Zombiefest Ch. 02

While leading every Zombie in the area away, I thought back to the Strongholds I had run across. Most just had some form of make shift fencing material to keep the Zombie's out. Now the regular and more common Zombie's had no clue what climbing was, they just leaned against stuff until their combined weight toppled it. I learned from the Stronghold inhabitants that the 'Runners', yep that's what they seem to call them, could in fact climb if you gave them half a chance and a descent incentive, like chewing on someone's ass.

I gave the buggers a good run as I led them out far enough that they would not be returning anytime soon. They really have a short attention span, and if there is no scent to follow they end up standing around waiting once again for the next thing to attract them. And they just about never backtrack following their own predominant scent.

I got back to my trailer and hauled it over to the buildings while looking for the person who had been waving. Pretty soon two girls slowly moved through the building, I watched from the glass while they analyzed me like I was some kind of alien.

"If I was a Zombie, for one I could not speak to you. And second I would have broke through the glass to get to you." I said to them while they just stood there a moment. Then they moved to the door and unlocked it before stepping out.

"Where are they?" the younger one asked quietly. I pointed off behind my shoulder.

"About a half mile or so in that direction, figured out in the middle of a dry lake bed would suit them best." I replied and they both seemed to take a deep breath.

"Where are your parents or family?" I asked curiously.

"About a half mile or so in a dry lake bed." The older one replied as if I should know sense I left them there. I grinned at her and she smiled.

"Where are you going?" the older one asked.

"Heading up to a Military Base just South of Tacoma Washington, if it is still standing." I replied and then I heard both of their bellies rumbling loudly. Both looked embarrassed.

"Sounds like you all ran out of food?" I asked and both nodded.

"Come on, we will put some distance between us and this place. Just to be sure they don't come back and surprise us. I have something you can both munch on while we travel." I told them.

"Can we grab a few things first?" the older one asked and I nodded. Both ran inside and up the back stairs. While they grabbed a few things I brought out a couple dinner rolls I had found along the way. They were packed well so they wouldn't get moldy right away from the last Stronghold a couple days behind me and then pulled out two cups with lids and filled them with clean water that had been boiled already to insure it would be disease free.

"Got what you need?" I asked as they returned with backpacks and both nodded. I stored their packs inside the small trailer and shifted a few things around on top. Then I picked up the smaller one and set her on top of the camper. The Older one at first declined to ride on the trailer. I let her jog along beside me, it lasted about forty minutes before she agreed to ride on the trailer instead.

After eating the rolls both drifted off while I loped along doing my usual pace. As the City of Reno came into view I kept to the outskirts just to avoid the main cluster of Zombies. I pulled up on the over look and opened the camper and fished around a bit before finding the Binoculars. Moving to the edge of the fencing I started to scan the City.

"Find anything?" the older girl asked as she walked up. The younger one was still a sleep.

"Looks like they have the downtown area surrounded, mainly Circus-Circus, that old Casino right down there." I told her and pointed. She just looked down and you could see it easily enough but not the street level which is what I was looking at right now.

The only reason they would focus on it was because they knew for a fact that Humans were still occupying the building. While I watched, I saw several men with weapons force several people out the steel reinforced gate. What the hell!

The people scattered in different directions trying to avoid the sudden rush of Zombies. One tried pounding on the gate trying to get it to open up again. He didn't last very long at all. Soon Zombies from all around the building were giving chase. One woman had crawled into a car that probably broke down long ago and the fuel may have gone bad after all this time as well.

Then I saw it, behind the building, two vehicles racing to get away as far as they could before the Zombies spotted them and gave chase. Those men seemed pretty pleased with their view of what was fair to maintain their survival. They hit the road heading North and anything in the way was ran over with out a care. I made sure to memorize their faces, because if I ever saw them again, they would be Zombie bait.

Looking around I noticed that Sparks was nearly Zombie free, seemed in all the running around the Survivors did in Reno and Sparks, they had pretty much led all the Zombies in to the Downtown area of Reno when they returned to their main base of Circus-Circus. Zombies for the most part tend to just stand around doing nothing. But if they spot something that catches their attention they go and investigate. Once one Zombie moves, all of them start to move. Not exactly sure why, but it does help in leading them away.

The nice thing about it is once they loose interest, they just stay in their new spot. They don't go back where they started, they just stand around waiting for the next thing to grab their attention or follow another Zombie who may have found food.

We walked back to the Camper and I hauled it over to the Nugget Casino. No Zombie's were around, even the interior was empty. Moving slowly and using my senses to the full, we made sure to secure each door that would keep us safe from any Zombies who might be wandering around. We grabbed our bags and I chained up the trailer, I didn't need some rogue survivors just making off with it. Then we climbed the stairs up to the Penthouse. I had figured a place like this would have had people inside, instead it was empty.

I tripped the lock rather then break down the door and we stepped into the penthouse. There were four bedrooms and lucky for us the Hot water was still working. I figured they must pump the water up to the roof and let the sun heat the water or something. After closing the door, I slid a few heavy objects in front of the door just to be safe. I left the girls to enjoy a real meal while I went and took a shower, it had been a few days. I will not say how long, so don't ask. Pretty sure my clothes would appreciate it though..

