Thanks for the compliments.  I really appreciate them.  Criticism is good, too.

Chapter 13

As they walked up to the campsite Eric greeted everyone.  Jon's rifle quickly went from his shoulder to the ready but he realized who they were before he pointed it at them.  The man who Eric didn't recognize jumped out of his seat with a rifle in his hands and had it pointed at them before Eric had a chance to blink, though.  

"Nick, relax dude," Jon said trying to calm the man down.  "That's Eric and Amy.  They're cool."

The man immediately lowered the rifle.  "Sorry," the man said.  "I guess I'm still a little jumpy."  

"Trust me," Eric said, "I know the feeling."  He introduced himself and Amy and the man in turn introduced himself and his wife, Jackie.  Nick was about five foot eleven and couldn't have weighed more than one hundred and sixty pounds.  His wife, Jackie, was six inches shorter and maybe twenty pounds lighter.  Their truck was a Toyota Tacoma.  It was lifted and had large mudding tires on it with a heavy rollbar that seemed to take up half the bed.  The dents in the push bar told him that it had probably run over it's fair share of zombies.  It looked like he could take it wherever he wanted to go.  

"We heard gunshots so we came back as fast as we could," Eric said.  

"Oh yeah, dude," Jon replied.  "These two showed up a little while after you left.  They seemed cool so we started talkin to em.  They musta had a bunch of zombies following em, though, because like five of those fuckers came walking up the road.  We took care of em."

"Are there any more coming?" Eric asked them.

"We don't know," Nick said.  "We didn't even realize they were following us."

The sudden appearance of these two followed by five zombies made Eric uneasy.  They hadn't seen any zombies since they'd escaped Genoa and they were at least twenty miles north of it now.  There was nothing out here except for a few farm houses.  They hadn't even passed any abandoned vehicles since the roadblock.  "So what's your story?" Eric asked them.

Nick seemed a little taken aback by his bluntness.  "Uhh we were on the interstate the same as you guys and we got caught in that traffic jam.  We were one of the first to get off the road so we got away before all of the crazy shit started happening.  We live in Limon.  We tried to take the backroads home but the whole town is fucked.  We didn't even make it into the city limits before a mob of those things tried to chase us down.  We went to a camp site that me and my friends used to party at all the time and laid low there hopin that the army would get everything under control.  From what the news is sayin that aint gonna happen, though.  I have family up north a ways so we were headed to their place.  The people on the CB are all talkin about how there's gangs roaming around the countryside killin everything whether it's dead or not so we figured we'd better find a good place that's quiet to sleep tonight."

"How far away does your family live?" Eric asked them.

"They live about a hundred miles northeast of here," Nick replied.  "I haven't been up there to see em in a while so I'm hopin they'll take me and Jackie in."  

"Do you think they'd take a few more people in?" Greg asked them.

"Aw hell man I can't ask em to do that," Nick told them.  "My family's a bunch of rednecks.  I'll be lucky if they don't shoot me before they get a chance to recognize me."  That small light of hope that the newcomers had brought with them was quickly extinguished.  

"Well you're more than welcome to camp here with us tonight," Eric said.  "You have to help with the guard duty, though."  

"Sure man I'll help any way I can," Nick replied.  "I don't know if it's safe to stay here tonight after we shot all them zombies, though.  The people that live around here probably heard us and from what I can tell nobody trusts anybody else right now.  Plus those zombies seem to hone in on loud noises.  I don't want a bunch of em to sneak up on us tonight."

"Son of a bitch," Eric shouted.  He hadn't thought of that.  "Well is there another place for us to hide out tonight that's nearby?"

"There's a couple of places that aren't too far away if you wanna follow me," Nick said.  "We need to hurry up, though.  It'll be dark soon.  I don't feel good about bein out and about after dark around here."

"Fair enough," Eric said.  With that he began breaking down the camp.  With everyone's help everything was packed up in no time.  They also made a small bed for Greg in the back of the Bronco so that he could lay down.  While they were packing Eric asked Nick what kind of gun he was carrying.

