Born In The Apocalypse (Book 3): Jericho

by Joseph Talluto

  Kim was quiet, and I knew what she was thinking.

  “They’d kill us, Kim. We can’t go over,” I said gently.

  Kim smiled at me. “Stop doing that. I know. But I want you to think about something. You know what it’s like over there. Why not keep that in mind as a back-up plan, in case things don’t work out here? I remember how things used to be, and we can talk to some older people who might remember the tricks to survive in the real world.”

  I thought about it. It was a nice thought to believe that we could always just go over the wall and there were things we could see and do. We could always find a farm somewhere and just live out our days in peace. Of course, we could do that here, and not have to worry about being discovered.

  “We’ll see. Right now, we have to get through the winter, get ourselves set to head south at the first break in the season,” I said.

  “You know, I’m not going to sleep for days, now that I know this,” Kim said.

  “I didn’t either,” I said. “Then I realized they were going to try and kill me, and for some reason, I slept like a baby.”

  “You’re a lunatic.”

  Chapter 35

  We still had the problem of a wagon to move things south, and I wasn’t about to go back to the racetrack to see if we could scrounge another one. The only other place I had seen that could handle horses was on the road to Manhattan.

  I told Kim about the horse barn and she agreed it was worth a look. I figured to head out in the morning and take a gander. For today, I just wanted to take it easy, work the trap lines, and stay out of trouble.

  Around mid-afternoon, Kim and I were reading at her house after exercising the horses. They loved the snow, and Missy was nuts for the stuff. She kept running in circles, kicking up spray. Every once in a while, her eyes would twitch to the east, and I kept a steady eye on the horizon. Kim caught me looking a few times, and once I stared for so long she brought out my bow to me.

  “Not yet,” I had said in reply. “But soon.”

  We were sharing a book, having two copies, and Kim suddenly looked out the window.

  “What’s that sound?” she asked.

  I listened carefully, and I could barely hear it. But it was a high-pitched sound, right on the edge of hearing. It seemed like it was far away, but I knew that would change. The horses and the fence would give us away like a painted sign, and the only saving grace was the people operating those flying things wouldn’t know what they were looking for.

  The other saving grace was they couldn’t fly low, and had to stay high to stay out of sight. That helped us, but it also made me wonder how in the world we would be able to see them coming or ever think we were safe.

  But I wasn’t going to make it easy, and they were going to find out just what they were chasing. I took my compound bow and a couple of arrows and went outside. The highest place I knew of was the dam, so I went up the road a bit and crossed over where the trees were still thin, even though most of them had lost all of their leaves. I got to the top and stayed near a tree, just listening. The sound was definitely getting closer, and as I checked the sky, I could see a small shape high up in the air. It was a long shot, at the very far edge of the reach of my bow, and I would be fighting gravity the whole way. But I wanted that thing down, so I lined up my shot, pulled the string as far back as the arrow would reach, and let fly.

  The arrow was a blur in the sky, and suddenly there was a small flash. Out of the sky, an object came tumbling down, and it crashed to earth in the field behind the dam. I walked down the hill, trying not to slip as the decline was very steep. I reached the downed machine, and there wasn’t much left. The arrow hit the thing in the rear, and that must have been where the power source was because the area was scorched where the arrow went in and where it stuck out. I thought about dragging it back to the house, but when I tried to move it, the propellers stuck on the grass and it was big enough to be awkward. I left it alone, figuring Kim could come out on her own and see it for herself.

  I made my way over to the dam just as three Trippers stumbled out of the woods. They were very rough looking, and they all saw me at the same time. I brought up my bow and put one down, and then another. After that I was out of arrows, so I started up the hill. The Tripper followed me and had just as much trouble as I did. I kept slipping and the more I tried, the more I slipped. I managed to make progress only by walking sideways, but it was very slow going. I could move six feet horizontally but only about a foot vertically.

  The Tripper was moving better than I was, because it was on its stomach, climbing with its hands and feet, grasping at grass and roots. I stepped higher, and slipped down on my back, sliding down the hill. Something caught my foot and it spun me around to the point where I slid down the hill upside down. My back found every lump under the snow, and by the time I stopped, it felt like Judy had been dancing enthusiastically on my kidneys. I scrambled to my feet as the Tripper came sliding down after me. It got to its feet better than I did and came towards me.

  I slid my knife out of its sheath and waited, making sure my footing was solid. The Tripper came forward, and as he reached out with his left hand, I grabbed it, pulling him towards me as I stabbed him in the throat. The long blade went through his windpipe and into the spinal column behind it. The Tripper fell to the ground, paralyzed but not dead.

  I took my knife out and stabbed it into the snow and dirt a couple of times to clean it off, after which I wiped it off on the Tripper’s coat. I took the arrows out of the other Trippers and used one to finish off the third. After that, I used the arrows to help me climb the dam. I went back to the house, thinking about what was going on.

  Kim met me at the door. “What was it?” she asked.

  “Remember those flying spy things I told you about?” I asked. “Well, it was one of those.”

