Infected: They Will Eat You!: A Story of Family Survival in a Zombie Apocalypse (18 page)

“We can drive out there and see but it’s just not the right thing for us to stay. I’d love too but…”

“Could we look for other people and work with them? Where will we go? We don’t know what it’s like other places, we know here…”

“All I can say is that I have been trying to make it safe here and find a way for us to stay but things I do get undone. And, I have this nagging feeling that we really need to leave and head west.”

“OK, but can’t we just think about it some more. And can we check Lori and Vince?”

“We can go out there today but we only have two days until our leaving day and we need to start getting ready. We have one vehicle we can take I think we need another.”

“Why not just use mine?”

“We have a lot of stuff we can take and it won’t hold much. I was thinking a bigger truck, maybe even a duce and a half although they are loud.”

“I can’t drive that.”

“You can drive the hummer, I’ll drive something else, bigger.”

“Why can’t we all be in one car?”

“Not big enough, in case one breaks down, not all of our stuff fits in one place…”

“I want to be in the same car.”

“We’ll take the hummer, maybe a duce, maybe an RV. I saw some trailers at the armory they could go on the hummer and we could take two.”

“I want to be in one car. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. We are going to find Lori and all stay together. I want coffee.”

She got her coffee and left the room. I found her lying next to the boys so I went out on the porch to think.

It was grey out, the sky filled with billowing clouds. The rain had stopped but we were in for more. The clouds and rain made it cooler and cleansed the air of the growing stench but it would be back once the sun came out. That was another issue we’d have to deal with if we stayed, the smell and the flies. Moving away from the city should help but anywhere there were bodies or infected we would be living with an excess of stink and bugs and health issues that accompanied them.

I sat on the porch for twenty minutes or so then went inside. Christine was still lying next to the boys with her arms around Jesse.

“If we’re going to Barbours we need to get going.” I told her.

Under normal circumstances it was a half hour drive, it could take us half a day if the roads were blocked or we had to back track and try multiple routs. The easy way would be to go on the beltway east past the Golden Strip then up 87, a two lane road with the creek on one side and the mountains on the other. It could easily be blocked. Since I hadn’t checked the Strip area we would instead be going back roads all the way.

“OK I’ll get the boys up and get ready.” she replied.

“They can eat on the way.” no since in wasting time eating here when we had a drive ahead of us.

It turned out travel was not difficult, much like Caleb and my trip to Jack’s there were a few cars along the road, we passed a handful of infected that we left alone and no people. Our first obstacle was at Slabtown Bridge, a span across the Loyalsock Creek. On the south side of the road was a Game Commission farm where birds were raised for release. We could see infected caught in the netting that surrounded the twenty or so acres. On the bridge were cars and at the intersection of 87 on the far side was a wreck.

“Not sure I want to try to get through here.” I said looking at the mess ahead.

“Do you know the back way?” Christine asked.

“Yeah, probably.” I looked closer at the wreck across the bridge. “We can get around the wreck over there, just need to move the cars that are on the bridge.”

“Won’t that attract infected?” asked Jesse.

“Probably,” I answered, “but there don’t seem to be many around. Just keep your eyes open. You and mommy stay here and watch for any coming. Caleb will come with me to back me up, I’ll move the cars.”

There were eleven cars on the bridge “Hope they all have keys in them.” I said as we approached, “This one does.”

The first five cars had keys and started without an issue. I pulled each off the bridge and lined them up on the shoulder of the road. The infected within view were far enough away that the sound of the engines did not disturb them. The next vehicle was a pickup and had no keys but the next three did. The last two cars were a bloody mess inside and even after the rain I could see blood on the ground.

“Keep alert, something happened here.” I warned Caleb, “I’m just going to put this one in gear and push it. I don’t want to get in.”

I started to reach into the car and heard an faint
phut, phut, phut
and jumped back. Jesse had put three infected down and was taking aim at a fourth,
phut
, a hundred yards up the side road. More were heading our way.

