H1Z1- Chapter 8

I reached in to the pocket of my shooting vest and began shoving shells into my twelve gauge. Bill watched intently and nodded his approval when I chambered a round and replaced it with an extra shot in the tube.

"Should we wear earplugs, Dad?" he asked, ever mindful of the safety training we had taken together and which I reenforced with him regularly.

"I am not sure. I know we need to take care of our ears, but I think we also need to be able to hear if one of those people try to come toward us."

"That's true," was his reply. His young mind grasped the logic immediately.

"Now, here's what we need to remember - these people were infected with the flu. We don't want to breathe the same air they exhale and we don't want any contact with their bodily fluid."

"I understand, Dad, but what do I do if one of them gets too close to me?"

"Do your best to keep that from hapenning, Son. The dogs will help. But try to keep them from getting too close, too."

This was almost an impossible task - the two mutts together weighed more than 120 lbs, and they could each pull at least that individually. But they were obedient, to a degree, and they were definitely fiercely protective of their boy. I knew they would do their best to keep one of the ... creatures from touching their charge.

"Ok, lets go Son. We'll go in the doors, then you grab a cart and I'll grab a cart. We go straight to outdoors first, get the keys to the gun cabinet and get you a shotgun." Bills eyes got rounder and rounder as I spelled out my plan, but I could tell he was tracking. "Then we get shells. As many as are on the shelf. Twelve and twenty gauge only, got it?"

"Yes. Do you think maybe we should get more than one gun, Dad?"

"I like the way you think, Son. Once we're in there, I'll decide, but I think a pistol or two, and maybe a .300 Winchester Magnum would be a good idea. We're not going to have a lot of time, but we should probably arm ourselves for bear, huh?"

Bill solemnely nodded his agreement, eyes never leaving mine.

"Son, this is not going to be fun. Or easy. Just think about getting home to our family and getting them all to the cabin safely."

"I know, Dad, but its still scary."

My heart felt like it was coated in lead. A voice in the back of my head kept up a steady stream of niggling doubt. How could I lead my son back into a building which had to be completely infested with undead people? How could I risk exposing him and myself to something so horrible? How could I go back in there? Especially after I'd seen a woman die, then get back up and try to chase me? Was I insane? Was I stupid?

I mustered enough courage to shove the voice deeper into the back of my mind before it could wedge its constant doubt and fear into the depths of my heart where what courage I had was bound. I had to think beyond the terror which waited for me on the other side of the automatic door. I had to think of my wife, of Bill, of the other four children back at home, hell, even of our two cats. We had to survive this, and we had to get ourselves to the safety of the mountain. That was my goal. That was my only goal. In. Out. Home. Mountain.

"Ok, Son, we have to do this, so let's do this."

Bill only nodded and wrapped the dogs' leashes around his gloved hand once more.