Outbreak The Living (The Outbreak Series) (17 page)

“Are you OK?” he asks. 

"Yeah, I am. I am a little shaken up, but I’m good. Better now that I’m in your arms.” Chuckling he takes a step back, looking around him, I see Nick watching us.  Walking back to the others I can’t seem to find Hank. Walking back into the building, I don’t see him in here, making my way out.

“Has anyone seen Hank?”  No one has seen him for 15 minutes. Hearing a loud, funny noise, I turn around about 1000 yards away. A tank is coming straight at us.

“Holy shit, what the hell is that thing?” I say watching whoever it is coming at us. There is cracking sounds as he drives towards us. He is taking out small trees and bouncing off the bigger ones.

“I would say that’s Hank, in a tank,” Pete says laughing. I continue to watch as he tries to go in a straight line. He takes out the side of one of the buildings that gets in his way.

“Oh shit, he’s going to go over a car in that thing,” I say laughing. I have tears coming out of my eyes from laughing so hard. Mack comes over next to me and he is laughing too. Hank drives that tank up and over the car bouncing as he gets completely off it. He starts to drive straighter as he gets closer.  Stopping just five feet from us, that thing is huge.  Walking over to it, I really look at it I can see why it is called a tank.  There is a squeaking noise and Hank opens up the hatch. He climbs out with a huge grin on his face. His hair is sticking up all over the place.

“Well, that didn’t really go as planned. I haven’t drove one of these things since ‘Nam.” He runs his hand through his hair looking around until his eyes settle on me.

“Wanna ride with me, Egypt?” he asks smiling. Looking at him, I am really trying to hold in a laugh. His hair is sticking up every which way and his eyes are huge.

“Really? We’re taking that thing with us?” I ask, smiling up at him.

“You bet we are,” he says reaching his hand down to me. Looking behind me, Mack is shaking his head turning towards the trucks. I walk over to Hank and wonder how I am going to get up there! Suddenly hands are on my waist lifting me up. Looking behind me it’s Nick. Smiling down, I thank him. And hurry up to grab Hank's hand. Hank puts a helmet on my head.

“YAY, I’m ready,” I say, smiling with my hands on my hips.  Watching everyone go to the trucks, I see Mack and Nick together.

“She’s a hot little thing, isn’t she?” Nick says.

“Yep, don’t ever touch her again, she’s mine,” Mack growls. I see Nick smiling at Mack. Shaking my head, I wonder what that was all about.

“Come on in, Egypt,” Hank says.

“OK.”

Making my way over to the hatch, I climb down. Looking around, it's really cool inside. Hank shuts the hatch and seals it.  There’s tons of stuff inside.

“Where do I sit, Hank?”

"Up front with me, buckle in, it’s going to be a fun ride," he says, grinning from ear to ear.

Laughing, I sit and buckle up. I can’t wait to take my first ride in a tank, and I’m glad I get to share this with my dad.

We make it through Niles with no problems. And make a left on 224, heading back towards the school, then home.

"Hank, thank you for letting me ride this has been amazing,” I say excitedly. 

Hank stops and gets up. “Your turn, Egypt,” he says, grinning at me. Looking over at him, I really think he has gone plum crazy.

“What? NO, I can’t drive this thing, Hank.” 

Laughing, he shakes his head and comes over to where I’m sitting and unbuckles me pulling gently on my arm so that I have to stand up. He really has to bend over in here. Since I am short, it is not so bad for me.  Taking a few steps, I sit in the driver's seat. I don’t know how I am going to do this, but hell, I will try anything once.  I strap myself in and wait for Hank to tell me what to do.  Hank grabs the walkie.

“Gentlemen, Egypt is taking the controls, that’s why we’ve stopped. You might want to hang back, just to be safe….Over.”

“HANK!!”

“Well, we don’t need you running over them, now do we?” he asks laughing.

I take the controls and off we go. I am all over the road and a few times we ended up in the ditch. After a few minutes, I seem to get the hang of it. I kick it up a notch and we are flying for tank standards.  We go past the school and turn right on Duck Creek. We are just a few miles from home now.  Slowing down, I look on the screens for a better view.

“Hank, we got a problem, a horde of zombies are right in front of us.”

“It looks to be thirty or forty of them,” he says.

“Hank, they are heading towards the house. We have to stop them.”

“Egypt, you’re in a tank, take them out,” he says laughing.

Grabbing the walkie. “Guys, we got a horde up ahead, I’ll take out as many as I can….over.”

“Have fun, babe. We’ll be watching….over,” Mack says. Smiling to myself, I know he’s smiling. Shaking my head, I move the tank forward. Coming up on the zombies, I brace for impact. We mow over half of them like they are butter, hardly making the tank bounce. 

