by Jamie Davis
“What about any of the infected? Do you remember if there are many around this area.”
“We were attacked on our way out about two days travel from the gate. We were able to break contact and didn’t run into any other trouble all the way to the Gateway. But based on what we saw, the groups of infected tended to move around a lot. We shouldn’t let our guard down.”
“Wasn’t planning on it. It’s just always helpful to know what we might run into. I don’t want to head into a village populated by nothing but zombies. That would be better for us to skirt around and avoid entirely.”
“From what we could tell the infected tend to move about in a herd-like fashion. They seem to follow others to sources of food.”
Kurt offered a grim smile. The reference to food was a veiled reference to all of them. That just meant that the infected traveled around in a continuous search for human prey. It didn’t make him feel any better to gain any understanding of the predatory habits of a zombie horde.
“Well, let’s pack up what we’ve harvested and take a quick break. Then we can get back on the trail. If we can reach that village before nightfall, and it’s deserted, we can find a place to fort up there to get some sleep. I’d rather stay in a building I can close up and barricade there than camp out in the open with the possibility an attack from any direction in the night.”
“According to everything I’ve heard,” Brent said. “There are enough small settlements and villages between here and our destination to allow us to find a safe location each night if we’re lucky.”
“You’ve been here before, I presume?” Kurt asked.
“No,” Brent said, shaking his head. “But I interviewed some of the survivors before they turned and read the detailed notes from the early expeditionary teams that surveyed and laid out the homesteads and villages. Based on everything the survey teams have said, the various settlements are close enough to each other to travel between most of them in a day.”
“We’ll have to count on that, then,” Kurt replied. “It’s going to be dicey at some point. I can’t imagine we’re going to travel for two weeks through this type of landscape without running into some of the infected. We just have to remember to keep our eyes open.”
Kurt turned away and walked over to where Marci sat out front of the cabin by the well pump. She was eating a power bar and watching the wood line with her rifle laid across her lap.
He looked down at her as he walked up. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m just wondering why this type of place isn’t more developed. Even given the small size of the gateway, you’d think that more people would want to stay in a place like this, at least before they found out about the infection. It seems pretty sparsely settled to me.”
“Yeah,” Kurt said. “A lot of these company worlds are pretty heavily regulated by their charters. The companies own the rights to the use of the land but they need settlers to work it, so they make arrangements to allow certain numbers of homesteaders to populate an area in exchange for a certain percentage of their output and discovered resources. It’s usually a mutually beneficial situation, at least until you run into something like this.”
“I just have to wonder what Brent and Helen are hoping to achieve here. We are going to deliver the antidote that Doctor Nboto is carrying in her pack. Once we get it to this lab, the settlers will be able to reclaim their land again. What do the company guys get out of this deal? To me, it seems as if they stand to benefit if some plague kills off the entire population.”
“You shouldn’t be so distrustful, Marci. Not everybody is as mercenary as you are. You’re starting to sound like Jonesey with all her government conspiracy theories.”
“Gee, thanks,” Marci said. “You think I’m that bad?” Marci glanced up at him with a half smile on her face. Kurt smiled back. “You’re not bad at all, Marci, not bad at all. Come on, let’s get everybody on their feet and moving again so we can get back on the trail.”
“Right. On it, boss.” Marci jumped up and headed back to where the others sat. Kurt followed behind her. All things said she was an excellent partner and a good person to have at your back in a dicey situation.
He didn’t want to acknowledge her concerns regarding the company and a potential ulterior motive in this situation. He’d had similar thoughts of his own, but decided that given the ultimate pay-out from this mission, it was worth dealing with some unknowns. He hoped that wasn’t a mistake.
“Let’s head to the west, people. I’ve had a quick look around and I think there’s a trail leading from this homestead we can follow in that general direction. It’ll probably lead to a larger road that should take us to the village you mentioned, Dr. Nboto.”
“Aren’t you worried about traveling an open path, like that?” Helen asked.
Kerr shook his head. “I don’t think the zombies travel by road specifically. It sounds like they just sort of wonder about in groups, looking for food. Let’s use the road and keep our eyes open. It seems like it’s the best way to find the nearest village and a place to camp for the night.”
“You’re the boss,” Helen said. She took up her position at the back of the line and Kurt led them away from the farm down the narrow track leading westward. He figured one trail was as good as another in their situation. He knew they weren’t going to avoid contact with infected forever.
No one could be that lucky.
Chapter 9
The only warning of the first attack came with the sound of a grunt of sorts in the brush off to the left. Kurt swung his weapon around just as the first of the infected broke from the tree line beside the trail. He was about to fire but Marci beat him to it.
He instantly shifted to another target right behind the lead zombie Marci took down with the snap shot to the head. The burst of flechette rounds exploded the back of his head like a ripe melon.
Kurt took the woman shambling out of the woods behind him in the chest with a burst of his own rifle. He winced inside as he watched her chest burst open under the pounding from the spray of tiny darts spewed out of his rifle.
She collapsed to the ground though she continued to crawl for a few seconds in their direction before becoming still.
