We’re losing, thought Jake to himself, as he hit another goner with the back of his heavy axe. Rory and Hoser had managed to divert quite a few of them, but there were simply too many. The Gone barely had to reach up now to grab the barricade, and the mass of them still looked endless. “Everyone, listen up! Once the Gone can look over the barricade, than everyone retreats!”
“Mother have Mercy,” said Goat heavily. It looked like his boundless energy had finally reached its limit. “What I wouldn’t give for just one stick of dynamite right now,”
“No shit,” said another scout. He had used a bit of rope to tie his belt knife to a long stick, and was using it as a spear. In most cases, Jake would have scolded him for it; between frayed ropes, broken poles, and the chance of the blade getting stuck in various joints, such a set up was generally a bad idea. But in this case…
“Time to pull out all the stops, gentleman!” he called out. “Do whatever you have to do to take as many of them out as possible, short of getting yourself killed! Thin them out before we redeploy to the school!”
That seemed to be the order the Longshooters had been waiting for. Shots began to ring out more frequently, taking out goners across the bridge where the herd was spread thinner. Jake couldn't see how many they were taking out, but from Rory's exultant curses it was quite a few. The young scout with the make shift spear got on the top level of the barricade and started stabbing down rhythmically, like he was doing a dance. About the twelfth time he did so, the shaft of his spear broke, so he pulled out another wickedly long knife and went back to work.
A half an hour went by. It was easy to get into a rhythm, Jake discovered, much like he did when cutting wood. Swing the axe, sever an arm (or a neck, if you had the angle), then wait for the next one to set up. Of course, he had to fight the urge of such a rhythm. It would only take one goner doing something slightly different to spell disaster. They may not have much in the way of brains, but a goner was far more deadly than a piece of wood. At the edge of the barricade, he saw Lewis swinging his rifle like a club. “Did you run out already?” Jake screamed over the noise.
“Nah! Gave the bullets back to Rory. He’s a damned fiend with that gun in hand!” Lewis replied. Jake tried to look around for his friend’s position, but another goner had presented itself. It lowered it’s head for a moment while it was climbing up, and Jake swung his axe, much like he was splitting a log. Its Gone’s Sack exploded, and he kicked the remains over the edge, another building block in the ramp the Gone were slowly creating.
Another half an hour passed, and then another. Jakes arms had long since graduated from achy to numb. His shoulder, though, was absolutely on fire. He had wondered, nearly an hour ago, if he was doing permanent damage to it. But there was no choice. Every man was needed. He thought he could finally see an end to the herd, off in the Ruins, but he couldn’t be sure. He had just begun to think that maybe they could weather the storm when the Gone stopped trying to climb, and started pushing again. The barricade wasn’t nearly so thick at the top as it had been at the base. The crates that made up the top level, the one that Jake was standing on, began to lurch rhythmically with the creatures efforts. “Get off the top level! It’s time to retreat to the school!” He put words to action immediately, jumping to the second level. The jolt sent a wave of pain through his shoulder that nearly made him vomit, but he choked it down and climbed down to the third level, and then to the ground. The remaining Longshooters who were still hunkered down in the grassy areas started picking off the ones coming up over the barricade once the top level was clear, and then moved to join the Scouts.
“Boldin, Goat, I want you to haul ass to the school and tell them we’re coming,” said Jake. “There is a chance that some of the Gone that went into the trench found their way to the riverbed and found a way up. If you encounter a small group, I want one of you to lead it back here while the other one keeps on to the school. If it’s a large group….” Jake hesitated. The men were exhausted, they were nearly out of ammo, and Jake wasn’t sure he would be able to lift a weapon once the adrenalin wore off. Which it was beginning to. “If it’s a larger group, than lead it to the school. We’ll have to hope they’re ready.”
“Don’t worry, Jake,” said Lewis. “Things looked pretty damned good when we were there to catch some shuteye. Marty has them whipped into shape.”
“Good. Rory, can you and your boys watch our backs?”
