Eventually we spied another traffic jam, this one caused by a bad wreck near the top of a rise. It would mean that we would have to either double back to find a cop crossing or work our way around carefully. I always hated traffic jams, even before the Z-clypse. But more so now, on account it's a good place (or bad depending on how you look at it) to get caught in an ambush. Not just by zombies either.
Somethings were worse than the dead.
On the upside, I could see far enough inside that mess of wrecked and otherwise abandoned cars was a mini- RV camper. Another plus, was that it wasn't so deep in traffic that one would have to run an obstacle course to get to it. Another upside that I've learned from my traveling is that they, the RV's do make good places to crash for the night, provided that the doors aren't busted and the interior isn't too messed up, if you know what I mean. They sometimes are. But then, we weren't planning on staying overnight here anyway.
I grabbed the mike off it's holder and radioed back to Frank we spotted a camper and that he wouldn't have to worry about spoiling his depends. That earned me a slap on the arm from Maggie who fought not to giggle. Frank came back with a terse reply about how he could out last me in a pissing contest any day. I ignored it, mainly because I was trying to tickle Maggie in her seat and avoiding her defensive slaps and drive at the same time. It was a playful moment but it didn't last long as I had to brake and we passed the first car in the jam. On top was a body. An obvious zombie, lying on the roof of the Corolla we were passing, baking in the sun, it's brains blown out over the hood. That sobered us as effectively as a bucket of ice water.
I found it odd that a zombie was on the roof of a car. I noted that the car didn't even have a sunroof so it couldn't have been trying to get to the occupants inside because there were no occupants, besides, the driver's door was wide open. I had to skirt the truck a bit to the left to avoid it. I grabbed the mike again, “We're going to need to keep our eyes open, there's dead zombies around, might be a few lurkers in the cars.” Frank's reply was a solemn “affirmative”. Seems that he reverted back to militarized thinking once again. I glanced at Maggie and she moved back over to her seat, apart from me, body relaxed but eyes alert to almost everything outside the windshield and her window. She now held her side-arm comfortably in her lap. Another quick glance and I could see the red-dot of the safety off switch.
It took longer than it would've appeared to maneuver through the maze of cars than I thought it would. Part of me wanted to stop right there and get out, but we were only about 4 or 5 cars away from the camper and there was a convenient wide clear spot in between the cars. Well, almost too convenient. I was starting not to like it. Another quick glance at Maggie and I could tell she wasn't liking it either. I reasoned that she'd been caught in a few ambushes during her tour of duty. I was torn between trying to squeeze the truck between the last two cars that surrounded the clearing and getting my own sidearm out of it's holster. I chose to keep driving and get the gun when I parked the truck.
I positioned it to where Frank could get in, but I moved around to where we'd be able to get out the same way if need be in a hurry. There was no way forward without getting out and moving a few cars around. It was just too neat, too pat to be anything else but a trap. I mentally slapped myself on the forehead for having drove right into it.
I put the truck in park and sat there and slowly reached for my sidearm and got it out of it's holster. I cocked the slide back and kept the safety on. I practiced with it enough to be able to switch the safety off quickly should I need to shoot. Still, I kept my finger out of the trigger guard. We said nothing and listened for anything. Our windows were down and we could hear Frank pull up behind us, ready to follow us out if we had to bug out in a hurry. None of us spoke and none of us moved, we sat with the engines running quietly as we tried to sense out the place we were in. The hairs on the back of my neck weren't standing up but it still didn't make me relax any better. Finally I swallowed the dryness out of my mouth with an audible click and spoke softly to Maggie.
“Don't like this shit at all, hunny.”
She nodded in agreement and gave a little shrug. “Still, dad can't hold on forever.” She reached for the door-handle and oh so softly and quietly, opened her door. “Gonna take a look around.”
Before I could protest she was already slipping out of the vehicle and crouching down out of sight as she passed alongside the bed of the truck, pistol held at the ready. I caught myself giving an involuntary growl and tried to open my door as quietly. I wasn't successful but still managed to get myself out silently enough. I glanced behind the truck and saw that Frank and James were still sitting in their vehicle waiting, watching us. I could see the barrel of a rifle that James was apparently holding. I couldn't see his face but could guess that he was agitated and wanted to get out to cover us. Eager for another opportunity to blow somethings head off again? I repressed a shudder. The kid's blood thirst definitely needed tempering.
Maggie moved at a low crouch to another car near the truck and peered over the edge. Best I figured I could do was work around the opposite direction and meet up with her at the mini-RV camper.
I started to go at a crouch like Maggie then felt a surge of frustration and boldly stood up. I didn't worry too much about making myself a target for some reason and it was a lot easier on me to move around. I scanned the area outside the makeshift corral we were in for about as far as I could see. Scanning carefully, I saw nothing moving at all. The air was still, warm and practically benign. I could imagine Frank squirming in his seat. I caught his attention with a wave and beckoned him on over to me, since I was closer to the RV than Maggie was. Both Frank and James got out of their truck. James immediately put his rifle to his shoulder up high, with the barrel down ready to pop up at a moment's notice. He went straight over to his mother but only half-ducking down.
