Total Apoc Trilogy (Book 3): Horde Ravaged (2 page)

            The front door was one of those big fancy glass, wrought iron, and wood doors. I peeked inside and saw an open floor plan. I could see all the way through the house, and out the back door. They had a pool. After testing it and finding the door unlocked, I glanced back worriedly at the jeep.

            "I don't want any surprises, so I'm going to go around back to make sure no one is sneaking up on Olivia," I said. I admit to a little paranoia. "Watch for me at the back door. We'll go in at the same time."

            He nodded and I hurried around back. I moved in a crouch, ready to open up on any threat. The sound of light rain is extremely loud in moments like that. I feared I wouldn't hear an attack until it was too late. I looked in the double garage door window to see it was empty, then I crept into the fenced backyard. I ignored the
Beware of Dog
and
Trespassers will be Shot
signs.

            As soon as I saw Ralph at the front door, he opened it and went inside. I opened the slider and entered as well. We paused to listen. Nothing. The house was in excellent condition. It didn't appear anyone had been inside to loot it. I checked the kitchen pantry first thing. Lots of boxed and canned food.

           
Bingo!
I thought.
We're going to eat good tonight.

            A gust of wind swept through the front door and banged it against the wall. We jumped and I almost squeezed off a couple of rounds. There was no other reaction to that loud bang. No scampering of hidden survivors. No charging zombies. I began to feel better about it.

            It was a single story home. I turned to the master bedroom and checked it out while Ralph went to the other side. I found an unmade king-sized bed, two closets full of very nice clothes, and a spectacular master bath.

            Some people knew how to live.

            I sighed. "I'll never have a chance to live like this now."

            As a programmer, I was on track to earn an income to give me that kind of lifestyle. Stupid fucking zombie apocalypse screwed up everything. That house made me wonder just what was in store for us. Was the US, maybe the world, thrust back into a pre-industrial existence? Were we and our descendants now forced to begin the task of rebuilding civilization all over again?

            "Hey, you okay back there?" Ralph called.

            I jumped. How long had I been zoned out?

            "I'm fine. Not as fine as this master bedroom," I said. "I guess the house is safe."

            "Cool. Let's get Olivia in here and loot the kitchen."

            After locking the front and back doors, we opened the garage door from the inside. Olivia backed into it, and then I closed and locked it. Why take chances, right?

            "Kyle and I get the master bedroom," she said right off.

            Ralph just shrugged. I turned away, feeling oddly embarrassed. Like I had an embarrassment of riches, and he had nothing.

            "We have to keep a guard posted," I said. "No lights except in rooms with no windows."

            It was getting pretty dark in there. All we had were flashlights, and we rarely used them. There was still enough light to pull food out of the pantry and divide it into what we'd take with us and what we'd leave. I grabbed a can of pork and beans and two of Vienna Sausages.

            "Seriously?" Olivia asked.

            "It's comfort food for me," I replied. "I practically grew up on this shit."

            "I only ate that when camping," Ralph said. "No thank you."

            Ralph found some canned beef stew. I couldn't believe he'd eat it cold. Disgusting. Olivia ate a can of chicken noodle soup. We could've heated them up. There was a Coleman stove in the garage, but none of us had the energy. We ate and worked out our watch rotation.

            "We should check to see if they left clean clothes that fit," Olivia said halfway through her soup. "I'm tired of wearing the underwear we stole from Ralph."

            "What?" he said. "You stole my clean underwear?"

            "Stole is such a harsh word," I said. I grinned at him. "I prefer borrow. We'll give the underwear back."

            "Keep it," he said, looking disgusted.

            We were all still wearing the camo we got back in Emory. I didn't see any reason to stop wearing it. It was only the second night after putting it on, after all. Our clothes might be filthy with sweat and blood, but camouflage was the best option for us.

            "Okay, let's find something nice and dry to wear tonight, but I think we should wash our camo and let it dry overnight."

            "I was thinking about a cute little summer dress, but that'll work, too," Olivia said, grinning.

            "You fighting zombies in a dress would be a sight to behold," I said. "I don't think I've ever seen you in a dress before."

            We headed into the master bedroom after we finished eating. The chance of adult clothes in any other bedroom was slight. As expected, the huge walk-in closet was packed with women's clothes. Olivia got quite excited, but there wasn't really anything she could use. Nothing practical, at any rate. The man of the house's clothes were way too large for either Ralph or me to wear, but we each took an oversized t-shirt and some shorts to wear while our camo was drying. Olivia found some scrubs to wear.

            The water was still running. It didn't need electricity to work. Olivia washed the clothes while Ralph and I looted the chest of drawers of underwear. We all seemed much more concerned with the cleanliness of our underwear than anything else. The man's boxers weren't that much larger than what we wore. And Olivia said the woman's undies fit well.

            After stashing some more t-shirts in the jeep, Ralph and I loaded the canned goods we were taking into the jeep. We actually had to toss some of the stuff we grabbed in the armory to make room. I hated giving up anything, but we had to prioritize.

            To dry our camo, Olivia fired up the small Coleman stove. She hung the wet clothes around it on hangers. Ralph was taking first watch, so he'd turn them so they dried evenly. Hopefully, our camo would be dry and ready to wear by the time I took the second watch. Olivia had last watch so she could have uninterrupted sleep. Yeah, the only perk of being the driver. It would've been best to have her take the first watch, but she was too tired.

            Before we bedded down, we took turns bathing. I took the watch while Olivia bathed in the master bath and Ralph in the guest bath. Ralph relieved me to start his watch while I jumped into the master bath.

            "Brrr," I said. "I hate cold water baths."

            "I found it refreshing," Olivia said from the bed. "I'll warm you up when you're done."

            It didn't take me long to bathe.

