The Other Side of the Apocalypse

[WildWest]

Day 138

Part 4

Stripes was shocked to hear someone was broadcasting on the radio. He didn’t think anyone left out in the local area had the ability to broadcast except for them. He was no dummy, this was a big deal, some new enemy to worry about and make war against. Marco loved war, the psychopath.

Stripes tuned the radio to get a clearer signal and put on the headphones, only he would hear it first. It was a girls voice, but it sounded familiar through the little bit of static.

He adjusted the receiver again.

“Whoa! I know that voice! It’s that sweet little thing from Samaritan Station. She isn’t sounding so sweet right now. She’s really ticked off. I bet it’s cause she’s waiting to die after they got stomped.”

He listened intently, expecting to get some juicy details about how she and her friends were going to die a slow and painful death. “It will serve them right for killing so many of my friends.” He thought. But that’s not the story that came though the radio.

Sweet Little Thing talked away, “After those S.O.B.s shot my friends they tried to rush the barricades with garbage trucks. Those idiots didn’t have the slightest idea what they were doing. We laid down machine gun fire and tore up the drivers good. The trucks hit our wall at sixty miles an hour and bounced off. They didn’t know we were running the cement works and had poured concrete in the wall. The last thing that went through their minds was the windshield.”

“They tried missiles from the river too,” Sweet Little Thing went on, “but they didn’t do much more than dent the surface. Honestly, I don’t think a single one of them had ever been anything but a stupid, uneducated gang banger. They have no clue how to conduct a war. Our defenses were put together by a retired Colonel in the Marine Corps.”

Stripes was biting as she went on “They had one more trick. The pirates had created these zombie abominations by chopping everything off under the chest so the zombies were just a head and arms. Mean little things they had chilled to make them fast. They even coated their arms with tar to help them climb the walls. It might have been a problem for us but apparently a child thought up how to get them to attack us. They made these big slingshots. Yeah, I said slingshots. They launched them up and tried to get them over the wall. Most of them just splattered against the wall or on the pavement around our fortress. Others didn’t like to get loaded in the slingshots and chewed up their crews. It was actually funny watching them try to load the monsters and keep from getting their fingers bitten. Twenty-five of them were dead in five minutes without us having to fire a single shot.” Sweet Little Thing was laughing.

Laughing!

Stripes was getting mad. He felt like he was being ridiculed. He killed the last dude that tried to make fun of him.

“By this time their reserves were trying to run away,” Swing was back to a steady tone, “because the runners they let loose were turning on them. What did they expect? They were the only fresh meat available, sitting in those trucks. We were all the way up on the walls sitting nice and safe. Then we messed up their day. We have mines spread all over the roads approaching our fortress. The bonehead who thought this attack up knew we did. We used them on him on the last attack the pirates made. Well, he got the exact same results. We blew our temporary barricades that penned in reserve zombies, blew power poles to block their truck, and let the zombies have a feast. I don’t know if any made it out, if so it wasn’t many.”

“How could he be so stupid!” Stripes said to himself, “They did kill them on the retreat last time. They did it again this time. We always keep a reserve force, but they never made it back this time. Just the traitor and his three buddies.”

Sweet Little Thing wasn’t done yet, “Those pirates are no threat to us, but they are a threat to innocent survivors out there. If you are approached by this group from Long Beach Harbor, steer clear or shoot them down. They won’t have any mercy on you if you surrender. You might as well fight to the death. We don’t intend to let this threat continue here in Southern California. Our strike teams have been instructed to terminate their patrols and we will have their entire group subdued before the start of the cold weather. Now for our recorded instruction on how to get to Samaritan Station.” Sweet Little Thing switched over to the same recording they had been using for months.

Stripes was confused. His whole world had turned upside down. That Marco was going to get them all killed, just like he did the force that attacked Samaritan Station. Just like the force that attacked them the first time.

JUST LIKE MOST OF US WHO DIED WHEN THEY ATTACKED US!

Something inside of Stripes snapped in that moment. He was afraid, but not of Marco. He was afraid of the monster army from Samaritan Station. They attacked us with the tiny zombies and we died. We never even saw them do it. It was like they were invisible. Now there is nothing we can do to stop them. We can’t hurt them. Walls filled with concrete! We can’t break through those. We tried and they’re still trying to be the goodie-two-shoes of the world. They’ll kill us for sure when they come at us again.

They’re laughing at us too.

Marco’s killed us. Most are dead already. He’s not taking the rest of us down with him!

[WildWest]

Day 139

We weren’t wasting any time, as usual. Apparently one of the defining characteristics of our community is that we don’t waste a lot of time in trying to meet our goals. Our goal today, run our first expedition to find survivors.

The road south on Batavia is trashed. Way too many power poles are down for us to try going that way. It would take a long time for us to clear them, time we don’t have right now. We are writing off the entire industrial region south of us for the rest of this year. When we get consistently warm weather next year we can have crews cut through the debris so we can access those resources again.

In the meantime we would change direction and head north, across the freeway bridge into Anaheim, Yorba Linda, Placentia, and Fullerton. Industrial areas are also in those cities for us to gather those few items we still need if the opportunity presents itself. That won’t be our main goal though. The main goal will be to map good travel routes and look for any hardy survivors that have made it this long.

Evelyn manned the radio all day and told any possible listeners to place a sheet in the window and pin it up as an upside-down triangle to tell us they are alive and want to be rescued. We would do our best to find them and bring them in.

While the expedition got organized and ready to go, Fabian organized two work crews, and Angela a third. Fabian was having the welding work done on the new containers and bolts and anchors to hold them in place. This one feature assuredly saved our lives and our sanctuary, so we definitely saw the value of making sure these modifications were completed.

The second crew was handed over to Jack to help build the larger pens for the cows and also sheep. This work had already started, but we needed to have it done so the sheep in the barricaded areas could be brought in and kept safe. The chicken coop needed to be rebuilt as well so we could have some fresh eggs without doing an Easter egg hunt in the neighborhood.

