Class of 2013 - 6

Chapter Six

A single shot, a short pause, and then another, and another, and two more after that – each with a short pause between them – and followed by a thunderous metallic BANG. Faster were the shots than the typical firing speed that one would expect from our resident long range sniper, but I was able to figure out why quickly. Lea was doing her trick shooting and using her angles of deflection to take out targets. It was strange, really, at least I had always thought so. Trick shooting was Lea’s art; she could have the same, or even improved, accuracy and fire a little quicker than when she was just going for long distance shots. She could only do it out to certain ranges though. Past that the bullets just didn’t have the energy that they needed for the tricks anymore.

The little back and forth over the radio only confirmed my suspicions – that she had been doing the trick shooting to save James’ ass. This left all of us in an interesting predicament. Gleaming what I could from the conversation as Lea and James went on for a little bit more, trying to figure out what to do, we were all on rooftops or perches with no way to help one another – aside from the fact that Lea could probably hit anything in the school that she could see from the top of the Wi-Fi tower. That meant that she could likely help either me and Chien, or James. Considering that the parking lot itself was zombie-free, we didn’t really need the help. Jumping from the rooftop would hurt, but we weren’t in danger of being eaten… yet.

That’s when another thought came to mind. The rest of our dear survivors had all the guns and ammunition, aside from Lea’s rifle and the rounds she took. Snatching the radio from Chien, he gave me a brief cross look, but dropped it when I started speaking over the radio.

“Commandant Sweet, do you read?”

“Sweet here. You two aren’t gone yet?”

“No, unfortunately. The lock on the gate was newer than we thought, and Chien snapped a pin. Almost got it the next time, but some zombies snuck up on us. A classroom was full of them and didn’t empty out when James first started his distraction.”

“Where are you two? Are you alright? Can you still get to the parking lot?”

“We’re on the roof of the office, and we’re fine. We can get to the parking lot, but we’re gonna have to jump across the gap between the roof and the fence around the parking lot.”

Then Lea cut in. “I can pick off those zombies for you guys. It’ll have to be one at a time, or maybe a lucky two in one though. Too long for my trick shots.”

“Go ahead if you like, but we can’t get off the roof on that side anyway. Ladder’s down, so we have to jump either way. Might as well jump into the parking lot. I’ve had an idea though, if you’re up for it Commandant.”

“What’s your idea, Lieutenant?” Sweet returned.

“You’ve got the rifles and ammunition with you there in the classroom. Most of our survivors could use some marksmanship training, and there’s plenty of targets over where James is. You could stick to the rooftops and move to a firing position with a good view of the area. Gun them all down and make sure the base is secured before we return with our cargo. You can act as range master and Lea can pick off anything that’s too far away to be hit with the Rugers.”

“Are you up for that, Abernethy?” Sweet asked.

“Sounds good to me. We’re going to need more shooters. My suggestion is starting with the air rifles though, and then moving on to the Rugers. It would cut down on using the more powerful ammunition. It’s your choice though, Sir. After all, the air rifles might not kill them with anything less than an eye shot, and the Rugers would get them for sure.”

“I’ll go with the Rugers. They have better range. I’ll use the air rifles for close targets once their accuracy is improved and they have the basics down.”

“Alright. As for me, I’m going to go Sergeant York on the zombies by the office, just to make sure they don’t manage to sneak off while we’re distracted with the others.”

Then James cut in. “Hey, guys, what do I do?”

There was a pause after that question and in that silence, Chien just snatched the radio out of my hand. “You’re just gonna have to sit tight, mate.”

“Hey! Fuck you! You’re not Australian!” Was James’ reply, but the rest of us just laughed a bit. “I guess you’re right though… I don’t really have a way down until you guys clear the ground up.” It was quiet for a moment, though it could pretty much be guessed that he had sighed by the dejected tone to his voice when he next spoke. “This really sucks, guys.”

“Hang in there, Banderas. You’ll be down soon.” This time it was Sweet that spoke. “Roy, Chien, I want you two back here as soon as possible, but if nightfall hits, I don’t want you moving. Soon as night comes, I want you two to hold up somewhere until sunrise, and then I want you back here in time for breakfast; we’ve got to clean this place tomorrow. Understand?”

Chien hung his head, but answer. “Yes, Sir.” Then he handed the radio back to me and looked to the edge of the roof as Lea’s shots began to ring out. One zombie after another began to drop and he groaned in frustration. “Damn it, why couldn’t we have the ladder still?”

