When we were about a mile from the city, I got a call over the radio.
“John, is that you in the blue car heading south? Over.”
It was Duncan. “That’s us, we’ll be there in a few minutes. Over.”
“Okay. What are you guys carrying? It looks like you have a rug sticking out of the front windows. Over.”
I looked over at Charlie. “Never mind. Over.”
Charlie smiled. “You do need a haircut.”
“Shut up.”
We reached the outlying areas of Springfield and began to notice that the cars on the roads were all tipped onto their sides. As we looked closer, we saw that there was movement in between the cars. I scanned the cars with my rifle scope, and the first look I got was a grey ghoul’s face looking right back at me. By reflex, I very nearly pulled the trigger.
I got on the radio. “Duncan, we’re here, over. Where are you? Over.”
“We see you. We’ll be right there. Over,” Duncan said.
In a minute the van came up from the west and pulled alongside the Monte Carlo. I was very glad any more travel was going to happen in a vehicle that didn’t require a gas mask.
“So what’s the story?” Charlie asked. “We caught the Zombie Master and turned him in to the people of Fair Grove.”
“Ah, hell,” Duncan said. “There’s a problem with that.”
“I’m going to hope you aren’t like Tommy, and you will just tell the story in one shot and not drag it out,” I said.
“It will be short. We caught up to the people who were keeping the zombies in their pens. They told us a very different story. Turns out Zim had been contracted by the people of Fair Grove to do something about the constant threat of Zombies from the bigger town. So Zim and his crew figured out a way to keep the zombies contained in these pens of cars. They lost two people trying it, but in the end it worked out. Trouble was, the good people of Fair Grove didn’t want to pay what they owed.”
I interrupted. “Now it makes sense when he said they owed him and his crew.”
“Exactly, so we need to get back and keep them from killing that guy, despite his stupid nickname,” Tommy said.
“Shit, let’s move,” I said, getting into the van.
As we drove back, I began to think about the preparations we had seen, especially the sniper towers. I hoped we weren’t going to be waging a losing battle from five hundred yards away.
As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. A literal sea of trucks, trailers, and other vehicles were scattered all over the road and stretched back for miles. About two hundred fighters were in a semi-circle around the small group we had left earlier, and about twenty of them were keeping their rifles pointed at the smaller group. I could see a short, dark-haired woman keeping things under control at the center of the standoff.
We pulled up, and I immediately got out, walking over to the group. I was glad things had not gotten out of control yet, but I was pissed that the town had duped me.
I went over to Sarah and gave her a quick hug as thanks for keeping things under control. She smiled, and I nodded to two unit leaders who gave a hand signal to their troops. Immediately the rifles that were pointed at the townspeople were aimed in a more safe direction.
Brian was there, as was Meggie. I directed my comments towards them.
“So. You made a deal, and when it went your way, you tried to keep from holding up your end of the bargain, yes?” I asked quietly. “And then you let us think that Zim was the bad guy.”
I went over to Zim who was standing by three of my fighters. He looked very relieved, yet mad at the same time. I didn’t blame him, he’d been treated badly all around.
“My apologies for my comrades’ actions and for mine. We acted in haste, and we should have taken the time to get your story,” I said.
Charlie nodded. “Sorry for roughing you up there.”
Zim was more calm now that things seemed to have gone his way. “Just glad your friends showed up. They were going to kill me.” He pointed at Brian and Meggie.
“Looks like you and your friends down at Springfield need to relocate, “I said. There’s a lot of good places across the river if you’re interested in a change of scenery.”
“Thanks. Let me get back to them and talk to them,” Zim said.
Zim rode off on a small motorcycle, and I turned back to Meggie and Brian.
“Don’t send anyone from your town to represent this area. We don’t want your kind up in the new capital.”
Maggie glared, but Brian spoke up.
“You ain’t the boss here. We didn’t elect you. So why don’t you take your army and fuck off?” he snarled.
“Presently, presently,” I said. “We are moving on, and you are on your own. You’ll figure out what that means in a few years, but for now, I think I’ll just leave it up to your imagination.”
I waved my hand in a circular motion, and the fighters went back to their vehicles. There was a loud roar as hundreds of vehicles started up.
“Son of a bitch!” Brian leapt to his feet and lunged at me, his huge fists swinging.
I dodged to the side and slammed an elbow into the side of his head, knocking him sideways and down. I raised a hand to keep my fighters back while Brian regained his feet. He spat a glob of blood out of his mouth, and I didn’t wait for him to get set. Moving forward suddenly, I snapped a jab to his mouth and followed it with a fist to his gut. Brian’s eyes got wide as his breath left him, and I slammed another elbow to his head. This time he went down, and it took a little longer for him to get up.
“I admire your sand, Mr. Wright, but I would hope you’d reconsider before this gets serious. Right now we’ve had a bit of a disagreement, but I hope we don’t get into a full blown argument,” I said, stepping away as he reached out with a clumsy hand to try and grab my leg.
Brian apparently hadn’t learned when he was outclassed, and came off his feet with a lunge, he arms wide to try and pull me in close where his strength would be of an advantage for him.
