An Apocalypse Family (Book 1): Family Reunion (23 page)

*****

Max pulled the pin on the first grenade and lobbed it into the freaks in front of the door. He knew he should duck, but he had to see what impact it would have on the crowd. The explosion almost knocked him down, and it had a devastating effect on the freaks. Max thought he was hit with shrapnel but realized it was pieces of the freaks flung at him from the blast. After that, things really got messy. He started pitching the grenades as fast as he could pull the pins. He didn’t wait to see the results. He threw the tenth one and ran for the stairs.

*****

I heard the first explosion and then a pause. Then, the explosions kept coming, one after another. The next thing I was aware of was Max diving headfirst into the bed of the truck, screaming at the top of his lungs, “Go, go, go!”

Jean didn’t hesitate; she plowed through the garage door and straight into the mayhem. I almost passed out from the pain but held on to my consciousness long enough to see the carnage left in our wake. A few of the freaks lucky enough to survive Max’s bombardment fell prey to Jean, barreling forward with total disregard for the truck’s fenders. As we drove through the pack of freaks, Max pulled the pin on one of the remaining grenades, shoved it into the bag, and threw the whole thing out of the truck. The resulting explosions lifted the rear tires off the ground; when it came back down, I didn’t see one freak left standing. The truck swerved back and forth, throwing us around in the bed like rag dolls. I heard Lisa scream Chris’s name, and then I did pass out.

An unusually big bump woke me by throwing me a couple of feet in the air before depositing me back onto the hard metal of the truck bed.
Whoooof
, went the air in my lungs. A lot of football in my youth helped my brain recognize the feeling of having the wind knocked out of me. There was nothing to do but be patient and take short breaths until it returned. The added bonus of having a gunshot wound in my side was a new twist, one that I would have gladly foregone.

Around the time I started to get my wind back and the pain in my side had dwindled to a mere
Oh my god I’m gonna die
type pain, the truck slid to a stop. It was very dark and it was a minute before anyone found a flashlight. I saw someone coming down the side of the truck wearing a headband light; by the height, I reckoned it was Jean. I’d no idea how long I’d been unconscious, but my impression was that it had not been long.

“Is everyone all right back here?” Jean asked.

“We lost Chris out the back after the last explosion,” Lisa said. There was no emotion in her voice and it was clear that we were not going to go back to find him—he was just lost.

“Ryan, how’s the side?” Jean shined her light on me.

I squinted at her. “I’ll live, I’m afraid. How’s everyone up front?”

“Crowded, but other than that, and being traumatized, we’re all okay.”

“Where are we?” Max asked.

“We’re about ten miles from town. I saw this barn and thought we should regroup, but wanted to ask you guys what you thought,” Jean explained.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Max slid down from the truck bed to the tailgate and got out. He found his flashlight then went off to examine the barn.

Before Jean could leave, I asked her, “How’s Meg?”

“She’s pretty shook, keeps saying that she brought them to us, that and she thinks she’s turning into one of them.”

“That’s bullshit,” I said.

“That’s what I’ve been telling her, but she blames herself. She wanted me to stop and let her out so she wouldn’t eat any of us. That totally freaked out the kids. So, yeah, it’s a little tense right now.”

Max came back over to the truck. “Okay, pull it inside, Jean; it looks like a good place to hole up for a while.”

I got out of the truck by rolling over on my stomach and pushing myself off the tailgate. I’m not sure if I was getting any better or if I was just finally getting used to the pain. Someone had turned on a couple of LED camping lights and I found a hay bale to sit on. I leaned back against the wall of the barn and tried to look at my boo-boo. My shirt was fixed to my skin with half-dried blood, so I decided to just leave it alone. Meg found me and sat down.

“You’re going to have to kill me, Ryan,” she whispered.

“Would you stop with that shit, Meg,” I said. “I am not going to kill you; you haven’t shown any signs that you’re turning into one of those damn things. Look at your skin.”

She held out her arms, and even in the dim light, it was plain that they looked normal: no graying, no blotches, nothing.

“I’m telling you, I’ve been communicating with them; they’re in my frickin’ head!”

Her voice steadily rose as she talked. That was about as close to swearing, other then maybe a dammit here and there, as I’d ever heard from her. I took her hand.

“You may want to cool it and slow down a minute. You have the kids half-convinced Grammy is going to eat them. Look, let’s get everyone settled, and then we can talk about this more. Now go tell the kids you’re sorry for scaring them, and tell them you’re all right.”

“You mean lie,” she said, as she got up and left me sitting there.

Lisa came by a few minutes later.

“Hey,” she said.

I could tell she was down in the dumps.

“Hey, kiddo.” I gave her a hug with my good side. “What’s up?”

“I’m tired of this shit, Uncle Ryan. It’s never going to be normal again, and I’m worried I won’t be able to keep my shit together.”

Her eyes watered up. This was the first chink I’d seen in her armor. She’d had a rough life after Max and her mom split, and it hardened her against showing her feelings much. She ended up married to a good guy, but her examples of how to be married had, let’s say, not been stellar. She’d only mentioned Jack a couple of times since we had met up and I didn’t want to pry, so I’d left it alone.

