Zombies! (Book 6): Hold The Line

by Merritt, R. S.

  Too bad for them the operation had gone smoothly. They had to be getting hungry just standing around screaming all day. Krantz let his mind wander to trying to figure out exactly why the living beings below were still actually living. No regular non-infected human could pull off the stuff they did and live. An infected human could be locked in a house with no food for a year and when you opened the door it’d still attack you. The only gesture towards sustenance possibly being the water from the toilet bowl being gone. The infection gave them the ability to go into a kind of stasis that kept them alive indefinitely. If mankind ever came out of this mess and got all scientific again maybe they could learn how to use that part of the infection to put people in stasis for long space journeys.

  Krantz snorted. He’d come out here to clear his head and here he was thinking of infecting people with the Zombie virus to launch them on deep space missions. Talking about a rally bad Zombie movie idea. Although he did vaguely remember there’d been a Halloween movie with Jason running around in a hockey mask on a space station so maybe his idea wasn’t too crazy.

  Krantz put his hands on his face hoping he could cutoff his mental vacillation by pressing on his forehead hard enough. He was obviously trying to avoid thinking about the subject at hand. Considering how fast he was going off on total tangents he forced himself to think next steps.

  First, he needed to get off this building. Keeping him and his team here made the base they were trying to build a much bigger target for the enemy. Second, he needed to get an assessment of where they were at right now. He knew everything there was to possibly know about the units he’d been in charge of in South Carolina, but he had no clue on the other parts of their army. He’d just had the number of men under his command increase sevenfold. Once he had a solid understanding of their current state, he needed to figure out how he was going to handle the invasion of North Carolina.

  He needed access to the spy network Roberts had setup. The problem was Roberts was too dead to provide him with that information. All the people Roberts had trusted with that sort of information had been flying around in the raiders group with him which meant they were all probably dead too. He needed to send some men to wherever the helicopters had been shot down to check for survivors. There was always the chance they could get lucky and find somebody. Hell, maybe they could find Roberts!

  He needed to get all that done in three days. He wanted to be able to communicate to the Senator that everything was moving forward. He fought back the urge to grab a big bottle of something strong and curl up in the bed in his room with the air conditioning maxed out. Instead he’d get back in the Black Hawk and head towards the site where Roberts and his men had been shot down. He could give the orders to set everything else in motion while he was in the air. Having a plan in his head made him feel a lot more confident. He turned and headed back towards the comms room.

  Twenty minutes after he’d decided they should leave the base they were all back on the Black Hawk heading towards the North Carolina border. They were flying low to avoid radar. They hadn’t told anyone where they were going so if there was a traitor, they wouldn’t be able to report on them. Tom was seated in the back with a laptop. Krantz had decided he needed another computer nerd to help him with tracking how many troops they had where and what those troops were currently doing.

  Tom sat in the back of the crew area for the Black Hawk balancing a MacBook on his lap. He was working on laying out the database he thought he’d need to keep track of troop movements. The other clerk who rode around with Krantz had shown Tom how they kept up with the men and supplies in South Carolina, so Tom was using that as a starting point. Trying to track everyone in all the states was going to add some serious complexity though. Tom kept typing while wondering how he’d gone from counting chairs to being in charge of creating the new database for all the forces of the New American military. He worked hard on the database to try and keep his mind off the fact that they were flying a helicopter to the exact place where a bunch of helicopters had been shot down earlier that day.

  Chapter 19: Northern Bound

  “Are those fighter jets?” Kelly asked looking up into the sky where a group of five jets were roaring by. They were flying entirely too close to the ground.

  “Looks like the north might not just be sitting around waiting for the New America to come assimilate them.” Kyler said. He was sitting in the passenger seat now with Doreen asleep in his lap. Having multiple children and gear resting on his wounded leg in the back had not been working for him. As soon as the Zombies were out of sight he’d asked to switch with Caitlyn. They’d pulled over and rearranged the car shoving as much gear as they could into the trunk. They’d fooled around for a couple of minutes trying to figure out how to pull the back seats down to make the trunk part of the back seats, but a distant screech had halted that effort.

  “Are those airplanes?” Zoey asked. She was trying to squirm around to look out the back window. Randy moved his head out of the way so she could see.

  “Yes honey. Those are airplanes. We think they’re the good guys.” Her mom answered. It made her a little sad that her daughter was going to grow up in a world where airplanes and all the rest of civilization was slowly rusting away. Other than the weapons of war it wasn’t like any regular flights were going to be operating again in the near future.

  “Do they have Sponge Bob on them?” Ali asked.

  It was a legitimate question. The last plane they’d all been tied up and dragged onto had indeed featured a couple of flat screens and a nice selection of Sponge Bob DVDS. Kelly wasn’t sure how to explain the difference between that plane they’d been prisoners on and the fighter jets that’d just roared by.