"It's an SKS," he told him.  "I gave about a hundred bucks for it a few years ago and just stuck it behind the seat in my truck.  Usually I just shoot coyotes and stuff with it.  I never thought I'd need it for anything else.  I have a few thousand rounds for it at home but I only kept a few hundred in the truck.  I already used up half of what I got.  That gun that Jackie's got on her hip is a CZ-52.  I kept that under the seat with a box of ammo in the glovebox."  He looked over at Jackie and she had an old fashioned leather holster attached to her belt with a pouch for a magazine on the outside.  "We only have a few rounds left for it.  Gettin more ammo for that is gonna be damn near impossible."

"Well hopefully you won't need more than that," Eric said.  "We've had our share of ammo shortage problems, too."  He explained to Nick about how they had run out of ammo for their Saiga and shotgun. He also realized that they still had Mark's Glock 17 which was empty.  He did a quick count of their ammo to see how low they were getting.  He and Amy had sixty rounds between them for their .38s.  Amy also had ten rounds for her P3AT.  Jon had twenty-two rounds left for the 30-06 and one seven round mag for his 1911.  Greg had twenty rounds left for his .357 but he could use some of Amy and Eric's .38 ammo if he had to.  Nick had over a hundred rounds for his SKS.  They were down to ten rounds for their CZ-52, though.  

"I hope it's enough," Eric thought to himself as he climbed into the driver seat of the Bronco.  "Lead the way!" He yelled back to Nick.  Nick turned his truck around and Eric followed him.   As he started driving that bad feeling that was becoming all too familiar came back to him.  This time it wasn't as intense, though.  "I'm getting paranoid," he thought.  

Nick and Jackie are leading them into a trap!

Better chapter, less outright action more character and plot development.
i like it, it's fun and not real serioius, but it's getting better.

tag for later

Originally Posted By CavalryJim: Nick and Jackie are leading them into a trap!

I don't think so, otherwise they would have told the others that they would be welcome at their "redneck" relative's place.


....I think....

very good reading!!...  

DONT KEEP US HANGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  post another chapter for us junkies that you have gotten hooked!


colt!

Artyboy, another chapter NOW, NOW, NOW!!!!!!!!!

now now nownownownowppplllleeeaaassssseeeeeeNOW.
 pant pant, mpi

This is a great story.... It is hard to make a story that is sci-fi or hard to have realism(In my opinion) but you pulled this one off.  your are awesome.... also thanks for the quick turn around.   Now stop enjoying your weekend and get back to work... just kidding, maybe....

Thanks again for a great story.

I just stumbled upon this 30 minutes ago.  read it all and i ned more, im reading it with a gun and my laptop.

I can't wait to fnd out how this was caused, people being infected by zombies turning into zombies, great; people that die of other things besides zombies and then turn into them, this has to be good.

tag

Iiii Wwwwant Aaaa Nnnnew Cccchapetr.............Iiii'mmmm Ooout Ssssside Nnnnow..........BRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can we expect a new one today?

We need more!!!!

It's been over 48 hours.  We should have atleast 3 new chapters.  What are you doing?  Sleeping?  Eating?  Those are no longer necessary!

your sole purpose in life now is to entertain us with this awesome story.

Originally Posted By SirSqueeboo: your sole purpose in life now is to entertain us with this awesome story.

+1

We say this with love:  "Quit slacking!"

artyboy, the shit ain't funny! Where's the next chapter bro!

Originally Posted By readytorock556: artyboy, the shit ain't funny! Where's the next chapter bro!

The poor bastard is gonna be divorced and jobless due to his relentless efforts to entertain us.

Although I might pay to see the next chapter!

Damn...sorry guys.  I've been having trouble getting on the site.  I usually use AK47.net.  Anyway, here's the next chapter.

Chap ter 14

They drove for about five miles before they finally pulled off onto a trail that Eric would have missed if Nick hadn't been leading. On the way they passed a zombie that was walking down the middle of the road. Nick slammed into it and it hit the ground so hard that it didn't move as they continued on past it. They pushed on through the woods until they came to a small clearing. Nick finally stopped, got out of his truck and walked back to Eric.

"This is it," he said. "There's plenty of room for three tents. Let's set up camp before it gets too dark."

