Total Apoc Trilogy (Book 3): Horde Ravaged (8 page)

            We had three M16A2s between us, plus three pistols and Olivia's sawed off shotgun. Unfortunately, we left the big guns in the apartment. The other men had a very slight firepower advantage over us. I was just glad all three of us had the presence of mind to bring our pistols to bear.

            "I don't think so," I said.

            "We have more guns," their spokesman said.

            "You also have more to lose," I replied.

            That caused a stir among them. I knew what they were thinking. Their wives and children needed them. In comparison, we had no one depending on us. At least that was my way of thinking. I didn't want to die any more than any of them did.

            "Listen. We're not road warriors," I said. "We're just three computer programmers trying to get home through a zombie infested world. We don't want to hurt anyone. We don't want to be hurt by anyone."

            They looked back and forth between each other. I had the impression they were more afraid of us than we were of them. I personally was quite afraid at that moment. Two of the pistols were aimed at me.

            "We didn't know anyone was in here," Olivia said. "We wouldn't have entered if we'd known."

            "Maybe we would have," Ralph said. "Zombies were after us."

            "Zombies?" the spokesman said. "You mean the infected?"

            "Yes. The infected," I said. "We call them zombies. Call them anything you want."

            "I like zombies better," the teenager said. "If you think about it – "

            "Hush, Jeff," the spokesman said.

            I waved Olivia and Ralph back toward the door. The men all advanced a step before we could start backing away. Very intimidating, yet it also made them more vulnerable. They spread out more, and the three men in back moved up into the gaps between the gunmen.

            "What are you doing?" the eldest man asked, sounding alarmed.

            "We're leaving," I said. To keep them calm, I used my most soothing voice. I spoke quietly and slowly. "You don't want us here. We don't want to fight you. You have families to take care of, and we respect that, so we'll just leave nice and quietly."

            The mention of families made several of them uncomfortable. They cut quick looks around to each other. I was starting to wonder if this was their first actual armed encounter with other survivors. They seemed quite uncertain about everything.

            "You can't leave now," the eldest said. He was the man with the shotgun. "There's a wave of zombies all around us. They'll see you and then know we're in here."

            "Whose idea was it to come in here?" Ralph muttered. "Not mine. Just saying."

            Olivia elbowed him, so I didn't have to say anything. The others looked even more nervous now. I worried they'd think killing us the safest thing to do.

            "Okay, listen," I said. "We'll promise to stay in that apartment until this wave of zombies passes by, but you'll have to let us know when it's safe. Unless you want to let us up on the roof so we can keep watch for ourselves."

            "Where are they going?" a woman's voice asked.

            She was hidden inside the open door to the stairwell. It was past the men, and three of the men had rushed out that door. I suspected that was where the children vanished.

            "We're going to a town called Plano, ma'am," Olivia answered. "It's a small farm town a few hours south-west of here."

            "A few hours by car," Ralph said.

            "You'll have to forgive my friend," I said. "We're geeks, so have a tendency to correct everyone about everything. He's the worst of all."

            That produced a few brief smiles among the others.

            An elderly woman leaned out of the stairwell and looked us over. She appeared worried, but not as nervous as the men. A whispered conversation started between her and several of the men. I heard brief bits of their conversation. "…unchristian to murder…" and several references to Jesus and God from her. The men said things like, "…duty to defend…" and "…sacred duty to…" and stuff like that. I realized they were very religious and troubled by the choices facing them.

            "We were living and working up in Carson when the shit hit the fan," I said in my most soothing voice. "All we want is to get home to our families. Our families need us."

            "I don't think they're a threat," the woman said. "They're just like us, scared and doing what they have to do to survive." She looked at Olivia. "Are you Christians?"

            "Yes we are," she replied. "Kyle and I are Baptists. Ralph is, forgive my French, a Methodist."

            "Hey!"

            The elderly woman smiled. "Don't worry, son. We're Methodist, too."

            "Oops," Olivia said.

            I saw a few more brief smiles on the men. They sobered up quickly.

            "They got fucking automatic weapons just inside the door!" one of the men with a bat said. He looked to be the most frightened. "We have the advantage right now. If we don't kill them, then they'll slaughter us."

            "Scott!" the woman snapped.

            "Let us take care of this, Momma," Scott said through clenched teeth. "Talk some sense into her, Pop."

            "Hush, boy," the elderly man said. "What do you think, Brad?"

            "I'm kind of agreeing with Momma," Brad said. He was their spokesman. "Their eyes don't say killer to me. I believe them."

            I felt an enormous sense of relief.

            "I agree," Pop said.

            My heart started racing. What I was thinking scared the bejesus out of me. It had to be done. Time to find out how well Olivia and Ralph really trusted me.

            "Okay, we're going to trust you," I said. "We're going to put our weapons up and trust in God."

            I threw the "trust in God" part in almost without thought. A couple of the men looked startled. Scott scowled, while Brad and Pop glanced at Scott.

            "Steady, boy," Pop said.

            I lowered my pistol, and slowly slid it back into its holster. Olivia and Ralph stared at me incredulously. After only a second, Olivia lowered her weapon and took her finger off the trigger. Ralph shook his head, but followed our lead and holstered his pistol. Then we stood up.

            "See, we're not that big and scary," I said. "Just three geeks with guns."

            The others lowered their weapons. Until that happened, my heart was pounding so hard I could barely hear. You know I had to pee like a son of a gun.

            "So we'll just lock ourselves in this apartment and wait for you to tell us it's safe to leave," I said. "You can pile stuff up to block it if you want. Post a guard. Whatever makes you feel safe."