“Because that’s just not the kind of luck that we have, unfortunately.” I replied and then looked to the parking lot for a moment. “I guess we better just get on with it, huh?”

“Yeah, guess we should.” Chien scowled for a moment, and then started moving back with me on the roof. We were going to need a running start for this, and we knew the landing was going to hurt. “Count of three?”

“Wouldn’t hurt.” I replied and took a deep breath as we got to the other end of the roof. Chien began the count down, and as soon as he counted three, we bolted. He was faster than I was, of course, but not overly much in short distance, so we reached the edge of the roof about the same time. It was a big jump, but there was really no time to think about it. We jumped because that was the plan – not because it was smart, or because it was the only way, but because it was what we had already figured out to do.

Of course, it was only upon our landing that the irony of the words ‘wouldn’t hurt’ hit me – along with the incredible pain that came with landing on top of a car and having the wind knocked out of me. For a moment I didn’t move, and instead I just tried to breathe. It hurt to do even that, but after a moment I was able to let out a groan, followed by a soft, unintelligible curse. For the life of me, I couldn’t tell you what it was, but I do recall that it was meant to be just that – a curse. Next I heard Chien, as well as cracking and crinkling glass as we both rolled on the cars. Next came a pair of thuds – and that was each of us landing on the ground on opposite sides of Mr. Malone’s red and black Viper.

“Remind me to never do that again.” Chien groaned out as we lay there, looking at each other under the car.

“Don’t worry. I’m not gonna forget this stupid idea for a long time.” I replied, and then there was silence for another moment – aside of course from the sound of Lea’s rifle cracking every few seconds.

“Do we have to get up?” Chien finally asked, his eyes closed.

“Yeah, we do…” I groaned a bit then and began to push myself up, Chien scowling as he did the same. Shaking our shirts and brushing ourselves off, I used the clicker to unlock the Viper’s doors, and Chien opened the driver’s side – pulling the gate clicker off of the drive’s side visor. Taking a deep breath, I stretched a little and walked around the back of the car to meet Chien, and we both leaned on each other as we walked toward his El Camino.

“Next time we send Sniper Girl and Slicer Boy.” Chien growled out as we neared the vehicle, “Fuck this shit, man.”

“Hey, we’re the ones that volunteered for this. Can’t complain too much.” I replied.

“Bull fucking shit, Roy. You volunteered us. I didn’t volunteer for a damn thing.”

I grinned a bit. “Okay, true.”

“James is right. You are a smug bastard.”

“Takes one to know one.” I smirked as we stepped around to our respective sides of the El Camino – him to the driver’s side, and me to the passenger’s side. “This door still jammed?”

“Yeah, gimme a second.” He sighed as he got in the car and reached across the bench seat, unlocking the door and pulling the handle on the inside. A combination of his pushing and my pulling unjammed the door a minute later and I hopped in. Soon enough he had the car fired up and we were on our way. Out the gate we went, waiting for it to close once we were outside before pulling off, and then we were away. Of course, the El Camino was a loud beast, and always had been – louder even than it should have been. Something was wrong with the engine and had been for a while, but no time had been had to take a look at the problem.

We were quiet while we drove at first, windows up, making sure to avoid the clogged streets as best as we could. Here and there we saw zombies in the streets, and in some of the more… grotesque… scenes they were still chowing down on their latest victim. A sickening feeling settled in the pit of my stomach at the sight, but I shook my head and looked away. This same scene had played out many, many times inside our school – but we had been among the few survivors. Not because of skill, or leadership, or any of that nonsense. It was because of happy luck that we were able to now be in this car on the road, and not among the living dead.

Heading out onto Highway 74, we took a right and drove toward Lake Elsinore – we were headed to Chien’s place, but it was in that general direction. All four of us lived outside town. Chien lived along 74, Lea and I lived just outside the city limits in the Good Hope area, and James lived about twenty miles the other direction. The further we travelled, the more open the highway became, unclogging as it widened and came to a longer stretch of mostly open road. It didn’t take us very long to reach Chien’s place; about ten minutes total once we left the school. When we pulled up the gate to his yard was shut, and there were no vehicles present.

“Parents not home?” I asked.

“Mom’s probably at the salon in town, and dad was on a cross country run; wasn’t due back for a couple of days.” After he spoke, we both went silent. The reality of our situation was finally sinking in. I went to speak, but Chien got the words out before I could form them. “They’re probably dead… aren’t they?” He didn’t look at me, nor I at him, but his tone held enough resignation that I didn’t feel the need to give him false hope.

