by Brown, TW
The face that turned up to him almost caused him to freeze. It was like any other zombie, but for the briefest of seconds, he was sure that he saw something register on its face. Could it have been fear? The machete came down and split the head almost in two.
Turning around, he half-expected to find himself surrounded my more of the little monsters. He was only partially relieved when there was nothing. But that was only partially true. From all directions, he could see singles and small groups of the undead converging on this newest stimulus. Considering the size of the blast, he expected that they would be coming for miles.
He was within sight of the cemetery when he heard the first scream. Quickening his pace, Kevin’s eyes scanned for two things: movement and a place to hide. He found a clump of shrubs about ten yards from the fence that surrounded the cemetery and tried to see anybody or anything.
It seemed that everybody was on the far side of the ridge. He could barely make out the roof of the stone crypt entrance; Catie was no longer perched up there; not that he actually had expected her to have remained up there the entire time he was gone.
Moving cautiously, he could hear more yelling, but it was now sounding like taunts and jeers. Yet, every few seconds, there would be a shout that sounded like somebody in pain. As he climbed the fence, he was almost positive that he heard Heather yelling “Stop it!”
He hurried up the long, gentle incline and reached the top prepared for a fight. He had no idea with who or what, but his weapon was drawn and he thought he was ready for anything.
He wasn’t.
Hanging upside down from one of the blackened monuments that looked like an angel with spread wings was a man. His hands were bound and he was tied by the ankles, his head about three or four inches from the ground. Surrounding him and in a frenzy were several of the children. Many of them held long sticks or clubs and were batting at the man like a meat piñata.
Heather looked frantic, running from one child to the next, trying to get them to stop. Aleah was doing the same, but Catie was nowhere to be seen. Sean was in the midst of the children, egging them on.
Kevin cleared his throat as he made his way down the hill. Nobody seemed to notice…or care. A loud crack was followed by a grunt of pain as one of the kids connected solidly with the ribs of the man. This elicited cheers from the group and more pleas from Heather and Aleah.
“Stop,” Kevin called over the din.
Both women turned, looks of relief washing over their faces instantly. However, the children showed no signs of stopping. None of them so much as even glanced in his direction.
One of the girls, perhaps twelve years old, snatched the heavy stick that was easily as long as she was tall and almost as big around as her leg, from the boy who had just scored the hit. She swung with a form that would have made a major league baseball player proud. Kevin felt himself wince, and a little flash of sympathy pain bloomed in his groin. The man yelped, but that was quickly drowned as he vomited.
“ENOUGH!” Kevin shouted. This time, heads turned.
The kids initially looked like typical children caught in the act of committing some form of mischief. They turned to Sean and back to Kevin. By the time they had returned their attention to him, they wore the same face their leader possessed: defiance.
“This is one of them!” Sean spat.
“Says who?” Kevin waded into the group of kids surrounding Sean and the man hanging from the tree.
“He says!” Sean spat, kicking at the man’s head for emphasis.
“That’s not all he was saying,” Heather spoke quickly, forcing herself in between Sean and the target of his rage.
“He was lying!” Sean insisted, but Kevin actually saw something in the boy’s face that gave away his own lie.
“What all did he say?” Kevin asked.
“He said that one of their foraging parties was supposedly doing things that the others were not aware of, and that those men were being dealt with when the compound came under attack,” Heather started in when nobody else seemed to want to talk. “He said that there were eighty-seven men and women—three that were pregnant—in that compound. Only three of them managed to actually get out, but that he did not know if the other two were still alive because they’d been forced to split while running for their lives.”
“These are the people who killed Fish…did those terrible things to—” Sean was almost in tears.
“Stop!” Kevin barked. “Are you saying that this person, the one you are doing this to, that he was one of them?”
“Well…” Sean glanced at the man and then his eyes went to the ground. “I didn’t see any of them, but—”
“No, you don’t get to say ‘but’ when you are doing to this man what you are doing. You are either sure or you are not. Which is it?”
“I…” Sean’s voice ended in a strangled sob. Heather quickly rushed to him and wrapped the young man in her arms.
“K-k-kid,” the man coughed, causing Kevin to jump. He hadn’t realized how close he’d moved to the stranger. “Some of m-m-my men…what they did…” He began to cough again, blood flecking his lips and then beginning to trickle up his face and drip in a patter that suddenly sounded like thunder in Kevin’s ears.
“Cut him down,” Kevin ordered.
The children standing around simply stared at him. A few looked to Sean who was still being held and comforted by Heather.
“NOW!” Kevin ordered.
The spell broke and several of the children began fumbling over each other to cut the man down. None of them thought to try and catch him; or maybe they did but decided against it. The man landed with a thud and a loud exhale as all the air was forced from his lungs.
Kevin moved in amongst them, gently setting them aside and kneeling beside the man. Kevin winced at the ruin that was his face. He looked up when a rag was shoved almost in his own face. Deanna held out the wet cloth with a look that Kevin read as embarrassed.
