by Jon Schafer
“She radioed back about a half hour ago that the Z’s are still heading this way,” Steve told her. “I figured out the time and distance between where you each saw them and calculated that they should be here sometime before noon tomorrow. She told me she’s going to track them for a couple hours just to make sure.”
Tick-Tock opened the door and held his hand out for the shovel, saying, “Take a break. I’ll finish this and then we can give you a ride back to the nut house.”
“No, I’ve got it,” Steve told him. “What I really need you to do is -.”
He was cut off by a loud voice calling out that he needed to talk to him.
They turned and saw Sean striding across the field with Grimm trailing him.
“Oh, shit,” Steve said. “What now? I really don’t need this guy’s bullshit right now.”
Sean stopped a few feet away and said indignantly, “This entire plan of yours is unacceptable to the committee. We just met, and we demand that you change it to protect our safety.”
“And what changes did the committee recommend?” Steve asked sardonically.
“Changing the plan is up to you. Approving the plan is up to us,” Sean told him with a superior tone in his voice.
“No problem then,” Steve said. “Change in plans. You can all stay here and we’ll go.”
“They’ll stay here over their dead bodies,” Grimm said firmly.
Steve shrugged and said in a matter of fact way, “Looks like that option is out too. I guess you’ll have to take off on your own then.”
“That’s not part of the deal,” Sean whined. “We wouldn’t last a day. We’ll be dead before the sun sets.”
From behind him, Grimm asked, “Then would you like for me to save you the pain of dying at the teeth of my children and reap you now?”
Spinning around with an indignant look on his face, Sean looked at the hooded figure carrying her scythe at the ready only a few feet behind him. His arrogance quickly turned to fear and he stammered out, “N-n-n-no. That’s good. I’m fine.”
“Then do as you’re told,” Grimm said in a low voice. “When Steve and his people leave, you won’t be welcome here. My suggestion would be to go with them and do what they tell you.” Tilting her head to one side, she added with a laugh, “Or go off on your own right now. I think my children would find you…tasty.”
Seeing he was beat, Sean raised his head high and spun on his heel before marching back to the gate with Tick-Tock’s laughter following his every step.
“Make sure all of your people are ready and in front of the house at nine o’clock tomorrow morning or they get left behind,” Steve called after him.
***
Steve stood at the top of the steps and took one last look around to see if he’d missed anything. They had decided to take the time to bury the wires where they lay exposed outside the fence to keep the dead from getting tangled up in them. His eyes followed the raw earth from the closest landmine to where the wires started to run above ground inside the compound, and he could see they wouldn’t be torn up by anything less than a backhoe. He’d also had Brain drive a tall stake next to each of the dynamite bundles to get its exact range. This way, they wouldn’t have to guess when the best time would be to set them off. He was pretty sure it wouldn’t matter, since the entire field would be covered from one end to the other with the dead, but he wanted to be able to do the maximum amount of damage.
They had nailed additional two by fours over all the first floor openings of the mansion and had a supply next to the door in case they had to retreat inside. If that happened, they would take to the high ground and pour fire down on the dead until they wiped them out. To aid in this, Grimm had led them to her armory and told them to help themselves.
Steve could still remember his amazement at the wide array of weapons she had scrounged from the cars and trucks on the highway. A majority of them were hunting rifles and pistols, but there were a few automatic rifles and one sub-machinegun. There was a lot of ammunition stacked in boxes and laying loose in two ammo cans, but to Steve’s dismay, very little of it would work in their rifles. Added to that, they only had one hundred rounds left for the .50 caliber machine gun. Their plan was to set it up outside the gate and use it first. When it was empty, they would abandon it and get behind the fence.
Turning to go inside, he stopped when his eye caught something moving out in the field. Looking closer, he saw in the fading sunlight that it was a Z. The dead thing reached the fence and tried to climb it but kept sliding down. Steve started to raise his rifle and call out a warning, when he was stopped by a voice from behind him saying, “I’ll take care of this.”
Grimm brushed passed him and said over her shoulder, “It’s not the zombie invasion yet. We do get stragglers through here from time to time.”
Steve watched as she strode purposefully to the gate and opened it. After closing and locking it behind her, she walked along the fence as she occasionally banged her scythe against it to attract the Z. He could see that she only had to do it twice before the thing noticed and started running toward her in the loping fashion of the dead.
Grimm stopped and waited, her scythe at the ready.
To be on the safe side, Steve raised his rifle and sighted in on the Z. He saw it get within a few feet of Grimm before she moved. The blade flashed out almost too fast to be seen, and the dead thing’s head literally flew from its shoulders. Grimm sidestepped as the body’s momentum carried it past her to tumble to the ground where it lay twitching.
Even from the porch, he could hear her shout, “Oley,” before turning in his direction and taking a bow. She then wiped her blade on a piece of cloth she pulled from beneath her robe and tossed the soiled rag on top of the body.
Walking toward where Steve stood in awe at the sight he’d just witnessed, Grimm said, “Tomorrow I will be with you. You can use your guns and explosives, but I prefer my ways.”
