“Jesus,” I said, thinking about what that might mean. It would change the nature of how we attack them and adding caution to our side while increasing the deadliness of theirs.
“But it begs the question again. Wouldn’t someone have reported it?” Sarah asked.
Rebecca took the question. “Not necessarily. There’s a lot of isolated farms in the area, and the communities are fairly spread out as well.” She looked at the map. “It would have been nice to know when these towns had lost communication.”
“Why?” Charlie asked.
“Because if it was a live group, then there would be a short amount of time between towns losing communication. A walking group of zombies would have taken longer.”
Duncan shook his head. “What’s next? Are they going to start shooting back, too?”
We all chuckled a bit, grateful for the release of the tension that had been building up.
“All right. So we can figure on preparing for a live problem, that’s not too bad. And we have to figure on a dead one, but just something with a new twist,” I said. “So the next question is how many and who will be going out on this one. I will be honest. I am nervous, simply because of who and how many have already been lost looking for answers to this little mystery.
“So we have to figure out who’s going? Right now, I can say for certain that Janna isn’t going because of the baby, Angela for the same reason.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sarah begin to stiffen, but I had an answer for that.
“My brother is willing to take everyone over at his lodge, and I think the kids will enjoy the fact that he can turn on the water park now and they can play all day by themselves.” The lodge my brother lived in had an indoor water park, and for the last year, he had been working on it, cleaning it out and getting things back in working order. I think his idea was to have a place for people to visit when things eventually returned to normal.
Everyone nodded at that, and it would be a nice change from the routine the kids had grown accustomed to. “So,” I continued, “I’m going, Charlie is coming along, Sarah and Rebecca as well.” I looked over at Tommy and Duncan. “I’m not speaking for you guys, this one is up to you.”
Tommy looked at Angela and she gave him a slight nod. “Count me in. Would hate to see the last few years wasted.”
Duncan spoke up. “Same here. Spent too much time out there to see it get wiped out again.”
I slapped the table. “Good! Settled then. I have no idea what we’re going to encounter, so let’s load heavy. We’ll be taking the truck and the van. I want to get on the road first thing in the morning.”
The group dispersed to gather clothing and supplies, and Sarah hung back to talk with me.
“Thank you for not making me stay behind.” She started.
I pulled the maps together. “I have no idea what we’re going up against, and I need every solid person I can bring with. Hell, after Denver, you can come with any damn time you please.”
Sarah smiled at my compliment. “Who’s going to break it to Jake and Aaron?”
I gave her a lopsided grin. “I figured I’d bring them over to the water park this afternoon, let them play a bit, then ask if they want to stay with their Uncle Mike for a week or two.”
Sarah thought for a second. “Very clever. They’ll never want to leave.”
“I have my moments. Few and far in between, but they’re there.”
“Yes they are.”
Chapter 9
We spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon getting things together and packing the truck and van. Since we had figured to trade or buy much of our foodstuffs, we didn’t bring much of that with us. A lot of our gear was ammo and fighting supplies.
Mike was really good about taking the kids and wives. He had more than enough room over there, and the kids couldn’t get enough of the water park. Jake and Julia could swim, along with Logan and Annie, and there was a small pool for Aaron to splash around in with the younger kids. I could sense Mike had a longing to go with us, to play a bigger part, but I assured him his part was huge.
“Mike, you have to realize that if something is headed this way, you’re going to be busier than hell getting defenses ready. As it is, I need you to think about how we can defend against the worst kind of zombies or renegades.”
“Is that what you’re going up against?” Mike wanted to know.
“I seriously wish I knew. But we’re just going to take a look, then get back here to prepare for it. Dot says the problem is for the army to deal with and I can say I’m fine with that.” I was, too. I’d done my bit for king and country, and had only taken this mission because I was doing a favor for an old friend. I hated to admit it, but I was getting older and my luck was only going to hold out for so long. I wanted to see my sons grow up, and running off every day to fight zombies didn’t make that future any closer.
Everyone settled in early that night, and sleep was hard to come by. Eventually I drifted off, with my last conscious thought being What the hell is out there? If my dreams were an indication, I should stay home.
In the morning, we dropped the kids off and drove north, looking to take the highway as far as we could. One of the things I put in place as president was the clearing of the major highways. Up to certain points, the roads had been cleared of abandoned and infected cars. We didn’t do anything special. We just pushed them to the side of the road and tipped them on their sides. It had the effect of creating a barrier and in the northern states, a snowdrift fence. There were crews still out there clearing roads. That was their job, and they did it well. Crews rotated in and out to keep things from going crazy, and all of us had taken a turn at road clearing. For reasons too numerous to list, Duncan was no longer allowed near heavy machinery unsupervised.
