Infected: They Will Eat You!: A Story of Family Survival in a Zombie Apocalypse (19 page)

By seven I was packed and ready to leave but I waited with coffee on the porch. It was going to be a bright hot day and humid after the rain. The boys were up, I could hear them talking about vehicles and the vultures and what to have for breakfast. Christine came out and sat with me.

“We can all go today. I just really don’t want to leave.”

“I know but there is nothing here for us anymore. We haven’t found any friends, they apparently left, we can’t be sure we can secure our street so our house is not secure, even Wegman’s is overrun.”

She smiled at that “I love Wegman’s. We haven’t looked for all our friends and we could move somewhere safer, we don’t have to stay in this house.”

“We could spend a lot of dangerous time looking for more friends. I tell you what, today when we are out car shopping we can drive by people’s houses.”

“That would be nice. I’ll get the boys ready.” she said as she went inside.

Driving around was too conspicuous for me to be comfortable. It wasn’t the infected I was worried about necessarily but living people. If they saw us it could be trouble. Still, if we found others it could help make our decision to leave or stay.

We packed everything up and headed out. For an hour we drove the streets looking for people but all we found were infected. Twice we nearly drove into a mob and had large groups following us at times but sped up or turned a corner and lost them. We eventually arrived at the RV lot and had to break the front door glass to get in to find keys to the vehicles.

“Pick one.” I said. They all pointed to the gigantic black and grey bus sitting by the road.

“We want that one.” said Christine.

“You would, it’s a monster. I don’t know if I can drive that thing.” I responded walking toward it. We found the key that corresponded to the number on the window sticker and unlocked it.

“It’s hot in there.” Jesse said.

“Yeah, let me go in and open some windows.” I walked up the stairs and looked around. There was still plastic on most of the seats it was so new. With windows open and the temperature dropping inside the family looked around as I tried to start it. “Battery’s dead, I’m getting nothing.”

“Oh no.” said Christine.

“I’ll look and see if any others will start. We can pull the battery out of another or maybe jump this one.”

It took three tries but we found another RV that started. “You guys wouldn’t rather have this one would you?”

“We like that one daddy.” Caleb said.

“Great. I’ll find some tools or cables and we’ll get it started.”

I went back to the dealership building and searched around finding both wrenches and jumper cables.

“Let’s see if we can jump this thing first.” I said on my return.

“We’d better hurry, we’re attracting attention.” Christine said pointing across the street.

“Boys, crawl up top and keep us safe.” I instructed.

Christine and I found the engine compartment and the battery and hooked the two up. She got in and revved the one while I got behind the wheel and turned the key. It didn’t want to start at first but on the fourth try it fired up.

I let it run as I jumped out and unhooked the cables. “Shut that down and I’ll pull the battery so we have a spare.” I said to Christine.

“There’s a lot more coming now.” Caleb called down.

“Keep shooting, we’ll be done here in a minute.”

Once the battery was out I put it inside the RV. “You take the hummer and the boys and follow me. I’m not sure how this thing handles so I’ll drive slowly. And, there’s no hiding it so I’ll park it a couple houses down the street. You park in the back.”

“OK.”

“Guys, are we clear?”

“There’s more coming but they are down there.” Jesse said pointing up the road.

“We’re going the other way so let’s go. Get in with mommy.”

“We want to ride in the RV.” Caleb argued.

“Get in now!” I ordered.

We started out slowly but the big diesel motor warmed up and felt smooth. I could see Christine behind me working to adjust to the hummer. It would be an exciting trip home for us both. I only ran over three curbs on corners but didn’t hit anything else. Getting it turned onto Glenwood was a task, brushing trees and squeezing around corners but we got home safe. We attracted a following of infected that, once parked, we greeted with bullets to the head. My boys were becoming true marksmen.

Once in the house we grabbed some food and drink and rested on the porch. “I need to go get the trailer so we can get it loaded. We leave tomorrow and I’d like to get out of here early.”

“How early?” asked Christine.

This was always an issue when we went on trips. I liked to leave early, very early, and she packed the morning we were to go which meant we didn’t leave early. “By eight.” I answered.

