That’s what we thought when Ke Tau attacked and look what happened. They plowed right over the moat and our defenses like they were nothing, a small voice cautioned in the back of her head.
So was all our labor and preparations of the past month for nothing then? Building up the walls and fences, deepening the moat, putting blockades up further out in the fields and roads.
Despair dragged at her limbs, but she refused to let it slow her. Her feet crunched over the gravel road that led to the reserve. In the distance, she saw the gate. It was closed and guarded by two people. Phillip and Abraham.
Phillip turned to face her when she ran up. His lean face appeared cadaver like in the light of the lantern he held, the eyes sunken deep into his skull. His tall, thin body resembled a scarecrow, and her mind flashed toward the image of the grim reaper. Next to him, Abraham seemed frail and ancient, his spirit on the verge of flying free.
She grabbed hold of her superstitious fears and cried, “Where’s the breach?”
“It’s over there on the eastern side,” he replied, pointing to the place in question.
“Open up!” Rainwater ran in runnels down her cheeks, and she blinked furiously.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “There’s infected in there. They got through somehow.”
“Yes, let me in.”
Without questioning her further, he opened the gates and let her through, slamming them shut behind her. It was a chilling sound. Now there was nothing that stood between her and the encroaching zombies. It was just her and her knife.
She set off in the direction he’d shown her, keeping to a slow jog this time. Her head whirled, and she strained to see through the pouring rain and the black night. Her flashlight barely illuminated her path, and she stumbled across the uneven ground. Tussocks of grass and loose stones appeared from the gloom to slow her further. A tall, thin silhouette caused her to whirl in readiness with her knife raised until she realized it was a tree.
“Shit,” she swore, running past it. “I don’t have time for this.”
The faint sound of voices up ahead spurred her on, and she finally arrived at the eastern fence to find the world in chaos. People grappled with others, some moving with purposeful agility and others with mindless aggression. The dead had found a way in, and now it was up to them to stop the influx of corpses.
A figure lurched toward her, its face caught in the beam of her light for a second. Rotten teeth were spread open in mid-attack as the creature leaned in for a bite. Without pausing, she shoved it back before plunging her knife into its forehead. The thing shuddered while its mouth snapped at the air until it stilled. With a kick, she freed her weapon then whirled when something grabbed her shoulder.
“Whoa, there. Lisa?”
Her eyes fell on Max’s surprised face, and she nearly laughed out of relief. “I came to help!”
He bobbed his head before turning. “Over there. Keep them off us while we repair the gap.”
She stumbled after him, stopping only once to wait while he killed another snarling zombie that came in for the kill. They were in a small clearing between a few trees. A dying flare cast a red glow on the ground before another bloomed to life in the hands of Breytenbach. Its light shimmered on the strands of wire that ran alongside the clearing and made up the fence.
Immediately, Lisa saw what the problem was. A massive tree inside the fence had fallen over. Its thick trunk had smashed the barrier into the ground while its dense foliage and numerous branches filled the moat and created a bridge. The area swarmed with infected, all making their way across this bridge and through the fence.
People with shovels cleared away the mud and debris around the tree and the crash site while others fought the infected. Immediately, she jumped into action and pounced on a zombie that reached skeletal fingers toward Max’s arm. Her knife sank into the eyeball and burst the delicate organ to release a spray of putrid fluid lost seconds later in the rain.
Another replaced it, and she stabbed it in the temple with a backward thrust of her hand. Her foot swept the legs from beneath another, and she drove her weapon into its forehead while it squirmed under her. The past few weeks of weapon’s training now came into play, and she never skipped a beat. Her body moved of its own accord, and she lost herself in the battle. The world around her faded as the singular joy of victory filled her each time an undead corpse fell beneath her hands.
Her focus got broken when the rain lessened, its downpour easing only to reveal a different sound, that of a tractor. She twisted around to see Joseph driving up in the excavator. Mainly used for the backhoe attached to the back, today it served a different purpose. With the front end lowered, Joseph bulldozed into the tree and pushed the remains of the roots out of the ground already softened by the storm.
