The Shores Of The Dead: Omnibus Edition

by Josh Hilden

  “Of…course…I…love…you.” She said between gasps for air as she gripped him tighter. He could feel her small breasts mash against him as the air was forced from his chest. She looked up at him and spoke clearer, “I have loved you since I was a little girl, and you pushed that asshole Mikey Kline down when he pulled my hair. I have loved you ever since you told me I was pretty when my mouth was full of metal. And I have loved you ever since you were on the other end of the phone, and you told me you were coming to get me.” Then she grabbed the back of his head and jerked it down to her, smashing their lips together and thrusting her small wet tongue into his mouth. Their grips on each other shifted and became less urgent and tenderer.

  On the other side of the encampment Benny Millette looked over at Liam Harrison and laughed as he said, “Do you realize I have been waiting for that for five fucking year’s old man?” He was grinning as he walked away.

  Liam watched a little longer as they broke their embrace and walked away hand in hand to find some privacy. “Enjoy yourselves and find some happiness while you can kids, because this is going to get worse before it gets better.” He said quietly to himself. Then he thought of Nancy and Charlie and wondered where they were, and if they were still alive. He hoped they’d made it to White River and that they were safe in the base.

  3

  5:55pm EST

  The old Grey Hound bus was packed with supplies and the motley caravan of vehicles the group had acquired in the trek from Dayton were prepped and ready to go. All that was left to do was break the circular formation that acted as the temporary barricade on rest stops.

  There’d been very few of the Dead paying a visit to the camp over the day, and they had been dispatched with silent hand weapons and fighting pikes. The majority of the Dead in the area were being drawn toward the city of Belleville. It was becoming obvious that the Risen Dead seemed to be congregating around and within large urban centers. This observation was being backed up by the CB and Short Wave radio traffic Liam had them monitoring 24 hours a day.

  There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the Risen Dead’s preference of the abandoned urban areas. No matter how many of them were encountered outside the cities their numbers were far less than they ought to be. That was not to say they were thin on the ground by any means. The only way to survive on the highways and byways was constant vigilance.

  Liam looked at the Tanker truck, positioned in the middle of the group for protection with Benny Millette grinning behind the wheel. Liam decided that kid had some balls. The Tanker was still more than half full but Liam was keeping his eye firmly on the capacity gauge. He nodded to people as he headed toward his Hummer at the head of the convoy, every day the Wright Patterson AFB markings were less clear. He wondered how long the memories of the slaughter in the final hours at the base would stay crystal clear in his mind.

  Visibility was bad, with the haze from the Detroit fires hanging over the area in a thick cloud. The plan they’d worked out via CB radio with the defenders in Belleville was simple. Kyle would draw the bulk of the horde away on foot, and after he had them at least a mile away he would circle back around. While he was running, the residents of Belleville would open the barricade and the two groups would dispatch the remainder of the lingering Dead. Then the caravan would enter Belleville, and everyone would be able to rest for a few days and discuss their options.

  Kyle stood near the Hummer’s passenger door. He was securing his gear to his vest. Under it, he was only wearing a dirty workout suit someone dug out of their wardrobe. It was a tight fit, but that would be a good thing if any of the Risen Dead tried to get a hold of him. He used several rubber bands to secure his long unkempt hair tight to his head. The final thing he did was strap the .40 caliber Ruger he’d brought out of Dayton to the front of his outfit with a battered belt. Liam grinned at this affectation he knew the young man could shoot. Hell the entire group knew how good Kyle was with any firearm, it was almost spooky.

  “You ready kid, settle everything with your girl?” Liam asked.

  Kyle blushed before he responded, but he had a goofy little grin on his face. “I’m good to go boss.” He said. Then he reflexively glanced toward the swarm outside of the town.

  Liam didn’t insult the kid’s bravery by asking if he wanted to back out. Instead he said, “Keep the radio on so we can contact you. And pace yourself, Kyle, everyone knows you are one fast little mother fucker but this isn’t a sprint, more of a marathon. Those things are not going to tire out before you.”

  He pulled out a map, and spread it on the hood of the Hummer so they could give the route a once over.

  “This is going to be about five miles total,” Kyle said. Liam was impressed with the way he said it. He was going to be out there alone for a while, and it was important he see every step in his mind before he set out. This wasn’t like the last two times, when there were a group of them out there watching each other’s backs.

  “Do you think it’s going to be a problem?” Liam asked.

  “The distance will be cake Boss, the only thing I’m worried about is being surrounded. If there are more of them away from the barricades, it could get hairy.” Then he grinned at Liam and said, “But fuck Liam, I managed to get me and Benny out of Toys “R” Us on foot with no weapons, no back up, and no real understanding of what was going on. I can do this.”

