The Darkening (A Zombie Awakening) (10 page)

             
Colton grabbed his gun and shot through a slit in his window. Maybe with the other shooters, they could clear the area and have a safe place to
spend
the night behind a locked gate.

             
The truck pulled
alongside
them. A heavily bearded man yelled through his barely opened window. “Get inside the gate. We’ll cover you.”

             
Colton didn’t waste any time following the man’s orders. He
set his gun on the floor and
pressed the gas pedal, scraping the motor home again against the tree, then roared into the enclosure. After turning off the ignition, he grabbed his rifle and bolted from the vehicle. Chalice and Mychal did the same.

             
They could at least cover the retreat of those who had helped them. Raising his rifle to his shoulder, Colton stepped against the fence and pulled the trigger. A zombie fell,
a
bullet between its eyes. The next one, a little girl in a stained ruffled dress was harder.

             
She growled and stuck her skinny, graying arm through the links of the fence. Colton hesitated. This was someone’s little sister once.
A child more interested in playing than wandering the world as an undead.

             
Chalice didn’t have the same hesitation. She grabbed a sharp stick and shoved it through the zombie’s left eye. The girl fell in a heap of pink fabric and black blood.

             
“You can’t stop to think about it.” Chalice left the stick in the zombie and aimed her rifle.
“It’ll kill you if you do. Both physically and mentally.”

             
She was right. Colton could have made a fatal mistake. Yes, a fence separated him from the zombies, but from the way the fence bowed under the little girl’s pounding, he suspected they possessed an almost inhuman strength when presented with
the opportunity to get
food. He sighed. She might have made the perfect experiment.

             
Hanna screamed.

             
Colton turned to see the hem of her shirt clutched in the hands of an old man zombie. Inch by inch,
the creature
pulled her closer to the fence.
Saliva dripped from its chin.

             
Before Colton could reach her, Junior dashed from the motor home, clutching one of the axes. With two hard whacks, he chopped the zombie’s hand, freeing Hanna. The younger ones should never have come outside
, but this moment of disobedience could have been what saved Hanna’s life
.
“Get inside.”

             
Fifteen minutes later, all the zombies lie dead
,
and the truck returned
to the i
nside
of
the enclosure. Colton turned to welcome his saviors.

9

             
“
Damn, y
ou’re just a bunch of kids.” The bearded man leaned against his truck.

             
“I’m almost eighteen.” Colton squared his shoulders. “Old enough.”

             
The man shook his head. “Well, you proved yourself today. I’m Bill Colman. This is Fred Williams and Sarah Harper. We’re all that’s left of our group.
We had ten originally.
We’ve built a bunker under this abandoned substation. You’re welcome to come rest a spell, but I got to warn you, we’re getting low on food.”

             
“We have food.” Chalice stepped forward. “I’m Chalice Hart, sixteen. My brother is Mychal, my sister, Hanna. We found Junior and Sissy about 80 miles back.” She motioned her head at Colton. “He’s Colton Morgan.
We’re happy to share what we have.”

             
“Can we come inside?” Bill asked, craning his neck to see in the motor home.

             
“No, sir.” Colton stepped between him and the vehicle. “We’ll bring the food out to you but we’re not excited about letting strangers into our home.”

             
Bill laughed. “Suit yourself, son, but if we wanted your supplies, we would’ve just waited for the zombies to kill you then we could’ve taken it.”

             
“True.” Colton stepped aside. He wouldn’t be an ass to the folks who’d risked their necks for them. If they planned on robbing them, there wasn’t much any of them could do.

             
The motor home seemed claustrophobic once three full-sized people climbed aboard. Colton took the seat farthest away from their guests, the driver’s seat
, and kept his eyes peeled. Especially on the tall, skinny man. Colton didn’t like the way the man watched Chalice.

             
Sh
e opened and dumped cans of stew into a pot while the younger kids sat and stared at the newcomers. Clearly Chalice felt relief at the presence of adults.
Despite his reservation at letting them onboard,
Colton had to admit to a degree of relief, too. They might be strangers, but they’d taken care of a large herd of undead
that would have quickly overwhelmed the motor home
.

             
Maybe they’d consider joining the younger group. Wouldn’t there be safety in numbers?
Or would a larger group just make them a more visible target?

             
Bill glanced in the closet of a bathroom. “Looks like you need to empty your tank. There’s a KOA not too far from here. We could show you in the morning.”

             
“That would be wonderful.” Chalice smiled as she stirred. “It’s nice having a toilet but with a bunch of kids, it filled up fast.”

             
The man took the liberty of looking in cupboards and under beds. Colton stared him down. “What are you looking for?”

             
“Actually, I’m impressed at how prepared you are.” Bill straightened. “How long y’all been on the road together?”

             
“About a month.” Colton crossed his arms. What was the guy getting at?

             
“I’m thinking if we pool our supplies, we might do all right. We’ve ammunition and little else.
You’ve food and little ammunition.
It’s time for us to move on. We heard tell there’s a safe zone at the army base in Colorado Springs. Interested?”

