Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Salvation

by Scott, Joshua Jared

  “Please, you know how thin on the ground we are right now, especially away from the main valley and the little settlements. I told the others to hold their positions in case more show up elsewhere.”

  “Want me to flush him out for you?”

  Renee gave an almost imperceptible nod. “Works for me.”

  Back when we first encountered the raiders, a group of three had tried to rape Steph, and as a result she absolutely despised the bastards. Renee took the hatred further. Her baby sister had been inside the compound in Martin, South Dakota when they assaulted it. The poor girl had been captured, violated dozens of times, tortured for several hours, and finally murdered via a broken bottle shoved between her legs. Renee minded her duty – that came first – but the moment a fight began, there was no way she would let a raider get away. It had been a tough call whether to take her or leave her behind. I eventually decided to place her in charge of the valley defenses while the rest of us were off in Yellowstone. Renee would never give up and never run should anything happen, and she possessed a degree of ruthlessness that was quite impressive.

  Alan slithered off.

  “They do have reinforcements coming!” exclaimed Steph. She had been staring through her binoculars, scanning the horizon. “At least ten, maybe more. They’re a ways off but moving fast.”

  While the others present were technically farmers and ranchers, each had been raised with a gun in his hands and knew exactly what he was doing. Meanwhile, Alan wormed his way close enough to take a shot. He took one man in the thigh. That fellow lost his balance and tumbled down the slope. The other made a break for it. Neither lasted more than a second and a half before the snipers brought an end to them.

  “Make that thirteen more,” clarified Steph. “Definitely thirteen. They’ve slowed and are spreading out.”

  The raiders had formed up abreast to one another with ten to fifteen feet between motorcycles. They continued their approach but suddenly came to a stop a good seven hundred yards from the tiny stone wall. Several began to scan the area with their own binoculars.

  “Come on,” snarled Renee. “Just a little closer. That’s all I ask.”

  The gang members apparently decided not to risk it. They turned around and rode off.

  Steph got to her feet and brushed the dirt from her blouse and jeans. “They know where we are now, and they’re going to tell the others.”

  “They know someone is here,” corrected Renee. “They can’t know it’s us, not yet anyway. And it’s not like we are the only group of survivors left.”

  * * *

  “What do you all think?” asked Briana.

  She was meeting with Marcus, Steph, and Renee in the citadel’s large courtyard. Asher had already been put to bed for the night and was being watched by one of the older ladies in the community, a popular and trusted babysitter.

  “They will come for us,” said Marcus. “They always do. It’s only a question of when.”

  “They can’t know how many are here or where we are exactly,” replied Briana. “For all they know, it was just a traveler on his way somewhere else who shot their guys.” She held up a hand to forestall the protests. “I know they’ll assume someone is living here full time, or at least that the odds are good enough to merit some further investigation. But, it’s still speculation and guesses. On the other hand, they know for certain that people are in Yellowstone. They have to or they wouldn’t be massing for an invasion. The raiders are going to attack them first and then move on to us, just like they did with Salt Lake City before going after Wyoming.”

  “Far too risky to assume that’ll be the case,” argued Renee. “If they have a good sized group anywhere nearby, they may attack. There were always lots of them, enough for two fronts, especially if they think we are only a small group, say the typical twenty or thirty people, hiding out in the mountains. At the very least, I expect them to try to scout the area.”

  “Our own planes haven’t spotted them,” added Briana. “They were off doing checks elsewhere, and by the time they were called back, the raiders had vanished. I had them circle around to the opposite side before landing, so we wouldn’t give away the location of the airstrip. Hopefully that’ll keep them from thinking we’re connected to Yellowstone too. They are bound to put the dots together eventually, but there’s not much more we can do to prevent it, aside from grounding the planes.”

  “That would be worse,” said Steph.

  “Probably holed up in a house or building somewhere,” grumbled Marcus. “Want me to get some people together and go looking? Not that many structures around here which would serve. We might be able to find the bastards, kill the entire lot.”

  Briana hesitated. “No, I don’t want anyone going out. Odds are too high they would ambush you, being rather good at it.”

  There were nods of agreement.

  “Besides,” she continued. “I’m sending you to North Dakota tomorrow.” She looked at the others in turn. “Harlan got a message from the guys over on the islands. They spotted a good sized community, maybe three hundred people, with one of their satellites. Being the closest, we get to make contact and see if they need help or not.”

  “How far is it?” he asked.

  “Harlan has the details. We can go over them in a little bit.”

  “What about the raiders?” prompted Steph. “We can’t ignore them.”

  “Never that, but we aren’t really in a position to do much. I think we need to increase our watches though. Can you do that, Renee?”

  The woman ran some numbers through her head. “Since they are bound to notice the planes, we should just go ahead and increase the flights, maybe have the pilots do wide circles around the Black Hills before and after the longer runs. I don’t have near enough people to watch everything – never did – but I can make sure the most vulnerable areas are covered twenty four hours a day. It’s going to be twelve hour shifts too. That gets really, really dull after a while. Minds start to wander. Even being careful, someone might get through.”

