Zombie apocalypse fiction – Ruth’s story #114 Settling on the farm with the Adventists #SHTF #TEOTWAWKI

Settling on the farm with the Adventists

The next few days pass in relative repetitive boredom. We had to protect the Roman siege engines from the near constant rain. The continuous wet rots the rope and fiber components of the Roman siege engines which is probably something that the Roman legions struggled with while on campaign in wetter areas like Britain.

Phyllis is busily cranking out more arrowheads for the Scorpios. The Adventists who also happen to be members of a few of the local Native American tribes are quite adept at making the slightly larger and heavier Scorpio arrows. Some of the more creative lads have discussed attempting to create a polybolos.

The polybolos sounds intriguing. I understand from their discussions, and the numerous, detailed rough sketches from around the dinner table, that a polybolos is some kind of rapid fire Scorpio with a large box magazine. Some Greek dude invented this rapid fire Scorpio. There is even discussion of an ancient Mythbusters episode dealing with the attempt to recreate a polybolos.

A polybolos if we could get such a contraption to work and could afford to feed it would be a great weapon against living opponents. Against a horde of mindless zombies intent only upon feasting on our flesh, I do not believe such an ancient siege weapon of terror would be very effective.

In order to kill a zombie we need to destroy the brain. We could turn several zombies into walking Scorpio pin cushions. The arrow festooned zombies would still drag themselves towards the food source. There is some possibility that the Scorpio with its heavier arrow could do sufficient damage to the zombie to slow a zombie down, but not enough surety in a battle where we need instant kills not maiming.

Beware cannibals with knives …

The next time that we encounter Honey is at the breakfast table. I note that she is no longer unarmed. Honey now carries what I recognize as a small Finnish belt knife called a Puukko. Honey’s Puukko has a beautiful Damascus blade. She uses her Puukko in the same manner as most Fins, as an everyday tool useful for eating, general chores as well as fighting.

When asked where she secreted the little knife, Honey only grins revealing her black teeth. I also realize that the small cannibal child is now completely bald having completed her transformation into a cannibal. Seeing the bald pale pate of Honey who once had long wavy light blonde hair is a little disconcerting.

Honey’s fingernails are now inky black and are much thicker and harder than a normal human’s. During this breakfast, Shack and I took the opportunity to ask Honey how she came to be pregnant and infected. We know that she ate her brother, but I also wonder if there was other tainted meat she consumed.

Joined by Doc, I learn that Honey has been added to the Medical tent, in the care of Sarah and Gennady. Sarah and Doc confirm that Thing 1 seems to prefer Honey over its own mother. The cannibal youngsters (Shack’s term for them not mine) appear to have a form of telepathic communication.

Doc has asked if Honey can hear Thing 1 in a hive mind or if she is able to hear any other hives nearby. Honey cannot hear a hive nearby which is good but we are not sure exactly the range of her “hearing.” Honey is able to sense when Thing 1 is hungry or needs changing and has for the most part assumed care of the little monster.

When we get a chance, Doc and Sam want to take Honey in the field with a full escort, a few QRF teams and the Scouts. We want Honey to attempt to hear any cannibal or zombie hives that might be in the area. Not only will this help our Scouts possibly locate the hives, but it will also let us know if there are any hives that we missed.

Doc is protective of Honey I believe mostly because of her youth. It must be hard to be a pregnant 12-year-old cannibal. Doc also wants to be able to study Honey’s baby as it will most likely be a K2, a second generation cannibal. There is some concern that Honey’s baby could be either born a full-fledged cannibal with abilities not yet seen or as a zombie.

Until Honey’s child is born we will not know just what it might be. Since Honey is less than three months pregnant, it may be a while before we have to decide what to do with her baby.

Honey’s history …

 

Honey does reveal some interesting details of her survival since the KCAP pandemic. Her mother, younger brother and she were in the car attempting to reach her aunt’s house in Oak Harbor when the I-5 bridges were bombed by the military.

Trapped on the road and fearful of the gangs of predators already prowling the overcrowded highway, her mother took both children into the grass beside the highway abandoning their car. The three of them slowly made their way through the suburbs surviving on a few snacks that her mother had in her monstrous purse. Lacking any weapons and fearful of the looting and fighting occurring in the cities, Honey’s mother attempted to keep them safe.

Lacking any water, struggling with dehydration and lack of sleep the trio stumbled upon some men and women. Unbeknownst to them, these two men and three women were from the cannibal enclave in the newer Super Walmart building. After a few minutes Honey’s mother sensed something was amiss and attempted to leave.

A brief struggle happened in which her little brother was lost. Honey and her mother hoped that her little brother had managed to slip away but regrettably he was caught and killed. Not aware that her brother was now dead, Honey clung to her mother while the group took them to the newer Super Walmart building.

