Jeffery A Ping
Copyright Jeffery A. Ping 2011
Published at Smashwords
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Haven: Life Goes On
Chapter 1
Six months after my friends, neighbors and I established and secured a community we called Haven, I decided to take an extended road trip. The purpose of the trip was to explore the surrounding area and check Zombie movement patterns. In addition, I was to locate good foraging targets. During the last three weeks, I had been checking the towns and farms in the area north of Haven. Originally, I had driven North about 200 miles then started working my way south, back toward home while searching a grid scheme I had laid out on my map. A week ago, while driving down this secondary road I had been fortunate enough to stumble upon an 8x10 foot steel storage container. I could use this container as a home base while searching the surrounding area. The container was of the type called land/sea containers and was located near a small pond. I had access to water and I was able to sleep secure behind the safety of a locked steel door. I thought to myself that I would miss this container, when I was forced to sleep sitting up in my truck seats again.
 My eyes snapped open. I was awakened from sleep by something. Was it real or my imagination? Straining to hear anything that might have awakened me, I slowly relaxed. Most mornings these days this was how I awoke. I lit a candle, grabbed some trail mix, and a water bottle from my kit. After swallowing the trail mix, I took a long swallow of water, and then returned the bottle to my pack.
 I pulled on and laced up my boots. Next, I put on my Leather jacket. I pulled on my forearm guards, and shin guards. I shrugged into my shotgun shell bandoleer. I wrapped my scarf around my neck and pulled it up to cover my mouth and nose. Last, were my leather gloves and my leather skull cap. I unbarred the door, holstered my 9mm, picked up my shotgun, and kicked the door open. Seeing nothing outside, I slipped on my sunglasses and stepped quickly outside checking the left then right side of the container. Walking over to my truck I pulled down my scarf. I thumbed the locks open and opened the passenger door. Propping the shotgun against the seat, I opened the glove box. I pulled out a box of 9mm rounds. I reloaded six of my 9mm clips. I then walked back to the container. I entered and picked up my sleeping bag and pack. As I left, I pushed the door shut and latched it. Walking over to my truck, I tossed the pack and sleeping bag into the back seat.
 I pulled the truck out onto the road and had driven about three miles down the road when I saw a farm house. I slowed down about a half mile from the house. I stopped, picked up my binoculars and climbed out of the cab. I did a scan of the farm through the glasses. I spotted some cattle in an adjacent pasture and a couple of horses in a fenced area by the farm house. There was no one, living or Zombie in sight. I tossed the binoculars onto the passenger seat and got back in the cab of the truck. I drove slowly toward the house. I pulled the truck to the side of the road about 100 meters from the farm house. Checking the 9mm strapped to my thigh, I thumbed the safety off, and I picked up a second 9mm pistol from the passenger seat, and shoved it into my waistband. I wrapped my Scarf around my face.
 I picked up my shotgun, an empty tote bag then walked to the farm house. I tried the front door but it was locked. I closed the screen door and walked around the house to the side facing the barn. There was a side door. I pulled open the screen and turned the knob. I eased the door open. Jackets hung on hooks on the wall. There were several pairs of boots on the floor against the wall. I moved straight thru the Mud room and opened the door into the kitchen, still no one. Doing a quick scan of the kitchen, I noted the sink was full of empty canned fruit and vegetable cans. I opened the cupboards and noticed there were only a few canned goods. There was an open can of pears on the counter. The pears appeared to be freshly opened. I dipped my finger in the can, stuck my tongue to it, they were fresh. Now I was sure there might be someone in the house.
I started up the stairs, "This is the State Police! Come out and show yourself" I shouted. I turned right and faced down the hallway. I noticed a trap door in the ceiling. A pull cord was attached to it. I walked past the trap door, grasped the cord and yanked. The door swung open and a ladder clacked as it extended down to the hall floor. Still nothing, I climbed the stairs, shining my flash light around the attic. I came across a person cowering in the corner. From the long blond matted hair, my guess was female. I called to it, "You, in the corner, stand and show yourself". Still no sound. I snarled, "Speak or I’ll shoot, I’m counting to five, one, two, three, four". "No please don’t, please don’t hurt us" a small voice came from the corner. A young girl stepped forward from the shadows; she was holding the hand of a boy about ten years old. "Who else is here?" I asked. "Just grandpa, he told us to come up here and wait. He said to stay up here and don’t go downstairs until he returned. But that was three days ago. He never did come back in the house. I can’t believe he left us here. Today we were so hungry that we went downstairs for something to eat. We heard someone try to open the front door so we ran back up to the attic and hid." the girl said. "Pull the stairs up and stay here. I’ll call for you to come down after I look for him" I told her.
 I made my way downstairs again. I moved back to the kitchen, and then into the mud room, I opened the door. The Zombie blocking my progress was about 15 feet in front of me. I swung the shotgun up and fired. The buckshot caught him in the upper part of his torso. He flew back into the yard. I walked over and pulling the 9mm from my waistband, I put a round into his forehead. He appeared to have been in his late 20's maybe 30, probably not Grandpa. Next, I went into the barn. There was a Zombie there that was missing an arm and most of one leg. He was dressed in overalls and appeared to be in his sixties or seventies. This was probably Grandpa. He opened his mouth to howl, and I fired a 9mm round into his face before he could start his howling.  The howling would draw even more of the things; they might not be able to locate where the gun shots came from.
I walked back to my truck and drove it back to the house. I grabbed the binoculars and did a quick scan of the horizon. Good, I didn’t see anyone or anything. Grabbing my pack, I went back inside and called to the kids, "Come on down to the kitchen and we’ll eat something". I heard the stairs bang and in a couple of minutes the two kids slowly stepped into the kitchen.  I passed them bottles of water and the bag of trail mix. They drank deeply from the water and then tore into the trail mix. I told the boy, "wait here." I motioned for the girl to come outside. "Why?" she asked. "I need to ask you about something I found, come on"  When we entered the mud room, I turned to her and said, "There are two dead people out there, will you be OK?" she nodded but gasped when she saw the body of the first Zombie. Do you know him?" I asked. "I don’t think so" was all she said. Walking to the barn I called to her, "OK, come over here" I showed her the second Zombie. She started sobbing. "That’s grandpa, what happened to him?" she asked.
"My guess would be that he came to the barn and that guy in the yard attacked him. That’s why he didn’t come back, not because he left you" I told her. "Go inside and wait, I’ll take care of them before your brother sees them" I said. Without uttering another sound she turned and walked back to the house.
I grabbed the first Zombies feet and dragged him around to the side of the barn. I grabbed the kid’s Grandfather under his arms and dragged him over beside the first Zombie. Taking a tarp from the barn I covered them both. Then I returned to the kitchen. Back inside with the kids I said, "My name’s Ralph Mason, what’s yours?" The girl replied, "I’m Jenny Collier, this is my brother Bobby. We were here visiting Grandpa Collier when the virus thing started. Our mom and dad called and said they would come up from the city and get us, but they never came. We wanted to go back home but grandpa said that we would be safer here. What about you? Where are you from Officer Mason?" "Well, first I’m not really a Police Officer, I just said that hoping you would listen to me and not just get scared and blow my head off thinking I was a Zombie. You guys can call me Ralph. I was living in San Jose when the violence was first reported. The first night they confirmed it was the virus, two of my friends and I left town and headed north to my house in Chico." I explained. "Is the virus thing over?" asked Bobby. "No, I’m afraid it is still bad. What do you kids know about the virus?" I asked.
"Well we watched the news at first. When the TV stopped working, we listened to grandpa’s shortwave radio. Grandpa told us to stay inside and not to let anyone get close to us." said Bobby, returning to the bag of trail mix he was eating. There was a long pause in our conversation with the only sound being Bobby crunching the trail mix. "Is it ok if I take a shower, my hair is filthy?" asked Jenny. "Do you have working water here?" I asked. "Sure, Bobby go and start the generator." said Jenny.  Bobby jumped up, but I put up a hand saying, "Wait, and let me go with you Bobby." Jenny was right about her hair being filthy but, I suspected Jenny also needed some alone time to grieve for her grandfather. Maybe the warm shower would do as much for her emotional state as for her hair. Bobby and I went out to the barn and Bobby filled the generator gas tank and started up the generator. It was a small portable unit but could operate the lights and well pump without a problem. I heard a noise from outside the barn and jumped. Pulling the pistol from my waistband, "That was just the well pump. It will go off when the pressure tank is full." said Bobby. "Do you have anything else to eat?" he asked. "Sure, let’s go and look in my truck." I said.
 We walked over to the truck and I opened the door. "What a mess! My dad says you need to keep your car in good shape if you want a decent trade-in." said Bobby.  "Well, I guess I do need to straighten it a little." I told him. "Can you drive?" I asked as I tossed him the keys. "Pull it over to the barn and I’ll clean it up". "Alright!" said Bobby smiling broadly.  After he pulled the truck up in front of the barn door, I handed him a can of stew. "Go eat this if you’re still hungry." I said. "Try to save some for your sister, ok?" I added. "Sure, we always share" he said as he took off for the kitchen. I cleaned the loose trash out of the truck rolled up my sleeping bag and moved the pack and sleeping bag to the bed of the truck. Then I noticed the old car trailer in the barn. The tires were ok and there was an electric winch mounted to the front of the trailer. I connected the trailer to the hitch of my truck. I walked back inside. Jenny was sitting at the table eating stew. "Bobby went to take a shower. You could use one too, you kind of smell bad." she said.  "Sorry, if I knew it was going to bother you I would have left you in the attic." I said. Jenny continued to eat, but paused and said, "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. My mom always says if you don’t tell people stuff like that, they won’t know." "Yeah, I guess you’re right, I could stand to cleanup some. Is it OK if I look around for some clean clothes?" I asked. "Sure look in the second bedroom upstairs, that’s where my mom and dad sleep. Dad always keeps clothes here." Jenny said. "Keep the doors locked and both you and Bobby stay inside" I told her. "Yes Sir" snapped Jenny, but she smiled and continued to eat her stew.  About 30 minutes later we were all bathed and sitting at the table. "Tell us what’s going on." said Jenny. I began to tell them what I knew…..
