Dead in the Valley

by C M Rutherford

  “We will move all of the elderly, infirm, and children to the bunker at the first alert of trouble. Jerry, can you run some mock drills during the next few days to ensure everyone knows where they need to go in case of an attack?” Wade asked.

  “Sure. I will start informing everyone today,” Jerry assured Wade.

  “Kelly, if you can get a list of everyone willing and able to fight, Derek and I will work out assignments for them to ensure we have all the bases covered,” Wade said.

  Most of the populace of the farm had already expressed their desire to help defend what was now their home.

  Wade decided it would be a good idea to move all the weapons above ground to a central location. The people manning post on the container wall would always be armed, but they needed to be able to get weapons to those working around the camp if the need arose. Pete volunteered to get a work group together and choose a location where they could arm all the people residing on the farm as quickly as possible. Pete also suggested to assign a group of people to be ammo resupply for the different areas. Folks not comfortable shooting or not proficient could be assigned to provide ammo to the groups fighting as needed.

  Wade shook his head. There were so many things to consider. He felt they had addressed most of the potential events that may arise, but there was no way to be sure. Something out of left field could come at them and they would be forced to improvise. There was just no way to predict what a group of psychos like the Lords and Masters would try in order to subjugate the remaining survivors.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  First Contact

  Living with the threat of impending doom at any possible moment can leave you in a horrible state of mind. Even though we had formed a council and the decisions were no longer on my shoulders alone, I would ultimately hold myself responsible. Was there something I missed? Did I argue my case vehemently enough? Every decision we made would have consequences for the people trying to survive this nightmare. People whom I spoke to daily, shared meals with, laughed with, and loved would possibly live or die based on decisions we made.

  There was no doubt we were going to be in a fight soon. It was a real possibility that some of the people now living on the farm would not make it through that conflict. I wished there was some way to guarantee their safety, but there were no guarantees in life, not before the apocalypse and certainly not after. Our only choice was to make decisions on the information we had. Plan for as many scenarios as we could and pray we made the right choices to ensure as many as possible survived. I would give my life to protect those I love. I knew that the bulk of the people living at the farm felt the same.

  The die had been cast. We had prepared for every eventuality we could bring to mind. Now we could only wait for the outcome. I prayed we were ready. I prayed that most of the souls residing on the farm would still be here when the fight was decided. I even prayed for a miracle.

  Wade Marshall

  ◆◆◆

  The next morning, Derek had his lookout teams set up and sent them to their destinations. They would remain away from the camp and on lookout until the inevitable happened. They had all the major routes out of Winchester covered and were set up to get advanced warning even if the attack came from one of the lesser used routes. Ultimately, to assault the farm, the attackers would need to come from either south or north. If they chose to attack from the north side, they would have to cross the Shenandoah River somewhere to get to the property.

  Everyone worked tirelessly burying the propane grill tanks all over the frontal approach of the property. They also decided to place some of the tanks along the wooded southern approach just past the tree barrier that had been created. If the attackers cleared the tree barrier in large numbers, they would have the propane trap to fall back on as a last resort. There was a run of about seventy-five yards from the southern forest side of the property to the container wall at the closest point. About twenty-five yards from the container wall, they built cover positions using logs, old scrap lumber, barrels, haybales, and anything else they had on hand. They would have fifty yards of unimpeded firing on anyone leaving the cover of the forest.

  Wade had doubled the guards around the clock to ensure adequate coverage for the entire property. Derek had also suggested setting up a trap with some of the propane canisters on Route 7 about a mile from the property. This was the group’s second-best vantage point for any incoming attack. From the overlook, they would have miles of warning before anyone approached the trap. The best overwatch position was a place on Paris Mountain that had been utilized by J.E.B. Stuart during the Civil War as a lookout post while meeting General Robert E. Lee prior to the Battle of Gettysburg. It afforded a commanding view of the valley for miles and was in a perfect location to watch over Ben's entire property. They had sight lines in every direction.

  Wade was happy to see the first group of guardsmen arrive at the farm from the Winchester National Guard post. Fifty men trained to fight would make a huge difference in the coming battle. They were due to receive more within the next day or two. Surprisingly, a detachment of twenty-five guardsmen arrived from the Air Guard in Martinsburg, West Virginia as well. Wade was unsure how many assailants they would be facing from the Lords and Masters, but having seventy-five more men who were trained to fight would be a huge safety net for the civilian inhabitants.

  Wade directed the soldiers to report to Derek so he could give them their perimeter stations. Everyone was working as hard as possible to improve the defense for Mountain Home, but Wade still felt pulled in a hundred directions. He wanted to double and triple check everything. Every improvement they made could mean the difference in the fight to come.

