“Aww,” she cooed taking the wriggling mass of fur. “Where’d you pick him up?”
“Vet’s office. Little guy was in a cage in the back.”
“How’d they fit Gavin in one of those cages?” Mica asked, cradling the puppy to her chest.
Piper grinned at her, flopping the saddle bags over Mica’s shoulder. “Puppy chow is in there. I have to go deal with an annoying biker.”
“Uh huh, he’s saying in your room. We’re full up everywhere else.” Mica said, turning toward the kitchen with the puppy and bags.
“He’s not staying!” Piper called after her.
“I think the lady doth protest too much.” Mica yelled back heading for the kitchen.
Chapter 6
Piper shivered, wishing she’d grabbed a coat to put over her sweatshirt before coming out for watch. Even though May had been unseasonably warm, the early mornings were chilly and the thick fog wasn’t helping matters. Gavin reached over and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close. They sat on the porch roof, looking out toward the road. With binoculars they could see as far as the highway, and watch the waves of zombies drifting away from Watertown. So far they had been lucky and only a few stragglers had stumbled their way.
Today the fog was so thick they could only see a few feet beyond the roof’s edge. Piper didn’t like the lack of visibility. She raised the binoculars to her eyes, but all she could make out where dark shifting shapes in the mist. It was impossible to tell trees from animals or zombies. These living dead didn’t even have the courtesy to moan. Lowering the binoculars she frowned and squinted into the fog. Some of the shapes seemed to be getting closer.
“I think we need to get everyone in the bunker.” She murmured, watching as a roughly humanoid shape stumbled toward the road fell and struggled back up. Picking up the walkies-talkie from the roof she keyed the mic, “Mica get everyone downstairs. This is not a drill.”
“Roger.” Was the quick reply.
The fog parted for a moment and they could see the field across the road from the house. At least twenty zombies stumbled and lurched over the muddy ground and even more figures moved behind them. This wave was headed right for them.
Gavin tugged on her shoulder, “Come on let’s get downstairs.”
She nodded, as he raised the window behind them and clamored inside, Piper followed a second later. They ran downstairs, double checking rooms as they went to make sure everyone had already gone down to the bunker. In the basement, Piper pushed Gavin ahead of her through the reinforced steel door leading to the underground bunker then yanked it shut behind her. The bunker wasn’t pretty in the least made from three old school buses, culvert pipe and cement block. It had been built for their family of four to ride out a nuclear blast should the power plant ever go. Industrial grade steel pipe lead from the house forming a hallway of sorts to the converted buses. Created from two short buses and one long bus, they had been put in the ground to form a T and welded together. Another pipe hallway lead from the end of the long bus to a rabbit hole in the barn for an escape hatch.
The long bus held the living area, kitchen and a tiny bathroom, a toilet now sitting where the driver's seat had been. One short bus held sleeping bunks and a changing area. The other a radio room, and surveillance set up. Stepping into the surveillance room, Piper found Mica already seated in the chair with the screens on. Even though the power had gone out weeks ago, they were able to run off the solar panels and windmill.
“Head count?” Piper asked standing behind Mica and peering at the screens.
“All accounted for and bitching.” Mica replied.
“Language.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Gavin chuckled sinking down into the chair next to Mica, and getting a frown from Piper. On the camera pointed toward the front yard figures started to stumble by. Transfixed they watched as the wave of zombies washed over them. The creatures bumped into one another and the house as they shuffled.
“There are so many of them. Where are they coming from?” Mica asked, looking up at Piper.
Shrugging and shaking her head, Piper replied, “The city I guess.”
“I didn’t think Watertown was that big.” Gavin added, his eyes never leaving the screens.
“About thirty thousand people, not counting anyone there shopping or at the hospital.” Piper chewed on the inside of her lip and shook her head. “It’s Fort Drum. They would have turned it into a shelter, taking survivors there from the smaller towns and villages. They were sitting ducks.”
“You think Fort Drum go overrun by the zombies?” Topher asked from the doorway.
