Knight Terrors: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale (5 page)

     “Everything ok, Boss Man?”  Mike walked up with Tabby.  They sat with me around the fire in the center of the parade ground.  It had been getting colder rather than warmer as the day went on.

     “Just thinking about the plan.”

     “For the fort?”

     “Yeah, how to defend it.”

     Tom and Beth were helping Tony over to where were sitting.

     “You need a cane, Tony,” I said.

     “That would help, I think.  Now that I can put some weight on it.”

     “Well, we will keep our eyes open for something tomorrow.”

     “Good, thanks.  What are you thinking of doing for our new home?”

     “The first thing is more ladders.  I don’t see how zombies could really get to us.  But, if they did get here we could just be up on the top of the casemates and shoot down.  Easy peasy.”

     “Makes sense.”

     “I agree.  The problem is humans.  They’re sneaky.”

     “They could be up to the wall before we knew they were her,” said Mike.

     “And shooting down from the wall at people who are shooting back is a problem,” said Tony.

     “Right.  I don’t think there is a fort in history that has ever held out indefinitely,” I said. “So, our best defense is an early warning.”

     “So, we have to have a lookout at all times,” said Mike.

     “Yep, 24-7.  If we see someone coming then we can get people up on the wall and down on their bellies.  They’d make difficult targets lying down,” I said.

     “Makes sense,” said Tony.  “Are there any weak points?”

     “Well, the doors are good.  The openings for the cannons have wooden covers but they should be shored up some.  The problem is that wooden section of the wall.”

     “What do you want to do about it?”

     “Nails, I would think.  Drive some through the wood to act as spikes.  Then drive some into the top and snip the heads off.  It would be all spikey like something to keep pigeons off, but more heavy duty.”

     “I think we came away with some tools and nails,” said Tom.  “I’ll go take a look.”

     “I wish we had some early warning besides a lookout,” I mused.

     “I think we’d be hard to sneak up on,” offered Karen.  “We’d hear a boat.”

     “A motorboat, sure.  But not a sailboat.  And on low tide you can walk from here over to James Island.  But, I don’t know what to do about that.”

     No one else seemed to know either.

     “Well, there’s stuff to do.  Let’s get to work.  Make sure John gets some food up at the lookout spot.”

     The work went well till about 3:30 when a cold rain began to fall.  The casemates kept the rain off our heads but it quickly became apparent that a heavy rain would put a lot of water up under the casemates where we had our stuff.  I added pallets to the list in my head of what we needed to pick up.  Then we all headed for the museum to keep dry for the night.

     Despite the cold rain outside and getting wet, the mood of the group was positive.  People were talking and laughing.  I felt bad for Tom who had the lookout job for the early part of the night.  He had good rain gear that we all shared but I’m sure being out in this was no fun.

     The rest of the day passed without incident.  With all the noise we made firing the weapons I was a little surprised that no one came out to us.  I was on watch when the rain let up about 2 am.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

     Lois met me in the morning with a cup of coffee.

     “Good morning, Ryan.”

     “Good morning, Lois.  To what do I owe the pleasure?”

     “I want to go on the supply run this morning.”

     “Any particular reason why?”

     “I just want to contribute more.”

     “You contribute plenty.  You’ve been nursing Tony’s leg.  And now you’ve got a pregnant woman to look after.  I can’t afford to lose you.”

     “I know.  But, Tony is healing nicely.  He’ll be walking on his own sooner rather than later.  And Tracie is a month away from her due date.  She has done well with her eating and drinking.  I want to contribute in a different way.”

     “Mike will kill me if I say yes.”

     “I’ve already talked to Mike and he’s okay with it.”

     “Because he knew I’d say no.”

     “Ryan…”

     “Okay, you can come.  Let Mike help you gear up.”

     I said good morning to Tabby, Mal and Karen on my way to find Tom.  He was having coffee with Keith and John.

     “For reasons that I don’t understand, Lois is begging me to come out on the supply run today.”

     “You want someone to stay behind?”

     “Yeah, I’d like it to be you, if that’s okay.  I need someone that I trust to make decisions while I’m gone.  I trust Tony, but he’s not very mobile still.  Between the smoke on Sunday and the noise yesterday, we might see some visitors.”

     “I’m guessing you want them kept outside?”

     “Yeah, talk to them from the wall if you feel safe enough, gather information.  But, I’d like to feel them out for myself.”

     “Understood.”

     Next I went to find Tracie.  She was with Beth and Tony having coffee.

     “Good morning folks.  Tony, how’s the leg today?”

     “It’s been stiff first thing in the morning.”

     “I’m gonna get you a cane today.  Tracie can I have a word?”  We walked a few steps away from Beth and Tony.

     “I’m going on a supply run this morning with a few of the group.  I’m the only one that drives the boat at the moment but I’d probably go anyway.  While I’m gone, Tom and Tony are in charge if you need anything.  I need to know if there’s anything specific that you need, prescriptions or anything like that.”

     “No, but with the limited food choices I’d like to have some pre natal vitamins.”

     “Pre natal vitamins, got it.”

     I smiled and got ready to go.

     Several people came down to the boat to see us off.  I was lucky that the tide was coming in to the harbor.  It took us away from the pier gently with little effort on my part.

     Everyone came into the wheelhouse where there was some heat.

     “Hopefully we can get the boat tied up quickly, we don’t know what we’ll find when we pull up.”

     “Hopefully the bus starts,” said Mike.

