Zombie Civilization: Exodus (Zombie Civilization Saga Book 2)

by Steven Ehrman

  “Dude, what have you been doing since we got here? What have I been doing since we got here? We’ve been taking what we need to survive.”

  Billy knew Jude was right. They had appropriated whatever they needed from folks who weren’t coming back since the transformation, but for some reason taking money out of a cash register seemed wrong. Jude was pulling the drawer up and looking underneath it.

  “This is where they hide the big bills,” he said as he pulled an envelope out. “Maybe this was a bank deposit. Jackpot!”

  Billy reached over and snatched the white envelope out of Jude’s hands.

  “That’s enough,” he said looking at the writing on the envelope.

  “Listen, Billy, I know you are the president, but if we’re all there is, then I’m vice president right?”

  Billy shrugged: “What’s your point?”

  “My point is I deserve some respect. I’m not a flunky.”

  Billy looked Jude up and down. There was a defiance in Jude’s eyes that was new. Maybe Jude had grown up.

  “Okay, tough guy,” said Billy. “I don’t want to fight. If you want the envelope, it’s yours.”

  With that, Billy held it out towards him. Jude’s expression softened and he looked down at his feet.

  “Come on, Billy. I was just kidding. You’re probably right. I guess taking more than we need is wrong. You think I should put it back?”

  “You know what? We just might need a few greenbacks, so keep them, but this envelope doesn’t have money in it. It’s a letter. Look.”

  Jude looked at the writing on the envelope and saw that it was addressed to Jim from Dad.

  “Do you think we should read it, Billy?” asked Jude.

  “No, you shouldn’t read it,” said a voice from the door. “Because I’m Jim and that’s my letter.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The voice at the doorway belonged to a soldier in camouflage, with what looked like a machine gun cradled in his arms. He wore the stripes of a sergeant on his arms and he was not smiling. Another figure appeared behind him. It was a private, also in camo, with his gun trained on Billy and Jude.

  “All right everyone out in the open,” the sergeant ordered.

  He waved his gun and Billy walked towards the door with his rifle still shouldered. Jude hesitated, but followed Billy’s lead. Billy blinked in the bright sunshine and looked at the sergeant as they came out of the marina. The sergeant looked to be about thirty and was over six feet tall and had a stocky build. His expression was grim and gave away nothing. The private was much younger, probably Billy’s age and was visibly nervous. He was medium height and slender.

  “Alright, sergeant, what have we done?” asked Billy as he came to a halt. “You’re the first people we’ve seen in months and you pull guns on us. What’s the deal? If that’s your dad’s store, we’re sorry. We’re just trying to survive.”

  The sergeant looked Billy up and down and cast a quick look at Jude. He seemed to realize quickly that Billy was the leader and gave him his full attention.

  “That ain’t my dad’s store yokel and I ain’t Jim,” he said finally. “I was just yanking your chain. As to what we want. I’ll tell you what we want. We want information. It’s about all that’s left of any value in this world. I’m Kerns and this here is Private Stormy.”

  Kerns gestured to the young private.

  “My name’s not Stormy,” said the private quietly.

  “Sure it is,” said Kerns. “Don’t pay him any mind, he’s just being contrary. Looks like you boys have been playing with matches.”

  Everyone’s eyes were drawn to the island by this statement and the zombies on the island staring at them.

  “It’s a long story,” said Billy. “We just got off that island. It cost us pretty dear though. We lost a good friend and he wasn’t the first one we’ve lost.”

  “That’s an old story in this world. What’s your handle, kid?” asked Kerns.

  “I’m Billy and that’s Jude and we ain’t kids, sarge. We’ve been fighting for our lives since this thing started. If we were kids before we aren’t now.”

  “Didn’t mean to rile you, kid,” said Kerns with a laugh. “We’re on a trip south and saw the smoke and thought we would do a little reconnaissance. Here’s the rest of the troop now.”

