Dash Dash Dot Dot

The Note

"Willow! Hey Willow! Something is going on; I can see a whole bunch of people at the fence. Willow, wake up." Tiffany gently shook Willow awake. "Come have a look at this. There's a bunch of people looking this way." She pulled open the curtains letting the light into the front room. Willow groaned and stretched, the couch had been quite uncomfortable to sleep on. She walked over and stood next to Tiffany. In the morning light she could see at least four people's heads above the fence and another three standing around the vehicle against it.

"What on earth is going on?"

"I don't know, I just woke up and looked out the window, and saw all those people and then woke you up." She said. The pair watched as one of the people stepped forward and aimed what looked to be a bow and arrow in their direction. "What? Why are they shooting at us?" they both jumped as the arrow embedded itself into the doorframe with a thud.

"I think they just sent us a letter. They're indicating for us to grab it." Willow looked up and down the road before she opened the door. Tied to the arrow with a ribbon was a hand scrawled letter. She grabbed it and shut the door.

"To the survivors,

We have been working on a way to rescue you from the house you are currently in, we ask for your patience at this time while we put our plan into motion. Your arrival yesterday surprised us, but we welcome you into our faction with open arms. Your arrival also brought a couple dozen new zombies, who were in such a frenzied state that it would have been too dangerous to attempt to rescue you at that point in time. We ask that you remain inside until we reach you as it will be safer for all involved.

Signed, Karabar Faction."

"Well, okay then, I guess we wait, like damsels in distress. Do we flash them a thumbs up or something, show that we understand. I get that they are looking after everyone's safety but I hope their plan doesn't take too long." Tiffany said. "Just once, I'd like to rescue someone instead of the one being rescued."

Willow laughed and stood in the window; she and Tiffany gave a double thumbs up each and watched as the heads on the other side of the fence disappeared. "Now that they know we aren't going to mess up their plan, they should start it and hopefully will be here before we know it. But in the mean time, what have we got left to eat?"

"I have a tin of spaghetti and baked beans and some corn kernels." Tiffany replied. Willow dug through her own bag and pulled out her food cans, placing them on the kitchen bench next to Tiffany's. "Two baked beans, one spaghetti, one corn, and two tuna. Good thing we'll be at the faction soon." They had three bottles of water between them. "Well I claim one of the beans." She turned to the stove and played with it. "Aw dang, looks like it was electric. Cold beans it is then." They sat on the couches and ate. Not being able to leave the house they explored it again, finding some board games and decks of playing cards stuffed into a box in one of the rooms.

***

Matthew and several others from the faction stood on top of the cars lined up along the fence. There were a lot more zombies bumping into each other than they had been aware of. Each one held a bow, aiming it at the mindless undead on the other side of the fence.

"Fire at will." Raj called as he let an arrow loose. The volley of arrows flew at the unsuspecting zombies; most of them found their targets, hitting the undead in their skulls, but a few hit their shoulders or chests. The ones that had the arrows though their heads collapsed immediately into a bloody pile, the others began to claw at the fence. Another row of faction members stood in between those with bows, reaching over the top of the fence and slamming javelins and spears into the heads of those still standing. Each time the faction members took out a row of zombies more just filled in the gaps, standing on top of their fallen brethren.

"This is going to be a big clean up job." Richard mumbled under his breath. Matthew heard it, but ignored him and continued to fire at the zombies. Each of his arrows hit their target so Richard didn't have to stab at too many, just the ones from the archer next to them. He watched his arrows before pulling another. He let another loose and watched it go straight through the eye socket of a zombie who was dressed in a suit and tie. "Nice one." Richard remarked as he stabbed at a zombie with an arrow lodged in its neck.

Matthew started to fire at zombies who were further from the fence; the bodies piling up below them were starting to get a bit high. "Raj, I think we need to move down the fence. Those things are just climbing on each other to get to us." He said. Raj agreed and they ceased firing, moving down several cars and climbed back up to where there were no bodies at the base of the fence. They began the onslaught again. They had downed almost sixty zombies when their arrows ran out. There were still around a dozen zombies left standing.

"With distractions we should be able to attempt a rescue, we can handle the rest. Get a weapon you can swing and go get the survivors." Raj said turning to Matthew. "Take Tahla with you. He's good with a bat." Tahla smiled and swung his bat to rest on his shoulder. "Fitzy, Jen, grab the gate for them, the rest of you come with me and get ready to make some noise." Raj led the group further down the fence line.

"I'm good to go whenever you are Matt." Tahla said as he hopped off the vehicle and made his way to the gate. Matthew nodded and grabbed a bat from the pile near the gate. Fitzy and Jen readied themselves; each one held onto the gate, they looked out the gaps at the zombies on the other side. Raj and the rest of the faction members that were there began calling out to the zombies and clapping their hands to draw them away from the gate.

Matthew heard Raj yell go. Fitzy and Jen opened the gates and he and Tahla stepped out onto the sidewalk. The gate was closed behind them and the pair turned in the other direction, they ducked around the zombies that were still on this end of the fence, jogging on the grass to hide the sound of their footsteps as much as possible. He listened to a dull thunk as Tahla swung his bat and it connected with the head of a zombie, he listened as he heard the body hit the ground. Tahla had a mean swing, which in this kind of combat was excellent. He looked behind them, the zombies seemed more interested in that was going on at the fence. They reached the road after what felt like an hour, but would have been five minutes at most. They crossed the street and headed for the house where they knew the survivors were hiding. Matthew knocked on the door and he was greeted by two girls. They stepped back and let the two in. Tahla shut the door behind them.