Three Days on the Hilltop (Patreon)

Author’s Note: I tell this story from the perspective of a main character I created, Seth Campbell, whose character sheet is posted here. The story surfaced as a found journal in the glove compartment of a Lexus and conveys his experiences on a hilltop somewhere outside Nightfall, Colorado.

Monday, May 14, 2012

It’s day 2 of the Outbreak, and I see no end in sight to this nightmare. My group and I remain in a camp of our making. We have enough food and water to last maybe a week more tops, but our goal is to move on once the weather is cooperating.

After we left Nightfall by caravan, we took the highway with a plan to head to the west coast by way of Utah. We didn’t get far. My friend, Jaime, insisted on us taking an old supply truck we found in the garage of Chipper Ridge High school with us. We stored the majority of our gear in back and set off for the interstate. Not too far outside of Nightfall, the truck broke down. Woody, Jaime’s cousin, figured it was a busted radiator. Most of the cars in our caravan had bone-dry fuel tanks by then anyway. We stopped to check the truck’s engine when a horde of infected came at us. It’s too much to write, but we defended ourselves and made our way up a steep hill where our camp is now set. One of our group, Sifer, was bitten while fighting at the foot of the hill. She left camp quietly to avoid endangering any of us when she changed. Otherwise, the rest of us survived what we now call the Battle on the Hill.

All was going well at first. I hung at camp and helped set up tents and tarps to provide shelter. Some of the younger people went off to Sapphire Lake “to fish” as they called it. I’m guessing they’ll be swimming and relaxing a lot of the time. None of us are used to this high-level of stress, so I don’t blame them for wanting to let out some steam. 

While they were at the lake, Rachel, Woody, and Jaime went to the caravan to work on the truck and to scavenge other cars abandoned on the road. I don’t know what they found since Parker is the quartermaster, and he’s going through all of the found gear. He’s great at this type of task: meticulous, thorough, hard-working. Jaime picked the right man for the job. Let’s face it—he’s not suited to fighting infected or defending camp. We still need people like him to help us maintain some semblance of normalcy. Over the past few days, he’s inventoried our supplies, managed building of defenses, and mapped out areas of the hilltop for specific functions, such as a camp fire and latrines. Some groups may not see value in that, but we do. Besides, he’s fun to have around camp.

That first day in camp had one other tragedy after the Battle on the Hill—we lost Benjimin and Nathan. They went out to scout the woods in the area around camp along with Kelly and were attacked by coyotes. Kelly managed to escape to tell us the horrific details, and though I won’t list them here, the most upsetting part involved their pack leader. Kelly believes the creature was infected. Though it had not turned to a zombie, the coyote showed signs of hyper-aggression and some physical changes: longer snout, jagged teeth, and darkening of the fur. If this proves animals can be changed by the virus, we are truly doomed. Losing two members hurts, but losing Benjimin, our only medical doctor, is significantly bad for us.

After that event, several of us prioritized security. Infected could make their way into camp and animals could attack. Besides my own skills in carpentry and construction, both Gina and Woody know their way with a hammer and saw. Gina has extensive knowledge as a site manager, so she took lead. We dug a trench around camp nearly three feet deep and wide. That truly wore us out. Rachel expressed concern over smoke from our campfire attracting attention from other survivors. Woody knew how to make a smokeless fire pit, having learned how to craft it in his contact with a Southern Ute tribe. With those two improvements made, we felt a little safer.

That night, we set up watch duty, and I drew third watch. Kelly shared my tent that night. She was still shaken up from her trip with Ben and Nathan earlier in the day. We talked for a while and fell asleep in each other’s arms in my sleeping bag. My nephew, Marcus, made his way into the tent with us, making any kind of intimacy impossible. It was for the best, and it brought us together.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

I woke up around 9 am next to Kelly, though that was the only good point of the day. Apparently, I overslept and missed my watch-duty shift. Jaime gave me an earful about it, but we were all more concerned about the pouring rain. Everything was soaked, and some food and supplies were lost. At least Rachel had the idea to place out containers and pots to collect rainwater. The trench we dug the day before filled with water, and it was a miserable time crowding under trees or in our tents. That day was pretty much a waste aside from talking with other survivors in the group. Turns out Kelly and I are not the only couple forming. Brody and Bailey are hanging out a lot, though Madison rarely gives her brother breathing room. Lopez and Tommy shared a tent, but I don’t think they hooked up. Tommy has been a mental wreck since he lost his mother. His crying has been a constant nightly occurrence. Lopez has been a comfort to him, but I can tell he wants more. Jillian flirted with Dante, but after he rejected her, she sat around camp pouting for the rest of the night. Tonight, Marcus went to sleep in Gina’s tent. I can tell she’s fond of the boy and maybe has some kind of surrogate-mother syndrome. I admit, it irks me how close they’re getting but she’s giving me a break from watching him. I didn’t ask to be a parent.

Kelly and I get closer each day. She woke up screaming last night with nightmares. Somehow, that led to sex. She’s an amazing lover. I’ve never experienced such raw aggression, like she was using me to forget her worries. Of course, I enjoyed it, but I’m worried about her.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Things got back to normal when the rain stopped, but then we had to worry about clean up. We were living like pigs in a mud pile. Jaime set up a chart with each of our names and various tasks—kind of a chore list. Some were asked to improve camp, and this included Bailey, Woody, and me. I was surprised that Jaime didn’t assign Gina to that task with us, but he wanted her to scavenge. Our group made a lot of progress, even setting up a watchtower at one end of camp. Standing in it, you can see down to the road and in most directions around camp. Bailey has been a godsend. She’s such a hard worker and takes direction well. I did catch her smoking a joint on her break. I smoked a bit back in college, so I’m not opposed to marijuana, as long as she can keep her wits about her.

