Transformation: Zombie Crusade VI by J.W. Vohs, Sandra Vohs

remember?”
     
     
    Training the volunteers for combat and teaching the rest of the folks in the community about security and how to defend themselves was time-consuming and exhausting. Gracie and Luke seemed to have even less time alone in the settlement than they’d had on the road with Zach and Maddy. The newcomers were treated like royalty by the locals, with all the adoration and expectations that came with that dubious honor. People with problems to solve or stories to tell were waiting for the teens to retire to their tents every night, and the exhausted warriors were too polite to turn them away. Luke would stay up after they left, reading about military strategies and the development of pre-industrial warfare. In the morning, no matter how early, someone was waiting to serve them breakfast. For a little while, all romantic matters were put on the back burner, and even Luke had no trouble sleeping soundly for the few hours he devoted to rest.
    As the accomplished northern warriors got to know the volunteers they learned that the trainees were all tired of waiting for something to happen, and they were excited to have the opportunity to get back out into the world to try to change the situation for the better. They had a great deal of pent up frustration over the injustice they’d suffered at the hands of Jesse and his goons, and those emotions were very motivating.
    Most of the recruits had arrived with some type of firearm, but not much ammunition. A few of the men had hunting bows, but their arrows were in terrible condition, and Luke doubted they could hit anything beyond ten meters. Everyone had some sort of club or spear, but finding suitable arms and armor for the rookies was definitely high on the list of priorities. The locals, as well as the maps Zach carried, indicated that the best chance of finding the equipment and gear they needed would be back in Shreveport. Luke hated the idea of backtracking even a single meter, but there was no other decent option close to the river for at least a hundred miles to the west.
    There was a Lowes store on the north side of town, as well as a Harley-Davidson shop fairly close to a big loop in the Red. According to the recruits, Shreveport had fallen quickly as the virus spread across the country, and the subsequent fires had seemed to be limited to the downtown area. As Luke had noted on his way through the city, there had been little sign of any activity there, human or hunter. As soon as all options were discussed, the decision was quickly made to float back to Shreveport and scavenge for supplies.
    Luke and his companions had been on many foraging expeditions in the post-apocalyptic cities of the Midwest, but they hadn’t taken part in such a mission in at least four months. Unlike their previous forays, in Shreveport most of the infected were gone. There were still a few seriously disabled creatures shuffling about, presumably looking for rats and other small animals to consume, but as long as one kept a decent eye on the surroundings there was little to fear as far as the virus was concerned. What did worry Luke was the presence of nearly feral humans hiding in the disintegrating remains of the city. These miserable individuals were only spotted once in a while, but signs of their activity were everywhere. Luckily for the foraging soldiers, the people still living in Shreveport seemed more concerned with food and drugs than bothering armed men and women.
    Many stores had obviously been looted in the early days of the outbreak, a phenomenon that had played out in towns and cities across the world. Guns and ammo were long gone, as were bows and crossbows, arrows, and bolts. But generally, hardware stores still had a lot of inventory lying under their roofs. Luke had his people scavenging hardwoods that would make good shafts for pole arms, as well as many types of heavy steel-implements, such as axes and mauls. As Zach and others had so lethally demonstrated in