By the time we had a path cleared all moving infected were down none getting close enough to be a threat. We were back on our way in less than thirty minutes without any danger nearing us. “That was good work back there.” I said as we drove up the road, “The only worry I had was having one jump out of a car.”

“Yeah that was pretty easy.” Jesse said.

“We don’t need to be overconfident but we can feel better about how we are working together.” I said.

The rest of the way was clear of blockages, the only incident we had was when a deer ran across the road and I had to swerve to miss it.

“Even in zombie land you have to watch out for deer.” Caleb joked.

We pulled up at Vince and Lori’s to find the house boarded up and their trucks gone. “Looks like they’re gone.” I said, “Keep your eye’s peeled and stay with me.”

We fanned out and walked around the house. Two infected started coming our way,
phut, phut
, Caleb put them down.

“Watch behind us.” I said then yelled out, “Vince! Lori!”

Another infected came from across the road,
phut
.

“These are all really dark.” observed Caleb.

“Yeah, they’re old and slow. Just be careful, don’t get too comfortable.”

“Can I check the door?” Christine asked.

“See if it’s unlocked but don’t open it.” I answered.

She walked to the door and tried it, “Locked.”

We worked our way around the house checking all the doors….locked, every one. “Bang on a window and call out.”

There was no response. They were gone.

“Should we try to get in?” She asked.

“Let’s just go. If it was unlocked we’d check it out. They left so let’s go.”

“Where could they have gone?”

“Florida, the mountains, who knows….maybe the Finger Lakes, right now let’s get out of here and go home.”

The trip home was quiet. We had tried to find many of our friends with no luck. Had we found someone staying might be easier but everything pointed to us leaving. As we approached the bridge I asked “Since we’re close do you want to see if we can go by Jesus and Marie’s and Helen’s?”

“Yeah, sure, if you think it’s safe.” Christine’s voice was filled with disappointment.

“Let’s try it. The rest of their family was gone so I expect they will be as well but it’s worth a look.” I tried to be cheerful.

Most of 87 was unobstructed with few infected but this was still farmland and woods. As we approached Montoursville we started seeing more infected and more signs of havoc. The Wal-Mart parking lot looked like a battle zone with burned out cars and bodies scattered about. Vultures huddled in groups of ten to fifteen some flapping and pecking at bodies or each other. The glass in the store was gone and infected were milling about around the entrance.

We turned and pulled up in front of Jesus and Marie’s. “Cars are gone.” I said, “Caleb, come. We’ll check it out. Watch our backs.”

It was the same drill as at the bridge, Caleb and I going in and Christine and Jesse covering us. The front door was locked, as was the garage. We went to the back and found the back door unlocked. “I hate going inside.” I said to Caleb as I stepped in.

“Jesus …..Marie….anyone here?” I yelled out, “Shut the door I don’t’ want anything coming up behind us.”

We walked inside and looked around. There was no sign of anyone and no sign of any violence. We went out the front door and found Jesse shooting infected up and down the block. They were slowly moving toward us but had no chance to get close.

Back in the vehicle we drove past a pile of infected Jesse shot. “Thirty seven.” he said, “I had to change magazines twice because of the others I shot.”

“Nice.” acknowledged Caleb.

Helen’s house was the same as the others, locked with the car gone. We headed home on the beltway so we could check out the Golden Strip. I stopped to look closer with binoculars. “It’s a mess.” I said.

“Wow, there’s a lot of them.” Caleb commented.

“That’s not somewhere we’ll be going anytime soon.” I said and slid back behind the wheel.

It was late afternoon when we got home. We were tired, emotionally drained, and ready for some rest when we sat down at the table on the front porch for dinner. We had done this hundreds of times in the past but this time there were no neighbors to greet, no cars driving by, only us. Joey sat on the top step and watched a squirrel.

“Where did everyone go?” Christine asked.

“I don’t know but it looks like they all left, their cars are gone, houses locked….at least there’s no sign of anything bad happening.” I said.

“If they were infected they wouldn’t have driven their cars, they would have walked.” Jesse said.

“Let’s figure out what we are going to do.” I said, “Tomorrow we start getting ready to hit the road. We need a second vehicle, what should it be?”