“You should have a gun with you just in case,” Steve told her.
Pulling the right flap of her robe away from her, Steve saw that she wore a jet-black body suit under it and carried an MP5 on a sling over her shoulder.
“I don’t leave home without it,” she said with a laugh. “Now come inside and get cleaned up. I’m going to turn on the generator in a few minutes and that means it’s time to cook. I think tonight we’re having roast beef hash on crackers as the appetizer but I’ll have to check with the raggedy twins. It’s their turn to cook tonight.”
As Steve followed her inside, he considered her and Igor before wondering what talents the raggedy twins had. And what about the fifth person who was supposed to live here, where was he? They’d asked about him but had only received the vague reply that he was around somewhere.
Steve decided to ask again, “Hey, Grimm -.”
Before he could say anything else, she cut him off by saying, “The fifth person is Claude Rains, but don’t tell Igor he’s here.”
It took Steve a minute to get it. When he did, he laughed and said, “The invisible man. Well, at least he won’t have any problem getting away if everything goes to hell.”
***
Steve walked to where Tick-Tock was setting up the .50 caliber heavy machine gun on a makeshift base. The Hilti nail gun banged as he secured it to a tripod of wood, the noise echoing off the ground fog that had gathered overnight. It was so thick that they hadn’t even bothered to watch the group to the east since they couldn’t see them anyway. When the sun rose, it was a faint glow on the horizon, scattering its light through the mist. Grimm had assured them that it would burn off before her children arrived, but they were still jumpy due to the limited visibility.
Nodding to Denise and Linda, who had volunteered to stand guard, Steve asked, “Did you eat yet?”
Denise said, “Not yet. Tick-Tock wanted to get his toy set up. We’ll grab something later.”
“Both of you head on up to the house and grab some chow,” he told her. “I’ve got this.”
Grateful to get out of the creepy fog, Linda instantly accepted his offer and started toward the mansion. Denise hesitated, so Steve said, “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to him.”
Reluctantly, she followed Linda. The two women had barely travelled a dozen feet before they disappeared.
When they were gone, Steve said, “Good thing we didn’t get hit in this fog or we would have been screwed.”
Tick-Tock shot the last nail in and stood before saying, “No doubt. If they hit us at night, we could still see well enough to pull this off, but in this shit…”
After a moment, Steve asked, “So what do you think our chances are?”
“Fifty-fifty,” he answered without hesitation. “If we can bust up the main wave with the dynamite, I think our chances go up to about seventy-thirty.”
“I don’t like the idea of leaving Grimm behind,” Steve said.
“Her choice,” Tick-Tock told him. “I wish the others had the balls to stand up for themselves like that.”
With a sigh, Steve said, “We’ll only have Sean and his crew with us for a little longer. It’s almost over. I’m thinking only a few more days and we’ll be safe.”
“Now that we’re close, did you think about what you’ll do if Cindy doesn’t hold the cure?” Tick-Tock asked.
“Every day,” Steve answered.
“What if there is no cure?” Tick-Tock asked.
Steve shrugged and said, “Then I’ll do something else.”
“What?”
Steve shrugged and said, “I’ll deal with that when, and if, it comes.”
***
Brain carefully made his way down the slope of the roof with the antennae in his hand. Passing it down to Connie, he said, “Take that down to the truck along with whatever else you can carry and I’ll get the rest of our things from the room.”
He dropped through the hatch and found her standing by the door with a worried look on her face.
“What’s the matter, babe?” He asked.
“I’m scared,” she said with a tremor in her voice. “We’re surrounded by those things, and I just don’t see a way out.”
Trying to reassure her, Brain said, “I explained what we’re going to do, honey. It’s real simple. We’re in a good solid position here, so all we have to do is let the Z’s hit the fence and then we blow a hole through them and break out to the south.”
“It sounds simple,” Connie said quietly, “but what if something goes wrong?”
Taking her in his arms, he said, “Nothing can go wrong. If worse comes to worse, we hole up here in the house and shoot all the dead with our rifles. Grimm has enough ammunition to fight a small war. We may have to use a couple different guns since she’s got so many different calibers, but we’ll be fine.”
Laying her head against his shoulder, she said, “I’m just worried about you. I already lost my entire family and I don’t want to lose you too.”
“You won’t lose me,” he promised. “All I have to do is set off the dynamite and then I’ll be hauling ass to the truck. Steve and Heather have the really dangerous job, they’ve got to open and close the gate. All we have to do is drive.”
“I know but -,” she started to say.
Holding a finger up to her lips, he said, “No more buts. When it comes down to it, we really have no choice since we can’t stay here. Look on the bright side, once we get past this group, it should be clear sailing all the way to Fort Polk.”
Forcing a smile, Connie said, “I’ll be brave, it’s just that I have a bad feeling about this.”
***
Mary and Sheila appeared through the thinning fog, each holding one of Cindy’s hands in theirs as they swung them back and forth in time with their steps. A few feet behind them, Igor and Linda kept pace while Pep ran back and forth to sniff at things. Approaching the Dodge Ram, they could see that the hood was up and Denise was leaning into the engine compartment.
