Today started out so well, and turned into one big suck fest.
After hearing about a needless death of a child in the Frankfort Compound, which set my attitude early on, it just went downhill from there.
I sit typing away on the netbook after uploading the last of the beginning stories (which were stored and I forgot to get them up until now. I gotta get someone to help me with this.) with a bullet lodged in my left leg. Yeah, I already limp and now I have a gunshot wound. To the OTHER leg. John thought it was hilarious. Oh, and the entire mission today was a complete and utter disaster. I lost three men to bandits; we lost one of the 6X6’s to a Wile E. Coyote-type trap and my Humvee caught fire.
With me in it.
Yeah banner day at the ‘ol Depot. These bandits are getting under my skin (Ha. Ha. Quite literally) and as I sit here fuming I need a drink. No, no alcohol, but I would kill for a COLD Dr. Pepper. I did not think I would EVER miss McDonalds. Or Dairy Queen. KFC even.
Odessa is telling me that Katy is ready to pull the bullet out of my leg now and to stop feeling sorry for myself. Hmm, was that one of the reasons I got married? I’ll have to check my records.
So I am signing off, maybe for a few days, and will be back when I can.
Maybe when I am done being pissed and can upload a sensible report of what happened.
Over.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The Beginning, Part Ten
Kenny and I had cleared the entrance doors and I turned us left to go around the front of the building. Ever have that feeling people are watching you? Well the bullets chip the asphalt and the concrete blocks around us told me I wasn’t as paranoid as I thought. I was huffing and puffing when we got to the corner of the building (I really need to lose weight or not get shot so often)and I stopped us. We really had no cover, but the idiot crouching at the bottom of the wall looking up had absolutely none. He had what looked to be an AK47 or its Chinese equivalent and he would look up and then spray a few rounds, keeping John and Jake behind cover. A quick tap on my shoulder and Kenny showed me people moving up, tree to tree through the field. I nodded, and held my hand up for him to stay put. (Amazing what you learn from watching all those movies) I shouldered my rifle, turned on the EOTech holographic sight and carefully waited. The bastard at the wall, all dressed in black, ran out of bullets and was reaching for a new magazine from his vest when he noticed us. He turned, fumbling and dropped his magazine on the pavement, then looked up.
I squeezed my trigger when he had his hands raised in surrender. The 5.56mm NATO steel core shell caught him at the bridge of his nose and exploded the back of his head in a shower of blood and bone. I moved at that point and Kenny stayed with me. We made it behind the Humvee and he got behind the front tire, I got behind the rear tire. Any second the lights should come on. The moonlight came on bright as another low lying cloud moved away. The dead man’s eyes stared back at me from his crumpled position a few feet away. Fuck him. He got what he deserved. (You may be thinking at this point, ‘But he had surrendered to you, you can’t just kill him.’ Guess what? I did, and I did it without remorse. More than likely he was the one who shot me and Daisy. If not, one of his buddies did, so in the grand scheme of things he won’t be missed. Some of you will probably think I am no better than the bandits that attacked us. Think what you want, I really don’t give a shit. *I* did not go to their house with the intent to kill, steal, and probably rape. *I* was in my home and *they* attacked me. There is enough of a difference between what I did and he did that I can sleep at night. I am a destroyer, not a builder. I make the world safe for the builders. )
The perimeter lights came on, really bright, enough to light up the area around us very well. Men with rifles were moving out behind the trees, some taking aim and firing at the lights. Behind us up on the walls, gun fire erupted in earnest. I drew a bead on moving targets and let fly. Kenny was chattering away on his side of the Humvee as they made a run at our position. Across thirty yards of open field. It was not pretty.
The next morning we picked up the pieces and went around tallying things. We had lost five men and two women. We had killed more than 30 bandits. Some may have gotten away, some may have been eaten. We mopped up another twenty or so zombies in the aftermath. I finally shrugged off the vest and had Odessa and Katy look at my chest. I had ugly purple bruises where the bullets struck me. Maybe a cracked rib. I would live. Others were not so lucky. We spent that day cleaning debris, stripping the bandits, cataloging what we found. We gained 20 functioning fully automatic AK-74s (a new version of the AK-47) and a few thousand rounds of ammo. We also found a few grenades that they had luckily not gotten close enough to use on us. In with the other items were found of few walking-talky like devices and kept them on to see if we could hear anything. We patched holes in the leaking and thankfully unexploded gas and diesel tankers. We recovered a few jeeps and pickups (all with local license plates unfortunately) and what little stores they had brought with them. We then mourned and buried our dead.
