“Penny for your thoughts,” Sarah said, breaking me out of my reflections.
I shook my head to clear it a little. “Just trying to figure out how these little suckers are operating. This is a level of sophistication we’ve never encountered before, and we’re just trying like hell to keep up.” I looked out the window again as more of the small town drifted by. “I wish I knew where they were going next.”
Sarah maneuvered her way around a truck parked in the middle of the road, deftly avoiding a kid’s bike, and moving the truck to head back to the route we were following. “I know. Part of me wants to just floor it and get to the river, but we need to try to get ahead to warn the towns.”
“I wish our radios had longer range, but I might as well wish for a rocket-propelled chain-saw launcher while I’m at it,” I said.
Sarah mentally chewed on that one for a while. “Might be possible,” she murmured.
I just smiled to myself.
We got our first break when we drove as fast as we could to the next town, which was Osceola. Osceola was a different town, in that it was one of the few to weather the Upheaval without any serious problems. They were located far enough from Des Moines that they did not suffer the influx of infected refugees from a large city, and they managed to contain what little infection they had pretty well. When the big mess hit, everyone in Osceola stayed indoors, locked in their own homes. If someone got sick, they were contained, and if they got out, they didn’t infect anyone else. It was interesting that the biggest problem Osceola had in the aftermath was trying to feed all of the people who survived the Upheaval.
Sarah pulled the truck up to the edge of the town, and a man on a horse rode over to greet us. He was armed with a scoped rifle, and it was plain to see he was quite competent with it.
“Howdy!” he called. He was a decent-looking fellow, wearing a plain jacket and jeans. A wide brimmed hat covered his head and bright blue eyes looked our gear and us over. “How might I help you folks?”
Sarah spoke before I did. “We’re from the capital, chasing down a series of outbreaks. They’ve been headed this way, and we were wondering if you have had any trouble here.”
The man’s face changed when Sarah used the word outbreak, which was normal for the times we lived in. “Outbreak? No, it’s been quiet around here. Outbreak, huh?” The man looked to the west trying to see if there was anything out there that might warn him of danger.
I spoke up. “I’m not going to lie, this one is bad.” I told him about the little zombies and their propensity to kill and run, letting the dead do their dirty work for them. I let them know what happened to the last town, and we were glad to see that this one had at least been spared.
The man nodded. “Well, if you folks don’t mind, I’m going to ride in and raise the alarm. We’ll get some people out here to keep an eye on things, and everyone will button up tight for a while. Name’s Ken Barnes, by the way.” The man held out his hand.
I shook his outstretched hand. “John Talon.” With my other hand, I patted the chestnut mare he was riding.
Ken looked at me for a second. “Heard of you. Obliged.” He turned the horse quickly and expertly rode the animal over the uneven terrain, heading into town.
Sarah looked at me and I shrugged. “Guess we should roll in and see if we can lend a hand.”
Sarah shrugged back and we rolled into the town. The word seemed to have spread quickly, as there was a lot of activity. People were moving about, carrying water and food to various places, and we saw several men on horseback riding out to the plains beyond the town. At first, I wasn’t sure what the point of that was, but I figured they must have that response when there was any kind of danger. It made sense to go out and meet the enemy, even though you ran the risk of infection. At least, it was away from the town.
At the town hall, I met with a man who was the mayor, and he directed me to the communications center. I spent five minutes on the radio, relaying a message to be sent to the capital regarding what we were facing, and what we would probably be needing. I left the message that the army needed to be out on the river and be patrolling between Burlington and Keithsburg. It was a large order, but we still didn’t know where these little monsters were. I hoped they got the message in time.
My duty done, I watched the activity around me for a minute, and then Charlie came up beside me. The sun was starting to set, and I was back in survival mode enough to figure we needed to find a place to spend the night. I was hoping this would be our last night in Iowa, but I learned a long time ago that timetables were useless unless you wanted to frustrate yourself.
“What’s the next move? Are we going to help out here?” Charlie asked. Behind him, the rest of the crew was out of the vehicles, stretching and working out cramps.
I shook my head. “I think the best move would be to get on the outside, get ourselves to the next town, and set up for the night. If we’ve gotten ahead of this, then we need to warn the towns north and south. We know this little bunch of Zs will avoid a fight they might lose, so they might head off into the weeds and we’re right back where we started.”
“Sounds like a plan, although it kind of feels weird to pull away from a fight.” Charlie rotated his head, popping his neck.
“I know. But they’ve survived before, and this time they know what’s coming, if it comes here at all.” I watched several men go by and they all looked grim and determined. I understood their concern. There were a lot of people and that could become a lot of zombies really fast if they weren’t diligent.
“Let’s get ourselves out of the way and decide where we want to head for the night,” I said as I went back to the truck. Sarah was sitting on the edge of the truck bed, her legs dangling over the side. She gave me a wink as I strolled up, and I wondered what she was up to, but didn’t have the time to ask.
