by J. W. Vohs
“You guys hear that?” he finally whispered.
Luke and Maddy needed only a few seconds to detect the unmistakable sound of a helicopter flying to the west of their position.
They both just nodded before they realized that Zach couldn’t see them in the dark. “Yes,” they whispered at the same time.
Nobody spoke for several minutes as they scanned the night sky and tried to find the chopper that seemed to be coming closer. Luke finally broke the silence, “We need to get into one of these houses.”
“Yeah,” Maddy agreed, “I’m pretty sure I can hear a second helicopter south of us.”
Luke took point as they approached the back door of one of the large homes, looking through the small windows to see that the portal led into a small mud-room. “We need to clear the entire house; there could be infected in here from the early days.”
The door was locked, but Luke was able to use the butt-end of his dagger, wrapped in a thin glove, to quietly fracture one of the small panes of glass and reach the dead-bolt. Even as they entered the cluttered mud room, they could hear scuffling and weak moaning behind an interior door that they assumed led to the living area of the home. Zach had his war-hammer ready as he silently gestured for Luke to turn the knob. The door opened toward what they knew was at least one flesh-eater, and as Luke pushed it open hard and fast they heard the creature fall to the floor.
Zach rushed into a large kitchen to find an emaciated, infected female trying to climb to her feet even as she moaned and snapped her teeth hungrily in their direction. The burly, former linebacker took two quick steps toward the pathetic creature and swung his hammer in a short, violent arc that sent chunks of brain and skull spraying across the tile floor. He didn’t see the large male shuffling toward him from a hallway to the left, but Maddy, as usual, was covering Zach with deadly efficiency. She calmly moved between the starving creature and its intended target, then plunged nearly a foot of cold steel from her short sword through the monster’s nasal cavity.
Zach shakily whispered his thanks as they set off to clear the rest of the first floor prior to heading upstairs. The only thing they found before settling in was a pile of small human bones lying amid a huge brownish-colored stain in one of the bedrooms. The horror of what must have occurred in this house during the early days of the outbreak was clear to the experienced fighters, but after everything they’d witnessed and done over the past four months the scene didn’t faze them. The teens just quietly closed the door and moved on to the master bedroom, which occupied a large corner of the house with tall windows facing both south and west.
By the time they were all situated in positions offering the best views, they could clearly see two helicopters approaching from the west. One of the choppers seemed to be heading directly at them, while the other was flying a parallel route about a mile to the south. Luke was the first to see the scrambling horde covering the ground behind the birds, quietly muttering, “You guys were right about this being a round-up.”
Maddy scooted over to one of the windows facing west, where she spent several minutes observing the approaching mass of hunters. “Lord, almighty, is this the main army?”
Zach had joined his two partners and was taking his turn at the scope. “I don’t think so. There’s thousands of infected out there, but not tens or hundreds of thousands.”
“How can you tell?” she wondered.
“Don’t you remember counting corpses after the Battle of Chain O’Lakes?”
Maddy sounded disgusted as she answered, “Maybe the worst day of my life.”
“Yeah, me too, but my point is that we all stopped counting at about six thousand and estimated that many more still lying about. So we know what ten thousand looks like, and we saw more than that at the Battle of the Castle.”
“Yeah, but this group is advancing along a mile-wide front.”
Luke interrupted the two, “I don’t know why Barnes would be marching his main force parallel to the Ohio; that doesn’t make sense.”
“Well,” Maddy offered, “we’ll know more after we watch them pass.”
“Oh hell no!” Zach exclaimed. “We have to get out of here right now!”
Maddy just shook her head, “You’re the one who said we have stick together.” She tipped her head in Luke’s direction, “You think superman here is going to run?”
“We stay and observe,” Luke calmly declared without taking his eyes from the window.
Zach was incredulous, “Luke, I don’t care how good you are at killing these monsters, this is insane.”
“We aren’t going to fight,” Luke explained, “and I don’t expect an army of hunters to be conducting house to house searches as they follow those helicopters.”
Maddy placed her hand on Zach’s forearm. “C’mon, you know he’s right; they move fast when those choppers are leading them.”
Zach’s voice was heavy with resignation, if not resentment, when he complained, “If they find us, we’re dead.”
“So we make sure they don’t find us,” she said. “They can’t see jack-squat at night, so if we’re quiet they’ll shuffle right on by.”
Luke looked at both of them through his NVGs. “We good?”
Zach nodded. “I’m all right” he muttered as he glanced furtively at Maddy.
Suddenly, Luke completely understood Zach’s concern. The young Hoosier’s girlfriend had recently broken up with him, in part, she said, because he and Maddy were rarely far from one another. Gracie had speculated that the two could be in love, even if they both still argued that they were just best friends. Whatever the status of their relationship, Zach wasn’t worried about himself at all as the horde of infected approached their hideout; he was terrified at the thought of losing Maddy.
Luke knew that he’d feel the same way if Gracie was with him now, but he also was certain that he’d make the same decision to stay and observe. “We’re doing the right thing, Zach. All of us risk our lives nearly every day in this new world. I have a pretty strong feeling that we’ll be all right up here.”
