Zombified (Book 2): Shady Oaks (10 page)

Chapter 14

Charlie and Mick exchanged worried glances as they moved at a snail's pace down the poor excuse for a road. Charlie knew if they didn't pick up the pace the zombies were going to cut them off.

Daylight was slowly fading, within the hour it would be dark and they needed to get off the mountain before then.

He was startled from his thoughts as Sean opened fire on two zombies standing by the side of the road. One fell straight to the ground while the other spun in a lazy circle before dropping.

"Nice shooting," he muttered.

"Thanks," Sean replied, his eyes never leaving the zombies in the meadow.

The truck suddenly came to a screeching halt, throwing Charlie into Sean and sending them both sprawling onto the truck floor. Sean had the presence of mind and the training to keep his rifle pointed up and away from them. He rolled to his side and immediately crouched back down next to the tailgate. Charlie followed his example by rolling over and he quickly took his seat again.

They heard the driver's side door open and Scott quickly dropped the tailgate. "Zombies on the road ahead, we're going on foot so we can avoid them.”

Without a word, Sean jumped out and turned to help the others while Scott kept watch. Once everyone was out, Scott turned toward them.

"Stay really close, try to not make a sound, and no talking - we need to sneak past these guys if we're going to make it out," he said in a low voice. "We don't have much time until it gets dark so let's see how much distance we can put between them and us before then."

Mick stepped forward. "Do you think we should chance a walkie call to your Mom? Let them know what's going on here?"

"Dad, I'd love to, but we can't," Scott said with a shake of his head. "If Malcolm's men hear our conversation, they'll know we're on to them and that could cause them to attack the town sooner. We want our people ready and waiting for them so they lose the element of surprise."

"Gotcha," Mick said forlornly. He didn't want to admit it, but he needed to hear Cindy's voice, wanted to hear her say everything would work out.

"Okay, line up in this order - Brooke, Jimmy, Dad, Jenny, Jake, and Charlie - with Sean at the rear," Scott said as he maneuvered them around like they were puppets on a string. Once they were lined up he grinned. "Do you feel like you're in grade school again? Sorry 'bout that, but there's a method to my madness. Okay, let's go."

Scott turned and began to walk quickly down through the trees and Mick realized that with a little luck they should come out right by the pickup. Taking a chance, he scurried up to his son.

"I know you said to stay in place and no talking, but if we keep going this way we'll run into the pickup and we can take it out of here," he said in a loud whisper as he tried to match his son's stride through the woods.

"Awesome," Scott replied. "Will try to head right for it then, now you better get back in line before Sean decides he needs to come up here and find out what's going on."

"All right," Mick huffed and slowed his stride until he could fall in behind Jimmy.

He got back into step with the group and they hurried through the trees for several seconds before they heard gunfire and shouting directly off to their right.

Mick turned his head toward the sound and didn't see Scott slow down and hold up a hand. He plowed right into Jimmy, almost knocking them both to the ground.

"Oh wow, so sorry," he whispered, clutching Jimmy by the arm to steady him.

Scott turned and trotted past them to confer with his brother again. After a few words were exchanged he motioned for everyone to join them. Once huddled together, Scott nodded in the direction where shots were still going off.

"I think we've got a problem," he began in a loud whisper. He looked up over Jimmy's head to make sure they were safe before continuing.

"We don't know where the zombies are now and we're almost in total darkness until the moon comes up. Sean and I think it best if we go on our own. We haven't gone too far off the road, so we will drive up here then come and get you."

"Where do you suggest we go?" Charlie asked in a low voice. "I don't see any place that we would be safe."

"Well, there is one place," Sean murmured. He slowly raised his gun and pointed it in the air. "Up there."

Mick looked up with the others and heard Brooke groan.

"We don't have a lot of time, so let's do this. Ladies first," Scott said as he walked over to the nearest tree, a nice oak with plenty of branches for them to sit on. He put his hands together to give everyone a boost and being scared of what was around them, it took less than a few minutes to have everyone in the tree.

When Mick looked down at his sons and saw them grinning up at them, he wagged a finger. "I know what you're thinking so don't even go there."

Sean played innocent, opening his eyes wide and holding out his hands. "Hey, we weren't thinking that you all look like a pack of monkeys up there!"