  They looked up at the access road leading to the docks from the main highway and saw a camouflaged Humvee making it’s way down towards them. It came to a halt and another sergeant and private got out, armed as the others were.

  “You got a report, Kerns?” asked the sergeant.

  “I don’t report to you, Edwards, and don’t forget it,” snarled Kerns.

  “Settle down, Kerns. Jesus, do you have an off switch? What do we have here?”

  “We got a couple local yokels on a Twinkie hunt it looks like.”

  “Just the fact that they’re alive means they aren’t yokels, sergeant. You guys look like you been through something today,” said Edwards. “Let’s all have a little talk.”

  The two privates grabbed a couple of benches from the beach area and everyone but Kerns sat down. Kerns alternated between pacing back and forth and squatting on his haunches.

  “Okay, fellas, lets hear your story,” said Edwards.

  “And no lies, you hear me?” chimed in Kerns.

  Billy looked at Jude who shrugged and then back towards the soldiers. Edwards was listening with what appeared to be a friendly face while Kerns made no effort to look anything but suspicious. The two privates were listening, but they were also scanning the trees for the lurking dead.

  “It’s like this,” Billy began. “We’re from farther north and were down here on a hunting and fishing trip when this all started. For some reason it didn’t affect us and we came down out of the hills without knowing anything had happened. We got a pretty quick education and we lost two of our group pretty quickly. Three of us made it to the island where we thought we’d be safe.”

  “Until the freeze came,” said Edwards.

  “Right, until the freeze. The dead attacked us on the island and we lost another friend during the initial assault. We stayed holed up in that building that is burning,” Billy jerked a thumb towards the island. “And we made a break for it this morning. We got lucky and here we are.”

  “So you penned up every snapper in the area on that island. That explains why the area seems to be clear of them. Did you say something, sergeant?”

  Kerns had uttered a clear grunt as Edwards was speaking.

  “Do you really believe this story?” asked Kerns. “These guys must have had more help than just each other. Look at that mob on the island. I’ll bet they are just an advance party from a larger group.”

  “Then what are they doing here?” asked Edwards.

  “Same as us. They saw the smoke and came to investigate.”

  “Then who started the fire and trapped the snappers on the island, Kerns?”

  Kerns looked as though he would strike Edwards, but thought better of it and closed his mouth.

  “It’s the truth, sergeant,” Billy said to Edwards. “But we don’t know anything about what’s happened in the world. You guys must know something. Is there anything left?”

  “Guys, the truth is we don’t know,” said Edwards. “We’re from Aikens National Guard Base, about a hundred miles north of here. When the infection came something like 85 percent or more of the guys on the base turned. We lost the power, of course, so that just made things worse. Those of us who hadn’t turned, managed to barricade ourselves in different places on the base, but then the secondary infections came.”

  “You mean people who had been bitten turned, right? We’ve seen that too,” said Jude.

  “That ain’t what he means, small fry,” said Kerns. “You don’t know nothing about it.”

  “No, that’s not what I mean,” said Edwards wistfully. “I mean people who were locked up with each other turned over the next week. They just spontaneously becam
e snappers and attacked their fellow soldiers. We tried standing watches, but eventually order started to break down and everyone became suspicious of everyone else. Finally the base caught fire and the dead broke into the warehouse where we were hiding.”

  “I wasn’t hiding,” declared Kerns.

  “Fine, then where the rest of us except you were hiding. Anyway, the dozen or so of us left made a break for it. We mowed down hundreds and they still came. We managed to get a vehicle and we busted through a gate. We’ve been siphoning gas ever since and heading south.”

  “Where are you headed, sergeant?” asked Billy. “Or are you headed anywhere?”

  “We are headed for the Ohio River. We figure we can commandeer a boat there and eventually make it to the gulf. We heard a rumor right after the infection that Cuba went one hundred percent zombie and that the navy basically napalmed the whole island and is using it as a base of operations and as a refugee camp. We figure we can hug the coastline all the way down to the Keyes and then make it to the island across the open sea.”

