We would be taking that home with us.
“She’s sitting still until Harvey gets in. He’s having trouble with the door. He says it’s not barred but seems to be blocked by something. He…” Mary paused. “It was a raider who fell asleep leaning against it. He might be stoned. Harvey can’t smell any liquor, but the guy is totally not responding, not even when he was handcuffed and gagged.”
“Got a few zombies off to the east,” said Lizzy. “They are just walking around. Don’t seem to have heard us yet.”
“That’s good. Anything from the twins?”
Mary checked. “Same. It’s quiet.”
Some muzzle flashes lit up a window on the first floor. More soon appeared on the second. Then the sound of gunfire broke the silence. A few seconds later Tara and Dale began shooting.
“They are awake.”
“Like it’s not fucking obvious, Mary.” Lizzy drew her pistol and set it on the ground beside her. “The ones to the east are shambling toward the building as fast as their shitty little legs can carry them.”
“Mary, ask the twins what they’re seeing.”
“Um, they see… Renee and Harvey are on the third floor. Bottom two are clear. Okay, Tara says lots of zombies are heading this way, a whole lot, like maybe a few hundred. Harvey says lots of resistance. Dale says more zombies are coming from the other side. I don’t know which way he’s talking about.”
“More and more my way too,” added Lizzy.
I peered around the corner. “Mary, tell Tara and Dale to get down here now. We are going inside the raiders’ building. We’ll barricade it so the dead can’t get in. Worst case, we have the helicopters pull us off the roof. Let Renee and Harvey know what we’re doing, and have the pairs get inside if they aren’t already.”
By the time the twins were beside us and our outer ring of militia accounted for, the squads inside had pushed the surviving raiders back to a corner room on the structure’s top floor. That was excellent. The zombies, not so much. Hundreds had morphed into thousands, and all were closing on our location. It was one of those things you had to expect in a town that hadn’t been properly cleared.
“Time to go,” said Lizzy.
I allowed her to lead the way inside, with Tara and Dale flanking me and Mary. Just past the door was a raider, unconscious and tightly bound.
“Move him to the corner.”
Dale dragged the man to the side. The building was a commercial structure, apparently a small warehouse. The windows were few and far between, and what did exist were situated fairly high up so that wasn’t an issue. The door itself was composed of steel. There was no crossbar, but it did have a sturdy lock which I secured.
“Lizzy, check the other entrances. Have someone watch each one. Then join us on the second floor. Whoever is keeping an eye on this door can kill that asshole if he wakes up and starts making trouble. Otherwise leave him.”
She hurried off, and we made our way to the staircase. It was located next to a freight elevator.
“Renee says it’s about over. Harvey got some flash bangs into the room. The raiders are all wobbly headed now.”
Wobbly headed?
“They are handcuffing everyone,” Mary concluded.
“Let’s check the windows real fast,” I suggested, “before joining them.”
The zombies on my side were quite numerous, and by that I mean it was a mass of bodies. There wouldn’t be, couldn’t be, any departure save by air.
“Bad over here,” called Mary.
“Lots of them,” confirmed Dale.
Tara simply nodded her agreement.
“Mary, have Renee and Harvey send me their six biggest guys. I want them downstairs stacking crates against the doors. After that, we move everyone up top and seal the door to stairs behind us. I don’t think they’ll get past both, but if they do get into the stairwell, we can pick them off one by one. We should have enough ammunition.”
“Might not,” commented Lizzy. She had joined us on the second floor.
“We’ll see what the raiders have on hand.”
“I’ll take the twins to help with that.” Lizzy glared at them. “Get moving. You two know weapons better than anyone.” Her gaze shifted to me. “You and the little twerp move on up where it’s safe.”
* * *
“What we got?”
Renee gestured around the room. Handcuffed to iron support beams were nine raiders, two women and seven men. The guy we found by the front door, who was apparently an inept sentry, was still unconscious. I was beginning to think he might be overdosing, not that I was going to do anything to help him. The important one was in the center, a tall, slender man with long gray hair, clad in black leather.
“How about weapons, food, and gear?”
“Their guns are dirty,” said Tara.
The twins maintained their trademark blank expressions, but I think they were upset. The pair had a thing about firearms and did not take kindly to having them mistreated.
“Mary.”
As soon as an opportunity presented itself, Michael drifted over to speak with her. My daughter was a few feet behind me, helping Lizzy patch up our wounded. No one had been killed or seriously wounded, although Tereza might have a cracked rib. If so, it was a small price to pay, considering her body armor stopped the round from blasting through her midsection.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine. Almost wasn’t. A raider came out of a bathroom right behind me.”
“What happened?” asked Mary.
“Tim shot him.”
