Dead of Knight: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale (25 page)

“No.”

“Basically, it’s one group covering while the other group moves a little.  Then you switch off.”

“Like leapfrogging?” asked Mike.

“Yeah.”

“I’ve seen it in movies,” I said.  “Wanna try it?”

“Well, I don’t want to go waltzing up there all of us in a line across.”

I explained to Tom what we wanted and gave him minute to explain to his people.  I also wanted him to leave his nephew and two adults to watch in that direction.  When he responded, we moved up.  Tom’s group moved first.  They only went about 50 feet then dropped to a knee.  When we saw that, we moved about 50 feet further and so on.  The bounding over watch was good practice but the looters were dead.  One guy was hit more than ten times and most of his head was gone.  The front of the vehicle had at least 2 dozen holes in it which prompted me to check my mag.  Yep, those holes came from my gun.

“Hey, listen up.  If you hadn’t thought about it, check you mags.”  Tony smiled.  It was the first thing he did when we stopped shooting.  “And I need a lookout in the other direction.”

Mike and Tom’s son, John moved off about 50 feet toward where the truck had come.

I turned to Tom.  He was standing with his wife, Barb and another person I didn’t recognize. 

“Let’s check their wallets and search the vehicle.  We might learn something,” I said.  Then I called Sam at the house and checked in so she didn’t worry.  She heard the shooting.

Only two of the looters had wallets and the addresses didn’t match.  Nor did they match the address on the registration.  Each looter had some ammo for their weapon and there were two additional weapons in the truck.  We also found a radio but it had a hole in it.  Shit.

“Now what?” asked the guy I didn’t recognize.

“Shit if I know.”  I was looking around trying to figure out a plan.  “Look, we can’t hide what happened here.  There’s blood and oil and anti-freeze all over the place.  I’m not even sure where most of that guy’s brain is.” I pointed in the general direction of one of the bodies.  “I don’t think we can scare them off.  They attacked your house without even knowing how many people were inside.  They’re not gonna scare easily but I don’t know what else to say.”

“How would you try to scare them off?” asked Tom.

“Hang the bodies.  Or, burn them more likely, it’s quicker.  Write ‘Looters’ on the truck.  I’m reaching here.”

“They’ll come looking for us,” said Tony.

“I think they’ll come looking for us anyway,” I replied.  “But, maybe if we make them think that Tom’s group allied themselves with a larger, more powerful group.  You know, someone not us.  They might go looking for easier prey.”

“Or, they’ll just want to find us more because we killed their people,” Barb offered.

“It’s all I’ve got, Barb.”

“We could go on the offensive,” said Tony.  “Hit them while they’re loading their booty at Toms.  They’d never expect that.”

“There’s at least 20 people at our place even without these scumbags,” said Tom.

“Shit,” said Tony.  “And they probably have more at their house.  Shit.”

I paced for a minute or two, I don’t know.  I lost track.  Tony brought me back.

“Ryan, we can’t stay here.”

“Yeah, you’re right.  Let’s make them think that we are a larger group than we are.  I want at least ten more rounds into each of these bodies.  And thirty more into the truck.  Shoot the truck from both sides.  But, be safe.  No friendly fire.”

It was very unpleasant to shoot the dead bodies form this close range.  But, I kept reminding myself that these were the scumbags that had now killed 3 of Tom’s group; these were the scumbags who got Michael killed.  It was over soon.  But, it left a bad taste in my mouth; all this killing.  It was senseless in the face of the other threat we all faced.  The deed was soon over.

“Tom, we live close by but we’re taking the scenic route.  I don’t want to be followed.  So, we’ll stop to look a couple of times.”  Tom stuck his hand out and I took it.

“Thank you again,” he said.  “For saving our lives.”

“You’re welcome.  Now stay close and watch behind you.  I really don’t want to be followed.”

We drove in the opposite direction of the house in the Land Cruiser with Tom’s minivan right behind us.  Tony checked in with house to let them know what was going on.  I took the second right and immediately pulled over behind a house out of view of Main Rd.  Then I shut off the engine.  Tom did the same.  Everyone got out except for Barb’s sister in law and her son.  We walked back to the corner and took up positions to watch the road for looters and everywhere for zombies.  After 15 minutes, I was satisfied that we weren’t being followed.  Everyone piled back into the vehicles and we continued on our way.  We went through the same routine once more a mile or so up the road.  Still no one behind us.  Good.

