by Brown, TW
So, some idiot commander of whatever military unit she would happen upon was likely to drop his guard if word came that Wanda’s group had the president’s daughter. By the time they knew what hit them, she would assimilate all who were of the right mind and do away with the dregs. It was all about survival now.
That was why she hadn’t killed that scrawny little brainiac, Kevin Dreon. He held a commodity that was in short supply: the ability to think outside the box and create a survivable scenario. She should have been more careful with him. Perhaps she should have tried a more gentle approach.
But when one of her patrols told her that Willa had been spotted, she had let her anger overwhelm her intellect. Now she had let a valuable resource slip away. But at least she was rid of that damned retard.
“Damn,” she whispered. She already knew what her mistake had been. She also knew that, after two days, there would be nothing to find when she got back. Well, it couldn’t be helped now.
It was time to hit the ‘reset’ button and start from square one. Up ahead were the wasted remains of a small town. The signs (the ones still standing or hanging anyway) had declared that this should be Conesville. It wasn’t difficult to deduce the cause of the devastation. To the east of town, across a small river, sat a big power plant. Thankfully, it was not of the nuclear variety.
She had heard that, in the final days of communication, the government had ordered all nuke facilities shut down to try and minimize the potential for disaster. She had heard that some had actually been successful. However, shutting down a nuclear power facility is not like simply turning off a switch and calling it good. And if the amount of devastation that she saw here was any indication of what could go wrong when a conventional plant went haywire, she wanted no part of the other.
Still, the broken buildings of the American Electric Supply facility sat in a pretty good spot. The river bowed around like a natural barricade for three sides with what looked like only one bridge providing access. There was a train bridge, but it was the type with open air between each wooden slat. A few zombies could be seen sticking up at odd angles across the span. A grouping of large hills sat at the back. She could plant her flag here and hold it.
She began barking orders, occasionally dressing somebody down if they were not moving with the speed and efficiency that she demanded. I need to instill absolute obedience from this point forward, she thought as she alternated between setting up her own field tent and observing the troops.
It was not enough to simply be ruthless. Leaders like that tended to have “accidents” in the field. She had to balance her strict discipline with rewards and even occasional praise. To that end, she decided that it was time to select her staff. All this time on the road had inflicted enough casualties to decimate the old chain-of-command. Besides, they had managed to scoop up a few civilians along the way who were meshing nicely with the new order.
Once her tent was in place—this she always did herself to show that she was not above rolling up her sleeves and working—Major Beers pulled out the last muster list. There had been three desertions in the past forty-eight hours. Yep, she thought, it was time to make some changes.
2
The Geek’s First Decision
Kevin slid down the hill. It started out controlled, but the steepness eventually took over. His foot caught something hidden in the snow and he flipped sideways and began to roll. The ice-crusted surface cracked and groaned under the weight of his body, but had not yet broken open. Ahead of him, Valarie slid on her stomach and seemed to be enjoying it! She was apparently oblivious to the hundreds of undead that were just now reaching the edge of the hill and tumbling gracelessly over in pursuit.
Reaching the bottom, he struggled to his feet. He looked around and could not see Valarie. His heart leapt to his throat until she stood up a few yards away and began shaking the snow out of her hair and brushing it from her coat.
Leaping forward, he did his best to gather his bearings. Despite having made this journey before, the fact that everything was coated in white prevented him from having any concrete idea as to where he might be. Finally, off in the distance he saw the welcome sight of one of those large signs that you find mounted over a highway.
Bounding towards Valarie, Kevin risked a glance over his shoulder. They were still coming over the crest of the hill. If he had to guess, he would venture to say that there had to be at least a few thousand in pursuit.
He took her hand as he started towards the green beacon that stood out in the white and gray of the landscape. The words were impossible to make out from this distance, but he didn’t care at the moment where he was heading, he simply wanted to give the horde on his heels the slip.
Valarie did a surprisingly good job of keeping up. Every so often she would slow down, but as long as Kevin kept urging her, she followed without hesitation.
As they reached the top of a gentle slope, Kevin took the opportunity to look back. They had opened considerable distance on the wall of undeath. The zombies were having a far worse time navigating the snow. Also, as an odd but welcome bonus, the front of the pack was creating a wave of snow that was building in front of them. And while Kevin had seen firsthand the amazing amount of damage that a concentrated group of undead could wreak on an area, the snow was turning into an actual barrier. Hopefully it would grow high enough to obscure their vision, he found himself wishing.
However, he was not foolish enough to count on such things. He gave a slight tug on Valarie’s hand. This time, she did not budge. He glanced at her to discover that she was staring off to the right. Kevin looked, his heart daring to hope. In the books and movies, this would be where he conveniently crossed paths with his friends that he had sent on ahead. Just once, let this be like the movies, he prayed to whatever might be answering those calls these days.
