by J. W. Vohs
Deb was hesitant. “There’s a blizzard out there, are you sure we should order everyone to evacuate?”
“Just start the procedure. Make sure everyone returns to their quarters and gets their bug-out bags and cold weather gear. If nothing else, this will be a good training opportunity.”
“All right, consider it done, but take a radio and keep me updated about what you find. We have a strong wall out there, so we should be okay . . .” Deb didn’t seem quite convinced about her last statement.
As soon as Andi and Fergus were out the door, Deb kicked in to high gear. She contacted the designated people from a list outlining emergency protocols before sounding the evacuation alarm. Then she called The Castle and the ranch to let them know what was happening. Finally, she radioed Vicksburg and told the person monitoring communications to stay on the line until they had a better idea about the potential emergency in Fort Wayne. She also requested that someone notify Hiram Anderson. She briefly considered asking for Jack or Carter, but given what was happening with Luke, she decided that they didn’t need to be bothered unless the situation escalated.
The sounds of men shouting and hunters howling could be heard over the wind outside as Andi and Fergus headed to the wall. For the first time, Andi began to believe that Fort Wayne’s most important defensive positon had been compromised. She knew that the bridge itself was wired with enough explosive to drop it into the river, and she figured that the worst-case scenario would be a small hunter incursion into the settlement before the span over the flowing waterwas destroyed. Still, preparing for an evacuation was the right thing to do; everyone knew in the post-infection world that it was better to be safe than sorry.
As they approached the wall, Andi could see by the fires and one surviving spotlight that heavy fighting was taking place inside of a breach that appeared to be about ten meters wide. “Shit, shit, shit!” she mumbled as she started to run as quickly as possible under the weight of her leathers. Jack had ordered basically every local soldier to Vicksburg nearly two weeks ago, leaving only a hundred Utah troops in Fort Wayne to man the wall and aggressively patrol the area. Another platoon was stationed at The Castle, but they would be of no help here tonight. The western fighters were good, heavily experienced veterans of the war against the infected, survivors of battles across half a continent, but Andi still wished her friends were here as she realized the settlement was in grave danger. She had stood in the shield wall at the Battle of The Castle, and fought in plenty of skirmishes before and after that epic clash, but she hadn’t fought beside the soldiers now responsible for defending her home and family.
Fergus pushed past her as she reached the wall, but they both saw no way to immediately help in the fighting. Two ranks of heavily armored spearmen were packed shoulder-to shoulder in the rubble left behind by the blast. More soldiers were arrayed across the fighting platform atop the remains of the stout wall, mostly using rifles and shotguns since noise-control wasn’t an issue after the explosion had alerted every flesh-eater for miles around. Andi saw the bearded guard who’d earlier brought word of the damage and grabbed him by the arm as he rushed by in the nearly blinding snow.
“What’s the situation out there?” she shouted over the wind.
The harried soldier squinted against the flakes stinging his face until he realized whose face was under the helmet. “There’s hundreds of ‘em, ma’am, thousands. They’re just pouring out of the city. That helicopter flew over again just a minute ago; this is definitely a coordinated attack.”
“How’d they plant an explosive in the wall right under our noses?”
“It was an inside job,” the guard reminded her. “And I just found out that one of our guys who got hit in the head is dead. I don’t know about the other one.”
Andi cleared her mind and focused as Jack had trained her to do in critical situations. “Can we hold the wall?”
Sergeant Ferguson answered her question. “Only as long as our strength and ammo last, then they’ll be in here.”
Andi thought about the possibilities for just a few seconds before coming to a drastic decision. “Blow the damn bridge, sergeant.”
“Yes ma’am,” he briefly saluted before running off to give the order.
A few minutes later, Andi could hear shouts of, “Fire in the hole,” as the defenders prepared for what would be a massive explosion. She took cover inside a reinforced bunker that served as a forward station for guard rotations before radioing Deb about the order to blow the bridge. Then she breathlessly waited for the blast they had all hoped would never be necessary. One minute passed, then two—finally the sergeant stuck his head inside the shelter and shouted over the storm. “The detonator isn’t working; I’ve got men out checking the wiring, but right now we have to hold the hunters back on our own.”