“Oh.” was all she said.

“I need someone to go with me to get the trailer.”

“We can all go.” Christine said.

“How ‘bout Jesse go with me and Caleb help get the food out of the basement. Put it on the porch and we’ll move it into the RV and trainer when we get back.”

“OK!” Jesse agreed quite enthusiastically.

“That’s fine.” agreed Christine.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” said Caleb.

“Then let’s get this done.” I said picking up my rifle.

It only took Jesse and me a few minutes to drive to the armory. There were two trucks, some civilian cars and three trailers in the fenced lot.

“Is that the door you went in daddy?” Jesse asked pointing to the partially opened door.

“Yeah, but I didn’t go very far. It’s spooky.”

We looked over the trailer, checked inside and hooked it up to the hummer. “That was easy.” I said as we drove off.

“Yeah, that was real easy.” he agreed.

We spent the next four hours loading up the trailer and RV with provisions, weapons, ammo, clothes, books, games, school supplies and the items we cherished or felt we needed.

“Can we take our bikes dad?” Caleb asked.

“I’m sure we can find bikes wherever we go.”

“But I really like my bike.”

“Me too.” chimed Jesse.

“We have room so I guess. There’s room in the trailer, do you want to take your anvils and some tools, and maybe chisels and hand tools?”

“Yeah!” they agreed in unison.

It was near dark before we stopped. Most of the items we were taking were loaded, this felt more like a big camping trip than an escape and I guess it was. Christine was still outwardly upset about the ordeal but holding up well.

“It’s getting too dark, let’s get cleaned up and eat. There’s not much more left to do in the morning.” I said.

We locked everything up and went inside. The rest of the evening the boys and I talked about what we’d find and where we’d go. We looked at maps and calculated miles. Christine tried to take part but was mostly silent. This was much more difficult on her than the boys and I. This was home, and giving it up was painful.

-——————————————

Getting up before sunrise was not very productive in our current life. BI, Before Infection, getting up early meant a few hours of quiet time to get a lot of work accomplished. With no electricity inside and the threat of infected sneaking up on you outside, it was best to sleep ‘till daylight. Still, old habits die hard and I was up before dawn. It was a time to check and recheck our ‘Take’ list and make sure we were ready.

When it was light enough outside to see a few blocks I went to check the vehicles. One of the first things we needed was fuel. The hummer was nearly full but the RV was on E. The plan was to pull up next to a tractor trailer and siphon from its tanks. We had three trucks targeted that were on the way out of town depending on the rout we took to the beltway. The big question that remained unanswered was what the roads were like “out there”.

By seven everyone was up and eating and getting their last minute stuff packed.

“Don’t forget Joey.” Jesse said watching the cat rolling on the sidewalk in the sun.

“Mommy packed his food and toys and stuff.” I answered, “We’ll put him in the RV when we’re ready to go.”

“What’s that?” Christine asked walking toward the RV with an arm load of books.

“It sounds like a truck.” answered Jesse.

“I don’t hear anything.” I said.

“It’s definitely something. It changes pitch like a car does.” Christine said.

We listened closer standing in the street, arms full. “There it is!” exclaimed Christine.

“Shhh!” I hushed.

It was the roar of a truck engine. Whoever was deriving that was either trying to attract attention or not too bright. That loud a vehicle would get infected moving for blocks away.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or not.” I finally said.

“Why isn’t that good? It means someone else is alive.” Christine sounded both concerned and hopeful with a bit of irritation mixed in. She wanted to stay and did not like my suggestion that a sign of the living was anything but terrific news.

“Why would someone drive
that
around? We can hear it a mile away, what do you think it’s like closer to him?”

“Maybe they are attracting them for a reason, like herding. You talked about using firecrackers.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“We need to see who it is.”

“We’re leaving, we’re already late.”

“Maybe we don’t have to leave. This could mean that there are more people and we can work together and make
here
better.”

“It’s possible. It’s also possible that that noise is just some plant getting ready to explode.”

“Can’t we go look?”