“Okay, here’s the situation.” I started, waving Duncan and Tommy over. They were talking to a man who gave them a small sack, then jogged away. The two moved over, and as I talked, handed out some homemade peanut brittle.
“As far as we know, this place is next in line to be attacked, and they are as ready as they are ever going to be,” I said, around a mouth of sticky brittle. “We’re going to head out and see about getting our warning to some towns to the north and south. If we can get this coordinated, we might be able to return the favor and attack the zombies.”
Charlie raised his eyebrows. “Won’t we have to be attacked to know where the little bastards are?”
Tommy spoke up. “Unfortunately, yes. But if the guys on the radios are sharp, then surrounding towns can move in, cutting off a run by the zombies.”
Rebecca chimed in. “Seems pretty thin. We don’t even know how those things are advancing, and we’re trying to be on the lookout for them?”
I raised my hands. “I’m open to ideas. I’d be halfway home by now if I had my choice.”
Sarah saved me by her suggestion. “Why don’t we head east, and then head north until we can radio the next town. Then we head south until we can do the same. The best thing we can do is warn people, and then those things can be killed piecemeal.”
The rest of the crew nodded, and we piled into the vehicles to get moving. As we left, there were a lot of curious lances, but no one challenged us or tried to stop us. I guess they were used to dealing with things on their own.
I looked at the map, and saw that the closest town was Woodburn. We’d head in that direction, and then hit Lucas. After that, we’d have to choose which direction we wanted to go to first, and hope for the best.
Chapter 42
Back on the road, Sarah drove for a bit, and then asked, “Where do you want to spend the night?” She pointed to the darkening sky as we headed east.
I grabbed the map, looked at it for a moment, and then shrugged. “Let’s see what we can find in Woodburn. Lucas can wait until morning.”
We drove for a while, and then turned south when we saw the sign for the t
own of Woodburn. I didn’t expect much for the town, given the sign boasted a thriving population of three hundred people. However, one never knew, and we were headed there anyway.
A half hour before dark fall, we pulled into the town. Right away, we knew we weren’t going to have any trouble finding accommodations, since it seemed they had been out of business for a long time. The town was dilapidated and old, and once again, for the life of me, I couldn’t decide if they had abandoned the town before or after it became an issue for the dead to decide.
We passed home after home, and the thing that stuck out to me was there wasn’t any evidence of hurried abandonment. No belongings in the streets, no open doors, no open garage doors. Several of the homes had wood barring the windows and doors, but nothing on the inside, suggesting the owners might have had notions of eventually returning. I could relate, since I had done the same in what seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Where should we stop?” Sarah asked, moving the truck down one street, then the next. The homes were widely spaced, and it gave a lot of room for growing families a lot of room to spend outdoors.
“How about at a business? I always feel weird sleeping in someone else’s bedroom or living room.” I looked around for some sign of a business district, but nothing stood out.
“Me, too. Especially when you start to feel frisky,” Sarah teased.
“Me? Need I remind you of the time we were in Cheyenne and you thought the western wear store was ‘romantic’?” I said.
Sarah grinned mischievously. “Forgot about that.”
“Yeah. Three hundred zombies at the door and you were playing cowgirl, because you found a hat.”
“I don’t recall you complaining,” Sarah pouted.
“Who’s complaining? I’m just pointing out the fact that you have your share of ‘moments’.”
“All right, all right,” Sarah laughed. “Find us a place to put up for the night and I might feel frisky myself.”
I was immediately interested in the town and looked very hard for a defendable place to spend the night. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want to be anywhere that had more than two ways in.
Down the street, I saw a couple of large buildings. Turning the corner, I saw that the two were competing bars. I say competing, because it was a close contest as to which one looked seedier. The southern one, called the Whitebreast Inn, sported a sign that had a woman whose attributes defied gravity. The other one, called the Double D, had another anatomically freakish female flaunting her wares.
“You’re kidding.” Sarah looked at the two buildings and shook her head.
“Think tactically,” I said, grinning. “There are no windows, two exits, and chances are they’re soundproof because of the location in town.”
“You’re insane.” Sarah looked the two places over dubiously. “All right, it’s on you to clear them, but if there are any stripper zombies in there, you’re on your own.”
“Deal.” I hopped out of the cab of the truck and went over to the van. Charlie was just shaking his head at me while Rebecca waggled a finger. Tommy and Duncan practically fell out of the van, and I could see Duncan was full of his usual silliness.
“Oh, man,” Duncan said. “I need some singles! Anyone got change for a ten?”
We all laughed as we approached the door of the Double D, and Duncan paused to run a finger over the photographed cleavage of a spotlighted dancer.
“All right, let’s see what we got.” I pulled out my pistol and aimed it at the door. Tommy grabbed the handle and gave it a small jerk. The door was locked, which was actually a positive sign. It increased the chances the place was empty.
Charlie swung his pack around and rummaged a bit. In a minute, he had a lock-picking tool that was originally intended for car doors. We found it worked well on lots of locked doors.
