by Lundy, W. J.
The Villegases slowed and continued to idle the engine until Sean directed them into cover farther ahead. They killed the engines and sat quietly listening. All that could be heard was the wind and the sounds of branches clicking together. Sean slowly stepped onto the trail with Brad following close behind. The Villegases stepped out of the trees to meet them.
“Okay, you two get cozy, give us a couple hours to move into position before you move out,” Sean said.
Joseph nodded back to Sean. “We got it Chief, see you back at the cabin,” he whispered as he followed his brother back into the thick underbrush.
Sean looked to Brad and patted him on the back. “The road loops around here then down into the town. We should be able to follow the compass east.”
Brad acknowledged the comment with a nod as he checked the straps on his pack and stepped off into the woods in the direction Sean had pointed. They moved quietly through the heavy snow without speaking. The last few days had been warm and the snow had gotten damp and sticky. In some places the drifts were nearly knee deep, which made movement more difficult. They were finding it hard to keep a quick pace.
They climbed a slowly rising hill for over an hour, staying away from trails and sticking to the thicker trees of the forest. The deeper in the trees they got the more the drifts and snow pack began to lighten. Brad found it easier to move and he quickened his pace. Several times Sean would stop him to take their bearings with his compass, then give Brad a new heading. As they summited the top of the hill they could just begin to make out the town below them.
It was still some distance off, but they could see where the main street ran through the center of town. The town rested below them with an X-shaped set of streets intersecting in the center of it. Most of the buildings sat along the main street running north and south. From their high vantage point and with binoculars, they could barely make out the road that traveled east from the intersection and into the trailer park Thomas had mentioned.
Sean pointed to a small outcropping of hills farther down. “We should try and make it to that point before the boys roll out.”
“On it,” Brad whispered back as he stepped off in the direction of the point.
Moving downhill they found travel easier, yet still they had to move slowly to keep themselves concealed. Especially now that they were on the slope facing the town. The two men were careful to keep themselves in the shadows of the tree lines. When they had to cross into the open they would crouch lower and sometimes even bear crawl to avoid silhouetting themselves.
As Brad approached the small point, he could see that a home rested within two hundred meters of the hill’s crest. Brad dropped to his belly and broke the tree line, crawling towards the observation point. Odds were the home was empty of any living thing, but there was no point in taking chances. He crawled across the damp ground until he reached a comfortable position on the top of the hill overlooking the town.
They were lower now and could no longer see the entire town, but they had a good over watch on the length of the main road. Sean crawled up alongside Brad. He removed the scoped rifle from his back and set it up on its bi-pod, then handed Brad a compact spotting scope. Brad unscrewed the lens caps and began to glass the buildings below.
He started near, looking down at the house below them. It was well kept and looked to be of newer construction. The grass in the lawn was high and snow covered, the bushes overgrown. It made sense as the fall had happened months ago and at the end of the growing season. Landscaping was probably not a priority with the end of the world approaching. He moved his focal point along the windows and doors. The home appeared to be secure with no obvious points of forced entry. Scanning farther out, he spotted a detached three-car garage. Again all of the doors and windows appeared to be secure.
“Dang, seems quiet enough. Maybe we should have just crept in, place looks empty,” Brad said as he continued to scan.
A long driveway cut away from the house and joined the main road. Brad followed it down and continued his left to right scan of the buildings in front of him. He let his eye travel the road deep and to the heavy cluster of buildings at the intersection. “That must be the clinic,” he whispered.
“I see it,” Sean replied.
There was a single-story white building sitting just where Thomas had said it would be. There were several cars, some law enforcement vehicles, and an ambulance scattered around the building’s parking lot, all covered with snow. A small sign in front of the clinic read “Urgent Medical.” Looking up and down the street, they could see that many of the store fronts had been broken into. A small mom and pop grocery store had items scattered about and covering the ground in front of it. Then Brad spotted something that alarmed him.
“Sean, what is that? See the line by the row of cars. Is it what I think it is?” Brad whispered.
Both sides of the street were congested with cars, but down the middle of the snow-covered street there was a definite foot path that had been packed down and cut through the snow.
“Looks like a trail. Well, no surprise, right? We expected them to be here,” Sean said as he looked up at Brad.
“Yeah, guess you’re right, I just didn’t expect a trail. Must be a lot of them to cut a path like that—”Brad stopped speaking as he heard the sound of a distant engine.
“Here they come, perfect timing,” Sean said, putting his eye back on the scope.
Brad turned on his elbows so he could see more of the road as it approached the town. The sound of the engine got louder and he saw the snowmobile pass through his view at high speed. Brad took his eye from the scope and watched the sled race down the street. It cut down the main drag and ran over top of the foot trail they had spotted moments earlier. Still there was no movement from any of the buildings.
The snowmobile plowed into the intersection in front of the clinic and stopped. Brad watched Daniel jump from the back of the machine with a pistol in his hand. He yelled, “Come on out bitches, it’s dinner time up in here.” Brad could just barely make out his voice over the idle of the sled’s engine. Daniel continued yelling obscenities and dares as he walked to a nearby car and pounded on the hood.