Andi took the soldier’s hand and climbed up out of the bunker. She refused the westerner’s offer of a firing position on the wall, accepting the fact that she was better with a halberd than a gun. Once out of the bunker, the noise of the fighting combined with the howling wind to render her radio practically useless to helmeted ears. Stumbling over rubble as she stepped forward to join the line inside the breach, she yelled to Fergus, “Send a runner to Deb and let her know about the bridge failing to explode. And find the break in those damn wires!”
Andi quickly relieved a tired soldier on the bridge and found herself in the midst of what was clearly a losing battle. Some of the infected were in poor condition, but others seemed bigger and stronger than any flesh-eater she’d ever seen before. After only a few minutes, Andi found herself desperately trying to pull the tip of her halberd free from a hunter she’d inadvertently speared in the chest. The creature had both hands wrapped around the shaft of the weapon and was frantically squirming back and forth in an effort to dislodge the steel spike stuck in his sternum. She’d heard that the hunters were evolving, but she’d never seen one exhibit any self-awareness. She had always expected them to mindlessly push forward, never even ducking away from an incoming blow. The fact that a hunter had actually grabbed her weapon momentarily stunned her, but she quickly recovered and pulled her short sword. Andi let out a primal battle cry as she stabbed the monster through its skull, then turned to the right and executed the same maneuver on a hunter that had broken through on that side.
The men standing next to Andi were grappling with several smaller, but still strong and deadly, flesh eaters that had managed to avoid the hedge of spear-tips being thrust forward by the troops in the shield wall. Just as they eliminated the last of the creatures in their immediate vicinity, a fresh wave of infected came scrambling over the corpses and rubble in front of the human line. Andi allowed herself to be pulled from the front rank and stepped to the rear for a short breather.
It was only after she was off the line that she noticed the cold. Even through her gloves, her fingers were cold and stiff. After taking a long pull from her half-frozen water bottle, she turned to face a runner who’d obviously been looking for her. “Ma’am, Sergeant Leeds says that we aren’t going to have time to fix the wiring to the explosives—the lines were cut, and there’s no way we can reach the breaks with hunters on the bridge. I’ve already informed Sergeant Ferguson and Ms. Wilson.”
This was a moment everyone in Fort Wayne had prayed would never come, but had nonetheless thoroughly prepared for. She closed her eyes and shuddered from a piercing spasm of grief. “Is the evacuation underway?”
“Yes, ma’am. Ms. Wilson says you need to report to the command center. She also said to tell you that your kids are fine.”
In her mind, Andi went over their limited options. A fleet of watercraft were always kept ready along the banks of the St. Mary’s river just west of the confluence with the St. Joe. From there the Maumee would carry the refugees all the way to Toledo. The primary barriers along the route had been secured by building palisades around the portages, while the large dam in Fort Wayne had hoists built into a strong scaffold that could
lift small boats and their occupants over the concrete walls. After completing the river portion of the journey, the evacuees would be carried by larger boats to islands in Lake Erie.
There was also an evacuation plan leading to the Castle, but with reports of choppers in the air they had to assume that the entire area was in the process of being overrun by hunters. Andi fought back the despair as she thought about the elderly, the ill, and the young children, including two of her own, being forced to make a river trip in a blizzard. She murmured a brief prayer for all of them as she hurried back to the command center.
Deb had radioed the ranch again as soon as she’d learned about the sabotage preventing the destruction of the bridge. Christy informed her that everyone was inside, and the house and barn were in lockdown-mode. Two of the teenagers Jack had left behind, Jade and Tyler, were also there to add their weapons to those of the four adults present, but so far they hadn’t seen or heard any nearby hunters. Christy was quick to point out that the intensity of the blizzard and the darkness of the night could mask any approaching monsters, and she couldn’t guarantee that they weren’t right outside the door.
