Those Who Remain

Chapter 22

"Here's the plan," Lee stated as we all formed a circle around him. Ridge, Lila, Dr. Lowes, and I were among the circle because we were the medical personnel here, and this plan would probably be a bit risky. "We are going to use bows and arrows to take out as many as we can as quietly as we can."

"If we leave the arrows behind, we lose ammo and leave evidence," someone in the small crowd around me stated, "How are we going to get around that?" It was a good point that I wish I had thought of myself.

"I was thinking, if we can get someone to volunteer, we open the gate to the backyard and lure them to a better area," he said, "We can have a small group of people keep watch, and then the person or people leave the house, we can sneak over."

"What if we can get the zombies riled up enough to break the fence?" I asked, trying to think of a different approach, "that way no one has to get too close and it looks like the zombies did it themselves."

"It wouldn't be a bad idea," Lee said slowly, "but how do you propose we do that?"

"Well," I said slowly, trying to give myself time to think of an idea, "we noticed that they like to focus on a food source, so is there any way that we could get them excited about the possibility of a meal?"

There was silence around me as people put their heads down or closed their eyes to think of an idea. "How about this," someone said from my right, "we have a sick cow in the shed we made. With no medical supplies or vet to help us, how about we use him as bait? If he were to survive we hope he recovers, and if not, he was already sick in the first place."

"Does anyone have any objections to this idea?" Lee asked as he surveyed the group. I also let my eyes sweep the group, and no one said or gestured against the idea, although I thought everyone was sad at the possibility of losing an animal that supplied us with both milk and meat.

Ridge also seemed to be thinking hard, but shook his head as he dismissed whatever he was thinking of and gave a small smile, indicating his approval of the idea. "Okay," I heard as I turned away from Ridge, "Since it is already well into the morning, I think we should post a lookout for today and try this out tomorrow."

With that, the crowd started to disperse as people left to either go to work or home depending on today's schedule. Lila, Ridge, and I started to make our way to the medical shed when we were approached by Lee. "Hey," he said, jogging over to us as we turned around to greet him, "Could I steal one of you three to go with the lookouts today?"

"Sure," Lila said as Lee came to a stop in front of us, "when are they heading out? I can run to the medical shed to grab a first aid kit before we go."

"I think they are set to leave in the next half hour, so you've got plenty of time," he replied, turning to leave, "Thanks Lila!"

"I sweat his hair is going to turn completely grey before the year is out," I muttered as we started our trek to the shed, causing both Lila and Ridge to laugh.

"I'm willing to bet it will take a bit longer than that," Ridge said with a hint of playfulness in his eyes, "I'm thinking more like this time next year."

"Loser gets to give the other a temporary tattoo of their choosing and they also get to choose the location of said tattoo," I said, making the rules of the bet in my head as we walked, "Once we shake on it, there is no backing out."

"Ready to lose?" Ridge asked, stretching out his hand to shake mine, "I already have an idea of a tattoo."

"Be prepared to eat your words," I said smirking and grabbing his hand, "Lila is our witness."