The Deadland Chronicles | Book 4 | Siege of the Dead:

by Spears, R. J.

  Clayton looked to Jones and asked. “So, we’re supposed to fly it over all those fucking zombies, find one of the smart ones, and spray the shit that’s inside that canister all over it? And it’s supposed to kill it?”

  “That’s the plan,” Jones said.

  “What about what happened to Bradbury?” Clayton asked. “We’ll have to be flying pretty damn close to it.”

  A voice spoke from inside the helicopter, “No. No. There is no we. I’ll be the one flying us that close.” A moment later, Garver’s face appeared out of the shadows of the interior of the helicopter.

  “I don’t know shit about firing any sprayer,” Clayton said.

  “No, you’ll be our door gunner,” Jones said. “One of these fine men will be manning the sprayer.”

  Emmett looked to Del, and Del returned the same apprehensive look. Then they looked at Jones and asked, in unison, “Who?”

  Chapter 40

  The Meet-Up

  “We need to change our plan,” Maxwell yelled in Lance’s direction as he pushed through the crowd of zombies churning in the intersection where two county roads intersected.

  “You aren’t supposed to be here,” Lance growled out and pointed to the south. “You’re supposed to be a quarter-mile in that direction. We need to come on the city from three different directions. That is the plan.”

  Maxwell thought, that is your plan. Not THE plan.

  Maxwell had to turn his body sideways more than once as he slid between the zombies swarming the area. It was like squeezing between a bunch of overeager concert goers waiting for the gates to open. Only these concert-goers were rotting and reeked like slow death.

  “But the bridges are out,” Maxwell said, raising his voice over the moans and groans of the zombies.

  “What!?” Lance replied.

  “Yes, the bridges are out,” Maxwell said as he got to within five feet of Lance. “It looks like they have been blown up. They are impassable.”

  “How do you know this?” Lance asked.

  “I saw it from a hilltop,” Maxwell said.

  Lance didn’t respond for a moment, and it was evident to Maxwell that Lance was weighing their options. While he knew Lance would always say, always forward, never back, Maxwell hoped that he might direct them to move on. They could pass this city and take on the next one.

  But he knew Lance would never back down. On top of it was the voice that spoke to all of them at night. It exhorted them. It urged them on. It bargained with them. But most of all, it made promises. The voice told them that he, and he alone, could return them back into their human form. If they just wiped out one more group of the living. Then another and another.

  Maxwell was beginning to think they would never reach that dangling carrot. That it was an empty promise, used to spur them on to worse and worse deeds.

  But when it was the only hope you had, it was all you could do but comply with its requests.

  “Maybe there’s another bridge,” Lance said.

  The zombies continued to mill around the two of them. Whenever the half-dead ones gathered, the zombies collected around them, slowly closing in on them, drawn in by the invisible and irresistible pull that was indefinable. The zombies encircled them as if drawn in by an invisible magnetic pull.

  In those moments, Maxwell actually thought they might crush them. Although he wasn’t sure he still breathed, it was in those moments that he still got the feeling that he might suffocate.

  “If they took out these bridges, they probably took down all of them,” Maxwell said.

  Lance ruminated on this idea and said, “Probably.”

  “I didn’t see any easy way in,” Maxwell said. “Maybe we should bypass this city?”

  Something flared behind Lance’s eyes. “No, no, no. We must take down this one. You know it. Audrey knows it. I know it.”

  Maxwell doubted that Audrey was all that convicted about it. Still, they all heard the same voice at night, speaking soothingly, promising things that could only be dreamed of.

  “But how do we do it?” Maxwell asked.

  Lance nervously scanned ahead. Trees covered with faded brown leaves lined the road on both sides. The fire hadn’t made it to this far, but the air was still heavy with the scent of burnt wood.

  The river sat at the end of the road with an intersecting split two-lane road crossing it. They could see the churning brown water of the river past the road.

  “That river is really running,” Maxwell said.

