the window.”
“Fuck, Chivo. What do you think?”
Chivo shrugged and loudly tapped on the glass of the window before stacking with his teammates at the door for a fast entry.
Chivo squeezed Apollo’s shoulder. Apollo leaned forward to Odin and whispered, “Lots of flies, probably a dead body.”
“Sure, but nothing reacted to the knocking, so maybe we’ll be lucky. Slow and steady on this one.”
Odin gently pushed the door open and the smell of weeks-old death immediately overwhelmed the three. Apollo shook his head, flipped the NODs on the front of his helmet down, and pulled the shemagh around his neck up to cover his mouth and nose. M4 raised, Odin slowly walked into the house. Apollo and Chivo followed. Once inside they found the house neat and well-kept. The three small bedrooms were quickly cleared and the reason for the smell and the flies was also found. A bloated corpse, skin rippling from the insects underneath, lay dead in the blood-splattered bathtub. Most of the man’s skull was missing and a blood-covered chrome revolver lay on the floor next to the tub. Odin shut the door to the bathroom.
Chivo went outside and returned with Zennie’s body, carried him to the master bedroom and lay his brother-in-arms on the bed while he searched the dresser in the room for any supplies. A box of .38 +P ammo was found in a sock drawer, presumably for the revolver lying on the floor of the bathroom. Chivo set the box of ammo on the dresser and figured that no one would want to take the revolver and they didn’t need ammo for a gun they didn’t have.
Odin stood in the living room looking at a shadow box sitting on the shelf above the TV. He pointed to it. “Guys, check this out. Looks like this guy was a staff sergeant in the Marines and was a Vietnam Vet. Guess after all of that, this new world was too much of a fight for him.”
Apollo pointed to the case next to the shadow box. “Hand me that American flag.”
Oden opened the wooden flag case, removed the American flag, and handed it to Apollo. The three of them walked to the master bedroom with the flag. Chivo and Odin unfolded the flag and draped it over Zennie’s body. The three of them stood silently over their fallen teammate’s body before leaving the room and shutting the door behind them.
Searching the rest of the house for supplies took very little time as the home wasn’t very big. The cupboards were completely bare of any non-perishable food; in fact, no food was to be found at all. Odin shrugged. “Well, I guess we know one of the reasons why the old guy decided to check out.”
“I’m going to check that old truck in the backyard. Maybe we’ll get lucky. It’s old enough that it should have survived the EMP.” With that, Apollo made for the door, but stopped.
Even from inside the house the three of them stiffened at the sound of the moaning undead. Chivo gently pushed the curtain across the front window aside. “Amigos, there’s probably two dozen walking corpses out there.”
“Is the fence still up and closed?” Apollo asked.
“Yeah, looks like it.”
“Good. I’m still going to check the truck.”
Apollo walked out of the side door and returned about ten minutes later. Chivo still stood by the front window with the curtain pulled aside.
“Hey, it’s an old Ford Ranger back when that was a full-sized truck. The battery seems to be good and I poured the lawn mower gas into the tank. The dash lit up and the gauge showed half a tank, but who knows if that’s right or if that gauge still works. I think we now have wheels, but the Chrysler is in the way and we’ve got to do something about the walkers at the fence.”
Odin spoke first. “If we clear out the walkers, we can push the car out of the way.”
Chivo turned away from the window. “Sure, but there are more of those fuckers shuffling our direction. We don’t have the ammo for this. We need a distraction. But we don’t have a plan yet. Once we leave here,
“Fuck, Chivo. What do you think?”
Chivo shrugged and loudly tapped on the glass of the window before stacking with his teammates at the door for a fast entry.
Chivo squeezed Apollo’s shoulder. Apollo leaned forward to Odin and whispered, “Lots of flies, probably a dead body.”
“Sure, but nothing reacted to the knocking, so maybe we’ll be lucky. Slow and steady on this one.”
Odin gently pushed the door open and the smell of weeks-old death immediately overwhelmed the three. Apollo shook his head, flipped the NODs on the front of his helmet down, and pulled the shemagh around his neck up to cover his mouth and nose. M4 raised, Odin slowly walked into the house. Apollo and Chivo followed. Once inside they found the house neat and well-kept. The three small bedrooms were quickly cleared and the reason for the smell and the flies was also found. A bloated corpse, skin rippling from the insects underneath, lay dead in the blood-splattered bathtub. Most of the man’s skull was missing and a blood-covered chrome revolver lay on the floor next to the tub. Odin shut the door to the bathroom.
Chivo went outside and returned with Zennie’s body, carried him to the master bedroom and lay his brother-in-arms on the bed while he searched the dresser in the room for any supplies. A box of .38 +P ammo was found in a sock drawer, presumably for the revolver lying on the floor of the bathroom. Chivo set the box of ammo on the dresser and figured that no one would want to take the revolver and they didn’t need ammo for a gun they didn’t have.
Odin stood in the living room looking at a shadow box sitting on the shelf above the TV. He pointed to it. “Guys, check this out. Looks like this guy was a staff sergeant in the Marines and was a Vietnam Vet. Guess after all of that, this new world was too much of a fight for him.”
Apollo pointed to the case next to the shadow box. “Hand me that American flag.”
Oden opened the wooden flag case, removed the American flag, and handed it to Apollo. The three of them walked to the master bedroom with the flag. Chivo and Odin unfolded the flag and draped it over Zennie’s body. The three of them stood silently over their fallen teammate’s body before leaving the room and shutting the door behind them.
Searching the rest of the house for supplies took very little time as the home wasn’t very big. The cupboards were completely bare of any non-perishable food; in fact, no food was to be found at all. Odin shrugged. “Well, I guess we know one of the reasons why the old guy decided to check out.”
“I’m going to check that old truck in the backyard. Maybe we’ll get lucky. It’s old enough that it should have survived the EMP.” With that, Apollo made for the door, but stopped.
Even from inside the house the three of them stiffened at the sound of the moaning undead. Chivo gently pushed the curtain across the front window aside. “Amigos, there’s probably two dozen walking corpses out there.”
“Is the fence still up and closed?” Apollo asked.
“Yeah, looks like it.”
“Good. I’m still going to check the truck.”
Apollo walked out of the side door and returned about ten minutes later. Chivo still stood by the front window with the curtain pulled aside.
“Hey, it’s an old Ford Ranger back when that was a full-sized truck. The battery seems to be good and I poured the lawn mower gas into the tank. The dash lit up and the gauge showed half a tank, but who knows if that’s right or if that gauge still works. I think we now have wheels, but the Chrysler is in the way and we’ve got to do something about the walkers at the fence.”
Odin spoke first. “If we clear out the walkers, we can push the car out of the way.”
Chivo turned away from the window. “Sure, but there are more of those fuckers shuffling our direction. We don’t have the ammo for this. We need a distraction. But we don’t have a plan yet. Once we leave here,
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