Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde (5 page)

“Pretty resourceful little guy, aren't you?” Tom said.

“I didn't know where to go but then I found these houses,”
Sam said. “They’re just like my neighborhood back home in Sacramento. I didn't
even know any of this was here. And I sure didn't realize how tired I was. I
guess I just fell asleep.”

“Looks like you did more than sleep,” Joel said, kicking the
empty candy wrappers. “Think you got enough sugar in your system?”

“Enough for what?” Sam looked confused as he turned back and
forth from me to Joel.

“A long night's walk,” I said, putting my hand on Joel's
shoulder to console him.

The sun set even faster than I expected. By the time we'd
left Suburbia there were only faint traces of light left in the sky. Once we
got down the road from the track homes the landscape changed pretty
dramatically just within minutes. Unruly weeds and brittle-looking scrub bushes
covered the sides of the highway. All we could see were small, grass covered
hills and patches of dry looking trees in every direction. Within half an hour
of walking it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We could have been in
a foreign country for all we knew. If we hadn't stuck to the road I would have
been truly freaked over getting lost or being attacked by a wild animal—or
worse. We passed around the bag of goodies we'd grabbed at the house and soon
the only sound was the crinkling of wrappers and the crunch of loose gravel
between our shoes and the asphalt. I was glad to finally tear into that beef
jerky. It was salty and sweet and spicy and surprisingly tender. I chewed it
with great relish, enjoying every second of it. It lived up to every
expectation I'd conjured up. It was filling, unlike the candy bars we'd grabbed
which were mostly just sugar. I tucked away a Snickers bar for when I got tired
later and needed the extra boost.

We naturally fell into two groups without really thinking
about it. Benji and I walked a little farther ahead of the pack while the twins
kept pace with Samuel and tried to keep him moving along. I could tell Joel was
frustrated but didn't want to leave his brother’s side, while Tom had just the
right disposition to keep the little guy motivated.

“I'm tired,” Sam whined.

“We just gotta keep moving,” Tom replied.

“But my feet hurt,” Sam groaned, letting out a loud sigh.
Joel fought back a growl of disapproval. He was more like me than I'd realized—which
was probably why I felt threatened by him in the first place.

“That's nothing compared to what it will feel like when a
wild pack of zombies rips you to shreds,” I muttered under my breath, picking
up my pace to try to distance myself from the annoying conversation behind me.
Benji shot me a sympathetic glance. I wasn't cut out to be a leader. Plain and
simple. I didn't mind taking care of Benji because he never complained. He did
what you asked and was always happy and grateful, always trying to make the
best out of this insane situation.

“Try not to focus on them,” I heard Tom say as Benji and I
power walked farther out in front of them. “Maybe think about something that
makes you happy for a bit. That always helps.”

Benji must have heard Tom's advice and taken it to heart.

“It sure was great to be able to watch television again,”
Benji said shortly after. “Sitting there in that living room on a comfortable
sofa, feeling the cool air on my skin and flipping through shows was like a
small slice of heaven. It was like coming home after school before my parents
got home and having the run of the place, like the way things used to be.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think there might be a time in the future when all
of this is behind us?”

“You mean the zombies?”

“Yes.”

“Definitely,” I answered. “It's just a matter of time until
our military forces eradicate all the infected. All we have to do is survive
until then.”

Easier said than done
, I thought.

“Sometimes I feel like it will never end,” Benji said
honestly.

“It just feels that way. It will end. You'll see.”

“How long do you think that's gonna take?”

“It's hard to say,” I shrugged. I think it was the first
time I had admitted the truth to myself. “This thing is way more out of control
than I ever imagined it would be. Then again, we might be closer than we think.
It all depends on what the military has been able to accomplish. We have no way
of knowing what they’re working on, what their ultimate strategy is.”

“Do you think it's gonna be months or even years until they
have it under control?”

“Without radio or television news reports, it's all kind of
a guessing game,” I said. “Then again for all we know, we could wake up
tomorrow and everything could be back to normal.”