The next few weeks had us scavenging in earnest. We found a few places that were hit hard. We gathered and gathered until the Major called a halt to the local scavenging. We had enough food for maybe a few more weeks at best but until our ‘Lowes Farm’ started producing, we needed to go either house to house and scavenge (not a good prospect) or go further out. We took military maps and found all the Depots, army bases and anything governmental within a 50 mile radius and plotted out some raids. We figured at best they may be manned like ours with survivors, at worst the undead or bandits.
We found two more small National Guard Depots, one completely bare, like in had a fire sale bare. The other was full of dead people. Not zombies but dead people. Families, soldiers, average folks. Blood was everywhere and we wasted some precious ammo to clean out the zombies that were inside getting a meal. We at first thought the dead had gotten them, then we noticed all the bullet holes. Bandits. There were only 24 of us and we decided to leave before they came back. Hopefully it was the same ones that attacked us and they could harm no one else. Ever. I still cannot wrap my head around people sometimes. The world is sliding into a morass of chaos, so what do they do? Kill the remaining few normal people. Who wants to be king of the shit pile? I know I don’t. Some people just can’t grasp the big picture I guess.
The next run out was the Blue Grass Army Depot. That is where I started uploading the intel and data for everyone to see. We have fortified our defenses a lot in the last 2 weeks. We now have fifty caliber machine guns set around the base and on the roof. We keep them for bandits; the ammo is too precious to waste on the Z. We have outposts planted around the town, all interconnected via radio with variable check in times. We may seem like a military force, but until the government comes back online (if ever) we have to depend on ourselves.
Over.
I squeezed my trigger when he had his hands raised in surrender. The 5.56mm NATO steel core shell caught him at the bridge of his nose and exploded the back of his head in a shower of blood and bone. I moved at that point and Kenny stayed with me. We made it behind the Humvee and he got behind the front tire, I got behind the rear tire. Any second the lights should come on. The moonlight came on bright as another low lying cloud moved away. The dead man’s eyes stared back at me from his crumpled position a few feet away. Fuck him. He got what he deserved. (You may be thinking at this point, ‘But he had surrendered to you, you can’t just kill him.’ Guess what? I did, and I did it without remorse. More than likely he was the one who shot me and Daisy. If not, one of his buddies did, so in the grand scheme of things he won’t be missed. Some of you will probably think I am no better than the bandits that attacked us. Think what you want, I really don’t give a shit. *I* did not go to their house with the intent to kill, steal, and probably rape. *I* was in my home and *they* attacked me. There is enough of a difference between what I did and he did that I can sleep at night. I am a destroyer, not a builder. I make the world safe for the builders. )
The perimeter lights came on, really bright, enough to light up the area around us very well. Men with rifles were moving out behind the trees, some taking aim and firing at the lights. Behind us up on the walls, gun fire erupted in earnest. I drew a bead on moving targets and let fly. Kenny was chattering away on his side of the Humvee as they made a run at our position. Across thirty yards of open field. It was not pretty.
The next morning we picked up the pieces and went around tallying things. We had lost five men and two women. We had killed more than 30 bandits. Some may have gotten away, some may have been eaten. We mopped up another twenty or so zombies in the aftermath. I finally shrugged off the vest and had Odessa and Katy look at my chest. I had ugly purple bruises where the bullets struck me. Maybe a cracked rib. I would live. Others were not so lucky. We spent that day cleaning debris, stripping the bandits, cataloging what we found. We gained 20 functioning fully automatic AK-74s (a new version of the AK-47) and a few thousand rounds of ammo. We also found a few grenades that they had luckily not gotten close enough to use on us. In with the other items were found of few walking-talky like devices and kept them on to see if we could hear anything. We patched holes in the leaking and thankfully unexploded gas and diesel tankers. We recovered a few jeeps and pickups (all with local license plates unfortunately) and what little stores they had brought with them. We then mourned and buried our dead.
The next few weeks had us scavenging in earnest. We found a few places that were hit hard. We gathered and gathered until the Major called a halt to the local scavenging. We had enough food for maybe a few more weeks at best but until our ‘Lowes Farm’ started producing, we needed to go either house to house and scavenge (not a good prospect) or go further out. We took military maps and found all the Depots, army bases and anything governmental within a 50 mile radius and plotted out some raids. We figured at best they may be manned like ours with survivors, at worst the undead or bandits.
We found two more small National Guard Depots, one completely bare, like in had a fire sale bare. The other was full of dead people. Not zombies but dead people. Families, soldiers, average folks. Blood was everywhere and we wasted some precious ammo to clean out the zombies that were inside getting a meal. We at first thought the dead had gotten them, then we noticed all the bullet holes. Bandits. There were only 24 of us and we decided to leave before they came back. Hopefully it was the same ones that attacked us and they could harm no one else. Ever. I still cannot wrap my head around people sometimes. The world is sliding into a morass of chaos, so what do they do? Kill the remaining few normal people. Who wants to be king of the shit pile? I know I don’t. Some people just can’t grasp the big picture I guess.
