Chapter Thirty Seven: Mike and Kate
That night, Kate was on watch when the apartment was attacked. They had returned in force. Kate was exhausted but had insisted that Mike and I rest first. We simply didn’t expect them to attack us in the Eagle’s Nest, and we weren’t ready for them.
I woke up when I heard Kate scream. They were coming in the doors, through the walls, even through a ceiling duct. By the time I became fully conscious, they were all over her, mauling her and dragging her towards the door. She was fighting, clawing, and shooting but there were too many. There was something different, something new, about them but it didn’t register; I was still half asleep.
Her screams broke my heart.
I hesitated too long, and more poured into the apartment. Mike was now awake and began firing. I did too. There were too many of them to get, so in desperation we retreated to the roof.
I couldn’t get to Kate to end her.
Mike and I fought our way to the roof, and when we were totally surrounded we climbed down the side using a couple of ropes that Mike had set up. We were about thirty feet from the ground when Mike’s rope broke or was cut. He fell the rest of the way to the ground and hit with a sickening snap and a loud moan. When he hit, at least a dozen hands grabbed him and tore at him. He was unconscious or dead. They quickly dragged him away.
There was nothing I could do for him. I couldn’t climb up, and I certainly couldn’t get to the ground. I had my .45 but by the time I thought about ending Mike they had moved him away. I couldn’t shoot while hanging from a rope anyway. I had to swing out from the building until I built enough momentum to kick in a window and fall back inside.
Chapter Thirty Eight: “Rats”
I spent the rest of that night fighting for my life and weeping for my wife and my son. I was out of ammo and fought using a table lamp and a frying pan. That’s all there was in there. I barricaded the doors with furniture and bashed any that got in. I got at least twenty that I can remember. I was in a shocked daze.
A few fell past the window from the roof. Clearly, they were attempting to climb down the rope but didn’t know how. They were trying to learn. After awhile, they went away.
I noticed that the moon was full and the night was not particularly cold, probably above freezing. My fears seemed to be coming true. A big attack was coming with the thaw.
Just before light, I crept up to the Eagle’s Nest and checked for supplies and weapons. There was no sign of Kate or Mike. The rats had cleared out most of the guns and they’d destroyed the radios. The thought of a world with armed zombies was very scary.
I found some full magazines for my .45 and some water and moved out just before the sun rose. I’d just gotten across the street when I heard a noise. I ducked under a burned out car and waited. Soon, a few humans arrived at the base of the Eagle’s Nest. They were clearly alive.
I was astounded when the humans were joined by two Brains, a few Wolves, and a pair of females who were zombies but looked relatively intact. In fact, as I watched I realized that the females were directing the Brains. Also, rather than attacking, the humans and the zombies appeared to be communicating.
In my shock and sorrow, it took me several minutes to realize that the zombies appeared to be in charge of the humans. Without really speaking, the leaders made clear to the humans that they wanted them to go into the building and search it. The humans were clearly terrified but chose to follow orders rather than fight.
I decided right then to kill them all, both the ones that were there and any they’d left behind, even as hostages. A world where humans worked for zombies was simply too dark to endure. Even if they were enslaved against their will.
After the humans entered the building, the Brains and the females continued to “communicate” somehow. It almost looked like they were telepathic but they still used gestures and body language. It was oddly effective. The two females—Leaders, I decided to call them— seemed to be in charge. They left after a few minutes, leaving the two Brains behind.
About twenty minutes later, the humans returned, carrying some of our weapons and supplies. Clearly, they had been told to find me and the Brains were not happy that they’d returned empty-handy. The Wolves roughed up the humans but without hurting them, then took the weapons and the group began to walk north up the street.
I followed from a distance, creeping through the shadows behind them. I was in a killing frenzy and felt that I had nothing left to live for. I forgot for a bit about the rest of my family and friends back at the Farm. I was just waiting to find a group big enough to make my death worthwhile.
Chapter Thirty Nine: A Chilling Discovery
Their lair was only a few blocks away, in one of the buildings that we hadn’t burned yet. It was some type of factory or warehouse made of concrete so we hadn’t burned it. I snuck in behind them and hid behind a crate where I could see and hear what was going on.
It’s hard to explain, but you could tell what the zombies were trying to say. There was a clear pecking order, with regular zombies at the bottom, then the humans, the Wolves, the Brains, and then the higher ups, the Leaders. The Leaders deferred to a single female, who deferred to a huge and healthy looking male. He was clearly the alpha of this group, yet even he gave the impression that he was waiting for a superior to arrive. I was amazed at the development and hierarchy that had developed in such a short time.
I hid behind that stinking crate for two days. As I laid there in the filth I learned quite a bit about the humans and the zombie hierarchy. I can’t remember how much I heard, how much I dreamed, and how much I intuited, but it became clear that a huge horde was gathering, that the horde was led by a zombie king and queen who both knew about the Farm, and that they were coming after us.
