Mom and Zombie Slayer

Chapter TWELVE

Chapter Ten

Despite my short night, I woke up to the sunrise. I crawled out and sat down, my back to the car and facing the river. In the shortest time, I had come to ignore the sights that were bloody or that included deaths. I was able to enjoy seeing the sun rise and the nature waking up.

The kids woke up an hour later. First Amanda, who crawled out of the car by the broken window and then Elliott, rubbing his eyes.

I couldn’t help but smile when I saw that they came and sat on each side of me.

As I was feeding them crackers and water, I opened the trunk and empty its content on the ground. I did the same thing with the back seat of the car, who was filled with bags with our Target expedition.  We couldn’t take the car anymore and we had to walk. I had to decide what we would bring, and what we would leave behind.

I made a pile with all the weapons we had and everything else we could use as a weapon. Guns, ammunitions, my shotgun and knives. Knives were more for cutting a steak, but I don’t think we were in a situation where we could be difficult.

In another pile, I put all the clothes we had. Mine, Amanda and Elliott’s. We had too much of it. I had to choose what was the most important. I sighed. What was worrying me, was that we were in August, and the night were starting to get colder. I had to bring some jackets, for both the kids and me, changes of clothing and I couldn’t forget whatever blankets we had. Turning my back on the kids, and I started to cry. I was feeling so helpless. I remembered that John had offered to come and pick us up, but I had to try to meet him first. He was busy working on a vaccine and I couldn’t ask him to stop working for days, weeks, to come and pick me up.

In the last pile, I put all the food we had, which wasn’t much. I hoped we could raid some grocery stores along the way, because the power bars, cookies and treats for Elliott were not going to be enough to feed everybody. I felt guilty for a moment, because Elliott wouldn’t get the milk that he need. And since the electricity was spotty at best, non-existent at worst, I had no idea when would be the next time he would have some. On the positive side, I had a few sample of powdered formulas in the diaper bag, that I could use with fresh water.

Even though I wasn’t hungry, I forced myself to eat the same thing the kids were eating while I was rummaging through my piles.

When I was done, I strapped the baby on my back, with the help of my swing. My backpack was on my chest, and my gun belt was filled to the brink. I was carrying my scraper and Amanda was carrying my gunshot. She also had a backpack on, with hers and Elliott’s clothes. The three of us had our goggles on, to protect our eyes against zombie blood. We were ready to go. At the last moment, I decided to pick up all the paperwork that was in the glove compartment and I stuffed it in my backpack.

Our goal for the moment was to find a way to cross the river. And according to my map, there was no bridge in front or behind us for at least ten miles. I decided to go south, to try to be in the direction of Denver. According to my calculations, it would take us too much time to walk there. We needed to get a car. I promised myself that the first empty car I would see, I would use.

The walk was gruesome. I had to stop thinking how fast I could go if I was alone. Amanda, bless her little heart, never complained, but I could see it in her eyes that she had gone through a traumatism. She still wouldn’t talk but I hoped that my presence was helping her a little. I couldn’t hold her hand and I didn’t talk either. We had to stay quiet, to not attract the attention of any wandering zombies.

After lunch, we still had not crossed the river. I was starting to worry until I saw a little boat, with an engine. I signaled the kids to be quiet and I slowly walked to the boat. I was in the water, to my ankle and I was looking at the engine, wondering how in heck I could start it up. I had never been on a boat before.

I closed my eyes and, not the first time since I meet Mr. Parker, I prayed to whoever was up there to help me take the right decision.

I signaled Amanda to come close to me and grabbed her from under her arms and put her in the boat. When she was there, I slowly took off my back pack and placed it beside her. The hardest part was to jump into the boat without falling. The weight of Elliott was throwing me off balance. I finally was able to jump in after a few grunts and pulled muscles.

Keeping Elliott on my back I looked again at the engine. How to make that start? Amanda tugged on my sleeve and I looked at her. She was pointing the back of the boat.

“You know how to use a boat?” I asked her, surprised. She only nodded. I left her the spot and wondered if she was the daughter of a family of hunter, which would explain why she knew about guns and boats.

I still don’t know how she did it. But she started the engine and drove that boat across the river like a pro. I was truly in awe of her. Elliott was singing nursery songs. It was so peaceful that we could almost forget where we were and why.

Amanda was concentrating on where we would land and I hoped that there would be no ambush. As we approached the shore, I put my back pack back on my chest and I took my gun and my scraper. I felt the boat scratch the bottom of the river and put my feet in the water when I got out of the boat. So far, no zombies. I got completely out of the boat and offered my hand to Amanda to help her out of the boat. She didn’t take it and jumped directly in the water.  I was more and more impressed with her.

Because there was nowhere to attached the boat, we had to let it go. I watched it slowly wandered away, thinking that we were safe on it. I wished there would have been a river that could have taken us directly to John.