Eric just nodded and got out of the truck followed by Amy and Jon. It was already eight thirty at night. It wasn't dark yet but the sun was quickly setting. The small group in the Bronco didn't need any more motivation to get their camp set up.

Within twenty minutes they had a campfire built and they were sitting down to eat. Greg was asleep in the Bronco and noone wanted to wake him up. Jon, Eric and Amy each had an MRE. As they started breaking the seals on their dinner Nick spoke up.

"Say, I don't suppose you got some extra food you can spare?," he asked them. "Me and Jackie ate the last of ours last night. We're pretty hungry."

"We don't have that much, dude," Jon told him. "We've got enough for maybe one more day."

"Well you think you can spare somethin tonight?" Nick pleaded.

Eric spoke up. "You just told us that you've got relatives not too far away. You said yourself that they won't help us."

"Do you have any fucking clue what we went through to get the food we have?" Amy interrupted. "We starved for two days and then we almost died getting this. Hell no you can't have any." With that she dug into her beef stroganov.

"Look guys," Eric said. "This could be the last bit of food that we see for a while. At least you've got somewhere to go."

"Now you just hold on right there," Jackie finally spoke up. "It could be a few days before we get there. We aint got but a quarter tank 'a gas. Where're we supposed to find more gas?" She was almost crying now. "You dumb son of a bitch," she yelled at Nick. "I told you we shouldn't be talkin about your uncle's place."

"They asked," he yelled back. "I didn't think they was gonna be so stingy just because we got relatives around here." As he talked he eyeballed Eric who was taking a bite out of his pound cake.

"I don't like your attitude, dude," Jon said. "Maybe you shouldn't stay here with us tonight."

Nick jumped up from his seat. "I fucking brought you here!" he screamed. "This is my fucking place! What do you mean I can't stay here?!"

"Nick! Relax!" Eric spoke up. "We're all in this together. Here's the problem, though. We all almost died over these MREs and it doesn't look like we'll be getting more anytime soon. In fact Greg is lying in the Bronco with nothing but a bullet in his chest to show for his trouble."

Finally Nick visibly calmed down. "You know what?" he said. "You're right. This is your stuff. It's pretty obvious that you're such a tight fucking group that noone else can really be accepted," Nick spat at them. "Why don't you all go fuck yourselves. Come on Jackie we're leaving." He immediately got up and started to take down his tent.

Jackie looked horrified. "What do you mean we're leaving?" she almost yelled. "This is our spot. They can't just come in here and take it over!"

"Fuck em," Nick replied. "There's plenty of places out here. I just can't share a spot with a bunch of greedy assholes."

"Look, Nick," Eric tried to say. "We'll find another place to stay. We just don't have enough food to share with everyone that we come across."

Nick and Jackie ignored him as they packed up their stuff. With a final hateful glare they both climbed into the truck and left. The small group watched as the couple drove away through the barely noticable trail.

"Do you think they'll be ok?" Amy asked now obviously feeling guilty about the whole situation.

"They probably got a bunch of food packed into that truck," Jon said. "They're just trying to make us feel bad so we'll share."

"Fuck em," Eric said matter of factly. "Let's just get some sleep. Within ten minutes Jon and Amy were out cold and Eric had assumed the first guard shift.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH NEEEEEED MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Is it too soon to ask for more?

tag

Originally Posted By readytorock556: So where is a guy with a tricked out AR and LBE???  You need to put an AR15.commer in there!!

He did. the pot head with the TAPCO-fucked shotgun is from general discussion

 not bad, i think i know the assholes they live  down the street.
 mpi

well, they could give them the new crappy Egg omelet thingie MRE...

Originally Posted By AR15fan: Originally Posted By readytorock556: So where is a guy with a tricked out AR and LBE???  You need to put an AR15.commer in there!! He did. the pot head with the TAPCO-fucked shotgun is from general discussion

LOL

You need to buy back your Team Membership just so you can use that for a Signature.

I think that they've already run into a few arfcomers.  They just haven't run into anyone from the SF because they're all still holed up in their houses with their year's supply of non perishables .