Angela’s crew consisted mostly of women and children. They were working in the fields to bring in the crops. Using garden implements they were going to harvest, move, and store the crops in the inner compound. This was going to be a huge task taking many days so the other work crews would transfer under Angel once their current assignments were completed.

The expedition was ready to leave by eleven in the morning. We had prepared our vehicles, two Humvees and one reinforced dump truck, for the trip. Cyclone fencing was stretched over the top of the truck’s cargo bed and secured in place with heavy wire in case the extra room was needed for passengers. We would try to keep them in the cabs of the vehicles if we could.

The route was planned to head over the Glassel Bridge past La Palma and into Anaheim and Placentia. If the road allowed, we would continue north until Imperial Highway and head West through Brea and Fullerton. From there it wouldn’t help to plan too much because the plan would probably have been altered beyond recognition anyway. We would stay in radio contact with Evelyn and backup vehicles were ready for a relief team if necessary.

I had my pick for this mission, complete with eager volunteers. Will and Kelsey would be in the lead Humvee. I would follow in the next with Doc. The dump truck would bring up the read with Mark and Kevin. Their job was to do any smashing we asked for in the event of a horde or a wreck that was causing us a problem. Mark especially liked the idea of having a job whose central purpose was smashing zombies and stuff.

[WildWest]

Day 139

Part 2

Stripes got his nickname because of the scars on his left cheek. Four neat and clean scars ran five inches across his face in a horizontal direction. He got those scars from a woman who didn’t appreciate his affection after he rescued her and her family two months after the zombies hit. She made a mistake doing it because Stripes lashed out bad when he was hurt. That’s just what he did. It didn’t matter if he was angry or scared, he would lash out and hurt others to gain a sense of control. He needed to feel in control this morning.

Stripes pulled two of his enforcers into the radio shack with him early in the morning. He let them hear the recorded messages and he filled them in on last night’s talk time with Sweet Little Thing. These were guys he understood, not the cholo gang bangers that roamed the group, but real guys that were tough bikers you didn’t ever mess with. They could tell when a dude was weak and full of it. They could tell that Marco didn’t deliver, he was full of it, and that meant he was weak.

They talked briefly about what they would do. Not much creativity went into the planning. It was just a quick meeting of the minds and a call to action. Stripes would stand up and take him on. These guys would be his enforcers. They weren’t fools about it they knew Marco was dangerous, any psychopath was.

Stripes went about his normal morning routine, getting people organized for the day’s work in anticipation of Marco coming out of the trailer. He always had to report the condition of the camp to Marco, today would be no different. No different except he had a mini .22 revolver palmed in his left hand.

He waited dutifully outside the trailer till after Marco’s noisy morning fun was over. It was as if screams and crying were the music of his alarm clock. Ten minutes after the noise went to sobs, Marco emerged from the trailer, walked over to Stripes and said, “Report!”

Marco began walking and Stripes walked along to the left of Marco. Marco asked, “How are the two new sl”…POP…POP..POPPOP.

Marco pivoted towards Stripes, pulling up his Revolver and firing even before dropping a proper bead on Stripes. Stripes was pulling up his own Glock after emptying the little revolver into Marco’s side.

BAM! Marco’s first round hit Stripes in the front of the hip, shattering his pelvis. The impact threw Stripes off balance and making Stripes shoot wide. BAM! BAM! BAM!

Marco put three more rounds into Stripe’s chest, laying him out on the ground. Marco fired the revolver from a foot away into Stripe’s face and relishing it exploding in a mass of gore.

Stripe’s enforcers and three other pirates stood staring at Marco. Marco had been their king. Now he was gut shot with a tiny pistol, and he was smiling. Marco kept very still. Suddenly he started to laugh. Not a diabolical laugh, but a chuckle, as if he had heard an amusing little joke. He had heard a joke. The POP POP POP was the joke. He built up such a huge persona of himself. Through his fearsome rage, he was able to subdue all around him, only to be brought low by a ladies pistol.

Nobody here had any medical knowledge. The tiny bullets would stay inside of him. Evert vein and artery severed would stay that way. The bile release from his intestines would infect him, killing him in days, even if the bleeding didn’t kill him in the next few minutes or hour.

Still nobody moved.

Marco dropped to one knee, the barrel of his revolver touching the ground.

The larger of the two enforcers walked up and kicked Marco in the kidney. Marco slumped to the ground, curling up in a fetal position. The enforcer stomped on Marco’s arm with his boot. The arm broke with a compound fracture, slivers protruding from the skin, Marco finally released his revolver.

The revolver was kicked away.

The enforcer put his boot on Marco’s next yelling, “Patch him up and get the sticks ready!”

His people carefully stopped the bleeding and promptly crucified him on the wall.

[TheOrder45]

Win. Keep it up, your story is only getting better.

[kaijafon]

thank you for the fast pace and great story!! I love always (well almost always) finding MOAR each time I come here.

[WildWest]

Day 139

Part 3

Will and Kelsey were doing a good job on point. They redirected us several times as we tried to head north towards Imperial Highway. One time we changed direction real quick because Kelsey saw a large sign in the window of an office building that said “Alive Inside!”

Approaching the office building it became apparent that the people were not able to hold out. The area was fairly thick with zeds, but they weren’t swarming as if living people were near. The main doors of the building had been smashed open with a car. My best guess is that the sign was put up on the first day of the outbreak and someone caught outside was desperate to get into a safe place. He must have been a real bright on in his little Corolla because he probably killed everyone inside when he broke down the doors.

We didn’t stay long; it wasn’t healthy to stay in any one place too long. A small horde would form any time we delayed. We had hordes form when we were just rolling down the road in most cases, and had to zigzag to keep our fans from building up to a large crowd.

One of those zigzags turned out to be a fortunate thing. There was an upside-down triangle in the window, made out of cans!

We had avoided a wreck at Bastanchury Avenue and headed down a side street o make our way north again when we passed right by the house. Someone had stacked cans of stew, I’m assuming empty, into the window of the master bedroom of their two story house. All the first floor windows if the house had been broken out but those windows also had iron bars installed. That was a bit unusual for this neighborhood, since bars were rare in well-off neighborhoods like this.