  “I know you can kid, but be careful. We can’t afford to lose you.” It was meant to just pump the kid up and get him ready for the potentially suicidal run, but Liam realized that he meant every word of it. If the kid was lost out there, it would tear him up inside. Well shit, he thought to himself, less than a month ago I was annoyed by the skinny little shit. Now I think it would kill me not to have him by my side. Without thinking about it, Liam believed that if you had to think about things you probably shouldn’t do them, he took the kid in a tight embrace. At first Kyle stiffened, but he then returned the hug with even more intensity than Liam.

  “You come back to us Kyle,” He said and maybe his voice was a little thick.

  Kyle just nodded once and then walked out in front of the convoy and prepared to do the one thing he knew in the pit of soul he was good at. He was going for a little run.

  4

  6:10pm EST

  Everyone was mounted in their idling vehicles as they watched the tall thin form of Kyle Carson sprint out to confront the Dead. The air was cold and everyone except Kyle was wearing jackets, or at least heavy layers of long sleeve shirts. Tension crackled through the group. They had been through a lot. It didn’t matter if they’d been together since the collapse at Wright Patterson, or if they were the newest members of the group, they were bonded in ways that only soldiers and disaster survivors could ever understand. In many ways, they were both and neither at the same time.

  There was disagreement in the group. Some thought that the plan was insane. They figured they would collectively have a better chance shooting their way into the town come fortress despite the ammunition situation. The other factor was everyone in the group loved Kyle. He was oblivious to the fact that he was becoming the heart and soul of the group. If Kyle asked any of them to come with him, they would have said yes in an instant. The fact that he never would have done such a thing made them love him even more. But the decision was made, and nobody was going to jinx Kyle’s chances by voicing their concerns. The newly gelled pseudo family already had some deeply ingrained habits, and one of them was a taboo on nay-saying.

  The door of the command Hummer opened and Jennifer Carson climbed inside. She stowed her shotgun in the space between the seats and settled in next to Liam. He’d been expecting this conversation.

  In the time he’d known her he had come to respect her. Kyle may be very clever, extremely personable, and very brave despite his claims to the contrary, but Jennifer had inherited the lion’s share of the family intelligence. But no matter how smart she was, she would never be able to motivate this herd of cats if he died. Kyle had
that certain something which Liam couldn’t put his finger on. People listened to him when he talked, and he never seemed to offend anyone even when he was disagreeing with them. For all of Kyle’s professed fear of confrontation, he always said what he believed. If something did happen to him, Liam believed Kyle was the one everyone would gravitate toward. Despite that, Liam had already decided Jennifer was a young woman that it would never be wise to cross and leave alive, but she could potentially be the most valuable ally imaginable.

  “Do you think he’ll make it?” She asked as she fished the second pair of binoculars from their holster under the dash.

  “If anyone can he can. Your brother is scary fast we all saw that in Findley.” He never took his eyes off of Kyle as he spoke. The kid was stretching and limbering up for the run of his life.

  “He was always fast, but he has been scared of everything for a long time.” She sounded sick as she admitted that.

  “He’s told me about some of that stuff. But I think maybe he has it in him to do this and do it right.”

  “I hope so.” She said. And then everyone watched as Kyle ran out into the open and straight at the writhing mass of the Dead.

  5

  6:20pm EST

  He was off like a shot, starting had always been Kyle’s strong suit and the gift had not deserted him. The wind rushed across his face and the tip of his nose was instantly cold. It was only five degrees above freezing and the chill was invigorating.

  He was going to have to get close to the horde before he started trying to attract their attention. So he stayed as quiet as possible as he closed the distance between the group’s staging area and the town’s defensive perimeter.

  He could see the defenders patrolling the makeshift walls of the town. The back of his mind noted the city and greyhound buses, as well as the stacked construction barriers, that seemed to compromise the bulk of the 10 foot tall rampart. It was ingenious and would probably hold even if the besieging force was tens of thousands strong, but according to the communications with the people inside, they wanted out.

  He had to agree with them. On his short association with the area, it seemed the fires in Detroit were forcing the bulk of the city’s Dead straight for this area. Scouting revealed the stumblers and moaners who once inhabited the corpse of the Motor City were now headed west down Interstate 94, straight for Belleville.

  The smell hit him when he was less than 400 yards out. He’d already been being assaulted by the moans the entire time the group was encamped, but the wind had been blowing away from them. As he neared the mass the combined stench of decay was mitigated less and less by the prevailing winds. Kyle was inwardly glad he’d decided not to have anything more than a cup of coffee before he started this fool’s errand.

  “HEY ASSHOLES!” Kyle yelled when he had closed to the length of a football field. Heads slowly spun around toward the sound of his voice, and the old feeling of icy water sloshing around in his guts returned. He fought it down and pressed toward the hellish assembly.