“Haven’t we been doing that for the last few rutting hours? Aren’t we leaving Hoser back in that godsdamned trench?” asked Rory. The statement had more than its usual heat, and Jake nearly shot off a comment in return. But then he remembered how tired he was, and that Rory had just lost a friend. “Of course we’ll keep watching your backs, you bloody idiot," Rory continued. "But we’d better do it godsdamned soon. The ammo isn’t going to hold out.”
Jake nodded and looked at his weary men. “You heard the man! Let’s get a move on!”
Boldin and Goat had already started off by the time he had turned around. The rest of them followed, eschewing the road to cut through unplanted fields, toward the hospital. Jake tried to set a quick pace, but that didn’t last long. The footing was treacherous in the snow, and the pain in his shoulder had become unbearable. Soon enough, he knew he was slowing them down, but none of them said a word. From time to time one of the Longshooters would fire off a shot behind them. “How’s it looking there, Rory?” he called back, trying to hide the pain from his voice.
“It looks like kak, Jake!” his friend called back. There was another shot, and then he went on. “The bastards aren’t moving terribly fast, though. They may be able to move in the cold now, but they’re sure as kak having more trouble with the snow than we are. We should be able to get back to the school.”
“Cap’n! There’s goners out in front of us!” called Lewis from the front of the group. “Left side! They’re definitely heading this way!”
“Damn it!” Jake exclaimed. He had been worried about the Gone in the trench finding their way around. He looked up to see what was coming. “I got eyes on three!”
“There’s more behind ‘em. I see them silhouetted against the old hospital. Can’t tell how many, but it’s a big group,” Lewis replied.
“What now, Jake? Your house isn’t too far off,” said Rory.
Jake weighed that option. “Those lead goners are closer to my house than we are, and we didn’t have time enough to make it defensible against a herd. Best case scenario, we’d end up trapped on the roof.”
“Do you think we can make it to the school?” asked one of the Longshooters.
“Think? The only thing I think is that we damn well better,” said Rory. “Let’s cut to the north a bit. We can head towards Heather; it’s been cleared enough that we’ll have better footing. From there, it’s just straight hauling ass all the way to the School.”
“Rory’s right,” said Jake. “Let’s get it done.”
More plodding through the snow. The pain was starting to make Jake light headed. He forced himself to keep putting one foot in front of the other. He heard a gunshot ring out, then another. A goner went down, it’s face a ruin. Another got hit in the leg, its lower leg exploding with the force of the round. It kept going, but it was no longer a threat. Lewis went out and intercepted the last one, sidestepping its lurch and hitting it in the back of the head with his hatchet blade, nearly decapitating it. “Hurry!” he yelled, and followed his own advice.
They finally hit the cleared road, so suddenly that many of them stumbled a little bit. Freed from the burden of the snow, Jake’s feet began to move faster, and the pain in his shoulder even started to subside. The guns fell silent as the group hurried down the road. Behind them, they could still hear Gone screaming, but his men were starting to pull away. When Heather turned south, they wordlessly agreed to stay on it instead of cutting through the houses. They ran past Jake’s house, and three more besides, before finally turning east again. There was a hard pa
cked trail cleared in the snow there; not exactly a walkway, but a path people had made when going to the mayor’s announcement the night before.
It was narrow; the men had to go two by two. But the men on the roof of the school had seen them by now, and they were cheering and exhorting them on. When they got closer, Jake could see Tom and his big son moving parts of the barricade to let them through, helped by Goat and Boldin. The men who had fought at the bridge ran into the gap they had made. Jake was fairly sure he had never been so happy to be standing amongst stacks of bailed hay. “They’re not too far behind us!” he called. “We need to close this gap!”
“We know we do! Get the hell out of the way so we can do it!” Rory snapped at him. “Unless you want to be an idiot and try to help lift with that arm of yours?”
