by Jon Schafer
Steve nodded and said, “If we can, we’re going to use them to blow a hole in the dead and try to make for the vehicles.”
Grimm looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, “You might find that a little difficult.”
“You saw what the dynamite did to the Zs when we set it off,” Steve said. “A few good blasts, and we can take out what’s left of them with rifle fire.”
“When was the last time you were on the roof?” Grimm asked.
Not liking the sound of her question, Steve headed for the ladder as he asked, “Why, what’s happening?”
“Hundreds more of my children have arrived,” Grimm told him as he started to climb. “They are now clustered deep around the vehicles you want to use. If you use your explosives too close to them when you reap, you will destroy your transport.”
As Steve emerged onto the roof, the high-pitched keening sound of the dead seemed to drill into the center of his brain. Trying to ignore it, he climbed over the peak and saw Heather and Tick-Tock standing at the edge of the roof as they looked down at something. He called out to them, but the noise of the Zs drowned out his voice. Making his way cautiously down to them in a backward crabwalk, since if he lost his footing, slid, and went over the edge, the fall would be the least of his worries, he finally stood up when he was next to Heather but found himself tilting his body backwards to keep his balance. He didn’t have vertigo, but it still took him a few seconds before he felt comfortable enough to lean out carefully and follow her gaze.
Dead, snarling faces looked up at him as the Zs tried to push each other out of the way to get near the building. At first glance, Steve could see that at least five to six hundred more of the dead had entered the compound since he’d last looked only twenty minutes ago. The flood of walking corpses coming through the smashed gate had slowed somewhat, but he knew this was only temporary. Leaning further over the edge, he looked down. What Grimm told him was readily apparent; the dead were now so deep around the house that they completely enveloped the trucks and remaining minivan. Speech was impossible with all the noise, so he waved to get Heather and Tick-Tock’s attention before pointing toward the other side of the roof. When they reached the peak, he let them go ahead and took a few minutes to study his surroundings.
The dust cloud was still there to the east, hanging ominously in the sky. He could see that it had moved closer, but this wasn’t the reason for stopping. Turning to the north, he considered the fence and woods beyond. When he was satisfied, he made his way to the hatch and climbed through it.
Once all three of them were back in the radio room, where they found Grimm laid out on the bed while she lazily poked holes in the wall beside her with the point of her scythe, Steve asked Heather, “How long ago did this happen?”
“A huge surge of them came in about ten or fifteen minutes ago,” she explained. “There were so many trying to get through the gate at one time that we thought they were going to bust down the fence on both sides of it.”
“And these uglies didn’t come down the road either,” Tick-Tock said. “They came from the west. I think we’re attracting Zs like an all-night Dunkin’ Donuts attracts cops. As soon as we saw them, we sent Denise to find you.”
Just then, Denise came through the door. Slightly out of breath, she said to Steve, “There you are. I’ve been all over the place looking for you. I ran into Brain, Connie and the Thing twins, and they said you were up here.” Looking at Tick-Tock, she asked, “You told him?”
“He saw,” Tick-Tock replied. “We were just filling him in on the details.”
“Not a lot to fill in,” Denise said. “We’re screwed unless we can grow wings.”
“We still might have a chance,” Steve told them. This got their attention, and they listened intently as he continued, “If Brain can find the right materials, he told me that he can make explosives. My first thought was to clear the front of the mansion and drive out of here, but there’s no way we can do that now. There’s too many of them around the vehicles, and we can’t throw the bombs too close to them or we wreck our ride. And even with all of us and the others shooting, we’d never be able to clear enough Zs to get into the vehicles, get them started and haul ass.”
“What do you mean by the others shooting?” Tick-Tock asked.
“Yeah,” Denise chimed in. “I ran into them, and they were all standing around at the top of the stairs. They were all quiet for once, too. It was kind of creepy.”
“They offered to help, so I told them to wait there for me,” Steve said. “I don’t know how much help they’ll be until we teach them to shoot, but they’re with us now, for better or worse.”
Denise nodded and said, “I knew they weren’t all completely worthless. When Linda came over to our group, I could see a lot of them wanting to do the same. Sean was the only reason they didn’t all step forward that day. He was a strong man to them. Their leader. The problem was, he kept them living and thinking in the past, so they didn’t take a good look at the present.”
“Can we really trust the others?” Heather asked her.
“They’re not the kind of people to shoot us in the back, if that’s what you mean,” Denise said. “They might shoot themselves in the foot, though.”
“And that’s where you come in,” Steve said to Heather.
“You want me to shoot them in the foot?” she asked.
They all burst into laughter.
With the tension eased somewhat, Steve said, “No, honey, I want you to give them a crash course in firearms. You and Tick-Tock team up and get them all up to speed. We’ve got to move out of here soon, and we’ll need them to be ready. Denise can help you get their packs together.”
“I thought you said it was useless to try and get to the trucks?” Tick-Tock asked.
“We’re not heading for the trucks,” Steve told them. “We’re going north through the woods.”