  “Yes, they do. The pilots watch the shows when they’re not busy flying.” Randy answered. He probably thought he’d been pretty clever answering the question that way. Little had he expected the onslaught of other questions that brought on about what cartoons the pilots liked to watch while they flew. While he dealt with that youthful avalanche of aeronautical inquisition Kelly, Caitlyn and Kyler tried to figure out where they were going.

  The consensus was they should be heading north as quickly as possible. The sooner they crossed over into North Carolina the better. Sighting the jets had added a bit of excitement to the journey. Driving through the front lines of an all-out war made the idea of just driving north as fast as they could a bit more complicated. They also discussed if they should veer more towards going east or west as they moved northwards. East won out since Tennessee and Alabama were solid Brotherhood territories. Even though Kyler had heard Alabama was a pretty wild place with no one group really in control.

  They were torn between trying to make their way to an interstate or keeping to the back roads. The interstate would be faster, but it’d also be the most likely route to have lookouts stationed along it. If there was a full-on war brewing it’d be the most dangerous path. Zombies and guys with guns in pickup trucks they had a chance against. Attack helicopters, tanks, jets and missile were things they had no desire to go up against. Once they started thinking along those lines the decision to stick to the back roads was pretty much made for them.

  “It won’t just be us headed for North Carolina either.” Kyle brought up after they’d tossed around a bunch of ideas and decided to keep going north using backroads.

  “What do you mean?” Caitlyn asked.

  “If the north and south are duking it out on the North Carolina border then that’s going to make a lot of noise. That means a ton of Zombies will be headed that way. Plus, we probably aren’t the only refugees trying to get into North Carolina.” Kyler answered. He was worried about them being able to make it through a no man’s land to reach what they were hoping would be a sanctuary. For all they knew the north may be turning back refugees. He didn’t bother bringing that up since there wasn’t much that they could do about it. Plus, he was hoping he could name drop once they got across the line. If Chief Presly or Command
er Hartfield were still around, then they should be good to go. Once the family was safe, he could either catch back up with the roving patrols or head back to the island to debrief.

  That train of thought led him to muse about his future. It wasn’t something he’d put a lot of thought into lately. Mostly he just tried to take one day at a time. If he was alive at the end of the day then he considered it a good day. He assumed he’d be welcomed back into the military up north. Hopefully even bumped up in rank thanks to completing the spy mission. Assuming Commander Hartfield was still in charge anyway. If him and Chief Presly were both dead, then there was a good chance Kyler would be executed for the Brotherhood brand on his back. He’d just have to figure it out as he went. He was going to do his best to get Randy and his family on board the carrier if it hadn’t already steamed out.

  “I miss GPS.” Kelly said. Kyler nodded as he tried to figure out what road they were on. He wanted to take the massive folding map of South Carolina in his lap and fling it out the window . It didn’t show any of the streets they were on out here in the middle of BFE. If they were on an interstate, then they wouldn’t even need the stupid map. Doreen had woken up and was energetically ‘helping’ him figure out where they were at. She’d already managed to stomp on his wounded leg a couple of times so that was fun. He was about ready to fling her out along with the map.

  “I have to pee!” The phrase they heard every fifteen minutes from someone different echoing up from the back seat. The culprit this time was Myriah. She hadn’t had to pee fifteen minutes prior when they’d stopped for Zoey. Sighing Kelly looked for a place to pull over.

  Unlike the annoyance of doing this back in the days of road trips before the apocalypse these pitstops now contained an element of life or death. Kelly laughed at herself for the fear she’d used to have stopping in these places of pedophiles in white vans offering up free candy to kids who’d help find their puppy. Now if you picked the wrong place to pull over you could very easily find yourself in a fight for your life. Out here in the middle of nowhere they should be pretty safe though. The odds being in the neighborhood of a hundred to one of managing to pull over next to where a Zombie happened to be hanging out. A hundred to one still meant there was a chance though.

  Kelly looked at the road ahead. They were driving down a two-lane road surrounded on both sides by encroaching forest. The road itself mostly hidden under a carpet of dead pine needles. There was no need to actually pull over. It wasn’t like they were expecting any cars to come whizzing by while they waited on the kids to finish whizzing. As close as the woods had moved in on the road there wasn’t a shoulder to speak of anymore anyway. Deciding one random spot on the road was as good as any other random spot on the road Kelly went ahead and stopped.

  “Ok. We’ll check this place out then everyone who needs to go needs to take care of it this time. We can’t keep stopping every fifteen minutes unless you want the bad guys to catch up with us.” Kelly said making eye contact in the rearview with Myriah. She sat there waiting for Caitlyn and Randy to lever themselves out of the car and secure the area.

  Randy got out leaving Zoey and Ali in the backseat. He could feel the life coming back into his lap. For such small girls, they sure managed to pin him down. He stretched his legs out by standing on his tip toes and reaching into the sky until he heard his back crack. Then he stood on one side of the car staring into the woods while Caitlyn stood on the other side. They were both busy listening. If they heard anything crashing around in the woods or screeching in the distance, then the whiz break would be called off and they’d drive for another thirty minutes before trying again.

