by Brown, TW
Jamie stopped talking and once more scanned the crowd. She did see a few heads shaking, but most people still appeared to be a bit overwhelmed. She would have to thank Bo later for the advice about showing them the zombie and demonstrating their inhumanity.
“I want to put it to you all. After all, we are still citizens of Liberty, South Carolina. I believe that we can maintain a democracy where all of you are part of the process. So, let’s see if we can do this with a show of hands. If you agree to seal our town from outsiders, please raise your hands.”
It was a slow process, and the people were not nearly as unified about this as they had been during the vote for a verdict of the four bikers. When she asked for a vote of those opposed, she felt her heart sink. It was simply too close to call. She could not make this decision without having the majority of support from the people.
“Okay. I can see that we will need to have a more formal vote.”
Now it was her turn to be thankful to Stephen. He had warned her that the people still might not be able to let go of the old ways. It was simply not a normal thing to be okay with excluding people who may be in need of help.
“We have tables set up in front of the high school. When you sign your name to the census, please take one of the cards on the table and cast your vote for or against. There will be large boxes by the entrance to the school for you to drop your ballot. We will ask for people from both sides to help with the counting. I hope to announce the results in the next few days.” She scanned the crowd and pointed to a group of three that she recalled having voted against the proposal. “I would like for you three…and…” she scanned the crowd and pointed out three who she remembered voting in favor, “…the three of you to please come up here.”
Once the six were on the stage, she continued after nodding for Stephen and Bo to remove and dispose of the zombie. “These people will be counting the ballots. I will be pairing them up according to how they voted so that a person for and one against will count together and verify the vote. As I said, I want this to be as transparent as possible. We need to be a community that stands together, and the only way that will happen is if we work hand-in-hand and side-by-side for the same common goal. Survival.”
The town meeting was ended and people began to file out and head to the tables where they would fill out the town’s roster and cast their vote. There was a subdued sobriety that she could almost feel as a physical presence. This was the last step away from the world they all knew just a short while ago. She was still struggling with this new reality after days of being up to her neck in it. She did not envy those last holdouts who had tried to ignore and wish away the situation.
As the last few people trickled out, Jamie turned to Bo. “Well, do you think the vote will go our way?”
The man considered her for a moment and then stepped close after looking around to see if anybody might be listening. “We have a few people in the crowd preaching the word for your side.”
Jamie opened her mouth to protest. She had just said that she would make sure that there was transparency. She was of the mind that people in the upper levels of government had sat on something very important and allowed the zombie apocalypse to come on in full swing. Still, she was only trying to give the people the best chance at survival. She could not undo what had been done, but she was responsible for seeing that the people of Liberty had a shot at making a life for themselves in this post-apocalyptic world. If that meant swaying people’s opinions, well, that wasn’t actually dishonest. It wasn’t like she was manipulating the vote.
“Keep me posted on how things appear to be going,” Jamie said.
She headed down and took her place in line to sign the census and cast her vote. She wanted to make sure that she was seen as being on the same level as everybody else. No special treatment…no head of the line privileges.
***
It had been close. Bo moved down along the wall of cars and trucks inspecting for any areas that might allow the undead to slip through as he considered the past few weeks.
The vote had passed by a very narrow margin. Less than forty votes separated the two sides. Since then, they had turned away five groups and a few dozen singles and couples that had arrived. It was funny, but now that there had been a vote and this was an issue, they were suddenly seeing an influx of survivors.
There had been more in the past two days than in all the days combined. They were coming from every direction. The last group that arrived had come all the way from Columbia. They said that the capital was demolished and that fighting had broken out in the streets between rival gangs, police, and people just taking advantage of the chaos. Over half the city was nothing but smoldering ruins and zombies were seen in at least two herds numbering in the tens of thousands just south of the city.
Jamie had been hospitable and polite. She had even allowed them to trade some goods with some of the citizens of Liberty, but when they were told that they could not stay, things got a bit heated. In the end, the sixty or so people walked away when they found themselves facing over a hundred armed members of the Liberty militia.
The Liberty militia, Bo mused.
The day after the vote was finalized Jamie had made him the commander of the newly formed armed forces of Liberty, South Carolina, dubbed the ‘Fighting Tigers’ and currently numbering over three hundred men and women between the ages of fifteen and fifty. It had been a pleasant surprise when the call was put out for volunteers and so many people had stepped forward.
Stephen had been named the new chief of police at the suggestion of Sarah Gilstrap. He had joked privately that he wasn’t very excited about the post considering that it appeared to be cursed. Bo had toasted him and handed him the bottle of Jack that the two men had shared the day they were both sworn into their respective offices.
That was another thing that he had to give Jamie credit for. She was trying to give people ceremonies and things that felt formal and familiar. Maybe it was working because the two teams that had left this morning consisted of over half of their numbers that would be making their first trip outside of the safe zone.
