[DeadCave]

Author's note: Originally I posted a "sneak peek" at the first chapter. It was written in 3rd person narration and then once I got started on the 2nd chapter I realized that it just would've been too confusing so I switched it all back to John's 1st person's view-point/narration. Thus I'm going to ask the mods to remove the original post, unless convinced otherwise.
News on publication of the first volume is that I've found an professional editor who is a friend of a friend and when I get the money then I'll be able to afford her services and have everything except the "introduction letter to the (prospective) agent(s) ready. For now I'm just going to keep writing because the story is still fresh in my mind and I don't want to lose it.
Besides, you folks here have been great with your feedback. It's been a strong motivator for me.
Happy reading.
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CAUGHT IN A BIND
Volume 2

CHAPTER 1
Storm Debris

The early morning hours brought rain. Light at first but with increasing density as minutes passed. I drove the armored personnel carrier (or APC as Maggie referred to it), without any concern for the rain. Maggie and her son James were in the rear of the vehicle, organizing their things and taking inventory of the items Ellis and Steinberg had packed into it prior to their escape. I was saddened as the two men shown their colors, by having most of the items from our trucks packed into the vehicle. The APC was already well stocked previously with arms and ammunition to begin with, our own collection just merely added to it. It was comforting to all that we had at least enough to last us a good long while. The population of zombies however, far exceeded our supplies, figuring at least 350 million alone in the United States. Yet, I didn't envy places like China or India, where populations ranged in the billions. No wonder the Chinese started nuking their own cities.
But it would be enough. The armored plated APC would withstand any herd and was powerful enough to barrel through them should they be encountered. It also was strong enough to push any normal car off to the side whenever the road ahead was blocked. Main concern however was fuel. Military vehicles weren't generally known for economy. It was tempting to stop at every wrecked vehicle to siphon gas but the three of us had felt the need to get as far away from the area formerly known as Wildfire 2 as possible. I didn't have to say anything, I could see the other reason to get away was that the two were still in grief over the loss of Frank. As for Steinberg and Ellis, again, we were aggrieved, but honestly no more than for the rest of the inhabitants of the secret base, that perished so horribly. Basically they were strangers. The loss of life was bad of course, particularly these days. Yet it all paled to losing a loved one.
As I drove, I swore to myself that I would never allow us to be in a similar situation ever again. Cutting it close didn't come near to describing our escape. As for myself, I was doubly grateful to be alive. The sniper's high powered bullet would've torn my head off had I not been closing the steel door of the APC at the moment the bastard fired. The bullet was deflected just enough however, to give me a bad scratch along the left side of my head. I reflected that I'll likely have a scar as a everlasting reminder. I found myself muttering aloud, “well, chicks dig scars don't they?”
I heard a giggle behind me as Maggie came up and sat down in the passenger seat. “Yep, we sure do” she replied with a smirk on her face. I shrugged my shoulders, “glad to know that you do anyway.” I shook my head and focused again on the rain outside. It had actually gotten worse. “If this keeps up we might have to pull-over and wait for this to pass.”
Maggie nodded and leaned forward to observe the clouds. They were dark and ominous. “Wind is picking up as well.” she observed as she scanned the trees along the two lane highway they were on. A voice at her shoulder turned her around in her seat, as much as the four point harness would allow her. “Mom?” her son, 12 years old going on 30, James, was now forward and kneeling between them. His face somber but his eyes watching the storm warily as they drove. For a long moment they signed silently together. I was too preoccupied with watching the road as the storm worsened outside, making driving increasingly hazardous. Already there were leafy branches falling from the trees and lying on the road. The huge tires of the APC went over them easily, but the vehicle shook as we ran over larger branches. Maggie assured me that barring any trees thicker than a human torso, the vehicle would be able to handle the impacts. As Maggie turned to speak to me a large thunk sounded from the hull of the vehicle, startling the both of us. James moved back a second later at our reactions, more out of reflex. Before I could open my mouth to say anything there was another loud thunk followed by several others. Outside the windows the origins were now evident.
Large hail stones began falling from the darkened sky and bouncing off the pavement and anything else they struck. I risked a glance in the vehicle's rear view mirror. I could feel that my face paled at what I saw, “Shit! We're in serious trouble. Tell James to strap himself in and get your shoulder harness on... now!” I hoped the tone of my voice belayed any further questioning from Maggie. It did. She turned back to her son and signed quickly and began putting her shoulder straps on. When she was finished she leaned over and grabbed the wheel so that I could engage my own. In her position she glanced at my side view mirror and moaned aloud. “Oh my god, John?” I roughly pushed her back and put my hands back on the wheel as soon as I clicked in the last restraint, and steered hard right to avoid a large branch in the road. My eyes frantically looking for a place where we could pull over but we were past a line of trees and surrounded by open fields. “Dammit, shit!” I heard myself curse repeatedly as I stomped on the gas pedal, pushing the heavy APC up to 70 miles per hour. This made handling more hazardous but it didn't matter to me at the moment.