From where she was stretched out on the bed with her scythe laying along her body and the blade pointing straight up toward the ceiling, Grimm said, “If you go through the woods, make sure you stay off the psycho path.”
***
Brain looked at the bags of packing peanuts with undisguised glee. He counted five on the first shelf, with even more stacked against a wall at the far side of the room. A thought occurred to him, so he asked, “Why do you have all these?”
Thing one and Thing two looked at him for a minute before having a quick whispered conversation. Thing one then said, “We are Thing one and Thing two. We can’t talk to them or you.”
Connie laughed and said, “But you just did.”
This confused Thing one for a second. He thought about it and finally said, “Okay, this time I’ll tell you, but no more questions from here on out. We are Thing one and Thing two, and we don’t talk or shout.”
“Agreed,” Brain said.
Thing one took a deep breath and said in a somber voice, “Sometimes, the people who stayed here didn’t go home when they got better. They got worse and went to the State mental institution. When that happened, the staff packed up their belongings and sent them to their family. That’s why we have all of these.”
Brain nodded at this as he said, “Must have been pretty rough living here with the possibility of that hanging over your head.” Getting no answer, he turned his attention to the peanuts and added, “If we each grab two bags, we should have plenty. I already know that you keep the gas in the room next to the generator, but what about oil?”
Thing one and Thing two ignored his question by grabbing two bags and starting out of the storeroom. Brain looked at Connie, shrugged and slung his own bags over his shoulders before following them.
***
Linda was startled out of her thoughts at their predicament when Cindy asked, “Are we going to die?”
Forcing a smile, she replied in a reassuring voice, “No, pumpkin, we’re going to be just fine.”
“Mary and Sheila died,” Cindy said as tears started to
roll down her cheeks. “And so did Susan. And I know that so did Jonny-G and Marcia and a whole lot of other people, too. I didn’t know Marcia for long, but I liked her.”
Pep had been lying next to Cindy, and she lifted her head and laid it on the young girl’s leg when she saw one of her humans was in pain. Crossing the small room to sit next to the little girl on her bed, Linda took her in her arms. She stroked her hair and murmured reassurances until she heard her say, “And it’s all because of me.” Looking up suddenly at Linda, Cindy added in a small voice, “Don’t you die, too. Everyone who helps me ends up dead, and I can’t stand it anymore.”
Linda took a deep breath and said, “No has one died because of you, Cindy.”
“They did so,” she said defiantly. “They’re trying to get me to some G.I. Joe base or something. They all think I’m special because I didn’t turn into one of those things after I got bit.”
“And you are special,” Linda said. “You might hold the cure for all of this crazy stuff that’s going on. And on top of that, we all need to get somewhere that’s safe. I was talking to -” at this, Linda stopped before saying Mary and Sheila’s names. This was a raw, open wound that needed time to heal. “- some of the people in your group,” she continued, “and they told me a lot of what you’ve been through.”
Cindy nodded and said, “It feels like we’ve been around the world twice. I try to forget most of it, but I can’t.”
Raising one eyebrow, Linda said, “Then do you blame yourself for when the building in Clearwater got overrun by those things?”
In a small voice, Cindy replied, “No, but-”
“Well then, when the building was lost, you would have had to leave anyway,” Linda interrupted her before asking, “And do you blame yourself for the crazy people you ran into on the cruise ship?”
Cindy shook her head.
“Or the sailboat getting that hole in it?”
“But that’s different,” Cindy almost whined.
“Different how?” Linda asked.
At a loss for words, Cindy was quiet for a few seconds before saying in a low voice, “But I still feel like they died because of me. Trying to protect me.” At this, she started to cry silently, her small body shivering.
Linda pulled her close and said, “I think I know enough about people like Heather, Steve and Tick-Tock to say that any one of them would give their lives to save anyone else in the group.”
Her voice muffled from having her face pressed into Linda’s shoulder, Cindy said, “Then I want to at least be able to protect myself. I don’t want anyone else dying because of me.”
Looking down at the little girl, Linda wavered on what to do next. Cindy was so young, but after considering the world they now lived in, the decision was automatic. Extracting herself, she got up and pulled the end table in front of them before extracting her pistol and ejecting the clip. She cleared the round in the chamber and laid the weapon in front of them.
Igor looked on in silent approval from where he stood guard at the door as Linda took on a serious tone and repeated the words that Heather had used to begin her firearms training, “This is not a toy. It’s a tool, but it’s a tool that can kill…”
***
Brain looked at the pots sitting on the stove as he ran the formula for plastic explosives through his mind again. There were only a few dos and don’ts, and he wanted to make sure he had them all down before he started. The last thing they needed was for him to blow a hole in the back of the mansion or set it on fire.
When he was sure he had it right, he twisted the knobs of the burners to high and turned his attention to his helpers.
Looking to where Thing one and Thing two were plugging the last of the two-way radios into a base charger, he asked, “Is that all of them?”
Thing one pointed to the seven radios and nodded his head vigorously.
