ILLNESS (Zombie Apocalypse)

Chapter 18

Billy woke everyone before first light. "We go for the main necessities first. We'll go get food and medicines today. The Pharmacy is our first stop. It's small and sits at the entrance to town. Then we'll hit the save a lot. We'll take my truck so we don't attract to much attention and it'll haul the most food. So Carter and Tyrone you go with me," he held up a hand before the girls could protest. "Davis, while we're gone, teach them (he pointed to the girls) how to handle themselves with and without a silent weapon. No guns. We will go away from here to target practice with them so we wont attract attention here. Ok guys get your shit and let's go." Billy had on a protective vest and his gun belt. A machete was slipped inside the belt on one side and a ammo pouch on the other. A shotgun slung over his shoulder and a empty backpack. He was waiting for them in the truck.
At the gate he got out and listened for anything on the other side before opening it and driving through. He took them through twists and turns. Staying on the backroads far from houses. Coming out on blacktop a different way then they came in the other night. "We don't want to be followed. There are lots of roads out here. When we leave from one road, we come back on another. And you guys need to learn all the roads just in case..." Billy trailed off. But they knew what he was saying. "A good thing about this place is that its a small town. Not many people lived here, the population was around 1500 to 2000. Hopefully, lots of them survived and for the zombies, hope most of them have went looking for eats elsewhere" Billy said.
He drove them to the pharmacy only seeing a few zombies along the way. The pharmacy sat where the blacktop met the main highway through town. He parked in the back behind the pharmacy in case other looters were around. These days you couldn't trust other people.

Davis was teaching self defense to the girls that he had learned in the police academy. He taught them how to avoid getting manhandled. How to knock down an opponent by breaking a knee. How to ram the nose bone into the brain. He taught them anything he could think of that would take down a dead assailant or make a living one think twice. He had even taught Anthony a few moves which had him giggling. Davis noticed however that Courtney seemed to be extremely strong and fast for such a young girl. He tackled her from behind, but instead of knocking her down, she flipped him over her back onto his. Throwing a punch, she dodged it causing him to stagger forward, then she swung around kicking him in the back, knocking him on his face. Going for a kick to the knee, she dodged and he slipped, falling on his back. The rest of the group were laughing and Davis flushed with embarrassment. After being on his face and back a few times he was irritated. "Have you ever been in martial arts or karate class" he asked. "No" she answered smirking.
Eyeing her suspiciously he got up, dusted himself off and turned to the group. "Ok Courtney" he said looking at her behind him, "stand with the group." As she walked past he lunged, gripping her hair jerking her back. She screamed in pain and fell on her back. "I didn't mean to hurt you but that brings us to another lesson." She glared at him, as did the others, as she got up rubbing the back of her head. "Never! Never! Let your guard down. Expect the unexpected at all times" he said.
"That was uncalled for," Haley shouted.
"Do you think a zombie is gonna go easy on you" he growled.
"No" Haley shouted, "but your not a zombie. You could have made your point without hurting her asshole!!"
He put his head down then looked up at Courtney. "She's right. I'm sorry Courtney. I shouldn't have done that" he said sincerely. She glared at him. "Lets move on to weapons" she said through clenched teeth.

Billy eased around the building, staying close to the wall, to see in the front. The back had no door or windows to go through. The parking lot in the front had a few zombies loitering around. Billy turned to the others and held up three fingers, they nodded. Easily Carter and Billy disposed of the beings before they could moan, alerting any others nearby. While they were doing that, Tyrone broke the glass out of the door and unlocked it. He didn't see any zombies inside so they went in. "We need antibiotics for sure" he whispered, "and anything else that may be needed in the future. If your not sure about a name, just throw it in and we'll figure it out later." Jumping over the counter they tossed in bags anything that could come in handy. The place had been looted but antibiotics were still plenty. After filling there bags with different medicines, they headed toward the counter. Suddenly the distinct smell of zombie stank reached there nostrils. Peeking, they saw two zombies in the lobby and more were walking in. They rushed to duck down behind the counter. Tyrone raised up to peek over. There were five now, one was sniffing the air. It turned and Tyrone ducked down. He held up five fingers to the others. The sniffing zombie shuffled to the counter. It turned its head in different directions sniffing. It hissed, knowing food was nearby somewhere. Slowly Tyrone peeked again, there were still five. He held up five fingers and whispered "one smells us," they nodded. "Go" whispered Billy. All three jumped over the counter trying to take the first three by surprise. Billy reached the first two, sinking his knife deep in there skulls. The third lunged at Tyrone as he was killing the fourth and fifth, Carter stopped it dead in its tracks. They looked around still ready to pounce but the zombies were done. They kicked the ones on the ground to make sure they were dead. "Grab your bags, lets go" Billy said grabbing his own bags. They reached the truck with no more incidents.

