Against Zombies Box Set, Vol. 1 | Books 1-4 Page 37

  The promise of a hot meal momentarily distracted me, and my hands were holding a plate full of food for the first time in weeks. I was turning to join the others at the table when a small voice screamed, “MOM!”

  I only had seconds to set my tray down before my arms were filled with my little boy.

  “Mama, I thought you were dead.” He stopped screaming, holding on to me tightly.

  Somehow they had made it to campus, but I wasn't about to sweat the details.

  “Stacy, it’s so good to see you. Thank you for taking care of him.” I engulfed her in a hug and followed the two of them over to the table.

  Dillion had climbed up into my lap, unwilling to let go of me.

  For the first time in weeks, Todd did something nice for someone and brought the tray of food that I had set aside. “Thank you.”

  “Angela, there's been a change in plans. Stacy's brother, Doug, is in the same unit as my cousin Brad. They want us to take a trip to Jackson Mountain and see where the most concentrated areas of infected people are. Doug and Brad have already gotten permission to leave later this morning, and were going to take Dillion and Stacy with them. I know we had talked about going back to your house, but since they're here and safe, would you like the chance to go with us?”

  “At this point, I'm assuming Stacy is going to want to be near her brother, and she's the only family that Dillion and I have. We're not going to go separate ways when there are so few families left alive.”

  “Thank you, Angela,” Stacy said from beside me. “I don't know if he'll be able to let you out of his sight.”

  “That's okay, buddy.” I squeezed him a little tighter as I mumbled into his hair, “I'm not going to let you go again.”

  “When do we leave for the mountain?” Stacy questioned.

  “As soon as we eat breakfast and get everyone loaded up.” Patti spoke confidently, causing everyone at the table to eat a little faster.

  Since Dillion was still wrapped around my body, Stacy took both of our trays to the kitchen to be washed, and I followed Patti, hoping to get a moment alone with her.

  “Lieutenant? Will Todd be going with us?” I lowered my voice, making sure he wasn't near.

  “No. He’s volunteered to stay here and help run the civilian medical clinic. Thank goodness, because there’s no way I was taking that jerk back to my family's home with me.” Patti smiled sympathetically. “He's more likely to get one of us killed then he would be to actually save a life.”

  “Thank you for being willing to take a chance on us.” I squeezed Dillion a little tighter, glad that he was still alive.

  “The military is known for getting the job done. I just had no idea they'd already done it for us by bringing your family safely here. You better get ready to move out because if I know my cousin Brad, he's ready to see his family after being overseas for a while.”

  She hadn’t been exaggerating when she said he would move fast. In less than an hour, the truck was loaded and we were on our way out of town, using backroads that weren’t clogged with traffic.

  I sat in the back of the truck with Stacy and a few other soldiers that had volunteered to accompany us. Her brother Doug sat beside us, and was patiently answering all of Dillion's questions.

  While we saw a few ZITs as we moved out of town, they became less and less prominent as the buildings melted away and turned into trees lining the road.

  By sticking to the side roads, we were able to avoid any large groups of ZITs, but Brad, who was driving as Patti navigated, continued to go deeper and deeper into the countryside. What would have normally been a four hour trip was turning into a much slower drive, and we weren't even halfway there.

  We avoided all the little towns, but I was surprised when we saw a sign that said ‘Smithville’ ahead, and we continue toward it instead of changing course.

  “We probably need to see about getting some gas,” Doug informed me, trying not to wake Dillion who was laying across our laps.

  He was evidently a mind reader, because we cautiously crept into the town while several of the guys setup with their rifles, keeping an eye out for any of the infected.

  Brad pulled into the only gas station and proceeded past the pumps over to the covers, where they loaded the gas into the ground. It appeared that he was going to pump the gas directly from the ground by passing the pumps that had no electricity to run them.

  “Has he done something like this before?” Stacy asked Doug quietly, not wanting to draw any unwelcome attention.

  “Something, not exactly like this, but Brad's been known to think on his feet and sometimes get us into trouble.” Doug's face erupted into a grin.

  Everything went according to plan, until Brad went to put the lid back on the gasoline, and it landed with a loud clunk.

  ZITs that had been uninterested in us were now coming toward us in droves.

  “Brad, hurry your ass up or you'll be the one we drag behind the truck.”

  I grabbed Dillion and held on as Patti revved the truck to a start and peeled out of the parking lot. Brad took hold of the side and swung himself into the truck bed with us.

  Several miles outside of town, we seemed to have outrun the infected, and Patti slowed down, taking a turn toward the falls area.

  “What are we doing?” I asked, now that we weren't trying to scream over the wind.

  “We're going to set up a camp here and make it the rest of the way tomorrow. It still gets dark a little earlier now that we’re in the mountains. We don't have long before it’ll be too dangerous to drive. The campgrounds here have a few cabins with bunks, and we can hold off any of the ZITs that try to make an appearance.”