The next run out was the Blue Grass Army Depot. That is where I started uploading the intel and data for everyone to see. We have fortified our defenses a lot in the last 2 weeks. We now have fifty caliber machine guns set around the base and on the roof. We keep them for bandits; the ammo is too precious to waste on the Z. We have outposts planted around the town, all interconnected via radio with variable check in times. We may seem like a military force, but until the government comes back online (if ever) we have to depend on ourselves.
Over.
The Beginning, Part Nine
The roof of the Depot was flat, gravel over tar paper, your general lowest bidder construction. But it was home now. A small foot tall lip was all that stood between you and a ten foot drop. The Major was to my right with three people, looking out over the grassy plane that was once a running track. John was to my left watching the scrub woods, and the hole where the Humvee sat parked blocking it. His son and a woman would take turns sighting and firing on any movement. I stuffed the ear plugs in, and could immediately hear my own heart beat. The gun fire was more tolerable and I could hear people talking back and forth. Jake and his rifle crew were scanning the ridge line in front of us. Jake was using one of the night vision scopes to pick his targets. A gentle cough and his rifle would jump. I could not see if he hit or not, but as he was not hurrying his shots, I doubt it. The moon, nearly full, came out of a cloud bank and did wonders for us to see what was going on around us. The downside was they could see us too. I dove to John’s side as a hail of bullets rained down on the roof. I landed next to the woman, Daisy, her name was. All blond hair, blue eyes, and you would have thought dumb as a stump after talking to her. She liked it that way she confided in me the day I met her, kept people from expecting too much. She was a good shot too.
I looked over the edge and looked down; somebody was trying to get the Humvees’ door open. I fired three quick rounds down at them, not doing much but making a crack in the truck’s windshield. I gritted my teeth when they dove under the truck. They would crawl through under it to get inside. Well at least they weren’t zombies. A piece of exploding brick near my face got me to get down. Daisy laughed at me (hopefully just at my expression) and I smiled gritting my teeth.
‘John, one got under the Humvee. Sorry I missed.’ I yelled to him over the gunfire.
His boy gave me the thumbs up and leaned over the wall to look down. I did the same but instantly saw something reflecting in the moonlight just beyond the fence. It was a man with a scoped rifle taking aim up at us. I fired off a quick few rounds, the third one struck him and he spun around and fell. Daisy was firing over the wall and into the parking lot apparently locating the one I missed earlier.
I had just leaned down to look into the lot when I heard a ripping sound and something akin to a jack-hammer hit me in the chest to knock me completely over backward. The world spun as I tried to breathe but couldn’t, my chest tightening from the impact. I clutched at my chest as the world went completely dark.
I woke to see Daisy staring at me, and I tried to smile but then noticed the neat little hole in her forehead. A small trickle of blood ran from the hole down her nose and off her chin. She would never blink or bat her eyelashes at anyone again. I realized with that we were both laying on the roof and my head was turned towards her and she me. I listened and could hear gunfire still happening though my ear plugs and I moved my head up slightly. I then noticed the pool of blood I was lying in and it motivated me to feel around myself. Three holes were torn into my Kevlar vest, from my lower right rib cage up to the edge of the vest at my left shoulder. I pushed my fingers in the holes and got burnt by the still hot bullets lodged in the vests materials. Which in a way is a good thing. Apparently the blood I was lying in was poor Daisy’s , as I quickly surmised her injuries were at her throat and her head. Whoever fired on us got us both, I was lucky, she was not. My shoulder hurt like Hell and my left arm was nerve-numb, but I was alive. I grabbed my fallen rifle and crawled over to the wall, next to John and set up with my head below the wall.
‘Damn, I thought you was dead!’ he said as he smiled down at me and crouched down near me. He looked at Daisy and then me. I shook my head.
‘The rumor of my demise has been greatly exaggerated!’ I yelled back and had him help me get the charging handle on my AR pulled back. Once it slammed home, I was ready to work again.
‘Dad! They have full auto guns and 2 snipers hidden in the trees about 200 feet away. I can’t get a good shot at them.’ The former Marine yelled from his position of hiding behind the wall which was slowly chipping away from gun fire. Sliding stones announced Jake’s presence next to us.
‘What’s up guys? Damn, you alright?’ I nodded back, still not feeling much like talking. A fresh burst of gunfire tore at our wall just then. We all ducked even lower and gritted our teeth.