  Voices from the tops of the barricade encouraged him on as he came within 20 yards of the nearest Risen Dead. He smiled a little at that, for the briefest of moments he remembered being back home and running the hundred meters for West Carrolton it was the only time any of the assholes from his school ever cheered for him.

  “COME ON YOU SMELLY FUCKS … FRESH MEAT!” Now he was laughing as he taunted the fetid army, and one by one they turned all of their attention toward him and effectively forgot about Belleville and the people inside the walls. He turned to the right and began the retreat from the Dead. The plan was simple, a meal this close should lure the bulk of them away. He looked quickly over his shoulder to see that it was working. He still didn’t understand why they wouldn’t follow people in cars and trucks more than a few hundred feet, but a lone person on foot would be walked into the ground by the unceasing pace of the Dead and right now he didn’t care.

  This was going to work damnit!

  He slowed so the shambling mass would be able to keep him in their sights. But he stayed far enough ahead of them to maneuver in the event of an emergency. He headed down a broad four lane road leading away from the barricades, yelling out taunts and insults.

  He felt truly alive.

  6

  6:30pm EST

  Liam watched as Kyle led the besieging dead away from the barricades. A rough count of the rotted biomass of the Dead leaving the barricade was almost 2,000. That left maybe a 100 stragglers who wouldn’t or couldn’t pursue the kid.

  He turned and looked at Jennifer and grinned, “Your brother has balls. Give the signal and let’s get moving.”

  Jenny suppressed a giggle as she picked up the CB microphone from its cradle and keyed it. “Alright people. The bait is shaking his skinny ass for the entertainment of his fans and it is time to roll out and bust some heads.” She paused, looked at the scowling Liam and then yelled into the mic, “AND REMEMBER BOYS AND GIRLS THAT THERE IS HOT WATER AND COLD BEER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL!” Liam winced as he heard the cheers from the other members of the convoy echoing outside.

  “All right people,” he said to himself, “let’s do this.”

  The engines roared to life and the convoy headed toward the walls. The majority of the group’s first string fighters were on foot and walking next to the hodgepodge of vehicles. Their job was simple, take out the stragglers who hadn’t followed Kyle into the abandoned township. Gunshots from inside of the town were audible almost immediately, and the corresponding Dead that fell one after the other made the knot in Liam’s guts relax ever so slightly, “At least they know how to shoot,” He said to Jenny as he spearheaded the movement of their people.

  “Yeah they can shoot,” She said bitterly, “But they have been safe and sound inside of their defenses while we have been slogging through the countryside.” She turned her head to the side and watched as one of the kids from Bowling Green put a bullet in the head of a corpse still dressed in Fire Fighter’s gear. “They’ve had electricity and clean water this entire time. I am not feeling real sorry for them.” She was almost seething.

  “I don’t think we should feel sorry for them, but I also don’t think we should consider them the enemy.” He sounded conversational enough as he guided the battered Hummer toward the town, but he had the tone of command in his voice. “They have a ton of supplies and weapons, and they want to come with us, and damnit Jennifer we need more people to keep a secure perimeter and to forage. Things are too tight.”

  “I know,” she sounded resigned as opposed to petulant. “But we don’t know them, and right now my brother literally has his ass on the line.” She would have continued but at that moment she felt something in her abdomen, a sharp little jab. Reflexively she placed her hand on the slight swell of her stomach, and one side of her mouth rose in a bare smile.

  “Still don’t want to talk about it?” Liam asked as he maneuvered around the burned out hulk of a Prius.

  “What’s to talk about? In the near future there is going to be another little Carson, or maybe a Millette, running around…watch the road Liam!” she said.

  Liam swerved to avoid a large hole that looked like it had been blasted in the pavement. All around them, the Dead were dropping to the ground in rapid succession. They had come a long way since Dayton, they weren’t warriors yet but they were damn close and he was proud of them.

  The CB began to chatter at them.

  “We are opening the gates.”

  In front of them, a solid wall was revealed as a tractor trailer with sheet steel welded across the bottom so nothing could squirm underneath. The severely overweight contraption slowly moved to the side, allowing the convoy and the fighters on the ground to enter the fortress core of the small city. For the moment they were safe from the nightmare…except for Kyle.

  7

  6:35pm EST

  He wasn’t even tired and that was exhilarating. Kyle hadn’t run competitively since the age of 18, but he h
adn’t lost any of the talent. Behind him the repulsive school of mindless land fish followed on, oblivious to the fact that even if they caught him, there was nowhere near enough Kyle Carson to go around. Kyle realized he was actually laughing as he rounded a corner and turned around to see how far behind him his “fans” were.

  They were about 50 yards to his rear and holding. Things were going pretty much as planned. All he had to do was get them a mile from the barricades and then he would take off and loop around the horde and double back to safety.