Zombies! (Book 7): Still Standing

by Merritt, R. S.

  “I vote we stick with hiding in plain sight. If an enemy patrol sees us on some tiny road in this big ass Winnebago, then there’s a really good chance that they’ll stop us to see who we are. If we just keep barreling up the interstate waving like a bunch of idiots at all of them then I think that might just get us there. Or, at least get us close enough to sneak the rest of the way.” Bryan said. He’d been putting a lot of thought into it. There were a lot of pieces of the plan that were going to require acting on gut instinct. That part scared Randy. He didn’t like the idea that they’d be making life or death decisions on the spur of the moment based on hunches. He definitely wasn’t going to go sit down beside Kelly and try to tell her that’s what the plan was. He borrowed the map from Phil and stared at it for a few minutes.

  “Ok. So, we try to find a truck stop to fuel up somewhere around the intersection with I-85. We take I-85 up to Highway 58 then just take that all the way to Norfolk. How do we handle figuring out when to stop driving and start walking? If we push it too far, we’re going to run into someone who wants to know who we are and where we’re going.” Randy said pushing for a more solid plan. Flying by the seats of their pants had worked out so far but this seemed like something that required a bit more prep. Bryan and Phil exchanged knowing looks that told Randy he was about to get an annoying lecture about how the world worked. He steeled himself to try and look interested.

  “We’re heading into unknown conditions with absolutely zero intel about what anything looks like north of us. We know there’s a large number of enemies ahead of us. Hell, we’ve waved at a bunch of them while they drove by us. I see what you’re trying to do as far as nailing down a plan and I understand why you’d want to do that. I want to do that too. There’re just too many variables that we don’t know. On top of all that we don’t even know our timeline. We may have already missed the boat. It could be leaving tomorrow. Right now, if we don’t stop for anything but gas, we can make it there by morning. Will we need to ditch the RV and walk in at some point? I’m thinking yes but who knows. We may end up turning around and trying to beat our way out of Virginia if the ship’s already sailed. We just don’t know what we don’t know. You know?” Bryan explained it to Randy like he was a ten-year-old asking if his dog was going to come back from the vet after getting hit by a car.

  “Got it. Understood. What I’m looking for here is just a rough outline. I say we go ahead and come up with what we’re going to do in certain situations so when we get in them, we don’t have to spend a lot of time thinking about it.” Randy said.

  “I got the first one for you to consider.” Phil said. Randy and Bryan both looked up at where Phil was pointing to a sign on the side of the road. The sign indicated a truck stop coming up in less than five miles.

  “Alright. Let’s wargame this one. We’re going to pull off the exit and head towards the truck stop. We go around to the back where the trucks should be parked and try to find one that hasn’t already been drained. We use the tubes from the back to get the gas from the truck into our tank. Sound good?” Bryan said.

  “What if there’s other people there getting the gas already?” Randy asked. He was picturing them driving off the interstate into a truck stop with Brotherhood men walking around dressed like extras from a Mad Max movie.

  “Since we don’t have time to scout out anything, we’ll just have to roll with it. It’s not like we can race away from them in this thing so we just cruise right on in like we belong and get our gas and leave.” Bryan answered.

  They drove in silence for a few minutes watching the mile markers tick down the distance to the suddenly ominous truck stop. When they reached the exit, they drove off the interstate and up onto a county road that looped them back over the interstate. On the other side they could see the truck stop spread out before them. It wasn’t until they pulled into the lot that they noticed the rows of big red jugs lined up in the front of the parking lot by the gas pumps. Gomez slowed down so they could see what the jugs were meant for right as two men casually walked out of the truck stop and headed towards them.

  “Hide the kids then get back up here.” Bryan ordered Randy. They wanted to look like a troop transport. That wouldn’t really work if the guys here saw a bunch of little kids running around. Randy disappeared into the back to let Kelly know what was up. She’d already figured out what was going on. Her and the kids were sitting in the back bedroom with the blinds all drawn. A quick kiss followed by a promise to be careful and Randy was back in the front next to Bryan. They all worked on doing their best to look like they had every right to be pulling in and getting some diesel.

  Gomez stopped the RV and opened his door to get out. The two men from the truck stop were laughing at some joke Phil had told them. Randy had missed the joke. He got back in time to see that Phil had one arm casually hanging out the window while he was gripping a Glock in the other. The gun was hidden by the door, but he was ready to turn it up if needed. Everyone was hoping it wasn’t going to be needed. Especially since both of the truck stop guards had automatic rifles hanging comfortably off their shoulders in a way that showed they knew how to use them.

  Gomez walked around to where the guards were holding up a clipboard for him to fill out information to get the diesel. They joked back and forth a little bit about not letting refugees or people from the settlements get their hands on it. It turned out the two guys had been here for over a month. They’d spent the first few weeks scavenging all the red jugs to fill up. They’d siphoned the diesel out of every truck in the parking lot and managed to get a hose and pump to work to pump diesel out of the holding tanks. Gomez was having some trouble with the clipboard they’d handed him. He stared down at it nervously with a big fake grin plastered on his face. One of the truck stop guards made a joke about getting him the Spanish language version if he needed it.