     “Shit, I hadn’t thought about that.  Thanks Mike.”

     Everybody chuckled.

“Lois, since you’ve not done this with us before lets go over some basics.  Zombies are stupid.  Remember what we did to clear the convenience store the day we met?”

     She nodded.

     “Basically we still do that.  We open a door just enough for one zombie to come through at a time.  Then we take turns shooting until they’re all dead again.”

     “Sounds easy,” she said.

     “It is when it goes right.”

     “And when t doesn’t?” she asked.

     “Last time we blew up a mall,” said Mike.

     Everybody laughed.  But I was thinking of the day that we lost Mike’s father.  That day there were too many zombies to handle and they were in the open.  They had been lured to us by some very bad people who wanted our stuff.  Michael didn’t make it to the bus.

     “We are going to hit the Harris Teeter on East Bay Street this morning for food and water.  And if it doesn’t take long, we’ll hit the CVS too.  We need a cane for Tony and some pre natal vitamins for Tracie.”

     “This is gonna suck, Ryan,” said John.

     “Yeah, I know.  But they’re close together and it makes sense to hit them both while we’re here.  Plus, you aren’t going to like the alternative.” 

     “What’s the alternative?”

     “You’ll have to take the bus and RV over across the bridge to Mt Pleasant and meet me at Patriots Point.”

     “You don’t think we’ll have to do that anyway?’ asked John.

     “John’s paying attention.  Yes, if we don’t end up doing it today, we’ll have to do it tomorrow anyway.  There’s just not enough grocery stores in downtown,” I replied.

     “Well, you’re just a bundle of good news,” said Lois.

     “You wanted to come.”

      “Ryan, what do you think happens to the zombies in the water?” asked Keith.

     “I’m just guessing here, but I think they would become waterlogged and sink.  It shouldn’t take too long for their bodies to dedcompose.  So I don’t think they’ll be an army of the dead walking up out of the harbor.”

     The conversation moved onto other things.  As we got close to the dock, everybody got into position to get the ropes on the boat.  I didn’t hit the dock too hard and nobody fell in.  I’m sure the boat wasn’t tied up properly but it wasn’t going anywhere.  All in all, it was a success.

     There were a few zombies milling around the dock and I made Lois get as many of them as possible for the practice.  We wrere just about to get in the bus when the gunfire started.

     “That sounds close,” said John.

     “Somebody is still alive in downtown,” said Lois.

     “But not for long with all that noise.  Let’s go see if we can help.  But only if we can do this safely, got it?”

     Everyone nodded.

     The bus started right up and I put the window down to follow the sounds of the gunfire.  There was a convenience store a few blocks to the north and that’s where I headed. We drove up slowly from a back driveway to not attract attention.  There were already thirty or so zombies and we could see more coming from the neighborhood across East Bay Street.

     Two survivors were on the steps leading up to the convenience store.  It looked like they got caught coming out; their packs were full.  A quick look showed more zombies coming from one direction than the other.  We came up on the slow side and stopped.

     “Crossbows?” asked Keith.

     “No,” I said.  “We won’t be around to collect the bolts and we need them.”

     “Tomahawks, then?” asked Mike.

     “Yep.”

     “Tomahawks?” asked Lois.

     “Not for you.  You stay here and watch our backs.  I don’t want to get snuck up on.”

     As we exited I thought about trying to get the people on the steps to stop shooting, but they were keeping the attention of the zombies away from us.  And that was a good thing.  For us, anyway.

     My group waded into the zombies from behind.  Every swing of a tomahawk brought one down.  Blood was flying everywhere.  It was hard not to trip over the fallen corpses.       The two people on the steps realized what we were doing and as soon as we thinned the heard some on one side they made a break for it.  A shift to the left cleared a path and they made it safely onto the bus.  We broke from our attack and got back to the door.  Mike was the last one in and I toggled the door and began to move.

     “Holy fuck,” said Lois.  Everyone turned to stare at her.

     “Mom,” said Mike.  “You act as though you’ve never seen one before.”

     “Not like that.”

     “Thank you,” said the woman we had saved.

     I turned to look at the couple we had just rescued.  Late forties, early fifties.  Fit.  Not equipped very well.  They had small backpacks.  Guns but no knives.

     “You’re welcome,” I said.  “I’m Ryan Knight.”

     Exchanges and hellos all around.  The woman spoke more than the man.  They were Ken and Nancy Jones.  They lived downtown and had been holed up since it all began.  They had always kept extra food on hand and it was just the two of them.  But they were down to a few crackers and needed to venture out.

     Ken didn’t talk much and he made me uneasy.  Mike looked over and I could tell he felt the same.

     We were a few blocks away from the grocery store when Ken asked where we were going.

     “I want to see what is left at the Teeter.”

     “What happens to us?” he asked.

     “We’ll get you some supplies and get you home,” I replied.

     “Can’t we come with you?” asked Nancy.

     “I’m sorry Nancy, we are overcrowded at our place as it is.  But, we’ll help you as best we can.”

     I smiled at her but when we pulled up to the Teeter my heart sank.  The doors were broken open and there was stuff strewn about outside.  There weren’t many zombies outside.  But, the open doors meant two things:  we couldn’t use our normal method of clearing the building and we probably weren’t gonna find much anyway.

     “Okay, let’s get the ones outside first.  Ken, Nancy, stay close and let us do this.  We can’t use firearms.”

     There were only seven or eight zombies outside in the parking lot and we quicky took care of them.  After recovering the bolts we all met at the the door.