Dead Surge

by Joseph Talluto

  We piled into the van and truck and Sarah spread out the map. “Our next big town is Albia, but I’m not sure anyone is there,” Sarah said, frowning.

  “There ought to be a small community there. We set one up in each of the dead cities just to be relays for messages and communication. If they’re still there, we should be able to touch base pretty quickly,” I said, turning onto 34 again.

  Sarah nodded. “I remember. We put them in place as an outpost, with the thought that strays would come in eventually.”

  We called anyone that had been chased into the weeds by the zombies strays. That accounted for a lot of people, but most of them had been re-established with communities and places somewhat near their homes. If they were from a big city that had no hope of ever being re-taken, they found other places to live. Some wandered for years. Others would just stay in the weeds, preferring the safety of the open to the confines of civilization.

  “Think they’re still alive?” Sarah asked.

  “They’ve got pretty powerful radios, so I’d be surprised if they hadn’t heard our conversations so far and realized something was up,” I said.

  It was about twenty miles to Albia, so we were there pretty quickly. We found the station and the twenty people who were manning it. They were barricaded in a brick building that stood a little apart from other structures. They were located south of the city proper, and as we approached, I could see a man on the roof with some big binoculars. I hoped he had seen something and could tell us where they went.

  We parked by the building, and greeted the two women who came out. I explained what we were up to and they said they had been hearing a lot of chatter all day and were curious as to what was going on. I explained the situation, and they were very helpful in getting us in touch with several communities.

  The overall picture was very weird. We contacted several communities in the area, everyone we thought might be in line with an attack, and none of them had reported anything out of the ordinary. I told them to keep a very sharp eye out and be wary of night attacks. Everyone had a hard time believing me when I said these things were smart, but they understood very clearly, when I described what happened to the town of Lucas.

  I then got in touch with Colonel Freeman, who was in charge of the portion of the army that had been sent to assist. I was pleasantly surprised to learn he had crossed the river, and was waiting to hear from me for deployment. Looking at a map, I realized there was a substantial river at Ottumwa, and between Chilicothe and Eldon, there was only seven places to cross the river.

  I asked Colonel Freeman how fast he could get his troops to those positions, and after a brief pause, he told me it was possible to be in position in three hours. I nearly jumped out of my chair. Three hours! We had them! If they were on a straight course, we’d have them caught!

  I calmed down and told the colonel that would be fabulous, and sooner would be better if it could be done. He replied that scouts should reach the Ottumwa area within an hour and a half, or two hours, tops.

  We left shaking hands with the people of Albia, and reminded them to stay vigilant. We weren’t sure where the Zs were, and until we’d wiped them out, they needed to be very careful.

  Back at the vehicles, I relayed what I had spoken to the colonel about, and the crew took the news very well. Mostly it consisted of a lot of ‘about time’ and sentiments like that.

  Charlie was the one who brought things to a worry, though. “Nightfall is in three hours. Think everyone will be in place by then?”

  I shrugged. “Can’t do anything but try. Let’s get ourselves there and wait for the cavalry.”

  Back in the truck, Sarah gave my hand a squeeze, and I smiled at her. I hoped to hell this worked, because I sure didn’t feel like chasing this band of zombies across the damn country any more than I already had.

  Chapter 50

  We drove for Ottumwa, and made it there with plenty of time to spare. Ottumwa was a river community, and hadn’t been completely spared by the Upheaval. But the citizens had learned how to deal with the zombies early and had made their defenses on the land in the oxbow that wound through the southern portion of town. The northern part had survived, but the southern had not. The citizens of the north didn’t want to deal with the constant threat of zombies from the other side of the river, so a three-year campaign of hunt and kill ensued, mostly in the winter months.

  It seemed to have worked. We drove in from the west and there was no activity whatsoever. The houses and businesses on the south end were empty, but they weren’t falling apart just yet. The road crossed the oxbow, and it was easy to see how well that little bit of land could be defended. Ten determined people with enough ammo could ruin a zombie horde’s whole day.

  I met with the town leaders, all solid men and women, and told them the whole story. They gave us what supplies we needed, and got the citizenry informed of the coming of two armies; one friendly and the other decidedly not. The people were going to stay homebound until given the all clear, and would not engage any of the enemy unless their lives or the lives of their loved ones were at stake. It was a hard thing to say, but they had to refuse to help their neighbors if they wanted to survive.

  An hour after we got to the city, the advance scouts from the army arrived. There were ten men and they were heavily armed. They had been briefed about the situation, and I instructed them to head north to the road crossing at Chilicothe. That was the farthest bridge from us, and I hoped if it was blocked it would be enough to send the zombies further south to look for a place to cross, which would put them right in our crosshairs. If the zombies went north, I had no idea what I was going to do.

  An hour and a half later, Duncan reported to me that the army proper was pulling into position on the east side. I left my comfortable spot at a small café and waved Charlie to join me. We took the truck over to the rendezvous point and found Colonel Freeman.

