Don't Dare Call Them Zombies : Books 1-4 (23 page)

“Well, life has turned into a horror movie,” Meredith stated. “We can either face what we’re dealing with or deny what we’re facing.”

“Hey, I'm willing to face them. I've killed as many or more freaks as you have. But I cannot accept that I'm living in one of the horrible nightmares I have read about or watched on television,” I said. “If I'm just dealing with infected people or freaks, I can try to have hope that there might be hope for a normal life again. But if they are truly zombies...”

“Alright! I won't call them zombies,” she said shaking her head as if she thought I was making a fuss over nothing.

“Thanks,” I responded.

“If you two would stop arguing over stupid words, we could get loaded up on these weapons before we go back outside,” said Linwood.

I proceeded to load up on weapons from the stash. In addition to filling up a backpack full of ammo for my revolver and my new semi-automatic pistol, I picked out a couple of single shot Derringers. I put one in a holster attached to my waist, and strapped the other to my ankle. In addition, I found a small, concealable pistol that I thought would be ideal for Jennifer.

While we waited to make sure the freaks outside were not aware of our presence, I searched the shop for anything else that could be of use. I ended up finding a medical kit in one of the aisles and some antibiotics in the bathroom. It turned out that the old man had also lived in the building, and he had quite a stash of medications. One container was labeled ‘Amoxicillin’.

“Meredith, come over here,” I called out.

“What do you need?

“I think you should take a couple of these,” I said. “Antibiotics. Maybe they will help you.”

“I don't have anything to lose,” she responded.

She took two of the pills, grabbed a hot soda from a non-functional cooler, and started to drink.

“Of course if we’re dealing with a virus it might not help much,” I added.

I handed her the bottle. “Keep taking one of these every twelve hours.”

Looking outside I saw that the road in front of the store was now free of freaks. I took one last look around the store and decided it was time to go.

“We need to try to head back to the church,” I said. “Is there another way to the church other than the way we came?”

“There is a way,” Linwood stated. “It would be a long drive though.”

“We still have a half tank of diesel – let’s do it,” I said.

We exited the back of the building and got back into the truck.

“Which way do I go?” I asked.

“Turn right and keep on going until you see the sign that says Abercorn Road,” Linwood said. “Turn down it and it will allow us to circle around to the other side of the church.”

I started the engine of the vehicle and proceeded down the road. The sun was shining brightly and the freaks in the road seemed very disoriented. We were able to dodge most of them. The few that did manage to slap the vehicle didn’t even come close to reaching the window. When there were several of them in the road, Meredith would take them out with the shotgun or her new Glock.

Upon reaching Abercorn Road, I realized that we were about to drive down a dirt road lined with trees.

“I'm not sure if this is safe,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Linwood answered.

“There is almost no room to turn around if we get overrun by the freaks,” I said.

“The road opens up about a mile from here,” Linwood said.

“Alright,” I stated.

I proceeded to drive down the road. The branches on either side of the road hung low, and a few of them scraped on the windshield. Through my rear view mirror, I could see Meredith drop lower herself to avoid being hit by them.

A few moments later, the sight of a freak in the middle of the dirt road made me hit the brakes. Before I knew it, Meredith fired and the buckshot impacted the female freak’s head, removing chunks of flesh and bone as the creature hit the ground. Suddenly two additional freaks then appeared in the road.

Meredith shot one of the freaks in the head; the second approached my door and started pounding on the side of vehicle. I was starting to reach for my revolver when I heard the blast of Meredith’s shotgun. She’d fired upon the freak at close range, and brain matter had sprayed into the truck.

She hopped out of the vehicle and looked into my window.

“There's zombie-brain in your mustache,” she said.

She took a look around the vehicle and climbed back into the truck.

I wiped my face of the specks of goo and looked ahead. The path was clear so I continued on.

Eventually, I could see mobile homes on either side of the road. In front of one of the homes I could see three heavy set women sitting in plastic lawn chairs. The tallest and oldest of them was carrying a rifle. She proceeded to walk out in the middle of the road forcing me to stop.

“Hello!” I called out.

“Don't you know this is a private road?” she said.

“I'm sorry, but we’re just passing through,” I responded.

“Unless you live on this road you’re not allowed to use it,” she said. “I heard the gunfire. I hope you’re not going to be attracting the dead people this way.”

“How about you just let us move on so we can go about our way. We don't want any trouble with you,” I told her.

“Too bad, you already got trouble!” she shouted.