  “All right,” said Briana, apparently not liking what she heard. “Go ahead and increase the watches. You should probably set up some response groups too. We can keep the full time militia members in the main valley, those not on watch, and fly them over in the helicopters if we need them. How about using the ranchers and farmers for back up? The food valleys are all around this one, and the people there are closer to the borders than us.”

  Renee shook her head. “I’ve already figured on using some of them for the watches. I can’t have that many militia members spread out, too much of that already. I’ll station a team to the south, maybe eight men, and have another to the west. Those are the most likely areas the raiders would come from. A third will be here in the valley. What’s left will be at our existing watch posts. If anything shows up needing more firepower to deal with, well, it’ll be me grabbing whoever is closest and shoving a gun in his hands.”

  “I can spread the news first, Briana,” suggested Steph, “get the rumor mill going about how the raiders tried to sneak in. Word of the attack is already making the rounds, but I’m sure I can make it seem more dire than it is.”

  “That would help with getting volunteers,” agreed Renee. “I need to work on some rosters, get a firm grip on what I’ll be needing, watching definitely, likely some full time militia too, until Jacob gets back.”

  “Girl,” said Marcus, addressing Steph, “for all we know it might just be that dire. Best for the people to be worried. Last thing we need is them thinking the portion of the militia still here is all it will take.”

  “Have the soldiers hold a new round of training for everyone,” added Briana. “Make it mandatory. That should help with the taking it serious thing, and it won’t hurt if we do get hit. Or would you rather they fight instead?”

  “Tough call,” considered Renee. “They’re mostly instructors by training. I take that back. David is a seriously experienced vet, but he’s all banged up and
can’t fight anymore, not in this terrain. I think we’re better off with them handling the training. They know more about that than any of us.” She sighed. “All the diehard combat guys are off in Yellowstone.”

  “That is where they expected the war to be,” pointed out Steph. “From the very beginning it looked like they would get attacked first.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Marcus. “It made sense.”

  “Okay then.” Briana slapped Renee on the shoulder. “Get our lot organized. I’ll make an announcement tomorrow afternoon that the raiders know we are in the Black Hills and have begun scouting the area in force. We will have to make preparations so we can respond if they attack and that it will inconvenience people so be prepared to put up with it, blah, blah, blah.”

  “They’ll do what they have to, Briana.” Marcus tipped his cowboy hat. “I would leave off the blahs if I were you. Not good form for a politician.”

  “I am not…” She looked over at Steph. “Do you think I’m a politician?”

  The redhead shrugged. “Well, you haven’t actually been elected or run a campaign making all sorts of promises you don’t plan on keeping, but you do talk and act like one.”

  “Oh, God.” Briana felt sick to her stomach. “And to think, making fun of them was one of my favorite pastimes when I was in high school. I even made jokes about the kids running for student council.”

  “Karma, girl.” Marcus laughed. “That’s what it is.”

  Chapter III

  The rotating patrols continued for over a week without incident. Two squads went out at a time, generally sub-divided into four groups of five each. Ranging as far as twenty miles a trip, my people were quickly familiarizing themselves with the terrain, and I was confident this would provide us with a significant advantage over the raiders. Lizzy, forced to deal with all the duties of an XO, only went on a single hike. Carlson didn’t go anywhere. In contrast, Mary was gone nearly every day. There wasn’t anything I really needed her for, so she had my blessings. The only time she demurred was when Tim Myers asked her to accompany his team. Mary said she would love to but that all the paperwork she’d been neglecting had reached the breaking point. As it turned out, she spent the afternoon drawing pictures and doodling in a notebook.

  The twins were hovering more than usual, which I found bothersome. It wasn’t their mere presence – I was used to that – rather, they seemed on edge, more so than the others. It took me a while to figure it out, but I think their uneasiness was based on the unusual stretch of quiet we were experiencing. The raiders had delayed in the past before attacking but never for this long. What were they doing?

  Of the squads not patrolling, most spent their off time hanging around our little supply base. Some worked on the defenses, primarily digging additional trenches or creating obstacles in the meadows and open areas around the hill. Others relaxed and took it easy. Every so often we would haul supplies to the west where Captain Briggs had deployed the bulk of the Yellowstone force. He had close to two hundred people with him, each of his platoons commanded by a battle hardened, professional soldier.

  Keeping them fed proved easy enough. The people of Yellowstone brought us whatever was required. I then had this sorted and stacked, ready to be forwarded whenever Captain Briggs made the request. It was a very different role from what I’d previously experienced. I was used to being at the forefront of the conflict.

  Briana was happy with the situation, something she made very, very clear when we spoke via satellite. You know, the last time I was in the field, we went weeks without exchanging words. Now, with our impressive technology that I can’t begin to understand, we have the ability to speak pretty much anytime we want. I would feel guilty talking to my sweetie so often while the others in my command have far less access to their loved ones, but a great deal of our communications were related to day to day affairs in the Black Hills which needed to be addressed.

