“Got back from where?” I asked.
Fish glared at me and then turned back to the road. “I went on a scouting trip yesterday.”
I thought about that a moment, realization coming to me. “You mean you came looking for us?”
“You could say that,” he said evenly.
“How close did you get to the compound?” I asked.
“Made it to the gas station. Saw Chuck’s jeep,” he frowned.
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “We barely escaped.”
“Is that where Chuck bought it?” he asked without emotion.
“Yeah. He sacrificed himself for us.” I said somberly.
I told him the story, leaving out that I had told Chuck about my immunity. That also reminded me that Karina knew I had been bitten. I started to get nervous, thinking that she may tell Gardner while they rode behind us. If she hadn’t, I told myself to remind her to keep it to herself.
“I have to say, that was pretty honorable of him,” Fish said once I concluded the tale.
“He was a good man,” I agreed.
“Fish, this is DJ. You guys close or what? Over.” the radio squawked.
“Tell him we’ll be there in ten,” Fish ordered, while turning the truck down another back road.
“DJ, this is Christian. We’re approximately… approximately one zero mikes out,” I said, remembering in mid-sentence the proper radio etiquette. “Glad to hear your voice. Over.”
“You too, buddy. We’re done loading up. Also, we picked up a survivor. Over.”
I turned to Fish who let out a deep breath. “Great,” he grumbled.
“Friendly?” I asked DJ.
“Think so. Over.”
“Roger that. See you in a few. Over and out.” I put the radio down.
The construction site where DJ and his crew were scavenging was large. I wasn’t exactly sure what was being built there, but it had to be at least as large as a super market. The ground had been leveled and the first stages of the outer walls were evident.
Big Red was parked near a large eighteen wheeler flatbed truck. Building materials, from fencing to rebar, were stacked on the top of the fire engine. Behind Big Red was Jenna’s truck. It had a trailer loaded with building materials.
I counted thirteen zombies that had been put down at the site. Their heads were smashed into oblivion, leaving no chance for the zombies to reanimate.
Jenna was securing straps on the trailer while Chad and Gonzales were on top of Big Red, doing the same. DJ was next to the firetruck speaking with who I guessed was the survivor they had found. DJ’s arm was still in a sling, and he held a handgun with an oil filter fixed to the front in his good hand. Most of us were now armed with the jury-rigged suppressors.
Fish and I got out of the truck. Boomer jumped out excitedly and started to sniff around the area. Gardner and Karina joined us as we walked over to DJ and his new friend. Enrique stayed in the SUV. He was staring outside the window at nothing in particular.
“Welcome back to the living,” DJ said as I walked up and shook his hand.
“Thanks,” I smiled.
“Who’s your friend?” Fish asked, skipping any sort of greeting.
“This is Cecil. Cecil, this is Fish, Christian, Gardner and Karina,” the big man said, nodding to each of us in turn.
Cecil appeared weathered and worn, but otherwise good spirited as he nodded to us. “Hey guys.”
He was wearing a stained green T-shirt and dirty blue jeans that had a few rips around the legs. Long, curly brown hair was matted with dirt and sweat, and he had a brown and grey beard that told me he had to be in his late thirties or early forties. On his side was a very large revolver, which I later found out was a 357.
“Are there others with you?” Fish asked.
“Already asked, Fish. It’s just him,” DJ said, answering for Cecil.
Cecil, who was studying our group, fixed his eyes on Karina. I wondered if they knew each other at first, but I saw no recognition from Karina.
“Alright. We need anything else here?” Fish looked around the construction site.
“Yeah, all of it,” DJ grinned. “Take a walk with me.”
Fish complied and the two walked around, discussing the construction materials and the logistics of moving it to Camp Holly.
I looked back at Cecil. He was still staring at Karina, who was chatting with Gardner.
The newcomer saw that I noticed him staring at the teenager, and he gave me an apologetic look.
“Sorry. I don’t mean to stare. Just… I’ve never seen a kid carry an MP5. Times are different.”
“It’s not my gun,” Karina said, breaking off her conversation and nodding to me. “It’s his. He showed me how to use it.”
“Were you law enforcement?” Cecil asked me.
“Umm, no. Why?”
“I was a narcotics detective for Melbourne PD. That looks like it came straight out of the arms room. Where did you get it?” Cecil had a sense of seriousness about him now that made me somewhat nervous. I didn’t want to tell him that I killed the previous owner of the gun.
“I scavenged it. There are a lot of guns lying around these days.” It wasn’t a total lie. I did scavenge the MP5, it just so happened that I took it from someone I had murdered. At least, I still saw it as murder.
“That’s true. Still strange seeing a kid carry it around. Guess I have to get use to that.” Cecil shook his head. His eyes shifted to me and then back to Karina.
“No such thing as kids anymore, hoss,” Gonzales said as he came around the back of Big Red. “Just the dead-heads and the living.”