Well, about six months ago there were news reports about rioting in several North African cities. Within days, the TV news coverage was about the rioting sweeping the cities in Europe. There were rumors that it was a virus epidemic that was causing people to go crazy. News  from Europe video showed blocks and blocks of rubble, the result of the use of the largest conventional bombs ever used. Statements released from the governments of these countries stated that the destruction was the consequence of an attempt to contain the virus. I suspected that containing the virus was just an excuse to use whatever measures they required to end the rioting. The news reports suddenly stopped covering the European riots after a few days and I like most Americans forgot about it. Then a couple weeks later, there were news reports of rioting in US cities on the East and West coast. Then there was the official CDC statement that a virus was causing people to become homicidal. Just a few days after that there wasn’t any TV or news.
All of the major cities had fallen fast. The first occurrence of the virus in the U.S. cities was on the Eastern Seaboard and West Coast cities with inbound international flights. The TSA was totally unprepared for this attack. Terrorist screening procedures and metal detectors didn’t identify a blood borne disease. The police were our first line of defense and the courts had handcuffed them to guarantee criminals their civil rights. Officers were bitten while trying to read Miranda rights to Zombies. Whole precincts were swamped while trying to negotiate with hospitals full of Zombies.
When the shelters for survivors were originally setup, the wounded were placed in the same areas as healthy people. When the people taking refuge in the shelters with wounds succumbed to the infection and started turning into Zombies, there was nowhere for the uninfected to run. Everywhere, people were killing and being killed. The killers were both living people and the rioters who as it turned out, were Zombies. In small towns, and in the countryside, it was primarily Zombies who were the predators. In the larger cities, it was Zombies and mobs of the living that were killing people. Crazed mobs of armed people were roaming the streets looting and shooting anything or anyone they happened to find. Attrition was the number one enemy of the living. These groups or gangs would usually encounter attacks from enough living individuals or Zombies to reduce their numbers. Sometimes they were just overwhelmed by a larger throng of Zombies. A Zombie bite always resulted in an infection. The severity and location of the bite determines the time between infection and turning into a Zombie. If a living person were bitten but escaped, or they were infected through contact with Zombie blood, they would turn into one of the fast moving Zombies within a few minutes or hours. If a living person was bitten severely enough to die, they would become one of the slower moving Zombies within minutes or hours. If you killed one of the fast moving Zombies, it would just get up after a few minutes and would now become a slow moving Zombie. The only way to kill a Zombie once and for all was to destroy its brain. The Zombie numbers just continued to increase. Within a couple of weeks the Zombies were in control of all the cities. With rare exceptions, the only survivors in a city were in heavily fortified buildings.
 Buildings of stone, cement block, or brick were the most successful shelters from Zombies. Old court houses, old police stations, even churches were easily fortified. This was due to building materials used and a minimum of ground level windows and doors. But even most of these safe havens were eventually overrun by the Zombies as well. The need to forage for all of their food, and water required the survivors venture out into the city. Foraging trips quite often resulted in someone getting bitten or scratched by a Zombie. The survivors in the cities were also facing unbelievable numbers of Zombies. Due to gun control laws, the city survivors were less well armed than the survivors in the rural areas. Not all people who were infected had been bitten or scratched by Zombies. Some were unknowingly infected through existing open wounds. These people who showed no evidence of infection also took shelter in the refuges. When they turned Zombie, the uninfected were trapped in their fortified shelters with them.
If you happened to come across a survivor stronghold these days, you need to steer clear of it, or at least approach with maximum caution. The survivors that still exist do so because strongholds were no longer accepting newcomers. You could readily see if someone had a bite or a scratch.  But if they became infected by bodily fluids, there might not be any visual evidence.  Getting infected blood in their eyes, in their mouth, or in an existing scratch would also result in an infection. You could even get infected by having sex with an infected person who had not yet turned, or was showing any sign of infection. 
The Midwest faired much better than either coast in controlling the virus spread. The airports were shutdown to all inbound and outbound traffic. The most successful states were states populated by Isolationist leaning citizens. These states; Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and North Dakota not only shutdown their airports, their militia also established road blocks at major highways entering their states. The states militias seized control of all military bases within their boarders. They announced they would no longer allow U.S. civilians or U.S. military to enter their sovereign territories. They enforced the lock down of their borders by not only closing and patrolling of their roads. Border fences were started, and patrols were authorized to shoot anyone, living or Zombie trying to enter. They also implemented the harshest measures to deal with the existing internal threats. Anyone exhibiting symptoms was terminated. All aircraft entering those states airspace was directed to turn back otherwise the state Air National Guard would shoot down the aircraft. In Idaho day after they announced their airspace was closed, a senator flying his state provided private plane refused to turn back after stating he was a US senator when hailed. He was shot down by an A-10 Thunderbolt firing an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. No exceptions were made!
 These same states required anyone coming in physical contact with an infected person be arrested and placed into a gulag style prison for a minimum of 30 days before release.  Often a person would turn into a Zombie while being held. This would result in other prisoners becoming infected before the Zombies were terminated. This in turn would cause the captors to terminate all prisoners as a safety measure. Many uninfected died as a result of these harsh measures. But the infection was all but eradicated inside these states. Individual rights and freedoms were suspended but no one complained loud enough to draw attention to themselves. The state boarders were still open to anyone wanting to leave. Few chose to leave. Anyone caught trying to smuggle people across the boarder into these states were summarily executed. Anyone caught aiding or abetting smuggled individuals was executed. Before the US military could take retaliatory action against these states, the governmental chain of command had crumbled. Any military units that could have retaliated were bent on self survival not enforcing the laws of a nonexistent government.
Similar, but less dramatic methods were also applied by many other townships throughout the Midwest. Because of the self imposed isolation and the failure of phones and wireless communication, within the first week or so, there was very little if any communication with anyone outside the towns. No one seemed to know the situation in other parts of the country or other parts of the world. I’m sure they were experiencing the same or similar conditions or we would have also had Russian or Chinese U.N. sanctioned "Peace Keeping Troops" to deal with as well as Zombies.
"What are we going to do now?" Jenny asked. "Well, I live at a safe place about 150 miles south of here. We call it Haven and there are about 70 people living there. I will take you and your brother there in a few days. But first I need to checkout the extent of infestation around here. I want to see how many Zombies are in this area and how far they have traveled to get here. And occasionally I find survivors like you two." I told them. Both of them said they wanted to go with me, but Jenny said they needed to leave word for their parents if they came looking for them. I told her to write a note and leave it on the table. "Bobby, did your grandfather have any guns?" I asked. Sure, come on I’ll show you." he said. What he showed me was a short 9mm carbine. It was not really a powerful rifle since it used the same bullets as my pistol, but it was probably sufficient for varmints and coyotes, and now Zombies. I gave it to Bobby to carry and I also picked up a Winchester lever action .30-30 which I handed that to him as well. There was also an old double barrel 12 gauge. I kept looking and I found five boxes of 9mm rounds, three boxes of .30-30 rounds, and three boxes of 12 gauge shotgun shells. I grabbed a pillow and stripped off the case and I filled it with the ammunition. "Let’s go downstairs" I said. Downstairs, I sat down and told Jenny and Bobby they each needed to pack up a suitcase of clothing, some blankets, and anything else they wanted to take with them when we left.
 I went outside and loaded the portable generator onto the front of the trailer and placed two metal Jerri cans of gasoline into the bed of the truck.  I looked around the barn until I found a hacksaw and cut the double barrel shotgun barrels down to about 11 inches. I cut and formed the stock into a pistol grip. If I could rig a holster, I would be a regular Post Apocalyptic warrior just like in the movies.
 As I gathered up some of the tools to leave, I remembered the cattle I seen in the corral. I walked out front to the corral and swung the gate open. I walked to the pasture fence and kicked the rails out of a section. At least the livestock would be free to leave and would not starve or die of thirst. The kids were just coming outside when I pulled the truck and trailer out of the barn. "Maybe we should get Grandpa's ham radio" said Bobby. "Do you know how to use it?" I asked. "No" muttered Bobby. "Well, let’s put it in the truck bed, maybe someone in Haven will know how or figure it out." I told him. Everyone piled into the truck and I drove back to the container where I had spent the night. I dropped the trailer off there and then I drove back down the road past their farm.
Chapter 2
"How much farther down the road is the next house?"  I asked Jenny.  "I don’t know, maybe two or three miles." she said. "Have either of you shot a gun before?" I asked. "Sure, Grandpa took me hunting last summer, but Jenny never went with us." Bobby said. "Well I guess Jenny will need to have some lessons then. I want to see you both shoot before I let you walk behind me with a loaded gun." I told them. I pulled the truck over, got out and walked around to the passenger side, both Bobby and Jenny got out.
 I reached into the truck picked up the Winchester. I loaded six rounds into the .30-30 and gave it to Bobby and pointing to a fence post about 30 feet away, I said, "see if you can hit that post." Bobby fired and missed. "Keep trying." I told him. The next round clipped the side of the post. "Aim, take a breath, exhale, and squeeze the trigger." I said. The next shot hit the post near the top. The fourth shot hit the post again. "Good job" I said with a smile. I handed him the box of ammunition. "Load it" I said. I pulled the carbine from the truck, removed the clip and loaded a handful of 9mm rounds, then reinserted the clip. I passed it to Jenny and had her shoot at the same post. The first round was way off the mark. I showed her how to aim through the sights. "Now try." I said. Another miss. "Try again." I told her. By the eighth shot she was hitting the post. "Not bad for the first lesson." I told them. I showed Jenny how to remove, load, and re-insert the clip and then charge the rifle.
We loaded back into the truck and continued down the road to the next house. You guys stay here inside the truck. If you see any Zombies, just stay inside and wait for me. Don’t come to the house unless I call you. I held up the keys. Bobby grabbed them, "OK, don’t shoot from inside the truck. I don’t want my windows shot out." I said. I shrugged on the bandoleer of shells, pulled the sawed off shotgun and tote bag from the backseat and started walking to the house. Just as I entered the front yard, I heard the howling. Rushing toward me was a fast moving Zombie. I raised the shotgun and hit him mid body. He staggered but continued to run toward me. My next shot was to his legs. He dropped but continued to crawl toward me. I shifted the shotgun to my left hand and pulled my machete from its sheath. I placed my boot on his head and chopped at his neck until his head separated from his body. Looking up, I spotted a slow moving woman shuffling toward me. I broke the shotgun down and ejected the spent shells. I reloaded and I took aim and shot at her. The first shot was wide and although it peppered her face, it didn't put her down. The next shot hit her full in the face. She toppled over into the bushes by the house. I reloaded the shotgun again. The 11 inch barrel had made the shotgun look cool but two shots per kill made it ineffective. I stowed the shotgun in my tote bag and drew my .9mm. 
