The Clock Runs Down: Half Past the Apocalypse

by Joe Kelly

  “Look the bulldozer is the best option to get through, and we can knock down walls if we have too. ” Rob said “we will roll right through crowds of undead with that.” He looked at Jared then said. “we could use it to clear one of those side roads.”

  “Not really that puts us back to the noise issue and location we would have half the undead in town following along behind us and have to deal with them at the Fuel supply yard or the hospital. No matter how we look at it, we are going to have to deal with lots of undead so the wider main streets are the best option.”

  “what if the zombies somehow get up to the driver?” Steve asked, it was unlikely but they had seen enough unlikely things with the undead not to consider the possibility.

  “Ahead of you there, I’m enclosing the cab with plywood and tin, with slots to see and fire out of if necessary. I’ll have it done by tomorrow afternoon.” Rob explained then grinned at the looks the others gave him. . “ who says homo’s cant be useful”

  “ I really hope you fuck sticks don’t think your going to leave this old shit behind” pappy said from the doorway and grinned as heads turned to look at him.. “ can’t let you Army pukes run around with out an escort.” He said heading straight for the bucket of beers slamming the door behind him. “There is a reason marines go in first you know, to set up the lights and the signs so the army can find its way” he sighed happily as he picked up a cold bottle of beer. “if any one of you fuck sticks argues with me I’ll bury my boot so far up your asses, you’ll be spitting shoe leather.” Jared coughed suddenly though it sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

  The old man popped the cap off the bottle with his teeth then took a long drink. He lowered the bottle with a sigh. Wiping his hand across his mouth, he looked at Jared. “ Besides, your going to need every gun you can get, and if some one has to die. Id rather it was me than Jeff. Jeff has a wife and those grandkids of mine to protect. Me I’ve lived a long life already..”

  Seeing this side of pappy brought back a memory from when he had been fifteen, Pappy had been like this then too. For a heartbeat he saw again the old parlor with its tattered wallpaper and blood stains on the floor.

  Regardless of anything else the old fart was brave as hell and willing to risk his life when the chips were down. “and I can still shoot, OO rah “ Pappy said dropping into a chair. “Like the turd packer said dozers the way to go” he ignored the laughter from the women, as he took another long drink of Beer

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Seth hummed happily as he puttered about on the courthouse roof he even waved to a few of the zombies he knew down on the street. Things were going swimmingly he thought. He giggled at that “ swimmingly.” He loved that word since he had first heard it on some English TV show.

  Now those Brits were some polite and educated folks. Not like the rude people he’d had to deal with around here. He finished carefully wrapping plastic around the rifle he was going to leave on the roof. Cant risk it getting wet from dew or rain, might spoil the party.

  He had been quite busy the last two days with the zombies gone off to bother some one else. oh yes hiding gifts and getting party favors ready. He wished he knew more women to invite. Once he had this party under his belt he could go and pick up the women who had stayed behind at the camp. He just knew they would like to come visit. And the Kids too, especially the kids, he loved kids more than anything else in the world. His Friend had even talked about taking them to live with him. They would be so happy with him.

  There were times his mind cleared for moments, were sanity or at least near sanity returned. But those moments were growing further and further apart and lasted shorter and shorter times and in those moments he wondered if his ‘friend’ might not be responsible for his mental state. When his ‘friend was around’ it was hard to think and it was even worse in his dreams. But no sooner had those thoughts gone through his mind than he dismissed them his friend would never betray him. No, the people here in town had done that and his friend had helped him make them pay. Now the new comers posed a threat, if they could they would destroy his life, take his fiancée and his supplies. His ‘friend’ was right about that and they had to be stopped.

  The mist closed in and blanketed his mind once more and humming happily he headed downstairs, he had a few things to do to prepare for the kids stay. Short as it might be before they went to live with his friend.

  CHAPTER 14

  The sun rose behind a veil of clouds, the team assembled under the lead gray sky, the few smiles that were exchanged were strained, dark humor elicited only tense laughter. Jared double-checked his gear then lifted his face to the sky. Can’t have sun every day, he told himself as a chilly gust of wind touched him. He frowned listening to Ori and Ronny argue, Well Ronny was doing most of the Arguing, He felt guilty for being left at the camp. Not that he should, but he won’t be there to cover his friends backs and he doesn’t’ like it, Jared thought. he knew that almost every person staying behind felt the same way, while secretly relieved at not having to face the dead.

  For the most part it was almost like every mission he had been involved with, most every one was giving the final once over to their gear and each one had or was finding their PreMission ritual to take their minds off what was coming. I worry but crack jokes and act like the unconcerned NCO, Ori damn near pushes his glasses into his forehead and almost pulls out hair.

  Mark wants to play poker or Domino’s. Which he, Steve, Ronny and Deacon had done till late last night. Deacon had learned that Mark took Dominos more seriously than Murder, losing his figurative shirt during the course of the night.