Mark and Kevin started their main work of smashing the living dead. While Will and I drove the hummers onto the front yard of the house.

Miguel Ortiz opened his front door to see the military vehicles on his lawn. He would have been irritated by the rudeness of damaging his yard except for the fact that the grass was two feet high and dead from the summer heat. He was grateful somebody had shown up to rescue them.

They had heard the radio calls to head south to the city of Orange, but they didn’t think they could make it all that distance. He knew something about going out into a hostile world and not surviving the trip. His family was one of the few wealthy families in Chiapas, Mexico when the uprisings started many years ago. His father was kidnapped on his way to work and only his body was returned. Nothing was ever safe after that, as proven by his brother’s family being killed for having connections to the governor’s office. Miguel moved his family after that.

The neighbors here didn’t like him very much. They sued him to get the bars off the windows, but he won. It seems the judge agreed that the HOA had not properly structured that portion of their rules and that the rules themselves had not been developed in accordance with California law. He kept to bars and then ran for a seat on the HOA board.

Miguel was happy they were here, but he always managed to be distrustful of new people regardless of the circumstances under which they met. He knew he was taking a chance with his family, going with these people he didn’t know. They were almost out of food, water and options. They would go anyway.

I yelled from the hummer, “How many people?”

“Three!” he said with a thick Mexican accent.

“Get ready, and bring only what you can carry!”

Miguel had his family ready for this ever since the zombies had attacked. Though he had a large store of food and water kept in the house, something that his parents had done all through his childhood to protect their family, he insisted his wife Olga and son Max had to be ready to leave on a moment’s notice. This was that moment.

I was surprised by how fast they were ready. It was under sixty seconds and they were all lined up by the front door, the heavy iron bars keeping them safe from the occasional zed that made it onto the front lawn.

Using the hatches, Kelsey and Doc provided cover fire and a clear lane. I yelled, “Go!” and they ran out of the house to the hummers, each one carrying a large nylon bag over their shoulder. Miguel and Olga each carried an additional bag. They were obviously heavy.

We got them into the hummers, stowed the bags in the back, and buttoned up the vehicles. Nobody was hurt except for a dozen zeds on the lawn and dozens more in the street. Mark took the lead this time till we got through the wall of zeds forming down the street. He plowed through them pretty hard and a moment later we were safe.

We continued on north at a slow pace, quickly abandoning the idea of Imperial highway when we saw it first hand. The road wasn’t packed with cars and there weren’t too many wrecks till we got to the 57 overpass near the Brea Mall. The 57 was as bad as every other highway we had been to, only worse. Too many people had seen zombie movies where the survivors hold out in the shopping mall. It looked like all of Orange County had filled the streets to get here. Thousands of cars were in the area and it seemed they all had become the abode of one or more zombies. We couldn’t get close enough to see the freeway, but it was sure to be packed as well. The way was blocked and we headed back south, looking for a route westward.

This became our pattern through the day. We would try a new route, find it blocked after a short period of time, and then look for a new route. It wasn’t till four in the afternoon when we happened upon more survivors.

We had finally made the crossing over the 57 into Fullerton. While going through Fullerton’s main industrial area we came across a smaller concrete and steel pop-up building surrounded by a sea of zeds. The sign in front said, “Gold Star Pet Foods” and had an upside down triangle spray painted over it.

Over a hundred zeds were pressing against the little steel doors on this side of the building until they heard our engines. They clumsily turned around and headed straight for us. I had Mark take the lead and begin his smashing. While that was going on I called back to Evelyn at Samaritan Station. I asked her to relay a message in the clear for the people in Gold Star Pet Foods to be ready to come out the east doors when they hear us yell for them.

Mark and Kevin again went wild, crushing everything they could over the next hour. Once the zeds had been backed well away from the building, we rolled up to the door, doc reached out the passenger door, and pounded on it with the butt of his rifle. “Get out here now!” he yelled. The door opened and out ran seven of the filthiest people I had ever seen.

Four young men, two girls, and one child, I think it was a girl; all stepped out into the parking lot with terrified looks on their faces. Only one of them had set foot outside the building in the last four and a half months, and that was only this morning to paint the triangle. The sight that greeted them was a sea of gore in the parking lot and people with guns telling them to run through it into some military vehicles. I’m sure it was a huge shock for them.

“Move it! Two in here, the rest in the other humvee!” I yelled in as an authoritarian voice as I could. They moved and piled in. None brought anything with them except the dirty rags they were wearing.

Once they were inside, we locked up and hit the road. I wanted to get back and have the vehicles safely stored well before dark.

The drive back was the smelliest ride I have ever been on. These people have had no access to water for cleaning and had the nastiest diet while hiding out. They’ve been eating a combination of cat and dog food. It was nutritious enough but their body odor was particularly nasty from it.

Vince and Erik were students at Cal State Fullerton before the end of the world. They gathered some friends and bolted, hoping to head into the hills and find a place to wait it out after the school fell to the zombies. They had picked up Trini on their way out. She was a four your old girl that had already been orphaned by that time. They really didn’t have a leader, but Vince was the more outspoken and member of the group. The others in Wills humvee with Trini were Stan, Art, Shelly, and Lupe.

[SteveD]

Enjoying this story very much!!!

[WildWest]

Day 140

What a combination of people to add in our little community. In one day we brought in ten more people. Two more days like this and we’ll be at capacity. Any more than fifty and we’ll have problems with space, sanitation, and long term capacity to sustain ourselves.

Miguel and his family are really outspoken and it took me a bit to get used to it. At first it seemed that he wanted to be in charge. That changed real quick when we talked later in the evening. He does like to be in charge of whatever he is doing, but he isn’t looking to have responsibility for more than his family. He wants to make sure he has a voice so his family is protected within our group. In the town he was from it was all about personal relationships, who you knew, and what you were able to provide to the community that determined whether your family had enough to eat. They brought a lot of food and water with them in case we didn’t share enough.

