The Road to Macon: A Zombie Novel (11 page)

The next hour saw Eric gathering and packing supplies for the short trip to Kyle's. He decided it wasn't that far out of the way and he might need help. He collected all the guns, food, and tools that he could gather, and put them into his work trailer that was now hitched to his truck. After another quick trip to say goodbye to his family, he pulled back onto the dirt road heading toward the friends he had left.

Kyle was relived just to be in his neighborhood, but also noticed there were was smoke coming from a few places in the relatively new development. He got on the radio that Eric had put in the Tahoe.

"You guys on?" he asked. He wasn't bothering with call signs now.

"Copy that, Professor," answered Yolanda, she had moved back to the other Tahoe to be with James.

“Little alone time,” Eric thought.

"Roger roger Rubber Ducky," said Patrick. Eric could hear his kids in the background.

"I'm going to head to my place and bypass the distractions that I see. When we get there, let’s set up a tactical circle with the house as the XR." Well, he hadn't quite given up all the lingo, but it was a lot easier with everyone knowing what he was talking about. Kyle wanted a semi-circle around the front yard, with the trucks close enough to stop anything from coming in, while protecting the house in the rear.

The other two confirmed and they drove through the housing development. Kyle almost exploded in panic when he saw his house. Right at the front door were seven or eight of the diseased and they were pounding away at the door. Kyle pushed down his knee jerk response to go charging in and picked up the radio again.

"Change of plans, we'll do the tactical circle facing the other way, take out the diseased. If they’re not diseased and are looters, we'll scare them away and then turn around the circle. Let's go in fast and take care of it," he finished.

Kyle slammed on the gas as he turned onto his street. It only took seconds to cover the fifty yards and he positioned his truck at a diagonal angle on the far side of the house. Patrick's truck came next, and for a second Kyle though he was just going to ram the Tahoe, but the truck screeched to a stop and just kissed his truck. Yolanda ran her truck up on the neighbor's lawn across the street to get a good angle to complete the tactical circle. She also slightly bumped Patrick’s truck and the half-circle was complete.

Kyle jumped out of truck with his long-arm and positioned himself on the hood of the truck. He looked over to see James and Yolanda take the far flank, with Patrick standing between the back of his own truck and the hood of Kyle’s.

"James!" Kyle yelled. "Watch our six and make sure none of the diseased comes walking up on this. Yolanda, Patrick make sure you try and get headshots, I'd rather you not shoot my brother with errant shots. I'm gonna fire a few over the house to let him know to get down.

"Yeah, watch your fire Patrick," Yolanda echoed. "This isn't the death star."

To his credit, Patrick didn't look at Yolanda, he just remained aiming at the diseased who were now turning to look at the trucks.

Shots rang out as Kyle got the total attention of the attackers.

"Abe, if you’re in there, go into the garage and get behind something!" Kyle yelled. He hoped his brother heard him because the attackers were now emitting an ear-piercing scream and stumbling in his direction.

"Cover your own area of fire!" Kyle yelled to his friends. "Fire!" The three friends immediately pulled the triggers and just like that it was over. The diseased had only gotten a few feet away from the door when shots rang out and they fell to the ground with multiple head shots.

"Clear!" Yolanda yelled, followed by Patrick and James.

"Clear," Kyle said, absently almost forgetting about the short firefight instantly. He started to walk around the truck. His nerves were on edge and he was hesitant to enter the house. He wasn't sure he could handle it if something happened to his brother. Cryptic thoughts caused him to stop in the yard, he couldn't make himself go to the door. Kyle's internal agony was cut short when he heard the garage door began to open. Kyle's fatigued and worried eyes lasered in as the door slowly opened. He forced himself to move again. “Just a step,” he said. Another step. Irrational fear again gripped him, eternal seconds where he pictured his brother being attacked and eaten, and him being too late to help.

