Free Zombie Theorem (Book 2): The Siege by James Wallace

surroundings. “Everyone, back in the truck.” He dropped off the hood and climbed back in as we all followed suit. “Cupcake, go a mile or so ‘till you see a dirt road heading off to the east. Take that, and let’s look for a wooded or hidden area we can camp at.”
    Cupcake threw a mock salute and pulled back out onto the road. He drove at slow speeds of thirty or so as not to miss the turn off. We continued another half mile when signs of a dirt road came into view. Cupcake slowed even more and turned onto the dirt road. Well, calling it a dirt road was being overly nice. Really, it was two ruts heading in the same direction. The truck bounced on its suspension. Cupcake had his hands full but seemed to be taming the new Beast. Senshi, Apache, Brian, and myself decided to walk beside the truck to make sure the going was safe. We never had to speed our pace up from a leisure walk since the truck had to maneuver over the uneven ground and continue slowly. After three miles or so, we came upon a copse of trees and backed the truck into them to hide it from prying eyes.
    Kuppers climbed from his seat and made his way back to the road. “Senshi, Doc, I want you two to move out to the river and look for safe passage. Brian, Apache, you two head back to the road and work your way to the river crossing by the town of Bridgehaven. Be careful, and watch out for zombies, Ridder, or unhappy townfolk. Report back every two hours.” The four checked on their supplies and headed out on their missions.
    Cupcake and I put up all the tents we had and organized the food for the kids to eat. Vic and Kuppers took off to recon further up the trail to look for water and check out the safety of our immediate area. I sat down and rested my back against a tree, sighing out loud and letting my body relax. Angel grabbed her MRE of heated food and sat between my legs, resting her little body against my torso and mimicking my sigh. “You doing okay, little lady?”
    She turned her head up and gave me a tired little smile. “I’m okay, just tired, hungry, and my bottom hurts.”
    I ruffled her hair and folded down her MRE package of warmed spaghetti. She took her spork and devoured half the package before I knew it. She handed it to me so I could put aside. In the meantime, she used her napkin and my hand sanitizer to clean up. She arched her back, yawned, and stretched her little arms in the air. “You want to go to bed, sweetie? You can share with me and Brian tonight.”
    She yawned again. “Yes, please.”
    I stood up and gathered her into my arms. I caught Cupcake’s eye and motioned toward the tent. He nodded ok and went back to eating with the kids that had gathered around him. I made sure our tent was on a nice, flat spot next to the truck and within sight of the communal area. I unzipped the tent and crawled in with Angel. She went in, opened her little pack, and changed into her pajamas. I looked away and watched Cupcake and kids to give her privacy. Little hands cupped my cheeks and turned my head to her. She scrunched up her nose and stuck her tongue out at me.
    I giggled and kissed her forehead. She threw her arms around me as best as her little arms could and gave me a bear hug. “Goodnight, Dan. I love you.”
    Her words made me blush, and it took me a second until I could speak again. “Goodnight, little Angel, sleep well. And I love you, too.”
    She smiled and crawled into her sleeping bag and promptly passed out as I stroked her hair. I sat there for ten minutes until her snoring took on a solid rhythm. I kissed her forehead, retreated from the tent quietly, zipped up the screen but left the flaps open so I could see her from where I was going to sit.
    I grabbed a warmed-up MRE, found my tree, and sat back down to enjoy my supper. Enjoy is probably a stretch, but fill my stomach is more of what I was doing. I poured the entire packet of hot sauce from the MRE package into the chili, squeezed the bag a couple of times,