Zombiefest Ch. 05

"That feels wonderful Charlie..." Maria sighed in comfort even with the pain still moving through her body.

"That's good, but the name's Dakota.." I whispered back while gently massaging her back. She stiffened for a moment but then relaxed as I continued to rub her back slowly. I did a silent count down until she realized that she was still naked from her sponge bath earlier and she beeped in surprise trying to cover her front.

"You still have the blanket over you except for your back, just relax." I said with some amusement. She slowly relaxed again.

"Perv!" she shot back laughing softly even as I laughed.

"I'm a man, I'm allowed.." I replied between laughs which only made her laugh until she gritted her teeth in pain.

"How much longer?" she whimpered as the wave slowly eased.

"Today should be the last day, we will stay two more days so you can recover and start to get use to the changes. I will admit that the changes will continue for up to a month. But they are minor and barely even noticed, the main thing is the pain will no longer be part of those changes. She nodded and leaned back into my hands as I slowly worked a knot loose.

Charlie and Tami were a sleep in the Livingroom after a descent lunch and a long night of switching off with Maria. I had taken a long shower after a five hour run to ensure the house and area were still safe from zombies and marauders. Now I was laying behind Maria who finally drifted off to sleep. Laying back I drifted off as well.

Waking up in a fully alert status meant something unusual had woken me up. I found Maria's naked body curled over mine, in any other situation I would have been very happy and welcomed anything she felt up for at the moment.

"Something feels wrong.." Maria whispered. I nodded and she slowly moved back while I stood up. It was definitely something, because it even affected Maria who probably would have been embarrassed to find herself draped over me in such a fashion. I slipped to the window with out making a sound.

It was dark outside but it didn't hinder me in the least as I watched several men moving through the tree's and sneaking up on several houses. Raiders were going through the houses in order to grab supplies. Houses were much easier then trying to go to downtown Zombie Central to raid stores.

"Raiders, they should be here in a few minutes. Depends on what they find in the other houses." I whispered to her and she nodded slowly. Charlie and Tami were already listening by the door. I continued watching the men, barely moving the curtain. Maria got up and quickly dressed. She was past the pain and I am sure she was feeling the after affects. She would need more rest before she would feel even slightly normal, well the new normal.

"The houses are empty for the most part, I already went through them, I'll send them on their way." I told them then grabbed the gun I had found hidden in the garage and my staff. I walked to the front door while Maria, Charlie and Tami waited in the Livingroom.

I opened the door just as a hand was reaching for it, the man jumped and pulled his knife. Then he noted the rather large barrel of the pistol pointed in his face.

"I don't care if you are selling Religion, we aren't buying." I said before he could think to say anything. His eyes focused on me and it took him a moment to realize I had actually spoken and was not growling at him or trying to bite his face off.

"Put down the gun!" a voice called out. I had already had time to check out their weapons and no one was carrying anything beyond edged weapons and a few bows with arrows.

"Naw, I think I will keep it and you all can continue down the road doing what you are doing, you all have a good night." I called back and started to close the door.

"How long do you think you can last alone?" the same voice called back.

"Longer then you all, you suckers are way too loud to be in your line of work. My suggestion, run and find a secure house while you can. All your yelling has already alerted the zombies down the street and they are coming to see what's on the menu." I called back.

"I mean how long do you think you can keep those women to yourself, you only have nine rounds, maybe twelve, we number much more then that." the voice sneered. I swiveled my arm while still staring at the man in front of me and fired. I saw the loud mouths head jerk and his body hit the ground.

"Who wants the other eleven shots?" I called out. Everyone was silent for about a minute before a voice called out Zombies. Now all of them were running down the street. I closed the door as a mass of twenty to thirty zombies were moving straight for them.

"That was close.." Maria mumbled softly.

"Naw once you remove the instigator, the followers will back off and horniness turns into self-preservation." I replied and winked. She laughed along with Charlie while Tami looked a bit confused. I had been tracking another sound as well, apparently they thought to try and use the front door as a distraction while someone snuck around the back. I moved to the door that led to the basement which had it's own door to the backyard area. As the handle started to turn, I plunged the blade of my staff through the door and heard the grunt of surprise and pain on the other side. When I pulled the blade free I heard the body tumble down the stairs.

I opened the door and looked down at the bottom. Some guy had been holding his own long bladed knife preparing to attack from behind. Now he was just dead meat. The sword had penetrated his chest and the fall broke his neck. Walking down I dragged his corpse from the house and into the tree line and then cut off his head, at this point I didn't take chances with dead bodies. Then returned after securing the doors and windows in the basement. I also set a few traps just incase the goon squad was stupid enough to return.

I kept an eye out through the night while Maria, Charlie and Tami took time out to rest and regain their strength. Smiling to myself I sat on the deck that faced the street and listened. I could still hear a few of the men who tired and fell prey to the Zombies still hot on their trail. Several yards away a few men had been able to get inside a house or shed and usually slamming the doors in the faces of those they had called friend at one time or another.

The stupid part was that it was easy to lead zombie's on a wild goose chase, unless of course you had no clue what you were doing when you tried it. Zombies have no way of bending down to crawl after you if you duck under something or leap over it. They will remain there bouncing against the object until you are either out of sight or the object falls over.

