Dead Life (Book 2) (8 page)

Chapter 14

                            Al and Cindy finally put their clothes back on.  I was glad to see Al get dressed.  Cindy could have stayed naked a little longer as far as I was concerned.  I really wanted to ask her if those were real.  Because if they were, then they were amazing.  It not, well, they were still amazing.  I new she was at least as old as me and I couldn't believe what a great body she had.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Gina and she has just as fine a body as Cindy but Cindy has to be at least fifteen if not twenty years older than Gina.  Okay, enough of that.

              Al went to the side of the truck and banged on it a few times.  “It's all over Rick.  You can come out now.”  He walked to the back of the truck and waited for Rick to open up.  “Good thing you got here when you did.  They were fighting over who was going to rape which one of us first.”

              “You told them if they touched me they were dead men.”  Cindy said.  “They should have listened.”

              The back of the truck came up and Rick stood looking out.  “What did I miss?” 

              “Not much.  They tried to rape and rob us.  Steve and Gina killed every last one of them.”  Al said.

              “We need to get going.  You guys made a hell of a lot of noise.  There's more zombies coming.”  Rick said.

              You had to give him one thing.  The man was a hell of an early warning system.  Al and Cindy got in the front of the truck.  Gina, Rick, and I got in the back.  Al pulled forward, running over the dead bodies in front of us.  Then he drove through some yards to turn us around. 

              We got back to the Hummer.  Two zombies were standing outside looking in.  Rita just sat there motionless, staring straight ahead.  It was like the zombies were confused.  They couldn't decide if anyone was there or not.

              “Look at that shit.”  Al said.

              “Why aren't they trying to get in?”  Cindy asked.

              “They don't know if there's anybody in there.”  Al replied.

              “She's not afraid.  Look at her.  Rita doesn't even know there's two zombies standing three feet away from her.”  Gina said.

              The zombies looked our way and started their shuffle towards the truck.  Al turned the engine off and opened the door to get out.

              “Hey Al, you mind if I take care of these two?”  Rick asked.

              “Be my guest.”  Al closed the door and settled back in his seat.

              Rick grabbed a baseball bat from the back of the truck and went to the lift gate.  I got one too and went with him.

              “Really Steve, I can do this.”

              “I'm sure you can.  We just made a rule back in the store.  It was before you guys joined the group.  Nobody goes anywhere alone.”  I said.

              Rick opened the back of the truck and we jumped down.  Gina grabbed our rifles and came along.  We stood beside the truck talking to Al while Rick went to kill the zombies.  Al pulled his pistol from the holster and had it in his hand at the window.  I already had mine in hand.  This would be Rick's first kill and we were not going to let anything happen to him.

              “So, where do we go from here?”  Al asked.

              “We used to drive around back here every year.” I looked to Rick. “Don't wait for them to come to you.  Take the fight to them.” 

              Rick had stopped about ten feet from the zombies and was waiting on them to attack.  I personally thought being the attacker was a better strategy.  “There's other ways through.  We'll find one.”

              “That's it Rick.  Don't let them get too close.”  Al said.

              Rick pushed one of the zombies back away from him with the aluminum bat.  Then he hit the other one across the top of the head.

              “Alright, that one's done.  Finish that other and lets get going.  What are you going to do with that girl?  Look at her.  She's checked out.”

              “I know.  Cindy, is there something we can give Rita that might help bring her around?”  I shouted up to Cindy.

              “I'm a surgery nurse not a psychiatrist!”  Cindy replied.  “I'll give her something to knock her out tonight.  Then we'll see how she is in the morning.”

              “He's done Rick.”  He had hit the other zombie at least five times in the head.  “That's a blatant case of overkill.”  I said.

              “I just wanted to make sure it was dead.”

              “Oh, he's dead alright.”  Al said.  “When you see that gray shit leaking out of their ears and the skull's cracked open like that, it usually means they're finished.”

              “We've got about five more hours of daylight.  Let's find a way to the highway and head west until five.  That will give us a couple of hours to find a place to stay for the night.”  I said.

              “That sounds good.  Rick, are you riding with us or Al and Cindy?”  Gina asked.

              “If you can fit me in back, I'd like to ride with Rita for a while.”

              “I'll shift some stuff around.  We'll get you in.”  I said.

              Gina put our rifles in the front of the Hummer.  Then she helped me clear the back seat off to make room for Rick.  The entire time Rita sat staring out the front window.  Rick got into the back with Rita.  He whispered something in her ear and she turned her head to look at him.  A single tear ran down from the corner of her eye.  Rick put his arms around Rita, she closed her eyes, and put her head on his shoulder.  Rick looked at me and nodded his head.

              “You ready Al?”  I said into the radio.

              “I'll follow you this time.  Over.”

              It didn't take long to find a different way through the neighborhood.  We got past the roadblock on the main road and drove for a few more miles.  I turned right at the next crossroad and worked my way up to Highway 70.  Once again, the ramps were blocked.  Two National Guard vehicles were parked nose to nose at each of the entrance ramps.  It really didn't matter because the highway looked like a parking lot anyway.  Cars, as far as I could see, were stranded.  Zombies were wandering between vehicles searching for their next meal.

              We followed roads paralleling the highway.  Every time we came to an access point, it was the same story.  Ramps were blocked and the highway was a parking lot.  We'd gone twenty miles and were out of St. Charles before we found a way up onto the highway.  Both ramps were clear and a huge accident a half mile back on the west bound lanes left the road clear.  Al pulled up next to me.

              “Looks like this is our way out.”  I said.

              “Finally, I didn't think we'd ever find a ramp open.”  Al replied.

