Full Summary:

What if the rest of the US had a lot longer to prepare for the zombie apocalypse? What if there were people out there that were immune to the zombie bites and were the cure to us all? What if Sofia had never been bitten? How would survivors from the hardest hit regions react to seeing so many alive?

Scorched Earth:

When word came from the East about what had been happening we knew that we had to act fast or die soon. My father had been a truck driver his whole life. Having grown up on the road, he'd taught me how to drive a big-rig and how not to get myself killed in doing so. He always told me that one day I would be a truck driver and I needed to know everything about the road if I was going to live on it. I don't think even he knew how important it would be for me to know how to drive a big-rig.

When we learned what was happening and about the Mass Exodus from the East, a wall was built, right down the middle of North America. If you lived East of the wall, you were screwed. If you lived West of the wall, you could prepare and be better equipped and suited to survive. We had been stopped at a truck stop headed back home to Oregon. Dad did the smartest thing he could do. We retrofitted the truck from diesel powered to solar powered, sound proofed the truck and trailer, revamped the trailer so people could be safe, making sure the back door could be locked from the inside and out and then hit up the local grocery store. We weren't the only ones.

Other truckers had seen our revamping and decided to follow suit. Since I had grown up around most of these guys, they had been like my uncles and sometimes aunts. They knew that if my dad and I were preparing for the worst, there had to be a reason. They soundproofed their rigs and trailers, doing what we did by setting up metal bunk beds and filling totes with canned food and bottled drinks. Tables were bolted to the floors to make sure nothing rattled, carpet was laid on the floors with padding on most of the walls. There was a ladder leading to a hatch in the roofs, for easy access if needed. The rigs were converted to solar power so we didn't have to stop for gas.

Once everything was revamped and upgraded with enough food and water to get us home, dad and I got into the truck, both with weapons on us just in case and we left the truck stop. Fifty semi-trucks with trailers of their own followed us out. We kept to the back roads knowing people would want to leave the safety of the highways and headed for the one place we knew would be safe: Eureka, Oregon.

Eureka was our home and was where our friends lived. It also had an EM Shield that we hoped could be rejiggered enough to only allow official vehicles with the right codes through the barrier, officially cutting off the possibility that any Walkers/Zombies could gain access to the entire town, forest and lake included.

As we passed towns on the outskirts of civilization, we picked up people that genially wanted a safe place to live from the world that was slowly being overtaken by the dead. They stayed in the back, though most had weapons of their own. The belongings they brought with were memories of a life no one wanted to forget.

We had just entered Montana and were passing through a small town controlled by a Militia-like group when we learned what was going on. The Militia had been out at the Wall one week earlier so they really did know what had happened. As we heard it, the Wall had been overrun by a horde, though thankfully many people had already fled the area along the Wall. With the Wall gone, there was nowhere safe to run to. Our group made the decision to pick up the militia and anyone that wanted to leave their homes behind. The Militia accepted, adding weapons to our fleet that we needed. Many people decided to come with us but overall ½ the town stayed behind. They would fight for their homes the only way they knew how, by sheer force.

We left the town with many more vehicles then when we entered it, mainly because the Militia had military vehicles that could be used as defense and transport. Animal trailers had horses and cows even chicken and pigs. We would need them to stay alive when we got to Eureka. Though we would lose a few good people on the way, including my own father, but the information we gained led us to believe that there was a cure for this plague like the plagues before it. We would survive but we would not be unscathed.

We lost dad in Idaho. We had stopped for the night at a local truck stop that had been all but abandoned. Dad, my friends Kris, Jack and I were searching the Diner when we heard a commotion in the back. Jack, Kris & I had filled our bags full of coffee ingredients as well as many non-perishable foods that we could find. Dad had been in the Kitchen doing something. Before any of us could head into the kitchen, I heard Dad screaming. I was through the door first. A zombie had been in the kitchen unable and unwilling to get out. There were two dead bodies which looked like they'd been snacked on for a while. Dad was lying on the ground, his throat ripped out. The zombie saw me and lunged, latching his teeth onto my arm in the process. Jack killed it and Kris made sure to put a bullet in dads head, then we headed back to the trucks. We were practically running, we needed the safety of the trucks.

Once back at the trucks, Wes, who was Kris' brother, took a look at my arm. He bandaged it, said we'd have to keep an eye on me and then told Jack and Kris they would be driving my truck until further notice. We never buried Dad as it was too dangerous. However, we did set fire to the Diner. We didn't want anyone else getting eaten for no reason. We left that truck stop the next morning after burning the Diner. Jack was driving as Kris was keeping an eye on me. All radio contact to Wes was to keep him up to date on how fast I deteriorated. If I started to get a fever and declined fast, the convoy needed to pull over and deal with the growing threat.

But it didn't exactly happen that way. We were making our way across the southern part of eastern Washington when the fever hit. I had told Jack that if it came down to it, that he was to put a bullet in my head so I wouldn't come back from the dead. No one thought that this was possible let alone could have ever happened. Stopping at a truck stop in order to deal with me, Kris and Jack got out of the truck to talk to Wes leaving me and the keys in the truck. I immediately moved into the front seat, locking the doors in the process. When Jack turned around, I had the CB in my hand and was tuning it to lock onto Carter's old CB radios. If I could get ahold of Carter or Jo, I could get them to help us get back to Eureka. And with any luck, they'd send Martha ahead of them so we'd know help was on the way. Besides, it wasn't like they could shoot the truck up anyways. Being from Eureka, the truck and trailer were entirely bullet proof including the wheels.

When I got ahold of Jo, I explained the situation and told her that we were near Vancouver, about two days trip from Eureka. Jo said she'd dispatch Marth and her cohorts immediately. She also said that Zane, Carter, Henry and she would be leaving tomorrow after getting in the appropriate vehicles and gear. I thanked her and that it would probably be best if they brought a couple Hazmat suits as well since I'd been bitten a couple days back. I also told her that Dad was dead. She said she'd spread that information around. We said goodbye and I opened the truck, climbing out. I got a gun to the head after I climbed down.

"Eureka is sending help. The first wave should be here by tonight. The second wave will be here by tomorrow night. Have any questions?"

"Yeah, what do you mean by the 'First Wave'?"

"Martha is a drone that has human emotions. She was built by a scientist who believed her to be his daughter. He also built four other drones. They are on their way here now. They will form a ring around the convoy tonight and kill any Walkers that try to cross the barrier they form."

"Got this all figured out. You're trying to hold back the inevitable. You will be dying and when you do, one of us will be putting a bullet in your head."

"I understand that, but I'm not trying to stop the inevitable. There are scientists in Eureka that can make a cure if they have a living victim."

"So, you're waiting for them to become an experiment? Why?" Kris asked.

"Because if I'm right, there will be a cure inside me."

"But when you die, they'll keep you alive. Do you really want that?" Jack asked.

"My friends won't subject me to that."

"YOUR friends?"

"Eureka is my home. I was born there."

"No wonder you're taking the convoy there. What makes you so sure Eureka is safe from Walkers?"

"The town has an EM shield that covers the entire town, forest, lake, mountains, everything. The 'Shield' was rejiggered a little so that no Walkers would be able to pass through the barrier. It's simple math."

"So, it's just simple math to you? No wonder you were a little off." Jackson said.

"Oh come on Jackson, you knew from the moment you joined our convoy that I was a little off, hell everyone knew that. Being from Eureka doesn't mean anything; it just means that I come from a long line of scientists, that's all."

How will the Convoy react when Martha and her cohorts show up? How will they react when Walkers start to attack the Convoy and Martha and her cohorts keep them at bay?

More to come in next chapter…

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