From a distance, it had appeared to be a person. When they turned to look into the bright lights, I saw that it was one of the dead. It was a pitiful thing. An elderly woman with long white hair hanging in her face turned to regard me. She moaned around a half of a jaw, and then shambled off into the night.
I hit the high beams and crept through roads I had not seen in months.
There was a line of trucks just ahead, as though a convoy had arrived and circled the wagons. I came up on them and slowed to a stop. Slipping out once again into the night, I moved away from the safety of the car. I played the rifle over the trucks and felt like scratching my head in confusion. How the hell did the road get blocked? My house was a mile or so up the road, and I would have to climb over the blockade to reach it.
I heard a noise in the distance, as if a motor was starting up, and then a burst of light shattered the darkness as high-intensity beams ripped the night apart. As they came to life all around me, I shielded my eyes. I felt like a deer caught in massive headlights. Like the world had just turned on a gigantic sun. I backed up one step at a time as I tried to train the rifle all around me.
The car door behind me slid open, and I knew without a doubt Katherine was behind me, watching my back. Noises from ahead; movement and the clink of metal on metal. Whatever this trap was, I had fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker. I tried to shield the light, but all I managed was to warm my palm.
I worried that I had found a group of Lee’s men. If he had made it here, I was a dead man.
“What the hell is going on?” Katherine yelled.
Before I could reply, a voice came from the barricade of cars and trucks. “Lower your weapon and identify, or we will shoot you.”
I just about dropped the gun in shock when I heard the voice. It was a woman, and it held a great deal of authority. I had no doubt she would shoot. She and whoever was with her.
I lowered the rifle, but I didn’t drop it. Still backing up, I was determined to jump in the SUV and get out of here. Whatever little fiefdom these people had set up, I was not interested in getting to know them.
“Stop moving or we will shoot!”
If I turned and made a dash for the car, I could be there in a few seconds, but even a ten year old with decent aim would be able to pick me off.
Stopping, I faced the blinding light. “My name’s Tragger, and you’re blocking the way to my house. I just want to get some stuff and leave.”
There was movement, but I couldn’t tell what was going on. I was going to climb out of my skull at this rate. I did not like standing in front of these people with no protection. If they opened fire, I was as good as dead, and Katherine would be next.
More clanking around, and I wanted to make a run for it. Fuck this. Then an engine started, and a truck backed up to make a small space. A slim figure came out of the gap and walked toward me.
“Erik?” A female voice called out almost softly.
“Yep.”
Her voice played with my senses, and I saw someone from the past. The way she spoke and moved reminded me of Allison, but that was ridiculous. There was no way she could have made it to our old home together. The last time I had talked to her was almost a month before the incidents started happening. I felt my heart swell at the thought of her, of what she had meant to me at one time, and the crushing anger that had burned for months after she had left followed. It made a powerful contrast.
“Alli …” and I stopped, because I knew it wasn’t her.
“It’s Lisa.” She stood a few feet from me, dressed in a jumpsuit made of some thick material that zipped all the way to her neck. She had on a scarf and gloves. She looked familiar. Still, I almost backed up again when she stepped to me and put her arms around me in an embrace.
Automatically I returned her hug, and stood as she sobbed against me for a full ten seconds before I realized who she was. My neighbor—Devon’s wife.
I had to pick Katherine up and help her out of the SUV. She leaned against me as we went into the barricade. Once we were past, the truck started up again and pulled forward to close the gap. The lights were easy to bear from this angle, and I was able to appreciate the simplicity in the design. With the trucks and cars facing out, it made a much harder barrier for the zombies to get through. In fact, with enough firepower, this place could hold out for a good long time.
Behind the vehicles was a series of fences with concrete barricades up against them. From a tactical standpoint, it reminded me of the Walmart, where a killing maze had been set up. The people here didn’t have enough fencing to encircle their location, but they did the next best thing by staggering sections so the zombies could not get in.
I followed Lisa in and glanced at the faces on either side. There were at least twenty people that I could see, but none who looked familiar. They appeared like us—tired, dirty, and sore. A woman leaned on her gun as she tried to stay upright. I wondered what they had endured over the last six months. I heard whispers and tugged Katherine tighter to me.
“Where did they come from?”
“Lisa knows him.”
“She does not look good at all.”
An older man looked me up and down, nodding to himself as if I met some criteria. I nodded back at him just the same. The low hum of a smaller generator kicked in, and dim lights lit the houses behind the barricade. It seemed like my life was coming down to what barricade I was able to hide behind at any given time. Many had wished for a new world, but I didn’t think this was what anyone had in mind.
Lisa spoke with someone in low tones behind me before she ran to catch up with me. She looped one hand in the crook of my arm as another person came and took Katherine.
“I can’t believe you’re alive,” she said, and I heard a strong hint of relief. I could only imagine what she and Devon had gone through after the zombies showed up.
“Where is Devon?”
“Gone,” she said simply. “What’s wrong with your … friend?”
“Katherine. She was shot by one of those ghouls.”
“They don’t shoot. They only direct the undead things to do their bidding.”
“Well, someone with glowing green eyes did a good job of learning how to fire a gun,” I said in frustration. I didn’t want to talk about it; I wanted to get Katherine fixed up and out of here. This fiefdom was fine and dandy for them, but I wanted to go in pursuit of the caravan and hit Portland as soon as possible. I was sick to death of living in fear and living on the run.
“We have medical supplies and a nurse. She has done some amazing things, even though she isn’t a doctor. She can take care of her.”
Lisa guided me to a house; I think it used to belong to Mark Wilson, a neighbor with whom I was never very friendly. He seemed like a nice enough guy, if a bit aloof. The door was open, and they were helping Katherine down a hallway to what must have been their triage room.
“Have you been here since the shit went down?” I asked.
“We tried to leave once. Devon wasn’t sure what to do. He wanted to wait for some instructions from the government, or at least someone who seemed to be in authority. We waited and waited for at least a week after you left. One night, the power went out, and we sat up in the dark. The next day, we wandered around the neighborhood, but it was so empty. It seems most of the neighbors left shortly after you did.”
“Who was still around?”
“Well, Mark didn’t leave either. He had a hunting rifle, and he took the doors off all his upstairs rooms and nailed them over windows. He tried to build a fortress, but that was in the early days, and we weren’t organized like we are now.” Her tone was almost shy. Her hair was once a sheet of auburn curls that hung over her face when she laughed. Now it was a lighter color, and it was straight. I realized that hair that looked so natural was an act, just like the act kept up by the other survivors around us.