'Piece of cake for us, what will you do when they come back?'
Jeff grinned again, 'Kill them.'
Jack's face fell into a frown, they all knew how unlikely it was for a human to win against a super zombie. The things were fast and strong and did not feel pain. Only a blow to the head could kill them and they just kept coming until that blow was landed. The boy shook his head 'no'.
'Okay then you keep them distracted for long enough for me to get a few blocks over and we will circle around and come back another way.'
Jack nodded agreement with this plan, then whispered, 'We will go back to the first line and make a distraction, not too close to here.'
'Good plan, do it.'
Jack went to explain the plan to Willy while Nadine came up to Jeff. He gave her the brief synopsis of what they were going to do and made sure she was ready. Jeff was certain this was a risky maneuver, but he was equally sure that this strange behavior was no good for the inhabitants of Doraville, they needed to find out what was going on.
Chapter 28
'What the fuck is it?' Dora yelled into a walkie-talkie. She was still not feeling good and sure she was about ready to throw up again. It was past midnight and she was supposed to have been asleep two hours ago at Mary's orders. Her yell brought Mike running in his boxers to her room, with Roger's military rifle in his hands. She waved him off in the dim light of the single LED she kept lit on the dresser next to all the walkie-talkies. Mike mumbled something incoherently and moved over to sit on a chair next to Roger's dresser.
The radio crackled and static made the words hard to hear, 'Do-problem you nee-with. Over.'
'Problem. I got that there is a problem, where at? Who is this?'
'Sharon, Peter, Willy out at th- land. Over.'
Sharon? Dora thought for a second, Paige moved in from the hallway to stand in the doorway. 'You hear that? Sharon, where is she tonight?'
'The trench, with Mary's kid and…uh, Sally, I think she is giving them breaks tonight. Willy? He was out earlier with Jeff on a scout, they hadn't come back yet. They must have found something.' Paige disappeared from the doorway, Dora did not doubt for a second she was going to get dressed and head over to the wasteland trench.
Speaking slowly and clearly into the radio Dora said, 'Sharon we are on our way over there now. Do you need more help than the three of us?'
'May-. Coul-bring coffee and bandages?'
'Do you need the doctor?'
'Negative. No Mary needed. Just — f ban-ges.'
'Affirmative, we are on our way, be there in ten.' to Mike Dora said, 'Get dressed lover, time to go to work. Paige! Put a pot on will ya?'
Sammy Jenkins came running up the stairs to Dora's house, almost colliding with Mike. The little boy was eight years old and had the formal 'night shift' manning the clinic. This meant that he was supposed to wake up Dora if anything happened and that he had to try and stay awake as long as he could. Dora had come up with the idea for using the little kids for duties like this to stretch their manpower as far as possible. Even if the kid fell asleep it was rarely a big deal, they would wake up when the doors started getting pounded or when their walkie- talkies went off. One universal trait all the survivors seemed to share was sleeping light and waking up fast.
That didn't mean they weren't grumpy though, thought Dora, pulling on her clothing with reluctance and looking at her bed with longing. Sammy just stared at her as she changed, not saying anything. The boy didn't react to Dora's casual nudity or turn away.
He nodded. Sammy was not big on talking and looked as if he had been sleeping too. 'Got cocoa. Just made it before you started yelling.'
'You know how to make coffee?'
The boy shook his head.
'Ah well hot water is good. You were still awake?'
Sammy nodded his head and said softly, 'Yeah.'
'Pretty good. Pretty damn good, kid. Anything else happen tonight?'
'Just talk. Willy came back. With Jack. No Jeff. No Nadine.'
'Oh.'
'I liked Jeff. He was teaching me to sign.'
'I liked him too, doesn't mean something happened to him.'
Sammy just looked at her with his big brown eyes, then turned and went down the stairs without nodding or saying anything.
'Fuck.' Dora said softly. Jeff was a decent guy, had a way with the kids, like Alex and Mary. And he wasn't all religious and crap like they were. Going to her closet Dora pulled on some tennis shoes and headed to the kitchen.
In the kitchen Paige already had a large thermos filled with coffee, she had used a French press and taken the hot water from Sammy to brew a quick pot.
'Any left?'
Paige handed her a medium sized travel mug, then another to Mike, before the trio headed out the door she grabbed a third mug for herself. Dora noted with some disgust that her cup was the smallest.
'How come I always get short straw these days?' she asked Paige while lifting her mug up.
'I didn't see any point to wasting it, you got the flu right? Chances are you are just going to toss it back up. How are you feeling?'
'Fine.' Dora said in an even tone, 'Thirsty, in need of caffeine, but otherwise fine.'
The small group made their way up the street and greeted one of the men walking around on watch, he was smoking a cigarette and nodded as he passed. On the rooftops Dora could see other people on guard and tracking them with their scopes.
'I feel so secure. Remind me to be really, extra nice at the next town meeting.' Dora said.
'Why?' asked Paige.
'Well in our new democracy everyone has a gun and takes turns pointing it at people from a rooftop. I wouldn't want there to be any mistakes.'
'Everyone loves you, Dora. You got nothing to worry about.'
Dora shrugged her shoulders and said nothing in reply. She was getting angry however, as the coffee went down her desire to puke it back up had grown stronger. Finally she could not hold it in anymore and took two quick steps off of the sidewalk to vomit on the grass where it would not be noticed.
'You okay? You better see Mary about this, it's been two days already.'
Dora waved her hand, shooing Paige away as she stood up and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. 'It'll pass, it always does. I wonder how many people the flu is going to kill this year with no vaccinations?'
'God, why would you say such a thing?'
Shrugging again Dora stood up straight and started walking. 'We will have to think about it eventually, we are lucky half of us are not down at once, what would we do for the perimeter guards then?' Tapping the side of her head, Dora continued, 'See? Your beloved leader thinks of these things so you peasants can just play and have fun all day long. I am lucky my hair isn't gray yet.'
They turned right at the end of the block and headed towards the inner fence. There was one kid on guard there and he was dozing in his seat. Dora thought he looked about eight years old.
'Wakey-wakey and open the gatey-gatey.' she said to him poking his chest with her rifle barrel. The boy