‘The ridge seems to be clear of bandits for now, but we can see some of the dead moving around up there, probably getting a free meal. I see you could use some help here.’ Jake asked as he put a fresh magazine in his sniper rifle. I had an idea, one that may work out to our advantage.
‘Stay here and don’t fire on them until you get the signal.’ I yelled over another fusillade of bullets tearing at the wall.
‘What’s the signal?’
‘You’ll know. Give me five minutes.’ I grabbed two spare magazines from my bag then crawled to the ladder and went down inside. Odessa was waiting with another woman also armed with a shotgun.
‘My God are you all right?’ She saw the blood and the holes in the vest and started to pat me down.
‘Fine, fine, not my blood. We need to get going. Come with me.’ I lead them out of the room and turned left, going deeper in the building where John’s wife and a few others shepherded the children when anything happened. Downstairs, most all the windows were shattered out and a few people braved the windows to fire back into the night, mostly wasting precious ammo. We stopped at a breaker panel box in the main hall. You could still see the large room the National Guard used for mustering out the guardsmen when they were being deployed.
‘ I’m going up to the front of the room and turn off the interior lights, when you see that, give me two minutes then throw this switch.’ I pointed to the perimeter light breakers. She nodded and looked at me with a fierce expression. I hugged her and hobbled down the hallway. I made a running slide to get to the front doors, and had to crawl a good ten feet to get there. The night guard was still at the door, but lying down. I noticed quite a few holes in the door. I got to his side and then with my back to the concrete wall, I tapped him on the shoulder.
‘I’m’ cutting the lights, when I do, push open the door for me and hold it. Okay?’ I must have been yelling as I noticed everyone looking around.
‘When the lights are off, everybody stays down, okay?’ This time I did yell, so the ones in the room could hear me. Some of them gave me a thumbs up, thinking I was deaf, other nodded. The guard, which I found out later was Kenny, watched as I used my still numb left arm to snap the interior lights off. (They should have been from the beginning but we didn’t think about that) As soon as that was done I fell over on my side, (making stars in my eyes and pain in my chest blossom) and rolled over upside down next to Kenny. He pushed the door open and as soon as he did bullets came screaming in over us. I pulled my rifle up and shot the light out that hung over the entrance. The light illuminated the National Guard sign and illuminated this entrance. It went pitch black inside which was what I wanted.
‘Follow me.’ I called to Kenny. I seem to be saying that a lot lately. I may need to check my priorities in life soon.
I looked over the edge and looked down; somebody was trying to get the Humvees’ door open. I fired three quick rounds down at them, not doing much but making a crack in the truck’s windshield. I gritted my teeth when they dove under the truck. They would crawl through under it to get inside. Well at least they weren’t zombies. A piece of exploding brick near my face got me to get down. Daisy laughed at me (hopefully just at my expression) and I smiled gritting my teeth.
‘John, one got under the Humvee. Sorry I missed.’ I yelled to him over the gunfire.
His boy gave me the thumbs up and leaned over the wall to look down. I did the same but instantly saw something reflecting in the moonlight just beyond the fence. It was a man with a scoped rifle taking aim up at us. I fired off a quick few rounds, the third one struck him and he spun around and fell. Daisy was firing over the wall and into the parking lot apparently locating the one I missed earlier.
I had just leaned down to look into the lot when I heard a ripping sound and something akin to a jack-hammer hit me in the chest to knock me completely over backward. The world spun as I tried to breathe but couldn’t, my chest tightening from the impact. I clutched at my chest as the world went completely dark.
I woke to see Daisy staring at me, and I tried to smile but then noticed the neat little hole in her forehead. A small trickle of blood ran from the hole down her nose and off her chin. She would never blink or bat her eyelashes at anyone again. I realized with that we were both laying on the roof and my head was turned towards her and she me. I listened and could hear gunfire still happening though my ear plugs and I moved my head up slightly. I then noticed the pool of blood I was lying in and it motivated me to feel around myself. Three holes were torn into my Kevlar vest, from my lower right rib cage up to the edge of the vest at my left shoulder. I pushed my fingers in the holes and got burnt by the still hot bullets lodged in the vests materials. Which in a way is a good thing. Apparently the blood I was lying in was poor Daisy’s , as I quickly surmised her injuries were at her throat and her head. Whoever fired on us got us both, I was lucky, she was not. My shoulder hurt like Hell and my left arm was nerve-numb, but I was alive. I grabbed my fallen rifle and crawled over to the wall, next to John and set up with my head below the wall.
‘Damn, I thought you was dead!’ he said as he smiled down at me and crouched down near me. He looked at Daisy and then me. I shook my head.
‘The rumor of my demise has been greatly exaggerated!’ I yelled back and had him help me get the charging handle on my AR pulled back. Once it slammed home, I was ready to work again.
