Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place (9 page)

They had stored bug-out-bags full of supplies in the attic, but Dexter knew the food in them would run out quickly so the first chance he saw to make a break for it, they took it. They decided to check out the strobe lights they’d seen from the roof at night and that's how they ended up at Hudson Place.

Mick shook himself out of his reverie as Rose said something. “Sorry, what did you say?” he asked meekly, feeling embarrassed once again. “I didn’t catch that.”

Rose gave him a funny look as she tilted her head. “I said I needed to be getting back upstairs. Are you all right?”

“
I’m fine,” Mick said lamely. “Sorry about that, guess I’m just in a funny mood today.” As she continued to stare at him, he grabbed a fork and waved it at the food in front of him. “This looks great, who’s the cook today?” As he speared a piece of chicken with the fork and stuffed it into his mouth, he was relieved to see Rose relax as she grinned at him.

“
Believe it or not, the kids did the cooking. Lindsey decided that learning to cook was just as important as anything else she’s been teaching them, and I couldn’t agree more. She’s going to show them how to make a solar oven and then they’ll cook something in it up on the roof. Kevin told me he wanted to help cook all the meals,” she said with a soft chuckle.

“
Give my compliments to the chefs,” he said with a grin.

“
I’ll do that,” Rose replied with a smile as she turned to leave. “See you later.”

“
Bye,” Mick called out after her. He turned back to his meal, but he barely tasted the food as he chewed, his mind still on what was really going on between Rose and Dexter.

****

Later that evening, Mick and Cindy were alone on the rooftop garden, sipping hot coffee and talking about Rose.

“
Let me get this straight,” Mick said as he slipped an arm around Cindy. They were sitting on a wicker love seat and looking out over the darkened city. “From what you could gather Rose and Dexter actually have a pretty good relationship? She told you that he’s really a softie inside, that he just has a “loud” personality, and that neither she nor Kevin think anything of it, he’s just always been that way.”

“
That’s what she says,” Cindy affirmed with a nod. “She was kind of embarrassed one day when he was yelling about something, I guess she thought she should explain how he is. She told me that if it hadn’t been for him, they wouldn’t have survived and that he was very gentle with both her and Kevin the whole time they were stuck in the attic.”

Mick felt relieved. Although he didn’t care for Dexter, he was glad to know the guy wasn’t abusing his family. “I’m glad we had this talk, it clears up a few misconceptions I had. I guess Rose is just now coming around, I’ve noticed Kevin is more talkative too.”

“
He is. Lindsey told me when they first got here, he would barely talk to anyone, but lately he’s really opened up.”

They sat in silence for awhile, enjoying just being together. Mick laid his cheek on top of Cindy’s head as she snuggled against his shoulder. “Can you believe all this?” he said as he gestured toward the city beyond. “No lights, no people – well no living people – no going out to dinner and a movie...” he trailed off with a sigh.

Cindy sat up and looked into his eyes. To Cindy, he had the most soulful, expressive brown eyes she had ever seen. Right then she read sadness in those eyes, and she reached out to lightly touch his cheek. “Someday we’ll have all that again, I just know it,” she replied with certainty in her voice. “Things always happen for a reason. You know, we become stronger not when times are easy, but when they are hard – sometimes when they are
really
hard. I believe that we are strong enough to take back our rightful place out there. Those
things
will be gone someday, but we’ll still be here. We’re going to start over and we will succeed because there really is no other option.”

Mick stared at her, the determination in her eyes and the passion in her voice moved him deeply. He felt guilty for feeling so wishy-washy and doubtful earlier in the day. If Cindy believed they could make it, then so did he. As she snuggled back against him, he sent up a silent prayer of thanks for the wonderful woman God had given him.

“
You’re absolutely right. I think that’s what I needed to hear.” As he hugged her to him, she leaned her head back to look up at him.

“
I know, I have Mick ESP, remember,” she said with a serious look on her face before winking at him and laughing out loud. Mick gave her a goofy grin as she continued, “I’ve seen you moping around the last few days looking all lost and confused. We just need to keep our focus on what needs to be done and not on what might happen.”

They were still looking at each other and grinning like fools when Mick felt a vibration. “What is that?” he said as he sat up straighter, a puzzled look on his face. “Did you feel that?”

Cindy looked around. “No, what did you...”

Mick didn’t hear the rest of what she was saying. There was a blinding flash of light about a mile to the north, followed by more vibrations and a loud WHUMP sound. They both jumped up and clutched each other, staring dumbfounded at the flames shooting up into the sky. They heard Jeff and Parker on the balcony below shouting something unintelligible. Mick willed himself to move, he needed to get Dave, but it was almost impossible to tear his gaze away. A second, louder blast jerked him out of his stupor and he began to run toward the stairs, pulling Cindy along as the sky behind him became bright as day.

Chapter 8

Everyone stood quietly in the lobby, listening for any unusual noises. As Charlie looked around, he could tell the building had once been a large family home. The outside was red brick with white trim and a wraparound porch. What Gordon called the lobby was on the small side, green striped wallpaper covered the walls and the floor was covered in charcoal grey carpet. As he looked closer at the carpeting, he notice what appeared to be blood spots and a few small smears, although it was hard to tell for certain since the carpet was so dark. Branching off from the lobby, there was a long hallway with three doors on the left and two on the right.

“
Gordon,” he whispered as he walked toward the older man. “How many apartments are in here?”

Gordon thought for a moment and replied in a low voice, “As you can see, there’s five down here and if I remember right, six upstairs.”