Brad put his eye back on the scope and scanned the buildings; he saw no movement. He looked back in the direction of the brothers and watched as Daniel leveled his handgun towards one of the parked cars. He rapidly fired off several rounds, the gunshots echoing through the town. “What are you waiting for?” Daniel screamed.
The moans started. They seemed to be coming from all directions at once. Joseph revved the engine of the snowmobile as Daniel ran back and jumped on the seat behind his brother. Joseph continued to rev the engine, the sound of the sled joining the moans of the primals. “What are they doing? They need to get the fuck out of there!” Brad whispered to Sean.
Slowly figures began to come out of the buildings. Joseph moved the sled forward at a slow pace; Daniel raised his handgun and began taking shots at the slowly shuffling creatures moving towards them. Soon the sidewalks were filled with them, moving slow, staggering, trying to make it to the brothers’ location. Joseph increased his speed as Daniel switched to the rifle, continuing to take shots, dropping several of the primals.
“He’s a modern day Pied Piper,” Sean said as they watched the buildings’ occupants drain into the streets, following the slowly moving sled out of town.
“How many of them do you figure there are? Did you see any fast ones?” Brad asked.
“I don’t know, has to be over a thousand. They are still bleeding out of those structures. I think we’re gonna have to sit here for a bit.”
The snowmobile drove farther up the road and gradually picked up speed. Eventually the numbers pouring from the buildings lessened while the masses moved to the center of the road and joined the march after the vehicle. The brothers had moved out of sight, but Brad could still occasionally hear a shot from their rifle. Brad used the scope to scan the streets. They were clearing out again
now as the mass moved beyond the city limits.
They waited nearly an hour after the last one had moved out of sight after the snowmobile. “Looks clear, let’s move out,” Sean said as he slid to his knees and slung his rifle across his back.
Brad stepped up and screwed the lens caps back onto the spotting scope before stowing it in his pack. He checked his rifle, gripping the suppressor to ensure it was tightly secured. He looked to Sean and nodded before slowly moving down the hill.
They were following an old path now. Connected to the lookout, it snaked its way down the side of the hill and connected with a sidewalk below. Just like any other small town, this trail was probably used by kids on dirt bikes. The thought made Brad smile as he slowly worked his way down the hill, cautiously searching the area in front of him.
The trail dumped them onto the sidewalk still short of the main street and three blocks from the clinic. Brad took two steps onto the approach and kneeled down, looking in both directions. His side of the street was void of structures until the next block. There was a small house across from them, and a side street that looked to be stacked with similar homes.
“What’s the call, Chief, stick to the main drag, or roll through the neighborhood?” Brad whispered.
“Stay on this side of the street. Stick to the walls on the left. We will look for a clear place to cross farther up,” Sean said.
Brad lifted himself from the damp snow. Even though he could feel the cold through his pants, he was still sweating from the exertion of the day’s march. He walked slowly in a low crouch, sticking to the left side of the street. Sean was right behind him, close enough to reach up and grab his shoulder. They continued to move, taking short deliberate steps and scanning the area in front of them. Every few feet, Sean would turn to look at their back trail.
They moved towards the end of the sidewalk and again Brad took a knee. Across the street was the beginning of the downtown. A long row of store fronts lined both sides of the street. Across from them began the chaos of parked and jumbled vehicles. Brad could also make out the beginnings of the primals’ footprints in the snow and the heavy path they had created.
Brad felt the tap on his shoulder, the ‘go command’ from Sean to move forward. Brad crouched down near the very edge of the sidewalk, feeling exposed on the street corner. He quickly looked both ways and ran across the street, looking for cover. Finding it, he quickly moved into a hide near a car fender. Brad quickly scanned left and right then signaled for Sean to move up.
Keeping his eyes up and down the street, he heard Sean coming, then quickly felt his presence next to him. “Okay, we’re doing good, keep moving, hug the wall, avoid doors and windows,” Sean said as he tapped Brad on the shoulder.
Brad stepped off and moved to the wall next to him. He remembered hearing instructions to never walk close to walls, that bullets could hit a wall, ricochet then follow the wall right into you. But he wasn’t fighting insurgents today, so hugging walls and staying in the shadows was the order of battle. As he moved along the building’s surface he began to pick up the familiar stench of death and decay. Even in the crisp cold air, the stench drifted heavily.
He reached into his collar and pulled his shemagh tightly over his nose and mouth. He moved forward, walking low, ducking and even crawling below windows. When they came to a door they would quickly move past it one at a time. Brad was curious what might be inside each building but that wasn’t today’s mission. They moved under a low storefront. The glass was broken and mannequins lay in the display and on the sidewalk. Brad put his back to the wall, quickly peeked into the building, then ran past the window.
