Amanda Carter in the L.A.Z., life after zombies (25 page)

Chapter 42

I
t seemed to Amanda to take an extraordinary amount of time to wrap things up at the truck rental yard, but the sun was still high overhead as they were rolling out. Amanda took the lead with Sam following close behind. It was still in the forefront of her mind that she was dealing with an inexperienced driver, and she hoped that the girl would brake in plenty of time not to run into the back of her truck. But
so far
so good
, she thought as they carefully drove down the streets and back to the veteran’s house where she was looking forward to getting those solar panels loaded up and being able to cross that off of her long list of things that she wanted to accomplish today.

The streets were quiet again. Those fast-moving vehicles had sounded to be headed out of town. It would be a bonus if the raiders had already evacuated, but she couldn’t count on that.

She glanced at the trucks gauges and smiled. Her truck had a full tank of gas. That was a scene that she hadn’t seen in a long time, and it gave her a good feeling, like some of the worry had just been lifted from her shoulders. It was a little silly to feel so relieved by such a small thing, she realized, especially considering the distances that they drove. She could easily burn through this amount by making another round trip, but it still felt good. And now, they had enough gas to also fill the Jeep, and that is something that had not been done in a while. That Jeep was more accustomed to running around the desert on fumes these days than it was to having any amount of gas in it.

When they arrived at the former veteran’s house, it became obvious that there was no way that the rental truck was going to fit down the side path and into the backyard, not without taking out that entire side of fencing and damaging the truck. Amanda instructed Sam to park the big truck in the front yard, and then all of them piled into her truck, and she drove around back. She did not expect the backyard to still be creeper-free, but it was.

The ash was continuing to rain here, and now they could hear the fire and the damage it was causing as things in its path were being consumed, collapsing and exploding. Amanda didn’t bother to take the time to look through the binoculars again to see where it was at and what it was doing. If she wanted her ideal plan for their day to work, then they had to finish up here as fast as possible and try to make it over to some of the parts of town that would be hit soon by the raging blaze. She worried that some of the places on her agenda might already be engulfed, but there was no way to be sure of that.

Due to their time constraints, Amanda suggested that they both carry the panels out to the front and then get them loaded. Red was with them, and she trusted that he would alert them with enough time to get their weapons ready should a creeper be in their vicinity.

Amanda’s injured arm was exposed to the rays of the sun, and the burn that it had received from the lighter pulsated with pain. She knew that she would be returning to camp in bad shape, with possibly nothing to be done about it. But as she watched Sam work, seeing how strong and capable the girl was, she took solace in the fact that at least one of them would be coming back more capable than when they had left.

“Thanks for the truck,” Sam said as they both worked to slide the ramp down. “I know you put a lot of work into getting it ready for me ahead of time and then in pushing Mom, Dad, and Roy into letting me come. I appreciate it, and you’re right, it rides nice. I like being up so high above everything.”

“You’re welcome,” Amanda said, feeling stunned that the girl would be so outwardly thankful.

She wondered if it was because of the bite and if Sam thought she might not have much longer? But no matter what the motivation for it was, she was pleased to hear the compliment.

By the time the last of the panels was loaded, Amanda knew that she had some decisions to make about how she timed everything and that it was entirely possible that they might not be able to procure all the items that she had been hoping for today. She worked to not let disappointment slip into her mental outlook because that would only slow her down.

By hopping atop the moving truck, she could tell that the fire was already nearing some of the places that she had wanted to gather from. It was difficult to pass up on the possibility of obtaining more food here from some of these houses in order to proceed with their plans to be self-sustaining out there. The question that she was wrestling with as the climbed down was, Would she go after completing their short-term goals, or opt to try and make a future for them? If she didn’t succeed with finding all the necessary items to accomplish their long-term goals, then they would be simply out of luck and without a very large supply of food for their long term needs.

Making sacrifices was nothing new to her, but it was tough when she felt that here in this moment, she was making decisions that would affect everybody without being able to consult them about it. And she thought, she might not even be around to deal with the ramifications of those decisions; somehow it didn’t seem fair to put her little group in that position, yet here they were.

“What’s it look like from up there?” Sam asked, sounding both worried and curious.

“About what you would expect,” Amanda said. “The fire is taking the town, and the creepers have flocked to the fire. It’s going to be incredibly dangerous if we decide to head that way, and I’m not sure that I should be putting you in that position.”