“YEEEHAW!” I squeal, laughing.  Hank is laughing and shaking his head. Turning in a circle, we take out a few more. Turning again, I look and see a few left.

“Wanna get out and get some practice, Hank?” I say unbuckling my harness.

“Sure, there’s only four that I see. I need to know how to take them out. You say a shot to the head?”

“Yep, to the brain, Hank.”

“To make this fair you can only use your knife,” he says smiling. Looking over at him, it will do me some good for some hand to hand.

“You got a deal, whoever loses has to hose off the tank,” I say smiling.  We make our way to the hatch and Hank pops it open. He climbs out and looks out over the road. The zombies are going crazy trying to get to us. Looking over at the guys, I can see Mack shaking his head.

“What are you doing, Egypt…..over,” Mack says

    Grabbing the walkie “We’re having a contest.” I toss the walkie back into the tank looking over at Hank, he nods. Jumping off the other side of the tank, I hit the ground running. I hear Mack yelling at me but cannot make out what he says. Hank stays on the tank, I make my way around to the other side. Grabbing my knife, I make ready to take the first one out.  It is a huge man, his clothes are half gone, one eye is hanging on his cheek and his neck is half gone. The smell hits me first and makes my eyes water. He lunges for me, and I keep backing up. Finally, I see my chance and take it. Lunging forward, I grab his shoulder with my right hand and thrust the knife into his eye with my left hand.  Backing away, I let him fall to the ground.  Looking up at Hank, I point to the one coming at me. I am not going to take him out if I do not have to. Hank needs to do this.  Hank takes the shot and hits it in the arm. It’s getting closer than I would like. Holding my knife at the ready.

“HANK, get it before it gets me!” I scream.

Hank takes aim right before the thing reaches me and takes it down. Fist pumping the air I smile up at him.  The next one is by the other trucks, picking up my pace I jump on the back of the zombie. Suddenly, I am flipping through the air and land on my back hard. What the hell, since when can zombies do that? Wrapping my legs around it, I flip it so I am now on top. Looking down, I have my knife at his throat so quick it doesn’t get to blink. What the hell? It’s a guy, not a zombie!

“Who the hell are you?” I ask meanly. I hear the guys get out of the truck, they run over. A hand wraps around my throat and squeezes. Looking down at him, I cannot breathe. I can hear the guys yelling but do not know where they are. Sliding my hand down, I grab my gun and pull the trigger. The guy releases me screaming, grabbing his leg. I get lifted off him and taken a few feet away. Looking up I see that it is Nick. Mack has the guy at gun point talking to him.

“Egypt, move your hands so I can look at your neck,” Nick says. Looking up at him, I do as he says. I feel his hands on my neck, his hands linger longer than they need to. Hearing a throat clear, he drops his hands. Pete walks up and bends down to me.

“You OK, Egypt?” He looks me in the eyes, then at Nick. Looking over at Mack, he is watching Hank drag the guy over to the other side of the tank. Suddenly there is a shot and everything is quiet.

“Yeah, I’m OK. Throat hurts a little bit,” I say softly.

Pete starts laughing, “Are you kidding me, Egypt? You were like a ninja with that guy until you landed on your back, but oh no that didn’t stop you. You flipped him and then shot him in the leg,” he says, shaking his head. “And all you’re saying is your throat is a little sore?"

Mack comes over and scoops me up; wrapping my arms around him, I put my face into his neck. Looking around I see that Liam has taken out the other zombies. Mack takes me back to the truck and gets in, Hank is driving the tank, we make it to the house, Nate opens up the gate and we pull in.

“Mom, we have a tank?” Nate asks.

“No, your mom has a tank,” Hank says. Smiling at me. Looking over at the tank, ugh I have to clean that nasty thing.

"Guys, I want everyone in the command center in an hour including, Sal.” Walking away I head into the house.  My puppies meet me at the door. Bending down, I love on them for a little bit, before standing up to make my way to my bedroom. Opening the door, I head straight to the bathroom, turning on the water. I take all my clothes off and jump in. The water hits my body and runs down. Standing there, I let it run down loosening up my tight muscles. Today started out good, then it when to hell. Hearing the door opening up I know its Mack. He walks into the bathroom and straight into the shower with me. He does not say anything, just wraps me in his arms. Running my hands down his back, I step closer to him. This is where I need to be every night.

“You were amazing out there today, babe,” he whispers in my ear.

“I sure don’t feel like it.” I am sure that I am pouting, but I do not care.

“We need to get to the Command room, get this meeting over. You have to tell the guys where you want all the stuff and where the three new guys are staying. Then I will bring you back here and take your mind off everything,” he says, working his way down my neck kissing me. After he’s done teasing me, he gets out and goes to dry off. Knowing he is right, I turn off the water and he hands me a couple towels.

