Roxanne's Story (Book 1): Survival in the Zombie Apocalypse (12 page)

Lucky tied the piece of curtain around Roxanne’s head. “I don’t think it will bleed for long. I’ll put a patch on it when we get in the truck. I never saw any of this that you are saying, Cami. I never encouraged that girl. Let me tear your shirt to look at your arm Roxanne.”

Roxanne looked at Lucky, “They will never trust me again at the Park. They will think that I’m dangerous. That I’m just as crazy as KC was. Ha, I probably even show signs of it.” She started to giggle and Lucky was afraid that she would go into shock. “Stop that Roxanne. Here have some more water.”

“We haven’t much time, not after that shot was fired,” Cami said. “And I want to finish searching the NRA house. We only have the basement left, but that shot could bring zombies and you left the gate open when you came through. Roxanne, could you have your breakdown after we get back in the truck and out of here?”

That angered Roxanne, “I’m not having a breakdown. I’m perfectly capable of searching a house.” She looked at Lucky, “Hurry up with that bandage. Cami is right. The gate is open.”

They hadn’t expected to find a steel door in the basement; a steel door with not only a security padlock, but a steel bar across it with an additional padlock on each end of the bar. “I don’t think that’s the wine cellar,” Cami said. “Those bastards have more weapons behind that door. The security lock would have been deactivated when the electric went out that’s why they had a backup plan with the steel bar and padlocks.”

“I’ll get the bolt cutter” Roxanne said and started back up the steps.

Lucky shook his head, “Don’t think that’s going to work. Those are some big time padlocks and would take a flamethrower to open them. One lock uses a combination and the other uses a key meaning both of them would need to be together to open the door. They didn’t trust one another. Come on, let’s search the bodies upstairs.”

As Lucky rummaged through the pockets of one body, Cami search through the pockets of the other. Roxanne stepped back into the open doorway and said that she needed to get some air. Lucky told her to be careful and pulled out the man’s wallet. Roxanne suggested that she should watch the gate for zombies and left. But the first thing Roxanne did was walk around the corner of the house to vomit. The first wave of shaking had hit her in the house where they left KC, but this was the second wave and it was more intense. She did not want them to see her like this. She still had the bottle of water that Lucky had given her. She used it to rinse out her mouth, took a drink and then poured the rest on her face and neck.

“Ah-Ha, I found the combination in his wallet,” Lucky said to Cami.

“This sucker doesn’t have a wallet,” Cami said, “and nothing in his pockets. Wonder where he hid it. Don’t want to search this whole house again.”

“Look for a chain around his neck,” Lucky offered remembering how Roxanne had hidden the key to the back gate in the same manner. Cami pulled a chain out from under his clothes and both of them exchanged smiles when they saw that it held a key. They both rushed to the basement, Lucky stopping in the doorway but did not see Roxanne in the yard or by the truck. He yelled out her name and she peeked from around the corner of the house. “We found the combination and key” he said.

“Then I’ll definitely need to stay out here on look-out if both of you are going to the basement,” she answered.

After unlocking and removing the steel beam Lucky was ready to put his body against the door jamb thinking that it would take all his strength to open such a thick steel door. But it was amazing how smooth and quietly it opened, not requiring much strength at all when suddenly a light came on in the chamber. He and Cami jumped back and drew their guns not expecting a third person to be around. But there wasn’t any sound, any shadow of movement within, any sound of a shell being thrown into a chamber and no sound of locked and loaded.

“Must be on a timer,” Lucky said.

“But how?” I don’t hear a generator,” Cami asked.

Lucky shook his head, “Don’t know but these guys were prepared and they must have set something up”.

He eased around the door so he could see the corners of the room and if anyone was hidden there, his movement giving Cami a better view of the center of the room. “Jackpot” he heard her say behind him. Their arms fell to their sides and their mouths fell open. Before them was every weapon imaginable. Submachine guns, grenades, AA-2 Combat Shotguns, semi-automatic 12 gauges, Glocks, Liberators, Lugers, 16-gauge shotguns, the list just went on and on. “We may need to make two trips with the trailer,” Cami whispered unable to speak out loud before such magnificence.

Roxanne realized she was standing at the door to the garage and out of curiosity she peered into the door window. What she saw there made her smile. She went back to the truck to get the tire iron when Lucky came out carrying an armload of guns. She raised an eyebrow and said, “Ammo?” Cami came out carrying more guns and answered, “Tons and tons. We need your help Roxanne.”

“We need to leave room in the trailer for one more item,” Roxanne said.

“What’s more important than guns and ammo?” Cami asked.

“Nothing, but I’m not leaving without this. Come with me,” Roxanne said. They followed her to the side of the house where she attempted to use the tire iron to open the door but Lucky noticed that her hands were still shaking so he took it from her and pried the door open. They walked in and Roxanne pointed, “There. I want that.”