“Thank you,” he said with a nod and tried to wipe the man’s face as gently as possible.
“You say that some of your men attacked these kids while out on a supply run?” Kevin asked. “How did you find out, and is that what we heard this morning from inside your compound?”
“A couple of Derek’s boys were drunk and one of them started running their mouth. Said something about snagging some girl and how her boyfriend tried to play the hero.”
“Fish,” a voice sobbed from behind Kevin.
“He said something about a camp that was ripe for the plucking…one of my guys heard it and told me. Derek had only been with us about a month. That was why he was sent out on a supply run with his little gang of fellow survivors. First thing we establish is if a person is ready to help the group. He came back with a helluva haul. We didn’t even think to ask—”
“That was our stuff!” Sean growled. “We had to leave almost everything behind when those bad men came.”
“And when we found out about it…we were going to find you…bring it back. We dealt with Derek and his gang.” The man was able to open one eye. Kevin was amazed at how blue it looked amidst all the purple bruising and the blood.
“Liar!” Sean screamed. He lunged at the man, but Heather held him and would not let go.
“Why would I lie about something like that…why would I walk into your camp—” the man began, but this time it was Kevin who cut him off.
“About that…what was your name? I don’t think I caught it. And how did you just mange to stroll into these kids’ camp?/ It’s not like you can MapQuest their address these days?” Kevin knelt in front of the man. He wanted to be able to look him in the eye.
“We questioned Larry, one of Derek’s men last night. We were trying to pick them off one at a time. These were some big boys. The kind you would just as soon not have to tangle with if you know what I’m saying.” The man gave a weak chuckle that turned into a cough. “And my name is Doug…Doug Smith.”
“Well I hope to be able
to say that I am pleased to meet you some day, Mr. Smith.” Kevin stood and turned to face the children, Aleah, and Heather. “Now…where is Catie?”
“She said that she saw something,” Aleah answered. “And the next time you just up and leave to go do something stupid, would you mind letting us know?”
Kevin wanted to defend his actions. A number of excuses came to mind; he didn’t want anybody else being in the area, somebody needed to stay and look after the children, and a few others drifted through his consciousness.
“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking,” is what came out of his mouth. Truthfully, he was just tired. Also, he needed to wind down from the operation and just wanted to be alone for a few minutes. He had a lot to consider.
“And what did you blow up?” Heather asked.
“A case of dynamite…oh, and an old grain silo.”
“What?” Sean pushed away from Heather. “You blew up the whole other case?”
“You know what happens to dynamite when it goes bad, kid?”
“Dynamite can go bad?” Sean got a suspicious look on his face like he believed Kevin was trying to mess with him.
“Yeah, and when it does, it sweats nitroglycerine.”
“My grandpa took that for his heart,” one of the little girls said.
“Yeah…not exactly the same thing,” Kevin explained. “This kind of nitroglycerine is really unstable. One bump or even if two pieces rub together wrong and ka-blooey! When dynamite gets old, it sweats out the nitroglycerine inside of it. All it might take is for you to sneeze.”
Kevin felt that he was exaggerating, but not by much. Sean was looking just a little bit pale. He had a feeling that the young man had made some plans with that other case of explosives.
“Now, can we get back to Catie? When did she leave? Which direction did she go?”
“I’m right here!” a voice said as the young woman came winding her way through the blackened stones to where everybody was gathered.
“Where did you run off to?” Kevin asked.
“When this guy showed up, I went to see if he brought company,” Catie explained.
“Only three of us made it out,” Doug rasped. He was sitting up now, but definitely favoring one side and his legs were splayed.
“I wasn’t talking about you and your friends.”
“How bad is it?” Kevin knew immediately what she had gone to see.
“He brought a lot of them…over a thousand is my guess. They are making their way through the fields. That big ass explosion didn’t help. It actually turned them right for us. I see five main groups. Lucky for us, the smallest one is the only one that should hit the cemetery.”
“Everybody grab anything that is of any importance!” Kevin called as he turned to face the kids. “We need to make a run for it.”
“But it’s only zombies,” one of the kids argued. “They’re slow and stupid. We see them every once in a while at the fence. We just go up and poke them. What’s the big deal?”
“Because a few of them is no big deal, but this many, they will fold that fence over like it is made out of aluminum foil. We won’t stand a chance,” Doug spoke up, pulling himself to his feet.
“We?” several voices asked in chorus.
“Look, kids, I get it. Those guys were creeps…bad guys. But you can’t just assume that every single man left alive is going to be a monster like those guys,” Doug explained. “I am here, and I’ll be damned if I would be able to just walk away and leave you kids to…that.” He gestured with his arm the way that Catie said the zombies were coming from. That caused him to wince and double over just a bit.
“There is an airport to the northwest. If we can get to the highway, we can probably hide out there for a day or two until things settle down around here,” Kevin said as he offered a shoulder for the other man to lean on.