The door rose just about Kyle's height when Abe ducked under and walked out of the garage. Kyle, seeing his brother safe, felt almost a physical force that caused him to sway slightly before he took a hold of himself. He inhaled, to make sure he wasn't going to lose it, and took quick steps over to his brother and pulled him into a tight hug. Abe felt his brother's arms around him, and relief like a waterfall fell over him. The two brothers held each other for a long moment, both of them letting fear and apprehension drain away. Kyle let go first and stepped back to look at his brother.

"I see you’re suited up," Kyle said, his voice almost quivering. He didn't care about showing emotion to his brother and he felt almost stupid for not saying something more meaningful.

Abe laughed, "Yeah, I almost didn't believe you, but decided it was only my pride on the line if it was another joke. I know now it wasn't." He also seemed shaken to Kyle. Something had happened, but before he found out exactly what that was, he needed to make sure they were in a defensible position for next little while .

"I'm glad you took precautions," Kyle said, and looked over to Abe's truck that was backed up to the small trailer. "And thanks for getting everything set up. I hope you didn't have any problems except for what was here."

Abe followed Kyle's look to the dead people on the ground. "We can talk about it later," Abe said. He was dead tired and hadn't been able to relax for the last few hours. He had been scared out of his mind and was almost ready to break down. Seeing his brother had almost caused the floodgates to open on the spot, but he got it together and patted his brother on the arm.

"Brother, I need a shower and to chill for a minute, my nerves are on edge."

Kyle just nodded and let his brother walk back inside the garage and in the door of the house.

"Hey, where's he going? He didn't even say hi," Yolanda complained, as she came up from behind Kyle.

"I think he just needs to relax for a few minutes knowing he's got somebody watching his back," Kyle said

"I hear ya there, Professor. I would hate to be trapped in a house with those things beating down the door. I wonder how long they were here?" she questioned.

Patrick ran up beside the two. "Kyle, I don't want to let my family out until we get those things out of the yard and the trucks turned around.

"Let's do it then," Kyle started, "I have some rope in the garage that we can tie to their legs and we'll just pull them out. Then we'll move the trucks."

Patrick nodded and ran to explain to his wife, who was probably a little afraid of what she just saw.

Kyle looked over to James still scanning the area around the house. Solid dependable James. He smiled at Yolanda who gave him a curious look. "I'll get the rope and tie them off. Back the Tahoe up to them and we'll drag them around the block."

Thirty minutes later and the diseased corpses were out of the yard, and the three trucks were in a tactical circle with Abe's truck and trailer on the left of them. A jittery Jasmine and the kids were taken inside. Kyle, thankful that electricity was still working, had put on a Disney movie for the kids and showed Jasmine were the peanut butter and jelly was. He then went back to the spare room to check on his brother. Abe had a towel around him and was dead to world on the bed. Kyle leaned on the doorframe of the room and just looked at his brother for a few minutes. He had been terrified that he wasn't going to make it home and now that he was, he didn't want to move. His fear told him to just button up this place and hope everything would turn out okay. Fear was the activity killer. He wasn't sure how badly this thing was, but his brother and his friends’ lives were too much of a gamble to let his fear take over. He quietly pulled the door closed and let his brother sleep. He wasn't sure how long he could leave him. As Kyle walked down the hall he noticed the towel that he had left beside his brother’s door that morning and just smiled.

Kyle walked back into the living room and upon seeing everyone, except for James, he told them to get something to eat and take a shower. He walked outside and saw James still standing behind the Tahoe, looking out into the neighborhood.

"Your brother must have gotten one earlier, and by looking at the many shots it took, it was close range with the pistol," James said.

"Yeah, he must have let it get close," Kyle said, and shuddered. He had seen the body but hadn't inspected it. "I'll take lookout for awhile, go ahead and grab a shower with your woman and get something to eat. Not sure how long we are going to have electricity, Patrick can relieve me in a hour or so.

James looked at Kyle, one eyebrow lifting in his otherwise stone face. Seconds passed and Kyle wondered if he went too far with his little joke. "Maybe I will," James said, and headed into the house. Kyle smiled and went to the truck to grab the portable radio, then pulled out the ladder from the garage and climbed onto the roof. He walked to the top and sat down to a view of the surrounding area.

