Death Has Fallen: Freedom Rock Chronicles: Book 1 (11 page)

              With that they slowly walked back to the gait now silent.  The mood in the air had changed dramatically from when they first walked over.  Jaime and I slowly walked towards our house trying to figure out what else we needed.  The only thing done well was the floor.  We headed back out to collect all we could grabbing Amanda who had begun helping Timothy with a power network.  For now everything was ran off a small gas generator.  Next to the generator were a couple large solar panels which looked like they were torn from a roof or off the side of a building. Timothy was standing over one swearing at it and Amanda looked lost, as she attempted to help him. 

              There was a few minutes of silence then Timothy looked up knowing exactly what we wanted.  “You can’t have her,” he said with a smirk then looked back down at his work.

              We sat stunned not sure if he was serious or not.  After a few moments without looking back up from the panels he said, “Help us out and I will help get your house going.”

              Thankful for any extra help we could get I instantly jumped in with Jaime following right behind me.  We held the panels as Timothy attempted to wire them in with the generator so they both fed the archaic electric grid.  After twenty minutes of Timothy switching out panels and rewiring the entire system over and over sparks began flying.  He grabbed a meter quickly looking to see if the panels were generating electricity, as he looked down his face lit up. 

              “Finally,” He muttered under her breath speaking more to himself then any of us standing around him.

              Standing up we all began walking to the front gate.  Once again they sent a guard with us.  Grabbing the materials went much quicker knowing most of the undead around the camp had been either killed or scared off.  We were able to take our time looking through all the best pieces and Timothy pointing out especially useful items.  Hours passed with us making multiple trips and over time more and more people came to help.  By the time evening came we had over twenty people building with us.  The house was erected extremely quickly with Timothy and Earl both doing everything they could to help.  It felt wonderful knowing not only we had found a home and had become accepted so quickly.

              As the sun set, our group was putting in the final additions to our new home.  The last piece was a door which looked as though it had been ripped from its frame.  Without much trouble we screwed it in place and to my astonishment we had a good sized house with numerous rooms.  We followed the group up to the community kitchen which was located by the security office.  As we walked in cans were stacked to the ceiling.  Every imaginable canned food was available.  There was three or four people further in who were all throwing things into different pots.  Stacks of metal bowls were right next to the door.  I grabbed one and noticed it had been a flat piece of metal pounded until it resembled bowl form.

              The smell as I entered the room with the cooks was pretty amazing.  I suppose with a town of seven hundred random people someone had to know a thing or two about cooking.  I asked the cooks what was on the menu. 

              The man who seemed to speak for all of them smiled and said, “You are very lucky, they shot a deer yesterday so we are having deer steak stew.”

              He filled my bowl and I walked outside finding a stump which was placed along the road.  The sun began to fall behind the metal wall and I sat back taking in the moment.  Both Jaime and Amanda sat next to me and we enjoyed our first real meal since we began our journey.  Everything about the stew was marvelous.  We all took our time eating it not wanting this to end quickly.  As we finished one by one, each waiting for the others disappointment came across our faces once we finished the stew.  Walking back in we cleaned our bowl in the clean water they had for dishwashing.  Before exiting we made sure to give our regards to the cooks letting them know the dinner was excellent.

              Now full and darkness setting across the town we walked back to our newly built house.  It looked like a thrown together death trap, but being part of the construction crew I knew it would hold up.  We walked in grabbing our three bags and began dumping all of our things into what would become our living/storage room.  The floor was made of boards and the walls mix matched metal.  There were three rooms besides the main living room, it had one right behind it, one to the left, and one to the right.  Besides being dark and a bit airy the living conditions were much better than what we previously had.

              The supplies sprawled across the floor really didn’t look like much especially with all our guns and ammunition now stored in the security office.  We began picking rooms, Amanda immediately deciding on the left side.  She took all her belongings and two blankets to build a makeshift bed.  I took the smallest bedroom right behind the living room leaving the right for Jaime.  I helped both the women make their beds then went and built mine out of left overs.  As I laid back looking at the somewhat holey roof my mind began wandering.  I wondered what type of life I could lead here and if it was the right place.  Overall I was extremely happy with the leadership in place and both the brothers who took a somewhat vice leadership role.

              Laying back slowly closing my eyes I noticed I could see my breath.  It would be a very cold night and there was no one to lay next to for warmth.  As the thought crossed my mind I heard some rumbling in Amanda’s room then saw her dark figure in my doorway.  In a whisper she asked, “Could I sleep with you? I am freezing.”

              I told her yes then not more than a second later I heard a voice from Jaime’s room asking the same thing.  I told her to bring her blankets and once again we huddled together for warmth fighting off the freezing October frost. The house provided reasonable cover keeping most of the wind off us.  We slept quite well that night, not waking until late in the morning.

              When I awoke Amanda remained, but Jaime had already risen. I sat up stretching and hesitant to give up the warmth of the bed.  As I stepped out into the street I found the quiet workings of the city very comforting.  It was a brotherhood, we were all stuck in the same situation and all wanting our old lives back.  Walking up the street in order to get a work detail and perhaps some breakfast I saw Jaime running towards me.  She quickly hugged me extremely excited to be given a job.  Her first words were extremely jumbled and I could only able to catch a couple. 

              I pushed her back away from me gently and asked, “What?”

              “We are going out on a security scavenge mission today!” 

              Her eyes lit up, as if this was the first time she had ever had a mission where she was expected to protect others rather than be the one protected. 

              She looked at me trying calming down a bit and said, “You need to eat, the mission will last all day.”

