by J. W. Vohs
Jack just shook his head in frustration. “What did you do with the people who were bitten?”
“Well, we’re still trying to figure that out.”
Jack held his tongue for a good ten seconds, afraid that he was about to go postal on his deputy. Finally he choked out, “Listen to me Little, you take the people who were bitten and you lock them up in a room somewhere in that station. You have an armed guard on the door at all times. Do you understand me?”
“Uh, yes sir. We just weren’t sure what to do.”
Jack let out a long sigh and shook his head as he spoke into the phone. “You’ve seen what happens to the people who are bitten.”
“But are we sure that everyone who’s bitten becomes infected? Does everyone who’s infected turn into one of those things? I mean, the people out here are arguing with me. One of them is some big shot from Fort Wayne Consolidated Schools. She’s been insisting that I call her Doctor Roberts, but she won’t even look at the sick people.”
Jack’s anger returned as he nearly snarled, “If you quarantine a person who’s been bitten and they turn, nobody gets hurt. If they don’t turn we let them out after a few days and nobody gets hurt. So far, I haven’t heard of, or seen, a single person who’s been bitten not become infected, and every person who’s become infected has become a zombie. Not ‘one of those things’ Deputy, but a freaking zombie! If you don’t get that through your head really fast you aren’t going to survive this outbreak.”
Jack caught his breath and quieted his voice as he continued, “Yeah, Little, the only people I know with Ph.Ds who always want to be called ‘Doctor’ are those in education, which is really funny because that is the easiest doctorate to obtain in the entire world by a factor of one-hundred. So no, this Doctor Roberts isn’t going to look at any of your sick people; she’s no closer to being a real doctor than the kids she’s helped flush down the toilet in that city while she makes a quarter-million a year.”
Jack finally stopped ranting, accepting the fact that his deputy was perhaps just one step on the law enforcement ladder above Barney Fife. “Look, Jeff, I know you’ve had a rough couple of days and I shouldn’t be yelling. I apologize. Just stay calm and try to keep those people under control. I’ll call you back in two minutes with a plan. In the meantime, move around and make personal contact with all of your guards. Calm them down.”
“Ok, I’ll try that. You don’t have to apologize, sheriff. I admit that I haven’t done a good job of asserting authority out here. I’ll get moving, and talk to you in a few minutes.”
Jack hung up the phone without another word. Two young guards in full protective gear, including helmets and gloves, positioned themselves a few feet away and waited for instructions. Jack held up a hand to them as he called The Castle. Deb was manning the radio, and Jack asked about the disposition of the RRTs.
“We’ve got four teams out at Hunter’s Ridge, with Bobby and Todd providing sniper cover. John is commanding and staying back with the snipers to monitor the fight and provide a reserve. Two teams are here, but one is sleeping right now. We also have a full guard rotation on duty.”
Jack frowned, “How are things going at Hunter’s Ridge?”
“I haven’t heard from them in over two hours. I know they were planning on taking it slow and steady in there. John called when they were ready to move in and mentioned that they counted twenty-one zombies you took out last night; Carter’s going to be very mad at you again for putting yourself in that much danger.”
“I couldn’t leave the girl, Deb, and I had no communications. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I had left her there to be devoured by those things. By the way, how is she doing?”
“She made it through surgery as well as could be expected. She was gut shot but Doc said that the bullet didn’t expand much; he’s guessing that you were right about a ricochet that hit her by accident. Her insides are all right, but the bullet nicked a major artery and she lost a lot of blood. She woke up long enough to tell us that her name is Jade Andrews, and she had no idea how she was shot. She’s just fifteen, but seems like a tough kid. Doc said she should pull through if some sort of infection doesn’t kill her. Tyler apparently knows her from school, and he’s been sitting with her in case she wakes up again. And by the way, I don’t blame you for protecting her; no matter what Carter might say, he would’ve done the same thing.”
“I know,” Jack agreed.
“And for the record, Sarah should have stuck with med school. She’s a natural; she’s going to shadow Doc and help cover non-emergency situations.”
Jack smiled to himself as he remembered his little sister operating on various stuffed animals when they were kids—with or without their owner’s permission. Though David’s teddy bear survived its ordeal, he still liked to tease Sarah about how his early experience with medical malpractice inspired his interest in the law. “Tell Sarah I always knew she’d make a great doctor, despite what our brother might say.”
Jack refocused on the pressing issues of the day, “Listen, which RRT is sleeping right now?”
“Carter’s team had the late shift last night.”
“So is he still there, or did he go out with the teams to Hunter’s Ridge?”
“He’s still here, but he isn’t happy about it. He was gearing up to head out today but I found him and dragged him off to bed. He hadn’t slept in over thirty hours.”
“Glad to hear he still knows how to follow his own advice,” Jack noted sarcastically. “What time is it right now?”
“Almost ten. How’d you ever survive the war?”
Jack ignored the barb. “So how long’s Carter been out?”
“About four and a half hours.”