He was relieved when I told him he could keep it in his home if he wanted. He was stunned by both the generosity with food and with being given a home for his family. I did tell him he would probably have to take in one or two people if we brought in as many newcomers as I expected in the coming days. He was satisfied. After all, he was sharing a portion of what someone had just given to him outright.

He also became more comfortable when he realized he had a valuable skill we needed. In Chiapas, his family ran a small food processing plant. He’s been working to process all types of produce for preservation and delivery to market for the last twenty years. His professional skill has just increased our community’s chances at long term survival, giving him the sense of security and value he needed. He’ll be getting together with Angela tomorrow morning and get started with the food storage and processing right away.

The college kids are a little different. All this time shut up in a warehouse eating pet food did a number on their self esteem. Maybe they were already the lazy sort to begin with too. We had them get cleaned up last night and Doc gave each one a quick checkup. They would have to sleep in a garage with camping equipment because he found lice. They didn’t seem to concerned about the lice, but were compliant with their sentence to sleeping in a garage.

They didn’t want to get up this morning and seemed to wander about when they did. Doc says that they are acting a bit like a person who had been in a concentration camp, their will has been damaged. He’s certain that with a healthy diet, exercise, and some direction, all of them can recover and be productive members of our community. I hope Doc is right about that.

The big surprise this morning was that Fabian proposed to Maria. We’ll be having a wedding here after harvest. He’s a good man. He knows how to provide for and protect her. The girls are giddy with excitement for Maria. Evelyn seems to be the most enthusiastic and talks of little else but the wedding. I’m pretty sure she has wedding dreams in her future; I’m just not sure she’s decided who the husband will be yet.

She’ll have a little time to wait. It’s Will and Kelsey that I expect will be following Fabian and Maria down the aisle. They are spending an awful lot of time talking these days. Will has a tender heart and knows how to make Kelsey feel special. I’ve watched her gently melt at his words and attention over the last weeks. It’s actually the only thing that makes her go soft anymore. This is good, real good.

[WildWest]

Day 140

Part 2

Out of the dark! ”I can’t see a thing.” He said in a whisper.

“Listen and wait for your eyes to adjust.” Mike whispered back. Jim just needed to stay cool. If we all stay cool we might actually get out of this mess.

They all just waited. Gabriella was covering them from within the panic room.

Nothing was in this room. They were terrified of this very moment. Coming out and not being able to see in the bright light, their eyes accustomed to the absolute dark of the armory. They knew that if they had to shoot at this point, they would have to go back in their panic room again. They knew how fortunate they were.

Giving their eyes a few minutes to adjust, they slowly duck walked across the administrative room, towards the back of the station.

They were all heavily armed. The department had purchased new M4 carbines with a Homeland Security Department grant a couple of years ago. All the other heavy weapons were relics from the Vietnam War era. The three officers were loaded down with ammunition, food, and water. They were ready if they had to camp out in a locked area if they got cornered.

The Westminster Police Department was no longer a tenable defensive location. Holes had been blown wide into the walls and those new monsters could climb. They had to get to a building that was intact and lay low, gather supplies, and wait out the colder months.

Jim opened the door to the garage and froze in terror. He did not move as much as an inch. Two of the crawler nightmares were on the floor across the room. They noticed the door open and started dragging themselves across the room. Jim didn’t budge, he stayed crouched in the doorway till they had almost reached him.

Mike pulled Jim back and walked into the garage. Mike grabbed a tire and set it over the first one, then another for the second crawler. It made very little noise and they had trouble lifting it off and then Mike stacked a couple more on each of them. That should hold them long enough.

Mike took point and Gabriella prodded Jim along so he would keep up.

Mike went to the wall board where the keys hung, checked some numbers, and selected four sets. He then started across the bay. Gabriella shoved Jim to get him going.

“Oh boy! Jim was losing it!” she thought to herself.

Mike was all the way over to the bay on the far side of the building before we got half way. He waited for us at the back door into the lot. I kept looking behind me at the crawlers that were struggling to get out from under the tires. One had rolled the top tire off and was only held down by two now. He would be free soon.

There was no window in the door, so they were going to jump out into the unknown, trying to find a car. This was their second time in the last fifteen minutes doing something so suicidal and it was getting to be a bad habit.

[WildWest]

Day 140

Part 3

No survivors today. We took our search expedition through Fullerton into central Anaheim without running across the living. Our search went all the way around the Disneyland complex. We’ll need to steer clear of that area. Somebody intentionally blocked most of the approaching roads into the area and navigation was very dangerous.

It was one of the early rescue stations. They must have been fighting infections from survivors and tried to seal themselves off. They were killed before they could finish the job.

We’ll try again tomorrow heading south.

Doc will stay home for that one. The new kids need some adult supervision and Doc seems to be able to get their attention real well, especially since he did their haircuts and forced baths in the disinfectant. Richard will be taking his place as my copilot.

[WildWest]

Day 141

“Sleeping on the roof was very uncomfortable” Gabriella thought, but it was better than being eaten.”

Good and bad fortune both smiled upon her yesterday. Their breakout from the police station was a mess. Six shamblers were in the lot when they burst through the door. Jim and Mike both took one out with their M4s only a moment after we emerged from the building. I took out two more as they moved forward to try the keys in the nearest car.

The keys were good, but the car wouldn’t start.

We were shooting and the zombies were already starting to arrive outside the fence. I took out he last shambler inside the fence when we each tried remaining car. Mike’s was the only one that started and we ran to it. Hopped into the passenger seat, but Jim paused before climbing into the back.

Mike and Gabriella had to scream at him before he jumped in. His face was pale with terror.

Mike punched it and sped through the up to the closed gate. Gabriella hopped out, manually unlocked it, and gave it a pull. Shamblers pushed it open more as she raced back into the car. Mike battered the zombies as he used the car to push the gate open enough for the car to exit.

Gabriella looked back to check on Jim. He was dead pale. “We lost him now.” She thought, barely noticing the mass of flesh, skull, and arms behind them. It was about where this car had been parked.