Kurt saw other forms moving in their direction from the shadows of the woods beyond. “Let’s get moving. Keep going down the path. We need to get out of here.”
He snapped off another burst, taking down two more zombies running at the team. Dr. Nboto ran past Kurt, followed by Brent. Kurt turned and raced after her. She was ultimately the client with the antidote and needed to be protected at all costs. Marci and Helen fired a few more shots into the woods before they turned and raced after him.
The infected were much faster in person than Kurt anticipated, even after watching the videos Dr. Nboto showed him. The group of zombies behind them was pretty large and though they took out at least ten of them, the rest of the group burst from the woods onto the trail, running behind them. There had to be at least twenty of them.
“We’ve got to try to break contact,” Kurt yelled as he ran. He looked over at Dr. Nboto. She struggled to keep up the pace, running beside him. You couldn’t blame her. She was hugely pregnant and wasn’t going to be able to run this fast for long.
“Helen and I can hold them for a while when we reach the bend in the path up ahead,” Brent said, pointing at a place where the path wove between a pair of rocky hillsides. “You and Marci take the Doc and run on ahead. Try to put some distance between you and the pursuit. We’ll catch up.”
Kurt didn’t like separating the group, but they needed to do something to break away from this mob of the infected before more were drawn to the sound of the running fight. The flechette guns he and Marci carried were pretty quiet. The conventional assault rifles carried by Brent and Helen were much louder even with suppressors on the barrels.
“All right, but don’t put yourself at unnecessary risk. If it gets dicey, get out of there. We’ll move on and find a place we can defend and
fight them off.”
“Just go,” Helen said. “Brent’s right. We can take care of it. She turned and fired behind them taking out two more of the infected pursuers.
“All right,” Kurt said. “Marci, help the Doc keep moving. I’ll watch for any who break through Brent and Helen’s line.”
“Where do we go?” Marci asked.
“Just stay on the path. This should take us to the village. That’s going to be our best chance to find a place to barricade ourselves in a defensible location.”
Marci took Doctor Nboto by the arm as they continued to jog up the road. Kurt turned when he reached the bend in the path between the rocks and fired a couple of shots, dropping two more zombies. He waved at Brent and Helen. They crouched next to the path and started firing long steady bursts into the infected behind them. Brent was showing good fire discipline for a desk jockey.
Kurt fired one more burst and took off after Marci. He heard the fire from the assault rifles behind them. He hoped they managed to get away clean. That was one of the reasons he wanted to stay on the path to the village. There would be no way for the other two to catch up and find them otherwise.
Kurt, Marci, and the doctor continued moving at a steady jog until they could no longer hear the gunfire behind them. A glance over his shoulder confirmed there were no signs of any zombies coming up the path. Hopefully, that meant Brent and Helen had finished off the remainder of them.
“Let’s slow down for a bit,” he said. “I think it’s safe for now.” Kurt didn’t think Dr. Nboto could go much further at that pace anyway. Her ragged breathing and the flushed, ashen tone to her dark complexion warned him she was running on her last bits of stamina. “Doc, let’s take a quick rest. We can catch our breath before we keep going.”
She shook her head. “I can keep up. I have to keep up.”
“Nonsense,” Marci said. “We’re stopping. Sit down over here on this log and rest for a second while we get our bearings. We can wait and see if Brent and Helen catch up with us.”
The Doc didn’t look happy, but she did sit down, twisting to use one hand to help lower herself down to the improvised seat. Kurt scanned the woods around them and up and down the path.
He strained his ears to try and pick up any sound of gunfire that might indicate Brent and Helen were coming their way. It was likely they could finish off the remaining 10 to 15 zombies on their own, but they were going to have to be careful about not letting them get too close.
“We’ll wait five minutes, then we’ll pick up and move on towards the village.”
“What about the others?” Dr. Nboto asked.
“They know where we’re heading. They’ll catch up with us soon enough.”
Kurt continued pacing around the small clearing in the path, scanning for any more attacks. After five minutes, he gestured for Marci to watch their rear while helping the doctor to her feet.
“I’m going to slow you all down,” she said as she stood up.
“Don’t worry, Doc, we all needed a break. You just gave us an excuse to take one.“
“What about Brent and Helen?” She asked.
Kurt shrugged. “They should be along soon. We’re going to keep going. We’ll get to the village and find a good place to fort up and spend the night. They’ll catch up. Don’t worry.”
Doctor Nboto nodded and started down the pathway at a brisk walk. Kurt walked beside her watching to the front while Marci kept an eye on the rear and both flanks as she moved down the path behind them.
There were still no signs of Brent or Helen and he wondered why they hadn’t caught up yet. Their absence worried him, but he kept it to himself.
They walked for another hour before the path reached a narrow dirt road leading into a valley. A cluster of houses visible through the trees in the valley below told him they’d almost reached the village.
