"She walks past the corpse of what once was her husband" #zombies

Jaimie kisses her girls, Jeff tells Alicia goodbye, Greg tells Lana goodbye and Dave rolls over to Deacon.  By this time Greg is standing next to him.  Dave extends his hand to shake Deacon and Greg’s hands, telling them to take care.  Both Greg and Deacon nod, and tell Dave that they will try.  Dave can see that they are trying to stay strong, hiding their fear.  Deacon picks up the duffle bag full of ammunition on his way out of the door, along with his rifle.

            They walk out to the truck, get in and start driving back to the city.  There is no movement on the outskirts of the city.  The closer to the city they get the more zombies they begin to see.  It is a quite ride in, each of them are lost in their own thoughts.  They pull into Jaimie’s neighborhood, Greg begins summarizing the plan that they had gone over with Dave the night before.  Pulling up to Jaimie’s house, they sit nervously in the truck looking around.  There is not any movement that they can see.  The once child invested neighborhood now sits barren of all play and laughter of children. 

            Sticking to the plan, Deacon and Jeff creep to opposite corners in front of the house.  Deacon watches Jaimie as she walks past the corpse of what once was her husband.  She turns her head as not to see the gruesomeness.  Greg and Jaimie go inside.  A couple of minutes later Greg comes out, sending Jeff back in.  Deacon and Greg, scan the neighborhood through their rifle scopes, looking up to scan with just the naked eye intermittently.  Deacon listens for any noise, he can only hear the sound of birds.  The silence raises the hair on the back of their necks.  Jeff hauls out load after load, into the trailer.

"Hold these." #zombie

Walking into the big room, he goes to some of his duffle bags still sitting in one of the corners.  As he is digging around in several of the bags,

Greg walks up behind him asking “What are you looking for?” 

Deacon lifts out his 9mm, still in its holster, then another just like it. 

He tells Greg "Hold these." 

Rummaging around further, he pulls out a box of ammunition.  Deacon asks Greg to hand him the guns back.  He pops the magazines out to make sure they are full, and then puts them back in the grip of the gun.  He then racks the slide to chamber a round in both guns before placing them back in the holsters.  Picking up one of the smaller duffle bags, he dumps its contents on the floor.  He throws the 9mm ammo in it, along with a couple of boxes of 12 gauge shotgun shells, and some 5.56 for the AR.  Greg walks out of the room just to walk back in carrying in a box of 7mm ammo.

"Put this in there too." 

Deacon takes the box from him, adding it to the bag.  He zips it up and sets it by the door. He grabs a shot gun and lays it on top of the bag.  Both men walk back into the kitchen, Deacon carrying the pistols.  Deacon sets one of them down on the table, then begins spreading out the other holster.  He asks Jamie to stand up so he can help her put it on.  She stands up and he helps her put it on, he cinches it up and pulls the pistol out.  Holding it up, he shows her that it is ready to go.  All she has to do is flip the safety down (showing her) and pull the trigger!  He slides the pistol back in the holster.  Deacon walks out into the big room.  Greg helps Jeff put on the other holster, telling him that it also is ready.  Giving him a full visual of how it works.  Deacon walks back into the kitchen, and hands Jeff the shot gun.  Greg informs them that it is time to go. 

"Picking up his .45 pistol" #zombie

The knocking at his door wakes Deacon up.  He had not slept that long in several days, he is a little disoriented.  He answers the door still rubbing his eyes.    

“It’s time to get this show on the road!”  Greg tells him before he gets the door open all the way.  

The lights are on, so he knows Dave is already awake.  Deacon takes some clothes out of one of the duffle bags, and walks out of his room to the shower.  He meets Alicia in the hall on her way to Jaimie’s room.  She approaches him, and looks into his eyes and pleads with him to make sure that nothing happens to Jeff.  He can see the tears beginning to form in her eyes and tries to reassure her that he will take care of him.  Once satisfied she allows him to continues to the shower room.  In the shower, he stands still, letting the water hit him directly in the face.  He is mentally attempting to prepare himself for what is about to come.  Deacon knows that if they are leaving the island they are only asking for trouble, but there is not another option.