Amanda’s boots tapped down on the dirt, and she tried without success to rub the soot from her hands that she had collected from her climb onto the truck. The palms of her hands were black, and now there were dark streaks on her pants where she had unsuccessfully tried to rub the soot off of them.

She had decided that there was at least one representative from their party here beside herself. As far as Amanda was concerned, Sam had earned her stripes the hard way out in this harsh landscape, and as such, she deserved to have a say in the matter.

“There are things we need from over there, isn’t there?” Sam asked pensively.

“The things we can get from over there will help us in the long run and make life easier for us, possibly set us up to be self-sustaining back at camp with a whole lot of effort. Or we can just count ourselves lucky to find some more food and gas or whatever is simple and head on back without going into the thick of things,” Amanda said, trying to make sure that she outlined the situation enough that the girl could make a more well-informed decision.

By the way she presented it, it became clear to Sam right away that Amanda was expecting an answer from her. Amanda found it necessary to completely block out any thoughts of Jason or Maryanne in this matter because she already knew that they would be dead set against allowing Sam to make such a decision at her age. But the truth of the matter was that they had not been here to see their daughter in action, to see how responsible she had become. And they had not been here to see how well she could defend herself.

It was difficult for Amanda to watch Sam wrestle with the question, as the black ash filtered down, settling on the girl’s body. Sam noticed it and brushed some of it off of her forearm. It smeared and made an ugly black streak on her skin. Amanda could only imagine what she must look like right now.

The wind howled, rocking the moving truck gently from side to side, and Amanda waited patiently while she allowed Sam to think about the decision, expecting there to be some questions from the girl.

“I’m in,” Sam said, having made up her mind.

It seemed to Amanda that she was both confident and resolute in her choice, and that would help things to go better for them.

“You do understand that you need to make this decision with your brain and not some need for the thrill of it?” Amanda asked, wanting to know what the girl’s motivations were.

If they went, Sam needed to have a very sober frame of mind and not be coming from some kamikaze place that could easily get her killed.

“I realize that,” Sam said, solemnly, “but I heard you when you were talking about us not making it that far out, unless we changed how we do things. I like our home out there where it’s safer. I’m in.”

“Well then, I guess it’s settled, we head farther into town for what we need. Be smart, be resourceful, and be careful,” Amanda said. “It is going to be tough there, and I haven’t a clue what we are going to run into, but I’ll keep you safe to the best of my abilities.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Sam said, moving to slide the ramp back in place.

As Amanda began to walk back to the truck, she could hear Sam sliding the rolling door back down on the moving truck, and she felt goose bumps breaking out down her back and across her shoulders at the thought of what she had just committed them to. And even the powerful, pounding rays of the sun couldn’t dissuade the chills from traveling down her spine as she walked the length of the path that would lead to the backyard.

The veteran hung there still, dead, half out of the window, and she wondered if he had experienced the same feeling as he had headed into battle so many years before. But she doubted that he could have felt as much dread as she was feeling at the moment. They were about to enter a battlefield that didn’t have the support from large amounts of troops or massive pieces of war machinery. They would be ill equipped and outnumbered for what they planned to do. The thought that she might have actually gone insane somewhere along the way today did cross her mind, but as she reached her truck and slid into the driver’s seat, it all seemed to make so much sense and become so very clear to her. She knew what they had to do, and she would make it happen or die trying, because in her mind, they were all dead sooner or later if this didn’t work.

Chapter 43

A
manda was experiencing a surreal type of feeling by the time that she met up with Sam out on the quiet street of the housing community that still most likely contained valuable supplies to scavenge. But instead, they were going to be heading into the thick of things in order to be able to prioritize according to what the fire was threatening first.

When she had originally headed for town, she had had a particular agenda for today, and the fire had threatened that agenda, but she wasn’t going to give it up without a fight, especially since Sam was in agreement with her.

It wasn’t until they turned onto the main street through town that they could see flames and instead of turning away, as those vehicles that had sped out of town had done earlier, they turned into it. Like soldiers determined to land upon a hostile beach, they did not look back.

Sam, being seated higher up, had the best view of the situation. She could feel the cool air hitting her, could see Red seated in the passenger seat out of her periphery vision, and could feel the soft vinyl grip of the steering wheel. She could see Amanda’s white ash-covered truck ahead of her—glimpses of flames beyond that.

The engine hummed, vibrating her seat and up into her legs from the floorboard. She felt alert and observant in all the parts of her body and of her surroundings. She was experiencing an awareness of life that she had never felt before, all her senses heightened to an extreme.

