by Brown, TW
“But if you are by the pouch, you might know who votes which way,” Barney protested.
“I won’t be doing anything except standing close enough to make sure nobody touches the pouch. You can palm your pebble when I call your name…or pretend to do so, but let’s get this over with.”
Kevin called each person one at a time. When it was done, he grabbed the pouch and called everybody over.
“We all agreed to abide by this vote. So whatever happens, I hope that everybody will keep to their word.” Kevin looked around at the grim faces and opened the pouch.
He spilled the content into his hand, holding it out for everybody to see. Counting it out was not really necessary; the results were obvious. All but two people had voted to leave Cherish Brandini behind.
“We move out first thing in the morning. I will bring Bill, Catie, David, Adam and Jill with me to go check on that outpost for supplies. Everybody else will take up positions at one of the nearby hotels and keep an eye out. If we are lucky, those creeps were just a small gang of idiots and not some part of a larger group,” Kevin said.
With the watches set, everybody went to sleep. It did not go unnoticed that Barney and Shauna slept on either side of Cherish. Kevin really hoped that this would not be too divisive of an issue for the group.
***
“Two more!” Jill hissed as she rolled under the outstretched arms of a zombie that had stepped from behind a transport vehicle and almost managed to grab her. Coming up to her knees, she drove her blade up through the underside of the chin with one swift stroke. Jill pulled it free just in time to use her backswing to cut the legs out from a tiny woman in a bikini that was welded to her skin by the accumulated gore and filth. That particular zombie looked like she might have come close to starving long before being turned.
Probably not enough meat on her to keep a zombie interested for long, she mused as she popped up and stepped over to drive the tip of her blade down into the zombie’s head.
Kevin moved past Jill and took the top of the head off of the next zombie, this one wearing the remnants of his tattered soldier’s fatigues. He stepped over the downed figure and into the big green military tent. He was right, there was more here than they could hope to take with them.
They had been inside the actual fence line for less than twenty minutes and already discovered two transport trucks with cases stacked front to back and top to bottom with boxes of MREs. They had discovered enough firepower and ammunition to supply a small army.
Kevin marveled over what had been left here for so long. He would not look a gift horse in the mouth, but he still could not help but be amazed at what was just left sitting around. Maybe there had been more of a zombie presence prior to winter making it too difficult to venture where he and his group now stood. Whatever the case, he was thankful.
“This is like the zombie apocalypse version of winning the lottery,” Catie said as she strode past Kevin and flipped open a few of the nearby crates to reveal the weapons packed within. “Most of this stuff has never even been used. I have no idea why they would bring in all of this firepower. There were rumors that the Army was going to start conscripting the civilian population. But our unit never heard anything past the fact that it was being considered. I imagine things got bogged down with the paper pushers. So while they debated the liability of arming the public, the zombies won the war.”
“We were ripe for the picking,” Kevin sighed. “Society had spun so far out of control…people worrying about the most pointless crap while all the big problems just stared them in the face.”
“David and Adam have most of the zombies following them out to the track. We should be able to…” Bill’s voice trailed off as he watched Catie pull an M4 out of a metal box. “Wow…nice weapon.” The big man walked over and accepted the proffered assault rifle with a huge smile.
“We don’t want to waste time,” Kevin said, giving the man a nudge.
It took all day and a few close calls, but eventually they had all they could manage to carry. The rest of the group had taken up residence in a roadside motel. Kevin was not surprised to discover that Barney and Shauna had spent the day hauling every piece of furniture out onto the second floor landing to act as a makeshift barrier.
The entire group was in a set of adjoining rooms eating dinner when Cherish awoke. Her soft moan made everybody jump up, half of them going for their weapons.
“Where am I?” the woman managed through her split lips. She suddenly sat bolt upright, her eyes wide with fear until she could focus and realize who it was that stood gathered around.
“They’re gone…we took care of them,” Barney said in a low, soothing voice as he sat beside the woman and took her hand.
Tears filled Cherish’s eyes and she looked at the faces staring down at her. She reached Bill and stopped.
“I’m so sorry,” the woman said in a voice barely above a whisper. “I had no right…”
Bill moved in and swept Barney aside with one huge arm as he took a seat beside the woman. Leaning in, he gave her a hug and whispered something in her ear. Her soft cry turned to a wracking sob and she collapsed into the big man’s arms. He held her close, stroking her hair and repeating that it would be okay over and over until the woman finally stopped crying.
After a few minutes, she pushed away from Bill and looked up at the group. “I don’t have a good excuse…what I did was wrong, and if you all don’t want me, I understand. But I would like you all to know that I really am sorry. I hope that you can find it in yourselves to forgive me.”
There was a moment of silence, and then, one by one the group moved in and everybody wrapped their arms around Cherish in a massive group hug. Kevin took a deep breath and dared to allow himself to hope that things might actually go okay for his band of fellow travelers. They were better equipped than at almost any time since this whole nightmare had begun. They had their objective within range, and there was a nice unity building.
