Against Zombies Box Set, Vol. 1 | Books 1-4 Page 17

  She opened the door even before I could turn the engine off.

  “Well, how bad is it?” she asked, searching my face.

  “It’s not good. They’ve taken everyone to the clinic and have it under guard. The police force doesn’t exist, and Jim Danvers is running things at the checkpoint. Next time, I won’t be coming to town from the main road.” I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. “You could always make things easy on me and stay at the cabin with me,” I offered.

  “Now, we’ve been over this. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not sick, and I won’t let the likes of Jim Danvers run me out of my house. I did bring the shotgun in from the truck. I also have your dad’s pistol and enough ammo to stay safe until you could get here.”

  I stood on the porch, knowing that everyone in the neighborhood was watching our exchange.

  “Mom, just promise me that you’ll be careful with who you trust? Men like Jim are power hungry, and now that he’s got a taste of it, he’ll do anything to stay in charge.” I lowered my voice. “I’ll come back tomorrow night after dark, but if you think things aren’t going well before that, call me.”

  When she nodded, I knew she understood my unspoken meaning. This town was a powder keg, and I just hoped that it didn’t explode, killing innocent people in the process.

  “You just go back out there to the farm and leave the worrying up to me. I’ll be fine.” She surprised me by pulling me into a hug.

  “Love you, Mom.” I squeezed her back and turned to go back to my bike. “I’ll check in on you.”

  I could only protect her if she wanted it, but it went against everything I’d ever trained for to leave her standing on that porch, knowing it was a bad idea.

  The helmet helped cover my disdain as I drove back through the barricade.

  Jim gave me a smirk as he waved the barricade back in place. We’d never gotten along before the zombie apocalypse happened, and now was a bad time for him to hold a grudge.

  Ignoring the voice screaming at me, I sped up, taking myself away from Jim before I did something I knew I shouldn’t, because that could put Jessica and the kids in danger.

  It was time to bring the other men guarding the farm up-to-date on what was happening and prepare them for a visit from the townie crew.

  Patti Jackson

  I’d been in some horrible fubar kind of situations before, but the zombie things were a totally different story.

  The sound of gunfire rang out next to me, making me wish that I’d requested another pair of earplugs.

  Marvin had started focusing on the zombies that were moving around the front of the fenced off zone. The spray of bullets made a slight dent in the group growing at the fence, but it wouldn’t be long before we were out of bullets.

  Ever since my boots had landed on the ground in Charlottesville, we’d been running from something that never stopped chasing us.

  I waved my hand to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s move over a few blocks. This fence isn’t going to hold for much longer.” I hoped that they could hear me over the bursts of gunfire.

  I started to stand when the exact thing I’d feared happened.

  The fence started to collapse a little farther down from us, and the infected people began to amble over, pushing the fence all of the way to the ground.

  “Run!” I yelled. Following my own advice, I took off around the corner, hoping the Humvee was where we’d left it.

  The door slammed shut behind me and I aimed my gun through the window, praying that my guys were right behind me.

  They appeared from the side of the building, firing as they ran. “Hurry up! I’ll cover you!”

  A few of the zombies lumbered after the guys, but thankfully, the dead couldn’t run as fast as the living.

  “Thanks for having our backs out there, ma’am,” Marvin said, trying to catch his breath.

  Those things hit the back of the military Humvee with such force, it startled me because I’d been paying attention to the ones that I could see.

  Stepping on the gas, I peeled out and went to join the other units that were gathering on the outskirts of town. If this was a taste of what it was like all across the country, then things were even worse than the army had told us.

  They’d sent us to help out an overrun area of Charlottesville, but we hadn’t gotten there in time. All that was left were the infected souls on the wrong side of the fence.

  Our commander had ordered us to look around and see if there were any living that we could save, but so far, the only thing we’d met were the dead.

  Now, having made it back to our Humvee by only a small miracle, we were to backup those that were still alive over in Nashville. The only problem was making it over there in one piece.

  They hadn’t given us extra ammo, or even instructions on how to deal with the walking dead things.

  The highways were littered with traffic leaving town in all directions. There were wrecks that had been caused by the sick who were now roaming aimlessly across the roads.

  We’d met up with more of our extended unit as they’d been brought in from overseas and reassigned.

  A couple of the ground crews had been moving slowly before the group, pushing vehicles out of way so that the roads would be free to travel in the coming days.

  I’d switched places with one of the men since they didn’t like for officers to be the drivers when there were lower-ranking members available.

  The slow pace was normal for army maneuvers, but after spending hours under intense fire and active combat situations, the snail paced crawl was pure torture.

  While many of the men had families or mothers to worry about, I hadn’t met a man that could handle the fact that I could run better, shoot better, and naturally took charge in any situation. It led to lonely nights, but I’d known a home and a family weren’t exactly on the agenda for me when I left Jackson Mountain.

