Emperor of a Dead World (11 page)

Chapter 10

The next morning after Tom released the new residents from quarantine everyone ate breakfast at his house. As before, Tom sat at the head of the table only now Brad sat on the other end with Tyrone on one side and Rudy on the other. During breakfast they enjoyed light conversation but Brad was anxious to get going so just after eating, the three originals along with the man from Boeing headed out in hopes of finding new friends.

When they went through the gate, the infected ones were more active and one actually made it inside the community. Luckily, the boy that had had the gun was standing nearby and quickly put the thing down with a shovel. His fourteen-year-old brother looked at him with pride. He had seen the seventeen-year-old do this before but now there were many witnesses to see his brother’s bravery.

Brad waited until he got the thumbs-up from Tom then set out. He had not traveled in this direction since he awoke in this strange world but things looked about the same as everywhere else. As they traveled west on Del Amo Boulevard, several creatures were in the road and Brad did not hesitate to run over any that got in his way.

When they turned onto Cherry Ave, they saw a place with a high wall and Rudy said, “Hey, this place looks secure.”

“It is a cemetery,” the Boeing man replied.

“Do you want us to drop you off so you can check it out,” Tyrone laughed.

Rudy did not reply.

As they approached the aircraft manufacturer, Brad smiled. From the looks of the place, someone had taken up residence there. The fence appeared reinforced and along the perimeter, someone had piled up dead creatures to ward off any unwelcome intruders.

“They are here,” the man that had worked there assured them when he saw the place. “Pull up to the front so I can get a good look. With any luck the cameras are working and they will see me.”

“Did you know many of the people that worked here?” Rudy asked.

“Yes, I sure did. I worked in the maintenance department and those are the guys that will be running this place.”

“What was your craft?” Brad asked.

“I was an electrician.”

“That is a handy skill to have.”

The man nodded then got out and smiled at the camera.

After a couple of minutes, an armed man walked out. Tyrone looked past him at the other men that came out behind him with rifles. Remembering his previous encounter, he gripped his .45 tightly.

“This was my lead-man,” the electrician called back.

Brad got out and the others followed.

“Over there are two carpenters, a pipe-fitter and an engineer,” he added.

“I didn’t think I would see you again,” the lead-man smiled as he approached.

“Did you really have any doubts that I would survive?”

The lead-man chuckled then cast his eyes upon Brad and the others. “Who are these guys,” he asked with a suspicious look.

“A few good men that have a safe place for all of us,” the electrician replied.

“Safer than this?” the lead-man asked incredulously as he studied Brad.

“I don’t know what you have inside but the outside looks solid as a fort,” Brad replied. “What we have to offer is a gated community with almost four hundred houses. Currently we are only using nine. We have cleared the entire place but the vacant homes need some work to make them comfortable. There is also a decent sized backyard that can be turned into a garden.”

“Why did you come here?” the lead-man asked his friend.

He glanced at Brad.

“We believe there is strength in numbers,” Brad replied. “We hope to band together with others like us so that we will all have a better chance for survival.”

“How long have you known these people?” the lead-man asked his friend.

“I just met these three yesterday but there is another family that I met a few days ago. They are the ones that saved us. Before I met them I was barely holding on with two other families in the building in which I live. If they had not rescued us we would not have survived.”

“Why did you not come here before?”

“We were afraid to travel. These men, however, gave us hope and courage.”

“What do you want in return?” the lead-man asked Brad.

“I want you to be courteous and helpful. I also want you to be men I can trust and rely upon but most of all I want you to help us rebuild the world and make it a safer place for all.”

“You sound like Miss America,” the lead-man laughed.

“How many people you have here?” Tyrone inquired.

The lead-man faced Tyrone and looked him over. “Why are you holding that gun so tightly?”

“Why are you pointing all those guns at us?” Tyrone returned, gesturing to the men in the background.

The lead-man sniffled, glanced at his friend then turned back to Brad. “There are about one hundred of us.”

“Does that include women and children?” Tyrone asked.

The lead-man glared back.

“He does not mean any offence,” Brad insisted. “We had a little trouble with some men a few days ago.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“We approached some people that did not want to be friends. We could see they were hostile so we started to leave and they took some shots at us.”

“It looks like they got you pretty good,” the lead-man said as he motioned to the truck. “You are lucky to have gotten away.”

“We took off in a hurry. Most of their bullets hit the plow.”

He looked at the plow and smiled, “A little ruff looking but I guess it gets the job done. Are those guys near here?”

“No, they are near another location we are trying to secure.”

“Another one, where is it?”

“We will tell you everything when we know we can trust you,” Rudy stated.

The lead-man looked Rudy up and down then shrugged his shoulders. “Fair enough,” he replied. He turned to Brad. “Would you like to come in?”