The humans (“Rats”) included men, women, and children. They were protected by the Brains and the Leaders, since the Wolves and the garden-variety zombies would rip them apart. They were simply too afraid to run or fight so they chose to collaborate. The zombies realized that the humans could help them find other humans, and use weapons, and generally make life miserable for survivors. I never felt the slightest pity for the rats but decided irrevocably to kill all of them when I had the chance. The fuckers went out each night to free zombies from buildings and cars to build the horde.
In those two days, I cycled through every emotion I’d ever had and even some new ones. Despair. Hysteria. Grief. Near-hysteria. Rage. Silent hysteria. As time passed, I remembered the Farm and realized that I had to warn them about the coming horde. I still had a lot to live for—Bobbie and Sean, my brother and my sister, and the rest of the people back at the Farm. I owed it to them to make it back.
I dreamed one night that Mike and Kate might be alive. I was afraid to go to that part of my mind so I locked it down. I decided to get back to the Farm.
But I also owed the rats and their masters something before I left. I crept out of the building in the middle of the night in a group of rats and zombies and quickly broke away. I’d noticed a large gas main running through the building, clearly used for some industrial purpose, and I’d opened a couple of valves before I left. The gas poured out but the place reeked so badly that I didn’t think the humans would notice it. I waited next to the building for three hours or so. I had found a stairwell with a broken window and I had a flare in my pack.
My plan was to drop the flare through the window and ignite the gas. There was only one working door, and I’d blocked it with a pipe jammed through the door handles. I lit the flare, threw it in, and . . . nothing. The flare simply went out. Fuck!
I searched the area and found an old beer bottle, filled it with gas that I sucked out of a gas tank, stuck a rag in it, lit it up and threw it in. This time it worked. Not a huge explosion, but more of a “whuff,” almost an inhale, followed by a loud blast that blew out all of the windows and made the structure collapse, followed up with a nice fire. I’d been counting the rats and zombies and figured I got at lea
st fifty rats and a couple hundred zombies, including a bunch of Brains and at least a couple of the higher ups.
Chapter Forty: Return
I raced back to the Eagle’s Nest, fired up the Hummer, and headed north. After only a couple of miles, I ran into Jim, Stan, and Tito in another Hummer and told them what had happened. They’d been looking for us but they’d noticed greatly increased activity and had to move slowly.
We radioed back to the Farm and the Bat Cave to get ready for an attack. It made me sad to think of Mike and all of his nicknames for places. The people at the Bat Cave agreed to join us at the Farm, since there was simply no way to hold the Bat Cave against a horde.
We made good time back to the Farm. Once our friends from the Bat Cave joined us, I had Jim blow the north and south bridges so we had gaps of at least thirty feet at each, but there were still areas where the ice hadn’t thawed.
I told everyone what I’d learned. They were shocked that humans were actually helping the zombies, and glad that I’d taken some of them out. Everyone was crushed to learn about Mike and Kate. Sean and Bobbie were inconsolable. I had no idea how they’d recover from the loss of their mother and brother at such a young age—assuming they had the chance.
Stan and Sumner spent all day and night sending out warnings over the short wave. No one else had heard about zombies with human slaves but, to their credit, everyone immediately believed us. We continued to hear chatter about a huge horde approaching from the south. It was a chilling development for all of us but we’d simply become accustomed to horrible news. It was going to happen.
Those of us who had survived the first horde told the others about it in detail. The first horde was bad enough; now we had to plan for a horde supported by smart zombies with a control and command structure and aided by humans with weapons.
Chapter Forty One: Preparations
I met with Jim and Stan to lay out our defense plan. The first order of business was to send out scouts to get a handle on numbers and approach vectors. We had to know how many were coming and when they’d start to arrive.
The second order of business was to involve the Lynches and Spillers to coordinate our defense. We sent a messenger up to bring Dave and Danny to us for a meeting and for a detailed status report regarding weapons and personnel. We had to be able to rely on them to defend the northern part of the island.
The third order of business was to isolate the island as best we could. Jim had already blown the bridges so I had him radio the Canadians and get them to fire up their boat and use it as an ice breaker.
We knew from experience that we simply couldn’t defend the house against a horde so we secured it and got everyone moving weapons, supplies and water into the fort and the caves.
Marj supervised food, Courtney supervised water, and Jim supervised weapons. We quickly moved all of the weapons into the Fort and at least a six month supply of food and water into the caves. We buried the rest of our food and water so that the rats could not get at it.
A sign of our desperation and our abhorrence for the rats is that we intentionally left caches of poisoned food and water all around the island.
Chapter Forty Two: The Battle of the Farm
It began, as I expected, at about 3:00 a.m. They probably expected to surprise us but we’d maintained sentries around the clock. We’d run field telephones out to the sentries in case the attackers had radios. The first call was from Christina, who was watching the southern bridge. Although the bridge was blown, ice had built up under the bridge and it appeared that it might be walkable. The ice was too thick for the Canadians to break up with their boat but we had rigged it with explosives.
The next call was from Dave Spiller from the northern bridge. That area was pretty much clear of ice, but he could see humans putting small boats in the water, clearly intending to paddle over when the attack began. I told Dave to have four of his people fire on the humans to harass and delay them.
