The Shores Of The Dead: Omnibus Edition

by Josh Hilden

  There were half a dozen police officers and militia men tearing through the house, looking for more hidden bits of contraband. So far, this seemed to be the extant of the incriminating evidence. But this was more than enough to arrest the Mayor and charge him. The strangest thing they’d found wasn’t illegal, but it was confusing. In the top drawer of the Mayor’s dresser was a fully charged satellite phone. The touch screen was protected by a six digit locking code. David would have given a lot to know what was contained on the bulky handset.

  One of the new Reserve Deputies came barging into the room, gasping for air. David thought she’d been a sprinter on the High School track team before the dead rose, but after a month of dealing with the new reality she was hardened and surer of herself. It made him sad to think of all of the youths who’d been aged in the wake of the change.

  “Chief, Unit 7 just called in from the Dam. It’s bad Boss, there are four dead and the Power Plant has been sabotaged. They are saying whoever did it knew what they were doing. The computers have all been fucked over.” She looked scared and he had to sympathize. If someone messed over the power plant, then things were bound to get a lot worse before they got any better.

  David didn’t ask any questions. He grabbed the radio from his belt that was reserved for Emergency Council business and keyed the mic. “This is Chief Hall. The Power Plant has been sabotaged. Lock the down the perimeter, and bring the emergency generators online as soon as possible.”

  He looked around the room that was in disarray and sighed. They would have to wait to deal with Arn Jacobson after all.

  5

  1:10pm EST

  Arn Jacobson was afraid, and he did not like the feeling. He’d arrived back at his house to the unwelcome surprise of the police and the militia ransacking it. Arn was no idiot. He knew they would find his secret compartment, and there was more than enough incriminating evidence in there for the council to sentence him to exile if he allowed them to catch him.

  He’d been preparing to vacate the town in the next 24 hours anyway, and moving the time table up didn’t bother him much. He really had wanted to get his jacket and the satellite phone. But there was no helping the current situation.

  He kick started the motorcycle and headed back toward the lake. The plan open to him now was straight forward. Use the Lake Road to travel toward the rally point at the old McDonalds, and inform James of what had happened. The one thing nagging at him as he sped down the street, ignoring the waves from people that had no idea that their happy lives were about to be changed forever, was how the fuck had they figured out he was working against them?

  He was zipping down the main road through downtown when he saw a bundled figure he would have recognized anywhere. Amy Waters was leaving the general store, and was apparently going to retrieve her mountain bike from the rack on the other side of the empty roadway. Part of his mind screamed at him to forget her and continue on to the rally, but the lion’s share ordered his hands to work the brakes and stop the bike. He skidded to a stop five feet from her. The look of fear on her face filled him with heat, his cock was rock hard.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing Arn Jacobson? You could have hit me you damn fool!” She was afraid as a result from such a near miss, but she was also irritated. When Amy Waters was irritated, people heard all about it.

  Arn said nothing. He lowered the kick stand of the bike and walked toward her. She must have sensed something was amiss but it was too late. Even as she was turning to flee, he reached out and snatched her by the hair and jerked her back. Amy screamed as her feet flew out from under her, and she landed on the wet street with a loud thump.

  “What are you doing?” She screamed at him.

  Arn answered the question with a hard boot to the guts which caused her to double over in agony, gasping to take in a breath. He then scooped her up by her hair and her jacket, and threw her to the curb.

  Amy attempted crawl away from the savage assault. Blood was running down her face from when her nose had impacted the curb and she was sobbing with pain. She knew she had to get help, because Arn had finally lost his mind. She’d known there was a dark side in her former lover for years, but she’d never suspected he had this level of darkness within him.

  “Where do you think that you are going?” Arn said cheerfully. He was pacing her as she crawled along the ground. Planting the occasional helpful kick into her ass every few seconds.

  “Hey, you leave her alone!” A voice yelled from behind them. Arn whirled around to see a teenage boy in militia uniform running toward him. He had a radio to his mouth as he pumped his legs and chewed up the distance between them.

  “Well, fuck,” Arn whispered to himself and then drew his pistol from its holster, and lowered it at the kid. The boy probably never even saw the weapon or heard the shots, as three rounds punched into his chest and he slid into the slush. Blood pumped from the wounds and mixed with the rotten snow, turning it a dirty pink.

  “My dear,” Arn said kicking Amy in the side, “Please tell your boyfriend the Chief that I will be back.” He laughed and then trotted over to his Bike. He had to get a move on, the Razors were waiting. Hopefully they would have some entertainment with them.

  6

  Northern End of the Mackinaw Bridge

  November 26, 2012 AD (Day Thirty Nine)

  8:00am EST

  Rudy stood at the mouth of the bridge, looking out on the broken span. In the distance rested the boats they’d been forced to cross in. It took hours for the former ferries to bring the Army of the One True God and all of the camp followers to the southern shores of the enemy’s land. Most of the Dead were lost when the bridge came down. It would take a few days for Rudolph Clarke to round up a new army to attack the unbelievers.

