I pulled the phone out of my pocket, turned my back to the storm and dialed Hanson’s number. Third ring, he picked up. I told him to roll twenty five people in battle gear in ten minutes and meet me at the far east gate. Havoc weapons and pistols only. Zip cuffs too, if he could lay his hands on any.
We stood inside the gate. In one of the explosions of light, I saw some dismembered forms as they staggered through the field.
“Okay, Kevin, shine your light where you need it.” He stepped to the gate, saw the deaders too and whimpered. I laid my hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be okay here. Let’s hope your people can fight their way in.”
He nodded up at me, turned and flashed his light twice out to the far hills. He paused for a count of five and repeated the flashes.
“There,” he said as he pointed to the far side of the valley. “See, out there in the timber.”
I saw. And I saw a pack of about ten deaders out there too. We’d have to help them in, if the dead spotted them.
“I see it. Where are you guys camped?”
“A big livestock farm up on top of that hill.”
The Dever place. They could hold out at the farm, maybe, but it’d be easier to get down here and get in. I took Cat and Kevin by the arm and led them deep into the ditch. The rain let up some under the trees.
“Zeds see heat. I don’t want to be in their direct line of sight if they look this way,” I told them. I got my phone, redialed Hanson. Told him to hurry along and alert the guardhouse that there were deaders outside the fence. I hung up, called Boss Connie with the Mennonites and told her the same thing. She said she’d step up her guards. They were the furthest ones out from town. The settlement was mostly tucked away in the timber on top of the hill, but if the dead saw lights or stock in the yards, it might well draw them.
Five minutes later, Hanson showed up with his troop. More zeds had come out of the southern tree line across the fields. I put Cori and Kevin on the back of Cherokee and pointed them at the house. No sense them being out in the rain any longer than they had to be. We parked the trucks on the side road that led to Plow Ridge.
We stood at the gate and watched as vehicles crept down the hill in the dark. Lightning flashed and they were at the bottom of the road. They moved slow. Probably they had seen the dead out in the field too and wanted to get as close to the gate as they could before they had to start fighting.
More dead shuffled across the field. Rain made things slick and several fell in the long grass. A small pack came out of the trees on the other side of the creek directly to our south. They started to moan as they saw us. My troop opened up. Five zeds were stilled. I hoped the people coming in couldn’t hear pistol shots. The dead could though. Out across the field, a half-dozen turned our way. They were a hundred yards out or better, so I wasn’t really worried that they would get here before the little caravan, but I kept my eye on them.
In a flash of lightning, headlights came on from the vehicles that came toward us. The one in the lead only had one light. Others didn’t have anything but amber running lights. But they illuminated what was going on. The deaders had seen the moving vehicles and started to surround them. Shots rang out.
“Gun it, dumbass,” I muttered. I hoped they would just plow though the pack.
“C’mon, drive over them,” Hanson said from beside me.
They didn’t. As more and more deaders climbed out of the field and timber, the caravan stopped. Muzzle flashes came from inside the vehicles as people shot at zeds. Not many fell. I started to hear screams. Fuck.
I slid the key into the lock. My troop stepped out into the unsecured zone. I left two behind to man the gate. If we didn’t get back, they were to call more fighters and clean the mess up. If we made it back on the run, they needed to have the gate open.
My group formed up in two wedges, an inverted W. Point person on each wedge would be able to shoot, as would those on the outside. Those on the inside of the wedges used the axes, clubs and machetes they carried. I tucked a borrowed hand ax into my belt as we jogged down the road.
Pistols popped on either side of me as Raiders stilled dead that stumbled toward us. Hanson ran at the point of the other wedge. Twenty yards from the knot of zeds, he brought his gun up. First shot, a corpse fell. I joined him. Another dropped as I squeezed the trigger. They turned their attention to us. With moans they came at us, arms outstretched. Filthy mouths dribbled black slime as rain washed down their mangled faces. My pistol counterpointed the lightning and the night filled with flashes.