Pulling my Scarf over my mouth and nose I opened the front door. Inside there was a guy sitting in a recliner facing the TV. There was a half bottle of whiskey, an empty glass, and a half box of shells on the table next to him. I walked around the chair and saw that he had shot himself in the head with a .38 caliber revolver; I pried it out of his hand. I wiped the revolver clean on the couch cushion. I dropped the revolver and ammunition into my tote bag and continued to search the house. In the first bedroom I found a dead woman lying on the bed. The woman had been shot through her temple. In the next bedroom a boy of about ten was stretched out on the bed. He had been shot in the chest and head.  The bathroom and the kitchen were both clear. As I put my tote bag on the table. I noticed a piece of paper. It was a note someone had written. "I had to shoot Tommy, he was crazy! I found him chewing his mothers arm, she was screaming for him to stop, but he wouldn’t listen. Tom only stopped when he spotted me come into the room. He stood up and charged me. I hit him knocking him to the floor. Tom jumped up and came after me again. I grabbed his shoulders and tried to shake some sense into him. He just kept trying to bite me. I wrestled him into his room and shut the door. Tommy just started pounding on the door, he never even tried to turn the door knob and open it. I got my pistol and opening his door I shot him. The first shot killed him, but the TV news said you had to shoot them in the head.  I lifted Tom up from where he fell on the floor and lay him on his bed. I shot him again only this time I shot him in the head. Next, I went and tried to calm June. She was just screaming and screaming. I hugged her and shot her in the head before she could turn into a monster. Now I’m going to have a drink and kill myself." 
The note was signed Ward. I dropped the note and muttered "Damn, I thought I had some bad days." I rifled through the cupboards and found a dozen or so canned goods. I loaded the tote and leaving it on the table I opened the door leading into the garage. In the garage there was nothing of interest, just a dirt bike and an old sedan. I went back inside and dragged the guy and his wife into the room with Tommy and shut the door. I started going through the closets, but I didn’t find anymore weapons or ammo. I grabbed my tote from the table and walked to the road. I motioned for Bobby to drive the truck into the driveway. When Bobby pulled up in the truck, I emptied the tote onto the back seat floor and got into the passenger seat beside Jenny and told Bobby to drive back to my camp.
When we arrived at my base camp I grabbed a bucket and walked over to the pond and dipped it in the water. "Can I go swimming?" asked Bobby. "I don’t think that’s a good idea.  You never know what’s in that murky water." I said.  "Oh yeah, that’s right, I keep forgetting." Bobby said. I put the water on the fire to heat; at least we could wash up. That evening we ate our supper of vegetable soup thanks to Ward and June. We ate our meal sitting on the tailgate of the truck. "You know what I miss? Bread, bread for sandwiches, bread for toast, and buttered bread with dinner." Bobby said with a look of hunger on his face.  "When I get you back to the neighborhood, I promise, you will have some bread." I said.
That night inside the container I lit a candle, barred the door, and we settled in. I was using my sleeping bag. Jenny and Bobby had blankets they had brought with them from their granddad’s house. "If you get cold tonight, I’ll try to find a couple of sleeping bags for you guys tomorrow." I said. As it turned out, 3 people in an 8 x 10 steel box, generated more than enough heat to stay warm, very warm.
 The next morning I jolted awake as usual. I lay there listening. It was quiet enough to hear the kid’s rhythmic breathing. Then I heard the foot steps; slow, shuffling steps. I put my hand over Bobby’s mouth, and gave him a shake. Bobby awoke and struggled against my hand until we locked eyes. Bobby sensed there was a problem and stopped struggling. I motioned for him to stay quiet. I woke Jenny in the same way.  Jenny’s eyes snapped open when I lay my hand over her mouth but she didn’t struggle. I signaled her to be quiet, she nodded her head signaling she understood.
 I quietly got out of my sleeping bag and put on my gear. I pulled on my Leather jacket, and Jenny handed me my shotgun. I pulled my scarf down and I whispered for her to bar the door when I got outside. I told her I would retreat to the truck if I needed to. I looked at them and whispered," You will be safe in here. Do not open the door until I tell you to." I sat my shotgun on the floor by the door and I pulled the 9mm from its holster, I handed it to Jenny.  I handed the .38 revolver to bobby. "I will want these back." I whispered. I checked my waistband 9mm, flipped the safety off. 
Gripping the shotgun in my right hand, I told Jenny to lift the bar and I eased the door open. I stepped out of the box and cautiously moved to the right.  I heard Jenny close the door and drop the bar in place. I still hadn’t located the Zombie. I moved around to the right side of the container, and I saw it. It was moving away from me along the side of the container. I rushed up behind it and I placed the shotgun to the back of its head and pulled the trigger.  The Zombies head exploded and the body crumpled to the ground.
I saw four more Zombies stumbling this way about 200 meters down the road. I quickly surveyed the camp and didn’t see anymore Zombies in the immediate area. I had plenty of time before the four got here so I yelled, "Bobby, Jenny, come out here. Bring your rifles with you." They came running up to me with their rifles. They handed my pistols back to me. "Can you shoot those Zombies?" I asked. Bobby immediately took aim and snaped off three shots as fast as he could work the lever, all of them were misses.  "Slow down Bobby, take careful aim then squeeze, don’t jerk the trigger." Bobby fired off another shot and one Zombie falls forward but continued to crawl toward us.  I told Bobby, "As soon as they go down, target the next one.  You can walk up and finish a crawler.  Always shoot in this order, the runners first, and then the slower shufflers, the crawlers last."
I looked at Jenny, she was just staring at the Zombies.  I told Jenny, "If you can’t shoot them, don’t worry Bobby and I will. But just remember, if they get close enough to bite you, they will. The people they used to be are dead. This is just the virus keeping them moving, kind of like they are possessed by aliens or demons. They are no longer living people." Jenny looked me in the eyes and nodded. Then she raised the little CX4 Carbine and started firing at the Zombies.  I put my hand on Bobby’s shoulder. He stopped shooting.  Jenny dropped the other three Zombies after a 10 shot barrage. 
The three of us walked over toward the four Zombies. I told them, "The only way you can be sure Zombies are killed once and for all is by destroying their brain."  I pulled my 9mm and shot each of the Zombies in the head. "You have to shoot them in the head or they can just get back up and attack.  And if you find yourself surrounded by them, you need to make sure they don’t get back up, and come up behind you." I told them. Jenny’s eyes started to tear up and she said, "It just seems wrong, and ugly".  I looked over at her and said, "It is ugly, but remember, they will attack you, they will kill you, and then you will become one of them. I don’t want you to get to the point where you enjoy killing them. But remember, if you kill them to survive it’s not wrong."
I inspected the four bodies in the road for ID's.  The first was a young woman in a vest from a home improvement store. "Is there a Building Supply around here?" I asked. Jenny replied, "I don’t think so. The closest one is in Gettyville, about 45 minutes away from here." I pulled the wallets from the pockets of the other three Zombies; all of them had Gettyville addresses. I dragged their bodies to the side of the road and tossed their wallets on the bodies. I grabbed the heels of the one by the container and drug him to the pile of bodies.
I walked over to the truck, unlocked and opened the passenger door. Pulling the road map from the glove box, I located Gettyville; it is about 18 miles southeast of here. I marked the kills on the map and marked Gettyville. Refolding the map I returned it to the glove box. When we returned to my base camp, I hooked up the trailer to the truck. I backed the truck and trailer up to the rear of the container. I connected the trailer winch to the container and pulled it up onto the trailer. Pulling the binders from a storage box on the trailer, I tied the container securely to the trailer. I stood back and admired my work. If it had some gun slots, I would have the perfect Zombie proof RV. At least we will have somewhere to sleep without fear of getting bit in our sleep.
 I checked my spare fuel barrels, one was full but the other was down to half full.  I still had three quarters of a tank in the truck. But I topped it off from my spare barrel of fuel. Although that would be enough fuel to get me home, I preferred to fill up before starting home. I liked to keep the tank topped off. I sure didn’t want to run out of gas surrounded by Zombies because I had to take an unexpected detour. My plan was to cut over to 99 and head south. "I need to make a few stops first. But then I’ll take you guys back to the neighborhood and get you settled in." I told Jenny and Bobby.
 The truck had no problem pulling the trailer but I needed to keep in mind the handling would be affected. No quick swerving or stops with it back there. I came north on highway 5 which bypassed most of the smaller cities and towns. I planned on returning home by highway 99. It was the old road and it goes right through a couple of medium sized cities and several other small towns.
The first small town, Los Robles, was pretty much a wide spot in the road, a couple stores, a post office, and a gas station. I stopped at the gas station, opened the filler cap on the underground diesel tank. I fed the hose of my electric pump down  into the storage tank and connected the pump outlet to my spare fuel barrel. I switched on the pump. I kept lowering the hose until I heard fuel splashing into the barrel. When the fuel neared the top of my barrel, I switched off the pump, and I pulled up the hose. I closed the cap to the storage tank and coiled up my hose and tossed it in my storage box. I replaced the cap on my spare fuel barrel. I got back in the truck and pulled out onto the highway and continued south on highway 99.
At the next small town, I spotted a store with a large sign that read "Groceries & Hunting & Fishing Supplies". I slowed down and stopped at the front of the store. Without warning, a shot rang out and a bullet smacked the passenger side fender. I floored the truck as I heard additional shots being fired but detected no hits. The container on the trailer shielded the truck from any more bullet hits. I drove on down the highway. "I guess we’ll take our business elsewhere" I told Bobby. "Aren’t you going to stop and see if they need help?" asked Bobby. "I’ll stop next time I come through. Right now I probably would just return fire." I told him. Jenny said," They are probably just scared." "Maybe, but how many Zombies have you seen driving?" I asked her. We need to get you guys geared up before we get into a gun battle. "Geared up?" asked Bobby. "Yeah, you need some bullet proof vests and stuff before you start getting shot at. You also need some protective gear before you engage Zombies in close quarter battles."
