Slow Burn: A Zombie Novel (41 page)

Still pacing, I watched the group of guards, hoping that what I was saying set in. I knew that we would not be staying here much longer and their survival after we left depended on what I was saying.

“
I don’t know how long it takes to turn, but if one of them bites you, just be assured I will not hesitate to kill you myself. It isn’t personal, it’s just survival. My friends and I have traveled a long way battling these zombies every inch, and I refuse to die because someone else does some dumb shit that gets us all killed."

Stopping for a drink of water, I then continued my lecture.

"Another thing we have learned is sound attracts them. Also, when one shows up it is like they send out a signal that food is to be had or something, and more are always close behind.”

I could see the mood of the group was growing tenser. I turned and lifted my M4 in one move, and fired three quick shots, taking three zombies, all in the skull. The infected dropped in mid-moan and remained still. The one remaining infected didn’t even try to escape.

I pointed to three of the new guards. “You three, go bash its head in. You folks need to see what it takes to do it by hand.”

All three paled visibly, but did as told and climbed onto the hood of an old Chevy Caprice and began whacking wildly at the zombie standing below. What they lacked in skill they more than made up in enthusiasm. After both of its arms were broken in several places and most of its teeth knocked out, they managed to inflict enough head damage to destroy whatever makes it function. Breathing hard, they all turned back with shit eating grins and gave each other high fives.

“
A little messy but I like your dedication to finishing the job,” I commended as I pointed to the several dozen creatures that were shambling right towards us in the roadway. ”Now do it again.”

* * * * * * * *

Across the safe zone, life for many survivors became a bit of a routine, maybe even comfortable. Firemen could be seen washing their trucks on a daily basis and a poker game had been running for sixteen hours straight in one of the gymnasiums. Piles of now worthless cash lay on the table. Not nearly enough security and supply work was being done, and this was worrying Stephen. A fuel run had been made to keep the generators running but the water pressure at the school was worsening and Stephen knew a raid needed to be assembled soon to check on the pumping station. And that was just at the top of Stephen’s long list. With so much work to be done, now was not the time for fun. He had been running all day and was now spending his free time in the ambulance helping Mattie pack.

Mattie threw the items she held in her hands down in frustration.

“
I don’t know what to pack!” she said, throwing her hands up in frustration. “What’s a bug out bag anyway?”

Stephen leaned over and picked up the backpack and spare clothing that she threw down.

“
Listen, all you need to pack is whatever you think you might need to use over a three day span,” he explained.

“
Why only pack three days’ worth?”

“
A Bug out Bag – or B.O.B. – was designed for if you needed to flee your home, with the idea that your destination should be within a radius of how far you could go in three days, hoping that whatever made you leave was not as bad as where you were trying to get to.”

“
That makes sense I guess," she replied, "but it won’t take three days to reach the prison.”

Stephen shook his head. “We don’t know that. The drawbridges over the river might be up, or we might have to hole up somewhere. The zombies between here and the prison might be too thick to make it, and we may have to go elsewhere for now.”

“
I see, so a lot of food, water and ammo.”

“
Basically yes, throw in a change of clothes and personal hygiene stuff,” Stephen suggested.

Since most of their personal belongings and weapons were loaded onto the school bus Dan had taken, they didn’t have much in the way of personal property left. Stephen didn’t have much to do other than help Mattie pack, and he leaned against the interior wall of the ambulance, his attention distracted by what he saw.

Mattie rattled on about how horrible this all was, but Stephen didn’t catch a word of it, as he had a most excellent view down her shirt. As luck would have it, that’s all she had on up top. That is, besides a little gold locket that was resting in the most perfect location.

Mattie paused after she realized she was doing all the talking and looked up at Stephen, who didn’t notice she had gone silent. A few seconds ticked by and it finally dawned on him that she was watching him look down her shirt and that he had been caught red handed. This was after he had frequently yelled at Dan for the same offense.

Stephen gave a little cough. “Uh, I got to go help Mike with his demonstration.” At that he exited from the truck and then ran even faster when her laughter followed him out the doors.

* * * * * * * *

Watching the latest wave of infected come into decent rifle range, I told Jack to give the order for those that were good shots to start thinning the herd.

Shots cracked out and echoed off into the distance. The shuffling horde continued to inch its way closer, forever undeterred.

Clicking the selector switch to semi-auto, I began helping out, rapidly burning through the first magazine. As I slapped the bolt forward on the next, I noticed Stephen had joined the party.

“
I miss anything, Mike?”

I looked over at him over the stock of my rifle. “Yeah, while you were gone, a terrible virus began to turn people into mindless cannibals.”

“
Very funny asshole,” he countered, and began shooting, putting the Aimpoint reticle on their heads and squeezing the trigger while trying to match my tally of infected before they were all decimated.

Finally, as the last of them went down, a ragged cheer went up. Jack was walking our way with a huge smile, which quickly turned into a frown as two familiar figures intercepted him.

“
A fantastic victory, Captain. I never doubted that you would prevail,” Councilman Lewis crowed.

Sgt. Henderson, slightly out of breath from the brisk walk, pulled up his falling pants. “Yes indeed, fine victory.”

“
See you back at the ambulance, Mike,” Stephen said and took off.

“
Leaving me hanging again?” I responded, but he was already gone.