He turned and scanned the horizon. He didn’t see anything other than more snow. The landscape was unremarkable. Nothing was moving. He looked back at Valarie who still seemed intent on the distant hills of white that were in the opposite direction of the sign that he was pretty sure would put them back on Highway 16. That was the road back to Newark and towards Willa’s group. That was where he sent his friends. That was where he needed to go.
He tugged again, but this time, Valarie pulled away and started walking in the direction that she had been looking. Another look back at the oncoming zombie wave offered little comfort. They were not moving fast, but they were still coming. To make matters just a bit worse, Valarie’s path would actually angle them towards the horde.
“We can’t go that way, Valarie,” Kevin called, moving to get around in front of the girl.
She stopped and stared up at him with her chocolate-brown eyes that almost matched her skin tone. Her face broke into that smile that made him think of his sister. He didn’t know what it was about people affected with Down’s, but they had a smile that shot from their eyes and went straight to your heart.
“We need to go this way,” Valarie insisted.
Okay, Kevin thought, so far, the mantra about how things were not like in the movies had held true. Yet, wasn’t this about the time when people started tapping into their psychic abilities? Besides, Valarie was already known to have delusions about dead people talking to her. Maybe this was that moment.
“Is somebody telling you that we need to go that way?” Kevin asked.
“No,” Valarie’s face scrunched up and she looked around. “I am alone with you. Who else is there?”
Hmm, scratch that. “Okay then, “ Kevin said with a nod as he cast another glance at the wall of undead that were still coming despite this little scene break. “Why do we need to go that way?”
“If we go back up that hill over there, we can go behind the monsters and get Shari.”
Kevin felt his chest tighten. He’d had to put a bolt from his crossbow into her head. He’d used a sleeper hold to but her out first. But then he had covered her face and shot her. She’d busted her
leg to the point where she could no longer walk. The house they were in was surrounded and there was no way she would make it out. Rather than let her be eaten, he’d killed her.
His mind would not let him try to find a nicer word to place on it. It hadn’t been murder. She’d insisted. She knew that her fate was sealed. She knew she was going to die and had chosen a quick death versus being eaten alive.
“Shari is gone, Valarie,” Kevin placed his hands on the girl’s arms and looked into her eyes. “She won’t be coming back.”
“But she promised that she would stay with me,” Valarie insisted. She looked up at Kevin with that childlike innocence. It was the same look he saw every time he thought about his sister.
Kevin wondered if she had continued to insist that he was coming back. He wondered if, just maybe, somebody was taking care of her wherever she was at.
She’s dead, you idiot, a voice in his head screamed, and you will be too if you don’t move your ass!
“She couldn’t come,” Kevin insisted, pulling Valarie just slightly in an attempt to get her to start coming his way.
“But she promised,” Valarie repeated as a tear welled up and cascaded down her cheek.
“I know, and she is really sorry. But she asked me to have you watch over her little sister for her since she can’t make it,” Kevin said in a burst of inspiration.
Valarie dropped her head in surrender, but at least she was moving in the right direction. Kevin gradually got their speed up again to open the distance once more. He figured he might need all the cushion he could manage in case something else came up.
Fortunately, they made it to the highway. The first thing that Kevin noticed was the tracks from his and Peter’s trip, They were a bit faded and snow blown, but he was pretty certain that there weren’t too many other people to have passed this way on a snowmobile.
Not only that, but evidence of another herd passing this way could be seen once he started toward the sign. From the looks of it, they had come from across the median and then started towards Newark. That was probably the group that had forced him and Willa to abandon their Snow Cat. The good thing about them having come through was that it would make travel easier. Unfortunately, that would also hold true for the zombies still on their trail. He had to find a way to ditch them.
There was another overpass in the distance beyond the one they would be going under. He looked back and tried to gauge his lead. He might be able to pull it off, but it was going to mean that Valarie would need to do exactly as he asked.
Continuing to look back as he half jogged and half speed walked the distance that got them to the base of the slope that they would need to climb, Kevin began to feel just a teensy bit of relief. The zombies had not come into view yet. Logic would say that as long as he could not see them, they could not see him.
“Okay, up the hill, Valarie,” Kevin tried to make it sound like this was going to be the most fun thing in the world.
“Can we rest for a while, I’m tired,” Valarie sniffed.
“As soon as we get to the top of that hill, I am going to let you sit down. In fact, you can even take a nap if you want.”
“I can’t take a nap up there. It is in the middle of outside,” Valarie argued.
“Pretend we’re camping,” Kevin said as he tightened his grip on her hand and started up.
It wasn’t as difficult as he’d imagined. The snow was almost knee deep and actually helped to support the backs of their legs as they climbed. When they reached the top, Kevin kept his eyes looking back. So far they were still obstructed from view. Now, as long as the stupid zombies didn’t track them by their trail in the snow and the obvious path they took climbing onto this overpass…they might get lucky.
He considered his plan again once they made it over the retaining wall. They could just keep running and hope for something to distract the zombies, or maybe they would come upon Aleah and the others and the group could devise something.