After she’d ascertained that the ranch was apparently secure for the moment, Deb had contacted the Castle and asked for a situation report. Doc Redders was on the radio, and he quietly explained that he and the troops guarding the place had been forced into the basement-bunker just minutes earlier. Several of the soldiers who’d been manning one of the guard towers atop the earthen wall had reported hearing a helicopter just before hundreds of hunters had come howling out of the snowstorm. The icy embankment had slowed the flesh-eaters long enough for the garrison to secure themselves underground, but the bottom line was that the Castle had just fallen to a coordinated attack that could have only been conducted by forces loyal to General Barnes.
With an ice-cold lumpof fear growing inside, Deb realized that the entire area was under assault, probably in retaliation for, or in conjunction with, the attack in Mississippi earlier in the day. They had underestimated Barnes, or maybe even fallen into his trap. He probably hadn’t expected to lose most of his elite troops in Vicksburg, but he still had the resources to crush the mostly-defenseless settlements in northern Indiana regardless of the outcome in Mississippi.
CHAPTER 5
Jack sat quietly next to Luke as the son he never knew existed slept fitfully and fried from the inside out. Gracie continued to bathe the infected teen in freezing water in an attempt to keep his fever down. From time to time Jack vaguely wondered if he should be helping her, but he hadn’t slept much in the past few days and he was emotionally devastated. Gracie could fight the ravages of the virus in Luke’s body as much as she wanted, but Jack knew that it was all in vain. He and Maggie’s son, a child born to a future warrior-leader and a mystical, genius pacifist, now lay dying from a freak accident. Along with David and many others, Jack had come to believe that Luke would lead humanity back from the brink of extinction in the years to come, his fierce and single-minded determination to destroy the enemy inspiring resistance across the world. That wasn’t going to happen now; the dream was dying along with Luke.
Unable to sleep, Carter stopped by to check on the situation. “David’s snorin’ up a storm in that tent out there; I’m not surprised ya’ll are awake in here with all that racket.”
Gracie smiled weakly. “Maybe that’s why Luke is so restless,” she replied with only a trace of bitterness in her voice. “Can I get you anything, Carter? I just made a pot of tea.”
“No, darlin’, ya’ll shouldn’t worry about us.” He looked over at Jack. “How ya holdin’ up?”
“Could be worse,” Jack answered, staring at Luke. “He’s burning up, but we had a chance to talk a little bit.”
Gracie resumed Luke’s cold sponge bath. “He’s definitely dreaming. His eyes keep flickering, and his breathing is still strong. Maybe you guys could wake up David—if, I mean when, Luke comes around again they can say what they need to say to each other.”
It took an unusual amount of effort for Jack to stand; every part of his body ached heavily. “Come on, Carter, the cold air might help clear my head.”
“Do ya really need help wakin’ up yer brother?”
“No, but I think Gracie would like a few minutes alone with Luke.”
Gracie looked relieved, and a slight color rose in her cheeks. “Just a few minutes; they’re some things I’d like to say in private.”
Jack put his arm around her shoulders. “I know I should have been helping you with Luke tonight,” he admitted. “I just didn’t have the energy to—“
“Don’t say another word,” she cut in. “I need to take care of him; I need to keep busy. He’s my husband, and this may be the only time I’ll get to feel like his wife.”
Jack nodded. “We’ll be back in ten or fifteen minutes if that works for you, and we’ll bring David.”
“That’s perfect,” she said. “Thanks for understanding.”
As soon as they stepped outside, Carter made a beeline for David’s tent. Jack called after him, “Hey, what’s your hurry?”
Carter stopped and turned toward Jack. “It’s damn cold out here, in case ya haven’t noticed.”
Jack took the few steps needed to catch up to his friend, “Yeah, I’ve noticed, but I want to talk about something before we wake up David.”
“Alrighty,” Carter responded, surprised that Jack was in the mood for talking. “Ya wanna walk and talk to keep the blood flowin’?”
“Sure,” Jack replied, but he stopped in his tracks. “Luke said something, he asked me to do something, and I just can’t do it. He might not have been thinking right, maybe he didn’t really know what he was saying . . .”
