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Regrettable Circumstances: Episode 1, Part 2

James and Keith traded weapons because James was going into more dangerous territory. Leon and James got into the truck and headed back towards the town. Leon looked down at the gas gauge as they were passing a gas station. The truck had over half a tank of gasoline so he decided they would be fine. By the time they got to the same gun store Leon took the first duffel from the day before, the zombies were everywhere. Leon tried to drive over most of them, but they wandered out of the way. James brought the AK around and out the window as Leon made another pass. He fired quickly and efficiently, putting large holes in all of the zombies heads and dropping them like flies. When the area was clear, Leon backed the truck up to the door and they set to work grabbing every gun and box of ammunition from the store. They worked quickly and before an hour passed, all of the ammunition from the shelves and rear storage area was loaded into the truck, as well as over 60 guns. They got back into the truck and carried on down the road, until they came to a grocery store. There weren't many zombies in the parking lot and the glass doors were still intact, so James picked off the few wanderers in the parking lot with the AK and then Leon smashed the glass entry doors. They went inside and set to work getting all the food they could. They rounded up about a week's worth of food for the number of people in the group. As they got out to the truck they saw a wave of the undead heading straight for them from across the parking lot. They both quickly decided that they had enough food for now. They got into the truck and drove out of the parking lot before the swarm reached them. There was one final stop to make. Leon remembered seeing a gasoline tanker at the gas station on the way into town. If they got lucky they could take it. The gas station was far enough out of town that he figured it should be no problem. He was right. They got to the gas station and killed the only two zombies wandering the premises. Leon went inside the deserted convenience store and grabbed about 7 cartons of Camels. On the way out of the store, James saw him and just shook his head and grinned, chuckling. Leon shrugged and put them in the cab of the truck. "OK, we have everything we NEED immediately, but now we should probably see about taking that gas tanker. Do you know how to hot-wire?" Asked Leon. "Well, I've done it before, but I'm not sure if I can hot-wire THAT thing..." James responded. He decided to try though. He failed miserably, he couldn't even find the wires under the dash. Leon just shook his head and said, "James, if I start 'er up, can you drive 'er?" He nodded his head and Leon set to work. He pried the bottom of the dash open with a screwdriver from his toolbox and began clipping wires with a wire clipper. He pressed two together and tied them, then pressed another two together...

And the engine of the semi fired to life. James cheered and Leon was incredibly relieved after how bad his first experience went with the car in front of the gun store. Leon jumped in his truck and James jumped in the semi and they headed back to the farmhouse after an incredibly successful outing. They got back to the old farm house and parked in the lawn area. They got out and went inside the house to tell everyone they were back. Leon told Keith they needed help unloading the back of the truck, and so Keith, James, and Leon all set-to unloading the back of the truck. It took them almost an hour to unload the truck and put everything up. Then Leon got too curious to bear wondering anymore, so he went over to the tanker and first checked the gauge to see how much fuel it was carrying, if any. The tanker was half full, which was quite a lot of fuel. Then he let one of the hoses down and allowed a small amount of fuel to drip out. He sniffed it to see whether it was diesel or gasoline. Just as he had figured, it was gasoline. He filled the tank of his truck and put the hose up on the tanker again. Then, he had a sudden idea. Since he was unable to get a radio from the Sheriff's Dept. earlier, then maybe they had one on the Gray Hound bus. He went inside and asked Robert, "Do you have a radio on your bus? ROBERT! Do you have a radio on your bus?" "Well, see, that's the thing..." "What's the 'thing'?" "We are supposed to have radios in our buses, but the one that was on my bus is broken." "Well, can't we repair it?" "Yes we can, but we have to go back to the bus station to get it, if you really want it that bad." Leon's heart sank as Robert finished that last sentence. He stood thinking for a moment, then finally said "Guess we're not getting a radio for now, then." It was high time for lunch, about 2PM or so. Linda went into the kitchen and searched through the cupboards for a minute. Finally she fished out some spaghetti noodles and some canned sauce with meat. There was no water in the faucet, but luckily Leon and James grabbed several gallon jugs of water. Within about 20 minutes the meal was ready and they all ate, some of them for the first time in a day.

The table was broken apart and nailed over the outsides of the windows, so the survivors had to look around to find make-shift tables or simply eat from their laps. They used this time to get to know each other better...

