Roxanne's Story (Book 1): Survival in the Zombie Apocalypse (2 page)

Weeks later Roxanne sat in the car and studied the map. There was something outside the park called “Dollywood Train Station” that showed tracks going through a tunnel. Perhaps that was how visitors were taken into the park. If it turned out that the park was safe it would be a good idea to block that tunnel with cars or maybe a bus across the entrance.

She sat back in the car seat and sighed, then reached over and patted Mutt on the head. She had come across the dog in the last town or rather it came across her. When she first spotted the dog it darted out of sight around a corner. She decided to follow because if it were still alive after all this time, then he had a feeding ground somewhere. She saw it again in an alley, this time slowly backing up from something hidden from Roxanne’s view. Then it barked, back-peddled some more and barked again. Soon two zombies who had been following the dog came into sight. The dog turned to run, saw Roxanne and ran behind her legs, whining as if to say, “Do something!” Roxanne grabbed the lid off of a trashcan and used it to knock down both of the Ze’s then used her pickaxe to finish them off.

The dog immediately ran past Roxanne to the end of the alley and through a doggie door. Then it popped its head back out, whined again and disappeared back inside. Roxanne tried the door but it was locked so she knelt down on the concrete and pushed her arm through the doggie door allowing her to reach the lock and release it. She was not afraid of zombies since the dog felt safe on the premises but she drew her gun in case the dog’s owner was inside. She entered a kitchen, waited then called out, “Hello?” The dog appeared again, stared at her for a moment then darted out of sight into the living room so Roxanne followed. She could hear a gentle, old voice talking to the dog and was cautious as she approached a bedroom.

Roxanne stayed in the apartment for three days taking care of the old lady until she died, promising at the end to take Mutt with her. She had not been able to help the woman whose son had provided for her until one day he did not come back from a supply run. The woman had been too weak for the water and few supplies that Roxanne had to be of any affect. Roxanne and Mutt had bonded in those few days by scavenging together and bringing food to the woman but she had given up on life in this nightmare world and gently passed away one night. Mutt grieved and whimpered as he watched Roxanne wrap the woman in several sheets and leave her on the bed. “I’m sorry Mutt, but it’s too dangerous to bury her. I’m only one person and new at this myself.”

Now they were on the road together and she was glad to have the company since it didn’t feel as strange talking to a dog as when she was talking to herself or the car Jenny. It wasn’t as if she had a schedule to keep but she felt sure that Dollywood would be the ideal place to go although Ed had wanted to stay in Chicago. Without a way to heat the apartment or build a fire in the apartment they had gone to various relatives, but that never lasted long once they saw that Ed could not contribute to their survival.

She could see why the old lady had named him Mutt since he had a patched coat of many colors but his strangest characteristic was his webbed feet. The dog had proven to be an asset to her, drawing off Ze’s while she was scavenging for supplies. She thought perhaps he had some Shepherd in him since she had seen him herd and drive the Ze’s in a different direction. But he couldn’t help with finding gas and it looked as if they would need to abandon the car soon. These mountain roads were hard on gas and although there had been some houses on this road none had a car parked out front. She reached over and scratched Mutt’s ears and said, “Well, let’s just go until Jenny gives out on us. Looks like we’ll be on foot soon.”

Roxanne stood on the mountainside looking down at Dollywood after abandoning the car. She had left the road and cut through the forest for better protection from any Ze’s. Mutt was confused as to why they had stopped and was getting impatient beside her. The place was huge and practically swallowed up after being unattended for so long. She hadn’t expected so much acreage and that a portion of it would not be visible to her. It looked as if it had been built in sections with each hidden within its own mountain space separated by train tracks, or tunnels, or waterways. What movement she saw was not human or zombie, just disrepair. It was overgrown and some of the bigger rides had collapsed. Her hopes were dashed. It did not look inviting at all; it looked ominous, haunted and gave her a slight chill. There were echoing sounds that she contributed to the slamming of a screen door, the squeak of something rusty, and a tree limb banging against a window. This would be very, very difficult to stay here alone. She could go insane in this place. It appeared as if the mountain was trying to take its land back and erase any memory that an amusement park had once existed here.

She decided to go down and walk the fence line to get a better look at things. Perhaps it wouldn’t seem so spooky to see it up close and identify some of the sounds. She also wanted to check the fence to see if it was still secure or if it had been breached. If she still didn’t feel comfortable with the place she would go back up into the mountain to spend the night and continue checking the next day.

