riding with me in the RV.

“Not sure. Unlikely, but you never know.” I answered.

“I hope they find their family.” he said then walked back to a bunk and lay down with a book.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“She’s a thing of beauty.” I said, “I’ve spent over a year thinking about this tank.”

“Hurry” Christine ordered, “I don’t think this is a good idea but let’s do it if we’re going to.”

“Do you know how to drive it daddy?” Jesse asked.

“What if it doesn’t start?” Caleb asked.

“Uh, not yet and let’s just hope it does.” I answered.

“I’m getting cold.” complained Jesse.

“That’s because we’re just standing and not working.” I said, “I’ll check inside, you guys watch out.”

“Why is it here?” queried Jesse looking around.

“Looks like there are busses and more army trucks down there,” Caleb said pointing south, “Maybe it was protecting them.”

“That’s the university,” I started to say climbing onto the tank, “they may have been using it as a headquarters or housing people there…..Nothing inside.” I said looking around inside the tank, “I’ll see if I can figure out how to start it.”

“I see those things Jack talked about.” Caleb added.

“Really?” I stood up and looked in the direction he was pointing.

“Hey, we came for this thing.” Christine chastised.

“Yeah, but…” I started.

“Let’s get going.” she ordered.

“Mommy, you sound like daddy.” Jesse said with a smile.

“OK,” I said, “let’s see if this beast will start.”

It took fifteen minutes to figure out where things were but once I figured out how to power it up starting the tank was no problem. It started with a belch of black smoke and increasing whir of the turbo engine. I poked my head out the turret and saw my family had backed away from the tank and was holding their ears. I went back and turned off the tank and exited.

“Well that works.” I said.

“That’s too loud.” Jesse said with wide eyes.

“Yeah, there are headsets inside.” I informed them.

“Can we go now?” Christine asked hopefully.

“Let’s check out the other things.” I answered.

“But we came for this!” she said pointing at the tank.

“We’ll get it,” I said, “but let’s see what else there is.”

She wasn’t happy with this trip in general and was getting more irritated the longer it drug out. We started walking toward the vehicles five blocks away. The infected we found stood like statues, frozen. “I wonder if they will thaw in the spring.” Caleb said as we passed a group of three.

“Maybe, probably.” I said.

“This would be a great time to kill them.” observed Jesse.

His statement stopped me in my tracks. “Yes it would.”

“We came for the tank.” Christine said with a bit of heat in her voice.

“We’ll get the tank but Jesse’s right,” I started, “we should plan a time to work on clearing some of the larger towns like we did around us. That would help reduce number of them wondering into our area.”

“Not now, I’m ready to go home. I don’t like it here.” she said.

We spent a few minutes looking at the other vehicles and then walked back to the tank.

“I’d like to move the armored vehicle outside of town so it’s easier to get later,” I said, “then we’ll head home with the tank. We’ll take it to that farm we pass about ten miles outside of town.”

“I don’t like it here.” she said and started walking.