"It's pretty far to the nearest hole." Ophelia said. "Maybe forty yards to that one there. How about we slip over to the first front end loader over there. It's a big mother, and it's bucket is at least six feet of the ground. We could climb in and hide. Set the radio by the fence. As they move to check it out we wait for them to pass."

She suddenly stood up, as if something had caught her eye in a startling way. Roberta followed her stare. Across the construction zone, near the corner of a small church, stood the man she had seen Ophelia making out with previously. He was carrying a rifle of some fashion and wore a large backpack. He was staring at them through binoculars. When Ophelia stood and lower the binoculars and waved to her to get down.

"What is he doing?" Roberta asked, feigning ignorance of what she'd seen earlier.  Whatever their relation, it didn't seem detrimental at the moment.

She liked the bucket idea.  It wouldn't thin them out, but it would get them out of the way.

Ophelia ducked back down, gripping Roberta's hand and dragging her down next to her with gentle pressure. The man put his binoculars away and took the rifle from his shoulder. It seemed to be some hunting model, a bolt action type, she had felt like the knew what was coming next.

As expected the man fired. He leveled the rifle and fired into the back of a nearby undead woman's skull. The report of the rifle was surprisingly loud. Before the first shot had faded from the alleys, he fired again. And again. He fired a total of five shots, each killing an undead with a skull destroying shot, and then began to reload the weapon as he waited for the undead to begin their shuffling march after him.

"They're going to come at him from every direction with that much noise," Roberta said in disappointment.  Let alone whatever else the shots might attract.

However it happened, if the coast was clear, they'd make a break for it.  She wanted to get out of the area even more now.

The results were both relieving and horrific.The undead made a veritable run, if you could call their slow motion shuffle a run, on the noise caused by the rifle shots. The man, to his credit, climbed up onto the roof of the little Church of God and the Way of the Lost Soul and continued to fire on the undead. The area around them, even inside the fence began to clear out as undead moved off. But, the shear numbers were staggering, the horde seemed to grow into a large sea of bobbing, stinking, bodies. The smear of bloody footprints, fleshy left overs, and errant body parts was enough to make her gag a few times. But, the way was clearing out.

"Oh, man is that vile." Ophelia gave words to Roberta's thoughts. "Would you look at that!"

As they watched the man began putting up a small tent on the roof of the church. He was back from the edge and seemed quite unconcerned for the undead amassed below him. At the last moment he took up his binoculars and peered at the two women, signaled for them to leave with some emphasis, and then went into the shade of his tent.

"He's just going to sit up there until they get bored," Roberta said in astonishment.  "Whatever.  Let's get going."

Climbing down from the crates, grabbed the wheelbarrow and found a spot along the fence to cut a new hole.  They'd just zip tie this one as they were out of locks.  Right now, they just needed to get out of dodge before the horde lost interest in tent man.

An hour later they were trotting. Sweating, panting, and trotting. Even with the wheelbarrow it was astonishing that they pair could simply trot along a five lane state road with a slowly gathering hoard following behind them. In less than a mile they would be at the old line of cars barricading the edge of the city. Their nasty smelling ponchos allowed them to pass by undead that seemed to only pay them attention once they had passed. Then it occurred to Roberta, the undead were so far behind because they didn't become interested in the pair until they were simply moving targets in the distance. What made them look like a meal then? The way they moved?

The movement probably was the trigger.  Once they were too far out to be identified by scent, they relied on what was left of their eyes and ears to spot them.

In theory, they could just start walking and let them catch up close enough to smell them again.  Though, she'd rather not test it just yet.  Once they got out of sight, they'd be fine.  All they had to do was get beyond the barricade.

"We should be fine once we clear the barricade," Roberta panted.  "Once they can't see us anymore.  Just a little bit further."

True to her speculation, once they had lost sight of the women the undead seemed to lose interest and began roaming the area around them for anything living to eat.

Roberta and Ophelia struggled with urgency to get their supplied over the barricade of parked cars. Once that was done they took a moment to guzzle water, take some Tylenol, and eat a few crackers. The walk back felt longer than it was, mostly due to their state of fatigue and their desire to be away from all of the shambling corpses that they found themselves dodging as they left the area of the city.