After showering he returns to his room, and slides his shoulder holster on.  Picking up his .45 pistol, he pulls the action back to put a round in the chamber before taking the magazine out of the pistol to top off the ammunition in it.  He pops the magazine back in the gun, and slides the pistol in the holster.  Next, he picks up his AR leaning against the wall.  Dropping the magazine out, he tops that one off too.  After reinserting it back into the rifle, he takes the other two magazines out of the rifle case laying on the floor.  After he checks to make sure they are full, he drops them in the cargo pocket on his pants.  He takes a quick glance around the room to make sure he did not forget anything.  As he shoulders the rifle sling, he walks out of the room ensuring to turn off the light and quietly closes the door to not wake anyone.  Upstairs in the cafeteria which is now their kitchen, he finds Jeff, Lana, Greg and Dave are sitting at the table eating breakfast and drinking their coffee.  He takes a plate and a coffee mug out of one of the cupboards.  Filling his plate and mug, he carries it over to the table, and sits down to eat.  From the table they see the elevator door open and Jamie steps out pulling her hair back into a pony tail with her girls and Alicia right behind her.  Greg advises her to get some food.  She informs them as she holds her stomach that she has a nervous stomach and she cannot eat anything.  She begins to get the girls something to eat.  Alicia can see the anticipation is weighing on her and asks her to sit down, assuring her that she will get the girls’ food.  Deacon finishes up, hurrying to gulp down the last of his coffee.  Rising from the table, he tells everybody that he will be right back. 

The end of chapter six #zombie

“I always have time for you and the girls, have a seat.” 

He sits up patting the bed for her to sit down.  She sits down and begins to explain that she is a little scared for tomorrow.  He asks her what she is scared of, knowing what the answer is, but listening for her explanation anyway.  She proceeds to tell him that she is scared that she is going to leave her girls’ orphans, as they have already lost their father.  He can hear her crying at the foot of his bed, and leans over to hold her.  He assures her that everything will be fine, and promises that they will not let anything happen to her.  He does, however, tell her that if she does not want to go, he will not make her go. 

“Your girls will be safe with Alicia and Lana.”  

She gives him a big hug, thanking him.  She stands back up.  Deacon walks her back to her room.  She gives him another hug.  Peering into her room he sees the two little girls fast asleep.  She goes into her room shutting her door behind her.  Deacon turns around and returns to his own room.

"Shoot them in the head" #zombies

The group listens intently as Dave gives them more directions. 

Nobody dares to question him as the tactical aspect has turned out to be Dave’s specialty.  Dave then tells them that is all he has, the rest of it is up to them and their guts.  Deacon stands up and tells them it is time to get some sleep, as they have an early morning coming. 

All agree and head off to their separate rooms to get some sleep.

On the way down the elevator Dave asks Deacon, “Have you had to shoot any of these damn things?”   

Deacon proceeds to tell him about what had happened at the beer plant, at Greg and Lana's and also at Jaimie's. 

He then informs Dave, “In order to put them on the ground you have to shoot them in the head.  Otherwise they just keep coming.” 

Then Deacon finishes by stating that he had to learn this the hard way.  Dave tells him he will keep that in mind.  Arriving at the main floor, Dave goes to the panel turning the key, shutting down the power.  He checks the front door making sure it is locked.  He tells Deacon that he will see him in the morning. 

The emergency lights guide the way for Deacon as he takes the stairs to the basement.  He opens the door to his room, goes in and lays down on his makeshift bed.  As he lays there, thoughts of tomorrow’s mission flood his mind.  Interrupting his thoughts, he hears a knock at his door. 