Mike turned hard and was pushing through the forming horde. The windshield had some spider web cracks in it. They might actually make it.

“That was one of those nasty crawlers. I hate those things.”

Mike made it onto the main street and started going about forty to get past where the horde was starting to form.

They were two blocks down already when she remembered the pool of blood the crawler was wallowing in. Fresh blood!

Gabriella turned around in time to see Jim swoon over. She didn’t see any bites from where she was sitting, but he turned a moment later.

Jim’s arms and legs started battering at the steel mesh and plexi-glass barrier keeping him from feasting on the people in the front seat. Once Jim started flailing, Gabriella could see the toe of his shoe had been bitten off. Jim never made a sound, his terror had taken him before he died, and may very well kill them too.

The zombie that used to be Jim wasn’t getting anywhere with the glass but it sure was freaking out Mike and Gabriella. Then Mike pulled hard left, hopped a curb, plowed through a gap in the hedges that wasn’t big enough for the car, and raced across the parking lot of a strip mall.

Gabriella thought he had lost his mind. “What are you doing?” She demanded of him. Mike was silent.

He drove around the back of the strip mall and screeched to a halt.

“Out!” he screamed at her. Mike was out of the car in an instant.

Mike opened the back door of the squad car and killed Jim as he came out. Gabriella started to get back in the car now that Jim was taken car of, but Mike yelled, “What do you think you’re doing? Get up that ladder!”

There was a ladder there. Gabriella hadn’t seen it. Jim had all of her attention the last two minutes. She hadn’t seen the upside down triangle taped over the Walgreens sign either. Nor did she see the man that had waved them down.

Though it was yesterday, it was also an eternity ago. Guoc, a Vietnamese man in his early fifties, had heard the gunfire and seen the police car speed down the street. Knowing there was trouble, he flagged them down. After all, he trusted them. They were the police and they were opposing the pirates.

Guoc motioned for them to go in back of the building and he lowered a ladder to them. They easily made it up before the zombies closed in. Then they became friends with Guoc, his little sister Minh, and three of their neighbors, Pham, Clarence, and Elise. All of them safe in campground Nguyen.

[Blackgunboy]

Great story. Thanks for all your hard work.

[Braxton]

I am LOVEING this!! can't wate for A little more

[TheOrder45]

It is rather addicting isn't it.

[WildWest]

Day 141

Part 2

Richard made a very good copilot on the expedition into Santa Ana today. He had gained a lot of practical experience helping Rex bring his family all the way out here from Nevada. Richard had developed good instincts about which types of areas were likely to be blocked or more densely occupied by the zeds.

We probed east, down Lincoln Avenue and then moved south through the residential streets east of Samaritan Station. This was our most direct route south since Batavia and the other roads in that industrial area were a mess. We only had to backtrack three times before crossing the 22 freeway into Santa Ana.

I saw one of the eeriest sights on the north side of Santa Ana. We were going down Fairhaven and passed the Fairhaven Memorial Park, a very large cemetery. Amid all the trees and tombstones we could see from the road, we saw only open grass dotted with rabbits eating the remaining green vegetation. The one place in Southern California where the dead did not swarm was the cemetery.

We headed to the eastern edge of the city and zigzagged through the neighborhoods, but saw no signs of the living. We only saw the long forgotten signs of the violent days that started the apocalypse. We had to turn west again when we reached the area close to the Western Medical Centers. Too many abandoned vehicles and attempted barricades had been erected for us to make our way through. This part of town had been hit earliest and few would have survived from the first hours with no warning or time to prepare.

We came across an industrial area in the south of town and spent a couple of hours driving through. We found a sign painted across the roofline of Ingardia Produce Company. It said “HELP US! WE”RE STILL ALIVE!”

We cleared the road and parking lot of zeds with the dump truck. Then Richard and Kelsey broke open the door of the building. It was still secure. No zombies had broken in. The only problem was, the people had already died. The remains of eight people were months old. It was impossible to tell what had them meet their end. They might have been able to salvage some of the more durable produce for long term consumption. They may have even been able to extract juice to substitute for water. Perhaps they just lost hope?

We moved on.

Again we zigzagged through residential neighborhoods on our way west. The Fifth Street Bridge over the Santa Ana River was clear. I could see far more water in this part of the river than ever before. The cities weren’t draining the water so it was a steady flow all the way to the coast.

Fifth Street was pretty clear. It wasn’t a main traffic artery, wasn’t near a medical facility, and had a large golf course on one side of the road. We picked up speed and almost missed the upside down triangle off to our right. Kelsey caught it and radioed it in. We pulled into a parking lot of the Pacific Market and started clearing zeds immediately.

As we were clearing the zombies, people became visible on the high roof over the market. We waved at each other and I relayed a message back to Evelyn to transmit on the radio. The people on the roof apparently got the message because they gave thumbs up and started to get busy. I wanted them packed and ready to go once we had the zeds cleared out.

Clearing the road was pretty routine, a quick hour and a half work. Once done, the ladder was lowered the people loaded their gear in the dump truck and hopped in the Humvees. There were seven of them, including two police from the Westminster PD.

[WildWest]

Day 141

Part 3

The road back was a little bit tougher today. The zombies seemed to stay stirred up a bit longer and we had to make more turns to shake the forming hordes and leave them behind. Fortunately, getting behind the barricades and gates had only the normal challenges.

We brought everyone in again and made introductions. Guoc and Clarence became the center of attention this evening as they recounted their tale of survival in the early hours of the outbreak. Guoc worked at the Pacific Market as a butcher. He lived around the corner with his sister and her husband. He wasted no time getting her and a neighbor over to the market when things started to go crazy. Most employees went home, but the manager agreed that they would bring down the security gates over the doors and windows, then retreat to the high section of roof.

Clarence and Elise worked at the seafood restaurant at the end of the strip mall. The owner didn’t tell them about the outbreak till the customers had all fled. By then, zombies were on the street. Guoc’s group rescued them by lowering a ladder, but the manager died fighting off a zombie that had pursued them up the ladder. Both the manager and the zombie were knocked off the roof by a quick thinking Clarence.

