Zombie Evolution: Volume 1 No Man Left Behind (4 page)

Brian was the next one to arrive, then shortly after him, came the rest of the army.  Carla warned the team of the threat that had been lingering outside of the gate, only minutes before. As the gates opened slowly, the team careful and quietly stepped out into the dangerous territory.  After seeing no monsters, the team started their quest.  Carla felt comfort with her warrior like companions.  There was no way that her army would be defeated by, what looked like, common thugs. 

Carla lead the army through the woods that she had went through to get to the warehouse.  She liked to stay off of the roads, when possible.  Even with no regular traffic, there tended to be more action on the roadways.  Thugs and thieves were a danger around the roadways. There were many trails that had been burrowed through the forest.  Some by her community and some by the super zombies.  Some of the trails were narrow and some wide.

It had only been an hour, when the first obstacle presented itself.  A massive group of birds were scattered amongst the hovering trees of the East Texas woods.  Suddenly, the flock of winged  creatures simultaneously scattered into the sky.  Carla and the rest of the army drew their weapons.  They froze in place, as they listened for any sound of danger.  Twigs and branches cracked as the object came closer.  Carla knew that whatever it was, it was coming her way.  The creature had to be an animal of some sort.  Surely a man wouldn’t be this clumsy and careless in these woods, well except for one of the monsters.  It was day time and they should not be out and about at this hour.

The intensity had reached a climax, when a bobcat darted for Brian.  There was not one hesitation amongst the army.  Before the animal could reach his meal, he had at least six arrows piercing his body.  One of the arrows belonged to Brian himself.  The Bobcat laid on the ground, only a few inches away from Brian’s feet.  Carla watched as ,what started out,  a small stream of blood started to flow downhill from the dead cat.  After only a minute,the flow of blood intensified and the stream because two feet wide.

Bobby bent down to look closer at animal and said, “Damn, that would have been a great stew, but I am not carrying that thing for the entire hike.”

Bobby stepped closer to Brian, looking down at the bloody lifeless body.

“Yea cuz, you are right.  That would have been a great stew.”, said Brian.

Carla stepped in between the cousins and said, “Can’t we pick it up on the way back?”

Bobby looked at Carla like he could not believe that the girl that he longed for could have such a stupid moment.

“Carla, didn’t your dad teach you nothing.  That will be a claimed pile of meat by the time we get back to it.  The other animals will see to that.”, said Bobby, as he laughed at his friend.

Carla beat Bobby with a look.  Like the look that Bobby’s mom would give him, when she scolded him telepathically.  He realized that she was not impressed with the way he pointed out her blonde moment.

“I know more than you!  What in the world have you ever hunted?”, she snarled back at Bobby.

Bobby kept his mouth shut on that note.  What in the hell was he doing?  He wanted Carla so bad, he could taste her sweet apple colored lips against his.  He knew that Brian was in love with her as well, so he has not acted upon his lust for her.  Well, love, yes he was in love with her as well.  The craziest thing about this love triangle is that, Carla didn’t even know that there was a love triangle.  Not that Bobby could see, anyways.

Carla was relieved when the whole thing was over, and the threat had only been an animal.  An animal did not pose a threat to this army.  Her biggest fear in life was that one day, the super zombies would be able to get around in the middle of the day.  She was even more scared, that she would be one of those to first witness this event.  These thoughts were mostly because of the dreams that she would have, at least two or three times a week. 

Carla was half Indian.  Her father was full blooded and raised on a reservation in Oklahoma.  He would tell Carla to pay close attention to her dreams.  His father was a dreamer of things to come, and he was sure that this gift had been passed on to his daughter.  This bothered her horribly.  She knew, deep inside her soul that her father was right about this curse.  He called it a gift, but she did not understand why it wasn’t a curse.  It had caused her to have many sleepless nights and severely stressed her out. 

It had been made positively clear to Carla and her family, that she was a dreamer. Before the plague took over the world, she had many dreams about an evil spirit floating into people's brains and changing who they were completely.  The dreams came a year before people starting getting sick.  At first, the dreams came to her once a month.  Just like a woman in labor, the dreams got more intense and closer together.  Then the birth of the evil illness affected the entire world, in only weeks. 

The dreams would probably get a bit more frequent, before she had to really watch her back.  The brain spirit dream was coming five days a week, before the first sign of the virus. This was not to say that scientists did not know about it before everyone else.  They kept it from the public as long as they could.  Carla knew that her time table could have flaws, because of this.  She had started watching her back now, just in case she was way off on her dream’s schedule. She had lied to her dad when he asked he about her dreaming.  No matter how many times the dreams became reality, she would doubt the reliability of these nightmares.  Even though her father understood the gift completely, she did not want to cause paranoia in this already crazy world.

Not many of the village members knew about her gift of sight.  Her family, Brian, and Jason were the only ones that had been aware of the dreams.  The only reason that Jason knew, was because he overheard Carla and Brian talking about it one day.  Jason promised to keep the secret, if Carla kept him in the loop of the future.  She did not have a problem doing this, she cared about Brian, deeply. She more than cared about him, she loved him with all of her heart.   She could never let anything happen to him or his family. 

