Taking It Back (6 page)

We moved past more desolation and I could see many more shapes moving and heading our way. I stuck my hand out the window to signal Charlie I was going to speed up and he flashed his lights. I had an idea and with a shitload of luck we might be able to pull it off.

I moved down the street and pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store. Several cars and all of the windows of the store were smashed. I had a hunch this raid was going to be a bust, but I decided to give it a roll anyway. You never knew. Back in the old complex, I once went into a convenience store that had its windows caved in, but apart from some stuff on the floor, the place was nearly untouched.

We parked the vehicles near the front of the store, facing outwards. I did this so much out of habit that if things ever got back to normal I’d be backing into my garage for the rest of my life.

We all got out of our vehicles and Charlie and Sarah immediately swept the front of the store. Sarah nodded to me and I smiled, turning my attention to the five guys we had brought with.

“Well, gents we need to secure a perimeter before we head into this store to look for supplies. Take those cars and move them into a barricade.” I indicated the abandoned cars in the lot. “Leave a space for us to get our cars out, but do it fast.”

I smiled as several glares focused on Carl, but they managed to keep their complaining to themselves. I went over to the shopping carts and started moving them out to the parking lot. I had a string of about sixteen of them and I pushed them around, leaving one here and there and turning them on their sides. I went back twice and left another thirty or so around the lot, then went back to where the guys had arranged the cars. They had made a semi-circle around the front of the building, leaving a space barely wide enough for the trucks. I was actually impressed and said so.

“Thanks,” said Jim. He looked at the shopping cart minefield. “What’s with the carts?” he asked.

I smiled. “If we need to bug out on foot, Z’s will be slowed down trying to get through that,” I said. “They don’t really look where they’re going.”

Jim smiled and said. “I’ll need to remember that one.”

“Let’s go,” I said.

The interior of the grocery store was a mess. There was stuff all over the floor and the shelves were cluttered and disheveled. But a cursory glance indicated there was enough stuff here to make the trip worthwhile. I moved towards the canned section while Charlie headed for the dry goods. Sarah moved towards the drink section and we each had a follower. Jim and Kyle went with Charlie and Sarah and Steve came with me. Carl and Bryce moved towards the gloom of the interior of the building, the morning light not casting enough brightness to see farther.

I moved quickly, gathering what I could and handing it to Steve, who took it out to the trucks. I focused on stuff we could use and stuff that had the highest potential of staying fresh. I could hear other trips being made as other supplies were scrounged and brought out to the trucks. I could hear Carl and Bryce talking as they moved along the back of the store towards the store room. I took an armful of soup cans and headed towards the front. I bumped into Charlie as he came out with an armload of baby supplies and diapers for both Jake and Julia.

“Good call,” I said.

Charlie nodded, then stiffened. I followed his gaze and saw what amounted to about thirty zombies headed our way. They hadn’t reached the parking lot yet, but they were coming.

I sighed. “This is not a fight I needed today.” I said dropping my soup in the truck bed.

Charlie dumped his supplies. “Nobody lives forever.”

I ran back to the store and bumped into Sarah and Kyle. “Zombies are outside, we need to get out very soon.”

Sarah nodded and ran to the truck, Kyle right behind. They immediately turned around and ran back in. “They’re at the barricade!”

I spun around. “What? How the hell did they move that fast?” I said to Charlie as we moved to look.

Charlie pointed. “Your originals are still out there. These must have come from around the building.”

“Great. Let’s see if there’s another way out of here.” I ran towards the back where Carl and Bryce were supposed to be. I stopped as Carl came out of the back storage area, his arms full of boxes. “Jackpot! We found some—”A blood-curdling, gurgling shriek came from the back room. Carl turned towards the door just as a horde of zombies poured out of the back room, overwhelming him and scattering his boxes. We didn’t even have time to pull up our weapons before he was torn apart, his blood spraying out and covering the zombie that tore at his throat with its teeth. Bryce stumbled out of the back and fell down, his arm had been nearly severed, his blood pouring out. He looked up to us, his jaw torn off on one side and his bloody tongue flopped around. Two more zombies fell on him and tore at his face, ripping off chunks and stuffing them in their rotting mouths.

“Back, back!” I yelled, unslinging my carbine and firing a shot between Bryce’s eyes, ending his pain. I couldn’t do the same for Carl, who was buried under zombies. I could hear him scream, though, and that echoed through the building.

My shot brought heads around to our position and I looked at a dozen pairs of dead eyes as they hungrily stared at us. I moved back as the zombies regained their feet and started towards us. I could see what was left of Carl and it wasn’t pretty. His face and neck had been ripped apart and an eye had been torn out. His clothes had been shredded by jagged nails and his abdomen had been ripped open, entrails spilled over the tile floor. I nearly turned away when I saw his head flop over and his one good eye looked right at me. “Sorry, Carl,” I said as I fired again, sending a round through his empty eye socket and killing him permanently.

I spun around and caught up to the group at the front of the store. They were bunched in an aisle, and I wondered what the hold up was when Charlie said, “They’re coming in the front too.”

Shit. I looked back and the end of the aisle was filled with a pack of zombies working their way towards us. Blood dripped off their hands and mouths, and eyes gleamed in anticipation of the slaughter.

We needed breathing room. I slapped Charlie on the shoulder and said, “Up.” He leaped to the shelving unit, climbing nimbly to the top, scattering rice side dishes. I climbed quickly to the top of the opposite unit then swung my crowbar down to haul up the rest. Sarah grabbed the steel and I pulled her up quickly. I waited a second for her to gain her balance, then pulled up Kyle. Jim and Steve were pulled up by Charlie just in time as decayed hands grasped and clawed at the top shelves. We moved to the middle of the units and looked down at our attackers. They filled the aisle and hungry arms reached upwards. Thank God they couldn’t climb.