I roared with the adrenaline rush that blasted through my body. Another trigger squeeze, another deader stilled. Then we were too close for guns. The swarm was among us. Guns slid back into holsters as blades came to hand. I swung the ax. Black blood spattered into my rain soaked jacket as I split skulls. A woman missing half an arm came at me. My aim was low, or she moved at the last second. My blade buried in her jaw. She reached for me with her good arm. I kicked her off me as my ax came away with part of her cheek. I swung again and this time I hit true. Her skull caved in as she fell to the pavement. I felt an arm try to take me from behind. I brought my elbow up, crunched bone and spun.
The zed was a friend of mine from work, eons ago it seemed. Doug had been a good guy, all around gentleman. Someone I could rely on when I needed a hand. Now, he stood in the rain, guts gone, leg half chewed off, left eye missing. I felt bile rise in my throat. Life just was too fucking ridiculous. He came at me again and I buried the ax in his face. He went to his knees and I hit him again. This time he fell still.
I turned back to the convoy. Most of the swarm was gone, but more were stumbling down the road toward the sound of the guns. I ran to the door of the first vehicle and found myself staring into a gun barrel from the glassless window.
“Put that damned thing away, unless you want me to blow your ass off,” I shouted over the storm. “We have to get back to the gate. There’s no way to clear off this road now. We have to make a run for it. You can come back later for your shit.”
I yanked on the door handle. It was locked. “Are you deaf or stupid? I said let’s go.”
A woman in a stained plaid shirt opened the door. She held the end of a leash in one hand, a nickel plated revolver in the other. A teenage boy stepped out behind her. He was on the other end of the leash. A padlock connected the chain to a collar around his neck.
“You must be Madison,” I said as she stood in front of me. My troop worked on the few deaders left moving. I glanced up in the lightning flash. Second team was coming up fast. More people stepped out of their vehicles.
“You must have gotten to Kevin. I wondered when that was going to happen. He always was soft hearted. Always looking for a family. As if he didn’t have one.”
“We can discuss all that when we get behind the gate.”
Madison looked at the pavement. She handed me the leash the boy was on. “I’m not goin’.”
“You can’t stay here. I’m not a big fan of yours, but I can’t leave you out here.”
She held up a hand. Blood poured down his arm. “Got bit.” The muzzle of the revolver came up under her chin before I could stop her. The gun boomed, the top of her head geysered into the night.
I cursed as her corpse fell to the pavement. “If any of the rest of you are bit, scratched, or whatever, don’t do what this idiot just did. We’ve got an antidote for the zed virus back at the hospital. Let’s move.”
I started back to the gate as the group joined us. “Keys.” The boy muttered.
“What?”
“Keys. I want this collar off.”
Shit. I went back through the dead woman’s pockets. She’d pulled the ring from the ignition as he got out. I found it and we started down the road. He sorted through them, slid the right one into the lock and twisted it open. He threw the collar and chain into the ditch as we ran back through the gate.
As we loaded the trucks, zeds hit the gate. I left five people behind to take care of the
swarm. They could pick them off from this side of the gate. It was easier to deal with twenty now than it would be to deal with two hundred by morning.
Chapter 42
The reunion of the brothers was intense. Tears and laughter. Long hugs. They wouldn’t be parted. Finally, around two in the morning, they fell asleep on the floor in the living room. Cat climbed into dry clothes before she fell asleep herself. Pepper got up around the same time. She went back to the hospital to give Cindy a break.
There were seven guys and twelve women in the group. Leary gave them all injections for the Z-Virus before they were quarantined in the old high school. We locked them down after we disarmed them. I would settle them in Moline and Davenport. I had a hundred or so Amish coming in. Room was getting to be a premium.
I don’t remember when I passed out. I woke up curled around Cindy with the sun over the valley wall to the east. I kissed my wife, rubbed her tummy. The baby jumped inside at my touch as she rolled over into my arms.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I whispered. I kissed her soft lips.
