by Brown, TW
Despite the fact that, as far as what she’d told him, nothing was Catie’s fault, he knew that a person would easily shoulder misplaced blame and there was nothing that anybody could say or do to erase it. He certainly had his own fair share of self-recrimination floating around in his conscience.
Aleah lay in the sleeping bag just across from him. The shadows danced across her face. He found her no less beautiful than on the first day he’d met her. A little frostbite could not peel away one iota of how gorgeous she seemed to him.
Beside her was Rose. The girl was a fighter and a survivor; of that there was no doubt. He knew that if she’d been told what Catie had shared with him, nothing would keep her from going back. He realized that there was a lot to be said for closure, but he also had come to believe that old adage of “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” Perhaps that was the best way to deal with this situation such as it was.
As the night dragged on, he found himself remembering everything that had happened in the past year. Faces popped into his mind, some causing him pain like Mike and Willa, others causing him to smile like Valarie.
He found himself hoping that this trip would yield fruit. He was anxious, not just for himself, but also for Catie. She would possibly discover the fate of her family…friends. He glanced over to the glow of where he knew her fire to be and tried to see through the darkness and know whether she was having trouble falling asleep like him.
The group that had gone out for supplies did not come back with much. They said that there were definite signs that the area had been hit by scavengers already. They reported that every house had been marked with a big black “X” on the front door. They had given up after the fourth house when it was clear they would find little to nothing.
At last, the dawn broke and everybody was back on the road again. The plan was to probe around the outskirts of Sioux City for supplies. The day started sunny, but clouds rolled in fast and began pouring a steady rain. Kevin was never much of a believer in omens, and he was not about to start now.
The scouts that were sent out as they began the swing north all came back with the same reports. It looked like most everything of use had been picked clean. There also looked to have been serious destruction from fire to large swathes of the city.
The one thing they saw very little of was any signs of the walking dead. A straggler here or there could sometimes be spotted, but for a major city, there was an unsettling quiet as they followed the interstate as it ran parallel to the Missouri River that acted as the divider between South Dakota and Nebraska.
As they continued on, Kevin noticed that Catie had moved to the front of the group. Whether consciously or not, she was starting to increase the pace. Twice, Kevin had biked up alongside her and urged her to slow down a little. She apologized each time, but within less than a half hour she had gone back to the front. Finally, he insisted that she fall back and stay with him, Aleah, and Rose. Heather had taken to riding with David Semmet. Personally, Kevin thought the young man was an idiot, but he knew better than to express that sentiment to Heather.
It was early in the afternoon when the procession came up over a very long but gradual ridge. They should be coming up on the small town of Beresford, South Dakota according to the signs. The advance riders were a good mile or so away and just about to reach the top of the next of what had been a series of long and gently rolling ridges..
He felt the hair on his arms start to stand up as Bill and Jose made quick turnarounds and came back at them, both men pedaling for all they were worth. Bill was waving one arm wildly, gesturing for everybody to stop.
“What’s wrong?” Kevin asked as the pair skidded to a halt before him and all the others who had, by now, gathered around.
“Coming this way…horses…fifty or more…armed…” Bill was gasping.
Kevin looked around. They were in a terrible position; the area around them was flat and offered little to no cover. They were left with no other options.
“Everybody pair up and spread out. Take positions in a large arc. MOVE!” he barked.
Aleah positioned herself beside him, but Kevin turned and looked her in the eyes, taking her hands in his. “We don’t have a lot of time, so I just want you to know that, no matter what, and more than I probably ever said to you with words…I love you with all my heart.”
“Which is why I am staying right here.” Looking up at him and brushing a lock of hair from her eyes, Aleah smiled and kissed Kevin. “So don’t waste any time trying to shoo me away.”
Kevin thought it over for the briefest of seconds and realized that he did not have the time to debate anything. If he was going to die, then why not make his last stand beside this woman that had taught him how to be in love.
He looked around at the pairings and was surprised by a few. Bill and Cherish stood side by side and he was pointing out a few things as the woman held her M4 somewhat awkwardly. Rose was with Dr. Miriam Reno and seemed to be lecturing the older woman. He would have loved to have been able to eavesdrop on that little conversation. Catie was with Adam Scott. The funny thing was that he could not recall a single instance where those two had spent any amount of time together except in passing.
The sound of hoof beats brought his attention back to what was about to happen. He double-checked that both pistols he wore on his hips were ready to draw and that the safety flap was unsnapped. Then, taking his position a step ahead of Aleah and in the middle of the road, Kevin brought his M4 up to his shoulder.
“Nobody get trigger happy!” Kevin called out.
The riders came to a quick halt as they spied the firepower aimed in their direction. One rider held up a hand and said something over the shoulder to the others. Kevin was impressed in the fact that none of the people on horseback had gone for a weapon.
Looking around at his group, Kevin made a show of shouldering his own rifle before stepping forward a few steps. Aleah went to follow and he put an arm out to bar her.
