The Clock Runs Down: Half Past the Apocalypse

by Joe Kelly

  “I’ll get on the fuel tanks” Steve said, “see if we can siphon from them”

  “Try the pumps first see if there’s a manual pump inside the case. Those things look old enough that there’s no fancy control system” Jared suggested. “and check that above ground tank across the way, its probably empty but if not, we can try scrounging up gas cans.”

  “No problems. I'll give it a shot” Steve replied.

  “Rob, you and Jill come with me, the rest of you. Keep a damn good look out. We’ve made it this far no sense in getting killed at this late of a date and if any locals show up don’t shoot unless you have too. Jared said then started towards the patrol car parked in front of the substation.

  “what do you think happened here?” Jill asked quietly. “and do you think any of them are still here?”

  “couldn’t say, they could have left for all I know,” Jared said. “but I have a feeling they are hiding in their homes and watching.”

  “why?” she asked looking around.

  “for starters trust in strangers is probably in short supply. Honestly, I don’t know its just a feeling. Hell they might be shell shocked at the way the world is coming down around their ears.” Jared said as he led them across the road and to the gravel parking lot where the abandoned patrol car sat.

  “keep a sharp eye out” Jared said as he brought his weapon up to low ready and walked carefully up to the patrol car as they followed him. He peered into the car and frowned.

  “What?” Rob asked, looking nervous as hell.

  “The shotgun’s gone.” Jared said looking around. Only two reasons that shotgun would be missing, well three really. The deputy had taken it because there was something going on, someone had stolen it or a local had claimed it after the deputy had died.

  “Considering what’s going on, I don’t find that odd” Jill commented as she gazed at the low brick building that housed the Sheriff’s substation. Jared shrugged, then climbed up the low set of steps to the double glass door, and peered inside. He could see an overturned desk and papers scattered across the floor, but nothing else past the divider.

  “Looks like it was trashed” Jared said pushing open the door and stepped inside. Reminding himself that he had two newbies with him who didn’t have the first clue how to cover his back much less their own.

  Out of the corner of his eye he studied them for a second, Jill looked nervous but in control. Robs forehead shone with nervous sweat. “just go slow and keep an eye peeled for danger it will be okay.” Jared said with out looking directly at them.

  Once past the overturned duty desk and the divider was a wide open space with four doors along the back wall. A total of six desks sat in two rows in the middle of the room. Someone had tipped over filing cabinets, ripped down posters and just generally trashed the place. In a corner, the body of a husky sheriff's deputy sat on the floor its back against the wall, a bullet hole in his forehead and surprised look on his face.

  “Damn” Jared said softly. I bet this wasn’t self defense he told himself. it wasn’t enough that the dead were killing everyone they could find but we have to start killing our own. Kneeling next to the corpse he noted the duty pistol was gone as well as all the spare mags for the weapon and the man's cuffs. But a key ring still dangled from the key fob at the dead man's waist. Jared unclipped the key chain and rose looking around.

  “What’s with the keys?” Rob asked. Jared shrugged,

  “Sheriff’s station, guns, confiscated items, emergency gear. Who knows. But I'm guessing whoever killed him did it because he didn’t like cops, or he had a grudge against this one. Doesn’t really matter, I guess, not any more. Let's get to looking for stuff we might need”

  Jill stood there a moment longer gazing down at the corpse if there had been any doubt before it was gone, The world she had known was really dying around her. I will survive this she vowed.

  By the time the vehicles were fueled up and the gas cans were topped off, they had removed half the emergency kits from the substation, along with two shotguns, six hundred rounds of 12ga Jared was actually thrilled with one of the shotguns, an old Ithaca 10ga. With a hundred rounds. If that wouldn’t drop a zombie or a good sized engine block nothing would.

  They left what still remained in the store untouched at Jared’s urging. If he was right and there were still several people, possibly even families left in the town and he refused to leave them to starve when the group had plenty of food supplies for now. As Steve had pointed out they didn’t have a lot of room left on the trucks anyway which had pretty much ended the discussion.

  As they drove out town, Jill pointed at a barn in the field He slowed as he saw the barn that someone had taken the time to paint “Still alive, heading north. CB Channel 19”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Things had gone smooth, too smooth really. They had managed to avoid Gallatin, and using a back road, that barely deserved the title road, they turned east, just south of Westmorland. By three they were avoiding Red Boiling springs and crossed the Cumberland river on one of the, in Jareds opinion, highest bridges in the state. It would have been a really relaxing and pleasant drive across the misty river valley If not for the few undead wandering along the bridge. None of the zombies survived to reach the other side.

