Stopping the Dead by Cy Gunther Read Free Book Online Page B

children will be safe here.”
    Ernst nodded.  “They should be fine.  I built this for about fifty people, if it was needed.  There’s enough food and supplies for at least a few year s , if not longer, and I made sure that it could stand against basic assaults by living people.  I’m assuming that we’ll be okay against the dead, but we’ll figure that out as we go.”
    “Okay.”  He switched back to Chinese.  “It should be.  And I’ll make sure that we do our best with it.”
    Emily nodded, then, is careful English she said, “Thank you.”
    “So,” Terrence said, turning his attention to Ernst, “how big is this place, and why the hell did you build it?”
    “Well, this main warehouse has four floors, three of them sub.  Tunnels lead off to two more warehouses, each currently sealed off completely from outside access.  And as to why I built it,” Ernst shrugged.  “I’m a paranoid.  I thought that with all of the political insanity in the US that eventually we’d break down and rip ourselves apart.  I wanted to be ready for it, and ready to have a place for people to live safely.  Plus I have, or had, a lot of money.  I donated a lot of it, but there was still a ton left over.  I got bored.”
    Terrence looked around the well lit room, recessed lights in the drop ceiling. The chairs were high end board room chairs, and the room even had its own coffee maker and mini-fridge.
    “How do you power all of this?” he asked.
    “Solar power.  The roofs of all three warehouses are actually covered in panels, plus I own most of the other warehouses around here.  Quite a few of them have solar panels as well.”
    Terrence shook his head.  “That must have cost you a lot.”
    “A real lot,” Ernst smiled.  “But it’s worth it.  Emily and her kids can have this room, if she wants.  I’m sorry that I don’t have any toys, or anything to keep them entertained, but we can certainly make this private and livable for them.”
    “Thank you,” Terrence said.  “I’ll tell her,” and he switched to Chinese, relaying Ernst’s offer to her.  Emily nodded, looked at Ernst and bowed her head.  
    “So,” Terrence said, “what’s our long term plan here?”
    “Really don’t know,” Ernst said. 
    “Well,” Terrence said, finishing his coffee, “let’s figure that out.”

Ernst
     
    Ernst sat in front of the laptop, flipping through the images that were still being fed in by cameras.  They were down to about thirty images, generators already dying in some places, or stolen.
    Ernst relit his pipe.  The warehouse was quiet, but different.  The fact that there were others with him was odd.
    He flipped the screen over to the security cameras around the warehouse.  A score or so of dead walked around the walls at various places, but none tried to get in.  At the gate though, thirty three of them pressed against it, arms trying to push through the bars, mouths open.  Ernst could hear them in his head.  Just at the far end of the front camera’s range he saw a pair of dead moving towards the gate, one walking, the other dragging itself along, legs missing.
    They’d spent most of the third day burning bodies, using machetes to kill the occasional one that stumbled on them.  They were trying to avoid noise, to attract any more of the dead to them.
    Or anyone else that might be listening.
    Earlier in the evening, at dinner, Emily – through Terrence – had told them that they should use spears instead of machetes to kill the dead that got too close.  Adam and Terrence said that they’d fabricate a few in the machine shop in the morning, figure out what was best.
    Ernst stifled a yawn and flipped the screen back to the city’s cameras.
    Nothing.  Just more images of the dead, and the undead.
    Shaking his head he turned his attention to the Ham radio he’d brought out and set up beside the laptop.  He picked up the headset, fit one earpiece on snuggly, and turned the radio