Walking With The Dead | Book 3 | Living With The Dead Read online

“We’ll need some turkey, then we’re heading to the store for veggies. What do we have the most of left?” Sarah put her notepad back into her pocket as she walked back to the fridge that held the turkey. She pulled a small resealable bag from the fridge. She walked back to the island and marked her initials on the sheet next to “1/2 pound turkey.”

  Donna consulted a typed list. Where Troy found a manual typewriter, no one knew. “Looks like carrots.”

  “OK, thanks.”

  “Wait.” Donna got up and went to a stainless-steel refrigerator. She opened it up and pulled out a sealed pint-sized mason jar. With a smile, she brought it over to Sarah. “I saved some pears for Josey.”

  “Donna, you don’t have to do that.” Sarah knew if she told her to stop saving food for Josey, she would. But Sarah was torn. She wanted the best for Josey. She wanted her to grow up strong. She would need to be.

  “I want to. I know Josey loves those pears. Don’t you, Josey girl?” The baby gurgled happily, clapping her chubby hands together.

  “Thanks, Donna.” Sarah took the pears. “We’ll see you later.”

  The small family left the kitchen apartment. Mick shifted Josey on his hip. She squirmed and reached for Sarah. “No, baby, stay with Da.” Sarah didn’t carry the baby when she was armed. She looked at Mick. “Do you want to take her home and feed her the turkey and pears? I’ll bring some carrots up in a bit.”

  “No, she should have her veggies before her dessert.”

  “Old world rules, Mick.” Sarah smiled. “It won’t hurt for her to have her pears now.”

  “No, we’ll come along, won’t we, Jojo.”

  “Don’t call her that.”

  They walked down the road a bit, heading for the community market. It actually had been a supermarket before the apocalypse. All the shelving was already in place, so they decided to use it as their central point for all non-refrigerated supplies. Troy Smith, with his head for organization, was in charge, with Christa and Helen as his assistants. Annie assisted him with the scheduling. Troy smiled when they walked in. “Hi, Sarah, Mick. Josey.”

  “We’re going to need some carrots,” Sarah said, moving to the sign out sheet. Every item was catalogued both in the market and the kitchen. Whenever someone took something, they initialed the item. Troy maintained the inventory, sending a list to Sarah every other day.

  “We have plenty of carrots. You know where they are.” He held his arms out to Josey and she clapped her hands together before reaching for him. He took her in his arms, laughing as she pulled on his beard. Mick smiled, leaning against what was formerly the customer service counter and was now Troy’s desk.

  “List says we’re low on fruit. What do we have to trade?” Sarah headed back to the aisle where the preserved vegetables were kept.

  “We’ve a lot of fish. A good supply of potatoes. There’s also that crate of candles that the last crew brought back. Oh, and a case of beer, probably skunky but you never know.”

  “Hey, leave the beer,” Mick said.

  “We’ll see what they’ll take. The candles would be best. I don’t think they have full power out there yet.” Sarah came back with a two-quart jar of steamed carrots. She found a reusable tote under the counter and put the pears, turkey and carrots in the bag. “Why don’t you take Josey back and feed her? I need to talk to Troy, then I’ll be along.”

  “OK.” Mick took Josey from Troy. “Don’t be too long or we might not leave anything for you. Right, boo?” Josey babbled.

  Sarah put the bag over Mick’s free shoulder. “I won’t be long.” She kissed Josey’s pink cheek, then kissed Mick. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Mick said goodbye to Troy and they left, Josey’s babble making both Sarah and Troy smile. With a sigh, she turned from the door and pulled out a chair. She sank into it, grateful for a few minutes off her feet. She’d be on them most of the day. “I saw a few names I didn’t recognize on the duty roster,” she said. “Frank and Chris?”

  Troy nodded. “They came in a few days ago. I tried to get you on the walkie, but Mick said you were in the shower. It was the day you and he found a nest of them and you came home covered in gore.”