"So, Leon, what do you do for a living?" Asked Keith. "Well, basically I do anything that needs doin', I worked on people's yards before, people's cars, I done some plumbing work. So you could say I do the whole schmear." Keith nodded his head. "Good type of guy to have around in all this shit, somebody who does what needs doing." "So, what do you do Ken?" "I work at... USED to work at Sears. I was a cashier. It's a good thing I had the day off yesterday, because I bet I would be dead right now if I was inside the building when all this went down." Leon agreed with him about that. Then Keith turned to James. "What do you do for a living?" "What's it to ya?" "Oh... Well just trying to get to know the few people around me, possibly the last people I may ever meet for the rest of my life." "Hmm... Well, kid, let's put it this way. I'm a person you wouldn't have wanted to know before all this shit happened." "OK... I think I understand." Silence dominated for several minutes after that. Keith finally broke the silence again. "Linda, what about you?" "What about me what?" "What did you do before..." "Oh... Um, I was a web site designer." "Sounds interesting." Then Leon interrupted the 'get to know each other' chat. "What about the boys, are they OK? Are they even still alive?" Linda answered him with a nod. "Yeah, they're still alive, but I wouldn't say that they're exactly OK, though. Harry still hasn't woken up, and Josh said he wasn't hungry. We need to get some medical supplies for them sooner or later. While you and James were gone, I looked all over this house for a first-aid kit or... or something. Anyway, I found some bandages and peroxide in the medicine cabinet, but not enough to last even for the rest of tomorrow." "OK, I understand. Also might be a good idea to grab a radio while I'm out to get the meds." A slight pause, then Linda said, "By the way, what IS it with you and this whole 'need to get a radio' thing?" "I guess you don't understand how important a radio may be. If rescuers come by, the first thing they will do is check for survivors by radio. Also, if someone needs our help we will hear them. And if we get them to safety, then we will have another set of hands to work on our defenses, help with necessary things, hold a gun..." "OK, I guess you're probably right about the radio thing, but it's still a big risk to go into town after one. Probably not much more of a risk if you can get one while you're getting the medical supplies for the kids." They finished eating and agreed amongst each-other that they each do their own dishes. They also agreed amongst themselves that using precious water to do dishes probably wasn't a good idea, so they ended up simply wiping them with whatever suitable materials they could find. It worked well enough. Then Leon decided that it was fairly important to go out and get the meds that the boys might die without. "OK people, I need some volunteers to go out into town with me. Who's with me?" James spoke up, but this time not in favor of leaving. "I'm sorry man, I gotta sit this one out. I got a bad feeling that this house won't be safe much longer, so I'm gonna stay here and keep it safe." Then Keith sighed and said, "Well, I guess I can't sit and cower in this house forever. I was kinda hoping James would do it with you, but, OK. FINE. I'll go." "Then grab your gun and get ready to go, son. We're going now." He looked frightened but he kept himself together and started getting ready. Within minutes Leon and Keith were on the road once more. Leon felt better about it having a full tank of gas and some heavier weaponry. He had a Mossberg 500, 12 Gauge with a 6 round magazine, and the .357, and Keith had the lucky AK that James used on their last outing and that Leon himself used yesterday when he went back for his truck. Leon took out a Camel, ripped the filter off, lit it and said "I hope you're up to this, guy, I really, really do." "You and me both, Leon."

They got into town, and Leon was once again stricken by the devastation. He was hoping that there would be survivors in the city, but as he saw the devastation in the streets he realized that there was no way in hell anyone could survive here for long. He also realized just how dangerous this particular mission was now, and that they might not make it back alive this time, so he said a silent prayer and pressed on towards the center of the city...

As they reached the central area of the city, Leon's worst fears were realized. Before they got within a mile of the medical store, the streets were congested with the walking dead. Leon decided to find an alternate route, because there were too many to drive through. While he was stopped in the middle of the street trying to find another way to go, the truck was swarmed with the living dead. They were pounding on the windows. He had to take immediate action or they wouldn't last even another ten seconds...

Leon's luck hasn't let him down for most of the last couple of days, and it didn't start now. He was a good driver, particularly on bumpy, uneven, and slick surfaces. They encountered all of those as he drove over masses of living corpses. Their bones made nauseating crunching sounds and their innards made wet squelching sounds as the truck wheels squeezed them out. They made it out of the mob intact and sped away and down an alleyway that would lead to a direct route to exactly what they needed. The alleyway was full of zombies also, but not as bad as the street was, so Leon went full speed ahead. A zombie was thrown onto the hood. It slipped off and its head was ground apart between the truck and the brick wall. They made it to the street on the other side in one piece, even though Leon's truck was crusted entirely in foul smelling gore. All he could hope was that the street on the other side wasn't as full as the other one, or he would have to go back to the farmhouse without the medical supplies that the two children may die without.

