Zombie Crusade II: David's Journey Read online

  Gracie managed a little smile through her tears and quietly declared, “My father and I saw you in action, Luke. He knew you were the kind of person who will do just that. You saved my life. Those last three had me, and I knew I was about to die, and then they were just gone. Thank you.”

  A faint blush of pink rose to Luke’s cheeks as he responded, “You’re welcome.”

  After Gracie’s explanation of events, Father O’Brien spent some time sharing his background with the group. He hadn’t entered the priesthood until he was thirty-five years old, following five years as a homeless drunk mourning the loss of his wife and two children in a traffic accident. As a young man out of high school he’d worked his way through college on charter-fishing boats plying the waters of Lake Erie, a part of the story that David found very interesting but set aside for a later discussion. Now seventy-four and portly, O’Brien had spent the last decade at St. Bernadette’s, shepherding a flock that was now all gone. Still, the priest seemed at peace with all of the tragedy he’d experienced, exuding the aura of a man who’d suffered so much in this life that he had one foot planted in eternity, and knew that everything that happened in this world would someday be explained in the next.

  The following few hours were spent in easy conversation among the group, everyone briefly explaining to Father O’Brien and Gracie how they’d come together, what they’d done before the viral outbreak, and what their responsibilities were in the routines of the two households. Finally, long after the Martinez boys and the other children had fallen asleep in their parent’s arms, Christy and David armored up to help escort the Alberts, Seiferts, and the two newcomers across the street. The house would be a little crowded, but with four bedrooms and a finished basement they could address that problem tomorrow or the next day. For now, everyone needed mental and physical rest, and that’s how they spent the next thirty-six hours.

  Several times during guard duty over the next day and a half, Jim and David began refining their escape plans. Everyone was working on outfitting the entire group in leather, and they were confident that during the house-to-house salvaging that they were about to begin they would find a helmet for each member of the group. They still had just the two silenced pistols, the ones that Jack had sent right before the outbreak, but everyone now had at least two types of hand weapons and they were practicing with them every day. Also, Jerry believed that he’d figure out a way to rig up a silencer for Lori’s Glock after having seen many such home-made contraptions during his years with the police department.

  With preparations for weapons and armor well on their way to being complete, Jim brought up some ideas that David believed the entire group needed to hear about at their next meeting. They already possessed an impressive array of high quality solar lights, the panels needed to charge them, and several inverters. Again, Jim’s Doomsday Preppers addiction was paying dividends. Now he thought that maybe they could salvage the equipment necessary to recharge marine batteries and use them to power electric trolling motors attached to flatboats and canoes.

  “Think about it,” he urged David as they sat on the roof whispering ideas to one another to pass the time, “we could power our way up the Maumee without making a sound! Those marine batteries are strong if you keep them charged.”

  David nodded his approval, “I like the idea, but all that stuff is heavy and I really don’t know where to look for any of it.”

  “All we need to do is find a couple of solar panels big enough to recharge twelve-volt batteries. Everything else we’ll salvage along the shore-houses while we’re using the boats we take out onto the lake. Once we enter the mouth of the Maumee we can unload directly into the canoes and flatboats and head upstream without stepping foot in Toledo!”

  David furrowed his brow in thought for a few moments before deciding, “I think it’s a great idea. Let’s bring it up at the next meeting. Father O’Brien probably learned more about the lake during his fishing days than the rest of us combined. We’ll ask him what he thinks of the plan, and if he likes it we’ll start looking around for those solar panels you’re talking about.”

  When everyone was together at Jim and Trudy’s house the next night David explained the basics of the new idea to the entire group. Father O’Brien had plenty to say. “I’ve been thinking about your escape plan ever since you first told us about it, and I’ve got some changes I want you to consider. First of all, the Cleveland Yachting Club is only about four miles away, and that’s less than half the distance to the marina in Lorain where Jerry’s parents keep their cruiser. I doubt that there’s a boat in those docks that I can’t hot-wire, but my guess is that we’ll find spare keys to every registered craft in the manager’s office.

  “We’ll take as many boats as we need, depending on the sizes still available, and as long as the weather’s good we can make it to Toledo in less than a day. There are plenty of big yachts around that will hold all of us, and we’ll take one if we can, but more than likely we’ll end up needing more than one boat. As far as the canoes and flat-bottoms, and the batteries and trolling motors are concerned, we can check along the shore line and scavenge those items. That’ll make the trip a lot longer, but I can’t think of an easier way to find those things.”

  Jim rubbed his hands together with anticipation, “All right, now about the solar panels. There’s a Menards store on Dover Center Road up near Hilliard. In the lighting and electrical area they have solar panels specifically designed to charge twelve volt batteries. We can take the Rover out there and I can show you right where that stuff is.”