“I wouldn’t doubt that your mom is. We both saw how quick it spread through the school, and how bad things were in the surrounding area…” I glanced over and saw him give a nod of acceptance. “But… I don’t know about your dad. Does he carry a gun in the rig?”

“I don’t know, actually. He might, but I doubt it. Too much trouble with different states if they stop to search the truck for some reason. If anything, he might have a bat or a crowbar or something in the cab. With interstates backed up and gas stations closing down, I doubt he’d be able to make it back here with that semi anyway.” He sighed and crossed his arms, resting his head on them, and them in turn on the steering wheel. We sat there in silence for a moment before I spoke again.

“Want me to open and close the gate so you can just drive in?” I asked, looking toward him, and Chien just gave a nod as he leaned back and took the proper key from his key ring – leaving the rest in the ignition. Taking it from him as he offered it, I glanced outside the car around us and then got out and unlocked the gate. Opening it quickly, I waited for him to get the El Camino inside and then shut it just as quickly – locking it once more as well and then hopping into the bed of the car for a ride up to the top of the hill where the house was. Okay, so it was a mobile home actually, but whatever. Was still a house to me.

Once he got out of the car, we both looked around and I stuffed the key in my pocket. The gate had been locked and no vehicles were around. That meant that it was incredibly unlikely that there were any zombies in the yard. Nodding toward one another, we made our way up the porch steps and Chien unlocked the door so we could head inside. Bat and bokken at the ready, we stepped inside cautiously and flicking the lights on, we gave a cursory glance before moving further inside. The bedrooms and bathroom were checked quickly, and then the entertainment area and the little home office that they had. The inside clear, we looked out into the backyard and saw nothing around. All secure.

Slipping the bokken through my belt, I rubbed the back of my neck and spoke. “Alright, so what do we load first? Weapons and ammo or food and water?”

Chien thought for a moment, looking toward the kitchen area. “The food and water first, I think. That will be easier since we know right where all of it is. Weapons and ammo are stashed all over the house.”

“Yeah, I remember from our first zombie night at your place. Will be a lot easier to get the rations and then scrounge for all the weapons and ammo.” I grinned and we set to work quickly, raiding the pantry for all the canned and dry goods that we could find. Rather than using bags or carrying them one at a time, we loaded cans into cardboard boxes to make them easier to carry. Some boxes held quite a few, and some only held eight or so, but it was better than nothing. The boxes were loaded into the bed of the El Camino, and it filled about a third of it.

Next we began collecting the dry goods – things like crackers, dehydrated foods, mixes, boxed foods, and all manner of such things and putting them in boxes as well. When we ran out of boxes, we started putting them in bags, and loading these things into the bed as well. Once that was done, we started grabbing bottles of water, milk jugs, soda bottles and whatever else we could think of, emptying out what didn’t already have water in it, and filling all the various containers with water. By the time we were done loading everything into the bed of the El Camino, we had to pause for a moment and look at it. The bed was basically full already with the rations and water that we had scrounged from Chien’s place.

“We might end up not going to your place this trip, Roy. Not enough room in this to warrant using the gas to get to your place. I mean, we could get the weapons, but we already have enough weapons and ammunition for a while.” Chien said as he looked to me, and I thought for a moment. He was right. We couldn’t get enough from my place to warrant the trip, aside from weapons, and we already had plenty of those back at the school. We had enough ammunition for a month, too – assuming only a thousand rounds were used per day. All in all it didn’t make a lot of sense to go, at least until I thought of something to do.

“You’re right, at least as far as the El Camino goes, but we could always take the back seat out of one of the Suburbans at my place and use that to haul the supplies from my house. I mean hell, my dad has something like ten ammo cans alone, on top of all the guns – and I think it might be a good idea to grab the reloading gear too. My dad has plenty of brass, bullets, primers, and powder to use. Can reload shotgun shells too.”

Up until the bit about reloading shotgun shells, Chien didn’t seem to really be taking too much interest, but as soon as I said that it seemed that his eyes lit up – he was a marksman, but he knew the value of shotguns and their ammo when you had zombies to kill. Of course, any kind of ammunition was useful at this rate, it seemed, so a reloading bench would be very helpful to us… assuming that we were ever able to collect our brass. Either way, it was a good enough reason even if it didn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense if you thought about it more.

“Alright, we’re going to your place. If we can fill up another vehicle with supplies and make double what we first figured on, then all the better.” We each gave a nod and then headed back into his house to grab the weapons therein.