Unfortunately for him, this was a move we taught all of our fighters, since many times zombies will come off the ground with their arms out in an attempt to grab whatever they can reach and pull it in for a bite. Best way to deal with it was to lean to the side and direct the attack away from you which is what I did with Brian. He went sideways and fell on his face again, and I waited for him to get up.
“I’m done with this, Mr. Wright. And so are you. If this keeps up I’ll have to kill you, and I’d rather not do that. Would you be so kind as to give up?” I asked.
Brian spat again, then abruptly turned on his heel and stormed off. I watched him go for a moment then turned back to Sarah.
“Good timing,” I said, giving her another hug.
“Yeah, we pulled in here and things seemed just a whole lot weird. Once we saw this group about to hang the young man over there, I figured we needed to do something about it. What did he do, by the way?” Sarah asked.
“Kept the town from being overrun by zombies,” I said.
I didn’t elaborate just because the look on Sarah’s face was priceless.
We backed the semi trucks up to one of the barricades that Zim had built out of cars. We learned that he had originally been contacted by the people of Fair Grove to build a barricade for them around their town. Zim had been a large fork truck operator back in the old days and used his skills to start moving cars around. The zombies were attracted to the noise, and he soon started penning in the ghouls to keep them out of his way. After a while he had realized he’d turned the zombie population of Springfield, Missouri into prisoners. When he tried to collect from the town, they crawfished on the deal. That’s where we came into the picture.
It took three days of work, but in the end we managed to wipe out the population of Springfield. The corpses burned for two days, and we spent that time relaxing, gathering supplies, and making plans for the next part of the war. Winter was coming on, and there were cities I
wanted to take.
Montana
“So he headed east, did he? And locked you up in a guard shack.” Cole looked at his son with no small measure of disgust. “And now he’s gone, and we really don’t know which way to go to catch him and bring him back.”
Cole stood up from the table and turned his back on the two men seated there. God, things were simple once. Get up in the morning, get your chores done, and head home of an evening, he thought. Now it’s a bunch of complaints and problems, and now we have stories of an army spinning around. Great. Just great.
Cole turned back to the men. “Is there anyone we can send out to try and find him? What about your trackers? They’ve found men before.”
Luke Blacktail nodded. “They ought to. They’re full-blooded Ogallala. Came up from the reservation outside of Cheyenne when Denver fell and the ghouls headed north.
“Are they willing to go after Tibbles?”
“Right now, they are not exactly motivated. The first snows have fallen, and more is coming. They get caught up there in the mountains, they’re dead men, and they know it. Darnell was not stupid, and he timed his run nearly perfectly. Anyone you send after him will likely not come back before spring which will turn off most men,” Luke said.
Carson spoke up. “We could just order them to go. Why are we wasting time talking about it?”
Luke looked over at the young man. “Because that would prove Darnell was right, and the last thing your father needs right now is open rebellion when winter is coming.”
Cole looked at his son. “Shut up until I ask you a question. You’ve proven you can’t handle an older man and a young girl. I ought to let you try to order the Sioux around and watch them laugh in your face.”
Carson looked down, his face turning red. He had screwed up, but the man had a gun! Was he supposed to die for this shithole?
Cole Hobbes took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. Darnell is gone, over the fence and into zombie territory. He survives, good for him, he’ll never come back anyway. Story over. No point in chasing him and risking anyone’s life.”
“What about the army?” Luke asked.
Cole nodded. “I’m a little curious about those myself. Did you get any more information from that scout that made it back?”
“Nothing of substance. The man had just travelled a couple thousand miles by himself,” Luke said. “But I can send out two more if you want. An army of any size would be noticed from a long way off. If they leave today, they should get through the passes before the snow comes, and with the cold coming on, the zombie threat is less.”
Cole slapped his heavy hand on the hardwood table. “That’s the plan, then. Pick your men, then get them gone. They have thirty days. I want them back before the end of the year.”
Blacktail rose and then stopped. “What if we get a winter like we did a year ago? The snow almost filed the canyon.”
“We’ll keep a passage open,” Cole said, as he turned to his son. “That’s your job. Find a couple of friends that owe you a favor. You’re camping over the wall for the next thirty days.”
Carson scowled but kept his thought to himself. He’d tried bucking his dad before, and it took the intervention of Heather Hobbes to keep Cole from seriously injuring his son.
Darnell was cold. He didn’t tell his daughter because she would worry, but he was deep down chilled to the bone cold. They slept during the day and walked at night, the reasoning being that the sun would keep them warmer as they recovered from their previous walk. It was more dangerous to travel at night, but Darnell was hopeful they would reach the Spring Creek road before the next sunrise. From there, they could move from campground to campground, heading south along a much easier path. Right now they had just walked until they reached the foot of the mountain, then followed the valleys. Sometimes they had to go in directions they didn’t want to, but overall they made good progress.
Alison was leading the way since she had better eyes and could see further in the dark. Darnell just concentrated on stepping where she stepped and keeping out of the way.
Suddenly, Alison stopped. “Dad!” she whispered quietly, but urgently.
