Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place (7 page)

“
That’s what we’re hoping,” Dave looked over the dials. “Looks like you’ve got everything set up, want me to take over for a bit?”

“
Nah, you guys can go have breakfast if you want, I’m good for now,” Jeff said with a toothy grin as he adjusted another dial. “I have a walkie here, if I hear anything I’ll give you a yell...I see you have yours,” he said, pointing to the walkie fastened to Dave's belt.

“
Yep,” Dave replied as he gave Jeff a pat on the shoulder. “Ok, you hold down the fort and I’ll be back soon as I eat.”

“
Shouldn’t take you too long, we’re having oatmeal today,” Jeff chuckled and winked at Mick.

Dave groaned and slapped his forehead. “Nooo, not oatmeal! Well, guess I’ll be scrounging around for something else today.”

Everyone knew Dave hated oatmeal, he said the consistency reminded him of baby barf, and Mick couldn’t contain his grin. “C’mon Dave, it’s not so bad,” Mick teased with a wink back at Jeff. “A little sugar and milk, and it’s pretty good stuff.”

Dave rolled his eyes at Mick and pretended to gag, which got laughs out of both Mick and Jeff.

“
Geez, such a drama queen!” Mick chuckled, and then ducked as Dave took a playful swipe at his head.

“
I’ll show you drama queen!” Dave muttered as he and Mick left Jeff to his radio, still chuckling and shaking his head as they continued to fuss at each other all the way upstairs.

Chapter 6

As Charlie began his descent, he hesitated long enough to flick on his flashlight and take a quick look around and down the stairs before moving forward. He could almost feel Darrell breathing down his neck he was so close; Dexter was bringing up the rear. Halfway down, he paused again to sweep the beam over the railing to take a look at the next flight of stairs below.

“
Looks clear,” he said in a whisper. “So far, so good.”

He saw another beam of light from behind him flash over the stairs; Darrell was having a look for himself. They reached the landing and stood there for a minute, listening for any sounds and looking down the last flight of stairs.

Charlie heard Dexter clear his throat, he figured that must be his signal to get moving again, so he started down. Almost right in his ear, he heard Darrell gasp loudly and he turned around. Dexter hadn’t been clearing his throat. What Charlie saw sent a bolt of fear through him like he’d been hit by lightning. His light revealed Dexter struggling against a zombie, the thing was horrifying to look at; half of its leering, rotting face was in shreds and missing an eye. Dexter was trying to get the creature’s hands from around his throat, his face was turning red, and his eyes shone not with fear, but with something that looked to Charlie like cold and brutal fury. Before either Darrell or Charlie could react, Dexter reached down with one hand, drew his knife free and without a moment’s hesitation he slashed the zombie’s throat. It made a strangled, whistling noise and strings of blood dribbled from the mouth as more blood and gore from the neck wound gushed over Dexter’s chest. He slashed again, nearly severing the head this time; it finally released him and slid down the wall in a heap. Dexter calmly leaned down and wiped the blade on the zombie’s filthy pants.

Charlie stared at him in shock, Darrell was making funny little sounds somewhere between a sob and a scream.

“
You two better buck up,” Dexter said hoarsely, rubbing his throat with his free hand as he straightened up and placed the knife back in its sheath. “This ain’t no tea party and there’s probably worse to come.”

Although Dexter spoke with bravado, Charlie noticed his hand was shaking when he replaced the knife.

“
You ok?” Charlie finally managed to say and to his embarrassment, the question came out in a voice way too high and downright squeaky. Dexter chuckled grimly and even Darrell gave him an odd look. Feeling his face flush bright red, he drew himself up to his full height and managed to ask again in an almost normal voice. “Dexter, are you all right?”

“
I’m fine,” he replied with a shake of his head. He picked the flashlight up off the floor where he’d dropped it while fighting with the zombie and shone the light behind him and up the stairs they had just descended. “Little bastard snuck right up on us, I may not of heard him, but I sure as hell shoulda smelled him.”

Charlie turned his attention to Darrell, who was leaning against the wall. “Darrell?”

Darrell took a deep breath before replying. “I’m ok, wasn’t expecting that.” He gave a nervous, halfhearted laugh. “I guess we’ve been feeling so lucky that we let our guard down. I sure won’t make that mistake again.”

“
Don’t think any of us will,” Dexter muttered, still rubbing his neck. He eyed Charlie and Darrell. “Well ladies, are we going to stand here and chat all day until some more of those things find us, or are we gonna go get those people out of that shelter?”

“
Um, I prefer the second choice,” Charlie responded. “Let’s get moving.”

Perhaps it was the adrenaline still coursing through their veins, but the three men rushed down the last flight of stairs and headed at a fast clip off to the right. Charlie had to skid to a stop when he almost ran by the steel double doors with the word
Shelter
marked in bold black letters.

“
We’re here, you two keep an eye out while I try to get someone to come to the door,” Charlie whispered, though for the life of him he didn’t know why he was trying to be quiet. He withdrew the .45 from its holster again and rapped on the door.

“
Hello! Anyone in there?” he shouted, and then continued. “This is Charlie Thompson! I’m here with two of my friends to get you out!”

He paused and put his ear against the door to listen. He almost jumped out of his skin when a bolt was shot back and the door flew open.

“
Dad! I knew you’d come, I just knew it!” Jenny Thompson threw her arms around her father’s neck and gave him a noisy kiss on the cheek. Although she was as filthy as everyone else crowding behind her to see what was going on, Charlie thought she looked wonderful. Her jet black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her sparkling blue eyes, so much like her father’s, smiled up at him. She turned her head to look behind her. “C’mere everybody and meet my Dad!”

