While we prepared, I watched the others move into position. They had enough armed people to have three on each exit. I could see Private Gardner on the rooftop, keeping an eye out over the fence. DJ was over at the U-Haul, hugging a woman and a small child. Daniel had filled a medic pack with supplies and was walking around with it on his back.
I thought about the fight I had with the only scab I had faced. The thing was tough and whipped my ass in my own backyard. But then again, I never had my gun out until it was running away. Fish made short work of it in the bedroom when it came back for us, but we had also surprised it. There would be no surprising this one. It would know we were coming as soon as that front door opened.
My stomach was yelling at me. I hadn’t eaten since we left earlier that morning, and now it was pushing 3 o’clock in the afternoon. I took the last few minutes to scarf down part of an MRE I had stashed in my pack. It was the first one I had dug into since all of this began. I knew it was high in carbs and energy. I have to say, after years of cursing MRE’s and swearing never to eat them again, it wasn’t half bad. The shaky feeling in my stomach, however, did not go away.
“What’s with the beard obsession?” I asked Fish, finishing off the pasta in the little green pouch.
Fish looked up at me while he was adjusting the flashlight on his cap. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” I said, “when you asked about the scab’s beard. You seemed pretty interested. Why does it matter?”
Now, I’ve known Fish long enough to know that he didn’t like discussing things until he was done figuring out whatever puzzled him. His eyes shifted as he hesitated.
“You and I shave every couple of days, as do most of the people in this camp. I’m not saying all survivors are keeping up on their grooming, but I’m damn sure these scabs don’t.” He cocked an eyebrow. “I’m just wondering if these things get smarter or stronger the longer they’ve been infected.”
That thought never occurred to me, and I won’t lie, it didn’t make me feel good.
Eventually, we all gathered at the entrance to the store. I was so nervous that I wanted to puke up the spaghetti and meatballs I just ate, but did my best to hold it in.
The exits that were still available were double doors in the back for loading in large bundles of supplies, the garden entrance, which was at the far left front of the building, and the main entrance, which was a pair of glass double doors in the middle of the front of the building. All were covered by soldiers and armed civilians. They had set up firing positions about twenty feet back from the exits. Bags of mulch were stacked like sand bags creating defensive revetments for the shooters.
Campbell met us at the door and keyed up the police radio to make sure we had a connection. I nodded and adjusted the ear piece.
“Alright,” he said, “my teams are ready. Try to keep us updated, will ya?”
Fish smirked. I nodded to the Lieutenant in acknowledgement.
“How old is Kayla, anyway?” I asked DJ.
“Eight. Cute little girl with blonde hair,” he responded. I winced.
“Christian,” Fish said, motioning over to the door with his .45, “your move.”
I reached down and petted Boomer. He already seemed nervous, so I fed him a piece of jerky in an attempt to calm him down. I took the lead and moved up to the door.
Boomer immediately let out a soft whine. His tail was low and his ears were back on his head. He gave me sad eyes, begging not to make him go in as I opened the door.
“Come on, boy,” I whispered. After a brief hesitation, he prowled up next to me and we both entered the front of the store.
I cut my flashlights on, and saw the lights from the rest of our group coming into view from behind me. I glared back at Fish, with a questioning look on where to go. He motioned to the back right corner of the building. I decided that he meant to cut right, then head towards the back of the store. That way we would have a wall on one of our flanks. Maneuvering through the aisles seemed like a really reckless thing to do.
Boomer walked just a few paces in front of me. He was sniffing the ground, but raising his head every so often with his ears perked, listening to something we couldn’t hear.
We finally made it to the bend and started heading toward the back of the store. It was a lot darker back there. There was very little ambient light as we patrolled further towards the back of the store, and our flashlights seemed to intensify the dark areas that were not illuminated.
Boomer stopped. The hair on his back stood up. He looked at me, and gave a soft whine telling me that a creature was lurking nearby. I looked around and gave the ‘fist’ sign which told them to stop. Everyone did except Daniel, who bumped into DJ, earning a slight grunt from the big man.
From our position, I could see down the middle of the store. There was nowhere for anything to hide on either side of the aisles.
A slight stench hit my nose. I was used to smelling the rotting dead, but this was slightly different. It was still repulsive, but not as bad as a zombie that had marinated in the Florida sun for a couple of weeks.
