Senshi took off at a trot and soon was gone from sight. Brian picked up Angel and set her on his shoulders. We set off at a quick jog, slightly spread out, with Brian, Angel, and I in the middle. Doc slipped back and covered our rear. After twenty minutes, I started to flag from exhaustion. I had not really been much of a runner or jogger. But I could walk for hours and hours. That was what I gained from hiking. Kuppers noticed my discomfort and called for a slight rest. Brian took Angel off his shoulders allowing her to rest her legs and butt from bouncing on his shoulders. Five minutes later, we continued our jog. Angel decided to run at Brian’s side for a while. I think she hurt more then she wanted to admit. To her credit, she kept up to our pace for a good ten minutes. Brian scooped her up off the ground and held her in his arms while continuing to run. I was able to jog this time for forty minutes before I was starting to flag again.
As I was about to say something, we came upon a wide river that was flowing into the ocean. Senshi was on the other side and was guarding the shore for our crossing. “The water is not that deep but is a little swift,” he radioed over to us.
Brian swung Angel up onto his shoulders and slid down the banks on his feet and into the water. It only came to his knees and barely slowed him down as he got to the other side. He set Angel down, went to one knee, and raised his rifle to his shoulder guarding the riverbanks. Angel stayed behind him, covering her body with his. Cupcake and Apache slid down the bank and made their way over next. Vic motioned for me to follow him, and we went next. The water was cold, but it felt good on my painful legs. We climbed the bank and, at that point, Senshi and Apache moved forward together taking point. We sat there another couple of minutes, resting and waiting for Kuppers and Doc to make their way across the water.
This time when we moved out, Cupcake took rear security and Doc jogged by my side. We made it to the edge of the golf course and stopped. Senshi and Apache already had moved to the first house and were waiting for us. Once together, we took a knee and looked to Kuppers. He stood there looking to the houses in front of us. “Apache, I want you on the roof of that house across the street. Senshi, take this one and you two will cover the streets and golf course. We will break into two teams and take down houses across from each other. All we are looking for are weapons, ammo, water, and 4x4 transportation. Apache take Angel with you, and stash her in a safe place. Vic, Cupcake, and Doc are team Bravo. I’ll go with Dan and Brian. We will be team Alpha. No moving onto the next house till the other team clears its house. Any comments or questions?”
I thought longer and looked at my mp5. “I have a thought I’d like to share. Our guns are loud. If we come across any zombies, we need to eliminate them quietly. I have a feeling once we start making noises it’ll drive the others to us.”
Kuppers thought about this for a minute. He sighed out loud and looked at my steel batons. “You heard what the man said.” He was looking at Vic. “Make sure your team comes up with some hand weapons. Only use the guns if you have no choice.”
Brian reached over and took the police nightstick from my belt. I handed one of my collapsible steel batons to Kuppers and armed myself with the other. Vic and his team moved off following Apache and Angel across the street to their house.
Brian walked up to the back door of the house we chose and looked through the window, cupping his hands around his eyes to shield the sun. Kuppers walked up to the door and removed a small leather pouch from his vest. He stuck little pieces of metal into the door lock and moved them back and forth until the locks clicked. He put his tools into his pouch and closed it up, then slid it back into his vest and then slowly turned the doorknob. Brian came up and stood next to him, nightstick at hand. I stood behind them both giving them room to move and swing if needed.
Kuppers swung the door open and Brian stepped in quickly. He moved to the left, allowing Kuppers to step in. Kuppers moved to the right, and they both stood there. I stepped in and took the middle. We stood in a living room where the TV, a large flat LCD panel, sat behind Brian. Kuppers moved to the dining room, which sat directly to his right. I stepped in further. Two couches took most of the space in the room, one against the far wall in front of me and one along the far left wall near Brian. I stood in the middle of the room allowing Brian to pass me and enter the dining room behind Kuppers. I took rear and followed them into the kitchen. The house was quiet. Not much dust covered the furniture since we were still only two weeks into the, what do I call this, culling? I guess that word works since a group of people are calling themselves the Culling Initiative.