Jake’s pride flared at that, but he knew good sense when he heard it. He jumped down and made his way to the Ell, sitting down and leaning against the cold stone. He hadn’t yet caught his breath when Seth and Trig sat next to him. The dog started licking his face, but he was too tired to shoo him off. “Dad? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. It’s just my shoulder. I landed funny on it. Where’s your mother and sister?”
“They’re in the gymnasium with the Mrs. Harper and Abby. They’re safe, or as safe as any of us are. If you’re hurt, maybe you should go let them look at you?”
Jake closed his eyes and waved weakly at his son. “No. I’m not sure how much more fighting I’m going to be doing today, but I’m still a Captain. For that matter, I’m YOUR Captain now, and I have a job for you. Run inside and tell everyone to stay put, but to be ready. For now, I want to keep most of the townspeople out of danger. In about ten minutes, being out here will not be safe.”
"Then what are they supposed to get ready for?"
"For when the only way to keep them safe is to get them into the fight," said Jake, laying his good arm on Trig. The dog gave him a reproachful look. "Sorry, pard,” he told the dog. “Things moved pretty fast, or I would have come get you. Thank you for looking out for the family." Trig gave a little whine, but then sat down next to him, putting his head in Jake’s lap.
“Are there enough of us, Captain?” asked Marty. He had apparently been one of the people moving the barricade, though Jake hadn’t noticed him. He was flanked by both Tom Harpers, who looked at him expectantly.
“There may be. You all did a great job at setting up these defenses,” said Jake. “I am pretty sure we managed to split at least part of this herd. We’ll be getting occasional groups from the hospital. The main herd, though, will probably follow us right to the main gate. I’m hoping they spread themselves out all the way around the perimeter. The hay isn’t nearly as strong as the heavy equipment we had at the bridge, but if those stakes I saw hold, it may give us a bit before we have to worry about pushing.”
“Don’t worry, we have a plan for that,” said Jay Carpenter. The old Longshooter captain had a rifle in hand. He looked Jake over. “You look like hell, Captain.”
“Thanks, Captain,” Jake replied. “I love you too.” He tried to get to his feet, but didn’t get too far. Trig barked at him and sat in his lap, turning to give Jake his best “I told you so” look. Jake scratched his ears with his good hand.
“Be honest with me, Jake,” Carpenter interjected. “When’s the last time you slept?”
Jake honestly couldn’t remember. He knew that he should know, but his brain simply wouldn’t give him the information. “It doesn’t matter. The Gone were right behind us. I can’t sleep yet.”
Jay shook his head. “Townsend was right about you. You could teach a mule to be stubborn. You need to eat something, though. And that’s not negotiable.”
Jake nodded wearily as Rory joined them. “Food sounds good. I haven’t had a damned thing since before the sun came up.”
“There is some bread and jerky in the gymnasium,” said Jay. “Your wife is up on the roof, Rory. She cussed me up and down until I gave her a gun, telling me she wouldn’t put up with me telling her she was retired. I was going to ask her to help out anyway, but I thought she needed someone to cuss at since you were out playing around.”
“Nah. She cussed you out because she's a damn fine woman,” said Rory. “And she knows how rough I get when I’m out ‘playing around.’ Permission to head in?” Jay nodded, and Rory went inside.
“We have contact!” yelled one of the Riflemen on the roof. “At least three or four, coming in from Heather!”
Jay cursed and scrambled back up the hay barricade, surprisingly spry for his age. “Everyone, listen up! Longshooters, our Scouts need some time to recover. We’ll let this bunch get all the way to the wall. Hopefully they’ll get stuck on the spikes. If not, use the ice scraper blades. Understood?”
“Scrapers?” Jake asked Tom.
“It’s an idea the mayor had; said he had heard it in a story from the Awakening,” said Tom. “You know those ice scrapers we use to clear the main roads, with the half moon blade on it? Well, sharpen those up, and they can take the head off a goner easy as anything. They supposedly worked better than spears, since the blade is longer. Easier to hit the Gone’s sack, less likely to stick in the spine.”
“And you said the mayor was useless. Shame on you,” said Jake wearily.
