WorldLost- Week 1: An Infected Novel (21 page)

She looked at me. Her eyes were sad looking, but she looked
me direct in the eye. “I understand that you feel the need to do what you
believe needs to be done. I understand that those things may involve tactics
that I don’t agree with. I just hope that when this is over, you can look back
at what you have done and live with it.”

“I won’t ever be ok with it. I won’t ever be able to forget
it. I will remember everything I’ve done before I close my eyes at night when I
open my eyes in the morning, and every minute of every day I am alive. I don’t
take any of this lightly, but there are things that need to be done in order to
make sure that we survive. We’re the good guys, if we fail to survive, humanity
will die.” I said.

Shannon looked at me while I said this and then when I was
done, she reached out and pulled me close to her. We hugged for a long time.
She just held me while I held her. Then finally she said into my ear, “You’re a
good guy, Matt. You mean well and you’re trying to do the right thing. I just
hope you’re successful and that the people around you are safe. But if you
continue to go off and do things all by yourself, your luck will run out and
you and the people around you may die.” She let me go, but then pulled me back
to her and kissed me. A long and deep kiss. One I knew she meant. “That would
be bad and something I don’t want to happen.” She said after pulling away from
the kiss.

After the kiss, I was in a daze. She had caught me off guard
and that’s the first time in my life where a woman had done that to me. I was
excited, all of a sudden happy and wished she would lean back in and kiss me
again. Instead, she released me and moved to the door leading into the garage.

I followed her into the room where Rob was watching both
Jerry and Kyle. Rob was sweating and out of breath. Shannon walked over to Rob
and started to whisper our plan to him. I looked at both of the prisoners and
could tell they had been beaten up by Rob and although their faces didn’t have
any sign of a beating, they were both breathing with difficulty. My guess was
that Rob had used brute force on their bodies to get some additional answers or
to get revenge for his father’s death.

After Shannon got Rob up to speed on the plan, with a little arguing
about him not going with us, Shannon left the garage. I stayed back to ask more
questions about the compound hoping to get more info that would help us move
through it easily and undetected. By the time I was done, both Kyle and Jerry
looked like they had run through a rose bush; knicks and cuts all over their
arms and legs. It was gruesome work, but it had to be done to get the info we
needed and to make sure they both knew not to mess with us again.

I headed back to our sleeping area in the main hall of the
truck stop. I collected my rifle, my spears and a small backpack with supplies
and the two-way radios we had taken off of Jerry yesterday and today. After
getting everything I thought I would need, I helped the remaining team with
their pack up and getting the vehicle ready to make the trip. We then spent the
time to relax a little; to go over the plan with the new info I had gathered and
just hanging out talking about the good old days, the things we were already
missing.

Even though this was only 5 days ago, it seemed like a
lifetime ago. What I wouldn’t do for a McDonalds, a Five Guys or a Smash Burger
joint that was open and serving right now. Hell, even a Taco Bell would be
good. Here I was standing in a truck stop with a bunch of people I didn’t
really know, a shitload of infected wandering around outside and two guys tied
up to poles a few doors away, cut, bleeding and pleading for the lives through
greasy rags stuck in their mouths. Yet I was thinking of a burger. Crazy times.

Later that night, when everyone was asleep, I spent some time
in the café area looking out the front windows, watching the night sky, the stars.
In the last 5 days, human activity had slowed to almost nothing and the night
sky and stars were brilliant as a result. It was quite with no cars driving by,
no sound from phones, radios or other people bustling around me. The stars
reminded me of the nights in the woods with my father. There wasn’t any light
from the city or noise from machines in the woods, leaving someone with the
feeling that they were the only ones alive in the world and an amazing few of
our universe.

I was deep in thought about my dad, the times we spent watching
the stars when a slight touch on my shoulder startled me. I jumped a bit and
turned focusing on Shannon standing there with her arm reaching for me.

She smiled at me and said, “Sorry for scaring you.” She said.
“What are you doing? What are you thinking about?”

I was relieved that it was her and immediately awake thinking
of what might happen between us. “Looking at the stars, the sky,” I said. “Looking
for any infected. Thinking of my dad.”