“A tank.” Jesse suggested then giggled.

“Good suggestion, but loud and slow.” I said.

“But we could just drive over any cars in the way.” he countered.

“And infected.” added Caleb.

“I was thinking a duce and a half or RV, both can carry a lot but the RV would be more comfortable.” I said.

“The duce is cool but an RV would be really nice. A big one!” Caleb said.

“An RV.” agreed Jesse.

“I also thought maybe one of the big dump trucks they use to remove snow from the highway. The plow would be great for infected and the bed could hold a lot of supplies.” I suggested.

“That would be cool! We could just plow through mobs of infected.” cheered Jesse.

“This is not a game!’ Christine shouted, “I don’t see why we have to leave at all.”

She got up and carried her empty plate into the house.

“She’s upset about Lori.” Caleb said.

“Yeah.” agreed Jesse.

We sat quietly for a while then got back to the conversation about vehicles.

“Oh, I also thought about another hummer. There are trailers at the armory that we can hook up to the hummers and haul a lot of stuff.” I said.

“I like the RV best.” Jesse said, “It has beds.”

“And it has a kitchen but only a little storage unless we load up the bed area and isles with stuff.” I added.

“Where would we sleep if we have the other cars?” asked Jesse.

“In the cars, we’d find a house or building, wherever we found that was safe.” I answered.

“Oh, we can get a trailer for the RV if we want.” Jesse added.

“We see those all the time.” Caleb agreed, “We could tow another car if we wanted.”

“Yeah, whatever we do is not going to be easy. Nothing will be easy for quite a while no matter where we are.”

“I know.” Jesse said.

“How much stuff do we need to take?” asked Caleb.

“The food and water….” I answered.

“The big barrels of water?” Jesse asked.

“Na just the bottles and jugs. If we have the room we could take a couple barrels to collect water in.” I said. “We need the ammo and our guns, some clothes and blankets and things like that.”

“Would that stuff fit in the hummer and a trailer and the rest in an RV?” Caleb asked.

“Maybe.” I said, “We don’t have to take anything if we want to go light, it just makes since to load up what we can. The hummer is good for the ammo and some supplies and weapons. In an RV we could put clothes and food and blankets. We could pack extra food and water in a trailer and probably have some spare room. We could even get by with a smaller RV and not one of the huge ones.”

“The huge ones are cool.” Caleb said.

“And use more gas and are harder to drive and harder to hide. They’re not very secure either. Tomorrow we’ll go look at RV’s and the trailers and we’ll look around for something else that might make since.”

With that the boys went off to play ending up riding bikes up and down the street. I sat on the porch watching and contemplating vehicles and supplies, where to go and whether to go or stay. Rain started to fall after an hour, the boys put their bikes on the porch and we went inside. It had been another day of dashed hopes and missing friends but our family was intact and from what I was seeing growing stronger. The next few days would be a greater emotional test.

-——————————————

“I don’t want to go back out there.” Christine had been drained emotionally from yesterday’s venture out. Finding friends gone and watching her children in danger and shooting infected had her exhausted.

“I guess I can go but if we find something we’ll have to make another trip. The RV’s are too far away to walk and neither of the boys can drive that far. I guess Caleb could try, he knows a little and it wouldn’t hurt if he ran into something…”

“Can’t we stay home today? Can’t we stay here and not leave?”

“We’ve been over that. You saw the Golden Strip and Wal-Mart, those aren’t the only places like that. They are to the west and east and across the river and if they learn we are here they will be on our front porch.”

“Is anywhere else better? You want us to take off not knowing where or what we’ll find! It could be a lot worse other places than it is here.”

“I’m sure it is worse
other places
. I’m also sure it’s better
other places
. I’m also sure that we have to leave. If there was one thing, one friend we found I’d say ‘
Let’s stay
.’ But there is nothing. I don’t know why, I just know we can’t stay.”

The closer our day to leave got the more tension we felt. None of us wanted to go and we were searching for reasons to stay but so far there was nothing keeping us except memories and emotion.