Jack stopped by me and shook Lewis’s hand. “It would have been rough if Mike and Stephen had not shown the men their knowledge of zombie warfare tactics. I think we would have been finished days ago without their help.”

Lewis frowned. “Well, we are fortunate to have them, aren’t we? It’s a shame two of their cohorts left and stole some of our supplies. Well, keep up the good work men.”

Lewis did an about face and almost collided with Sgt. Henderson who was standing at attention right behind him.

“
Will you get out of my way, you idiot?” he hissed through clenched teeth then stalked off with Sgt. Henderson in tow.

“
I think your boss is stuck with the idea that he is running for office not fighting for his life,” I mentioned to Jack, who shook his head in frustration.

I grabbed ahold of his shoulder and stopped him from leaving.

“
Listen, Jack, soon you’re going to have a real problem on your hands.”

“
What else could go wrong now?”

I pointed out into the killing field at the pile of fresh corpses. “If the infected keep coming at us at this rate, it won’t be long until the pile of bodies begin to make a ramp for them to walk right up and into our perimeter. The walls here are not as high as to the south, and we don’t have any extra cars left inside the perimeter to stack up.”

Jack’s face went white as it dawned on him what I was talking about. “Oh shit…any ideas?”

“
What about the front end loader?” I asked. “With it we could scoop the corpses up and pile them elsewhere for disposal. This should actually have already been done to stop diseases.”

“
Sadly, that is not an option. We ran out of diesel today, and Councilman Lewis has refused to authorize another fuel run.”

I looked at Jack in shock. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“
I’m afraid not, friend. Since your group arrived, Lewis has been acting really weird," he replied. "As if he was thinking you were trying to oust him from his position of authority.”

“
I’ll get to the bottom of this,” I said. I’d heard enough. “Where’s he headed now?”

“
Probably back to his office with his cronies, where it is safe,” Jack replied. “They spend a lot of time up there and as you guessed, keep all the best food and other goodies for themselves. Have him hand over more ammo and firearms as well. We’re running short on both.”

Jack was giving me the ammo count when he stopped talking and stared to the west. Sure enough, the field was filling with fresh zombies.

“
They must finally be running out of other places to eat,” Jack said dryly.

I turned and jogged back over to the ambulance where Stephen and Mattie were joking about Stephen's hasty retreat from the ambulance earlier.

“
Hey you two, pay attention. You might have to head back to the barrier wall sooner than you want to. There’s been a steady stream of those infected bastards all day. It appears to be picking up again already."

“
How bad is it?” Stephen asked.

“
Worse than you think,” I replied. “And right when we need more of everything around here.”

I detailed how the ammo supply for the guards was low with the main bulk of it still under Lewis’ control. I also filled him in about the corpses piling up and the front end loader being out of fuel. As the list went on, Stephen’s eyes just got bigger with disbelief.

“
What the hell is that idiot thinking?” he said. “We have tried to avoid and ignore him, but nothing has changed. Remember that entire diesel stockpile sitting at the armory a few blocks away?"

“
Don’t remind me,” I said sadly. "Like all dictators, he’s willing to trade lives for power."

Jogging down the main hall running through the upstairs of the school, I noticed three or four of the cops I used to work with outside of Lewis’ office. They were all smoking cigarettes and got real quiet as I walked up. I attempted to enter the office, and the oldest one, Marvin, put a hand on my chest to stop me. Looking first down at his pudgy hand, I then looked him in the eye.

“
You might want move your hand while it still works," I growled at him.

“
Um...sorry Mike... you can’t go—”

“
Save it, Marvin. Now move or I’ll open the door with your face.”

For an old man, Marvin could jump.

I pushed the door open and first thing I saw was Sgt. Henderson reclining in a chair with his feet on the desk next to him.

Lewis was reading a report of some sort trying to look busy.

“
Jack needs more ammo, and hand out the surplus firearms to the refugees,” I said. “We really need the extra help today.”

“
Absolutely not,” Lewis said. “I will not have a bunch of trigger happy rednecks shooting at everything that moves. The perimeter has been holding fine."

Glancing over his shoulder, I observed through an open door a supply room that was once a teacher’s lounge filled with some of the items I was requesting, stacked up in neat rows.

“
I don’t have time for this bullshit,” I said and started to move around the desk.

Lewis, face purple with rage at my lack of respect for his authority, started to stand in protest.

“
You’re not going anywhere assho–!”

That was as far as he got before my fist was introduced to the spot between his eyes. The sound of crackling nose cartilage and him slamming back into his seat hard enough to spill him over backwards was sweet indeed. Sgt. Henderson made it as far as putting his feet onto the floor to get up to intervene but sat back down as I turned to him.

“
Just sit there and make sure he doesn’t choke on his own blood.” Lewis’ eyes were rolled up in his head and he was snoring loudly. I bolted into the next room and grabbed two large metal .50 caliber ammo cans and started for the outer door. Seeing Marvin and the others, I shoved the cans into his hands and told him to take them out to Jack at the west perimeter tower. Not waiting for a reply, I ran back and grabbed two more of the large metal cans. Looking around the room, I saw that Lewis had managed to save a lot of the good stuff for himself. High end liquor, cigars and food stuffs all set aside for himself. I would have to deal with that later.

I handed off several more cans to the others in the hallway, and by the time I got the remaining ammo out to the perimeter myself, I was puffing and out of breath. I dropped the ammo cans next to Jack, and he looked at me with a raised eyebrow.