Mark Clodi - Undead Advantage, a Zombie Chronicles Novel

The crowd slowly started disbursing, several people stayed around to see what their new leader would say, the kids all got back to being children, except Cage who clambered back up into Hank's chair with him.

"Hank we have moved the cars to the outer edges of the parking lot. Put them bumper to bumper so that the zombies have to crawl over or under them to get by. The lot is pretty big and we used the wrecker that Ted got from his work to move the cars into position. Now we have started closing off the main streets, putting cars right up to the buildings to expand our 'territory', by tonight I think we will have the walls far enough out to keep the slow zombies from being able to see the parking lot entirely. The fence is just outside the exit of the store, so the people cannot be seen by anything at the back. Plus we didn't have to use as much fencing because one long side is up against the building. The back of the store is a problem, there is a ravine behind it with two loading docks. There is enough room to line up cars, we just don't have enough of them yet to cover the whole back of the store. The ravine is not deep enough to keep the zombies from crossing it either. Some of the boys think that we can block the street off on the other side of the ravine, but that won't solve everything, there is a bike path on the other side too. We can block that off pretty easy, but it won't stop much either."

"So we maybe need to move? How many people are here now?" asked Hank.

"I don't know about moving Hank, the doc, he has opinions on the matter, wants us to move to the University of Colorado Hospital, up on Colorado Boulevard. Or maybe that newer facility further south, Sky Ridge. Me? I don't know it is like twelve miles to University and only four or so to Sky Ridge, but Doc says Sky ridge may not have everything we need medically, he thinks we will need and run out of the supplies they have in their emergency room pretty quickly. He didn't seem to want to go there, real negative on it and all. I think Sky Ridge is a better bet, from what he describes it is in suburbia, surrounded by landscaping and pretty big, there will be grocery stores not too far off to raid and stuff. As for the people, we have over two hundred now, but I can't say exactly how many. We have, well had ten minutes ago, twenty two people in the pen with bites too."

"Well probably you should have the doc come over here when he gets time, as I am not supposed to be moving around much. Go get a head count if you can. If people won't consent to penning if they got bit, then they have to move on, make it clear you think they are dumb asses for leaving. Try to get them to stay, we know, right now, that the bitten will turn, maybe not all of them, but lets make out like they all will. As for the penned, if the Doc ain't working them over with disinfectant and such, maybe we could assign his nurse, Beth, I think? To teach some of the boys to clean the wounds until they bleed again? At least it will look like we are trying, and maybe more won't turn, talk to Kevin, maybe he knows more about the guy who didn't turn after he was bit that he didn't tell me. Ask around if anyone else knows of people unaffected by the bites. Oh and Jack?"

Jack who had been turning to leave, turned back and looked questioning at Hank.

"You are going a good job with the cars and keeping things going, thanks. Watch out for any super fast zombies, they will eventually get guns, we didn't have any problems finding some."

Nodding Jack waved and headed off towards the front of the store. Juan sat looking at Hank and eventually Hank stopped ignoring him and turned to look at him. Juan had a huge smile on his face. "Cut it out Juan, you are right here with me and don't think for a second I will ever forget you getting me into this mess."

Juan gulped, then recovered and grinned again and said, "Sì amigo. You know we almost had some racial problems?"

"What? Already? Don't people have better things to do? What happened?"

"You are tired, I should let you rest, but I gotta tell you, it is a good story really and ends well. We had us eighty people in here, then all the others started showing up, from what I was told, a mix mostly of whites and Hispanics, a couple Black people. Well they started settling in and gravitated toward each other, like, you know, white guy comes in, heads towards white people, Hispanics did the same. Jack noticed, got a little pissy about it. Went and talked to everybody, made them mingle. You know what happened then?"

"Fist fight?"

"No! They did it! They picked their shit up and crowded in as a group. You believe that?"

"Not for a minute. What did Jack really do?"

"Really he just talked to them. I could not believe it myself. Now when people come in, they can stay with people they came with, but are mixed in with everyone else. Jack is pretty good."

"Sounds like he should be 'Jefe' to me, think I can dump it off on him?"

"No, no way, he made that pretty clear, he said he likes the idea of being a warrior, head of the military, but he thinks our government did that right, at least, put the civilian head of the government in charge of the military. He doesn't want anything to do with policing people though, 'infringing their rights' he called it."

"I think he means soldier, not warrior. A warrior fights on his own, like a gladiator, a soldier fights as part of a unit. Which is why soldiers win battles and warriors, individuals, lose them. Still I could have protested louder than him, had I been given the chance. That is pretty good about him and the police force, doesn't he realize he just became 'the man'?", Hank grumbled sleepily.

Juan nodded, then said, "Oh we know Hank, we know you can get loud, that is why we elected you how we did, amigo."

Cage had settled in for a nap and Hank roughed his hair up a bit and leaned back himself.

Twenty minutes later when the Doc came around he found the pair sleeping, Juan motioned him over closer to the televisions to talk.

"Heard the 'Jefe' wanted to see me?" Doc asked Juan.

"Yeah he had some questions about Sky Ridge and about cleaning the wounds of the guys in the pen. Maybe get the nurse to break out all the Hydrogen peroxide to clean up those with bits."

"Clean up the….no that wouldn't work. Their wounds are already infected, cleaning them out now would not do much goo…" Doc stopped as Juan shook his head.

"No Doc, it ain't for them, it is for everyone else, to make sure it looks like maybe we are at least trying to do something, besides maybe it will help someone, you never know. Could Betty take some of the boys around, show them how to clean up the mess and let them take over after that?"

"Oh I get it, yeah, my bedside manner has gotten kind of worn thin in this world of 'managed care', I can see how it would be a comfort to everyone else at least. Beth, my assistants name is 'Beth', not 'Betty'. Another nurse came in too, Charlie or something, a guy." Juan raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, I am 'old school' enough to still find that odd too, a male nurse, still there are, were, more and more of them lately, and the women nurses loved them for their muscles when dealing with unruly or unconscious patients. What did Hank want to know about Sky Ridge?"

"How big a place is it? Could we all fit? I don't think you are gonna find many of the people here have ever been there."

Doc knew what Juan was saying, the people holed up in the Mike's club were predominately from Juan's old neighborhood, which was in the bottom of the income bracket for the metro area, not quite the very bottom, but not high enough up the chain to have gone for treatment at a hospital like Sky Ridge either. "Well I worked a few shifts in their ER when they first opened, it has about eighty beds, but they don't have much in comparison to Denver General or even University Hospital, I suppose the place might do. There is only one main road going by the place and it is backed onto the highway, big fences just went up there last year, that would be good to keep any zombies on the road from seeing us. We could block the street off pretty easy. Easier than securing this place, there is no creek out back at Sky Ridge to contend with either. We'd have to move though, all these people and we need the food and stuff here, the generators would be handy but any hospital with a trauma center has generators. I will have to tell Jack to look out for a bus or two, plus semi-trailers to haul the food out of here. Maybe we keep this place as an outpost to guard the food and goods? Move the families over to Sky Ridge and clear the roads between the two places?"