Dead Life (Book 3)

by Schleicher, D Harrison

  “The rest of the report dealt with the government's plans on fighting the zombies. The details of which you'll be advised of when the time comes. Right now our job is to keep this airfield open and protect the Pentagon employees and their families. That's all I've got Captain. Any questions?”

  “No sir.”

  “Good. Report back to your unit. The fence is done. You and your men can help finish building the shooting towers. From what I've heard, Fredericksburg and Richmond are reporting infestations. The cities will fall soon. When that happens the hordes will be headed this way. Somehow these zombies know where people are congregated. We have a day or two at best. You're dismissed.”

  “Thank you sir.”

  I'd read the report and knew that in a day the General and the rest of the upper brass would be leaving the base. Most of us here weren't considered to be essential personnel. They wanted us here to keep the airfield open. Bases across the country were making the same preparations we were. The military wanted a series of airfields open to run bombing missions from. The plan was to fire bomb the hordes of zombies. The Army had decided the zombies couldn't be stopped with ground forces. In other parts of the world, nations had tried fighting using traditional combat techniques and had failed.

  The plan the government was trying to implement required ground forces to establish safe zones within the cities. Defensible buildings or areas for refugees to congregate until evacuation was possible. The problem I saw with the plan was they hadn't designated anywhere to take the evacuees after they left the safe zones. That's why I was going to see Colonel Bradley. If we could bring them here and to other bases throughout the country we could use the able bodied to supplement our combat forces. I had my driver take me to the airfield. The Colonel would most likely be there. His new responsibilities included working with the Air Force preparing the fighter jets for bombing runs. I found him in a briefing room readying his men for deployment. He was just finishing with his men when I found him.

  “Colonel, can I have a minute of your time?”

  “Make it quick Captain. I have to get back to headquarters.”

  “Sir, I was wondering if I could send the buses we used to bring the Pentagon personnel here to Richmond and Fredericksburg?”

  “What for?”

  “I was thinking we could evacuate the people from the safe zones and bring them here.”

  “It's too late for that. The safe zones we established in both cities have been overrun. I sent three

  CH 47 Chinook helicopters to Richmond to begin bringing back survivors. By the time they got there, the safe zones had fallen. The choppers diverted to Fredericksburg to find the same situation.”

  “What happens now sir?”

  “We prepare for the hordes.”

  “Sir, do we know if they're even headed this way?”

  “Yes Captain, aerial reconnaissance has the horde from Fredericksburg headed this way. There are five thousand zombies coming straight at us from the north.”

  “That's a lot of zombies sir. Will we be able to hold them off?”

  “We'll have to. The horde from Richmond is five times as large. As of now, they seem to be headed this way too. From the looks of things, they won't make it here for two days. I'm trying to get permission to send a group of bombers to stop them before they get here.”

  “Why not take out the horde from Fredericksburg with the bombers?”

  “Our planes are committed elsewhere. I've only got so much fire power. Shit son, I still haven't gotten clearance to attack the Richmond horde. We're spread pretty thin as it is. Every major city is full of zombies. As of yet, we haven't started bombing the metropolitan areas.”

  “Then how are we going to stop zombies?”

  “I honestly don't think we can. Going in on the ground doesn't work. There's just too many of them. The General has decided the only course of action is to wait for the hordes to leave the cities then bomb them.”

  “When the hordes form, do all the zombies leave the cities?”

  “No, but most do. Some stay behind. We don't understand their behavior fully. There seems to be a group mentality to them. You ever see locusts swarm?”

  “Only on TV sir.”

  “From what I've been told, they behave like locusts swarming. They eat everything in their path. Some stay behind and finish off what's left while the rest move on. The zombies that remain in the city usually have a food source trapped and won't leave. That's where the ground troops come into play. Once the main group leaves, they'll go in and clean up what's left behind.”

  “Look, we thought we could hold the safe zones. We were wrong. A lot of civilians lost their lives because of it. The General just came up with this plan today. I don't know if it will work. I figure it's better than doing nothing. Once the zombies are clear of the cities my men will bomb the hell out of them. Then we'll go in and look for survivors.”

  “Will we do a house to house search?”

  “Not exactly. What we'll do is look for zombies. These things know where people are hiding. They smell them or hear them. I don't know how they know where people are. They just know. My men tell me the best way to find survivors is to find homes or buildings with zombies outside of them. The more zombies you find outside the more people you'll find inside. It's almost like a dog with a bone. They won't let go and once they have you trapped somewhere they'll never leave. They just keep trying to get at you as if they have all the time in the world.”

  “What do you want me to do next, sir”

  “Get those towers finished. When they're done, we can get machine guns set up on top of them and get them manned.”

  “Yes sir. I was wondering, do we have any heavy machinery here?”

  “Like what Captain?”

  “Backhoes, plows, things like that?”

  “Yes we do.”

  “I was thinking we could dig some trenches. Force the zombies into corridors. Line them up for the machine gunners in the towers. Maybe even rig some mines.”

