United States of the Dead - 04

by Joseph Talluto

  “Don’t save your rounds, kill it if it gets close,” the major said to his men as he went over to the parking garage entrance. He moved some of the debris piled up in front of the door, then tried the handle. The door swung easily open, revealing the darkened interior of the garage.

  Ken used his flashlight to look around and surprisingly, the parking lot was empty. There weren’t any cars nor were there any zombies. Thorton shrugged. He could use a little luck right about now. The men hurried over to the lighted entrance and Ken cautiously peeked out. He could see hundreds of zombies moving towards the entrance of the museum, attracted at first by the men, then attracted by the movement of the other zombies in this particular direction. Zombies weren’t particularly bright and tended to follow the general mob plan.

  Ken looked across the road and saw a large quantity of trees and large shrubs, enough to hide in and enough to give pursuing zombies trouble. He motioned to his men and they darted across the opening, not bothering to try and go in small groups anymore. The last attack crushed their confidence and they had no plans on losing any more men. Thorton mulled this one over as he ran and realized he was going to have to start recruiting again. Oh, well. At least he still had the men back in California and Tamikara’s group.

  The group worked their way through the circular grove of trees of the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, although they had no idea what it was called. For the men it was “cover from the zombies” and they had no idea if it was art, but they liked it.

  The next building over was the National Gallery of Art, but Thorton had no interest in going there. He was done with buildings until he got to the Capitol Building and only then would he venture in. Instead, he stuck close to the buildings and overgrown landscaping, trying to keep out of sight as much as possible. In between the buildings, Thorton could see hundreds, if not thousands, of zombies wandering about the Washington Mall and if they caught wind of the meat slinking in the shadows, they’d finish them off very quickly.

  It wasn’t until they got to 3rd Street that things got a little dicey. The road ran in front of the Capitol Building and there wasn’t a lot of cover from here to the steps of the Capitol. There were few zombies in the area, but all it took was for one to groan and the rest would be on the hunt. Thorton mulled over his situation and realized he would have to draw away the zombies somehow. He looked at his men and he asked, “Who’s the best runner?”

  One of the men raised his hand, a skinny kid barely out of his teens. He thought the major was asking for a volunteer to run to the Capitol Building. He was about to learn differently.

  “Good. Pass your supplies to your friends and come up here.” Thorton said. The man did as he was told, then worked through the brush to the major’s side.

  “All right. I need you to distract the zombies so we can make a run for the building.”

  The young tough’s heart sank as he realized what he had to do. Screwing up his courage, he asked, “Will somebody be covering for me when I get back?”

  Thorton tried to keep his incredulousness off his face. “Sure, we’ll wait on the steps for you, by the big doors,” he promised.

  The young man breathed quickly for a few seconds, then walked casually out onto the road. He was immediately spotted by a trio of zombies, who groaned and started after him. This started a chain reaction as the soldier casually strolled down the street, keeping ahead of the zombies and jogging around the ones ahead of him.

  Thorton watched amazed as the lad cleared the way for the rest of the men to get moving. They decided to walk slowly so as not to attract too much attention and some of the men swayed a little from side to side. They tried to resist making any sudden movements and did not walk in groups.

  Ken watched out of the corner of his eye as his picked man led hundreds of zombies on a wild goose chase. He had never felt so exposed in his life and he only prayed the zombies on the lawn were too busy to notice the coup happening on the Capitol steps.

  When they got close enough, they had to climb over a sea of dead zombies, each one with a hole in their heads. Past that was a sandbag barricade that ran around the entire building and beyond, closer to the Capitol, there was a maze of razor wire strung from one end to the other. Machine gun placements sat silent and impotent and everywhere was the pall of violent death. Skeletons were strewn about, some missing arms or legs, some missing heads.

  Thorton slipped once and when he looked down he realized he was standing on hundreds of thousands of spent shell casings. He shook his head at the sad last stand made here in the Capitol.