His luck once again held up, this particular street was deserted all the way down. There were some particularly tricky maneuvers between wrecked cars, but he made it to the medical supply store. Keith and Leon decided to play rock-paper-scissors to determine who was going inside and who was staying with the truck. Leon won. Keith looked at Leon fearfully, eyes wide and close to panic. After a moment Leon wondered if he would have to go inside after all...

It took Keith a moment to pull himself together, but he finally sighed and checked to make sure that the AK was fully loaded, and he picked up the two extra clips that were sitting on the dash. "I am praying to God I don't need this..." He said. Leon agreed and told him, "God be with you, son, I'll keep the engine running. If you hear gunfire, get your ass back out here 'cause that means it's time to go." He nodded his head and went inside without another moment's hesitation.

For the first two minutes, Leon waited patiently. Then he began to get worried. First he thought that Keith would be unable to find what he needed before they were ambushed by another horde of zombies. Then he looked and saw the streets were still clear. He sighed and looked at his watch. Keith had been in there for four minutes. Then he began to worry that Keith had been ambushed himself and lay dead inside. He checked his watch one last time to see that Keith had been in there for seven minutes. Leon had never been more afraid in his life...

He looked once more down the street ahead, and did not like what he saw at all, about 50 of the walking dead coming down the street less than a half mile away. He had only a minute or so to get out safely, but he wasn't going until he was sure that Keith was either safe or beyond all hope. He jumped out of the truck and ran to the door. It was a fairly small store so it would be easy to determine whether he was alive or not.

Leon opened the door and ran inside. It was dark but he could tell the front of the store was deserted. No zombies... and no Keith. He ran to the door behind the counter and opened it. It was a storage area. He looked around quickly, and saw Keith going through storage bins against the wall. "Time to go, kid, shit's gonna hit the fan real quick!" He turned towards Leon with a frightened look on his face, then grabbed a bag that he had sitting on the floor beside his feet. They dashed out to the truck as fast as they could. Leon shot two zombies in the street between them and the truck. The mob went crazy. Leon yelled at Keith to get in the truck, GET IN RIGHT NOW!!!! And Keith did so. Leon wasn't so lucky...

He was grabbed from behind by one of the zombies and he felt its fingers digging into his skin, even through his camouflage Marine Corps jacket. Just as he thought he was a goner, he heard a loud and familiar bang. The AK. The grip loosened on him and then he pulled free, ran to the truck, got in, slammed the door, and took off down the street. They would be lucky to make it back. Leon sped down the streets and saw them filling up with zombies that heard his engine roaring. He hit one and it ripped apart on the bumper, he could see its head bobbing above the edge of the hood for several seconds before its torso was finally dragged under. They were now near the edge of downtown, and the next few minutes would determine whether they lived... Or died...

They sped down the street, and the mob wasn't getting larger as they went, but getting smaller. Fewer and fewer of those monsters were coming out of the buildings as they neared the outskirts of town. Finally, farmland surrounded them. They were on the wrong street, though, and ended up several miles from the farmhouse. Leon wasn't worried about it though, because he knew the way to the farmhouse from there on roads that would almost definitely be safe. He kept driving and made a right hand turn at the next street, and saw a police cruiser sitting on the side of the road. He decided to stop and see if there was a radio in it. He walked over to it and saw the police officer sitting in the seat inside. He looked like he was sleeping, and Leon couldn't tell if he was alive or not. He knocked on the window and the wolf lifted his head almost drunkenly and looked at him with a vacant expression...