They stood in silence. “You’re joking, Roxanne” Lucky said.

“It’s a Razor Dirt Bike that I want for Caleb. It isn’t electric,” Roxanne said. “We will put it on the trailer first and pack the guns and ammo around it. He’s teaching me the crossbow. I owe him.” Cami objected and began to look for another trailer in the garage that they could put the dirt bike on. But none of the cars in the garage had any gas so even if they had found a trailer they couldn’t tow it. They threw KC’s mannequin out of the trailer but after loading the dirt bike on they were only able to load half the ammo because the wheels started to flatten down. Cami put as many of the guns as she could in the back seat with her so she could admire them. They put the bar and padlocks back on the vault door with Cami keeping the key and Lucky keeping the combination. They would come back with Brandon or Gene at some later time for the rest.

They were half way back to the park when Lucky realized that a word had not been spoken by anyone. He looked over at Roxanne who had her head back and her hands resting on her legs. He was glad to see that her hands were no longer shaking but he was worried about her. He took a chance and reached out to put his hand over hers, expecting her to shove him away. Instead she closed her hand to take his in hers and held it. He noticed how cold her hand was and wondered if her sugar-level had dropped.

“How much did you two see?” Roxanne lifted her head and looked at both of them.

After a long pause Cami said, “There was a zombie down in the basement of that house, did you know that Roxanne? I think KC was going to kill you and then throw your body down the stairs so the zombie could feed on you. Then give us the story that you fell. No reason why we should question it, but there’s no mistaking the sound of contact with a metal staff. We could hear it next door and knew someone was in trouble. It stopped at one time which threw us off, but picked back up again.”

“Yes,” Roxanne put her head back again and closed her eyes. “I had her pinned at one time but her eyes cleared and I thought her senses were back. My mistake.”

“That arm is going to need about ten stitches,” Lucky said. “We should all learn how to stitch up a wound from Sally,” he hoped to change the subject.

“But what are we going to tell them?” Roxanne asked, looking at them again. “I don’t want them to be afraid of me; don’t want Caleb to think that I am dangerous.”

“KC didn’t make it. That’s all we need to say,” Cami suggested. “Most people know by now that when you say someone didn’t make it, that a zombie got them. It’s not a lie. KC didn’t make it. No lie at all.”

They were pulling up to the bus at the front gate when Roxanne said, “I wish we had found some chocolate.”

Morgan was standing on the tunnel when he heard the laughter in the truck and assumed that everything went OK. He went down the ladder to move the bus back and waved at them when he got in the driver’s seat. The trailer was covered in a tarp and was standing so high that he couldn’t begin to imagine what they had brought back. Mutt started barking and chasing the truck when he spotted Roxanne so she asked Lucky to let her out and to go ahead to the compound without her.

Roxanne walked away from the truck and fell to her knees in front of Mutt who covered her with licks and head butts, barking as if to say, “Don’t you ever leave me again!” She tried to wrap her arms around him but he wiggled too much, his tail wagging so hard it threw him off balance. Roxanne was glad that Mutt was licking her face so Morgan could not see the tears as he approached. He stopped before the scene of their reunion and said, “Two bandages. I take it things did not go well?”

Roxanne shook her head. “No, we lost KC.”

“Lost her?”

“She didn’t make it” Roxanne said as she got off her knees and wiped her face with her sleeve.

“I have something for Caleb. Come on. I want to see his face when he sees it.”

As they walked together Morgan asked, “How bad is the arm? Looks like you’re still bleeding.”

“I’ll need to see Sally for stitches and I should probably learn how to do that. How was everything here?”

Gene opened the steel doors that they had constructed for their inner compound at their living quarters and Roxanne could see that they were unloading the back of the truck but hadn’t taken the tarp off the trailer yet. By the look on everyone’s face she could tell that they had heard the news about KC but then Ed broke the silence by saying, “What in the hell do you have on the trailer? The tires look like they wouldn’t have lasted much longer from the weight.”

Roxanne smiled and walked up to the trailer, “Caleb if you will do me the honor of untying that end of the tarp, I’ll untie this end and we can flip it back.” Everyone stood around in anticipation and gave mixed reactions when they pulled the tarp back to reveal the Razor dirt bike. Caleb gasped, Sally was confused, Ed said, “What the hell?” and Gene started laughing.

“Is it mine, is it mine?” Caleb asked.

“Yes, it’s yours but I will need to get stitched up first and won’t be available for a couple of days, so maybe someone else can teach you how to drive it.” Roxanne turned to Sally, “Could you get your first aid kit Sally and I’ll meet you in the lounge. Oh, and bring a can of peaches with you. I think my sugar level is hitting rock bottom.”