Zombie Crusade: Evolution

by J. W. Vohs

  Bobby and Marcus almost crushed their beloved fellow Ranger with powerful bear-hugs and thumps on the back that would have knocked the breath from many people. David, Christy, Luke, and Gracie waited patiently to meet the leader they had thought was lost. Sergeant Chad Greenburg was bald and bearded, with piercing gray eyes and a hearty laugh. He seemed to give as much as he got in the enthusiastic greeting from his former comrades in arms, and Christy wondered out loud if she’d heard a rib snap. Marcus took charge of the introductions, and when Chad found out who they were and what they had done for him and his people he couldn’t keep big, sloppy tears of gratitude from rolling down his cheeks. He wiped roughly at what David and his companions assumed was an unusual display of emotion from the tough veteran before exclaiming, “My life and guns are yours. Most of my fighters will probably follow me. If you folks, and Jack, will have us, we’ll follow you into any fight, anywhere.”

  To David’s surprise, Christy teared-up and grabbed one of the sergeant’s hands, “We’re all just so glad you’re alive, you and all the people you’ve brought with you. We hated leaving anyone behind.” Her voice trembled and she stifled a sob, “You’re like family to Marcus and Bobby, so you’re also family to us, Sergeant Greenburg.”

  “Since we’re family, you have to call me Chad,” the old soldier replied, tears still streaming down his face.

  David spoke up, “Uh, look, Chad, we’d love to have you with us. We’re all in this war to the death, and it would be a privilege to fight by your side.”

  Chad used his sleeve to blot away the last of his tears before putting a hand on David’s shoulder, “All I want is to be a part of a group of warriors dedicated to killing these God-forsaken monsters until we free our world or die trying.”

  Luke, who’d been intently watching the exchange, uttered a respectful, “Amen,” drawing Chad’s gaze to the tall, wiry teen.

  The Sergeant stepped away from David for a moment and held his hand out to Luke, “We saw you helping our folks over the back wall. How many zombies you kill out there, kid?”

  Luke just shrugged sheepishly and confessed, “I lost track of that a long time ago. I just wanted to save as many people as possible, and I’m sorry we didn’t save more.”

  Chad nodded his understanding, “I think we all did the best we could after I managed to allow the people who trusted me to be trapped in our fortress. I’m sure Marcus and Bobby would tell you the same thing, but soldiers make mistakes in combat and people die. You can’t get them back, and it slowly breaks your heart all to pieces, but in the end you realize that the best way to honor them is to fight on and learn from what went wrong.” People had said these words before, but at this moment they were heard by the hearts as well as the ears of everyone present. A long moment passed in reverential silence until Chad spoke again, redirecting the conversation and lightening the mood. He slapped Luke on the shoulder, “So, are you one of Jack’s brothers or a nephew or something?”

  David choked out a couple small coughs, while Luke smiled and shook his head in reply, “People always think I’m related to these guys. I’m taller, faster, stronger, better-looking, and infinitely deadlier than anyone in the Smith family, so I’m not sure why people assume I’m one of them.”

  Everyone laughed as Gracie jumped in, “He’s a good kisser, too!”

  Luke’s cheeks flushed, and Christy added, “We’ve basically adopted wonder-boy here, at least until he’s old enough to marry Gracie and she has to babysit him for a living.”

  That brought more laughter until Bobby interrupted the festivities by pointing out, “Growing older should be everybody’s goal, so we need to skip the chit-chat and start planning how to get our reinforcements back to Fort Wayne as fast as possible.”

  Chapter 18

  As David was directing various team-leaders to what he was calling the command center, Luke pulled Gracie aside. “Come with me for a minute, I want to talk to you about something.” He led her down to a soft grassy spot not far from the water’s edge.

  “I have an idea about Fort Wayne and the helicopters. I’m sure you remember, back when we were at The Castle, I studied every regional map I could get my hands on. There’s a good-sized airport, and a guard base right next to it, on the south side of the city. I think Marcus and Bobby and me should take a look. If I had a bunch of helicopters, I’d utilize those facilities.”

  “I trust your instincts, and I trust Marcus and Bobby. In fact, I’d be more than happy to join you boys.”

  Luke smiled. “I know, but in this case I think the fewer the better. We just need to be fast and as invisible as possible.”

  “So you’ll get a head start, check the airport area for suspicious activity, then report back as quickly as you can?”

  “That’s the idea. Think David will go for it?”

  “Yeah, he won’t like it, but it’s not like you’re going off half-cocked looking for a fight. If you can find a helicopter base we might be able to figure out a way to disable them. He’ll agree.”

  Luke was quiet for a long moment, and Gracie grew fidgety. “Is there something else? You know we need to get to the meeting . . .” Her voice trailed off as Luke got down on one knee and gazed up at her.

  Reaching for her hand, Luke began, “Gracie, you know I love you with all my heart and soul. I know I can be distant sometimes, and I know I’m obsessed with destroying the hunters, but if you’ll have me, I’d like to be your husband. Will you marry me?” He pulled the ring from his pocket and held it out to her.