Scott snorted and shook his head and he moved away from the tree. "C'mon, we need to see what's going on," he growled at his brother.

Sean waved at them. "Be quiet up there and no moving around, we don't want those things spotting you," he said before turning to join his brother.

"Be careful!" Mick hissed. Sean waved again without turning around.

Mick watched them talk again for a second before they separated and began to use the trees for cover as they went in different directions. He could see them dart here and there until the forest eventually blocked his view.

He was always amazed at how they could operate without even communicating; they always seemed to know where their twin was. When they were younger, they loved to play paintball and they almost always decimated their competition.

Mick heard a branch crack and looked up in time to see Brooke easing down to another branch right above him. He held out a hand to help steady her and she gave him a small, nervous smile in return.

"Dad, I'm scared," she said in a shaky voice.

He patted her hand reassuringly as he glanced around them again. He was about to reply when gunfire erupted once more, only it was much closer this time and he could hear men yelling to each other.

Mick initially felt foolish for having to hide up in a tree, but now he wondered if they should go even higher, a low stray bullet could hit one of them while they were sitting on the lower branches. He waved at Charlie who was sitting almost directly opposite of him on the other side of the tree trunk.

Charlie saw him immediately and waved back. Mick leaned forward so his whisper would carry further. "I think we need to go higher, the way they're shooting down there we could get hit."

Charlie nodded and slowly made his way to his feet. He tapped first Jenny and then Jake on a foot and pointed up. Fortunately they both immediately understood what he wanted and began to slowly make their way up the tree.

Mick turned to Brooke. "We need to get higher, get Jimmy to give you a hand up."

Brooke nodded and turned toward Jimmy. Tugging on his jeans to get his attention, she held her hand up to him when he looked down. "Dad says we need to go higher," she said in a loud whisper.

Jimmy bent down and grasped her hand to pull her up. She placed her right foot on a higher branch and began to pull herself up with Jimmy's help. Shots rang out even closer, causing her to jump in fear.

Mick watched in horror as her foot slipped off the branch and she reflexively jerked on Jimmy's arm for support. Together, they both lost their balance and slid past the branches before free falling to the ground below, Jimmy falling headfirst.

Mick heard Jenny gasp and everyone froze for a moment before scrambling down. Brooke seemed to be uninjured and crawled over to Jimmy, tears streaming down her face as she stroked his cheek and frantically whispered his name over and over.

Mick dropped down beside her and as he put an arm around her, Jake knelt down to check Jimmy. They all watched as he worked swiftly; first he checked for a pulse then ran his hands up and down Jimmy's arms and legs. He looked up at them.

"I'm going to try and wake him so I can determine if he has a neck or spine injury before we move him. If I can't wake him up we'll have to chance it because we sure can't stay here."

"This is all my fault," Brooke sobbed into Mick's shoulder. "If I had been braver and not such a baby we wouldn't have fallen."

Mick gave her a reassuring hug. "You slipped, it was an accident and I think you've been plenty brave. Most people would have run screaming into the woods after experiencing what you've been through."

Jake made a fist and with moderate pressure gave the young man a sternal rub; he called his name and rubbed his fist into Jimmy's chest again.

"What's he doing?" Brooke asked as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

Jenny, who was sitting on her haunches on the other side of Brooke, leaned over and whispered. "He's trying to get him to wake up, what he's doing is painful, but won't hurt Jimmy."

To everyone's relief, Jimmy's eyelids fluttered and he gave a low moan of pain. Jake placed a hand on his forehead to keep him from moving.

"Jimmy, do you have any pain in your neck?"

Jimmy's eyes opened and he was silent for a moment as he looked at everyone clustered around. "Umm, no pain there, but my butt hurts."

Everyone grinned and Jake chuckled as he slowly turned Jimmy on his side. After a quick exam he stood and motioned toward Charlie.

"Help me get him up."

Slowly they stood Jimmy up and held him there for a moment. When he tried to take a step he gasped in pain and grimaced.

Jake frowned. "I think you may have done some damage to your tail bone," he said while reaching down to grab his backpack. "But we don't have time to stand around here anymore."

He nodded at Mick. "Can you and Charlie help him? I think we should get moving."