Across the river was the small town of Utica, and we had cleared it of zombies years ago. However, the town was uninhabited, as a lot of towns were, and it was slowly starting to fade. Trees and grass grew where ordinarily they would have been removed, and a broken window allowed the weather to work on the inside of a building. A couple of homes had collapsed roofs, and several detached garages had been blown over. At some point, we would probably have to fire the town, but it didn’t bother us enough yet to work on destroying it.
A quick ride up the hills and we turned onto the highway. The on-ramp was a little tricky, since there were some cracks in the concrete from the effects of winter, but once we got onto I-80 it was smooth going.
Chapter 10
Once upon a time, this interstate was crowded with cars and ghouls, people fleeing from destruction only to have it waiting for them down the road. The lucky few who lived away from the major cities managed to do just fine by staying put and hunkering down. The smaller towns out of the way but along the corridor of the interstates got hit with the virus when people carrying it got off the highway looking for refuge.
Out in the far fields, we could see some farms returning to life. Several of the people who had fled the country to the relative safety of the communities were returning to the land, much as their ancestors did after a war.
The vehicles were nothing to attract attention, and nothing that would sustain a zombie assault. Once we figured out they were more of a false sense of security than anything else; we had moved away from those types of things. I was driving the pickup truck that held our supplies and spare gasoline. Charlie was driving the van behind me, and he had the rest of the supplies and the spare ammo.
One of the lessons of the Upheaval was never to put all of your supplies in one place. Too often, people found themselves away from their gear and wound up dehydrating or starving because the zombies surrounded them away from their weapons.
We drove for a couple of hours, and it was nice to see a few other cars and trucks on the road as well. Gas was still in short supply, but it was getting better once we discovered an oil rig still manned in the Gulf of Mexico. After that, it was a lot of research to get the refinery r
unning, and even more research to figure out how to distribute the gas.
With gas relatively scarce, other modes of travel had been explored. Lots of people rode bikes, some returned to the horse, and others just walked. Travel that took hours once now was calculated in days.
We decided to stop in a small town off the main highway. I had no idea what the town was, since the sign announcing it had been hit by something and was just a couple of metal poles in the ground. The town was a one of the thousands that had been hit by the plague. The buildings were weather-beaten and in many cases, broken and falling apart. Old signs of struggles were easily seen if you knew what you were looking for. Over there was a stain on a protected part of a wall. Over here was a small pile of brass casings. The odd bone here and there told the story pretty well, too.
I stopped the truck and got out for a stretch. The van pulled up alongside and the rest of the crew spilled out. Tommy took a quick look around and announced his verdict.
“Well, this one won’t be standing long,” he said with a grimace.
“Oh, I don’t know, a couple of throw pillows, maybe some paint…spruce it right up.” Duncan quipped, earning an eye roll from Tommy.
I ignored the two and looked around. The town seemed to be centered around a single intersection. I could see three fast-food places, two car dealerships, and four gas stations. Further up the road was a family restaurant and a decent sized hotel. Like a lot of towns, this one likely sprung up when the highway passed through, connecting rural America with the rest of the world. Who knew that connection, which birthed the town, would one day kill it?
I looked over at Sarah, who was stretching her back out. She caught my eye and mouthed a word at me. I could take a hint.
“Anyone else for bathroom?” I asked.
Rebecca raised her hand, and together the two ladies strolled over to the tall grass on the other side of the vehicles.
“I’m going to take a stroll down the street, anyone want to come along?” I announced to the rest of the guys.
“I’ll go,” Charlie said. “May as well see what might be seen in this place.”
Duncan looked around and snorted. “Good luck. We’ll stay here and make sure no one steals our stuff.”
We all chuckled at that and moved apart. Charlie and I walked down the center of the street, quietly stepping around bits of debris here and there. Even though our walk was casual, we were constantly searching shadows and corners, looking for any activity.
As the Zombie Wars progressed, we began to see new patterns in the zombie behavior. They started to avoid the outdoors and hang around inside buildings more. Many times, we would go into a seemingly abandoned area, only to find ourselves quickly surrounded. A few nasty surprises like that and a man got quick with his shooting.
At the intersection, there was a single car over on the north side. Its doors were wide open, and a raccoon family looked to have moved into the back seats. Mold was all over the place, and I was sorely tempted to set the thing on fire.
However, a small sign which read “Army/Navy Store” distracted me. Pointing it out to Charlie, we followed the arrow to a small grey building on a single plot near the strip mall. The windows had been smashed open, telling the tale of looting, but it wouldn’t be a bad notion to check it out anyway. We had found some really good supply caches in many of these stores, so we hoped this could be another one.
A quick look inside didn’t show any zombie activity, and not even Charlie’s thrown marble yielded any results. I took point and went inside.
The place was a mess, clothing and patches and pins covered the floor, while the shelves were bare of anything useful. I did find a knife behind the counter and a half box of .45 ammo, but there was nothing else of any relative value. Charlie went a little deeper, checking out the walls and the floor, looking for any anomalies which would signal a possible hiding place.
