Chapter 14

Lone Wolf

I slow down my driving speed and make my way to the next pawn shop. It should be a couple blocks over from here. I make a lap around the place before deciding where to park. I study the building as I drive around. It looks like any other closed store. I think I should go through the back door. That makes more sense and keeps Betsy hidden. I pull into the adjacent alley and see the door that has to lead into the interior of the shop. I cautiously park and grab the shotgun, the .45 pistol, the .22 pistol and of course my axe-bar. If anything is going to happen it is going to be at close range. A rifle would just be a liability. I am just about to pry open the back door when I realize that I have not even checked to see if it is locked.

I try the door handle and yes it is locked. I knew it probably was, but then I would have felt like an idiot if it was unlocked and I tried to force it open. I use my axe-bar to force the door open. It was a steel security door, but luckily they had placed it in a wooden frame. That was a major flaw in many people’s security system. They buy this expensive and trustworthy crime free door and then place it in a regular wooden frame. Well a thief may not be able to get through a steel door easily, but shattering the wood frame it is in and forcing a door open is. Since they had secured it on the cheap and I was the first one to force it open I have high hopes for finding what I need.

I place my axe-bar back on my hip belt and get my shotgun ready. I slowly enter the pawn shop to very dim light and darkness. I quickly back out. Stupid Mark. Of course it is going to be dark. No one is in there to turn on lights. Lights are only going to work for another couple of days anyway. I walk back to Betsy and find a head lamp and put it on. Let’s try this again without mistakes hopefully this time. I reenter the pawn shop to search for threats first and then to hopefully loot the place. There has to be a better and safer way than stumbling around by the light of a flashlight looking for zombies. I know, I remember this from a zombie novel I read years ago. From what I have observed of these zombies it should work. Zombies respond to noise, I just need to make some noise and they should come to me.

I don’t have to be too loud as I don’t want to attract them from outside the store, but a whistle of some kind or some quitter thumping should get a reaction from anything in the store zombie or not. I whistle a little bit and then listen. No moaning or movement sounds. This might not be perfect but it should work. I still start exploring carefully, but I feel a little more relaxed now that there was no response to my sound trick. After exploring for a few minutes I find the display case I am looking for.

There are several pistols, rifles and shotguns with ammunition below the rifle and shotgun case. I scrounge around the store and find some plastic totes and three empty military ammo boxes. I place two 9mm glocks, a semi-automatic .45 pistol, another .22 pistol, two .38 revolvers, along with a lone .357 magnum into one of the plastic totes. I also put in cleaning kits, holsters, and as much of their ammo as I can find. I grab two 20 gauge and another 12 gauge shotguns. I also find several rifle of similar caliber to what I already have and grab a back up of each. I load the second tote and metal ammo boxes with as much ammunition as they can hold. As a bonus I grab a couple of compound bows and arrows and several rifle telescopes. I have to shift some of my supplies to the rack on top of Betsy, but I would rather have too much than not enough.

All told I significantly increased my ammo to the tune of thousands of rounds for my main weapons and hundreds of rounds for some of the others. It is time to move on. While I am enjoying my lone wolf routine I realize that long term this is not going to work. I know eventually I will have the family following me, but I want to have a few things ready for when they get down to the island. For that I am going to need a little help. My main problem is how to go about recruiting and vetting people. The vetting process is probably not going to happen. I will have to take some risks and hope for the best. People that I help out will be more likely to respond well to me, so from now on I need to think about rescue of people I see instead of ignoring them.

With my new save the people policy in place I start for Allendale. My plan is to find an abandoned house and hole up on the outskirts of the city tonight. It is the largest town between here and Hilton Head, so I can also scrounge for survivors that might help and supplies if needed. Allendale is about 20 miles further down 278. I decide I will pull another stop and shoot about halfway around the Kline area and then look for a place to hole up.

My plan surprisingly worked quite well and around dusk I find a nice house outside of Allendale with an open garage and no car in it or the driveway. I back Betsy into the garage and close it behind me and easily clear and check the house. Nothing and nobody here. I lock everything up and then drag a couple of mattresses to the garage. I want to be comfortable, but I also want to be close to my supplies. I need to relax and do some math.

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I was not seeing enough zombies. I know that sounds weird, but for the end of the world and the zombie apocalypse it was strange. I need to do the math to try and figure out what is going on. Okay Mark try and remember the numbers they quoted on T.V. Around 80% of people were getting infected with the zombie virus. That means 8 out of ten people got the virus, so 20 % of the population was not infected. That alone is 70 million uninfected people. About 10% of those infected were immune, and it tended to run in families so some genetic reason probably. That is another 35 million survivors. So far one third of the country should be okay. However, it also means that two thirds of the country should be zombies.

