Chapter 5

Leaving Home

After reloading and making a quick check around the property I went to the back porch and washed up just like Widow Allie asked. That is one woman I do not want to make mad. I entered the back door, remembering to wipe my feet, you only make that mistake once at Widow Allie’s house, and was greeted by the sight of nice old lady serving dinner to her daughter and three grandchildren. I knew I had met them before but for the life of me could not remember any names. Well when in doubt go with polite southern charm and speak.

“Miss Allie, thank you for having me over for dinner. I will take care of the mess outside after we eat if that is alright with you?”

“That’s fine Mark. Have a seat next to Stephanie, I need to get the pie out of the oven and then we can start.”

So her name is Stephanie. If I remember right she is the youngest of Allie’s three children and the only one that stayed local. Poor Stephanie looked a little overwhelmed at the whole situation. Her kids, the oldest a boy looked to be about nine or ten years old, followed by a girl who looked around kindergarten age and finally, another boy, a toddler of two or three. Hmm, no husband, I don’t remember her being divorced. That probably means that something bad happened to force her out here to her mom’s place.

“Miss Stephanie, it is a pleasure to see you and your family again.”

“Good evening, Mr. Evans. Momma said you would be by soon to visit and that you would help us out.”

So Widow Allie has already decided what is going to happen has she? I am going to have to be careful and navigate this situation to the best of my ability.

“Well Stephanie, I always try and lend a helping hand to others and your mom has been my good neighbor for years.”

That was rather ambiguous. Good, don’t commit to anything until you know what they want.

“Oh, quit your jawin you two and be quiet for grace. We can after dinner. Mark as the man of the house would you do the honors.”

Sneaky, she already set me up as the man of the house. I said grace and we all dug into what was a fine southern home cooked meal. Small talk was made and the meal passed quite pleasantly. If you ignored the fact that we were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse this was just like any other southern family get together. Every time I tried to bring up said zombies, the widow shut me down and said not at the table Mark. Eventually I gave up and just went with the flow. When dinner was finished, and dessert served Miss Allie gave the marching orders.

“Steph honey, you take care of the dishes, Barry you watch the little ones and Mr. Evans and I will take care of the mess outside.”

There was a chorus of yes ma’am, yes momma, and yes nanna. We all knew our place. Once outside widow Allie finally got around to the subject of what she needed.

“Listen Mark, my daughter lost her husband on the way to my house and I know that I cannot protect them as well as I want too. I need you to help out and make sure that my daughter and grandkids make it through this troubling time.”

I kept silent for a second while I put on the pair of gloves she handed me and started to drag the body of the zombie I had killed off her main property to the side.

“Miss Allie, I am going to be honest with you. My family is meeting down at mom’s place near Aiken. I am more than willing to take you and yours down with me. However, if we are going it has to be tonight, and you need to understand that there will probably be things done that most god fearing people would not approve of. I will do everything in my power to keep me and mine safe and if you decide to come with me it will include you and your daughter’s family.”

“I understand that things have changed and that circumstances will dictate what will happen. I also know that two women alone are not going to be able to keep those babies safe. We will come with you.”

“Thank you for making such a quick decision Allie. Now, I know Aiken is only about an hour and fifteen minutes away, but we need to pack as if it will take several days just in case. What kind of vehicle did your daughter arrive in?”

“They actually had to walk the last several miles because of no gas and other problems. I have my buick though.”

“That won’t work, we are going to need four wheel drive for the route we are taking. It should keep us safer that way. Load up your necessities in the back of that big 4 wheel drive farm truck of yours and I will be back in about fifteen minutes with Betsy. We can transfer my stuff into the back of the truck and I will drive it while you and your family can drive Betsy and follow me.”

“Thank you Mark and God Bless.”

With that I started back to my house at a much faster pace than I arrived. Thankfully it had been an early supper and we still had about an hour of light left to pack and get everything ready. When I got home I double checked my load out and locked everything up tight. Who know when if ever I would be back, but I held out hope that I would see my place again someday. I quickly drove over to Widow Allie’s place through the fields and avoided the road just to be safe. When I pulled up I could see her and Stephanie loading what they could into the back of the truck. The kids were nowhere to be seen.

“Evening ladies, are the kids inside.”

“Yes Mark, they are watching a movie so we can get this done.”