The radios had been an unexpected bonus. The plastic explosives he was making were supposed to detonate if they were thrown against something, but it wasn’t a sure thing. An electrical charge was the only certain way to set them off. Brain’s only regret about the radios was that he hadn’t known about them when he was wiring the dynamite. With the way things turned out in front of the mansion when Sean freaked out, it might not have made much difference, but at the very least, he would have been able to take a hell of a lot more Zs out with command detonated mines.
Turning to Connie, who was standing in front of the eighth radio lying on the center island with its back cover off and its wiring exposed, he asked, “You think you can remember what I showed you?”
“I’ve got the example right here,” she replied. “It should be simple enough.”
“I’ll be able to help you while I’m waiting for my stuff to cool down,” Brain told her, “so if you get stuck, just wait.”
Turning once again to the stove, he took a deep breath and let it out before scooping the first double handful of Styrofoam peanuts into the biggest of the pots.
***
Linda joined the others as they followed Steve, Heather and Tick-Tock into the makeshift armory. At first she was uncertain if she should say anything about giving Cindy her pistol but decided in the end not to. While the group cared about the little girl, Linda could see that they didn’t know much about how she was feeling or what she was going through. While she didn’t doubt that they would kill and die to protect her, they so were busy keeping them all alive that they might decide she was too young to have a gun before thinking it through.
Steve saw her and raised a questioning eyebrow. With a sheepish grin, she said, “I hate to tell you, but I lost my pistol when we were running for the house.”
“You still have your rifle, though,” Steve said.
“Still got it,” Linda assured him as she hefted the weapon. “It was on a strap over my shoulder. The pistol was in my pocket, though, and must have fallen out.”
After thinking about it a moment, Steve asked, “I know you shot your pistol a few times when the shit hit the fan out front, but did you ever get a chance to fire your rifle?”
Shaking her head, Linda replied, “I didn’t get it until yesterday, and we didn’t want to make noise and telegraph our position, so I never got a chance to shoot.”
“Then you can join the othe-” Steve stopped in mid-word and continued, “the rest of the group. They’re going up on the roof for some weapons training and target practice after Tick-Tock gets them squared away.”
Eying the assortment of rifles and pistols stacked in the closet, Tick-Tock added, “And there won’t be any shortage of targets.”
CHAPTER TWO
Jasper, Texas:
In October of the previous year, many small towns and cities were spared the initial impact of the infectious dead rampaging across the United States due to their relative isolation and the steps its people took to protect themselves. For all of them, survival was a near thing in the beginning, but in the end, as the H1N1 virus took the world by storm, it didn’t matter...
When the dead started to replace the living population of the major cities in Texas, the first of many emergency town council meetings was held in the town of Jasper, Texas. Although there was a lot of shouting about action, and even more fist banging on the podium where the townspeople stood to be heard, it was decided to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. It was pointed out by the council that almost all the citizens owned at least one firearm, and the average was four per household, so it was taken for granted that they could protect themselves. Hell, one of the councilmen told the crowd, even Fox News was reporting that the situation was under control.
This, combined with a small National Guard unit deployed at the center of town, served to assuage most people’s fears. As the meeting was winding down, the head of the city council also pointed out with pride that they were all Texans and could deal with anything that was thrown at them.
As he was about to bang his gavel to close the meeting, a young girl named Megan bravely stood u
p and approached the podium. Resting her hands on its top, she stood with a slight tilt to her head, waiting silently until she was recognized by the chair. A few of the city council members groaned and shook their heads when they saw her, regretting a decision they had made a few months ago to let everyone have their say, regardless of age. Ever since doing this, fourteen-year-old Megan had gotten up at each and every meeting to lecture them on everything from Monsanto’s use of illegal substances in their products to mandatory firearm safety for everyone over the age of ten.
Reluctantly, the chairman said, “The council recognizes the next - and last - speaker.”
Not holding back, Megan told them in a loud, clear voice, “Your ‘wait-and-see attitude’ is going to get you all killed.”
This brought gasps and excited chatter from the crowd, loud enough that the chairman had to bang his gavel to restore order. When it was quiet once again, he started to say, “Now, Megan -”, but she cut him off before he could finish.
“Have any of you seen or heard about how bad it’s gotten?” she asked. “The Internet is full of stories about the dead coming back to life and feeding on the living. It’s a very virulent disease, and it’s spreading like wildfire. It’s worse than the Black Death, and sooner or later it’s going to come here.”
This caused another outbreak from those gathered, and when it was again subdued by the pounding gavel, the chairman said, “We’ve all heard the rumors, Megan. But they are nothing but that – rumors. The situation is being taken care of by the authorities.”
“What if I could show you how what the disease is really like and how well these so-called authorities are taking care of the problem?” she asked. Without giving them time to say no, she pointed to the case hanging from a strap on her shoulder and said, “I brought my laptop with me, and I can -”
She was interrupted by one of the councilwomen laughing and saying, “And what are we all going to do, crowd around its little screen?”
With a self-satisfied smirk, Megan said, “Not to worry, I also brought a projector.” Waving her brother Ethan forward, he reluctantly started setting up the equipment while trying to keep a low profile. While he shared his sister’s love of technology, he hated her bringing so much attention to them.