DEAD: Snapshot (Book 3): Liberty, South Carolina

by TW Brown

  “We are the new volunteers,” Bo said in his usual relaxed manner.

  “I decided that I needed to get more actively involved,” Sarah said simply.

  Jamie was very happy to see Bo, but she felt sort of odd when it came to Sarah. There was just something about how her eyes did not seem to be able to hold contact.

  Oh well, she thought, I can’t worry about that right now. As long as she doesn’t do anything to endanger the mission, I can’t really turn her away.

  Jamie rummaged through a notebook on her fold-up desk and plucked a pair of pages. She gave them a quick double check to ensure that they were what she wanted and then handed Bo and Sarah each a single page.

  “Our top priority when we reach Pickens is to hit the hospital as well as the pharmacies marked on the bottom of the page. This is the priority list of the medical supplies that we need according to Sophie,” Jamie explained as she gave her own equipment a final inspection. “You will also notice that we have listed two locations as fall back spots should you get separated. Both of those spots are secure and have a cache of supplies.”

  The pair nodded and then fell in behind Jamie as she left her cubicle and headed to the main entrance to the school where the team was instructed to muster. She arrived as a few of the members were sharing tearful farewells with friends or family.

  With both her parents gone, this was the first time that she truly felt alone. She had not realized until this very moment that she’d become so focused on her school, then a career, that she had let almost all her personal relationships wither and die. Sure, people might know who she was, but nobody really knew her anymore.

  ***

  Jonathan flexed his good hand. He’d been very good about doing all the physical therapy exercises that Sophie had assigned him. Having been through his share of injuries from his years in football and other sports, he knew the value of rehabbing.

  “My town went to the zombie apocalypse and all I got was this fractured wrist,” he snorted.

  Kneeling beside the marker that had been placed in honor of his mother, Jonathan hoped that she’d been right and that there was such a thing as Heaven. If so, then hopefully she now understood his actions at the end of her life. If that was the case, then perhaps she would understand what it was he was about to do.

  He and seven others had been sent towards Easley. There was report of a band of raiders in the area that were not simply out snatching up supplies. It had been decided (in a town hall sort of meeting right after that hanging) that the citizens of Liberty would not engage folks who were outside their town’s boundaries. Also, if they encountered groups abroad that laid claim to a specific area, they would withdraw peacefully.

  When Jamie returned, there was going to be a vote about whether or not they would officially close their gates to any and all outsiders. Jonathan—as had all seven other members of his detail—had cast a vote in a sealed envelope that was handed to Chief Potter.

  Things were changing so fast that Jonathan hardly recognized his town anymore. He hadn’t been surprised when somebody had spray painted over the old town motto that was on the side of the abandoned city hall building.

  “Where neighbors become friends” had been changed to “Where strangers will be shot on sight.” He thought that it showed a certain lack of creativity, but that did seem to be the direction that the town was headed.

  It wasn’t as if they were being hit by an influx of survivors seeking sanctuary, but he doubted that any newcomers would be welcomed for the foreseeable future.

  “You ready, big man?” a voice spoke from behind him.

  Jonathan turned to see all the members of his scouting force gathered at the entrance to his cubicle. All the spiked bats, machetes, spears, and assorted bows gave the team a foreboding appearance. His brain quickly reconciled the reality of what stood there waiting for him.

  A grocery store clerk, a math teacher, a bartender, a construction worker, a grade school cafeteria worker, a fast food counter person, a fireman, and him…a pizza place assistant manager.

  Worst Village People tribute band ever, he thought. Not a single soldier or Special Forces commando in the mix, he mused.

  This was the group headed out to see if they could locate any potential targets that merited a larger team being sent to retrieve supplies. Also, they would all be piling into a pickup truck. When they returned, they were supposed to each be driving a vehicle that could be jammed into the growing barricade.

  “Yep,” Jonathan gave himself a quick pat down to ensure that he had his all gear and then joined the team.

  They headed east on Highway 123 until the still smoldering ruins of the outskirts of Easley came into full view. Jonathan shook his head in disbelief. Certainly he expected a degree of senseless vandalism; even the lawlessness like that gang of four made sense in a weird way. What he did not understand was why people would just destroy everything. It was like humanity wanted to be done and over with.

  They passed a massive development on the right that looked like it had once been all upscale housing. Now, the only thing that remained were skeletal shells of blackened wood and stone.

  They came upon the Pendleton Street exit and saw a row of bodies crucified beside the highway. There were large signs hanging around the necks of many of the squirming undead with accusations of heathen, unclean, blasphemer, and unholy.

  “Glad we have dodged that bullet so far,” Jonathan breathed as they drove slowly along the edge of the emergency lane.

  “I wouldn’t count your chickens,” Alex Singleton quipped. “There have been rumors of a small group starting to meet. They apparently are discussing whether or not they wish to remain with…and this is a bit of paraphrasing, so forgive me if I am not spot on with the accuracy, but something about the “deniers of God” or something like that.”