If you are out of shape never try to just out distance them, you will tire long before they do. For the most part, zombies do not crawl, they do not kneel down to look under something. They are like a blunt object trying to crash through anything in their way. Now with that in mind, it is no wonder children are of the highest survivor number, children will always try to hide under or crawl under and around things to get away. It will work, problem here is the down side.

Children did not see Mom, Dad, Brother or Sister as the enemy even with red eyes and growling. Against strangers, no problem they are out the door and down a rabbit hole. But against relatives or those thought close friends, they didn't run until it was too late.

Getting up I realize the men would not be returning. Most were caught by the zombies and those not caught, will be surrounded by them. They were now stuck inside the very homes thought to be safety, were now their prisons. Hunger would eventually drive them out into the streets, but for the most part they'll be dead within a block or two.

Walking into the garage I pulled over one of the bikes that had been hung on the wall by the family who had lived here. I ran a complete service and made sure the tires were in top condition. After that I hooked up the small bike trailer to Charlie's bike and got it prepared for the journey to come. We would not be staying for those two extra days, Maria would have to ride on the camper. I hated doing it, but if that raider group was just a small part of something bigger, I did not want to be here when the rest came looking for them.

In most of the strongholds women out numbered the men by nearly five to one. Men are stupid and tend to put themselves at risk more often then not. As long as they continue to take chances or allow bullies to make their choices for them, men will continue to die out while the women get taken advantage of by said bullies or left widow because their men were just idiots.

When morning arrived no one questioned why we were leaving and Maria didn't even argue about being put on the trailer. Part of finding the gun also had me stocking up on ammo for the gun from one of the sporting goods stores next door to the bike shop. More then five thousand rounds would ensure us being safe. At least until we found a proper place of safety. Turns out Maria is a marksman, she trained every weekend on a shooting range with her husband just for fun and as a stress reliever from her job during the week. So the extra ammo was inside the camper while the gun and an extra magazine remained with her.

"Where too?" Tami asked. I pointed North while closing the garage.

"We continue North, but thanks to the morons last night, the neighborhoods will be a bit more funtastic then I would normally like." I said with an exaggerated sigh. They all nodded.

"I will ride in the lead, then Tami and Charlie will take up the rear. Maria for the first hour I need you to stay awake and help keep an eye out. Now be aware you will see a lot of movement, most will just be small animals, squirrels, mice and even birds. We are watching for zombies and those idiots from last night." I explained to them all while they nodded and listened.

"I had no idea there were so many animals out here." Maria gasped softly while looking around.

"They were always out here, we just never noticed them until now." Tami called out softly from behind her.

We had seen the remnants of several of the men who had not made it and were too torn up to come back as a Zombie. A few had turned and could not keep up with us as we rode straight through. One area had a lot of Zombie's surrounding several houses, my guess was that many of the raiders were holed up inside hoping that the zombie's would find something else to chase.

Once we were clear of the City limits, Maria could finally relax. She used the thick blanket to help block out the sun and drifted off to sleep. Thankfully we had several more pairs of the wrap around sun glasses, I grabbed all I could find from the sporting goods store. Taking our time we rode with less speed and relaxed. We were in no hurry to run into yet another zombie infested City or another possible Raider trap.

Taking our time we made an overnight stop at an old KOA Campground just outside of Redmond. Thankfully no zombie trouble to be seen in the area. And the old single wide mobile home seem to be in good condition. It would enable Maria to sleep off the last of her change and give her the much needed rest her body was craving.

Once everyone was inside the mobile, I moved the bikes around so that they would not be seen or visible to anyone passing by on the Highway. I checked the tanks and found that the Propane was more then half full. Well it would make cooking easier. Once inside and checking the Mobile Home I also found that it used a pellet heating system. I filled the hopper with the pellets and got it started up. The solar cells I had seen up on the roof were keeping battery power topped up and we didn't need lighting. Just enough power to keep the thermostat on the pellet system working.

I made up some flat bread, mixed up some eggs and tossed in some meat from a rather awnery turkey that should have turned and ran instead of chasing us. Always did wonder how a bird as stupid as a turkey could possibly survive in a world full of zombies.

I sat by the large sliding glass doors watching the world outside. My constant state of alertness told me Maria was awake and watching me.

"You should try to sleep, tomorrow we start building up your muscles. Time to start riding a bike." I said quietly. She laughed softly and yawned slightly.

"Feels like all I have been is a burden on you all." she admitted as she sat down beside me and handed me a water bottle. I took a long drink before replying.

"I went through it, Charlie and Tami did as well. Granted you all had it easier, at least someone was there to help you through it and explain what was happening. I was trapped in a lab with nothing but ignorant Doctors watching me through a glass. None of them knew I could hear everything they said and learned how this all started and where it ended up." I said then shrugged a bit.

"What will happen once you have reached this Base?" Maria asked. I glanced at the girls before looking at Maria.