“Dave, I want you to get your guys to injure them, not kill them. I want them screaming and dying hard. Go for gut shots. Those rats are human scum and I think they’ll run like rats.”
“Okay, Jack. Will do.”
Also, Dave, fire your two grenade launchers at the boats and use your .50 cal sniper rifle to hole them. Nice and slow. Wait until they get out in the water, because I want them to drown.”
“Can’t say I like it, Jack, but okay.”
The Canadians called in on the radio; they’d been detailed to watch the eastern side of the island from the boat. They’d created a narrow patch of open water but the temperature was below freezing so we expected that lane to freeze solid. They were dumping gas and oil on the open water to keep it free of ice. Cam reported a huge concentration of zombies massing on the ice.
Fortunately, it was all quiet on the western front. On that side we had a lot of open water and the coast was further away. We had three sentries on the west. George was to the south, about 1000 yards from Christina. Cleve was on the northern side, where he could support Dave Spiller. I’d placed Tito in the middle. They each had a mountain bike to help them move around as necessary.
I moved Tito to the south to support Christina, as that was clearly going to be the main point of attack. I called Dave Spiller and told him to replace Cleve with one of his guys and moved Cleve to the east, where he’d built a bunker. I told the Canadians to abandon ship and man Cleve’s bunker.
We’d rigged the boat with explosives and loaded it and the surrounding ice with gas and oil to try to keep some open water. Water wouldn’t kill the zombies, but humans would drown. Zombies would at least sink to the bottom and be out of the battle, at least for today.
I’d built myself a bunker about a thousand yards from the southern bridge. I knew that the zombies would have to come through that way. It was nice and high, with excellent visibility around the entire southern rim of the island. I was loaded for bear, too, with a .50 caliber machine gun, a Barrett .50 sniper file, a .Lapua 338, three mortars, two grenade launchers, and assorted small arms.
The plan was for the scouts to the south to fall back to my fighting position and fight with me for as long as possible before retreating to the Fort. No one knew it, but I did not plan to retreat.
Jim and Stan had initially objected to me being a scout, but I got Jim to come around when I put him in overall command of the Fort. I was in charge of the scouts. Stan was in charge of the cave, where we’d built our redoubt. Tom was quartermaster, in charge of supply and ammunition. Sumner ran the artillery. Marj would supervise the younger children. None of us expected to survive.
I called up to Dave. “How’s it going up there?”
“The rats are running. We nailed a bunch and sank about twenty boats and the rest ran away.”
“Okay, leave four guys up there and send the rest down to the Fort.”
“Will do.”
Next, I checked on the Canadians. “Are you with Cleve yet?”
“Yeah, except Mickey refuses to get off the boat.”
“Mickey, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Jack. I tested the circuits on the detonators and some of them are dead. Maybe bad batteries or the weather. I need to check them all again.”
“Okay, Mickey. Keep working on the detonators. Without those, we’re dead. Cam and Tito, find a safe place on the shore and cover him. Start shooting Brains and Leaders when you have good shots. Fall back when Mickey gets the detonators working.”
“Okay, boss.”
I called Christina on the phone. “Chris, Mickey says some of his detonators are down. Have you checked yours recently? I want to make sure our special surprises are in working order.”
“Jack, three of them are down and I’m working on them now.”
“Tito, get over there and cover Christina while she fixes that. Do not fire yet.”
“Got it, Jack.”
“George, anything in your area?”
“No, Jack, it’s quiet over here.”
�
��Alright, stay in position and be ready to cover Tito and Christina.”
Aside from sporadic firing from Cleve and Cam to the east, it was quiet. All was well in the Fort, to the north, and to the west. For now.
The sun was about to rise, and I dreaded what I was about to see.
Chapter Forty Three: Attack at Dawn
We’d assumed in the event of a dawn attack that the enemy would try to attack from the east, to take advantage of the rising sun in our eyes. We were right. As the first rays appeared over the eastern horizon, the zombies began to march out onto the ice. They were all regular zombies, cannon fodder. There were thousands, too many to count.
The call came in from Cam. “Mickey is still out there. He says he still needs to fix one detonator. You should see this, Jack. About a million zombies. Holy shit!”
“Stay calm, Cam. Cover him for as long as you can but make sure he gets out of there. Mickey, you asshole, are you ready?”
“Just got it, Jack, I’m on my way.”
“Cleve, you can start firing your mortars. Start on the flanks and see if you can get them to mass toward the middle.”
“Okay, Jack. Fire in the hole!”
Like me, Cleve had two mortars. He and Sharon operated one and fired on the northern flank while Cam and Jackie operated the other and fired on the southern flank. We hoped to mass them in the center, where we had stockpiled explosives and booby traps.
It slowly began to work.
“Jack, they’re getting packed nice and tight in the middle. Some are starting to fall into the water but that hole is icing up fast.”
“Okay, Cleve, go ahead and fire long towards the rear. See if you can push them out on the ice.”
Zombie Dawn Page 21