Once they neared the gate the rain began again, it was cool and inviting. Roberta felt like a good bath and a little time with John and the kids was in order. As they neared the gate people came out to meet them. The elders led the throng of excited people. Despite the rain the mood was that of a springtime cookout after a long winter's wait.

Roberta related their expedition, but skipped over the part where Ophelia disappeared.  She did, however, include tent-man's distraction and how he just hunkered down in a safe place after drawing them all in his direction.

She also included a nod to Detective McDonald and his information on using their own small to mask themselves.  It, and a lot of faith, had been the key to getting through it.

Roberta also produced the map of the compound that she'd drawn for them to file as a means for others to follow in their footsteps.  There was still a lot of medical equipment and supplies available.  They might even find a way to get one of the FEMA medical trucks out of there intact if they could find a route out of the city that wasn't blocked with cars or too many infected.

She really wanted to check in on how the cell phone idea was coming along, but finding John and the kids was a higher priority at the moment.  Plus, she wanted to see their new farm and how secure it was.

A wagon loaded with empty crates and tools headed for the new farm gave Roberta a ride. It was calm and scenic. The afternoon breeze after the rains felt cool. And Roberta had time to just sit and look at the land. It was pretty country. Rolling green hills, crops flaring up as they neared the farming settlement, and there were a few cows in a field. The little group sent out here two days ago had spent their time quickly reclaiming the land. Weeding untended crops, gathering the cattle, and, judging by the tall burn pile in one field, taking care of the corpses of the dead and undead in the area.

When they neared the old farmhouse at the center of a bunch of tents and little campers she noticed her husband and son on the roof. They were patching a hole. At first she was concerned and then relaxed. At least he was on the roof WITH his father this time.

"Hello!" A woman shouted from the area at the front of the house.

"Haya!" The wagon driver shouted back. "Got a visitor for you all."

Roberta waved, but didn't want to distract the two roofers.  Instead, she approached the greeter near the front of the house and introduced herself, asking where she might find her daughter as she'd already spotted the other two from her family.

"In the kitchen." Came the response. "She volunteered to help make lunch for everyone. Today we are having soup make from carrots, peas, corn, and fried pork belly. You'll find her right in there."

The woman pointed to a large tent nearby. Roberta could hear the slight sounds of conversation but couldn't make it out. A shadow fell across her causing her to look up as her husband gave her a knowing nod.

"I'm Karen Harper." The woman said. "Glad to finally meet you."

"Glad to be back," Roberta replied as she followed the directions to find her daughter.  She was happy to find that everyone was finding things to do.

"Hey, stranger, grab a knife." her daughter said. It was obvious 'ignoring that you've been gone' behavior. "We are on potato peeling duty. Got to get a batch peeled and ready to soak for tonight. Once the sun is low we keep the fires out to prevent drawing any attention to the light."

A tall woman, older than Roberta, stepped over with a bucket of spuds. She smiled at Roberta and set the bucket on the table.

"You must be Roberta." the woman offered her hand to shake. "I Lulu Sanders. Glad to know you."

"Good to meet you," Roberta replied, taking the proffered hand.  "How many folks are out here?"

She was surprised how many she'd seen already.  She'd thought it was just going to be John and the kids.  This was turning out to be more of an outpost than a separate farm.

There are thirty one of us." She said. "Six families, two couples, and five single men. We have reclaimed the crops and cows. It isn't much, but there is a near-acre vegetable garden. About thirty acres of corn. And we have ten cows."

Roberta soon found that peeling potatoes was an art to itself.

The afternoon was spent working with her daughter who used a recipe book to make a dozen trays of potato casserole loaded with carrots, onions, celery, and some big bottles of parmesan cheese. It was fun, they had a chance to cut up and forget the dangers of the world for a few hours. Listening to her daughter talk, however, bespoke of a new type of education. They talked about be prepared, about using common items in uncommon ways, and about defending their lives. It was too grown up, too not childlike, and too necessary. Roberta regretted the need for her daughter learn the harsh realities, but was glad she was learning from people vested in her survival.

Roberta wanted to let her guard down, but she'd seen too much.  Been through too much.  She couldn't quite keep herself from always looking over her shoulder, making sure nothing was creeping up on them, even while just cutting up potatoes.

This wasn't the world she wanted her kids to grow up in.  She'd just have to change the world, then.

She'd spend the night with her family and then see if she could get some time with Alma.  She had a lot on her mind.