After our customary feast for newcomers, I was approached by Doc, Miguel, and Fabian. They had a serious concern and needed us to talk. We were now up to forty-four people in our little community. With so many people, it was starting to get difficult to manage what everyone was doing and keep everybody on the same page. They had already discussed this problem and had a consensus that we needed to form some sort of government.

I could only agree since it made perfect sense. Now that we didn’t have imminent death at the hands of the pirates to hold us together, we were bound to start pulling in different directions. A schism in the community could kill all of us very quickly in such a hostile world.

I put forward that there were two primary types of government that functioned well in a small frontier style community as far as I knew from history, a dictatorship and a town council. I knew this wasn’t strictly true, but I wanted to do my part to clear the air rather quickly. I asked, “Who here would like to be the dictator?”

I got a combination of puzzled, pained, and smirking expressions.

Thirty seconds later we had unanimously agreed that a town council should be formed. The rest of the evening we hashed out the details of the council size, election process, voting ages, and length of terms served.

In a nutshell, we agreed to five members serving for one year each. Elections would be held in three days. All members of the community eighteen years or older at the time of the election will be allowed to vote, including any new members brought in, up to and including on election day. Anybody could put their name on the ballot. Each person gets one vote for each seat, but could not vote for the same person more than once. The five people with the greatest number of votes will be seated on the council. If there is a tie for the seats, a runoff will be held the following day for those tied for the remaining seats. Each citizen gets a single vote during the runoff and those with the highest number of votes will be seated to their respective seats.

We set the rules to paper and scheduled a town meeting for tomorrow morning at nine.

[WildWest]

Day 142

The town meeting went well. There was wide agreement that there was a need for a town council. There was also great relief that a town council was going to be formed, rather than a dictatorship of some sort.

Doc was nominated to process the election paperwork and we had an immediate list of candidates that included myself, Doc, Richard, Jack, Miguel, Maria, Will, and Guoc. Such a fast response to the idea of self-government indicated something clear. Town politics was going to be important to everybody here.

Our rescue convoy headed out by ten in the morning.

Today’s route took us south, through Santa Ana and into Irvine. Much of the day was spent in the industrial areas with little to show for it. The medical research and high tech businesses offered a poor long term shelter option for survivors. We pressed farther south and came across an upside down triangle outside a warehouse that would have been an excellent choice for a shelter, the Second Harvest food distribution center.

It was a tall concrete structure with no windows and only steel doors and loading bays for access. Inside would be many tons of food and beverages meant for distribution to food banks across Southern California. We were greeted with loud shouts as we approached. A good sized group used the roof for their daytime recreation.

This was easily our most uplifting day driving our rescue convoy. This group was well supplied for food and drink and could survive on their own through the winter. Just surviving wasn’t their goal. They had been listening to what was happening in the world and knew they needed more than a warehouse of food to get through the winter. They wanted a community to build a future over the coming years. That was something they had already realized would never happen in the middle of Irvine’s paved industrial area.

Clearing the lot took only an hour. We took four more hours getting rigs and trailers loaded for travel. Benjamin was forty eight years old, their unofficial leader, and had been the general manager of this warehouse. With him was his wife Betty, sons Jake, and Paul, and Paul’s wife Ellen. Paul and Ellen also had four children, all under the age of eight, Harrison, Beth, Amber, and their newborn girl, Dotty. Dotty had been born right here in the warehouse three months ago.

Two other younger families rounded out the group. John and Claire were in their late twenties and had three kids; Tami, Brad, and Kelley. John and Claire were regular volunteers at the warehouse and rushed here when the first news reports started describing the riots. Jett and Katey came upon the warehouse by chance. They fled Santa Monica on city streets and barely made it down to Irvine, seemingly always at the leading edge of the carnage. Benjamin took them and their two children, Brian and Tom, in off the street without asking a question.

Benjamin has obviously been a good leader of the group and they both trusted and looked up to him. None of the group had any weapons of any kind, yet they had survived all this time. They managed to stay positive to this very day and were friendly and willing to join us.

When we finally got rolling, we had our humvee in the lead, dump truck following, six trailers of foods, and another humvee trailing.

Eighteen more souls for Samaritan Station. We would be out of room now. Our focus will have to change. It’s time for us to settle in for winter.

[WildWest]

Day 143

We again changed our priorities and tried to keep everyone gainfully employed. It got a lot harder to do today, now with sixty-two people in our now tiny little sanctuary. Benjamin was a huge blessing in getting things moving. He led his group by example and they all chipped in heartily.

The college kids were tougher. Doc had to keep on them to get started and they eventually faded away anyway. They just weren’t focused and wouldn’t easily accept direction.

The children were a bit of a mob too. So many new ones made it difficult to keep them organized to help with the harvesting chores, most of which were well on their way to being completed.

Some of the most interesting happenings were about the coming elections. It had caught the imagination of everyone. It had also showed how divisions existed within our walls. The divisions were mostly along the lines of groups that came in. Everyone from my family to Rex’ family that came in before the first battle had melded together well. Doc’s group was assimilating too, but still had their own identity. Miguel and Olga were separate and seemed to want to endear themselves to all the groups equally. The college kids were in a world of their own, Guoc’s group thought of themselves as camp Guoc, and Benjamin’s group had just arrived.

We really did have a melting pot here.

More nominations for council were registered today. The new names were Vince, backed by the college kids, Benjamin and Jake of the group from Second Harvest, and Mike from the Westminster PD. Twelve names in competition for five town council seats. Tomorrow’s vote will be interesting.

The election wasn’t the only thing keeping our little town buzzing. Homes were being cleaned up and furnished for the new families and a wedding was being planned and prepared. It was terrific having such a positive focus for our community as the wedding for Fabian and Maria. The day has been set and the ceremony will be in just four more days.