“As long as you promise to play nice,” Brad smiled.

“I can vouch for these guys,” the electrician interjected. “I have known them for a long time.”

The lead-man opened the gate and motioned them inside. “We are starting to draw a crowd,” he warned.

The four looked behind them and saw three intruders advancing. Suddenly the creatures fell to the ground in random order as their heads blew apart.

“What the hell,” Rudy exclaimed.

“You made silencers,” the electrician laughed.

“One of the machinists is a gun nut,” the lead-man smiled as he pointed up to the roof. “You remember Hank?” He added to his friend.

“Yes, of course.”

The lead-man turned back to Brad. “We learned early on that noise attracts more than you can kill.”

“I found that out the hard way,” Brad replied.

“My name is Tyrone,” Tyrone said as he shook the lead-man’s hand. He then looked at the three corpses and added, “I think I might get along with Hank. The only thing I heard was the impact of the bullet just before those things fell.”

“I sure hope you get along with all of us,” the lead-man said as he looked up at Tyrone. He then waved off the other men and turned back to Brad. “You can bring your truck in if you want. It is up to you.”

“Thanks, I’ll pull it in.”

After Brad parked, they all headed inside. As they walked along in this huge building, it was clear there was not a lot of living space. The place was full of large machinery and in the areas that there were no machines, pieces of aircraft fuselage, wings and other aircraft parts abounded.

The lead-man explained that he and another man had fixed up a couple of C17 fuselages to live in but the others chose to stay in the offices. He also pointed out that they could clear the place and build homes if they needed to and they had the entire airport at their disposal. Of course, there was no place to plant crops.

When they got to the offices, four men were standing in the hall. These were the armed men from before but their rifles were now leaned against the wall. A moment later, the man from the roof joined them.

“That was some nice shooting,” Tyrone said to the man.

“Thanks,” he replied.

“Any chance I can get me one of those silencers?”

“Maybe,” he shrugged as he glanced at the lead-man.

The lead-man made the introductions then led the way inside. Here there were five women and seven children. Only two of the boys were old enough to be helpful. The men joined their wives with the man from the roof remaining as a bachelor.

“Where are the others?” Tyrone asked.

“This is it,” the lead-man replied.

“You said one hundred. I only count eighteen and most of these are women and children.”

“He did not know if he could trust us,” Brad explained. “If we were bad people we would not have come in against those odds.”

“You think like I do,” the lead-man laughed.  “Of course, I would not have let you in if you had not come with my friend.”

“You can trust us,” Brad assured him, “and I am sure I can trust you as well.”

“Thank you.”

“You can stay here or you are welcome to join us,” Brad continued. “Pick whatever houses you desire. There are only nine or perhaps ten that are off limits out of almost four hundred.”

“Ten,” Rudy asked with confusion.

“He doesn’t want to give up his own house,” Tyrone replied as he patted Brad on the back.

After Brad finished explaining the situation to the women, they looked at their husbands with pleading eyes. They did not want to live in an aircraft manufacturing plant and the promise of having their own home in a safe neighborhood was very inviting. They enjoyed one last meal at Boeing then loaded up everything of value and headed out. On the way, they passed a sign that said, ‘Times changes, Values don’t’ and Brad smiled when he thought of how true that sign really was. It was still light when the caravan arrived back at the gated community.

Once they settled in Brad trained everyone on his fighting techniques and equipped anyone that would go outside with coats so that they could walk amongst the infected. For their transportation, Tyrone and the machinist from Boeing modified Tom’s suburban with a plow and security bars. After taking these precautions, the men began going out for supplies and looking for survivors. All capable men over the age of fourteen took part in these activities. Having these extra people allowed Brad to intensify his rescue missions and within a month, they had doubled the number of occupied properties to twenty-four. Unlike the first people they had found, the newcomers over the past month were mostly single men. They had also rescued a few single women but there were no new children.

Tom was the only man not to leave the gated fortress. His job was to manage the property and supervise the quarantine. Brad and Tyrone both agreed he was a capable leader and they felt better leaving someone at the estate they could trust.

Chapter 11

It was now almost a month since they had been to the racetrack and Brad was anxious to check on the place. In order to prepare for the trip, Tyrone and Hank repaired the truck and also modified an Expedition with a plow and barred windows. Before they headed out Brad asked a few men if they would mind coming along and they readily accepted.

As they headed off Brad, Tyrone, Rudy and another man rode in the truck. Behind them, four others followed in the Expedition. Driving down the street, the activity seemed about the same. The only difference was that the creatures seemed to watch them more closely.

“Hey, I was thinking,” Rudy suddenly said, “what about a golf course? There is lots of land to farm and there is a high fence around the entire place to keep the golf balls in and the people out.”