  Thankful that we wouldn't be sleeping in the bed of the truck, the military guys got us inside and settled down, taking turns to watch while the three of us slept.

  In the process of bypassing Gatlinburg to make it to Jackson Mountain, Stacy's phone started going off.

  “Stacy, turn that down so we don't attract the ZITs,” Doug warned from his spot next to me.

  “I'm trying. It hasn't worked in weeks, and I don't know why it’s going off now.” She frantically turned it to vibrate.

  “Oh, no,” she gasped, reading the messages now that it was quiet again.

  “What's wrong?” I asked.

  “It's Jen, my roommate, and she's in trouble.”

  Darren

  When I had left Stacy at the college campus, I had no idea it would take me several weeks to return.

  The neighbor who'd attacked me and broken into Stacy's house had been the father of three children.

  After I'd left Stacy that next morning, I went back and started knocking on doors throughout the neighborhood, somehow dreading what I would find. I left the neighbors for last. When the door opened, revealing a young teenager and two smaller children, I knew then that I was in trouble.

  I was responsible for taking their father away from them. I would have to find a way to make it right. I could never have explained that I was the reason their father wasn't coming home, but they would need someone to look after them until the crazy world got back to normal.

  While there were miles of neighborhoods that I'm sure could have used my help, I went to call a group meeting on the lawn of Stacy's house.

  “I know a lot of you were surprised at the turn of events yesterday. This sickness is going to spread until it kills everyone. Some scientists or doctors somewhere might be able to find a cure, but at the moment, we need to find a way to work together without losing anyone else in our community.”

  “What you did yesterday wasn’t humane,” one of the ladies protested. “Why should we listen to you when you have no regard for human life?”

  “Well, Trudy, I actually do regard human life as important. If I hadn't shot those people yesterday, you would all be dead. So while I hated that we had to lose friends and family members, it was the only way to save everyone. I don't want everyone worried that I'm suddenly going to put a bullet in
their head. What I will do is stop you from harming someone, whether you're alive, dead, or just an average butt head.

  “I don't want to scare you, but we have to work together. Does everyone have working electricity?”

  The next hour was filled with answering questions and setting up a neighborhood watch. As long as people were home and unable to go to work, they needed to be kept busy so that they didn't get into trouble. I found an older lady who didn't have kids that was willing to look out for the dead neighbor’s family. Each day I would think about sending Stacy a message, or plan to go visit her, when an emergency would erupt.

  I'd been monitoring the radios and was relieved when I heard the military had moved in and taken over the campus where she was staying. It was time to pay a visit to those in charge and see about adding our community to theirs.

  As I drove my truck over to the campus, I had to remind myself that I wasn’t on active duty. The soldier at the gates directed me to the middle of campus where the dorms were located. There was a girl in the cafeteria building who was running all the civilian living arrangements. Girl was an understatement. When I saw the petite, brown-haired woman with faded blue and green tips, I knew this wasn’t a girl, she was a woman to be reckoned with.

  I waited patiently as she solved the dispute between two men who were trying to get their laundry done.

  “What can I do for you today? I don't believe I've seen you before.” She fired questions at me while giving me an appraising look.

  “No, I don't believe you have. I'm looking for someone. They told me you would be the person to check in with at the front gate.”

  “I certainly hope I can help you. What part of town was your family located in?”

  “It wasn't exactly my family, more like my girlfriend's.” I ran a hand through my hair. “We haven’t really defined our relationship yet, but her name was Stacy, and she had a little boy named Dillion with her.”

  Her eyes widened as she put a hand over her mouth to cover her surprise. “You’re Darren. Stacy talked so much about you, but we were afraid that you'd run into trouble with the ZITs and hadn’t made it out alive.”

  “So you know Stacy? Do you know where she's at?”

  The woman grimaced. “She left two days ago.”

  “She left? Why the hell would she do that?” I yelled the question at the woman across from me, causing a few of the soldiers around me to move in my direction.

  “I'm sorry. I just don't understand why she believed the campus wasn’t the safest place. Do you know if I can get a hold of her?”

  She motioned someone else over to the table. “Christina, see if you can help anyone who has questions. I'm going to have to talk to this gentleman for a few minutes. You can reach me on the radio if there's a problem.”

  “Sure, River, I’ve got this. Go help that hot looking guy find his girlfriend.” Christina waved River away.

  She pulled me over to an office that had once been the student life activities department.

  “Darren, what I'm about to tell you isn’t common knowledge, and you can't let others know about Stacy. Her brother Doug was in with the military group that showed up here on campus. We hadn't heard from you in days, and Doug's army buddy’s family has a safe place on the other side of Knoxville. She and Dillion's mom, Angie, decided it would be best to get out of the city. Stacy wanted to stay here in case you came back, but Dillion needed to go with his mom and she wasn't going to separate them.”

  “So they’re alive? And the army was able to find Dillion's mom…and they’re together?” I sat there trying to let the good news sink in.

