The Orphans (Book 3): Strangers (16 page)

Jenn said, “What more wood and more wood to clear? Yes I see lots of wood.”

Kya laughed and Jenn said, “Kya don’t be dirty you know exactly what i’m talking about.”

Ellie laughed but it was just a natural reaction trying to be one of the girls. She typically didn’t go out of her way for anyone to like her but she knew friends would be limited. She said, “No really over there do you see that? I don’t think it is a good thing.”

Jenn dropped her saw walking to the edge of the timber where she was standing and peered into the distance making it two girls who culdn’t see anything. Jenn said, “What is it you think you see over there?”

Kya said, “You know what it looks like to me?”

Ellie said, “Yeah i know what it looks like. I think it looks just like a damn blurry blind spot.”

Kya said, “Nah it isn’t that, it looks like a dust cloud. You guys don’t have dust storms here do you? I mean what the hell is that?”

Ellie thought about the dust storm, thinking of the videos she’d seen of Arizona where you couldn’t even be outside during them and the translation into her thoughts couldn’t make it fit. After a minute she thought about the millions of times she’d seen a car driving down a gravel road and thought about the dust trail that it would produce. She realized instantly it was a car coming or a vehicle of some sort. She got a rush of adrenaline surging through her bones thinking that Shaun and them were back already with supplies and hoping everyone returned safely. She could already see Shaun jumping off the truck and seeing the shimmer in his eyes when the two of them locked onto each other.

Ellie ran up towards the gravel road that met the house leaving the two girls behind. Jenn shook her head just a bit jealous that she didn’t have someone that she could be that excited to see. She did however want to see Jordan back safe and sound but that was a entirely different care to have for someone. Kya said, “Oh wow Ellie has got it bad for him doesn’t she? Which one was Shaun again?”

Jenn watched as Ellie disappeared around the treeline shaking her head. “He’s the one that Ellie doesn’t take her eyes off of for one second. If I were you I would go after someone else if you are that worried about having a boy.”

“I’ll be ok I just figured that he must be something special if she is that worried about him.”

“I guess time will tell won’t it. I wonder how much stuff they got? I would think it would have been a lot right? I mean they’ve gotta have a stockpile of like - everything.”

They worked slow staring at the treeline expecting to see the group coming back. What they saw sent shivers through them. Ellie came back around the treeline and she was not walking she was sprinting for everything that she had. She was sprinting without looking anywhere but the path in front of her. She cupped her hands over her mouth screaming, “Grab the guns, grab the guns and run!”

The two girls just stared for a moment walking forward stopping their work. They saw the urgency on Ellie’s face but couldn’t see what the issue could possibly be. The fact that things could go all to hell within a few seconds was something they were still learning. Jenn tripped walking backwards and fumbled trying to get back to her feet. Kya helped her up yelling, “We gotta go, come on.”

Jenn was still focused on Ellie who was running towards them motioning for them to get moving and to get up. A bus came into view behind Ellie making Jenn wonder even more what the issue was. Kya grabbed the guns and their tools and started moving through the woods towards Ellie. Jenn followed still not running despite the warnings and as the bus came closer the threat was blatantly obvious. As the bus headed up the hill towards the house a horde of the Turned followed not very far behind it. Kya turned around seeing Jenn still on the ground. “Oh my god, get off your ass and move! We need to get back to the house, we need to get back to Andy and-”

Jenn snapped out of it and one thought and one thought only hit her in the face. She whispered, “Joey, oh my god Joey.”

She rushed past Kya leaving her standing there holding the rifle and gun belt. She turned over her shoulder screaming at her. “Kya, move god damn it! We need to get back to the hosue we need to move!”

The two sprinted towards Ellie meeting her in the middle of the field. The bus was catching up to them and doing so quickly. Jenn screamed, “We need to get back to the house! We need to hurry.”

Ellie took the gun from Kya looking behind them. She thought about her ammo supply and seeing the abundance of the Turned and knew they didn’t have a chance. “We need to let them know we aren’t going to beat them, we don’t have a chance.”