Once we were safely inside the house, Tom’s group, or what was left of it now broke down.  Who could blame them?  It was certainly understandable after what they’d been through the past two days.  We did our best to help.  Lois tended their wounds.  Sam made sure they had food and water.  But, ultimately, we ended up just giving them as much space as we could.

“Karen, I need a lookout watching the street tonight.  Can you make sure that happens?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said.  “I’ll probably just do it myself.  Don’t think I can sleep with all this going on anyway.”

“Fine.  Thank you.”  I went to check in with Tom.

“We have sleeping bags and the sofa.  It’s the best I can do right now.”

“I appreciate everything.  We’re safe for now.  We barely got out and we left everything behind.  Your family is taking us in.  That makes you guys’ heroes to us.”

“No, just human,” I said.  “Tomorrow we’ll clear out the house next door.  Or, something.  We’ll figure it out.”

“Thanks.”

“Get some rest.”

I sat on the edge of the bed and worked on getting my gear off.  Sam came over and out her hand on me.  She could tell it had been bad.  I couldn’t cry, though.  I was out of tears for now.

“How bad was it?”

“The looters sent a vehicle to follow Tom’s group.  Presumably to finish them off.  The truck was running without headlights and the brake lights must’ve been disabled.  They’ve obviously done this before and were ready to do it again.  The truck saw Tom’s minivan pull over across from the Stono Market.  They moved up to attack and we ambushed them.”

“You mean you killed them?”

“Yeah, Sam we killed them.  Killed them dead.  They would’ve done the same to us.  Still might, if they find us.”

“Will they find us?”

“The truck and dead bodies are right up at the corner.  Well, we couldn’t risk the time to move them.  We think the group would have to go right by here to get to their base.  We made it look like we were the bigger force.  Maybe it’ll scare them off.”

“I’m sorry,” said Sam.  “I’m sorry it’s come to this.”

“Me, too,” I said.  “Just another day in a world gone mad.”

Friday, December 26, 2014

Lois took over the watch at sunup and Karen went to get some rest.  Most everyone slept in a little after the excitement of the evening before.  When the time was right, Barb and her sister in law, Pat helped make breakfast for everyone.  With 15 people some had to sit on the floor or eat standing up.  Mal and Tabby were making friends with Pat’s son, William who was between them in age.  Tom stood up from the table and got everyone’s attention.

“On behalf of my group I want to thank you for helping us and taking us in.”

“You’re welcome, of course,” said Sam.  “Besides, saving you means fewer zombies to kill.”

“And more people to fight the looters,” added Tony.

“About that,” I chimed in.  “We need to discuss our situation.”  I went over the attacks on Tom’s group starting with the attack at Lowes and ending with our ambush last night.  “So, the question before the group is this…  Do we move?”

“Well, we’re guests here, so that’s your decision,” said Barb.

“Sorry,” said Tony.  “We’ve heard that before.  Doesn’t work because you’re part of the group now.”  I had to smile at that one coming from Tony and Beth just a little while before.

“Thank you, Tony,” said Tom.  “It doesn’t make sense for them to come looking for us. You guys have a good thing going here.  We should always be vigilant.  But, I don’t think we need to leave.”

That was the consensus around the room.  It’s hard to pull up and move in the best of times.  The way that it usually works is that there is something to look forward to at the new place.  We didn’t have that in this situation.  We were never going to feel more comfortable, more safe or more like home than at home.  Only I felt differently.  I was convinced they would come looking for us.   We had to at least be ready to move.  I had to say something.

“I don’t want to leave my home.  But, I am not going to make the big decisions that affect all of us alone.  That’s why we talk about this stuff over meals.  Today, I am making an exception.  I don’t want to leave, but I fear that we will have to.  And if we do have to go, we will, most likely have to go quickly.  There will be little or no time to prepare.  So, we have to prepare now.”

I had everyone’s attention and no one looked shocked.  That was good.

“We need to load some supplies into the vehicles so we can go at a moment’s notice.  There’s room for supplies and people in the bus, so we get it ready, then the RV and my Land Cruiser.  We stage a balance of water, food, weapons and medical supplies in each vehicle.  I have a cargo bubble for the Cruiser that we can use.  Does anyone have anything to say about that?”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” said Tony.

“I agree,” said Barb.  “It makes sense.”

Everyone seemed to agree.  The instructions were to be balanced in the packing so if we lost a vehicle we wouldn’t lose a disproportionate amount of any one thing.  Individual back packs had to be stocked with any medicine that person needed and any personal items that couldn’t be parted with.