  "Front gate to Wade. Front gate to Wade," the walkie on Wade’s belt blared.

  "Go for Wade front gate," he replied.

  "Wade, we have a large group of survivors who are looking for shelter. Should we let them come ahead?"

  "Hold them there. I am on my way down now," Wade replied.

  Wade jumped into the Rover and went out to Route 7 to meet the new arrivals. There were forty-two people looking for somewhere safe from the dead. Wade asked to speak with the leader of the group and a man stepped forwards.

  "I don't know about being leader, but I've kind of been keeping us moving while we looked for a place safe enough to stop. My name is Alonzo Mcdougale. My wife Beverly and our kids, Anna, Amber, Michael, Alexandra, and Asilyn are in the car. The rest of the folks we ran into as we moved around," the man said, extending his hand.

  "I’m Wade Marshall. This is my Uncle Ben's farm. We have collected a fair-sized group here and fortified the area as best we can. Most folks have taken to calling it Mountain Home Settlement. We are happy to take in survivors, but I have to give you fair warning. There is a group of armed men who could be here anytime now. We are in full scale preparation for a coming attack. Unless someone in the settlement knows you, I can't just welcome you in as we normally would. Your group will have to surrender your weapons and will be confined to a bunk house until this is over. We have had one of this gang’s people come in under the guise of a survivor and we lost people because of her. I won't make that mistake again," Wade explained.

  "A person feels mighty naked without a weapon these days," the man replied.

  "I understand. The best I can tell you is you will have a place to sleep, food, and medical attention. Everyone coming in must be checked for bites or signs of the infection. We will do our best to protect you, but I just can't take a chance in case you are working with the group that is coming. It's nothing personal, but anyone I don't know could be a potential enemy. I won't force you to stay, but I won't put my people at risk, either. I hope you can understand the situation," Wade said.

  Wade led the new group to the bunk house they would be staying in as Doctor Haynes and Jerry's wife Kim met them to do medical examinations. Derek assigned a couple of the soldiers who arrived from the air guard to stand watch at the barracks. Wade assured the newc
omers they were in good hands and left to resume his seemingly never-ending to-do list. The dark clouds looming overhead promised that much of what still needed done would be completed in the rain.

  ◆◆◆

  Dante had his men working around the clock to prepare for the assault on the survivor’s camp. The Lords and Masters would be attacking with just over three hundred men along with the ever-growing army of the dead. The downtown area of Winchester had been considerably thinned of walking corpses. Keeping the dead gathered in one area had been a challenging and arduous task. Finally, the time had come to set things in motion.

  Dante, along with his most trusted lieutenants, Guillermo, Flip, and Gloria, had worked out a plan of attack. While the horde of undead would be directed at the front of the camp, three other groups would attack from different directions. Dante knew the other approaches would be difficult, but if they could find one weakness, they would be able to unravel the whole defense of the camp. Two groups had already been dispatched almost a week ago. They were to set up camp and wait until the arranged time to move into position.

  There was a possibility that they would have eyes on them. If they were watching, they knew how to stay hidden. He could only hope the teams would be able to avoid any surveillance. There was no doubt in his mind that as soon as they spurred their undead army into action that word would reach the camp well ahead of their attack. Dante was confident that such a large group of the dead would provide plenty of distraction for the living element of his attacking forces.

  The pieces were set upon the board. Tomorrow would determine the outcome for good or bad. They were locked on their course. Dante gave the final instructions to his group. The average walking speed was around three miles per hour. Some of the dead would be slower than that by far. There would be further delays keeping the herd on track. The best estimate was six to eight hours to get the undead army to the survivors’ camp.

  With preparations complete, Dante ordered the group to move out. They would gather in front of the undead and do their best Pied Piper impersonation to move the horde along. If everything went as planned, they would be able to set the undead against the settlement just before dawn. Dante stepped out of the jail into the steady drizzle of the evening.

  ◆◆◆

  Jessie swept the binoculars across the Route 7 and Interstate 81 interchange for what felt like the thousandth time in the past four hours. They were about a mile out of the city limits using a cell tower that afforded them an optimal view of several possible routes from town. Keeping watch while hanging from the side of the cell tower was not the most comfortable position, so the team had decided on four-hour increments. Jessie had been on watch for just over three hours.

  A glint in the distance grabbed Jessie's attention. He focused the binoculars in that direction and saw a string of vehicles moving at a snail’s pace directly out of Winchester on Route 7. Jessie shouted down to the group below and Taco began scaling the cell tower faster than Jessie would have believed possible. The man looked like a giant spider monkey the way his hands and feet found holds on the structure’s surface. Taco came even with Jessie and held his hand out for the binoculars.

  “Holy shit!” Taco exclaimed.