Piper jumped and puffed out a sigh. “Don’t do that. Yeah.” She turned back to the screens and pointed, “There are several wearing fatigues. It’s hard to tell with the decay, but even some wearing normal clothes kinda look like GI’s.”
“That’s not good. It means this thing isn’t going to end soon, doesn’t it?” Topher asked, moving closer to look at the screens.
“It means this really is the fucking zombie apocalypse and you need to get with the program.” Mica replied.
“Language.” Piper barked but didn’t correct her little sister beyond that. It was the fucking zombie apocalypse she’d known that when she’d put her stiletto through the skull of the Home Depot guy over a month ago.
Chapter 7
Piper let the radio scan through the stations, she hadn’t heard any sort of broadcast in days. Picking up the mic she decided to give it one last try before shutting down. Keying the mic she said, “Is anyone out there? If you can hear me, please reply.” Pausing she looked around, then added, “Is anyone still alive out there? I just want to know that we're not alone.” Piper winced at the desperation in her voice. The waves of zombies had slowed to a trickle, yet they had been reluctant to leave the farm. The few trips she and Gavin had chanced to Adams had resulted in very little. Her father hadn’t planned for a group this big bugging in, and even with rationing supplies had started to dwindle.
The radio crackled startling her, then she heard. “You're not alone.”
Someone was out there, and had survived this long. In her excitement to reply she dropped the mic and had to fumble to pick it back up. “Thank the Goddess. My names Piper I'm with a few friend just North of Adams Center. You?”
The reply came back quick. “Name's Lyric. We're located up by Eagle Bay.”
“That's way up there, past Old Forged, right?”
“Yeah.”
Piper’s stomach tumbled, “Have you seen anyone else?”
“Just some religious nuts, they tried to attack us last night.”
Her hopes deflated, “Really? So we don't just have to worry about zombies trying to eat us.”
“Yeah, the zombies I can deal with. The nut jobs with guns, I'm not crazy about. Of course it's easy when they don't fight back.”
A laugh bubbled out of Piper’s throat. “True. We've been hit hard down here. The zombies are moving out of the city, Watertown that is, they've been hitting us in waves. Big waves.”
“Sorry to hear that, will you be ok?”
“Not sure.” Piper’s worries suddenly poured out now that she had someone outside of the group to talk to. “Supplies are dwindling and we've been talking of heading to one of those fancy islands out by Alex Bay. Know where that is?”
“Yeah, I know where you're talking about. Won't most those places be shut up? I mean it wasn't exactly warm when this thing went down, and most those places are summer houses.”
“That's what we're hoping. We'll have to find a marina to get a boat, but at least out in the water no zombies.”
“Until the river freezes and they can walk over.”
“I'm hoping they're all goop before that happens.”
“Do you know what's going on with those things?”
“Only what the news and internet said, before they went down. It was a terrorist attack that backfired going global. They
infiltrated meat packing plants and infected the meat with a mutated strain of the Ebola virus. Just before the internet went down we caught some talk of the virus mutating again, but I'm not a scientist.”
“Same here.” There was a pause then Lyric added, “We think that the newer zombies might have mutated to be more hostile and last longer than the original ones.”
Piper was silent for a moment. “Ok, are you studying them or something?”
“No, just an observation.” Lyric paused again. “I'm going to get off now, but if you want to talk later or tomorrow I'll try to catch you.”
Piper felt a pang of disappointment, but tramped it down. “Sure, how about around the same time tomorrow?”
“Ok. Talk to you then.” Came the reply.
Piper jotted down the frequency they’d been using then, turned off the equipment. Lyric had given her a lot to think about. Heading out of the bunker, Piper’s eyes scanned the shelves of the cellar. No matter how much they rationed, the food wouldn’t last. The garden would help, if it grew and they canned. Maybe they could find some abandoned farm animals, at the nearby farms. Piper drew in a breath and let it out slowly. The plan just hadn’t been for this many people. Twice as many people, meant supplies diminished twice as fast.
The sound of motors grabbed Piper’s attention, from upstairs Mica called, “We have company.”
Jogging up the stairs, she found everyone in the living room peering out the windows.