“Not for this,” Kevin said with a shake of his head. “I need you to watch my back. Keep your weapon trained in the general direction of whoever comes forward to meet me.”
Not waiting for her to try and mount an argument, Kevin began to walk across the open space between him and the riders. He was not surprised when the same person who had signaled the others to halt was the one to come forward to meet him. He was a tad bit surprised when the individual climbed off his or her horse to do so.
Kevin had a few minutes to observe this person as they approached one another. They were decked out in a mixture of what looked like riot gear, a football helmet with a face shield (which was part of the reason why he had not been able to determine gender as of yet), and a baseball catcher’s chest piece.
The distance was almost a good half mile, so it took a few minutes for them to cover the open ground between them. Also, at this distance, neither side were likely to have shooters that could do more than hope to get close to a target. Kevin figured Catie would be the best bet at hitting anything at this range, and to be honest, he had no idea of the range capability of the weapons both sides carried.
The closer he got to this person, the more difficult it was to not look over his shoulder. For some reason, he felt it was important to keep his eyes front. He wanted to appear confident.
After what seemed like an eternity, he came to a stop in front of the emissary from the riders. She took off her helmet and a cascade of long, dark hair spilled past her shoulders. She was pretty in that girl-next-door way. She had a pleasant smile—even now with the tension levels jacked way up—and brown eyes that sparkled and amplified that smile to a level that was almost friendly.
“Quite a band you have there,” the woman said. Her voice was almost melodic and Kevin instantly thought that it would sound really good singing along with Jill’s.
“Yeah,” Kevin agreed, “but you have us outnumbered almost three to one.”
“Do we need to be concerned?”
“
Would it matter if I said no?”
“Good point,” the woman chuckled. “So what brings you way out here? Tourist season isn’t for another few months.”
Kevin considered his answer. He decided that giving her the basic truth would not do any harm. He explained briefly how he had made such a plan before the zombies had come and what he had based that decision on.
“Mostly a solid plan,” the woman said after Kevin finished. “Only it seems that those zombies don’t much care about population density any more. We had a herd of those things about a month ago that passed just about five miles north of us. If they’d come at us directly, this conversation might not be taking place. Never seen so many at once. Took four days for them to pass from the leading edge until the last of the stragglers.”
“We saw something along those lines just south of Chicago,” Kevin said with an unforced shudder. He glanced over his shoulder at his people and then returned his focus to the woman standing in front of him.
“Listen,” he said after a deep sigh that really only scratched the surface of just how tired he suddenly felt, “we have come a long way. Some of us have been on the run almost since this whole thing started. We don’t want a fight. All we want to do is find someplace that we can secure as best as possible and call home. We do have one person that might like to be admitted as a guest. She is from some small town not too far from Sioux Falls from what I understand. She is along to see if any of her family made it.”
“Well, I can only speak for myself, but your group would be a wonderful addition to our community if you would like to consider that option. Of course there are some things we will have to deal with and some of it would require a show of faith from your people. You have to understand we could not just allow a small army to tromp into our place armed to the teeth like you all seem to be. Plus, we have to insist that you all be screened to make sure that nobody brings the infection inside. But since your gang looks fairly mobile, I imagine that would be a simple formality.”
Kevin grimaced.
“Is there a problem?” the woman asked. Her stance changed just a little, and Kevin spoke fast to try and defuse the tension that had just spiked.
“Whoa! Okay…here is the deal.” Kevin explained the “immune” status of several of his companions without specifying who. He was wary of revealing that information after the whole ugly situation involving The Guardians. “So if that is a problem, like I said before, we don’t want any trouble and we will be fine with moving on to find our own place.”
“Actually…” the woman rolled up her sleeve and displayed a nasty scar on her left forearm. “We have a few of our own. We found out the hard way about the communicable nature of things, but now that we know, we have managed to handle that situation. We even have some…” she paused as if searching for the right words, “…I guess you could call them mixed marriages. Of course we do remind people of some of the same old adages used back pre-zom about abstinence being the only one hundred percent guarantee, but folks have been doing okay. It was kind of funny the first time one of our patrols returned with a few dozen cases of condoms. You would have thought they arrived with bacon.”
That earned a laugh from Kevin. “I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Kevin Dreon from Virginia Beach, Virginia.”
“Tiffany Beihn…Memphis, Tennessee,” the woman said.
“Okay…” Kevin let that word draw out to indicate that it was a bit of a question. He gave a little rolling motion with his hands to encourage her to elaborate.
“Not terribly exciting, I’m afraid,” she said. “I was visiting friends in Seattle, Washington. On the plane trip home, one of the passengers turned. The pilot made an emergency landing in Sioux Falls. By the time the plane touched down, the word was starting to get out as to what was going on. That was when all air travel got grounded. I hooked up with a few other people from the flight and we spent a week in a FEMA center until that got overwhelmed. Our little band decided to make a run for it and we got all the way to Beresford.
“Some of the locals had already started securing the town…even had to fight it out with a military convoy if you can believe that. They tried to roll in and take over, but folks around here are pretty serious when it comes to their guns. Those bumper stickers about taking their guns when you pry them from their cold, dead hands…let’s just say they were not joking.