The weather has held warm so far in September. In a normal year this should continue through the end of the month. If so, the wedding will be on a bright and sunny afternoon, with music, and a reception following. The women have even recruited a few men to see how a dance floor could be arranged an lit outside so the dancing can go into the evening. If they have their way, this will be a party to be remembered.

[FrANkNstEin]

It is rather addicting isn't it.

this!

[WildWest]

Day 144

I was sick as a dog today…

I did not want to get out of bed. My head ached, my body ached, I had a fever, and my sinus’ were exploding. Doc said it was just a cold, but this one was a doozy. I am so glad we have a good stock of Dayquil, tissues, and cough drops. Next year it will probably be a lot tougher getting relief.

The cold wouldn’t keep me away from Election Day though. I wanted to see every bit of it play out. I had no expectation of foul play, maybe just sour grapes if people took their losses hard.

Doc had the ballots available for all the voters by ten in the morning. People were given till three to submit their ballots back to Doc at the election station. At three voting would be closed and the counting would begin. Counting would be done by Vicky, Renee, and Gabriella. They would present the totals and retain all the ballots in case people wanted to review the tallies themselves. The results were to be presented by five so that a runoff could be conducted after dinner, if necessary.

Few of the ballots were submitted before lunch. Most people spent the day talking to each other about priorities to get things done for winter and next year, how to improve the facilities at Samaritan Station, and how to maintain security and order. Electricity and expanding agriculture were issues as talked about as whether a sheriff was needed.

The last six ballots were collected right at three and the ladies left to do their tally. The entire town was assembled on the lawns in front of the houses the inner wall, waiting for the results. The atmosphere was festive and serious at the same time. Not light, because all the adults were taking this quite seriously. It was festive because this was going to be a memorable day and having this day at all gave everyone a great deal of pride. It was as if all the founding documents of our republic still meant something, all the culture we had been taught regarding democracy and freedom had been salvaged from the zombie apocalypse and survived.

It was self evident that the people, the families, the community took great pride in it’s new political process, no matter how new and simplistic it might be.

Vicky led the ladies back out with the results.

The town went quiet as Vicky gave a short speech thanking everyone for their participation and describing the process they used to tally the votes. She then read off the names of the five new members of our town council. Applause and cheers went up with each name as it was read.

In order, the names were myself, Doc, Benjamin, Jake, and Maria.

No runoff was needed for the election, though I later learned that there was only a single vote difference between Maria and Guoc.

The college kids were subdued with the election results. Vince, their candidate of choice did not get a seat at the table and that disappointed them. They had decided to vote as a bloc in the election and backed candidates that would oppose the older men, this meant that they were pivotal in putting Jake and Maria in office.

Their game really didn’t matter much. Jake’s world view was very similar to his father Benjamin and would not be satisfying to the college kids. Maria was far more interested in being a voice for the women in the town. That meant she wanted everyone to be working hard making improvements, far from the agenda the college kids had in mind.

Vince’s poor showing in the election and the poor results from their attempt at manipulating the election caused Vince to lose his support of the other kids over the next few weeks. Eventually they started to go separate ways in the town and started to identify more closely with the new groups that were forming within our community.

[WildWest]

Day 145

We took the time for our first council meeting this morning. It was a closed session so that we could determine the rules by which the council would operate and then present them in an open meeting this evening. This was an area in which Benjamin and Doc proved to be remarkably adept. Doc thrived on student government in school and understood rules and procedures. Benjamin was even more skilled since he actively served on a number of charity and church boards, he had far more experience in governing groups.

The session moved quickly and there were few sticking points. All votes would be at public meetings. Items for voting had to be put forward and seconded by council members. Minimum debate time of half an hour was allotted to each side. Procedures were established to establish an orderly debate and voting process. All votes would be determined by simple majority.

We finished the meeting by reviewing a few topics that would be brought up in the initial public meeting. We debated our priorities for addressing our town’s needs and settled on some that seemed most important. First was establishing a fair system for labor and distribution of goods. Second was establishing a system of formal laws, an office of sheriff, and a judicial process. Third was establishing an educational and training system for the children.

Other issues were set aside as important, but less timely. These other issues included setting a formal direction for managing gathering runs, contacting other communities, and changing our refugee assistance policy. We also set aside establishing a formal military or defense role in our community. Finally, we set aside all discussions of specific public works projects until after we address our three priorities, since they will provide the framework for managing our people and education was seen as the number one priority with winter fast approaching.

The meetings took up most of the day and evening. I was amazed at how much time and effort it took to go through the process of defining how we would function as a government and as a people. I still have a really bad cold and I’m exhausted.

The town itself has been buzzing with activity, mostly spurred on by preparations for the wedding. Harvest has been completed and the wedding will happen in two days. Maria is splitting her time between council meetings and wedding preparation, while Fabian is focused on making this an excellent ceremony and reception.

Jack and Renee have been directing some helpers to finish organizing the outer courtyard for the winter. Animal pens are up and the trailers and heavy equipment are getting stowed for the winter. With Miguel’s help, they are even putting together a milk and cheese processing center in one of the garages. We’ll have a modest supply of fresh dairy products through the winter.

Richard has pulled off a minor miracle. He got three of the college guys, Erik, Stan, and Art, to join him in sandbagging inside the outer walls. Richard has stayed focused on having solid defenses and this will be a winter-long project to harden the walls. He’s also going over marksmanship basics with them and will see what skills they might have as fighters.

Vince apparently spent the day sulking, wandering through looking at everyone working, but not really doing anything himself. It was as if he was looking for a place to fit in, but looking only hard enough to tell himself that there was no place for him. He has become one to worry about.

The evening meeting went well. The council rules were adopted by unanimous vote. The people attending seemed pleased overall with how we were conducting business. The younger people started to get a bit bored though.

Regarding the rules for labor and resources, we adopted resolutions stating the principals that the community would provide all the basic needs of all citizens from the community stores. Another resolution recognized the legal status of personal property, and a third supported the idea of payment or reward for labor within the community. This is going to be a hairy problem to deal with as things became quite heated in the room and within the council. Maria and Doc tended to come down on the side of community property and support for most items while Benjamin and Jake supported a purely private property perspective. I became the swing vote on the issue and we will probably manage a system that incorporates basic provision for all and a supplementary system for rewarding individual labor. Hopefully a balance can prevent a schism in the group over our basic economics.