Behind a large black funnel cloud was churning towards us at an angle that would intercept us if they didn't out run it. In the rear-view mirror I watched the tornado destroy a small farm house, literally wiping it off the face of the earth. The base was wide enough to engulf the structure entirely. I was torn between watching the road and the twister behind them. Suddenly Maggie screamed, “JOHN!!” I flicked his eyes back to the road at the instant that the nose of the APC struck a lone zombie that had wandered out in the middle. The body was pulled under the vehicle, we felt the front end jump as the forward tires ran over it but it must've snagged on something underneath fouled itself around the axle.
I yelled as I felt the steering wheel jerk hard in my hands and the APC lurched to the right, towards a drainage ditch. “Hang on!” I shouted as the right side tilted into the depression and slammed hard into the earth, flipping the rear up into the air and over to slam into the deepest part of the ditch then bouncing up and flipping once more before landing with a loud crash. The vehicle lay on it's right side, engine dead, wheels still spinning freely. I hung in my seat harness, dazed and dizzy, trying to get my bearings. I glanced downward and saw Maggie still strapped into her seat but unconscious, a thin line of blood along her cheek. I was about to call out her name when a roaring sound filled my ears, I turned his head and glanced at the side mirror just seconds before it was torn off as the tornado struck. I felt my throat screaming in terror but couldn't hear myself over the din.
The APC shook as if a giant hand grasped it and was trying to pick it up. Fortunately it was too heavy and lying in the ditch made it negative space so there was nothing for the funnel cloud's vacuum to grab on to. Still the wind buffeted the vehicle mightily and I had an idea of what a pebble in a tin can felt like. My mind went to the explosives packed in the vehicle and in that instant I found a brief moment of religion and prayed hard to whatever God there may be that deigned to listen. The inside of the APC became pitch black for a long moment, counter-punched with the huge noise from the outside. I closed his eyes and waited for it all to pass or die.
Almost at once the noise and the shaking stopped and I hung there in silence. Just then, I remembered to breathe and took in a long loud gasp of air to fill my lungs. Cautiously I opened my eyes and looked out of the shattered APC front windshield. At a distance and getting smaller was the twister. I watched it dissipate as it spun itself out. Stretching out in a long line in front of the APC was a bare swath of exposed earth that showed the path of the tornado. I let out a deep sigh of relief that I was still alive.
Behind me came a coughing sound. I twisted my head until I saw in the dim light the figure of James, likewise still in his seat, supported by the four point harness and facing downward to the side wall. The boy shook his head and something fell off and clattered noisily against the metal. It took me a second to realize that the boy had managed to find a Kevlar helmet from one of the storage lockers of the APC. I was about to call out to him and ask if he was alright but remembered the boy's deafness. A low moan beneath me caught my attention and I looked down and saw Maggie reaching slowly up to touch her head wincing in pain. “Maggie?” I called out hoping she was alright. She groaned in pain which frightened me for a moment until she spoke, irritably , “stop yelling will you? My head hurts enough as it is.”
Relieved, I chuckled for a moment before wincing in pain myself as my own head began to throb again. Still I was grateful that they were all still alive. I closed my eyes and thanked the God that he prayed to, whomever they were. I felt around my body for the catch-release of the seat harness. A thump from the rear of the vehicle announced that James had already freed himself. Maggie still sat there holding her head. I opened my eyes and looked down at myself and found the release for all four buckles. I was grateful that we used them. The flipping of the vehicle would've likely killed us had we not been wearing them. I looked around at the rear again and saw there wasn't as much debris as I guessed there was. All the storage compartments were still latched and the weapons secured in their holders. Whoever designed this thing, evidently had forethoughts about the vehicle hitting a mine or getting hit with a rocket. Either way unless we found a tow truck nearby it was going to now become part of the land-scape. Perhaps permanently.
I felt the pressure of the straps loosen and braced myself to prevent me from falling on top of Maggie as I was freed. For a moment my head spun and vision blurred but then it cleared up immediately. “Woah” I muttered to myself. This got Maggie's eyes opened and she looked up at me. “James?” she asked her voice breaking. “He's alright hunny, he's not hurt as far as I know.” I glanced back again and saw James trying to clear up some of the debris that had broken loose and flown about the interior. He looked up and signed “Mother?” I smiled and finger spelled O.K., and pointed at her. James then pointed at me. I nodded and pointed at myself and repeated the letters. The boy nodded and began working his way forward.
