After Everything Else (Book 1): Creeper Rise

by Brett D. Houser

  “Do you want me to go down and watch the monitors to see how many are coming?” Chase asked. He felt useless, and wanted to do something to help. Instead of answering, the Chief handed him the AK-47.

  “Have you ever fired a rifle before?” the Chief asked.

  “Not like this one. Hunting rifle, yes,” Chase replied. The Chief nodded.

  “Similar concept. Sight down the scope, put the red dot on the remnant’s head. Nothing but a head shot will stop one completely. You can slow them down with a knee shot, but it’s risky. If you just hit meat, it will go on through. Torso shot can slow them down if you hit the spine, but that’s risky, too. I’ve got bigger guns with more knock-down power, but mostly for closer range than I want these to get.” The Chief watched as Chase got into position to fire. He aimed at a creeper that had crossed the creek and was approaching slowly. In the scope, Chase could clearly see the deep decay of the creeper. Its clothes were covered in stains, and the skin of its face had been torn from the temple to the chin, exposing both upper and lower teeth from rear molars to incisors on the right side of its face. The pendulous flap of skin moved with each step the creeper took. Chase took a deep breath, let it halfway out. He placed the dot in the center of the creeper’s forehead, and slowly began squeezing the trigger. The rifle fired, and Chase blinked. When he opened his eyes, the creeper was no longer visible in the scope. He looked out over the field, and saw it sprawled on the ground. The Chief clapped him on the back.

  “You’ll do. That magazine holds thirty rounds. We’ve fired three. I’m going to go get some more ammunition. Take out everything out there that moves.” With that, the Chief climbed down into the trapdoor. Shortly after he disappeared, Sparky’s head appeared over the edge of the opening.

  “Time for a turkey shoot,” Sparky grinned. He braced himself with one arm and slid up onto the roof of the gate house carrying his AK-47 in the other hand. Chase watched as Sparky settled himself in at the opposite end of the roof, still facing the creepers approaching down the drive. Sparky started firing almost immediately, and two new creepers from the forest dropped. Chase turned his attention back to the dark opening where creepers were appearing one at a time.

  His second shot at a creeper had no effect that he could see. He felt he had missed entirely. He tried to remember everything Jordan’s dad had told him about firing a rifle the two times he had been hunting, and he watched Sparky for a bit. The next time he fired, he saw the hole appear in the creeper’s forehead before it dropped. A small group of creepers, five of them, appeared at the opening in the trees which marked where the driveway emerged, and he and Sparky alternated firing, calling their shots. Then a group of ten appeared, and Sparky said, “I’ll start at the left side and work right. You start at the right and work left.”

  Chase set a rhythm for himself: aim, deep inhale, half-exhale, squeeze, aim, deep inhale, half-exhale, squeeze. He was barely aware of the sound of Sparky’s shots. He was aiming at one of the few left from the ten when the creeper disappeared from his scope. He realized that Sparky had shot the last one, and no more had appeared. Yet. He looked up, and noticed that the Chief was standing behind him.

  “Good shooting, son. You could be a little faster, but for this, slow is okay. Accuracy is important. When there are more, and I’m afraid there will be, you will have to be shooting faster. If you lose a little accuracy, that’s okay.” The Chief held out his hands for the rifle, and Chase handed it to him. He watched closely as the Chief demonstrated how to drop the magazine and put a new one in place. “In a bit I’ll show you how to load the rounds into the magazines. Then I’ll show you how to clean an AK-47. For now, though, dinner is getting cold.” He walked over to Sparky and indicated two small plastic cases near the trapdoor next to a couple of metal ammo boxes. “Use the night vision goggles to scan when the sun gets all the way down. Put the night vision scope on now. Turn the reticle all the way down. You should still be able to see to shoot. Ambient light is fading.” Sparky nodded, looking confused. Chase watched as first the Chief demonstrated the use of both items, and then made Sparky repeat everything back to him. Once the Chief was satisfied, he climbed down through the trapdoor. Chase followed.

  On the short walk to Main Quarters, the Chief grumbled about Sparky. “Good kid, but not very bright. I have to show him how to do things. Bright kid like you, I could have told you to read the instructions and you would have been able to take care of it without my sticking around.”