“That could take all day and we may not be able to find anything and it could be really dangerous. If it was people they could be the kind we don’t want to meet.”

“It’s worth a try.”

I took a deep breath and thought for a moment. All I wanted to do was get on the road. I always expected to leave late but now this. “OK.”

“Yeah!”

“Caleb and I will do, you and Jesse stay and finish packing. We need to be ready to drive off, maybe quickly, when we get back.”

“Shouldn’t we all go?”

“No, just finish getting ready. We’ll take my truck.”

Caleb and I got our gear and were ready to leave within twenty minutes.

“I’m hoping we’ll be back in a couple hours, you guys be ready to jump in and leave.”

“We’ll be ready.”

“I’m not comfortable doing this.” I said as I kissed her and got in the truck.

The truck hadn’t been running in a couple weeks and it struggled at first but finally started. “We have enough ammo?” I asked Caleb as I put the truck in drive.

“Ten each plus one in each.”

“Good.”

We drove east on Grampian and around the areas I’d walked days before. There was nothing we could see that was different, no sign of the living or that anything had been moved.

“Where did it sound like that truck was going?” I finally asked.

“I don’t know, kinda around here.”

“Yeah…..it didn’t sound like it was on the beltway but it was going fast enough to be on a larger road. I didn’t hear any squealing like it was racing around corners or anything.”

“Nope.”

“Maybe down Northway but that’s getting lose to the strip. I guess we’ll do that then get on the beltway.”

Infected were thicker the further we went into the eastern neighborhoods. By the time we reached Northway Road we were swerving to avoid them and at times they were bouncing off the truck. Loyalsock was definitely more infested than any area we’d seen so far.

“We need a snow plow.” Caleb commented.

Once on the beltway we were free of obstacles and heading east.

“Look, to the right.” Caleb was pointing to a mass of infected hovering near the river.

“That’s a truck alright and it’s by a boat ramp.”

“That’s a good idea, a boat.”

“Yeah, I wonder where they went.”

“I wonder if they can swim.”

“Don’t’ think they could, especially the older ones, they don’t’ move well enough to kick and all. I think they’d mostly sink. I wonder if they know to avoid the water or if they would walk in and drown.”

We continued on our way Caleb looking for any sign of people along the river. When the road curved away and the river was out of site he called home and reported in. There was nothing much to tell and I was hoping my wife would give us permission to return so we could get going. It didn’t happen.

It was close to eleven thirty when we pulled into a car lot on the east end of Montoursville. “Are we going to car shop?” Caleb asked.

“No, we’ll just be less conspicuous here. We can go up this road and hit the beltway where we can head toward home or toward the mall or we can head this way,” I pointed east, “to go toward the mall. Or we can just go back the way we came. What do you think?”

“I don’t know, we’re not finding anything and it’s getting late. I’m getting hungry.”

“Me too. It’s going to be dark before we get to Ohio and we really don’t need to be driving in the dark. I think we should just……………” I stopped talking and listened.

“Gun.” Caleb said.

There was another shot.

“That’s not far off, right down the road.” I said.

I started the truck and drove slowly in the direction of the shots.

“They weren’t as far out as the mall.” I said.

“They sounded like they were more over here.” Caleb was pointing to our right, in the direction of the river.

“There are houses and farms over there and the river is a mile or so that direction.”

He just nodded.

We drove another mile and turned onto a side road. Three infected were headed that direction so we crept along behind them in the truck just far enough away not to be noticed. We heard three more cracks in quick succession.

“Twenty-two.” I said, “It’s close. We’ll park at this house and make our way over the hill. There’s a subdivision over there, I bet that’s where it’s coming from.”

I paused and looked at Caleb. “Hey, watch out for infected
and
people. We don’t know what to expect and the living could be more dangerous than infected, understand?”

“Yeah.” he said softly.

We stalked the infected moving parallel with them through a well treed area heading directly for the subdivision. This was farmland fifteen years go now it was covered in a hundred or more houses. We stopped still concealed by trees and underbrush watching the infected and scanning in the direction they were headed.