The Orphans (Book 3): Strangers (10 page)

              Tim said, “So your shopping list for the zombie apocalypse is smokes, beer, and guns?”

              Eric smiled winking, “You got it brother, now let’s grab all your guns and shit and lets get moving.”

              The men made their way around the house collecting all of the ammo that they had collected the last couple days. They filled packs that they could carry with them and when every pocket was full and they looked like they could burst from the seems that was when Tim said, “We need to put the rest of this in the pickup. We don’t want to leave any of it behind.”

              “Christ how much more do you think that we need Tim?” Eric Asked.

              “I think we need all of this and thousand and tens of thousands more. We need food, and warm clothes when winter comes and some kind of kevlar, you saw what happened when they got bit in the alleyway. It took seconds before they turned into one of those things. I don’t know what it is that happens and I don’t have any interest in finding out.”

              Eric interrupted the spiel, “Beer….beer we need beer lots of it probably hard liquor to. God knows that the breweries bless their hearts are gonna have to take a break for a while. Man it would have been cool if we could’ve been stuck in one of those places.”

              Philip and Eric both looked to the ground in sorrow for the stoppage of beer being made. The two might as well have been at a funeral with the compassion they showed in their faces. Tim said, “You guys do realize that we are going to a grocery store right? What I mean is that they have beer and liquor there right? We can get stocked up with enough booze to drink yourselves stupid. We can get enough non perishable foods hopefully to make a stand somewhere? Hell I don’t give a shit if it’s right here as long as we got the supplies that we need and can stay safe and sound.”

              They walked out slowly checking out the side driveway and the back yard. All of tem walked cautiously guns up and relieved when there was nothing on the ground. Eric said, “We are going to need a bigger truck if we’re getting all of these supplies i mean-”

              A single droplet and then a few more droplets of blood hit him in the forehead. He wiped at it seeing the dark red blood smeared on his fingers and hand. A mangled leg dropped in front of him not attached to a body. Eric screamed jumping back under the roofs edge. He had nothing in his gunsights but began firing as fast and rapidly as he could pull the trigger.”

              The bullets punched through the roof sending pieces of wood down into his eyes. The bullets were able to hit the Turned but doing little damage. Had it been able to feel pain it would have thoroughly pissed it off. It leapt off of the roof’s edge landing on the truck’s roof fifteen feet away. It screamed for everything that it had. Pieces of the leg fell from the mouth of Turned. It clenched it’s fists sticking it’s chest out never letting up its cry. Cedric Philip and Eric unleashed hell’s fire on it hitting it dead center in the chest from all three rifles. The force of that many bullets knocked it backwards on the opposite side of the pickup truck and out of view.

              Philip screamed, “Who else is up for getting a new truck? There’s only a few thousand who no longer have got a use for them right? Lets just cut our loses and get out of here. We can just leave man.”

              Tim walked around the side of the truck the Turned was having issues using it’s arm. Tim could see that its elbow had been shot and was no longer making it functional the bone was sticking out the side of its arm. Tim aimed true seeing the elbow and screamed to the rest of the men. “You’ve got to shoot them where it counts or you’re just wasting your fuckin ammo!”

              Cedric yelled, “Yeah we get it Tim we need to shoot them in the head or they won’t stop.”

              Tim shook his head no. “We won’t always be able to hit these things in the head. Especially with these damn shotguns.”

              Cedric screamed, “So what the hell are you trying to say, get to the point before this damn thing tries to kill us…..again”

              Tim pulled the trigger the first blast sending a half inch slug through its knee. It buckled and fell to the ground. For a moment the men looked at it as less than invincible and more like a man. When it growled and pushed up with it’s one good arm remaining trying to balance itself Tim fired again blowing through its spine crippling it. It tried to squirm on the ground. When it did Tim walked up pulling the pistol from his pants as he approached it and put one final shot through its skull.

              The other three men walked around slowly to join Tim and get their first good look at one of the Turned up close and personal. They stared at it in awe for a moment looking at it’s arms. It’s muscles appeared to bulge from it’s skin. When it’s leg twitched the three men jumped back a foot each using one more bullet firing it into the things skull.

              Tim watched smiling trying to hold back a laugh. “Hey guys I think that they, are or he or it whatever the fuck you call it is dead.”

              Philip nudged at it with the barrel of his gun. “Hey you think that they are going to be able to cure these things?”

              Cedric said, “No I kind of think that this one is a lost cause.”

              Philip looked at the brass and shotgun casings on the ground. “We are gonna need to really start saving our ammo.”

              He did some visible math on his fingers as he did he fired up a smoke losing count and having to start over again. The men waited thinking something useful would come from it. He said, “Man we are going to need like a lot bigger truck.”

              Tim shook his head looking at his pickup. “Nope, we don’t need a bigger truck we need a damn bus.”

              Tim was the only one not laughing when he said this. Eric said, “And where do you want to get a bus from?”

              Cedric cut in, “There’s a high school five blocks from here, we are going to go there its a no brainer.”

              Tim shook his head no, “Yeah I kinda think the schools a death trap to try and go to. I do appreciate how close it is to us but.”

              Cedric walked past jumping in the ddriver’s seat. “But nothin get in every minute we waste here is one more we might have needed for something else. Those surivial centers might open up soon. If we aren’t there in time maybe they ain’t gonna let us in.”

