Day 20: While having breakfast with Moonbeam and Tyler, Antonio called over the radio saying a whole bunch of strangers just rolled past the Outpost. At least three carloads and they were heading our direction. He and Trish fortunately had all the lights turned off, stayed quiet and watched them go by.
Shortly after his call a group of strangers showed up at base. Beto went to investigate. Only one approached the gate and the other two stayed off in the distance. I thought that was odd. Didn’t seem friendly.
I moved over to the watchtower so I could hear. Guy said his name was Chas. Looked like a used car salesman. He was decked out in tactical gear and it looked like today was his first time wearing it. Beto told him to beat feet and Chas was not happy.
Beto said he thought this was just going to keep happening today. Radio broadcasts of our success have been going on since yesterday. He said we don’t have enough room for any more survivors so there are going to be hurt feelings.
It wasn’t long before another group showed up, this time from the opposite side of the base. One looked sick. Guy said his name was Weston and his friend needed an infirmary. Beto wasn’t buying their story and refused them. He said they definitely weren’t happy and we might want to increase watches as he thinks we’ll see them again.
About an hour later a third survivor came up to the gate. I told Beto that I saw this person, whoever they are, circling the base from the hills above. He asked me to join him to confront the stranger just to be sure.
The strangers name was Talebi and he claimed to be hurt. How original. He said he was in dire need of an infirmary. He looked fine to me and I nodded to Beto that this was the guy doing recon on our home. Beto told him no dice and the dude actually pushed passed Beto on his way out. Ass.
Beto said regardless of his personal feelings about the visitors we’ve met today, our community comes first.
The rest of the day we were all on edge. The zombie threat is one thing but dealing with hostile humans is a threat on a whole different level.
Sissy and Sandy manned the sniper tower while Joe and I manned the watchtower. Beto checked in on us several times during the day. I could tell he was feeling uneasy.
Joe tried to lighten his mood by asking Beto to grab him some snacks. At least I think he was joking. He’s eats so much! I told Joe he was going to turn into a bloater and I’d be forced to shoot him. Beto told me not to and we all nervously laughed.
None of our grease monkeys worked on the cars today and everyone pretty much stayed inside the safety of the base. We spent most of the day sorting ammo, cleaning weapons and stockpiling explosives. Not a word has been said about the visitors that showed up but we were all in sync with our preparations.
Antonio and Trish arrived from the Outpost. They said they didn’t feel safe out there alone and wanted to be here to help. Something is up.
Night fell and Joe reported spotting Talebi with a group coming up to base. Turns out the group included Weston and Chas. They all looked healthy, surprise surprise. I went with Beto out the side gate to meet the two and see what we’re up against. They were packing heat.
We slowly backed off and returned to base. Beto knew this was immediate trouble. He looked at me as he grabbed four smoke grenades from the supply locker. “If you ever want to learn about the science of our post-apocalyptic world you need to listen to RvidD’s radio broadcasts. Gave me the idea for these” he said while holding the grenades. He grabbed the .50 caliber B50FG from the gunrack. I tried shooting that once and it’s raw, blistering firepower was too much for me. Beto meant business.
We went to confront the strangers.
Beto motioned me over to the sniper tower. I was heading there anyway as I wanted to get a good bead on the intruders with the Timberwolf. I got into position and raised the rifle putting Weston in my sight. He was watching Beto walk toward them and tapping on his radio. His smug appearance changed to fear as it looked like he asked Chas something about his radio.
The conversation Beto had with Talebi was short.
Time slowed. Beto threw a smoke grenade at Talebi’s feet. He was momentarily stunned by the move and that was long enough for Beto to act. He blew Talebi’s head to smithereens. The combination of brain matter flying and the smoke from the grenade stunned both Weston and Chas. The smoke also prevented me from getting a clear shot. Beto was so close to them!
Antonio screamed that a horde of zombies were approaching. My vision was clouded but I could see Beto aim the B50FG at Weston. BOOM! Weston’s head exploded. Pieces hit Chas as he was doubled over coughing from the smoke grenade. He wiped his eyes and turned from the smoke in time to see zombies approaching. That was the last thing he saw. Beto shot him.
I hopped down from my perch and saw the horde of undead approaching.
They were coming from every direction. We were all scrambling trying to keep the entrances to the base secure. Screamers showed up and the sound was deafening. I heard the glass shatter from the windows in the warehouse and from the vehicles outside.
Beto ran out the gate and I followed him. He stopped, I went by and a feral showed up. Someone from the sniper tower took him out. Beto encouraged everyone during the siege.
Antonio spotted the juggernaut.
Joe took it out with pipe bombs.
After it was over we took stock of our situation. Everyone was okay! After we hugged each other and reloaded (maybe not in that order) we looted the bodies of the dead. We did a recon around the base and found an empty vehicle the three came in. Two other vehicles were down the road that apparently had been surprised by a juggernaut. Or two.
The remains of the other invaders were scattered everywhere. Probably eight or nine others. Hard to tell because juggernauts are brutal. This explains Weston’s panicked look.
Beto was feeling confident and why wouldn’t he? We were all feeling confident. We held off a human horde.
Why did they have to die? Because they thought we would be charitable. Charity leads to death. Trade is currency.
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