“I look like shit, but thanks for the words.”
“You never look bad to me.”
She smiled a little as she kissed me back.
“I think I smell breakfast,” she said.
Then I smelled it. Bacon. We had slaughtered a couple of pigs recently. There was a farm tucked into a valley one hill over from us that we’d fortified and fenced. It had been a hog operation before and we turned it back into that again. Not much. Fifty or so pigs, but it beat going out and hunting the things. Next year we’d have more.
I rolled out of bed. Cindy held up her hand. I helped her to her feet. She was about six months along now and it was getting tough to get up and down. We showered together. I updated her on what happened last night. Told her the deal on Kevin.
“So where’s everyone now?”
“I think they passed out in the living room.”
“Are we keeping them?”
“Don’t know.” I turned her around and washed her back. I ran my hands over her shoulders, down around her hips. “Kevin seems to have taken to Cat. Might be best if he bunks with her for awhile. From what I understand, the boys have been used a bit.”
“Explains why he didn’t like to be touched.” She turned to face me. I kissed her wet lips. “You keep this up, Danny, I’m gonna have to rape you one last time before we have to stop for the next three months.”
I grinned and pulled her to me. “It’s going to have to wait until tonight. I think people are starting to wake up.”
She giggled. “You think they’d mind if we’re a few minutes late?”
I heard footsteps on the stairs. The door started to open and we both shouted we were in here. We got a groan from Ella in return.
“When you get done, breakfast is about ready.” She went away muttering about old people.
I laughed. “And she wants to get married.”
Cindy grinned. “Yeah and two hours after that ring goes on her finger, she’s going to have my problem.”
“Let’s not even think that. I’m way too young to be Grandpa Death.”
We both laughed again. I think we were so tired we were punchy. We did make it downstairs dressed. Cat had laid out a pretty good sized meal. Bacon and eggs, cornbread biscuits, as wheat flour was a rarity after three years, cold evaporated milk. We were working on a dairy herd of cows, but they were scarce too.
It was as normal a morning as we could make it. Cindy ate and was out the door as Pepper came in. She took Jenny, fed her and devoured her own breakfast before turning in. I was dressed for the office as the two boys helped Ella and Cat clean up the kitchen. Looked to be a nice morning. The rain last night has settled the dust and washed everything to a bright green.
Then Ella took boys to show them around town. Cat watched over the little ones, Jenny tucked on one hip.
“Can you manage?” I asked her.
She smiled at me. “Kind of like herding cats, but I’ll be okay. I gave the kids one hour to be back.”
I gave her a kiss. Lost myself in her deep brown eyes and kissed her some more. “Thanks for everything these couple of days.”
She kissed me back, laid her forehead against mine. “That’s not a problem. I’m glad to help. If I can’t be around when you need me, what good am I?”
“You’re fine. Do you need me to stick around?”
“No. Go to the office and do what you need to. It’s going to be busy today.”
“No lie.” I kissed her goodbye, then kissed Jenny and the other babies as I left.
I stopped by the hospital as I walked to the office. On the way, I called Hanson and some of my other team leaders. They’d meet me there. Cindy and Tess were bustling around the rooms when I stopped in. They worked well as a team. Jinks had passed out asleep on one couch, Doctor Leary on the other. Heather had gone home when Pepper did. All the wounded were stable. A call had been placed to Bailey on the Farm for more meds. He would have enough flown down for the wounded and the incoming refugees. I was introduced to Harriet, the Amish woman who came in on the Blackhawk. She bustled from room to room as she checked on her people.
Which reminded me I hadn’t heard from Gibson or Hawk since last night. I kissed Cindy goodbye (again) and went to the office. As I walked over, I dialed Gibson’s number. It was ten o’clock in the morning now. He told me they had linked up with Hawk two hours ago. It was a long night for both teams. The drivers had made mush out of dozens of deaders with their rigs. Zeds lay stilled in piles five feet deep outside the perimeter of where Hawk and his group were. Ammo was low, but they didn’t see any more walking corpses with the sun up. The Marines would take over and make sure everyone got home safe. I broke the connection as I stepped into my office.