Frank walked over to me in a brisk trot and I took him over to the RV. His gun was in his hand, a nice 1911 .45 cal. I head him muttering about how stupid it was to get an armed escort to take a piss. I snorted aloud and nodded. As we approached the door the kidding was put aside as we each took positions on either side of the door. I stood on the side where the door would open, Frank would have the door in his face should it come open unexpectedly, but he looked ready. I heard the click of his safety going off and he held the gun in both hands, barrel pointed at the pavement but arms out straight ready to come up.
If there was a zombie behind the door I'd be the first choice on the menu. I usually stood where Frank was standing when I tried anything like this. I reached up and tried the door handle and found it was unlocked. Well that made it now about 50/50 on whether or not a zombie was inside or just another dead person. Without even doing a 1-2-3 count I just opened the door and pointed my gun into the void. Nothing. Hmm okay. I grabbed the door and slammed it shut loudly making the RV rock a little, and waited. We heard nothing. Alright, try again. I flung open the door again and still nothing was moving around in there, dead or alive. “Ok Frank I think it's pretty clear, g'wan in but check everything before you unzip.” He grinned at me, “don't I know it!” and stepped inside. I stayed out for a moment, listening to him check the overhead sleeping compartment and then the back where the toilet and other sleeping quarters were.
I turned and James was standing in front of me with Maggie behind him. She still didn't smile, I looked into her eyes and nodded agreement without us saying anything to each other, we didn't like this set up one tiny bit. I got James' attention and pointed behind me then at him and then at my eyes then back behind me again. He stared at me as if I was speaking an alien tongue. He nodded at me anyway and turned to his mother and signed briefly before heading off to where I asked him to watch-over. Now Maggie had a grin on her face. “Ok, what?” I asked, feeling a little miffed.
“He wonders when you're going to learn sign-language that isn't so primitive.” she giggled. I had to grin at that. Hey, at least I was trying right? Sheesh. “What's so funny” Frank's voice asked behind us. We turned and he stood at the doorway but not coming completely out of the RV, his face was grave. We lost our grins in a hurry. “Dad?” Maggie asked concerned, “what is it?” He stepped out of the RV and scanned the area around us quickly before looking at her. “Hunters” he replied simply.
Hellfire and damnation, even I knew what that meant. I spun on my heels trying to look everywhere at once. Maggie gasped and stared at her father wanting him to break into a smile and say “just kidding” but he wasn't. “Dad,” she asked her voice trembling, “are you sure?” He nodded and jerked a thumb behind him towards the inside of the RV. “There are two bodies in there. Decapitated.” Maggie's free hand went to her mouth and covered it, a muffled “Oh God!” came out as she turned away. Part of me was curious to go see and as I moved around Frank to go inside the R.V., he grabbed my arm to stop me. I gently shrugged it off and stepped up inside. There was no distinct odor other than rot, the interior was reasonably clean and relatively undisturbed which is a frightening trade-mark of some Hunter groups. I went to the back and saw the bodies were lying on either side of the table positioned there on the benches, each of them covered under a blanket, except for the heads which were propped up on the window ledge. Their eyes open and staring blankly at me, mouths opened in terror or pain or both. I spun on my heel and got the hell out of there, jumping to the pavement and slamming the door behind me with a loud bang, “Dammit!” I yelled.
I saw that both were looking at me, as if waiting for me to determine our next move. It was simple, to get out of the area as quickly as possible. I felt that the Hunters weren't about because they would have come down on us already, but I still didn't want to hang around in case they decided to come back. What made matters worse however; was not knowing exactly where they went. The same direction we were headed or back behind us from where we came. Logic said the same direction because we didn't meet up with them coming up this way. But, sometimes Hunters can let passing motorists or even hikers go by them without being seen, and other times they'll stop them to have a little fun. If it were me alone and walking, they'd probably have some fun, before moving on, but then again probably not.
Hunters were the new scourge of the human race, quickly surpassing zombies as a main threat. Well okay, maybe not as a MAIN threat but they're just as bad. Primarily because of their unpredictable nature. With zombies you can basically predict that they just want to snack on you and move on, and act accordingly. Hunters however, it'll depend upon their mood at the moment. Some Hunter groups are fiercely territorial. I've seen the aftermath of a battle between two groups. Besides being gnawed upon by zombies that found them afterwards, prior to that, they'd been shot or hacked to death before hand. It was hard to say which side won.
No two Hunter groups were the same. Some comprised of Neo-Nazi's. Others were gang members; Crips or Bloods, it didn't matter. I've heard campfire stories of Hunter groups comprised only of African Americans and others of Mexican American drug-dealers. Others mentioned rouge military groups/squads or decimated companies. Point is that they all survived the Z-clypse by virtue of having unlawful weaponry in their possession at the time of the outbreak and were better able to defend themselves than ordinary citizens with ordinary guns.