His friend ignored the jape. “You want all the civilians inside? Cuz I’m here to tell you, Jake, you’d have to tie me up. This is my town, too. I’m going to fight for it.”
“Me, too,” agreed Tommy.
Jake thought about it, and then gave another weary nod. “Fine. How many of these scrapers do we have?”
“Twenty two,” said Seth. “And eighteen proper spears.”
“Marty, Seth, you two figure out which of the farmers want to fight. All of them know how to use a scythe; an ice scraper shouldn’t be a huge step up. The spears, though, I want in the hands of people who know how to use them. They’re too easy to lose if you don’t know what you’re doing, and we’ll need them.” He then gestured to the Harper men. “Make sure these two get one of those scrapers, too.”
“Yes, Cap’n. C’mon, Lark, we got things to do.” Seth gave his father a nod before joining Marty.
“Thank you, Mr. Larkin,” said Tommy.
“You keep a good grip on the handle, Tommy,” Jake said seriously. He directed his talk towards the younger man, but was speaking to both of them. “You’re going to think you need all your strength to do the job. You won’t. You don’t have to kill every goner. A lot of times, if you just knock them down, the press of the Gone behind them will do the rest. And you want to use a stabbing motion. Those scrappers are going to be too long to swing around; you don’t want to hit the poor bastard next to you. Aim for the face and neck. Try to avoid the chest; you don’t want the blade getting caught in the ribcage. Can you remember all that?”
“Yes, sir,” said Tommy, looking very confident. His father looked grimmer, but nodded as well.
“Good. Because I need you to make sure everyone else knows it, too,” said Jake.
“Don’t worry, Jake. We got this. Relax a little bit. Go in and get some food. Jay can watch over things here,” said Tom Sr.
“Again, no. I’m not afraid of the Gone,” said Jake, forcing himself to his feet. “If I go in there, Beth's gonna figure out I managed to get hurt again. I’d rather face Lord Jezias himself.” With a grimace, he began climbing the barricade. The Harper men helped him up, until he could peer over the top bale. He could see the Gone that the Longshooter had called out about. Jake could make out five, maybe six. They were about halfway to the school complex. Even though they seemed smart enough to use the path, they still stumbled about, as if they were drunk. If the townspeople were lucky, they might be able to take them out, and then move the bodies away from the barricade.
Jake saw movement from in between one of the houses, about a hundred feet to the south. Another group of goners, larger than the first. A third group appeared moments later, this time from
the north. And then another.
So much for luck, Jake thought, and tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head. Trig took up a place next to him. He gave a single quiet yip, and then looked to Jake. Jake rested his hand in the dog’s fur, trying to comfort him. “See, Trig? I didn’t leave you out after all,” he told his scouting partner. “The real fight is coming to you.”
Chapter 12
“So, you want the good news or the bad news?”
“Let’s start with the bad. I don’t remember what to do with good news.”
“Well, the bad news is we think someone actually walked from one of the settlement we tested at the beginning of winter. That’s how they were warned. If more than one set out, then the entire region is ruined for testing.”
“Well, that’s not TERRIBLE news. At least not for me; it means that it wasn’t my fault. So what’s the good news?”
“The good news is that the old man isn’t upset about it. In fact, he wants you to see how they do when they’ve had time to prepare.
“Time to put my neck out and hope I’m not discovered by the yokels, you mean. You and I have to talk about what good news and bad news is, Jeffries.”
Seth Larkin gripped the handle of his sharpened ice scraper tightly as he thrust it forward. This was the third goner he’d taken down so far, and his aim was getting better. Still, his shot hit the creature’s lower face instead of its neck, neatly severing its jaw. Well, not a total loss. It’s damn hard to bite anyone with only half a mouth, Seth thought to himself. He took a second shot, aiming at about the same spot. Without a jaw, it was far easier to get his scrapper through the neck and into its Gone’s Sack on the other side. He jerked it free, and the goner crumpled, it’s ruined head severed from it’s body.
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