Maneuvering away, he then pushed into it again and shifted the entire thing through the gap it had already made in the fence. The engine roared as the tree fought it, its branches scraping through the mud and breaking off inside the moat. The crackling snaps of broken wood filled Lisa’s ears as she watched in awe. Infected and tree were pushed out like so much debris until finally, the opening was clear.
“Right,” Max shouted, waving at the vehicle that had driven up behind the excavator, its lights throwing the clearing into bright relief. “Come on in!”
The vehicle, which turned out to be Tallulah and driven by Mike, pushed forward and parked its bulk inside the opening in the fence and blocked it. Those carrying shovels now jumped in and stopped up the gaps on the sides and beneath with mud, stones, and branches, assisted by the excavator. Its backhoe soon came into play, digging up vast chunks of earth to further build up the barricade. Those not working on the fence mopped up the few infected stragglers still on the inside.
Throwing herself into the fray, Lisa killed two more undead before she straightened up to find they were all down. The rain, now a gentle drizzle, washed the blood and muck from her skin while she fought to regain her breath. She ran a trembling hand across her forehead and grinned as spontaneous happiness welled up inside her. “We did it!”
Her joy was echoed by those around her as they high-fived and laughed, congratulating each other on averting what could have been a disaster. Max clapped her on the shoulder. “Thanks, Lisa. We couldn’t have done this without you.”
He then turned to the gathering. “Go on, guys. Get inside and dry off. You’ve done enough.”
“What about that?” Ronnie asked, gesturing to the fence and the zombies that clawed at it on the other side. The wall had been mended, but there was still a tree inside the moat creating a bridge.
“It’s all right. The fence should hold, and tomorrow we can clear it out and repair it. For now, I’ll stay here with Joseph while he fortifies this stretch of wire with an earth embankment.”
“More like a mud embankment!” Mike cried.
Max grinned and nodded. “As long as it keeps the zombies out, I’m not going to be picky.”
“I’ll stay too,” Breytenbach volunteered. “There might be more stragglers in the area, and someone needs to watch your back.”
“If you’re sure,” Max replied.
“I am staying as well,” Kirstin said, standing by his side.
He grinned and kissed her before turning back. “Right. The rest of you get out of here. Tomorrow will be a long day.”
Lisa considered staying as well for a moment but decided against it when she remembered Kabelo. Uneasy at leaving him unguarded for so long, she made her way back to camp. Along the way, she greeted those that had helped in the fight and acknowledged their bravery. Liesel, Mbali, Julianne, Jonathan, Ben, Sean, Ronnie, Mike, and Lenka. Together, they all made their way to their beds or duties except Lisa who headed back to the dining room.
Exhausted, she pushed open the door, knife still in hand. Her eyes blinked while they adjusted to the flickering yellow lights, and a greeting hovered on her lips. “Hey, guys, I’m b―”
Her gaze fel
l on the prone figure of Joanna who lay on the floor, and her mouth froze on the empty words. The old woman pressed trembling hands to her side. Blood gushed out between her fingers, and more of the crimson stuff frothed on her pale lips.
Above her hovered Hannah who worked with frantic haste to fashion a dressing. Neither Elise nor Dave was anywhere in sight.
She rushed over. “What happened?”
Hannah flashed her a brief look. “It was Kabelo. He stabbed her and made a run for it the moment you were gone.”
“That murdering son of a bitch. I knew it,” Lisa swore. “Where’s Elise? And Dave?”
“Elise has gone looking for Jonathan. The wound is serious. She’ll need surgery.” Hannah shook her head. “Dave went after Kabelo.”
With saying another word, Lisa whirled around and ran outside. She made straight for the main gates where she encountered a frazzled Dave and an angry Lenka arguing in front of the half-open exit.
“Where is he?” she cried.
“He got away. I wasn’t fast enough, and he slipped right through…opened the gates…” Dave wheezed. The older man was out of breath and out of his depth.
