Dead States | Year Zero | Nebraska

by Brockschmidt, Marty

  “Okay so what is the plan?” Jenny asked.

  “I travel as far east as I have to, to get them on the radio. If I think they check out and they can help me, I join up with them. Gael has offered to go with me and Lord knows I can use the help and would appreciate the company. Your fortified here against the dead , you have enough food and weapons to dig in here until I come back.” Mac replied.

  “That easy huh?” Jenny retorted.

  “I'm not sayin we won't have to make things up as we go, but yeah that is about it.” Mac's resolve evident in his voice.

  Rosa hugged Gael and kissed his cheek, “Mi amor, volver a mí.”

  Gael held Rosa's head in his hands and looked her in the eyes, “Tú estás siempre conmigo en mi corazón”

  In the morning Mac and Gael left in the Challenger, towing the trailer they recovered the day before. In the trailer was enough fuel to get them close if not all the way to their destination. Jenny and Rob followed the Challenger for a short distance. Mac had advised they establish an emergency cache and location to escape to just in case. Jenny had just the place, her father's construction office. Mainly a large garage, but it had a fenced enclosure. Jenny had sold off the trucks and equipment after her father passed, but she could never bring herself to sell the property.

  As Mac and Gael once again said their farewells, Jenny tearfully ran up to the two men and hugged them one last time,”Mac before you showed up I had given up all hope.”

  “Well I'll take any of that you can send my way. Mayhue is like a madman in charge of the asylum. My wife, the others I left behind, their survivors, their resourceful, but... aww hell I don't know. I really need this to go my way.” Mac shrugged.

  “It will. I know it” Jenny replied optimistically.

  Chapter 18 – The Noose

  “Sergeant, what has been the fallout from the dalliance with the town girl?” Asked the General.

  “Nothing.” Sergeant Redding replied, purposefully forgetting Crystal's challenge to him.

  “That is unfortunate. I can't believe McPherson and the Corporal we're the extent of their leaders.” The General stated.

  “They are a hodgepodge collection, thrown together by circumstance.” Sergeant Redding offered.

  The General scoffed, “It's too quiet, somebody is keeping these folks in check. We need to grind any resistance out of this lot. Come winters end, we are going to rise from here and I will lay my hand on this world. I need to be assured we have an orderly base here”

  Stu Redding avoided the General's gaze, “Yes sir.”

  “I'm going to need more soldiers. Sergeant, start Wade on a recruitment drive, put the young men into a separate work detail. Time to cut mommies apron string.” The General ordered.

  Stu Redding nodded, “Yes sir.”

  The General smiled, “Wonderful. I'm feeling magnanimous. Release the children we are holding. Let them think I've gone soft. We'll give the leaders just enough rope to identify themselves.”

  “Anything else sir?” Stu Redding asked stiffly.

  “Yes. Send in Corporal Smeils, I have a task that needs his special touch. Then extend my invitation to the Parsons woman, to join me for dinner. She is a self serving bitch, with less brains than most women. Still she might give me a lead on who runs this settlement.” The General concluded with a dismissive wave of his hand.

  When the townspeople gathered for their daily work details, they were surprised to see the ten sequestered children waiting by a simple breakfast buffet.

  “The General appreciates your cooperation and wanted to demonstrate his benevolence.” Stu Redding stated.

  Sara Parsons ran up to the waiting food, “Well you tell him Sara says Thank you.”

  “Ma'am the General would appreciate it if you would join him for supper tonight. I'll send an escort to your room to retrieve you after work details have completed and you have had a chance to freshen up.” Stu Redding informed her.

  Sara patted the big man's chest and beamed her gratitude, “Well isn't he just the sweetest thing. I would be honored.”

  There were some grumbles and sideways glances at Sara Parsons, but the children ran to their families and everyone fell in line for breakfast.

  As people began to eat Stu made his next announcement, “After breakfast I'll need all young men fourteen through twenty, to line up by me, for a special work detail.”

  Crystal caught the eye of both Justin and Jason and indicated that they should both get in line for this special detail.

  Matt Brenner clapped a hand on Travis' shoulder, “You gonna be alright with this son?”

  Travis nodded, “Can't be any worse that what they have us doing already. Don't worry I'll be watching my six.”

  Amy spoke to Cassie, “I gotta ask, did they treat you well?”

  Cassie smiled, “Sure. The first few days they just kept us in a room. It was boring, but they fed us regular and otherwise pretty much ignored us. Then they put us to work clearing out the storage rooms in the hospital building. We dragged all that stuff up to the third floor and filled up most of the patient rooms. Once the rooms were cleared they had us set them up with furniture. The weird thing is nobody is using those rooms, Mayhue’s men are all barracked on the second floor.”

  Amy turned to Crystal, “What do you think, Mayhue is expecting someone?”

  Crystal shrugged, “Maybe, it sure looks like he's planning something.”