  “Damn fools, but it made a way for me,” he muttered as he began walking up the steps. The sheer size of the building impressed the hell out of him and changing his mind about his Capitol, he realized he wanted the Capitol Building to be his house, his residential palace. Why not? He’d earned it.

  The men gathered at the side door and just as they were about to enter, their pied piper returned, running mightily up the steps in triumph. His mates welcomed him back and returned his gear to him. Ken himself gave the kid a thumbs up before drawing his big revolver and ducking in through the door.

  An hour later, on the other side of the visitor center, Thorton was thoroughly confused. They had searched the main atrium and alcoves but not a sign of the founding documents. There wasn’t even a display case that might have shown they were ever there in the first place.

  Thorton was unsure of what to do when one of his men called him over.

  “What is it, corporal?” Thorton asked.

  “Sir, what about over there, at the Library of Congress? Makes sense that those documents would be in a library.”

  Ken thought about that for a second. “Okay, let’s go get them. Follow me.” The men jogged through another grove of trees, the area having been cleared of any close zombies by the run of the young soldier earlier. The men crossed the street and worked their way over to the Library of Congress.

  But when they reached the building, they saw that the front entrance had been barricaded very well and there was no way they were going to be able to get in this way. Working their way along the side of the building, they saw there were no ground level windows and the ones higher up were curtained closed. At the back of the building, they got another surprise. Several semi-truck trailers had been placed on the grounds and street, effectively blocking off any attempt to get in to the back of the building.

  Thorton looked the situation over and he began to harbor a suspicion that there might be people alive inside the Library of Congress. Looking over the window in the back section, he thought he saw movement, but he couldn’t be sure. Making a mental note to check it later, he headed back to the front of the building. He rounded the corner, nearly running right into a zombie. The diseased husk lurched up at him and without thinking, Thorton grabbed the zombie by the throat, cutting off its groan. He slammed the zombie into the side of the building until its head cracked, ignoring the clawing hands on his arm and he let it slide down the marble, leaving a black trail in its wake.

  Ken thought quickly and decided to head back to the Visitor Center at the Capitol Building. Somewhere in that tourist section, they had to have a map or something that explained where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were located.

  As the men jogged back the way they came, dozens of pairs of eyes looked out from the Library of Congress over the landscape and hungrily watched them go.

  Chapter 15

  Robert E. Lee left his house when he decided he could not fight against Virginia. When he departed, the government seized his property and in a twist of irony, turned the proud general’s land into the resting place of America’s fallen heroes. I often wondered how Lee must have felt, the power of his convictions that he would abandon his home, travel across the country and fight for a cause he wasn’t sure would prevail.

  As I stood on the veranda of the Lee House in Arlington, I looked out over the river towards D.C.. I could easily see the Washington
Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Capitol Building. It was a calm, clear morning and without the smog of thousands of cars for over two years, the air was very clean and sharp. The white markers which made up the majority or Arlington Cemetery peeked up through the tall grass which untended, wrapped itself protectively around the graves. In a way, I felt I had done something similar to Lee. I just hoped my venture wouldn’t turn into defeat.

  A voice behind me spoke. “Wonder if we’ll have a place like this for the fallen of the zombie wars.”

  I turned slightly and saw Tommy walk out of the building. He looked a bit older to my eye, like this journey was wearing on him as well. I knew he was worrying more and more about Angela and lately he had been fretting more, telling me that he felt something was wrong. I understood his anxiety, as my own nearly consumed me not so long ago, but fortunately I managed to pull through.

  The biggest frustration with the breakdown of society due to the Upheaval was the inability to communicate. We had gotten so used to being able to connect with anyone, anytime, that not knowing was the worst of all. Add to the fact that even if we finished the mission today, we were still weeks away from getting home to our families.

  “I suppose we could,” I replied, “as long as we could make sure the ones we put there would stay there.”

  Tommy chuckled. “That’s true. I was thinking about something this morning as I tried not to shoot Nate for snoring.”

