Ecocide (Dying World Chronicles Book 2)

by Jason LaVelle

  “Yes, a small one, but I want to burn it down before darkness completely sets in. We don’t want any unwanted visitors stumbling into our camp.”

  Tom nodded and walked off, to be replaced by Mae, who quietly took one of James’s arms and stood next to him, looking down.

  “It’s going to be all right, James, trust in me, okay?”

  “We’ll trust you, Kala. Hey, how much worse can it really get?”

  Chapter 15

  Robert didn’t do a lot of shooting anymore, so his equipment was a little outdated. Of all his firearms, only one had a decent scope, the rest were twenty dollar throwaways from the bait store. Even in his prime, Robert had preferred to hunt pheasant and partridge, and while hunting those game birds he used birdshot and a barrel-sighted shotgun, no real need for a precision scope. Now he wished he had been a whitetail hunter, or at least more serious about his gear. He had always been too busy with work though, and with the exception of raccoons, foxes, and coyotes trying to get into his hives, he really didn’t have a reason to shoot anything.

  “All right, boys,” Robert said to the small group of men gathered around him - and Mary. Jackson, Mark, Jonas and Manuel were all in a semicircle around the old bee farmer. “I’m sending Mary up to the roof of the barn. She’s a great shot, and we only have one scope with good magnification.”

  The group nodded. Mary looked nonplussed about her role. She was all business, a hard case, Robert had called her in high school. Pain in the ass is more like it, he thought, but anyhow.

  “We know from the news that these things are drawn to sound, so we’re going to keep real quiet. The kids are in the basement with the other women. I locked up the den, so they should be safe there. Once we shoot at one of them, they’re all going to hear it, and we could have a stampede. That’s the worst thing that could happen right now. The fence will stop a few at a time, but if a big group presses on it - well, the wire is only so strong.”

  “Do they work together like that?” Mark asked.

  “They don’t really work together, but when I was in the city, I saw them moving near one another, not interacting mind you, but coexisting without attacking. Whereas they attack uninfected people as soon as they hear or smell them.”

  “Any idea what drives them to attack like that? I mean, they don’t eat the bodies like the zombies in movies, right?” Jonas asked.

  “No,” Mary answered. “The last release from the CDC said that they are ‘filled with an inconsolable rage caused by a parasitic infection in the brain,’ which I take to mean that they have no idea what these things’ motivations might be, but that they attack anything that moves or makes a sound.”

  “It doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t attack each other then,” Jonas murmured.

  “I agree, and I don’t have an answer for you, but for our purposes, knowing that they will kill all of us, brutally and without mercy, is all we need to know.”

  “Right,” Robert intoned. “We will position ourselves between the buildings here. I want to be out of sight from the driveway, but positioned in such a way that we can fire on anyone who might break through. If they get through the fence, we open fire. But remember, if we fire, more will come.”

  “I’m not really liking the sound of this,” Mark said dourly. “This seems like it’s going to end up getting us all killed.”

  “Look Mark, we’re going to sit quiet and hope we get passed by. Maybe the electric fence will be enough to turn away any curious zombies, but if it’s not, we have to be ready to defend this place.”

  “We should be holed up in the basement with the kids,” Mark argued. “We should wait it out.”

  Robert had considered this. It was tempting, but in the end, they could not simply wait it out forever. They needed their crop of young corn in the field, they needed the water pump and the generator. They couldn’t simply live in a bomb shelter indefinitely. They had to defend their home. “Mark, I respect your opinion,” Robert said, then turned to Mary. “Mary, the ladder is set, head up to the roof.”

  Mark sighed.

  “Jonas and Manuel, can one of you watch from the front of the barn and one from the rear door?”

  The father and son nodded then walked off.

  “Jackson, I want you to make up a shooter’s nest behind the stack of empty hive boxes. Make it so you have a clear line of sight into the driveway. That will be the easiest way for any of those things to approach; the fields to the north and the south of us both have barbed wire around them, and I’d imagine they’d get tripped up in it.”