“Want company?” She asked. “I can’t sleep, thinking of the
danger you guys are going to be in tomorrow.”

I nodded and she moved next to me, our shoulders and arms
touching, both looking out into the night. After a few minutes, we held hands
and just stood there a little while longer not saying anything to each other.

She finally leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“Thanks for being here to help us deal with this problem. Knowing you guys are
going to help really is nice and even though I know you can be a bit reckless,
it still gives me some peace of mind knowing you will be there.” She let go of
my hand and moved away. “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

I stood there for a while longer before moving back to my
sleeping bag. I walked into the room and laid down on the sleeping bags that
were my bed. Butch rolled over and looked at me while I got settled.

“You like her, right?” he asked in a hushed voice trying to
not wake Amy.

“She’s nice, interesting to talk to, strong.

“Yeah and hot.” He smiled at me. “She likes you.”

“How do you know?”

“The way she looks at you when she doesn’t think others are watching,”
Amy said from the corner of the sleeping area.

Both Butch and I looked at her when she spoke. I should have
known she was awake. “Like I said, she’s nice.”

“They’re hot for each other,” Butch replied as he turned over
and faced away from me. “Nothing wrong with it, natural, just saying.”

Amy giggled and rolled over to leave me alone to think about
what we were going to do tomorrow and about Shannon.

Early the next morning, I woke up and found both Amy and
Butch up and gone already. I got up and grabbed my stuff. After a short trip to
the men’s room, I walked into the garage, finding Butch, Amy, and Brian
standing together in the corner talking while Rob stood guard over the captive
bikers.

I walked over to Rob and asked him to get Jerry. “Make sure
he is tied up good, but able to walk so we don’t have to carry him,” I asked Brian
and Butch to do the same with Kyle. After a few minutes, Rob returned with
Jerry and stood next to Brian and Kyle.

“How are you doing, Jerry?” I asked with a sneer. “Here’s the
deal. We’re going for a ride today, kind of like the other day. Only this time,
your friends won’t be coming to get you. Chances are, no one will.”

We all moved out of the garage in a big line with Shannon
leading and Rob and Brian pushing the bikers along. We headed to the truck stop
to the front where our truck was parked finding one of the truck stop people who
told us that the truck was all gassed up and ready to go. We headed to the back
of the truck where we placed the bikers in the bed with Brian and Amy watching
over them.

After loading our supplies, discussing the plan one more time
with the Shannon and saying goodbye to her, we climbed in and headed out of
town, moving south toward our destination.

“With Luck, we’ll get this done and be at my parents by
tomorrow for dinner,” Butch said as he looked out the window. Famous last
words…..

We moved south and the dawn gave way to summer sun and heat.
All along the way, we didn’t see any of the infected on the road or any living,
except for all the dead bodies. It seemed that Ripper and team had done a
pretty good job of cleaning up around the area, both infected and living. We
were pretty sure the biker gang was responsible for all the dead bodies that
were decomposing on the side of the road.

We found a rural road heading east that would get us close to
the neighborhood which ran past numerous fields of corn and squash. They were
overgrown, but still had lots of produce that could be picked through. We would
have to keep this in mind after we were done with this nasty business. These
fields could help to feed a large group of people through the winter months
that were coming.

Once we thought we were directly behind the neighborhood, but
still a few miles away, we found a farm that backed up to a forest we would
have to move through. The farm was deserted, with the house partially burnt
down and the barn leaning due to the numerous cars that had been rammed into
it. Hanging in the yard, on the side of the burnt house, were three bodies.

We could tell that this was a family, probably the family
that had lived on this farm. There were a man, a woman, and a young female
child hanging by their necks from an old tree. The females were naked with visible
cuts all over them. I had already placed blame on Ripper’s gang in my mind and
it helped to fuel my desire to go after them. Left to their own vices, they
would do nothing but cause pain and agony to everyone around these parts.

“We need to make these guys pay,” Butch said to me as we
passed the farmhouse and headed to the barn. I just nodded; I had already begun
to form a plan for our friends in the back of the truck.