“Come in,” he announces 

As the door opens he hears a voice, “Deacon, it’s me Jaimie.” 

She steps just inside the door. All he can see is her silhouette from the emergency lights in the hallway.  She asks him if he has a minute. 

"You will be just wasting valuable time if you do.” #zombie

Jaimie asks what time they will be leaving in the morning.  Deacon tells her that they should be on the road, or close to leaving at sunrise.  She stands up telling her girls, that all three of them should go to bed.  Alicia assures Jaimie that she will go down to Jamie and the girls’ room in the morning to watch the girls.  Alicia walks out with Jaimie and the girls, and the four of them head off to bed.

Getting to the meat of their planning, Dave looks at Jeff and asks him how familiar he is with guns.  Jeff tells him the only experience he has had, is the walk through with Deacon and when he shot the walker at Jamie’s with the shot gun.  Dave then turns to Greg and asks the same question.  Greg answers, that Deacon and he have been hunting and shooting since they were old enough to carry a gun.  Dave explains to them that when they get to the house, Deacon and Jeff should take up positions on the front corners of the house.

“That way you both can keep a lookout on two different sides of the house, but stay low.  Greg you go in with Jaimie, leading.  After the house is secure go to the door.  Jeff you go in and help Jaimie pack and get her things out.  Greg you will take up Jeff’s position and watch for walkers with Deacon. If the surroundings become hostile, get Jeff and Jaimie out of the house before it gets too bad. Don’t start shooting unless you have too.  You will just draw unwanted attention.  Moving on, when you guys go on these runs, don’t grab anything that will spoil too soon.  You will be just wasting valuable time if you do.” 

"Please," #zombie

As they eat, Deacon reveals to everybody that he is going to do some scavenging the next day.  Greg clarifies that he and Jeff will go with him.  Deacon asks Jamie if she wants to come along, and they will take her back to her house to gather more of her and the girl’s things. 

Her girls begin to plead with her to go, "Please," they ask, as they begin asking for certain toys. 

Jaimie gives in, agreeing to go only if Alicia and Lana agree to keep to keep the girls with them.  Lana eagerly agrees.  After dinner, Greg asks Dave if it would be ok if they set up their scavenging run planning in the observation room.

“That is probably the best place for it,” Dave answers them. 

They find a folding table, and Jeff sets it up in the observation room.  Greg retrieves the maps from Deacons truck, taking them upstairs.  He unfolds them on the table.  Everyone joins them in the room.  Alicia, Jamie and Lana teach the girls card games, while the others begin to plan the next day’s events.  Dave suggests to them that they should start at Jaimie’s, then work their way around the block.  Greg adds that they should try and find some spray paint, so that they can mark the houses they have checked. 

Dave smiles, “In the storage closet downstairs, there are a couple boxes of spray paint.” 

Lana stands up at the other table, informing them that she is ready for bed. 

Agreeing with Lana, Jaimie tells her daughters, “That sounds like a good idea.” 

Her daughters begin to whine about going to bed as they begin to yawn.  Lana then asks Greg if he is ready for bed.  Greg tells her that he is going to stay up for a little while longer to get a lot of the details figured out.  They kiss each other as she leaves to go down the hall to their room. 

“We will start tomorrow" #zombie

Greg tells him that he was in construction, operating heavy equipment.  Dave tells him that will be useful, as there is a grader, a loader and an excavator on the island.   Deacon then asks how much diesel fuel there is for the generator. 

“Enough to last a couple of weeks." 

Dave suggests that they could however start scavenging out of Deacon’s truck with his trailer for now.  All three of them agree. 

“We will start tomorrow.  Besides, I left my fishing gear at my house,” Deacon says.   