  Jackson walked over to the stack of empty hives that used to house Robert’s livelihood. Robert took stock of their arrangement. The driveway entered the property to the west, and that was where the fence crossed over it. Just inside the fence, on either side of the driveway, were the barn and the bunkhouse. Further up the curving driveway, the house sat on the southeast side of the dirt drive, and beyond that, to the east, was their new cornfield. The entire area was surrounded by their electric fence, and god willing, it would hold.

  “Mark, go into the house. Stay in the kitchen behind the island. If anything gets through, you are our last line of defense. You got that Mark?”

  Mark agreed, and looked happy to be going back into the house.

  An hour went by before Robert’s phone buzzed with a text message from Mary, who was up on the roof of the barn, lying flat on her stomach atop a thin blanket. Even with the cushion, he knew the tin roof must be hot, and he again thanked her for her fortitude. Mary was a strong person. She had been dealt a lot of shit in her life, but she rose from it all. Her husband had died young, leaving Mary to raise her two daughters on her own, all while operating a family medical practice, ensuring her children would have a comfortable life. At least we are together, Robert thought, as he looked down at the tiny letters on his phone.

  “They are coming up the road now.”

  Jackson was watching him, so Robert signaled with his hands. Jackson nodded and waved from his hidden sniper’s nest to Manuel, at the entrance to the barn. Then Jackson looked back at Robert and gave him a thumbs-up sign. Robert dialed his granddaughter's phone number. Jane picked up on the first ring.

  “Janie, there are some coming down our road. You and Elizabeth keep everyone as quiet as you can.”

  “Okay, Grandpa,” she answered nervously.

  Robert hung up and glanced down curiously at the full bars on his phone. With all that was happening, how did he still have cell service? “I guess Verizon really is the best, like Mary said,” he muttered. One minute later, Robert heard a cry, but it didn’t come from the direction of the driveway. Robert looked out from the cab of the big orange tractor where he was hiding. The scream had come from behind them, from the cornfield.

  “Shit!” he cursed as he saw the infected man writhing against the electric fence. It looked like a cartoon, the way he shook. Only a few moments passed before he let out a strangled cry, then gravity claimed the zombie’s body and he fell to the ground, motionless. Robert stared at the body, thinking he could see little tendrils of smoke rising up from its electrocuted hair. Then he heard a clucking noise, the sound he and Jackson had agreed on to communicate. Jackson was looking back at him, and pointed his fingers at his own eyes, then out toward the driveway. Robert nodded; Jackson had seen another one approaching. Robert’s heart was beginning to race, and he trembled just a little. Calm down, he told himself, now is not the time for a heart attack.

  His wrinkled fingers curled around the barrel of his shotgun, the metal now warm from his body heat. Please God, help us out here. There was another cluck from Jackson, and Robert heard a wail coming from the driveway. He couldn’t see past Jackson’s stack of empty bee hives, but he knew another one must have hit the fence. The wails grew louder and Robert had a terrible thought. The sounds of those things dying are going to draw more to us.

  Jackson held his hand back with a thumbs-up to Robert but didn’t turn around. Another one d
own. Robert blew out a hot breath, but his heart did not calm. Two more clucks sounded from Jackson, two more zombies approaching. They were coming faster than he expected.

  Then Robert heard a sound behind him, and turned to the cornfield once more. His heart sank. In a rough line, three more of the dead ones were approaching. The first one hit the fence and jerked, his body stiffening for a moment before stumbling back. Robert watched as it cocked its head, then rushed toward the fence once more, only to be held by the current until it died.

  A second zombie hit the fence, this one was a tall, blonde-haired woman, with a pretty face covered in dried blood. She would have been quite a looker in life, he thought, then she grabbed the top wire of the electric fence. Her body spasmed hard and Robert winced as her pretty, bloodstained face stretched into an ugly howl.