“Hey, there’s food in there for you, when you’re done. I’ll see you out there." He goes and gets dressed quickly and leaves. Looking around the room, I see he brought me a tray with a sandwich and fruit.  Getting dressed in jeans and a tank top, I make my way over and eat.  Finishing up, I look down at my bare feet. I really don’t want to put boots on or any shoes for that matter. Throwing the plate in the trash, I head out the door. The main bathroom door is closed, it is never really open anymore.  Making my way into the dining room, Mom and Aunt Nancy are sitting there, talking over coffee. Walking over, I give a kiss to my mom.

“How you feeling, Mom?”

“I’m good, Egypt, how are you doing?”

“I’m good, did you feed the new guys yet?" Looking around I see three plates filled with food.

“No, I thought you can take it to them. Mack flew through here so I didn’t get ask him," she says laughing. I have no clue why she is laughing.

“Yep, I can take this to them,” I say kissing her again. Walking over, I pile the three plates on top of each other and pick them up. Holding them in one hand, I grab three pops in the other. It is really cold against my arm. Making my way to the garage door, I open it up and not so gracefully walk down the two steps letting the door slam behind me. It makes everyone turn my way. To say it makes me feel uncomfortable is an understatement.  Walking over to Jerry and Eric, I hand them each a plate and drink. Looking over, Nick is sitting on a chair backward. Smiling, I hand him is food. Looking around the only seat available is between Mack and Sal on the loveseat. Making my way over there I squeeze in between them.  Mack puts his hand on my thigh, and I can feel Sal tense up. There is nothing I can do about it.

“OK, we have a lot to go through and it’s getting late and I, for one, would love to go to bed.” I can see the grin on Pete’s face

“Don’t Pete, I swear I’ll knock your teeth out,” I say, laughing. Looking away from him to the others, I can hear him laughing.

“First, Nick, you guys can bunk with Sal.” Looking over at Sal, he nods his head.

“The guns and ammo we got today can be stored in the first RV on the right. I want it locked up at all times, because of the kids running around. Safer that way.” No one says anything.

“Mack, I want you to be in charge of the first responders for a lack of a better word for it. Get everyone ready so that they can fight and shoot.” I say looking over at him. He smiles at me squeezing my leg. Looking over at Sal,

“Sal, tell me what’s going on with the fence. Tell me what we need to do to get this moving?”  Tucking my feet underneath me, I turn so I am leaning against Mack, he wraps his arm around me.

“Egypt, we found the materials we are going to need and started bringing some back. I really could use more guys to help with it. It will take us about three weeks to get it up, and at least a week to get everything,” he says looking down at me.

“OK, take who you need to get it done.” He smiles at me and nods his head.

“Pete, how’s the medical supplies?” I ask as I look over at him.

“I will be going through the stuff we got today and add that to what we have in storage, but we could always use more of the little stuff,” he says.

“Alright, make up a list and we’ll get it. Mack, I need a list of what we got today as well.” Looking back at him. “Hank, do you have anything to add?” I ask. 

"Egypt, I think you need to learn how to drive the tank better,” Hank says, looking over at Nick. “Can you teach her?” he asks him. Looking around the room, I really do not understand why I need to learn how to drive that thing any better.

“Yeah, I can. When do you want me to start, Hank?" he says smiling.

“The sooner, the better,” he says looking over at me. “Egypt, you need to know how to drive it if anything happens you have to keep going and…”  

Standing up, I blurt angrily, “Just stop, Hank. Don’t talk like that! I’ll learn to drive it because you think it’s a good idea. But we’re going to make it through this.”  

“Egypt, there’s something I want to show you, that you need to see,” Sal says to me. Sitting down, I run my hands through my hair.

“OK, Nick, how about tomorrow morning? Sal, you come with us and you can show me what you need to. BUT you still have to send guys to get the fence stuff,” I say, looking at them.

“In the morning is fine,” Nick says. Looking over at Sal. “That will work.” He says.

“OK, if no one has anything else?” I say looking around the room. “Alright, I will see you guys at five? So we can leave at six,” I say.

I do not get up right away and neither does Mack. I watch as Sal takes the new guys out the back door.  Hank and the others go into the house.

“So what do you think about all this?” I ask Mack, snuggling in closer to him. I love the smell of him.

“I think it’s a really a good idea that you learn to drive the tank. Nick better keep his hands to himself or I will break them,” he says.

Crawling up into his lap, I run my hands down his chest. Kissing his neck, I stop at his ear. “Your hands are the only ones I want all over me,” I whisper. Growling, he picks me up and carries me straight into our room.