Chapter 15

The night passed uneventfully.  They all expected Nick and Jackie to come barreling through their camp at some point so none of them slept very well except for Greg.  He slept through the entire night.  The next morning Amy checked and changed his bandages while Eric and Jon broke camp.  He seemed to be doing pretty well considering that he had a bullet hole in him that none of them knew how to properly treat.  Luckily they had cleaned it pretty well and, so far, it wasn't infected.  He could sit up on his own and they even had to stop him from helping.      

"I see you're feeling better," Eric said.

"Yeah, it still hurts like a bitch but I don't think it hit anything important," Greg replied.

"Well you better just take it easy," Amy scolded as she finished applying the fresh bandages.  "It might still get infected."  

Greg couldn't help but smile.  Just a few days ago she had been a ditzy valley girl and now all of a sudden she was playing nurse maid and mother hen.  "So where are Nick and Jackie?" he asked.

"Oh they left, dude," Jon told him.  "They wanted to mooch our food.  We barely have enough for us so they got pissed and took off."

Greg suddenly looked worried.  "Did they come back?"

"Nope," Eric said.  "We had a quiet night last night.  They actually picked a really good spot for us."

Greg took that for what it was worth and changed the subject.  "I'm starving.  You're not gonna turn me down if I beg you for some grub are you?"

Amy just smiled and handed him a power bar.  "So what's the plan for the day?" she asked them.  

"Does anyone know where we are?" Greg asked.  He went around to the front of the truck and grabbed the map from the glovebox.  It was still painful to walk but he wanted to make sure that he could do it if necessary.

"It was getting dark when we left," Eric tried to explain.  "It was pretty hard to keep track of where they were going.  I figured they knew.  I didn't expect them to leave."

"It's ok," Greg reassured him.  "Just relax.  We can figure it out when we get back on the road.  Now we just need to decide what we're going to do from here."

"I've been thinking about that a lot," Amy said.  "Maybe we should try to get down to Ft Carson.  If anybody survived it was the army and I'm fed up with all of the trigger happy rednecks around here."

"Ft Carson is a long way away," Eric told her.  "Besides, do you really believe that the army will be less trigger happy than these guys?  From what the news was saying they were trying to use the army to get everything under control, anyway.  That obviously didn't work.  I wouldn't be surprised if they're shooting at anything that moves.  Obviously there's no government around to control them."

"But what if there is?" she asked.  She was beginning to sound a bit desperate.  "If there's anything left of the government the army will be protecting them.  I just think that's the best place for us to go right now."

Greg chuckled a little at that.  "Do you really think that if all that's left of the government are a few officials in charge of military units that they'll have our best interests in mind?  They're going to be looking out for themselves at this point just like we are.  Remember last night when Nick and Jackie asked you to spare some food?  You didn't give it to them because you don't know when we're going to get more.  They were outsiders and they really didn't do anything to deserve it in the first place.  I'm pretty sure that most people are going to have the same mentality no matter where we go.  The supply lines are cut.  The army doesn't have unlimited resources.  When they run out they're going to have to go through hordes of zombies to get more.  Right now everyone is either fighting for what they need or defending what they have," he explained.  "Until things calm down a little bit we've got to forget about running to anyone for help."

The reality of the situation finally dawned on everyone.  Suddenly Eric was very happy that they had Greg there to be their voice of reason.  The guy seemed to be unshakable and he understood what was going on better than any of them.  "So what are we going to do?" Eric asked him.

"Well we know that these things are stupid.  Their biggest advantage is their numbers and our lack solutions for dealing with them," he explained.  "I'd say our best bet is to find a small town that's been overrun and try to use our heads to get to the supplies.  This whole thing happened overnight.  People didn't have time to run to the grocery stores and empty the shelves.  There are probably even a lot of empty houses that are full of stuff for the taking.  The trick is to find them and not piss off any live people in the process."

"Why don't we just go raid a farmhouse, dude?" Jon asked.  "People in the country keep all kinds of shit layin around."