‘Dad! They have full auto guns and 2 snipers hidden in the trees about 200 feet away. I can’t get a good shot at them.’ The former Marine yelled from his position of hiding behind the wall which was slowly chipping away from gun fire. Sliding stones announced Jake’s presence next to us.
‘What’s up guys? Damn, you alright?’ I nodded back, still not feeling much like talking. A fresh burst of gunfire tore at our wall just then. We all ducked even lower and gritted our teeth.
‘The ridge seems to be clear of bandits for now, but we can see some of the dead moving around up there, probably getting a free meal. I see you could use some help here.’ Jake asked as he put a fresh magazine in his sniper rifle. I had an idea, one that may work out to our advantage.
‘Stay here and don’t fire on them until you get the signal.’ I yelled over another fusillade of bullets tearing at the wall.
‘What’s the signal?’
‘You’ll know. Give me five minutes.’ I grabbed two spare magazines from my bag then crawled to the ladder and went down inside. Odessa was waiting with another woman also armed with a shotgun.
‘My God are you all right?’ She saw the blood and the holes in the vest and started to pat me down.
‘Fine, fine, not my blood. We need to get going. Come with me.’ I lead them out of the room and turned left, going deeper in the building where John’s wife and a few others shepherded the children when anything happened. Downstairs, most all the windows were shattered out and a few people braved the windows to fire back into the night, mostly wasting precious ammo. We stopped at a breaker panel box in the main hall. You could still see the large room the National Guard used for mustering out the guardsmen when they were being deployed.
‘ I’m going up to the front of the room and turn off the interior lights, when you see that, give me two minutes then throw this switch.’ I pointed to the perimeter light breakers. She nodded and looked at me with a fierce expression. I hugged her and hobbled down the hallway. I made a running slide to get to the front doors, and had to crawl a good ten feet to get there. The night guard was still at the door, but lying down. I noticed quite a few holes in the door. I got to his side and then with my back to the concrete wall, I tapped him on the shoulder.
‘I’m’ cutting the lights, when I do, push open the door for me and hold it. Okay?’ I must have been yelling as I noticed everyone looking around.
‘When the lights are off, everybody stays down, okay?’ This time I did yell, so the ones in the room could hear me. Some of them gave me a thumbs up, thinking I was deaf, other nodded. The guard, which I found out later was Kenny, watched as I used my still numb left arm to snap the interior lights off. (They should have been from the beginning but we didn’t think about that) As soon as that was done I fell over on my side, (making stars in my eyes and pain in my chest blossom) and rolled over upside down next to Kenny. He pushed the door open and as soon as he did bullets came screaming in over us. I pulled my rifle up and shot the light out that hung over the entrance. The light illuminated the National Guard sign and illuminated this entrance. It went pitch black inside which was what I wanted.
‘Follow me.’ I called to Kenny. I seem to be saying that a lot lately. I may need to check my priorities in life soon.
The Beginning, Part Eight
After we had the tractor, backhoe and bob-cat we made good time with our defenses.
We leveled the grounds around us, and expanded our chain link fencing to include the high school ball field, no easy task, but with the machinery it went pretty well. The noise did attract some unwanted attention once and a while, but nothing on a grand scale. For this we were extremely fortunate. In what would take a little less than a month, we had doubled our living space and quadrupled the amount of fenced in area. We had planted crops and were even starting on the idea of concrete walls. We started by looting the county resources of concrete ‘Jersey Walls’ and placing them outside the fences. This would slow a mob crush and also give us time before they actually got to the chain link. Dad and the Major thought of leaving deliberate holes in the walls to funnel any of the dead to a ‘kill zone’. This created a place where a few people could destroy many of dead. They even took my idea of a digging a moat around the area to heart and we have a five foot deep, ten foot wide earthen ring in the ground. Only the main road to the Depot is not ‘dug under’. We need to get heavy equipment in and out, so that also would be a ‘choke point’ defense area. They nixed the idea of water and alligators however. (I guess just in case one of us fell into it. Plus where would we get the alligators?) We were lucky that the man in the minivan, Jeremy, was an engineering student from UK, and his help was invaluable or we may have collapsed the road or the entire Depot if we dug in the wrong way or in the wrong spot. He was glad and a bit relieved he was an asset to us. But I get ahead of myself.