“And the fuckin’ scabs,” Chad added as he followed behind Gonzales.
Cecil nodded. “Whose dog?” he asked as Boomer came trotting up to our group, seemingly satisfied there were no immediate threats in the area.
“That’s Christian’s, too,” Karina said helpfully. “Boomer’s great.”
“Is he now?” Cecil said as he stepped forward to pet him.
A rumble reverberated from Boomer’s chest in warning. My first thought was that something was coming near us, until I realized Boomer was glaring at Cecil.
“He doesn’t know you. You probably make him nervous,” I said, bending over and wrapping my arm around Boomer’s neck. Cecil backed up as I stroked the canine with my free hand. Boomer slowly started to calm down.
“Mount up!” Fish ordered as he rounded the opposite side of the fire truck, breaking the tension.
The issue of Cecil joining our group must have already been discussed, since he jumped into the passenger side of Jenna’s truck. Chad got into the driver’s seat as Gonzales and DJ took Big Red. Gardner drove the SUV with Karina and Enrique. Fish, Boomer and I took our truck.
The drive back was uneventful. I went into more detail with Fish on Chuck and me going after Karina, how we escaped with Chuck’s help and ultimate sacrifice, and our encounter with Enrique and the scabs. He seemed really interested in how Enrique’s wife had been changed. He agreed that the scab had bitten her for the purpose of changing her.
“That’s a game changer, you realize,” Fish stated as we pulled into Holly.
“I know,” I grimaced.
We parked the truck in the large open area in front of the camp. I told Fish I had to use the restroom before I jumped in to help unload all of the equipment we had scavenged.
It wasn’t a lie. I really did have to go, but I had another, more pressing matter to attend to first.
I caught Karina just before she entered the door leading to the reception building, or main hall, as we later called it. It was also the same place where I had almost been killed by the Rhinoceros Zombie a few days before.
“Karina!” I breathed as I jogged up behind her.
“Yes?” she said, spinning around.
“Can I talk to you?”
She nodded and I guided her around to the side of the building.
“What’s up?” she asked.
I took a moment and made sure no one was in earshot of us.
“Karina… Remember what I told Chuck?” I whispered.
“You mean about—”
“About me, yes,” I said, cutting her off before she said anything aloud about me being a carrier or immune. I wasn’t sure which one she had settled on.
“I remember. And yes, I remember you asking me to keep it to myself,” she reassured me.
“Thank you,” I smiled in relief.
“So…?” she asked.
“So… what?” I responded, the smile disappearing from my face.
“Well, I mean, aren’t you going to tell them?”
I swallowed. I wanted to tell the group. But Chuck’s assertion that I could be a carrier instead of immune exposed me to a new danger. If the group even suspected that I carried the infection, they may have thrown me out or, even worse, executed me. I couldn’t blame them for thinking that I may infect the group or even eventually turn into one of the scabs. It was a very delicate situation.
“I will,” I promised, “but I have to do it in my own way… in my own time. Can I trust you?” I remember the desperation in my voice, as if I was begging her not to betray me.
She put her hand on my shoulder and rubbed it reassuringly. “You can trust me, Christian. And I trust you will do the right thing… in your own time.”
Chapter 8
Return to Camp Holly
April 24
th
Evening
By the time we had unloaded the equipment from the trucks, it was late afternoon. I took a few minutes to walk the camp with Boomer and investigate our new home. I greeted those I hadn’t seen since we evacuated the Ace Hardware compound. They were all happy that Karina and I made it back and saddened at the loss of Chuck.
In less than a day, we had lost three of our group. The adults of our little group were quickly dwindling. That was probably why Campbell was quick to accept Cecil and Enrique into the fold.
Cecil was undoubtedly going to be a great addition to our crew. He seemed physically fit, even considering the ragged state we found him in. It also was a bonus having a former police officer in our group.
Enrique, we learned while unloading the equipment, worked as a construction worker. He may have been short, but when he finally stripped down the armor he wore, I saw he was in excellent shape. That was probably from working as a laborer for years.
DJ, Fish, and Lieutenant Campbell had spent the night before mapping out how Camp Holly was to be organized. As the sun started to set and dinner was being served, Campbell started going over what the priorities were for the rest of us.
Water and security were the top two things on the agenda.
Preacher, Kat, and Leann were building a purification system for the water that flowed down the St. Johns River. Preacher had an ingenious idea for using the river to provide both power and gather water. His design resembled a watermill that would turn a turbine for power, plus collect water that would funnel to storage tanks. The idea was to build two or three of the mills.
DJ and Fish had worked on how to deal with our security.
First priority in their minds was the river. No one knew how zombies reacted when they entered bodies of water. We had seen them wading before, but were not sure if they would try to cross a river.