  “Let me guess,” Jonathan groaned. “Reverend Jonah Simms and his brother Chuck.”

  “Nailed it,” Alex replied as he slowed the truck. “And it looks like we are on foot from here.”

  A roadblock had been built to span the entirety of the highway just as they emerged from a particularly thick cloud of smoke that acted like a curtain across the road just past the overpass prior to their intended exit. Jonathan knew that a few groups had ventured this way before, and nobody had said anything about this roadblock; so that meant this was something recent. Part of him was happy that there might be others who were surviving. That part was engulfed by fear when a bunch of gunshots sounded and a series of bullet holes marched across the windshield.

  A round slammed into Alex Singleton’s chest and then another hit him in the head, blowing his brains across the rear of the pickup’s cab in a hideous design of bone, brain, and blood. He felt something tug at his shirt and reflexively ducked down.

  There was an eruption of screams from the back of the pickup and another burst of gunfire that slammed into the engine block with deadly efficiency. He felt the vehicle slow and then it shuddered violently as it continued its forward momentum a bit further. The sound of the tires being shot out came and then the truck slowly ground to a halt.

  “Hands in the air!” a voice shouted from somewhere close.

  “We didn’t—” somebody answered from the back only to be cut off by another burst of gunfire that ended with a yelp and the sound of something falling just on the other side of the cab.

  Jonathan considered his options. He briefly deliberated on the option of playing dead, but these days, that might still earn him a bullet to the head. He was still mulling over the possibilities when the passenger door was opened with a scream of protesting metal.

  “And what do we have here?” a voice said almost in his ear.

  ***

  Ivan looked around what used to be just a counselor’s office at Liberty High School. He recalled a few trips to this as one as well as the principal’s office when he’d been a student here. Looking around, it dawned on him that this was the very room where he had spoken
to Chief Gilstrap about what it would take for him to become a member of the police force.

  Getting up, he headed out to the hallway and made his way outside. As he did, a few people greeted him with words or a wave. He returned them, using people’s names when they popped into his mind.

  The sun was just starting to set. Jamie’s group had only been gone for a few hours. They wanted to get close, but not venture into Pickens until they observed for at least one full day. With the world in the state it was in, it would be a simple matter to hear any gunshots and determine at least the general direction. Also, the night allowed them to scan for possible campfires.

  As he strolled toward the old door and window factory where he currently resided, it was almost difficult to tell that this was basically the zombie apocalypse. He could hear birds singing and the chirp and hum of bugs. Nothing gave away the fact that the world had spiraled into a massive extinction event.

  It took him a few seconds to realize that he was hearing something out of the ordinary. Once it dawned on him, he froze and began to search the sky. With the world so quiet, he thought that it should be much easier to discern the direction the sound was coming from, but it seemed to be echoing off of everything as it grew louder.

  He had trees on both sides and took off at a run to reach the clearing ahead where Farmers Hill Road intersected on the right. Just as he reached his destination, there was a thundering boom. He looked up in time to see a pair of fighter jets fly past at incredible speed. It looked as if they were barely skimming the tree tops as they sped west.

  It took him a moment to realize that he was waving his arms like a madman. “Like they would have seen you,” he berated himself.

  Still, he stayed put for several minutes as he waited and hoped that just maybe they might bank around and head back in his direction. He had finally resumed walking again when he heard a distant booming explosion. It had come from the west.

  He turned his body until he thought that he was in the general direction of the sound. It was getting dark, but in the waning light, he could see a plume of smoke rising skyward. For just a moment he felt a tinge of panic. The Oconee Nuclear Station was to the west, but he was pretty sure that it was just slightly north of Liberty. This cloud was definitely to the southwest.

  He was about to continue on his way when he thought he heard somebody scream. The sound was coming from up Farmer’s Hill Road. That was outside the boundaries of the safe zone. As far as he knew, there weren’t any patrols in this area.

  Drawing his Beretta 96 A1, he climbed over the cars to his left and headed up the road. He moved over to the side of the road and stayed low, using the tall grass for cover. With darkness coming fast, he also had plenty of shadow to utilize. After taking a moment, he was able to hear what sounded like voices. He actually rubbed his ears to be sure that he wasn’t imagining things.

  The scream had ended abruptly, but now he thought that he heard singing. He veered off to follow a heavily rutted dirt road that led off from the main paved one. It headed up into some trees where, as darkness crept across the countryside, he was able to make out a slight glow.

  “Something isn’t right here,” Ivan whispered as he crouched down in some scrub brush.

  He was able to look across a small clearing to a copse of trees where a group of people appeared to be gathered around a fire. He felt his blood chill as he recognized one of the voices at the same time the actual fire came into view.

  Reverend Jonah Simms was standing just to the right of a large burning cross. On the other side was the hulking figure of his brother Chuck. What looked like a crudely built altar was just in front of the two and a figure was lashed to it. Judging by all the thrashing about, it was not voluntary. Gathered around were several people wearing hooded sweatshirts or caps pulled down so that it was virtually impossible to tell who they were.