  “Why not just drive, sarge?” asked Jude. “We used to vacation in Florida and my dad could drive it straight through in a day. A boat ride all the way down the Ohio and Mississippi is going to take a lot longer and it sounds kind of dangerous.”

  “It’s more dangerous on land,” said Kerns in something like a civil voice. “Guys, you’ve been outta the game, but let me give you the 411. This thing happened in stages and the roads around any city are packed with abandoned cars and they make the roads impassible even for the Humvee. We’ve had several close calls already and I don’t want to get caught on some lonely back road and run out of gas and find myself on foot. Once we get in a boat, we’re safe. At least as safe as you can be in this world. With any luck, we’ll be in Cincinnati tomorrow and New Orleans in a couple of weeks. Besides, things are only getting worse up here.”

  “How could they get worse?” asked Billy. “We’re in a post apocalyptic world with hungry zombies after us. That seems pretty bad.”

  Edwards looked somber and he went on.

  “We didn’t think things could get much worse either, guys, but we’ve seen something a couple of times that makes me wonder if this is a lost cause already.”

  Billy realized he was holding his breath. He let it out and the sergeant continued.

  “Well, we figured once the infection burned itself out there were only so many of the dead to deal with, right?” Edwards looked at the guys and they nodded. “But that doesn’t seem right anymore.”

  Edwards trailed off and stared into the distance.

  “They’re digging up reinforcements,” said Kerns.

  “What reinforcements?” asked Billy.

  “Look, guys, we’ve seen with our own eyes zombies digging up graveyards and pulling out corpses that become reanimated once they hit the surface.”

  “That’s not possible. Are you telling me that bodies that have been buried for years and years can become zombies if they are dug up? Come on,” exclaimed Billy. “Besides, these things don’t have the intelligence to dig up graves. They’re animals and dumb animals at that.”

  “I don’t know, Billy,” said Jude. “They were building a ramp of their own bodies to get to us on the roof back there. That’s intelligence isn’t it?”

  “It was happenstance, Jude. They just started climbing on each other and it looked like cooperation.”

  “Listen, guys, I don’t know if it’s intelligence, cooperation, or instinct; the fact is we saw them.”

  “He’s right,” said the private Kerns had called Stormy. “We saw it twice since we left the base. We watched yesterday from the top of a hill with binoculars. The dead were swarming this big cemetery and they were digging like badgers at the graves. They pulled the caskets up and wrenched them open and we saw the bodies come to life. Well, not life, but you know what I mean. It is happening!”

  Billy’s head was spinning. He wondered how many billions of people were buried and just waiting to walk the earth again. It staggered him. The odds were already terrible and now this?

  “You guys can come with us if you want,” said Edwards.

  Kerns stiffened, started to speak and stopped.

  “Thanks, sarge, but we’ve got family up north and we have to look even if there’s not much hope,” said Billy.

  “There’s no hope, son. The northern regions are finished. The army did studies years ago that plotted out all sorts of disasters and the smart move was always to go south. Any place where the winters are even remotely harsh will not support human life in large numbers without modern machines and technology. The northern regions will starve, even if people exist there at all.”

  “But won’t the dead just follow you to the southern regions?” asked Billy. “Besides, humans have lived in frigid regions in ancient times without modern tools or machines.”

  “Are you an ancient man?” asked Edwards. “No, you’re not, son, and with all due respect, surviving in twos and threes is different than whole communities surviving. Take my advice and head south.”

  “Not without trying to find our families first, sergeant,” said Jude with a grim expression. “And they are north.”

  “What about that, sergeant?” asked Stormy. “Private Turk and me are both from Cleveland. You made sense before, but these guys made it, so maybe our families did too.”

  “We already talked about that, soldier,” said Kerns. “These guys can throw their lives away if they want, but you’re soldiers in a command structure and we are heading south. Am I clear?”

  He stared hard at the two privates. Edwards did not seem to be as hard as Kerns, but he too seemed adamant that his group would sail down the great rivers to the gulf.

