“What plan?” I asked.
“Something Duncan cooked up when he got his hands on some serious explosives in New Mexico. I think it might actually be a winner,” Tommy said with a wink.
“Well, have fun with that, as long as it’s far away,” Charlie said.
“How serious of explosives?” I asked, not really sure I wanted to hear the answer.
“Well, according to the packaging, it’s used for mining purposes; making holes in rock and such. Duncan thinks it would work pretty well on a building,” Tommy said.
“Color me confused,” I said. “But isn’t Duncan just kind of winging it when it comes to things blowing up?
“I think he read a book about them once,” Tommy said.
“Did I say far away? I meant really far away,” Charlie said, speaking very seriously. His voice even crossed its arms, he was that grim.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Tommy said.
Tommy went over to the heap that was Duncan and hauled him to his feet. The pair walked off to find a vehicle and to carry out whatever plan Duncan had in mind. I hoped they would come back in one piece. Or at least in identifiable pieces.
Charlie and I watched them leave, and we just sat for a while, cooling off after our little workout. The day was cool but not cold, which meant the zombies would be out a little more. It was right at the temperature where they could move pretty well but were still slower than in the summer.
“Do you feel that?” Charlie asked.
“Feel what?”
“The ground is shaking.”
I concentrated for a second. “You’re right. It is.”
“Earthquake?”
I thought for a second. “Yes it is.” I said. “A green-eyed one.”
It was Charlie’s turn to concentrate. “I’ll be damned.”
The vibrating ground was joined by a rumbling sound that started low, on the edge of hearing, but it increased with every second. Pretty soon there was a large RV winding its way through the trees towards the campsite and followed by eight semi trucks. After them, it was a collection of SUV’s RV’s and cars and trucks. It was the second most beautiful sight I had seen in a long time. The most beautiful was the woman driving the RV that pulled up alongside Charlie and me.
I waited until the vehicle stopped then raced Charlie to the door. I lost and had to wait as the big lout got his hugs first. Sarah managed to get past him, and I held on to her for a long time, just trying to breath her in. A minute later, I had small arms around my leg, and I reached down to pull Jake up and give him a hug as well.
While I was giving Jake a hug, Sarah went and grabbed Aaron out of his baby carrier and brought him over, and I felt more complete than I had in a long time.
“I need to talk to you and Charlie,” Sarah said.
I looked at her. There was an urgency in her eyes I hadn’t seen before.
“Okay. Let’s step outside,” I said. I pulled Charlie away from Julia, and we went out.
Sarah walked out to the front of the RV, and I really looked at it for the first time. It was dented and banged up, and there were dark streaks along the front and around the tires. The RV had been modified to handle running into zombies; all of our vehicles had been. But this was something else.
“What did you run into?” I asked. I had a feeling I knew the answer, but it was not something I wanted to hear.
“We were doing fine, having caught up to the army, but on the border of Colorado we ran into a horde and had to drive through it,” Sarah said.
“Wait. You had the army with you and still had to drive through this horde? Why didn’t you just engage it, and cut it down?” Charlie asked.
Sarah smiled. “We didn’t have enough fighters.”
“What? You had six thousand men, and that wasn’t enough? How many were there?” I asked.
“Rough guess was around fifty to seventy-five thousand,” Sarah said. “They were spread out for miles, but they were there. We found a thin section to push through, and we did. We couldn’t stop and fight because there was no place for defense. We’d have been overrun with sheer numbers.”
“Damn. Well you’re safe now, that’s what matters.” Charlie said.
“Hang on. You hit them on the border?” I asked.
“Yep,” Sarah said.
“The one that’s just east of here?”
“Yep.”
“So they’re following you in?”
“Yep.”
“And we’re going to have nearly seventy-five thousand zombies within a day or two?” I asked
“Yep.”
“And there’s a city still full of zombies to the west of us.”
“That’s about the size of it,” Sarah said. “Sorry.”
“Well, shit.”
“Yep.”
“All right. Charlie, I need every man or woman with command or leadership duty to be here in half an hour,” I said.
“On it.” Charlie ran off, and I turned to Sarah.
“I am very happy to see you, babe, but wow,” I said.
Sarah reached up and pulled herself up to eye level. I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her close. She kissed me very deeply, and I gave as good as I got. When we came up for air, I put her on the ground and held her close. I thought about what she had to go through and what she must have been thinking taking an RV full of kids through a horde of that size.
I kissed the top of her head, and she looked up at me.
“I know you’re tired. Why don’t you take it easy, and I’ll get one of the scouts to play with the kids until bedtime,” I said.
Sarah nodded, and I could see in her eyes just how tired she was. But she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
“What will my assignment be?” Sarah asked.
“You and Rebecca are going to organize the long-range sharpshooters, and you’re going to work on the edges of the zombie army until there aren’t any stragglers,” I said.
Sarah nodded then went inside. I called Casey on the radio and told her to send over someone who was willing to babysit for a few hours. That done, I waited for Charlie to arrive with the commanders. I looked back at the RV and decided to sit down because I suddenly got the shakes and didn’t trust myself not to fall down.