A noise coming from one of the aisles forced me to shine my gun’s light in that direction. Boomer still faced straight ahead toward the back of the store, whimpering. It sounded as if a stick was being dragged intermittently across gravel, eerily grinding against the rocks.
My heart had been pumping since we entered the store, but now had moved into my throat and ears. I lifted the MP5 and could see the front sight on the end shake with every thump.
A small figure emerged from around the aisle. She was short and her long blonde hair was matted with dark red spots. Her dirty white blouse was soiled with blood. Just below her throat was a gaping hole, as if someone had jabbed an iron spike into her chest and then ripped it out. Her head was cocked to the side and a dark liquid leaked from her open mouth. A low, guttural croak was escaping from within her.
But that wasn’t the worst part. She was hopping on her right leg, barely keeping her balance. The flesh of her left leg had been stripped from her toes to the knee. The bones of her foot ground across the tile floor as she hobbled toward us.
I didn’t have to personally know Kayla to be repulsed. The horror of something ripping the meat from the leg of this little girl and eating it was flashing through my mind. I wasn’t the only one. A gasp from Daniel and the sound of DJ cursing could be heard off to my left.
I was just coming to grips with what was in front of me when I heard Boomer bark. Simultaneously, I heard the sound of squeaky wheels being pushed across the floor somewhere off to the right of me. I spun, just in time to see a large flatbed push cart racing in my direction. Boomer had already moved, but I wasn’t as fast.
The cart rammed into my legs and flipped me up in the air. I crashed down, smacking part of my back on the cart, which knocked the wind out of me.
The next few moments were somewhat of a blur. I heard the sound of silenced weapons and shells hitting the tiled floor. The acrid smell of weapons fire filled my nostrils. DJ and Daniel were cursing aloud, and Fish was shouting incomprehensible commands. A body flopped on the floor next to me. I looked over and saw Kayla lying there, blankly staring at me. Two fresh nickel sized holes were oozing red and black blood from her forehead.
“Get up, Christian!” The sound of DJ’s voice finally broke through the haze. I turned to look at the others. DJ was in a crouched stance, hovering over me with his AK aiming down the dark corridor the cart had come from. Daniel was quietly huddled behind him. I could tell he was severely shaken. Fish was scanning the rest of our flanks.
“We have to get back into the open!” Fish called out. At that point I noticed Boomer was missing.
“Boomer!” I yelled out, and then looked back at DJ as I stood up. “Where’s Boomer?”
“Don’t know,” he said breathing heavy. “He ran off after you fell.”
I could almost hear everyone’s heart beating frantically over my own. We were all frazzled. Fish was right, we had to get back and regroup, but what about Boomer?
“Get moving!” Fish ordered, as he started backing up. DJ grabbed Daniel, pulled him to his feet, and pushed him back down the aisle toward Fish. We were all moving toward the entrance, but I was lagging behind, searching for Boomer.
“Christian!” DJ sternly whispered to me. “Come on!”
I turned to catch up and saw DJ’s eyes light up as my flashlight illuminated his face. I turned around just in time to see a toolbox the size of a suitcase flying over the top of the aisle. My reflexes failed me again as the edge of the metal box clipped the side of my head. I spun around and fell back to the floor, disorientated.
I heard footfalls moving quickly up our aisle and rolled over. There was a bare-chested man running at me full speed. The lighting wasn’t the best, because all of my flashlights were pointing off in random directions, but it was enough to know I was about to be his next meal.
His chest and face were covered in self-inflicted scrapes and cuts across his purplish tan skin. His dark brown hair was tangled and messy and about two weeks of facial hair covered his face, though parts were missing where the skin had been removed. In his hands he wielded a large pickaxe.
DJ stepped over me and fired two shots at the big man. The first wracked his shoulder, almost stopping his momentum, but he ducked down just in time for the second.
He swung the pickaxe before DJ could get another shot off. Luckily, it struck his AK-47. But the impact knocked the Marine back into the shelving unit. Before he could recover, the spike on the axe came down again and wedged deep into DJ’s shoulder. He bellowed, giving off a hoarse and painful cry.
By this time I was halfway to my feet, already pointing the MP5 at the scab. I could see Fish and Daniel’s flashlights at the other end of the aisle, shaking frantically as they ran down to our position.