This new dream had been a secret, so far.  After the fear of it coming true, for the first time in real life, she decided that it was most definitely time to tell her friends and family.  She would have never forgiven herself if something would have happened to Brian.  He needed to know.  Even though her father was going to be angry with her, for not telling him first.  If she would have told her family about the dream, there was no way her dad would have let her go on the mission.  She still wasn’t sure that the daytime super zombie thing was a premonition, but just incase, she had to tell them.

The army continued the course to the rescue point.  Carla caught up to Brian, so that they could talk. 

After coming up behind him and touching his shoulder, she said, “Brian, I have to tell you something”.

Brian stopped walking for a moment  and asked,“What is that pretty lady”?

Carla leaned into Brian’s ear and whispered,“We need to get a bit more private.  Slow down a bit, so that we can fall a bit behind.  This is important.”

Brian smile turned to a serious face.  He could tell that what she had to say was, not only important, but also crucial.  He could tell this, by the tone of Carla’s voice.  When the two of them gained ten feet behind the rest of the group.  Carla started the conversation.

“I have been having a dream.”

Brain’s stopped dead in his tracks with a concerned glare focused on Carla.

“What!  How long?  How far apart?”

Carla felt a shower of quilt fall on her.  She should have something to everyone before now.

“They have been about three days a week, but not as intense as before.”

A little scared of the answer, Brian asked,“What is the dream about’?

“It is about the monsters.  They will be able to come out in the daylight, one day.”

Brian frowned and pondered this new information that his friend had shared with him.  How could he warn the people without outing his best friend?  He had to do something.  This was not only going to take lives, it was going to change the world, again!  Were the creatures evolving some how?  How could that be?  Well there weren’t many answers to begin with, but if they were evolving somehow, maybe it could be another clue to finding the truth. 

“Why did you wait so long before telling me, Carla?  Does your dad know about this one?”

Carla shook her head in shame before answering her friend.

“Not yet.  Please don’t be mad at me.  I wanted to make sure that it was a sight dream and not a nightmare.  Well it is a nightmare, no matter what.  You know what I mean.”

Brian paused for a moment before he spoke.  He did not know how it felt to have this gift that Carla had.  He couldn’t be mad at her for delaying the information, if he did not know how it felt to hold the information.

“We have to figure out how to warn folks, without giving your secret away.  This is going to change things for the world, again.”

An unbearable sadness came over Carla when she started to picture the world with monsters that could walk around in the daylight. 
She had to do something.  come up with some kind of story to tell her peers how she knows and what she knows.  Brian would help in any way that he could, so maybe between the two of them, they could come up with a story. 

Chapter 6

As the army came upon the tree line that surrounded the warehouse, they stood completely still.  They needed to watch the place for a while to know what they would be walking into.  If Carla was right, there were only ten thugs in the group.  She was rounding up, really.  She did not see that many in the place the day before, but she did not want to underestimate the situation. 

The army sat and waited, for almost an hour before deciding to go ahead with the plans.

Jason whispered to Carla,”Are you sure that they lived here?  It looks dead as can be around here.”

“I believe that they do live here.  I don’t know why they chose to leave it looking abandoned, but I am ninety percent sure that they live here,” answered Carla.

They talked about how they were going to approach the building.  They were going to split up into four groups and surround the building.  Jason had agreed with the plan, but he added a little something to it.  He wanted the entire group to circle the warehouse while staying in the tree line first.  It would be best to note all of the entrances before their approach.  This way each team knew what entrance they would be coming into, and they would know where the rest of the team entered as well.

Carla had explained to her comrades what to expect, once inside.
 
The warehouse was filled with piles of boxes.  The boxes were all through the building.  This would act as several shields for the team, as they strategically made their way to the rooms that imprisoned the father and son.  They would have to pay attention to where each team is, so that they did not mistake a team member for the thugs that they were there to fight.

As the army circled the building, they noticed a couple of the thugs walking outside.  Brian noticed that only one of them had a gun on him.  Did this mean that not all of them were armed?

Brian whispered to Carla, “They might not all be packing.  This might actually go easier than we thought, little lady.”

“Don’t get too excited, mister.  The man could have just forgotten to grab it, before he walked outside.”

Jason, interrupting the conversation, asked, “Would you leave the ranch without your weapon?”

Bryan knew that his father was right.  No one ,that had a weapon, would make themselves vulnerable outside of a shelter.  He did not even have to say a word to Carla, when he looked over at her.  As soon as his eyes met hers, she gave a surrendering look to him, letting him know that he was right.

When the troops had completed their entrance evaluations, they spread out to the posts that they were assigned. Each team had a synchronized watch.  The teams were to go in at exactly one thirty, on the dot.  Carla was on a team with Brian, Jason, Bobby, Wade, and Jake.  Wade and Jake were brothers.  Carla wore the watch on her wrist, mainly because it was her watch to begin with.

Carla’s team waited patiently for her to say the word.  Brian could sense the boosts of adrenaline coursing through his teammates. They were ready to go in and defeat the enemies.