Hearing Luke say that he had one of his ‘feelings’ about the situation, and that it was positive, calmed Zach a great deal. Everyone in the settlement whispered that Luke was some sort of mystic when it came to knowing where the infected were, and what they were going to do.
Zach finally nodded, “All right, Luke. I got your back, man. Let’s count these bastards.”
The horde of infected shuffled past the scouts’ observation post for more than two hours. The three teens agreed that there were probably somewhere between five and ten thousand of the creatures, and a decent number of them appeared to be damaged in one way or another. Some were missing limbs, others had fused joints, and many showed massive scarring from what had probably been burn-wounds. In short, this army didn’t match the descriptions of Barnes’ force that they’d been hearing from their prisoners.
Maddy stepped away from the window and wandered around the room, examining the contents of what had once been a young couple’s master bedroom. A wedding photo was on the dresser, next to some sort of trophy. She picked up the picture and studied it. “Do you ever wonder about the lives of the people who lived in places like this—what they did, what was important to them, what they dreamed of . . .?”
“Nope,” Zach replied, “no point to it.”
Maddy sighed, “What about you, Luke? I mean, this was somebody’s home. A family had a life here, and I bet it was pretty nice. They look really happy in this picture.”
Luke glanced at the photo. “To be honest, I try not to think about it.”
Maggie shrugged and set the picture back on the dresser. “What was your family like? What kind of house did you live in?”
Luke considered her questions before responding. “I guess we were a pretty normal family, at least before my mom got cancer. My dad, Jerry, he adopted me when I was really little. I don’t remember a time when he wasn’t around.” He stopped talking and leaned against th
e window, gazing out into the distance.
“I’m sorry,” Maddy said quietly. “It’s a stupid thing to ask about. I didn’t mean to remind you about everything you’ve lost.”
“What about you?” Luke turned to Maddy. “Doesn’t thinking about life before the infection make you crazy sad about all you’ve lost?”
Maddy laughed bitterly, “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? I do miss the way things were when I was younger, but there’s nothing to miss about the past few years.”
Zach was incredulous, “How can you say that? I mean, we didn’t know each other real well back then, but I saw you around. I saw you kick butt on the softball team.”
“Well, you didn’t see my dad’s meth lab in the barn. And you didn’t see him when he’d fly into a rage. He’d break stuff, beat up on my mom, and make all kinds of threats. Mom wouldn’t do anything because she just wanted to keep up appearances, but let’s face it, if you’re living in a run-down trailer with a meth lab out back, you’re not fooling anybody.”
Zach looked stricken. “I had no idea. I thought your dad took you hunting and taught you how to shoot, and after the outbreak he led the infected away so your family could escape.”
“That’s what I tell everybody, and it’s partially true. He took me hunting when I was little, but he mainly taught me to shoot after some guys he owed money to broke in our house and held us hostage for an afternoon. After the outbreak, when our car was attacked, my dad did lead the creatures away, but only because he got scared and took off. He was leaving us behind.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Zach offered gently, “but whatever you’ve been through, we’ve got your back.”
Maddy took a deep breath and smiled warmly at her companions. “I know you do, and I’m not sure why I told you all my personal business, but I guess that just means we’re all BFFs now.”
Luke raised an eyebrow, “BF what?”
Maddy laughed. “You are such a weirdo. BFF – best friends forever. And as such, you both are henceforth responsible for keeping my mind focused firmly in the present.”
“Sure thing,” Luke agreed. “It looks like the wave is thinning. Keep an eye on these sorry hunters and let me know when they’ve all passed through. I’m going to take some notes about what we’ve seen so far.”
After fifteen minutes passed with no sign of further packs of infected following the last group of limping, rail-thin creatures they’d watched stumble off to the east in pursuit of the main body of hunters, Luke was ready to report their observations and resume their trek toward Elizabethtown. He was confident that if Jack had been inclined to call them back after first spotting the Blackhawks, thousands of infected moving to the east would convince him that they needed to know more about Barnes’ movements. Maddy had decided to set up her spotting scope and take a final, careful look in every direction while the radio call was being made. Something on the southern horizon seemed to be moving, so she whispered for Zach to take a look as his eyes had proven to be a bit sharper than hers in the past.
After a long minute he said, “The entire landscape seems to be moving . . . wait—holy crap!”
“What?” Maddy urged. “What is it?”
Zach kept his eye to the scope as he slowly explained, “That’s the biggest herd of cattle I’ve ever seen; I never even knew this many cattle existed.”
Maddy pushed him away from the scope and took another look. “Wow! Unbelievable.”
Luke finally joined them as Zach offered, “Take a look, amigo. I bet you’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Maddy surrendered the scope and Luke took his time scanning the horizon. After several minutes of silent observation he wholeheartedly agreed, “I didn’t grow up out in the country like you two did, but I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”
He moved away from the scope and Zach took another look. He watched the cattle approach for about thirty seconds before stating, “Now I think that those choppers were just clearing the route for this herd: the mother of all herds!”
Maddy was scanning the scene once again, eventually muttering, “Can you imagine what it would be like if they stampeded?”