  “Am I clear?” Kerns repeated.

  “Crystal,” said the two privates in unison.

  “I think we can table this for now anyway, men. We’ve got visitors,” exclaimed Billy.

  Everyone turned to see the dead emerging from the woods. Billy heard several clicks from behind him.

  Chapter Twelve

  A dozen or more of the dead began to shamble out of the woods and lurched towards the group. Billy and Jude gripped their rifles, but did not shoot. Billy realized just how low the ammunition was and he gripped the ax that was hanging from his belt. If there were no more of the creatures he was fairly certain the six of them could handle this mob.

  Without warning automatic gunfire broke out from the soldiers. The effect of the fire was devastating to the zombies. The heavy caliber weapons tore into the flesh of the creatures and tore arms and legs off. Heads exploded and covered the ground with gore. It was all over in seconds. The ground was littered with zombies that would search the earth for flesh no more.

  “Stormy, you and Turk take care of business,” said Edwards.

  With a nod the two privates walked over to the unmoving corpses and put a bullet in the head of every creature that still had a head. It was brutally efficient. Billy’s ears were still ringing and he was impressed with the precision of the soldiers.

  “I’ve never seen a machine gun in action, sarge,” he said towards Edwards.

  “This isn’t a machine gun son. This is an M-16 with an extended magazine on automatic. Greatest field weapon since the Kentucky long rifle.”

  “You think that’s something,” said Kerns. “Man, we got an M-249 in the Humvee and-”

  “Shut up Kerns,” said Edwards sharply. “You talk too much”

  “What did you say to me?”

  “I said to shut your pie hole, right now.”

  “Listen, Edwards, I told you that I don’t take orders from you.”

  “You’re gonna take this one or we’re gonna find out who’s in charge of this command right now. Is that what you want?”

  Kerns glared at Edwards for a few moments and then dropped his glance. He spit to one side and walked off towards the privates.

  “That was pretty intense, sergeant,” said Jude.

 
Edwards exhaled as if he had been holding his breath.

  “Not really,” said Edwards. “Kerns is a good sergeant, he just talks too much. I need him. In fact, I like how you guys handle yourselves. You’d make a good addition to the team. You sure you won’t change your minds and come with us? Of course, you’d have to enlist. We can’t have civilians with us.”

  “Sergeant, I think I can speak for Jude and myself when I say we appreciate your offer, but you’re heading in the wrong direction.”

  “Have it your way, fellas. I just hope you don’t regret it.”

  “Me too,” said Billy.

  Kerns and the privates returned and joined Edwards.

  “Do we move on or make camp for the night?” asked Kerns in a low voice to Edwards.

  “Well, I think we can make the river in an hour or two depending on how clogged the roads are so lets batten down here. It’ll be dark soon enough. We’ll get a fresh start in the morning and be sailing by afternoon.”

  ****************

  The fire was roaring as Jude threw another log onto it. The soldiers had shared their rations and Billy and Jude had dug into their supply of junk food for dessert. It was a clear evening and the moon was visible. It was bright enough to throw weird shadows as if it were a dimly lit funhouse. With all the firepower around them Billy felt safe even in the open. Outside of the attack hours ago, it seemed as if the countryside was pretty well swept of zombies. Billy thought about all the dead penned on the island and imagined an attack by that number in the dark. He shivered in spite of the warming weather and the fire. The two sergeants had stepped away from the group and were deep in conversation by themselves and Billy noticed the two privates had been inching towards where he and Jude were seated.

  “So why do they call you, Stormy?” Billy asked the closest one.

  The private shot a nervous glance at the two sergeants. They continued their own conversation in voices so low that Billy couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  “”Oh, that,” said the private. “Well, at first they thought I looked like Carl Weathers, so they called me Private Weathers and then someone thought it was funny to call me Stormy Weathers and finally just Stormy. My real name is Jenkins, but my friends call me Jenks.”