Davis made a scarecrow and had the girls practice stabbing. When they hit somewhere besides a kill shot he would yell try again. "Taking arms off maims them so they cant grab and makes it easier for a kill shot. But if you can kill, do it, so you can move on to the next opponent" he said. He made sure to stay clear of there weapons since the incident with Courtney. They used different types of knives, axes, numb-chucks and whatever else he thought could be useful. After slicing he got them to practice throwing knives. "Practice makes perfect" he said, "anything can be made into a weapon. Haley lets say your a zombie and I have lost my weapon. What could I use that's lying around here?" She looked around, "a friend?" "Always watch each others backs but a friend could be busy killing another zombie. Try again" he said. She looked around on the ground but didn't see much. Anthony ran off a few feet then came back, handing a rock to Davis. "Very good Anthony" he said patting the boy on the back, "us men have to teach these women don't we." Anthony nodded his head and giggled. "He ran and found a rock. If you run, they will follow. Get them where you need em'. If there is no weapons around then what?" Davis asked. "Get out" Mattie said. He nodded his head, "always outthink your opponent. Watch your ass and watch your friends. Learn to use your periphery vision. Thats where you can see beside you without turning your head. It helps to see an attack coming from behind. Last but not least. If you cant win, run like hell! Were a family now and none of you are replaceable. We lost Kaitlin, I don't want to lose any of you. That's why I'm being hard on you to learn this.

Billy drove through town to reach the save a lot. Surprising they saw no zombies on the way. "That's strange to not see any zombies" Tyrone declared. "Yeah, good for us. Maybe they've scattered, looking for food" Billy said. "Those at the pharmacy came out of the blue" Tyrone said.
They pulled in the parking lot. At first glance, you would think there were people shopping from the cars in the parking lot. Billy didn't want to think of what happened here. They got out and looked through the window. There wasn't anything moving in there that they could see. Going inside each one got a buggy. Except for the blood, it looked normal. "Don't get nothing if it has blood on it" Carter said. "And nothing perishable" Billy said. Billy got lots of water and different types of canned foods. Carter did the same. They also got toilet paper and other supplies. Tyrone ran straight to the junk food. He loaded up boxes of cakes, chips, 12 packs of soda and juice, and candy. The smell of the rotting food in the back was almost unbearable. With full buggies they headed out to load it in the truck. Seeing Tyrone's buggy they both shook there heads.
After loading everything, Billy told Carter to pull his truck around to the loading area. He went in and opened the back door. There were boxes of food on palettes. They loaded as much as the truck would carry. Billy looked at the truck approvingly. "It don't look like the place has been looted. We could keep making runs here and to Supers Grocery store down the road. We would be well stocked for a while. Especially if we planted a garden and hunt to. Later if we get those solar panels up, we need to find a dehydrator to make deer jerky with." Hearing a low rumble Billy looked up at the sky. "We better get back" he said. The sky was a dark ominous grey.
As they reached the gate rain pelted the roof. Billy jumped out running to the gate. Hurriedly he unlocked it and threw it open, driving through then locking it back. As he jumped back in a bright flash of lightening lit up the sky followed by a loud boom. "The lightening must have struck something" Billy said. Pulling up at the cabin hail balls started to beat on the top of the cab. "Run for the house. We'll come back for the stuff later" he said. Covering there heads they ran inside. Hail balls were getting louder on the roof as more fell. "Come on, get in the tunnel" Billy urged opening the trap door. The wind outside was howling. They ran down in the tunnel. "What's going on" Mattie asked. "I'd say a tornado. Its the season for it" Billy said, "I hope the cabin and fence holds up."

They waited for an hour in the tunnel before Billy would let them go back up. The cabin withheld and was still standing so they all walked outside. A small shed that should have been nearby was gone. "We got lucky" Billy said, "but we need to check the fence. Make sure a tree didn't blow down on it or something. So whose helping me check the fence while the rest packs the food in" he said pointing to the truck.

Billy took a tool belt of a hammer and nails with him. It was after dark when him, Carter, Courtney, and Anthony checked the fence. They had to fix a few places that could be fixed. Mattie, Tyrone, and Haley had already went to bed and Anthony was sent on to bed. "With a section of the fence gone that leaves us vulnerable. So I'm gonna take first watch. Since Tyrone went to bed before us, i'll wake him next" Billy said.

After three hours Billy woke Tyrone to watch while he went to bed. After his three hours he woke Davis to watch. He walked around and around the house. Two hours in, he heard the snapping of twigs in the distance. Looking through his night vision goggles he saw two figures walking fast through the field. They looked no bigger then a dog at this distance. It was hard to determine if they were living or dead. But they were coming in his direction so he aimed his rifle. "Say something or i'll shoot" he yelled. As the figures got closer he could hear faint moans. He shot once, they kept coming. Twice, they still kept coming. At this distance it was hard to get a head shot without a scope. Third shot, still getting closer. Woken by the shots, the group ran outside, weapons ready. "Where are they" Billy growled.
"Out there" Davis pointed.
"How many" Haley asked nervously.
Davis looked through the goggles again, "two."
Mattie picked Anthony up, hugging him tight.
"Let em get closer stupid. Don't use the gun for just two. That'll draw a bunch here" Carter growled.
Davis gritted his teeth until his jaw hurt, this kid was getting on his last nerve. Carter got the goggles and ran into the field. He came back after a few minutes. "There was three. You all can go back to bed, I'll keep watch." Staying preoccupied he rarely thought about his family. Focusing on survival he didnt have time to think of much else.

Courtney stayed outside with Carter. She broke the silence after sitting quietly for an hour. "Carter you really need to go easy on these people. You may have to rely on them to have your back one day. If there pissed at you they may turn away."
"We will be lucky if more aint headed this way. There were only three and you could barely see them from here with goggles. Sure as hell couldn't get a dam headshot."
"I know but next time, rephrase your words." He scowled at her but said nothing.