“I’m sure you all can come with us,” Lynn offered, embracing the man.
How lucky was it that it had been someone they knew at that barricade? They could have been on their way back down the road, or worse. These people didn’t look like they were fucking around.
“We’re okay for the moment,” James replied, as the car in the center of the roadway began to move out of the way. “Maybe if things get worse. Right now, we haven’t had much happen this way, most of it seems to be happening elsewhere. Happy that we stayed here instead of moving into town like the rest of ya’ll.”
“Can’t argue there,” Henry said, eyeing the men as they began to look bored, scanning the road behind them. “What are you down here for?”
James smiled, “weeding the crazies out.” He pointed up the hill at the mountain above.
The road that they were on went another quarter mile, then turned and went up a very large mountain to the west of them. At the top was another city and looking up the hill, he could see a line of yellow vehicles up there.
“Got the dozers ready to close off the road if needed, just thought we’d make sure we didn’t hurt anyone that didn’t deserve it is all. When things get too bad we’ll do it and hunker down. Not many ways up that hill that we can’t defend,” James told them with a stern face.
“Except to the north,” Henry mused aloud. “I wouldn’t mind staying with you for a bit, but we have to get moving. Maybe after we check in, I’ll come back down and see how you guys are doing.”
“That ain’t one of yours,” James observed, nodding at Manny.
“One of Todd’s friends along for the ride,” Lynn responded, not bothering to look his way.
He could have melted into the truck and would have been happier that way.
He didn’t know these people.
James grunted, then looked to his rear; the roadway had been cleared. “Well, it was good to see you. Make sure you come back down here and see your folks; your mother is going crazy and Dad keeps asking about his damn cars.”
Henry laughed and shook his brother’s hand. “You be careful. Call if you need help, and come up the road if you need a place to stay.”
“You too,” he said, kissing Lynn on the cheek then making his way back behind the cars.
The two of them got back into the truck and started the engine. The young teenager next to him had poked her head around the driver seat to watch the cars go by, but she didn’t say anything to any of them. She had been quiet since they left Sabrina and he was glad he wasn’t the focus of her anger. At times, she looked like she wanted to just tear her way out of the truck and take off; he wanted to make sure he wasn’t between her and the door if that happened.
“Your parents are okay,” Lynn said aloud as they started to pull through.
Jason was already moving the car back the moment the trailer cleared the barricade and the group was lost from view as they pulled away. He couldn’t see a damn thing through the packed camper shell and the side mirrors were slightly off angle for him.
“I’m sure your mother is too,” Henry tried to comfort the older lady but she didn’t look like she believed it, tears coming to her eyes. She nodded, but stared out the truck door, refusing to respond. “Maybe we could stay here for a while, check on things.”
Lynn was shaking her head. “Todd’s expecting us, we should go there first.”
Henry nodded, then reached for a hidden pack of cigarettes, lowering the window.
“I thought you quit,” the older lady said, not sounding like she had believed it.
“I think I just started again,” the man said, grinning.
Manny didn’t mind the smoke but didn’t want to chance asking for one as well. What he needed was a little stronger and the thought of that made him wince. He had left all of that stuff at home. He had only the time to grab his guitar before taking to the road with his buddies.
That seemed like such a long time ago and now that they were heading up the hill to the town above, he felt his heart lift; they were almost there.
Chapter 30
Maneuvers
Todd
Compound 1
Monica and Rosilynn returned for them twenty minutes later. The fire had tried to spread to the grass surrounding the Huey and the two of them had stomped the shit out of it. Now his feet hurt and he wanted to get back, whether the thing was finished burning or not.
He probably should have been smarter about it and just buried Paul, but at the moment he had suggested it; burning the Huey just seemed like the right thing to do. There was no way they could haul it back to the compound or to get the parts to fix it, so it was nothing but a useless heap of trash anyways.
They had piled as much dirt as they could in a circle around it and the fire had died down and was smoldering now. He would have to hope it was enough. With their luck though, it would set the forest on fire and he’d just end up with another headache and an apology to give.
His wife had told him that their daughter refused to leave until they got back. He wanted to ask who the parent was, but bit his tongue; it was neither the time or the place.
He had hopped on the back of the quad and told her to get them out of there; he needed to get his daughter back to the infirmary and get her looked at. She was just as stubborn as her mother.
John was riding behind Rosilynn and her face was grim; he could tell she would much rather be with her husband right now rather than playing taxi.
They rolled through the open gates and there was no sign of Lucy or Matt, the older lady must have already taken him back through the tunnels. As they entered, he saw the gates begin to close and noticed that Samantha was standing there waiting for them, a concerned look in her eyes. He would have to talk to her later, fill her in on everything that happened; right now, he just didn’t have the energy to do it.
Michelle was standing off to one side and he hopped off the quad and embraced her. He forgot everything that had happened and focused only on the fact that she was alive and in his arms.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, noticing that Monica was already sending Ros and John towards the tunnels and coming his way. He didn’t watch them leave, this was his moment with his daughter and she had his full attention.