Jack hesitated before coming to a decision. “Deb, I need you to wake him and tell him to prep his team ASAP. We’ve got a situation developing at Station 2 that I don’t have a good feeling about. And after you do that, try to get John on the radio for a situation report; two hours is far too long to leave us in the dark about what’s happening out there. Have Carter call me when they’re ready to move out, and I’ll let him know where I need him. Thanks, Deb. I have to go.”
“Be careful, Jack.”
“Always am,” he quipped as he shut off the radio.
Jack immediately called Deputy Little and told him that backup was on the way, and that he would call when they were a few minutes out with more information. He then turned to the two guards Barry had brought to him. Quickly looking them over, Jack saw that they were in their early to mid-twenties, both strapping young men who looked more angry than frightened about what was happening out on the perimeter. On a hunch Jack asked, “Either of you have military experience?”
The taller of the two declared, “National Guard, Infantry Scout unit out of Huntington, sir. Deployed twice to Iraq.”
“Ever see combat over there?”
“Yes, sir, but mostly it was boring patrols and fighting heat stroke.”
Jack smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I know the routine.”
Turning to the other he asked, “What about you?”
“Four years Air Force, sir. I worked in ordnance.”
“I’m taking your buddy here out there amongst those things. As far as I can tell most of them are trapped in the wire, but we have to kill them by punching holes through their skulls. Some of them will probably be what’s left of a few of your friends and neighbors. If you aren’t ready for this just say so and we’ll wait till you get more training.”
The young man gave Jack a fierce glare. “They killed my sister last night while I was fixing a flat on the way here. You don’t have to worry about me killing those things.”
“Fair enough,” Jack replied. “I am sorry for your loss son; I have some grieving to do myself as soon as we destroy these monsters.”
He looked to the Iraqi War vet, “Same goes for you, soldier. If you have any doubts just tell me now; I don’t need any macho crap getting us killed out there
.”
“I’m all right, sir. I ain’t saying I like combat, too many people die who shouldn’t, but I won’t panic out there.”
Jack nodded, “Ok, one more thing, my name is Jack Smith. I’m a former Ranger with a long tour in Afghanistan, and I managed to attend about every other special op school the Army offers. I’ll do my best to get you boys back in one piece.”
The tall vet stuck out his hand, “Sergeant Stanley Rickers, sir. Proud to serve with you.”
The rugged Air Force vet also shook hands with Jack as he announced, “Airman First Class Drake Ross. I won’t let you down, sir.”
Barry came walking up as the introductions were completed. “These are the best two we have, in my opinion.”
Jack smiled grimly, “I have a good feeling about these guys; I think they’re warriors.”
Barry nodded his agreement and moved to put on his helmet.
Jack held out his hand to stop the man. “Not this time partner. You’ll get your chance if something happens to me. The people around here come to you with every problem and follow your instructions. I know you don’t want the responsibility, but you’re the leader of this courthouse operation.”
Barry didn’t argue, but he did say, “I’m not afraid to go out there, Jack. You know I feel like I have something to prove.”
Jack looked out at the sky and squinted in thought. “I have a feeling that by this time tomorrow we’ll all be veterans of this new war, or dead. You’ll get your chance, Barry, but right now I’ll have peace of mind if I know you’re back here holding things together.”
Barry couldn’t dispute Jack’s wisdom, and slowly dropped his helmet to his side. He handed his halberd to Sgt. Rickers and took the spear instead. “This is a better weapon. Drake, you carrying a mace and dagger with you too?”
“Yes, sir, I’m ready to go.”
Barry and Jack exchanged nods and turned their separate ways to do what they had to do.
Jack led the scouting mission with Rickers and Ross on each flank, three steps behind the leader. They gingerly stepped through the strands of wire until they came to the first moaning zombie; it had apparently thrashed about until becoming hopelessly entangled.
Jack quietly explained, “Always keep as much distance as possible.” Then he stepped forward and plunged the spike end of the halberd deep inside the zombie’s brain, immediately ending its miserable existence. Ten feet away was a female caught only by an ankle that was now horribly mangled as she was obviously trying to remove the foot from her body in much the same way a wild animal was willing to leave a leg in a trap. Jack nodded at Rickers, who eagerly approached the zombie and attempted the same tactic Jack had used. The first blow ripped a huge piece of scalp from the trapped creature, but failed to penetrate the skull.
Jack calmly encouraged the young soldier, “Take your time, and try it again. Aim for the forehead and don’t use as much force as last time. There’s a lot of weight at the end of a halberd and it doesn’t take much to punch through bone.”
This time Rickers was successful. Ross killed the next zombie on his first try, and with his new recruits now blooded Jack was able to move them more quickly through the wire entanglements, where they dispatched the zombies with great energy and enthusiasm. After half an hour or so they had run out of targets, though Jack could hear many moans floating among the buildings surrounding the courthouse. Some of the zombies they had just destroyed had managed to cross quite a bit of wire by stepping on other trapped creatures, and Jack realized that if enough zombies combined for an attack some of them would undoubtedly breach the wire if the guards didn’t quickly improve on their accuracy and tactics.