“After we make a few more supply runs, we will also stage some supplies along an escape route,” I added.

“What does that mean?” asked Sam.

“It means we get a U-Haul truck and fill it with supplies.  Then we leave it somewhere we think we’ll drive by if we bug out,” I replied.

“That makes a lot of sense, too boss man,” added Mike.  Everyone else seemed to agree as well.

“Okay, make sure someone tells Lois when we’re done,” I said.  “Now, there’s too many of us to stay in the house for long.  I think we should move Tom’s group next door.”

“Like we were thinking of doing originally?” asked Mike.

“Yeah, after we lost your father I was happier having you and your mom in with us so we never did anything with it.”

“So, what’s the downside?” asked Tom.

“Two things:  I think it makes us too spread out.  I’d rather defend one stronghold.  I think that makes us stronger.”

“Well, like you said, we can’t all fit in here,” said Barb.

“And it might work out better this way,” said Tony.

“How?”

“Someone out front would have to contend with fire from two different directions,” tony said.

“Makes sense,” said Sam.

“Yeah, I can see that,” I replied.  “The second thing is that it’s gonna take a little work to move you in.”

“Why?” asked John.

“Mrs. Thompson turned and bit her husband who was caring for her in the master bedroom of the house,” I said.  “It’s a mess.  We can probably get a mattress from an empty house close by.  And maybe an extra for the living room over there.  Poor Mrs. Thompson.  We were all close.  She got sick from the tainted vaccine.”

“She was one of the original vaccine victims?” asked Tom.

Yep,” I replied.  “I went over to check on them and she almost got me.  That was my first run in with a zombie and I got very lucky.”

“What happened to her?” asked Pat.

“I had to kill her the next day,” I said.

“I’m sorry, Ryan,” said Barb.

“Thanks.  Unless there’s anything else, we need to get started.”

Loading the vehicles was surprising easy and didn’t take long.  Of course, there were six more people helping.  Each vehicle got a mix of supplies like we talked about as well as a radio for each vehicle just in case.  As well as extra batteries.  If they had to leave in a hurry, communication would be vital.

Over at the Thompson’s the work was going well also.  The cleaning was almost done and it was decided that a mattress was just about the next thing to do.  Several people had gone across the street into the house next to Eddie’s when a call came over the radio.

“Ryan, copy”

“Go for Ryan.”

“Hey, I didn’t realize that our house was smoldering the way that it is.  I just looked up as we were crossing the street and there’s a lot of black smoke wafting up high into the air.  If somebody was looking for us, they would know someone had been here.”

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“We need to disappear for a while,” said Tony.

“I agree,” I said.  “Let’s get everyone inside.  Tom, everybody, acknowledge.”

“Roger that.”  Everyone had heard.

People began to move toward the house until just Mike, Tony and Barb remained outside.  I went upstairs to see where they were.  They were coming out of the house across the street.  Suddenly, they stopped and ran back inside, leaving the door wide open.

“Ryan, copy.”

“Go.”

“We heard a vehicle.  Couldn’t tell how far away,” said Mike.

“Copy that.  Stay there for a bit.  We’ll take a look from up here.”  Shit.  I yelled for Sam to come up.

“Hey, go look out the window in back.  Mike said they heard a vehicle.”

“Heard?  Not saw?” she asked.

“Yeah, see anything?”

“No, uh, hold on.  I see a vehicle, some sort of SUV coming down the street from the other direction.  From the Millers.”

“Mike, Tony, copy?”

“This is Tony.”

“Stay put.  We have an SUV coming down the street behind us like it’s coming from your house.”

“10-4.”

I went over to the window where Sam was and looked out.  The SUV was moving very slowly, obviously looking for us.  Then, I suddenly realized that they were going to find us.

“Sam, do you have a walkie-talkie?”

“Yeah,”

“Tell me which way they turn.”  Then I was bounding down the stairs to find Tom.

“Get your people geared up.  There’s an SUV coming down the street from the other direction.  It looks like Tony was right.  It looks like they went to investigate the smoke.  If they come this way, they’ll see the minivan.”

“Fuck.”

“I know,” I said.  “We should’ve moved it.  Dammit.  I know better, too.”

Karen had been listening to the conversation.  She had woken up with the commotion.

“Karen, please get Beth and the kids ready to go.”  She nodded and ran off.