This is usually where it all goes wrong, a voice called from the depths of his mind. It sounded strangely like Cary.
***
“What the hell happened?” David said in awe as the group stood on the ridge and looked down to where the city of Des Moines should be.
Kevin had his atlas out and was skimming it. His finger came to a stop: Saylorville Dam.
“There is a dam north of Des Moines,” he said. “It must have collapsed.”
“Wow…that had to have been a nightmare for anybody still in the area,” Adam muttered.
“Yeah, well I doubt it just collapsed on its own.” Kevin turned and climbed back on his bicycle. “Dams don’t just give out. No telling if it was an act of sabotage or desperation, but we need to swing north and go around.”
“Good thing we are well supplied,” Heather chirped. “I can’t remember being so full in a long while.”
“I say we turn north here and follow Interstate 35. If we take it all the way up to Highway 20, we can head west and follow it all the way in to Sioux City where it meets Interstate 29 and that brings us to our general destination of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.”
“Home,” Catie whispered under her breath.
The group mounted up on their bicycles and resumed the journey. It was uneventful for so long that some of them seemed to forget what had happened in the past year. Zombies were seen in small groups or singles, but the threat just did not seem too menacing anymore. And then they reached the outskirts of what had once been the tiny farm town of Holstein, Iowa.
The first indication that there might be trouble came on the outer-most fringes of town. The highway was blocked by several large semis as well as a wooden barricade wrapped in barbed wire. Hanging from a large gallows were three bodies.
Kevin signaled for everybody to pull up. He climbed off his bike and walked up to investigate. Two men and one woman were hanging. None had turned, so these people had been straight up executed.
“That’s far enough, fella!” a vo
ice called from beyond the barricade.
“We don’t want any trouble,” Kevin replied, putting his hands in the air and taking a step back.
“Nobody ever does at the start,” came the retort.
“Look, we are just headed west, trying to make it to South Dakota.” Kevin saw no reason to be deceptive. From the looks of things, the people of this little town had done well. He could see a barricade that ran off into the distance. Nothing fancy, but there was probably more that he could not see.
“Why?” came the response after a few seconds of silence. “What the hell you think you gonna find in South Dakota?”
“Empty space.” Kevin glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the group. He could see the tension and noted more than one rifle had come down to the ready. “We seriously mean no harm, and we can turn back…find a different way around.”
A moment passed with no response. Kevin could feel a bead of sweat rolling down the back of his neck. He really wanted to move, but he had no idea how many weapons and of what sort might be trained on him.
“We can let y’all pass,” another voice finally spoke. “But we just want you to know that you will have guns aimed at you the entire way. Anybody tries anything…and we just kill the whole lot of ya and then come in and take them fancy weapons you all are sporting.”
“No problem,” Kevin replied.
He had just turned when the second voice called out again. “You mind answering a question before ya go?”
Kevin tensed. He had figured it was too damn easy. Things just did not work out smooth and without complications.
“Sure.” Kevin stopped and turned to face back towards the barricade. He was mildly surprised when a man dressed in what looked to be a sheriff’s uniform stepped out from behind a section of metal that looked like it had been cut from the trailer of a big rig.
“You all seem pretty heavily armed, and seeing as how I did a stint in the United States Army, a lot of that gear you are wearing and carrying is definitely government issue. Care to tell me where you came by it? I could have dismissed a few of you as having been in a unit, but I see a couple of youngsters with you…” The man paused and smiled big. “They’s the reason we didn’t just shoot you outright so ya know.”
“Well, first off, I’d like to thank you for the whole not shooting us part,” Kevin began. As he spoke, a few dozen more people seemed to melt out of the shadows cast by the large barricade. He saw some shotguns, a few rifles, a lot of belt knives and even a few homemade items that looked like farm equipment from Hell. “And to answer your question, there was what looked like a FEMA center or military rescue post back just east of Des Moines. Looks like they got overwhelmed before many could bug out. There are still zombies inside the fences, but there is a whole lot of stuff still there. We only scratched the surface.”
“You talkin’ about Altoona?” another man spoke up as he stepped up beside the guy that Kevin assumed to have been a sheriff.
“Yeah,” Kevin answered. He felt the tension draining from him. Could this really happen? Could they be getting past here with nothing more than a few exchanges of harmless banter?
“Heard a lot of bad rumors about that place. Supposedly a lot of real bad guys wandering the area,” the man spoke with a hurried voice.
“Okay, Jimbo,” the sheriff gave the man a pat on the arm and took a few more steps toward Kevin and his group. “Can’t take any of what old Jimbo says too seriously. He takes every rumor from anybody that passes through and treats it like it were gospel from Jesus himself.”