  “My Lord Clarke,” Barton said as he approached his Master. ”Your followers are assembled and we await your orders.” He bowed on one knee. Louis Barton always knew how to ingratiate himself to the people in power above him.

  “Very good Minister Barton, has General Baker rounded up the last of the surviving living troops?” Rudy seemed to be distracted, but Barton knew the man heard and saw everything.

  “Yes my Lord, he says less than 30 percent of the soldiers survived, but he has them organized and ready for battle.” It sounded worse to Barton when he said it than when he’d been mulling it in his mind.

  “Very well Barton, we need to be moving as soon as possible. The factors are moving faster than I would have imagined. We need to end this before it is too late.” He still sounded distracted to Barton as he drifted away toward the milling camp followers and selected three children from the herd. Barton left the area quickly, but not quickly enough to avoid hearing the screams of the children.

  7

  White Harbor Main Gates

  November 26, 2012 AD (Day Thirty Nine)

  11:25am EST

  Everyone without an essential job to do was assembled just outside the open main gates to White Harbor. The sky was sunny and clear, and the temperature hovered right around the freezing mark with no wind. It would have been a spectacular late November day in the Upper Peninsula, if the higher temperature didn’t necessitated the need for sharpshooters to be stationed around the top of the wall. So far nine of the Risen Dead sufficiently thawed in the warm snap had stumbled within range of the guard towers and been put down. But still excitement crackled in the air, the fighters from the bridge were coming home.

  David Hall smoothed his winter parka’s exterior for the seventh time as they waited for the vehicles to approach the gates. He had a dozen things that needed doing inside the town, but this was an important occasion, there had been so many defeats and losses since the Dead had risen that a definitive victory was something to celebrate. Colonel Sutton and the new allies she was bringing home were the heroes of the hour.

  The lights in the town were back on to a limited degree. The computer controls at the dam were still scrambled, but the backup diesel powered ge
nerators had been brought online, thanks to the efforts of Herb Hilstrand and Pat Rowland. But the fuel was finite and full power was being reserved for essential services, many of the homes in town had been forced to rely on their fireplaces to provide heat and light.

  “My brother said they would be here within the half hour.” Jennifer Millette said to David as she took a spot next to him. The young woman impressed the hell out of him in the short time she’d been in the town. With the assistance of Ken Michener, the two of them settled the new refugees in, and made sure they began contributing to the welfare of the community. The extra hands and backs they provided were surpassed only by the fighting experience they brought with them. Many of the Militia fighters had begun deferring to her when Captain Paulson wasn’t available to give instructions, and a few had even begun to go to her first regardless.

  “Any clue what the news he needs to deliver to your people is?” David asked. He was unsure if he wanted to know, as soon as the word had spread that there was bad news coming, the Rangers and the Hessioners both had become tense and serious.

  “He wouldn’t say, but knowing my brother it can’t be anything good.” She said. They both turned when the sounds of a baby giggling and gurgling were audible behind them. Scarlet Parker was walking out of the gate carrying baby Andi on her hip, the two of them were talking and laughing with the fat Tonkenese cat Oscar following behind. The baby was a joy for the community, so many of the refugees had lost children, and when the story of how she’d been rescued got around, she turned into something of a mascot or a symbol of hope.

  “Chief Hall, Jen,” Scarlett said as they approached. When Andi saw Jennifer, she began to reach to her calling out.

  “Jen, Jen, Jen!” The little girl was adamant. Jennifer reached out and took her from Scarlet. The big surprise was Oscar, when they lived in Moraine the cat had been Kyle’s and always been indifferent to Jennifer. Since the trip north he’d latched onto Jennifer, Scarlet, and Benny almost as much as he did Kyle. Jennifer reached down and stroked the cat, which then butted his head against her hand and purred loudly.

  “Ma’am,” David said tipping his hat to her, and smiling when she grinned at him.

  “Any word yet?” Scarlet asked. She was excited to see Kyle again. She, like most of the Rangers, suspected what the bad news was, and dreaded the confirmation of her fears.

  The forward observers reported the approach of the convoy almost half an hour before, “Any time now,” David said. Then whipped his head around when the sounds of many engines became clear.

  Dozens of vehicles could be seen coming down the freshly cleared road. Above the vehicles the flags of the USA, Michigan, the 1st Michigan ERU, the Wolverines, the I-75 Rangers, The Village of Hession, and the town of White Harbor flapped and waved.

  The crowd broke out into a crashing cheer.

  As the vehicles pulled up they were parked in the prepared clearings. All sense of order was lost as the people in the town charged the returning fighters to find friends and loved ones they’d been sundered from and worried about for so long. There were dozens of tearful embraces and kisses and hugs that lasted for what seemed to be an eternity. But there were even more tears of pain and sorrow as friends, children, spouses, siblings, and parents were informed their loved ones had fallen. They’d fallen fighting to defend the people of White Harbor.

