Chapter Seven: Shamblers
"You guys okay? Over." Juno asked through the walkie.
She could see Ashley shakily wipe her brow before grabbing the walkie, "I'm okay." she panted, "Not bit, thanks, Juno. Over."
Juno sighed in relief. "What about the kids? Are they bit? Over."
Marcy and Ashley turned to the kids, both were in tears and clinging to their saviors, and checking them for wounds. Only a moment passed before Ashley responded once more, "No, they're clean. Over."
"Alright, take them inside. Pipi is going to be happy to see her big brother and sister. Over." Juno instructed.
"Hey, Juno?" Kathy questioned over the walkie, "I'm seein' some dead ones moving 'round front. Over."
Shit.
The shouting and screaming must have brought out some of the hidden geeks.
"On it." Juno stated as she turned around and began walking to the side of the building getting ready to jump onto the other roof again, before asking Kathy, "Are they getting too close to the front? Over."
"Naw, just a couple more shufflin' onto the street... The Miller twins' parents and Ethan's mama are among them. Over."
Fuck. That's three more kids without parents.
She jumped onto the Arnold's roof confidentially before positioning herself to the front and bringing the scope back up to her face. Juno could see the... shamblers (because that's what they were doing with their strange waddling walk as they dragged their feet on the pavement) Kathy had pointed out before aiming and firing. Six more down. The other three geeks had been elderly, among them had been Mr. Webber's wife Sylvia, old Mr. Taylor the town plumber who'd taken in his troublesome grandkid for the summer, and poor Mary... the Craft store owner had been Juno's first friend when she'd moved to Georgia. Hell, Juno knew for a fact that her mother tended to call the old woman Friday evenings to get the real scoop onto what Juno had been up to during the week.
The majority of the geeks she'd taken out were Pogonip residents that she'd seen every day for the last five years. More than half of the population of Pogonip, dead by her hand. Counting Taylor's grandson Johnny, and Mark's two sisters, Jenny's big brother Juan (her parents were on the mainland, most likely in clinic considering that they were doctors) they were the only kids on the island left unaccounted for (since she wasn't counting the Kim's three older kids, their mother Margaret was a firm believer in chores and had them helping out on the farm). Adult-wise the only people she hasn't seen stumbling around were Hank Arnold and any of the Kim family.
All the others were gone.
She had even spotted Mr. Hammer, the ferry operator, and Mrs. Geller, Liam's mama, among the bodies lying on the street. That explained how an infected individual got onto the island. Juno would have to get onto the Rec Centers roof again and look through some binoculars to see if there were any cars (baring Mrs. Geller's Jeep) to see if she needed to keep an eye out for any unknown adult shamblers prowling about. More importantly though with Mrs. Geller gone, another one of her kids was an orphan now, Liam's daddy had gone MIA over in Afghanistan two weeks ago and his closest grandparents lived in one of the Carolina's.
This was going to be a problem. The majority of the survivors under their care were children. Not only were they children, but they also fell under the category of toddlers. They wouldn't be able to defend themselves or even know that they are in danger, hell more than half of them couldn't even speak properly yet or wipe their own ass. Juno was getting a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had somehow just become a parent to twenty plus children. How the hell was she going to be able to feed them all? Clothe them? Care for them?
She needed to relax. Who knew how long this disaster was going to last anyway? Maybe her father was wrong, and this would all blow over in a year or two?
Fuck it.
Fuck it all.
Her dad was never wrong.
An extremely annoying quality of his, that never failed to get on his children's nerves. This was going to be the rest of her life, and Juno could only hope that she would survive it along with her family and reunite with them one day.
The only good part of her day so far was that she had noticed a distinct lack of Korean shamblers in the fray, which meant that it was possible that the Kim family was not only alive but completely unaware of the world going to hell around them. Damn. That also meant that they were in danger of being attacked unaware of the situation.