“Man I hope that happens,” Benji said with a little laugh.
“I'd love to go home. I never knew how much I could miss it.” I liked the way a
little bit of hope had lifted his spirits so I pressed on.

“They’re probably using all their energy to reclaim the
cities,” I said.

“You think so?”

“Sure,” I offered. “It's what I would do. Secure the bases,
then start spreading out slowly and taking back the land. The cities already
have everything they need to support a population. There is food, shelter,
water, the means to create electricity. The way I see it, all they have to do
is quarantine off a major city then slowly move in wiping out the biters as
they go. Then they set up a detail to guard the perimeter and move on to the
next city.”

“That makes sense,” Benji said. There was a noticeable skip
in his step now.

“Eventually the only zombies left will be out in the wild.”

Benji shot me a worried glance and I realized what I had
said.
We
were out in the wild! My mind made the same connection his had
just made. What if a horde of zombies was being flushed our way from Lompoc
right now?

Smooth move
, I thought.
Say something quick to
make him feel better.

“I'm pretty sure we're alone out here, so don't freak out
and let your imagination get the best of you.” Benji didn't say anything. He
just nodded and gulped. We walked along in silence for what felt like over an
hour before he spoke again.

“So what's the deal with your brother?”

I was glad to have a reason to speak again.

“He's a Corporal in the Marines,” I said proudly.

“So why didn't he stay with you at Vandenberg?”

“He's got too much work to do to stay in one place,” I
answered. “Since Z-Day hit he's been called to service up and down the coast.”

“And he's in Hueneme now?”

“That's right,” I said. “Like most military bases that are
still active, they've combined all the different armed forces into one cohesive
unit down there. He told me he was working on something big, something that
could change the course of this fight, maybe end it all together.”

“So why didn't he take you with him?” It was an innocent
enough question. Benji hadn't said it with any malice in his voice yet it felt
like someone had socked me hard right in the gut when I heard it. He had a good
point. I didn't know for sure why Moto hadn't taken me. There was a part of me
that did feel abandoned. I'd trained hard, always done exactly what he said,
but he still left me behind with the rest of the kids when they called him
down. Didn't he realize I wasn't a child anymore? When was he going to stop
treating me like one?

“He was coming back for me,” I said, my voice cracking,
“once he got things set up.”

“Oh,” said Benji. He looked sorry he'd brought it up.

“He was just getting settled in. That's all.”

“Right.”

“Then once he had things under control he was going to set
me up on the base,” I said. “Until then he wanted to make sure I was safe.”

“Well that worked out just great, didn't it?” I heard Joel
say mockingly.

I jerked around to see the Parker twins and Sam staring at
me. I hadn't realized they had caught up to us. My face burned with
embarrassment.

“You don't know anything about it,” I shot back
self-consciously.

“How do you figure?” Joel yelled back.

“Guys,” said Benji.

“You don't know the first thing about my brother.”

“I know he didn't come back to save you when that horde of flesh
eating demons overran the base,” Joel spat.

“Yeah? And neither did your father!” I angrily shouted. Fire
flashed in Joel's eyes. I was instantly sorry I had said it, but not because I
was afraid of Joel. It was a cheap shot and I knew it. We were all hurting. We
were all scared. And now we were turning on each other like feral animals.
Still I knew I couldn't back down an inch. If I didn't stay on top of Joel he
would wrestle control of the group away from me. I wasn't about to let that
happen. I needed to keep us on course.

“Take it back,” Joel retorted in a low, threatening voice.

“Make me!” I said, my fists bunching up defensively.

“Guys!” Benji shouted again.

“What?” I said, turning to face him. Joel was on me before I
had time to register what was happening. I didn't think he had it in him. I was
so used to most of the people at the base respecting my reputation as a fighter
and staying clear of me. He knocked me off my feet and we rolled on the ground.
He got in a quick punch to the right side of my head and then I blocked the
next. I flipped him over and slapped him hard across the face. I pinned him to
the ground as he fought to get up and a stream of curse words came out of him
like he was possessed.