Then he smiled at Leon groggily and rolled down the window. "Thank GOD. I thought I was the last man alive!" He offered Leon his paw. Leon accepted and shook it and told him about the farmhouse down the road. He didn't hesitate to ask if he could come with them. Leon didn't hesitate either in telling him he was more than welcome. He jumped back in his truck and went to the farmhouse, and the officer followed. When they got to the farmhouse, Leon wasn't even able to get out of his truck before Linda came running out. He got out and met her halfway between the truck and the house. "Did you get the supplies?" She asked. Leon looked at Keith with one eyebrow raised. In the chaos, Leon had forgotten to ask. Keith spoke up. "Well, the store had been badly looted...

but I got the stuff we needed." He looked at Leon and continued. "That's what took so long. Sorry about that, but all of the bandages and anti-septic meds were gone from the front of the store, so I had to search around the back. I just got the last of the bandages as you came in and told me it was time to go." Linda smiled, then she motioned at the cop, who had gotten out of his car and joined them. "Who's this?" The cop answered for himself. "The name's Officer Steadman. Officer Ryan Steadman, at your service, ma'am." Leon got straight to business. "Um, Officer?" "Yes, sir?" "Do you by chance have a radio in your car?" "Yes I do. That's why we call them Radio Units." "Well, would there be a way to get it out and take it inside, and keep it working?" Ryan's face went to a look of deep thought for about fifteen seconds. Then he finally said, "I'm not sure." They all decided to go inside and introduce Ryan to the rest of the group before doing anything else.

They went inside and introduced Ryan to everyone, and everyone in turn introduced themselves to him. James wasn't too impressed by the new comer, and Ryan wasn't too impressed by James either. James spoke up almost immediately after everyone was done. "Leon, ah, I saw one of those things wandering down the road out there about half an hour before you got back, I told you our time was running out. We should start fixin' to get out of here." Leon thought about this for a moment. "Well the sun's already pretty much down... Robert, how much fuel is in that Grey Hound out there?" Robert didn't even have to think about that one. "I filled 'er up just before the shit hit the fan out there, and basically all I did was park it in an alleyway for the rest of the day with the door blocked by a wall. The tank should have about 40 gallons in it." Leon asked James, "So, do you think we'll be okay to stay here another night?" He didn't hesitate to answer. "No, I don't. Hell, I don't think it'll be okay to stay here another hour. They done run outta food in the city and now they're coming out here. They smell us." That was all Leon needed. He told everyone to start taking everything out of the house that they might need and load it in the truck and the bus. An hour later it was all loaded up, and the load in the back of the truck was covered with a tarp that was found covering some sort of mulcher in the back yard. "OK, further out of town is a spot that people go off-roading on most of the time. Bet we won't find anyone there because it's the wrong time of year for most of them folks." Said James. The survivors all agreed to go out there for the night and start on their way to the next town in morning.

As soon as the boys were loaded onto the Gray Hound they were on their way. They drove slowly because it was dark out and the road was windy and narrow. The Gray Hound slowed them down even more. They eventually got out there after about half an hour of driving. James had been wrong when he said it was out of season to go off-roading, because everyone and their brother was out there. It seemed that the people there weren't infected though because electric lights could be seen in the motor-homes and trailers, and generators could be heard. The group parked the vehicles next to the closest motor-home and got out. Leon did the honors. When a middle aged man with a pot belly answered the door holding a pistol, Leon figured that he knew what had happened in the city. "I don't think I know you boy, what you doin' here?" Leon told him. "That's what we're planning too. We heard on the radio today that they're setting up an evacuation point in Lake View, just twenty miles that way.", and the man pointed in the opposite direction of the farmhouse. With that Leon bid him good night and went back to fill the others in about the news. They were all relieved that Newcastle was the only town affected by this plague, at least so far. They all went to bed after that. The cop went to sleep in his cruiser after fiddling with his radio for awhile, Leon went to bed on the bench seat of his truck, and the rest of them went to bed in the bus.

Leon was awakened by the sound of engines passing by one after another. He looked up and saw the Gray Hound idling beside his truck. Keith held his head out the window and yelled out that they were leaving now, so start up and come along. Leon started his truck and joined the caravan, the bus in front and the cop behind, and a whole score of other vehicles heading towards Lake View. When they got to Lake View, the vehicles formed a line at a military checkpoint, each vehicle being searched for infected people. Finally everyone got past the checkpoint.

The soldiers took all of the guns out of the truck's bed at the checkpoint, and directed Leon to proceed forward and to park on the dirt lot, just outside the small city of tents. They stayed there for a few days, and rumors started to circulate that the infection had spread north for hundreds of miles, and that the military was going to execute survivors for witnessing what would become a government cover-up. Robert and Linda were taken out of the state by plane, and the boys were taken to a city several hundred miles away to a hospital. Towards the end of their stay at the camp, Leon met an old owl who told him that he had information he might want to know. On the way to the tent where he, James, and Keith were staying, the owl introduced himself simply as Doc...

-TO BE CONTINUED-