My mind swam with thoughts of what might have been—the horde surrounding the RV, Sarah and Rebecca trying to shoot their way through, zombies storming the vehicle, and the worst happening without me ever being able to do a damn thing to stop it.
I shook my head and cleared my thoughts, chiding myself for getting stressed over what might have been. They were here, they were safe, and if the worst should happen, they were with me when we ran like hell for the hills.
I looked at the hills, trying to think of some sort of strategy for dealing with the horde. We could climb up the mountains and pick them off that way, but that would eat up our ammo pretty quickly. We were too far from the capitol to send a request for more.
I looked at the lake and thought about floating the army and keeping us safe that way. But we didn’t have time for that. The numbers kept getting to me. We had enough zombies to fill an entire football stadium. Or one of the high rises downtown. Maybe there was the answer. I replayed my thoughts on the meeting held earlier and realized we may have a solution.
Ten minutes later, Charlie arrived with fifty men and women in tow. One of the younger women went to the trailer, and we all could hear little peals of laughter. Everyone smiled, and for a second we were all reminded of the real reason we fight this fight.
I waved the group over to the water’s edge, and I climbed up on an old tree stump to make myself seen and heard.
“Thanks for coming. For those of you that arrived with the army, you know what we are facing. For those of you who were already here, you likely have heard what’s coming,” I said.
“I’ll be honest with you. This one has me a little stumped. We can’t use up our ammo because we’d be defenseless, and we can’t f
ace it hand-to-hand because we’d be killed. We’ve got an uncleared city at our backs, and a god-awful amount of zombies headed this way. I seriously considered just getting us out of the way and attacking this piecemeal.” There were a few nods of assent at that suggestion.
“But,” I continued, “we’d face them eventually, and they’d still have the advantage.”
“What’s the plan then?” Charlie asked.
“It’s going to take some daring, some timing, and some serious luck,” I said.
“So it’s dangerous, crazy, and possibly stupid,” Charlie said.
“Yes it is,” I said.
Charlie raised his hand. “I’m in.”
Every person there raised their hand at the same time. A huge chorus of “I’m in!” echoed across the lake.
I had never been so proud of this group of lunatics than I was at that moment.
I spent the next ten minutes outlining the logistics of my plan, and at the end of my lecture, I was partially convinced myself that it would work. We were going to taking some chances, and were going to try something we had never done before, but if we pulled this one off, we’d win a victory the likes of which we never would have otherwise.
After I had dismissed the commanders, Charlie waited with me by the lake for the crowd to dissipate. When the last man had gone, Charlie spoke to me in a low voice.
“You realize the entire plan hinges on Duncan being able to figure out what he’s doing?” Charlie said.
“I think he’ll do okay. He’s never let me down in a clutch, and brother, we are in one gigantic fucking clutch right now,” I said.
“How soon do you think they’ll be here?” Charlie asked.
“It’s a hundred and fifty miles from where Sarah saw them. Left on their own, they’ll be here in a day and a half. I think we’ll send out some scouts to help steer them this way,” I replied.
Charlie nodded. He didn’t say anything else, and we both went over to the RV to spend some much needed time with our families. I needed some Jake and Aaron time, and I was sure Charlie just wanted to spend some time reading to Julia and holding his wife. Cheyenne was in her glory with the kids. The next 36 hours were going to be busy.
We didn’t sleep at all; we just worked to get the plan in place. The earth movers were busy creating earthworks designed to funnel the zombies onto the highway. The highway leading into the city was pretty clear, so we just had to block the exits. We used the leftover cars to create barriers along the road and making sure the zombies were led into one direction. We had to keep them together all the way downtown. That was when the second part of the plan would come together.
I sent the entire army into the city at first light, getting them to sweep the entire place, and shooting whatever zombie they came across. I wasn’t losing anyone to hand-to-hand combat. The combined resources between the converged armies, plus what we found at the air force base, and added to the pile Duncan and Tommy found, we were good for the city. We weren’t good for the horde and the city. If we were judicious, we’d have enough to get us back to Illinois if we needed it for the summer.
Duncan spent his time preparing for his part, and when he got the word, he and Tommy took off for downtown. We were going to get one shot at this, and it better be good. I wished we had some time for a few tests, but today the sun was slipping from the sky with alarming quickness.
I got back to the RV in the early evening to find Jake and Julia running around and just being kids. Aaron watched with calm eyes, and I picked him up from his seat, kissing Sarah on the top of her head. She and Rebecca had set up a table and were busy field stripping their rifles and getting them ready for work. They were going to be on buildings along the zombie route to keep stragglers from getting away.
“How’s it going?” Rebecca asked.
“Scouts report the Z’s are headed this way. They’ve been running ahead of them trying to get them to group up a little better. The earth movers are done; we’re using them to move cars before they run out of gas,” I said.
“What about Duncan?” Sarah asked, sliding the bolt home on her gun. It closed with a click and Sarah worked it out again, spreading around the light oil she had put on it.
“Word is he’s got what he needs in place. Tommy completed his part, too,” I said.
“Who’s going to be doing the running?” Sarah asked. She looked up. “You can’t be serious.”