“Tim? Really? I guess I’ll have to thank him later.”
Duty wins out over personal desire. Thank the Lord. Still, it might be best to talk to Briana and see if we couldn’t set Tim up on some dates with other girls his age. There was no shortage in the Black Hills, and he was a decent enough guy. A girlfriend would likely end the drama once and for all.
“What are we going to do with them?” inquired Harvey. “Should we question them?”
“I packed a dental drill,” said Renee.
“We’ll use it if necessary, but I think they’re beaten. Just look at their eyes.” I turned toward Dale and Tara. “Get a few others and go up on the roof. I want you to catch me a zombie, just one. Maybe loop a rope around it and haul it up. Don’t kill it, but definitely chop off the head. I need an intact head.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Renee.
“Nothing good, nothing decent. But first, I do want to speak with them.”
* * *
As expected, they were ready to speak, aside from the prophet. He just shot us nasty looks, ignoring our questions. Receiving no guidance and clearly despondent, the others answered freely. They were the last of their band. Once numbering thousands of fighters and several times that in dependents, a mere nine remained. Correction, eight. The guy who was stoned suddenly woke up. Startled at seeing us, he jerked upright, found he couldn’t move that far, slipped, and cracked his head open on a piece of metal. He twitched for approximately ten minutes.
Anyway, after crossing the ravine, they succeeded in avoiding the fire and eventually made their way to Casper, Wyoming in order to meet up with their scouts and anyone else who managed to survive. I never would have guessed they would select that place as their fallback position. It was the site of one of their worst defeats, the spot where we destroyed a good portion of their forces. Regardless, they spent a few weeks in the city, plotting revenge. Eventually they moved on, passing to the west of the Thunder Basin National Grassland in order to reach this place, one of their old safe houses, without being detected.
The journey was not without incident. Caught in a thunder storm, they were forced to seek shelter in an abandoned barn. A herd passed by, saw their lights, and attacked. The zombies were too numerous to be beaten back, and they lost half their number before escaping. More died after they reached Belle Fourche. But, determined to make us pay, they kept at it, initiating an elaborate system of s
pying in the hope they would find an opening or opportunity, anything.
“Think they told the truth?” asked Mary.
I nodded. “I do. Opinions.”
“Truth,” said Renee. “They weren’t lying.”
“I agree,” added Harvey.
“What do you two think?”
Tara looked at her brother. Dale looked at his sister. Neither commented.
“It’s the fucking truth,” said Lizzy. “After all this time, we finally won. There aren’t any others left.”
“We won lots of time,” protested Mary. “We lived and they all died when they attacked the castle.”
“That’s not a win, girl. That was just surviving with a whole bunch of good people ending up dead, not counting that bitch, Cherie, who can rot in Hell.” Lizzy began to mumble to herself. “I should have dug that head out of latrine. Just know it.”
“We won some battles,” I said. “They won others. Wyoming was lost, the castle and the Nebraska National Forest too, in the end. They failed to take Yellowstone or do more than cause trouble in the Black Hills. None of that matters anymore. The war is over, for good.”
“What do we do with them?” Renee looked at the others. “We have to decide. The guys already have everything of value on the roof. We can fly it out at any time. The stuff too heavy to cart off is piled by the loading dock. We can get it later if we do a proper raid. Sun rises in less than an hour. It’s almost time to leave.”
I walked up to the prophet. “You haven’t said anything. Now’s the time.”
He stared at me, silent.
I sighed. “Bare the left arm of each and tie a tourniquet. Then get the zombie head and give each a bite. Not this one.”
“Justice,” declared Lizzy. She didn’t look happy or elated – no one did – but neither did she or anyone else show the slightest hesitation. “I’ll do it.”
The looks of extreme hatred the prophet had been throwing our way increased exponentially. A few of his followers cursed us, and one woman begged for mercy saying it was her husband who did the bad things, that she was one of the family members who never got involved. Maybe it was true. Maybe not. It made no difference.
“Toss the head. We don’t need it any longer. Uncuff the prophet and bring him.”
I headed for another room, one we had searched earlier. It was unusual in that one wall was composed of thick wood planks. It appears to have been a quick and cheap modification intended to subdivide a larger space.
Dale put a round in the decapitated zombie before allowing Lizzy to throw it out the window. He couldn’t stand the idea of not killing one of the things if the opportunity presented itself.
“Over there.”
While the twins dragged the man toward the wall, punching and slapping him the entire time – he was doing his best to be uncooperative – I collected four large galvanized nails from a nearby bucket. Each was nine inches long. Sliding a large washer down each, I then retrieved the heavy mallet I’d spotted earlier.
“Dad, what are you doing?”
“The washers are so he can’t pull free.”
“Free from…” Mary grew very pale.