If my mind had been working right, I probably would have switched to full auto, but instead, I fired off three single rounds, two of which hit the scab in his side. He stumbled a bit, and then ripped the axe from DJ’s shoulder, earning another howl from the big man.
I fired again, just as he turned to face me. The shot hit him in his chest, but he barely flinched. Two more shots left my barrel as he started to swing the axe at my head. I wasn’t sure if I hit him or not because I heard a roar as DJ body tackled the beast into the adjacent shelving unit, knocking it over.
Fish and Daniel finally made it to us, but they didn’t have a clear shot at the scab as it wrestled around on the fallen shelf with the Marine.
I was finally on my feet when I saw Boomer come running in. The German shepherd charged the two on the ground, and before I knew it, he locked onto the scab’s head, ripping skin and muscle from its face.
DJ quickly, but painfully, used the distraction to roll out of the melee and make his way to the floor.
Boomer twisted and jumped skillfully out of the way of the scab’s hands as he persistently dove in, shredding more of its face. It was still hard to get a good, clean shot off without risk to Boomer, but Fish took the opportunity to put two bullets in each of the scab’s knees.
I must have called to Boomer at least ten times before he finally jumped off the creature. His muzzle was drenched with blood and flesh hung from his teeth. The scab tried to get up, only to find its legs didn’t want to work properly. With the dog out of the way, Fish and I started shooting, emptying our magazines.
I couldn’t tell you how many times we shot the scab, or even how many holes he had in his head, but he would never move again.
Chapter 19
Stable and the Stallions
April 19
th
Evening
“DJ!” Daniel screamed more to us than him. “I need to get him out of here!”
Fish and I were still staring at the scab when Daniel’s plea got my attention. I looked down and saw DJ was wincing in pain while holding his shoulder. Blood was pooling underneath him even as the medic shoved gauze into the wound.
“Christian, grab that cart,” Fish said. “We’ll load him up. And don’t forget to warn Campbell that it’s clear!”
I ran back and grabbed the cart, trying to ignore the corpse of the little girl on the floor as I passed. On my way back, I gave the Lieutenant the ‘all clear’ and told him we needed help. We loaded DJ on to the cart and moved him over to the living area they had made near the garden section. The aisles had been pushed aside and there were eight mattresses laid out. I gathered not all of them slept in there.
Daniel went right to work cleaning the wound. One of the Lieutenant’s soldiers came over and assisted him. I found out later that Campbell had two of his soldiers train with the medic so they could learn as much as possible. That was pretty smart thinking. Sure, they wouldn’t be full-fledged EMT’s, but at least they would have some sort of backup if something happened to Daniel.
Campbell had the rest of his soldiers clear the store of the two bodies we left behind. I felt bad for them. Getting rid of the body of that little girl couldn’t have been easy. They had all known her. I did not envy them in the least.
I couldn’t watch Daniel work on DJ for too long. I kept thinking about how it was my fault. If I hadn’t slowed down to look for Boomer, he wouldn’t have had to come back for me. He got hurt and may have died because I didn’t do what I was supposed to. Before the mayhem was over, Boomer and I snuck out through the garden section unnoticed.
I saw the woman and young boy DJ had hugged before we went after the scab. She was crying and the kid had a shocked look on his face, like he knew something was wrong but no one would tell him what it was. She left the boy with Jada, and ran past me into the store.
I watched the soldiers take the bodies to the burned out church just to the north of the Ace Hardware store. I saw a small plume of black smoke come from the center of the wreckage as they returned. Each had a somber expression when they passed me.
Boomer and I walked into the back lot. Off to the north side of the compound there were two RVs as well as a few trucks and cars.
They had six windmills sporadically placed around the open area. Long black cables led to a plastic storage shed. I guessed that was where they kept their batteries. Small solar panels were randomly placed out in the open to absorb as much sunlight as possible.
Behind the paved parking area was a small grassy field that appeared to be cultivated for farm use. Only a couple of small plants protruded from the ground, though. Next to the garden were stacks of five gallon buckets with stretches of PVC pipes lined up next to them and on some picnic tables. It appeared they were trying to reproduce the self-watering system Fish and I had back at our house, but had yet to get it working properly.