Ellie pointed her rifle in the air and towards the woods behind them and fired once pulling back the bolt action and then fired again hoping that it would be enough warn the others.

****

              Patrick jumped when he heard the gunshots dropping the pieces of split wood he was stacking on the quickly, growing woodpile. Joey said, “Was - was that gunshots Pat?”

Patrick walked slowly towards the edge of the house. He peered around the side of it and saw hell headed towards them. Joey yelled, “What, is it?”

Patrick yelled, “It is a school bus coming.”

“Why are they firing guns then?”

“Because there are the Turned coming.”

Joey didn’t care to look he pulled the axe from the wood he was splitting and ran past Patrick. He wasn’t worried about himself. Joey had one thing on his mind and one thing only, Jenn. Patrick whipped his head around when he went past trying to reach out and grab Joey but the boy was moving full speed and he was unstoppable; by the time he tried it was to late and he was off to the races. He made a beeline for Jenn and the girls who were full out but the Turned were catching up quickly. They were spreading out in the field following the bus knowing that there was something edible inside of it.

Patrick ran down the hill after Joey. Jenn was motioning with both hands for him to turn around. She was screaming no and for him to turn around. She wasn’t worried about being saved she much like him and worried for the others safety. Jenn tripped in the field her arms flailing in front of her and hitting hard. Ellie and Kya kept running not seeing her go down and by the time they did it was too late. The only thing that brought their attention back to her was the screams that echoed up the hillside.

Jenn tried pushing up to her feet but between the time it had taken for her to get back up was too much. It had taken to long and the Turned that had been tracking them down had closed in the distance. Ellie heard the scream and saw how far they were from Jenn. The Turned got within twenty yards and leapt into the air. Three of them landed on top of her knocking her back to the ground. The larger of the three pushed the smaller two away gripping her by the shoulders lifting her small body to its mouth and ripping into her neck. Jenn screamed, tears filled her eyes and the screams became gurgled as her mouth filled with blood. The other two ripped into her calf and thigh, the blood poured from the wounds they chewed hungrily. The bigger of the three growled at them the smaller two each ripped a thin leg off from its place and ran away leaving the alpha to its meal.

Kya went to run back the thought that she could save someone was to much to ignore. Elie knowing that it was to late to do anything tackled her by the knees they went down hard smashing together in a mess on the ground. Kya kicked and pushed at ellie screaming, “Let go of me what’s wrong with you?”

              “Are you kidding, me what’s wrong with me? Those things just killed her what the hell do you think you are going to do, she’s good as dead or worse if they don’t finish her off. She’ll be one of them in a matter of minutes and then you are just going to be one more meal to be had. What do you think about that? Is that what you want, because if it is let me know i’ll le tyou run off and get your dumbass killed. But if you want to live and you want to survive then we need to get moving and we need to do it now. Those things arent turning away they are coming right for us. Those three there are just the first of hundreds probably coming this way.”

              Kya pushed Ellie off the two sat staring for a moment breathing heavy each of them thinking of their next move. Ellie grabbed for her guns not wasting the time putting the gun belt on around her waist. “If you are coming then lets go we don’t have much and that was when she saw the Turned flying in the air. The impossible distances that they were able to jump were mind numbing. As it reached its face in towards Ellies her face was painted with a reddish black mist. She closed her eyes protecting her eyes and mouth from the Turned’s blood.

              Ellie stumbled backwards pulling up her shirt and wiping the pieces of skull and mist of blood from her face. She looked at her own hands seeing the pistol and rifle knowing that she had not fired. She stared for a moment in pure confusion. A elderly voice came screaming but it was more of an echo, Ellie stared in front of her seeing a Turned at her feet it’s head was split in half. Kya said, “What - what happened?”