Woody has been working just as hard, and while talkative in the first few days, he’s much more reserved now. I know he had interest in Kelly, so maybe there’s some jealousy there. He’s the most concerned with the outbreak and listens to a shortwave radio any chance he gets. While some of us hope the outbreak will end, he feels civilization has lost. I hope he’s wrong, but it is hard to argue against the reality of our situation.

Rachel had the idea to burn the corpses of the infected, so they don’t draw animals and their stench doesn’t linger in our camp. She is quite an enigma to me. The things she knows, her athleticism, and the weapons she brought—none of it matches her cover story. Unless “funeral home sales” is code for secret ninja operative, I’m not buying it. No one has pushed her to tell the truth, but it will happen sooner or later.

Most of the group went out scavenging in the woods and surrounding small towns. This included Reverend Church, Dante, Driver, Gina, Lopez, and Reilly. Brody and Madison were supposed to join them, but they asked to go hunting instead. For teenagers, they are very sure of themselves. They come from money, so they are used to getting what they want. Madison bagged a doe, but neither of them knew how to quarter the animal. Brody managed about 20 pounds of meat before abandoning it.

The scavenging trip produced some gear and food but not as much as expected. Apparently, Lopez spent most of his time goofing off and flirting with Gina. Driver went off on his own, not listening to anyone’s advice or requests to stay together. He was salty for being separated from Rosie. Reilly and Dante bickered like an old married couple, while Church tried to mediate. They all got lucky and found an abandoned Walmart truck with home goods like blankets, comforters, pillows, and other items. These will make camp life more comfortable and thus raise morale.

Jaime asked me to go with him to check out a pharmacy in a strip mall a few miles or so from our camp. He wanted to look for suited places for us to find shelter or at least scavenge for supplies and medicine. When I rejected the offer, he took along Jillian and Parker—not my top picks for an away mission. Parker needs insulin for his diabetes, so I can at least see his motivation for going. Jillian said she wants to go because she’s bored. I don’t know how long she’s going to last with her attitude. When she knocked on my door with Lyle, I should have never let her in my house. After Lyle left her to go search for his daughter, I felt bad for her. I hope she maintains some degree of loyalty toward me.

Jaime’s trip didn’t last long. Two hours after he left, he drove back to camp with bullet holes in his SUV. Apparently, a sniper drove them off, so the trip was a waste of time and fuel. At least no one got shot.

For the rest of the day, Jillian, Parker, and Kelly foraged in the woods. I was skeptical of how well they would do out there, but I underestimated them. They found a few pounds of edible mushrooms, berries, and plants. They stumbled upon a pack of infected and ran, in the process losing half their haul. In their panic, they led the zombies back to our camp. Rachel and Rosie were on watch duty, so they killed most. Out of nowhere, Tommy rushed to kill the remaining two infected, using a baseball bat to beat them to a pulp. He finished with gore splattered all over him. He’s definitely dealing with some issues that need to be resolved, or he’ll be a danger to all of us. Where do you find therapists in the apocalypse?

Nora was put on camp-chores duty. Aside from washing a few pots, she sat on a beach chair in the middle of camp with a 6-pack of Miller Lite. She’s just so feisty and fun-loving that no one seems to mind her lack of contribution. Her son, Reilly, is picking up her slack. He’s such a wild card, we do worry about him. He threatens to leave every day, but Nora wants to stay with us. If anything happens to her, I worry what he’ll do.

Once she was back in camp, Kelly suggested we check out a gas station nearby that she spotted while foraging. We took a motorcycle and enjoyed the ride through the countryside, only encountering the infected once on the way. As we drove under a bridge, a few of them must have heard our engine and ran to meet us, falling off the overpass and onto the highway. We swerved to avoid the diving bodies, and Kelly actually shot and killed one. I didn’t think she had any talent for killing.

At the station, we scavenged the main building and found a variety of goods, including a sawed-off shotgun. Though reluctant to let her handle it, I couldn’t say no to her. It was a fairly easy trip once we dispatched two infected in the station. We even found a gas pump we got working.

On our way back to the motorcycle to leave, we spotted a few armed strangers lurking in the nearby woods. Though one tried talking to us, I noticed one of his companions flanking us from the right. Had Kelly not been there, I wouldn’t have acted. My instincts to protect her kicked in, and I attacked, shooting the guy flanking us through the throat. The other two opened fire. I wounded another, and they fled.

Part of me regrets my actions. Should I have acted so aggressively? If I could go back in time, maybe I would have chosen another path, and those three would have become allies in this messed-up world. I’ll never know.

After that event, I broke down in front of Kelly. The stress was getting to me, and I felt my humanity slipping. Without society’s rules keeping me in line, what would I become? Kelly then surprised me. She kissed me, long and hard. Maybe it was adrenaline still running through us, but she didn’t stop there. She stripped off my clothes and made love to me on the hood of an abandoned blue Chrysler near the gas station. When we were done and I caught my breath, we went at it again. She’s ravenous, and though tired and stressed, I felt powerful and safe in her embrace. The outbreak destroyed the world but gave me this woman, who may be the love of my life.

I’ll never let anything happen to her—this I swear. No person, living or infected, will ever come between us.

That’s all I’ll write for now. Jaime expects we’ll move out tomorrow. To where, no one knows.