  “Sparky seems okay. I think some people just learn better when they can see it.” Chase wasn’t sure why he felt the need to defend Sparky. He thought it was probably just something in the Chief’s tone that rubbed him the wrong way.

  The Chief stopped and turned to Chase. Chase stopped as well. “I know Sparky’s okay. Of course he’s okay, or he wouldn’t still be here.” Chase couldn’t get a read on the Chief’s expression. He seemed angry, but then broke into a smile. “But I’m very glad that you are here now. You are the kind of boy who will become the kind of man we’re going to need to rebuild. These remnants aren’t going to be around forever. It’s going to be a rough year coming, I think, until most of them rot away. But once that year is over, we’re going to have to rebuild society. And we need men like you to do it.” The Chief abruptly turned and started walking again towards Main Quarters. Chase stood looking at his retreating back, then fell in behind him.

  Chapter 26 – Marilyn

  When the gunfire began outside, Marilyn was only slightly startled. She had expected something. She knew when the Chief stormed out that it probably meant one of two things: survivors or creepers. She was sure there were plenty of things within his operation that could have gone wrong, but she knew he would be prepared for any internal problems. Unless she had completely misread him, he probably had back-up plans for his back-up plans.

  She continued setting the table, which is what she had been doing when she heard the first shot. When she finished, she returned to the kitchen. “Need me to carry anything out?” she asked Tracey. Tracey shook her head.

  “I don’t know how long they’ll be out there. Let’s wait a bit.”

  “Okay.” Marilyn watched as Tracey set about cleaning and straightening the kitchen. She ran a sink full of hot water, and used Dawn dishwashing detergent. The same brand Marilyn’s mother had always bought. Her mother had always said that if you clean as you go, there’s never the big mess at the end. It looked like Tracey subscribed to the same philosophy. “Tracey, if you don’t mind me asking, where is your mother?”

  Tracey shrugged and turned off the tap. “I don’t know. Probably dead now. She left when I was still pretty small.”

  “Really? The Chief raised you by himself? That must have been tough.”

  “I suppose. I never knew if it was tough on him or not. He just took care of things. I spent a lot of time in daycare or staying with other people when he had to go to the field or deploy, but he always managed to make sure I had good care.” Tracey cocked her head. The gunfire had stopped. “We can go ahead and put things out now, I think.” She bent to take the ham out of the oven, and indicated to Marilyn she should pick up the mashed potatoes. Marilyn grabbed the green beans with her other hand and they carried them into the dining area.

  As they prepared the table, Marilyn asked, “So you didn’t spend a lot of time with your father when you were growing up?”

  “Not a lot. I mean, I think he gave me what time he could. I always knew I was important to him. But we didn’t really start spending a lot of time together until he retired a few years ago and we moved in here.” Marilyn noticed Sonya sitting very still, watching them both, listening intently. Sonya and Marilyn locked eyes, but Marilyn could read nothing in Sonya’s intense stare. A beep which sounded from a box over the front door caused them to break eye contact, and then the door opened and Chase and the Chief entered.

  “Ah, very good! Dinner is ready. Is it still warm?” Marilyn saw that the Chief seemed invigorated. Cha
se also seemed to be filled with energy, although he was a little more subdued.

  “Yes, Chief,” Tracey answered. “Is there anything going on that I need to know about?”

  “Nothing that won’t wait until after dinner. Not necessarily a good dinner topic. We’ll discuss afterward.” Chase and the Chief washed their hands, and everyone sat down. The Chief was at the head of the table, flanked by Tracey and Chase. Marilyn sat beside Tracey, and Sonya sat beside Chase. Marilyn was troubled by the way Sonya seemed to fade away in the gathering. She understood that Sonya might not be accustomed to a social setting like this, but the fact that she was allowed to withdraw completely didn’t seem right. When it became obvious that no prayer was going to be said, Marilyn bent her head and gave thanks. She really meant it, too. The ham smelled delicious. When she looked up, she saw that the Chief was looking at her quizzically, but nothing was said.