“Alright, let me explain the plan and then we can get packed and on the road as quick as possible. First off we are not going to take the main roads. In fact, we are going to take the access roads for power lines, which is why we need to have four-wheel drive. This should let us avoid most people and zombies that are out there. I will lead the way as I have traveled this route before in preparation. You need to stick close enough to see me, but far enough away that if I slam on the brakes, which I think I will several times due to animals, people, or the condition of the road, that you won’t hit me.”

“How long is this going to take us?”

“If everything goes perfect, around three to four hours. That is much longer than taking the road, but it is also much safer. The big issue is going to be crossing the Saluda River. We have to take the bridge, but hopefully no one will be there this late at night. Once we get past the bridge it will be back roads and trails all the way to the home ranch. When we get close I will stop and use the C.B. radio to let them know that we are headed in.”

“Mark, we only have the clothes we came in and the little bit mom has here at her house. What else should we bring?”

“Clothes won’t be a problem. What we need to concentrate on is food, water, and survival supplies. Miss Allie I want every first aid supply and long term food storage you have in the back of this truck in half an hour. Stephanie, you need to transfer enough from my vehicle into the back of the truck that you will all fit inside. Widow Allie, with your permission I am going to go raid your barns and storage sheds for your late husband’s hunting, fishing, and camping gear.”

“That is fine, let me get you the keys to the gun safe and the sheds.”

I like working with committed southern women. The questions are few and the jobs get down quickly. Once I had the keys, the ladies started loading with a will and I went exploring/shopping through Earl’s collection. Earl was married to Allie for over forty years before he passed on and was the quintessential good ole southern boy. I was able to locate and pack up three rifles, two handguns, assorted ammunition, and a reloading station just from his large gun safe. I also added to the travel pile a bunch of tarps, rope, sleeping bags, most of Earl’s fishing gear, and some assorted tools I knew would be helpful.

My most important find was Earl’s extensive bow and arrow collection. I knew that Earl was a hunter, but did not realize he was a bow hunting nut. He had five different compound bows, two cross bows, and several older style recurve and longbows. I grabbed all of it and every arrow I could find. This stuff was excellent. Guns are good, but once ammunition ran out, they were useless except as clubs. I had reloading gear and expected that ammunition while scarce won’t be a problem for several years, but having good and quiet back-ups was never a bad thing.

Everything was loaded up quicker than I thought possible and we were ready to go by 8 p.m. The last of the gear was tied down and each of Stephanie’s kids were tucked into their seats in Betsy.

“Alright ladies, let’s get this show on the road. Remember to stay close and if you have a problem honk. Please only honk in an emergency as the noise could attract undesirables. We will take a break every 45 minutes to an hour so I can make sure we are on track and everything is going fine. Are there any questions?”

Both of them nodded no and climbed into Betsy. I climbed up into the cab of the farm truck and started it up. To be on the safe side I had one shotgun, two rifles, and a pistol riding in the seat next to me. The shotgun was obviously for close up work. The pistol was for medium range. I had two different rifles for a reason. My first was a .30 .30 lever action rifle that had decent stopping power and range. Obvious enough why it was selected, my second was another .22 caliber rifle. Noise is a relative thing. There is no perfectly silent gun. Even those with silencers make some noise.

I once again chose the .22 caliber due to its versatility. It would scare off those who do not know guns. It would be underestimated by some uneducated gun nuts. Most importantly though was the sound of it firing only carries about a mile. Some people cannot even identify the sound of its firing after 800 meters. While it is not quiet, it is much more quiet than my other options. So if I had too I could use it and hopefully not alert everybody around that there was shooting happening. My suspicion was that the zombies were attracted to noise and a gunshot would bring both them and survivors to an area. Zombies would be looking for food and survivors could be either looking for help or to cause trouble. I was now responsible for more than just myself which complicated things, but every precaution I took helped reduce the danger.

The sun was starting to set and I started out slow from Widow Allie’s driveway. I could see the road fine without the headlights for now so left them off. It was the dwindling light that caused me to alter my plan slightly. I knew that I had 30 to 45 minutes of enough light to see by. If we traveled fast, we could make the 121 bridge over Saluda river in 20 minutes. That meant I could scout the situation out with the remaining daylight. This made more sense to me right now than attempting it in the dark. I knew that bridges were natural choke points and anyone good or bad would be attracted to them to limit travel if they wanted to control an area. I hoped that it was too soon for that type of thing to crop up, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I hit the gas and traveled above the speed limit down several back roads until we were within a mile of the bridge.