Maggie slapped at the release button repeatedly with her open palm, but it wouldn't work. She muttered a curse and bashed at it with her fist, and this time it did. She pushed up with her right arm and tried to reach up with her left but gasped in pain. “What?” I asked immediately, concerned. I started working my way down carefully to her.
“I think my shoulder is dislocated. It's not broken, but I can't get it to move. Shit.” I nodded, “hold on and I'll try to help you up.” But Maggie had already gotten her feet under her and now sat in a squat on the door, gingerly moving her injured left arm with her right hand to rest in her lap. “Stay there, or get out of the way so I can climb up out of this seat. Get in the back with James. You're going to have to reset my shoulder.” The tone of her voice sounded eerily like her father's when he was in command mode. I didn't argue and moved myself as instructed. Soon I was standing next to James and tried to explain best as my limited signs could. The boy caught on quickly and nodded. He turned around, knelt down for a moment and came back up with the first-aid bag in his hand.
I nodded his thanks and waited for Maggie to come around her seat slowly to stand with us. She looked up at me and a sheen of sweat covered her brow as she panted between her teeth, obviously in deep pain. Without another word she looked at me and then sat down again, this time on the wall of the vehicle. James dug through the first-aid bag and found the same pain killers that he gave me the day before. He opened the bottle and dropped two into his hand and gave them to his mother. Then reached for a canteen, opened it and handed it to her. She took a drink then swallowed the pills with another mouthful of water. She looked at John, “I have to ask, do you know how to reset a shoulder?” I shrugged, “I've seen it done, never done it myself. You're going to have to guide me.”
She nodded as if that was what she expected. With her good arm she signed carefully to James and the boy nodded and turned around to find what his mother had asked for. He returned with the inflatable pad that I laid upon during our escape from Wildfire. Slowly, Maggie moved out of the way so that James could lay the pad down and she then set her self upon it, moving her body where she could lay down. She couldn't lay out perfectly flat but it was close enough. Thankfully the APC had landed on the side where there were the least items along the wall for storage. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned. James had found a blanket and had it folded and rolled up, he handed this to John who took it and then looked at Maggie in askance. She hissed through her teeth as she tried to find a more comfortable position to lay in. “Alright, what you're going to do is put that blanket up against my armpit. Sit down and then put your foot against the blanket. Take my arm in your hand and ...” she paused to shake her head. “Dammit this hurts!” She locked eyes with mine own, “Ok, sit up with your foot in my arm-pit and take my arm in your hands, get a good firm grip and when I tell you to, just... oh god, just lean back slowly. The pressure should allow the head of the humerus to slide back into place by itself. It should just pop right back in, you'll feel it and I know I'll feel it.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
I sat down on the side where I could place my boot against the blanket nested in her armpit. Gently I touched her arm and ignored her hiss of pain as I grasped it like it was made of glass. I turned my head to see James standing there already folding a piece of cloth into a triangle shape, which I presumed would be for a sling. When I felt that I had a good grip that wouldn't slip I glanced at Maggie who had her head turned away. Her free hand was gripping the side of the air-mattress so tight that her knuckles were white. “Don't ...” she began but stopped as I leaned back, allowing my weight to pull on her arm. I let it all go slow and was patient as I allowed my upper body weight to lean back to the wall. Maggie let out a small squeal of pain and then I felt the “pop” as the head of the humerus slid back into place. I sat back up, but not too quickly and loosened my grip on her arm.
Maggie lifted her head up and stared out at nothing for a long moment. Soon, her eyes focused and turned to me. She nodded at his unasked question. She turned her eyes to James and nodded at the boy, who instantly knelt down best as he could among the debris and confines of the vehicle's side and held out the sling. “Ift her up” he said, forgetting to clearly enunciate the first word. Normally everyone would've corrected him but at this point nobody gave a damn. I leaned over and took Maggie's right shoulder and pulled her up. She gasped in pain, but it was alright, as I knew she would be sore and tender for a while. Carefully I positioned her left arm against her body and guided her right hand to hold the arm there so I could tie the sling.
Instead of going under the injured arm I wrapped the sling so that the arm would rest against her body and be held firmer with less chance of it bouncing around as we exit the vehicle, which we surely would have to do. I was nestled against her neck as I reached around to grab and end of the sling to tie it to her shoulder. When I was finished I felt her hand upon my neck and she held me there, for a long moment. “Thank you” she whispered and then started to fall back until I caught her and slowly lowered her back down on the air mattress.
