Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place (29 page)

"Lilly! I've got an idea!" he called out excitedly. Lilly lowered the bullhorn and slightly narrowed her eyes.

"Really? What's your idea?" she asked.

"Pretty simple idea, actually," he said in a rush. "The kids won't respond to us because they're probably scared to death and don't know who to trust or what to do, but what if we get some of our kids to call them out and talk to them?"

Lilly grinned at him. "That may work! Ok, so grab a couple kids and let's see what happens."

Mick nodded, spun around and headed back through the doors. He quickly scanned the group of children and spotted Heather. Walking over to her he gave her a big smile and said, "Want to come help granddad with something really important?"

Heather tilted her head and smiled. "Important? What is it?"

"You heard about the boy and girl that are alone at the other warehouse?" At her nod, Mick continued. "Well, we want to help them, but they don't want to talk to us because they're scared. They might talk to other kids though, so I need you and someone else to come outside and talk to them." He glanced at the other children again and gestured. "Who else can help us?"

"Rory," she responded immediately, pointing at Jeff and Lindsey's son. "He knows what's going on, too and he's not shy so he can help."

Mick chuckled. "Why don't you go ask him and I'll check to make sure it's ok with your parents. Then we'll meet back here, how does that sound?"

Heather nodded solemnly. "That sounds just fine, granddad," she said seriously. Mick wanted to chuckle, but refrained. "I'll go ask him now."

Watching her scamper toward Rory, he grinned and hurried off to get permission for the kids to come out and help them. He was sure no one would have a problem, but at the same time he didn't want to step on any parental toes. There were few things any of them had control over anymore and being able to monitor what the children were exposed to was a big consideration.

Mick made a mental note to make sure the children stayed near the door, he didn't want them to see the carnage in the street below. The smell out there, he couldn't do anything about right away. Hauling bodies off was in store for them again in the next few days. At least Mick hoped they could get away with it, certainly might be a lot more dangerous to travel very far from Dave's Place anymore.

He quickly found Scott and got his ok, he found Jeff and Lindsey going over inventory and after a quick explanation, they also gave their consent for Rory to help. Jeff decided to tag along and followed Mick back upstairs. Everyone was waiting for them when they returned. Once again, Mick explained what they were going to do. Finally, he turned toward Heather and Rory, who were standing next to him.

"You two ready to go out and talk to the other kids?"

At their nods, he started toward the balcony. The two children followed, with Jeff bringing up the rear. As soon as they were outside, he quickly turned.

"Heather, honey, you stand right here," he said softly as he positioned her to the left of the door. He motioned for Rory. "And you - young man, right next to Heather, ok?"

Rory hopped over to Heather, who gave him a quick grin then they both looked up at Mick. Jeff had retrieved the bullhorn and handed it to Mick, who in turn gave it to Heather.

"Ok Heather, say hello to them, ask them to come to the window so you can talk to them - then give the bullhorn to Rory and let him do the same thing."

Heather took the bullhorn and after Mick showed her how to use it, she quickly lifted it to her lips.

"Hey! You kids!" she yelled. Mick grinned at Jeff, she was definitely not afraid to use the horn. "My name is Heather; can you come to the window and talk to us? This is my granddad Mick, and Rory is my friend, this is his daddy, Jeff," she said while pointing at each one of them. "That's Parker over there with the gun. He won't hurt you, he's just watching for the bad zombies."

She lowered the horn and looked at Mick. "Am I doing ok?" she whispered.

Mick squatted down. "You're doing great," he reassured her. "Let's give Rory a try now."

She handed her friend the horn. "Your turn Rory," she said sweetly. Mick gave her a quick hug then stood and looked at the boy.

"Go ahead, Rory. Tell them you're name and anything else you want, but try to get them to come to the window."

"Ok Mr. Carter," Rory said with a nod.

Mick stepped back and picked up the binoculars. The warehouse they had last seen the children in was only a few buildings away, but he hoped he could see movement beyond the black interior of the windows. Rory began to talk, repeating almost everything Heather had said previously. To his surprise, the older child, the boy, suddenly appeared in the window. Mick waved at him and after a moment, the boy waved back then disappeared inside.

Without looking away he told Rory, "Keep talking to them Rory, I saw the boy."

Jeff turned and stared for a moment. He pointed. "Look, there are both of them," he said.

Rory lowered the horn and the two groups stared at each other for a few seconds. Mick slowly reached over and took the bullhorn.

"Hi, I'm Mick, Heather's granddad," he said slowly and clearly. "We want to help you get out of there. We want you to come over here to stay with us. You would be safe and you could play with Heather, Rory, and all the other kids here."

At the mention of even more children, Mick saw their eyes widen. "Yes, that's right; we have lots of kids here. We have lots of fun things to do and if you're hungry we have plenty of food." Mick's heart broke when he saw the little girl lick her lips. He knew they must be terribly hungry and thirsty.

Mick glanced down and around the area. Other than the bodies below, there was no sign of anything moving. "If we come over to get you, will you go downstairs and wait at the door?" The children seemed to confer together for a moment before the boy raised his head and nodded. "Great, when we knock on the door, like this - he demonstrated the shave and a hair cut knock to them - you come out and we'll all run back here. How does that sound?" Once again the children put their heads together and the boy nodded.