  Gracie reached for the ring and gave a little start when she recognized it. “Father O’Brien?” she whispered.

  Luke nodded, “He wants you to have it. He’ll marry us after we deal with things in Fort Wayne, that is, if you want to . . .” Gracie tackled him and smothered him with kisses. When Luke could catch his breath, he teased, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Of course it’s a yes!”

  “Lucky I had a good grip on this ring,” Luke said as he slipped it onto Gracie’s finger. “It seems like a good fit.”

  “Just like you and me.” She kissed Luke again, but this time the kiss was slow and lingering.

  A deep voice startled the young couple, “Hey, you two are in public you know.” Sergeant Chad Greenburg’s head glistened in the twilight, and he had a bemused expression on his face. “I’m trying to find that strategy meeting—care to point me in the right direction?”

  “We can do better than that,” Gracie offered, trying to hide her embarrassment. “We’ll lead the way.”

  Representatives from the different groups assembled on Middle Bass agreed that there really was no time to waste, and the leaders quickly developed a plan that was both simple and audacious. Unfortunately, if they ran into another of the infected armies, it was also probably suicidal. All of the fighters volunteering for the mission would be ferried as far as possible on the Maumee, to a point near the town of Perrysburg, before dawn the next day. People familiar with the area reported that there was a large used auto dealership in the town, and David planned on finding the vehicles they would need for the trip there. At first light they would go ashore and scavenge every four-wheel drive truck and SUV they could start, then head toward US 24, which led directly to Fort Wayne. They would eventually detour southwest of the city and take to the Saint Mary’s river with canoes and rafts they hoped to procure from a rental shop in Grand Rapids. Once on the river, the current would carry the expedition to the very shore of the Headwaters area they were planning to capture and hold, so in reality they just needed something that would float and keep their gear dry.

  The people involved with the planning realized that the roads and highways would likely be disaster zones, but they accepted the reality that they would simply have to deal with each obstacle as it was encountered. They planned to use speed and firepower to force their way to the Saint Mary’s, and they also had plenty of dynamite with which to blow bridges over other bodies of water they encountered if t
hey were being followed by any large groups of hunters. Winches were available to remove vehicles blocking the roads if there was time and not too many obstructions. Otherwise they planned to use bolt cutters and chain saws to quickly bring down fences and foliage to make their own paths around the blockages.

  Luke listened to David, Chad, and some of the other leaders discuss ideas and refine the plan they were going to use to reach Fort Wayne without saying a word, but when everyone began filing out of what had become the command center for the operation he approached David with a suggestion. “I’ve looked over the maps of the Fort Wayne area and I have an idea I want you to consider.”

  “Go on,” David encouraged.

  “The Saint Mary’s River makes a big loop westward before turning back to the northeast and Fort Wayne. At the farthest edge of that loop we’re only about two miles from the city airport.”

  Luke waited for David to anticipate what he was about to propose, but after ten seconds of silence he explained, “I want to head that way and take a look, preferably with Marcus and Bobby. There’s an Air Guard base there that used to fly A-10s, so I’m assuming the place might be a point of interest for whoever’s flying the helicopters. This might be one of the best opportunities we have for finding some answers about them, and we might not get a better chance. Besides, if we could keep those birds on the ground while we assault Fort Wayne we’ll probably face fewer infected.”

  As expected, David’s first thought was that this operation was far too risky for anyone, let alone the teen he felt so protective of. But the more he considered the idea the more he had to admit that the potential payoff was worth the risk. A small team, experienced at making their way undetected through a post-outbreak urban landscape, would probably be able to reach the site without incident, especially if they made their approach at night. The choppers might not be using the airport, but the Air Guard base would have fuel and other supplies. It would also be surrounded by a big fence, so that’s where he’d have the helicopters based if he was charged with keeping an eye on northern Indiana. David hated giving the responsibility for this operation to anyone other than himself, but he couldn’t even walk without pain in his side, and he knew that Luke was the best soldier he had. Combine the youth’s instincts and fighting ability with Bobby and Marcus’ experience and they were undeniably the best people for the job.

  David finally responded, “And what about Gracie?”

  Luke gave a small smile, “She knows it’s a good plan; we worked it out together. I’ve talked to Bobby too, and he said that Marcus wouldn’t miss it for the world. We need to give it a try. How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not on some kind of suicide mission in this new world? I plan on killing these monsters for a long, long time.”

  David couldn’t keep a smile from his own face as he impulsively gave the young man a hug, realizing in the brief moment they touched that Luke had grown another inch or two. “You three stick together from now until we get to your jumping-off point, and until we get there I expect you to talk your way through every scenario you can imagine.”

  Luke promised, “We’ll do this right. Just take the ground we need in Fort Wayne and don’t spend one second worrying about what we’ll be doing at the airport.”