This one was no exception. In a second, the door was unlocked and we stepped inside. The interior was dark everywhere, with dark wood, dark carpeting, and darkly painted walls and ceiling. The main area had three runways and three stripper poles, with two cages for dancers by the bar. The bar ran along the entire wall and there was a small door with the letters VIP written on it.
Tommy checked out the back room, while Duncan checked out the area behind the stage. I went behind the bar to the manager’s office and Charlie checked out the storage area.
In five minutes, we met back at the center stage. Duncan twirled around the tall pole in the center.
“All clear backstage,” he said, spinning.
“VIP area clear. Just a bunch of couches and a small bar,” Tommy said.
“Manager’s office clear, nothing of use in there,” I said.
“Found a nice loft in the storage area, has a good window that looks out over the town,” Charlie said.
“Okay, then,” I said. Let’s check out the Whitebreast Inn.”
Duncan jumped off the stage. “Thought you’d never ask.”
We stepped outside and threw a wave to the ladies as we sauntered over to the Inn. This time the door was open, and we prepped ourselves a little better than the last time.
Going in, it was clear this place had been empty for a while, and its layout was completely different from the other. In this place, you stepped up to an elevated platform that went around the entire building. There was a backstage area, which was walled off, and then a balcony that went around the upper part of the building. Small café-style tables and chairs lined the balcony, and they was a small bar area directly above where we were standing.
“Oh, man,” Duncan said.
“What? Oh. That’s too bad,” said Tommy.
Charlie looked over at what they were staring at and just shook his head.
“Damn.” My contribution to the conversation was just as deep as the others, but it encompassed a wide range of emotions.
Hanging from the balcony, with varying implements used for the deed, were seven corpses. They were all women, and by the looks of them, they had been pretty when they were alive. However, for whatever reason, either someone had killed them or they decided to end it all together, they were hanging motionless over the bar where they had probably worked together
I tapped the others on the shoulders and we made our way back out. That bar was their tomb, and we were disturbing them. I didn’t need any more ghosts on my ass right now.
Heading back to Sarah, I filled them in on the buildings, and the women agreed we should leave the Whitebreast Inn alone. We parked the Truck near the front of the building and the van near the back. Inside, Charlie and Rebecca took over the VIP room, while Sarah and I claimed the loft. Tommy grabbed the sofa in the manager’s office, and Duncan decided he was going to stay in the van and monitor the radio for any developments.
Up in the loft, I stretched out on the floor and used my backpack as a pillow. Sarah took her time taking off her weapons, and somehow she made that look good.
“Hey you,” I said quietly.
“Hey yourself,” she said back. Settling down next to me, Sarah snuggled in close and asked. “Do you think Jake and Aaron are okay?”
I felt guilty that I hadn’t really thought about the two of them in a while, but I nodded. “They’re fine. Probably driving Mike nuts by now.”
“When do you think we’ll be back?”
“I figure three days at the most. The army should be on its way, and will hit the border by the day after tomorrow. We just need to stay ahead of the zombies and we should be okay.”
Sarah changed topics. “How do you think they’re getting around without anyone seeing them?”
I shrugged slightly. “Wish to hell I knew. We may know more if Osceola gets hit. Hopefully, they will be able to knock them back then track their movements so we can set up a trap. Get some sleep.”
Sarah lifted her head up. “You’re tired?”
I pulled her close. “Not that tired.”
Chapter 42
In the morning, I woke up stiff and sore. I hadn’t slept
on a floor in a long time, and my back was reminding me that I wasn’t as young as I used to be. Add to the fact that, Sarah and I might have gotten a bit aggressive last night, my elbows and knees were banged up as well.
I stretched out the kinks in my back and moved over to my gear. I took out a bottle of water and put a little on a small towel to wash the sleep off of me. As I rubbed down my face and arms, I looked at the scars I had accumulated over the years. Some I wore with honor, like the scar I got from Thorton. Others I would just as soon forget, like the one I got across my hand from a training exercise gone very wrong.
Sarah stirred and the sunlight from the window fell across her head and shoulders, illuminating her bare back and arms. She brought her legs up and the blanket pulled away, revealing a landscape of smooth skin and curves.
I was extremely tempted to head back under the blanket for a really good morning when I glanced out the window. A slight movement caught my eye, and I stepped closer to the glass, looking out at the quiet town.
“Holy fucking shit.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized it, and it caused Sarah to turn again, this time covering herself.
“What’s up? Good morning, by the way.” Sarah stretched luxuriously, all the way to her little toes sticking out of bottom of the blanket. I nearly forgot what was outside.
I pulled away from the window and moved quickly to our gear. I started putting my clothes on when Sarah rolled over again, laying on her stomach. Her bare bottom peeked out at me from behind her head, and her elbows propping her head and shoulders up emphasized her breasts.
“Why are you getting dressed? I was hoping to get a little more of what we had last night.” Sarah pouted and I damn near relented.
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