Roxanne's Story (Book 1): Survival in the Zombie Apocalypse (5 page)

The three of them were continuing to work on the inner barrier when Roxanne stood up and said, “Wait…” She put out her hand to signal them. “Stop… Listen.” Lucky and Ed froze in their places tools still in their hands. After a pause Ed said, “I don’t hear anything Roxie.”

“I could have sworn that I heard a car engine.” They continued to stand still, waiting but no one could pick up any unusual sounds. Finally Ed said, “Sound travels in these hills. Could be anywhere.”

“I say that we stay on alert today,” Lucky said checking his gun. “If Roxanne said she heard something then I trust her judgment. She’s been here longer than we have and knows what sounds are unusual to the place.”

“Still, I’d feel better if I crawl under the bus and check the peephole to the front gates,” Roxanne said. “I’ll send Mutt back if I see anything.”

From under the bus Roxanne could only see the tires of Ed’s abandoned vehicle, the ground surrounding it and that portion of the lot that a car would enter. Everything was clear from this angle. She did not see any additional cars or the legs of anyone walking around. After crawling out from under the bus Roxanne put the ladder up against the hill covering the tunnel and climbed up with her rifle. From here her view was of the parking lot and surrounding trees, but the heavy woods kept her from seeing beyond that. She could see only a portion of the road further down the mountain, but it was only a small section. She carefully looked around for any movement in the foliage, for any sight, sound or smell that shouldn’t be there. She paced to her left and scanned the mountainside that she had used when she first arrived. Then she walked over to her right and looked down into the ravine bordering the west side of the park.

Cami and Brandon knelt further down into the brush. “Do you see that?” Cami whispered, “Only one guard. Must not be a large group.”

“Yeah”, Brandon said, “and a female guard at that.”

Cami glared at him, “What the hell does that mean?”

“Sorry”, Brandon looked away, “Keep forgetting that there are women like you Cami. No disrespect.”

They waited until Roxanne was out of sight but Cami felt that the guard appeared to be alert and looking for something or someone. She wasn’t completely certain that they were undetected. “Let’s check the rest of the perimeter so we can see what’s on the other side of the fence.”

Roxanne left the ladder up after she descended feeling that she would be checking the front entrance several times before and after nightfall. She and Mutt walked back to where Lucky and Ed were still working on the inner barrier. “You were gone long enough” Ed whined.

“Didn’t see anything, but something doesn’t feel right,” Roxanne said with concern.

“Roxanne,” Lucky said, “The Park is huge. We can’t guard it all. If someone is out there they will make themselves known to us.”

“So what are you saying Lucky? That we should just stand here in a group where we can easily be picked off,” Roxanne’s sarcasm was coming through.

Lucky stood up from his digging and leaned on his shovel. “Well if you stand over us with that rifle while we’re working they’ll think we are your captives and they won’t mess with you,” Lucky said with a smile on his face. Roxanne hated it when he got that twinkle in his eye.

After a lunch of spam, green beans and applesauce Ed left the cafeteria saying that he was tired and was going to take a nap. Lucky and Roxanne watched him leave and turned to each other with a knowing look. “He’s going to clear out some more brush so his car can access the logging road,” Lucky said.

“Most definitely” Roxanne agreed. “He hasn’t checked out that road yet, doesn’t know how far it goes or if it’s blocked. He wouldn’t venture that far from the park or from the gates.”

“Do you know where your road leads, the one you parked your car on?” Lucky questioned.

“It obviously a service road and would swing back toward the main highway but no, I haven’t checked to see if it’s blocked.”

“Well, while he’s busy let’s check the gate again to see if more Ze’s have accumulated and if it’s clear we can walk up the road a piece before Ed misses us,” Lucky said as he picked up his sharpened pipe.

The Security Office had not been helpful to Roxanne when she first arrived and searched the place. She found a rifle but it appeared that Dollywood was only equipped for shooting wild animals that may encroach too close to the property. The three of them had agreed to use a gun only in an extreme emergency and to adapt to using the pipes that Ed had sharpened into a point although they always wore their holstered guns.