  Jared called Ori on the CB to see if he wanted to try and check on his family who lived about sixty miles away but Ori had declined saying that the only roads to get there from where they were at went through two large towns that would probably be crawling with the undead and they would need the fuel to get to the camp.

  “is that base your brother is stationed at close, we could swing by there too.” Jill asked. Jared started to point out that Campbell was north and to the west of their position and an hour plus away depending on the conditions of the road but didn’t, like most people she had never learned or expected to need to know where any one military base was located.

  “its to far away and the last message I had from him was two weeks ago and he was still out of country. Probably the stan but he could be anywhere.” Jared said with out taking his eyes off the road. “that’s why I didn’t head straight there from the house, no point in it when he is out of country anyway. Then we would have been much further away from the camp, would need more fuel more supplies and have a greater chance of being stuck by wrecks or worse.”

  Jill sat there silently unsure of what to say, Jared had to be worried about his brother and saying something stupid like he will be all right when they both knew he might not be was stupid. With that being the case she decided that there was nothing she could say.

  Jared had been waiting for Murphy put in an appearance. He rather suspected that Murphy had been pretty busy screwing with so many people over the last 24 plus hours they had slipped thru the cracks. But as soon as Ronny reported trucks parked across the road he knew that Murphy had just caught up on his backlog and was now turning his attention to one Jared Stone and friends. The road had been steadily rising up the side of a ridge, with plenty of sharp curves that slowed them down and so narrow they couldn’t have turned around if they had wanted to.

  The convoy came a stop, Jared truck was thirty feet from the Barricade where armed men waited. With a rocky steep slope of ridge on one side and a fairly steep drop into a narrow valley on the other Jared's people were pretty much stuck which was probably what the men behind that barricade had wanted. So much for backcountry roads being superior to the interstate Jared thought.

  “Get out of the trucks” a Florid faced, potbellied man wearing overalls and a real tree shirt yelled. “And throw down your weapons”

  “Ori” Jared said over the Radio and nothing else. Ori was the most underestimated man he had ever met. He was short and wiry, and nervous acting. But he was far and away the calmest man Jared had ever seen under stress. One of the four best shooters Jared knew and was a ghost when he didn’t want to be seen or heard.

  There had been a time during one hunting season that someo
ne had bet Ori, he couldn’t sneak up on three other hunters. Ori hadn’t wanted to take the bet, but Jared had. And the result had been interesting to say the least. The three hunters sans rifles had walked two hundred yards out across a clearing and settled in a brush line. Once they were settled in, someone had yelled go. Ori leaned into Jared and whispered. “ I’ll be right back” Jared turned to say something, he didn’t remember what now and found the space Ori had occupied empty.

  Forty minutes later the three hunters yelled and shot upright. Ori had crawled right up to the one in the middle, poked him in the balls with a stick, and said bang your dead. Jared never even saw a weed move in that clearing.

  “What do we do?” Jill asked.

  Jared kept the microphone below the dashboard and out of sight of the ambushers, he pushed the transmit button. “I’ll get out and talk with them, every one else stay in the trucks.” Jared said as he opened the door. “Jared they might shoot you.” Jill protested.

  “maybe, but I think they will hesitate to shoot at the rest of you because they probably want the trucks intact so they could just drive them back home without having to unload the gear in the beds.” Jared said then winked at her as he stopped transmitting and stepped out.

  It was cool outside for a summer day, he thought noting the scattered fleecy clouds that moved slowly across the blue sky above him. The sunlight was warm on his face and the smell of honeysuckle hung in the air, sweet and nostalgic. He walked slowly towards the barricade knowing this could be the last minutes of his life at least it was a nice day, he thought.

  “I said get out of those damn trucks and you dumb ass stop right there” The spokesman said in almost a scream. Nervous are you, Jared thought as he continued to slowly walk forward. His thinning hair slick with sweat and even from here Jared could see the mans hands shaking on the stock of his weapon.

  Ori three vehicles back waited till he could see Jared on the road then climbed into the backseat of his truck and slipped out of the sliding rear window. A moment later, silent and unseen he was slipping through the brush and trees up the side of the ridge.