  Steve would zero his sights, check every inch of his weapons and talk about Bridget to who ever would listen. Back in the day it had been about which ever woman he had been dating. Jill, well, she wasn’t a vet, but she was reading Von Clausewitzs “On war” she had found it on the bookshelf in the main cabins living room. He had asked her why that book and she had told him “ because you and your friends reference it on occasion so I thought I would educate myself on the mans writing” she had closed the book marking her place with a slim finger and then said in a dangerous tone. “or do you think I read romances.” He smiled to himself at the memory. He didn’t see much going wrong today, but who knew when Murphy was going to step in and put your pecker in a meat grinder. Don’t end up fooling yourself by seeing what you want others to see, He told himself.

  Jason’s case of nerves was obvious, the finger drumming and foot tapping could get annoying, but he was gamely going over the gear he had been given and listening to Steve who was offering last-minute advice to Deacon, Kyle and Jason in between talking about Bridget.

  To have survived this long, Jason had to have been able to keep from panicking. So Jared wasn’t really worried about taking him along. Deacon and Kyle had also proven themselves on the various scouting runs over the last couple of weeks.

  Henry hadn’t argued with staying behind, but how could he when Jeff, Warren, Shelly, Mary, and Ronny were staying behind as well.

  They had secured twenty Propane bottles at Regals that Ori had modified over the last two days and now he and Mark were loading them into the back of Marks Truck. Jared was just as happy those things were not in the back of his truck. He might love Mark like a brother but he didn’t want those things in the back of his truck.

  Jared turned his gaze to the walkie talkie contraption they had attached to each tank using zip ties and Liquid nails of all things. His eyes shifted to the Detonator box that currently sat on the Hood of Marks Ford F350.

  Jared felt edgy around it, which might explain his aversion to working EOD. Nervousness and bombs don’t go well together. Kind of like being a nun at an orgy, you really didn’t want a pissed off Nun with a ruler anywhere close to a bunch of naked butts.

  Inside the box were the matching walking Talkies to the ones secured on the bottles, all cheap units they had gotten from Wal mart during their last trip, each secured to the bottom of the box
with foam packed around them.

  Each set of walkies shared a channel, or a privacy channel. All you had to do was the insert the battery and press the call button and ignition. They didn’t have batteries installed at the moment for safety reasons. No one wanted to blow themselves up accidentally. Dying from stupidity was not high on the list of things to do today.

  As long as the detonators worked the way Ori said they would, things were going to be interesting. Pappy had been thrilled at the Idea. “Never would have believed an ugly ass, skinny little prick like you could be that devious.” He had said to Ori as he clapped him on the shoulder, which was the closest Pappy could come to a compliment.

  It would be up to Ronny and the others to hold the fort or get everyone out and to a better place if the worst happened to the team in town. Ronny had asked Jared for advice if something did happen and hadn’t been real thrilled when Jared told him. “Don’t tell the kids stories about sex till they are twenty, and do what you think is best at the time.”

  The drive to the edge of town seemed to take longer than usual, tension had a way of doing that and the tension only grew the closer they got to town.

  Turning onto the bypass, it grew a little cooler. This section of the Bypass was thirty feet lower than surrounding terrain and held few abandoned vehicles and even fewer walking corpses. That would not last of course, not if they remained in place with the engines running.

  He drove slowly past 52 exit, the ramp curved gently up to join 52 opposite of walmart. In the middle of that curve a giant battered American flag still hung from the thick pole. Overhead, dark clouds pregnant with rain hovered. A chilled breeze blew fitfully stirring the dead leaves and trash that spiraled across the road. Jared parked just under the overpass and got out, weapon in hand as the rest of the team parked behind him.

  Here and there a zombie wandered down the road, or along the sloping sides. No more than twenty or thirty scattered along the two miles of road they could see. Not what they expected to be honest. Steve hopped out of his truck rifle in hand and grinned, “ready to go take a peak”

  Jared and Steve made their way quietly up the slope. Ten feet from the top they dropped and low crawled till they could peer over the crest lying under the flag. Ori would have been better for this part, but Jared needed to see the conditions for himself to make the best decision on which plan to proceed with.

  52 was blocked by a wreck almost in the middle of the overpass. From there it ran west past the Walmart and Walgreens heading straight for the center of town. There were abandoned vehicles scattered as far west as they could see, which was the Methodist church on the left side and the new Chinese place on the south side. Well it had been new before the dead. They’d had a great buffet, Jared remembered his mouth watering. But other than a couple of zombies by the Long John silvers next door to the Walgreens, the area looked empty of the undead.

  Jared pulled out his Binoculars and swept the area, with the binoculars he could see the four or five blocks to the town center where the clock tower of the court house rose into the leaden sky.

  Now that’s just odd “ he muttered. Here and there he could see a zombie, occasionally a cluster of them down at the intersection at the edge of the square but not the huge mass that had filled the streets on their last visit. “is it like that all the way down” Steve asked.

  “As far as I can see at any rate” Jared replied.

  “Where did they all go?” Steve asked Jared shrugged in answer.