“Yer beatin’ around the bush, Jack. What’d Luke ask ya to do?”
“He asked me not to shoot him when he turns. He said I should take him someplace far away from people—“
Carter was dumbfounded. “He musta been hallucinatin’ cuz no way in hell would he ask ya that if he was in his right mind.”
“I know, I know,” Jack agreed, “that’s what I think. I just needed you to reassure me that I was seeing things clearly.”
They started walking again, and Carter was quiet for a minute. Then he asked, “So, did it seem like he was outta it? Did he know where he was and who ya were?”
Jack sighed. “Yeah, he knew me. He knew where he was and what was happening. He seemed completely lucid, but that doesn’t make any sense.”
“In yer heart, do ya think it was the fever talkin’?”
“No, it sure didn’t seem like it.”
“Do ya think he’s afraid of dyin’? I mean, it’s one thing to go out as a soldier, not knowin’ what might happen to ya. It’s different when ya gotta watch it slowly creep up on ya.”
Jack shook his head. “If it was anybody but Luke, I’d consider that a possibility. But we’re talking about Luke. So no, that’s not it.”
They’d made a slow lap around the cabin and found themselves back in front of David’s tent. Jack stopped again. “You’re second guessing your initial reaction, just like me. But Jesus, Carter, we both know what I have to do. I can’t let him become one of them.”
“Ya don’t have to be the one to do it, ya know. I will, if that makes any difference. I gotta admit there’s a chance he knows somethin’ we don’t—he’s been purty right-on about a lot of stuff we didn’t have a clue about. But we can’t afford to trust one of his feelins’ fer this. Not fer us, and not fer him.”
The sound of unzipping interrupted the conversation, and David poked his head out in the cold. “Why are you two out here? Is it Luke? Is he—”
“Gracie wants a few minutes alone with him,” Jack explained as he pushed past his brother and made himself at home in the tent. “Then she said to bring you in to say your goodbyes.”
Carter squeezed in next to Jack, and David sat across from them. The dull light of a rechargeable solar lantern cast ominous shadows on th
e canvas. “I know we all got other things on our minds,” Carter began, “but we gotta figure out what were gonna do next in this war. Barnes may be crippled, but he ain’t gonna ferget what we did to him. Until that pecker is dead, he’s still a danger to all of us.”
“Do you have something in mind?” David wondered.
“Ya mean besides killin’ the bastard? I think we need to find him, keep him on the run. I think we got ourselves an advantage right now, and we gotta keep it any way we can.”
Jack was having trouble concentrating on anything that didn’t directly have to do with Luke. “We can figure out how to deal with Barnes tomorrow,” he said. “Right now I think it’s time to take David to the cabin.”
Hiram Anderson was sound asleep when a message arrived from the communication center. Deb Wilson was requesting to speak with him immediately. He briefly wondered why she wasn’t asking for Carter, but then he remembered the situation with Luke. Given the late hour, he assumed that whatever she needed must be important. It took him several minutes to get dressed, then he found his best flashlight and hurried off to find out what she wanted.
The initial report from Fort Wayne was disturbing—someone had attacked two of his guards before some sort of explosion was set off on one of the defensive walls around the perimeter of the settlement. Hiram wanted to get Jack and Carter right away, but Deb convinced him that he should wait until she had more information. They were starting an evacuation procedure, just to be cautious. Deb said it was highly unlikely that a true evacuation would be necessary, but the practice would be an excellent drill in case they really did need to bug out at some point in the future. She told him to stay close to the radio and promised to contact him with an update as soon as she had one.
Hiram had complete confidence in all of his men, including the undersized company that he’d left in Indiana when the majority of his Utah troops accompanied him to Vicksburg. Still, he worried that there might not be enough soldiers to protect Fort Wayne from any type of coordinated attack if there was a significant breach in the wall. He hadn’t heard of any groups of brigands attacking settlements, but he couldn’t discount the possibility that some humans were surviving by preying off of others. He was mentally going over possible scenarios that could explain the attack on his men and the subsequent explosion when Deb called in with her update.