  Lance’s eyes narrowed as he studied the river. “We’ll find a shallow place and ford the zombies across it.”

  “What if there isn’t a shallow place?” Maxwell said.

  The same fire that had flared before in Lance’s eyes returned, and the temperature was high.

  “We are taking that city,” Lance said.

  “And what if they fight back? We lost a couple thousand of our zombies in the fire. Maybe more.”

  Lance closed his eyes tightly, then said, “We have washed over every other town, city, or shithole we’ve come to. Hell, we even took out that military base.” He pointed back to the wagon being pulled by an oxen-team of the undead. “And we have toys from that little adventure.” He smiled, but there wasn’t one ounce of mirth behind it. “They give us trouble, we bring out those toys, and it’s all over. I already smoked a helicopter. I can do that any time I want.”

  “But they had two helicopters,” Maxwell said. “Maybe they have ten?”

  Lance drew back his arm and whipped an elbow across the face of the closest zombie. Its nose shattered, and its head jerked backward as it collapsed into the scrum of zombies ambling around the area.

  “Maxxie,” Lance said as he pushed his face closer to Maxwell, “You need to grow a pair and get with the program.”

  Maxwell hated that nickname. Lance usually called him ‘Maxi-pad’ which was worse, but he hated the way Lance demeaned him.

  Maxwell tried to match Lance’s intensity, but he felt butterflies tossing about in his stomach. “I just want to survive whatever shitstorm we are walking into. I have a bad feeling about this one.”

  Lance’s eyes narrowed, but after a few seconds, they loosened up as he gave Maxwell a broad smile. “You always feel that way. We always survive...and thrive. We will kick ass and take names.”

  “I just want you to know that while we don’t feel pain, we are not invulnerable,” Maxwell said. “We can die.”

  Lance brought up his fist and shoved a thumb in the direction of the horde of zombies over his shoulder and said, “And that’s why we have a few thousand of these sorry sons of bitches.” His smile faded, and he never took his eyes off Maxwell’s face. “Now, we get our asses down to that river.”

  Maxwell had been in this staredown contest many times with Lance, and he knew the truth of them. He never won.

  “Okay,” he said as he dropped his gaze to the pavement.

  “Let’s get on the move,” Lance said.

  Chapter 41

  On the Backside

  Henry surveyed the people along the back wall in both directions. What he saw alarmed him. He knew the front gate was reinforced scaffolding creating a catwalk spanning out in both directions for one hundred and fifty-feet. What he discovered in that moment was the back gate only had a fifty-foot walkway on each side, and the gate itself wasn’t reinforced.

  Most of the people were from the Sanctum, but there were only a couple dozen of them. The majority of them congregated nearest the gate. Henry, Ellen, and Molly were at the far end, away from the others, because Henry thought it was best to keep Ellen on a low profile.

  “Look at that,” he said in a hushed tone as he cut his eyes toward the gate.

  “I’ve noticed that, too,” Ellen said. “They’re really packed in there.”

  “What the hell are you two talking about?” Molly said.

  Ellen looked to Molly and lowered her voice, “Henry’s father was a military man, and you couldn’t be around him
without learning something via osmosis.” She flicked a finger in the direction of the gate. “There’s too many of them near the gate. A single attack could take them all out at once.”

  “But the zombies don’t have weapons to do that,” Molly said.

  “The regular ones don’t, but from what we’ve heard, the smart ones know how to shoot down a helicopter,” Henry said.

  If you hadn’t noticed, we’re not in a helicopter,” Molly said. “We’re behind a wall.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Ellen said. “A direct hit there, and a lot of people would die.”

  “I don’t see what the deal is,” Molly said. “The zombies are coming from the other direction. We probably won’t see any of them, anyway,”

  “Don’t count on that,” Henry said. “There’s more than enough of them to circle this place five times deep. Plus, we don’t know that they won’t try to send one of their groups around the back.”

  “So, what do we do about it?” Molly said as she crossed her arms. “I can shout down there and tell those dumbasses to spread the hell out.”