“I can’t let anyone else do it,” I said defensively. “Besides, push comes to shove, I jump some cars, and run like hell. What could go wrong?”
“Oh, sweet mother of God, you had to go and say that,” Sarah said.
I laughed. “I’m going to get some rest. Wake me in four hours, please?” I asked, handing Aaron back to his mother.
“Can do,” Sarah said.
I went inside and found Charlie in a chair already asleep. I spread out on the bed above the driver’s cab and fell asleep almost instantly.
I woke to someone shaking me.
“Whazzut?” I said, trying to clear the fog from my brain.
“John, come on! You gotta get up!”
I looked over the bed and saw Charlie’s face inches from mine. Admittedly, I’d had better wake-ups.
“What’s wrong?” I looked around. The sun was still up, so I must have been out for just a few minutes. Then I looked again. The sun was on the wrong side of the RV. Shit, it was morning. I jumped out of bed and belted my gear on. As I was putting on my boots, I looked up at Charlie.
“Why the hell didn’t anyone wake me?” I asked.
“Sarah wouldn’t let anyone near you,” Charlie said. “Come on, the horde is almost here. The scouts are coming in; at least the ones on the latest shift.”
I grabbed my pack and stepped outside. The morning sun was amazingly bright this high up, and everything had a shine to it that was really hard to explain. Little details were sharp and unusually focused. I felt like I could see everything and hear everything. I had a really, really good night’s sleep.
I checked my Glock and made sure I had a couple of large carabiners with me. There were supposed to be some carabiners where I was going, but I wanted to make sure to have some ready. I secured my knife and double-checked my magazines. I strapped on another knife, one that I had found in one of the shops in Denver. It was just a simple knife, nothing fancy. But it had a six-inch blade that was over a quarter inch thick along the spine. The handle was some kind of fancy wood, and the guard was polished brass. The point was a simple drop, and I liked it because it was heavy and could easily punch through a skull.
“Let’s move,” I said. I walked over to the truck that was waiting for us and climbed in the driver’s seat. Charlie got up in the back with Duncan, and Tommy rode shotgun. His rifle was between his knees, and he gave me a thumbs up as I started the truck.
I pulled away, and we headed for the highway. I noted as we got on, someone closed the gap behind us with a car and some extra debris. There was no going back the way we came.
We drove east, and I was actually curious as to what a horde that size actually looked like. I had seen some big hordes, and faced off quite a few of them, but something of this size was bound to be impressive.
On the outskirts of town, just past the smoldering hills of burned corpses, we began passing the earthworks that had been put up. They weren’t complicated, just piles of dirt, packed and scraped so the Z’s couldn’t climb over them. The earthworks went out in a forty-five degree angle from the road and headed towards the horizon. As we looked, there was a rippling dark mass on the edge of that horizon, first showing itself as a single fluid entity. As it got closer, however, it dissolved into thousands and thousands of wandering dead. They stretched as far as we could see from one end of sight to the other.
If I ever thought I had seen an unstoppable force, it was nothing compared to what I was witnessing before me. There was nothing that could hold for long against that number of zombies. Doors and walls would get torn down, un
less they were made of reinforced brick and mortar.
I stopped the car, and Duncan spoke for all of us.
“Fuck me.”
“Let’s get a little closer,” I said. “They need to see us.”
I drove the truck further out, getting a closer look at our guests. They were dressed in all manner of clothing from uniforms to bathing suits. Many of them were barefoot, their feet worn to the bone on the bottom. Dozens were missing arms, hands, or parts of their faces while others were as normal looking as one of our own. They swayed as they walked, stumbling over hidden holes in the ground or rocks that moved under their feet. They flowed around trees and shrubs like an undead river and closing up once they were past.
“Was this the myth you said didn’t exist?” Tommy asked.
“I guess so,” I said. “I’m willing to admit I was wrong, but in this particular case, I wish I had been right.”
“Me, too,” Charlie said from the back.
“Well, let’s get this started,” I said. I drove out towards the horde and started to honk the horn. Charlie and Duncan started shouting and waving their arms, and I had to say they sounded stupid, too. The two of them made a bunch of noise, but for some reason the horde wasn’t all that interested. They kept coming, but they weren’t lunging for them, either.
“We need them restless. We need them to chase us,” I said. “You need to do something.”
Charlie and Duncan conferred with each other, and then all of a sudden Tommy started laughing. I looked into the rear view mirror and figuratively burned the retinas of my eyes. Charlie and Duncan had lowered their pants and were essentially waving their bare asses at the horde. Duncan punctuated the offense by slapping his bare buttock with his hand.
“Holy shit, John! Drive! It’s working! Oh, my God! It’s working!” Tommy was alternately stunned and laughing as the massive horde surged forward, tempted by the forbidden fruit of male butts. I drove forward, making sure I kept my eyes forward. Any glance into the rear view mirror might show me more than I ever wanted to see. It didn’t help that Charlie was making whistling noises at the zombies and shaking his ass.
White Flag of the Dead (Book 9): The Zombie Wars (We All Fall Down) Page 15