"Sure thing," Mick said as he gave Brooke a quick hug and releasing her, stood and hurried over to put a steadying arm around Jimmy. Jenny and Brooke got to their feet and after shouldering their bags, stood together.

Jenny asked in a low voice, still mindful of what surrounded them, "So where do we go?"

"The only thing I can think of is we go back to camp. We can tell by the gunfire and other noise that those things are moving off, it might actually be the safest place around here now."

Mick thought for a moment and nodded. "You've got a point, I sure don't want to try and make it down the mountain with those things crawling all over."

"Not to mention possibly getting shot by accident," Charlie hissed. He nodded toward the camp. "Let's get going."

They slowly moved out, moving from one tree to another and mindful to stay away from the meadow as they made their way back.

As gunfire and shouts erupted again, Mick mentally crossed his fingers and hoped they would make if back safely. His thoughts turned to his sons; they would have to find some way to let them know their plan was changed, if he needed to break radio silence he would. There was no way he would let Sean and Scott drive unaware into a group of zombies with armed soldiers right behind them.

Shaking his head, he tightened his grip on Jimmy and tried to focus on the task at hand.

****

They were on the move, which was exactly what he wanted. All he had to do was think the thing, and it was done. When he was still alive, he and his peers found it amazing how the zombie brain had changed. No longer burdened with rational thought and other cognitive functions, a form of mass telepathy emerged based on need, and their only need was to satisfy the thirst.

For a long time most of them wandered around in small groups, but once they were brought together by the Connor Group, he emerged as leader. He was the strongest and as they moved toward their destination, he could feel others off in the distance. With a single thought, he called to them and felt them respond. By the time they reached their destination they would be almost unstoppable. Then they would quench their thirst again and again - and again.

Chapter 15

Cindy turned to Judith as Rose closed the shelter door and secured it. "Well, that takes care of all the kids and everyone who can't fight. Guess we should get over to the hardware store and get in position."

They both trotted down the hall and up the stairs where Harry was waiting for them. As they approached, he waved a walkie talkie in the air. "We're all set with these, use channel four."

Judith nodded and pulling it out of her backpack, fiddled with the dial. Cindy patted hers, which was clipped to her belt. "I'm going to be with Judith, so I'm leaving my settings where they are so either the twins or Mick can contact us if they ever break radio silence."

Harry turned and opened the door that led outside. Cindy peered over his shoulder at the apartment building across the street. Once again a meeting place, Dexter was doing what he did best, bellowing orders for everyone to find their places and get ready for an imminent attack.

"Guess I'll be leaving you ladies for now, I'm meeting Mark at the chopper,
and we're going to move it to the McKenzie farm."

"You better get going," Cindy said with a smile as she gave him a nudge out the door. "We definitely don't want the Connor Group to get their hands on a helicopter, which would be a bad deal all the way around."

"Agree," Harry said solemnly. He gave them a quick wave as he turned to go. "See you soon!"

Judith followed Cindy out the door and they walked together along the back of the building then made a sharp left until they were at the street. They jogged the rest of the way down to the hardware store where they quickly made their way up the stairs to stand watch over their section of the street.

Judith rummaged around in her backpack and brought out the walkie again, carefully placing it on a windowsill and checking to make sure it was on the proper channel. Then she pulled out a large thermos and a paper bag.

"Coffee and homemade donuts," she said with a grin. "I come prepared."

Cindy chuckled. "Indeed you do, think I could use a cup right now."

Judith pulled a large metal mug out of her bag and waggled her eyebrows at Cindy, causing both women to laugh.

Cindy gratefully accepted the mug full of hot coffee and gingerly sipped. "Ah, that hits the spot!" she said with a happy sigh.

"Sorry it's black, I know you like cream and sugar, but I figured we could be here awhile and it would help keep us awake."

"No, it's fine," Cindy said agreeably, taking another sip.

Both women jumped and Cindy almost dropped her mug when Judith's walkie crackled to life. Both women listened quietly as the groups patrolling the town checked in. Once it grew quiet again, Cindy realized she was holding her breath and let it out in a whoosh.

"They all checked in," Judith pointed out as she filled her own mug and took a drink. She made a face and set it down on a nearby counter. "I hate coffee, give me tea anytime," she said with a chuckle.