The dinner was fun. People ate and laughed. Talked about old times before the apocalypse without crying or arguing. And played games with the kids. Which, to Roberta's surprise, made up about half of their number. Time with her husband, and a room to themselves in a real bed, really helped them to reconnect.

In the morning it was coffee, instant of course, with toast. She said good bye for the day and caught a ride back to the main camp. It was still very early. As Roberta walked into the main chow tent it only took a moment to spot Alma at the elder's usual table. She was sitting with one of the techs from the weather shack and one of her granddaughters. Once she spotted Roberta walking towards her, Alma beamed a big small at her and waved her over. Then she waved for more coffee and eggs to be brought over. Powdered eggs of course. But you got used to them.

"You two did so well." Alma said as Robert neared. She stood and shooed her granddaughter away playfully. "I have business with this fine woman, dear, so go find some chores to do. Please, have a seat Roberta."

"Thanks," Roberta replied, taking a seat at the table.  "I wanted to talk about projects.  Getting some cell towers up and collecting up solar equipment.  Maybe some small scale wind turbines.

"We also might be able to recover the FEMA trucks if we put some work into it.  Clearing some roads to make a path out.

"I also wasn't sure if you had an expansion plan and whether we should send people back this way.  We didn't run into anyone looking for a place to stay, but I'm sure there are people still out there.

"Have the Eckard brothers made it back, yet?" she added.  She really wanted that tractor as a security option for hordes.

"No, the boys have gone radio silent. About three hours ago." Alma said. "We think they are in a place where the radio puts them at risk. There last transmission came in very early and said they were be tracked by a bunch of men in mud stained bed sheets."

That was a new one on Roberta. But it made sense, too. A white sheet could be stained suitably to blend in just about anywhere with a little effort.

"As for projects, well, I've a shortage of two inch pvc pipe, a shortage of electrical wiring for lighting, comms, and construction, I need about two hundred pounds of ready mix concrete, around a thousand cinder blocks, clothing for about sixty children that grow too fast, we are short on tooth brushes, tooth paste, mouthwash, or substitutes for these, batteries of every type for flashlights, radios, tractors, tools, and we always need more ammo. We are digging wells and setting out water pipelines, insulation would be nice too. And we are building a storehouse. Nice and dry with as much climate control as we can muster. Oh, and a big smokehouse too. Gotta cure meat for the coming winter."

She stopped when she realized Roberta was taking notes.

"Should I start over?"

"No," Roberta replied, without looking up, "but if you have a comprehensive list I could copy, that would be helpful."

In order to get help with her projects, Roberta would have to move some of the Farm's projects along as well.

"Is there anyone around that could show me how to start a box truck without keys?" she asked, One of those big delivery trucks had a lot of space inside as well as being able to hunker down inside without being seen.  Take a page from tent-man's book.

Alma laughed. And laughed some more when Roberta looked perplexed.

"Hold on, go back to John's little farm. Have some downtime." Alma said as she sat down again. "I'll have a delivery van, some project guidelines, and a mechanic come out there. You can keep the van. Work on the projects you can while you do your cell tower thing. And the mechanic, most like Slim Wallace, will teach you a few things about boosting a ride."

Roberta wasn't thinking about downtime.  She was thinking about when the next horde might roll through, or gangs with guns.  She wasn't sure which was worse.

"I just don't want to sit back since we have it good now," Roberta explained.  "Anything can happen tomorrow and I want to be as prepared as we can be.  But I'll head back and concentrate on the cell towers for a little while.

"And thanks for being here for us.  This place means a lot.

She'd grab some of the tower manuals and see what notes she could put together on what needed to be done.  She'd also start adding SIM card numbers to her notebook.  If she did get anything up and running, she'd want to add in as many people as possible right off the bat.

Roberta hitched a ride on a wagon headed back the new farm with a young couple that had volunteered to live out there. The ride was moseying along when the man of the couple spotted something of in the distance and pointed.

Roberta turned to peer out over a green landscape of pasture land stretching out towards the mountains. Of in the distance, three hundred yards see speculated, there looked to be two people dragging a third. The binoculars found their way to her hand without conscious thought.

It was two people, a man and woman, and they were dragging another woman on a tarp between them. Behind the trio was a horde. At least twenty strong. And they were not giving up on the fleeing people.