I turned and saw another woman come out of a trailer on the other side of the road. She was also armed and had her rifle pointed at us.

“Get out of the vehicle, now,” she said.

I could see through the rear view mirror that Meredith had her shotgun trained on the woman. This was now a standoff.

“Look, there is no need for this,” I said.

Before I could say anything else, I heard Meredith start speaking.

“Aren’t you Mrs. Laura Burnsed's granddaughter?” she asked.

The woman in sweat pants and a dirty t-shirt looked perplexed.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

“Well, your grandmother gave me piano lessons when I was a teenager. I hated them, but my mother made me go to her house twice a week. Your grandmother would talk to me about all of her children and grandchildren,” Meredith stated. “I don't think she’d like the fact her grandchild was pulling a gun on innocent people.”

“Look here, woman,” the older woman said. “You have trespassed onto a private road and into a private neighborhood. There are consequences for that.”

As I looked around I saw a few more people appear to see what was going on. They were mainly women, but there were also a few men.

“I don't want to shoot you, but you’re in the wrong and we have mouths to feed,” the old woman stated.

“So you think killing us would be a good example for your family?” Meredith stated.

Listening to the debate between Meredith and the fat woman, I considered my options. I could just hit the gas and try to escape, but there were now even children standing in the road watching us. I didn’t want to run over them. Also, it was possible that we could be shot as we drove off.

We needed a distraction.

I then saw Linwood putting one of the red shells into a small, sawed off shotgun.

“These are people,” I told him.

“I know,” he said quietly. “But I'm not getting out of this truck. It's them or us.”

I looked out the window and interrupted the argument between Meredith and the fat woman who seemed to be the leader of the group.

“Listen, what is it that you need?” I urged. “We don't need to risk someone getting hurt.”

“We need lots of things,” she said, pointing her rifle at my head.

I then noticed a younger woman in front of the vehicle with a hand gun pointed at me. My heart started to race as I realized my life might be about to end.

“Well, there are lots of things out there, and you can get them without killing people,” I said.

“For example, just down the road there is tackle shop with food and other supplies,” I told her.

“Where?” she asked.

“Over there at Bob's Tackle Shop,” I said. “It isn’t a grocery store, but there are canned goods, snacks, sodas, medical kits, and all sorts of things.”

She started to lower her rifle, a little.

“All we’re trying to do here is a take a shortcut to get to the other side of the road, and we will be out of your hair. You’ll never hear from us again,” I said.

A young woman standing beside her then spoke up.

“Momma, why don't we just let them go? Why do we have to do this?” she asked.

“Because we will do what it takes to survive,” her mother said.

“But we’re not bad people,” her daughter responded. “If we kill them what does that make us?”

“Listen to her,” I said. “Just let us go and we will be on our way.”

“Or, since you know where we’re, you’ll come back with your friends to rob us!” the woman yelled at me.

She raised her rifle yet again.

“Don't you dare think about it,” Meredith told the woman. “You may get a shot off, but you’ll have a hole in your gut. How can you take care of your family if you’re dead?”

Linwood then carefully handed me the sawed off shotgun.

He quietly said two words.

“Dragon’s breath.”

I knew what he wanted me to do. It was not my desire to do it, but the paranoid woman was forcing the issue. I had tried to reason with her, but she wouldn’t listen.

“Tell your big fat momma to back off and let us pass or she’s dead,” Meredith stated.

“You skinny witch,” the fat woman responded.

The attention of the fat woman and her kin were now on Meredith. It was now my time to act. I hesitated, but then I thought of Jennifer. This might be my only way to see her again. If I got out of the van there is no telling what would happen to me. Even if I escaped them, I might not be able to make it all the way back to the church on foot.

Jennifer was what mattered now.

I had to think fast. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but I had to do something to extricate us from this situation. A few yards away from where the woman was standing was a clothesline with sheets and clothes on it flapping in the There was no one standing near it – a perfect target. In an instant I turned the gun and aimed directly at the clothesline.

 
A giant blast of flame poured out of the end of the barrel. I could see the light from the dragon's breath with my eyes closed; it was so bright it penetrated my eyelids.

 At the same instant I felt a burning sensation in my hand. The incendiary round had created so much heat the shotgun handle was scalding hot. I dropped the shotgun onto the ground and tried to open my eyes.

“Go, go, go!” I heard Linwood say.

I looked out the window. I saw people running as far away from the flames as they could, and the old woman who had challenged us had fallen backwards in shock.