The library had several families inside, so I tried not to disturb them as I closed the door behind me. Hanson, Hunter and Deputy Bob waited for me.
“Gonna be a crazy day, Boss,” Bob said. He had been a Mercer County Deputy before he ended up here. How he got ninety miles from home is beyond me. Said he was helping out some National Guardsmen when they got overrun by zeds in the first weeks of the outbreak. He wandered for a little more than a year, heard about us and came in. He grew up on a cattle farm and those skills are always welcome.
“It’s just goin’ to continue from being crazy yesterday,” I said. “Okay. According to both Hawk and Gibson, we’ve got about a hundred people going to show up on our doorstep before dark. Suggestions?”
“I’m sure the Mennonites will take them in. They’ve got room for them,” Hanson said.
“Yeah, them I’m not worried about, Boss,” Hunter said, “But I’m not crazy about them nuts we brought in last night.”
“You and me both,” I said. “I have an idea what to do with them. I want them gone from here.”
They would fly back to Tom on the medical Blackhawk and he would spread them around his area. Deputy Bob put together a team of his people to take them out to their vehicles and retrieve their personal stuff.
I called up a team to start hauling the stilled deaders to the pit or burn pile, depending how many we ended up with.
Hanson got off his phone and turned to me. “Boss Connie Yoder is comin’ down with some of her people to help out and welcome the incoming Amish. She’s going to make sure she brings along the ones that still speak Dutch.”
“Good. I’m sure that’ll help,” I said. “According to Hawk, these are some old order Amish that got yanked hard into our reality when the virus hit. One of the reasons the girls are all inked up.”
“Life’s got to be a shock for them,” Hunter said. “It’s bad enough for us. I can’t imagine what they’ve been through.”
“Gotta rock you pretty hard,” Bob said as he stood. “Hate to leave, Boss, but you gave me a pretty good to-do list.”
“Yep. You boys get going on things. I’m sure we’ll all know when Gibson and his people get back.”
W
ith nods and salutes, they left to start their day. I flipped in the computer to type in the notes from our meeting. Got that accomplished and I couldn’t sit still. The families left the library, to be replaced by another set. I was bored and jumpy. When I heard the chopper coming in to land, I stepped around back to get a Humvee and pick up Doctor Bailey. On the way over, I passed two minivans and a pickup full of the people we rescued the night before. They were headed to their vehicles. A bucket tractor and dump truck were already out there.
Bailey stepped out of the Blackhawk as the rotors slowed. The giant Irishman held out a massive paw for me to shake. A wide grin split his face.
“I hear you’ve had some excitement last couple days,” he said. Behind him, one the young people he was training to be a doctor unloaded a large red cooler.
“Little bit, Doctor Bailey. I’m glad you could make it down.”
“Always looking for an excuse to get out of the lab. The Farm’s not bad, but I like to get out among the living now and then.”
I chuckled as we loaded up into the Humvee. A ground crew started to work their way around the chopper. The pilots climbed into the vehicle with us. I informed them they would be taking several people back with them. They confirmed they had heard from Tom and were expecting guests. Not willing guests, I would bet.
I dropped the pilots where they could get some lunch. The bar had beefsteak today, along with our “Canal Brew.” Not an appetizing name, but the beer wasn’t bad. I warned the pilots to buy the lemonade. Bailey and his assistant, Gerrard, I took to our hospital. Leary was awake, as was Jinks. The medicos made the rounds together. Most of the wounded were doing well except for one young lady. Bailey found another wound in her back, probably from shrapnel. They decided to do another series of x-rays and go from there. If she was still bleeding internally, they would open her again and remove the metal.
Snareville II: Circles Page 26