  Kim shook her head. “What does that mean?”

  “Chances are, they may have seen the houses but they don’t know what they are looking at. There’s dozens of houses with fences around them, so we probably have some time before anyone shows up. And since I shot from a concealed spot, they won’t know what brought it down,” I said. “But in case there’s others, I’m going to need to find another coat. They’ve seen this one.”

  Kim nodded. Then she asked me a strange question. “Are you worried, Josh?”

  When I thought about it, I realized that maybe I was. The men who were after me were willing to kill, and they had a lot of technology and weaponry to help them. I guess I might have hoped that when the first group was wiped out they would figure it wasn’t worth the trouble, but the bird in the sky told me they were still interested in me.

  “Maybe a little,” I said. “Couple years back, I didn’t have much to worry about. Now, there’s a lot more in my life. Lot more to worry about. More to care about,” I said.

  “More to care about?” Kim asked shyly.

  “Sure. Having an extra horse around is a big deal,” I said.

  “Oooh! You!” Kim threw a book at me that bounced off my arm. I laughed and retreated to my chair, Kim following behind. She sat in the other chair, and looked at me.

  “We have some planning to do,” she said.

  “We do?”

  “If these men are coming, then we need to show them who they are coming after. This is our world, not theirs, and they’re not welcome,” Kim said.

  I saw where she was going, and I had to smile. Kim just reminded me who I was and more importantly what I was.

  I was a survivor, and to the very bad luck of the men coming after me, I was also a hunter.

  Chapter 36

  “What happened?” the drone supervisor asked.

  The technician shrugged his shoulders. “Not sure. There seemed to be a power surge and then everything went black.”

  “What were the last images?”

  “Hang on.” The technician flipped through a few tabs on his computer. “Here we are. Just some aerials, looking around. Lot of
homes with big fences, not sure why those stick out. Here’s a house with what looks like a barn and a fence around it. Lots of trees in that area,” he said.

  “What were the last images?” the supervisor asked again.

  “Right here. The camera is looking east and then boom, fade to black.” The image on the screen showed a big expanse of land and then it went dark.

  “Slow it down; I thought I saw something,” the supervisor said.

  The two men leaned in close to the screen. In the final second before the screen went dark, there was a something obstructing the camera.

  “What is that?” the technician asked.

  The supervisor looked, and then he shook his head. “Feather. Your bird got hit by another one. A live one, this time.”

  “Aw, geez. What is it with the damn birds? That’s the fourth one we lost to our foul-feathered friends in six months. Private Jerry over there lost one to a bat, of all things.”

  “All right. I’ll inform Captain Vega. He’s going to have to tell his men to sit tight until we get another bird over there,” the supervisor said.

  “Can’t imagine what it’s like over there,” the private said. “I mean, I can see it, but trying to live while those infected people move around. Creepy.”

  “It’s there and we’re here. All you need to care about.”

  “True.”

  Chapter 37

  Kim and I spent the next week trying to accomplish two goals. We wanted to make sure we were ready for an attack by the government soldiers, and we were getting ourselves packed to move when the weather broke for spring. I took Judy down the road towards Manhattan, and we checked out the barns were there used to be horses. I didn’t find any wagons, but I did find some really nice tack and saddle that I brought home. It was black leather with silver conchos, and I thought it looked pretty sharp. Judy just eyeballed me like I was nuts, but I was used to that. I did find a good-sized wagon that would serve pretty well. It was eight feet long and about three feet wide. It had small, eight-inch wheels on it, but the wheels were solid rubber, so I didn’t have to worry about flat tires or anything. It looked like someone had made this thing out of spare parts, but I didn’t care. I tied a hackamore to it and wrapped the other end around my saddle horn. Judy just looked back from time to time, but she was smart enough not to raise a fuss.

  Kim packed what she wanted, and when she finished, she remarked how odd it was that when she was a girl, she had helped her mother move. It took a week and two trucks to get everything they owned from one place to another. Now she could take everything and carry it on her back if she had to.

  I had a few more items to bring with, hence the wagon. I had other duties to attend to as well. I was reloading as much as I could, and I was practicing with my bows more than I ever had. Kim said I was getting scary with them, and I took that as a compliment. I was practicing more with long-range archery, figuring to keep my foes at as much a distance as I could.

  In addition to practicing, I was also scouting. I set up observation posts in the tallest buildings I could find, and kept a watch on the eastern horizon. It wasn’t much, only about an hour a day, but I was just looking for movement. Not the men coming; I’d never see them. But I was looking for birds. Sudden flight and following a pattern.

  If a few birds flew up from one place, then another closer, that told me something was on the ground moving this way. That’s what I was watching for. When I saw it, it was time to move.

  It was a very dark day when I saw it. The sky was a kind of dark grey, the kind that made you want to stay inside if you had any sense whatsoever. But then there was me. A small part of me said I was being stupid, that I should just grab Kim and disappear, let the vast state of Illinois swallow me up.