The fire was, as Amanda had seen atop the truck through the binoculars, about ready to consume the large home improvement warehouse that had serviced this town for many years.

Flames were licking the rooftop of the grocery store directly beside it. The grocery store had been raided until it had nothing to offer anybody anymore, but Amanda knew that it was different with the warehouse. Aside from the lumber that people were using early on to blockade their homes, this store had been forgotten. The answer to that was simple; people just weren’t interested anymore in improving their homes.

On a couple of her previous trips into town, she had attempted to scavenge from here, but the enormous amount of creepers that were roaming around inside of it had caused her pause. The creepers had clustered primarily around the center part of the town for some reason, and this store was about exactly in the center of town. On her previous attempts, she had slunk away, not wanting to be noticed and had given it up for lost. But perhaps the fire had drawn them out and away, she considered, as she rolled closer with Sam following.

She knew that Sam must be very wide-eyed right about now as she rolled slowly into the vast parking lot. A few cars and trucks remained, abandoned. There were some mangled bodies that had been creeper lunch, but she didn’t see any immediate threats. Trash and ash was swirling around in little eddies, reminding Amanda that the fire was creating its own weather system within the bounds of its reach.

The big bay doors to the store were open. She slowly rolled inside the store, noticing two creepers right away. The creepers were moving toward the front of her truck and she gunned the gas, crunching them beneath the truck. The truck rocked with several thuds until she slowed and rolled a little farther in before stopping. This opening was plenty wide and tall enough for Sam to fit the moving truck in, and Amanda looked in the rearview to see that she had done just that.

Seeing no other immediate threats, Amanda exited the vehicle, slamming the door behind her, and Sam did the same, having sense enough to leave Red inside with the engine running.

“Well, we’re here,” said Sam, as if their arrival signified something monumental besides their potential deaths.

Amanda could hear but not see an approaching creeper, its footfalls shuffling along the floor. That was the problem with entering these stores without electricity; the lighting was weak, and there were many aisles that offered poor visibility from incoming threats. But in this store, between the big bay doors and the front-glassed portion, there was enough light to see by. Also, the temperature was a little better in here than it was outside because of the shade and the wind that was blowing in. They did have a better-than-good chance of taking out whatever they needed to in order to grab what they were after.

“I’m ready,” Sam said, holding the baseball bat in a batter’s stance.

“Good,” Amanda commented. “Keep the truck running, and we’ll wait to open up the back of the truck until we have some things to load. If this goes south, run for the truck, and get the hell out of here, running over whatever gets in your way, got it?”

“Got it,” Sam said as the creeper rounded the corner.

Amanda wanted to laugh even though it would be wildly inappropriate to do so. The creeper had once worked here and still wore the tattered remains of the store uniform. In the moment, it seemed that there was something positively hilarious about that. It was like she was coming to say, “Can I help you with anything?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” was what Amanda did say.

“I know, right?” Sam answered, before lounging forward and taking her out. “Five,” Sam whispered, determined to keep count of her kills.

To her right, Amanda could see an empty flat cart that could carry some weight on it as a customer pushed it around the store and loaded up their purchases. She couldn’t see any reason why that wouldn’t work for them, but she planned to modify the technique a little in order to fit in with the new LAZ standards.

“Sam, hop on the cart and be ready to swing.”

They had rolled up right next to where the lumber was stacked, and though there was not a tremendous amount of it left, she figured that there was enough of it to suit their humble needs. But she would wait to load that up because she wanted to know just how many creepers were roaming the store, and she would rather not give them the opportunity to come at them all at once. If she and Sam blasted around the store right now, taking one or two out at a time, then it would be much more manageable.

“Ready?” Amanda asked once Sam was situated.

“Roger that,” Sam said, standing like a baseball playing surfer that was ready to catch a wave.

Here we go
, Amanda thought as she heaved her weight into the cart, getting it rolling. Once it was rolling, it wasn’t as difficult to gain some speed as she had anticipated, but the steering around the first corner into the next aisle was a little tough as she swung wide around, nearly colliding with the bottom shelf on the far side. As it was, the cart scraped along the shelf before she righted it.

Amanda positioned the cart so as to align Sam with the creeper that was meandering down the aisle toward them. Sam, being a little elevated now, had the creature within the strike zone and the momentum they were traveling at helped her to crunch the creeper’s skull easily in one swing.

“Six,” Sam shouted, feeling a rush of adrenaline hit her.