              The voice came again this time Ellie snapped out of it. It was Andy screaming from his second story bedroom. He had a rifle on a bipod and was screaming at the top of his lungs to move, his smoke damaged lungs did not posses very much yelling power in them. He motioned for them to come towards the house. Ellie shook herself out of her lucid state and backed up quickly seeing three more turned sprinting at them. It was as if god himself tocuhed them with his finger sending them to hell as each of their heads exploded. Ellie peered over her shoulder at the house seeing Andy sitting on a chair at his window never lifting his eyes from the rifle. He had a row of magazines sitting on the window seal ready to be locked in and used. The echoes from the rifle were deafening they filled the small valley that was Andy’s property. The line of down to the hoarde was litered with bodies bent in impossible ways. There bodies lay limp as their want for the kill and for the taste of the blood had left them.

Just as Ellie had finally gotten the reaction she wanted from her legs which was moving Joey came running past them with tears in his eyes streaming down his round face. Patrick ran faster then she’d ever see the young man run. He had a look of determination that she also had not been witness to yet. She was trying to figure out what she was doing until Patrick looked like one of the Turned for a moment leaping into the air with no care of his own well being and tackled the much larger Joey. Both boys lost all of their air when they hit the ground and they hit the ground hard. Ellie winced when they went down, she was thankful that the axe that he was running with had not been landed on.

Joey tried rolling to his side and pushing Patrick off but Patrick would not let him run further. Joey screamed losing his mind at the sight of his only sister and what ws being done to her. The Turned had ripped her insides open and had his head all but buried inside of her intestines. It’s head not coming up for air just buried deep in the warm fresh young meal. Patrick gripped at the axe screaming at Joey the only thing that he could thing of to save the boys life. “You need to come with us we need to be around when Jordan comes back. You’ve still got Jordan.”

Joey was in the middle of screaming for his sister and trying to fight Patrick off at the same time. When he heard his brother’s name it was like a switch went off in his brain and he started running back towards the house. The other three had to hurry to keep up with him. Joey had his head down and was running hard. Andy’s gunfire was constant and the old man was ready to trade his life for the teenagers if it meant they would have a chance.

Patrick screamed to Ellie as they ran, he said, “Where the hell are we going to go? What are we going to do?”

Ellie said, “What do you mean? We need to get out of here!”

Patrick said, “Understood, but what I don’t understand is what the hell are we going to drive away in? And who the hell is going to drive us. We don’t have a car, and everyone that knew how to drive something went on the gathering run. They took our only car unless Andy has another one!”

Ellie stared around the property knowing the tractors would be useless being to slow and they would be ripped apart and that the fourwheeler would be good for two or three at best but no way would they all be able to fit on it. She stopped running staring at the bus still coming up the hill having regrets already for her thoughts. Ellie pointed at the bus, “We need to get on that bus. We need to leave with them.”

Patrick said, “What about Andy? What do we do with him?”

Ellie shrugged, “I don’t have all of the answers but if he is upstairs he isn’t going to make it back down. Lets just hope that they don’t find him. We aren’t able to do anything in the time that we’ve got to save him.

Patrick said, “I’ve got to go in the house though, you guys see if you can get the bus to stop and pick you up. Try and get Joey to go with you would you please?”

Ellie said hysterically, “Where the hell do you think that you are going? You are going to get caught if you go in the house. We need to get out of here, and we need to do it now damn it Patrick, you aren’t thinking!”

“Oh i’m thinking, clear as a effing bell. If I don’t go in that house then the next few days arne’t going to be anything but a slow and painful death.”

Ellie stopped running and slowed to a jog, “What are you saying?”

              Patrick said, “I need my damn insulin. You know what happens if I go to long without it. I swear i’m just going to start carrying that crap everywhere I go. It seems like everytime we leave a house for more than a few hours the damn thing either burns down or gets infested with zombies. It doesn’t even seem to matter that we are outside of city limits. It is like they are drawn to us.”

              Ellie said, “They aren’t drawn to us Patrick. Its those morons driving the bus over there that they are here for. They might have never found us if they hadn’t followed them. I wonder what the hell they even want anyways?”

              Patrick screamed again pointing at Joey, “Get Joey and get on that bus, don’t wait for me I know exactly where i’m going. I’ll be out in just a minute. I’ll come out the back.”