  “What do you see? Jessie asked.

  “They are leading a whole rotter army. There must be several thousand of them. I can’t even see the end of the line. We have to go ... right now," Taco said as he began the descent to the ground.

  Jessie, following suit, began climbing with all possible haste. As soon as Taco hit the ground, he began calling the other lookout post. Taco let the other lookout posts know that the Lords and Masters were on the move and they were leading a massive horde of the undead out of Winchester. Bull replied and instructed the group to move to their secondary observation point. They needed to keep eyes on the group the entire way to the farm.

  ◆◆◆

  Wade gathered the council and informed them that the attack was mere hours away. The children would be moved to the bunker along with the elderly. The teenagers would be in the control room of the bunker as the last line of defense should the outer fortifications fall. Wade couldn't believe that after a month and a half since the outbreak, they were facing annihilation not from the dead but the living.

  The rainfall had increased from a steady drizzle to a full-fledged downpour. The air was thick and damp, which would serve well for the propane traps. The only problem was the downpour would lessen the blast effects of the propane. The gas would be dispersed by the steady rainfall. Wade crossed his fingers that the rain would subside before they needed to set their plan in motion.

  Derek had set three of the lookout teams to a leapfrogging system to keep the approaching horde under constant surveillance. A fourth team was trailing behind as well. As yet, there had been no movement on any of the other likely routes out of Winchester. Derek instructed the teams to stay in place just to be safe.

  The massive army was moving slowly. The Lords and Masters had their hands full keeping the dead moving in one direction. Any sounds or movements off the current path drew the attention of those in the back of the group. The host had been first spotted at 4 p.m. It was six now and they had only covered about three of the thirteen-mile trip to the farm.

  The average person's walking speed was around three miles an hour, but the massive group of undead were moving at half of that speed. Derek realized the gang had left to time their attack before sunrise, which was just after 7 a.m. It was a smart move, but Derek knew they had cut the timing too close. If things worked the way he hoped, they would have a major delay in reaching the farm.

  ◆◆◆

  The team trailing the horde stayed well back out of sight. It was just after 4 a.m. and the dead were only about four miles from the farm. The road they traveled was littered with a film made up of rotting flesh, body fluids, and bits of clothing falling from the dead as they made their plodding advance towards Mountain Home. The stench left in the wake of the dead army was horrific. Just a few more miles and they would be able to take action against the gang and their undead force.

  The lookout team above the trap was comprised of Bull, Calf, and four other soldiers from the Winchester National Guard unit. They would wait for the road level teams in the woods opposite their position to take action against the advancing hostiles. Once they had engaged, Bull's team would rain hell down on the masses with the grenade launcher.

  The blockade they had set up across the entirety of Route 7 were cars loaded with propane canisters. They had rows of fifty-five-gallon drums set up near the cars. Each of the barrels contained a few gallons of gasoline and were filled with all manner of nails, screws, and bolts. They had punctured the barrels on the top facing sides and soaked them with gasoline. Bull would send an incendiary grenade into the barrels which would then light off a vicious set of explosions. The hope was the flying shrapnel would wreak havoc on the living forces and hopefully take away the mobility of a good number of the dead.

  The gang would have to send someone to move the obstacle. The dozen men hiding in the woods across from Bull's position on the southern side of Route 7 would take out as many of the men as they could and disable the gang’s transportation. The ground team had dirt bikes and ATVs deeper in the forest north of their position. They would disengage and work their way back to the farm using the hunting trails. Bull would then be able to use the grenade launcher from above and do as much damage as possible to the horde from his elevated position.

  The trailing team would attack from the rear once the action started. They could hopefully distract the dead and draw them in different directions. The more noise and confusion they could create, the better. Thankfully the rain had all but stopped. A few more miles and they would be at the point of no return. Once the trap on Route 7 went off, the farm would go to high alert.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Trapped

  I couldn't be prouder of all the people of Mountain Home. They have banded toget
her and worked day and night to prepare for the impending attack. The rain has finally stopped, which bodes well for our propane trap. The air is damp and heavy, so the propane should stick low to the ground. With no rain to filter the gas out of the air, it will be all the better.

  We have prepared to the best of our abilities and resources. We’ve tried to consider every possible tactic our enemy might utilize. Now all we can do is fight as hard with everything we have to ensure our home is protected.

  It still amazes me that after nearly seventy days of surviving the dead, we’ve found ourselves pitted against other living survivors. Common sense dictates those left alive should unite to defeat the dead. Unhappily, there are many people who only consider their needs and care nothing for anyone else.

  I pray we can get through this fight with as little loss of life as possible. Every life is precious, even more so now that the dead have the living so vastly outnumbered.