“Why didn’t someone stop him? The guards, anyone?”
“They were too busy on the other side. There was no one here to catch him.”
“I will kill that boy,” Lenka announced.
“No need,” Lisa replied. “Because I’ll kill him first.”
With those parting words, she shot through the gates and ran into the night. She ignored Dave’s feeble cries and made for the outer walls as fast as she could. With every breath she took, she made a promise. “I’m coming, Kabelo. I’m coming for you.”
Chapter 6 - Breytenbach
In the aftermath of the previous night, the day dawned with clear skies and a cheerful sun. Its warmth did much to dispel the lingering wintry chill and dry out the wet earth. Birds chirped in the trees and guinea fowls scratched for worms in the dirt. Not a cloud remained to darken the day. Not so, the hearts of the inhabitants of the camp.
They were all gathered around a freshly dug grave.
Joanna’s grave.
The stab wound had been too much for the old woman to survive. The tip of the blade had pierced a lung, and not long after the incident, she passed away.
Breytenbach stood with his arms around Julianne, trying to instill some sense of comfort in her. She’d been good friends with Joanna, and the loss was hitting her hard. It had been a shock to him too. After shoring up their breached defenses, Max, Joseph, Mike, Kirstin, Lenka, and himself had returned to camp only to be confronted by a tearful Elise.
Kabelo had escaped, but only after he killed Joanna.
Lisa had gone after him.
It was a tragedy.
Elise was too guilt-stricken to look anyone in the eye. It had been her idea to save the boy’s life and give him a chance, after all. No one honestly blamed her, however. They’d all begun to warm to Kabelo over the past weeks, fooled by his quiet demeanor, and no one saw this coming. He didn’t think Elise would feel that way, though.
Other than Julianne, the people who’d miss Joanna the most were Ben, Dave, and Hannah. They’d all been close and spent much of their time together. He hoped Ben didn’t suffer a relapse because of it, but the man looked steady as he murmured a quiet prayer over the grave, flanked by Dave and Hannah.
Breytenbach allowed his gaze to drift over the assembled inhabitants. Jonathan and Dr. Lange looked mournful. Despite their best efforts, the two had not been able to save Joanna’s life even with surgery.
Michelle was in charge of the children, and they stood apart from the rest of the group, their little faces serious. The dogs, Princess and Buzz, sat beside them, well-behaved for once.
Erica and Tumi looked shellshocked, each holding their babies and flanked by concerned husbands. While Joseph was stalwart, Sean looked jumpy and nervous, his pale blue eyes wide as he watched over wife and daughter.
Kirstin lay a bunch of picked wildflowers on the grave, supported by Max, while Ronnie, Mike, and Lenka stood guard on the walls. Phillip read a prayer from the Bible, his throat bobbing as he spoke, flanked by Liesel, Abraham, and his son Abe. That left only Nick and Sharyn Ross. The newest additions to camp, the couple had yet to settle in and kept to themselves in situations like these.
Breytenbach stared at the small heap of freshly dug earth with its crude wooden cross and sighed. Their little cemetery was growing. It now sported four graves, all lined up in a neat row underneath a clump of willow trees.
Morgan.
Jacques.
Rosa.
Joanna.
He thought of all the other bodies out in the world. Of loved ones and friends who died and whose bodies were never recovered. The list was too long to remember, though a few stood out and lingered apart from the rest. Lilian, Johan, Mannuru, Armand.
Julianne dashed a delicate hand across her tear stained face and turned away. She buried her face in his jacket and clung to him. He drew her close, pressing a soft kiss onto the top of her head. “I’m so sorry, my love.”
“I’ll miss her.”
“I know.”
Around them, the crowd thinned as each returned to their various duties. Breytenbach’s eyes burned from lack of sleep, but he knew there’d be no slumber for him anytime soon. There was too much to be done. In an unconscious gesture, he massaged his left arm. It had gone numb again, a niggling problem that continued to plague him ever since his illness. That and occasional shortness of breath, and feelings of faintness.