Luke and Zach just looked at each other in astonishment before they both started chuckling.
Maddy turned away from the scope to stare at the two. “What’s so funny?”
Zach impulsively hugged her and explained, “A stampede, babe. We need a stampede.”
As he pulled away she smiled mischievously, “You just called me ‘babe.’ You have ten seconds to take it back. You know I don’t respond well to cutesie-pie terms of endearment.”
Zach grinned, “Sorry, my killing-machine, girl-of-steel. Wait, is that sexist? Should I say ‘person-of-steel’ instead?”
Maddie punched him in the arm, “I’ll settle for ‘your highness’ or maybe ‘annihilator’ . . .”
“Maddie the Annihilator—sounds like a professional wrestler.”
Luke interrupted, “Hey, you two can play battle of the nicknames once we get home. Right now we need to figure out how to start a stampede.”
“Everything I know about stampeding cattle I learned from old westerns on television,” Maddie offered. “I’m not sure how helpful that may be.”
Zach shook his head. “It’s not rocket science. Loud noises, fire, anything that spooks enough of ‘em to get ‘em running.”
“Okay,” Luke turned back to the scope and took another long look at the approaching herd. “Well, looks like Barnes is moving his food supply along a different route than his hunters. If his army was behind the herd, the group of infected that passed us earlier just would have stayed put and joined the main group when they came through here.”
“So we don’t have to go all the way to Elizabethtown after all?” Maddy asked.
“Nope, I’m pretty sure Jack is gonna consider the info we’ve gathered and come to the conclusion that Barnes is taking the hunter-army along I-65. That highway leads to the Louisville bridges. He’s keeping the cattle out of the city and away from the flesh-eaters by sending them toward the small-town river-crossings.”
“But we are gonna try to mess with these cattle, right?” Zach inquired.
Luke smiled with satisfaction and promised, “Oh yeah.”
Chad Greenburg was more than a little nervous at the thought of relying on a few inexperienced teenagers to relay important intel regarding the location and movements of Barnes and his forces. He found Jack mixing up a cup of instant coffee just outside of his tent. “Mind if I join you, Professor Smith?” he asked as he sat down on a tattered folding chair.
“Be my guest, Sarge. Can I offer you some of our best house blend?” He held out his cup. “It almost tastes like coffee.”
Greenburg pulled out a flask, and tipped it toward Jack. “I prefer my bitter, brown beverages to have more of a kick,” he said.
Jack raised his cup in salute, “To each his own. Cheers.” He grimaced slightly as sipped the drink. “What’s on your mind?”
“You know I trust your judgment, and I know that Luke is about as bad ass as they come, though you wouldn’t know it to look at him. Still, I don’t know why he’s off with a couple of other teenagers instead of a few of my experienced soldiers.”
“It’s nothing against your men,” Jack explained. “Your guys are instrumental as the relay team. Luke chose the people he feels the most comfortable with, and I trust that he knows what he’s doing. I trust Maddy and Zach too. It would be different if this were anything more than a scouting trip; they’re supposed to avoid the enemy, not engage with anything or anyone.”
“That’s the plan,” Greenburg pointed out, “but how often do things go according to plan?”
Jack sighed. “I know what you mean, but all those kids can handle themselves. They may not be professionally trained soldiers, but there’s a lot to be said for on-the-job-training where you get eaten alive if you fail. Survival of the fittest at its most brutal.”
Greenburg f
rowned, “You gotta point there.”
“I think we have to realize that anybody who has lived through this pandemic has faced unspeakable horrors and has somehow made it through. Maddy, Zach, and Luke may have started out as normal teenagers, if there ever was such a thing, but they’ve become seasoned survivors.”
After taking a long draw from his flask, Greenburg replied, “Honestly, I don’t know how they do it.”
“You ever read Night by Elie Weisel?”
The Sargent shook his head.
“We had to read it in high school,” Jack explained. “He was a teenager when he ended up in Nazi concentration camps with his father. He witnessed, and eventually wrote about, some of the most horrible atrocities people have ever committed against one another. I mean, he suffered in almost every way imaginable, physically, with hunger and cold and illness, but the psychological assault he survived was literally unimaginable. Near the end he had to watch his dad die too. Somehow he lived through all of that, and went on to live an incredible life. I mean, he was horribly scarred, mentally, but he pushed on and worked hard to try to make sure such things never happened again.”
Greenburg stared at the ground, “All of these kids are gonna be screwed up, even if they eventually win this war.”
“Yeah, they are,” Jack agreed, “but it’s better than dying. Plus, they have a chance to make a new world for their kids and grandkids, who hopefully won’t have to witness the same horrors. And the main point I was trying to make is that kids are amazingly resilient; most of them will be able to force these horrible experiences into the back rooms of their minds and stay busy with life.”
“I hope so, but I doubt we’re gonna completely eradicate this virus in our lifetimes. This fight’s gonna go on for decades.”
“You’re probably right, but we have to try. There’s a certain nobility in knowing that whatever damage you’ve suffered, it was for a just cause. These kids are all traumatized, but as they get older they can at least know that their wounds came from fighting a war against an enemy trying to exterminate them.”