by Wood, Gareth
By the time dawn rolled around, we were all exhausted and fighting to stay awake. The children had all managed to sleep, but the adults (myself included) were weary and relying on cans of Coke raided from the vending machines to stay awake. The undead assault continued. They knew we were in here, and they were hungry.
A few hours later the radio chirped, and we found ourselves talking to Captain Ingram, an Army officer who was in charge of the SAR unit that was coming to get us out. We told him of the situation, and the probable numbers of undead involved, and he told us to sit tight. About five minutes later we heard vehicles. Looking out the window we could see several small wheeled tank-like vehicles, and a few jeep-like cars. Soldiers drove these around the school, disappearing from our sight. Finally, after another few minutes, we heard shooting. Lots of shooting. It went on for some time. After that, the Captain came on the radio again and asked where we were in the building. I told him. He said that a squad would be in to get us out in a few minutes, so be ready to move. He also told us to surrender any weapons we had, “for security reasons”, but that we’d get them back once the situation was under control. Jess looked a little miffed, and I was sure I didn’t want to give up my Glock, but what choice did we have?
Downstairs we heard shooting. Automatic weapons, it sounded like. The gunfire came in short bursts, and then there was a pause, then a series of single shots. Finally, we heard the crunch of the doors downstairs being removed, and furniture falling out. We started down the hallway to see if we could help, and ended up hauling away a fair bit of the crap we’d thrown down so that a clear path could be formed. Once I could see a live soldier through the tangle, I called out, and a live face appeared at the hole. He asked how we were doing, and I said we were ok. He told us to back away for a minute; they were going to haul the entire remaining blockade away. I went back upstairs then and told the others to grab their bags. On the way back I heard the rumble of the rest of the furniture being hauled away, and then soldiers were coming up the stairs. They stopped us where we were and asked for our guns. They had us outnumbered by a lot, and they had just rescued us, so we turned over our weapons. They took our bags as well, then escorted us downstairs and outside. On the way through the hallway below I saw about fifteen zombies lying destroyed in the hallway. They had been pushed aside, and more soldiers were looking in other rooms, presumably for salvage and more undead. A few said hello when we went by, but most of the men and women just gave us a curious look before getting back to business.
Outside, we met Captain Ingram, a short bulky man with a thick moustache and grey hair. He asked us to stand beside a large 8-wheeled tank-like vehicle with a cannon on top. Our escort of soldiers stood off to our right. Another man approached us, this one in uniform also, but with a red cross on him, so I assumed he was a medic. He stopped a few feet away and asked if any of us were bitten. He then asked each of us to come with him to a tent quickly set up nearby, where we could be checked. We told him none of us were infected, but he insisted, and the Captain asked us to please cooperate. Fine. I went first. A soldier came with us. I stepped into the tent and he asked me to remove my shirt and pants. I did so, and the bloody, gore-encrusted clothes were placed in a plastic bag. He looked me over carefully, asked about my wrist and a few other abrasions I had, and pronounced me clean. The soldier who had come in with us took his hand away from his gun then, and handed me a new set of clothes. These were military issue, and fit pretty well. I asked him if they had a female medic here, and he said they didn’t. I told him about Janice, and asked if it would be okay for her to be either skipped or have her teacher Phillipa there to help reassure her. He said he’d talk to the CO. I was shown back outside, and ushered over to Ingram. He shook my hand as he introduced himself, and asked me to wait until everyone else had been cleared, and then he’d tell me what was going on. In the meantime, I was offered coffee! There was no milk or sugar, but what the hell!
Around us, the undead were showing up still, and soldiers were destroying them. They’d let a single undead come fairly close before killing it, but groups they destroyed at a distance. Soldiers were dragging the bodies into a pile in the center of the field and dousing them with fuel, for a cremation, I supposed. Others were watching the perimeter, or scouting the inside of the school. I asked the Captain if I could get some supplies out of the Odyssey and transfer them to the Jeep we had inside. He thought it over and said I could, after the others were cleared. We wouldn’t have long to do it though, as he wanted to get out of this town and get back to his base before lunch.
Jess was next to be cleared, then Michael. They both came out wearing new clothes, but Michael’s were civilian kids’ clothes. Phillipa went next, then Megan, and then they asked Phillipa to come back in with a female soldier and the medic for Janice’s exam. She went, and then came out dressed in slightly-too-large army clothes. She seemed ok, and the medic reported to the Captain that we were all clear and in good health. He sat us all down at a table while the bodies in the field were piled up, coffee and fruit juice were handed out, and he told us what was going on.