The Turned that were following the bus saw the teens and veered for the house. The thought that they could rationalize a easy meal versus a hard to eat meal was too much for them to ignore. They changed their course heading straight for them. Patrick disappeared inside the house and a handful of them sprinted after the boy. Patrick flew upstairs not worrying about himself but worried for Andy. He went to the old mans room screaming, “Hey it’s patrick don’t shoot me Andy.”

Andy yelled, “Quit wastin time kid and get your scrawny ass in here.”

Patrick didn’t need to be told twice. He entered the room seeing Andy still sitting in his chair looking out the window and picking off the Turned that had changed their path heading for the three teens still outside. Patrick who was not a idiot but felt compelled to still try after all that the man had done for them with nothing to ask for in exchange said, “We need to get out of here, we need to get you downstairs Andy!”

Andy laughed shaking his head. He said, “Yeah you missed me going for my run this morning didn’t ya kid? Christ you know by the time that it takes me to get down those stairs i’m as good as dead. You can’t carry me, I can’t run, and those things will kill both of us instead of just me. I don’t have a chance kid. Every second you stand here pissing around is one less you are gonna have to get out of here. Those things will be in here and once they outnumber us inside the house there ain’t anything I can do to save you.”

Patrick said, “So what are you going to do damn it?”

Andy said, “Well besides kicking your ass outside, i’m going to push that dresser in front of that door and hope that good old American craftsmanship is enough and heavy enough to keep those things from getting in here.” 

Andy pointed to rifles on the bed and said, “Now you get your ass out of here kid, good luck to you ok you are a good kid you remember that you tell the others I said the same thing about them. I want ya’ll to survive you don’t worry about that damn cure you just stay safe and if you aren’t sure about someone you stay away from them. If those guys on the bus give you any trouble you don’t hesitate. Now take these rifles and ammo bag and get out of here. NOW!”

Patrick ran to Andy and gave the old man a hug. Andy patted him on the back and said, “Alright thats enough of that mushy shit, you get out of here, come on i’m not kidding around here.”

Patrick ran to the bed slinging both rifles around a arm and gripping the heavy ammo bag. He said, “Are these things ready to shoot?”

Andy nodded, “You got thirty shots in each rifle. You look through that scope and put the red dot on whatever it is you want to go down and squeeze don’t pull that trigger. There is a little switch on the side of it you flip it up and it’ll show red instead of black that means its ready to kill. If you need more than sixty shots you’ve got bigger problems. Chances are you’ll be able to figure out the rest as you go. Now go!”

Patrick stared at the old man that was already starting to get out of his chair to push the dresser over and couldn’t think of anything else to say as a thank you to the man. He sprinted out to his room looking over the balcony and seeing the Turned flooding through the door. He moved quickly to his bedroom grabbing his backpack that he kept his medicine and some extra clothes in. Patrick thought how it would have been nice, to be able to call somewhere home for more than one day. Patrick headed back out and saw the Turned making their way up the stairs falling over each other to be the first. They were following their noses and drunk with their hunger to be first to what they were smelling. Patrick heard a giant slamming that he figured could only have been the dresser that was in Andy’s room, it gave him a moment of hope for the old man.

The Turned came to the top of the steps seeing Patrick and he did not wait another moment in the long hallway. He ran towards the back of the house and looked out the open window to the ground below. The porch in the back had a awning over it breaking up the drop down. Patrick knew if he had to jump without having something to land on with all of the weight he was carrying that he would surely break a leg, but he knew that the guns and ammunition was going to be what kept him alive. They came up the steps much quicker than he thought that they would and he looked at the rifles setting half of the gear down and shouldering one of the massive guns. He found the switch that Andy had mentioned and aimed steady as he could with his heart racing a mile a minute and as the first of the Turned’s head came into view he squeezed the trigger slowly taking his first shot and blowing through it’s head. The force sent it backwards tripping up the rest trying to make their way through the stairway. Patrick repeated his action for the next two and wasted no more time and jumped out of the window and to the awning below.