  “I have no clue, but it makes me uneasy” Jared replied. Steve nodded in agreement.

  At this point he and his team had two options, cut up onto 52 and drive straight thru, which was the shorter route or drive further down the bypass and take Old 128 north like they had planned. It was longer, but there weren’t a lot of homes or businesses along that route till they were close to the courthouse. Either way once they got to the courthouse, they could be hit from four sides, which he had already counted on. “We go this way then” he said, Steve nodded, not really caring either way he just wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible. They slipped back down the slope and rejoined the others.

  “ we are going in here” Jared said, “ drive up to 52 and we unload the dozer there.” He said as he climbed back into his truck. it took only a few minutes to get turned around and then take the exit up. Jared’s nerves were tight and singing with tension. Where in the hell could all of the undead have gone?

  They summoned the team to move up to 52, where they unloaded the bulldozer in plain sight of the handful of zombies in the parking lot of wal mart, the ten or so they observed were to far away to be of any threat for now. Coupled with the ones at Long Johns, that brought the count up to 14 zombies.

  Rob adjust the dozer blade to ankle height then secured the cab of the dozer then at Jareds signal put the thing into gear. The treads engaged and with a bellow of the engine and a lurch the heavy machine started down the road, the heavy metal treads tearing up the road. Jared flanked it on the right side, Steve's truck was on the left. Pappy rode with Chris in the back of Steve’s Truck while Bridget drove.

  “I’ve seen one legged, half dead hookers, with herpes drive faster than this.” Pappy complained through the open rear window as he shifted around trying to get comfortable. .

  “Bite me you old coot” Bridget snapped. “The fastest thing you’ve driven in Twenty years is a fucking hover around” she added, Pappy cackled a laugh. Then shouldered his old Garand and shot down a elderly female zombie, wearing a blue dress suit that had emerged from the Gas utility office. More zombies were appearing from between homes and business’s drawn by the noise, but nothing like the numbers that had surrounded the court house on the last visit.

  “Take that you uppity bitch. The last time you got laid, dust was puffing out your ears with each stroke” Pappy hooted.

  Bridget shook her head in disgust. What a foul-mouthed old fuck she thought then laughed at her own choice of words. Funny but what a mouth. There were times she had really wanted to just slap his old ass silly. But knowing him, he would just laugh and let loose with a withering commentary on how she hit like a girl, or a navy sissy.

  “Look at that one” Pappy called out, obviously enjoying his ride thru town. “who the hell dressed you the day you died, you Look like that prick Pee Wee Herman, fucking no ball loser” another shot rang out and Pee wee pitched over.

  “I swear look at that Inbreeders, thank God your fucking snaggle toothed asses are dead, so you can’t breed any more ugly slope browed, weak chinned kids.” The Garand fired three more times. “looks like beached whales laying there like that.” Pappy observed with a laugh that dwindled off into a coughing fit.

  Chris was laughing, making it harder for him to aim. But he was starting to rack up a good count. Even with the diminished numbers, there were a lot of targets out there. And pappy had a comment for every one of them and Pappy’s running monologue kept all of their minds off just how bad things could go wrong.

  Marks truck was the last vehicle in the line with Sharon squeezed between Mark and Ori who had insisted on riding shotgun. Jason sat in the back ready to deploy the bombs. As the Group reached each side street, Jason would leap out of the Marks truck and place a bottle. Occasionally having to dodge a zombie to place the bottle where he wanted it. A few of the streets were fairly easy he only had to lay the bottle on its side and let it roll down.

  There were maybe sixty zombies scattered around the courthouse, ten of them died under the blade and treads of the bulldozer. Jared, Steve, Ori and Jill went to work clearing them out with melee weapons. As they finished Pappy stood up in the bed of the truck looking east on old 128 “I think I know where all the dead fucks went” he called out and pointed. Chris looked and frowned. Down the road about where the Tractor supply was, the road was full of zombies. Chris looked down old 128 south and saw more zombies

  “ Rob hold up” Jared called out over the radio. He wanted to keep the dozer from advancing p
ast the square, in case they needed it. “Ori, check our rear” he hoped he was wrong.

  “I see maybe sixty on the road now.” Ori replied.

  Jared debated for a moment, but going back to camp was out of the question. They had to have the supplies they came for.

  “We don’t have a choice, we have to hit the fuel yard, the hospital and pharmacies.” Jared said. “ All right mount up, get behind the dozer. “

  Seth watched from the clock tower on the courthouse as the small group of vehicles moved out heading towards the hospital. The dozer made short work of the zombies on the road, leaving a red paste and gore in its wake. By the time they vanished over the hill, the square had filled up with zombies. Which was exactly what he had wanted.

  They had to come back this way, and when they did, he smiled that’s when the party would start. he was so excited by the idea he almost ran downstairs to knock off a quickie, but resisted the urge, it would be so much better after the party was over. He really wanted to let that blonde with the nice rack live with him too. Maybe have a nice threesome this evening.