              We walked up to where the kitchen was, I went in and once again there was deer, this time being fried on a propane stove.  With it they served a nice mix of baked beans and mixed vegetables.  I walked out sitting next to Jaime who was sitting on the stump we had eaten at the previous night.  The sun was coming over the wall pushing the chill away.  As I ate Jaime sat poised next to me as if thinking “Hurry, Hurry, Hurry”.  It was easy to see how excited she was.  The breakfast was as good as last night’s dinner.  After finishing I walked with Jaime to the security office.  I still have my .357 on me, but needed a couple extra rounds.

              As we walked in Earl was in the back giving commands to four men who looked well-armed and ready to go.  When he saw us he raised his hand giving me a wave to come in with them.  As I walked into the room everyone turned and Earl said, “Thank you for joining us this morning.  We are heading out on a scavenge mission and the target will be gas, guns, and food.  Well pretty much anything you guys find that you think will be helpful for our community.  I know this will be your first mission away from the quarry and I hope this doesn’t scare you off.”

              Before I was able to speak Jaime answered for me saying, “No not at all.”

              The answer seemed to thrill Earl, he gave a chuckle and said, “Good to hear.”

              I simply smiled and nodded then stepped forward closer to the other security guards. Earl was showing us a map pointing to a small town to the east.  Earl said no one from their camp has even seen the area, so they had no idea how many undead there are.  He also instructed us to be watchful of any normal people who would consider our approach on the town as an attack of their ground or look at us as an easy target for a raid. He also handed me my 300 asking if I was any good at range.

              “So far I have only killed two men 50 yards out and one took two bullets.” I said this with a little shame knowing a skilled shooter would only use one bullet per kill.

              “Excellent, if you have shot down the scope hitting live targets at range that is more than most the men in this town.” As he said this the other men shook their heads in agreement. 

              He then handed what looked like a 270 to a very grizzled looking man.  He wore complete camouflage and handled the rifle as though he had a thousand times over.  As Earl handed him the rifle he asked, “I am guessing you want this Aaron?”

              The man answered with a smile, “You know it.”

              “By the way Aaron is our resident marksman, if you need any training with long range weapons he is the man to speak to.” Earl said giving a wink to Aaron as a sign of respect.

              “Ok I will, good to know who will be teaching us.” I was less excited than Jaime, but still enthused to learn.

              “You six will be taking two trucks.  The Dozer and the white Ford.  Since this is your first trip out I want you two split up.  Jaime you ride in The Dozer with Arron and Jake you will be behind sniping out of the Chevy.”

              As the words fell from Earl, Jaime immediately interjected, “I want to stay with Jake.” The words fell bluntly and confidently.

              Earl looked at her and said, “You both need someone with experience in case you get separated.  These two have gone out on multiple missions, they know there way around the area and know what to expect when raiding towns.  Putting two brand new recruits in the same truck would be asking for disaster.”

              As he said this his face showed that he had made this mistake before, and would not change his mind over some mild discomfort on Jaime’s part. We began walking up where all the different trucks were parked.  As Aaron jumped in the back of The Dozer with Jaime I felt a bit of jealousy.  Not only for being close to her, but also getting to ride in that bad ass truck.  It was a massive diesel which roared when the driver turned it over.  The white Chevy wasn’t a bad truck, just not nearly as modified for survival.  I supposed following that beast would be the safest spot.  Anyone dead or living coming to attack would certainly focus that truck over our smaller one.  The truck itself screamed “Bring it on!”

              With that thought we pulled up to the gate.  I had the 300 lying on the roof of the truck and .357 tucked in my beltline.  The man next to me had what looked like a Ruger.  Even though Earl only let one gun per man plus the two long range rifles he made sure we were set with ammo.  Between us all we could easily kill over a hundred.

Chapter 13

              Pulling away from the safety of the city was absolutely terrifying.  We fought so hard just to reach the quarry and now here we were headed away.  It was as if we were now fair game for any danger the world could throw at us.  The only thing that held my confidence was knowing the man in front of me standing in the back of The Dozer could kill whatever we saw.  As we began down the dirt road, the man with opened a small chest pulling out spotter binoculars.  He instantly began scanning the entire forest line looking for any movement.  He then pulled out two large machetes which served for melee protection.  As I looked through the scope into Aaron’s truck I saw him pointing down to a similar case and Jaime dragging out the same tools.

              The dirt road was just as miserable leaving the quarry as coming in.  We reached the highway without incident.  The drive to the small town would be a couple of hours.  The town sat far away from civilization which made it a good target to scavenge.  Rolling down the highway with the brisk October air blowing through my hair and the sun beating down on my face for a while took me to another place.  Even though I carried my 300 it felt completely different as if perhaps we were going target shooting.  Our Chevy pulled off the road quickly following The Dozer.  We pulled right up next to them so Aaron and I could speak. 

              Aaron looked at me with a grin and asked, “You ready for some practice?”

              Puzzled I asked, “What the hell are we going to shoot out in the middle of nowhere?”

              A grim look of disappointment and a bit of embarrassment grew over his face.  Then he looked me in the eye very seriously and said, “Jake we are at war and you need to be able to spot danger.  I understand you are new, but take your scope and have a look around.”

              Unable to see anything with the naked eye I picked my gun up and held the scope moving across the valley we were in.  The valley was extremely large letting me see for a few hundred yards in all directions.  I picked a spot in front of the truck, then moved the scope in the opposite direction following the tree line.  There was nothing in front or to the right of us.  I adjusted to see behind and to the left.  As I shot the scope behind me I picked up a little bit of movement from where we entered the valley.  It was impossible to tell exactly what I was looking at.  Whatever was moving dodged in an out of the tree line in a chaotic fashion.