He told us that this region was heavily infested with undead wasn’t a safe area to travel. We would be taken to a temporary base at Athabasca, which had survived the uprising fairly well, and was now a fortified town. Many other survivors were there, and from there we’d likely be moved to Cold Lake once the region had been scouted. By tonight, he promised, we’d get hot showers, fresh food, and a clean bed. We looked at each other, and Jess and I in particular shared the thought, but then what? We asked if we could have our weapons back, and load up the Jeep. He assured us that we’d have them back as soon as the situation was under control. I looked around. No more undead were approaching right this moment, the soldiers were tearing down the tent and packing up, and the pile of corpses was getting pretty big. I remarked that it looked under control, and we’d like our weapons back. I don’t think he liked my attitude, but he sighed and waved over a soldier standing nearby. Our weapons and ammo were placed on the table, and Jess and I instantly took them and checked them, making sure they were loaded and clean, safeties on. Jess seemed pleased. Phillipa took her gun too, though she looked a little uncertain. I thanked the Captain, and the group of us got up and went over to the Odyssey. Its other side door was open, and a lot of stuff had spilled out onto the ground. Zombies had climbed over the seats to get in the window, it seemed. But how had they opened the door? I reached in and started gathering things, and we carried them all over to the Jeep in the auto shop, loading carefully. Two of the soldiers introduced themselves and offered to help. We accepted, and it made the loading go a lot faster. We got our bags back too. Once we were done we realised we’d have enough room for only four people in the Jeep. Janice did not want to be separated from us. No way was Michael going anywhere his mom wasn’t, and Megan was attached to Jess and I like she was glued on. We compromised. Phillipa and I would go with the soldiers in one of the tank-things, and Jess would take Megan, Michael, and Janice in the Jeep. We simply didn’t have time to search for another working vehicle.
We were ready, except for one final thing. Captain Ingram gathered everyone in the field by the corpses, and said a prayer. He reminded us that the dead were once our neighbors and friends, family members and citizens of our communities. The soldiers all bowed their heads a moment, and then we got moving while the pyre was lit. I saw the plastic bags with our clothes on the pile as well. Just before we left I handed the Captain the dog tags, ID, and journal of Master Corporal Chambers, and told him where we’d buried him. He thanked me solemnly and got into his vehicle.
We rolled into Athabasca in the convoy just before lunch yesterday. The town was fortified alright. Barricades and armed guards everywhere. We drove through the lines and the gates were closed behind us. Hundreds of people were out on the streets, and some waved at us as we passed. We stopped at a school, and all six of us were taken inside. The Jeep was parked and Jess locked it up, after grabbing a few
things out of it. Inside we met an officer who took our names, where we were from, and what our occupations were before the dead rose. He then assigned us to a tent outside, telling us it was ours to live in until this latest group of survivors was moved to more permanent housing at Cold Lake. That would be in a week or so. I asked him if he’d had any other groups come in recently, and he said yes, a few people here and there, plus one larger group a few days ago. I asked if my sister was among them, and he looked up the name.
He told me that she was, in fact, there, and had been assigned to tent #41.
I asked the way, and he pointed. I picked up Michael and Jess took Megan by the hand. Phillipa said she’d take Janice to our tent and get settled, but I almost didn’t hear her. I walked over to the tents and began hunting for #41. I figured out the order, and walked right to it. The flap was closed, but there was a wooden post out front with a bucket hung on it. I knocked on it and called out, asking if anybody was home.
Sarah came bursting outside right away, and just stared at me in disbelief. Then I was hugging her, and then Amanda was there, and Adam, and Sanji, and Christie, Jay, and even Sparkle. I didn’t see Darren, but Sarah reassured me after she was done hugging me and Jess that he was alright. Darren had volunteered to help with the kitchens today, and was inside getting lunch ready. Sanji still wore his Glock, I saw. His clothes, like mine, were military issue. Some of the others were also dressed in the same manner. We went inside the tent and exchanged tales. I told them what had happened to us, and about Janice and Phillipa. I asked Sarah if she could talk to Janice and maybe give her a check-up, and she said yes, and she’d see if she could find a pregnancy kit as well. She told us that some marauders had been killed a few days ago when they had run into the military near Smoky Lake, and had foolishly tried to fight rather than be arrested.
We got settled, and went to see Darren in the kitchens. He was really happy we weren’t dead, and gave us a plate of hot food each, since it was basically lunch time. A lot of the survivors living in the tents came in to eat, and many said hello to us. Some had the shell shocked look, but others were happier and seemed to be healthy. We ate in the school’s cafeteria, which had power, so the lights were on. Lunch was wonderful! Hot bread rolls, soup, and tuna salad sandwiches. Amazing. After that Sarah and Sanji took us to the locker rooms, where showers were available. After that luxury of soap and hot water I felt human again for the first time in weeks. We all returned to the tents to hear what was going on.
After we had failed to follow them out of town, they had wanted to go back and see if we were alright, but too many undead were between us and them. They had reluctantly fled, and I agreed with their choice. They had made it up to Perryvale, a small town on the road to Athabasca, when they had met some military people. They’d been escorted back here, and had been here since. They’d been allowed to keep the guns and gear, but the gas tanker had been confiscated by the military. They’d each been interviewed about what they’d seen and done since the rise, and Sarah and Jay were now employed by the medical unit here. Sanji was going to be joining the military too, as his previous experience as a soldier and policeman was going to be useful. Phillipa would probably be taken to a school in Cold Lake, where they were in dire need of teachers. Children up to 15 years old stayed with their parents or relatives, or just whoever was looking after them when they came in. That meant Michael was taken care of, Megan would stay with either Jess and I or Christie, and Darren and Janice would probably be set up in quarters for young adults. I didn’t see myself joining the military. I was an investment banker before. Not much use for those skills now. I guess I’ll have to learn another trade.
