Chapter 5
As we re-entered the city proper, I saw someone on the roof of a building. They were waving a white flag of some kind. I flashed my lights and blew my horn to get Rob's attention. The APC braked to a halt and I looked around. I didn’t see any of the fast Zombies sprinting our way. There were a couple of the slower Zombies but the street was fairly clear. I pulled the truck alongside the APC, and told Rob what I had seen. "Let's park the truck a couple of blocks up the street and come back in the APC." I said. I grabbed a walkie talkie and a M4 rifle. I locked a clip into the gun and stuffed 4 or 5 more clips in my pocket. I jumped out of the truck and I ran over to the APC and climbed in the side hatch. When we returned to the building, I swung out onto the ground, double checked for fast Zombies, then sprinted to the front doors of the building. They weren’t locked. I called to Rob to back the APC up to the door. I told Rob I would go up and check for survivors. Rob said he would man the turret and try to fight off any Zombies that showed up. I said, "No, gun shots will just draw more of them. Just button up, play dead and wait for me." "No problem" Rob said, "I'll just hole up inside the APC."
I looked through the stairwell door window. The stairs appeared to be clear. I opened the door and started up the stairs. At the first landing I looked through the window on a door labeled "2nd FLOOR" but didn’t see anything or anyone moving. I repeated this procedure for 5 more floors before I saw a face looking back at me through the window. It was a Zombie and it started beating on the door. I remembered Ward’s suicide note. He had written that his son Tom didn’t try to open the door, he just beat on the door. Five floors later, I came to a windowless door labeled "ROOF". I tried the knob, it turned, I pushed the door hard, and it swung back and banged against the wall. I yelled, "Is there anyone here?"
A dirty guy in a ragged white shirt jumped into the door opening with a piece of pipe pulled back like a baseball bat. "Whoa! There fella", I yelled. "Do you want help or trouble?" He lowered the pipe and said "Thank God you finally got here. What took you so damn long? We thought we were going to starve up here." "I just happened to be driving past when I saw someone up here waving a white flag." I told him. "How the hell did you last this long? What’s it been six or eight months?" We went to the basement and broke into the café’s storage room, plenty of canned food to eat but we had to ration the bottled water after the city water went off." He said. "How many are there up here with you?" I asked. "There are six all together. My name is Luther, Sid the security guard, and four women Jamie, Elizabeth, Betty, & Veronica." he said. "No one infected?" I asked. "The third day a guy came down with a fever but we shut him into a storage cage in the basement. He turned Zombie on the fifth day, no one else got sick." said Luther. "I’m Ralph and my partner is Rob he’s downstairs in the APC at the door. We were just scouting the area when we decided to checkout the downtown area.
"If you want to introduce me to the rest we’ll take anyone who wants to go, to a safe haven about 150 miles from here." I said. "You mean you’re not one of the military evacuation teams? OK, I’m sure everyone will be glad to go anywhere away from here." he said. As we walked out on the roof, I noticed umbrella tables placed against a wall. Noticing my gaze, Luther said, "That’s where we spend most of our time sitting around at the tables, more surplus from the café storage room". I saw three women and an older guy sitting there. "I thought you said there were six of you?" I asked. "Oh, Veronica is still on watch duty." Luther told me. "Well if you get her, we can discuss my offer to take you out of here." I said. Luther hurried off across the roof, returning accompanied by a tall woman. I presented my offer to everyone and the only one that was hesitant was Sid. Sid said, "I guess I’ll stay here, I’m too old to be of much help and my bad knee would just slow you down. The food and water will last a long time with just me to eat it." I told him," Sid, back at Haven there are several elderly people much older than you, and at least two invalids. Everyone that’s capable, finds some way to contribute to the community. There’s plenty you can do so you are more than welcome to join us." The women started badgering Sid to come along and he relented. After making sure the safety was on, my holstered pistol I gave it to Sid. I handed Luther my waistband pistol. I instructed each of them not to shoot unless I gave the go ahead. We worked our way back to the ground floor.
By now there were maybe 75 Zombies banging on the APC. Keeping everyone out of sight, I used one of the walkie talkies we had found at the roadblock to ask Rob to draw the Zombies away to a safe distance. He could then return and we would be able to load into the APC. Hopefully, we could get inside it before the Zombies could return and surround the vehicle again. Rob started the APC and roared off down the street, crushing at least 5 Zombies in the process. At about 300 meters, Rob opened the turret door and fired his M4 at the Zombies to attract their attention. The Zombies that were able, raced off or stumbled off in hot pursuit. Rob closed the turret, and drove off up the street. Rob turned right at the first cross street with the Zombies still in pursuit. After about 10 minutes, Rob returned and stopped in front of our building.
I pushed the double doors open and rob lowered the rear door/ramp and backed the APC tail through the open doorway I started hustling everyone inside. I jumped in, and yelled for Rob to close up and take off. As we pulled away from the building, I retrieved my 9mm from Luther and fired at two running Zombies that were almost upon us. Both dropped from multiple shots to the chest. Rob was having a great time, the brush guards and forward armor was more than capable of withstanding the impact of the Zombies. Rob would lead the Zombies on a chase then circle the block and just mow them down from behind. Soon, the only Zombies chasing us were slow ones. Rob had run the fast ones down using his block circling technique.
Rob led the Zombies south for six or seven blocks. He then made a long lazy circle and backtracked to the roadblock where we had left my truck. Rob still had a half tank of fuel, but we topped it off before leaving for a less populated area. We drove the 50 miles back where we had parked on the levee the night before. Rob and I scanned the area looking for any sign of Zombies but noted nothing.
Rob and Luther drove the APC to the closest farm house which we had searched the day before and picked up some blankets and pillows. At least everyone would stay warm and comfortable for the night. When they returned I had started supper. I emptied 4 cans of chili into the cooking pot and heated it. It wasn’t haute cuisine, but at least it was filling and we were all used to canned food by now. After supper we went into the container RV and sat around getting to know each other, telling our stories of survival since the virus began.
While Rob talked with the women and got their stories, I talked with Sid and Luther. Luther told me that he had lived in Sacramento for the last 15 years and was very familiar with the area. I had Luther mark up my Sacramento city map noting for us various stores, sporting goods, tool, and grocery stores. I also had him note any farm equipment, truck sales and mark any gas stations he could remember. He was also able to mark the location of the National Guard armory and a state roadwork staging yard.
We decided Sid and the women should sleep in the container, I would sleep in the truck, and Rob and Luther could bunk in the APC. If we woke up surrounded by Zombies, we could just drive away without having to get out. The night passed uneventfully. Based on the giggling coming from the container, I was a little jealous of Sid having all that female company.