  The other part said this was my home, and I didn’t start this fight. It also said these men were the reason my parents were dead. That part was a stretch, but it knew how to make an emotional appeal.

  The birds came up, and then settled down. They flew up again, and again. That was not Tripper activity. The birds around here were used to the Trippers, treating them the same as any other animal. I marked the place in my mind and headed in that direction.

  The roads were dusty with light snow that had fallen in the night, and the temperature was trying to get colder as well. I was glad I had brought my heavier coat and gloves, and the hood over my head was appreciated. I rode my bike, as it was faster than walking, and it was quiet, too. I stuck to the tree-lined streets, trying to keep under cover from another spy in the sky.

  I rode as close as I dared, then I put the bike on the side of the road. I made my way into the woods, and waited. From what I had seen before, they would have a man in front, scouting the way, and the rest would be following behind. I initially thought I would just deal with the leader, but I had a better idea when I rode out.

  After a couple of weeks on this side of the wall, the men coming after me had to have survived at least one or two encounters with Trippers. Although, when I thought about it, I never heard any shots fired.

  I waited patiently, hoping I had chosen the correct road. There was always a chance I had missed the right path. If that was the case, then this was a waste of time. There was also a chance they were getting ready to find a place to spend the night, as the weather looked worse by the minute. The clouds looked close enough to touch, and they swirled in grey and really dark grey, promising a very bad time to whoever they caught outdoors.

  I waited for another hour, and decided I must have missed them. I was very cold from standing still, and I had a nice long ride back to the house. I warmed up my hands before heading back to the bike, because they were the coldest thing right now. I shifted my gun belt and started to retrace my steps. A very startled squirrel let me know in no uncertain terms that he did not like being scared like that.

  I stepped out of the woods and froze. Two men were examining my bike, looking it over, but not that interested. They were dressed in regular clothing, but wore military style vests. Each of them carried a rifle similar to the ones I had seen on the other side of the wall.

  They stopped examining the bike and looked around. They didn’t see me at first and started to walk away. Then one of them turned his head and stared right at me.

  “Jesus! It’s one of them!” he said. He brought up his rifle, and I shot him before he could get a shot off. He fell back and tumbled over the guardrail that my bike had been leaning against.

  The other man jerked at the sight of his friend being shot, then he jerked again as my second arrow found him. He stumbled back, but managed to stay on his feet. He got a round off from his rifle, but the bullet went harmlessly into the ground at his feet. I shot again and that put him down for good.

  I didn’t stop to gather weapons or anything; I just grabbed my bike and took off as fast as I could go. I knew the other men would be swarming that area in seconds, and I didn’t want to get caught in any crossfires.

  I needed to be on a right angle as soon as I could be, and there was one within fifty yards. I stayed under the trees, but the snow coming down suddenly put my mind at ease for being spied on. I rode hard, trying to get out of the area. I circled north, rode through a small subdivision, and then headed back towards my house. I went through another subdivision, and wound up in the cul-de-sac where Kevin lived. He was outside when I rode up.

  “Hey, Josh!” he called.

  “Hey, Kevin,” I said, getting off the bike.

  “Can I borrow your bike? When the snow ends, I want to head down to Manhattan and see if I can’t trade some of this stuff for a gallon or two of gasoline,” he said excitedly.

  “Sure. What do you want the gas for?” I asked.

  “I found a generator, and I’ve spent the last two weeks cleaning it up and making sure everything works. All I need is gas to give it a try,” he said.

  “Huh. What do you need electricity for?”

  “Music, my friend. Music.”

  “Music?”


  “This house has a CD player and the former owner must have really been into music because there’s over two thousand CDs in here. Oh, my God. Actual music I didn’t have to make myself!” Kevin said. He was practically shaking.

  “Well, good luck. Let me know if you succeed. I’d like to hear some music, too. I’m going to head out; I want to get home before it gets worse.”

  The snow was thick, but it was also blowing, which meant it was going to be no fun when it finally ended.

  “All right. Thanks for the bike loan.”

  “Anytime.”

  Chapter 38

  “Well, this is different,” Lt. Campbell said. “What was the last thing you heard on his radio?”

  Sgt Bell responded. “Last thing he said, sir, was quote Jesus its one of them, unquote.”

  Lt Campbell. “What does that mean?”

  Sgt. Bell shrugged. “Not sure, sir. Can’t ask him, and the snow made the birds blind.”

  Lt. Campbell looked at the sergeant with distaste. He never liked dealing with men who were clearly more competent than he was, and Sergeants Bell and Stafford were easily the better men. But they were trained soldiers and as such knew how the game was played.

  “Well, what do you suggest we do now, Sergeant?” Lt. Campbell asked, putting as much disdain in his voice as humanly possible.

  “Find some shelter. Start again in the morning. Sir.” Sgt. Bell hesitated just long enough to let Lt. Campbell know how he felt about him.

  “What about whoever shot these two? What were their names?”

  “Private Blue and Private Connor, sir. I guess we see if we can track them, sir.”