Losers vs. Zombies, page 12
“I was hoping I could talk you into going to Brooklyn first. I would go there with you.” Anthony said.
“I could do that. I had been thinking of Newark but it doesn’t really matter which city we go to first.” I said honestly.
“Thank you! I didn’t want to desert you guys. That makes me feel so much better.” Anthony was all smiles now.
I wished I could solve everyone’s problems so easily.
“Spread the word and try to take a head count among the soldiers. We need to know if any of them want to stay here in Manhattan.”
“You got it!” Anthony said. He left much happier than he entered.
Angie came in later with two other girls.
“Here’s your food and water for the next few days.” Angie said as she headed straight for the kitchen. “Hey! Why do you still have so much food left? This is almost a full two days’ worth of rations.”
“I haven’t been eating.” I said simply.
“Why not? You aren’t sick are you?” She asked.
“No. I’m in too much pain. I get nauseous when the pain gets too bad. My body won’t accept the food.”
“Oh God, I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?” Angie asked.
“No. Tina and Laura got me some more pills and this wheelchair. I don’t think anything is really going to help me anymore.” I admitted.
I always hated that sympathetic face people get when you admit to being in pain. They only mean well but it gets on my nerves. Angie and the girls with her all had that very expression on their faces.
The only reason I was saying these things was so they would be prepared for the day I became completely handicapped. They need to face that before I got to that point.
After a few more words, Angie and the ones with her left my apartment. I looked down at myself and decided a bath was in order. I couldn’t stand up long enough for a shower anymore. Neither my feet nor my back would allow that.
The cold bath wasn’t very soothing. It was definitely invigorating.
I was back on the couch for the night. There weren’t as many interruptions now. I guess everyone was afraid of coming to give their reports since they knew I needed to rest. Either that, or they were really getting good enough not to need me. That would be the best thing I could imagine.
Chapter 16
They woke me the next morning with a problem. The east side road pit hit a snag. One of the soldiers rolled me out to the truck. I stood and got into the seat on my own. Pete was driving us to the site when they told me about the problem.
“There are way too many zombies for us to be able to do the set up. They started coming yesterday and when we showed up this morning, the area was covered with them.” Pete told me as he drove.
“I’ll need to see it to know what to do. How close can we get in the truck?” I asked. I was worried because my days of investigating things on foot was over. Especially a place crawling with zombies.
“I will take you to the south side of the area. You can see up the road to get a decent idea of what is happening.” Pete said.
As we neared the site, I could see the problem. Our guys had no way to get to the other side of the hole. We wouldn’t be able to draw the zombies into the pit if we couldn’t get to the other side.
We were a good quarter mile from the zombies. The opening of the pit was maybe half that distance further up the road. We would need to drive these zombies forward to get them to where we needed them to be. We couldn’t get around them because the road was backed up for miles from the south on the eastern lanes where we needed to be. Even the bulldozer might not be able to get us through all that.
“How bad is the northern side blocked?” I asked.
“We can’t even reach this side of the road up there. The zombies were being drawn here by the dozer making the pit edges in the hole. They are covering that area completely. We could try the dozer but it wouldn’t be able to get all the zombies. Troy would be in real danger if he tried. We couldn’t think of any way to fix it.” Pete explained.
“Let me think for a few minutes. Maybe I can come up with something.” I sat for several minutes drawing a blank. “Has Harold and Bob tried to figure this out?”
“They were the ones who sent me to get you. They are a little distance out up to the north of us. They are waiting on what you say.”
I looked around hoping to find inspiration. Nothing was coming to me yet. It would be very difficult to draw these zombies away only to try and bring them back when we were ready. I wanted an easier way. The problem I kept seeing with the dozer is the limited width of the blade or whatever it was called on the front of it. He could clear a wide swath but some of the zombies would make their way around the edges and be in position to bite Troy. If we could make the front thingy wider it would solve the problem.
“Are there any warehouses close by? Or just a semi with a trailer behind it?” I asked Pete. I had an idea.
“I saw one a little ways back. Why?” Pete asked.
“Take me to it. Do we have jumper cables?”
“Yep. All of our trucks carry a set in case we need to move a vehicle from the road.” Pete was turning us around while he spoke.
“Good. Call Troy and tell him we will need the dozer.”
“But it isn’t wide enough.” Pete said.
“It will be when there is a trailer being pushed in front of it. I just need to know whether it would be easier to do this on the northern end or from the southern end. It looks like the northern end would be better. We could clear enough of them to give the trucks a path to get through to the other side of the pit. Tell Troy to be near the northern area. I will drive the trailer to him.” I told Pete.
I saw the truck and trailer Pete remembered. He was busy telling Troy to be ready. When we reached the truck, I started trying to get out to board the semi. I had some doubts on whether I still could. It took everything I had to climb up to the driver’s seat. Pete was busy hooking up the cables. We waited a few minutes before I tried to start the truck. It cranked but then I needed to wait for the air to build up. The warning buzzer for the low air pressure was loud and obnoxious. It reminded me of an alarm clock.