“Is it your arm again?” Julianne asked.
“Yes, but it’s not too bad.”
“Have you asked Jonathan about it?”
“I have.”
“And?”
Breytenbach remembered the conversation he’d had with the young doctor that day. After an extensive examination, Jonathan had sat him down and said, “I think the problem is your heart.”
“My heart?”
“It’s not functioning at full capacity.”
“Why?”
“It’s difficult to say for certain without further tests, but I think your recent illness damaged the muscle.”
“How bad is it?”
Jonathan hesitated. “Again, without further tests that I don’t have the equipment for―”
“You can’t say for sure.”
“That’s correct.”
The news opened up a pit of despair in Breytenbach’s stomach as he thought of Julianne, Meghan, and Sam. They need me.
Jonathan hastened to reassure him. “While I can’t fully determine the severity, I can tell you it’s not that bad. Though it might worsen over time, for now, you’re still fairly healthy. You don’t have high blood pressure or cholesterol either which is a bonus.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
Jonathan sighed. “The usual. Eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, keep your stress levels low, that sort of thing.”
Breytenbach snorted. “Easier said than done. We live in a zombie apocalypse.”
“I know, but you have to try. Also, I’ll prescribe some medication for you to take every day.”
“Like what?”
“Nothing serious. Just something to help prevent blood clotting and to smooth out the rhythm of your heart. If you start to swell, you’ll have to use diuretics, and you might benefit from a calcium supplement.”
“Nothing serious?” Breytenbach said with a tinge of disbelief.
“Trust me, this is nothing compared to most heart disease cases,” Jonathan replied. “Also, I’ll need to see you for regular check-ups to monitor your condition.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
Breytenbach had left the infirmary that day feeling defeated, but also determined not to let anyone know. Heart disease. Condition. The words rang hollow in his ears, so he chose to ignore it. He drank his pills and followed Jonathan’s advice, but other than that, he pretended nothing was wrong.
N
ow he looked at Julianne’s worried face and said, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’s just a pinched nerve, Jonathan says. Nothing a good rub won’t sort out.”
“Oh, good. I’m glad to hear that.” She punched him lightly on the affected arm. It’s because you stress too much. You should learn to relax.”
Easier said than done, he thought with dry amusement.
Max approached them with slow steps; his face was drawn with exhaustion. “Sorry to interrupt, Mom, but I need to speak to Breytenbach.”
Julianne sniffed and pulled away. “It’s all right. I need to get to work anyway. It’s kitchen duty for me this morning. Besides, I think I need to speak to Elise and make peace with her. She shouldn’t have to carry this burden alone.”
Breytenbach nodded. “That’s a good idea, my love. See you in a bit.”
She walked away, and he turned to Max. “What’s up?”
“Well, as you know, Lisa’s gone,” Max replied. “Chasing after Kabelo.”
“I know. There’s not much we can do about it, though. I’d send someone after her, but who? We’re short-handed as it is.”
“I agree. Painful as it is to say, she’s on her own.” Max sighed. “I hope she catches the little shit. He knows everything about us now. Our numbers, layout, everything. If he gets back to Ke Tau, he’ll tell them everything.”
“Ke Tau already knows everything. They’ve been watching us for weeks, but yes, I hope she catches the maggot.”
“What about the fence?”
“Joseph’s done a good job of shoring it up. There’s a veritable wall of earth covering the gap.” Max shifted from one foot to the other. “He’s gone out with a team now to clear out the site and empty the moat.”
“I find it curious that there were so many infected in the area last night. Why there? Why that spot? They just about poured in through the gap.”
“Not so curious. It was deliberate.”
A ball of ice formed in the pit of his stomach. “How so?”
“Abe returned half an hour ago. He went out with Philip and Sean to search the reserve. Make sure there are no lurkers. In their search, they stumbled across something interesting,” Max replied. “An abandoned bucksaw. A big one.”
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