Chapter 3
About four hours later I turned the truck onto the road leading to Haven. At the perimeter gate, I saw my friends Jack and Rob. Rob and I had met when me, Jack and Mindy had first arrived at the community. Although Rob and I had a rocky start, we had since become good friends. I rolled down my window, "Have any problems?" Jack asked. "No, I found some Zombies but they were all within a 30 mile radius of their homes. And I found a couple survivors living at a farm house north of Gettyville." Both Jack and Rob glanced at the kids. "Are there any empty places where they can crash until I get them settled?" I asked. "Sure, your house is empty. Mindy and I took the place two houses up from yours. I thought we would give your place back to you." Jack said. "Ok", I laughed. "I thought you would never leave." I said. "Stop by my place when your shift ends, ok?" I asked. "Hey man… that’s weird, you miss me already." laughed Jack. "Bite me, Jack. You stop by too Rob", I said. They both agreed to stop by. I drove on down the street to the drying shed "We have to be inspected for bites and scratches before we can go to the house. It's just a little safety measure we have for anyone that goes outside the fenced area." I told the kids.
After the inspection stop I drove them to my house. When we reached my place, I backed the trailer into the drive and parked it beside my shop. "Let’s go inside, and clean up before the guys get here." I told the kids. "You can take this room Jenny." I said, as I walked her back to the guest room. I reached into the closet and grabbed some of my clothes. "Just throw all my stuff from the dresser into a box. I gave Jack and Mindy my room when we first arrived. Now that they’ve moved out I can go back to my own room", I told her. "We have a community generator for power so you can take a hot shower if you want to. The towels are in the vanity. There’s even a hair dryer under the bathroom sink." I said as Bobby slipped past me carrying Jenny’s suitcase to her room. I walked over to what had been my office/computer room. "We’ll fix up this room for you, Bobby. But you’ll have to sleep on the sofa tonight. Tomorrow we’ll check the empty houses to find a bed for you." I told him. "Ok, no problem." he said. 
In about 30 minutes there was a knock at the door; Jack, Mindy and Rob stood on the porch. Jenny, Bobby and I were just sitting down to eat some soup. Mindy put down a plate of fried chicken. "WOW!"  Bobby and I said at the same time. "Jack I’m sorry about that bite me comment, I really do miss you if you get to eat like this. Where did you get chicken?" I asked. "You can thank Rob for that." said Mindy. Rob, who had been staring at Jenny looked over at me sheepishly and said," I knew where an egg farm was down south so I stopped by hoping some chickens had escaped their cages. Sure enough I trapped about 15 on the first day. By the time I needed to leave the next day, I had over 50 chickens. The only problem was I couldn’t find any roosters. On the way home I saw a scrawny little rooster running around a house by the highway. It took me about two hours but I finally caught him. Now he’s so pleased with his situation I can't keep him run off my porch, I guess he wants to thank me. Rob added "Jack and I made some traps and a big cage. We went back down there and were able to catch over a 100 more chickens." "Jack, Rob, and some others went out and rounded up six cows, two bulls and a couple of horses from surrounding farms, while you were gone." said Mindy. "We will have milk if we can find a good way to distribute it safely and fairly. We can use the horses to save tractor fuel." She added. "Man, I leave for a couple weeks and you guys really start getting organized." I laughed.
Rob looked back at Jenny. "I’m sorry guys; this is Jenny and Bobby Collier. I found them "holed up" in a farm house about 20 miles northwest of Gettyville. Gettyville is about 120 miles north of here. And this is Jack, Mindy and Rob." I told Bobby and Jenny. After we ate, Rob handed Jack and I each a beer. "I always stop at that market you showed me in Chico." said Rob. Mindy and Jenny were talking. Jenny was telling Mindy about their hiding in the attic. Then Mindy started telling Jenny of how she and Jack ended up here in the community.
 Jack, Rob, Bobby and I got up and went outside. "How old are the kids?" Rob asked. "I don’t know…., the girl is 15 or 16 I guess and Bobby is…... how old are you Bobby?" I asked. "Jenny’s 17 and I’m 12, I’ll be 13 in three months." Bobby said.  Rob smiled then said, "Nice trailer you’ve got there." We walked over and the three of us looked it over and discussed possible improvements. Rob said, "What if you mounted it to the frame of the truck like a camper. Then you could get into the truck without getting out and walking around the container? It would be heavy but this diesel could handle it. That might be handy if you woke up surrounded by Zombies."  "I think I’ll just pick up a heavier truck maybe a 2 or 2 1/2 ton next time I’m in Chico. I’m afraid this ones suspension couldn’t handle the load that well." I said. "I need to be able to see out without opening the door too. I had to go out and find the Zombie I heard one morning, luckily there was only one and he wasn’t waiting at the door for me." I said.
That night as Jenny Bobby and I sat around the table, Jenny kept asking me about Rob, "How old is he? what did he do before this Zombie thing happened? does he have a wife or girlfriend? where does he live?" I finally had to throw up my hands and stop her, "I don’t know" I said. Why didn’t you ask him?" I said.  "I just met him, I couldn’t" Jenny said. "Ok, ok, I’ll find out." I said. "Don’t tell him I was asking. I’d be so humiliated and embarrassed" Jenny said.
"We need to talk about you two. Who will you live with? You need to be with a family" I said. "We’ll live here with you. You’re the closest thing we have to a family now. We know we’re safe with you. We can help you around here. I can help you with work. We can clean your house and Jenny can cook." Bobby said. Jenny nodded her head in agreement. Jenny looked at me and said "Our folks are probably dead, like Grandpa, right?" "Yes, I’m afraid so, if they had got out in time like Jack, Mindy and I, they should have arrived at your Grandfather’s, but you probably will never be positive." I told her. "But you guys can certainly stay here. You can stay as long as you want." I said. I wasn’t sure about having kids underfoot. But I was getting used to having them around to talk to. And I did feel somewhat responsible for them now. "Let's sleep on it for a while. We can talk some more tomorrow. I’m going to bed; I’ll see you in the morning." I said. I stood up and walked to my room. Jenny helped Bobby make his bed on the sofa. When she finished Jenny went into the guest bedroom to settle in.
The next morning I walked over to talk to Jack, who was keeping the guard shift records this month. "I need to work some guard shifts so I can have about two weeks free to check Zombie movement patterns out of Sacramento. I want to see if Rob will come too. I need to go into the city for some ammo and other supplies." Sure" he said. "Are you ok with back to back shifts?" he asked. "I don’t care; I just want to get back out. I’m concerned about the pattern I’m seeing in the Zombie’s spread. I don’t want a couple hundred or couple thousand to show up on our doorsteps one day without our knowing it’s going to happen" I told him. 
Over the next two months Rob and I picked up a new truck in Chico and spent a lot of time working double shifts in order to free ourselves of mandatory guard and patrol duties. When we were off shift Rob was usually at my place working on the container or visiting Jenny. 
After two grueling months we had logged enough shifts to take a month off. We had also completed modifications to the container and had it mounted to the new truck. We cut gun slots with covers we could close and lock. A remote start/kill switch for the generator was installed and some exhaust fans for cooling. We cut a pass thru into the truck cab in the event we needed to escape rather than fight. After we inspected the unit one last time, we were walking back to my house when Bobby rushed up eating a sandwich. "Where did you get the bread Bobby?" I asked. "Jenny made it. Jenny says nobody wants a wife that can’t cook." he said. "Well, as long as you got the bread I promised you. I never promised to make it myself, right?" I said and tousled his hair.
 We went into the house where Jenny was in the kitchen humming a tune. Pots and pans clattered as she worked. "Wash up Bobby, supper is almost ready." she said. Jenny walked into the living room. "Oh!" She exclaimed seeing Rob. They were both red faced as I looked back and forth between them. Jenny walked over to Rob and whispering asked "Did you ask him?" "Not yet, give me time." he said. "Ask who, what?" I asked. Rob looked at me and blurted "We want to live together, if you approve". He said. I said "Of course I approve. But I need you to wait until after this trip. I don't want you or Bobby staying alone while we are gone. I need Rob to come with me. I want to track some more Zombie travels. And I want to be here in case you come running home after seeing how a single guy keeps his house. We should be gone two or three weeks no more than that." I told them. "Bobby asked, "Can I come?" "No", I said. "You have to stay here and protect your sister", I winked at Jenny. We will try to find you a Kevlar vest or leather jacket though. You will also need a helmet with a face shield or at least glasses and some sort of scarf to protect your face." I said. After eating supper, Rob and I discussed where to go on this trip. We decided to head south to check for Zombies between Haven and Sacramento. I wanted to see if they were searching for food or had chased people and were continuing in the same direction similar to their mindless attack method. I wanted to know if masses of Zombies were moving our way. I didn't want to find out by the alarm going off when they were at our fence.
Chapter 4
Rob and I loaded our gear and pulled out the next day.We spent the next three weeks driving on Highway 5 stopping at any isolated farm houses or residence we found. We also did a recon on four small farm communities. We identified two groups of survivors in these small towns. We noted their locations on my map but didn’t try to make contact. After three weeks on the road we had killed a couple dozen Zombies, none more than 20 miles from their ID addresses.  When we were about 10 miles North of Sacramento, we took an exit and parked the truck on a levy road surrounded by rice fields. From this base camp I used my binoculars to scan the area. I could see a couple of rice processing plants and a few scattered farm houses, but didn’t spot any Zombies. At least there weren’t mobs of thousands of Zombies rushing back and fourth searching for the living to feed upon.
From the spare fuel barrels we had attached to the trucks flatbed I topped off my fuel tank. "We need to find a source of diesel," I told Rob. "I like to keep the tanks topped off just in case we need to leave in a hurry." The rest of the day we drove from farm to farm. Finally I spotted an elevated diesel tank. These tanks were gravity fed so no power was needed. They were usually just a couple of barrels on their sides and elevated to make them high enough to gravity fill a tractor tank. I pulled up next to the filler hose for the tank, I jumped out, grabbed my bolt cutters and took care of the lock. I lifted the handle I pulled the trigger, diesel spilled out on the ground. I now knew the tank had plenty of fuel in it. I handed the handle to Rob who had removed the caps on my spare fuel barrels. Rob proceeded to fill my fuel barrels.