Roxanne picked up her staff and followed him out when they heard several gunshots and Ed screaming. Both ran in the direction that they knew Ed would be working and were met by Mutt running toward them. They found that there were Ze’s trying to push through the fence to get to Mutt while other zombies were slowly surrounding Ed in the brush that he was clearing. Ed had panicked causing most of his shots to go wild, not hitting anything but creating a danger to both Roxanne and Lucky. They heard his cylinder click on empty but he had the presence of mind to pick up his pole while continuing to scream.

Lucky and Roxanne concentrated on the Ze’s pushing through the fence. Once the zombies had spotted humans they bunched up trying to push at once. This made it easier for Lucky and Roxanne to kill them quickly by stabbing them in the head but it didn’t look as if they would get to Ed in time. After dispensing of the zombies they climbed through the fence opening, pulling out their pistols at the same time. Before either of them could fire off a shot gunfire rang out from the foliage on the opposite side of the logging road. They froze in their tracks and watched as each of the zombies were carefully picked off with a headshot. Then there was silence.

“We’re coming out,” a woman’s voice said. “Don’t know if ya’ll are as crazy wild with a gun as he is, but we don’t want to be ducking for cover.”

“Holster your gun” Lucky whispered to Roxanne, “but keep your hand on the handle.”

Roxanne stood at the back door of the bus and watched as each person came through. Ed was standing in the isle while Lucky waited outside the bus to lead everyone to the Admin Building. Lucky had been trying to get her to move into the Admin building for a long time, saying it was safer than the cabin. He was now delighted that it would be put to use.

She could hear Ed mumbling behind her, “What’s the problem Ed?” she asked.

“How are we going to feed all these people, Roxanne” he whined.

Morgan, who was a construction laborer before the ZA was passing Ed and overheard the comment. He stopped and answered, “You don’t need to worry about us. We know how to take care of our own.”

Then a teenage girl and a boy of about twelve years old came onto the bus and Ed had more comments, “Damn, we have kids too! What the hell were you thinking, Roxanne? This is a bad move, bad idea!”

By that time everyone was through the bus. Roxanne locked the door and walked up to Ed, “You just keep your mouth shut and your opinion to yourself until we find out more about these people. They saved your life, Jerk” she hissed at him. She regretted that, calling him a Jerk. She didn’t want to alienate him at this point since he was still very useful mechanically. He had managed to get a few generators going and knew how to use the welding torch to construct the barrier.

She walked to the Admin Bldg. where Lucky was proudly showing off the offices. “I know it is filled with desks and files right now,” he gestured into one of the rooms, “but we can clear that out and each person could have their own room. The Medical Office has some cots we can use but some of you will still need your sleeping bags. The Lobby would make a good meeting place for everyone.”

“The Lobby has glass doors,” Cami said. Cami was the woman who had called out to them. She was a small black woman but she made up for that by strapping as many ammo belts across her chest that she could carry. “We will need to fortify those.”

“Yes”, Lucky replied, “We haven’t been here that long and there’s still so much to do. We can certainly use the help and suggestions.”

Roxanne stepped up and announced, “We will show you where everything is and you can get settled in. It’s up to your group to decide who gets what room and what is needed for your comfort.”

While everyone began wandering through the rooms and making claims Lucky pulled Roxanne aside, “that was rude” he whispered.

“We’re not their protector,” she said. “Everyone pulls their weight around here. What talents they have remains to be seen.”

It had been an exhausting day for Roxanne and it showed in her body language as she sat in the rocker on her cabin porch. It had been nothing but questions and criticism from the new group on what should have been done or could have been done better. She believed that they had been in a group for so long that they had forgotten how hard it was for a woman to survive alone.

There were seven of them, most not related and found as stragglers along the way. Gene who appeared to be the leader was married to Sally; they had picked up the black man Morgan and his twelve year old son Caleb in a small town that had been overrun. Brandon was their point man on scouting missions; Cami, a small black woman who equipped herself with enough ammo to invade a small country and KC, a teenage girl with wild hair who they found alone in a K-Mart. She was so traumatized that they had not been able to get her to say more than a few words and had nicknamed her KC since she could not remember her name. She was reclusive but they had seen that she was good in a fight.