  Cassie leaned in past Amy to speak to Crystal, “We got to see Tobin a lot. He misses you and worries about you.”

  Crystal grinned, “Aww thanks sweetie, I miss him too. So he brought you, your meals?”

  “Yep, but after we finished setting up the rooms they had us curtain off a corner of the mess hall and make it look liiike...a restaurant I guess. Anyhow, Tobin was around a lot keeping on eye on us while we were working.” Cassie said.

  Crystal smiled sadly, missing her husband, “That's my guy.”

  Amy gave Crystal's hand a squeeze, “Mayhue's keeping Tobin on a short leash?”

  Crystal nodded, “Apparently, Mayhue enjoys having a personal chef that he can call on a whim.”

  Amy scoffed quietly, “Mayhue is starting to think of himself as king of the world. Don't worry, Mayhue knows trained chefs are hard to come by, these days.”

  Crystal brushed a tear from her cheek, forcing herself to focus on the bigger problem, “I'll talk to Percy about this, see what his take is.”

  As breakfast finished Stu Redding efficiently organized the morning's work details. There was some legitimate chores that needed to be attended to. The boilers needed to be stoked with wood. The wood gasifier needed to run the generators. The greenhouses needed to be maintained. However, only a small number of people were required to do these tasks and they demanded only a minimal amount of time. To keep these people down, the General needed them exhausted and weak.

  Some of the men were put on woodpile duty. The stacks of log were moved from one spot to another and then in the afternoon they were moved back again. The weather was now cold enough that snow would occasionally fall, but most afternoons it warmed enough to melt what accumulated. This allowed the remainder of the people to work in the barren fields.

  Working in groups they moved through the fields removing any rocks they found. It didn't matter the size even the tiniest pebbles were required to be picked up. Once their baskets were full, the gathered stones were deposited along the base of the fence. Which gave the fence support, but also made it more difficult for anyone to slide under it.

  While this work was arduous, cold and tedious, it required no special skills. The youngest of children and the oldest could perform the work. Percy, had survived the camps during the Holocaust and as a prisoner of war in Vietnam Nam, the treatment of these soldiers was something he could endure. Mae Braun, however, could not grasp why they had to be out in this field. Why did she need to be out here in the cold? Why did she need to pick up stones until her fingers bled and her back ache
d?

  The work was wearing on Mae, speeding up the decline of both her mind and body. Every night Percy prayed for the strength to end her torment and every morning he lied to her to help her make it through the day. As much concern as he had for Mae, Percy also fretted for Crystal.

  Unlike Mae, who saw Crystal as the embodiment of their long dead daughter, Percy's mentoring of Crystal had grown into an almost father like love for the girl. However, his feeling of responsibility went deeper than that. She doesn't realize yet, but if this community is to survive their captors, Crystal will have to lead the resistance. For Crystal to build that resistance, she was going to need all the help he could provide.

  Almost as if reading his mind, Crystal worked closer to Percy, gave a sidewise glance towards the nearest guard and then surreptitiously stated, “We need to talk.”

  Percy gave her an almost imperceptible nod as he stooped to pick up a stone. He placed the stone on top of the basket Crystal was holding and then moved closer to Mae in an effort to block the wind.

  Despite his efforts the falling snow, driven by the wind was biting into her frail body, causing her to complain, “Percy, take me in now, I'm freezing.”

  Percy moved to calm her, but the nearest soldier also moved in and before Percy could speak, the soldier cuffed Mae with the back of his hand,

  “Be quiet you old biddy, you'll go in when we say.”

  Mae responded with a piercing scream, “PERCY.”

  The soldier cocked his arm back to strike Mae again, but as his hand came towards Mae, Percy caught his wrist. The soldier winced surprised at the strength of the old man, as Percy drew him in closer.

  When the soldier's face was bare inches from Percy's the soldier started to raise his pistol, but Percy calmly pushed down the gun as he spoke, “You think yourself tough, striking an olt voman. You are just a little coward. I have looked true evil in the eye and you are only a pathetic vannabe. I promise you, lay a hand on my vife again and it vill be the last thing you do.”

  The soldier chuckled nervously as Percy released his wrist, searching for a response he was saved by another of the soldiers calling to him, “Deinz quit screwing around with the codgers, time to head em in.”

  Feigning a bravado he didn't feel, Deinz barked, “Alright you heard the man, nice even lines to head in.”

  The only two people, of the community, that did not participate in these work details, were Tobin and Doc. Tobin had been kept at Mayhue's constant beck and call, but Doc was always there in the community room to greet the incoming work crews. With the type of work they were doing and little to no concern for safety, there were always minor first aid issues to deal with.

  Crystal entered the community room ahead of Mae and Percy and motioned Doc over, “Doc can you look at Mae, I think she might have frostbite starting.”