When Greg looked at Jon everyone could see the anger welling up inside him.  "You want to go kill people and take their shit!?" he exploded.  "I want you all to listen closely.  I will not tolerate attacking innocent people to better our own situation.  The minute you seriously consider it you'll have to go through me."  To emphasize his point he pulled out his .357.  "Just because there are assholes out here that are doing it doesn't mean that we have to stoop to their level.  We have other viable options.  I'm willing to bet that most of the people that we come across are just sitting inside their homes trying to wait this thing out.  If we go after them then they have every right to defend themselves.  If someone attacks us unprovoked then I say we do everything in our power to make them regret it.  We aren't going to be the instigators, though."

By the way everyone hung their heads in shame it was obvious that they'd all been thinking the same thing.    "You're right, Greg," Eric finally spoke up.  "What's your solution?"

He laid out the map and told everyone to gather around as he explained his plan.  He didn't want to get anywhere near Genoa with that gang of thugs around and after what Nick and Jackie told them about Limon he wanted to avoid that, too.  There was another town to the east of Genoa that looked to be a lot smaller.  Since it was on the interstate he figured that it was bound to be overrun.  It was only about thirty miles to the southeast so they'd be able to get there rather quickly to scout it out.  They all agreed to his plan and after he was finished explaining it they packed up the last of their camp, climbed into the Bronco and left their little clearning behind.

Annndd Theeeennn??

I smell trouble with Nick and Jackie...........

ummm, weeeeeerrrrrrrrreeeeeee waaaaaaaaiting.

Good job.

more please

Thank you ,
we will know the SF member , he will be the one with all the zombies out side his fence with a "I shoot looters" sign in the front yard.  

They should have eaten nick and jackie???

Originally Posted By Brians_45: Annndd Theeeennn??

<dude, where's my car>And then we can save the universe.</dude,...>

Originally Posted By Primos: They should have eaten nick and jackie???

thats why they're keeping greg around, and feeding him powerbars! dastardly deeds are afoot!

Ahhhhh must have more!



The scene from Red Dawn comes to mind when I think about what happens next. Gleefully raiding sporting goods, groceries, etc.

After a few minutes of driving the road came in sight.  "Stop the truck," Greg said.

"What's the problem?" Amy asked nervously.

"I just have a bad feeling," he told her.  "Eric get out of the truck and stay low.  Use the woodline and scout out the road before we pull out there.  Check the trail, too."

Now Eric was getting nervous but he nodded, took the 30-06 from Jon and slipped out of the Bronco.  He crept off of the trail into the trees but as he was slipping out he realized that there was noone in the driver's seat if something did happen.  He threw a rock at the window and signalled for Amy to get behind the wheel.  She understood immediately and did as she was told.  Eric then continued on to the road.  

The first thing he noticed was that there was some brush in their path where they would have exited the trail.  It looked out of place and upon closer inspection he realized that they were covering some wood stakes that had been pounded into the ground.  "Those mother fuckers," he thought to himself.  If they'd driven over those stakes they would have blown all four tires at the very least.  Realizing that Nick and Jackie were probably watching for them he dropped to his belly and crawled to a fallen log that he could use for cover while getting a good view of the road.  About one hundred yards down the road he could barely see their truck parked in the woodline.  They'd done a decent job camouflaging it and a casual passerby probably wouldn't have noticed it but Eric knew what to look for.  He just slipped back into the woods and slowly made his way back to the truck.

"They pounded some wooden stakes into the ground at the exit," Eric told them when he got back in.  "I looked up the road and their truck is parked in the woodline about a hundred yards up.  It's on the other side and it's hidden pretty well.  They're probably waiting for us."

"What do we do?" Amy said.  The realization shocked her.  She was still having trouble coping with how things had changed.

"We counter their ambush," Greg replied.  "I'd be willing to bet that they're not far from their truck.  We just need to sneak through the woodline and try to find them."

"What then?" Eric asked.

"What do you think?" Greg said with a cold look.

Eric nodded and said "Jon you're coming with me.  We just need to stay low and follow the woodline until we get close to their truck.  If they're there great.  If not then we'll come back and replan."

They both slipped out of the truck and slowly made their way through the woods.  Eric led and picked his trail carefully.  Jon caught on quickly and followed suit.  After about twenty minutes of careful walking they could see the truck on the other side of the road.  When they crept closer they could see the top of a person's head in the cab.  Their head was resting on the seat.  When they got even closer Eric could make out Jackie's brown hair.  She looked like she was sleeping.  He signalled for Jon to stay put and stay silent then he got down on his belly again and crawled to the base of a thick tree that was near the road.  