Sleeping that night was a chore. The tent wasn’t solid, and every twitch of wind, or person walking by outside, made me wake up in a cold sweat. Jess was right there with me, and neither of us slept well.
This morning a man came and interviewed us. He wanted to know anything at all we could tell him about the undead, where we’d been, who we’d seen, and how many living corpses we’d encountered. It took quite a while to relay all that had happened to us. We had to pause for lunch. After he was done, another man, military this time, came by and asked how we were. He was Major Davidson, a thin man with a thick head of black hair. He was polite and asked about each of us. He then told us our options. He said that everyone had to contribute if we were to survive. He asked what our skills were, and we told him. He seemed dubious when I told him that Jess was a very good sniper. She told him she used to shoot competitively. My own skills as an investment banker weren’t so relevant, but he was interested in our progress and why we hadn’t left anyone behind once we knew they were alive. Even a horse and cat had been rescued! It was hard at first to explain, but I tried to tell him why we couldn’t leave anyone for the hungry undead. In the end, it came down to one fact: They were alive.
He told us that since Jess was a parent of a small child, she wouldn’t have to work at anything that took her away from his care, so something could be found for her near where Michael eventually would go to school. For myself, I could either join the military or perform some other useful task like farming or foraging. He’d let us think about it. I asked him then what the global situation was like.
He told me it was bad. Apparently the plague, or virus, or whatever it was, had swept the planet. Only a few places had escaped unscathed. Madagascar was untouched, as were a few Pacific islands. Hawaii was intact and was currently the United States seat of power. Iceland had escaped with only a few thousand deaths. But everywhere else, the chaos and carnage in the first several weeks had been unimaginable. Satellites were still functioning, and so communications between military bases around the world were ongoing, if sporadic. Many bases here in North America had been overwhelmed or had stopped transmitting since the beginning back in May. Only three here in Western Canada were functional. Cold Lake, Comox, and Wainright. The cities were deserted except for the undead and scattered survivors, and the countryside was barren of life in many areas, though the undead again seemed to prosper.
In the weeks right after the start of the rising, as refugees flooded in, military missions were launched to destroy large concentrations of the undead. The Major thought that at one point the Americans had considered that nuclear weapons should be used on the cities to incinerate the undead there, but he didn’t know what became of that idea. Since then, large groups of walking dead had approached CFB Cold Lake from the west three times. Once they were concentrated enough that a Fuel Air Explosive had been dropped on them, destroying the entire town of Bonnyville, and killing three or four thousand zombies. But there were more. Always more. The population of Alberta before this was over 2.9 million people. And add in the next door province of Saskatchewan, with its more than one million, and the picture gets grim. I can’t even imagine what it’s like in the USA or back east in Ontario.
Major Davidson left us to think. Jess and I sat there for a while, and absorbed all he said. We had some serious thinking to do. We needed to plan and figure out what the future was going to hold for us. We needed to take action. I know even though we have come here, to this relatively safe place, the future is uncertain. Athabasca could be attacked tomorrow, or even tonight. The few thousand surviving here won’t be able to make it all winter unless huge amounts of crops and salvage are brought in. I left Jess to go for a walk around the town. I need to think.
7 p.m.
I know what I am going to do. I have talked to Major Davidson and he has agreed to let me form a primarily civilian salvage team. Apparently there are a few of these operating. The military simply isn’t large enough to cover everything, so civilians are being used to dig up generators, vehicles, fuel, food, and water, plus whatever else we need to find. We’ll nominally be under military control, but free to use whatever means we have available to get the job done. There will be an assigned military officer in the team, and I’ll have to ultimately answer to Captain Couper in Cold Lake. Fine. That’s one thing c
leared up.
The second thing was a bit more fun. I asked Jessica to marry me. She was so surprised that she just looked stunned for nearly a minute, until Michael laughed and told her to close her mouth. She of course graciously agreed, and we are now going off to celebrate the announcement with my sister and friends.
September 5
The hardest part is getting used to the lights. It’s dark now, and we are in the tent, and there are these big damned spotlights mounted by the school, pointed out away towards the fields. They absolutely ruin my night vision. We’d gone so long without electrical power that having a big bright light at night is something none of us are comfortable with now. Plus Jess and I are still waking up every time a sentry goes past, or someone goes to the bathroom. And that’s something I am so grateful for. Flush toilets. I raise my hands to heaven in thanks for that alone.
More survivors were brought in today; a family of three. There was a young man, his even younger wife, and a baby. I have no idea how they kept the baby alive all this time, but they did. They are in the tent two down and across from us, and I can hear the two adults stir whenever somebody passes. I think a lot of people here have that reaction.
The Major and I talked for a few minutes today. He was interested in my proposal, and wanted to talk about it some more. I am going to talk to some more of the survivors here and see about gathering a crew together. The Major has offered us ammunition, vehicles, and fuel, as well as basic supplies. I am thinking that a group of seven will be large enough. Darren expressed interest right away, but I think he may have been through enough already. He still needs to finish school.