When they returned to the courthouse Jack told Barry to divide the guards into two units and put Ross and Rickers in charge of them. They were to lead individuals out and show them that it was quite possible to kill the zombies if they remained calm and used the right weapons. He also suggested some target practice with supressed .22s in order to determine who could actually shoot, then make those men the snipers and put SCA weapons in the hands of the rest. His final order was that there would be no more shouting, yelling, or even loud talking. Jack advised his two new recruits to warn their fighters that he would take the best of the bunch to The Castle and leave the rest on their own if they didn’t shape up in a hurry.
As he finished with the instructions he heard Carter hailing him on the radio. Jack answered the call, “Have a nice nap, buddy?”
With a gravelly voice Carter chuckled and asked, “Why’d ya wake me up, dummy?”
“Well, Deputy Little over at Station 2 has zombies in the wire and a bunch of others closing in. Apparently they’ve been loud AND stupid over there. I was hoping you could meet me with a team and we could clean up their mess before anyone gets hurt.”
Carter sighed, “We’ll gear up and head out. Meet ya at the Crossroads Pantry gas station and go in from there?”
“Sounds good. I’ll be waiting for you.”
As Jack sat in the parking lot at the rendezvous point, guzzling water and chowing down on granola bars, he realized that it was noon. He thought that the Castle should know the status of the teams sent out to Hunter’s Ridge by now, so he called Deb and asked for an update. She told him that the teams weren’t back at The Castle yet, but they had reported in and were loading up for their return.
Jack caught the hesitation in Deb’s voice, “We have any casualties?”
Deb let out a sad sigh as she explained, “The four teams went in under Tina, and ended up surrounded by over four hundred zombies. John and the snipers eventually went in as backup and by the end they killed all of the infected in Hunter’s Ridge. They also found nineteen survivors hiding in the houses.”
Jack’s blood had turned cold as he realized that Deb was setting him up for some bad news. “How many did we lose?” he demanded.
“Fred Lemme and Rick Jenner were killed during the fight. Jack, from what I can tell it’s like they all walked into a massive ambush in the middle of the main street. No cover, they just formed a circle and fought like cornered lions. We’re fortunate that we didn’t lose more.”
Jack leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. Anger mingled with grief as he wondered if there had been a better way to approach clearing the subdivision.
Deb knew him well enough to know what was going through his mind. “Hey big guy, I’ve known you for nearly ten years, and I’ve listened to your stories. I’ve held Carter countless times when he woke up with nightmares from his time in Afghanistan. One thing I’ve learned for certain, Jack, is that people die in war. You’ve told me yourself that the plan only lasts until the first shot is fired. We knew the odds and thought it was worth it. We lost two men to save nineteen people; vicious math in a vicious new world.”
Jack knew she was right, but he still felt like he should have been there.
Again Deb read his thoughts, “You can’t be everywhere at once, and at some point you have to trust your people to do the job right. You need to do the best you can to save as many people as possible in this area, and then we’ll reassess our options. Looks to me like we are going to be outnumbered a hundred, maybe even a thousand to one by the time this virus runs its course. Do you think we can beat those odds without losing anyone? Stay focused, Jack, we need you to keep it together.”
He took a deep breath and let go of the self-recrimination. Deb was right about everything; he couldn’t be everywhere at once, and he had some of the best soldiers in the world commanding the RRTs. They were going to lose people, perhaps many people, as they fought for survival on a planet where they were no longer the top predator in the food chain. Cold-hearted logic told him that two people dying for nineteen was a bargain in the new world order.
He quietly said, “Thanks Deb. I’m all right. Everything you said was spot on; I just can’t help but feel responsible when I lose people under my leadership.”
“I know you can’t, Jack, and that’s w
hy you’re a good leader. Now I need you to focus on the next fight and keep an eye on my husband.”
“You know I will, Deb. Thanks for straightening me out.”
“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been doing that since I met you.”
Jack smiled as he thought of all the years spent with Carter and his spunky, no-nonsense wife. “Yeah, you have, and I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.”
“All right, big guy, don’t get me crying. By the way, if you still have a minute there’s someone here who wants to talk to you.”
Jack smiled, “Yeah, please put her on.”
Andi’s worried voice came out of the radio, “Jack, are you ok?”
“Yeah, I got some sleep and I’m eating. We cleared the courthouse wire without a single close call. How are you?”
“I’m fine, just keeping an eye on the girls, learning to shoot a crossbow, and helping out around here wherever I can. Greta wants me to adopt Tyler, and I’m actually considering it; he’s a neat kid.”
“Thanks for taking care of him, his grandpa was all he had.”
“Well, you were right about taking him to Carter’s mom; he bonded with her immediately. He has a grandma now.”
“Hey, Andi, I haven’t forgotten about that date I owe you. I’m looking forward to it.”
“I miss you, Jack, and I’m worried about you.”
“I’m fine, and I’ll feel a lot better if I know you and the girls are all right.”
“Don’t worry, we have a lot of good people holding down the fort here. I’ll be taking over the radios and phone lines for Deb at two, so check in with me later.”
“I will, and thanks for being strong through all this.”
She laughed in the way that always melted his heart. “This is nothing, I have talents you don’t even know about yet.”
“Well, I look forward to learning everything about you, Andi, so don’t let one of those Rangers strutting around The Castle sweep you off your feet.”