A few even sported military vehicles, appropriated from abandoned or overrun military bases, to move around in. All of them were deadly to the un-aware and stupid. One learned to watch groups of people before making your presence known. If they were heavily armed then it was best to avoid finding out wrong and quietly make one's way around them. They had their own laws and applied them to everyone, fair or not. What made them even more frightening was how quickly they banded together shortly after the first outbreak. As if they had been planning for such an opportunity and were capitalizing on the inevitable break down of law and order. Their only positive traits, were the groups are few in number (so far), and hunt zombies for sport. They been known to wipe out entire herds, and are widely scattered. Some were Nomadic in nature, but the point is, if you know they're were, or are, or going to be in the area, it's usually a good idea to be some place else as quickly as possible.
“We're going to need to get out of here and quick.” I stated the obvious. “Question is,” I continued, “the trouble is, we don't know where the Hunters are at the moment.” Frank nodded. “I've never come up on them or seen them up close, but they did raid the house when I was checking on supplies at the barn a while back. Took me two weeks to get the house back in order. Bastards, ransacked it. It was a good thing that they couldn't get into the basement at the time.” Maggie, nodded, “James and I were at the tree-platform finishing up our perimeter cordon, when we got back to the house they had already left. I'd hate to think what would've happened if we showed up while they were still there.” she shuddered.
“Alright, what we need to do is find out, or try to figure out which way they went. Then we need to decide if continuing our present course is a good or bad idea, then decide which way we should go.” I suddenly found my heart was racing and fought to control it. Like I said, some Hunters are unpredictable but the severed heads in the R.V., said that these wouldn't be nice enough to let us amble on by, no matter what their mood.
Maggie walked to the front of the R.V., to see where James gotten himself to. She found him standing on the hood of a car looking through his scope in a slow sweeping arc. I came up behind her and waited. Suddenly James flinched and ducked down to a squat. This caused Maggie and I to do the same though we were lower than him. I turned around to warn Frank and he was walking back to his truck. “Frank!” I called out quietly, trying to put as much urgency as I could in my voice without raising it too loudly. He froze in mid-step and did a neat trick of spinning on one heel and ending up in a indian style sitting position on the ground. His 1911 in both hands ready to fire at anything he didn't recognize. I raised a finger to my lips and pointed at my eyes and then back to James who had already gotten off the hood of the car he was on and was moving back towards us in a low run.
Frank stayed where he was but kept his eyes alert. When James reached us he signed quickly to his mother who signed back briefly and gotten an even shorter reply. She nodded and then pointed in Frank's direction and made a “watch-him” sign. The boy nodded and slipped past us and in moments was on one knee beside his grandfather, his rifle at the ready. I looked at Maggie for translation. “He says there are zombies moving towards us, he guesses about 20 or more. Seems we've got a herd coming our way.” Her voice tight and her words steady. I could see she was into combat mode. But 20 zombies was far too many for the four of us to contend with, even with our advanced fire-power. We'd be better off hiding and letting the herd pass than trying to fight them and I said as much. Maggie nodded agreement and turned and signed to her family.
I could see that James was wrestling with the urge to stand our ground and fight them and “obey orders”. We actually more-n-likely could take them on, considering the arsenal we had in the trucks, but the concern was of course the Hunters. Not knowing how far away they were, they could hear our firepower and come-a-running. We'd really be in shit creek by then, because zombies at least don't shoot back. I, at first was going to impulsively hide in the R.V., until I remembered what was in there. No, our best bet would be in the woods and let the herd pass by us, then we could move on. On the plus-side the Hunters that killed the couple in the R.V., weren't in the direction of the zombie herd. Else, those zombies wouldn't have appeared over the hill of the freeway.
“Alright then,” taking charge, I hoped, “to the woods about 50 yards and we'll stay there til the herd passes.” Maggie nodded in agreement and signed it to the two waiting behind us. Frank nodded and then James, after a moment of reluctance to do so. Maggie got up and went for our truck in that low run she was good at. I didn't argue and followed her, because we would need more than our side-arms should my plan go south. Thankfully we left the doors opened in the truck and Maggie was able to flip the backseat forward and reach in and pull out not one but two automatic rifles. One was the M-16 that she used previously and handed it to me, the other was what I thought was a huge machine gun. Maggie explained (later) that it was an HK-416, to me it looked like hand-held death. She went over it quickly and having it locked and loaded in seconds. We silently closed the doors and locked them. Frank and James reached us. I saw they didn't change their weapons. As a group, we moved together, ducking and weaving through the maze of vehicles to the nearest guard-rail and quickly went over the side one by one. I was last over and stole a glance and saw that the zombies were now at the head of the traffic jam and beginning to weave their way around the cars.
The shoulder sloped downwards for about 10 yards before leveling off in a short ditch nearly buried in tall weeds and then climbing back up to a stand of trees 20 yards away. “Go to the bottom of the ditch and lay flat in the weeds” Frank's terse whisper called up to me from half way down the slope. I looked and saw that James and Maggie doing just that. Frank had paused to give me directions and then continued downwards until he slithered under a patch of weeds and nearly vanished.
I pushed off and slid down, trying not to tumble and found myself besides Frank in a few moments. We laid there as if we were already dead.
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