Chapter 3

            Shattering glass woke me up. I sat up, and looked around. My heart raced.

            "Help!" Ralph cried.

            Olivia and I rolled out of bed. I grabbed my rifle and she grabbed her sawed off shotgun. We rushed out of the bedroom in our t-shirts and underwear. Ralph was struggling with two zombies, both large women. Three male zombies were halfway from the smashed sliders to the living room in front. They turned on us, eyes wild with hate.

            "Holy crap!" Olivia cried and blew the brains out of the closest one.

            The sound of glass breaking came from the living room. I glanced over to see that Ralph had tossed one of the walkers through the window. The other was about to chomp down on his arm. It took aim and shot the zombie in the head.

            Olivia's next shotgun blast turned another zombie's heart into mush. He dropped like a rock, while the last one continued toward us. We both fired on it. She hit him in the throat, almost decapitating the monster. I hit him in the head twice, and three times in the chest. He still didn't die fast enough.

            "Man, he must've been on zombie steroids or something," she said.

            "Are you all right, Ralph?" I asked.

            "Maybe," he said, looking dazed. "I swear, I didn't fall asleep. I just never saw them coming."

            There wasn't time for accusations or laying blame. It didn't matter anyway. Olivia and I just ran over to the drying camo around the small stove. Our clothes were nice and warm. I turned off the camping stove immediately.

            The big, ornate clock over the fireplace showed it was 1:52 AM. I figured Olivia and I got about three hours sleep. Ralph was supposed to wake me at midnight.

            We started dressing. All of that gunfire would attract any walkers within hearing. I wanted to be out of there and on the road fast. We had our camo back on in a flash. It was dry, but that wouldn't last long since it was still lightly raining. I was lacing up my boots when the next zombie came through the back door.

            "They're coming out of the woods behind the house," Olivia said. "I see more coming!"

            I looked out the shattered front window and spotted even more. We were surrounded. Ralph started shooting out the front window, while Olivia and I lit up the zombies coming in the back.

            "Follow me!" I called, heading for the garage. "Ralph, is there anything in the bedroom you absolutely have to have?"

            "Nothing," he said.

            "Olivia?"

            "No."

            More of those relentless monsters came through the back door and front window. We fired them up, but tried to save our ammo as much as possible. The door locked from the inside, so we were screwed there. I held onto the knob.

            "Get the jeep started. As soon as it's started, Ralph, I want you to open the garage door," I said. "And then we'll tear out of here."

            They started pounding on the door, rattling the door knob. None of the zombies put much effort into turning the knob. I wasn't exactly big and strong, but I was able to keep them from opening the door. Ralph waited until Olivia had the engine running, and then he yanked the garage door open. We both raced to the jeep and jumped in as she started rolling forward.

            "I knew it," Olivia said when the jeep drove over two zombies right off. They were everywhere, and all turned toward us. "Stupid undead bastards."

            We weren't going fast enough for the cowcatcher to be effective. She turned toward the street and hit the gas. The jeep was in second before she reached 20 MPH. We were only about halfway down the driveway. Zombies came out of the woods to our right, actually running.

           
Ratta-tat-tat-tat! Ratta-tat-tat-tat!

            Ralph mowed them down with his M60. I killed them, too, but my rifle wasn't made for full automatic. But I'd gotten pretty fast on the trigger. Even with all of that firepower some of the zombies reached us.

            Olivia screamed when one of them grabbed at her.

            Ralph swiveled the M60 around to the driver's side to defend her. I lashed out with a foot to kick another way, while swinging my now empty M16A2 around to bash another away. That gave me just enough time to eject and reload a new magazine.

            "Faster!"

            We slammed into two more, and another zombie went under the front left wheel. At that speed, the jeep lurched to the right. We went off the driveway and straight into a big oak. The point of the cowcatcher struck it dead center.

            "Fuck me!" Ralph cried, slammed into his M60 again. "Ugh! Do you know how to drive?"

            "Screw you," she growled, put it in reverse and hit the gas.

            We flew backwards, bowling over more zombies. Ralph spun around to shoot behind us. I looked back and my heart skipped a beat. There had to be hundreds of the relentless monsters coming at us. More appeared next to me, clawing at my face and clothes.

            All three of us screamed.

            Olivia managed to get it back into first, and we lurched forward. Too fast, and the engine stalled. I stood up, barrel of my rifle in hand, and smashed zombie after zombie in the head with it. It made a pretty good club. When she started and surged forward, I was forced back into my seat.

            The cowcatcher wasn't knocking them to the side anymore. Now it was actually catching them. Zombies started piling up in front of us. One by one they slipped under the jeep. It was a bumpy road until we reached the blacktop.

            Olivia turned left, toward I-50.

            "Other way!" I shouted.

            She groaned, but made a wide turn that took us off the road, before we were westbound again and back on the road. That road was full of walkers.

            "I hate, hate, hate how they come in waves," I said. "Watch out!"

            Three of them jumped in front of us. Olivia didn't bother swerving. She drove right through them, on purpose. I think she was a little pissed. I noticed she had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. Ralph and I turned our weapons forward and tried to clear as many of them away as possible. She continued to drive over the dead bodies, which kept our speed down.

            After a moment she calmed down, and started avoiding the bodies on the road. Our speed picked up to over 30 MPH. Then she turned on the headlights, and we really saw how many zombies were between us and safety.

            "Holy crap," she muttered.

            "Are you okay?" I asked.

            "Yes. I'm fine."

            "Ralph, what about you?"

            "Other than the fact I left my boots back in the house, I'm great," he said.

            I looked, and yep. He was barefooted. My boots were untied. Olivia's were also untied, but we had them. That meant we'd have to find him some shoes or boots as soon as we could. Like me, Ralph almost never went barefooted. I knew I couldn't run around outside without shoes without crippling myself.