“That is not going to work.” Catie shook her head. “There is a mob on a direct path for that area. I climbed a water tower and got a good look around. Our best bet is to move due south to a set of railroad tracks. If we follow them, they will eventually get us back up to the southern end of Valparaiso.”
“Then I guess that is where we head.” Kevin raised his hands in the air as several of the children started asking what seemed like a million questions at once. “You can’t stay here. Trust me when I tell you that these things are bad news when they are in large groups like this. They don’t feel pain and if they want to get at something, they don’t care what is done to them in the process. Like Doug here says, they will fold that fence over like nothing.”
“Why can’t we just go down below until they pass?” a voice called out from the midst of the group.
“You can, but there is no telling how long that mob could end up hanging around, and if they find a way in…then you would be trapped,” Kevin answered. “Now, we don’t have a lot of time—”
“Maybe thirty minutes,” Catie interrupted and then nodded for Kevin to continue.
“So if you are coming with us, then grab what you can carry. Remember, things get heavier after a while. You should only bring what you absolutely need. We can replace just about anything else once we get on the road.”
The children stood around for a few seconds. Sean seemed unsure and was not offering any help as the majority looked to him for answers.
“You heard them,” Deanna stepped forward. “We don’t have forever. Get your butts moving!”
For the first time, Kevin actually took a look at the young girl. Her hair was a light brown and looked like she had sawed it off with a knife just above the shoulders; her eyes were a shade of hazel that almost looked green. She had freckles across the bridge of her nose and a dimple on each cheek that remained even when she wasn’t smiling. She had long legs that looked a bit awkward and reminded him of a foal; how they almost seemed too spindly to support her frame even though the girl was extremely skinny. Yet, under that was somebody with that natural ability to take charge of a situation.
Kevin was a real believer that people were born with their abilities. All it took was the right nurturing and set of experiences to bring them out. Something told him that this girl could actually thrive in this new world. He would do his best to keep an eye on her.
The children all scrambled at her command and took off for the crypt where their belongings were stored for the most part. That left Kevin, Catie, Aleah, Heather, and Doug alone.
“I can’t begin to thank you,” Doug began as he patted Kevin on the arm and eased down to sit with his back up against one of the headstones.
“You don’t need to, but I want to make something very clear,” Kevin turned to face the man after watching Deanna heard a group of the youngest children—ages looked to be between nine and ten years old—down below to gather their things. “I don’t know you, and until I have reason, I don’t trust you. I will be watching you…and the moment I even think you might be trying to pull something…I’ll kill you. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Doug said with a nod.
“So, how did you end up letting pieces of trash like this Derek and his crew into your group?” Kevin asked as he began checking his weapons one last time before they headed out. He pulled out a canteen and took a long drink, then offered it to Doug who accepted it with a grateful nod.
“Safety in numbers. We have been taking in any who came. We figured the bad guys wouldn’t try to join us as much as they would probably try to just openly attack,” Doug explained.
It seemed a fairly reasonable assumption to Kevin. But you know what they say about when you assume anything, a voice mocked in his head. He had made a few of his own over the past several months.
“But as soon as we heard what they did, a group of us decided that we had to take them out. We grabbed the one we figured would squeal the fastest and got him to spill everything…what they did to that poor girl…that young man…and where they last saw the group of kids. Our plan was that we would find the kids and try to get them to join us…
some even suggested that we publically display the bodies of the men who had hurt them, so that the kids could see for themselves that we meant no harm.”
“Sounds kind of extreme.” Kevin accepted his canteen back and saw the first of the children emerging from the crypt. Some carried a small knapsack like the kind they would have used on the first day of school.
“These are extreme times,” Doug said with a laugh.
In less than ten minutes, everybody was standing in a loose semi-circle around where Kevin had remained with Doug. Kevin did a quick head count and was surprised that there were fifty-three children. He’d known that there were quite a few, but had no idea that there were so many. By the same token, as he looked at all of these faces—frightened, tired, and in some cases shocked into total apathy—he saw people that waited for him to direct them on this new path. He struggled to see the criminal element, but merely saw children.
Well, whatever crimes they committed, I think they have been absolved, he thought. Time to move forward with a clean slate.
“We have a long day ahead of us,” Kevin began. “We will be putting as much distance between ourselves and this hornet’s nest of undead that are buzzing about. You are going to get tired, but I need you to just keep going. I will find us a place to camp around dark, but we will not stop until then. We eat on the move. Does everybody understand?”
“What if you have to go to the bathroom?” a boy asked.
“Go quick and don’t get left behind. Bring a bathroom buddy,” Kevin replied.
“What if you have to go number two?” a girl asked. “I don’t want somebody standing over me while I do that.”
“Would you rather be dead?” Deanna spun to face the crowd. Kevin hid a smirk, he was starting to like this kid.
Like the Hebrews fleeing the pharaoh, the group left the cemetery in one mass exodus. Kevin positioned himself in the front with Catie beside him. She knew the way to the railroad track. Also, her recon was what they were relying on to begin with. It only made sense that he turn over the reins of leadership.