  Sarah remembered. They were scavenging and found an isolated house set back in some woods. Since it was so isolated, they assumed there would still be supplies. There were, but there were also four zombies. They had been closed up in the house since close to the beginning of the apocalypse. They exploded when they took them out, both of them ending up covered in blood, brain and other disgusting fluids. They did manage to come back with some rifles, ammo, and camping supplies, along with some canned goods. They both needed showers when they returned and since Josey was with Missy and Louis, they took a little extra time for themselves.

  “I want to meet with them today. You have Chris with Bobby?” Troy nodded. “What about Frank? I saw his name on the list, but no assignment.”

  “He was pretty banged up. I thought he could rest a few more days before we gave him something to do. Both he and Chris are staying in Ash, let me check the apartment number.” Troy pulled a clipboard from a drawer and ran his finger down the typed page. “They’re in 2B.”

  “Thanks, Troy.” Sarah got up. “I better get home before there’s no breakfast left for me. Then I’ll go see Frank.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  After a somewhat satisfying breakfast of turkey, carrots and pears, Mick stored the leftovers in a small cooler and they headed back out for the day. “I’m going to meet with these two new guys, Frank and Chris, then I’ll head to the greenhouse for a bit,” Sarah said.

  Mick nodded. “I’ll be at Missy’s or, if I can leave Josey with her, I’ll go help Bobby with the new solar panels. We’ll be back for lunch.”

  “You don’t have to work on the solar panels. You’re not on the schedule.”

  “I want to. I hate sitting around.”

  Sarah smiled. “Not cut out to be a househusband, huh?”

  “Shutty.” He turned to Josey. “Do you want to go see Missy and Louis?” Josey giggled and turned her head away. “I think she has a crush on Louis.” Sarah laughed.

  ♦

  Sarah stood in front of the door to 2B and knocked three times. After a minute, she knocked again, louder. She was raising her hand to knock a third time when the door flew open. “Who the hell are you?” The guy at the door was tall, nearly as tall as Mick. He had a full beard of black and grey, matching his shoulder length hair. His left arm was in a sling.

  “Sarah Louis. And you’re Frank?”

  He leaned against the door. “Yeah. What do you want?”

  “I wanted to introduce myself, see how things are going for you.”

  His eyes roamed up and down her body. “Why do you get a gun?”

  “Because I’m in charge here.”

  “You?” He laughed.

  She fought the urge to straighten up to her full 5’2”. “Yes. Me. Is there a problem?”

  He shook his head. “You’re serious? I thought that black guy we talked to was in charge.”

  “Nope, all me.” She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her first impression of him wasn’t going so well.

  “Oh! I just didn’t expect someone so…so…”

  “Don’t finish that thought,” Sarah said. “Can I come in?”

  “Sure, sure!” Frank stepped aside and Sarah walked in. She noticed that every light in the apartment was on, at least those she could see. The room was also very warm.

  “You like the lights?” She asked.

  “Yeah, missed the things. Before we came here, I hadn’t seen electric light in two and a half years.”

  “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use so much light. Less work for the generators.”

  “Oh, sure, sure, sorry.” He moved around the place, turning off most of the lights. “I didn’t expect this when we got here.” She could hear him say from the bedroom.

  “What did you expect?” She sat herself on the sofa, per
ched on the edge. She never fully relaxed anymore, except when she was home with Mick and Josey.

  “Oh, just a bunch of people trying to survive, like the last place I was.” He came back into the living room. He sat in a chair opposite her.

  “Where did you come from? Your last place?” She asked.

  “It wasn’t really a place. Me and Chris, he came in with me, we’ve been together since almost the beginning. We ended up with a group for a while, then zombies came, killed a few people. Everyone scattered so we moved on, too.” He leaned back in the chair. “We were on our own for a while, then we found another group. There was a guy who wanted to be in charge, he was friendly with Chris. I had no dog in the fight, but when it looked like Chris’ friend was going to go down and take everyone with him, we left.” He sighed. “We ended up down the road at another community. We didn’t have anything like this, but we had something. I had a girl there…”

  He trailed off and looked down at the floor. After a moment, he collected himself. “Raiders came, took all the supplies, killed some people. Almost got me, but Chris saved my life.” He lifted his left arm. “Your doc, April, said this isn’t healing right. She said something about rebreaking it, but I don’t think I can handle that.”

