How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter Twenty Three

“Let’s start again.” I said. “I’m Alex, what’s your name?”

“Jacob.” He said warily.

“Hi Jacob. This is Kitty, Zak, Luke and Chris. We’re living at a farm a little way down this road. A few weeks back we found a file about a company called Echo. We’d really like to talk about that with you, clearly you know more than we do.

“Ok. I guess that’s ok. But if you’re telling the truth, and you’re who you say you are, we really have to get back to this farm of yours, get your gear packed and leave. Echo are maybe two days behind me, and they’re not in the best of moods.”

x-x-x-x

Ten minutes later we were back at the farm. Me, Kitty and Zak had worked on an evacuation plan for just such a situation as this so we knew we could be ready to move out in about five minutes, but if we wanted to fully evacuate, with food and supplies and all of our stuff, it would take about forty five minutes.

“Sandy, grab your stuff and put it in the pick up, you’re riding with me and Kitty. Luke, divide the food into three and split it between the pickup, the van and the land rover, you’re riding in the van with Brian, Chris, Lilly, Maggie and Sally. Zak, you know what to do, you’re in the land rover with Gregg, Andy, Jane and Geoff. Jacob, you can come with Kitty and me.

They all nodded and rushed off to do their own thing. Kitty and me were in charge of getting everything else apart from food and weapons sorted, we knew exactly what we were doing and everything, and everyone was packed up and ready to go in half an hour. I couldn’t help feeling proud as I looked at the group of people in front of me, all waiting calmly for my next instruction.

“Guys that was really good, couldn’t have done better myself. Now comes the hard part, we have to go through town, there’s no bypass and we can’t go back the way we came. We’re just going to speed through and if any of us gets into trouble, just sit tight, we’re going to stick together. Now once we get through to the other side and back onto the highway, full speed, we don’t stop for at least a good two hours, just in case there’re any Specials, they wont give up the chase so easy so… Good luck. You all know who you’re riding with so let’s get gone.”

“Kitty do you want to drive or shoot?” I asked.

“You’re the better driver, I’ll shoot with Sands. Want me in the back or up front?”

“I want you both upfront, you’re a sitting duck in the back if we brake down or whatever.”

“True. At least I can shoot out of the back window now.”

A week before we’d taken out the back window and replaced it with some really thick chicken wire we’d found in one of the outbuildings. We’d bolted it on very tight, so it would be tougher for Infected to get through than the glass that had been there before. We’d done the same with the land rover and in the van we’d cut out holes that you could shoot through, then covered them with the same chicken wire.

“So where we going now Alex?” Sandy asked, worming her way under my arm to snuggle into my side.

“Well, to be honest, we’re not sure. We just have to get out of here. Echo are on the way and I don’t want to be here when they are.”

“No me neither. But I want to see them. Just to know what they look like.”

“I think they’ll probably look just like us. Possibly in uniform.” I answered, kissing the top of her head.

“They wear a black uniform.” Jacob said quietly. “They have this logo, it’s grey. It’s just the word Echo, but instead of an O, there’s this eye. It’s to show that they’re always watching. And they are you know. Satellites, cameras and recording devices that can pick up on the sounds your mouth makes when you’re not even talking. They’re always fucking there. Sorry.” He said, looking at Sandy.

“I always swear, tell us about Echo.” Sandy said quickly, I nodded.

“My dad used to work for them, in Mexico. He was a doctor. At first it was pretty normal. He worked on new painkillers, cures for different illnesses. It was just your average research. But then as he got more trusted, they asked him to work on more secret projects, instead of developing cures he was developing viruses. That was ok too, you have to know about a virus to cure it right? Then suddenly he was working on painkillers that shut down brain function, a hydration fluid that converted blood cells to water and bandages that infected wounds with gangrene. It was all so advanced, and so evil. My dad was scared, he couldn’t get out, and you don’t just leave a company like Echo. He told me everything he knew before he went to work one day. I think deep down he knew that was the day he’d die, they must have realised that he was catching on and didn’t like what he was finding out. I went on the run after that, then three weeks later all this happened. I did well staying alive and out of Echo’s way, but then slowly they’ve had more of a presence on the streets. I had everything on a pen drive, but a month ago Echo finally found me and I lost it, I’m pretty sure Echo didn’t get it but its all the way in Atlanta now.”

“What happened then?” I asked, we were still a little way out of town.

“They took me to a ‘safe zone’”

“What?” Kitty asked.

“You’ve not heard of them?” Jacob asked. “There’s about a hundred, scattered all over America, I’m fairly sure they’re a worldwide thing. They say that they’re safe, infection free. Plenty of food and water. That kind of thing. They want to round up all the survivors, see they’re using this as a way of gaining full control of the populace. Worldwide. My dad had a friend at Echo who was of the same mind set as him, he was moved to Italy, weaponry division. After the governments fell, about a week after the initial outbreak I got word from him. He called me on a public telephone. Don’t ask me how he did it. He told me to go underground, lay low, it wasn’t going to blow over, Echo were involved and they were going underground too. They planned to emerge after the smoke settled and to assume control. I’ve not heard from him since.”

“How haven’t we heard of the Safe Zones?” I wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, but be glad you haven’t, if you had would you have gone?” Jacob asked.

“Probably.” I answered truthfully. “Before we found out about Echo anyway.”

“Then there’s a good chance you’d be dead. They’re a breeding ground for disease. Dysentery, cholera, polio… I’ve seen the lot. And then there’s Echo itself. They say they’re doing ‘health checks’ they take a person away, say they could be a couple of days, then they’re never seen again, no one says anything because they’re scared and they have no where else to go. Then they tried to take the children. Everyone in the camp rioted, they were outraged and in all the madness there was a break in the fence. About four hundred others and me made a run for it, we split up and ran in every direction. I was with a group of about six others, one by one we got split up or killed until it was just me, I got on that highway and I couldn’t think of anything else apart from moving one foot in front of another. It’s a miracle I survived long enough for you to find me.”

“Well I’m glad you did. We wouldn’t have managed to get away otherwise, that and it feels like a blessing to find more survivors.” Kitty smiled reassuringly at Jacob.

“Ok guys, get ready.” I warned when we pulled into the outskirts of town.