Abe woke up with a jerk, sure that the crazed man was coming after him. Sweat poured off his brow and his heart pounded. He quickly looked around the room, waiting. A minute passed and his heart started to slow down as he heard voices in the other room. He let go of the pistol that he was holding and leaned back against the pillow. "Need to get a hold of myself,” he thought. He looked at his watch - 3:30. He had slept for almost an hour and a half. He got up and buckled the gun belt around his waist. He wasn't sure if he ever wanted to go anywhere without it again. He walked into the living room to find Kyle's friends sitting around eating sandwiches.

"Look who decided to wake up and join the fight?" called out Yolanda, standing up to give him a hug. Abe smiled back and wrapped her in a hug. She was the first person that he met after Kyle started working for the plant. She sat back down next to a large black guy.

"James," he said, "nice to meet you."

"Abe," he responded, "and likewise. Where's Kyle?"

The Professor is taking a shower," Yolanda said, and Patrick is on the roof keeping lookout. Another friend of ours called and he is on his way over.

Abe nodded his head and introduced himself to Jasmine and the kids, then walked back toward his brother’s room to find him getting dressed.

"What are we gonna do now?" he asked. He was feeling safe at the moment and wasn't sure he wanted to go anywhere.

"That's what we're going to talk about, let's go," Kyle said, and walked past his brother after giving him a punch in the stomach. The blow, totally unexpected, almost knocked the air out of his lungs.

"Idiot."

"Let's have this meeting on the front lawn so Patrick can participate. Eric should also be here by the time we get out there." The group got up, picking up their beers and sodas, and walked to the lawn. The kids both brought little toys to keep them occupied near the door of the house as the others moved beside the leaning ladder.

"Patrick, come halfway down so we can talk," Kyle said, trying not to shout. The last hour had provided quite a few diseased stragglers that had come their way. They had all been taken out quite a ways from the house, but the noise of the guns concerned him.

"Wait one second, I just saw a truck coming this way," Patrick said from the roof. Kyle unslung his gun, as did James, but just as quickly Patrick called out that it was Eric heading in.

"Copy that," Kyle said, deciding to wait a few minutes until he got there.

It didn't take long for Eric's large truck to barrel up to the front yard. He stopped, stuck his head out the window looking in all directions, and pulled his head back in. Not saying a word, he put the truck in reverse and backed out again. He then moved his truck to completely fill in the circle around the house. Kyle was smiling as he walked to meet his friend.

"Glad you could make it man," he said with genuine affection. Eric was somebody you wanted with you in a tough spot. "Are the other guys coming or staying at their places? How about your folks?”

Eric just hung his head and said quietly, "They didn't make it man, parents were gone before I got home. Looks like my mom just died from a heart attack, my dad not so lucky. The other guys’ parents were already sick and must have gotten them quick. I don't know.”

Silence hung in the air as the others were listening and didn't know what to say to Eric’s loss. Kyle gripped his arm and then pulled him into a man hug.

"I'm sorry about your loss."

"Thanks Kyle, that means a lot. The folks always did appreciate you helping them." Kyle, slightly embarrassed, waived it away, he had only given them a basic tutorial on the computer after all.

Eric noticed the group staring at him and told them to cut it out, he didn't need people giving him those looks now. He turned to see Patrick's kids playing in the entrance of the house. He nodded his shaggy head in appreciation, and then walked to the back of his truck and let the tailgate down. He reached inside, unclasped the lock, and seconds later his remaining family jumped on the ground and started moving with boundless energy around the group, smelling legs. The kids squealed in delight and instantly had the attention of the beagles. Eric smiled.

Kyle patted Eric on the shoulder again and looked at his watch.

"It's almost four o'clock now," he started, looking around at everyone. "We have packed most everything we need for the moment. The trip to Fort Macon is about twenty-five minutes if we don't have anything pop up, which today is a big if. Should we go for it today, or buckle down here tonight and start first thing tomorrow morning?”

"We don't have much time before sundown," James stated, looking at the sky. "I say only about an hour before it gets dusk."