*****

              Ellie ran to Joey gripping his shoulders trying to get him to focus on her. She jumped each time the rifle was fired and it was being fired constantly. Andy was the only thing giving them a chance at survival right now and she loved the old man for it. She pulled for Joey to move but she knew that she was kidding herself that she could drag a boy that weighed almost twice what she did. She screamed Joey, “You see that bus?”

              Joey seemed to come out of his trance like state for just a second looking at the bus and nodding his head slowly. “Good because that bus should be able to take us to Jordan. We need to get on that bus so we can stop them from coming back here. We don’t want what happened to Jenn to happen to the others right?”

              Joey face scrunched up as fresh tears made their way down his round cheeks. He shook his head no. “No this can’t happen to Jordan. No!”

              Ellie patted him on the shoulder edging him to get moving with her and he gripped her arm and sprinted for the bus dragging him behind her. Kya ran hard to keep up with the two of them. The bus came up near the house and Ellie pulled her arm free from Joey’s grip and started waving her arms. “We need to get on that bus, there isn’t any other choice.”

              Kya screamed, “You know the whole don’t ride with strangers thing that has been like you know drilled into our brains our entire lives, right?”

              Ellie waved frantically, “Are you kidding me right now, because we have so many choices. We can try and outrun zombies that never ever get tired topped off with the fact they run way faster than we do. Or we could go into the house which those things have already entered and just make it super easy for them to kill us. Or option C-”

              “Screw it, all the options suck Ellie! We get on the bus, but do me a favor if anyone on that bus trys to do anything stupid I mean you know what I mean, don’t hesitate shooting them. You got it!”

              Ellie nodded affirmative and they veered straight for the bus seeing that the Turned were splitting off between chasing them and going after Patrick and Andy in the house. Ellie looked over her shoulder realizing that it had gone quiet and the hail of bullets bringing hell to the Turned had ceased. She looked up to Andy’s room praying she wouldn’t see the Turned filled in the room eating the old man but all she saw was a white curtain blowing in the wind. The window was no longer filled with the old man.

              Kya screamed Ellie looked behind the Turned were with in twenty yards the break in gunfire had given them time to catch up. Ellie prayed the bus would stop and wished she could do something about the Turned but knew there was nothing to do but run. Ellie screamed, “Get your ass moving Kya!”

              Kya reached down deep knowing that her legs were the only thing that would save her now. She put her head down leaning forward and pushed her legs harder than ever before. She was well aware that this was literally the race for her life and that there was no saviour coming to help her. She of course was wrong. Just as she thought she could sense the Turned within a foot of her a warm midst sprayed her back startling her. She looked back scared to see what it was and her ears registered at the same time the gunshot and saw Andy back in the window and firing again. She saw a Turned rolling on the ground it’s momentum now gone and skidding to a stop in the grass leaving a line of blood as it slid to a stop. It’s body tripping the Turned that were the closest.

*****

              Eric paced back and forth in the bus keeping low knowing that at any minute the pounding on the ceiling could very well send a hand through the buses’ top. He stared behind them out the back of the bus and saw Turned coming from every street flooding after them. Eric screamed to Phillip, “Where the hell are they all coming from?”

              Phillip stared in the mirror shaking his head. “How the hell would I know the answer to that? That was a recess question right?”

              Eric snapped his head back, “You mean a rhetorical question? Christ how did you ever get your drivers license?”

              “Whatever college boy, how the hell would I know the answer to that though?”

              Between the two of them not talking for a moment they could both very well hear in between the thudding on the roof coming from above a loud cry coming. It made Eric crouch lower not knowing what the hell it mean but as they drove down the street they could see the Turned that were standing around in the street snapping their heads to the sound of it. Neither man was sure if it was the cry of the freak on the roof or the buses loud engine but they were beginning to both think that there was a very good chance that it was the cries coming from above. Eric said what they were both thinking, “I think its that fucker on the roof.”

              “Well get it off of there then!”

              “You want me to just climb out there and see if I can’t just have a one on one battle with something thats like twice as strong as me?”

              Phillip pointed to Eric’s side. “You still got bullets in that thing don’t you?”

              Eric nodded, “You know I do.”