A Remington 700, a twenty-two caliber semi-automatic rifle, and a twelve gauge shotgun – it was only a three-shot pump action with a long barrel, but it was better than nothing. Looking at that pump gun almost made me want to put a scope on it and load it with slugs instead of buckshot, but I had the feeling that – knowing Chien – he’d probably cut the extra length of the barrel off, and likely a good portion of the stock too. In the end he’d probably wind up wearing it on his hip like a gargantuan pistol.

Once we had the guns, we laid them out in the kitchen and then set about to collecting ammunition from wherever we could find it. Unlike my place (for the most part at least), ammunition wasn’t in organized places. It was strewn about at random through the house, in whatever little places it could be shoved. Oddly enough, none of it was actually anywhere near the firearms themselves. I never had understood that, really. Either way, after about an hour of searching in every nook and cranny, we had about all the ammunition that Chien could think of, and loaded the ammo and guns into the cab of the El Camino. There were just a few more things to grab: the melee weapons.

These consisted mostly of swords – including a medieval longsword and a few curved blade swords. There was also a baseball bat and a crowbar. In fact, the only thing that we decided to leave behind that was any sort of weapon was the crossbow. Not because a crossbow wasn’t useful. They certainly could be. However, the one that Chien had seemed to come apart every time that it was fired, and thus would be more of a liability than a bonus in combat. After all, how good was it if it could get maybe one arrow off before it fell apart? Not all that great, believe me. It was a sever pain in the ass, is what it was. How did we know it came apart? That also had been discovered at out very first zombie night. We’d found the crossbow, used it once, and it had come all apart from just one shot. Had to restring it each and every time.

Everything loaded, we had the good sense to lock the house up once more, just in case we needed anything from it, and then I headed down to the gate, unlocking it and waiting by it for Chien to drive down. Soon enough he was outside the gate, I was locking it up once more, and then we were on our way after I handed him his gate key back.

As we drove to my house, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander. Were my parents home? Were they okay? Might they have become zombies already? It was a morbid thought, but I couldn’t help it. There was also a strange, perhaps sick, part of me that hoped they weren’t home. I knew I must’ve sounded cruel, or sick, or some other such thing for hoping my parents weren’t around, but… in some strange sense this was the first real adventure of my life. My parents had always been there for me in some fashion or another, but now… now I was relatively on my own. I mean, I had my friends, and my comrades, and Sweet for guidance if it was needed… but I wasn’t just some kid now. In this group I was one of the leaders. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t under someone else’s power, and it was… exhilarating.

Not to mention, if they were there, I had no doubts that they would immediately try telling me what to do instead of listening to me, and there would undoubtedly be some sort of family drama to deal with. Perhaps I just wanted to save myself the embarrassment of that all going on in front of my oldest friend. I certainly couldn’t be blamed for that, now could I? We’d both witnessed each other’s family dramas play out before each other’s eyes, and we were sick of it.

Our families loved us, and we loved them, but there had always been some amount of dysfunction in both cases. Come to think of it, that’s how it had been for all four of us. Lea’s family, even without her mother, was the closest to normal that any of us really got to. My parents and Chien’s parents had lots of spats. James’ parents were divorced and he rarely got along with either of them for extended periods of time. It was as if we’d all come together with similar family lives and had ended up, in some manner, like our own sort of family. The four of us were like brothers and sister in some way – as well as father, uncle, and in Lea’s case, mother. It all tended to hinge on just what one of us needed and when.

Admittedly, the system was usually revolving around James and went like this: Lea playing mother, me playing father, and Chien playing uncle. James tended to listen to Chien the least in matters of being told to do things, but most when it came to more social aspects of life. Most of the time what I was able to help him with was the technical stuff – how things worked, what right and wrong was, whether or not something was a good idea, and other things. Lea was usually the most comforting of us unless she was pissed off, and the most protective no matter what. I suppose in some way or another she could be compared to a mother lion and we were all her cubs. That was the cute Disney version of it anyway.

James… James was our oddball. The most heroic in some respects, and yet the least mature most of the time. Surely he’d like to skin me for saying such a thing, but it was true, and saying such simply got him to prove it was true by making him try and prove it wasn’t. Not only that, but if you brought it to his attention that he was proving it by trying not to prove it, he’d immediately stop trying to disprove it, but he’d do it in such a way that it simply remained all too obvious that it was the truth. He had great potential, but his ADHD tended to get in the way, along with the fact that he was usually focused on a great many trivial things and didn’t want to take the steps toward standing on his own like the rest of us planned to.

Thinking about these things distracted me long enough that I barely noticed the time that passed between leaving Chien’s and arriving at my front gate…