Charlie looked at me from across the aisle. “Hey Moses! Wanna part the Dead Sea?”

“What’s the plan?” asked Steve, nervously looking down at gaping maws.

“How’s the front look?” I asked, stepping back as a hand groped for my foot. Sarah was keeping her rifle trained on the horde, and thankfully, the rest of the guys were keeping their cool.

Charlie moved down the aisle, ducking under a light and sign that advertised organic foods. “Clearing. Looks like we have most of them in here with us.” He had to shout to be heard over the cacophony of the dead.

“Good enough.” I motioned to Steve and Jim. “We can’t get out of here without a fight. Do not shoot unless Charlie tells you to.” I placed a hand on Sarah’s shoulder and spoke in her ear. “Go to work, babe.”

Sarah opened up with her .22. The red dot sight was perfect for this close work and the GSG-5 sang with clarity. She dropped fifteen of them in about twenty seconds, a small round hole being the passage to the next life for the zombies. Others moved up as Sarah fired and we had to be careful as the second group stood on the bodies of the first and were thus closer to us. I could hear the heavier caliber guns bark as Charlie and his group opened up on his side and we cleaned out the grasping mass quickly.

We walked on the shelves until we made to the front. I jumped down and looked outside, stepping around the zombies we had killed. I didn’t see any danger and motioned the rest to follow. Charlie jumped down and I helped Sarah down.

Moving outside, we spread out and scanned for trouble. A couple of stragglers were in the parking lot, but no immediate danger. We piled into the vehicles and were immediately aware of the extra space.
Can’t be helped, just a freak accident,
I thought as I started the Xterra. That’s why we check everything.

I pulled out of the lot and maneuvered around the carts. I stopped close to one of the zombies and let Sarah shoot it. It dropped with a grunt and I went over to the next one. She shot that one too, then sat back.

“I don’t like that I’m used to it” she said, checking the gun.

I held her hand. “Me neither.”

I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Jim had tears in his eyes as he thought about his friends.
Some things you’ll never get used to
, I thought as I moved towards the school.

On the plus side, we wiped out a good portion of zombies. Down side, we lost two men we could ill afford to lose. We were going to have to get back to the basics. But first, we needed to head south and see if we could help out a town that needed it. I felt something I hadn’t felt for a while. Hope.

5

Despite our losses at the grocery store, we managed to press on with clearing the living area and at the end of three days people were moving into homes and condominiums. I chose a brick house overlooking the river that had a fenced, wooded yard. It was probably larger than I was going to need, but it seemed like a good place to settle into. Sarah was going to be settling in with me, so that worked out well, too.

The first thing she did when we moved our stuff in was to remove any remnants of the previous owners. That included taking down pictures and albums. I had enough ghosts on my tail, thank you very much.

I spent half a day looking for a crib for Jacob then another half day making sure the wooden shutters on the house worked. That was another reason I chose the house. It was older, but it had functioning wooden shutters which added to the defense.

I was clearing the yard when Nate rolled up in a truck. I expected him since we were going to be heading south on the river later that day to see what we could do for Coal City.

“Hey John!” Nate called.

“Hey Nate. What’s the good word?” I put down the branch I was dragging and came over.

“Not much, just wanted to see what was up with the trip.” Nate stepped out of the sun into the shade of a large tree that was in the front yard.

I scratched my chin. At some point I was going to have to shave again, but I was holding at once or twice a week. “We’re heading out later today, using one of the boats we found up on the hill.” I was referring to the subdivisions outside the trench. “We’re provisioned up and ready to go. I figured we’d head out around 11:00 and see how far we drift after a couple of hours. I want to save as much fuel as I can.”

Nate nodded. “Sounds right. Who’s going with you?” he asked.

“Charlie and Rebecca are coming, Tommy is coming, and Sarah is coming along as well. Jason Coleman, and Martin Oso said he’d come too.” I thought for a minute. “Bev Shoreman said she wants to come and Casey Steele as well.”

Nate whistled. “Your boat big enough for all that?”

I nodded. “We got one of those big pontoon boats and Charlie and Tommy have been making some modifications to it, so we should be good to go.”

Nate chuckled. “I can only imagine what modifications those two came up with.”

I smiled. “As long as it floats I don’t care.”

Nate laughed. “Amen, brother. Better pack your Jesus shoes just in case.”

I changed the subject. “How’s things coming along here?”

Nate turned serious. “Trevor is still smarting over the two men lost at the grocery store, but he doesn’t blame you. He figures they made a dumb mistake by not clearing the room first. But the incident gave his crew some fire in their bellies and they have cleared the area with a vengeance. They want to push back the trench, but Tommy wouldn’t let them have the ‘dozer.

“John Reef and Dean Cotton have teamed up and they have been playing with water wheels and pumps, and think they might be able to get us running water by the end of the week.”

That was news I hadn’t expected, but it was welcome nonetheless.

Nate continued. “Mark Wells is looking over our electrical situation, but hasn’t figured out any solution yet. He’s looking at water wheels too, but no luck.

I ruminated for a second. “Maybe we could do solar, or set up some windmills.” I said, pointing to the highway overpass. “We could set up as many panels as we wanted up there and run the lines down to the houses.”

Nate looked up. “I’ll ask him about it. Good idea.” He looked back at me. “Who’s watching the kids? If you and Sarah are going and Charlie and Rebecca are going, who’s watching Jake and Julia?”

“They’re coming with” I said, anticipating Nate’s reaction.

Nate responded just as I thought. “Are you nuts?” he yelled. “You’re heading to a dangerous situation and you’re bringing your babies?”