“I’m so sorry Daddy,” she said, her voice returning to that little girl of seven. His heart ached with every word she spoke.
So much had happened so quickly that he was unable to give voice to everything that he was feeling. He just held her close and tried to soothe her. “It’s okay honey, I’m not mad. I’m proud of you.”
Her tears began to flow. Monica had come up behind her and stroked her back with one hand while pulling her long hair away from her face with the other. “I’m sorry,” she whispered again to them both and nothing either one of them could say was calming her down.
Now that they were within the safety of the compound walls, he felt his strength starting to return. The day had started as a small snowball, but now it was rolling out of control and just growing bigger the longer it on. He wanted to put a rock in the way and shatter it, give them some time to breathe.
The world just didn’t seem to want to give them that.
“It’s all right. You saved Rosilynn, Matt, and that John guy. It’s not your fault you guys crashed, you did the best you could,” his wife cooed, stroking her hair. “Rosilynn told me about the herd of zombies that almost got you guys outside that house. Honey, without you, they might all be dead. You’re the reason they’re still alive.”
“I didn’t save Paul,” she replied, sounding small. She hadn’t looked up yet, she was letting him cradle her; something she hadn’t allowed in a very long time. She was in shock and he wondered how long it would last and how they could help her through it.
None of them had trained in psychiatry; they didn’t think of that.
He hushed her. “You did the best you could; I couldn’t do it any better.”
He felt his pocket vibra
te and realized he must have had a call coming in. Holding his daughter to him, he pulled it out and saw that he had numerous missed calls. Not caring to look, he handed the phone over to Sam instead. “Take a look at that for me, would you?”
She hit a button and stared at the screen. “I should have brought my reading glasses. I think it says we need to open the gate,” she said slowly.
“Oh, what now?” he asked no one in particular, getting questioning looks from the girls. Had the guy he let go come back for them? Had he waited for them to leave so that he could follow them back to the compounds?
He let Monica hold his daughter and began walking up the stairs to the top of the wall, Sam by his side. “I really don’t need any more surprises today,” he muttered to her, and he felt her hand snake out and take his.
“I’m sure everything is going to be okay,” she returned with a forced smile.
Yeah, he didn’t truly believe that either.
As they reached the top, he looked down at the roadway leading to the compound and felt his spirits begin to soar. A blue truck was angling its way down the road, the trailer behind bouncing on the uneven dirt. He saw his old man driving and his mother craning her neck up to look at him. They had never been here before and he wondered what she thought of it as they approached it for the first time; probably no different than he had.
There were no castles in the United States, but he guessed that it must look like there was one now; minus the keep of course. He told his daughter to open the gate and watched as she gingerly broke away from her mother and moved to do it without questioning him.
Monica spread her arms in a what the hell motion.
He mouthed my parents and that got him a smile.
Michelle wasn’t very animated about opening the gates and he hoped the sight of her grandparents might lift her out of the daze she was in.
He waved to them, then started his journey back down the steps.
“See? I told you everything would be fine,” Sam smiled, this time meaning it.
He shook his head, “even a broken clock is right twice a day.”
She growled, “keep it up, I’ll clock you.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” he smiled, his spirits lifted and his hope partially restored.
The gates were just swinging open as he got to the bottom and he saw the look of astonishment on his daughter’s face as the truck pulled in.
“Papa!” she yelled, rushing to the door of the truck as it opened. His father got out and embraced his granddaughter. His mother was still laboring to climb out of the passenger seat and greet them as Todd swung the gates closed, engaging the locking mechanism. Manny, however, was not having a hard time and he wondered how cooped up his co-worker had been. He slapped hands with the young man, noticing the guitar strapped to his back and grinned.
Leave it to Manny to choose that over anything else to bring.
A teenage girl came around the corner and he moved to embrace her, but she pulled back. “You must be Alicia,” he said, smiling and extending his hand. She took that at least and he smiled as he skinned it and bumped her fist. “I’m glad you made it.”
Then his mother was there.
They embraced and his mother’s tears flowed. “Thank God you’re all right,” he said, his own tears forming. They stood there for a moment, hugging, then his daughter was there and took his mother away from him.
His dad had a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth and smiled; guess that secret was out. He had known his dad still had the occasional cigarette, but would never have given him up. They shook hands, his father wasn’t the embracing type and he fumbled in his pockets for his own cigarettes. Lighting one, he stood there and watched his mother and daughter embracing.
“Glad you made it,” he told his father.
“It wasn’t so bad,” his father answered. “Could have been worse.”
“It still might be,” he replied. “Still, not everyone has been so lucky.” He thought of how many of his friends had died or might die trying to get here and wondered how hard the next few days would become.
“How are my other grandkids?” his father asked, looking at Michelle.
He must have noticed the blood dried on her face.
“They’re good,” he said, reassuring the older man. “You’ve got a lot to catch up on.”
It was already a long story; one he didn’t want to tell at the moment.