"Once someone has the information from the folder, I am done with the Military and the secret lab experiments. I made a promise to those two that I would find them someplace safe to try and live out some sort of normal life." I said finally and looked back out the large window. The Darkness inside would make it impossible for anyone outside to see us so I hadn't bothered with closing the curtains yet. When the sky would start to brighten, then I would close the curtains.

"What are your plans?" I asked her and she looked over and shrugged lightly.

"My plans were to escape the city, but that didn't go well. Now that I am like you and the girls, I am not so sure that any Stronghold would want me around and any lab would probably try to capture me for experiments." she admitted and sighed softly.

"Well you are welcome to join us for as long as you like, just try not to bore us." I said as I stretched out for a nap and winked playfully at her. Maria rolled her eyes and huffed in reply before laying down as well.

Once again my eyes snapped open from a sound sleep, I was really getting tired of it too. I got up and made sure the curtains remained closed against the light. After grabbing my sunglasses I moved back and carefully looked out towards the street. Several men, roughly two dozen, were walking down the Highway towards Redmond. From the looks of it this was all that remained of the raider group who thought they could give us trouble in Bend.

"What is it?" Charlie asked even as Tami stepped up with Maria.

"The Raiders from Bend are heading towards Redmond. From here we can continue North, which takes us to Redmond and then to Madras. Or we can cut North West and hit Sisters instead. Going that route is mostly uncharted for me. Most I know about Sisters is that it's pretty much a tourist trap for motorist who like to Sunday drive no matter what day it is." I said while watching the last of the Raiders continue down the Highway.

"Either direction a better option for traveling?" Maria asked. I moved to sit on the couch followed by the others who took seats where ever they could be found.

"Both options are going to require us to detour around the heart of Redmond, lets face it we do not need to be running into a Town full of zombies. After that both roads are pretty much the same. Only real difference is that between Redmond and Madras is about forty or so miles of High Desert. While heading to Sisters is more farm lands with desert dotted here and there." I told them.

"Which way do you think the Raiders will go?" Maria asked curiously. I pulled out the map of the area.

"Most of the State maps will show the most commonly used Highways, which is what most people follow even subconsciously. Which means they will most likely head for Madras and on up to the Dales. Most of it depends if they have a destination in mind or if they are just wandering until they can land someplace that would let them be bullies over some group." I explained while pointing out the map.

"Going to Sisters will give us more options as well. For one we won't be going over Mount Hood which would be a steep ride. Even in a car it can be a bit tricky if you aren't careful. From Sisters you get a gradual climb, but not too badly, it will take longer getting to Portland in that direction but the trip won't be nearly as exhausting." I added while they considered the options.

"I vote we don't decide right away, lets ride out and keep an eye on the Raiders, and which ever one they don't pick, we take it. Even going over a mountain they would still be slower on foot then we are on bikes." Charlie suggested and I looked at Tami and Maria while they both nodded in agreement.

"Well that's settled, let's eat and give them a few more minutes to get ahead of us before we load up and head out." I said while folding up the map. After eating some breakfast we packed up, Maria was moving around better now that she had been able to catch up on rest from the changes.

Once the trailers were packed up we took off at an easy going ride. Maria would need to build up her muscles and stamina so she could maintain the speed the girls and I were use to traveling at, admittedly even the girls were not capable of maintaining my speeds. But that would come with time and they were getting there very quickly.

The easy going ride brought us to the outskirts of Redmond fairly quickly and from the top of the small incline we could see the Raiders were having a bad time all around. There was a descent size stronghold where the old Military base once stood, most of the buildings made from concrete and fenced in with descent materials. From where the original base had started it appeared they had extended the fence at least a half a dozen times. Most likely as more and more survivors joined them they would extend the fence and build new buildings and farm areas to accommodate them all.

Currently the Raider group was attacking them from one direction while defending against zombies in the opposite direction. It wouldn't be long before the Raiders would be dead.

"What do we do now?" Maria asked while stretching out sore and tired muscles she probably hadn't used sense she was a kid riding a bike. I sat down at the small park bench, we had pulled into a small park that over looked a decent amount of the town.

"We relax and wait, at least we know now that the roads will be clear of them." I replied while Charlie and Tami stretched out on the grass.

"Listen I know I seem cruel at times, a Jackass at others. But I am not about to go and help them assholes out. You heard who they are and what they planned. You seriously think they would have cared what Tami's age is right now?" I asked as she continued to seem to struggle with the idea of doing nothing.

"What my age is, what does my age have to do with anything?" Tami asked. Now I did it and this was not a talk I was prepared to give. Maria looked at Tami, her expression softening.

"There are things men and women do when they love and care for each other. But sometimes bad men and even bad women, do those things for their own pleasure and they don't care if the other wants it or not. Those men would have made you do those things and right now you should not be doing them even with someone you love and care about. It is something for when you are older and very sure about them." Maria explained while Tami listened.

"You mean sex and rape, like when Charlie kept bad men from hurting me by letting them do those things to her." Tami said sadly. Charlie looked on in shock and surprise, tears brimming her eyes.

"You think I didn't know, but I did, I heard your cries of pain when they hurt you, I heard your sobs when you returned and thought I was a sleep. I didn't know what to say to make it better so I stayed quiet." Tami admitted and hugged Charlie tightly.