Roxanne had spent the week scavenging and then cutting bamboo into sharp stakes to put through the fence at the front of the Park. If zombies should gather at the front she hoped that they would impale themselves on the stakes. Behind the fence was a steep hillside hiding the activity inside the park and creating a tunnel for people to walk through. On this day Roxanne sat in the driver’s seat of a tour bus and wondered if she released the brake if the bus would roll downhill to the tunnel. She would use it to block the entrance to the park, swerving so the front was against one wall of the tunnel and the rear of the bus against the other wall. She would go through the bus to get in and out of the park if necessary. So far she didn’t see any need to leave the park since there was water, stored goods and medical supplies. She could use the other buildings and its furniture for firewood during the winter. She had seen rabbits raiding the overgrown and unattended gardens and deer had come up to the fence line. She did not know how to catch or kill either of these animals but would learn by her mistakes. No longer disturbed by humans the wildlife had started to come back including ducks and geese settling into the various ponds.

She had not seen any zombies since arriving, but Ze’s had a habit of showing up everywhere eventually. She was tired of looking over her shoulder while on the road with Ed, tired of quietly moving in and out of buildings, opening or searching in a haphazard way in order to avoid detection by Ze’s. She had not explored the entire Park but the section she was in was safe and provided security for the first time since the madness began.

She opened the door of the bus and said, “Get out of the bus Mutt. I don’t want you getting hurt when we hit the wall.” He looked at her and whined. “Go on now. I’m not leaving you.” Mutt stepped out and looked back. “Go on now”, she waved her hand. “Further, further”. When he was safely away she released the brake……..nothing. She stood and jumped up and down but the bus didn’t budge. She stepped down on the last step of the bus to jump up and down but still nothing. Finally she went to the front of the bus and climbed on the bumper and while holding onto the grill she jumped up and down but almost killed herself when the bumper broke off. She fell to the concrete and Mutt came running up to lick her face. Roxanne laughed and said, “Well Mutt I may have great ideas but I never know how to execute them.”

She brushed herself off and inspected her torn hands from hitting the concrete. “Let’s go to the wishing fountain to get washed off and think on it some more.” She moved the bumper away from the front of the bus and they walked off to the fountain in the middle of the small parking lot where Mutt had been sitting. Roxanne liked sitting here because the pennies on the bottom gave her some sense of happiness and hope. She opened a bag of stale M&M’s and shared a can of sardines with Mutt. It was turning cool here at night and the sun felt good on her face. Then she realized that the silence was disturbed by the crunching of tires on concrete. She grabbed her gun and cursed herself for letting someone creep up on her. Mutt was busy with his sardines and hadn’t warned her, damn him! She spun around to see that the only danger was the bus slowly starting to roll downhill. She quickly holstered her gun and ran for the driver’s seat so she could steer the bus into the right position.

Roxanne sat in the Mechanics Office reading a car repair manual. She knew she could not become complacent in her security and should plan a backdoor exit if necessary. She had found the keys to a chain-link fence at the far end of the park that appeared to access a road used for service contractors. The road was overgrown now, but usable as long as she could avoid the saplings growing up between the broken asphalt.

“Batteries can last 5 – 12 years depending upon the variables” the manual said. “Variables?” she questioned. “What about in a ZA, you jerk”. There were two cars in the mechanic’s bay but neither would start. Her plans were to stock one car with supplies, bedding, extra gas, and clothing and park it at the back gate for a quick exit. She would put the keys to the fence on a string around her neck and find something to camouflage the car. She knew she should leave the car in the shop for protection against the weather, but the bay door was too difficult for her to open. She had managed to get it up but had struggled with it and knew it wasn’t something that she could easily do again.

She changed all the fluids in one car, not taking any chances that the oil was old and hard, that the antifreeze and steering fluids were topped off, even added windshield washer. She finally retrieved a boxed battery from the shelf and studied how the old battery was placed in the engine, then changed it with the new one. She was just getting into the seat to see if the car would start when Mutt came trotting into the garage with a rabbit in his mouth. She really wanted to start this car, but Mutt’s pride came first. She got out and knelt down to pet him, praising him for his catch and saw the joy of “I did good, huh?” in his face. “Yes sweetie, you did good. Now let’s go cook this thing up.”