I spotted the shambling Zombie coming around the corner of one of the outbuildings. As the Zombie approached, I pulled the loop holding the revolver from around my neck. Taking aim, I put one round into his head at ten feet. The popping sound told me the homemade silencer worked pretty well. The soup can sized silencer duct taped to the guns barrel required I wear the .38 attached to a cord around my neck since I could no longer holster it. But it was quieter than before and probably wouldn’t draw any more infected or slow Zombies my way. I walked over and pulled his wallet out of his pocket and checked his license. I turned it in my hand and told Rob" He‘s a local boy". I tossed the wallet and ID onto the body.  I walked back to my truck. The fuel barrel was full and Rob moved the hose to the second barrel and started to fill it. Inside of 25 minutes we had filled the truck and two spare drums of fuel, not too bad. Rob handed the handle down to me I hung the handle back on the tank.
It was time to hit the road to do the rest of our scouting. After a quick glance at the map, Rob said, "Turn left at the end of the drive, we can catch road 25 and enter Sacramento through an industrial section." In about 15 minutes we were passing building after building. We had attracted a following of about 25 runner Zombies. "We probably need to thin these guys out" I told Rob. "Ok, no problem" said Rob. I accelerated until there were about 300 meters between us and the group of Zombies. I stopped the truck. Rob stepped out of the truck, leveled the scoped .308 Winchester and started making head shots. Using the scope Rob was able to make six head shots. "Hop in, I’m moving the truck" I said. I put the truck in gear and moved forward until there was about 300 meters separating us from the running crowd. I stopped the truck, "Go" I shouted. This time Rob was able to take out 10 more Zombies. "I’m moving again." I shouted at Rob. "Go, go, go!" He yelled. I looked in the trucks side mirror and one of the runners was closing quickly in on the truck. Just as he jumped for Rob, I put the truck into gear and moved forward. Fortunately, the runner missed Rob by inches. By the time he had regained his feet, we were rapidly out distancing him. At about 300 meters I stopped again. Rob jumped out and started shooting again. They were getting close and Rob had dropped seven more Zombies, I swung open my door and started shooting. The final one dropped about 30 feet from the truck. "Damn, I never encountered so many runners before." I said.
"Look up there", Rob said and pointed to a group of at least 50 runners who were racing toward the truck. We got back inside the truck and I whipped a u-turn and re-traced our route a few blocks. I slowed the truck and turned to Rob. "I guess that’s why the military didn’t just clear out the cities. How bad do you think it is inside the cities?" I said. "It must have been bad if they dropped nukes. The last newscast on TV had said they were considering dropping them on N.Y., L.A., Seattle, and San Francisco." "Let’s lead these guys south for a while then hook around north when we’re out of their sight." I told him. "Yeah, I sure wouldn’t want to look up and see that coming toward the gate at home" said Rob. "Rob, find us a route south then a route we can use to sneak back toward the north." I said. Go right at the next block go three blocks then right again" said Rob. I slowed down till the mob had closed the distance some what. I turned right, drove a block and waited on the mob. I wanted to make sure they followed us. And we were headed south, when they lost sight of us. I continued this process until we had lured them south for a couple miles then I accelerated out of their view and turned in an easterly direction. Ahead, I spotted several vehicles blocking the road. "What’s this coming up here?" I asked Rob. Rob grabbed the binoculars and said, "Road block, looks to be police cars only. It doesn’t appear to be manned though". 
As we drew closer to the road block, we could see the bodies lying among the vehicles. "Looks as though they put up a good fight" said Rob. I made a u-turn and backed the truck up to the road block. There were cement barriers setup to require a vehicle to weave thru in order to pass. Police cars were parked across the section facing away from where we were parked. "What the hell were they trying to defend?" I asked. "Looks like they were defending the industrial area" said Rob. "It just doesn’t make any sense. Let’s look around, ok. Just keep your eyes open there seem to be plenty of runners around here" I said.
 I reached into the truck bed and removed my pry bar from my tool bin. I popped the trunk on the closest police cruiser there was an M4 with six clips and several boxes of 5.56 rounds. "Rob, look at this" I yelled holding up the M4 carbine. "I’ve got weapons and ammo here. Lets start popping these trunks open". We found six police shotguns several boxes of shells, 5 m4's and over 700 rounds of 5.56 ammo. We loaded the shotguns, carbines, and ammo in to the back seat of the truck. 
Rob and I got back in the truck and slowly to drove down the street. Rob continued to scan the side streets using the binoculars. "Hey wait, back up and turn down this street", said Rob. "I saw another roadblock and it looks like military vehicles.", Added Rob. I backed up the truck and made a right turn down the street and stopped "See anything moving down there?" I asked Rob. "No, not yet, Lets go slow though I’ll keep looking as we advance." he said. "Hold up, I see one." Rob says. Rob swings his door open hops down to the pavement and kneeling brings up his scoped .308 and fires, the Zombie drops. Hopping back into the passenger seat Rob says "Ok, let’s check it out." I stop the truck about five feet form a military M1117 APC. We both hop out of the truck as I scan the area for Zombies Rob approaches the vehicles cautiously. Rob looks into the open back of the first APC. There are two soldiers dead and partially eaten laying inside. Rob drags them out the back of the vehicle. I strip the Kevlar vest from the bodies and toss them back into the APC.  I hear Rob fire the APC up. "This thing has almost a half tank of fuel" he yells over the revving engine. Rob Shifts the APC into reverse and eases it past my truck. Rob guns the engine and puts it in gear and races off down the street. At the corner rob turns and comes back pulling along side the truck. "I need this!" He says as he swings thru the side opening. "It would, make moving through Zombie infested areas safer" I said.
As we searched the vehicles in this road block we found six more M4’s and about 3000 more rounds of 5.56 ammo and four Kevlar vests and 6 helmets in or around the various vehicles. We even found a container of grenades in the APC.  I walked over to the building closest to the road block and tried the door. Unlocked, I turned the knob and opened the door. The runner was on me before I could react. I threw my arm up and he clamped his teeth down on my forearm, I fumbled for my waistband 9mm I fired three times into his chest and he slumped onto me, with effort I was able to wiggle out from under him. Fortunately the padding in my Leather jacket forearms stopped the teeth from breaking the skin. I stood up and put three 9mm rounds into the Zombies forehead before he could re-animate.
I turned around and Rob was watching me. Without lowering his pistol He said "Did you get bit?" "No, my body armor save me this time" I told him. I saw him lower his gun, but he kept looking at the teeth marks on my jacket forearm. I stripped the forearm guard off and showed him the teeth marks on it, then turned my arm to let him see for himself, no wound. At this point he visibly relaxed Rob said "Sorry about that. I guess hanging around with you has made me a little paranoid. I sure didn’t want to have to tell Jenny I shot you. I would have to keep my eyes open around Bobby and Jack too." "No problem, it's not paranoid if they really are out to eat you. I’d shoot you in a minute if you were bit." I told him. We both chuckled, nice world ain’t it." said Rob. 
Rob and I entered the building. From the looks of things it had been an operations center. Tables were setup in rows, phones and computers lined the table tops. From the over turned computers, phones, and papers strewn over the floor it was evident that fighting, looting, or a very hurried evacuation had occurred here. There were maps posted on the walls that had areas of the city shaded. From the looks of the patterns that had been shaded on the map and from notes jotted down on post-its stuck around on the maps they had been tracking the spread of the virus. Two distinct patterns were shaded, radiating from two hospitals. The dates and times on the shaded areas were dated showing a growth pattern updated hourly for four days. It was amazing; the whole city appeared to have been over run and had either fallen or was abandoned as lost in only four days. 
I Picked up a paper from one of the desks, and read the heading "Emergency Evacuation Plan". The paper said that effective immediately the facility personnel were to be relocated to a hardened site named Alpha-November-23 in Nevada. The date at the top of the page was about fifteen months ago. "Well I guess that clears that up. Let's grab a couple of these computers, I’m sure we could find a use for them back home." I said.  "I’ve got a better idea. Let's go find a computer store and get a couple of new boxed systems and plenty of software." Rob said. "Any idea where there is a computer store?" I ask. "I sure do." Rob said. After looking around the room for a few minutes Rob said, "let’s take the APC and make a run into Sacramento". "Well, you lead, I’ll follow in my truck." I told him. Rob climbed into the APC, fired it up and closed the rear ramp, he slid the window open and said come on let’s take this thing to town. 
Rob pulled the APC through the road block and roared off toward the main highway where he had originally spotted this road block. At the intersection we turned left and started driving toward the city. It was total devastation as we neared the downtown area. Wrecked cars and trucks littered almost every intersection. There were shells of burnt buildings. There were decomposing bodies littering the sidewalks and roadway. There were slow Zombies everywhere, some were missing limbs but when they became aware of us the started their howling moans and crawled and stumbled in our direction as we continued down the street. In a couple of minutes I spotted the first of the fast Zombies running after us. Rob accelerated and we quickly outdistanced them as well.  We turned right; and in a block turned right again retracing our trip but offset by a block.
 After 20 minutes of driving and circling blocks we arrived at a large electronics store. Rob motioned for me to come over, "get in, we'll drive to computer department" said Rob. I left my truck sitting in the drive outside the store and joined him in the APC. .Rob eased the big APC up onto the sidewalk in front of the store and drove through the front windows. Rob drove down the aisle that was just wide enough to allow the APC through. When Rob arrived at the computer department I stood lookout watching for Zombies. And he loaded 6 boxes containing lap top into his vehicle. We next went to the software department and started loading six sets of every piece of software he saw into the back of the APC. When Rob was satisfied he said, "Let's go". Rob turned the APC around, taking out a couple shelves and several displays in the process. We drove back toward the front parking lot. Outside we transferred the loot into the back of my truck. We got back in our vehicles and Rob started leading us back to the main highway.