  Jerry shared a wary look with David before suggesting, “Ok, I like the ideas you guys are bringing up. Everyone’s thinking of ways to improve our escape plan and that’s a good thing. But before we just go running off on another salvage mission to a big store we need to think it through. We almost died the last time we did it, and we don’t know what’s going on out there now. The zombies are still changing on us too. The severely damaged creatures aren’t eating much, and they’re just looking worse every time we see them. But in the church the other day there were plenty of the fast-movers, and speed isn’t all they have; they’re damn strong too! Even the average flesh-eater in that mob up in the rectory was moving well.

  “Luke and I were discussing the zombies last night, and we think there’s some sort of evolutionary process going on with them. Those that weren’t damaged much before they turned, you know, like all those early victims who were bitten in the arms and ran off? Well, they’re eating and strengthening. They’re just not eating humans either, we saw some animal remains out there as well.”

  Christy interrupted, “Jack didn’t mention anything about the zombies evolving when he sent the packages and manual to us.”

  Jerry shrugged, “Maybe he hadn’t yet seen what happens to the creatures over weeks. His unit wiped out that village in Afghanistan after the virus was loose for just a few days, and the last time you guys talked to him the outbreak was less than a week old. No matter what Jack knew at that point, he did warn David to sit tight and see what happened to the zombies as time went by. Looks like he was right about decay in some of them, but others definitely aren’t rotting away.”

  Gracie jumped in, “I think you’re on to something, and I think strength and speed isn’t the only way they’re changing. They use different moans depending on what’s going on around them at the time. I know the sounds they make definitely change in intensity when food is nearby, and the others react to the different tones as well. And they almost roar when they’re close enough to grab you.”

  Jerry nodded and continued, “We can salvage Menards, but every trip away from this neighborhood has to be well-planned, and we should expect to be attacked by zombies that are faster and stronger than those we fought earlier. I guess what I’m saying is that we shouldn’t take anything for granted, and going into a big box store is like entering a giant trap for us. I want to know that we have a better exit plan than last time.”

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nbsp; Jim smiled and said, “All right, I know exactly where to go in that store, and it isn’t far from the front door. Plus, if something follows us in we can exit through the garden center doors that are on the other side of lighting and electrical!”

  Trudy didn’t look happy about Jim going along on the trip, but she did explain, “That store was his second home. I’m sure he knows exactly where those panels are, or at least where they were.” She shot her husband a challenging glance and continued, “And he does know every entry and exit in the building.”

  Jerry seemed satisfied, “All right, we plan it tonight and do it tomorrow.”

  After a great deal of bickering about who should and should not go on the trip to Menards, when they gathered the next morning the salvage crew included Christy and Jerry on guns, and Luke on bow. David would drive and keep watch at the door after they entered. Jim was armed, but his job was to identify the panels and help carry them out. This time they were going in with the radios and using ear-buds to keep the noise down. Blake, Lori, Gracie, and Sal argued that they should be included, but David only wanted to take one vehicle, and the four fighters protecting Jim had worked together before. He didn’t think it would be wise to attempt such a dangerous mission with a new crew.

  The trip to the store included the usual detours through lawns and yards, as well as several wooded areas, but they covered the mile in less than ten minutes and saw only a few shuffling zombies in the distance. David didn’t know if that was a good sign or not, but he certainly wasn’t going to spend any time trying to figure it out at the moment. As he pulled the Rover up to the front of the Menards they found the store in the same condition as all the others. Zombie corpses and stripped human remains were strewn about the sidewalk along with shattered glass, shell casings, and some trampled items that must have been dropped by the survivors of the battle that had taken place there. In a strange coincidence that confirmed Jerry’s report of seeing stripped animal corpses, the tattered skeleton of what the harness indicated had been a guide-dog lay amid the mess.

  They didn’t see any flesh-eaters as David backed the vehicle up to the entrance, so everyone exited the SUV and turned on their headlamps before heading inside. Their lights illuminated an interior that looked as if a tornado had struck. The floor was completely covered with goods and fallen display shelves. David quickly backed into a corner where an office was built close to the main doors, and from there he quietly kept watch on the vehicle and the parking lot beyond.

  Despite the destruction inside the huge home improvement store, Jim kept his promise and led them directly to the solar energy section of the electrical and lighting area. Though this department was as torn up as any of the others, the small group of scavengers discovered that solar power hadn’t been on the wish-lists of previous visitors. Two four-foot panels were still safely inside their boxes, and on a shelf below was all of the hardware they’d need to transfer energy from the collectors to the batteries.

  Jerry and Jim each hoisted a panel on his shoulders, and Luke and Christy had just tossed the rest of the equipment into the backpacks when David’s voice hissed over the radio. “Move immediately into the garden center and wait there for me, we’ve got company and they know we’re here.”

  Thirty seconds after the rest of the group had left him watching the door, David had seen a pack of about ten zombies appear across the parking lot. They weren’t shuffling and they weren’t running, but they were moving with purpose. The flesh-eaters were walking quickly across the same route the Range Rover had taken through the lot just a few minutes earlier. What was really strange was that one of the zombies would intermittently stop and cock its head as if listening for something, and all of the others would come to a stand-still a second or two later. After this happened twice David was pretty sure that a big, strong-looking male was the one who kept stopping first. He was definitely in the lead as the pack quickly crossed the pavement, and David couldn’t help but think of the beast as the Alpha-male.