Now, she seemed like she wanted to talk, so I asked.

“How were you and Jack doing when you came up here?”

A tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.

“Oh, okay, I guess. We butt heads quite a bit. I miss the shit out of him right now.” She smiled. “You think he’s all right?”

What do you say to that? When eighty to ninety percent of the world is dying, dead, or turned, it’s hard to put a good spin on it.

“Look kiddo, I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass and tell you I’m sure he’s fine, but look, were doing fine, right? So there is a chance he’s okay. I’m in the same boat. My family is in West Virginia, and I don’t have a clue if they’re alive or not. Tell you what, after we get all these people settled in on the island, you can come with me if you want. I’m going to go find out, one way or another. Besides, how am I going to survive without Raven on my six?”

She laughed and gave me another hug. “Thanks, Uncle Ryan, you’re the best.”

Harry was taking a turn at the wheel while Thomas worked at the computer station. For some reason, he couldn’t get the radios to work. Finally, he declared, “We’re going to have to stop for me to be able to get these radios working. It has to be a connection problem and I can’t remedy that while we’re driving.”

They had made incredible time since leaving Coburg and Harry didn’t want to stop, but the radios were a priority.

“Okay, I’ll look for a good spot for a stop,” Harry said. Maddie and Conner began gearing up. They decided that any stop from now on would be under armed guard. The closer they got to any major metropolitan area, the more likely it was that they would run into other survivors.

“We’re coming up on an overpass that looks like a good place,” Harry called out to the rest of the group over his shoulder.

“Sounds good,” Maddie replied.

Harry maneuvered the coach to the exit ramp.

“Trosper Road, Tumwater, Washington. Fifteen minute stop, folks, smoke ’em if ya got ’em.”

Harry played the part of the bus driver well, and this reference made Thomas happy. He hadn’t had a smoke for the last five hours. Harry stopped the coach in the middle of the bridge over I-5 and everyone got out to stretch their legs. Conner walked down the road to the western end of the overpass and Maddie took up station on the east end.

“Nothing moving over here,” Conner called in over the walkie.

“Same over here, over,” Maddie said.

Lauren and Carla took up watch on the top of the coach on the catwalk Thomas had constructed.

“We have a pretty good view from up here and I don’t see anything either,” reported Carla.

Thomas and Harry, feeling well protected, got busy working on the UHF/VHF radios and the satellite linking equipment. Thomas climbed in one of the back bays that held the equipment, and Harry was his step-and-fetch-it guy.

“I need a nine-sixteenths box wrench,” Thomas said from inside the bay.

“Coming up,” Harry said as he located the proper tool.

“Oh, and some needle-nose pliers, also.”

“Yes, sir.” Harry found both and passed them to Thomas.

Lauren grabbed Carla by the arm and pointed to the north.

“Guys, we have company. Red pickup truck coming south on I-5 about a mile and a half out,” Carla said over the radio. “I’m heading down to the monitoring station to pull them up on the cameras.”

Carla headed for the access point and Lauren followed.

“No, I need you to stay up here. Cover Conner and Maddie if they need help.”

Lauren had an MP5 submachine gun, which was not a good weapon for long distances.

“Here, trade me the AR. I can’t hit anything with this.”

They traded weapons and Carla took a moment to make sure Lauren remembered how to operate the AR15. She might not be experienced, but at least she could throw some lead at the bad guys if needed.

“Don’t shoot your brother,” Carla said as she disappeared down into the coach.

Lauren had withdrawn into herself recently. Carla had noticed but didn’t have time to deal with it right this minute.

“Maybe I should just shoot myself and end this,” Lauren said to no one. She looked back up the road through the binoculars and saw that the red truck was closing the distance.

Harry picked up the AR15 that he’d claimed from Maddie’s weapons cache and charged it.

“What do you see, Carla?”

“Okay, I have them! Two males in the cab and two males in the bed of the truck, all of them are armed.”

“Patch me through to the PA system, Carla; Conner, Maddie, come back to the coach. If we have to, we’ll button up and haul ass,” Harry said.

“Roger,” Conner replied instantly.

“I’m going to take up a spot down here, where I can have a good angle for a sniper shot,” Maddie transmitted.

“Maddie, damn it, just do what I ask this one time!” Harry said, the frustration in his voice evident.

“Yes, dear,” was Maddie’s only reply.

“Okay, Carla, put me on the PA.”

When the truck got about a hundred yards from the overpass, Harry held up his hand, motioning for them to stop. The driver slowed and stopped about seventy-five yards away.

The passenger opened the door and stood on the step of the truck, where he proceeded to lean against the top of the door.

“Howdy,” he yelled. “Where you folks headed?”

Harry pushed the transmit button on the handheld and feedback screeched from the coach speakers. He quickly released the mic button and walked out from in front of the coach to a position where he hoped he wouldn’t cause any more feedback. He pushed the button.

“We are headed north,” he said. There was a slight squeal of feedback, but nothing unbearable.

The man was observant and could see they had the bay open.