Cindy nodded toward the window. "I hope this turns out to be nothing, it's getting dark and that will make it hard to see anything."

"Well, we do have one set of night vision goggles, courtesy of Lilly," Judith said as she bent down to retrieve her bag and pull them out.

"What else do you have in there?" Cindy said with a laugh.

"You'd be surprised," her friend quipped with a wink and a finger to her lips. "But it's a secret."

Cindy grinned and shook her head. She glanced out the window and turned away, only to jerk her gaze back toward the window again. "I think I just saw something."

Judith followed her gaze and stared out the window. They watched silently for several seconds before Cindy shook her head.

"Guess it was nothing..."

Judith stopped her by reaching out and grabbing her arm. "No, I see something - look over by the park!"

Cindy squinted, shadows were lengthening in the growing darkness and it was becoming difficult to make out anything. Then she saw it - something very dark and large was moving slowly down the street toward them.

"I think it's an SUV," Judith said nervously. She tucked a strand of curly blond hair behind an ear. She reached out and picked up the walkie.

"Wouldn't someone have called out if they were headed in?"

Cindy nodded, her eyes still fastened on the vehicle. "Yeah, they're supposed to."

"Dexter, come in," Judith said carefully into the walkie.

"I'm here," Dexter said in his gravely voice.

"Cindy and I are in position at the hardware store and there's an SUV coming slowly down the street. Do you know if anyone is out moving around?"

"Lemme check."

They both waited as Dexter roared out over the walkie to anyone moving in town to let him know pronto. Cindy shook her head as Judith rolled her eyes.

"Some things never change," Cindy said dryly. She bent down, fished around in her own backpack, and pulled out binoculars. Walking over to another window further down, she held them up and focused them.

"What are you trying to do?"

"I know the windows are tinted and it's still at the end of the street, but I'd like to see if I can catch any glimpse of who is in there before it's too dark to see."

"Gotcha," Judith replied. She started to turn away and go into the next room to take a look when Cindy held out a hand.

"Judith! Come look!" she hissed as she waved her hand frantically. "They've stopped!"

Judith hurried over to peer over Cindy's shoulder. They both gasped when several men in dark clothing exited from the vehicle and ran to their side of the street to take cover by the buildings. Both women knew immediately these were not people from Shady Oaks.

"Oh, this is not good," Judith said in a low voice. Still watching the street, she quickly called Dexter on the walkie.

"Dex! This SUV we're watching is not from here, about six men piled out and they're somewhere down the street!"

The walkie was silent for a moment. Cindy and Judith stared at each other until Dexter's voice came through again.

"Okay, you two hold your position and stay out of sight, we're on our way."

"Roger that," Judith said softly. She released the talk button and sighed loudly as she looked around the room. Shadows were lengthening and it was getting hard to see. "Guess we should hunker down by the windows and keep watch until they get here."

Cindy grabbed a nearby folding chair and sat near the window, her binoculars around her neck. Judith watched Cindy check her pistol before placing it on her lap.

Judith slid another chair over to her window, she had the night vision goggles in hand and the shotgun Cindy brought along was at her feet. Like Cindy, she was more comfortable with a pistol, but there had been no time to fetch hers, so now she had to use Mick's shotgun.

They sat silently, looking out the windows for almost half an hour before Cindy spoke softly in the dark room.

"I always thought that if anything happened, I'd have Mick by my side and that kept me from being afraid. Without him here, I'm really scared...I wish he and Charlie had stayed in town and were here with us now."

Judith leaned over and patted her friend's hand. "No reason to be scared, Dexter is coming with help, it will be all right."

"I hope so," Cindy murmured in a shaky voice. She suddenly sat up straighter when sudden movement from the park across the street caught her eye.

"I think I see them now. Look across the street."

As Judith turned to the window, gunfire and the resulting flashes erupted on the street below them. She heard Cindy gasp as she reached down for the shotgun.

"Can I be scared now?"

"Yeah," Judith muttered grimly as she released the safety and heard Cindy do the same with her pistol. "Now we can both be scared."

****

"I can't believe we made it back in one piece," Mick grunted as he helped deposit Jimmy onto the nearest cot. He had sweat dripping from his face and wiped it off as best he could with the back of his shirt sleeve.