A small river ran through the valley beside the village and Kurt thought that would help keep any infected away from that side of the small community. The sturdy concrete and wood homes were intact and would be easy to defend. He saw no sign of movement which was good though he’d do a thorough search before he’d be sure. Deserted villages were a good thing in a zombie-filled landscape like this.
The three of them moved down the road, walking towards the village. The road was packed dirt and had distinct wagon wheel ruts worn into it. Given the narrow size of the gateway, the villagers and other settlers here would likely have had to construct any large vehicles here on this side with the resources at hand. That would explain the few wooden wagons he spotted scattered around the village. He’d seen no horses, but they were either killed by the infected or had run off on their own.
It took them forty-five minutes to reach the center of the valley and the village. The sun was just dipping towards the western horizon as they walked between the small homes that made up the rural community.
When they reached the center of the small town, Kurt turned and scanned the woods on the hillside where the road came down into the valley.
“They’ll catch up with us, K.C.,” Marci said. “They’re probably just making sure the back trail is clear. That’s what I would do.”
“I hope so,” Kurt replied. I don’t want to have to write a report about how we lost our client’s representatives on the first day of the mission.”
Marci laughed. “Paperwork excuse. Good one,” Marci said, giving him a thumbs-up.
Kurt ignored her. “Come on. Let’s check these houses. I want to find one that doesn’t have too many ground floor windows but has a front and back door in case we need to get out in a hurry.”
“I think I spotted what looked like a stable down that way,” Marci said. She pointed to the far side of the village. “I haven’t spotted any horses or anything, but I suspect the settlers used them to get away when the infection broke out.”
Dr. Nboto shook her head. “Most of the livestock have been consumed either by the infected or by the surviving residents. There were none left in this area when I was here and that was almost a year ago.”
Marci nodded and headed over to where she’d seen the stable. Dr. Nboto and Kurt followed behind her.
She’d been right. The stable was just there behind what looked like some kind of a dry goods store. The stable was built of solid wooden construction with a large double door to the front and another single door to the rear. There were no windows around the sides, though there was an opening in a loft up above that would give them a place to have a vantage point to look out over the town.
“Good eye, Marci,” Kurt said. “This is perfect.”
“I aim to please. Let’s go and see if we can arrange a place to rest inside. I think our doctor needs to take a load off.”
“I’m fine, I tell you,” the doctor said.
“Fine, then I’ll make a place for me to take a load off,” Marci said. “Either way, we’re going to rest a little.”
While the women went into the stable, Kurt climbed up a ladder just inside the door to the loft. The loft ran the length of the stable and there was an opening at either end of the building. By walking back-and-forth up above the first floor, Kurt was able to look out both ends and scout the area. There was no sign of Brent and Helen.
He continued to walk back-and-forth, spending a few minutes at each end scanning the horizon and the town until it got fully dark. As the sun went down, Marci lit an oil lamp down on the first floor and it cast a warm golden circle of light at one end of the line of stalls.
“Marci, I think we should make camp up here in the hayloft. There’s plenty of hay to use for bedding and we can hang the oil lamp here for light. That’ll serve two purposes. We’ll have some light while we eat and it will serve as a beacon to Brent and Helen to guide them to this location. Hopefully, the zombies aren’t smart enough to follow it, too.”
“Sounds like a plan, K.C.,” Marci replied. “Doc, can you make it up the ladder alright?”
“I can manage just fine, thank
you. I’m pregnant. I’m not an invalid.”
Marci shrugged and started gathering up their packs and gear to hand up to Kurt after the doctor made her way up to the loft.
The two of them split up guard duty that night so the doctor could get some rest. Kurt took the first session hoping that Brent and Helen would show up soon.
As soon as they showed up, he wanted to hear what had been taking them so long. It reached midnight according to his wrist comp and Kurt woke Marci to take her turn and went to lie down.
He didn’t want to sleep but he knew from a long experience it was important to stay rested whenever you had an opportunity to do so.
Chapter 10
It was just before dawn when Marci woke him. “Hey, K.C., wake up. I spotted some movement on the other side of town. I can’t tell if it’s Brent, Helen, or maybe one of the infected.“
“OK, I’m up. Let the doctor rest. You and I can figure out who it is before we wake her.”
Kurt walked to the end of the stable loft.
Marci pointed towards the far end of the village. He saw a figure cross between two buildings down that way. It was still dark out and in the midst of the grey twilight just before the sun rises. Kurt couldn’t make out who it was.
“Just one?”
Marci nodded.
“Let’s wait here. We’ve got the downstairs doors barricaded and I don’t want to open them until we’re ready to leave or to let somebody in. If it’s one of the infected, there may be others around and I’d rather not give them a way into this building. Remember they run in packs.”
“I can’t argue with that. I’ll go and look out the other side just to make sure no one’s coming up behind us.”
As Marci moved away to check the opposite side of the stable, Kurt scanned the area where he’d just spotted the single figure move between buildings. The sun rose and he found himself wishing it would hurry up. He was nervous about all the parts of the village he couldn’t see because of the shadows and structures blocking the way. He spotted movement again but it was out of the corner of his eye and there was nothing there when he turned to check the area.