Using the tree as cover he propped himself up and looked around.  From his vantage he couldn't see anything so he slowly got up on his knees and, staying as close to the tree as possible, continued to scan the area.  Finally he saw the end of a rifle with a front sight post sticking up resting on a log.  Behind it, underneath what looked like a pile of leaves at first glance, he could make out a human form lying prone.  He raised himself up just a little more and he could see the edge of a blanket with a set of eyes looking down the sights of the rest of his SKS.  He was pointed directly at the ambush sight.  

Eric signaled back to Jon to get ready and then he lifted the 30-06 to shoot him.  The sudden rush of adrenaline made it hard to keep the rifle steady.  He squeezed off his first shot and it hit the dirt right under Nick's armpit.  Nick clutched his side and rolled over to try to see where the shot had come from.  Eric hid behind the tree as he worked the bolt on his rifle.  As he lined up for another shot Nick was standing up.  Before he could start moving towards the truck Eric took another shot.  His second round struck home and Nick dropped back to the ground motionless.  Jon was already moving up behind Eric with his 1911 at the ready.  

As Eric got up to cross the street he could see Jackie moving around in the truck.  They heard the truck start up and then, when they'd made it to the middle of the road, she threw it in reverse and floored it.  Eric and Jon reacted quickly to dodge the truck.  She stopped in the road, threw it in drive and floored it.  Jon took a few shots at her as she went down the road but it was futile.  She was gone quickly.  

Eric pulled out his .38 as they walked over to Nick's body.  Jon kicked him in the ribs and he didn't respond.  "Should we shoot him in the head?" he asked Eric.

"I'd rather not waste the ammo," Eric replied.  He reached down and pulled the SKS from Nick's cold dead hands and then brought the buttstock down on his head several times.  The first few hits made a sickening thump and then finally there was a crunch and part of his face caved in.  Jon just stood there wide eyed while Eric pulled the blanket off of Nick's body and then started searching him.  "Are you going to help me or not?" Eric asked him.

"Wooooah," was Jon's only response.  Then he sat down and continued staring.

Eric just ignored him and searched the body.  He had a pouch slung over his shoulder that had 10 stripper clips full of ammo on it.  He took that and slung it over his own shoulder.  He had nothing else of value on him except for his boots and his pants but Eric opted not to take those.  The jacket he was wearing was a bloody mess so he left that as well.  "Let's go," he told Jon.  

Jon looked up at him and then at Nick's crushed head with that same wide eyed stare and just said, "Dude, remind me not to piss you off."  He then got up, took the 30-06 that Eric handed him and they both walked back to the truck in silence.

good read, keep it coming. The SF and a zombie story, life is good.

ok good story, time for more.

more more

You need to quit your job!


Lets take a collection to pay his bills!!!!!!

Dude, remind me not to piss you off."

that's great

Blatant disregard for the law .... carrying "every Mall Ninja's Wet Dream" (the shotgun) to back up the illegal endeavor with lethal force, and suggests raiding farm houses ....?

I'm waiting for Jon to turn on them all  

Originally Posted By GryphonX: Blatant disregard for the law .... carrying "every Mall Ninja's Wet Dream" (the shotgun) to back up the illegal endeavor with lethal force, and suggests raiding farm houses ....? I'm waiting for Jon to turn on them all

I don't think it's illegal in a time of lawlessness to run a counter ambush against some dirt bags who plan to blast your ass. Drawing first blood is sometimes a necessity!

Originally Posted By GryphonX: Blatant disregard for the law .... carrying "every Mall Ninja's Wet Dream" (the shotgun) to back up the illegal endeavor with lethal force, and suggests raiding farm houses ....? I'm waiting for Jon to turn on them all

No. Countering an ambush isn't against the law. I don't think the police were going to come and take care of the brigands.  

Too bad they didn't have a dog

Originally Posted By azcopwannabee: You need to quit your job! Lets take a collection to pay his bills!!!!!!

+1  I'll pay the internet bill!

you got me hooked