  Checking his watch to make sure he’d stood there for the full three minutes they’d decided on he signaled to Kelly that everything looked ok. The kids got out of the car and grabbed a spot to squat. Even the ones who swore they didn’t have to go were being made to try. Kelly’s little speech about the bad guys chasing them must’ve worked because they all were able to go. They started climbing back in the car once finished. Randy realized he should take advantage of the break to go himself. He walked over near the edge of the road to get away from the car.

  The second he started going he heard something moving around in the woods. Not wanting to try and stop the flow he stared into the woods while he listened for the noise again. He didn’t hear anything else for a few seconds. He’d started to relax when there was suddenly the sound of a number of large creatures bashing their way through the woods towards them. Pulling his fly closed quickly Randy turned and sprinted for the car. Myriah leaned over and flung his door open for him.

  He jumped in and slammed the door shut right as the first couple of deer bounded out of the woods. They bounded across the road disappearing into the woods on the other side. They were followed by about twelve more deer. Kelly and Kyler sat in the front seat watching in awe as the animals were swallowed by the forest on the other side. The whole herd completely disappearing in less than twenty seconds from start to finish. Zoey screamed from the back seat and jumped over onto the other side of the car with a look pf pure disgust on her face.

  “What is it?” Randy asked looking all around wondering what could’ve made her jump out of his lap like that. He was thinking there must be a big spider or a snake or something in the car.

  “I got your pee on me!” Zoey said pointing at him with an accusing finger.

  Ali’s eyes suddenly got huge and she sprang off of him as well. Randy looked down and realized he’d pulled his pants up and jumped back into the car before he was done peeing. He started laughing. He looked up to say he was sorry. Seeing the accusing stares of Zoey and Ali made him completely lose it. He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to breathe he was laughing so hard.

  His laughter was infectious. Pretty soon everyone in the car was cracking up including Zoey. A bemused Kelly shook her head and pressed on the accelerator to get them moving. She was worried about what may have been causing the deer to run and jump across the road like that. Hopefully that was just normal deer behavior, but she didn’t want to stick around and find out. Besides, they had to find a store or a house so Randy could get some new pants because now all four girls were stacked up on the back-passenger side of the car.

  Chapter 20: No Man’s Land

  Battle lines aren’t as clear as they make them look in the movies. There aren’t any real natural features that separate North Carolina and South Carolina. No major river to ford or valley to cross. You can’t stand on a rock outcropping and point across a bunch of water or the tops of trees and say that North Carolina lies over there. At least not in the section they’d be crossing over. It was more like a welcome to North Carolina road sign kind of thing. They were all looking forward to seeing that sign.

  Sticking to the back roads they’d made it to a town called Thicketty. They’d noticed a few more Zombies moving around when they were driving over the last day or two. They’d also seen planes flying past a couple of times. Once they’d even seen a cavalry of evil looking attack helicopters headed north. They were getting close to where the battle was being waged. It still seemed crazy to all of them that in a time where the majority of living humans were blood thirsty cannibals the small percentage of the uninfected left alive managed to find the time and resources to fight one another. It was made even more insane since they were fighting over land that neither had any real use for. It’d be a century before enough people were walking the earth again to be able to make use of all the land. Assuming anyone survived that long.

  They found a house at the end of a long dirt driveway in the middle of nowhere. They dragged themselves out of the cramped Sedan and got setup to clear the manufactured home. It was a decent sized home with big windows sitting in the middle of an overgrown field. There was a rotten looking wooden fence wrapping around the back of it. Off in the distance there was a trailer that’d pretty much been completely taken over by the woods. A set of concrete stairs led from the driveway up to a small screene
d in porch. Randy went up the stairs followed by Kelly. Kyler and Caitlyn covered them from the bottom of the stairs. Kyler was still limping, but he was the best shot out of all of them. Myriah was in the car sitting behind the steering wheel ready to get the littles out of there if it hit the fan.

  Randy rapped on the aluminum door leading into the main part of the house with the butt of his rifle then stepped back to listen. No noise from the inside indicating the house should be empty. He waited the requisite sixty seconds then knocked on the door a few more times just to be on the safe side. When nothing happened that time either he reached over and tried turning the doorknob. The door opened easily. A nice thing he’d noticed about the people who had lived out in the country is they hadn’t seemed to be as paranoid about security. Any house you tried to get into in the suburbs was always locked up tight.

  It was about an hour before dawn, so it was still pretty dark outside. Kelly shined a flashlight in behind him as Randy pushed the door in and swept to the left. Kelly went in and to the right followed by Caitlyn and Kyler both covering Caitlyn’s parents. They moved quickly through the home making sure it was Zombie free. The house itself was immaculate. Everything in its place looking like all that was needed was some electricity and they’d be back to the good old days in no time.