Evening
Well, it took all damned day and a perceptible rift that now exists between Bill, Caren, and Kyle versus Meredith, myself, Roy, and Jimmy. We are making a dash through a few small towns with unassuming names like Cabinet and Lakeview.
In the morning we will reverse directions and then cut north. We do know that the roads we’ll be using are all but washed out. So, the deuce will be moving slow and we will need to take turns driving the Hummer out front in an attempt to clear a path.
The drawbacks are being uncertain of how slow our progress will be. After all, the reason we didn’t take that route before was because scouting parties had indicated that a lot of debris—both from slides and fallen trees—blocked the way making it treacherous.
Saturday, June 7
I still feel phantom buzzing in my hands as well as my ass. My hands from a lot of time with a chainsaw, my ass from riding on the hood of the hummer as we make painstaking progress.
To the credit of Bill, Caren, and Kyle…they have all worked hard and nobody bitched. We were a real team. Of course our progress did not come quietly and that drew out more than a few zombies.
Tonight we are camped out in some sort of Forest Ranger tower. Jimmy spotted it when he was standing watch from atop the roof of the deuce while Bill and I were cutting a tree that lay across the almost indiscernible gravel road we are following. We made that our goal for today and reached it just about an hour before sundown.
There is a great view, and we can see that the first bastion of what once had been civilization waits at the bottom of a long shallow valley. We were able to get a glimpse via binoculars with the waning daylight that remained, and there are definitely signs of movement. Tomorrow looks to be a busy day.
Sunday, June 8
Early this morning we were all awakened by the distinct sound of large vehicle movement. From our vantage point in the tower we were able to watch a convoy of twelve vehicles roll past and into the town we had scanned visually last night.
We figured that this was probably a band of raiders or perhaps just folks like us. We also agreed to simply let them pass. That would’ve worked fine except the last two vehicles came to a stop on the road, then turned in and came to investigate the tower.
We didn’t have much time to really plan anything so Bill and I grabbed our shotguns, strapped on our pistols and a few spare magazines and hustled down, taking up positions behind our vehicles. Jimmy grabbed three scoped rifles and went up onto the roof of the tower. Caren and Meredith also grabbed rifles, but they stayed inside with Roy and Kyle so that somebody could keep an eye in each direction.
Both approaching vehicles rolled into the little clearing and stopped suddenly. Probably the instant they saw Bill and me. One of the vehicles was some sort of dune buggy with three people riding in it. The other was an old, beat-up Volkswagen bus. Neither was overly impressive compared to our military-grade machines. All told, there were six guys and two gals. They weren’t soldiers. Just survivors.
One of the guys raised his hands and came out from the vehicles alone. With all that I’d seen from surviving humanity, this person was either very brave, very trusting, or very stupid. At least, that’s how I saw it at the moment.
Without warning a shot rang out from above. The man walking towards us stopped, looked down and then fell back hard. In no time we were in a nasty firefight..
Jimmy was pretty much the hero. At some point, one of the new arrivals tried to take off in the dune buggy only to catch a round in the face, slump over the wheel and run down two of his friends.
About the time we were considering taking a prisoner to question, Roy yelled down that the convoy was coming back. Then he yelled something down that solidified things for me. These were the people Meredith had escaped from!
They basically moved into position to surround us. Jimmy says he puts their numbers at no more than forty. So…about six to one with the odds in their favor.
I give Jimmy the best chance to survive this. The best news seems to be that they don’t have any exotic weaponry. I can’t believe it’s come to this.
Wednesday, June 11
We did all we could. Held out and fought back. And in the process, we took out a lot of those people who did such terrible things to Meredith before that day she first joined up with us. It seems like a lifetime ago.
Still, there were simply too many of them and not enough of us. I’d guess they lost half their numbers. But we did not escape—if you can call it that—unscathed. Bill is dead. Kyle and Meredith are missing. We all got separated when we broke south.
Bill didn’t go down easy. The second day there was what I guess you’d have to call a charge by a big group. Jimmy yelled warning and we were fending them off as best as we could, but a handful made it to the base of the observation tower. Bill was on what we counted as a rest up in the tower with Caren, and of course Jimmy perched on the roof. I was on the ground with Kyle and Meredith; Roy was in the woods. All I remember seeing is Bill charging down the switchback staircase with pistols blazing. It was enough for Kyle and I to pop up and start firing. Unfortunately, Bill took about a dozen rounds to the body. He was dead before we got to him. Our one loss was bigger in scope than the handful the invaders had taken. That was when we decided to run for it.
Just after dark that night everybody bailed and loaded into the deuce which was still miraculously undamaged save for a few holes which did nothing to hamper it. We roared out of there headed what we were sure was south.
We drove as hard and fast as possible. There was no way to know where we were going. We simply turned off at random points on the almost invisible logging roads. Try as we might, we couldn’t lose our pursuers. Every time we dared hope, a pair of ghostly yellow headlights would waver into view through the dust cloud we left in our wake.
I never even saw the section of washed out road. The deuce lurched violently to the left and seemed to hesitate for just a moment before toppling onto its side at such an angle that the wheels were practically pointing to the dark sky above.
Then…we tumbled over a steep bank and into a river. All of the winter snow had piled up this year. Coupled with how only recently it had begun to warm…and there was a lot of cold water rushing down this river.
Kyle, Meredith, and Roy were in the back of the deuce. I was driving and had Caren and Jimmy in front with me. We had the windows up. I don’t know how many people have ever tried to get out of a water-filled compartment while strapped in and upside down. I do not recommend it. Once the windows were rolled down and I got free, I made for the surface with all the choking and gasping you can imagine.
The raging water was whisking me along even faster than I think we had been moving in the big vehicle. I was pretty sure that the coldness of the water would prove fatal so I kept angling for the shore. When I finally made it, I was on the opposite side of the river. Roy and Caren both made it to my side, but further downstream, Jimmy was on the other.
Nobody saw Kyle or Meredith.
Our pursuers must’ve seen the accident and been satisfied with the presumed outcome. We actually came away relatively uninjured. At least those of us present.
Jimmy was able to cross early this morning. For the rest of today we will hole up in this rocky area we found. The rocks are high and flat giving us not only a place to dry off, but also relative protection should any zombies happen by, as well as a semi-concealed place to look out.
While everybody is focusing on watching for any sort of approaching danger…my eyes are seeking only one thing.