  The guards laughed at the joke, but their eyes showed they’d gone from joking around to suspecting something was up. Randy watched as Gomez walked over to the door of their RV.

  “You have our identification numbers in there?” Gomez asked Phil. Behind Gomez both of the truck guards now had their assault rifles aimed in the general direction of the RV and their fingers on the triggers.

  “You need our personal ID numbers, or the squad number?” Randy called out from in the back.

  “Squad number. What unit are you guys with?” One of the guards asked. Randy noticed the guards slowly separating from one another and backing away from the RV. After a long pause Phil took a guess.

  “Lima Squad out of Alabama.” He said. “We’re supposed to regroup up north.”

  “Oh cool. Let me go get your boxes of supplies. How many men with you?” The guard asked.

  “Just the four of us. We grabbed this big thing out of a yard. It runs good so we figured – “ Whatever story Phil had concocted to try and talk their way out of the mess they were in was over when both guards suddenly picked their weapons up and aimed them right at the front of the RV.

  “What’s going on? You trying to rob us?” Bryan asked loudly.

  “Just need to check out your story. Open the doors. Put your guns on the –“ A loud shot rang out accompanied by the sound of glass breaking. It was immediately followed by more shots. Gomez dropped flat to the ground as the front of the RV caught some bullets from the two bloody guards as they went down trying to shoot and run away at the same time. Gomez ran around the front of the RV to get back in as gunfire erupted from the truck stop. The windshield spider webbed in a few places and Gomez disappeared from sight in front of the RV.

  “Cover me!” Phil yelled. He didn’t wait for an answer. He jumped out the passenger door and ran around the front of the RV where Gomez had gone down. Phil was emptying a magazine at the front of the store as were Randy and Bryan. Kelly and Caitlyn were lighting up the storefront with fully automatic fire as well.

  Phil popped his head up and shook it negatively. Gomez hadn’t made it. Phil ran around the side and ju
mped in the driver’s seat. He started spinning the wheel to get them out of there.

  “We can’t go yet!” Bryan yelled. “We’ve got to kill the other guy in the store. Drive us over there fast. We’ve got to get him before he can use the radio. Keep shooting!”

  Not liking the order at all Phil put the accelerator to the floor and the big beast surged towards the main part of the station. Kelly and Caitlyn kept up a steady stream of fire out the back windows. Myriah was making sure the littles stayed on the floor. The windows back there were shattered from where Kelly and Caitlyn had opened up on the two guards in the first place.

  Bryan pitched a grenade through the broken window in the front of the truck stop then opened his door and stepped out. He stopped when he got inside and saw the dead body of a teenage boy in hunting clothes sticking out from under a shelf that’d fallen over. He was too young to be in the regular militia so was probably one of the two guards sons. Bryan looked up in time to see Phil and Randy come busting in. The three of them stood still staring sadly at the dead kid in camouflage laying in a pool of his own blood.

  “Ok. Grab any supplies you see and try to find the radio. If it’s portable, we can listen in.” Bryan ordered breaking through everyone’s fugue.

  “Look out. There could be more guards in here.” Phil reminded them all. Bryan and Randy looked at him like he was an idiot. Like anywhere in their world was safe.

  They searched the store quickly and located a radio. They actually found about twenty radios since it was a truck stop after all. They grabbed the one that was turned on in the break room next to a pile of discarded food wrappers and water bottles. Bryan dug through the adapters for sale in the electronics aisle until he found an adapter that should work for them. They dragged that gear back to the RV then dragged the two guards bodies back to the station. They emptied a few of the cans marked ‘unleaded’ into the store on top of the bodies and threw in a match. The store burned fiercely while they tossed in jugs of diesel to the RV.

  They stopped at the onramp and filled up with the diesel before getting moving again. A couple hours later they were moving up I-85 when Phil saw a spot he liked. He pulled the RV over and they pulled Gomez out in the comforter they’d wrapped his body up in. They carried him down a steep incline to the stream Phil had seen from the window as he was driving. They lay him out on the rocks by the stream and soaked his comforter wrapped body with gas. Not having time to say more than a few words they all wished him god speed and thanked him for his sacrifice. Randy teared up thinking of all the men who’d sacrificed themselves for the girls.

  They left the burning body of Gomez next to the swiftly flowing stream and continued on their way. Each of them wondering if it’d be them laid out on the ground being set on fire next.

  Chapter 30: Theirs but to Do and Die

  “Tanks and a unit of men on horseback ma’am?” Forrest asked. He stared at the small video display showing Sam and Krantz in a split screen format. He was unsuccessfully trying to hide his incredulity at receiving this information so late in the game.

  “Yes. There’s also mobile artillery, drones, SAMs, and a battalion worth of men who can support everything.” Sam said smugly. She obviously thought that this news would get them all excited.