“Commander!” a voice called.
Bo turned to discover a young man shifting from one foot to the other in obvious discomfort. “What is it?”
“I gotta pee really bad, and I still got two hours on watch.” The boy was speaking with his mouth covered by his hands in an effort not to broadcast his predicament to everybody within a hundred yards.
“So go,” Bo replied.
“Where?”
“Son, please tell me that you haven’t lived your whole life without taking a whizz in the outdoors.”
“Well…no…but…” He tilted his head to the left.
Bo turned to see the reason for the young man’s distress. A short distance away, sitting cross-legged on the roof of an old Greyhound bus was a girl with long blond hair. Currently she was scanning the distant trees with her binoculars.
Bo pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers in an attempt to stave off the headache that wanted to bloom behind his eyes. Considering the living quarters and what they faced ahead in the next few months, modesty was going to have to be a thing of the past like so many other hang-ups that people refused to let go of.
“Just find a bush, son,” he snarled as he walked away.
The next several days were more of the same as he turned his group of everyday people into at least moderately competent guards. Twice they were forced to increase their watch personnel after being attacked by raiders. Because of those incidents, the people of Liberty began to take the security posts much more seriously. Even those who were initially against closing the borders to outsiders changed their tune for the most part after one expedition outside the confines of their secured perimeter. They returned with tales of another settlement that had apparently been infiltrated and then attacked from within.
Another pleasant surprise for Bo was that there did not seem to be a lot of talk at all about
his personal life. Those who knew either hadn’t said anything, or people simply decided that they didn’t care. He only wished that Oliver had been alive to see this day. He also regretted the fact that, in all the hustle and hurry to get away from the hospital, he had come away without anything from Oliver’s house.
Now that he was the so-called commander of the Liberty militia, he was allowed to patrol the zone or stand watch. What he wasn’t allowed to do—at least for the time being—was venture outside on the supply or scouting expeditions. Of course, he didn’t really have too much time to be upset. So far, they had located nine settlements or areas that other survivors had secured and declared as their own. Also, they had even opened limited interactions with the women in Easley who now made occasional trips to Liberty to trade goods.
As Bo settled into his routine, he occasionally found himself amused at how the books and movies had portrayed the zombie apocalypse. He could not recall many instances where almost an entire town managed to survive.
As the seasons began to shift from spring to summer, the gardens were showing promise. Several of the supply runs had yielded all sorts of farming equipment. Most of what they found was converted into manual operation as fuel was starting to reach the point where it was no longer useable.
There had been a meeting about getting a solar grid set up, but that was probably going to have to wait until next year as the people who had volunteered to take charge of that operation now had to read up on the process. Stockpiles of wood were already being laid aside for the coming winter as that would likely be the main source of heat for everybody. He had a brief thought about the people in the colder climates. Did zombies freeze?
All in all, Bo felt that just maybe things were going to be okay. The only thing he could not do anything about were those terrible nightmares.
***
Stephen nodded to Bo and the man pulled the lever. There was a loud clap and then the sound of a rope going taut as the body dropped through the trap door. This was the fifth hanging in as many weeks. It was a bad sign that folks were becoming desperate.
This last couple had been turned away just two days earlier. Obviously they had chosen to risk their lives and sneak inside the perimeter in an attempt to steal some supplies.
Also, there was talk of another large band of raiders in the area. If what they had heard was true, this group had wiped out a dozen small groups of survivors. Worse still, they were supposedly packing military hardware and numbered over a hundred.
While they were likely no match for the people of Liberty, they could inflict some serious damage. Bo had already called off any further excursions outside the safe zone by any teams until this potential threat could be either dismissed or eliminated.
The latter option had been the focus of last night’s meeting. He, Sophie, Sarah, Bo, Jamie, and Pastor Johnson now made up the town’s council and had met for almost four hours. They had a map of the area with every known outpost, settlement or camp marked. They also had flagged pins that noted reports of raiders.
“We need to start keeping tabs on a few of those larger zombie herds,” the pastor had insisted.
It had been agreed. The last thing they discussed had been the hanging of the two thieves. That was when the pastor excused himself. He had made it clear that he would not sit in on those discussions. The vote had been unanimous.
“I am not sure that having the bodies taken outside the safe zone and put on display with their crime on a placard around their necks is doing any good,” Sarah spoke up after the vote.
“We keep doing it…at least for now,” Jamie insisted. “Who knows how many folks we would be dealing with otherwise? We are only seeing those that are very desperate. I say we keep it up.”
The meeting had been adjourned, and the next day, the couple had been led to the gallows. The crowds were becoming noticeably smaller now. The spectacle of the public hangings had lost their newness. Stephen wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Were the people simply accepting things as they were? What did this say about their community?