“It’s some of the local yolkes from Adams.” Gavin said, glancing at her then back out the window.
Piper squeezed in next to him, peeking out the window. “They’re tearing up the yard. What do they want?”
Probably raiding houses looking for supplies.” Topher muttered from a crossed the room.
“Why are they being so loud? Aren’t they afraid those things will hear?” Shanna asked.
“They’re cocky.” Gavin replied.
“Weapons guy.” Piper barked, “We need to show these yahoos that we mean business and aren’t scared of their stunts.”
Mica scampered away, with Jacob and Camden on her heels. They returned a few moments later laden down with guns. Piper pulled her AR-15 from Mica’s hands, while Gavin choose a shotgun, the others tentatively grabbed from the remaining rifles. Piper watched out the window as the fourwheelers slowed then came to a stop in front of the house.
“You’re not going to shoot them, are you? I mean maybe if they know there are people in here armed, they’ll just go away.” April said, holding her rifle like it was going to bite her.
Sighing Piper, looked at Gavin. “Worth a try.” Gavin shrugged and nodded. “Ok so Gav and I will go out to talk with them. Shanna, Stalker Chick go upstairs and keep an eye out from the front windows, if anything looks funny let us know.” Shanna nodded, grabbed April’s arm and headed for the stairs. “Topher and Cam check out back to make sure none are coming that way, just in case.” They nodded and headed toward the back of the house. “You two cover us from these windows.” Piper looked up at Gavin again, “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
Outside the fourwheelers had stopped and the men had gotten off, edging toward the house. They stopped in their tracks as Gavin and Piper stepped on the porch.
“That’s far enough.” Gavin called, “We’ve got ten guns trained on ya’ll.”
The men raised their arms, there were only three and each carried a hunting rifle. One called out, “we’re just looking for supplies and thought this place was abandoned. Clearly it’s not, we’ll just be on our way.” The began backing up. Piper and Gavin watched them get on their vehicles and take off.
“That was way too easy,” Piper murmured when they were out of sight.
“Agreed. They be back with reinforcements, someone should stay on guard tonight.”
Piper nodded then added, as they walked back into the house. “I got someone on the radio, she said her group had being having trouble with other survivors in her area too.”
Gavin snorted, “people are going to take advantage of the situation. Society has broken down, hon, marshal law and all that. We’re going to have to fight for what’s ours now.” He put his arm around her waist as they entered the house.
Chapter 8
Piper drummed her fingers on the desk waiting for Lyric to come through. Finally she picked up the mic, “Hey Lyric this is Piper you on?”
“Yeah I'm here.” Even though the staticy radio Piper could hear the strain in Lyric’s voice.
“You sound like shit. Those other guys giving you a hard time still?”
“No we took care of them, well a zombie wave took care of them.”
Unsure how sympathetic to be Piper replied, “Sucks to be them.”
Lyric recounted how they had gone to the town, the encounter with the undead wave and the rantings of “The Rev”. She told Piper how according to The Rev the Nazis were behind the outbreak and Piper felt her stomach twist. Nazis? She knew of the conspiracy theories saying the heads of the Nazi party had fled to Argentina. How supposedly Hitler himself escaped there after the war. Everyone had heard about how NASA was built on the backs of Nazi scientists brought over after the war. But these were just theories and hear say, nothing concrete ever came up to prove them. At least that she knew of, but then she never really cared World War II was before her time.
When Lyric finished all Piper could say is, “That's some fucked up shit.”
“You have no idea.”
Mica bursted into the control room, breathing hard as if she had run all the way to the bunker. “P, you have to come... it’s crazy.
“Hey Lyric, I'll be right back one of my roomies wants me to see something.”
“Ok.”
Piper raced after Mica, when she paused at the first floor Mica grabbed her arm yanking her up to the second. Mica pushed Piper in front of her bedroom window and pointed over the trees. A huge black and gray mushroom shaped cloud hung on the horizon. “Please, Mics, tell me everyone is inside.”
“They are.”
“Get them down to the bunker. Now!”