Kevin’s eyes scanned as much as he could see without trying to make it look like he was searching for anything. He really wanted to believe that they were going to be allowed to pass through unharmed, but now this sheriff seemed awfully talkative.
“So can we pass, or would you rather we go wide and find our way back to the highway?” Kevin asked, trying not to sound like he was concerned.
“I don’t see any reason you can’t just pass through. Even welcome to stop in for a bit if ya like. We don’t often see folks that we are not compelled to shoot.”
“And why are we any different?” Kevin flicked his eyes to the bodies swinging at the ends of the nooses. “What makes you think we are any different than them?”
“The children for one thing,” the man said. He had stopped suddenly and now looked like he might be regretting his choice to come so far out into the open. “Been my experience that groups with children are usually okay.”
“You might want to rethink that notion,” Aleah spoke up. She stepped forward, Rose at her side, and quickly recounted the incident they had experienced while they’d been out searching for supplies. Rose tossed in some of her own commentary along the way and then told what she’d seen happen with Sean and Deanna.
“Well, it seems that I stand corrected,” the man finally said with a shake of his head. “If you prefer, we can go back to thinking you are a possible threat—”
“No!” several people, Kevin included, shouted at once.
The man laughed and then gave the signal for his people to stand down and let Kevin’s group pass. There were a few waves and handshakes, and then everybody was biking west once more. That evening as they found an empty farmhouse to camp for the night, Kevin realized that nobody had even introduced themselves.
Probably for the best, he thought. He had enough trouble remembering the names of the people that he was travelling with. No need to make things more complicated.
***
The next day, they passed through just another spot-on-the-map town. It looked like most of whatever had been here before had burned to the ground. The landscape was still an ugly gray and black with little more than a few useless cell towers and a water tower still standing in silent sentinel over the destruction.
The lack of any zombies did little to brighten anybody’s mood as they pedaled past. Kevin noted that not even birds could be seen or heard. It was quieter than a cemetery, and he could not help but feel a touch of sadness. Had the residents of whatever town this had once been had relatives in Holstein?
He realized that the past year had really kept him from seeing just how utter and complete the devastation to humanity was. He had been so busy trying to survive that he had missed the fact that so many had not. But here, out on the open road, he could see it as clear as day. He’d tried to notice in Chicago, but so much had gone on. Now, out in the middle of what had been known as America’s Heartland, the message sunk in loud and clear.
He looked around at the others in his group. They all seemed to be going about things just as they had every other day. Had he been that self-absorbed? Had everybody else seen this except him?
His eyes paused on Jane Mendel. She was riding between Jose and Manuel. It looked like she had tears in her eyes! He was not alone; for that simple thing, he felt grateful.
Another day passed and then the next. When they began to see the signs for Sioux City, Kevin decided that the group had been going hard long enough; it was time for a break. They would be turning north and beginning the final leg of their journey. He could see the anxiousness in Catie’s expression, but, to her credit, she made no complaint when he called for them to stop just after midday. They made camp in what had once been an old rental storage facility.
Provided they ran in to no complications, their destination would be reached tomorrow. After last night’s dinner, they had been very low on supplies. He was amazed at how fast they went through things. This was further proof that they could not continue to survive by scavenging. However, it would be wise for them to make a run this one final time before embarking on that last leg.
He laid out his plans for everybody and asked first for any volunteers. David, Heather, Selma, and Bill all spoke up. There were what looked to be some very nice houses just up a shallow incline. This time next year, Kevin doubted that you would be able to even spot the upscale development from the highway. The open fields were green with grasses that were pa
st waist high.
Once everybody was settled, Kevin told Aleah that he needed to talk to Catie and would be back in time for dinner. She gave him a curious glance, but he just kissed her forehead and headed over to where Catie was busy getting a small fire started.
“Hey, got a minute?” Kevin said once he was close enough.
Catie looked up and her smile slipped. She could tell that Kevin had something serious on his mind by his expression. She gave a nod and stood. The pair walked until they had come to the fence that surrounded the storage facility.
“What’s on your mind?” Catie decided that it was best to just dive in and find out what had Kevin looking so serious.
“Deanna.”
That single word hung in the air. Catie could feel her heart get just a little tighter and she dropped her head. After a moment, she looked up at Kevin with tears in her eyes.
***
Kevin stared into the embers of the fire. Catie’s story still rattled around in his head. At least he understood why she had not wanted them to head up to where she, Rose, and the rest of that group had been attacked.
He only briefly considered the possibility that perhaps Catie was mistaken, but he knew that was simply his own wants and hopes fighting for purchase in his mind.
Suddenly, Kevin felt exhausted. It was as if hearing that sad story had worn him out and drained his spirit. He knew now why Catie had tried so hard to rescue him and Heather. He knew why she had been adamant that she would stay with the group for as long as possible; even going so far as to help them settle someplace if Kevin’s plans had changed. She needed to be around people.