  Ellen sucked in a long breath, then said, “Somehow, I don’t see that working.”

  “Why not?” Molly said, sticking out her chin.

  Feeling protective of his mom, Henry stepped between Molly and Ellen. “First, you’re a girl.” Before she could react, he shot up a finger in the air to cut her off. “Second, there are three of us and two dozen of them.”

  “So, we just sit on our asses?” Molly said.

  “I didn’t say that,” Henry replied. “We may have to be more subtle about it.”

  Molly turned away from him and looked out into the rest of the campus, giving Henry the cold shoulder. He knew he was in for it later. If there was a later.

  “I’ll be back,” Henry said.

  As he turned to walk down the catwalk, Ellen grabbed his arm and held him in place.

  “I’m going with you,” she said.

  “And leaving me here alone?” Molly said, putting her hands out, palms up.

  Ellen turned to Molly and said, “Don’t take this wrong, but you lack a certain tact.”

  “Henry?!” Molly said.

  “Too much is online here,” Henry said. “Mom’s right. Better you hold back.”

  Molly cocked her jaw and slowly shook her head back and forth, then said, “Whatever.”

  Henry knew that it meant a lot more than that, but he also knew his mother was right. This would take a deft touch, and Henry wished more than ever that his dad was there. He’d know what to say. He’d know how to handle this.

  But Greg had been dead for over a year. He had died trying to retrieve medical supplies to keep one of their own alive.

  As if she were reading his mind, Ellen squeezed his arm and said, “We can do this.”

  Together, they walked down the wall. As they continued on, “Who do we know down there?” Ellen asked.

  “Bonds is there,” Henry said.

  “What’s he like?” Ellen asked.

  “It could go either way,” Henry said. “He’s not...how do you say it? Not the smartest kid in the class. Far from it, really, and he’s definitely not a leader, but that means he follows whatever Eli says.”

  “Eli is not here,” Ellen said.

  “Mom, let me take the lead,” Henry said as they closed the gap on the people huddled around the back gate. “Your reputation isn’t the best with these people.”

  “You’re right, but I’m here,” she said.

  “I know.”

  Henry locked in on Bonds, who was with two other men, leaning against the small lip of a wall overlooking the backside of the Sanctum. It looked empty and harmless, but they all knew that was going to change. A sense of inevitability hung in the air like a dark, heavy blanket, ready to fall.

  Bonds must have caught Henry and Ellen approaching out of the periphery of his vision because he stopped mid-sentence and turned Henry’s way. His expression looked like he had just sucked on a lemon.

  “Bonds,” Henry said as he put up a hand of greeting.

  “What brings you down here?” Bonds said.

  Henry cleared his voice and said, “Well, I thought I should come down and speak with you.”

  With every word he said, Henry felt more and more like a fifteen-year-old kid, rather than an adult who had anything meaningful to say. He wanted to turn around and head back the way he had come, but his dad’s voice echoed in his head, If not you, then who?

  Henry had always hated the question. If not me, then someone else us what he had always wanted to say in response, but he knew his dad was preparing him to become an adult. Getting him ready for a situation just like this.

  “I had a couple of ideas I wanted to run past you,” Henry said.

  Bonds glanced at the man on his right, a tall, thin man with a gaunt face, then back at Henry. “What do you have to say?”

  “I don’t want to overstep here,” Henry said, “but I was thinking that maybe we'd be better off if we spread everyone out some. You know, instead of clumping up.”

  Bonds’ eyebrows went up, and he looked at his friend, then said, “Oh, you did, did ya? Did you hear that, Brad? This kid thinks we need to come up with a different battle strategy.”

  Henry didn’t like the way this was going.

  “I’m not saying that,” Henry said. “My dad was in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he taught me some things.”

  Bonds asked, “Then where is he? Why is a boy trying to tell me what to do?”

  Henry pursed his lips, then looked down. “My dad is dead. He was killed last year.”