  “What’s that?” I had to give him credit. Nate’s snoring had actually awakened the dead and there had been mornings when the RV was surrounded by cranky ghouls.

  “The kids who were under five years old when the Upheaval hit and the ones born after will have no memory of life without zombies.” Tommy looked out over the city. “They won’t have any memory of what this country was like, there aren’t many people left with living memory of significant events. They just know the here and now and the struggle to survive every day.”

  I didn’t say anything as the mission we were on suddenly came into sharp focus. We weren’t just trying to preserve a heritage. We were recreating the country. The ones who would follow us had no idea of how things used to be. They would have no guidance outside of stories. We were doing this so the foundations could be laid once again for a country to follow. We were doing this so as a people, as a country, we would survive. It was the ultimate do-over. All the anxiety I had felt about what we were doing, all the introspection which came up short, all the selfish reasons why we shouldn’t give a damn, fell off my shoulders like a sudden rain shower.

  I had thought about only one child and not the rest of them. For all my rhetoric about saving the country and taking it back, I had lost my focus on who I should be doing this for. It came in a rush, so much so that Tommy even noticed the change.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at me like he wasn’t sure what I was going to do.

  “Not a thing, old friend,” I said. “You just reminded me why we’re doing this and it’s for the best of reasons. We’re saving our past and saving our future. Thanks.”

  Tommy shrugged. “Okay, I guess. What’s the plan?”

  Before I could answer, a voice growled down from the balcony above us. “The plan is to move our asses as quickly as possible.”

  I looked up to see Nate standing at the railing, looking out over the city with a pair of binoculars. “What’s up?”

  “There’s a shitload of activity by one of the museums and a general drift happening on the mall. If I had to guess, I’d say Thorton beat us here. That, or someone was holing up in one of the museums and their defenses just collapsed.”

  I grimaced as I digested the news. I had hoped we had made it here ahead of Thorton, but it seems like we were short a day and he had managed to stir up a hornet’s nest that we were going to have to subsequently kick.

  “All right,” I said. “Snag Duncan and let’s get moving. We’re probably in for a long fight, so load heavy. Tommy, find a map and see if there are any back doors we can access to minimize our exposure. We may have to hoof it, so take your packs as well. If we get separated, our meeting place will be the Jefferson Memorial. At sundown, if you’re alone, you’re on your own. Follow the river and save your own ass.”

  “But—” Tommy tried to interrupt.

  “No buts. This time it’s orders. If you see any of Thorton’s men, shoot on sight. I figure the odds are about four to one, so any way you can whittle that down, do it.”

  “What if we have a shot at Thorton himself? You said before he was yours to kill,” Nate asked.

  I called up to the balcony. “I’m realistic. Dead is dead. Would I like to carve him up into little bits and feed him to a zombie kid? Sure. But a bullet to the brain works for me, no matter who pulls the trigger.”

  “Good enough,” Nate said as he turned away to get his gear. “Duncan! Wake up!”

  I turned to Tommy and froze. He looked at me and then glanced over his shoulder. The stiffening of his back told me he saw the same thing I did. Coming up the path to the house was about fifty zombies. They were spread out in a long line, moving through the rose garden rotunda that dated back to the 1870s. They had heard our voices and converged through the old part of the cemetery, where families had been allowed to erect personal monuments. Our route to the RV was blocked and there was no way that Nate and Duncan were going to be able to get out unless the zombies decided to move on.

  I yelled to the house. “Nate! We’ve got company! Tommy and I will try to draw them away. Get to the RV and pick us up at the by the Tomb of the Unknown!”

  Nate didn’t answer, but I knew he had heard me by the silence. Nate was too seasoned to yell out and attract attention to himself and cause Z’s to investigate. Right now he and Duncan needed to get armed and quiet and make a break for the vehicle as soon as they could. I could shout my fool head off, since the zombies had already seen me.

  I ran to the wall that separated the house from the graveyard, with Tommy right behind me. It was a small limestone wall, about three feet in height. Not enough to stop the zombies, but it wasn’t this side of the wall that was useful. The other side of the wall was a sheer drop of eight feet, followed by a deeply sloping hill which overlooked the tomb of John F. Kennedy and family.