  David was fairly certain that his group had been safely out of the vehicle and into the store before the zombies came into sight, so he was surprised at the direct path they took toward the Rover. For a moment he wondered if perhaps they’d recognized that something was out of place in front of the store, but his blood chilled when he considered the possibility that he and his fellow scavengers were being tracked by the creatures. He didn’t have time for speculation as the pack quickly closed in. They were only fifty yards away and headed directly at the place where he’d entered just a few minutes earlier when he made the call to the rest of the group and headed toward the door leading to the garden section of the store.

  By the time David reached the rest of the crew they were standing amidst the lawn mowers that lined the front wall, and Luke had already trotted over to the glass door to make sure it wasn’t locked after noticing that it wasn’t shattered like all the others in the building. When David opened the door to join them it creaked ominously and a series of moans filled the air as he looked back and saw the pack trying to run in his direction across the littered surface. He shouted, “Get out in the Rover, now!”

  Everyone followed the order, even Christy, as David frantically looked around for something to block the door. Luckily he saw the turning bolt just below eye level and managed to flip it to the lock position a split second before the huge zombie he’d identified as the alpha male slammed into the glass, spider-webbing it as David turned and ran after the rest of the group. As he charged through the door leading to the outside, he heard more of the flesh-eaters hit the glass behind him, which finally shattered under the pressure of the frantic pack. Chased by their moans that did indeed sound like a predator with prey in sight, David ran to the back door of the Rover propped open by Jerry and jumped in the laps of the ex-cop and his son. The door slammed shut just in time to feel the vehicle shudder from the impact of zombies hitting the side of the SUV.

  “Go, go, go!” David shouted as another of the flesh-eaters leapt on the hood and tried to scratch her way through the windshield to the humans inside. Christy kept her cool and spun the wheel hard to the right, roughly tossing the creature to the pavement where it smashed head-first into the concrete base of a light pole and remained still. As she began to speed away from the scene David watched the pack’s reaction out of the back window. For about five seconds they ran after the Rover at top speed, which seemed to be about as fast as he would have expected from them if they were human. Then, as the distance rapidly increased between them and the vehicle, they slowed down and looked at the alpha, who once again stood with his head cocked to the side, listening to his prey escape this attack.

  CHAPTER 11

  As they drove back to Jim and Trudy’s home, everyone was silent for several minutes until Christy was certain they had left the zombie pack behind and David had caught his breath. Finally, she asked, “What in the hell was that?”

  David just shook his head for a moment as he wiggled into a sitting position in the very-crowded back seat. “You guys saw how those zombies were acting—they came across the parking lot deliberately tracking us. As soon as they were sure we were in there they all moved very fast; every one of those monsters was quick and strong.” There were rumblings of agreement before David continued, “The scariest thing was that they seemed to be following the lead of the huge male that you saw chasing me from the store. We’ve called them packs before, but those monsters were working together under the lead of the big one. When he stopped to listen for us, they all stopped; the same thing happened when we sped away.”

  Jerry interrupted, “We’ve all noticed that their behavior seemed to be evolving since the outbreak began. I understand why we’re all so freaked out, but is this latest development really so unexpected?”

  When David didn’t immediately answer Luke spoke up, “These aren’t zombies. I mean, we can call them zombies, but they’re not really zombies.”

  “What are you talking about?” Christy snapped w
ithout taking her eyes from the lawn she was driving through to avoid one of the seemingly endless pile-ups blocking the roads.

  David shared a long look with Luke, silently acknowledging that they had come to the same conclusion. The Rover bounced back down over the curb, jostling the tightly packed passengers and their newly acquired supplies.

  After bracing one of the solar panels that had threatened to tumble over the front seat, Luke cleared his throat and began to answer Christy’s question, “Okay, until this outbreak, none of us would have ever believed that zombies existed in the real world. What we know about zombies comes from fiction, right? In most movies and books the zombies usually resemble those presented in the Romero films like Dawn of the Dead. The creatures are reanimated dead people who mindlessly feed on human flesh and organs.”

  Jim had turned around in the front seat and was intently following every word the teen was saying. He interrupted, “They aren’t fiction anymore! That’s exactly what the flesh-eaters have been doing since they first appeared. We’ve all seen people die and eventually get up and relentlessly pursue living humans and eat them when they catch them.”

  Luke stared out the window for a moment before continuing, “Yes, we’ve all seen that. But we’ve also noticed that some of the creatures have been more successful in their hunting than others, and now they seem to be growing faster and stronger. They sure aren’t decaying like the zombies in The Walking Dead or anything like that.”

  Even Jerry seemed to be confused about where Luke was going so he asked, “What are you saying, son? Just get to the point.”

  Luke swallowed and quietly said, “I already did.”

  Before anyone else in the vehicle could voice their exasperation David spoke up authoritatively, “It’s like he said before; they’re not dead!”