A door was in the back, which I figured went to a bathroom, but that theory went bust, when I opened another door and that one was a bathroom.
“Got a maybe, Charlie.” I called out softly.
Within three seconds, Charlie was next to me.
“Locked?”
I checked the door. “Nope, it’s open.”
Charlie clicked his teeth. “Might mean someone beat us to it.” He mused.
I shrugged. “Might not. Never can tell.”
“True. Give her a yank.” Charlie pulled his weapon and trained it on the door.
I opened the door quickly and stepped aside, pulling out my pistol at the same time. When Charlie didn’t fire right away, I peeked around the door and looked down a flight of stairs.
“I hate dark basements.” Charlie sighed.
I didn’t blame him. “Shouldn’t be too bad,” I said. ‘I can see light coming into the basement through the windows.”
There wasn’t much light, but it was enough to see the stairs, and little else. Once we reached the bottom, our eyes would have adjusted enough to be able to see. The only thing I didn’t like was the open stairs. It made it very easy to get an ankle grabbed from behind. Once a zombie got hold of your foot, they tended to try and pull the rest of you through the stairs. That tended to upset folks a bit.
I started down the stairs, and behind me, Charlie holstered his gun. He started tapping on the doorframe, trying to stimulate any zombies that might be dormant in the basement.
Chapter 11
I’m not sure what was supposed to happen, but suddenly a scream sounded from the darkness, and a shot zipped past my head, burying itself in the ceiling! I ducked back, firing at the spot where I saw the flash. A meaty smack told me I had connected, but how much damage I had done I had no way of knowing. Charlie had yanked his gun out and dropped to the ground, pointing his gun at the darkness, his eyes searching the black for any movement.
“Jesus, what the fuck was that?” I asked as I scrambled around to the other side of the door, keeping my gun trained on the dark.
“Not sure, but I think you hit it.” Charlie said, “Listen.”
I strained my hearing, and sure enough, I could hear wet, labored breathing. A strained cough reached us and I figured I must have done some serious damage.
“I’ll go first,” I said, crawling forward and moving at a crouch down the stairs. I moved quickly, trying to keep a low profile and to keep myself from being grabbed. All those stories you scared yourself with when you were a kid suddenly came to life and the covers sure weren’t going to protect you now.
I reached the bottom and scanned quickly around. I could see numerous shelves of goods stored down here, so we had a good chance of finding some extra supplies. In the corner, were a pack and a small blanket, obviously where someone had made their bed.
That same someone was breathing their last on the floor in front of me. I knelt down and pushed the gun he had fired at me away. He was crouched in a fetal position, bleeding from a nasty exit wound in his back. A forty-five was unforgiving when it came to wounds.
I knew I couldn’t do anything for him, but I tried to get some information from him.
“Who are you? Why did you shoot at me?” I asked.
The man turned his head slowly, blood dribbling out of his mouth. His eyes were vacant, haunted even.
“The teeth…..teeth….click…clicking….” The man breathed a final rattling gasp and his body relaxed slowly in death.
I stood up, and waited for Charlie to join me. He looked at the spreading blood, and said, “Damn.”
“Yeah,” I said, “Doesn’t feel the same, killing a living person.”
“Not supposed to,” Charlie said quietly. “Wonder why he shot at you? It’s not like we came to rob him or anything.”
“Don’t know. Remember the scream? It was like he was afraid of something.”
“Did he say anything before he died?”
I nodded. “Something about teeth and clicking.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“No c
lue.”
“Pity we can’t ask him.”
“Look, I feel bad enough about this already, okay?” I was getting a little testy. I’ll admit I’m a particular kind of gent, one who tends to shoot back when shot at. It’s a quirk, for sure, but I’m working on it.
Before Charlie could reply, Tommy’s voice came down the stairs.
“You guys all right? We heard the shots.” He called.
Charlie answered him. “We’re fine. John shot a living guy.” Charlie winked at me as I threw him the finger.
“What’d you do that for?” Tommy asked as he came down the stairs. “Damn!” He said as he saw the dead guy.
“Charlie is leaving out the part where he shot at me first. I’m sure his heart would be broken had the man actually managed to shoot me in the head.” I replied.
Tommy knelt by the body. “Well, can’t blame you for that.” He looked closely at the dead man. “Hey, I know this guy!” He exclaimed suddenly.
“You do?” Charlie and I managed to ask at the same time.
“Sure. His name was Pete Desmond. He came with us on the river campaign in the south,” Tommy said.
“Solid guy? Prone to panic, at all?” I asked, looking back down.
Tommy snorted. “Not at all. Dude was steady as a rock.”
Stranger and stranger. “You don’t know what he might have been doing hiding out here?” I wondered.
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