“Are you broken down? Do you need some help? We have a base camp just up the road; if you need somewhere to hole up for the night. It’s safe and secure.”

Harry did not intend to take them up on the offer, but he needed to stall so Conner and Maddie had time to make it back to the coach.

“I tell you what, let me confer with my group and see what they say.”

Then, without waiting for an answer, he said, “Everybody meet me at the coach.”

Hoping everyone in his group would take the hint and get inside the coach, he held up a finger as if to say, wait a minute, and walked over to meet Thomas as he was walking toward the front of the coach after shutting the bay doors.

Carla quickly shut off the PA and came across the radio.

“They’re backing up to get on the ramp, looks like they’re headed this way.”

“Okay, everyone in the coach now!” Harry said into the radio.

He and Thomas ran to the door, where they met Maddie coming toward them from the east. Lauren scrambled down the ladder into the coach.

Harry looked up.

“Conner, hurry the hell up!” There was no sign of him.

They all piled in the coach and Harry fired it up. Carla yelled at Harry,

“We are not leaving Conner!”

Harry yelled back, “I’m not leaving him, I’m going to find him.”

The coach lurched forward to the west.

“Anyone see him?” Harry yelled.

Carla, still on the camera, searched the area with the camera set to wide angle.

“No, oh shit, Conner, where are you?”

Maddie called Conner over the radio.

“Conner, this is Maddie, where are you?” The radio was silent for a minute, and then she thought she heard something.

“Everybody quiet!” Harry stopped the coach and they all listened.

“This is Conner, they have me.”

“Thomas, get the UAV up!” Maddie wasted no time. She grabbed the tablet and her hands flew over the surface. The picture from the drone would show on the TV in the salon.

“Maddie, you don’t need the drone, they’re coming up the road,” Harry said. Sure enough, the pickup stopped a hundred feet from the coach.

The leader got out and pulled Conner after him.

“Harry, on the roof. I’m going out to see what they want,” Maddie said.

Carla was about to protest, but realized that Maddie was probably a better choice to deal with these bastards in this situation. She took one of the MP5s and followed Harry onto the roof. Lauren sat staring at the TV, watching the pictures provided by the external cameras on the coach.

Maddie exited the coach and stood next to an abandoned Jeep. She carried her AR15 pointed safely at the ground. Conner stood next to a smiling man with a full beard, who appeared to be in his forties.

“Hey there, lady, no need for the firearms, we’re friendly,” he said, his hand on Conner’s shoulder.

“What do you want?” Maddie said without a hint of a smile.

“Well, for starters, we like that RV you’re driving,” he laughed. The two men in the back of the truck leaning over the cab thought that this was hilarious.

The man started to speak again, but never finished opening his mouth because a bullet hole appeared over his right eye. Maddie dove behind the abandoned Jeep and looked to see who had fired the shot. Conner fell to the ground and rolled under the truck as the idiots in the back fumbled to get a shot off.

Lauren had gotten out of the coach and snuck around the other side, and was calmly walking toward the pickup, shooting at the driver. He ducked down and hit the accelerator, rocketing the truck backward away from the coach.

This left Conner exposed, but both the men in the back of the truck were more concerned with the fire from Lauren, and now Harry, who had begun to shoot from the catwalk.

Maddie brought her rifle up, but the truck was a half block away and turning onto a side street. She ran to Conner, who by this time had made it to his knees. She quickly cut the zip ties that bound his hands, and they both ran for the coach.

They climbed aboard to find Thomas in the driver’s seat, Carla at the computer station, and Harry coming down the ladder.

“Where is Lauren?” Carla asked, looking frantically at Maddie.

“Right here, Mom,” Lauren replied as she climbed the steps up to the coach. No one said another word as Thomas closed the door and backed the coach away from the scene toward the northbound onramp. The bearded man lay where he fell, obviously dead. Whoever these guys were, they were definitely going to have to come up with a better plan to rob people.

They headed north on Interstate 5, which merged into U.S. 101 just before entering Olympia. Carla was checking on Conner, going over him with a fine-toothed comb.

“Mom, I’m fine,” he complained.

“Just hold still and let me clean up the scrape on your arm,” Carla said. Lauren had curled up on the couch and hadn’t said much.

Maddie sat down next to Lauren.

“You okay? That was an amazing shot out there, what made you do it?”

“Well, to answer your first question, I’m okay. To answer your second question, those men were going to kill us and take what we had, so I decided to act,” Lauren said matter-of-factly.

“Well, you probably saved us. Honestly, I didn’t know what to do,” Maddie admitted.

“Yeah, I could have gotten us all killed, too,” Lauren said with a faraway look in her eyes.

“But you didn’t, and I am glad you did what you did,” Maddie said.

“Maddie, I killed a man, a living human being. Not one of those crazy zombies, but a…” Lauren began, but tears began flow and she collapsed into Maddie’s arms. Maddie stroked her hair and held her.

“And it’s a damn good thing that you did. They were going to do the same to us, or worse.”

Lauren cried until she fell asleep, Maddie holding her the entire time. Maddie didn’t get up when Lauren fell asleep; she continued to sit with her, looking out the window.