  Growing up with brothers and cousins, being a tomboy had been normal for me, but it hadn’t brought all the boys to the yard wanting my milkshake. In fact, it was even worse when I had to go into the city, where women were worried about their nails and if their shoes matched their purses. It just hadn’t been for me, but now that the States were being overrun by the dead, I felt a little worried that maybe I should have tried to find love somewhere out there.

  The slowly passing countryside was spotted with infected, but it wasn’t anything that the crews on the ground couldn’t take care of without assistance.

  As we approached a small town, the commander called for a halt and to circle up the wagons like they used to do back in the Wild West.

  “Everybody out,” a voice crackled over the radio attached to the Humvee.

  “I want a search and sweep through of all the buildings, just like we do in the villages overseas for insurgents, only this time, it might be someone you knew before they turned into whatever these things are. Shoot to kill, no matter the age or gender. If it’s not living then it’s already dead, so let’s make sure it stays that way. Fall out.”

  “All right, guys, you heard the Commander. Let’s stay in units of three and have one group sweep inside while the others do an outside sweep.” I checked over my gun and ammo, opting to take the southwest corner of the town.

  If there had been people living here before today, they certainly weren’t at the moment. The entire town had an eerie ghost like quality to it. As if the town had died and their ghosts were watching over their homes against invaders like us.

  Even overseas, I hadn’t felt the need to keep my head on a swivel to this extent. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, and at this point I was pretty certain that it was just going to get worse the farther we went.

  The first three houses were empty with the doors unlocked, inviting us inside. Small pockets of gunfire rang out through the tiny town as our group did their jobs containing these things.

  In the fourth house, alarm bells went off when we found the doors locked.


  A quick whistle bought the three on the backside to the space in-between houses. I motioned for caution as we approached. Tom, Rick, and I walked up to the front door, but there was no visible movement. They waited for my order to kick the door in, but I knocked like I was making a house call instead.

  “What the hell?” Tom whispered.

  “The door’s locked. We don’t want to bust in the door if there are live people inside. This way, we let them have a chance before we invade their space. We’re back in the States, and people do have rights.” I grinned, enjoying the moment.

  Something scratched against the door, making Rick trip over his feet as he tried to move backward from crouching low by the door.

  “Ready, Tom?” I didn’t spare a glance at Rick, knowing he would be back in position before Tom could knock in the door.

  “Go.” I held my gun up as I gave the order, not knowing what was about to come through the entryway.

  I was so wrong about to expect. It was way worse than anything I could have imagined. A ten-year-old boy who had been infected greeted us.

  The shot rang out as Rick hurried to redeem himself by taking out the boy, but what he missed was the dog by the boy’s feet that lunged for his leg.

  My knife was in my hand and swinging in an arc toward the dog’s head as he sank his teeth into Rick.

  “Tom, close the screen and help me get this dog off of Rick!” I motioned to the now completely dead dog, thankful that I had gloves on to protect me from its teeth.

  We both pulled on the dog, but even in death, it wasn’t about to let go of its victim. Instead, Rick flew backward as his boot yanked free. The dog’s grip loosened as the leg filling the boot left an empty hole.

  “Did it break the skin?” Tom asked, still holding the dead dog with the boot between its teeth.

  “Nope, but you’d better get that boot taped up or next time could be a different story,” I admonished him as I walked over and yanked the boot out of the dog’s mouth. “We have to assume that everything—adults, animals, kids, and even babies—can become infected. Always expect the unexpected.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Rick pulled his boot back on, barely lacing it up.

  “Rick, you’re in first.” I held the screen door open as I scanned the room for any more surprises.

  The rest of the house was clear, but it looked like the little boy had been home with his dog when he got sick, and his parents never made it home to him.

  The outside team was beating the bushes while I hurried our team along to catch up. The next few houses were empty, and reports came back from all of the teams with only one casualty.

  While there wasn’t any real protection in a tent from these things, the houses that we’d just cleared still had electricity and walls, so we were sleeping in style tonight. Instead of the MREs that everyone was so fond of, my team decided that we were going to cook a real dinner while we could. Thankfully, Steve could cook, so he got started while I made sure that our accommodations were secure.

  Tom had backed our Humvee up to the garage and closed the door to keep any unwanted friends away. Rick and Joe were moving furniture in front of the windows, while Len and I walked the house to make sure we had everything covered.

  “Looks like we have three different ways out of the house if we have to run, but they’re all on the same end of the house.”

  “Yeah, I’m not liking that, but let’s put these lawn chairs around the porch so that it’ll make some noise if anything comes around.”

  For once in my life, I was less worried about human intruders than dead ones.

  “Dibs on the shower,” I called out as I entered the house to a chorus of groans.

  “Hey, I’ll try not to use all the hot water. At least we don’t have to worry about stepping out of the shower and straight into the dirt.”

  “Dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes, ma’am,” Steve called down the hall after me.

  I didn’t bother to acknowledge him as the door shut behind me, allowing me a minute to take a deep breath. Being a leader was something I sincerely enjoyed, but it also meant that I couldn’t ever let go and truly relax. The few moments that I had when I was off duty were nice, but it was rare that we weren’t on a mission, so relaxing meant not getting shot at that particular second.