“Guys!” Benji shouted a third time, trying to get our
attention. “Listen!”

Everyone stopped moving and listened. Off in the distance
there was a loud rumbling sound that filled the pit of my stomach with churning
fear.

Please don't let that be a zombie horde
, I thought.

“What is that?” Joel asked. All the fight had left him. I
got up and helped him to his feet. He jumped back away from me and dusted
himself off.

“Quiet,” Benji retorted.

The unexplained noise grew louder and louder. The closer it
got, the more it sounded like some kind of big machine and less like the
undead.

“Look,” Sam shouted, pointing back in the direction we'd
come from. We all turned at once and stared in astonishment as a black military
helicopter shot up over the ridge and passed over the top of us. It was so loud
we couldn't hear anything else, but Joel and Tom waved their arms and yelled
anyway. The helicopter was gone just as quickly as it had come, leaving us
alone with our desperate thoughts.

“That's a good sign,” I said.

“How do you figure?” Joel asked.

“Yeah man, they left us out here,” Tom loudly complained.

“It means we're still in control,” I said confidently.
“We've still got equipment and we're still fighting.”

“Unless those were zombies,” Sam said. Everyone laughed at
him.

“What?” Sam tried to cover up his embarrassment.

“Last time I checked, zoms can't fly helicopters,” Tom said.
“I think we're good.”

“Oh,” muttered Sam.

“Can you even begin to imagine how screwed we'd all be if
that were the case?” Benji patted Sam on the shoulder and walked to my side.

Joel gave me a guarded look and I turned and walked on.
Neither of us spoke about our scuffle but I knew I didn't plan on letting my
guard down around him any time soon. He was faster than I had thought he would
be. Sooner or later we were going to butt heads again. It was just a matter of
time. I was seriously hoping we could go our separate ways once we got into the
city. After all, there was no reason for him to follow us all the way to
Hueneme. And he had Tom to keep him company.

The first chance I get, I've got to ditch him,
I
thought.
The sooner the better.

We came to a fork in the road where the freeway became an
overpass as it intersected another highway. A curl of fog wrapped over the bank
giving it an eerie feeling. There was something in the way up ahead, something
big and still. It was way too large to be a zombie but even from a distance I
got the feeling it wasn't going to be good.

“What is it?” Benji whispered.

“Only one way to find out,” I replied.

I unsheathed my sword and carefully sauntered forward. Joel
followed close behind me, then Tom, Benji, and last, Sam. There was an orange
street lamp overhead illuminating the object. The fog drifted away by the time
I was ten feet from it to reveal a large deer laying on its side with its
throat ripped out. Dark blood pooled onto the ground around it. Foot prints
dragging through the blood led away into the dust on the side of the road.

“What did this to it?” Benji looked stumped.

“From the looks of those foot prints I'd say it was a
zombie,” I suggested.

“Nonsense,” Joel chimed in. “There is no way a deer would
let one of those undead things get this close to it, let alone stand there
while it tore its throat out.”

“It doesn't make any sense, man,” Tom agreed, obviously
trying to diffuse the tension between us.

“Maybe it was wounded,” I said.

“Or sleeping,” Benji added.

“It's a mystery,” Tom agreed.

“First the helicopter and now this,” Joel said sounding
exasperated. “What's next?”

Almost as if on cue Sam let out a blood curdling scream that
ripped through the night. We turned and saw that something had attached itself
to his leg. It was a zombie that had been cut in half, a crawler. It had snuck
up over the side of the embankment and taken him by surprise, wrapping its arms
around Sam's tiny leg and pulling itself in for a bite. It all happened so fast
there was nothing we could do. Sam wailed in pain like a siren.

Joel lunged toward him and kicked the twisted corpse off Sam
with his combat boot. It rolled helplessly on its back trying to flip itself
over. Blood covered its dark mouth as broken teeth snapped at the air like some
kind of swamp creature straining for its last meal.