  Doc took in the bruise forming on Mae's cheek and understood what Crystal was asking him to do. Examining Mae's fingers, ears and nose, he shook his head to demonstrate concern, “Most definitely some patches started here. Percy, would you mind if I take Mae up to the clinic. We'll see if we can't have her sit out this afternoon.”

  Stu Redding was glad to let Wade take point on this recruitment exercise, though initially Stu would stay involved. Stu had gone through this process, the General had groomed Stu while he was a young man in a military school. The process begins with simply watching the young men, who were the leaders, who had the strong personalities and who are more easily molded to the General's requirements.

  They started the day at the target range and each of the eighteen young men were given a chance to demonstrate their marksmanship or lack thereof. The young men had gone through the skill assessment that was done when they initially moved to this location. Unfamiliarity of the military weapons was not an excuse for any poor performance.

  When Travis' turn came up he fumbled a bit with the rifle and eventually got his first round off sending it high and to the left. Travis took a deep breath and sent his second round low and to the right, completely obliterating the small pin holding the corner of the target down. His final round hit the center of the left edge of the target.

  Billie, the boy next to Travis, had gotten three bulls eyes taunted him, “Brenner I thought you were a better shot than that.”

  Travis ignored the taunt with a smile, “Damn sight must be off.”

  Stu Redding took the rifle from Travis and shot the target cleanly through the bulls eye, “Sights are just fine.”

  In a loud commanding tone Stu called out, “Safeties on, Rifles down.”

  Looking at Travis Stu directed, “Come with me. Fix your target.”

  “Yes Sir, Sergeant Major.” Travis replied.

  Stu squinted at the boy wondering about his ease with military protocol. Handing Travis a pin to fix the target, Stu considered each of Travis' misses. Each round had been placed on a letter or mark on the target.

  “Aim small, miss small.” Stu commented.

  “Sir?” Travis questioned innocently.

  Stu glared at the young man, “Don't bullshit me boy. You got sniper skills. What's your longest shot?”

  Travis shrugged, “Sir you're seeing the best I got.”

  They completed their weapons practice around lunch time, but stayed at the range and built up a couple of bonfires. The soldiers brought out food for a cookout. Soon the young men were eating the biggest meal they've had in weeks. To top it off, Josh Wade, pulled out a case of beer and gave them each one to drink.

  Justin and Jason were unimpressed, but Billie and his ever present sidekick Zack reveled in the attention. Billie took a swig off his beer, belched and extolled to Zack, “Man I could get used to this.”

  Josh addressed the young men, “Men, today is all about starting to get to know you and you getting an understanding of our unit. I know we got off to a bit of a rocky start, but as you can see we can be pretty good hosts. Take it easy this afternoon, have another beer or two and there is plenty more to eat. I'll be coming around to each of you to get to know you personally.”

  While Stu Redding was off on the recruitment detail, Corporal Smeils knocked on the General's door.

  “Enter” General Mayhue answered.

  Smeils entered and gave the General a crisp salute. The General barely looked up from the inventory sheets he was examining, “At ease Corporal.”

  Smeils crossed his arms behind his back and patiently waited for the General to proceed. Eventually the General laid the papers down and considered the Corporal standing there with an unnerving grin plastered on his face.

  “Corporal what do you make of our current situation?”, the General began.

  “A bit on the boring side sir. I was hoping for a bit more resistance in taking this place.” Smeils replied

  The General scoffed, “I wasn't expecting much. People in this country have had it soft for to long. I'm afraid the remainder of the winter is going to prove to be just as bland.”

  Smeils almost laughed knowing his superior was baiting him, “Sorry to hear that sir. Any ideas on how we might spice things up?”

  The General knew Smeils was a machine and when cut loose was nearly unstoppable, he had to be cautious how he framed this, “A few. Come spring I expect to have a completely different situation regarding the dead. This world should be ripe for the picking and I mean to mold it. What survivors we find will fall into two groups, army recruits or in servitude to the army. Anyone else is just an obstruction to be removed.”

  If possible Smeils grin widened, “Sounds about right sir”.

  “This will be our base of operations at least initially. Stores are ample here, but not inexhaustible if we have an army to feed. I intend to trim the fat here by at least one third by spring. Empty stomachs and hard work, should take many, but that is an indiscriminate tool.”, the General continued.

  “How might I be of assistance sir?” Smeils asked.

  “I need you to act discreetly for now. We can't allow this group to
consider rebellion, until we have eliminated their leaders. Start with their council, leave only Brenner and Canales, they maintain the systems here and the Grey woman is important to my chef.” The General stated.

  “Consider it done sir.” Smeils said.

  The General flared, “I can't abide the God damn cripples around here, they are just a waste of space. Especially that fucking wheelchair riding pastor.”

  “Can Beast have the one armed little girl? He hasn't had a toy since Baghdad. It would be just the thing to put the bounce back in his step.” Smeils suggested.