Rise

by Wood, Gareth

  After that, a few more shots were fired at us, and we returned fire. I had to stay down for almost half a minute, and roll away from my position, because the raiders in the brush across from me had zeroed in and were taking turns shooting at me. Darren and Kim put a stop to that, Kim by taking an insane risk and sneaking along behind another fallen tree that was parallel to them, and then standing up and shooting at them on full auto, and then Darren shot at them when they scrambled out of cover. Ten seconds later it was all over. The last two raiders surrendered, threw away their guns and held up their hands. Nine of their companions were dead or dying around them, and four had fled. When we came out of the brush the two survivors looked terrified. Darren told me that Eric had gone after the ones who fled, and while Mandy and I tied their hands together behind their backs, Kim and Darren stood guard. We then checked out the wounded. Three were dying, five already dead, and one was only slightly hurt where a bullet had grazed his skull. He would be fine, but would wake up with a nasty headache. Of the five dead, three were headshots. We weren’t worried about them rising. I took out my Browning and put the silencer on it, and while the captives watched in terrified silence, I shot the two others in the heads, just to make sure. The three dying captives we made comfortable, and as they each passed on we planned to shoot them in the skulls as well.

  We heard shooting from back the other direction just then. Sounded like a shotgun, then a few seconds later a Browning. Several more shots. Then silence. After a moment I heard Jess’ rifle fire once, and then my radio was buzzing. I heard Jess’ voice over the speaker, “Ahh, shit! I’m shot! Fuck!”

  I was off running before I knew it. My leg let me know it wasn’t going to put up with this for long, but adrenalin is a wonderful thing. I made it up the hill towards the sounds of the shots, and almost to where Jess was before my leg failed. Darren was there almost right away, picking me up, and I was calling for my wife, not caring if the raiders were still there, or if anything else heard us. I spotted her and another figure through the trees, both lying down. Jess was clutching at her side, blood running through her hands, and she was gasping, her legs kicking at the snow and leaves. The other figure was crawling away from her, towards us, and getting closer to a rifle that lay on the ground. He was bleeding from a shoulder wound and a shot almost exactly like mine, through his calf. I shot him in the back of the skull as we passed, and then I was with Jessica. She clutched her left hand to her side, but her right hand was a mess. She had taken a bullet to her hand as well, and one finger looked nearly severed, I could see bones through the skin, and it was bleeding terribly.

  Frantic, I asked her what had happened, and started checking her while Darren broke out what first aid supplies we had. She said he’d been there when she came down the path to our camp. She was bleeding badly, and when I cut and tore away the cloth over her wound I saw two bullet holes in her side. Blood was pouring out, and Darren and I got a pressure bandage onto her as fast as we could. We bandaged her hand up in what cotton we had, taped it solid, and then she fainted, mercifully, and we got on the radio. I called Eric, but he didn’t answer. Kim did, and I told her what had happened. She packed up what medical supplies we had left at camp, and she and Mandy marched the prisoners up the hill to us. We used what we had, Jess stayed unconscious, and I nearly died of fright myself.

  Looking back on it now, I know I was out of my head. I had no idea if she’d die. I was thinking, can I shoot her if I have to? I didn’t want her to rise up, she didn’t want it to happen, and we had talked about it. She wasn’t bitten, but I had seen people rise who weren’t. I had seen people who should have risen stay down. It made no sense. I couldn’t see the pattern. All I knew at the time was I was terrified of losing my wife, terrified of what I’d tell her son, and how as he got older he’d realise that it must have been me who’d had to shoot her in the head to prevent her from reanimating. She was very pale, and I sat for a long time holding her hand. An hour later Eric showed up. He came up, told us he’d followed the other four and taken them down. He was hurt too, mostly cuts and bruises, but he went straight to Jess and talked to her while he checked her. She was in shock, he said, but we’d done the right things for her so far. He checked her bandages, and went off to talk to Kim and Darren. I overheard. He didn’t think she’d live. He was sure she’d die here of her wounds unless we could get her to medical aid fast. I couldn’t see it happening, but then I had forgotten about the Army unit that was searching for us.

  About ten minutes after noon we heard from them on the radio. Captain Tepper called us, and asked our condition and whereabouts. Eric told him, and they were with us in about another fifteen minutes. Seventeen men and women arrived on foot with full military gear and weapons. They had a medic with them who was very young, but seemed to know what she was doing. They got Jess onto a stretcher, and the Captain called for medical evacuation from Cold Lake. Twenty minutes after that a helicopter arrived at the clearing, which had been expanded through the careful use of det cord and wood axes. Five minutes later, Jess, Eric and I were flying back towards Cold Lake. The chopper was a new one. It was a STARS helicopter from Edmonton, the pilot told us, salvaged a few weeks ago, and being used quite a lot recently. Darren, Many and Kim stayed with the unit, and were taken out on foot along with the three surviving raider prisoners. We caught up with them later.