Chapter 5
As we re-entered the city proper, I saw someone on the roof of a building. They were waving a white flag of some kind. I flashed my lights and blew my horn to get Rob's attention. The APC braked to a halt and I looked around. I didn’t see any of the fast Zombies sprinting our way. There were a couple of the slower Zombies but the street was fairly clear. I pulled the truck alongside the APC, and told Rob what I had seen. "Let's park the truck a couple of blocks up the street and come back in the APC." I said. I grabbed a walkie talkie and a M4 rifle. I  locked a clip into the gun and stuffed 4 or 5 more clips in my pocket. I jumped out of the truck and I ran over to the APC and climbed in the side hatch. When we returned to the building, I swung out onto the ground, double checked for fast Zombies, then sprinted to the front doors of the building. They weren’t locked. I called to Rob to back the APC up to the door. I told Rob I would go up and check for survivors. Rob said he would man the turret and try to fight off any Zombies that showed up. I said, "No, gun shots will just draw more of them. Just button up, play dead and wait for me." "No problem" Rob said, "I'll just hole up inside the APC." 
I looked through the stairwell door window. The stairs appeared to be clear. I opened the door and started up the stairs. At the first landing I looked through the window on a door labeled "2nd FLOOR" but didn’t see anything or anyone moving. I repeated this procedure for 5 more floors before I saw a face looking back at me through the window. It was a Zombie and it started beating on the door. I remembered Ward’s suicide note. He had written that his son Tom didn’t try to open the door, he just beat on the door. Five floors later, I came to a windowless door labeled "ROOF". I tried the knob, it turned, I pushed the door hard, and it swung back and banged against the wall. I yelled, "Is there anyone here?"
A dirty guy in a ragged white shirt jumped into the door opening with a piece of pipe pulled back like a baseball bat. "Whoa! There fella", I yelled. "Do you want help or trouble?" He lowered the pipe and said "Thank God you finally got here. What took you so damn long? We thought we were going to starve up here." "I just happened to be driving past when I saw someone up here waving a white flag." I told him. "How the hell did you last this long? What’s it been six or eight months?" We went to the basement and broke into the café’s storage room, plenty of canned food to eat but we had to ration the bottled water after the city water went off."  He said. "How many are there up here with you?" I asked. "There are six all together. My name is Luther, Sid the security guard, and four women Jamie, Elizabeth, Betty, & Veronica." he said. "No one infected?" I asked. "The third day a guy came down with a fever but we shut him into a storage cage in the basement. He turned Zombie on the fifth day, no one else got sick." said Luther. "I’m Ralph and my partner is Rob he’s downstairs in the APC at the door. We were just scouting the area when we decided to checkout the downtown area.
"If you want to introduce me to the rest we’ll take anyone who wants to go, to a safe haven about 150 miles from here." I said. "You mean you’re not one of the military evacuation teams? OK, I’m sure everyone will be glad to go anywhere away from here." he said. As we walked out on the roof, I noticed umbrella tables placed against a wall. Noticing my gaze, Luther said, "That’s where we spend most of our time sitting around at the tables, more surplus from the café storage room". I saw three women and an older guy sitting there. "I thought you said there were six of you?" I asked. "Oh, Veronica is still on watch duty." Luther told me. "Well if you get her, we can discuss my offer to take you out of here." I said. Luther hurried off across the roof, returning accompanied by a tall woman. I presented my offer to everyone and the only one that was hesitant was Sid. Sid said, "I guess I’ll stay here, I’m too old to be of much help and my bad knee would just slow you down. The food and water will last a long time with just me to eat it." I told him," Sid, back at Haven there are several elderly people much older than you, and at least two invalids. Everyone that’s capable, finds some way to contribute to the community. There’s plenty you can do so you are more than welcome to join us." The women started badgering Sid to come along and he relented. After making sure the safety was on, my holstered pistol I gave it to Sid. I handed Luther my waistband pistol. I instructed each of them not to shoot unless I gave the go ahead. We worked our way back to the ground floor.
By now there were maybe 75 Zombies banging on the APC. Keeping everyone out of sight, I used one of the walkie talkies we had found at the roadblock to ask Rob to draw the Zombies away to a safe distance. He could then return and we would be able to load into the APC. Hopefully, we could get inside it before the Zombies could return and surround the vehicle again.  Rob started the APC and roared off down the street, crushing at least 5 Zombies in the process. At about 300 meters, Rob opened the turret door and fired his M4 at the Zombies to attract their attention. The Zombies that were able, raced off or stumbled off in hot pursuit. Rob closed the turret, and drove off up the street. Rob turned right at the first cross street with the Zombies still in pursuit. After about 10 minutes, Rob returned and stopped in front of our building.
 I pushed the double doors open and rob lowered the rear door/ramp and backed the APC tail through the open doorway I started hustling everyone inside. I jumped in, and yelled for Rob to close up and take off. As we pulled away from the building, I retrieved my 9mm from Luther and fired at two running Zombies that were almost upon us. Both dropped from multiple shots to the chest. Rob was having a great time, the brush guards and forward armor was more than capable of withstanding the impact of the Zombies. Rob would lead the Zombies on a chase then circle the block and just mow them down from behind. Soon, the only Zombies chasing us were slow ones. Rob had run the fast ones down using his block circling technique.
Rob led the Zombies south for six or seven blocks. He then made a long lazy circle and backtracked to the roadblock where we had left my truck. Rob still had a half tank of fuel, but we topped it off before leaving for a less populated area. We drove the 50 miles back where we had parked on the levee the night before. Rob and I scanned the area looking for any sign of Zombies but noted nothing.
 Rob and Luther drove the APC to the closest farm house which we had searched the day before and picked up some blankets and pillows. At least everyone would stay warm and comfortable for the night. When they returned I had started supper. I emptied 4 cans of chili into the cooking pot and heated it. It wasn’t haute cuisine, but at least it was filling and we were all used to canned food by now. After supper we went into the container RV and sat around getting to know each other, telling our stories of survival since the virus began.
While Rob talked with the women and got their stories, I talked with Sid and Luther. Luther told me that he had lived in Sacramento for the last 15 years and was very familiar with the area. I had Luther mark up my Sacramento city map noting for us various stores, sporting goods, tool, and grocery stores. I also had him note any farm equipment, truck sales and mark any gas stations he could remember. He was also able to mark the location of the National Guard armory and a state roadwork staging yard.
We decided Sid and the women should sleep in the container, I would sleep in the truck, and Rob and Luther could bunk in the APC. If we woke up surrounded by Zombies, we could just drive away without having to get out. The night passed uneventfully. Based on the giggling coming from the container, I was a little jealous of Sid having all that female company.
Chapter 6
The next morning, Rob said he wanted to go into Sacramento and check out some of the places Luther had noted on our map. He and I discussed what he should try to check out. We agreed on the National Guard Armory, and a couple of sporting goods stores. Before he could close the window, I told him, "Be careful, don’t get into too much trouble. You can’t be sure how Luther will react under pressure."
Rob turned the ignition switch on the big APC to start position, it roared to life. "Ok if I climb up into the turret?" Luther asked. "Sure, take these binoculars and scan around and look for Zombies." Rob said. Rob backed the APC down the levee road to the cross road. He shifted the vehicle into forward. Spinning the tires he drove down the dirt road, and then eased out onto the pavement.
About an hour after Rob and Luther left, the four women, Sid and myself, loaded into the cab of my truck for the trip back to Haven. We were a little crowded, but everyone was happy riding in the truck cab rather than in the container. About eight miles from camp, we met a Zombie stumbling down the highway toward us. I stopped the truck and Sid opened his door and swung down to the pavement. He knelt and took out the Zombie like he was target shooting. The old guy surprised me several other times during the trip too. I guess that was why they survived when so many others didn't. Sid dropped the Zombie with a three shot burst from one of the M4’s. I jumped down from the truck walked over to the body and removed its wallet. I fished out his ID; John Clayton he had a San Rafael address. I walked back to the truck and climbed behind the steering wheel. I tossed the ID onto the dash and we continued driving north.
 At the Zamora exit, about 40 miles north of Sacramento, we came across an accident. Three autos and a big rig had tangled. I stopped, grabbed an M4 and asked Sid to do the same. We walked toward the closest car. The bodies of a woman and a little boy were in the first car. They were both dead. They both had injuries probably sustained in the accident, but nothing appeared fatal, they had probably either bled to death or had died from dehydration. There were no apparent bites on either one of the bodies. The look and smell inside the car indicated they had probably lived many days trapped inside.
In the next car, a Zombie was pounding on the window but was pinned in the vehicle by his seat belt. I put a couple of rounds through his skull. There was some movement from the back seat. A Zombie that appeared to be about 2 years old, crawled out the window I had shattered and started toward Sid. Sid just stood there looking at the baby Zombie advancing toward him. I swung the M4 up and fired two short bursts into it. Sid jumped, finally coming out of his trance. "I didn’t think about there being baby Zombies" Sid stammered. "Yeah, they come in all shapes and sizes." I said. "You just blot the baby part out of your mind and remember, that baby is dead, and I just destroyed a really short Zombie" I told him.
I walked to the driver and removed his ID, Zamora address. We walked over to the third vehicle. The driver was missing and a woman was dead in the passenger seat. The right side of her head was smashed. She must have been hit by something in the accident.  I walked around and opened the door on her side of the car. Her purse was on the floor. I checked her ID, she had a Hayward address. I opened the glove box and rifled through the papers. I located the registration. It showed a San Rafael address. The owners name was Clayton, the same as the first Zombie I killed about 40 miles back down the road. I went to my truck and extracted my map. I drew a line from where we had found the Zombie named John Clayton, to the location of his wrecked car.
Veronica rolled down her window and said," Ralph, can we get out for awhile? I mean is it safe? "Sure, just keep your eyes open and stay close to the truck and let Sid or I know if you see anything." I said. Everybody piled out. Sid was over by the semi tractor. I heard a M4 burst. Sid walked up to me and said, "The truck driver was pinned between the steering wheel and the seat, but he was thrashing around trying to free himself.