All three of them go downstairs to rejoin the others. Deacon picks up a few boxes, and takes them upstairs to the observation room.  As Deacon returns, Dave asks him what was in the boxes that he took upstairs.  Deacon tells him that it is bullet reloading equipment.  Impressed, Dave comments that they have thought of almost everything.  Everyone works on getting settled into their rooms.  Deacon’s room is across the hall from Jaimie’s and the girls’ in the basement.  Dave is staying on the main floor and the two couples are on the third floor.  After unpacking in their rooms, they all rejoin each other on the main floor.  They begin to make dinner in the cafeteria. 

Deacon leaves the group and walks out the front door.  Sitting down on the steps, he watches as the sun sets behind the mountain on the island.  Dave wheels himself out, asking Deacon what he is thinking about.  Deacon tells him that is just nice to be able to watch the sun set without having to watch his back.  Dave canters that this is the case for now, but he is worried one day the problem will find its way to them.  Deacon then promises him that they will figure it out when the day comes.  Just then Alicia, walks out asking if Dave and Deacon are ok.  They assure her that they are.  She then, hesitantly, tells them that dinner is ready.  Following her back inside, the small group takes a seat at the table, and begin dishing up their food. 

“What about you, what did you do?” #zombies

Greg rubs Lana’s back, telling them that they will be eating well.  Dave turns to Deacon telling him that he should take one of the bigger rooms, Greg and Lana also.  Deacon replies that he appreciates it, but Jeff and Alicia should take one of the bigger rooms.  He will take one of the smaller rooms in the basement. Dave smiles and nods.  Deacon asks Dave and Greg if he and can talk to them.  Greg looks at Lana and asks if she would mind having everybody bring in the remaining supplies.  Lana agrees and leads the group back downstairs. 

The three men go into the observation room.  Greg and Deacon grab two chairs, pulling them out from the table.  Dave rolls over to them, and asks what the problem is.  Greg looks confused.

“Nothing, but I was thinking of acquiring a couple of semis and using them for scavenging.  What do you two think?” 

Dave tells him that it is a good idea.  He then suggests that each semi should probably have two, fast, scout cars for protection and guidance. 

“We don’t have enough people for that, and me being in this chair does you no good.” 

“You can take a sniper position from here, keeping an eye on things why we are gone.  We know that you can shoot.” 

All three of them laugh. 

“Can either of you even drive a semi?”  Dave asks looking skeptical. 

Deacon nods his head and explains that he was a truck driver for the local beer company. 

“What about you, what did you do?”

“This is home now.” #zombie

Dave explains, “The visitor center is self-sustainable.  It has a big generator, along with solar panels on the roof.  They run everything.  Then, there is the water system.  We get our water from the lake and the system filters it.  The waste water goes in to a septic system.” 

“Nice,” Deacon and Greg exclaim simultaneously.

Dave leads them down one of the halls to an elevator.  They all go in as Dave pushes the B on the panel.  Instantly, Deacon realize that there are actually three floors in the large building, instead of the two they could see from the exterior.  The hidden one being the basement, which is what the B represented on the panel in the elevator.  Showing the group the string of offices Dave explains that if they clean out all of the office furniture, they could use them as bedrooms.  Jeff comments that this place is bigger than he had thought.  They walk through the halls opening up all the doors, to take in their new residence.  At the end of the hall stand two doors.  One with a lady painted on it and the other with a man.  Alicia and Lana ask if they are the bathrooms. 

“Sort of, they are shower rooms,” Dave answers.

They peek inside and Dave tells them that they have all of the amenities of home.  

Greg puts his hand on Dave’s shoulder, “This is home now.” 

Dave leads them back to the elevator.  They go to the main floor, where they had entered through the big entry room.  There a dozen, or so offices, two big conference rooms, and a cafeteria with a large dining area. 

            Finally the top floor containing three larger office like rooms, a small kitchenette, and a large observation room that leads out to an observation deck.  Both of which overlook the island. Lana asks what kinds of animals live on the island.

“There are deer, a pretty good size herd of buffalo, antelope, and elk.  Not to mention all the fish you could eat and the island has the most beautiful birds.  There are ducks, geese, pheasants and several different kinds of grouse.”  Dave answers. 