“Ryan, copy.”  It was Sam.

“Go.”

“They turned left.  They’re gonna go right by us.”

“10-4.”

“Mike, I need one shooter in a window, one in the door and one out back on a corner of the house.  Stay out of sight.  If you have to shoot, check your target.  You’ll be shooting towards the house over here.”

“10-4.”   I turned back to Tom.

“Take two people.  Go out back and around the Thompsons on the other side.  We’ll see if Tony’s thought works.  Same thing though, watch your target.  Mike, Tony and your wife are on the other side of the street.”

The SUV slowed and stopped in front of the house.  I was wondering if I should just give the order to open fire when I saw the man in the passenger seat speak into a walkie-talkie.  Shit.  Too late.

“Hey, boss man.  What do you want us to do?” asked Mike.

“I don’t know Mike.  They’ve called it in on a radio.  They’ve seen the minivan.”

“Ryan, this is Tom.  We’re in place.”

Roger that.”

“Can I give you my opinion?” asked Tom.

“Please do.”

“Their group outnumbers ours.  We need to even that up some.”

“Ryan, this is Tony.  They’re gonna come back in force.  We saw what they did to Tom’s group.”

“And don’t forget my dad,” added Mike.

“I haven’t, Mike.  I was there too.  I just can’t believe that we’re killing other humans when there are plenty of zombies for everyone.”

“Ryan, this is Sam.  Should we try to talk to them?”

“They’ll just shoot him, Samantha,” said Tom.  “They didn’t even warn us before they started shooting.”

“And they didn’t warn my dad,” said Mike.  I had to pause to think.  They were all right, but still.

“But, we are better than that.  We will always have to be better.  Or, we will live only to create a world where everyone shoots first and only the biggest or strongest survive.  I don’t want to live in that world.  And, I don’t want my kids to grow up in that world.  We talk first.”

“Your call,” said Tony.

“What’s the plan?” asked Tom.

“I’m going around the house the other way from you.  Sam, I need you over here in this window.  On three we all step out and disarm them.  Give me a minute to get in place.”  Sam came into the room.

“I don’t want you to do this.”

“It’s the right thing to do.  When I get to ‘3’ you open the window and aim down there.  If they go for their guns, you have to shoot.  I know you don’t want to but you have to or we all die.  I love you, Sam.”

“I love you, too.”

“Gotta go.  Don’t shoot any of our own people.”

And with that I ran down stairs and out the back door.  I got around the corner of the house and quietly climbed the fence.

“They’re getting out of the SUV,” said Tony.

“That’s good, actually.  Remember to watch what you shoot at.  Okay, here we go.  One, two, three.

On ‘three’ I stepped out from around the side of the house.

“Hands up, everybody.  Hands up.”

Across the street, Mike emerged from the door with Barb right behind him.  Tony was coming around the side of that house yelling for them to drop their guns.

Over on the left, I could see Tom and his people emerging into the Thompson’s front yard.  I didn’t turn my head but stayed focused on the four looters.  We all continued to yell for them to drop their weapons.  We were making a lot of noise.  I hope we didn’t have to worry about zombies now, too.

The men had been surprised and startled by the sudden emergence of 7 people out of nowhere but they were starting to recover.  You could see it in their eyes.  I continued to yell but didn’t move any closer.  I had my AR trained on the man who had gotten out from behind the driver.

The driver of the SUV suddenly turned towards Tom and raised his weapon.  All at once the defenders opened fire.  Again the noise was astounding.  I don’t know how anyone could do this over and over in Afghanistan or Iraq.  I fired off about 10 rounds at my target then ducked back around the house.  It was all over in less than five seconds. 

I peeked around the house to see two men down.  I couldn’t see anything of the two on the other side of the vehicle.  The windows of the SUV were blown out, 1 tire was flat and I could see several holes in the side.

“Can somebody tell me what’s going on?” I asked over the walkie-talkie.

“They’re all down.  Two are still moving.”

“I’m hit.”

“Who’s hit?”

“It’s Tony.  I’m hit.”

“Let’s get these guys disarmed and get to Tony,” I said.  “Lois, do you copy?  We need you out here.”

“On my way,” she said.

The driver of the SUV was dead.  Somebody in Tom’s group shot really well or they all aimed for the same guy.  I didn’t stop to count the holes but there was more blood on the pavement then I’d ever seen.  My target was down but not dead, despite what looked like three good hits.  I disarmed him roughly.