  The Rangers gathered around the command Hummer and waited as a flag-draped body was unstrapped from the back and brought forward. There was no need to tell the warriors and members of the Rangers their leader lay fallen under the flags of the unit, and of the country he had still believed in. Kyle Carson stepped forward. Behind him were Sergeant Sanford, Benny Millette, and Kelly Hodges, who carried the cane which had belonged to Liam Harrison with reverence, honor, and love.

  “Our father has fallen in defense of his family.” Kyle said with no preamble. He place one hand on the draped form. “He has gone, and now we need to decide who will lead us. We need to decide who will guide our family.” There were tears in his eyes. He made no movement to wipe them away, these were tears for the fallen and there was no shame in them.

  Scarlet forced her way through the gathered Rangers with her foster daughter in her arms and joined her man. She took his hand in hers, embraced him. Then she turned to the assembled Rangers. They’d fought and traveled together since the beginning, and she was their memory, she kept the logs and the histories, she was their voice for the future.

  “Kyle leads us now!” A voice screamed out. There was no way to identify it, but Scarlet was sure it was one of the people from Belleville. They were the people who nearly worshipped Kyle after his legendary run.

  The chant started slow, and then quickly ramped up to a chant that caused all the others gathered in front of the gates to stop and stare.

  “KYLE!”

  “KYLE!”

  “KYLE!”

  Kyle spun on one heel. He did it clumsily but that did not matter. Then he snapped a credible salute to the man who’d led them and loved them. In the distance, he saw two figures he recognized from the picture that Liam had shown them, Nancy and Charlie were fighting their way toward the Rangers.

  “I promise that nothing will happen to them, Liam.” He said and then turned to perform his first official duty as the leader of the Rangers. He had to tell a little boy that his Grandfather wasn’t ever going to play with him again.

  8

  White Harbor Municipal Building

  November 26, 2012 AD (Day Thirty Nine)

  2:00pm EST

  David stood at the same podium where Arn at the first insane meeting. Now he was calling a meeting of just the commanders of the various factions and forces in the town, to determine how they would deal with the approaching Army of the Dead and the pending attack from the Razors. Some of the people in the crowd he’d known and called his friends and neighbors for years. The others were strangers who’d converged on his town to survive the chaos of the outside world. But they were all survivors and they all had one goal, to remain standing with their hearts beating.

  The people were milling around and partaking of the stale cookies and watered down coffee. When the speakers cracked, and David tapped the microphone, they all took their seats.

  “I know that what we all want to do is celebrate the return of the people from the bridge, and the arrival of our new friends and allies. But we have a new crisis to deal with, and we need to deal with it now.” David sounded a thousand times more confident than he actually felt. “I’ll tell you what happened here. Our former Mayor, Arn Jacobson, sabotaged the power plant and killed several members of the staff there. He then returned to town, and savagely beat councilwoman Amy Waters, before he left to join Satan’s Razors.” There were a few audible gasps from the crowd, but not many. Most people had heard about the treason of the mayor, and what had been found in his house.

  “When we locate the Mayor, he will be tried by a court of citizens. If convicted he will receive a proper sentence.” There were grumblings from the crowd, but Einor Jacobson caught his eye and nodded in agreement.

  “Now, I will turn the podium over to Lt. Colonel Sutton.” David said. Then he stepped aside as the stern yet beautiful woman stepped up. The crowd broke into applause and cheers as Lisa adjusted the microphone. The smile which cracked her professional mask was barely visible.

  “The mission to block the bridge, and bar access to the North across the straits was successful.” That was all she was able to say, because the room exploded with applause, cheers, and whistles. When the cheers settled she continued, “But our losses and the losses of our new allies were substantial.” That killed any jubilance that might have remained. “We have added the forces from Hession and the I-75 Rangers to our ranks.” There was a renewed applause from the group.

  She cleared her throat and continued, “We destroyed most of the military armament the enemy Army was bringing to smash us with, but it appears their leadership survived. That means we
have delayed them and dealt them a severe blow but they are still coming.” The last was delivered with a cold finality. The reports of the supernatural aspect of the enemy, and what had happened at the bridge, had spread like wildfire and been accepted with surprising ease. Most people seemed to think that if the Dead could Rise, then all the rules had changed.

  “We are still getting reports from observers left behind to monitor the approaches. It appears that the enemy has successfully crossed the straits, and is again marching toward us, albeit with much reduced strength.” She needed them to understand the situation so she pushed ahead. “They will keep coming until their leader is killed and his lieutenants smashed. Unless we defeat them completely they will never leave us in peace.” There was a rising chorus of questions and objections, but Lisa refused to allow the meeting to fall apart, so she dropped the bombshell they had to have known was coming, “We need to evacuate the mainland and reestablish ourselves on Isle Royale.” There it was, out there with all the polish removed. The crowd of political and defense leaders went silent.