We came to a stop and everyone got out, pulling the bikers
out of the truck bed. “I’m going to kill them,” Amy said. She pulled her knife
out and before anyone could stop her, she pulled it across Kyle’s throat.

Blood poured all over the young biker and pooled around him
on the ground. He was dead before he hit the ground, landing next to Jerry, who
tried to run away, falling as his bound feet stopped his forward momentum.
“Fuck these guys; they have no reason to be left alive.” She said, moving to
Jerry.

“Hold up,” I said blocking her from Jerry. “We need him to do
something for us.” She looked at me with that get out of my way look but backed
off once I didn’t move. “Butch, can you and Brian find some wood?”

Butch pulled Brian along with him as he moved over to the
barn. I grabbed Jerry, getting him to his feet and pushing him towards the
hanging bodies. “You better finish Kyle off before he turns,” I said to Amy
behind me. She moved to Kyle and pushed her knife into his eye till it
punctured the brain, ending any chance for Kyle to turn and come back to life.
“Die, fucker.” I heard her say as we continued to walk away.

Butch and Brian met me next to the hanging family. They laid
a bunch of wood down on the ground. I used my knife to cut the ropes of the
family, letting them fall to the ground ending up next to each other. “Pick up
the wood Jerry and place it around the bodies. Fuck around and we kill you. Do
it and maybe you get to live?”

Jerry moved to the pile of wood, scampering across the ground
as the bindings on his legs made him walk like a prisoner on a chain gang line.
He picked up a piece of wood and placed it next to the little girl. We watched
him as he continued to pile wood up around and on top of the dead family. Amy
finally joined us and watched Jerry bury the family with the wood. Everyone was
silent, just watching.

After a while, the guys stopped bringing wood and we all
stood there. I’m not sure what everyone else was doing, but I was saying a
silent prayer for the family and wishing that my new family was watched over. I
wasn’t a GOD fearing person, but if it helped, then I was in. Now wasn’t the
time to argue the point of a greater being.

I reached into my pocket and pulled a lighter out and started
the wood burning. Before I stood back up, Jerry dropped to the floor with his
head landing in the funeral pile, his eyes looking up at me and his blood
pouring from his throat beginning to sizzle in the fire. Jerry squirmed for a
second in the fire before he stopped and laid there dead.

Looking up, I saw Amy standing there with her knife dripping
blood. She gave Jerry a kick in the side and walked away, heading back to the
truck.

“Damn, dude. She issues pissed.” Butch said to us. “Let’s
just give her a few knives, a gun and point her to the compound. Let’s see what
she does. Bet she could take all eight of the bikers out by herself.”

I took my spear and rammed it through Jerry’s eye; the last
thing we needed was an infected on fire trying to attack us. I walked away and
headed to the truck with Brian following, but Butch stayed for a few more
minutes watching the fire.

Once I got back to the truck, I found Amy leaning against the
front bumper crying. She had her head in her hands against her knees. Her
shoulders were moving up and down, like someone who was out of control sobbing,
someone extremely upset. I sat down next to her on the bumper and put my arm
around her. She finally leaned in against me but continuing to cry.

We stayed there for some time before Butch walked up and
interrupted the silence. “We should head out. The fire is dying down and we
should get through the forest. This whole trip has already taken to much time.
I took my arm off of Amy, stood up and headed to the back of the truck where I
had put my stuff. Brian was sitting in the back of the truck bed and nodded at
me as I came around. “Eat something if you need to, let’s move in five,” I said
to him.

“You know she did the right thing.” He said to me, getting up
and stretching. “She did what all of us were thinking should be done. She’s
strong.”

“She is one of the strongest people I
know,” I replied. Who knew if Jerry and Kyle were part of this mess at the
farm, did they really deserve to die the way Amy killed them? With the living
quickly becoming the endangered species on earth, or at least, in our little
part of the world, should we be killing them? Every man and women would become
a very important part of keeping our species alive, could we really sacrifice
the living?

“Dumb ass, stop it,” I said under my breath. Both Amy and
Butch looked at me, having heard what I said I’m sure.

“At least you got the name right. Dumbass…” A laughing Butch
locked the doors of the truck and started walking south. Amy punched me in the
shoulder and followed Butch wiping away the tears. Brian stopped and looked at
me.