 "Ralph!", Yelled someone from the right side of the truck. I rushed toward the voice. Betty was looking and pointing up the road to Zamora, there were about a dozen Zombies stumbling toward us. I opened the truck door and extracted Rob’s scoped .308. I braced the rifle on the bumper and started firing. I told Sid to load everyone into the truck and then to grab a gun. I told Veronica, "If anything happens to us just leave, don’t try to save us or help us. Just start the truck and drive away. Just head north, the destination is marked on my map. Don’t get out of the truck until you get there." Sid grabbed an M4 and started firing at the Zombies. I took aim and continued firing. I tried for head shots, until they were about 50 feet away. There were still five or six Zombies advancing toward us. I switched to an M4 and started taking the legs out from under the Zombies. When the Zombies were all either dead or crawling, I took my 9mm and put a round in each head. I ran back to the truck. We were ready to pull out. When everyone was loaded we continued north. "Aren’t you going to bury them?" Jamie asked. "If they were close enough to smell I would burn the bodies. They’ve already caused me to work hard enough. Out here, there are enough wild dogs and coyotes to take care of the bodies. If it makes you feel any better, consider that I’m doing my part to feed the living creatures of the world." I said.
I turned my truck onto the road leading to the neighborhood and stopped at the gate. Jason and Tom were manning the gate. I remembered Jason from our first neighborhood meeting. I only had a passing acquaintance with him. Tom, I knew pretty well, he was my next door neighbor. "How’s it going guys, any incidents or sightings since I was away?" I asked, "No, not really. Where’s Rob?" Tom asked. A look of concern flashed across his face. "He found an APC and wanted to scout out some areas in Sacramento before returning. He should be along in the next couple of hours" I said. "Do you know if there are any open houses?" I asked. "I’m pretty sure there are, but I think Fred is down at the community center." said Tom. Tom opened the gate and we passed through.  At the community center we piled out of the truck. We walked into the large room and Fred, the current inventory manager, was sitting at a desk working on some papers. "Hey Fred, we need a bite inspection for six people and housing assignments for six new residents." I said. "Welcome back stranger, what’s this, are you still finding people alive out there?" laughed Fred. "Yeah, they can hide, but Rob and I find them anyway." I said with a grin. "Are there open houses available?" I asked. "We still have six empty houses, plus three more belonging to the families that pulled out the first week. I guess those can be considered empty after this amount of time." Fred said.
I wrote down the house numbers of open houses. Fred looked over at the group and said, "How many places do you folks need?" "Veronica spoke up first, Luther and I would like a place of own. Elizabeth the youngest said," I’ll stay with Sid we’ve grown close and I feel safe with him." "Me too, if it's ok" said Jamie, "Sure" said Elizabeth. Betty didn’t say anything. It occurred to me that she hadn’t spoken much the whole time I had been around them. "What about you Betty, what’s your preference?" I asked. "I don’t care." was all she said then looked down at her shoes. "Well, you can stay with Bobby and I until you decide what you want to do". Is that ok with you? "Yes, I would like that." she said.
Chapter 7
Five miles out of Sacramento, Rob saw the first Zombie. It was stumbling across the highway. Rob yelled to Luther, "Hang on, we have ramming speed". Rob ran down the Zombie at full speed. Other than a thud at the moment of impact there was nothing of note from the collision to the APC. The Zombie on the other hand, exhibited significant damage. The last thing that would have passed through his mind, if he had possessed one, was the speeding APC. The only way he would be able to bite someone now would be if they put their hand into its mouth and pushed its jaw shut.
 Rob continued south on highway 5 then turned east on interstate 80. Spotting a large shopping mall, Rob shouted to Luther, "I need to pickup some things." As Rob pulled up to an entrance he noted the security bars had not been closed. "Take that 50 cal. and see if you can open the mall doors" Rob said. "No problem, I’ll do what I can." Luther said. After less than a minute of .50 caliber fire, Luther stopped shooting. The glass and aluminum framework was totally blown out of the mall entrance. 
Rob navigated past the debris and into the mall. Driving slowly thru the mall he spotted what he was looking for. "Louise’s Metro" was an upscale women’s clothing store. Rob dismounted the APC thru the drivers side hatch. "Ok, Luther keep your eyes open for visitors. Since the security bars had not been lowered this mall must have been overrun by Zombies before they could close it up." Rob told Luther. 
Rob grabbed some shopping bags from the register area and walking rack to rack started grabbing dresses, skirts, and blouses at random. Rob also scooped up several arm loads of Jeans and tee shirts as well. "This should please Jenny and make the other neighborhood ladies happy as well." Rob thought to himself. Rob hit the lever to lower the rear door/ramp. Bag after bag was stacked into the APC. Rob asked Luther if there were any sporting goods shops here. Luther said," Yes, ahead and to the left." 
Rob jumped behind the controls of the APC and they moved forward toward the center court of the mall. As Rob turned left at the center court they met a mob of possibly 200 Zombies, "Button up!" yelled Rob. Luther dropped down from the turret and slammed the hatch shut.  Although they were safe within the vehicle, Rob decided the shopping mall was no longer a viable place for casual shopping. 
Even with the 4x4 APC, Rob had difficulty with traction. The mass of bodies between the tires and the cement floor was as slippery as ice. The Zombies pushing and pounding on the side of the APC was causing it to edge sideways, closer and closer into the store fronts. Forward progress extremely slow. As the APC was pushed sideways by the Zombies, the left rear tire caught on the window frame of a toy store. The APC pivoted hard to the right shattering the large glass window. It then shot forward to the opposite side of the hallway, where the floor was not as littered with crushed Zombie bodies. Rob righted the vehicle, and was able to start down the mall hallway toward the center court, where he made a right turn. Rob was able to quickly out distance the Zombies in his race back to the point where they had entered the mall. 
Reaching the parking lot, Rob turned the turret of the APC to face the mall doorway. As the Zombies came into view, he fired 2 RPG’s into the crowd. Then, Luther climbed back into the turret and went to work with the .50 caliber. After two or three minutes of firing the .50 caliber, Zombies were no longer moving around the Mall entrance. Luther buttoned up the turret. Rob restarted the APC and quickly accelerated to 70 km/h. Both Luther and Rob were laughing hysterically, "Man that was close! I thought we were going to buy the farm back there." Rob said. About 500 meters from the parking lot, they were both beginning to come down from their adrenalin rush. Thinking about the near death situation caused Rob to start shaking violently. Rob let the APC slow to a stop and they both just sat for a minute in silence. "Right at the Highway" Luther said from the passenger seat. Rob looked over and said, "I’ve got to pee first". "I went a couple minutes ago when we were stuck in the hallway, but maybe I need to check my pants." chucked Luther.
Rob grabbed an M4 and inserted a clip and charged the weapon. Luther repeated the same process. Rob said, "Ready? I’ll go out first, be ready to button back up if I get swarmed." "No problem" Luther said. Rob hit the switch lowering the rear door and ran out. He pivoted 10 feet behind the APC and saw a Zombie. It was just a torso and head  it was pawing and waving its one arm stub in his direction. Rob pulled his 9mm pistol and shot it in the forehead. "All clear!" shouted Rob, Luther exited the APC and both of them walked around the APC to the right.  It appeared that only one Zombie had held on to the vehicle as they exited the mall.
Both survivors relieved themselves while watching for Zombies. Rob looked at the gore covered APC and shook his head. "Maybe we should clean this thing up before taking it home. And I'd like to go back to that mall Sporting Goods store and get as much ammo as we can find." He said. "There’s a creek about 2 miles up the road" Luther told him. "Great, we’ll call it "decontamination", I don’t want to be teased for stopping to wash the car in the middle of a Zombie war." laughed Rob.
At the creek Rob and Luther roared up and down the shallow creek and were able to dislodge the majority of body parts from the under carriage. Then after throwing buckets of water, they washed most of the remaining blood and bits and pieces off. After 20 minutes the APC was fairly clean of blood and body parts. Rob and Luther drove up the bank and seeing about 20 Zombies on their trail, Rob stopped the APC and mounted the turret. He fired the .50 cal. at the mob. After a 30 second burst most of the Zombies were on the ground, a few continued to stagger and crawl in their direction. Rob and Luther got out of the APC and walked among the Zombies firing M4 rounds into their heads. Rob and Luther then returned to the APC and drove back to the mall. Rob entered the sporting goods store using the APC to break through the Doors. In less than 30 minutes they had cleaned the store shelves of ammunition and weapons. The back of the APC was loaded with stacks of clothing and ammunition boxes and guns. Ralph always says that being able to loot is the only good thing about the Zombies laughed Rob. I think I understands what he means. I really enjoyed this little trip. 
Chapter 8
Four or five hours later just before sunset, Rob and Luther drove up to the gate leading into Haven. Tom stuck his head out of the guard shack and yelled "Where the hell you been, sightseeing? Jenny comes up here every half hour and then Ralph shows up to take her home again. She's driving me nuts. Ralph finally told her he would go look for you if you didn’t show up by 6:00. If Bobby started coming up here every 10 minutes, I swear I was going to go look for you myself." Rob just laughed and tossed Tom a six pack of beer. "Sorry for the trouble. We were delayed by a couple Zombies." he said. Tom raised the gate and waved the six pack at Rob, "Thanks" he shouted as Rob roll past him.
Rob pulled into Ralph's driveway and killed the engine Jenny rushed out of the house and jumped on him as he swung out the driver’s door. "Where have you been? Uncle Ralph and I were coming to look for you, if you didn't show up soon." "I had to stop and pick up a present for you." he said. He opened the back door of the APC and started handing her bags of clothes. Jenny started pulling clothes from the bags and holding them up. "Wait there's a lot more bags" Rob said. Jenny put the bag she was holding down and ran over and hugged Rob.
Veronica came out and walked over to Luther and told him that she had gotten a house for the two of them. Ralph looked over toward them and said, "You guys can take the bicycles and go on over to your place or you can stay and eat with us. Rob can drop you off at your new place as he and Jenny go home." Really, Uncle Ralph? We can move in together now?" Jenny asked. "Sure, if that’s what you want" I told her.
"We’ll take the bikes if it’s ok and pass on dinner." said Luther. He draped his arm around Veronicas shoulder and they walked over to the shop and grabbed the two old bikes and they started to their new place smiling and talking.
 Jenny said, "Come on Betty, let's look through these clothes. We get first pick and everything we don't want can be given to the community center. Then we’ll finish making supper and eat before Rob and I leave."