  “That's a good idea. Get started on that. The towers are almost done anyway.”

  “Yes sir. I'll get right on it.”

  We had built ten towers so the men and I went to work digging ten trenches. There was a tower on each end of the runway, one by each road. Then there were four towers, evenly spaced, on both sides of the airfield. We had four plows and three backhoes. Hopefully that would be enough machinery to get the job done. Finding experienced men to run the plows and backhoes turned out to be a problem. I had two men that could operate the heavy machinery so I had them start training five other soldiers to help out. After half an hour we were ready to go to work.

  The trenches needed to be one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet long. I wanted them at least eight feet deep with the dirt from the trenches piled on the side away from the airfield. This I hoped would make them impassible. By the time it started getting dark, we only had six trenches done. I had some large incandescent construction lights brought out and we prepared to work through the night. The Colonel sent his engineers out and they began mining the open areas between the trenches. With it being dark, progress slowed but I knew we'd get done. We had to. Around two in the morning, the trenches were done. All that was left was finishing mining the firing corridors between the trenches. Colonel Bradley sent word that the horde coming from Fredericksburg was still about seven hours away. The engineers were almost done with the mines so I had my men call it a night. Unless otherwise notified, we'd be manning the towers at seven that morning. We headed for our tents hoping to get around four hours sleep.

  Two hours later I woke to the sounds of gunfire.

  Chapter 9

  We went back to the house. Gina was on the porch watching the road to the house. She had a shotgun with her, a pistol, and a sword she was sharpening.

  “What the hell are you going to do with that?” I angrily asked her.

  Gina pointed to the road and calmly replied, “Kill zombies.”


  There were four dead zombies scattered around the yard in front of the house.

  “I don't want you getting that close to them if you don't have to.” I said. “Use your gun.”

  “Aw, my poor baby. Are you the only one allowed to use the sword?” She asked.

  “Well, it is my signature weapon.”

  “That's it. I'm not listening to this.” Al said and went into the house followed closely by Rick and Les.

  “I've got lots of swords. I collect them. You can all have one if you want.” Les said as the door closed behind him.

  “Well, all the fun just went out of all this.” I said as I sat next to Gina.

  “Look honey, we don't want to draw any attention to ourselves. You said so yourself. Swords are quiet and effective. And I'm pretty good with one, if I say so myself.”

  “I just don't like the idea of you getting so close to them.”

  “Believe me. I have no intention of going into a horde of zombies with just a sword. One or two at a time, I can handle.”

  “Dinner's ready.” We heard from in the house.

  “You wait here. I'll go get us some plates.” Gina said.

  We sat on the porch and ate our dinner. It was nice to have a home cooked meal. We weren't making very good time getting to Boonville but we were eating good on the way. Halfway through dinner, Gina spotted a zombie coming down the road. She insisted on killing it herself so she started down the road with her new sword. I called Al to the door so he could watch. I also wanted him there in case things went bad. Al picked up my rifle and aimed at the zombie. Gina stopped about five feet from the slowly approaching zombie and waited for it to get closer. It took two more steps and she moved to her right, brought the sword back, and chopped the zombie's head off.

  “At least she's got enough sense to make sure her sword's sharp before trying to saw off some guy's head.” Al said.

  I knew he was making a dig at me from the first time I tried using my sword. I gave him the finger and he laughed. He handed my rifle back to me and went inside. Gina turned around, smiled from ear to ear, and waved at me. I waved back and she started walking back to the porch. The wooded area surrounding the farm and landing strip came close to the road where Gina had just killed the zombie. She was walking toward me when three zombies came out of the woods behind her. Two were stumbling along but one came at her at a full run. I jumped off the porch and started running to Gina. She realized something was wrong and turned around just before the running zombie got to her. Gina didn't have time to raise her sword for a head or neck shot but was able to move left and drag her sword across it's torso. The zombie ran past her as it's entrails fell to the ground and drug along behind him. Gina let her momentum carry her around and as the same zombie came to a stop, she brought her sword down on top of it's head. I could tell Gina was a little worked up when she attacked the slow moving zombies. The one closest to her lost his left leg right at the knee. Before he hit the ground, she struck the next one in the neck removing his head. By this time I'd reached her. She stormed past me.

  “You finish it. I want to finish my dinner. They smell so bad I'm losing my appetite.”

  “Yes, dear.” I said sheepishly.

  I gave the legless zombie a quick hack to the head with my sword. It's brains spilled around his head. I followed Gina back to the porch. I couldn't help wonder why all the blood with the heads rolling about and guts slopping around on the ground didn't bother her as much as the smell. I got back to the porch and sat down next to Gina. She was staring straight ahead and had resumed eating her dinner.

  “Are you okay, honey?”

  “Yeah, I'm just sick of these fucking bastards. I can't even finish a meal. These people need to get the hell out of here. It's just too close to the highway.”

  “You're right. Les needs to think about moving his family some place else.”

  “We'll talk to him about it. I don't feel safe spending the night here.”

  “I don't feel safe spending the night anywhere. We'll have to have someone stay up and pull guard duty.”