  To Marilyn, it seemed the Chief made an effort to keep the topic away from what was happening outside. She could see that Tracey wanted to discuss it, but she followed her father’s wishes. Items of discussion were kept to other topics, despite the occasional sound of a gun shot from the direction of the gate.

  “What do you think of the meat?” the Chief asked. When everyone complimented the flavor, he told them he had butchered the hog and smoked the ham himself. “Of course, I had a local gentleman come show me the finer points. I could have read and followed instructions on the proper way it was done, and I probably could have improved my techniques with time, but having a craftsman show me the finer points seemed to be the way to go. We still have several hams hanging, and we have a considerable amount of pork available yet: bacon, sausage, loins, and roasts. We will eat well.”

  “You’ve talked about more people coming, more survivors. How many do you think you can support?”

  “Excellent question, Chase. I am expecting more people, but I have no way of knowing how many, or what will happen at this point. I am reasonably confident I can support about ten people with our current operation. That doesn’t include foraging, both in stores and from the wild. Between our domestic animals and stores, what we can grow in the hydroponic system and in more traditional methods, ten is easily sustainable, I think. We would have to convert one of the storage buildings to quarters, but that would be easily done. I had them constructed with that in mind.”

  “And if there’s more, do you just turn them away?” Marilyn asked. She felt the full attention of the Chief turn to her.

  “That’s something I had considered as well. By foraging, I think we could sustain another ten people, at least in the short term. That would produce some crowding issues. Quarters, sanitation, water supplies. There would be something of a hardship. But if they are of the right sort, they will be able to contribute equally to the amount of resources required for their upkeep. And I don’t think the wrong sort will last long in the current environment. We’ll all be survivors.” The Chief smiled at Chase, and then Marilyn. Again Marilyn was disturbed by the way he did not acknowledge Sonya’s presence. Chase was returning the Chief’s smile. Marilyn caught Chase’s eye and nodded toward Sonya, her eyebrows raised. They both watched her. Her head was down, one hand in her lap, the other on her fork. Marilyn couldn’t tell if Chase noticed the white-knuckled grip on the fork or not.

  The remainder of dinner was eventless, the conversation punctuated with the occasional gunshot from outside. As they finished, Tracey rose to clear the dishes, and Marilyn helped her. When they returned from the kitchen, Sonya had disappeared and Chase and the Chief were in the front room, going over proper maintenance and upkeep of an AK-47 rifle. Marilyn and Tracey finished clearing the dishes and returned to the kitchen. When they finished cleaning up, they joined the Chief and Chase, who were still sitting in the front room talking.

  “Join us, ladies,” the Chief welcomed them. “Now Chase, Tracey is very, very familiar with the workings of the AK-47, as well as every other weapon I have on site. I chose the AK-47 for durability and close range. For longer range, I have an AR-15, as well as an M24 for extremely long range, but they aren’t always useful in this terrain and for my, I mean our, purposes. I have heavier ordinance as well, but ammunition is limited. Should we need more, I think I would be able to get it now fairly easily. But based on observation and what I believe is going to happen, we will be well-supplied for a while.”

  “What do you think is going to happen?” Chase asked.

  “I think we are going to see waves of remnants. What we have just seen are the Paducah remnants. I think the majority will still stick to the main roads, but initially they will start by spreading out evenly. They will move like water, taking the path of least resistance. Great herds of remnants will be moving on the interstates now, but there will be those who get pushed to follow other directions. We will see smaller waves from smaller towns, maybe even only a remnant or two. But there will still be quite a few coming from Nashville and St. Louis.” Marilyn saw Chase shudder.

  “Why not Memphis?” Marilyn asked.

  “Good question. And I could be wrong. We may see a few Memphis remnants. But I believe when the remnants disperse, they will turn their backs on the city and move outward in as straight a line as possible, evenly spread, in all directions. That will be at the urging of the fungus. I think that they will probably stick to the roads, though. Too many obstacles if they try to set off cross country. There’s no direct major thoroughfare between here and Memphis.”