“What is that” #zombies

Everyone and everything is loaded up in the vehicles.   Deacon watches his house get smaller and smaller in the side mirrors as they drive out of town.  Unknown to everyone, the same reservations are being discussed in both vehicles.  They question Greg and Deacon about whether or not they will be safe on the island.  Both Greg and Deacon describe to them what they know about the Island, or at least what Dave had disclosed so far. 

At the toll booth Greg has Jeff hold the gate up as both vehicles pull through.  He then walks back to Greg’s car and gets in next to Alicia, and they continue their drive.  As they get closer to the island, Deacon hears the “Wows” from the little girls in the back seat.

“It is absolutely beautiful.  I haven’t been here since I was a kid, and had forgotten what it was like,” Jaimie exclaims.

Both vehicles pull up to the front of the building. Climbing out of their vehicles still in awe, they begin filling their arms with either boxes or bags as they walk towards the door. 

Dave opens the door and wheels backwards out of the way. 

"You guys can just drop your stuff here, and I’ll give you the grand tour of the place," Dave tells them smiling, as he tries to lighten the mood.  

He wheels over to a panel on the wall, and opens it.  He reaches inside and turns a key.  

“What is that,” Greg asks, just as the lights in the building begin turning on.

"Why do I need this?" #zombie

Greg shrugs his shoulders as they arrive at the gate.  He gets out, cautiously looks around, and lifts the gate so that Deacon can pull the truck through.  Rejoining Deacon in the truck, Greg tells Deacon that there should be plenty of animals on the island to hunt.

As they pull back into Deacon’s driveway, Greg asks, “Why don’t you hook up to the trailer, and I will go get everybody.”

Deacon has Greg pull his car out first, getting it out of the way for a quicker retreat.  Deacon hooks up to the trailer and then goes in to start packing his belongings.  When he gets inside he finds that Lana and Jaimie had packed for him.  The next hour is spent filling the trailer and the bed of Deacon’s truck up.  Deacon turns to Jaimie and the girls asking them if they would like to ride with him.  He then has Jeff and Alicia ride with Greg and Lana in their car.  Deacon goes into the living room to get his calendar, on the end table next to where he had been sleeping the night before.  He picks it up off the table, and stands looking at it.  

He mutters to himself, "Why do I need this?  It isn’t going to bring her back.  All it is going to do is make me miss her that much more."  

Setting it back down on the table, he turns to walk out.  He sees Lana standing in the entryway.  He asks her how long she has been standing there. 

Lana tells him quietly, but tenderly, “Long enough, but you know this doesn’t mean you have to let her go.”

Deacon gives her a big hug, “let’s go.”

“We should be back in about two hours” #zombies

He pulls out the cooler from the backseat of the truck and heads back in.  He returns to the two men, where Greg explains to Deacon that Dave had told him that he was an Army Ranger and that he been shot in Iraq, during the Gulf War.

“That is how I ended up in this chair,” Dave adds as he pats the arm rests on the wheelchair.  

“Well, that explains the dead on shooting,” Deacon says jokingly. 

Deacon then inquires about how Dave ended up out on the island. 

“I was the park manager out here, and I was already out here when everything went to shit on the main land.  It was then that I decided I was better off to stay out here.”    

Greg, anxious to reunite with his wife, asks Dave if he minds if Deacon and he go and get the rest of their group they had left behind. 

Dave tells them, “The sooner the better, before things get any worse on the main land.”

“We should be back in about two hours,” Greg states. 

Deacon, already getting up, shakes Dave’s hand and thanks him, again.  Dave assures them that he will be waiting. 

In the truck, Greg goes on about how perfect the island is.

“It has everything.  Water, it’s safe, and good positioning.  What more could we ask for?”

Deacon breaks in and asks, “What about food?”