I breathed in deep and smelled nothing but mustiness. The kitchen was clean, as though the people of the house would be right back in minutes. We opened a door at the end of the kitchen and found a silver Toyota Prius, not a 4x4. We continued toward the front door and checked a small bathroom. It was empty. We turned right, climbing up the stairs with Kuppers in the lead. At the top, Kuppers split left and waited as Brian and I gained the top. Five closed doors stared back at us. Kuppers walked to the first door in front of him and opened it. He went to walk in, but Brian grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back just as a hand shot out from the side of the door. They backed into the hallway. I raised my baton and stepped up to the zombie. It had once been a female, standing five and a half feet, and must’ve weighed in around 300 pounds. It was wearing a robe, which unfortunately for me, was wide open exposing her massive grey breasts and what had once been white cotton panties. Her hair hung in stringy ropes around her face. A chunk of flesh had been ripped from her neck coating one side of the robe with blood. I pushed her back with the tip of my baton until she bumped against the far wall. I then pulled back and swung the baton, cracking her head open and dropping her to the ground. I put my foot on her shoulder and swung downward again bashing in her head and destroying her brain.
I cleared the room and made my way to the hallway. Kuppers looked me up and down and nodded at me. We then moved to the next room, which Brian cleared quickly. Kuppers opened the next door, revealing an empty bathroom. The last door stood at the end of the hallway, taunting us with its mysteries. I walked over and put my ear on the door, listening for any movement. I knocked quietly and waited. I heard a clawing sound on the other side of the door. Brian came up and kicked the door hard, blowing it inward. The zombie on the other side was thrown backwards onto a bed. I darted in quickly swinging my baton downward cracking its head in, killing it for a second time. I looked down at it and realized it must be the daughter of the woman I killed in the other room. She was small, a preteen dressed in pink silk pajama pants and a white t-shirt with the front stained red from blood. A bloody bandage was wrapped around its upper bicep. I figured the little girl was bitten, came home to be bandaged up by her mom, then must’ve died and bit her. The mom must’ve run to her room and died.
We ransacked the house, finding nothing but a couple of cans of food, which I packed away in Brian’s pack. The house had no guns or anything we needed or wanted. We walked out the front door and found Bravo waiting for us in the middle of the street. We shared our story and found they had encountered no zombies, only a Cadillac car in the garage. We moved onto the next house and made our way through, quickly finding again some cans of food. No one was home, and the garage was empty. We moved out to the street and waited for Bravo.
I looked up and saw Apache and Senshi looking down the street from their roof top positions. Angel waved down at me, and I waved back. Bravo came out of their house and met up with us. Their house had a six-person family inside. They took care of them but found no weapons, canned food, or a 4x4. This went on for the next twenty houses. We found canned food and some bottled water, a couple of minivans, two Lexus SUVs, and a bunch of BMW and Mercedes cars. Apache, Angel, and Senshi had moved down the block and up onto roofs across from each other.
Bravo and Alpha again met up in the middle of the street. “Something is making me feel like we are never gonna find what we are looking for in these houses,” Vic explained.
I nodded at him and sat on the ground to think. An idea came to me. “This is a golf course, and most golf courses have a club house, right? I think we should go there and see if we find something there we can use.”
Kuppers stood there in thought for a while. He removed a map from his pocket and studied it carefully. “I agree. According to the map, the club house is north of here and just off the beach, so we have a fast way there.” He called Senshi, Apache, and Angel down to our position and explained the new plan. No one had an issue with the plan, so we loaded our gear and headed down to the beach.
Angel stayed to the left of Brian, shielded from the golf course. Kuppers and I took lead, or point as he explained it to me, and the rest of the team spread out behind us. We took it at a normal walking pace, not wanting to call attention to ourselves. I could see the roof of the clubhouse coming up and pointed it out to Kuppers. He nodded affirmative and slowed down further. The rest of the team came up to us and took a knee. “We can see the club just ahead. Dan, Brian, and I will go recon the grounds. Stay here. I’ll radio when clear.”