Mica bolted and Piper raced from room to room, making sure windows and doors were secure. In the kitchen she grabbed a case of MRE’s and bottled water from the pantry. At the basement door, Gavin relieved her of the water carrying it down after her. “How bad is it?”
Piper shook her head, outside she projected calm for those around her, inside her stomach rolled and tears threatened to drop any minute. Her father's worst case scenario was playing out. He’d warned them if a zombie apocalypse happened there wouldn’t be anyone to run the plants full time which meant they’d go sooner or later. Entering the bunker she found everyone huddled in the command center. Setting down the case of MRE’s she walked over to the radio. “Lyric how close are you to Lake Ontario?”
“Not close.”
“Good because the power plant just blew.”
“What power plant?”
“The nuclear one.” Everyone in the room eyes turned to her, fear filling them.
“Holy shit! Are you guys going to be ok?”
“We’ll be fine, we have a bomb shelter.” Piper reached over and flipped a camera on. From it’s position she could see the windsock her dad had put up a lifetime ago. “We’re upwind so most the radioactive crap will be carried over the lake and toward Canada.” Her eye’s went back to her freaked out friends and she lied, “I have a plan.”
The radio crackled, “That’s good to hear. If you can leave come here. We’re rebuilding Big Moose and could use more people.”
Piper moved to the map of New York hung on the wall, stretching the mics cord behind her. “That’s near Old Forge, right?”
“Couple miles north.”
It was outside the contamination zones, but if the wind picked up it could blow radioactive dust hundreds of miles. There was still the potential for radiation sickness. The lake and river were right out. Going south would require a c
ircumventive route. Not only would there be a huge fire, higher risk of radiation, but the bigger cities would have more zombies and they’d seen the waves moving south out of Watertown. A chill raced down Piper’s back as a thought hit her, radioactive zombies.
Her eyes drifted south, and the number of little yellow radioactive markers seemed staggering. If one of the plants on the lake had a meltdown which of the others had also. For now they were safe in the shelter, but the supplies were dwindling.
“Thanks, Lyric we’ll consider it. I’ll radio you later.”
“Be safe.”
“Will do, you too.” Piper walked back over to the radio and hung up the mic. Leaning against the desk she rubbed her forehead. Looking up she found seven pairs of uncertain and fearful eyes on her.
“So what’s the plan fearless leader?” April snarked, her voice full of false bravado as she clung to Topher like a frightened monkey.
“For now sit tight. We’re safe down here.” Grabbing a couple whiteboard markers she moved back to the map. “These are the closest nuclear plants to us.” She drew a sloppy circle around them estimating ten miles, then another bigger circle in another color estimating fifty miles. She pointed to the small circle, “If this was a normal meltdown, everyone in this circle would have to be evacuated. The bigger circle shows possible contamination from radiation. Which mean any above ground water or food source could make us sick.” Not looking at the group she sighed. “We only have enough food for probably a month at our current rate, if rationed maybe we can stretch it to three. I had planned on scavenging, the garden and local farms to help supplement. That’s out the window, what we have down here and canned stuffs upstairs are all we have.”
“Couldn’t we still take canned and packaged food from the houses and stores?” Cam asked.
“In theory, yes. But we still run the risk of cross contamination depending on the state of the houses or stores, and there's the water issue.”
Jacob piped up, “I thought the well here was fed by an underground spring.”
“It is but we’ve never traced it back beyond our property, it could start above ground. I’m not sure we want to take that chance.” Drawing in a breath she added, “we’re less than fifty miles from two nuclear power plants.” She pointed to the map, “and there's a third by Rochester. The whole eastern half of the US is packed with these suckers. We have to assume that no one is manning the plants which means sooner or later they are all going to melt down. Depending on the weather I don’t know how much radioactive crap is going to be flying around. There’s no one to put out the fires, and no one to work on cleaning the radioactive waste. We also have to factor in the zombies, more than likely the radiation won’t affect them so they’ll be walking contamination.” Sucking in another breath Piper looked around at the pale drawn face that looked back and felt a pang of guilt. “I’m sorry guys. I’m not trying to scare you, just tell you what we're up against.”