DJ collected more than enough fencing and he planned on putting it in the water around the east side of Camp Holly. It was to be placed along the bottom of the river and extend ten feet above the surface of the river.
On the west side of Camp Holly was a large open field. DJ brought up the eighteen-wheeler we had seen earlier that day at the construction site. It was already loaded with hundreds, if not thousands of cinder blocks. He said besides using the cinder blocks to beef up the wall around Camp Holly, we could extend it around the open area on the west side, allowing more living space.
Fish was mostly concerned about scabs and not zombies. He mentioned different designs for traps and ramparts along the walls that we were going to build.
Other topics were discussed, such as continuing in the effort to produce biofuel, getting the garden up and running, and even talk of a trip further out west in search of surviving cattle, chickens and pigs.
A couple of hours after nightfall, a group of us gathered around a fire in the middle of the camp. Fires at night were forbidden when we were in or near the city, but out here, it seemed okay. Fish wasn’t all too happy about it, noting the security risk. In the end, however, he joined us.
Around the fire, sipping on various drinks from rum to vodka, we sat. There were the two new arrivals, Cecil and Enrique. Fish, myself, Campbell, Chad and Daniel were there as well. DJ was just outside the circle, working with Preacher on their proposed watermill idea. Everyone else was either indoors resting or pulling guard duty.
Boomer lay at my feet, lightly snoring. Dogs, back when the world was sane, spent most of the day sleeping. Boomer hadn’t rested well in the past few days, and I’m sure he enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere Camp Holly provided.
“So, how did you survive all this time, Detective?” Campbell asked Cecil.
Cecil took a sip of rum and put his glass down on the dirt in front of him. He looked around the group for a moment, and I thought I caught a hint of nervousness from him. He wrung his hands together and spoke.
“Well, Lieutenant, I wasn’t alone until a few days ago. I was part of a pretty decent-sized group hiding out in an airport hangar at the Melbourne Airport.”
“The airport? Why didn’t you guys fly outta here?” Chad asked in his usual patronizing tone.
Cecil eyed Chad for a moment. It was clear that Cecil had learned of Chad’s criminal background. And since cops and robbers are not usually on the same team, his distrust for the former inmate was obvious. He looked away from Chad and back to Campbell.
“We didn’t have a pilot. We secured the hangar after a few other hideouts were overrun. It was actually pretty safe. Scabs and Z’s had to cross a flat and open area to get close.” Cecil bent down and picked up his glass, taking another pull.
“Are they still there?” Campbell asked.
“No.” Cecil shook his head and tucked his upper lip. He was obviously a little shaken while discussing his friends.
“Dead?” Fish asked casually.
“Most are. A couple of others may have survived.” Cecil answered. It seemed like he wanted to tell us something but, whatever it was, he appeared to feel guilty about it.
“How?” Fish persisted. He wanted to know what happened to Cecil’s friends, and didn’t really care how badly it affected the man.
Cecil took another drink, finishing off his liquor. He looked around the group and sighed.
“We had two scavenging groups. I headed one and my brother had the other one. One day, my brother’s group didn’t return. That really hit us hard. We had gone a week without losing anyone, and in one day three of us were gone. I went out looking for him a couple of times…” he trailed off.
“I’ll take that as you didn’t find him,” Fish said.
“Not alive,” he closed his eyes. “We still needed to eat. There were over twenty of us left. Some were hurt or sick. It wasn’t a good situation. Our food was almost gone, though the rain kept our water supplies full.”
“So what happened? Did you get overrun again?” Campbell asked. I could tell the Lieutenant felt sympathy for the detective.
“Kind of. I mean, we were attacked… by scabs. We had no idea they could group up. Until that day, we had only seen loners.”
“You’re not telling us everything,” Fish said accusingly. He knew something else was there. I wasn’t a psychologist or anything, but I could tell Cecil was hiding something.
Cecil hesitated a moment, then nodded. “You’re right. The scabs attacked because of my scavenging team.”
“You mean they tracked you back to the hangar?” DJ asked, walking up to the campfire.
“Not exactly,” Cecil conceded. “See, when we were out looking for supplies, one guy in our group got bit by a Z. The guy begged me not to shoot him. The truth is he should have never been out there. The man hadn’t even fired a gun before. But with my brother and his team dead, pickings were slim on people to go out and scavenge for food.”
Cecil paused a second, his mind elsewhere.
“So...?” Fish pressed.
Cecil glanced at Fish, and then looked to the ground. “I told him to run. To not look back and stay away from the hangar.”
“You let an infected live?” Fish growled.
“I thought he would have bled out and turned into a Z. I mean, he was bleeding pretty damn bad.” Cecil stood up and paced back and forth.
“Okay, so he didn’t bleed out, I take it?” Daniel asked. I didn’t think the EMT was paying attention. He had been organizing three separate first aid packs, ensuring all had the proper supplies.