Even with Jimmy in tow, they managed a slow trot almost the entire way back to camp and everyone needed a few moments to catch their breath.

Mick watched Jake disappear toward the back, muttering something about finding medical supplies. Charlie and Jenny were busy trying to secure the flaps to the tent so no zombie stragglers could easily get in, although the place appeared to be completely deserted.

Brooke found a chair and sat next to Jimmy, worry etched on her face. Mick decided to see if he could help Jake and found the doctor shining a flashlight into a cabinet drawer as he dug through the contents.

"Anything I can do to help?"

Jake looked up. "Sure, we need to take all this medicine back with us so see if you can find a couple of good size boxes; we can really use almost everything here." He picked up a bottle and gave it a shake. "I found some muscle relaxers, these should help Jimmy."

Mick held out a hand. "If you want, I'll take those up front while I'm looking for boxes."

"That'll work, thanks," Jake said distractedly. He straightened up and surveyed the area. "I can't believe they left so much behind, but it's great for us and especially good for my research. After I provided some of my information, they were in the final stages of synthesizing a new vaccine and if they left enough behind, I should be able to continue that work or at least see if they were able to fix their deadly problem."

Mick found a small battery-operated lantern and turned it on. He glanced around the room and was surprised to see how much equipment Malcolm left behind. He surmised that Malcolm was planning to come back and soon. His gaze fell on a large box in the corner.

"From the look of things, you may get your wish," he said as he retrieved the box and handed it to Jake.

"I hope so; if we can keep any more people from dying then we may all have a chance to have real lives again."

As he helped fill the box with medical supplies, Mick's thoughts turned to his sons. Brooke had the idea to leave a note on the tree, which they did and he knew they would see it when they returned. Lucky for them that Jake always carried paper and pens with him; he never knew when some idea would come to mind that he didn't want to forget.

"When do you think Sean and Scott will get here?"

Jake shrugged as he turned to pick up another box of what looked like syringes. "Well, let's say they've already made it to the truck and managed to get back up here. Then they would have gone on foot the rest of the way to the tree and found the note. They would drive both trucks back to the camp. So, I'm guessing they should be here in about fifteen or twenty minutes."

"Then we should probably hurry with this stuff," Mick huffed as he placed another box by the entrance.

They worked silently for several minutes before Mick stopped and looked around. "We could really use a dolly; think I'll see if I can find one."

"Good idea," Jake murmured while scanning various vials and tubes inside a small refrigerator. He turned toward Mick with a large smile on his face. He held up a small wire basket full of capped tubes.

"Look at this! They left a batch of the vaccine behind; I can't wait to examine one of these!"

Mick smiled back. "That's great news! If it works then all we need to do is replicate what's in there, right?"

Jake carefully placed the basket back into the fridge and closed the door. "Perhaps. I don't know if this is new or just another batch of the current vaccine."

Mick watched Jake pick up a large red and white cooler and return to the fridge to pack his precious cargo. "Okay, I'm going to find more boxes and a dolly or hand cart or anything with wheels to help us haul this stuff outside. Soon as Sean and Scott get here, we can load up and get back to Shady Oaks."

He didn't have a flashlight and the lantern he left behind with Jake cast such a dim light that when he walked through the plastic barrier he almost ran into Charlie.

"You two need any help? The boys just pulled up, Jenny's out there talking to them."

"They did? That's great!" Mick said with a wide grin. "Looking for boxes and a dolly, want to help?"

"Sure," Charlie said as he turned to follow Mick back toward the entrance. "There are boxes up front, and I haven't seen a dolly, but I'll look around."

"Sounds good, I'll get the boys to come help us load stuff and take a quick look outside while I'm at it."

He stopped for a moment by the cot Jimmy was now sitting on, with Brooke still by his side. Two large lanterns they found did a surprisingly good job of lighting the space and he could clearly see both of them. He tossed the small package of muscle relaxers into Jimmy's lap.

"Feeling better?"

Jimmy gave him a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, it doesn't hurt as much now. Jake thinks I bruised my tail bone."

He looked toward his daughter. "Boys are here, we're going to need some help loading supplies Jake needs, think you can tear yourself away for a little bit to give us a hand?"