              “So, what's it going to be?  It's almost dark.  Do we head down the highway or try to find a place here to hold up for the night?”  I asked.

              “I don't want to get trapped on the highway after dark.”  Gina chimed in.

              “Me neither.”  Rick said from the back.

              “Hey Al, how about we backtrack and take one of those side roads we passed about a mile back?  Then we can find an empty house and stay there for the night.”  I said. 

              “Okay, Steve.  I'm hungry as hell.”  Al said.  “Cindy, is that okay with you?  You lead the way.”

              I guess she agreed.  We did a u-turn and headed back the way we had come.  I took a right at the third street and drove until I came upon a secluded farmhouse.

              “Does this look okay to you?”  I asked Gina.

              “Looks like home.”  She said.

              I turned the Hummer around and backed as close to the house as I could get.  Al did the same with the truck.  I told Gina to keep the Hummer running and had her slide over to the driver's side.  Al left the truck running and Cindy sat in the driver's seat.  No one had come out when we were doing all this.  Chances were, no one was alive inside the house.  Al knocked on the door and we stood outside listening.  I tried the door.  It was unlocked.

              “We go in and clear the house.  Start downstairs and then we'll do the second story.”  Al said.

              Al went first and I followed behind him.  The living room was clear.  We looked around.  It looked like whoever lived here had left in a hurry.  There was an empty gun cabinet in the front room.  A few drawers were open and some had their contents dumped out on the floor.  We went to the kitchen.  It looked much like the living area.  The refrigerator was standing open and some of the cabinets gaped open.  The dining room looked undisturbed.

              We started up the stairs.  Al went up silently.  Every time I stepped down, the steps creaked.  Al turned and glared back at me.

              “If you stay to the side of the step, it won't sound like an elephant's coming up the stairs.”

              “Sorry.”

              We got to the top of the stairway.  There were four doors, two on each side of the short hallway.  I opened the first door on the left.  It was the master bedroom.  The closet was open and several drawers were left open on the dresser.  Clothes littered the floor.  The door to the bathroom was open and I looked inside.  It was empty.  We went to the door across the hall.  It was a kid's bedroom.  Clothes were thrown about the room.  We went to the next door on the right.  It was torn apart also.  All that was left was the last door.  Al opened it and went in.

              “Holy shit!”

              “What is it?”  I asked.

              The toilet flushed and he came out.  “I guess they weren't planning on coming back.”  The smell of stale shit wafted out into the hallway.

              “That's pretty rank.”  I said.

              “Smells worse than those damn zombies.”  Al said.  “Let's go down and check the door coming off the kitchen.  It's probably the basement.”

              We went back down and checked out the basement.  Like the rest of the house, it was empty.  Whoever owned this house had the good sense to get out of town.  We were just outside Foristell, Missouri.  It is located right on the edge of St. Charles County, outside of the city, but still too close for comfort.  We hadn't seen any zombies when we first went through the town or when we'd gone back either.  Maybe everyone had gotten out okay.

              Al and I went outside and let everyone know it was safe to go in.  Rick was able to get Rita out of the Hummer.  She seemed to be doing better.  We had only taken our sidearms in to sweep the house so Al got five assault rifles out of the back of the truck.  He had us leave our rifles in the Hummer and he left his and Cindy's rifles in the truck.  I brought in two shotguns and two boxes of shells.  I'd seen what the buckshot did to a tightly packed group of zombies and thought back to all the slugs I'd bought at the gun shop.  Oh well, live and learn.  Cindy and Gina brought in the food and two cloth sacks with ten hand grenades in each one.

              The electricity was out so we had no lights.  Luckily, the stove was gas so we were able to have a hot meal that night.  After eating, we divided up the watches.  I would take the first and Al was going to do the second.  Rick didn't like the idea of being left out so we shuffled the schedule.  I would take the nine to one shift.  Al would watch from one to five. Then Rick would take over at five.  He didn't like that his shift would only be a few hours. I explained to him that Al and I would probably not be alone during our shifts.  That seemed to help.

              Everyone settled in downstairs.  We'd drug the mattresses out of the kids bedrooms downstairs.  Al and Cindy settled down on one and Rita lay on a mattress next to Rick who slept on the couch.  Gina and I went up to the master bedroom.  The window in the bedroom looked out front and you could see up the road.  Gina and I sat talking about the past few days. 

              “I can't help but feel bad.  It was too easy.  When I shot those four guys, I didn't feel a thing.”  I said.

              “We did what we had to do.  There's no telling how many people they'd trapped like that.  If we wouldn't have been there, they would have killed Al and Cindy.”  Gina said.  “I thought we worked pretty good together.”

              “That's true.  We did.”  I looked down at Gina and kissed her. 

              We were sitting together in a huge rocking chair.  Gina got quiet and I could tell she fell asleep.  I looked at my watch.  It was twelve thirty.  Only a half hour longer and I could go wake up Al.

              “Steve, wake up.  What time is it?”

              It was Gina.  I'd fallen asleep.  I checked my watch.  “It's two fifteen.”  I looked out the window.  The road was clear.  “Don't tell Al I fell asleep.  Let's go get him up.”

              I woke Al and he and Cindy went upstairs to take their turn on watch.  Gina took me by the hand and led me up the steps.  We went to the bedroom furthest down the hall.  Gina led me silently through the door and closed it behind us.  I took her in my arms and we kissed.  The passion we shared was intense.  The knowledge that this could be our last night together with all the things we'd been through fueled our emotions.  We made love on the floor for an hour and then fell asleep in each others arms.