  Ivan considered his options. He did a quick head count and was distressed to discover that there were over fifty people gathered around. That was too many people for him to handle on his own. He would need to return to the safe zone and recruit a team to deal with this. The only problem existed in the fact that he would be consigning whomever was tied to that altar to whatever terrible fate the Simms brothers had in store.

  “…have brought this terrible judgment upon humanity with all the sin and profanity that they have allowed into this world with their loose morals and evil ways.” Jonah Simms lifted his arms into the air and the glint of light off of metal shone brightly for a second. “In Revelations chapter twenty-two, verse fifteen, it is written and The Word says, Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. These were the times we lived in, and it is that thing abhorrent to God that has brought down the End Times. We must now step forward and show our righteous and angry God that we have not strayed…that we do not wish to remain with the sinners, and desire that he bring us home so that we may worship at his feet.”

  There was a chorus of “Amen!” and “Praise God!” from those gathered. Ivan had to fight everything in his mind and body not to rush in and stop what he knew was about to happen. That person on the altar was going to be murdered and he could do nothing about it.

  “When the sun next rises, it will do so on our town having been cleansed of the unrighteous. We will be like the Angel of Death that God sent down to Egypt. We will move this night and smite all the sinners who have led us to this path. Then, we will open the gates and let the demons of Hell come and claim what is theirs as we commit ourselves to our God and beg that he bring us home.”

  Ivan slipped back the way he came. It gnawed at him all the way as he ran back to the high school. If he was correct in his assumption, these lunatics were about to come in and murder the people of Liberty. The problem was that he had not been able to clearly make out anybody other than the Simms brothers.

  He was about to enlist citizens of Liberty to kill their own. If he was very lucky, then the entire congregation of those following Reverend Simms was present at that little meeting.

  Just as he reached Ruhamah Road and cleared the vehicle barricade, he heard another scream from back the way he’d come. It was muffled, but it still reached his ears and plunged into his soul much like he imagined the dagger plunging into that poor victim’s heart.

  What was it about the zealot types that made them feel they were the only ones with the answers…the only ones who followed God? He had been a church-going man all his life and felt that he’d certainly had his flaws, but mostly he was a good person.

  These zombies weren’t a punishment from God. They were probably the result of something that humanity had done. Bio-weapon, GMO crap, or maybe a nasty strain of the flu that came as a result of how it mutated over the years. Who knew? But more importantly…who cared?

  If they were going to have any chance of survival, then the people of Liberty needed to band together, not separate themselves based on some crazy idea that God had decided to pass some mystical judgment on mankind.

  The solar powered lights that marked the main entrance to the gymnasium appeared up ahead. Ivan had a plan. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t see any other option. He saw little chance that this night ended without a serious amount of bloodshed.

  14

  Deliver Us from Evil

  Sophie had just tucked Megan in when a commotion caused both her and the little girl to start. She recognized the voice of Ivan Potter, but she could not make out what he was saying.

  “Okay, sweetie, you stay put. I’ll be back in just a moment.”

  Sophie noticed it right away. A change came over the little girl. Her features went blank and her gaze became unfocused. It was almost as if somebody had hit a switch that shut the girl off.

  “Megan?” Sophie whispered.

  The girl didn’t react. She stared straight up just as she had in nights prior. The sounds of more voices joining the commotion brought Sophie
’s head up.

  “They are coming with the intention of killing us in our sleep!” Ivan shouted.

  People were near the main doors to the gym, gathering around the chief and firing off a dozen questions at once. Sophie glanced down at the little girl one more time. She gave her a kiss on the forehead and then went to investigate what all the fuss was about.

  “The only ones I saw clearly were the Simms brothers,” Ivan said louder as people began demanding to know exactly who he was talking about. “They were talking about sacrificing the blood of the innocent to show God that they were worthy. After that, they were coming here with the intention of killing as many as they could.” He paused and his face seemed to brighten and then cloud over just as fast with a realization.

  A sick feeling had begun to form in Sophie’s stomach. She shoved through the gathered crowd. There were some who sounded afraid, but others were actually dismissing the chief’s claims.

  “This morning they brought in Joshua’s sixteen-year-old daughter. They said that she was having some female issues. They were demanding to know if she was pregnant. It only took a very brief check-up to put that to rest.” Sophie hated sharing intimate and personal secrets, but she felt this was important considering the circumstances. “The girl is a virgin…I assured them that there was no way that she could be pregnant.”

  “We need to—” Ivan began, but the sound of a nearby explosion cut him off. Seconds later, the wail of a siren filled the night air with sound.

  “Oh, my God,” Sophie gasped. “They’re going to bring every zombie for miles around right here to us.”

  As if to confirm her fear and add credence to Ivan’s accusations, a flurry of gunshots erupted. Ivan climbed up onto somebody’s desk so that he could be seen by the gathered crowd.