I walked out of the shower and felt more like myself once more. I was drying off and walked out into the bedroom, a towel wrapped around my waist and drying off my long dark brown hair. No one at the testing facility thought to cut my hair, and it's not easy finding a barber shop in a Zombie infested town.

"Can I help you with anything?" a voice asked. I recognized the older girls voice right away. She was sitting on the bed looking at me. I looked back towards the main room, but the door was closed.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked in something of shock. She just shrugged and suddenly pulled off her shirt, she was not wearing a bra either. Her body was thin and pleasing to the eye. It had been a long time sense I had been with a woman of any age, but I was pretty sure she was not eighteen or older. She stood up and walked slowly towards me, at this point I have no idea who was more nervous.

"I know what men want, I am old enough to understand how things are. All I ask is that you let my friend grow up more before asking her to do anything." she was saying, which threw me for a loop.

"Listen, we really haven't even spoken sense I found you. My name is Dakota, I am in the Military. I have no idea who it is you have been running in to sense this all started.." I was saying and her hand touched my chest which stopped me dead.

"I'm Charlene but most call me Charlie and my friend is Tami, and we have been running and hiding sense this all started. Whenever someone came along, well we were asked to help out. I made sure that Tami was never asked to help, by always taking her place." Charlie explained and I frowned slightly. Men have been using this girl sense this all started, I was asking myself.

"I am not like that, I don't do that with anyone who feels like they must or they have to do it." I explained and gently led her to the door.

"You are a beautiful young woman, but you should only do things like that when you want to and when you really like someone, not because someone demands it of you." I explained and then lightly closed the door and slipped on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I needed to rest up, get some strength back up and get my mind centered again. And this place was secure enough to help me do that before hitting the road again.

From the windows I could see the City stretched out before me. Tami was seated on the couch and happened to flip the TV on, how the hell is there still electricity? I figured the Casino must have it's own back up system that was still running or maybe had slipped into stand by when no one was using any power. With a shrug I found it had a DVD player and several movies and cartoons. I put in one of the Disney cartoons for her and we sat back watching it, pretty soon Charlie stepped out and took Tami back so she could sit in a bath and get cleaned up as well.

At some point I drifted off and when I woke up I found Tami curled against me on one side and Charlie on the other. Deciding not to move and wake them up, I let myself drift back off to sleep. It didn't last long, maybe half an hour. That was another thing about the stupid drug, it made it nearly impossible to sleep more then four hours at a time. I carefully slipped out from behind the two girls and covered them up. After a quick check of the appliances, I found that they did actually work. Who knew for how much longer though, lets face it, even batteries and generators will eventually die out or run out of fuel. Unless they had upgraded to solar or even wind turbines, they could last a long time.

Nothing in the penthouse was going to feed anyone though, well the can of peaches would be good, IF someone had remembered a can opener. After slipping out the door I made my way down to the kitchen. I kept track of scents and sounds while moving through nearly dark hallways that were only lit up by emergency lighting. Thankfully my new eyes were able to see it all with profound accuracy.

Inside the kitchen, I did not dare open the huge refrigerators, nothing in them would be edible in the least. With a quick check I found dry milk, dried eggs, boy some folks are lazy, and pancake mix. I packed up all I could find and put it on a cart then wheeled the cart to the exit we would take at some point and took a couple days worth of things up to the penthouse.

"Mmm what smells good?" Charlie called out. I had gotten breakfast cooked up and had even dared to throw out everything that was rotten from the fridge. Yep I could have used a Military Grade gas mask for that one. But everything was gone that would cause trouble and I had found a box of armor hammer baking soda to help with residual odors. With pancakes and eggs, I had found a few jars of different jams that had never been opened. Good thing the Casinos had a high turn over on food, another couple of months and some of the stuff would have been highly questionable.

"Breakfast is served, and stay out of the kitchen.. it has a bit of a smell.." I warned them. Thankfully the window could be opened, had never heard of a high rise with windows that could be opened, but it's a Penthouse, who am I to judge?

"This is so great!" Tami said around a mouthful of pancakes. I just grinned and started eating as well. After we ate, I stepped out and found that the large roof top deck also had a small pool. I can imagine the water would not be heated, after we took time cleaning it out. I ran a hose directly from the water tank, it captured rain water instead of using the City supply or the run off from the Mountains. Which meant no disease or contamination from the Zombie virus. I hooked up two inline filters and then ran the hose out to the pool. Once the water was turned on the water would be filtered before filling the pool.

"Dakota did you notice this?" Charlie called from inside. I walked inside and she led me to the Master Bedroom. Inside I found a desk with a computer sitting on it. After a quick check I found that of course the Internet was no where to be found, but at least it could open files. I plugged in the small memory stick and pulled up the files, while I had saved them I made sure that no passwords or encryptions were part of the saved files.

"Thanks Charlie, could you go turn off the water when the pool is filled, we don't need to flood the Penthouse when we want to stay a day or two." I asked her while starting to read. I could see the pool easily through the window, so I could keep tabs on the two girls and cracked the window to keep an ear out as well.