  Even though I trusted my men, I still locked the door and leaned my gun in-between the toilet and the shower for easy access. It had been three days since we’d hit the States, and this was the first time I’d had a chance to clean up.

  My clothes slid to the floor in a dirty heap, but since I had no idea if there was still danger out there, I went ahead and put my clean uniform on the sink in case I had to get dressed quickly.

  The shower curtain slid to the side, revealing a basket of ducks waiting for some little kid to come back and play. I’d started the water when I noticed there wasn’t any sign of shampoo or soap in the tub, so I opened the upper cabinet, taking a guess that it had been put out of reach from small children.

  Ah, pay dirt. I put everything out on the counter, overwhelmed with so many choices. This woman had certainly enjoyed her alone time. Peach had always been my go-to scent at home, so I grabbed a shampoo and conditioner with that scent.

  Blocking out everything was hard, but I knew if there was trouble, the guys would yell, so I let the warm water do its job of releasing all of the tension while I scrubbed the world off.

  Temped to linger, I turned the water off as my stomach grumbled.

  “Yeah, I know a home-cooked meal is next on my list of wants,” I cooed, trying to comfort my stomach.

  My clean clothes felt so wonderful. I was tempted to leave my hair down to dry but didn’t want to step out of my command persona, so into a ponytail it went.

  A knock sounded as I perched my boot on the tub to lace up.

  “Ma’am? Dinner’s ready,” Tom called through the door.

  “Thanks, I’ll be right out.” I straightened and looked in the mirror one last time to make sure my hair didn’t have any flyaways.

  Shouldering my gun and pack, I opened the door to a heavenly smell.

  All six guys were hanging out in the kitchen with drinks, waiting on me to arrive.

  “Steve, say grace and let’s eat.”

  I dropped my pack on the floor by the kitchen, leaning my gun against the wall.

  “Did I stutter?” I looked at Steve, and then around at the shocked expressions on the men’s faces. “What? Don’t tell me you’ve never said grace before?”

  “It’s not that, ma’am. You’ve never asked us to do that. Do you think this is a suicide mission?” Rick asked nervously.

  “Certainly not. Let me set the record straight, this is much more dangerous than anything we’ve faced overseas in any area. We’re home in the States. It feels comfortable, normal, but it’s not, and the longer we feel this way, the more likely we are to let our guard down and be killed by those infected.”

  I didn’t want to scare them, but we weren’t all going to make it through this new phase in our history.

  “There was hot water for a shower and now I’m about to sit down to an amazing meal. This is serious. We may not have electricity and water for very long. In the larger cities, most of those people there don’t know how to survive, and since I’m sure there aren’t any food truck or dry good deliveries, things are going to hit the fan quickly. It’s already been a week with the entire country hostage to this virus. They’ve watched their loved ones get sick and die, only to have to suddenly attack them. I can’t imagine how people will be able to come back from this.”

  The grim faces looking at me assured me that they had heard what I’d been trying to say. I bowed my head.

  “Bless this food and keep us all safe. Amen.”

  Relieved sighs made the silence seem loud, until I spoke up to break the ice.

  “What, did you think I was going to preach at you? Eat. That’s an order.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

>   Since I’d been the last in the room, I made a quick sweep through the ‘fortifications’. We had a good line of sight out the front windows, and the glass doors in the back were like a shining beacon with all the light and noise we were making. After the meal, we would have to cover it and turn the lights out. I wasn’t going to take a chance on having those things come to find us. Despite my grand speech, I desperately wanted to live through the night.

  Our walkies went off as a round of check-ins started.

  “Dog-tired reporting in. Safe and settled.”

  “The cats’ meow is purring over here.”

  Each group tried to outdo the other until the entire company had called in, including ours.

  “All clear at the lookouts. Stay put until morning unless you hear gunfire, but don’t leave your spot unless the spot is called in. It’ll be hard to see out here in the dark when we have no idea where those things might be. Over and out.”

  “You heard the man, let’s eat. Then we can secure things while one of you takes over the bathroom. I saw a washer and dryer, so we can try and get a clean set of clothes out of this deal.”

  “Hoorah.”

  The evening passed quickly with each of us taking a watch, but as my head hit the pillow on the mattresses we had dragged into the living room, I felt a peace. Even if it wasn’t the most luxurious accommodations in the world, it was still a home.

  Brad

  The wheels of the plane might have landed, but the deaths of our teammates weighed heavy on our hearts. This was such a meaningless kind of death that could have been prevented.

  After an invasive physical, all those that weren’t sick were told to stay in quarters for at least twenty-four hours. Hot showers were welcomed by all, but not being able to go to the mess hall and eat hot food was going to bring out more problems.

  While it seemed that the military was desperate to help control the larger cities, they were taking more precautions to keep us from spreading this sickness to innocent people.