creek if said criminal came this way first. I’d like to have said they were getting ready to install the gates but I’d lived here for almost two years and I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of a construction crew.
A large RV had been toppled on its side, completely covering the first entrance. It was placed with entirely too much precision to have been an accident. There wasn’t a gap on either side; this passageway was closed. We would have to walk another two hundred yards to the next opening. Hope surged. It appeared that a defense had been mounted at the Little Turtle housing community. As we got closer to the next entrance I saw a school bus, this one still on its wheels. The passenger side of the school bus covered most of the entrance. The only parts that were vulnerable to entry were towards the front end and underneath the bus itself. This would have been unsettling if we were dealing with a conventional enemy, but that bulk was going to stop ninety-nine percent of the zombies that attacked it. Smart bastard, whoever thought of that, I thought admiringly.
“Stop right there!” a voice shouted at us.
“I’m not in the mood for this crap!” I yelled in response.
The cocking, clicking and other sounds of multiple firearms being made ready got me in the mood in a hurry.
“What about now?” I heard the dry voice from within the bus ask.
The boys were confused. Sure, they had fought valiantly against the zombies, but once again we were outnumbered, and this time outgunned.
“Justin, Travis,” I said as I turned, slowly. “Put your weapons on the ground, SLOWLY.” I did the same.
“What business do you have here?” The raspy voice asked again.
I knew that voice. “Jed? Jed is that you?” Jed was a member on the Board of Directors for our HOA. I hate HOA’s. Never before have I had so many people interested in my personal business. Jed had once written me up for putting my trash out at 5:30 at night when the bylaws said we couldn’t put the trash out until 6:00 p.m. I couldn’t even fathom how he caught me; he lived clear on the opposite side of the complex. I hated that man, but right now I wanted to kiss him.
“Yeah, it’s Jed, who might you be?” came the terse reply.
“It’s Mike, Mike Talbot, Unit 103.”
Still no acknowledgment.
“You remember, we had that heated discussion about my trash going out early.”
Heated discussion didn’t even begin to describe how this event went down. I had called him every filthy name I could think of and I was a former Marine so you know I had a deep arsenal. I was eventually thrown out of the meeting, and not of my own accord. I was bodily removed. It’s not one of my prouder moments in life, and I eventually sucked up my pride and went to his house to apologize. He had blanched when I showed up at his door, probably thinking I was going for round two. We weren’t exactly friends after my mitigation but the hostility was gone, or at least buried under a few layers of civility.
He grunted. That was his acknowledgment. So maybe a few of those layers had been removed during this first night of death. “Are any of your lot bitten?” he asked.
“No,” was all I could reply.
“Byron, move the bus,” Jed commanded.
“Thank you Jed.” Relief washed over me. My legs had nearly given out.
Again he grunted, but he loved this, he loved being in control. Right now that was fine with me. I could almost guarantee that he was the one who had orchestrated this defense.
As we were making our way through the small opening, I looked up to meet his eyes. Jed said offhandedly, “your daughter and her fiancée are here.”
My wife and I both let out a cry of relief. A big shit-eating grin came across my face.
“Open that door!” I told Jed, pointing to the emergency hatch at the back of the bus. He looked at me questioningly. “I’m gonna come up there and give you a big kiss.” I started pulling on the handle. Jed was throwing his weight into the
A large RV had been toppled on its side, completely covering the first entrance. It was placed with entirely too much precision to have been an accident. There wasn’t a gap on either side; this passageway was closed. We would have to walk another two hundred yards to the next opening. Hope surged. It appeared that a defense had been mounted at the Little Turtle housing community. As we got closer to the next entrance I saw a school bus, this one still on its wheels. The passenger side of the school bus covered most of the entrance. The only parts that were vulnerable to entry were towards the front end and underneath the bus itself. This would have been unsettling if we were dealing with a conventional enemy, but that bulk was going to stop ninety-nine percent of the zombies that attacked it. Smart bastard, whoever thought of that, I thought admiringly.
“Stop right there!” a voice shouted at us.
“I’m not in the mood for this crap!” I yelled in response.
The cocking, clicking and other sounds of multiple firearms being made ready got me in the mood in a hurry.
“What about now?” I heard the dry voice from within the bus ask.
The boys were confused. Sure, they had fought valiantly against the zombies, but once again we were outnumbered, and this time outgunned.
“Justin, Travis,” I said as I turned, slowly. “Put your weapons on the ground, SLOWLY.” I did the same.
“What business do you have here?” The raspy voice asked again.
I knew that voice. “Jed? Jed is that you?” Jed was a member on the Board of Directors for our HOA. I hate HOA’s. Never before have I had so many people interested in my personal business. Jed had once written me up for putting my trash out at 5:30 at night when the bylaws said we couldn’t put the trash out until 6:00 p.m. I couldn’t even fathom how he caught me; he lived clear on the opposite side of the complex. I hated that man, but right now I wanted to kiss him.
“Yeah, it’s Jed, who might you be?” came the terse reply.
“It’s Mike, Mike Talbot, Unit 103.”
Still no acknowledgment.
“You remember, we had that heated discussion about my trash going out early.”
Heated discussion didn’t even begin to describe how this event went down. I had called him every filthy name I could think of and I was a former Marine so you know I had a deep arsenal. I was eventually thrown out of the meeting, and not of my own accord. I was bodily removed. It’s not one of my prouder moments in life, and I eventually sucked up my pride and went to his house to apologize. He had blanched when I showed up at his door, probably thinking I was going for round two. We weren’t exactly friends after my mitigation but the hostility was gone, or at least buried under a few layers of civility.
He grunted. That was his acknowledgment. So maybe a few of those layers had been removed during this first night of death. “Are any of your lot bitten?” he asked.
“No,” was all I could reply.
“Byron, move the bus,” Jed commanded.
“Thank you Jed.” Relief washed over me. My legs had nearly given out.
Again he grunted, but he loved this, he loved being in control. Right now that was fine with me. I could almost guarantee that he was the one who had orchestrated this defense.
As we were making our way through the small opening, I looked up to meet his eyes. Jed said offhandedly, “your daughter and her fiancée are here.”
My wife and I both let out a cry of relief. A big shit-eating grin came across my face.
“Open that door!” I told Jed, pointing to the emergency hatch at the back of the bus. He looked at me questioningly. “I’m gonna come up there and give you a big kiss.” I started pulling on the handle. Jed was throwing his weight into the
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