Free Dead of Knight: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale by Stephen J. Beard Page A

other.”
    “Hear that?” asked Mal.  Now, we could all hear it.  That unnatural moaning from the backyard.
    “Let’s look from upstairs.  They might not notice us up there.”  There were two more zombies out back against the fence now.
    “The moaning of the original three must’ve attracted the others.”
    “So, we have to be quiet?” asked Mal.
    “No unnecessary noises anyway, buddy,” I said.
    Thirty minutes later two of the original zombies were gone.  An hour later there were none.
    “So, they do lose interest…” said Sam.
                  ‘Yeah, but it takes more than 30 minutes.”
    “It looks like the fence held them out pretty well.”
    “Against a few zombies spread out, sure.  But if all of them were at the same spot.  Would it still hold then, I wonder?”
    “Do you think there are a lot of zombies in the area?”
    “Well, I think that most of them are trapped in their homes where they fell ill and died.  But maybe 25% are outside because they got bit outside or made it outside after being bit.  Figure there’s 100 houses in the neighborhood.  Maybe an average of 3 people per house.  That’s 300 total people.  Even if only 10% are outside right now that’s still 30 zombies…”
    “Plus the 2 you let out yesterday…”
    “Thanks for that, Sam.  Plus, the one that got made.  Anyway, the fence definitely could not hold 30 zombies in the same place.”
    “So, what do we do?” asked Sam.
    “I want to board up the windows like we would for a hurricane.  At least the bottom floor anyway.”
    “What about the garage door?”
    “The roll up one?  I think we could lock it and that might be all.  We’ll think about it.”
    “When do you want to do the windows?”
    “Right now, while there’s still light.  We can get the back done because the fence will keep us safe for a bit longer.  Everything we need is in the garage.  Out front, if we attract some unwanted attention we’ll have to come inside until it goes away.  So, it’ll take longer.  I’ll go out to the garage now and gather what we need.”
    When I was finished in the garage, I went back in and found Sam and the kids in the living room watching a movie.  Normal.  Normal is good.
    “Okay, I have gathered all the wood for the back of the house.  It’s at the garage back door.  Be careful when you carry the wood, I’ve started the screws to make it go faster.  I’ve got the drill with the wood and extra screws in my pocket.  Mal, I want you to be upstairs lookout again.  You did such a great job before.”  He nodded and headed upstairs.  “Tabby if you would carry one of the smaller pieces of plywood and then keep watch please.  Sam, I’ll need your help to hold the wood while I drill.”
    Out back was eerily quiet again except for the noise that we made.  Tabby dragged the smaller of the plywood pieces over to the far side window then went to the middle of the yard and started scanning for trouble.
    “Tab, remember, no need to yell.  We don’t want to attract any more than we will with the drill.”  She nodded to indicate she heard me.
    Sam managed to carry two pieces of plywood and I got the other two.  Three windows and the sliding door.  We started with the sliding door first.  I hefted the wood into place and held it there while Sam got the screws in.  God, the drill sounded like a jet engine with the neighborhood so quiet.  The boarding job was messy but we were stressed and in a hurry.  From what we’ve seen with the zombies, there won’t try to pull the wood off anyway.  I was screwing in the top piece for the sliding door when I heard Tabby.
    “Dad, zombies. Two of them coming from the Thompsons yard.”
    “Okay, Tab.  Got it.”
    I finished what I was doing and looked into the yard.  It was the two from earlier.  They were almost up to the fence.  Sam and I got the smaller bathroom window covered before we heard Tabby again.
    “Two more Dad.  Coming