  David chuckled, “Yeah, right. Someday you’ll have a son and realize how ridiculous that suggestion is.” He thought of Jack, and of Jerry, and wondered if they would approve of his decision. “I’ll be worried about you, but I’ll also get my job done. Anyway, I’m putting Chad in charge once we hit the river, seeing as how he has so much more experience and most of the fighters will be his people. I’ll keep Gracie and Christy with me. You get into trouble out there you give us a call. Fort Wayne’s my town, and Christy’s the best post-apocalypse driver in the world. Gracie’s a better shot than me. We’ll find a way to come and get you if you need us, especially since most of the hunters in the area will probably be trying to fight us at the Headwaters.”

  Luke nodded his understanding and added, “Tell Chad to kill ‘em all.”

  When the final head count was taken, sixty-two fighters had volunteered for the Fort Wayne mission, realizing that their own long term survival on Middle Bass, or wherever they eventually settled, depended on their alliance with The Castle, and by extension, Utah. The islanders would still squeak by this winter in spite of the new arrivals from the east, but eventually they would all be dependent on the farm fields of northern Ohio and Indiana. Chad Greenburg may have lost his fortress and over fifty people in the Buffalo attack, but nobody seemed to blame him for the disaster. He and his closest officers had fought like madmen against impossible odds, which allowed most of the refugees to escape the trap. He was universally respected, and every soldier was more than willing to follow the crafty veteran into battle.

  David’s main concern with the soldiers volunteering for the mission was their lack of appropriate arms and armor. Chad’s fighters had almost exclusively relied upon firearms in their previous battles with the infected, and their ammo supply was perilously depleted. Most of the troops had leather or denim jackets and thick gloves, but none of them had any helmets. Luckily for them, Father O’Brien had ordered all helmets found during the course of their salvage operations around the lake to be brought back and stored for anybody who might need them in the future. Pants and footwear were reinforced with everything from thin metal strips to duct-tape, and by the time of their departure for the mainland every soldier headed to Fort Wayne was better protected than they had been when they arrived on the island.

  The cagey old priest hadn’t neglected arms in his searches either. The same small warehouse that held the helmets and other protective gear also stored skull-crushing weapons of all sorts. Baseball bats had large nails driven through their ends, garden implements had been modified to kill, axes of many makes and models were available, as well as hundreds of knives ranging in size from daggers to swords. The only thing not to be found in the makeshift armory was a single shield, so David set everyone not already engaged in some other form of preparation to fashioning the protective devices out of any lightweight but strong materials they could get their hands on. He wished there was time to train in the shield-wall tactics he’d seen on the practice yard at The Castle, but Sergeant Greenburg’s veteran fighters understood the basics once they were explained to them. David knew that the volunteers were novices to the close-quarters combat they would almost certainly face during the mission ahead, and he realized that some of them would probably pay dearly for their lack of experience, but the ability to learn while doing had gotten most of these people this far and would hopefully take them the rest of the way in safety.

  One of the benefits of having so many people from the region gathered in one place was that there was no trouble finding individuals who knew northwest Ohio like the backs of their hands. Truck drivers, especially, were certain they could lead the convoy from Toledo to Fort Wayne regardless of how many detours they might have to take to get to their destination. Once the soldiers obtained the vehicles they needed in Perrysburg, they could then access US 24 on the edge of town and try to bull their way through all obstacles between them and the St. Mary’s River.

  By midnight they were on the yachts and heading out into the open water of Lake Erie. The Castle had been informed of their plan, and the soldiers there were preparing to join the fight once David’s forces had reached the Headwaters in downtown Fort Wayne. Communications between the two groups would be tricky. For as long as possible the expedition from Middle Bass would send updates to the island with their small, tactical radios, and from there the messages would be forwarded on to The Castle. Eventually David’s troops would be unable to reach even the powerful radio on the island, and at that point they wouldn’t be able to resume communications until the river-borne soldiers approached to within thirty miles of Jack’s receivers. Nobody liked this arrangement, but there was simply no other option with the resources available.

  The trip f
rom Middle Bass to Toledo passed without incident, and at dawn the expedition was ready to go ashore just north of Perrysburg. Despite rearming and attempting to armor themselves from the island’s stores, Sergeant Greenburg’s soldiers were not as well trained as David’s fighters, and didn’t have the silenced .22s all of the troops from Indiana carried. David intended to protect the volunteers as much as possible for as long as he could, so the decision had been made that Luke, Christy, Marcus, and Bobby would each lead a team of four soldiers onto the unfamiliar and presumably hostile shore. Once a beachhead was safely established the rest of the force would follow.

  The landings were accomplished quietly and quickly, with the only infected encountered being zombies with capabilities far below those of hunters, and in packs of no more than three. These monsters were summarily dispatched and soon the entire expedition was ashore and headed toward the auto dealership. Twenty minutes later they arrived on the lot and found that it was still filled with vehicles that would fit their needs. Once again they were reminded of how fast the virus had spread. The vast majority of Americans didn’t have the opportunity to take any effective action to save themselves and their families. Stores across the country had been hastily looted during the days of anarchy following the collapse of local governments, but the chaos on the roads and streets, coupled with the loss of electrical power, had severely limited people’s ability to utilize their vehicles. The end result was that cars and trucks and gasoline could still be found in abundance by people still alive, if they had any idea how to use them without being heard by the new apex predator on the planet.