“Sparse crowd,” Bo muttered as he stepped up beside Stephen.
“Yeah, I was noticing that myself.”
“You have your team assembled to get these bodies out to the highway?”
“Yep.”
Stephen gave a wave and motioned Lawrence over. The young man was the captain of an eight person detail that would transport the bodies out to Highway 123. The bodies would be hung from the overpass at the 178 junction with signs declaring them as thieves.
Before long, the bodies had been loaded into a horse-drawn cart. Stephen watched the team leave through the gate and then headed over to the old door and window factory. His wife Terri should just about be done teaching her classes for the day.
As he walked up to the building, he spotted Sophie coming out. Little Megan was holding her hand and talking at a million miles an hour. It made him feel good to see the little girl recovering nicely. She still had moments where she would shut down, and it was a process to learn the things that would trigger her. Already, Sophie had learned never to say that she would be right back. Those words acted like a switch for little Megan. The guess was that those were probably the last words the girl’s mother said before she went to her death at the hands and teeth of the zombies.
“Lawrence is probably going to be a little late for dinner,” Stephen said to Sophie by way of greeting. “We had some difficulties. One of our…umm…” He glanced down at Megan who stared up at him with her big, brown eyes. “Well, let’s just say that there was a lack of cooperation. So Lawrence got a late start with the transport team.
“That’s okay,” Sophie said with a shrug. “I think this one deserves a trip to the playground. She got a perfect score on all her knots today.”
“I tied the square knot five times and Jack kept making a granny knot,” Megan twittered, her smile showing where she had lost a tooth recently.
“Wow, looks like you will be joining one of my teams before long,” Stephen joked.
“I don’t get to go to archery class for two years,” the girl giggled.
“Well you just keep doing well. Time will pass before you know it and I think you would make a great member of the militia…maybe even the commander someday.”
“Oooo, Mama Sophie, can I be a commander?” the little girl squealed, hands clasped under her chin.
“Maybe, but you have to keep doing your homework…and your chores.”
She had added that last bit sort of hastily, and Stephen had to hide a grin when Megan deflated just a bit. It became even more difficult when the youngster turned to him with a quizzical look. He pasted on his most stern expression and gave a single nod. He looked up and saw Sophie mouth the words “thank you” as she took the girl’s hand again and started off in the direction of the playground.
“How goes the day, Commander?” Terri Deese joked as she walked up to her husband and joined him.
“Hopefully not as lousy as yours,” he sighed.
Together, the couple walked hand in hand back towards the high school. The slight bulge in Terri’s middle was just starting to show. Part of him was excited by the possibility; however, a bigger part of him was scared to death. He shoved those fears aside for the moment and told himself that he would take it one day at a time and enjoy every moment with his wife. It was a luxury that many could not partake.
***
Sophie handed Jamie the small piece of plastic. The woman looked at it and then tossed it in the garbage.
“Maybe we should do another?” Jamie almost sobbed as she plopped down in the chair and hid her face in her hands.
“Hon, we could do another dozen. You’re pregnant.”
“Son of a…” She let the sentiment die on her lips as the door opened and Megan walked in with a cup in her hands.
“I brought you some water.” The girl set the cup down and then looked back and forth between the two women. “Did Jamie get a shot?” t
he girl whispered loudly.
That made both women laugh. “No, I didn’t get a shot, sweetie.” Jamie scooped up Megan in her arms and gave the girl a kiss on the cheek before setting her back down.
Together, all three exited the little exam room and walked out into the hallway. The high school was its usual bustle of activity as people went about their daily routine.
“You need to head over to school,” Sophie said to Megan as a group of children walked past in the direction of the factory.
The little girl gave Sophie a hug and took about five steps before spinning around and running up to Jamie and giving her a hug as well before skipping away to join the other children.
Once the girl was gone and Jamie looked around to ensure that there would not be any ears within hearing distance of her whisper, she said, “Let’s keep this quiet for now.”
Sophie understood her friend’s reasons. Granted, it wasn’t her fault that she’d gotten pregnant. She was willing to bet that only a fraction of the people would even put it together that the child had to belong to that biker, Kevin Staley. Sadly, the apocalypse had not put an end to wild rumors and gossip. It would be out there soon enough.
“Doctor-patient confidentiality,” Sophie said, locking her lips with her fingers and tossing away the imaginary key.
The two headed around the school towards what had once been the baseball field. In its place, long rows stretched out, each with signs labeling them: corn, squash, beans, tomatoes. They had about thirty different varieties of fruits and vegetables growing here. Just through some trees were the beginnings of an orchard. Beyond that was the livestock area. Things were starting to shape up nicely. If all went as planned and they had the solar grid in place next year, they might become the zombie apocalypse version of a superpower. There were already plans on the table to set up the next settlement centering on the elementary school and the nearby neighborhoods.