Even though the room behind Jenny was lit only by candles and one small lantern, Charlie could see several figures standing behind Jenny and he smiled and raised a hand in greeting. “Howdy everyone, I’m Charlie,” he said with a huge grin.

****

After Charlie, Dexter, and Darrell had spent two hours swapping stories with the townspeople of Shady Oaks, it was decided that the most able bodied would leave the shelter in order to see what was going on in the town.

Jenny sat next to Charlie on a grimy cot, holding his hand and staring at him as though he were going to disappear any moment. “I want to go too,” she said in a low voice so only Charlie could hear. “You taught me how to shoot, I can help.”

Charlie grimaced as he put an arm around her shoulders to give her a hug. “I know you can, but if you go out there, I’m gonna be worried about you and not paying full attention to what needs to be done. Please, do me a favor and stay here for the first few sweeps we do, after that you can join us, ok?”

Jenny studied him for a moment, and then said with an exaggerated sigh, “Ok, you macho types go on out first, then us poor little helpless ones will come up later.”

Charlie glanced at her and was relieved to see her smiling at him.

“
Just teasin’ Dad. It’s ok, really,” she assured him. “What you’re saying makes sense.”

“
Thanks honey, I’ll feel better knowing you’re safe down here,” Charlie said, relief coursing through him.

Charlie glanced around at the group. Several of the men were elderly, but most seemed spry enough to help. There were a couple of younger men, but they were out of commission due to injuries or illness. Jenny pointed to one man with short, dark red hair lying on a cot; he was the new doctor in town. She told Charlie his name was Jake Weaver, and he’d only been in town a month before he’d been stricken with appendicitis. His surgery in Ambrose had gone smoothly, but he’d developed an infection that he was recovering from. Jenny remarked that they were lucky to have him there and Charlie agreed. He wondered why Jenny thought it important to point Jake out, but decided he’d save it for later.

From what Charlie had been able to gather, most of the men in town had stayed outside the shelter to protect the group inside. No one had come back. There were several women who could handle a weapon and that was a plus; some of them would be joining the first group outside. Charlie had counted about fifteen children, including two infants. There were six teens and they did their best to look bored about the whole thing until they realized they could be out of the shelter by nightfall. Charlie chuckled to himself as they tried to contain their excitement and still look cool. One of the teens, Travis Vaughn, had been hunting since he was eight years old and he would join them as would Judith, his mother.

Everyone except the children and babies were dirty and the whole place reeked of unwashed bodies and rotten food. They had been too afraid to open the door, so trash was beginning to pile up in a small room Charlie couldn’t see that Jenny had told him about.

Charlie stood up as a group of men, with Dexter leading the way, entered from another room off to his right. Each of them carried a variety of weapons and began passing them out to those going outside. Charlie noticed that Dexter had been given a clean shirt and it was a bit too small for him, so he had cut the sleeves off.

When they were ready, Dexter turned to face them. “This is how we’ll do it,” he explained, looking at each one of them to make sure they were paying attention. Satisfied, he continued. “We start with this building. I got jumped on the stairs so we clean this place out first. Everyone knows what group they’re assigned to, so Group One...go upstairs and search the lobby and second floor...and Group Two...we search down here then we’ll move up to the third floor. When you’re done, secure every door and window, then meet downstairs in the main lobby and we’ll go from there. Got it?”

Everyone nodded and murmured in the affirmative. “All right then, let’s go.”

“
Dad, be careful,” Jenny said softly as she put a hand on Charlie’s arm.

“
You know it,” he replied with what he hoped was a reassuring grin. “We’ll be back soon.”

Dexter strode over to the door, drew back the large bolt and peered outside. “All clear,” he said over his shoulder as he stepped out into the hall.

“
Soon as we’re out, lock this thing,” Charlie advised Jenny as they stood up. He gave her a quick hug.

She nodded and moved back to let him get by. “Hurry back, you know where to find us,” she joked before she closed the door behind them.

Charlie paused on the other side of the door until he heard the bolt slide into place. With a nod to himself, he followed the others down the hall. Out of the group of fifty four people in the shelter, twenty came with them and Charlie hoped it was enough. Although the town
looked
empty, he was certain it wasn’t. When he first entered the town, he felt as though hidden eyes watched them constantly.

His group was responsible for all the upper floors and they moved swiftly up the two flights of stairs. Dexter’s group was already checking out the floor the shelter was on and he’d sent two men to retrieve the corpse on the stairs and take it outside, then they would move up to the next floor which housed all the city records.

They reached the lobby and did a quick but thorough check of all the offices. As they were heading for the stairs leading up to the second floor, Charlie swore under his breath. A side door to the building was wide open. That’s how the damn thing got in! How could they have missed it when they were looking for something to hold the front doors closed, he chided himself. As the rest of the group went by, he firmly shut the door and turned the dead bolt, which responded with a satisfying click. As he turned, he saw Darrell halfway up the stairs, watching him.

“
We were pretty cocky, weren’t we,” he said, nodding at the door.

“
Pretty stupid,” Charlie muttered.

“
Yeah, that too.”

Charlie joined Darrell and they proceeded upstairs. “We can’t take anything for granted, that’s for sure,” Charlie said as they climbed. “We were lucky once, we probably won’t get that lucky again.”