  Bonds face tightened, and some of the color left it, but he didn’t back down. “We’re all good here. If we need some advice, I can ask some adults.”

  It took everything Ellen had not to say anything, but she knew she had compromised any ability to talk out after she had pulled a gun on Karen Gray. Anything she said now could make it worse for Henry.

  Bonds lifted the walkie-talkie off his belt and waved it in Henry’s direction. “Should I call Eli? Maybe he’d have something to say about your mother being out of the brig and here at the back wall?”

  Henry put both of his hands in the air and started backing up. “No, no, we’re good. We’ll just head back down to where we were.”

  “Yes, you will,” Bonds said, trying to act tough, but he didn’t have the inner metal to do it.

  Henry’s shoulders fell as they made their way back to the end of the catwalk.

  “You did what you could,” Ellen said.

  “Dad would have known what to say,” Henry said.

  “No, I think this is a case where you have to have willing ears to listen. They think they’re safer back here because the zombies are coming from the west. We know better. We know that nothing is safe.”

  And they had learned that lesson again and again as they had been driven out of safe harbor after safe harbor. They were beginning to consider that there might not be any place to hide from the undead.

  Molly took a few steps to meet them and asked, “How’d it go?”

  Henry could barely look her in the eyes as he said, “Not good.”

  “Well, then they are assholes,” Molly said as color flashed in her cheeks. “You want me to go down there and kick some ass?”

  “They won’t listen,” Ellen said. “It’s best if we maintain a safe distance and be ready for anything.”

  Henry put a gentle hand on Molly’s arm and said, “Better to leave it alone.”

  He took one last look down the wall toward Bonds, and the group congregated in the area over the gate. More than once, Bonds stared back at them. Henry just hoped that Bonds realized that they had bigger things to worry about than his mother being out of the brig.

  Henry knew there were much worse things. He had lived through entirely too many of them in his relatively short life.

  Chapter 42

  Crossing the River I

  “They’re about to hit the riv
er,” Lassiter said, standing beside Eli with the binoculars held to his eyes.

  Eli held onto the lip of the wall with both hands as if his life depended on it.

  “How many do you see?” Eli asked.

  “There’s a lot of them,” Lassiter said. “They’re coming out of the treeline, so I can’t get a good count.”

  “Over a thousand?” Eli asked.

  Lassiter wondered why Eli just didn’t take the binoculars and look for himself, but he considered that Eli might not want to know. This thought did not inspire confidence in Eli or the situation. This wasn’t the time to pull the covers over your head in hopes that the monster at the foot of your bed disappeared.

  “Again, I can’t tell, but maybe a thousand,” Lassiter said, not hiding the reality of the situation. “Probably more.”

  “So, the fires didn’t cut down their numbers?” Eli asked.

  Lassiter swept his view across the shoreline, trying to get an assessment, but buildings and trees blocked much of his view. Still, he was able to fill in the holes in his vision.

  “From what I saw far out on the hills, I think there’s less than then,” Lassiter said.

  “I’m going to pass the word,” Eli said. He pressed the talk button, but Lassiter shot out a hand and grabbed Eli’s shoulder.

  “There’s another group,” Lassiter said, but his voice was thin, like a piece of parchment paper.

  “Where?” Eli asked.

  “Toward the south bridge,” Lassiter said. “There’s a mess of them heading toward the shoreline.”

  Lassiter thought he heard Eli take in a gulp of air.

  “How many?” Eli asked.

  Lassiter scanned the horde shambling toward the river’s edge. They were a mass of ambling bodies, looking more like an angry mob than creatures from beyond the grave. He knew he shouldn’t think of them that way, but his mind went there. It took him several seconds to get in front of it and to tamp it down. Panic would get them nowhere.

  He sucked in three calming breaths, letting them wash over him. He felt the fear dissipate, and he went back to the job at hand, but knew it was a nearly impossible task. There was no real way of counting them but from what he could see, this second horde was as big as the first one.