I noticed a lack of water tanks. They had a few, but not enough to keep the people in this camp hydrated. I remembered seeing a large supply of water bottles in their sleeping area, but I didn’t think that would last them too much longer.
I walked the perimeter as Boomer trotted loyally by my side and noted how they had reinforced their fences with four-by-fours. I thought that would be okay for ten or fifteen zombies beating on them, but if a larger herd of the dead came through, the wall wouldn’t last too long.
I started thinking the area gave them a false sense of security, much like I had about the place where Fish and I were staying. I mean, you seem safe, until a hoard like the one that chased us into Wagon Wheel came along. Sure, they were surrounded by trees, but it wasn’t exactly out of the city. There were thousands of homes just across the tree line. There was no telling how many zombies were lurking around. It only took a few to get the attention of many.
People started to move around and talk in whispers. There were ten or twelve of their group in the back lot, but most were children. Jada and a couple of older women were watching them play. The kids were all younger than ten years old, except one who I later learned was Karina. She was fourteen and helped with corralling the children.
Hours passed by and it was getting close to dark. Gardner had climbed down from the roof and changed guard with two other soldiers. I noticed they had night vision goggles. That was a big bonus for their security.
The babysitters gathered the kids together and lined them up near the garden entrance, probably preparing them for dinner and quiet time. The night meant quiet time for everyone.
Fish, Daniel, and Lt. Campbell all came out through the back exit and were talking. I saw Campbell nod a few times, then put his hand on the medic’s shoulder before returning to the store. Fish gave Daniel an approving nod, and then noticed me sitting over by the garden. He said something to the medic and marched over in my direction. Daniel looked wearily at the sky, gave a deep breath, and sat down on a stacked set of cinder blocks.
“You okay, kid?” Fish said, flipping a bucket over and taking a seat near me. Boomer, who had been sleeping at my feet, briefly flinched and then lay back down.
I gazed at him. I must have looked tired and worn, but I think he could see guilt in my eyes too.
“I’m fine,” I finally said, looking down at the ground. “How’s DJ?” I asked.
“He’s gonna make it. Daniel said nothing serious was damaged, just torn muscles. He got lucky,” he said with a deep breath, “We all did, I guess.”
“No,” I said, still looking at the ground. “I screwed up. He got hurt coming back for me.”
I wasn’t expecting sympathy from Fish. I knew how he was, but it just felt good to say it aloud.
“Yeah, you fucked up,” he agreed, “but not because you went looking for that dog. I saw Boomer before the scab hit you with that cart. He knew that scab was down the aisle. You should have paid attention and maybe you could have dodged that cart. The whole outcome could have been different.”
I’m not sure if he was trying to make me feel better or pointing out my other screw-ups. It didn’t matter to me, though. I felt guilty no matter what he said. I could feel him staring at me, but I couldn’t look up. Not into his eyes, at least. I would have probably cried, and though I may have been drowning in guilt, I still didn’t want Fish to see me weak.
“DJ made the choice to come after you, kid,” he continued. “Just like we made that choice to help them earlier today. It’s what friends do.”
I glanced up at him when he said the word ‘friend’. The tears I had been holding back went into hiding as I realized he was finally accepting the survivors of Stallion.
Fish was grinning, as if he knew his approval of Campbell and the others made me feel good. I say grinning, but I could tell his face was not use to the expression. It looked more like someone straining while taking a dump.
“Does that mean you and I are friends?” I asked with a smile. “Because you’ve come after my dumb ass quite a few times.”
“Don’t tell anyone,” he said, and winked at me. “As for your fuck-up? Learn from it. That mangy mutt is an asset. Pay attention to him.”
I nodded.
“Alright,” he said as he stood back up, “They’re serving cans of crap in there. We should get in line.”
Fish and I went in and ate dinner with the Stallions of Stable. The sun was down by the time everyone had finished. They had strict silence rules at night. There was to be nothing above a whisper inside the building, and no talking outside. Campbell told us to sleep in DJ’s RV, which was the bigger of the two outside. The big man’s family was going to stay in the building with him while he stayed under observation.
We found out that all of the children, other than DJ’s son, were orphans. Two were brought up from Miami with the LT and his men, and eight were local. They ranged from a three-year-old boy to Karina, a strawberry-haired teenager who helped with the rest of the children.