“A few of the soldiers even deserted and took our side. We didn’t come away with as much military hardware as you guys are packing, but we did get a tank in the deal. It was never actually needed, but I bet it scared off more than one band of would be raiders along the way.”
“So I guess I go to my people and bring them forward. Of course, you can’t expect us to just surrender everything. How about if you allow a couple of us to keep our guns?” He saw a look of concern flash across Tiffany’s face. “We would not stand a chance if it got ugly, and do you really think we would come all this way to commit suicide? And my people keep their blades…again, it would be like that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He saw a look of confusion replace concern. “You know…when that guy steps out with the big ass sword and Indy pulls his gun and shoots the guy?”
“Oh yeah!” Tiffany exclaimed. “Wow…I hadn’t thought of things like that in a long time.”
“So…are we good? I go get my people and you can set a perimeter around us and escort us in?”
“You have a deal, Mr. Dreon.”
“Just Kevin…really. That whole mister thing really makes me feel old.”
With a handshake, the two parted ways. Kevin returned to his group and shared pretty much everything that had been said in his encounter with Tiffany Beihn. The decision was made that Kevin and Catie keep their weapons. Everybody else removed all firearms and placed them in the cart behind either Kevin’s or Catie’s bicycle. After making sure that everybody knew to be on their best behavior, Kevin led his group to where Tiffany sat on her horse. She had dispersed her group in a large arc.
“Not gonna bother surrounding us in case we wanna make a run for it?” Kevin quipped with a good-natured laugh as he came to a stop a few feet from Tiffany.
“Nope…don’t need to,” Tiffany replied with a nod of her head back in the direction Kevin had come from. He looked back to see another group of at least fifty more riders bring their horses over the last ridge he and the others had topped.
“We have had you guys under watch since just north of Sioux City,” a man said as he pulled his horse up next to Tiffany.
Kevin saw a few of his people begin to look a bit nervous. He saw Bill give a furtive glance at the weapons stacked neatly in the cart behind his bicycle and it was clear that the man was trying to figure out if he could get to the weapons before being gunned down.
“Okay…” Kevin said, making sure that he did so loud enough so that not only his people but the riders nearby from Tiffany’s group could hear as well. “I understand that things are a bit different these days. I also understand that you have to keep the safety and security of your group in the forefront. We have surrendered our weapons as promised, but this new arrival of your people has my people on edge. We can end this now and my group will be on its way to find a place of our own just as I said…or you can get that second group to pull back.”
“No need,” Tiffany called out above a few voices of protest among her own people. She raised one arm up above her head and waved it back and forth.
Kevin turned to see a rider from the second group do likewise. A few moments later, the last of that group disappeared over the ridge. Looking around, he still saw some looks of concern among his crew, but they appeared to have relaxed a little.
Falling in, the procession started their ride north. As they did so, Kevin began to notice a few things that had slipped past him. In the distance and on either side of the road he could see cell towers. However, atop these towers were what might be platforms. He did not want to pull out his binoculars to confirm it, but he now had a
good idea how they had been spotted.
They had travelled for about twenty minutes when one of the riders on horseback veered their direction. The individual was decked out almost exactly like Tiffany, so it was difficult to determine gender until the voice called out.
“Catie Rose?” a girl’s voice almost squealed. “Is that really you?”
Catie turned to the person and squinted her eyes. “Bella Reyes?”
“Ohmigawd!” Bella squealed even louder. Kevin already did not care for her voice.
The girl jumped from her horse as Catie ditched her bike. The two met in an embrace and held each other close, both breaking into spontaneous sobs of happiness.
Everybody stopped and watched the reunion. Words flew back and forth as the pair spoke at a pace Kevin almost had trouble keeping up with. In the end, Catie was told that her mother was actually in Beresford along with a few other people that Kevin assumed had to be friends or mutual acquaintances. The sad news was that Catie’s father and grandparents had perished.
Catie seemed to take the news well, and Kevin had a feeling that she really had not expected to discover anybody still alive. The realization that her mother still lived was probably beyond her wildest dreams.
The riders seemed to relax even more with the latest revelation, and a few of them even rode up to the pair, who now remained at each other’s side for the rest of the journey, to say hello. It looked like more than a couple of them knew Catie, or at least knew of her.
About an hour later the outline of a small town appeared on the horizon. Kevin decided it could not hurt to pull out his binoculars and take a look. He was able to make out at least three very wide trenches that he imagined had to circle the town. In addition, there had been an obvious effort to level the terrain for a considerable distance around the area. He saw what, by his estimation, had to be fifty foot high towers erected about a hundred or so yards apart.
He had to correct himself a few times as he continued to ride his bicycle and slip in a few more looks at what they were approaching. He could see large walled enclosures scattered around the area, but he had no idea as to their purpose. The one thing he did notice were the medium-sized streams that flowed into town. He was impressed to see that they had a series of watch towers along their length a good distance from town.