“Get some chairs and lift him up high, toward the ceiling.”
The prophet apparently figured out what I was going to do because a new flurry of struggles erupted. It was so bad that a disgusted Tara finally pulled a stun gun from her pack and gave him several shocks. After that it was easier.
Renee ushered the militia members out of the room before I drove the first nail through his wrist. Then Mary left. By the time I had his bare feet placed against the wood, I was alone save for the twins. My two militia captains were in no way alarmed or distressed. Lizzy had just infected seven people so they would die a slow, agonizing death as punishment for their crimes. Renee had tortured others earlier in the year and was ready to do so again. Rather, they were leaving this final act to me. I was more grateful than I could express.
“Anything to say now?”
The effect of the stun gun had worn off, and the prophet hung by his hands until it grew too painful. Then he pushed up with his legs until that likewise became unbearable.
“Are you sure you don’t want to tell me anything? Nothing? That’s okay. I can wait for you to change your mind.”
I exited the room, Tara and Dale following close behind.
“You done?”
“Not yet, Lizzy. Take everyone home. I’ll be staying here for the next few days, shouldn’t take more than two or three, four at the most.”
“Dad, Briana will be mad if you don’t come home.”
I shook my head. “She understands. You tell her I’ll radio for a helicopter pickup as soon as it’s over. Have Xavier or Ronnie or someone on standby. Oh, have whoever gets you to fly around some and lead the zombies away. I don’t want to be listening to them banging on the walls and doors. The twins will keep me company.”
As if they would ever consent to leave me alone.
“But why?” My daughter was almost pleading.
“He never said a word after we captured him, not one. He’s determined to keep silent, to not give me the satisfaction. I want to see if he changes his mind.”
“What the fuck could that piece of shit possibly say that would matter?” demanded Lizzy.
“That would matter? Nothing, nothing at all.”
Appendix – Timeline (Year One)
August 22
At 3:15 AM (Central Time), a quarter of the Earth’s population goes into unexplained convulsions, dies, and returns seven minutes later as zombies.
September 12
Jacob, Briana, Lizzy, and Mary reach the Nebraska National Forest, establishing a settlement to house themselves and other survivors they encountered along the way.
November 20
The raiders launch an unprovoked assault on the castle (the name given to the primary structure). They are thwarted and slain when an unusually large horde of zombies arrives, attracted by the sound of battle. Only Jacob and a handful of his friends survive.
>>The first narrative, Sanctuary: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, comes to a close<<
May 23
Asher is born.
Appendix – Timeline (Year Two)
August 22
One year since it all began.
The prophet and his forces launch an assault on Casper, Wyoming and are repelled.
August 29
The castle is abandoned as the final convoy leaves for the Black Hills.
October 17
Jacob and Briana are married.
>>The second narrative, Conflict: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, comes to a close<<
Appendix – Timeline (Year Three)
October 17
Jacob and Briana celebrate their first wedding anniversary and a year of unexpected peace.
Appendix – Timeline (Year Four)
December 17
Briana turns twenty one.
April 24
Traveling to Yellowstone National Park, Jacob begins construction on a forward supply base.
May 16
Following several weeks of quiet, war erupts between the combined Yellowstone / Black Hills militias and the raiders.
May 24
During an offensive, the cave where the raiders have hidden their families is attacked. The entrance collapses, and all within perish.
Marcus escapes from The Brotherhood’s island stronghold and begins to make his way south, home to the Black Hills.
June 4
Following a long pursuit, Jacob locates the final band of raiders who escaped the slaughter in Yellowstone National Park. Most are killed in the fight, but the prophet manages to escape.
June 7
Unable to pursue any further, Jacob returns to the Black Hills.
June 10
Marcus is encountered by a patrol near the northern edge of the Black Hills and taken to the valley hospital.
July 4
The pe
ople vote on a name for their town hidden deep within the Black Hills and select Baltis. The smaller, companion settlement placed near the valley wall becomes Venusville.
July 13
The Black Hills militia under the leadership of Jacob and Renee departs to deal with The Brotherhood.
July 15
The island settlement on Lake Sakakawea is assaulted. The Brotherhood is destroyed, the town set aflame, and all prisoners loaded into a truck for eventual transfer to Hawaii.
July 30
Jacob and family arrive in Hawaii to meet with President James Lawson and the United States Senate.
August 2
A fire begins in Baltis during the night destroying seven cabins, two storehouses, and one barn. No lives are lost, aside from three dairy cows and a few dozen chickens.
August 7
Jacob and Mary put Senator Alfred Mons in the hospital after he gropes Mary at a dinner party, creating a diplomatic crisis and beginning a feud with the senator’s family.
August 16
Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Salvation Page 39