Of the civilian adults, we found out Preacher was, of course, a minister from West Palm Beach. Santa Claus’s real name was Chuck, and he was actually a retired police officer from Rochester, New York. Jada and an elderly lady named Cheryl worked at an evening daycare center, which is where most of the other children came from.
Two older women named Kat and Leanne seemed to be a couple. I would have guessed they were in their late fifties or early sixties. They were both larger women, but seemed to be heavily active in the community and high spirited. Leanne quietly told the children a bedtime story after they had eaten. I noticed Kat talking to Campbell about supplies and the issues they were having with food.
The last was a girl was named Rachel. She was in her early twenties, fairly pretty, and the only one I recognized out of the group. We didn’t know each other, of course. She was one of those girls who always had other beautiful friends and a group of men surrounding them. I would see her when Dave and I would go to downtown Melbourne. It was the local party scene with a street full of bars and night clubs. I wasn’t particularly fond of that atmosphere, but hey, I was single, and that’s where the girls were. Rachel and one of Campbell’s soldiers named Gonzales sat together. You didn’t have to be a genius to see there was something going on between the two of them.
Besides Lt. Campbell and Private Gonzales, there was Specialist Combs and Gardner. There was also PFC Vanerka, Private Trent and Private Manns. All of the soldiers, besides the LT and Combs, were younger than me.
Fish and I sat down by ourselves at dinner, which was composed of canned meats and vegetables. It was a lot less than what we usually ate from our own supplies. For some reason, I thought a bigger group would be better off, but the Stallions seemed to be on the edge of starvation.
“I haven’t seen Chad since we cleared the store,” I said to him in a low voice.
“Yeah… I guess he’s off bleeding somewhere, feeling sorry for himself,” he replied in the same tone.
“Why? What was the deal between him and DJ?” I asked.
“Campbell enlightened me on that while you were outside sulking,” he whispered, glaring around the room. “I guess that little shoot out they had a few weeks ago was Chad’s fault. Some people rode up on the store they were looting and Chad got defensive. He told them to leave before DJ had a chance to deflate the situation. Chad was threatening to shoot them and before they knew it, everyone had guns drawn.”
“So… who fired the first shot?”
“Chad, but I guess it was an accident. He wasn’t even aiming at them. Buffoon.” He grinned at me. “The piece of shit never even held a gun before all this happened. He was waving it around like an idiot. Pressed the trigger a little too hard, I guess. That’s when the shooting started. Everyone made it out okay, but they made their first enemies. At least they don’t have to worry about them anymore.”
My stomach twisted. I didn’t like being reminded that I killed someone earlier that day. And from the sound of it, they were just people trying to survive like us. I saw now why DJ held Chad responsible. Just like in the automotive store, he was quick to threaten people. I reminded myself to be careful whenever I ran into someone new. I could be guarded, just not an asshole. Unfortunately, that was impossible for Fish.
Fish and I also discussed the defenses around the Ace Hardware store. He agreed they would never hold up to a hoard of zombies that migrated or were drawn to the compound. Between the zombies’ persistence and strength, the flimsy fence and walls would fall eventually.
The night came and Fish, Boomer and I walked back to DJ’s RV to lie down for the night. The sounds of the dead were not nearly as loud at the compound as where we were living. That was a good feeling, which was something I really needed.
For once, I woke up early the next morning. Fish was already gone, of course, but Boomer was still passed out on the floor between the two small beds we slept in. The RV was in decent shape, but since it belonged to DJ and his family, I didn’t do much in there except sleep.
I was sore from all the excitement the day before, particularly getting my ass kicked by the scab. My head had a nice-sized lump on it, and my back made me feel like an eighty-year-old man. I decided to take Boomer on a stroll around the compound to stretch my legs and so he could find a place to do his business.
I didn’t have a watch to tell time, but I figured it was around eight in the morning. There were not any kids out playing, but I guess that the people of Stable didn’t let them go out and play without supervision.
A couple of the soldiers I had yet to meet were on the roof and I saw one walking around the perimeter. Campbell didn’t have enough people to properly defend a place this size. At least, that was what my experience told me. They really needed at least two roving patrols, one or two men at the gate, and two or three on the roof. Of course, that would be how the military would do it. But I guess when you don’t have the resources, you do what you can.