Brian handed over Angel to Senshi and came up to my side. “You have a round chambered, right?”
I pulled back the charging handle and confirmed that yes indeed I did. Kuppers pointed up toward the beach and signaled he would take the lead. I followed him as Brian took up the rear. We found a trail and followed it up to the basketball court next to the clubhouse. We could hear the moaning and the sound of many hands pounding against walls. Kuppers looked back at us and motioned for us to stay close but quiet. I hunched over and copied Kuppers’ steps. We came up on the corner of the clubhouse and looked around. My heart sunk with what we saw.
A herd of at least one hundred zombies were gathered around the front walls, entrance, and windows. Kuppers pointed down the rear of the clubhouse, and we followed him down toward the back entrance. “If the zombies are riled up that means someone must be in there. Let’s make contact.”
We came up to one of the rear windows, and Brian knocked the first part of a shave and a haircut. While waiting for an answer, Kuppers and I watched the area around us making sure no zombies had found us yet. Brian sucked in a breath when a face appeared in the window. It was a young woman. Her face was pale, gaunt, but alive. She pointed down the other side of the building and then disappeared. We took off in that direction and came upon a set of French doors. It unlocked and opened slightly. Brian pushed his way in with his rifle at his shoulder, sweeping in all directions. Kuppers pushed me in and then followed. He secured the door and drew the curtain over the window. The room was dim, but enough light came in from the skylights above. The young woman was sitting on a chair in the middle of a destroyed room that looked like it had once been used for banquets. The tables had been upended and placed against the windows. Most of the chairs were missing, but the ones that were there were disassembled and lying in piles.
The building stunk of unwashed bodies and moldy food. I stepped over and squatted down to my knees in front of her. She was quiet, and her eyes kept looking roving over the room. I moved around until our eyes met each other, and she locked onto me after a couple of moments. She was younger than I thought at first. Probably a young teenager of thirteen. I took my canteen from my belt and handed it to her. She took it from me tentatively and took a small sip. “Hi, my name is Dan. What’s your name?”
She looked at the other two with me and then darted her eyes back to stare into mine. “My name is Theresa, but friends and family call me Tessy,” she whispered.
I smiled at her and offered my hand. She took it and shook it once with a surprisingly strong grip. “Hi, Tessy, my name is Dan. The Sasquatch looking guy over there is Brian, and the mean looking one is Kuppers. We are police officers trying to help who we can. Are you the only one in here?”
“Um, no. When the others came and took the adults, my mom told me to hide and watch over the three others. Come with me. I’ll show you where they are.” She stood and started walking away. I stood and motioned the others to follow. We left the banquet room, walked down the hallway to a stairway, and made our way up to the top floor.
At the top, we came to a door and made entrance into a large office. Inside we found three preteens sitting on blankets and pillows huddled together. I walked into the middle of the room and again squatted down to their level. I looked them over. They looked a little tired, but healthy and not starving. Brian threw me his canteen, and I handed it over. The kids took turns drinking, but made sure to leave some for Brian. The girl of the group stood up and tried to give the canteen back to Brian. “That thing is still half full, kid. Why don’t you three do me a favor and drain it? That’s just less weight I have to carry then.” He smiled and tried to look non-threatening, but when you are a small Sasquatch dressed in battle fatigues and carrying a large gun it’s a hard look to pull off.
The little girl held her hand out. “My name is Kala. Thank you.” Brian engulfed her small hand and shook it lightly.
“You’re welcome, little lady. My name is Brian. These are my friends Dan and Kuppers,” he introduced.
Kala pointed out her friends and in a quiet but high-pitched voice said, “These are my friends Gavin and Jason. I think you already met Tessy. Can I ask a question?”
Kuppers walked forward and looked down at her. “Yes, ma’am. Ask as many questions as you want. But when you’re done, we have a couple to ask ourselves.”