  Marilyn thought of the herds of creepers moving along the interstates in the night, silent, shuffling when they had been heading for the cities. Then she thought of what she guessed would be much larger numbers dispersing. She thought of being out there, waiting for them to pass. When a gunshot sounded, she started. Then, she felt guilty. “Did anyone see where Sonya went?”

  “She said she was going outside to check on Honey,” Chase said. Again, Marilyn felt guilty. She hadn’t thought about Honey.

  “Mmmm. Tracey, can I grab some scraps from the kitchen for Honey? I’ll go check on both of them.” Tracey indicated it would be okay.

  “Speaking of which, we need to get a plan together for tonight. Chase, you and I can go out and relieve Sparky at the gate so he can eat. Then you can be on watch until midnight. I’ll relieve you then until four. Sparky can relieve me at that time. Ladies, plan on being up at first light. Tracey, you can check Marilyn out on the AK-47. That means firing, loading, and care and maintenance. Come on, Chase.”

  Marilyn found Sonya and Honey watching the chickens. Sonya was feeding Honey little pieces of ham. The sun had dipped below the hills to the west of them, but there was still light enough to see how dejected Sonya looked. “Didn’t you eat at dinner?” Marilyn asked.

  Sonya nodded. “I don’t eat much meat. I saved some back for Honey.”

  Marilyn placed the bowl of scraps she had carried from the kitchen on the ground. Honey looked from the bits of ham Sonya was offering to the bowl. She wagged her tail once, looked at Sonya in a way Marilyn could have sworn was apologetic, and buried her face in the bowl. Sonya dropped the remaining bits of ham on the ground next to Honey and wiped her hands on her pants.

  “I’m leaving tomorrow,” Sonya announced.

  “You may want to think about that,” Marilyn replied, and described what the Chief suspected would happen over the next few days. Marilyn could see Sonya growing paler, her already large eyes growing even larger in the near-darkness.

  “I don’t think that matters. You heard the Chief. He only wants people of ‘the right sort.’ Did you kind of get the feeling that he might not consider me ‘the right sort’? Because I sure did. It’s only a matter of time before he ships me out anyway.”

  Marilyn considered, and realized Sonya might not be wrong. Still…. “Chase wouldn’t let anything happen to you. You know that, right?”

  “I’m still going.” As scared as she looked, her voice was still determined. “Listen, I don’t blame you if you don’t want to com
e. I think I’m being selfish by even wanting you to go with me. But I do.”

  “Sonya, I’m still with you. But let’s not leave tomorrow. Let’s see what happens with the creepers. The next day, or maybe the next. I don’t know if Chase will come with us, but we can take the Suburban. We’ll make sure that happens, at least.”

  “Okay,” Sonya said. Marilyn thought Sonya sounded sad and realized how sad she would be if Chase decided not to go.

  Chapter 27 – Sonya

  Sonya lay awake in darkness. Tracey had no windows in her bedroom, and the only light was from a display on the wall showing the time and the temperature outside. As Sonya watched, the temperature dropped another degree. The time changed from 11:47 to 11:48. The room was nearly silent, the only sound the even breathing from the bed. There had been surprisingly little talk after they decided to turn in. Marilyn had gone to sleep quickly, as had Tracey. Sonya wished she could. Her stomach was full. There were no worries about creepers finding them in the night. In addition to that, for the first time since Sonya had left her home, she had a comfortable place to stretch out.

  She closed her eyes over and over, only to have them spring open again. Her mind raced. She knew what she had to do. There was no way she could take Marilyn and Chase away from this place. The people gave off a weird vibe, but it was a safe place. What she was getting ready to do, where she was getting ready to go, she knew there was only going to be danger. She was afraid to be alone again, but even more afraid something would happen to Chase or Marilyn and it would be her fault.

  She tried to just lie still. If her body was still, her mind would be still eventually. She tried to imagine her reunion with her father, but she couldn’t concentrate. She felt claustrophobic, due in part to the darkness, the closeness of the room, but also in the necessity of being still, allowing the others the peace to sleep. Sonya knew if she had been alone, she would be tossing and turning. Instead, she lay motionless, watching the clock. Just before midnight, she heard the Chief’s door open and close, then the front door. She supposed he was going to relieve Chase on guard duty.