I turned to James and took a breath. I waved until I got I boy's attention then slowly began speaking and using what signs I knew. “We can't stay in here, so we need get out. But we hit a zombie before going into the ditch. There may be others around. We're going to have to check before taking her out of here.” I paused and waited to see if I might need to repeat myself. I didn't. I was thankful that the boy had good lip-reading skills and apparently I learned enough signs during our stay at Wildfire 2 that I was able to make myself understood. The word for zombie was simply improvised. It was in two parts, first two hands (or one, if the other was busy) flat, fingers straight, perpendicular to the ground/floor and then “falling over” with one palm facing up and the other facing down (if using two hand), basically the sign for dead. Then a quick mime of walking using two fingers pointed at the ground. “I think we can still get out from the driver's door and have a look around. If it's ok, then we can go out the back hatch. It'll be easier for your mom.”
The boy nodded and turned around and bent to pick something up. When I turned back I saw that the boy had a glock pistol in his hand and was already pulling back the slide to load it. Without another word he moved carefully past the adults and to the front of the vehicle. He managed to get the window open without having to shatter the glass and climbed up until he was half way out. One foot on the seat back and the other inside the curve of the steering wheel, I watched the boy apprehensively. I could see the twist at the waist as he turned to get a 360 degree look around. The gun reappeared and there was a click as the safety was re-engaged, then the boy climbed back down.
“It clear, safe.” he declared. “We go out th' back door.” He started making his way back to it. I reached out and touched the boy's arm. James stopped and turned. “Thank you” I said in both voice and sign.” The boy shrugged and pointed at his mother, “Thank you too” and continued to the back hatch. I turned to Maggie who was looking up at me and smiling for the first time since before the accident. To avoid a mushy scene I asked abruptly, “Those meds kick in yet?” She raised her eyebrows, nodded and began sitting up. I helped her though it was awkward doing so.
There was a loud grinding noise of metal on metal as James pushed the hatch open letting more daylight into the interior. The boy stood holding open the hatch and searched the area, his back turned to the two in the APC. The scene beyond the door was hellish in nature. Debris scattered everywhere, fences, lumber, tree limbs and even furniture from the destroyed farmhouse. There were even a couple of bodies. When Maggie saw the first one she quickly picked up the nearest thing she could find and threw it at her son in an means to gain his attention. The empty canteen struck her son squarely on the buttocks. James spun in place his face momentarily angry but realized that it was just an effort to speak to him. Maggie spoke and signed “Be careful around the bodies, check them before touching them.” He nodded and signed something back that I didn't quite catch. “He says that he needs something to prop up the door anyway.” I nodded, there's what looks like some two by fours laying on the road, I'll go see if I can find one long enough.”
Maggie gathered her feet under her and tried to stand up. She reached out and grabbed my shoulder, before I could exit. “C'mon, I want to get out of here first.” I remained silent and assisted her, putting her good arm over my shoulder and kept our heads bent low as we exited the rear of the vehicle. I brought her over to the edge of the ditch and carefully sat her down. Maggie unholstered her own weapon and handed it to me, “load and cock this for me please”. I did so and gave the gun back to her then looked around and spied what I needed.
On the side of the road lay a length of two by six, apparently from the destroyed farm house. I brought it back over to the open door and used it to prop it up, thus freeing James to go out and search. The boy unholstered his sidearm and drew the slide back, loading the weapon, he glanced at it to ensure that the safety was engaged, then stepped out into the open air. He stopped and turned to me, and jerked his head to the lumber holding up the door. “Thanks” and began his search. I chuckled to myself and climbed up out of the ditch to the side of the road and looked down where the tornado had gone. “We were damned lucky today. Just too damned lucky. I hope we didn't use it all up.” Maggie turned her head at my voice and grinned. “Daddy was watching out for us, that's for sure alright.” She squirmed a bit to readjust her seating and placed the weapon in her lap.
I stared at her for a moment. Concerned at what she said. Or more of how she said it. I was about to respond when a gun shot rang out. I spun and had my pistol in my hand. Maggie's pistol was likewise up and pointed at the direction where the shot came from. We both saw James standing over a body, holding his gun in both hands pointed at the prone figure on the ground. He looked up and gave a wave and made their sign for zombies. Maggie shook her head and put her gun back in her lap. “Damned glad we taught him how to shoot.” She turned her head and looked up at me, “Honey, would you please go check and make sure.” Her tone got my attention and I understood. “Yeah. Are you okay where you're at?”
She smiled and patted her arm in the sling, cocking her head and grinning broadly. “Groovy pain killers make everything alright” and giggled. I didn't join her but nodded and headed over to where James left the body. As I walked I turned in a slow circle looking everywhere. I felt exposed out in the open like we were. I wanted to get back on the road. To keep headed where-ever it was Frank wanted us to go. All I knew at this point was that it was West, towards the Rockies. From where we were standing, we had a long journey ahead of us.

[the Walkin Dude]

Great read DC, good job.