  “All of this stuff is on a train, right? A train over by Lynchburg ma’am?” Forrest asked. He hated that they’d kept this information from him. He could’ve used it when he was working up the movements of all the squads. Now it looked like they’d need to delay another day to wait for the armor to get into place. Normally that wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the whole area was crawling with Zombies. All of the gunfire and men moving around had them really worked up. The men couldn’t even hide in a safe place and just wait for the Zombies to move on. They all had to be ready to move out to their assigned attack quadrants when ordered. What a cluster.

  “Are they throwing a lot of air strikes your way?” Sam asked.

  “No ma’am. There were a few at first but nothing lately.” Forrest answered. The screen flickered and he saw images appear that he recognized as drone photos of the region.

  “How current are these pictures ma’am?” He asked excitedly. He could make out a few massive herds of Zombies. There were also multiple pictures of abandoned settlement camps. There were even a few pictures showing the shipyards and another base across the bay from the shipyard. The images confirming what he’d already intuited.

  “The people from the settlements have all been evacuated and are standing by to board the carrier. It’ll be loaded down but should be able to carry them all. They have a couple of dredgers and a handful of scows. They’ve been working overtime to get the channel cleared out enough for the carrier to make it out. That’s pretty recent so we’re guessing they had problems bringing it in this last time.” Sam said

  Forrest caught himself right before he was going to correct Sam and let her know that a ship wasn’t referred to as an it. The correct nautical term would of course be to call the ship ‘her’. He didn’t see much value in arguing about the nuances of nautical pronouns at the moment though.

  “What are the rules of engagement ma’am?” Forrest asked instead.

  “What do you mean?” Sam responded.

  “When we get to the carrier should we open fire on it? What about the civilian population? What’s our goal ma’am. How do I know we’ve completed the mission successfully?” Forrest asked. He saw Krantz nodding along to his questions. They both wanted to know what the endgame here was.

  “The end goal is to kill enough of them that they leave and never come back. If they choose not to leave, then we’re looking for their unconditional surrender. If they do not surrender, then kill them all. Does that answer the question? The Senator wants them removed from the board.” Sam answered curtly.

  “Thank you, ma’am.” Forrest said. He wondered briefly if he should object to the orders. He knew beyond the shadow of a doubt he personally wasn’t going to be killing a bunch of women and children. He hoped his troops wouldn’t either. His plan was to make sure the squads knew to engage the enemy militia only. He’d order them to capture any groups of civilians to process into the camps. If he resigned his post, then he wouldn’t be in a position to give those orders. Whoever they put in his place may just go with killing them all and letting god sort them out. Especially now that they were being sent a battalion of men with tanks and artillery. What good a tank would do against an aircraft carrier would soon be seen.

  Questions answered Forrest left to get orders out to the battalion commanders so they could relay the orders to their platoon leaders and so on. He needed to make sure the orders were crystal clear so that no one could claim later to have misunderstood the directives. He didn’t want innocent blood on his hands if he could help it. At least not any more than he already had.

  Chapter 31: The Last Mile

  Kyler sat down in the mayors cabin of the last settlement he needed to check off the target list. He’d spent most of the day evading Zombies and running around in the woods. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure that he’d actually checked all the right sites, but he was pretty sure the intel the Brotherhood had was old anyway. He’d found a moped outside the first settlement that’d helped him get around faster. It hadn’t been a super safe option, but it’d beat the hell out of running a hundred-mile circuit to check all the target sites.

  Gazing at the cot setup along the side of the small cabin he decided on a nap before setting off for Norfolk. He wasn’t certain he should be heading that way right now, but he couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. With the chief gone the number of people who could vouch for him was down to one. Unless you counted the cook that he’d briefly shared a room with Captain Hartfield was the only one alive who knew why the Brotherhood brand on his back actually proved his loyalty to the settlements. Any other officer would have him tortured for intel then killed if they spotted the hated brand seared into his back.

  Knowing he risked be
ing shot, tortured or spending some time in chains before getting an audience with Captain Hartfield he decided to make the trip anyway. Despite the unpleasantness he’d be faced with when he first got there, he liked the possibility of sailing away somewhere better. Even more than that he felt like the settlements was where he belonged. He liked the way they were working at rebuilding society. Plus, he knew Caitlyn and her family would be heading in the same direction. If he couldn’t find her there than he’d probably never see her again.

  His moped was in a ditch a mile away. He judged the sun would be completely down in less than an hour. He was too tired to try and go now. If he gave himself three hours of sleep, he’d have a better chance of surviving the journey than if he set off exhausted. That should leave him plenty of darkness to make it to Norfolk. The armpit of Virginia as his father had affectionately referred to it. Realizing he hadn’t even thought about his dad in weeks depressed him as he lay down on the bare cot and rested his head on his backpack. Depressed or not he barely got the alarm on the cheap digital watch he’d snagged from a looted 7-11 set for three hours before he’d passed out.