The issue of education was much easier to work through. Angela stepped up and volunteered to run the education system through high-school and actively teach children up through sixth grade. I’ll be volunteering to teach seventh through twelfth grades. This role will make me a lot more domestic in our town, but I’m the only one well disposed to teach the older kids and have some experience teaching.

We’ll be putting together a proposal for defining trades within our town and how an apprenticeship program can be implemented for the children. Lists of needed materials will be added to the plan so that a gathering trip or two can be planned before the zombies get active. Not much time is left for that though.

It looks like my wife and I are the town’s school teachers.

[WildWest]

Day 146

Kelsey and Will headed out on a gathering run today. They stayed close and picked up supplies for us to settle in for the winter. Taking Mark and Kevin with them, they hit a school today. They gathered materials from the Lutheran school east of here.

Using four dump trucks, they spent half the day clearing the area of zeds, since they kept shambling in from the surrounding neighborhoods. Once the coast was clear, they used a forklift carrying a bin on a pallet to toss materials in. They jammed the bin full swapped it out, and would dump the full bin of materials gently into the back of a dump truck.

They also loaded up desks, tables, rolling storage cabinets, P.E. equipment, AV equipment, laptops from teachers, the computer lab, library, and students. A variety of science kits were available for most grades as well. I was also pleased that they took some time to pull maps and posters from the walls so we could use them as teaching aids.
With such a fast method, they were able to clear materials out of twelve rooms, the library, and the teacher’s storage rooms. The materials would take weeks or months to sort, but we would have everything we would need.

Angela and I were ecstatic when they returned. I grabbed a couple of the boys to help and we at least got the materials stacked inside storage bins in the outer wall before midnight. Angela wants to identify a house in the outer courtyard as a school. It’s a good idea. We should be able to pick out a four bedroom unit with an open floor plan, empty it, and set up desks and white boards.

[WildWest]

Day 147

Wedding day was amazing!

I don’t know how we managed it as a community, but we put together a remarkable celebration. The ladies had found and tailored a spectacular dress for Maria. Susan had even managed to give he a superb up-do that would be the envy of a bride anywhere in the old world.

The men and children spent the morning helping to decorate the wedding lawn and the reception area. Plastic flowers were combined with natural greenery in a beautiful display creating a sense of natural beauty for the ceremony. The tables, chairs and dance floor were assembled and organized so that everyone could attend.

I spent the morning preparing my words for the ceremony. Fabian and Maria had asked me to officiate. He said I was the closest thing to a preacher that we had here, and that as a councilman I was also the closest thing to a justice of the peace. How could I refuse? I’ve been to enough weddings, so I had a sense of how it should flow and how to offer encouragement to the young couple.

The ceremony itself was serious and joyful. The men watched on as the women cried and cheered. Kevin played traditional wedding songs, including the wedding march, on his guitar. For the reception, Evelyn and Benjamin took turns singing while Benjamin and Jake both picked up instruments, Ben on a guitar and Jake on a keyboard. The music wasn’t loud because there were no amplifiers, but it was all good.

Our new married couple was able to get lost in their love for each other. This was a day and a night where the nightmare filling the world outside our walls did not have the power to penetrate. We imagined and lived for a time, as if all was right in the world.

[WildWest]

Day 148

Will and Kelsey left early on a run today with Kevin and Lauren. They went looking for more solar power equipment at a distributorship in Fullerton. I was so glad they did, because today was a dark day inside Samaritan Station.

Vince had been behaving odd lately, but nobody really knew how disturbed he had become.

It was Brian and Tom that followed Vince, Jett’s boys. They were twelve and ten, and full of morbid curiosity. Vince would leave early in the morning to the northern neighborhood, often before the area had been properly cleared. It was Tom that later told us what transpired when they followed Vince.

Vince snuck into a house next to the body dump in the north neighborhood. Just walking there was a gruesome sight. The boys hung back and could easily see which house he entered. Once Vince was inside, the boys crept from corner to corner until they came upon the house.

The boys snuck into the house and could hear Vince talking to someone upstairs. They couldn’t tell who he was talking to, but he sure sounded friendly to them. They had only seen Vince come into the house. They thought it might be a bandit or a pirate that Vince was meeting, maybe to betray their defenses and let the bad guys take over. They had to find out more so that they could warn their dad and Benjamin.

The boys crept up the carpeted stairs and still only heard Vince doing the talking. “We’ll be in control soon. There’s nothing they can do to stop us. They thought their little election would give them control over us, but they’re wrong. We’re the ones in charge of everything now. They can’t even move around outside these walls unless we allow it. So far we have, but not for much longer. We’ll take them all soon, storm the walls, take their women and children, and make the men suffer. Then they’ll know what real power is.”

Brian was the one who crawled down the hall and peeked his head around into the bedroom. Tom didn’t see what was in the room, only Brian. Brian screamed, “Zombies!” and tried to scurry back around and down the steps.

Tom had leaped to his feet and raced out of the house. Brian didn’t follow though. Tom ran south on the street to the outer wall gate. John, Claire and their three kids were near the gate when Tom started pounding to get in. John let him in and asked what was wrong.

Tom couldn’t get the words out. He was terrified. John asked where Brian was. Tom could only say that “Vince has him…”.

“Where are they!” John demanded.

“In the north neighborhood, by the body pile. White house…red door…upstairs…”

“Claire, go get Jack and tell him we need some men now. Hurry!” Claire took the kids over to the cattle pens to get Jack.

“He’s got some for pets I think.” Tom told John.

“What do you mean ‘he has some for pets’?”

“Zombies. He was talking to them, like he was going to take over the world with them or something. It was really weird, crazy talk.” Tom told him, sounding like the frightened ten year old that he was.

“Oh no!” was all that John could say.