  “She’s smart, you should listen to her.” Sarah pulled out her notepad. “What did you do before?”

  “Before the world went to hell? I sold cellphones.” Frank laughed. “Lotta good that does me now.”

  She gave him a small smile. “What can you do now?” She had her pen poised over the pad.

  “I don’t know. Troy said he’d find me something, but I had a few days because of my arm.”

  Sarah nodded. “Everyone gets a few days when they first get here, so they can acclimate to the situation. But we have to find you something to do. Everyone works here, not all day or all the time, but everyone has to contribute.” She closed the pad and put it back in her pocket. “Think on what you can offer the community and let Troy or Annie know. We’d rather you do something you want than assign you to something you hate.” She stood up. Frank hopped to his feet.

  “I just don’t know what I can do.”

  “There’s always grunt work. The gardens, gate duty, clean up. Think about your skills and let Troy know. I’m going to go over and talk to your friend Chris.” She held out her hand and Frank took it. “Welcome to Thornville.”

  “Thank you.”

  Sarah nodded at him. “I’ll see you later, maybe at dinner.”

  “OK, thanks.” They walked to the door. “Can I ask you something?” Sarah cocked her head, waiting for what she knew was coming. “How’d you get to be in charge? You’re younger than most of the people I’ve met here and you don’t seem like…” He trailed off, unsure how to finish.

  “Just lucky, I guess.” She smiled as she took her leave.

  ♦

  Sarah walked through town, which was about twenty blocks from gate to gate. She stopped in one of the greenhouses and saw Frannie and Chuck hard at work on their shift. Even though it was January, they still had plants growing, some producing. Feeding over 40 people regular meals took a lot of food. They did have meat, mostly deer and turkeys and the occasional wild pig, but most of it was vegetables. “We’ll have some peppers in a week or so,” Chuck said, pointing to the plants.

  “Weren’t there brussels sprouts coming in?” Sarah asked. She loved brussels sprouts.

  “Next few days we should get some.”

  “Take them when they’re small. I hate the big ones, they get bitter.”

  Chuck laughed. “I’ll make sure we do.”

  Sarah left the greenhouse and wandered down the street. She had finally gotten used to the lack of background noise, other than the occasional voice or bird call. She liked it. After a heavy rain, when it was quiet, she could even hear the river running. She did miss a few things from her old life, but not the noise.

  She passed by one of the outside gardens that had been a vacant a lot between buildings. The ground was covered with plastic, waiting for the spring. The wind gusted, rattling the edges of the plastic. She put her hands in her pockets and made a mental note to send someone out to make sure the plastic was secure. They didn’t want the few animals that hung around to get in the garden and dig up their bulbs.

  Her route took her past the war memorial and the two crosses planted in front of the stone. She stopped and stared down at the graves. One cross represented Elaine, the oldest member of their community who had died of natural causes at the end of summer. At least she died surrounded by friends. The other represented Mick’s brother Ryan, the first person she had encountered when the world went to shit. He saved her from certain death that first day and many other days after. She couldn’t save him. Raiders had kidnapped Mick and Ryan to force them to leave their town. One of the raiders executed Ryan right in front of her. The man didn’t live long. Sarah, along with Mick, Ben and Jack, tracked him down and crippled him, letting the zombies tear him apart. Sometimes she still heard his screams.

  “We’re doing good, Ryan,” she said softly. “Josey’s getting big. She has Mick’s eyes and a lot brighter shade of my hair.” Sarah laughed. “She’s a handful. Just like I’m sure you were.” She touched his cross. “We miss you.”

  She heard someone call her name. She pulled her hand from the memorial and turned to face the voice. It was Paul, a former police officer who joined them last year. She started towards him. “Hi, Paul.”

  “I need to talk to you, Sarah.” He was a short stocky guy, but still a good 5 inches taller than she was.