“Got a problem?” Mary asked. “Maybe we can help.”
Denise stood and wiped her hands on a rag as she said, “Nope, just making sure everything’s running right.”
Noticing the pistol stuck into the waistband of Mary’s pants and the hunting rifle slung over her shoulder, she realized how much the woman must have changed. Tick-Tock had told him stories about how she used to be, so the transformation was amazing. She now looked competent and resourceful. Chalking it up to the shock of actually seeing how bad everything was, Denise was glad to have another gun in the group.
Turning her attention to Sheila, Denise could see where her dyed blonde hair was growing out red again, giving her a punk rock look. Tick-Tock had told her about their time on the Dead Calm and how they’d fooled the Reverend Ricky’s people into thinking she was Heather. Sheila was also armed with a pistol and a rifle.
“Well, is it a problem?” Sheila asked bluntly. “If you think you’re going to have a breakdown or some shit, we can put Cindy in the other truck.”
“No problems at all,” Denise assured her. “It’s running like a Swiss watch. It might get a little cramped with five of us in there even though it’s an extended cab, but we’ll make do.”
Linda stepped forward and said, “I tried to talk Igor into riding in one of the vans but he wouldn’t go for it.”
“You actually talked to him?” Denise asked.
Smiling, she said, “It was a pretty one sided conversation, but I could tell he wasn’t going to budge by the way he kept shaking his head and giving me the finger.”
“So who’s driving the other truck?” Denise asked.
“Brain,” Sheila answered. “Connie is riding with him and they’ll take Pep since you’re already full. Heather and Steve are going to drive the minivans and Mary and I are going to ride shotgun for them. Two of the others are going with Brain to make room for us.”
Denise winced at the thought of all those people crammed into the vans. It would be tight, but they had to cut down on vehicles to make their gas go further. Eventually, they would probably all be on foot, but the longer they could drive the better.
“What about the others?” She asked. “Are they ready yet?”
“The last of them just came downstairs,” Mary told them. “We’re going to get them sorted out in a minute and get their packs loaded in the other truck. They are all such worthless pains in the ass.”
Denise choked back a laugh, as this was exactly how Tick-Tock had described Mary.
Handing Cindy off to Linda, the two women disappeared into the mist.
***
The sun rose, burning off the fog and giving them a good view of the field and driveway. Mist still clung to the trees, but now they could see any target approaching the mansion from over one hundred feet away.
Steve stood at the gate waiting for Heather. She had radioed earlier that she was at the place where the fire road intersected the highway. Brain had been monitoring the CB and relayed to Steve that she was going to wait and see if the dead kept moving north.
This had been a critical question. Would the dead make the ninety-degree turn to head east and join up with the mob on the other side of Jasper, or would they continue on in a straight line and by-pass them completely?
His question was answered a few minutes later when he saw Heather’s truck speeding down the lane. She slid to a stop next to him in a cloud of dust as she rolled down her window.
“Get ready,” she said urgently. “They’ve turned east and they’re coming this way.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Washington DC:
General Eastridge looked at the communication slip in his hand as he asked the Captain standing before him, “Why wasn’t this delivered to me yesterday?”
“I didn’t deem it as urgent, sir,” he answered.
Standing up and leaning over his desk, Eastridge said in a low voice, “So, what I hear you saying is that you know better than me. I was the one who asked the NSA to search for certain keywords like immune and
requested that any communication containing this word be brought to me immediately. Yet you decided that you would disobey my orders. Is this correct, Captain?”
“I didn’t know you were the one who requested the search, sir,” he said quietly.
“It shouldn’t matter who the fuck requested it,” Eastridge exploded. “If we’re taking the time to use our limited resources with the NSA, then you can take it to the bank that it’s important.”
Wisely, the Captain remained silent.
Settling himself in his chair, the General asked in a soft voice, “Which do you prefer, the cold or the heat?”
Thinking that the worst was over, the Captain smiled and said in an upbeat voice, “I prefer a cooler temperature, sir.”
“Good, then you’ll like it in Minneapolis on Dead Duty,” Eastridge told him. “You’re dismissed, Captain.”
After the man slinked out the door, the Commandant picked up his phone and told his aide to put in a satellite call to the communications center in Fort Polk and patch it through to his office. It took twenty minutes for it to go through, in which time the General filled out the Captain’s transfer orders.
Picking up the phone when his aide told him they were connected, Eastridge asked, “Who am I speaking with?”
“This is Lieutenant Dwight, sir,” came the reply. “Your aide explained the reason for the call and I already have the information you’re requesting. I’m sorry to report that the radio transmitting the call dropped off line about thirty minutes ago. It wasn’t abrupt, like they’d been overrun, and the operator even signed off after saying that they were changing their location, sir.”
“Can you triangulate their position?” Eastridge asked.
“We’ve already done it, sir,” Dwight told him. “We put them roughly ten to fifteen miles to the west of Jasper, Texas. In a previous conversation we monitored that they had with another group of survivors, they stated that their position was further to the south, but we surmise that they said this so they wouldn’t give away their exact location to any marauders in the area.”