Invasion of the Undead

Chapter 4

As they broke camp the following day, the team distributed the supplies amongst themselves, each taking a share of food, first aid supplies, weapons and miscellaneous camp gear. As they cleared camp, Aaron checked that they had their weapons loaded and at the ready. Brandon wasn't much of a threat in the daylight hours, but zombies still posed a considerable problem for the group. Working their way down the trail, they kept on high alert for any unexplained sounds or movement. They hadn't gone far when Aaron noticed movement ahead of them in the tree line.
"Weapons out," he signalled as he crouched down, not wanting to give away their location to the enemy.
With their weapons at the ready, they waited nervously, scanning the tree line waiting for something to emerge from the trees, but nothing did.
"Maybe someone should check it out," said Jason.
"I'll do it," said Nicole.
"I'll go with you," Aaron whispered beside her.
She slowly made her way up the trail, then veered off and started up a small embankment to the area where they had seen the movement. With her knives drawn, she approached the nearby tree. As she got closer, she saw a figure hiding behind it.
"You there!" she said, “Show yourself!"
A young man slowly peeked from behind the tree.
"Don't hurt me," he said.
"We're not gonna hurt you.” she said, "Come on out."
He slowly walked out from behind the tree and moved down onto the trail. His light gray shirt and dark jeans were dirty and slightly ragged. He carried a backpack but no weapon.
"What's your name?" asked Aaron.
"Shawn," he replied.
"Why are you out here alone and with no weapons?” Nicole inquired.
"I was out looking for food and supplies," he said.
“You should still have a weapon.” Nicole said, “Why are you alone?” she demanded this time.
"The others are in our hiding place."
"There are more survivors?"  James asked while handing him a knife.
"Yes." said Shawn, "We thought we were the only ones."
"Take us to them," said Aaron.
."OK, ummmm." said Shawn.
“What’s the problem?” Nicole asked.
"Just not sure whether I should or not. I mean, no offense, but I don't know you, so it's kind of a big thing to trust you and take you back with me."  Shawn confessed.
"Well, you really don't have much of a choice really; you're just going to have to trust us,” Aaron told him.
“I guess not. Follow me.”  Shawn told them.
Shawn led them on a short march through the trees to a small neighbourhood. Scanning for any sign of trouble, he signalled the group to follow him to a ragged and run-down Victorian house with a worn-out red door. The house would have been a stunner in its heyday, but today it was dilapidated with peeling paint, its windows broken and boarded up. Scanning the horizon one more time before opening the door, Shawn waved them inside.
Once their eyes had adjusted to the dimly lit surroundings, Nicole and Aaron jumped out of the way of an eager young girl who ran past them, running into Shawn's arms. Shorter than most of the group, she wore a light pink shirt and blue jeans, which had seen better days. Her dirty dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She released Shawn and looked at the group with her large brown eyes as if seeing them for the first time.
"Shawn, I’m so glad your back." she said, "Who are they?"
"It's OK, Kelly." said Shawn, "They're survivors like us."
"Well, introduce us to your crew then,” Nicole said when Shawn didn’t immediately respond.
Shawn nodded and began introducing the group members. Besides Shawn and Kelly, there was another girl named Liz. She was small-statured like Kelly and very non-threatening.  Then there were two guys. Edward was tall with slick brown hair and blue eyes. He had several bandages on his hands. He was obviously a fighter. Then there was Jacob, who was tan skinned with jet black hair and dark brown eyes. His arms were large and muscular.
"It's good to meet you all." said Aaron, "I'm Aaron."
"Good to meet you, Aaron," said Kelly.
"This is our group. Nicole, James, Jason, Max, Lexi, Hannah, and Leeann," he said, as he pointed to each of them.
"It's so nice to know we aren't alone," said Liz.
"This place you have is nice," said Nicole, as she gazed around the old house.
"Yeah, we lock it down good, when we need to sleep," said Shawn.
"Y'all should know that there are more than zombies out there." said Aaron, "There are vampires too."
"We plan on taking them out along with the zombies to take back the city," said Nicole.
"Can we count on y'all to help us fight?"   asked Aaron.
Edward, Jacob and Shawn all nodded enthusiastically and echoed a resounding yes.  Aaron looked at the two girls.
"We'll help anyway we can," said Kelly.
"I'm not very strong." said Liz, "but I'll try to help."
Aaron smiled.
"Well, do y'all have any weapons?"   asked Nicole.
"Yeah." said Shawn, "I'll show you where they are."
He led Aaron and Nicole into another room. The weapons room was a well-maintained and efficient setup. On one side was a table full of guns, each laid out by size. On the next table were blades of all types and sizes.
"Nice," said Nicole, as she looked over all the knives.
"Very good." said Aaron, "We need to be prepared. We are going out tomorrow at nightfall. We are gonna take out these vampires and the zombies. It's time to take back our city."
"Hell yeah!" said Shawn.
They all unloaded the supplies they were carrying. Kelly and Liz helped them put everything away. That night Nicole and her group slept in beds for the first time in a long time. The other survivors had managed to deck out the old house and made it very homey. They had gotten several extra beds in hopes of finding other survivors. They had even managed to get the electricity in the house working.  Edward as it turned out, had been an electrician before the disaster struck, and he could give them limited electricity. Limited according to Edward only because it would attract attention to have the lights on. He did not want anyone to think his skills were faulty. Finding these new survivors made Nicole feel like the odds were on their side. They were gonna make it through this and hopefully make the world a better place.