Darnell’s head snapped up. He looked around and saw several shadowy figures moving slowly in the open grass next to a noisy creek. A quick head count told him there were more of them than bullets in his gun. Not a great place to be, mathematically.
“Don’t move,” Darnell said. “We’re in a good spot here. They can’t see us in the trees, and they can’t hear us with the creek nearby. “There’s no wind, so they can’t smell us. Just be patient, and let them pass.”
Alison was frozen with fear. “But what if they hear us or know we’re here?” Her voice started to rise above a whisper, and Darnell put a kind hand on his daughter’s mouth.
“Then we run for the nearest mountain and go up. It’s too cold for them to follow, and they’re moving slow as it is. Pretty soon they’re going to be frozen,” Darnell said with more confidence than he felt. Deep down he was terrified as the small horde of about a dozen zombies slowly made their way towards him and his daughter.
They moved very slowly, and it was strange to watch them walk nearly in unison. But they made their way slowly towards the small grove of trees that hid the terrified pair. Occasionally one would turn its head and smell the air with a large intake of air. But they always moved on, pushing aside long grass and sometimes tripping over hidden rocks.
Darnell turned his daughter to face him. “Sit down by the big tree there. I’ll sit over at this one. Don’t move unless you have to. And if you have to, head to your right, and make a run for the mountain. It’s our only chance,” Darnell said, as he saw the question in Alison’s eyes. She nodded and silently sat down on the side of the tree away from the zombies. Darnell ducked down and made it over to the other tree facing the same way. No moans behind him suggested that they had gotten away with their little bit of movement. It was very dark, and the only way Alison had seen the zombies in the first place was one of them had glowing eyes.
Darnell used his hands and told his daughter to cover her head with her hood and keep her face down. He’d had to do this before when he was running from the zombies during the first days of the Upheaval. He’d been chased down an alleyway by three of them, and around the corner was a car covered in a tarp. He’d slipped under the tarp when they couldn’t see him, and they walked right on by. He hoped it was a pattern, and he didn’t just kill himself and his daughter.
He put his own head down, and with his eyes closed he listened as the footsteps got closer and closer. They were about fifteen feet away, then ten, then five. The next sounds were the zombies walking around them, slowly, shifting through the grass, stumbling over the rocks.
From under his hood, Darnell could see a foot stepping inches away from his own foot, just fuzzy blurs in the darkness, but Darnell could sense the ghoul beside him. He was grateful it was cold, but he could feel a line of sweat starting at the back of his neck and running down his back. His own heart was beating so loud he was amazed the zombies couldn’t hear it. He didn’t dare move to see how Alison was doing, but he hoped she was still and quiet. He’d know otherwise.
It took forever, but eventually the sounds faded away, and Darnell still counted to two hundred before he slowly, slowly lifted his head and scanned the area from underneath his hood. He looked around from side to side, then slowly he stood up, stretching legs that were suddenly screaming with cramps. He turned around and very slowly looked around the tree, making sure there were no stragglers. He’d seen it before. Some family dodged a horde, only to fall right into the next one that was just behind the first.
Darnell stepped over to his daughter and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly, and he could feel her shaking under her hood.
“Let’s go, honey,” he whispered, barely above the sound of normal breath.
Alison grabbed her father’s hand and pointed with the oth
er one. In the brush, crawling very slowly, was another zombie. It was staring at Alison with greedy, glowing eyes, struggling to get closer as it opened and closed its mouth in anticipation.
Darnell felt a sudden fear, but he pulled his daughter up, and holding her hand, led her around the tree and away from the small horde and the thing in the grass. As he walked he shook his head, thinking about how hard it must have been for Alison to see that thing getting closer and closer and not being able to scream or move because the other zombies would surely have killed them both.
They moved quietly away, keeping low and trying to stay near rocks and other obstacles that would keep the crawling monsters away. Darnell decided it would be better to travel a little higher up the mountain where it would be easier to evade any zombies, but Alison voted him down, saying they could move a lot faster in the valleys, even though it was more dangerous. The cold weather was the deciding factor, as even chillier winds blew down from the peaks.
“We’re going to need shelter soon,” Darnell said. He was even colder than before, since the sweat from the last zombie encounter was starting to chill him.
Alison nodded. She kept moving ahead, working her way around rocks and deadfalls. She moved quickly but quietly, trying to put as much distance as she could between her and the last batch of zombies.
The moon suddenly came out between the clouds and the valley was suddenly bathed in pale light. Alison didn’t miss a beat. She froze in place, just as her father did, and the two of them slowly checked the terrain for anything that might be deadly before moving on.
The road appeared suddenly, without any warning whatsoever. One minute Darnell was dragging his feet through some tenacious grass, and the next minute he was stumbling into the back of his daughter because his feet were suddenly free.
Alison turned abruptly and grabbed her father, hugging him closely. She’d been so close to getting bit, and to have escaped like that at the last minute was almost more than her seventeen-year-old mind could handle. Even though she had survived the journey to Montana, right now she needed her dad.
The Zombie Wars: The Enemy Within (White Flag Of The Dead Book 8) Page 7