             
“No
thing
closer?” Colton’s shoulders sagged. “I was hoping for Tyndall. We can’t be but a hundred miles from there.”

             
“Last I heard, Tyndall was over run three months ago. I reckon Colorado will be the same
, but we’ve got to chance it
.” Bill took a bowl of stew from Chalice. “The more populated the area, the more zombies, of course. We wouldn’t ride in here with you kids. We could still take the truck.” He grinned. “From the blood splatters on the front of this box, I’d say y’all have seen some action.”

             
“Yeah,” Mychal said. “It’s good for running over zombies.”

             
“I’m really impressed with you kids. A lot of adults haven’t made it and here you are, sitting pretty with food and water.” Bill perched against the table. Yep, I’m right impressed.”

             
Chalice met Colton’s gaze, then looked at Bill. “We appreciate your offer and would be happy for you to join us. But,” She narrowed her eyes. “I take care of the children. Not you.”

###

             
Chalice woke the next morning and glanced out the motor home window. There was no sign of the three newest to the group but five zombies paced the fence
, filling the air with their unearthly moans and growls
. No doubt brought on by the previous day’s carnage. Maybe they had a sixth sense about
a large number
of their own being killed.

             
The adults had seemed nice enough last night, especially the woman, Sarah, but Chalice wouldn’t trust them to be alone around the younger kids until she knew them better. Sure, they came to the rescue when they were being overrun last night, but they could have any number of motivations. Plus, feeding them took away an entire meal that could have gone into the
kid
’s mouths.

             
She
dropped
the thin curtain
, a couple of inches too small for the space,
back into place. She’d slept in her blood-encrusted clothes since there was little water to be wasted on laundry and a short supply of clothing, not to mention a private place to change. Maybe if she drew the curtain she could have just enough time
before the others woke
.

             
Yanking the curtains closed,
the best she could,
she disrobed
and
dropp
ed
the smelly clothes on the floor. She grabbed a container of wet wipes and sponged down her skin before dressing in the last clean pair of pants she owned, camouflage cargo pants and a white tank top.

             
She turned to pick up the
dirty
clothes and glanced out the window.

             
Fred Williams stood and stared, obviously watching her bathe and dress. The frigg’n pervert.

             
She stuffed her pistol into her waistband, tempted to put a bullet in his brain. It was most likely as tainted as the zombies growling outside the fence.

             
When she shoved back the privacy curtain, the others were eating dry cereal. Colton held the box of Cheerios out for her. She grabbed a handful and bent to glance back out the window. Fred had disappeared. Hopefully, to tell the others they were ready to leave.

             
“We need to let Bill know to stop for gas,” she told Colton.

             
“What’s the point?” Hanna spoke up from where she sat at the table, face buried in her hands. “Get gas and drive, drive, drive. It’s only a matter of time before every one of us is zombie food.”

             
“I have a theory about that.” Colton passed the cereal box to Mychal. “Think on all the zombies you’ve seen. Some look relatively normal,
with minimal signs of decay,
while others look like walking corpses. I think their bodies deteriorate over time. Once we settle somewhere, I plan on catching one and keeping it in a cage.”

             
“Like a pet?” Chalice crossed her arms. “I think that’s a great idea.” She glanced at the dogs. “We also have to keep the dogs quiet somehow when zombies are around. They bark
,
and the zombies come.”

             
“We need a muzzle,” Mychal said. “I can work on making a band of some sort out of a pair of socks. I can do that while we’re driving today.”

             
A knock sounded on the door. Chalice turned to see Sarah.

             
“Here’s some extra weapons and ammo.” She stepped inside. “Do you think you could spare us some water for the truck?”

             
“Take a bottle a piece.” Chalice pulled three from a cabinet. “We only allow ourselves one a day unless we find water somewhere else.”

             
Sarah smiled. “Thanks.”

             
When she’d left, Chalice pulled out another handgun. She preferred them to the rifle. Now, Mychal could have the rifle along with his bow and arrow. True to her word, Sarah had supplied them with ammo for their guns. In Chalice’s mind, the water was an insufficient trade.
For now. She’d change her mind when water was hard to find.

             
“Looks like we’re leaving.” Colton hurried to the driver’s seat.

             
Chalice rushed to the passenger seat while Mychal scurried around making sure the doors and windows were latched. “All the way to Colorado, huh?”

             
Colton shrugged. “Looks that way, unless we find something sooner.”

             
They burst through the fence, sending zombie
s exploding like watermelons. B
ody parts fl
ew
.
A leg bounced off the front window.

             
Colton laid on the horn and followed, the motor home bumping over zombies too stupid to move and adding more of the black congealing mess they had for blood to the front bumper.

             
It amazed Chalice that the sight no longer sickened her. She thought no more of body parts flying than she did of eating
or sleeping
.
What did that mean? Did she no longer have any value for human life? She looked over her shoulder at the children.