From the outside, the place didn’t look large enough to have so many apartments, but looks can be deceiving, Charlie thought as he continued to survey the building. There were only two apartments on the left because a wide stairway leading upstairs was situated in front of them, just off the entry. Dexter waving a hand in the air caught his attention.

When Dexter was satisfied everyone was looking his way, he held up his flashlight. “Make sure you have one of these, I know it’s not that dark, but I wouldn’t want to open a closet door and not be able to see what’s in it.” As the group began fumbling around for their flashlights, he continued. “Make sure your weapons are ready, with safeties off. We already did a check and everyone should have a loaded gun and ammo to spare. Remember to be thorough; we don’t want any surprises later. After each apartment is cleared, make sure all the windows and doors are locked behind you. Later we’ll have to go back into the apartments on this floor to board up the windows, if anyone knows where we can get some steel shutters, those would be ideal,” Dexter said, recalling from experience how boarding up windows with flimsy plywood didn’t work so well.

Dexter met Charlie’s eyes and gave him a slight nod and Charlie nodded back. “Let’s get this over with, it’s not getting any earlier and we need to get a lot done before we can move your families and friends in here.”

Charlie and his group quickly ascended the stairs. He noted that although most of the doors were closed, two in the middle of the hall were wide open. “Let’s take those two first,” he whispered, jerking his head in that direction. “Four of you, come with me...the rest of you take the other room.”

Once they were ready, they silently crept forward with weapons drawn. Charlie’s group reached their open door first and he paused to wave the other group on. They scurried past the door, looking inside as they went by, the last man turned toward Charlie and gave him a thumb up. Charlie nodded at him and peeked around the doorjamb. To his relief the room, although thoroughly trashed, looked empty. He could see a living area with a kitchenette in the rear. There were two open doors on the right and one closed door on the left. Despite the mess, the room had a bright, airy feel to it and the furniture, although knocked over and tossed around, didn’t look cheap.

Despite his trepidation, the apartment was empty. As they went from one apartment to the other, he could see the others begin to visibly relax and he called them all out into the hallway.

“
I know it looks like the floor is clear, but stay on your guard,” he cautioned. “Trust me, it only takes a second for one of those things to be on you, so please, don’t get too relaxed.”

As he stood there looking at the men and women before him, the enormity of what he was doing suddenly struck him. What the hell was he doing? What seemed like ages ago he’d been in the Army, so he knew about weapons and how to defend himself, but for the last fifteen years he’d just been a truck driver. His heart raced, he felt overwhelmed and out of his league. As they continued to look at him, he realized he had to get it together. “Ok, let’s keep going,” he said with a weak grin. “That’s all I wanted to say, I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

He turned away, moving cautiously toward the last door and glanced over to watch the other half of his group getting ready to enter the apartment directly across. He grabbed the door handle and tried to turn it. Wouldn’t ya know it, Charlie thought in frustration. Oh course the last door
had
to be locked. He watched the group across the hall enter their apartment single file as he thought about what to do. Making noise at this juncture could endanger their lives if something was inside.

Still staring at the door he asked in a whisper loud enough for his group to hear, “Can anyone pick a lock?”

“
I can,” someone whispered back.

Charlie motioned for them to come forward and his eyes widened with surprise as Travis stepped before him. Travis’ face reddened under Charlie’s scrutiny, and he shrugged his shoulders.

“
It’s not what you think, honest,” Travis spoke rapidly, but still in a whisper. “I’ve always wanted to be a cop and I heard it’s a good skill to have. I practice all the time, so I bet I can do it.”

Charlie eyed him for a moment before stepping back to give him room. “It’s all yours,” he said with a sweeping motion of his hand toward the door.

Charlie raised his eyebrows but kept quiet as Travis withdrew a small lock pick set from his jacket. He went to work and in less than a minute, they heard the lock click. Glad he wants to be a good guy, Charlie thought as he smiled at Travis. The teen blushed again and moved away from the door.

Charlie grasped the door knob, slowly turned it, and swung the door open. He stuck his head inside the room to take a look, then slowly backed up and turned around. “We’ve got one,” he said softly.

****

Dexter was nervous, although he didn’t show it. They’d searched the entire first floor and it was clear. Now it was time for the basement and he had bad vibes. Gordon had pointed out the door, it was built into the staircase and they were getting ready to go down.

“
I’m gonna throw the flash-bang first, so everybody stay back,” he cautioned. He opened the door and shined his flashlight into the dark recess beyond. “When I go, everybody follow and go down single file just as fast as you can.”

Dave had given them five of the devices and at first Dexter didn’t think they’d ever use them, but he was glad to have them now. He leaned forward, pulled the pin and heaved it over the stairs in one smooth motion, then slammed the door shut. They all jumped at the sound of the explosion, even Dexter hadn’t expected it to be so loud and he could see the flash under the door.

“
Let’s go!” he yelled as he jerked the door open, the beam of his flashlight bobbing and weaving on the stairs as he raced downward. Once down, other beams joined his as they rapidly swept around the room.

“
Did the flash-bang do this?” someone asked, the shock evident in their voice.

Dexter shook his head slowly in disbelief. The basement looked like a slaughter house. The walls and floors were stained with blood; what looked like body parts littered the floor. Smoke from the flash bang had temporarily covered the smell, but now they were being hit full force with the horrific smell of congealed blood and rotting flesh. The sound of someone retching, then retreating up the stairs barely registered. Dexter felt as though his brain had shut down, he was unable to wrap his mind around the scene before him.