  The zombies were right behind us, so without too much thought, I leapt the wall and sailed down the hill, tumbling like a four year old when my feet hit the slope. I smacked my head somewhat sharply on the granite slab that covered JFK, then rolled to my feet. I watched Tommy slide gracefully down the grade, easily coming to a stop in the proper, upright position. I checked my pockets to make sure that I hadn’t let anything loose and made sure my SIG was still in its holster. My rifle and new favorite melee weapon were still in the RV, hopefully Nate and Duncan would be able to get to it.

  I looked up the slope, studiously avoiding looking at Tommy who I knew desperately wanted to make a comment about my landing. About twenty zombies had reached the wall and when they did, I shouted “Hey!” to get their attention. Dead eyes looked down and dead mouths moaned when they saw us.

  Tommy and I watched as a couple came tumbling over the wall, flopping unceremoniously onto the turf and skidding down the hill to where we were. I stepped up to one and planted a heavy foot on its chest, drawing my knife and plunging it into the empty eye socket of the ghoul. Tommy did the same with the one on his side, only he was on its back and stabbed it in the back of its neck, severing the spine.

  A few more plops on the lawns and suddenly there was a deluge of death, with dozens of dead folk tumbling over the wall. Some broke brittle bones on their landing, others had to extricate themselves from the turf, causing large chunks of sod to cling to heads and shoulders.

  “We gotta go, there’s too many and we don’t have the equipment for this,” Tommy said, tugging at my sleeve as I killed another zombie.

  I nodded and we hurried down the sidewalk, passing the stagnant reflecting pool and wall.

 
“Which way?” Tommy asked as a fusillade of moans headed our way.

  “Straight south,” I said, heading down the road. Sheridan Avenue ran north and south, so we followed it. We jogged a bit to gain some ground, then as we saw the zombies didn’t have any fast ones to deal with, we slowed to a decent walk. The average person could easily out walk the average zombie and we wanted this group to chase us a little. We needed to give Nate and Duncan time to get to the RV and get to the Tomb of the Unknowns for our rendezvous. And in all seriousness, unless we were surrounded, we weren’t in that much danger.

  The road turned west and the fastest way to get to the Tomb was to head overland through the grave stones and trees. The grass was overgrown and tangled, reaching our waists in the taller parts. I was a little nervous about all the tall grass, but we couldn’t help the situation we were in. I was a little surprised at how well the Z’s were able to sneak up on us, but as I had seen before, they did seem capable of rudimentary learning and ambush behavior.

  Tommy and I moved as quickly as we could through the headstones and I noted how they were starting to look a little darker than normal, probably because they weren’t maintained like they used to be. Behind us, the mass of zombies were continuing their pursuit, occasionally moaning to mark the morning as a bad one.

  We reached McClellen Drive and I waved Tommy to follow me. I reasoned it made more sense to stay on the roads when we could see things better than take a chance in the tall grass with a prone Z. We moved east for a bit then turned southward on Roosevelt. I knew the general direction of where we needed to go, having been here several times in the past with my dad, but I would feel better when I finally saw the big marble structure.

  I was so intent on looking for the Tomb that they nearly got us. We were passing through a copse of trees when four kids burst from the side of the road and launched themselves at us. There was no warning whatsoever. I managed to kick one in the chest before the other one hit me and it was a struggle and a half to keep the little shit from biting me. I was holding it by the hair and its nasty face was inches from my stomach. It clawed at my sides and grabbed my vest, trying to pull me closer. My hands were slipping in its greasy hair and I realized I had a good grip, but the scalp was coming off the creature. In a second the skin was going to completely tear, snapping the teeth, which showed in the front and sides from holes in its face, right into me. On top of that, the one I kicked was getting up and I had no defense. I couldn’t pull my knife or gun and Tommy couldn’t help because he had two of his own to deal with.