"Great! We need to get ready and it will take us a little bit. When we are done, we'll come back out here and let you know when to go down, ok?" They both nodded this time and Mick smiled. "Ok, sit tight and we'll be back soon."

Mick turned to Jeff and let out a deep breath. "Now the fun begins," he muttered under his breath so Heather and Rory couldn't hear.

"And how," Jeff agreed. Leaving Parker to continue his watch, the group returned inside.

"I'm going with you," Lilly said with a nod of her head as she followed them. At Mick's dubious glance, she frowned. "None of that now! I think it will help to have me with you so they won't be so scared." She raised a finger and shook it. Mick grinned and Lilly rolled her eyes before chuckling. "Ok, I know I'm being a little overly dramatic, but I want to help these kids, I feel like I need to do this - ok?"

Mick could hear the pleading in her voice and realized these kids may be what Lilly needed, indeed. "No problem Lil, but it's not going to be pretty down there and it could get downright dangerous."

"I know, trust me, I've already thought this through," she said with a small smile. "I am willing to take the chance."

They were still standing at the door and Jeff peered over Mick's shoulder. "Ok, can we all move now? Getting kind of cramped behind Mick here."

Everyone laughed and the tension in the air evaporated. "I'm going to let Cindy in on everything," Mick said with a wave as he turned to go find his wife. "Should we all meet downstairs at the door in about 10 minutes?"

Lilly and Jeff agreed, so Mick hurried off to find Cindy.

Chapter 33

Someone built a fire outside the apartment and several people were gathered around, listening to Bitsy Jones weave her rather fantastic tale. Charlie sat back in his chair, stuffed from dinner, very comfortable and half asleep with his hands behind his head. He was quite amused by Bitsy's story and he could tell several others were as well. When she finished, there was silence for a moment. Then Travis spoke up.

"Wow, Bits - that's some story," he said lamely. Charlie almost laughed out loud when he saw the boy's smitten, puppy dog eyes glued to Bitsy. "I'm not sure I could have done half that well."

Charlie started to chuckle, but when Jenny gave him a look, he choked it back. He stuck his tongue out at her and she crossed her eyes, causing him to choke back another laugh. She smiled and winked at him before glancing back at Travis and Bitsy.

Apparently in Bitsy's world, she was quite the superhero, able to leap over hoards of zombies with a single bound. None of them could catch her, or trick her, or even get close to her. She had been hiding out on the other side of town and thought everyone was either a zombie or gone. Her parents had left her alone with the promise that they would return with her Aunt and Uncle, but none of them ever came back.

So, according to Bitsy, she snuck around and managed to gather everything she needed to survive. At first for fun, she followed the zombies around and took them out when she could. Then there were more and more of them, and they seemed to be getting wise to her, so she opted to stay out of sight most of the time.

Bitsy tried to study them closely; she was very interested in how they were changing. This careful observation told her it was getting too dangerous to stay where she was. She was so excited when Charlie and his group passed right by her hiding spot, which was on the second floor of a small apartment building. Bitsy had removed most of the stairs inside in case zombies found their way in, and used a collapsible ladder to climb in and out of a window that faced the main road.

Charlie had enough. He also wanted to see Judith before retiring for the night. He stood and stretched slowly. "Well folks, I'm headed to bed." He nodded toward the group and started toward the apartment when he heard a high-pitched yelp.

"What was that?" Jenny's doctor-beau Jake queried.

Everyone jumped up and began scanning the area. Although it was still light enough outside to see, there were many shadows forming in the twilight and Charlie was certain most of them were moving.

"Did the zombies follow us after all?" Jenny hissed as she scrambled to reach under the chair she'd been sitting on to retrieve a rifle.

"We double checked and they didn't follow," Darrell replied slowly, still scanning the surrounding area. "But I think they're out there now."

Charlie saw Dexter emerge from the apartment building, as if on cue. "We got problems?" he bellowed when he reached the group.

Darrell put a finger to his lips. "Keep it down, Dex! We have movement all over the place and we're trying to figure out what it is exactly."

At Darrell's rebuff, Dexter's eyes narrowed. "Ok, well stay here if you want, but I would suggest everyone get inside now. Once we know what's out there we'll figure out how to deal with it."

For once, Charlie couldn't find fault with Dexter's logic. "I agree," he interjected. "Let's go!"

Everyone followed after Charlie and Dexter. Once inside, Megan bolted the doors and slid the reinforced metal bars in place across them both. Fortunately, no one was at the houses next door, even Rose and Kevin were inside the apartment helping with the dinner dishes. Dexter ran upstairs to confer with the men watching on the roof. Charlie decided to follow Dexter, but at a slower pace. Something was nagging him, but he couldn't put a finger on what it was exactly. Deep in thought, he almost ran into Judith.

Startled, he jumped back and his frown creased into a wide smile. "Sorry, should have watched where I was going," he said with a shake of his head and a chuckle.

Judith touched his arm gently. "It's ok; I was coming to look for you anyway."

At Charlie's questioning look she continued. "Do you have time now to talk or does it need to wait?"

"Can it wait? Something strange is going on outside and we're trying to figure out what."

At her alarmed look, he hurried to reassure her. "I'm sure it's probably nothing - false alarm probably - and I should be back in a few minutes. Can it wait until then?"

"Of course," Judith replied firmly with an emphatic nod of her blond curls. "Let me know what you find out?"