We found out that the dead were attracted to shiny items like crows. We also noticed they would stop and claw at their own reflection in the few remaining windows in town. We believe our own security lights were attracting them like some giant bred of undead moth. John and I one day took two pieces of scrap metal, shined them up with some sand paper, so they reflected like a mirror. We took these, some scrap lumber and a bit of nylon rope, walked to the nearest hill within line of sight of the Depot. We made a crude tripod and suspended the pieces of metal together inside it. When the wind kicked up they would bang and clang together, the sun reflecting from their polished surfaces. We hurried back down to the Depot and kept watch. We took turns that afternoon keeping watch and about an hour later the first dead head showed up. Then more. We had gathered eight total to the ‘Zbait’ as I named it. The Major came out to look at our little experiment with us and commended us for our tactic. The wind shifted from us to them and they started to do that little circle thing, like they were trying to figure out the direction the smell was coming from. The Major called for Jake to bring his rifle over to us. Jake’s rifle is an L82 sniper rifle outfitted with a ten inch noise suppressor on it. He takes his time and in about 30 seconds everyone of the Z’s are on the ground, not ever getting back up. Glad he is on our side. The Major orders me and John to go out and get our Zbait, so we do not get anymore unwelcome visitors.
We also discovered we were running out of food, quickly. The Major had it figured we had maybe two weeks left before it ran out. The stream inside the fence supplied water (which we filtered to kill any bacteria, etc.) but until the crops and probably even with them, we needed to find more food. I was assigned to go out the next day as one of three crews looking for food. I was assigned the Southern end of town which included Wal-Mart. We had been by there before and all the windows were broken out and a good amount of cars in the parking lot yet. I figure this to be Zombie Disneyland, especially if the lights were left on. It was about this time several people thought of using a big indoor building for crop raising. We picked the Lowes building because it had few windows, metal gates and most of the suppliers were there. One of my future assignments would be to rob Tractor Supply of most of its stock and transfer it to Lowes which was luckily only a quarter mile away. This also about the time we started looking for more trucks and fuel. We have several gas stations around town, but with the power still on and most everything abandoned, most were bleed dry. During this time the Depot had only a skeleton (no pun there) crew left to defend itself as 90% of us were out scavenging food, fuel and materials. We found an old single axle tanker truck at the local truck-stop, and filled it with as much diesel as we could gather for the stop and the surrounding trucks. In the days ahead this would be harder and harder to come by. We did find, bonus of bonuses a nearly full gas tanker truck just sitting on a side road, the door hanging open. It was itself out of diesel and the batteries were dead, but a few hours work and we brought it home. We have been incredible fortunate so far for fuel, but the food situation was getting worse. Wal-Mart was ransacked very well, no canned goods, and most boxed goods gone. We hit the remaining supermarkets and brought back what was left, a three quarters full 6X6 truck containing mostly boxed goods and some canned goods. Cereal and water would be the main stays for the days ahead.
We started to find cattle grazing in fields, not a care left in the world, and we found a lot of dead horses. We had no place to keep cattle, but marked the locations and would be back for one or two to supply us with protein.
That night we turned off all the exterior lights except those over the doors. We started using the few pairs of night vision goggles (which I cannot use because of my glasses) and the three night scopes that attach to rifles (Which I can use, so I still pull night duty) that were left in the Depot. I was lucky and did not pull night duty because of the next days’ forage mission. Of course, we did not much sleep again.
The Depot fire alarm was ringing me out of my sleep after midnight. I stumbled around getting my shirt on (I learned to sleep mostly dressed by now) on and my glasses. I grabbed my rifle and hooked the always filled ammo bag over my left shoulder. Odessa was following me with her trusty shotgun. People were coming into the hall way around us armed and mostly dressed as we made for the front door.
John caught up to us as we got close.
‘What’s up Hoss?’ he said as he loaded his rifle with a magazine. I shrugged my shoulders as we approached the front double doors. I heard a strange whine by my ear, like that of a mosquito, and then a small shower of glass struck my head. I ducked and most everyone around me hit the floor. A strangled cough sounded behind me and I knew someone behind me had gotten shot. I checked Odessa and John and then looked around us, noting a man I had seen but never spoken too, laying on the floor, blood pouring out of him. Odessa moved before I thought of anything and went to him, wading his shirt up over the wound. John joined her as the door opened in front of me, one of the night guards, still wearing the night vision goggles pulled the door shut behind him and got down.
‘What the Hell is going on?’ I asked as he pulled up the goggles, sweat pouring down his face. Two more windows shattered and a high pitched whine echoed in the large room. People we moving towards the walls without being told and staying clear of the windows. The RN, Katy, was now next to Odessa with a bag of supplies trying to stop the bleeding. Odessa caught my eye and shook her head.
‘We’re catching fire from the ridge and across the road. My buddy caught one in the head and I saw another corner guard go down. They will probably try to keep us pinned in here while they do whatever they are gonna do.’ I suddenly remembered his name was Sam.
‘Sam, can you stay here and watch the door?’ he nodded he could and I moved off to the downed man, keeping low. For all I know they had night vision gear too.