  We went inside and talked to Les. They had a cabin three miles further down the gravel road leading to the farm. We could all go there for the night. It was secluded and far enough away that we should be safe for the night. We took the Hummer and Les' truck and all of us went to the cabin. Gina, Cindy, Al and I rode in the Hummer and Rick rode with Les and his family. The cabin was a large one room building with plenty of room for everyone. We'd just be using our sleeping bags and sleeping on the floor.

  Rick insisted on taking the first watch. He swore up and down he would be fine. He said there was “no way he'd ever fall asleep on watch ever again.” Al finally relented and let Rick take first watch. He'd take the second and I'd take the third.

  It felt like I'd only been asleep for a minute when Al shook me awake. I followed him outside.

  “It's been quiet. I haven't seen anything all night.”

  “Maybe we got far enough away. Do you think they can smell us or hear us?”

  “Probably both.” Al said. “The sat phone in the Hummer was ringing a few hours ago so I answered it. Your son told me to tell you hello.”

  “Is that all?”

  “No, he said they were headed for Fort Leonard Wood. He wants you to meet him there.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I told him I'd talk to you. It sounds like it might be a good idea. It is pretty far off the beaten path and there is lots of wooded land around there. Shit Steve, I don't think it matters where we go. Eventually, the zombies are going to show up.”

  “He was at Fort A.P. Hill. Did he say what happened there?”

  “It was about to be overrun by zombies. They bugged out.”

  “Did he say anything else?”

  “No, your sat phone died. It's got a charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Did you ever think of actually using it?”

  “It was fully charged when we left the store. I thought it would be okay for a few days.”

  “It's been a few days. I plugged it in. I'm going to bed.”

  Al went inside and left me alone. It was a clear night and the moon was almost full. The woods had been cleared around the cabin so if anything came at us, I should have plenty of time to do something about it. The rest of the night I spent walking around the cabin. If I walked real slow, it took two minutes to do a lap around the cabin. Then I'd pace back and forth in front six times, do another lap, and then sit on the steps for five minutes. I must have done this a thousand times before the sun came up. I waited another hour and then woke everyone up.

  Al and I wanted to get Les' plane gassed up and back to his farm so we could get back on the road. Gina was getting anxious to find out if her dad was okay and she really wanted us to get a move on. The ride back to the house was an eventful one. Zombies were making their way down the heavily wooded road towards the cabin. Les made the mistake of taking the lead in his truck. The trees lining the gravel road to the cabin were so close to the road that they left no room for me to pass Les' truck. He was forced to run down at least a dozen zombies on the way back to his house. When we came out of the woods and into the open field that held Les' house and airfield, I was shocked at the number of zombies that had made their way to the home.

  We spent the next hour killing the unending line of zombies making their way to the farm. They reminded me of snails. It was if they were following each others slime trail to us. Al and I talked about it and we decided it probably wasn't our smell they were following. Instead, they followed each others. Once one zombie found you, others would soon follow. It made sense to me but who really knew. All that mattered was that these fuckers were everywhere. There was no way Les, Marla, and their kids would be able to stay here.

  Gina and I took Les back to the plane and helped him gas it up. The ride back to the plane was a slow one due to the fact that we had to shoot dozens of zombies along the road. I radioed back to Al letting him know what was goin
g on. There would be zombies coming at them from the other direction and they'd need to watch for them. We got to the plane and Les gassed it up while Gina and I watched for zombies. There were only a few by the plane so we took care of them with our swords. I had to admit, Gina was pretty good with hers and I was getting better with mine. She took down three of the zombies with quick head chops then ham stringed the next two and severed their heads as they lay on the ground. I was more comfortable taking them out while they were still standing. When you dropped them by taking out their legs, there was always the risk of dulling your sword by hitting the ground with your blade after severing the head.

  We helped Les turn the plane around to give him a clear runway down the highway. He got the Cessna airborne and Gina and I got in the Hummer and headed back to the farm. We didn't encounter any more zombies until we got to the road heading to the farm so the return trip was a quick one. When we got back, Les and his family were busy loading both planes with whatever possessions they could fit. They had another farm fifty miles south of here and were going to try staying there for a while. It was further from populace areas and they hoped for better luck staying there.

  Once we had both planes loaded, we said our good-byes and they prepared to leave. Les would fly one plane and Marla would fly the other. Everyone in the family knew how to fly a plane. Even the youngest girl knew. What a life that must be. They lived in the country, owned two farms, ran a dust cropping business, and flew planes where ever they wanted to go. Cindy said Marla had told Gina Les had won a few million dollars in the lottery a few years back and they decided to escape the city life. They bought the two farms, got their pilot's licenses, and started the dust cropping business just to keep busy. Les hated the city but didn't mind hard work. The farm was just starting to show a profit when the plague hit. Life sucks like that.

  Les invited us to go with them. We declined, having other places to get to. Les and Marla said good-bye and flew off. The planes turned and made one last pass overhead, each dipping their wings in a final wave, then headed south.