              Tim climbed into the passengers seat reluctantly. I think there’s a reason that all those people were wearing the shirts for school.” He waited a three count giving the men the benefit of the doubt that they were all on the same page. He gave up and pointed out to them, “Christ I might be better off alone. The shirts the goddamn clothes these freaks running into the streets for us were coming from the school’s welcome home rally. So I fear that they might still be wandering around there.”

Cedric pumped up his chest gripping the wheel tighter and turning the truck over. “Hey my wife was one of them. Don't be calling them a-”

              “Cedric what would you call someone trying to rip your throat out and eat it?” Tim yelled back in frustration.

              Cedric thought about this and as he thought of more to say he realized the fact that the growling was not the trucks engine He held up a finger to keep quiet there ears were ringing from the gun shots but even over the ringing echoing in their ears he knew that deas was on its way. Philip screamed, “Hey it sounds like those things are near, like really near!”

              Eric and Philip climbed into the back and Cedric slammed it into drive screaming, “Hold on it’s gonna get a little bumpy.”

              When Cedric pulled from the backyard back over to the driveway he punched the gas hard. The engine responded and propelled them down the short driveway. Tim screamed slamming his hand on the dash. “Take it easy on the gas that bar don’t make me rich!”

              “Well what the hell does that mean damn it!?”

              “It means this trucks a piece of shit and if you over work this damn thing we’re going to be on foot and were going to be screwed.”

              Cedric let off of the gas and pulled into the street turning a sharp right ready to head to the school in the quickest route possible. Eric and Philip who were holding on with everything they could with their one free hand, saw the approaching horde of Turned running their way. The gunfire had been as good as a dinner bell to the Turned. Eric and Philip screamed “LEFT LEFT TURN LEFT CEDRIC!”

Cedric who was already turning right saw what the men were screaming about and the bloody mob approaching. He yanked the steering wheel to the left bringing the truck up to full speed. Its left side went into the air and when the tires hit asphalt again he gunned the engine. They raced up the hill every knowing every second could mean life and death. They put as much distance as they could and made their way to the side of town where the school was located at.

Tim yelled through the back window, “Philip you see anything back there?”

Philip shook his head no and realized no one could see him doing that from the trucks cab. “No Tim I don’t see anything now. I think we are in the clear.”

Eric yelled, “Are you stupid man? You don’t ever yell dumbshit like that out when things are going well.”

The rest of the way to the school they had driven slowly without any further issues. The men were thankful that they hadn’t any further run ins with the Turned. As they drove through the residential sections of homes they began taking in the carnage that had been taking place the last few days while they had been holding up at Cedrics and collecting supplies from the homes around it. They saw the cars had been either parked and left open with blood trails heading into homes or in some cases people had never made it inside and there had not been enough of the people attempting to escape to be Turned. In some yards bodyparts simply littered the yards. When they thought the ride would be uneventful was when windows behind them started to explode. The men raced out of the residential neighborhoods the Turned bloody and hungry raced madly after them. Philip screamed, “What the fuck is going on, where are these things coming from?”

Eric yelled, “Dude they’re in the houses! I think it is the noise that attracts them.”

Philip said, “That’s stupid” He raised the rifle waiting for a patch of road that did not make him bounce wildly in the back of the pickup truck. He sighted in on the closest of the Turned and fired a string of shots taking out many of the Turned, their fallen bodies fell to the ground and tripped the the other pursuers behind them. With every shot it seemed that more of them came from nowhere.

              Eric tapped him on the shoulder, “Dude if the sounds aren’t bringing them then why do more come out every time you fire that gun.”

              Philip realized as little as he wanted to that he was right and quit his slew of firing. He knew that the one he was taking out was not worth the five that he was getting in chase in return for his actions. Eric said, “If we’re gonna do this regularly we are gonna have to figure out a way to do this quietly. I don’t know how were going to handle this.”

Philip said, “Well we sure as hell aren’t going to have a lot of time to figure shit out are we?”

Eric leaned back shaking a couple smokes free and passed one to Philip. “The biggest problem I think besides you know the entire world going to shit. There isn’t a way we can just kill these things easily.”

“I know but at the same time what if they can cure them?”

“Philip if they are trying to eat me, well then I think that i’m ok with some of them not being cured if it’s going to be a do or die situation.”

The two nodded both in silent agreement that they would definitely be survivors regardless of what they needed to do to make that happen. They kept the firearms down and because of it they saw no more Turned after they had put enough distance between the following horde.

              As they approached their final turns they could se the school from a distance. Cedric parked the truck taking his field glasses and scanning the schools grounds. He saw the buses that they were praying for to be in running and ready condition and his hopes faded. Cedric counted the three buses that the school had seeing they were either crashed on their sides, burned, or a combination of the two. All appeared to have been painted in blood recently, the brushes were bodies and they’d been left on the ground beside it torn to pieces. The blood painted the ground as well.

              Tim tapped Cedric on the shoulder, “So hey man, how does it look?”

              “Like hell.”

              “That’s not very useful Cedric. I was kind of wondering if we could go down there without….you know having our heads ripped off.”

              “Sorry but there are bodies everywhere that are missing heads and limbs. I’ve never seen so much blood in my life. We can go down there i’d say whatever was there has moved on. But those school buses are shot, I don’t think we could even repair the damn things.”

              Tim snapped for the binoculars wanting to see for himself to verify they were in a state of disarray and truly wouldn't be useable. After he got his look he had wished he’d have just taken Cedric’s word for it. He had seen seen horrible, horrible things during times of war but those memories that at times were his worst nightmares would have to fight these scenes for his attention during his sleep. “Yeah those buses are screwed, you got any other ideas?”