He began to lead them towards the tunnel and the jeeps waiting below. “What about the stuff we brought?” his mother asked as they began their descent.
“It can wait, it’s not going anywhere,” he said, smiling.
Chapter 31
Battle Lines
Joseph
Wichita Falls, TX
They were on the northern shore of the Red River that separated Oklahoma from Texas, standing on the back of their trucks, overlooking the land beyond. A cloud of smoke and ash spread across the horizon in what used to be a rural farming community but had now become a war zone. He had liberated a pair of binoculars from a gun shop and his focus needed adjustment, as he tried to make out what was going on before them.
A pair of A-10 Warthogs screamed by overhead and dropped their payloads on the already devastated city before them. Explosions made the Earth tremble beneath the wheels of their trucks, the planes circling around for another pass. But it wasn’t the planes that drew his attention, it was the army engagement taking place a few miles ahead.
A zombie herd numbering in the thousands was marching its way towards their position. At their current rate of speed, they could be long gone before it reached them, but it still made his flesh crawl looking at them.
On all sides, quite well out of range, were military vehicles of all types that appeared to be just waiting them out. They were maneuvering in ways that he had never seen and couldn’t comprehend; the uniform lines and attack formations had been thrown out. It had only taken moments though, to guess what their new strategy was, and he was flabbergasted at how well it was working. It was as if they had trained for this particular attack long before the outbreak had begun, as they moved with concise movements and fluidity; their execution flawless.
It was that, or the last twenty-four hours had given them a lot of opportunities to refine it; he was leaning towards the latter.
Tanks stayed out of range of the horde, their movements were slight and usually just to reposition themselves in relation to the herd. The Humvees were doing most of the work. He could make out military supply vehicles further back from the lines and the army was making sure that if they failed, it wouldn’t be because they ran out of gas. The infantry themselves were staying back with the tanks, prepared to defend them should the herd move their way; which so far, they were content not to do.
They were focused elsewhere.
A pair of Humvees would drive in and open up on one side of the herd, mowing down as many of the enemy as they could, then purposely driving slowly away while still firing into them. As the herd moved in their direction, the firing would stop and another pair of Humvees would come in from the opposite side and repeat the same tactic.
A few would continue after the first pair, but they were taken out by hidden snipers; Joseph recognized the tells. The flip of the head, the lack of sound, and the accuracies of the shots on moving targets; these guys were good. Most of the herd would turn towards the new attack, drawn by the noise and the pull of those around them.
On and on it went, the tactic keeping the herd from making any forward progress as they were drawn back and forth between the hit and run strafes of the Humvees. The tanks would occasionally fire into them, but it was rare, as they had no way to silence their shots and it would draw attention their way. The tanks were pretty much useless unless used to just run them down; but it didn’t look like the army intended to let them do that.
He almost laughed at their restraint; yet he couldn’t argue with the progress they were making.
>
Without a direct line to attack, the herd was whittling away, and he knew that sooner or later either the army would run out of gas and ammo or the herd would be wiped out. Judging by the supplies he saw being run back and forth; he didn’t think it’d be the army that came up short.
“I’ll be damned, they’re actually killing the bastards,” Mark said, looking through a pair of his own binoculars as they stood on the back of his truck and watched the show. “I always thought the military would get wiped out in a zombie apocalypse.”
“Of course you did,” Joseph remarked, still watching the battle ahead. “That’s what you’ve been trained to think.”
“What are you talking about? Nobody trained me to think,” Mark said, anger seeping into his voice. He had lowered his binoculars and was staring daggers at him.
The rest of their group was either standing on their own vehicles or hiding within them, ready to move at a moment’s notice. The sounds of battle were faint from where they were, but were still loud enough to mask most of their conversation if they kept their voices down.
“You didn’t realize it, but you have,” he replied simply, eyes following the Humvees as they made their strafing runs. One of the zombies had caught up to the rear of one of them and the man in the back had drawn his sidearm to dispose of it.
He had seen more than his share of zombie movies over the years and this looked like nothing he had ever seen before. The undead creatures were not instantly horrible, they didn’t have yellow eyes, they didn’t all look decayed and nasty; they looked like normal humans being gunned down mercilessly by the army guns leading them on. If not for the state of their clothing, the stains on their bodies, the blood on their chins, and some of the horrible body wounds they had suffered; he would have thought they just needed to get out in the sun more and get a tan.
At least, from this distance.
The reality was horrifying, as the army was not cutting down grotesque creatures foaming at the mouth, but rather ordinary looking people who wore too much sunblock. He knew he could take the shot, it was what he was trained to do, but a lot of those men on those runs were enlisted people. How were they taking this? What was it doing to them and how long could they do it before it drove them insane? This was not a foreign army they were cutting down, they were American citizens; or had been. He couldn’t imagine what a toll it was taking on those men who had only wanted to serve their country; not kill it.
The Rotting Souls Series (Book 2): Charon's Blight: Day Two Page 18