  It was an awesome sight to see a thousand men assembled for battle. There were heavy weapons mounted on a variety of vehicles, but the majority was Hummers. Big trucks carrying supplies were pulling up as we got out of our pickup, and a nervous-looking corporal brought us over to a small RV that served at the Colonel’s command post.

  The corporal stuck his head in the door. “Sir! John Talon to see you, sir!”

  “Of course! Send them in!” Came the reply. Charlie and I stepped into the vehicle, and I was impressed with the sparse furnishings. This was a working command center, not a place for a commander full of himself. Colonel Freeman met us in the center area, shaking hands and smiling broadly.

  “John Talon. By God, I’ve wanted to meet you. Heard so much about you! I almost started to think you were just a legend!” Freeman had an easy way about him, and I was glad he wasn’t someone who seemed to be only interested in furthering his career. He was about five foot five, and seemed to be made of pure energy. The man practically vibrated, and even in the confined space of the RV, he managed to find room to pace and move around.

  “Nice to meet you too, Colonel. This is Charlie James. He’s been with me through nearly everything,” I said.

  “Dear God! Charlie James! I am in the presence of greatness. The two heroes of the Zombie Wars! Here! In my office! My wife will never believe this. Well, enough gushing, how can we fix this little problem?”

  I outlined the situation, letting the little colonel know we had a unique situation here thanks to the geography of the region to finally trap and finish off the zombies that have been creating havoc throughout the state of Iowa.

  Colonel Freeman listened intently, and then asked. “How do you want to handle the area here?”

  I shook my head. “I gave you the details, Colonel. You’re in charge of your army, not me. You know them best and know the best places to put your people. I never stand in the way of experts.”

  Colonel Freeman stood and shook my hand. “Heard that about you, too, Mr. Talon. Good. We’ll fix these little bastards and do it right.” He shoo
k our hands and we left. As we were leaving, Colonel Freeman was yelling for his orderlies and his officers. I felt we were in pretty good hands.

  As we returned to the truck, Charlie spoke for the first time. “Got a good feeling about him. Maybe this mess will end here.”

  I looked at the darkening sky. “I hope so.”

  We drove back to our wives and settled in for the night. We weren’t going to be part of the fight, so we had very little to do. The river was very beautiful in the evening, and Sarah and I spent a good deal of time out on the porch of our hotel room just watching and listening to the river as it flowed by.

  Sarah was standing in my arms as I leaned on the railing. Her hair was right below my face and it only took a small movement to breathe her in. She leaned back against me and put her hands on my biceps.

  “I miss my babies,” she said. “I hope everything’s okay.”

  “They’ll be fine. We should be home tomorrow if everything goes the way it’s supposed to,” I said.

  “Do you think this Colonel is up to the job?”

  “His men seem to trust him, and that’s a big endorsement of his abilities. I think they can. They know what they’re fighting, so they won’t hesitate. And they are mobile, so when the attack comes, they can shift positions quickly and reinforce or chase as needed.”

  Sarah pulled my arms off the railing and wrapped herself in them. I used the opportunity to kiss her head. She raised her face to mine and after a while, we forgot completely the danger headed our way.

  Chapter 51

  I woke up feeling remarkably refreshed. Sarah was already awake, and dressed, having let me sleep a little longer than I normally did. I stretched out my arms, and then dropped to do some push-ups and sit-ups. It was a routine I had gotten away from in recent months, and I was now trying to bring it back. My shoulders told me I needed a lot of work.

  After getting dressed, Sarah and I went back to the truck and pulled out some supplies for breakfast. Duncan and Tommy were already there, and I could see Charlie and Rebecca coming down the street from their room.

  “Did anything happen last night?” I asked, breaking off a chunk of my homemade granola bar.

  Tommy shook his head. “All quiet, from what I understand. See for yourself. It’s almost strange.” He pointed to the river and I climbed up on the truck bed and took a look.

  From my vantage point, I could see five of the river crossings and on the center of each one, there was a platoon of soldiers. They had piled up sandbags and were sitting patiently behind their barricades, quietly drinking coffee and likely thinking their officers were nuts.

  “So nothing happened? Did we miss them?” I asked as I jumped off the truck.

  Duncan shrugged. “I don’t see how. They were definitely headed this way, and I don’t think they went up north. You don’t suppose they just stopped somewhere, do you?”

  I hadn’t an answer for that one. Everything we’d seen so far indicated they weren’t inclined to stop anywhere.

  Colonel Freeman came speeding up to us in a pickup, and fairly hopped out before the vehicle had come to a stop.

  “Morning all! Quiet night, hey? Maybe we’ll see some activity today. Sure would be nice to fight in daylight. Zombie killing in the dark is creepy. No reports of activity from anyone last night, letting the men sleep a little this morning.” Freeman got out all of this without taking a breath.

  “No answer for you, Colonel. Hate to see you wasted a quick march on a wild goose chase,” I said seriously.

  “No trouble, Mr. Talon! The men need practicing things like that, cause you never know when it might be useful. Rapid deployment! That’s what killed the Romans. Couldn’t move fast enough. Not like this army!” Colonel Freeman was very sure of himself and his men, and I could see why they liked him. It was hard not to like a perpetual optimist.