  It was a tragedy that all of the beauty in this world was dying. The woman jerked and jumped against the fence in a sickening dance of death. Robert could hear more zombies hitting the fence near the driveway, some howling, some crying out. He watched as the female zombie died painfully against the electric fence. The last of the three zombies he’d seen approaching from the cornfield was standing near the electrocuted female, watching with what looked like curiosity, but Robert was sure they did not possess such an emotion.

  “Come on, hit the fence,” he murmured as the male zombie shuffled past the frying woman, walking further down the fence, out of Robert’s line of sight.

  “Shit,” Robert cursed. He knew the fence wrapped around the back of the house too, but he didn’t like not being able to see it. Then a bright flash drew his attention back to the woman. She was dead now, and he was sure this time he could see smoke wafting up from her head. In fact, her fair hair was actually starting to blacken in spots as the current jolted through her. There was a problem though. In death, gravity had been unable to pull her from the magnetic grasp of the electrical current coursing through the lines and now she had fallen on top of the electric fence’s top strand. She was near a post, and a bright spark of electricity was being emitted by the connector where the wire crossed over the post.

  “Oh no, oh no!” he whispered, and watched in horror as her body weight leaning on the wire broke the thin plastic insulator that kept the wire suspended on the pole. His mouth went dry and his eyes widened as she fell, taking the top strand with her. A moment later, the dead woman and the top line of fencing crashed into the bottom electrified strand and a great shower of sparks ignited, almost as bright as the mid-morning sun. Robert began clucking his tongue madly, trying to alert Jackson, then a loud sizzle filled the air. The zombie woman burst into flames, scorching the grass around her, while still sending a shower of hot, sparking electricity all around. Only a moment passed before the dry California scrub grass caught fire.

  Robert was petrified, shocked at what he was watching and he could not move or speak until the third zombie, the male, came back into view and crashed into the damaged fence not far from the flaming body. His legs spasmed as he hit the still live bottom wire, then he burst through, tearing the fence as he did so. With no continuity from one side to the next, the current immediately dissipated, and the sparks stopped flying.

  “Jackson!” Robert screamed as the monster wandered into their yard. “The fence is down!” There was no more clucking; the screams of the undead filled the air instead. The male zombie charged at Robert. His heart hurt as it beat within him.

  “Don’t fail me now, ticker,” he whispered, bringing the shotgun to his shoulder.

  Chapter 16

  As night fell on their small camp, the temperature began to drop. It was cooler here than in Florida, and the group sat around the small fire, enjoying its warmth. Sophie sat on Kala’s lap with her head leaned back against her shoulder. Across from Kala, Devon was asleep lying across his parents’ laps. Mae and James were cuddled up against each other. The only one missing from this firelight vigil was Dylan. He was still in the SUV. James and Tom walked him out earlier to relieve himself, and after that he had sat on the edge of the car seat and chatted with Sophie for a bit. He was haggard though, and his face was ashen, pale. His forehead dripped sweat. Kala tried to keep the worry from her face, but it was impossible. She hugged him before sending him back to bed. She gave him another shot of the moonshine too.

  As she leaned over Dylan in the car seat, draping a blanket over him, she smelled a sweet, yet foul smell. Her heart dropped a little. It was the smell of infection, and before long, it would be the smell of rot.

  Dylan touched her arm. “I can smell it,” he said, the hot scent of moonshine on his breath. “It smells sweet, like radiator fluid. But that’s poison too, isn’t it?”

  Kala nodded and tried to keep a tear from forming in her eye. She took Dylan’s hand, which was bigger than hers but weak. “Hey, I’ve got a plan, we’re going to get you someplace safe, get you some real medical attention.”

  Dylan’s eyes were lolling around in his head. Then he sighed, “Do you really think there’s a safe place out there anymore?”

  “Maybe Dylan. I hope so.” Kala had a hard time bullshitting. That’s okay, Dylan probably wouldn’t have believed it anyway.

  “Listen Kala, you’re doing so good with Sophie. I - I really appreciate that,” he squeezed her hand a little. “Thank you.”

  “Of course, Sophie’s a little doll.”