“No,” Cecil confirmed. “I, ah, never saw him die. He turned into a scab. Two days later I woke up to weapons fire. There were at least four scabs. All were hacking and tearing into everyone. I saw some of our people scatter toward the exits. Some may have made it out. I was barely able to get out alive myself. But before I did, I saw the guy I let live. He was a scab and he was…”
Cecil trailed off and rubbed his face with his hands. “It was bad.”
“That’s a pretty big coincidence,” Chad said. “Did they track your scavenging group back to the hangar?”
“It’s not a coincidence, dumbass,” Fish cut in before Cecil could answer.
“What do you mean, Fish?” Campbell asked, and then looked at Cecil. “Did they track you back to the hangar?”
“We… we hadn’t left the hangar since I returned without Thomas. That bastard remembered where we were.” Cecil’s face was flushed with anger. I had a feeling that anger was focused inward.
“So you let the fuck live and now all your friends are scab-kabobs?” Chad said, standing. “That was just stupid.”
Cecil, already mad, focused on Chad and started to charge him. “You mother fuck—”
“Calm down!” DJ grabbed Cecil around the neck with his good arm and held him tight. Cecil fought to break free, but Preacher and Campbell jumped up to help DJ restrain the enraged cop.
It took a few minutes, but everyone calmed down, though few took their seats.
“So scabs retain some memory,” Campbell concluded when everyone was quiet.
“Yeah,” Cecil said, rubbing his forehead with his hand.
“Don’t blame yourself,” Campbell put his hand on Cecil’s shoulder. “There’s no way you could have known. Hell, we didn’t know till you told us your story.”
Campbell looked around our group, as if to will his own understanding upon us.
I agreed, and didn’t need Campbell to convince me.
From the first days, I had studied the zombies. I tried to learn their habits so I could survive. In the last few days, we learned a lot of new information about the scabs. They hunted in packs, they felt things like vengeance and anger, and they retained some memories of their former selves. This was all important.
If Cecil hadn’t run into DJ when they were at the construction site, we may not have learned about the scabs retaining memory until it was too late.
Most of the group nodded in agreement. Chad just shook his head in disgust. He was prone to drama. But it was Fish who got my attention. He wasn’t even looking in Campbell’s direction. His green eyes were locked on the fire pit, watching the flames dance around the logs.
“You need to take me back,” Enrique said quietly. I think I was the only one that heard him, though.
“You need to take me back!” Enrique said more forcibly. Everyone turned to look at him.
My first thought was that he wanted to go to his wife, perhaps in the belief that she may remember him since it appeared that they had some memory left of their former lives. I was wrong.
“We can’t,” Campbell said sympathetically. I think he thought the same thing.
“You have to!” Enrique persisted.
“Look buddy,” DJ started to say, but Enrique cut him off.
“You no understand! If scabs go back, then my friends in trouble.”
“Your friends?” Campbell asked.
“At the post office,” I interjected. “He came from a larger group. His wife was bit when the two of them were out scavenging. He didn’t want to bring her back because he thought they would have executed her.” Campbell only knew the basics of how Karina and I found Enrique. We never had the chance to tell him about the group he was with before our encounter.
Enrique nodded. “They in danger. I must warn them.”
“How many?” Campbell slowly asked.
“Eleven others. We not doing well when I last there. Lots of water, but no food.” Enrique was pacing around with his hands on his forehead. “We no have much guns. No much ammo. I kill them. They going to die because of me. I must go!”
“Enrique, it’s suicide to try and go this late,” Campbell explained.
“I go on my own!” Enrique spat and started toward the road, but DJ and Campbell cut him off. “Get out of my way!” he yelled at them. Cecil moved behind Enrique, preparing to grab him. That surprised me, considering Cecil was new to our group. Maybe it was his police instincts.
“Can’t let you do that buddy,” DJ told him.
“You know where we are. If you get bit… We have to consider our security,” Campbell added.
I glanced at Fish who had just stood up. His hand was on his .45, but it remained strapped to his side. His face was chiseled like a statue, and I had a feeling that if Enrique persisted, Fish might do something ugly. I wasn’t exactly close to Enrique, but I did feel responsible for bringing him to Camp Holly.
“Sir,” I spoke up before anyone else could say or do anything. Everyone turned to look at me. “What if we made the trip in the morning? We can’t just let them die.”
“I don’t want to let anyone die, Christian. But security needs to be our primary concern. Everything else is second.”
“I agree, sir.” I was thinking fast, and surprised myself as an idea flowed rapidly from brain to mouth. “Security
is
our main concern. But look at this place.” I waved my arms around the area. “We are out in the open. We need to build defenses and have enough people to guard our perimeter. We have lost three men in three days. Our supply of adults is wearing thin. Imagine how much better off we would be with eleven more hands!”