Once it was ready, I released the air brakes and put the truck in gear. Unfortunately, this was not an automatic. I was a little rusty but I hoped I could speed shift well enough to get the trailer where I need it to be. That way, only one foot would be busy.
I drove to where the others were. They stopped a few blocks short of where the zombies started. I waved Bob and Harold over to me. I wasn’t getting out until I had to.
“We will need to try and get this a little closer.” I pointed to the trailer. “I want to unhook it from the truck and use the dozer to push the trailer over on its side. Then Troy can drive forward using the width of the trailer to cut down on how many zombies can get around to pose a threat. Do you guys see what I’m saying?”
“Yep. Good idea.” Bob said and started to walk away. I called him back for another word or two.
“Get some of the soldiers ready to walk beside the dozer. They will be needed for the few zombies who might get around the edges of the trailer. Tell Troy to come here for a minute.” I said.
Harold jumped down from the step and went to get Troy.
“What you need boss man?” Troy asked with a smile.
“We are going to push this trailer on its side to give you a wider pushing area. Once you push this thing to the corner of the last building, try and turn the trailer to make it block the road coming from the south.” I demonstrated with my hands as I was talking. Understanding dawned on Troy’s face and his smile grew.
“I knew you would figure out a way!” Troy said and jumped down.
I wish I was half as smart as they thought me to be.
I pulled the truck up as far as I dared and had one of the soldiers set the trailer landing gear and pull the release so I could drive out from under it. Once I was clear, I pull off to the side to get out of the way. I struggled getting down from the truck but managed to do it without breaking anything. I walked over to the soldiers walking beside the dozer.
“When he starts turning the trailer is when you guys will have to be on alert. There is a lot of zombies that will be coming straight for you guys. Take careful aim and don’t take any chances. Make sure Troy stays safe as well.” I told the two soldiers closest to me. They told the others what I said.
Troy pushed the trailer onto its side. I hoped it wouldn’t get so damaged to make this not work. That was the biggest flaw with this plan. Well, that and the danger when he started turning the trailer.
Instead of walking back to where Pete was in his truck, I motioned him forward. The less walking I did the better off I would be.
Everyone else had grabbed their guns and walked with the soldiers. I didn’t think of that but I liked it. Even Bob and Harold held their guns at the ready and followed along the trailer as it was pushed down the road.
I motioned for Pete to follow them. I wanted a closer look when we got the trailer to the corner. That would be a pivotal point.
I had a scary moment when we were about to pass a small street between one block and the next. I could imagine zombies walking out and coming at us from behind. Once we were to the street, I could see dumpsters wedged in from one wall to the other.
“Did you guys do that with the dumpsters?” I asked Pete.
“Yep. Harold came up with it. He said it would help funnel them to where we wanted them to go and help to keep this road clear for us. I wish we had thought to do that up here where you want the trailer to go.” Pete said.
“That would have helped. We can learn from this one.” I said.
I held my breath as Troy began to turn the trailer. His steering was perfect. He got the right edge of the trailer right up against the building. The left edge hit the rail at the opposite corner. The street was effectively blocked off.
The soldiers were firing at the thirty or so zombies that were walking toward them. These were the ones on the overpass leading to the other side of the pit. The zombies were going down rapidly but I couldn’t relax until the last one fell.
Once the zombies were cleared from our path, we quickly moved forward to set the fire up. The crew did everything in a rush. We set the fifty-five gallon drums out at intervals and threw open five gallon buckets of paint thinner into the pit. Now that we were on this side of the hole, the zombies began falling into the pit in their efforts to get to us. I stayed in the truck through this process.
When everyone looked to me, I smiled and shook my head. I pointed to Bob and then Harold. I was trying to tell them I wasn’t in charge of this endeavor. They seemed to get the message and Bob gave the order to dump the flammables out of the drums.
They all hunkered down behind the cars as I had instructed them to on the first ones. Harold lit the cloth covered rock and heaved it into the pit.
WHOOOSH!
I knew that sound well by now.
Several cars exploded. When they stopped, I rolled my window down. I watched some before I laid my head back wondering how much this activity would cost me in pain.
I wasn’t able to rest comfortably. I watched the zombies falling into the hole. It wasn’t long before I noticed none of the men were firing their guns to draw more zombies. I honked the horn to get their attention. I held my hand out the window and made the miming gesture of firing a gun into the air. Two of the men immediately recognized what I wanted and they each shot a round.
We stayed at the site for some time. The zombies were coming in spurts. Luckily the lull between rushes wasn’t enough to let the fire burn down much. While this area started out well, the total was a little less than the other road sites. Maybe twenty to twenty-five thousand by my estimate.
Once it seemed over, Pete drove me back to my apartment. I was pushed back to my apartment in my wheelchair. As much damage as being out does to me, I felt good about solving the problem.
I laid on the couch and slept peacefully.