“Too open,” Tyrone replied. “The things will see and smell us.”

“The fence will keep them out.”

“No, that fence will never hold if enough of them push on it. Besides, we need to hide from regular people as well.”

“Ty’s right,” Brad agreed. “We need to stay out of sight.”

Rudy thought they could cover the fence with something but before he could say this, the new man asked, “What if we run into the men you already encountered?”

“We will mind our business and hopefully they will mind theirs,” Brad said.

Tyrone glanced at him but did not respond.

The man sensed the tension and dropped the subject.

When they arrived at the racetrack, it was just as they had left it. The horses looked healthy and no one had disturbed the place. After showing the men around, Brad took them to their quarters and instructed them of their duties. He then gave them until lunch to fix up their rooms after which they would go to work on the grounds.

While the newcomers were arranging their quarters, the three originals headed to Costco. Everything they needed was there because no one else had seen a use for any of it. They took a few gas cans and all the full propane bottles they could find. There were already plenty of lawn mowers, rakes, shovels, hoes and other such items at the racetrack. Before they left, they grabbed enough bags of mulch and fertilizer to fill the truck and they filled the gas cans by siphoning gas from some of the older cars in the parking lot.

After lunch, Brad placed a man at the front window as a lookout while everyone else worked the grounds. The only exception was the man that had ridden in the truck with him, Tyrone and Rudy. This man was good with horses so Brad told him to take care of the animals. In the evenings, this man taught a few others to ride and from this point on, everyone called him the Horseman.

The work went quickly because the soil around the track was perfect for farming. Once they finished planting crops, they set up an irrigation system using generators, pumps and hoses to pump water from the ponds. While the others were doing this, the Horseman built a fence so the horses could pass through to the water without trampling the crops. It only took a few days to complete the job and once finished Tyrone and the others sat back and admired their work.

“Finally finished,” Tyrone smiled as he took a drink of beer.

Before anyone could answer, a gunshot rang out.

“What the Hell,” Tyrone exclaimed as he rushed into the building with the others behind him.

When they got to the lookout window, they found Rudy lying on the floor bleeding. The Horseman checked on him as Tyrone looked outside in time to see a van speeding away. He grabbed Rudy’s gun and opened fire hitting the van a couple of times.

“How many in the van,” Brad asked as he joined Tyrone.

“I don’t know,” Tyrone said as he lowered the rifle. “I couldn’t see.”

“Who were those guys,” one of the men asked.

“It must have been the people from the fort,” Brad replied. He turned to the Horseman, “How is Rudy?”

“It was just a graze, he will be fine” he replied as he held a rag to Rudy’s neck. “I think he just fainted. Do you have any bandages or alcohol pads? Maybe some Neosporin?” he asked.

“As a matter of fact I do,” Brad smiled at Tyrone. “It is in the truck.”

“Good thing you were a Boy Scout,” Tyrone grinned. He then asked the Horseman. “Are you a doctor?”

“I used to help a veterinarian when I was a kid.”

“Rudy is stubborn as a mule so that is perfect,” Tyrone laughed.

“What happened?” Rudy asked as he sat up.

“You weren’t paying attention and got your ass shot,” Tyrone scolded him.

“Here they come again,” shouted one of the men.

The van had circled around while they were talking and came back down Costco Way. It now raced through the parking lot firing at the men inside. Everyone ducked for cover except Tyrone. He stood at the window and shot back as the van quickly sped away shooting off a few wild rounds that did not come close to hitting anyone. Tyrone, however, put several bullets into the van.

“I can’t believe you just stood there like that,” one of the men said.

“Those guys were going over sixty miles an hour through the parking lot.” Tyrone replied as he gazed in the direction the van had gone. “There is no way they were going to hit anything.”

“They hit me,” Rudy whined as he examined the bloody rag.

“That is because you are a damn fool and you were not paying attention,” Tyrone shot back. “They probably stopped and took aim at you. You are just lucky they don’t know how to shoot.”

“Which makes it more likely they could have hit you with a lucky shot,” Brad warned. “You are kind of a big target.”

“I had a better chance of being hit by lightning,” Tyrone returned. He now faced Rudy. “What the hell were you doing? You were supposed to be watching the road.”

“I was. I just turned around for a second.”

“You are lucky to be alive.”

“What now?” the Horseman asked.

“Now we do it my way,” Tyrone said as he glared at Brad.

Brad rubbed his forehead and sighed. “It was very brazen to attack us like that. Especially since we know where they live.”

“Maybe they didn’t know it was us,” Tyrone said thoughtfully. “They never saw Rudy in the back seat of the truck and he was facing the other way when they shot him.”