  Our overhead flights were continuing without pause. Kimberly usually went up at night, taking full advantage of the equipment installed in her Cessna. Others passed by during the day to examine the area with cameras and the naked eye. The raiders were digging in as well, setting up their own strong points and keeping to whatever cover the trees provided. Xavier participated a few times but more often used our helicopter to move personnel around Yellowstone.

  * * *

  I was bored. Do you recall the week or so of patrols I mentioned just a few paragraphs earlier? Well, that quickly doubled. Nothing was happening. It was getting so bad that I had complained to both the captain and the lieutenant, with Lizzy adding her voice as well. Yes, I realize we were outnumbered, but we were armed to the teeth, controlled the sky, spent more than a year training under the watchful eye of true experts, and possessed fully armed military helicopters as a secret weapon. My opinions were politely disregarded. Then something finally occurred. I would jump up and down shouting yippee, but it wasn’t anything good.

  “Lieutenant Gikas just called,” announced Mary.

  I set the field manual I was reading on the table. “What’s up?”

  “A hunting group vanished. There were nine of them, six adults and three kids ages ten to thirteen.” She began to fidget.

  “Any trace?”

  “Nothing. Well, they found their pickups. One had an elk in the back. It had already started to go bad, so the theory is that they’ve been missing pretty much from the moment they left.”

  “Where were the trucks?” asked Lizzy.

  She was examining a map of the park. I think Lizzy was trying to identify the best route to visit all the geysers and boiling pools in the shortest amount of time, or something like that. Such meaningless busy work was becoming the norm.

  “South side, all the way down near the park entrance. None of the baddies went through there – they have watches in place – so no one knows what to think.”

  “They don’t know what to think?” began Lizzy. “They don’t know! Of course they know! That fucking piece of shit prophet did it! You know what a miserable sack he is.” She stiffened and took a deep breath. “They got people looking, right?”

  Mary nodded. “Mostly those who live around there. The lieutenant wanted to know if we could send Xavier and a squad or two to help out, in case they come across anyone with guns. Captain Briggs doesn’t want to pull people off the line.”

  “I’ll go search,” said Lizzy. “You’re in charge, so you can’t. I have to get out of here anyway. I’ve been sitting on my ass too long.”

  In truth, it hadn’t been that long, but she dealt with boredom even more poorly than me.

  “I’m taking Harvey’s group and squad four. Both are here and not doing anything important.”

  “Make sure you have an uplink with you,” I cautioned. “Keep me informed on what’s going on, and be ready to get recalled if I need you.”

  “Sure thing,” muttered Lizzy.

  “I want to come,” said Mary.

  “Not a chance, pipsqueak.” Lizzy poked her in the chest with one stubby finger. “You keep an eye on Jacob. Get the twins to help.”

  “They already are,” I pointed out.

  Tara and Dale were standing just outside the large tarp we’d raised to keep the sun and rain off our heads.

  “Then make them do it even more.” She glared at me. “It’ll keep that pair out of trouble.”

  “They never get into trouble,” stated Mary. “Tara, do you ever get in trouble?”

  The woman regarded my daughter briefly before turning away.

  “See,” concluded the teenager, “they agree.”

  “Right. You’re loonier than Jacob.”

  “Am not!”

  “Ladies,” I interrupted, “please cut it out, both of you.” I ignored the pair of dirty looks sent my way. “Lizzy, go get the squads organized. After Xavier is back from his current flight, get him refueled. Then you can head out. Mary, pull up the patrol schedule. We need to switch to only one squad going out at a time. Tha
t leaves us three for carting supplies or whatever else might come up.”

  “I’m on it.” She stepped on Lizzy’s foot as she walked by, agilely avoiding the slap sent her way.

  “Let her go.”

  My friend hesitated.

  “I mean it. No following Mary so you can get back at her. Look, everyone is getting restless, even her. At least you get to go out and do something productive.”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Don’t tell Briana I said this, but I can hardly wait for the killing to start. I want this done with, and I’m not sure how much more sitting about I can handle.”

  It was Lizzy’s turn to fidget. “You’re the one in charge. You gotta set an example, and if you start acting up it’s going to cause real trouble.”

  I looked out at the bustling camp. We had trenches and ditches, barriers and obstacles, what could very well be the most elaborate latrines ever seen in the field, and a giant checkerboard in one corner. Someone had cut old sheets of plywood into circles two feet across and painted them red and black. The lines were done in yellow. So far, just about everyone had played a game.

  “I’m good. At any rate, this is either a nasty, unfortunate accident or something worse. You be careful out there.”

  “It’s something worse. A couple of people might have an accident, but not that many, not all at once.”

  “Probably. I would think someone would have called in or that one would have come back for help if so. You can bet Briggs thinks the worst. He wouldn’t have requested two of our squads otherwise.”

  * * *

  Lizzy and her search teams found nothing, not a single damn thing, excluding a pack of wolves munching on a deer and an irate bear that put a dent in the hood of her truck. It ran off after she fired a few shots into the air. Personally, I would have likely killed the animal, taking its skin for a rug and several hundred pounds of meat for our stores. My friend was far more sympathetic. I think it’s a result of watching too many Care Bears cartoons as a child.