That means in a town of 3,000 like Barnwell that I passed through there should have been almost 2,000 zombies. There was nowhere near that many. I mean I know I did not cruise up and down the streets, but my engine noise should have drawn a lot more zombies than it did. Even the ones following me on 278 have been less in number. Where are all the zombies? Wait a second not everyone that was infected could have become a zombie. Some of them must have just passed on due to the severity of the infection. Someone with a weak immune system probably would not survive long enough to turn into a zombie. So let’s be generous and say 15% of those infected just died. That takes my 2,000 zombies in Barnwell down another 300 to only 1,700 zombies.

I bet another 15% of them give or take are trapped in places they cannot get out of or have been killed by people, animals, or other zombies. That means Barnwell should have had 1,400 zombies. Still more than I can account for. Something else is going on. Think Mark. Migration! People must have tried to get where they felt safe. I would guess about 10% would probably move to where they felt safe, a family members house, military base, or big city with good health care. That would mean another 200 zombies would not be in Barnwell. Down to 1,200 zombies now. If I am generous I would guesstimate around 900 to a 1,000 zombies in Barnwell. I lured probably 100 out with my shooting and engine noise and killed them.

My math gets me close enough to the number of zombies I estimate I have seen to be happy. Now however is the problem of people. I have seen survivors but also not as many as expected. It has only been a week and the power is still on if spotty. I bet many people are holed up still and will only venture out when they have too. Some of the others probably have gone to shelters set up by the government before the system broke down. They won’t stay there long. I probably have a window of two to three days before a mass exodus of survivors comes out to loot and make things more difficult. Around 5% of the population is in nursing homes and probably did not make it. Several people have become zombie chow. Humanity is dwindling fast.

Ah man I am going to have to speed things up and go looking for help. I guess tomorrow will be looking for evacuation shelters, probably schools and trying to recruit people that I need. How can I get them to come along and cooperate though? I guess I am going to have to make that trip to Wal-Mart after all. Nothing says join my group like a mountain of supplies that can take care of your family. I go to sleep thinking about everything I need to do tomorrow to get ready.

I wake up in the morning and head into the house I am staying at to scrounge for fresh food. No need to dig into my supplies if not necessary. I find some eggs in the fridge and fry them up on their stove real quick. I was about to try to make some pancakes when the power went out. That should be it. The power plants are starting to fail. This is going to speed up the exodus of people and make things a little more difficult. I quickly eat my eggs and several bowls of cereal. Who knows the next time I am going to be able to have fresh milk. With breakfast over I start up Betsy and make my way towards the Wal-Mart. Hold on, I need to get something to haul stuff in first. I remember this as I see the trailer section outside of a tractor supply store. I quickly pull into the parking lot and use some bolt cutters to liberate a nice large 6 X 14 foot trailer. I hook it up to the back of Betsy and decide to try and recruit first and hit Wal-Mart with back up.

After five more minutes of driving I see Allendale-Fairfax High School home of the Tigers come into view with barb wire and sandbags around the entrances. I can see at least a dozen zombies wandering about in the parking lot and with the two dozen or so following me this should provide a great introduction and demonstration of my power and commitment. I pull up in front of the main entrance and make sure nothing is within fifteen feet before getting out. I quickly grab my .45 carbine, .45 pistol, and fill my pockets with shells to refill my weapons. The .22 is still in my shoulder holster. I step out and set the rifle on the hood of Betsy. Zombies are closing in, I have enough time to grab the two now loaded 9mm pistols from the passenger seat and proceed to eliminate the zombies as they approach. 28 9mm bullets later there are 15 less zombies and I toss the now empty pistols back in the vehicle and close the open driver’s side door. I now pick up the carbine off of the hood and use the ten bullets in it to clear the immediate area. I use the pause to reload and then finish off the last six zombies that I see.

I reload the rifle one more time and then look to the school entrance. Standing there looking at me are several people including at least two police officers. Oh man, I hope this goes well. I approach the group and speak in my most confident voice.

“Hi there folks. My name is Mark Evans and I am looking for some volunteers. I want to go and get some supplies from the local Wal-Mart and I need a few people to help. I am willing to trade half of whatever we get to this group for the help. I am also looking for anyone with skills that would help set up a survivor group down in the islands. If either of these things interest anybody please come out and talk to me.”