He glanced over at Valarie and was amazed to discover that she was asleep. Her chin had drooped down to her chest and she was breathing the slow, deep, regular pattern of somebody on a visit to ‘La-La Land’. He marveled at her ability to disconnect so suddenly and completely. Not for the first time, he wondered how she had survived as long as she had all by herself.
Small town or not, she had co-existed with quite a few of the walking dead. Granted, she was one of those who displayed immunity to the bite—and had the scars to prove it—but if enough of them got you at once, immunity was not going to help. Of course, she had cut the legs off of all the zombies in town, so keeping away from them had not proved too great of a challenge.
Kevin pulled the bag from his shoulder. He had managed to collect a few things in the short while since he had left his group to find Shari and Valarie. He’d even managed to scoop a few things from a house just after Major Beers and her army left. It wasn’t much, but there was one thing in particular that he had found that he wanted to take a look at. In the bedroom on the nightstand had been a small prescription bottle of Ambien. After finding the bottle, he took a peek over the side of the overpass. Sure enough, the horde was headed his way. He ducked back down, not sure how acute their vision might be.
He glanced at Valarie and his eyes began to water involuntarily. Images of his little sister flooded his mind before he could slam the lid shut on the box that they were carefully stored in.
***
“Yes, I’ve seen the news, Mom,” Kevin said as he moved from room to room in his home. He was pretty sure that everything he might need had already been packed when he’d first made his ‘bug out’ bags.
“Don’t get that tone with me Kevin Walter Dreon,” his mother snapped in his ear.
Great, she’s pulling out the middle name while the whole freaking world is about to come apart, he thought.
“Mom, I’m not trying to get any tone with you,” Kevin tried to sound contrite. He was never very good at it, especially when he was agitated. “But you need to listen to me. The news is not just over-blowing something. This is not a plot by the crazy liberals to divert the American people from the issues. What you are seeing on television is real. You and Sara need to head to the cabin and stay there.”
“But zombies, Kevin?” his mother said with practiced skepticism.
Seriously, was she not watching the same television news stories that had been running on a constant loop the past several hours? Hell, reporters from CNN and Fox News were working together and sharing footage. That had to be a sign of the end of the world.
The media could call it “Blue Death” or whatever clever little slogan they wanted to use for their banners, but this was going to end bad for humanity. That was something that Kevin was certain of as he glanced at the television to see that CDC doctor, Linda Singh, come on and deny that there was a problem for the hundredth time in the past few hours.
“I’ll show you adolescent fantasy,” Kevin grumbled.
“What!” his mother’s voice was shrill in his ear.
“Nothing, Mom. Just do what I tell you on this one.”
“Also, your sister is here. Maybe you could talk to her.”
He recognized the tone. That meant that Sara was having what his mother referred to as “one of her episodes.” The reality was that she simply did not know how to deal with the girl. In fact, it was sort of ironic that Sara and Kevin had bonded so completely after the way he had initially acted when she was brought home.
“What is she doing?” Kevin asked with genuine concern.
“Actually…it is what she won’t do. She won’t talk, she won’t eat. And if I try to touch her she throws herself on the floor and holds her breath until she passes out.”
Kevin tried to keep the smile out of his voice. On his last visit, Sara told him that she saw a boy in a store do that until his mom bought him a toy. Not thinking, he had said, “Well, next time Mom is not listening to you…try it.”
People tended to think that jus
t because Sara had Down’s that she was stupid. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, what she lacked in her ability with what you might consider “traditional” school learning, she more than made up for in sheer cleverness.
“Put her on the phone.”
He heard his mother cover the receiver and call for his sister. There was a pause, then some muffled conversation before he heard her voice in his ear.
“Kevvy?” She had always had problems with the “in” part of his name for some reason.
“You okay, Sara?” he asked in a voice that he used on nobody else but his little sister.
“Mama won’t let me watch the television. She says it is broken, but I hear it every single time I go in my room. I wanna watch my cartoons.”
“Tell ya what,” Kevin made his voice sound like he was about to deliver a big secret. “I will talk to Mom, but I want you to do me a very big favor.”
“Okay, Kevvy,” Sara agreed.
“You and Mom are gonna take a long drive. I want you to be really good for her. And once you get in the car, I want you to stay in there until you get to the lake. Will you do that for me?”
“But we aren’t going to the lake until you come home to visit.”
“I know that, but I will meet you there.”
Kevin felt a twinge of shame. He knew damn well where he was headed, and it wasn’t the lake. He’d been to a few survivalist camps in the past four years. The last one had made the greatest impression. One of the core teachings was that, in the event of a real catastrophe, the worst thing that you could do is go into seclusion with family.
“Just how do you propose to repopulate when everybody with you is a relative. Also, if you put all the eggs in one basket and that basket falls…what happens to all the eggs inside?” the instructor had barked during the seminar portion of the camp.
Kevin’s mind was a stickler for logic. Everything that this man said made perfect sense. As painful as it was, he was sending his family to the safest place he could think that they might actually go. Meanwhile, he had other plans.