            "Nonsense," the elderly woman said. "You're invited upstairs with us. We can share what we've all seen and heard. I bet you don't know half of what's going on."

            "There's more than just the zombies?" Ralph asked.

            "A lot more," Brad said. "Some of it good."

            "I'm Doris McKinney," the woman said. "You've met my husband Victor, my two sons."

            "Pleased to meet you, Mrs. McKinney," I said. "We really appreciate all of your kindness. I'll confess, you are the first people who haven't just shot first and not bothered with questions afterwards."

            Other men stepped forward, reluctantly offering their hands.

            "I'm Charlie Cox," one said.

            "Phil Evans," another said.

            We learned Jeff was the McKinney's grandson from their eldest son, who was killed in the first days of the zombie apocalypse. Charlie and Phil were other residents of the high-rise. There were a dozen families hiding in the building.

            They gathered up the children and headed up the stairs next to the elevators. Phil remained below on guard. The best I could tell, he was guarding the door we jimmied open. I didn't blame him. It kind of worried me, too.

            "So, are you guys preppers?" Ralph asked.

            "No. Why do you ask?" Mr. McKinney replied.

            "Because this building is so well defended against zombies. It's like a fortress."

            They chuckled. I felt a little foolish. But we knew a prepper family back in our home town. They had a regular three-bedroom, two-bath home and just hoarded food and supplies. They had lots of guns and ammo, and tried to be as self-sufficient as possible even in the best of times. Otherwise, they were just like everyone else.

            "If we were preppers, we'd have much better weaponry," Scott said. "You three are better armed than this whole building combined."

            "We didn't start this way," I said. "We learned from our mistakes, and collected better and better gear and weapons as we went."

            "I should say so," Brad said. "You guys look like real soldiers. Where did you find all that military grade stuff?"

            As we climbed the stairs, we told them our sad story. They listened, shaking their heads when we told them about our trials and tribulations in Emory. Scott said there was an Army and Navy surplus store on the other side of Jackson, but was too far for them to risk it.

            "So this really is Jackson?" Olivia asked. "I was right!"

            "That's the best news we've had in weeks," I said.

            After two weeks running from and fighting zombies, I thought I was in shape. The building was only ten stories, but those stairs kicked my butt. All of the stairwell doors were propped open.

            "Are y'all spread out all over the building?" I asked.

            "No, everyone's moved to the top three floors," Victor said. "The 10th floor lounge is our gathering place."

            "Lounge?" Olivia asked.

            We found out soon enough. The stairs continued up to the roof. I could see sunlight streaming down the stairs, so that door must've been propped open to. I assumed it was to let in fresh air. A large group of men, women, and children greeted us as we passed out of the stairs.

            Most of them gawked at us.

            "They're okay," Mrs. McKinney said. "We're letting them stay until the current wave of infected pass."

            They had an animated conversation about letting us stay in the building, much less bringing us up there, I looked around. The top floor did look like it was some sort of lounge prior to the collapse of civilization. I doubted they had the tools or skills to have created it at any rate. The entire floor was open, carpeted, and had multiple seating areas. The elevator shaft and stairs were in the middle, with all of the sliders out onto balconies open to let in the breeze. It really wasn't too uncomfortable. The kitchen area was pressed up to and circled the elevator shaft. Just from our spot I counted four Coleman stoves.

            "Either someone in the building was a camper, or they ventured out a few times to gather supplies," Ralph said.

            "I'm sure they raided vacant apartments for canned goods and other foods like crackers and cookies," Olivia said. She was looking at a hoard of canned food, with lots of other food like the aforementioned crackers and cookies. "I bet they have enough food to last many months if they ration carefully."

            "It's water they have to worry about," Ralph said. "Eventually the city's water towers will run out and they'll be shit out of luck."

            "We've thought about that," Brad said, surprising us. He came up behind us. "There are several grocery stores within a few blocks of here. When we have to, we'll send out foraging parties to collect bottled water."

            "Wow. You guys really have your stuff together," I said. "I'm impressed."

            "I like to think so," he said. "We just have to hold out until winter. This winter we'll leave."

            "Why do you say that?" Olivia asked. "Why not collect all of the weapons you can, find some older vehicles that still run, and head out now?"

            "What did the girl say?" a middle-aged woman said, hurrying toward us with an intent expression. "Vehicles? There are still working cars and trucks?"

            "Yes," Olivia said.

            "Why was I told all vehicles were crippled by EMPs?"

            We explained that EMP bursts couldn't damage anything that didn't have electronic circuitry. So older cars and trucks that were running prior to the EMP bursts would still run. Every single one of them looked startled by that information.

            "And really, the EMP shouldn't have destroyed every late model vehicle," Ralph said. "Some will survive just out of dumb luck. Nothing is absolute in the world."

            "This changes everything!" the woman cried, and vanished into the crowd that was gathering around us.

            It quickly became obvious that no one there really understood what an EMP was, but to them it was the Big Bad. So we had to explain exactly what it was, and what it did to circuitry.

            "It's all of the computers in modern cars that make them vulnerable," I said at the end. "Okay, you obviously didn't know anything about EMPs before this. How did you come to think the EMPs were the problem? Where did you hear about them?"

            "Radio," Scott said. "We found a working Ham radio, hooked it up to some batteries, and for a short time we could talk to other survivors."

            "Does that mean the radio doesn't work anymore? Did it stop working after the EMPs hit?" Olivia asked.

            "No, we didn't find it until after the EMPs took out the electricity. It still worked," another man said. "But all of our batteries are dead now. We foolishly stayed on the radio day and night, hoping to get in contact with the Army or some government agency that could come rescue us, and now we don't have any contact with the outside world."