He was dead. Katy was hurriedly putting her stuff away when I had made the extra fifteen feet out in the open. Two more bullets cracked the tile near us.
‘Get the Hell out of here, all of you. Odessa, go back to the room and get my jacket, John go get yours. See if you can find us some helmets while you’re at it. I am going to the radio room, meet me there.’ The both nodded and skulked toward the walls as more bullets chewed thought the windows and into the flooring. I hustled myself back into the hallway, where luckily there were no windows, and then moved as fast as I could to the radio room. I met Jake there with another man and a woman, the Major hustled up a second later.
‘I am glad to see great minds think alike.’ The Major said as we went into the small room. The radio room was a tiny twenty foot square, but it had roof access from inside, so if the antennas needed servicing you could do it from here. Jake was at least in his armor and had a helmet on, the rest of us did not. Another two people came in the room running their arms full of armor vests and helmets. The Major and the rest got theirs and were putting them on when Odessa showed up with my armor vest and helped me strap into it. Damn thing was heavy with the trauma plates in it. Large pieces of plate steel and laminated plastic that *should* stop a bullet. John joined us a half minute later, and tossed me a helmet. By this time the rest had went up the ladder to the roof and I could hear the unsuppressed rifles barking. I looked at John and had noticed a smiley face on the front of his helmet done in permanent marker. I shook my head and he smiled at me before going up the ladder. Odessa stopped me and pressed something into my hand. A pair of ear plugs. I kissed her, told her to guard our backs and went up the ladder.
We leveled the grounds around us, and expanded our chain link fencing to include the high school ball field, no easy task, but with the machinery it went pretty well. The noise did attract some unwanted attention once and a while, but nothing on a grand scale. For this we were extremely fortunate. In what would take a little less than a month, we had doubled our living space and quadrupled the amount of fenced in area. We had planted crops and were even starting on the idea of concrete walls. We started by looting the county resources of concrete ‘Jersey Walls’ and placing them outside the fences. This would slow a mob crush and also give us time before they actually got to the chain link. Dad and the Major thought of leaving deliberate holes in the walls to funnel any of the dead to a ‘kill zone’. This created a place where a few people could destroy many of dead. They even took my idea of a digging a moat around the area to heart and we have a five foot deep, ten foot wide earthen ring in the ground. Only the main road to the Depot is not ‘dug under’. We need to get heavy equipment in and out, so that also would be a ‘choke point’ defense area. They nixed the idea of water and alligators however. (I guess just in case one of us fell into it. Plus where would we get the alligators?) We were lucky that the man in the minivan, Jeremy, was an engineering student from UK, and his help was invaluable or we may have collapsed the road or the entire Depot if we dug in the wrong way or in the wrong spot. He was glad and a bit relieved he was an asset to us. But I get ahead of myself.
We found out that the dead were attracted to shiny items like crows. We also noticed they would stop and claw at their own reflection in the few remaining windows in town. We believe our own security lights were attracting them like some giant bred of undead moth. John and I one day took two pieces of scrap metal, shined them up with some sand paper, so they reflected like a mirror. We took these, some scrap lumber and a bit of nylon rope, walked to the nearest hill within line of sight of the Depot. We made a crude tripod and suspended the pieces of metal together inside it. When the wind kicked up they would bang and clang together, the sun reflecting from their polished surfaces. We hurried back down to the Depot and kept watch. We took turns that afternoon keeping watch and about an hour later the first dead head showed up. Then more. We had gathered eight total to the ‘Zbait’ as I named it. The Major came out to look at our little experiment with us and commended us for our tactic. The wind shifted from us to them and they started to do that little circle thing, like they were trying to figure out the direction the smell was coming from. The Major called for Jake to bring his rifle over to us. Jake’s rifle is an L82 sniper rifle outfitted with a ten inch noise suppressor on it. He takes his time and in about 30 seconds everyone of the Z’s are on the ground, not ever getting back up. Glad he is on our side. The Major orders me and John to go out and get our Zbait, so we do not get anymore unwelcome visitors.