“I know we don’t really know each other and we may not really
trust each other yet. Regardless, we have to stick together. The good guys have
to stick together. There are too many bad guys.” He walked away following Butch
and Amy, leaving me by the truck.

I looked around, started after what was becoming my new
family and said out loud, “Really, locking the truck doors. Is that really
necessary? Seriously?” Everyone laughed as we headed to the back of the
property and into the woods.

We walked in silence for almost an hour, trying as best as
four people could make very little noise. As we came out into a small opening,
we began to hear movement up ahead. Everyone pulled out their weapons, their
spears, knives, bats, and put away their guns. There wasn’t any reason to use
the guns unless we really needed to. Announcing that we were here to everyone
around wasn’t the best thing to do.

We all found something to hide behind as we waited to see
what would come through the woods on the other side of the opening. The smell
hit us before the first infected made its way out of the forest. There was no
way it could be anything but a group of infected. The next question would be
how many were in the group.

After a few seconds, another four infected stumbled into the
clearing. Butch was closed to the first one and moved from behind the tree he
was hiding behind and used his hatchet to crack the head of the infected in
half. The other four infected immediately reacted to the site of a potential
meal and moved towards Butch.

The rest of us moved out from behind the trees we were hiding
behind and approached the infected that were close to us. Amy used her bat
hitting her target in the head, sending it to the ground. She followed up with
a second swing that crushed its skull making sure it was down and out for good.

Brian used his knife to sever the head of another infected
and then kicked the severed head into the woods. Who knew how long that head
would still be looking for food, we might want to find it and take care of it.
It would just be my luck to wonder back this way and get bit as I passed it. The
body of the infected sprayed dark, almost black, sticky blood all over the area
and then fell to the ground.

This left two infected, which were close to me so I kicked
the closest one in the knee bringing the ghoulish guy to the ground and using
my spear, I jammed the spear end through the second one's eye socket through to
the brain causing him to fall backward pulling my spear from my hands. The
first infected was trying to turn his body to get to me from the ground, so I
kicked out again hitting it in the head. He fell against his dead partner,
allowing me some time to pull another spear from my backpack, using it to kill
the infected a second time.

Standing in the clearing, we all looked at each other and
listened for any other sounds from the forest, just in case there were other
infected that had not made it to the clearing. After a couple of minutes, we
called the all clear and regrouped to move out. On the way out of the clearing,
I grabbed the spear that got stuck in the infected head and put it in my
backpack and then headed into the woods to find the severed head. The rest of
the group stood and waited for me to return.

“I couldn’t find it,” I said as I returned to the clearing
and the group. They all just shrugged their shoulders and started to head south
towards the biker gang’s compound. ‘That’s kind of weird.” I said from behind
them, but no one responded.

We finally came up to the back area of the compound. The
Common’s neighborhood was a private neighborhood for a select few very wealthy
families with a clubhouse area in the middle of the compound. The eight houses
were spread out over a large area, each with a great view over the clubhouse
area and the front gates.

A privacy fence hid a direct view of the neighborhood, but every
25 yards of the fence had a rock column to anchor the fence and each column had
a small space that we could use to peek into the compound. A road wound its way
through the neighborhood and ended at the back of the compound to an exit gate
allowing access to the forest area.

The gate was locked and there were no guards. Whispering, I
told Butch to find a way to unlock the gate, so we had a quick exit if needed.
I then headed over to Amy and we discussed what she was seeing.

She pointed out the clubhouse area and the three tennis
courts. In the court furthest from the clubhouse, a small amount of infected
were trying everything they could to get into the second court. The second
court was empty except for multiple decomposing bodies that lay all over the
court. In the third court, the one closest to the clubhouse, we could see a
group of people huddled as far away from the infected as possible.

From our vantage point, the group was made up of men and
older teenage boys. There were no small children, no women or teenage girls.
The gang must have them somewhere else in the compound. Brian came over and
whispered “Looks like all but two houses have been burned down. There is a lot
of activity at the front of the clubhouse, lots of motorcycles and four by four
trucks.”