  “Alive, yes, but I got a message from Stacy yesterday saying that she and a few others would be headed to Knoxville. Her roommate, Jen, and a few others are stuck in a movie theater and needed someone to rescue them.”

  “Why would Stacy think she could rescue someone?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized what a bad choice of words they were.

  River leaned in closer and glanced out the window, looking worried that someone would notice our conversation. “The army won't use its resources or give its approval for their rescue. I need you to go over there and help.”

  “I can't just up and leave. There's an entire neighborhood depending on me to make sure they stay safe, and that's why I wasn't able to get back before this. I was coming over here, hoping that we could get a few people to help clear the rest of the neighborhoods in that area while they still have live people in them.”

  “The sergeant’s been pretty good about those kinds of requests, especially if it can help restore order much faster. On the other hand, I don't want him putting you in charge when Stacy and others could really use our help.”

  “You said she was with her brother and several people from his unit, so why are you worried about them doing this?”

  “Worried is such a strong word. I think they're going to need some help, but honestly, I would like to go with them, and I know I can't make it on my own. Any of the other guys that might be willing to take me are still on duty, and I don't want them to get into trouble for going AWOL.”

  “Let me talk to your sergeant and see what kind of help we can send over to the neighborhood, or if he just wants to relocate them over here to the campus. I won't commit to anything yet, and since I'm on leave, he can't give me a direct order. I'll try to get everything situated so that we can leave first thing in the morning. Will that work for you?”

  River let out a relieved sigh. “That would absolutely freaking fantastic! Do you know where the big hotel is downtown?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I want you to meet me there in the morning. I have a few supplies stashed there that might come in handy on the trip.”

  “Okay,” I agreed easily.

  Obviously, River knew what she was talking about, or she wouldn't have survived this long.

  “I'll take you to the sergeant and we'll see if we can get your people situated. How many people are still alive in that neighborhood?”

  “About fifty, give or take. I've had a group of guys clearing houses with me, and we’ve been able to collect food, toiletries, and other extras to share with everyone.”

  “Here's the sergeant. Now, let's get them updated and see what he wants to do.”

  River waved to get his attention, but I felt like I should stand and salute.

  “River, I hope you don't have any huge problems for me today?”

  “No, sir, but I do have someone I'd like you to meet. This is Darren Green.”

  “Hello, sir. It's nice to see what you've done with the place.”

  “Ha, that's funny. Were you in the military?” He pointed to my hair that was on the slightly longer side, and no longer in keeping with military regulation.

  “I was, sir. I was wounded and waiting on a doctor's release when all this hit the fan.”

  “If River brought you to my attention, that must mean you have a problem or something we need to deal with, so what is it?”

  “Yes, sir. I've been monitoring the radios and happened to hear that you’ve set up a base. The neighborhood I'm living in has about fifty people, and I would like to get them connected so that they don't get bored.”

  “Sounds like you're doing a good job, so let's put you in charge of that area and…” The sergeant stopped, looking between me and River. “Of course, I should have known there would be something that would keep you from running it. Okay, spill. Why can’t you be in charge?”

  “I need to go check on a few friends and won't be able to run the community for a few days. I hate to leave them there on their own when none of them are used to being in charge.”

  “What do you think should be done in this situation, River?”

  “My recommendation would be to send a couple of the families from here, along with a few of the civilians you’ve been training for security. We can let them move into the empty homes. I really think the more people we get settled into safe zones and started garden
ing, and using their resources to clean up, the faster we can stop other people from being infected. We don't have a playground over here, and it would be much nicer if the kids could use the neighborhood parks or back yards to run off energy together.”

  Impressed at the way she had given her suggestion, and the sergeant had listened to it, I felt really bad about stealing his second-in-command. She may not have known it or understood the deference he gave her. This young woman standing in front of me had a lot more sway than she realized.

  I made a split-second decision. “Sir, I would like to be able to take River with me when I go check on my friends. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders, and would be able to grasp the situation quickly.”

  The sergeant rubbed his chin, contemplating both of our requests. “Technically, River is not under my command. She's free to do whatever she wants to, but I dislike the idea of having her gone for a great length of time. On the other hand, she is excellent at reading the situation and knowing what to do. How long do you think this trip will take?”

  “Unless we run into a lot of trouble, I'm hoping we can be there and back, taking care of the problem in less than a week.”

  “Is this something you want to do, River?”

  “Yes, sir. I'm loving the situation or authority you’ve given to me, and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I really need to get out and do something to help work off some steam.” River gave him a devilish smile.

  “All right. River, take the people you need to setup the neighborhood. Make sure that everyone here is in place and knows to check in with your second-in-command, Beverly.” He had barely finished speaking when River surprised him with a hug.

  “Darren, River can take you over to our temporary armory, but we won't be able to give you a lot of ammunition. Private Sharp and Teller have shown some real potential for leadership, so let's see what they can do in the week you're gone. It might even earn them a promotion.”