Sam could feel the wind washing over her and the sting that coursed through her body from the impact of the baseball bat with its target, followed by the resultant vibration through her arms that still hummed.

Wildly, like they were on some sort of twisted amusement park ride, they careened around the next corner. And this time, Amanda used the bottom shelf that they were scraping against to help right her course. Then they were pummeling down the next aisle where two creepers waited within eight feet of each other. Sam swung the bat and then quickly swung again, downing both of them.

“That’s eight,” she said, readying her balance for the next wild turn.

Amanda could feel the pulse of her increased heart rate through the palms of her hands and in her skull as well as her chest. She gulped at the foul smoke-riddled air like she had seen goldfish do in a tank. Her legs pumped, feeling tired and oxygen deprived, but still she pushed on, letting the momentum of the cart help her, to the next aisle that was clear of any threat.

Somehow, she had managed to do that down all nine aisles of the store, with Sam clearing them out like an expert marksman.

“That’s twelve, and I beat your count so far,” Sam said, with eyes that shone from excitement. “I have never been allowed to do anything that cool!” she exclaimed while Amanda struggled to catch her breath, clutching the handle of the cart just to be able to stay on her feet.

“We did it,” Sam said. “We cleared the store!”

“Not so fast, girlfriend,” Amanda said in between gasps. “Could be more that came in, and we might have missed something. We were rolling fast!”

“I know, you were awesome, pushing so hard like that. It made it so easy to whack them,” Sam said.

“And you haven’t beat my count, we’re even at twelve and twelve, because I ran over two of them coming into the store,” Amanda said, feeling like it was important to set the record straight if they were indeed going to be treating this as a competition.

“Okay then,” Sam said, “we’re even, but there’s still time.”

“You’ve got that right,” Amanda said, unable to not laugh at that.

She was definitely going to give the girl an A+ for enthusiasm, energy, attitude, and creativity. And she could not even imagine what her mother was going to be thinking when Sam came back to camp, enthusiastically recounting her adventures here. Amanda would be the one in trouble with “Mom,” not Sam. But it would be important for Sam to off-load her story, psychologically speaking, so Amanda wouldn’t dream of asking her not to tell her parents about some of their riskier adventures.

A full minute passed before she could stand on her own two shaky legs and take a better look around at what aisle 9 had to offer. On the far side, up against the wall and all the way down were plumbing supplies. She opted to pass on any of those. But on the other side was a myriad assortment of tape, staple guns, and accessories. Farther down that aisle were lamps, light fixtures, and bulbs.

The plumbing supplies had been left alone, and the shelves and bins were full, not true for the tape section that had been picked over. Amanda grabbed the two remaining twin packs of black electrical tape and the single roll of gray duct tape that had fallen onto the floor.

“Anything else?” Sam asked, eyeing the row.

“Grab us a staple gun and some packs of staples if you can find them,” Amanda said.

“Done,” Sam said, quickly reaching to retrieve the items.

The air quality of the store was getting worse, alerting Amanda that the fire was beginning to encroach upon them.

Sam walked alongside the cart this time as they rolled down the aisle where Amanda grabbed a plain-looking lamp and two four-packs of bulbs.

“One can dream,” she said, placing them on the cart with the hopes that Roy could rig them up some light.

Down the next aisle, they scored several hammers, boxes of nails, screws, a power drill, with a case full of bits to go with it, the electrical wiring that Roy had asked for, wire cutters, wire strippers, and an assortment of electrical accessories that Amanda didn’t quite understand their use but knew that Roy would, and could possibly be able to use them.

The poor quality of the air was causing Amanda some concern, and even though she was pleased to have made it to this store before it succumbed to the fire, she was unsure of the wisdom in staying here too long.

“What do you think is behind that door,” said Sam, indicating a gray set of double doors that had a locking handle.

“Don’t have a clue,” Amanda answered, suddenly feeling curious about it. “We were rolling so fast I didn’t even see it on the first time by.”

“Me neither, I was too busy whacking those things and clearing a path for us. Do you think there’s something good?”

“Could be, let’s try the handle and see if it’s unlocked. If it’s unlocked, it’s probably already been raided, but we can check,” Amanda said, temporarily forgetting her concerns due to the overwhelming sense of curiosity that this door offered her.

The door was locked. She was a little surprised that there could be a section of this store that no one had pillaged yet. But then again, she thought, it wasn’t like the place was a grocery store. People had better things to be doing than fighting off the enormous amount of creepers inside the store to attempt to get it open for possibly no real reward.