  “Yeah she is, most of the time anyway,” he chuckled. “I remember one time I chased her all over the house while she squirted a ketchup bottle onto the floor. She got into every room but the basement before I finally caught her. Mom and dad were so pissed.” His smiled faded a little. “If I die, you’re going to look after her, right?”

  She couldn’t help the tears that fell. She nodded. “Of course I will,” she choked out. She lowered her head to his face and kissed his forehead. It was warm and slick with sweat. The fever was rising.

  “Kala, how are you going to get through the border?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’m, I’m stalling right now, trying to think. James thinks we should bail, go back into one of the cities and look for help.”

  Dylan shook his head, “Terrible idea.”

  “I know, I told him so.”

  “Remember the last hospital? Back in Jamestown?”

  “I remember,” she would never forget that hellish scene.

  Two days ago they had pulled to a stop next to a blue rectangular sign that said “Hospital,” with an arrow. They were traveling on a rural highway with very little resistance, just a few dead ones here and there in the road, and two mutilated deer carcasses. Kala cleared her throat.

  “They could have valuable supplies, and they might actually have real living people there we could connect with,” she said.

  “I’m nervous about the idea of real people Kala, I’m not going to lie,” James piped in from the back seat.

  “I agree,” Dylan said.

  Kala glanced in the rearview to Tom, who sat silently next to his wife, waiting for any cue she might give. Silence seems to be an unusual quality in a man, she thought to herself. His son, Devon, certainly didn’t share his demeanor. Devon was talkative and hyperactive. When the kid wasn’t sleeping, his mouth was running. So much so that Kala actually just tuned him out as part of the background noise of the trip.

  “What do you think, Andrea?”

  Andrea was quiet for a moment. They were stopped on the side of the road next to the blue hospital sign.

  “I think it’s a big risk going into the city,” she began slowly. “But you’re right, they probably have a lot of supplies we could use. Besides medicines, I’m sure they have water and probably some canned goods in their cafeteria. If they haven’t been looted, that is.”

  “I want to go to the cafeteria!” Devon shouted from between Andrea and Tom.

  “Me too!” Sophie joined in, bouncing around next to Dylan, who just shook his head. Kala turned and focused her gaze on him. They were a team here, but Dylan and Kala had
been together the longest. Even though Kala felt like she was the most qualified to lead their group, she didn’t want to just ignore his concerns either. Finally he threw up his hands in defeat.

  “All right, fine. I guess there’s probably a filling station where we could siphon more gas as well.” They weren’t low, but would be after another day of driving, so they had to capitalize on any opportunity that presented itself. Kala rolled the window down and smelled the fresh fall air coming in. Out here away from the chaos it was really very pleasant. It reminded her of long walks in the woods with her dad and Lukie. The bittersweet memory brought a faint smile to her face.

  “Let’s head for the hospital. We’ll be careful,” Kala said and turned toward the city. Another five miles down the road they came to a set of double stacked K-rails blocking the road.

  “What the hell is this? Some kind of make-shift quarantine from the early days?” Dylan asked as they all stared up at the concrete blocks stacked atop one another. They were the same tall barriers used on the highway to separate median from road. Kala exited the car and walked around to the edge, looking out to the road beyond.

  “There’s nothing there, it’s all deserted road,” she reported back. She examined the distance from the edges of the barriers to the trees off the side of the road. She could squeeze through it, she was sure. And if she could get through in her big SUV, a smaller car wouldn’t have much of a problem. So what was the point?

  “It’s just to slow us down,” James said from beside her, and Kala jumped a little, startled by his silent approach. “Or whomever might come along. That’s the only reason I can see for it, otherwise it’s not effective as a quarantine device at all.” He stared at Kala, waiting to see if she concurred with his assessment.

  The autumn breeze blew through her hair again, and Kala felt optimistic for the first time in a long time. “I think this must have been here for a long time. Perhaps they were checking car by car for people who were infected. I don’t know, but there’s nobody guarding it now. I’m going to go around.”