"Hey, Kathy? You there? Over." Juno questioned as she continued to surveil the street.
"Yeah, Juno. Is everythin' good up there? Ya see something? I haven' seen nothin' change on the monitors. Over."
"Streets still clear, Kathy. But I was wondering if you could call the Kim's, I haven't seen any Korean geeks out here and I was thinking we may want to warn them. Over."
The walkie was silent for a moment, "Shit, good idea. I'll call 'em right now. Ya comin' down soon? Over." she questioned.
"Yeah, I'll be down in ten minutes. I'm going to go over onto the Rec again to see if I can spot the docks. There may some shamblers there that we don't know about. Over."
"Sounds good, let me know when you're free. Over." Kathy agreed.
"I'll be here when you're ready. Over." Ashley spoke up, she'd forgotten about the red-head for a moment.
"Thanks, Ashley. Over."
Juno made it onto the Rec rooftop in record time, using the scope of her gun to see the loading dock. The ferry was tied to the dock somewhat precariously and she could see blood smeared onto the ground. Mrs. Geller's familiar blue Jeep was left standing on the back, the driver's door left open (blood on the window). She couldn't see any other cars on the deck, but she did see a body lying on the ground near the doors to the operating room for the ferry. Juno couldn't make out who it was, but that was partially due to the fact that the poor man was missing a face.
Sighing she rubbed her eyes before carefully getting back onto her own roof and surveying the street one more time. The car alarm had finally stopped going off, but she could still hear the sirens from the Brigade building in the distance. Baxter wasn't barking from across the street anymore, but that could just be because the threat of the living dead was no longer banging upon his door. It looked like everything was- Ah, she spoke too soon. It looked as if Mrs. Morrison had finally made her way outside. The geek had a bite wound on her leg, blood dripping down nastily. One quick headshot later the street was dead free once more.
"Hey Kathy, you see anything on the screens? Over."
"Nope, all clear." she responded quickly, "I called the Kim's. The twin's papa and Uncle are comin' ta pick 'em up right now. Said ta thank you for the warning, they almost lost the youngest kid... I forget his name right now, but they was mighty grateful. Said they killed Deputy Livingston and Mr. Smith, Mark's daddy. Haven' caught sight of the Smith girls yet, but they was goin' ta stop by the playgroun' ta see if there any kids left. That was were Xander and Mavis was 'fore this all start. Over."
"Alright, I'm going to head down now-" Juno started before Kathy interrupted her.
"No!" she shouted before sounding more apologetic, "Sorry 'bout that, it's jus' that the Kim men wanted ya to cover 'em from the rooftop when they get 'ere. Over."
"Hmm, okay I'll wait for them up here... though Kathy you're husband's an electrician, right? Over." Juno asked.
"Tha's right. Over," she confirmed.
"How long do you think the electricity and the water is gonna last without anyone manning the power plant? Over."
"Shee-it." the woman cursed over the walkie, "I'll have Marcy and Ashley start collectin' water in buckets and takin' out any batteries from toys in case the power goes out ta light some lanterns. Over."
Juno smiles, Kathy had always been quick on the uptake, "Sounds good. Do the Kim's have a radio or walkie? Over."
"Yeah, I got 'em on frequency six on 'nother walkie. Tol' me they let me know when they close. Over."
"Alright. I got a hose up here too, so I'll collect some water for the garden I got up here. It might help us food-wise. Over." Juno stated before beginning to water her garden... as if it was any other day and she didn't just put down the majority of her neighbors.
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(Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed this new chapter... I went crazy last week and wrote an entire story for the first season of Fear the Walking dead... I was like a woman possessed, and I posted the whole thing, maybe yesterday, so I'm a bit behind on writing my other stories and am trying to catch up... If anyone is a fan of FTWD, or is curious to see what the zombie apocalypse looked like in LA, feel free to check out "One Day at a Time," if people like the first installment of the series I'll continue writing the second season.)