  “Sir!” The corporal driving the truck stuck his head out the window.

  “What is it, Corporal?”

  “Sir, the command post reports the town of Batavia is under attack!”

  “Damn! Where is Batavia?” Colonel Freeman turned to the driver.

  “Don’t know sir. Report says they got hit early this morning.”

  Colonel Freeman turned to us. “Got a map?”

  Duncan reached into the van and pulled out a thick folder. He rummaged a bit, and then handed a highway map of Iowa to the Colonel. Freeman opened the map, found our location, and then began checking the area to the west of Ottumwa.

  “Damn, damn, damn. Where the hell is Batavia?” Colonel Freeman was having difficulty finding the town. Obviously, it was important, since it would give us a good line of attack.

  Duncan looked over the diminutive soldier and scanned the map. “Aw, shit,” he said.

  I looked at Duncan. “You gotta be kidding me.”

  Duncan shook his head. “Wish I was. It’s…” Duncan looked at the map scale. “About fifteen miles due east on 34.”

  “Son of a bitch!” I yelled. “How? Somebody tell me how the hell they crossed the damn river in the middle of the night, right under the noses of a thousand men, and managed to stage an attack on a town fifteen miles away?”

  Colonel Freeman winced, and I knew he felt responsible. The question was what were we going to do about it?

  “Mount up, we gotta move. Colonel, follow if you can. Get to the Mississippi, and if you have to string your men out one per fifty yards, then do it. They will not get past us!” I jumped into the truck and quickly pulled away, the sound of Colonel Freeman shouting at his troops fading in the distance.

  Sarah spoke up. “John, how was that possible?”

  “I wish to hell I knew, babe. They’ve managed to get around us at every turn, and I have no idea how. They aren’t that smart, and there aren’t that many roads. So how are they doing it? What am I overlooking?” I was frustrated to the point of anger, and I was half hoping there was going to be some action at Batavia, because I needed to kill something.

  Chapter 52

  We sped along Route 34, dodging the worst of the potholes and tree branches. It took us a half hour, and we stopped on an overpass to look the situation over.

  Batavia was a small town, and by all accounts, it looked like it should have been fairly left alone from the troubles. But this time the trouble came looking for it. I could see several pockets of zombies attacking a few homes, and a larger pocket attacking what looked like a town hall or something.

  “Well, here we go again,” I said, putting the truck in gear and heading down the ramp. I drove quickly over the streets and headed right for one of the homes. I could see Charlie break away and head towards another.

  I slowed down at the last moment and proceeded to plow over several zombies. They went under the tires with an oddly satisfying crunch. I drove around the house, mowing down the zombies I found, and driving over the ones that tried to get up after being hit. Sarah had her gun out and was ready to take on any that tried to hold on to the truck.

  After about five minutes, I didn’t see any left, so I pulled away from the house and got out of the truck. Three zombies were out of the way when I hit the horde, and they immediately broke off their attack on the house to head in my direction. I stood there for a moment, and Sarah easily shot all three with her Ruger.

  “Thanks, honey,” I said, moving towards the house.

  “Anytime, babe, anytime.” Sarah put her gun away and followed.

  “Anyone still alive?” I yelled, hoping for an answer.

  “In here! Did you get them?” An anxious voice came from behind the door.

  “We got them. You coming out or would you like to just stay there?” I had to ask. Some people were funny about strangers.

  “Uh. We’ll stay here for a while. Did you get them all?”

  “Pretty much. We’ll be gone in a bit, after that you’re on your own.”

  “Okay! Thanks!”

  I shrugged and Sarah did the same. We went back to the truck and carefu
lly got back inside. We would seriously need to clean it off when we had the chance. I drove over to where Charlie had broken off to see if they needed any help. Charlie had done the same thing I had, but there were more zombies on this side. Duncan was outside, slicing up Zs with abandon, while Charlie, Tommy, and Rebecca were a little more precise.

  Charlie was stalking a zombie that had wandered off, an old man in faded pajamas. I wondered why he wasn’t trying to fight when I realized he was probably deaf. That threw a weird thought into my head. What did a zombie with Alzheimer’s do?

  Tommy was taking on two of them, knocking one in the knees and bringing it down while he slammed the other in the head, killing it. The dead one fell on top of the animated one, and that one couldn’t get up, making it an easy target for Tommy. Rebecca was just finishing killing a teenage zombie, and squaring off with another.

  There weren’t any left, so Sarah and I just watched for a bit. After another five minutes, they were finished, and came over to the truck.

  “How’d you guys do?” Charlie asked, wiping off his ‘hawk.

  “Used the truck, and Sarah shot three.”

  “How many did you save?” Duncan asked.

  I chuckled. “No idea. They wouldn’t come out.”

  “Weirdoes. Let’s see who we saved!” Duncan wandered over to the house and knocked on the door. “Hello? Anybody in there?”

  “Is it safe?” came a plaintive voice.

  “God, I hope so. Who’s in there?” Duncan looked back at us and we had nothing to offer.