Chapter 6
The next morning, Rob said he wanted to go into Sacramento and check out some of the places Luther had noted on our map. He and I discussed what he should try to check out. We agreed on the National Guard Armory, and a couple of sporting goods stores. Before he could close the window, I told him, "Be careful, don’t get into too much trouble. You can’t be sure how Luther will react under pressure."
Rob turned the ignition switch on the big APC to start position, it roared to life. "Ok if I climb up into the turret?" Luther asked. "Sure, take these binoculars and scan around and look for Zombies." Rob said. Rob backed the APC down the levee road to the cross road. He shifted the vehicle into forward. Spinning the tires he drove down the dirt road, and then eased out onto the pavement.
About an hour after Rob and Luther left, the four women, Sid and myself, loaded into the cab of my truck for the trip back to Haven. We were a little crowded, but everyone was happy riding in the truck cab rather than in the container. About eight miles from camp, we met a Zombie stumbling down the highway toward us. I stopped the truck and Sid opened his door and swung down to the pavement. He knelt and took out the Zombie like he was target shooting. The old guy surprised me several other times during the trip too. I guess that was why they survived when so many others didn't. Sid dropped the Zombie with a three shot burst from one of the M4’s. I jumped down from the truck walked over to the body and removed its wallet. I fished out his ID; John Clayton he had a San Rafael address. I walked back to the truck and climbed behind the steering wheel. I tossed the ID onto the dash and we continued driving north.
At the Zamora exit, about 40 miles north of Sacramento, we came across an accident. Three autos and a big rig had tangled. I stopped, grabbed an M4 and asked Sid to do the same. We walked toward the closest car. The bodies of a woman and a little boy were in the first car. They were both dead. They both had injuries probably sustained in the accident, but nothing appeared fatal, they had probably either bled to death or had died from dehydration. There were no apparent bites on either one of the bodies. The look and smell inside the car indicated they had probably lived many days trapped inside.
In the next car, a Zombie was pounding on the window but was pinned in the vehicle by his seat belt. I put a couple of rounds through his skull. There was some movement from the back seat. A Zombie that appeared to be about 2 years old, crawled out the window I had shattered and started toward Sid. Sid just stood there looking at the baby Zombie advancing toward him. I swung the M4 up and fired two short bursts into it. Sid jumped, finally coming out of his trance. "I didn’t think about there being baby Zombies" Sid stammered. "Yeah, they come in all shapes and sizes." I said. "You just blot the baby part out of your mind and remember, that baby is dead, and I just destroyed a really short Zombie" I told him.
I walked to the driver and removed his ID, Zamora address. We walked over to the third vehicle. The driver was missing and a woman was dead in the passenger seat. The right side of her head was smashed. She must have been hit by something in the accident. I walked around and opened the door on her side of the car. Her purse was on the floor. I checked her ID, she had a Hayward address. I opened the glove box and rifled through the papers. I located the registration. It showed a San Rafael address. The owners name was Clayton, the same as the first Zombie I killed about 40 miles back down the road. I went to my truck and extracted my map. I drew a line from where we had found the Zombie named John Clayton, to the location of his wrecked car.
Veronica rolled down her window and said," Ralph, can we get out for awhile? I mean is it safe? "Sure, just keep your eyes open and stay close to the truck and let Sid or I know if you see anything." I said. Everybody piled out. Sid was over by the semi tractor. I heard a M4 burst. Sid walked up to me and said, "The truck driver was pinned between the steering wheel and the seat, but he was thrashing around trying to free himself.
"Ralph!", Yelled someone from the right side of the truck. I rushed toward the voice. Betty was looking and pointing up the road to Zamora, there were about a dozen Zombies stumbling toward us. I opened the truck door and extracted Rob’s scoped .308. I braced the rifle on the bumper and started firing. I told Sid to load everyone into the truck and then to grab a gun. I told Veronica, "If anything happens to us just leave, don’t try to save us or help us. Just start the truck and drive away. Just head north, the destination is marked on my map. Don’t get out of the truck until you get there." Sid grabbed an M4 and started firing at the Zombies. I took aim and continued firing. I tried for head shots, until they were about 50 feet away. There were still five or six Zombies advancing toward us. I switched to an M4 and started taking the legs out from under the Zombies. When the Zombies were all either dead or crawling, I took my 9mm and put a round in each head. I ran back to the truck. We were ready to pull out. When everyone was loaded we continued north. "Aren’t you going to bury them?" Jamie asked. "If they were close enough to smell I would burn the bodies. They’ve already caused me to work hard enough. Out here, there are enough wild dogs and coyotes to take care of the bodies. If it makes you feel any better, consider that I’m doing my part to feed the living creatures of the world." I said.
I turned my truck onto the road leading to the neighborhood and stopped at the gate. Jason and Tom were manning the gate. I remembered Jason from our first neighborhood meeting. I only had a passing acquaintance with him. Tom, I knew pretty well, he was my next door neighbor. "How’s it going guys, any incidents or sightings since I was away?" I asked, "No, not really. Where’s Rob?" Tom asked. A look of concern flashed across his face. "He found an APC and wanted to scout out some areas in Sacramento before returning. He should be along in the next couple of hours" I said. "Do you know if there are any open houses?" I asked. "I’m pretty sure there are, but I think Fred is down at the community center." said Tom. Tom opened the gate and we passed through. At the community center we piled out of the truck. We walked into the large room and Fred, the current inventory manager, was sitting at a desk working on some papers. "Hey Fred, we need a bite inspection for six people and housing assignments for six new residents." I said. "Welcome back stranger, what’s this, are you still finding people alive out there?" laughed Fred. "Yeah, they can hide, but Rob and I find them anyway." I said with a grin. "Are there open houses available?" I asked. "We still have six empty houses, plus three more belonging to the families that pulled out the first week. I guess those can be considered empty after this amount of time." Fred said.
I wrote down the house numbers of open houses. Fred looked over at the group and said, "How many places do you folks need?" "Veronica spoke up first, Luther and I would like a place of own. Elizabeth the youngest said," I’ll stay with Sid we’ve grown close and I feel safe with him." "Me too, if it's ok" said Jamie, "Sure" said Elizabeth. Betty didn’t say anything. It occurred to me that she hadn’t spoken much the whole time I had been around them. "What about you Betty, what’s your preference?" I asked. "I don’t care." was all she said then looked down at her shoes. "Well, you can stay with Bobby and I until you decide what you want to do". Is that ok with you? "Yes, I would like that." she said.