  January 30

  We are back in Cold Lake and the hospital staff have let me have my computer to update. They say my wounds will heal, and I’ll be fine. Jess is another story. She should live, if the gunshot wound doesn’t get infected. Whether she’ll keep her left hand, they don’t know.

  February 1

  The doc let me see Jess today. He said her surgery went ok, despite the lack of medicines and antibiotics. Plenty of painkillers though. She was groggy, but recognized me and Michael when I brought him in. Her hand is a mess, but it looks like she’ll keep all but the tip of her index finger to the first joint. It won’t look pretty, but she’ll be able to use it.

  February 2

  There’s a shortage of painkillers, antibiotics, and pretty much everything else here at the hospital. They are working on making the antibiotics themselves, but the painkillers are a thing of the past, I believe. So they have to ration them out sparingly, and they have a couple of people who come around to help people adapt to the recovery from surgery. There’s even a native medicine man who comes in to talk to some of the patients about alternatives to the drugs. This is all great, but I still have to see Jess in pain, and it isn’t good. She says it isn’t too bad, but I know she’s lying. I remember what my leg felt like. Her injuries are worse.

  February 4

  I sat with Jess all yesterday, and was too tired to write anything more about what happened. Sarah came up to say hello and visit for a bit, and Darren too. The doctors say Jess is looking better. I have to agree. For a while I was very scared for her. If she hadn’t come through her surgery…

  Mandy took Michael out for a trip to the playground today, and he needed the sunshine and distraction of other kids to play with. Doctor Lange took me aside in the afternoon and told me she’s going to be in here for another few days, but after that they don’t have the resources to keep her in the hospital. So it looks like I get to take her home and look after her there until she’s healed. It may be easier that way, since we’ll be in a familiar place with people we know and love nearby. God knows I want to get her home.

  February 6

  We moved Jess home so she can continue her recovery in more comfort than the hospital could provide. Thankfully the power is still working, we have heat, and that there is enough food coming in. Everyone in town is getting quite sick of canned goods, though we have been supplementing with some cattle, what the greenhouses can produce, and fish. Still, next winter is going to be quite bad if we can’t get this community farming extensively.

  We have more news from farther south. Apparently the military forces of the USA made a glorious at
tempt to secure various points on the west coast of California, but overwhelming undead presence drove them back, and they were forced to abandon the landing zones with high casualties. Add to that the news of a zombie outbreak in Hawaii, and things look pretty bad for the Americans. President Rumsfield is still “dedicated to reclaiming the continental US, and securing the American way of life again.” Whatever.

  Here in Canada, we have a Prime Minister again. News seeped in yesterday that Belinda Stromich, some billionaire industrialist before all this, is our new PM, and is based in some military facility in Ontario. I don’t remember her, if she was even in government before this all started. Like it matters to us out here. She might as well be on the moon.

  February 14

  Eric’s wounds were mostly cuts and scrapes. He was fine within a few days. My own leg wound will leave me with a hell of a scar, some missing tissue in my calf, and an ache when I get older. Jess was shot three times. Twice in nearly the same place on her side, both bullets passing cleanly through, missing her spleen, liver, and lungs, but one shattered a rib, the other clipped her upper intestines. Her hand they saved. Her finger is reattached, though she’ll never be as good a shot again as she was. She will spend weeks recovering.

  The three captured raiders, as well as the ones caught by the other unit nearby, were sentenced to ten years of hard labour, military style, working around town under armed supervision. Once spring hits they’ll be moved to farms to grow food to feed the town. They are not being used as zombie bait, as some people suggested.

  Now we have to decide what to do. Reports coming in suggest we might see the end of this… plague, curse, whatever it is, sometime soon. More and more of the undead spotted have been acting the way “Stan” did, losing motor functions and the ability to attack. More of them are just toppling over, falling down dead, finally dead. Does this mean it is nearly over? That the long nightmare is finally finished and we get to wake up? I doubt it. The dead are walking, and I suspect the damned things will be for years to come. If some few of them point the way, showing us how the rest will eventually go, good. It gives us something to hope for.

  Meanwhile, survivors are still out there. We hear about a new town or group every few weeks, and hear news from Europe and Asia when it can reach us. The human race is not dead, not consumed by the walking corpses. We’ve taken a hard blow, but we’re not done. The undead outnumber us still, but we’ll keep on going, finding a way to survive.

  I have decided to finish this journal now. It helped me a lot during the long months we struggled to survive. It was something to focus on, to look forward to at the end of a day, to write and record what we had done, what we had lived through. But now I think I need to focus on my family. I need to be here for Jess, Michael, and Megan, Sarah, Darren and Mandy, Kim, Eric, and all the others. I need to focus on them and all the other living, breathing survivors. I might get back to this one day, or start another journal if events warrant, though I hope that events never warrant this kind of journal again. I hope that our long nightmare will end and that we wake up again to a world of life and peace. Until that time we have to keep fighting.

  The adventure continues in

  AGE OF THE DEAD

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