At the Walmart, Honey and her mother met Cauley for the first time. Honey was sent away in the care of another woman while Cauley wanted to talk to her mother. Fearful for her mother and concerned with the whereabouts of her younger brother, Honey went along leaving her mother alone.

Honey was given a bath and a change of clothes and then fed a delicious stew. (It was not until much later that she was told that she had eaten her brother that night.) Honey was tired so she laid down to sleep. When Honey woke up she realized someone was attempting to climb on to her trying to slide between her legs.

Honey kicked and bit the individual who eventually because he was much stronger overpowered her. Just as she was sure she was about to get raped, her mother appeared causing the man to lose interest. Her mother was hurt and limping badly. Cauley and three of his men had raped Honey’s mother repeatedly.

When it was Cauley’s turn to rape her mother, he had his men turn Honey’s mother over on to her stomach. While two of the men held Honey’s mother down, Cauley sodomised her. The men repeatedly sodomised Honey’s mother until they could no longer get an erection. Afterwards Honey’s mother hurriedly dressed and sought out her daughter.

The next few days passed in agony as Honey and her mother started to reveal the signs of early secondary KCAP infection. Having lost interest in Honey’s mother, Cauley now turned his attention to Honey. Cauley had a standing order that he got to rape all the women first so a few days after Honey and her mother joined the enclave, she was raped by Cauley and his three cronies.

Thankfully spared being sodomised, Honey due to her youth was still hurt badly. After Cauley and the men were done with Honey they no longer had an interest in her and moved on to other victims. After Honey and her mother recovered from their abuse, they were permitted a limited amount of freedom. Always watched Honey and her mother were fearful for their lives.

It was about this time that they learned the fate of the little brother and learned the true nature of the enclave. Honey and her mother were forced to partake in the ritual butchering and cooking of several humans. Nearly puking at the thought of what they were eating they were forced to eat at gunpoint.

One of the newer men refused to eat. He was clubbed senseless. While still alive he was hung upside down and his neck was slit the blood collected for stew. After bleeding out he was summarily butchered. During this time Honey and her mother learned that a group of heavily armed survivors were camped at a nearby farm. Learning that the survivor newcomers had a large amount of military weapons and vehicles, Cauley was wild with desire to acquire them.

Having already squeezed what he could from the Adventists, Cauley desperately wanted the weapons possessed by the convoy. Cauley arranged a scouting party having somehow been able to contact someone inside of the convoy. Honey’s mother, by offering to perform a rather disgusting sexual act for the scouting party leader, secured her place within the scouting party.

Honey was left behind as a hostage if her mother tried anything. While her mother was gone with the scouting party, Honey was watched closely. The scouting party was able to meet with their contacts within the convoy but a disagreement broke out between the three traitorous convoy members. The smaller Asian man and the very tall and skinny man they called Scarecrow disagreed over some matter. Honey was never sure what the disagreement was about.

Although there were supposed to be no weapons allowed at the meeting, the one called Scarecrow pulled a sharpened metal rod out and stabbed the Asian man. Tossing the gravely wounded Asian man in the water the cannibals and the convoy traitors split in case the fight was heard by the guards. Honey does not know more about the convoy traitors despite several questions from both Sam and Doc.

When the Adventists and convoy was meeting, Cauley was incised that they had cut him out of what he figured he was owed. Cauley had already once misjudged the Adventists and had lost several members in a battle with them. Not wishing to go directly against a group armed with military weaponry, Cauley decided to take the Adventists hostage while many of them were away at the convoy’s camp.

During this chaotic time, Honey’s mother performed the disgusting sexual act again and was able to convince the guard to let her and her daughter escape. Despite their fear of betrayal, the guard was good on his word and looked the other way as they slipped out of the Walmart. Honey and her mother were attempting to come to the convoy offering the identity of the traitors in exchange for safety. Slipping through the forest Honey stepped on a mine.

Her mother fearful for her daughter went to try to find help. When she returned Honey’s mother startled Shack who shot her on reflex. Thankfully Honey does not appear to hold a grudge against Shack although I tease him to sleep with one eye open just in case. Honey does not know the convoy traitor’s faces only that one was called Scarecrow and was always accompanied by a woman. The other convoy traitor was an Asian man who was stabbed and tossed into the creek.

Looking at Sam, Honey says “I am glad that you shot that bastard Cauley even though he might be the father of my baby. He hurt my mommy and made her butt bleed.”

Sam silently nods his head at her.

“Like fucking Han Solo,” mutters Shack beside me as if I needed a reminder.

“But Han Solo did not have an eye patch like a pirate nor was he missing an eye.” Honey quips.

Next chapter: What to do with traitors in our midst?