Brad posted up on the far side of the window and waited for Sean. He looked down the street and saw the lumps in the snow. The street in front of him was littered with frozen and twisted bodies. He pressed back against the building as Sean came up beside him. “What is it? You see something,” Sean whispered.
Brad pointed at the cluster of bodies in front of them. Sean nodded and signaled for Brad to keep moving. “Come on, only a bit further.”
They continued moving the same way down the length of the street. Brad again hugged the corner and looked down the side street when he reached the end of the block. The crosswalk here was littered with bodies and jammed with vehicles. Brad did a quick scan in all directions before stepping off quickly and clearing the danger area. Again he searched for cover and stuck himself to the nearest wall, trying to blend in.
Sean moved up behind Brad; Brad felt the tap and began to step off. They were now one block from the clinic. He could just see it at the end of the street and on the other side. He moved on, still hugging the walls and ducking under windows. He felt Sean grab at his shirt and deliberately tug him, then push him low to the ground. He took the pressure and fell to both knees, hunched over. He let himself slide into the wall in a low kneeling position. Sean crawled up next to him.
“What!” Brad whispered.
“J.D.L.R.,” Sean whispered back quickly.
Brad gave Sean a puzzled look.
Sean shook his head, “Just doesn’t look right,”
“No shit, it’s a city full of dead things!”
“Something’s wrong … I can’t place it. I’ll take point, fall in behind me,” Sean said as he began to low crawl forward.
Brad followed in the trail Sean was making in the snow. Now instead of hugging the building, they were slowly making their way to the curbside. Sean dropped between two cars and moved towards the center of the street with Brad close behind. Sean dropped his right arm at an angle and showed Brad his outward turned palm. Brad stopped and looked for cover. Sean had again dropped into the snow and was crawling backwards. He turned and placed his face close to Brad’s.
“We have to get inside … now!” Sean said.
“What is it? What did you see?”
“Alphas,” Sean said as he began crawling to the closest building.
12.
The two men moved quickly to a nearby store front. Sean put his shoulder against the doorframe and tried to look inside. It appeared empty. He put his hand on the door and slowly opened it, then moved in and to the right. Brad turned to look behind him. He still didn’t see the threat that Sean had mentioned. He followed his friend into the building.
Sean slowly let the door close until the latch caught, then turned his attention back into the depths of the building. They had found themselves in some sort of coffee shop or diner. Booths were along the right wall, while a long counter ran the length of the left wall. Far to the back they could see a restroom sign and an exit door.
Sean pressed his back to the wall and slowly lowered himself into a seating position with his legs in front of him. Brad moved next to him and sat shoulder to shoulder. “You smell that Brad?” Sean whispered.
“Mildew?”
“Exactly. It don’t smell like fucking primal. We may be secure in here for the time being. Follow me to the back.”
Sean dropped to his hip then slowly rose to his hands and knees as he moved deeper into the coffee shop. Brad did the same and followed him. When they were farther from the front windows and safely concealed in the shadows of the structure, Sean rose to his feet. He walked quietly on the toes of his boots and looked over the counter.
“Clear,” Sean whispered.
Brad climbed to his feet and walked beyond Sean, holding his rifle level to the back exit door. As he got closer he could see the door’s bolt was latched in the locked position. He moved down the passageway to the restroom door and swung the door in: darkness. Brad held the door for a moment before letting it close. “No need to go in there, if a primal was using the shitter I’m sure he would have come out to say hi.”
Sean didn’t acknowledge the comment; he had moved behind the counter and was setting up his rifle. He had it up on the bi-pod and was looking out of the window and into the street. He let the rifle rest on the counter before looking down and smiling. He reached into the cooler behind him
and pulled out two cans of Coke. “Here,” he said to Brad as he tossed one in his direction.
Brad caught the can and moved around the counter to join Sean. He popped the top on the can and heard the all too familiar hiss. He sipped at the soda; it was at a pleasant room temperature of nearly frozen. After weeks without a carbonated beverage and drinking nothing more than water, the soda burned and the sweet liquid made him clench his jaw. Quickly he chugged the Coke and placed the empty can on the counter.
“What did you see out there?” he asked Sean.
Sean was leaning against the cooler; he pointed to the rifle. “Take a look, across the street at the market.”
Brad knelt behind the stock. The magnification of the scope quickly picked up the walls of the buildings across the street. He moved the barrel left and down until he could see the broken glass of the market. Just inside the frame of the window stood a single figure. Behind him more were moving through the building. Brad counted five of them total.
“What are they doing?” Brad asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Their behavior is no longer predictable, and this is going to make things more difficult for us,” Sean said.
“You want to call it off and go back?”
Sean turned to look at Brad before smiling. “No, we aren’t calling it off.” He moved towards Brad and lifted the rifle off the counter and to his shoulder as he looked through the scope. “I figure we have three choices,” he said as he looked at the figures across the street.
“One, go hard in the paint … violence of action … rush the fuckers and take them all down. I’m confident we could kill the ones in the market, maybe even hit the clinic, but I don’t know if we would ever get away.