Chapter 17
The knocking on my door woke me from a deep sleep.
“Come in!” Was what I said. It damn sure wasn’t what I wanted to say.
“Hey, Brad. I hate to wake you but we’re all trying to figure out what we should do next.” Bob said. He and Harold were still being shadowed by the three locals.
“I want one of you locals to go get Tom and Jennifer. Once they are here, I’ll tell you what I’m thinking.” One of the locals volunteered. The others sat around on my couch and chair to wait. It didn’t take long.
“Tom and Jennifer, today you two are going to be tested a little. I want you two to pick an appropriate building and make a plan. Bob and Harold, as well as the rest of my group, will be there to make sure you don’t miss anything. I want your people to do all the set up and planning. Don’t ask my group unless you absolutely have to. Bob, you and Harold need to make sure they don’t miss anything too important, but let them do everything. Only correct the problem if you see they would miss it, okay?”
“Sure.” Bob said.
“No problem.” Harold added.
“This is the best way for you to prepare yourselves. Once you’ve done one of these jobs, you won’t be as scared the next time. Plus, this way you still have us safeguarding you to make sure you don’t mess up too badly. I would advise you to take every one of the ‘shadows’ you used to take part in the planning. The more people you have that understand what is going on, the better off you will be. Any questions?”
“Yes, can you put this off for another year?” Tom asked with a smile. It was the first joking he had done since I met him. I smiled.
“Well there’s no time like the present.” Jennifer said. She turned to leave when I remembered something.
“Wait! There’s something I’ve been forgetting. You guys will need guns. Lots of them. Find Pete and Anthony and have them take some of our soldiers around to the local police stations to see if they can find some guns.”
“Police stations? Why there?” Tom asked.
“Most police stations have a weapons room. It might have handguns, shotguns, and assault rifles. The pawn shops and sporting goods places will have been looted. Send one of your locals with my guys to show them where the different precincts are.”
“You got it.” Jennifer said as they walked out the door.
With everyone gone on one errand or another, I was in for a nice peaceful day. I liked it. I still had some water in the bottle on the table. I took some pills and laid back down on the couch. It wasn’t long before I was asleep.
I woke in the middle of the day. I needed the bathroom. I tried to stand to get into my wheelchair but my feet couldn’t handle it anymore. There is a point when the pain is so bad you can’t make yourself do anything to aggravate the part of the body that is suffering. While I have always been a strong man, I knew I was too fat to lift myself into the chair without using my feet some.
After an agonizing minute or two of panic, I grabbed the bottle of water and drained the rest of it. I went in the bottle. Once I was done, I quickly pushed the bottle under the couch to hide the evidence. I hated this.
I was really glad that I had sent everyone out on errands. They wouldn’t see my tears. I hated to cry. It made me feel like a big baby. Just as I would get myself under control, I would burst into another crying fit.
It took a while but I got control of myself. At least I should be safe from needing a bowel movement. I hadn’t eaten in three days.
I tried to find some subject to occupy my mind. Just as I was mentally writing for my book again, there was a knock at my door.
“Come in!”
“Hey, where is everybody? I can’t find Tom or Jennifer or anyone.” The little wiry man with glasses asked.
“They are doing the planning for the next job. What did you need?” I asked hoping I could help.
“I just found a station on my radio with other people broadcasting.” He informed me.
“Really! Where from?”
“Cleveland, Ohio. They are like we were before you guys. They are losing people fast.” He said.
“Did they say how many people they had?”
“They are down to eight hundred now.”
“Do you think there is any way you can talk to them?” I asked.
“I can resume my broadcast and hope they hear it. I have two radios, it’s a long story, but I can broadcast on one and listen to them on the other.” He said. “I will need some gas for my generator though.”
“Go get one of my soldiers. Tell them I said to give you what you need. If they have any questions, send them to me. By the way, what’s your name?”
“Brian.”
“Okay, Brian, go get started on that and keep me informed.”
“Yes sir.” He left before I could tell him not to call me sir.
I wasn’t searching for something to think about any longer. This would be a disappointment to Anthony. I hated that, since he was a good kid. Eight hundred people that we knew were needing us was too important to overlook.
When the planners returned they came by to let me know what they thought. I stopped them before they could start and told them the news. They sat quietly after I finished talking. Even Bob and Harold weren’t speaking.
“So you guys will need to leave really soon.” Jennifer said.
“Yes. Maybe as early as tomorrow.” I looked at them for a second. “How did they do Harold? Bob? Were they thorough enough not to get anyone hurt?”
“Maybe. They missed a few things like the sprinklers and two side doors. They learned and took notes though.” Harold stated.
“Overall, they did well. Harold told you the biggest two problems they had. The rest was done good enough.” Bob added.
“Good. We need to let our group know what is happening. They need to pack and be ready to leave tomorrow morning. Let everyone know that they can stay if they choose.” I hoped we wouldn’t lose many, if any. I still wouldn’t mind leaving Amy behind.