 Rob said "Ralph, lets go get the rest of the clothes out of the APC. We found some ammo and weapons too. You come too Bobby, I'm sure we found something for you on this trip." Once they were outside, Rob told Ralph about the trouble in the mall. "Man, I thought we were goners. But Luther stayed steady and didn’t panic." said Rob. "We used a lot of diesel on this trip. The APC fuel consumption is pretty high but between the armor and fire power worth the extra fuel for trips to areas of heavy Zombie infestation. If we hauled the trailer behind it we could make trips into Sacramento for some pretty large scale looting." Rob said.
Rob tossed a Kevlar vest back to bobby "Hey Bobby, we found this at the road block and Ralph said you needed one."  "I sure do!" Bobby said. Grabbing the Kevlar vest and trying it on. "Now I can go with you right, Uncle Ralph?" asked Bobby. "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe we can take the trailer and gather some supplies for the community center." I said. "Cool" said Bobby.  "Did everyone get settled in?" asked Rob. "Yes", I said, "Sid, Elizabeth, and Jamie took the house third house down the street from here and Luther and Veronica are staying a couple of houses from you. Betty is going to stay in Jenny’s old room until she decides where she wants to stay". Rob looked over at me smiled and said "Just one happy little family unit, huh". 
Life marched on at its normal pace in our neighborhood enclave. Every third or fourth day I worked a guard shift at the gate or as roving perimeter patrol. We had a fairly secure compound but had to be vigilant against wandering Zombie incursions. Bobby (who I had come to think of as a son) was anxious to work a guard shift, I only agreed to allow him to work day gate guard shifts with Rob, or myself for now. On the nights I worked a guard shift Bobby stayed home and kept Betty company. Jenny was staying full time with Rob now. Bobby usually stayed with his sister Jenny on the nights Rob worked a shift.
Chapter 9
When May rolled around, the food supply at the community center was getting low so I decided Bobby and I would take the trailer and get some supplies in Yuba City. Bobby was thirteen now and thought he needed a manhood ritual to show everyone he was an adult. Bobby and I hit the road about 5:00 am on a clear May morning. The trip was only about three hours. We pulled into town and I backed the trailer up to the doors of a large Big Box store.
I told Bobby to check his weapons. Bobby checked his 9mm. He locked and loaded a full clip and stuffed six or seven more clips in his coverall pockets. He then repeated the operation with his M4. Bobby looked over at me and I nodded smiling I gave him a thumbs up sign.. I repeated the procedure on my own weapons. We dismounted the truck and walked to the front doors of the store. I checked the doors, they were locked. I said "Good, this means we won’t find an empty looted store." I walked back to the truck and grabbed my wreaking bar. I jammed the bar between the doors and levered them apart, I kicked at lock level. The door swung inward. "Let’s go, watch your front, and at the end of aisles make at least three fast steps through before pivoting and checking your left and right." I said to Bobby. "First we check the store aisles for Zombies, and then we grab food. Be careful, there could be infected employees or even infected customers. The lighting was limited to mid day sun coming through the skylights" I cleared the first aisle and was halfway through the second aisle when I heard shots being fired.
 I jogged to the end of the aisle and started across the store in the direction of the shots. As I turned the corner I saw Bobby lying on the floor. Blood was soaking through his shirt from his left bicep. Another shot sounded, and I saw the muzzle flash from the butchers room behind the meat counter. I looked back at Bobby who had scooted over against the shelving.  I inched back to the end of the shelf and ran toward the last aisle.
As I rounded the aisle, I met two individuals dressed in military fatigues. I brought up my M4 and fired two sweeping bursts, both individuals dropped to the floor. To guarantee they stayed down, I paused long enough to put a bullet into each guys head. I then continued down the aisle and vaulted over the meat counter at the back of the store. I rushed forward and kicked the door open to the butchers work area. There was a guy dressed similar to the two I had encountered in the first aisle. I brought up the M4, but before I could fire, the guy dropped his rifle and started screaming, "I give up!, I give up!" "How many of you guys are in here!" I yelled. "There's just me and two other guys." He answered. "Ok, climb over the counter and let’s check the kid." I said.
We climbed over the meat counter and moved over to the aisle where Bobby was lying. I bent down to look at Bobby’s arm wound. I looked up at my prisoner and said "Take off your shirt, then remove your shoes and pants." The guy started to protest and I brought up my M4. The pants got peeled off. Bobby sat up and I told him to remove his shirt, it looked like a flesh wound. I told my prisoner to go and get some bandaging gauze, alcohol and iodine from the medicine aisle.
"Won’t he run away?" asked Bobby. "I wouldn’t want to be out there without clothes, shoes, or a weapon would you?" I said. The prisoner returned after a few minutes with the items I had asked for. I opened the bottle of alcohol he handed me. I told Bobby, "Brace yourself Bob". I poured the alcohol onto the wound. Bobby let out a yelp but stood his ground. I took the box of gauze from the prisoner and ripped it open and dabbed the wound dry. Next, I poured the iodine onto the wound. I took the second box of gauze and wrapped and tied the it around Bobbies arm. I gave Bobby a pain pill. "Ok, pull your shirt and vest back on Bobby, then go sit in my truck and rest. Bobby said, "No, I'll keep gathering stuff, I'm Ok". "Alright, but if you need to rest let me know, Ok?" I told him. Bobby got dressed and headed to the medical aisle to load his cart.
I turned my attention to my prisoner, and asked "Ok start talking, tell me everything, who, what, and where are you guys from?" "My name is Neil Lestrom, my buddies Simon, Gary, and I were just here to get some supplies when we heard you break in the front. We have been holed up just south of town in an old power plant. There’s a good strong stone building and the whole thing is surrounded by a 12 foot high wire fence. There are about 18 guys staying there. We drew straws and the three of us lost, so we had to come out and look for food. This is the fifth grocery store we found. Our semi-truck is parked out back. We spotted this store and thought we could get one more load into the trailer." Neil babbled, spilling every bit of information he had.
I told Neil to show me the truck. We walked to the back exit of the store and Neil asks if he could get dressed. "No, I think unarmed and half naked gives you a little more incentive to hang around and not run. Right now I want to checkout your truck." I said. The truck was heavily loaded with canned goods and booze. "Ok, let’s get most of that liquor out of there." I told Neil. Neil jumped into the trailer and started to unload the whiskey. Just throw it over there away from the truck I told him." The guys aren’t going to like that." said Neil. "I don’t care what they like or don’t like." I said. I then told Neil to head inside and load carts with stuff from the medical aisle. I grabbed a forklift and started loading pallets of, rice, beans, pasta, and canned goods into the Semi’s trailer. Then Neil and I started loading the cart loads of medical supplies into the trailer Bobby and I had brought with us. After a couple of hours I called a halt to our loading, put a tarp over the trailer load and pulled down the Semi's trailer door and locked it. After I checked Bobby's arm, it appeared the bleeding had stopped, but it would be sore for a week or two. "Bobby, can you follow me in my truck?" I asked. "Sure, I think so, but I never pulled a trailer before so don’t leave me too far behind." He said. "I don’t think that will be a problem." I said. I tossed my keys to Bobby and said, "Go out front and get in the pickup truck and wait until I come around, Ok?" Neil and I started to the rear exit where the semi truck was parked. "Wait, can I put on my clothes now?" Neil asked. "Not yet, just carry them back to the semi" I said. At the Aisle where Bobby had been shot, I picked up the rifles Neil and his friends had been using as well as their spare ammunition, just 50 rounds each. "You’re not very well armed for a trip into the city" I said. "They only gave us enough ammunition for an emergency. We don’t have a lot to spare." Neil said.
"Ok, mount up. Let's see if I can drive this thing." I said. "What are you going to do with me?" asked Neil. "Well, I could just shoot you now, or you could tell me more about the guys at the power plant." I told him. "Well, we just started gathering there after the Zombie thing started. There were about 30 of us at first. Most of us came from a construction site up the road from there. At first we let anybody join us. But, then we let in eight women from a club just down the road and all that changed. About three or four days after we let them in, one of the girls went Zombie. We killed her, but about a week later six guys and three of the other girls turned Zombie. By the time we killed them we had lost 14 more people. After that we didn’t let anyone else in. If anyone tried to break in, we shot them. Between the Zombies that show up, and the people wanting inside, we have been running low on ammunition."
I drove around the corner to the street where Bobby was waiting in the pickup truck. "Do you have friends at the power plant, Neil?" I asked. "No, I just saw it as a place to be safe. I hadn’t been working at the Site but a couple of days when this Zombie crap started. I hardly knew any of the guys before we took refuge in the power plant." Neil said. "Well, you can get out somewhere along here and go back there, or you can come back and stay with us. You’ll have to prove yourself trustworthy before you’re accepted into the group. But if you earn our trust, you’ll be fine. If you do anything to endanger the group, you will be expelled or executed. That is the same for everyone, not just you. So decide what you want now" I told him.
"I’ll take you up on your offer of asylum if you mean it. I’d be glad to be shed of that power plant." Neil said. I looked over at Neil and told him "You can get dressed now but no weapons yet. I’ll talk to Bobby and he will be Ok. But don’t let his sister know you shot him. I can’t guarantee your safety from her". "Is she your wife?" Neil asked. "No, I found her and Bobby holed up in their granddad's attic last summer. Now their more like adopted kids or a niece and nephew." I told him.
I turned onto highway 80 and headed east before I started the twisting turning route home to try and throw off any Zombies that might be chasing us. Bobby was doing a good job driving my truck and pulling the trailer, I saw the trailer wheels off the pavement a few times, but in fact, he was doing a better job than I was. Driving a semi tractor and trailer rig was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. About three hours later we finally turned onto the road leading to the entrance gate to Haven. "Where the hell did you find that thing Ralph?" said Tom when we stopped at the gate.
Now we need to have a neighborhood meeting to question Neil some more about the guys at the power plant and determine if we should try a rescue or just let them survive or die on their own. Then there is the National Guard Armory to check out. It probably would be a good idea to setup some kind of early warning sites to warn us if large groups of Zombies are headed toward Haven.
 It never ends. Each day more things occur that need to be dealt with just to survive. It doesn't get easier it just gets harder.
THE END?
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About the author
Jeff Ping is a retired RF Engineer living in Northern California.
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