We also discovered we were running out of food, quickly. The Major had it figured we had maybe two weeks left before it ran out. The stream inside the fence supplied water (which we filtered to kill any bacteria, etc.) but until the crops and probably even with them, we needed to find more food. I was assigned to go out the next day as one of three crews looking for food. I was assigned the Southern end of town which included Wal-Mart. We had been by there before and all the windows were broken out and a good amount of cars in the parking lot yet. I figure this to be Zombie Disneyland, especially if the lights were left on. It was about this time several people thought of using a big indoor building for crop raising. We picked the Lowes building because it had few windows, metal gates and most of the suppliers were there. One of my future assignments would be to rob Tractor Supply of most of its stock and transfer it to Lowes which was luckily only a quarter mile away. This also about the time we started looking for more trucks and fuel. We have several gas stations around town, but with the power still on and most everything abandoned, most were bleed dry. During this time the Depot had only a skeleton (no pun there) crew left to defend itself as 90% of us were out scavenging food, fuel and materials. We found an old single axle tanker truck at the local truck-stop, and filled it with as much diesel as we could gather for the stop and the surrounding trucks. In the days ahead this would be harder and harder to come by. We did find, bonus of bonuses a nearly full gas tanker truck just sitting on a side road, the door hanging open. It was itself out of diesel and the batteries were dead, but a few hours work and we brought it home. We have been incredible fortunate so far for fuel, but the food situation was getting worse. Wal-Mart was ransacked very well, no canned goods, and most boxed goods gone. We hit the remaining supermarkets and brought back what was left, a three quarters full 6X6 truck containing mostly boxed goods and some canned goods. Cereal and water would be the main stays for the days ahead.
We started to find cattle grazing in fields, not a care left in the world, and we found a lot of dead horses. We had no place to keep cattle, but marked the locations and would be back for one or two to supply us with protein.
That night we turned off all the exterior lights except those over the doors. We started using the few pairs of night vision goggles (which I cannot use because of my glasses) and the three night scopes that attach to rifles (Which I can use, so I still pull night duty) that were left in the Depot. I was lucky and did not pull night duty because of the next days’ forage mission. Of course, we did not much sleep again.
The Depot fire alarm was ringing me out of my sleep after midnight. I stumbled around getting my shirt on (I learned to sleep mostly dressed by now) on and my glasses. I grabbed my rifle and hooked the always filled ammo bag over my left shoulder. Odessa was following me with her trusty shotgun. People were coming into the hall way around us armed and mostly dressed as we made for the front door.
John caught up to us as we got close.
‘What’s up Hoss?’ he said as he loaded his rifle with a magazine. I shrugged my shoulders as we approached the front double doors. I heard a strange whine by my ear, like that of a mosquito, and then a small shower of glass struck my head. I ducked and most everyone around me hit the floor. A strangled cough sounded behind me and I knew someone behind me had gotten shot. I checked Odessa and John and then looked around us, noting a man I had seen but never spoken too, laying on the floor, blood pouring out of him. Odessa moved before I thought of anything and went to him, wading his shirt up over the wound. John joined her as the door opened in front of me, one of the night guards, still wearing the night vision goggles pulled the door shut behind him and got down.
‘What the Hell is going on?’ I asked as he pulled up the goggles, sweat pouring down his face. Two more windows shattered and a high pitched whine echoed in the large room. People we moving towards the walls without being told and staying clear of the windows. The RN, Katy, was now next to Odessa with a bag of supplies trying to stop the bleeding. Odessa caught my eye and shook her head.
‘We’re catching fire from the ridge and across the road. My buddy caught one in the head and I saw another corner guard go down. They will probably try to keep us pinned in here while they do whatever they are gonna do.’ I suddenly remembered his name was Sam.
‘Sam, can you stay here and watch the door?’ he nodded he could and I moved off to the downed man, keeping low. For all I know they had night vision gear too.
He was dead. Katy was hurriedly putting her stuff away when I had made the extra fifteen feet out in the open. Two more bullets cracked the tile near us.
‘Get the Hell out of here, all of you. Odessa, go back to the room and get my jacket, John go get yours. See if you can find us some helmets while you’re at it. I am going to the radio room, meet me there.’ The both nodded and skulked toward the walls as more bullets chewed thought the windows and into the flooring. I hustled myself back into the hallway, where luckily there were no windows, and then moved as fast as I could to the radio room. I met Jake there with another man and a woman, the Major hustled up a second later.
‘I am glad to see great minds think alike.’ The Major said as we went into the small room. The radio room was a tiny twenty foot square, but it had roof access from inside, so if the antennas needed servicing you could do it from here. Jake was at least in his armor and had a helmet on, the rest of us did not. Another two people came in the room running their arms full of armor vests and helmets. The Major and the rest got theirs and were putting them on when Odessa showed up with my armor vest and helped me strap into it. Damn thing was heavy with the trauma plates in it. Large pieces of plate steel and laminated plastic that *should* stop a bullet. John joined us a half minute later, and tossed me a helmet. By this time the rest had went up the ladder to the roof and I could hear the unsuppressed rifles barking. I looked at John and had noticed a smiley face on the front of his helmet done in permanent marker. I shook my head and he smiled at me before going up the ladder. Odessa stopped me and pressed something into my hand. A pair of ear plugs. I kissed her, told her to guard our backs and went up the ladder.
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