  “Sure, what’s up?” She started walking away from the graves. Paul followed.

  “When I was out on yesterday’s supply run, I saw a few things.” He had to adjust his stride to keep up with her.

  “What did you see, Paul?”

  “In the basement of one of the houses we checked, we found a bunch of reloading equipment. I’d like to take the truck and bring it back. We can make our own ammo.”

  Sarah walked a few steps without responding. “Was there anything else there to make the trip worth the diesel? I know we could use the ammo, but we’re good with other weapons.”

  “There wasn’t in that house, no, but there were more we could check. It was a gated community and there were a lot of houses there.” Paul shoved his hands deeper in his pockets. The day was warming up, but it was still chilly.

  “Let me think on it. I’ll let you know later today. What else was there?”

  “We saw a few out there that looked fresh. I didn’t see any wounds on them, either.”

  Sarah shrugged. “Maybe they were under their clothes. You know we’re not the only people out here. Maybe someone from another camp got too close to one and got bit, then covered it up so their people didn’t find out.”

  “Could be, but it wasn’t just one.” He shook his head. “It was really odd.”

  She stopped in front of her next destination. “Let Troy know. He’ll tell everyone going out about it. Have them keep an eye out.”

  Paul nodded. “Who’s next to go out?”

  “I’m planning to send Alan and Mark out to Kittington to see if they’ll trade some fruit. I’m not sure who’s on the next scavenging team; Troy will have that info.”

  Paul nodded again. “I’ll go tell him now. See you at dinner?”

  “Yup.”

  She stood in front of Bobby’s workshop, which was a former mechanic’s garage. It had ample space for his work, with most of the tools he needed already in place. She walked into the office, the bell above the door ringing merrily. She stepped past the chair, five-year old magazines, and desk covered in dust to head into the garage area. “Bobby!” she called as she stepped over the threshold.

  He turned to see who was calling him, an average sized man with long brown hair and a short-trimmed beard. He had gained back all the weight he had lost during his time in Sugar Creek and looked rather healthy. “Sarah!” He said with a smile. He put
the wrench he was holding on the work bench and crossed the garage floor. “How are you? How’s Josey?”

  “All good,” she answered, returning his smile. “How’s things going here?” She indicated the solar panels with a nod of her head.

  “Not bad. The mounting brackets on the panels have a bit of damage that I can fix. We’ll get these ones installed on Ash.” He grinned.

  “I like the sound of that. I hear you have a new helper.”

  Bobby nodded. “Yeah, Chris. He did some mechanical work back in the day, so this was the best place for him.”

  “Is he around?” Sarah didn’t see him on the floor.

  “Yeah, he’s out back –uh—taking care of things.” Bobby blushed.

  Sarah laughed. “It’s natural, Bobby, no need to get weird about it.”

  “Yeah, well…”

  He was saved from answering further when a guy walked in from the alley behind the garage, average height, blond hair and heavy beard. He was wiping his hands on a shop rag. “Bobby?” He walked up to them.

  “You’re Chris?” Sarah asked. He nodded, looking over at Bobby, then back at Sarah. “I’m Sarah Louis. Pleased to meet you.” She held out her hand.

  Gingerly, he took her hand and gave her a limp shake. “I’ve heard about you. You’re not quite what I expected.”

  “I never am.” She took her hand back. “How are you doing here? Feeling OK?”

  “Oh, yeah, I like it. Enough food, a warm place to sleep, a job that makes sense.” He looked at Bobby. “The boss isn’t too bad, either.”

  Bobby laughed. “Yeah, he’s not that bad a worker, Sarah.”

  She smiled. “How’d you end up here?” She listened as he told her almost exactly what Frank had, with a few minor details.

  “I want to fit in here,” Chris finished. “I really like this place.”

  “We’re glad to have you,” Sarah replied. “Bobby needs someone who actually knows what they’re doing. His last assistant didn’t know the difference between a wrench and a ratchet.”

  “Yes, you did,” Bobby said. “It was the hammer and screwdriver that confused you.” Sarah laughed. After a moment, Chris joined in.