After months of testing, they found out that the Zombie virus could not survive outside the labs for more then six months. It was however alive and well within the Zombies themselves. So getting bitten or other blood contact could infect a human easily. Well that was good to know.

Once the zombie was dead, meaning no longer mobile anymore, the virus would die as well within eight hours. The Virus would stop being able to heal it after that. The funny thing was the Zombie's did not look like the stereo typical Hollywood Zombie. They looked like anyone else you met on the street, okay like anyone who hadn't had a close relationship with a bar of soap in a few months. It was their eyes that gave them away and they had no problem looking you in the eye to show you exactly who they are.

Looking up I can see that the girls have turned the water off and are splashing about in the pool in their underwear, okay, if it works, why not?

I return to reading, all their testing showed a lack of brain function beyond the animalistic tendencies. Translation, they are brain dead, all higher brain functions are gone. Repeated attempts to try and bring them back failed. They were working on several types of possible cures in case you were bitten and before you actually turned.

I spent the next thirty minutes reading about Patient 1169, who had been given the cure and then subjected to the zombie virus over and over again, poor bastard. I will admit it took me a few minutes to realize that I am the poor bastard they were talking about.

Not only am I immune to the virus now, but the Cure altered my body. Strengthened my muscles, helps me with more stamina, I can see, hear and smell things at a much higher level. Downside is that while I can see in the dark, it also makes me sensitive to the light. Gotta have some draw backs, also I can't sleep more then a few hours at a time or I get some really painful muscle cramps, which is another bummer.

Over a year ago they had sent out several teams of Scientists to help spread the so called cure. Personally I wasn't sure what was worse the week long painfest of the original shot, or just being a brain dead zombie and calling it a day. No word was ever received after they left, and sense no word ever reached them that they had actually reached their destinations, it was assumed all teams were lost to the Zombie's and Humanity was on the brink of extinction.

I did run across a few strongholds, at least that was what they were calling themselves anyways. Humanity hiding behind walls trying to stay alive. Yeah I have seen Humanities generosity, long as it doesn't cost them anything personally, they are all for it. I can be a bit of a jack ass if you haven't noticed by now.

The one thing the side notes stated, was that the supposed Cure, was based loosely on my blood after being injected. And sense no one was willing to be bitten to test it out, they took a long shot. If any of them had taken that cure back at the base I was trapped in, then it didn't work. Which meant that anyone the Scientists tried to 'Cure' on the road, most likely turned and the paranoid population would have turned on them like a pack of rabid dogs.

I pulled the memory strip from the laptop and packed it away in my bag then turned off the laptop computer. I packed it up as well, it could be useful before we just ran out of batteries and found no way of recharging it again. I walked out with several drinks and even some ice and joined the girls at the pool.

After a day of relaxing at the pool and enjoying several zombie movies that actually made us all laugh like they were comedies. We finally hit the beds. After a few hours of sleep I got up and walked out along the guard rail and looked out over the City. I had lived in Reno back before the virus. The place was big and yet always held a small town feel at the same time. Several of the Casinos were still lit up here and there, even the old MGM Hotel and Casino was lit up. It had changed hands so many times over the years, that even now it still holds that title to me.

The Original Builder had made the old Casino self-sufficient including power, water and waste disposal. At the Time Reno had not reached out as far as where the MGM was being built. Now after all these years, it still stands on the slight hill brightly lit up as if awaiting visitors. I could hear one of the girls walking around and the scent told me it was Charlie.

"You don't sleep much do you?" she asked as she moved up beside me.

"Always been more of a night person." I admitted with a light laugh. At night my eyes were much better, even with out the binoculars I could see very far and little escaped my sight if it moved. It took a while to get use to being able to see so much, at first it was infuriating. Running down the road and some mouse would twitch and my eyes would focus on it right away. It took a while but I finally got to the point I would see something move, identify it, classify it as a threat or not and then continue on. So far not much was a threat, and the Zombies I spotted right away so I would just shift my direction enough to stay out of their range.

"Why do your eyes glow like that?" Tami suddenly asked as she moved out to join us. I smiled and started explaining what had happened to me and everything I had learned. The Military had been about to move to the next phase of testing which would have been the physical tests. I had broken several straps they used to secure me to the bed. Before that could happen, the base had been over run by the Zombie's and I made my escape.

"Well you must be pretty strong, you pull the trailer all day and you never seem to get tired. Not even sure if you work up a sweat either." Charlie commented. I had to think about that, the heat didn't really bother me, I knew it was hot, but my body hadn't reacted to that heat. The night while I ran, I just figured I wasn't cold because of running, yet the girls would have blankets over them to stay warm. Even now they had blankets around them while I stood outside in shorts and a tank top.

"I think you got the better end of the deal when they cured you with what ever it was." Charlie said finally and smiled. While I hated to admit it, she was right. I now knew if I got bit again I would not turn into one of them, I was immune.

"We'll stay one more day to rest and regain our strength, lets face it right now this has been the most relaxed I have felt in years. After that we'll head up North to find that Base, maybe even find someplace that would make a descent home." I explained to them. They both seemed happy with that plan.