  He had grown up in this part of the state and from an early age had hunted and fished the ridges and hollows around his hometown with his brothers and cousins. It had been almost a game between them to see who could be the quietest, stalk game and the best shot. In a family of outdoorsmen, he had been the winner most of the time.

  “You can stop shouting they are staying right where they are.” Jared said still walking forward wondering if they would just shoot him as an example to the others or decide to talk. Roll the dice, he thought. “Look, this is the easy way to deal with this. You put up your weapons and move your trucks and we can talk before heading on our way or people start dying.”

  “You’ll be the first one to die” the spokesman shouted back. For some reason mouth of Sauron floated thru Jared’s mind and he almost smiled at the absurdity of such a random thought. Give them another week or two and they will just shoot who ever stops but today they are still bound by the old rules, Jared decided “Maybe so, but then the rest of you will die” Jared said holding up a hand and showing them the grenade he held. “Between this and my partner shooting the survivors, you'll all end up dead.”

  He really prayed Ori was in position already. “Spare me, that’s a fake grenade and none of your dumb ass friends have even gotten out of their trucks.” The mouth said. Jared pointed to the man's chest. The Mouth looked down and pissed himself as he saw the laser dot over his heart.

  “now my friend is a very good shot, but sadly he doesn’t have a .50 which would remove most of your torso only a little old .308 that will leave smaller hole, about the size of your fist. So shoulder your weapons and move those trucks now” Jared said his voice hard. He smiled coldly as another laser dot appeared on another man, Steve had slipped out while the attention was on Jared and taken up position. “Your choice Duck or bleed” he said his voice harsh.

  They chose to bleed.

  Just behind the truck barricade were four downed trees about half way up the ridge. Thick heavy brush covered the lower section of fallen tree trunks. Jared cursed as he saw something move just above the brush and sunlight gleamed on dull metal. Rifle barrel, he thought as he more sensed than saw the moment the men at the barricade made their decision. Jared was already in motion throwing himself towards a small pile of rocks as he tossed the grenade. The mouth had been right about it being fake but he was betting his life that they wouldn’t trust that it was fake when it landed by their feet giving him the second or so he need to reach cover.

  He hit the ground hard rolling behind the rock pile as gunshots erupted, echoing off the ridge. The first shot would have hit him if he hadn’t moved, the second one hit the rocks sending stone splinters into his cheek. “Son of a Mongolian sheep herder” Jared swore. Knowing that pappy would have done much better in the attempt.

  Ori lay in position, watching the scene below carefully, when he saw Jared dive clear tossing something at the barricade he lined up his sights on the Spokesman who was staring fearfully at the ground at his feet. A rifle fired, then another. Ori took a breath then breathed out his finger stroked the trigger.

  There was no expression on his face as the man fell behind the barricade his chest a red ruin. He shifted his aim to the man who had been standing next to Ori’s first target. Mouth opened in a silent screaming O, the target collapsed. Then Steve's M-4 roared as he joined the fight.

  Ori held his fire as most of his friends were now out of their vehicles and returning fire. He watched closely, someone had shot at Jared from hiding. And that’s the man he wanted to take out. Ori’s mind ticked over details, Jared had been looking about there, then he moved and there was a shot. He heard Steve cussing as one of his headlights blew out from return fire.

  Ori didn’t rush, he had the sniper hide narrowed down to two possible spots and since the sniper couldn’t seem to range on anyone on the passenger side of the first couple of Vehicles. The angles only supported one. He settled his sights on the brush at the base of the logs and smiled as he saw a rifle barrel poke out. “ Gotcha you son of a bitch” Ori muttered as he pulled the trigger barely noticing the rifle buck against his shoulder.

  The fire shifted away from Jared who took advantage of the moment, rising to one knee he drew the pistol on his thigh in a fast fluid motion and sent two rounds into the first man he saw. He fired so quickly that they sounded like one shot. The man screamed and fell back, dead before he hit the ground.

  Then the remaining men behind the barricade were screaming and running, the two men Ori had first shot were on their unsteady feet, and staggering after them. “Holy shit” Ronny yelled in surprise. The newly risen zombies made it a total of five steps before they ceased to exist a second time and this time there was a lot less of them to hit the ground and didn’t move again. The wanna be bandits didn’t slow down they kept running till they vanished around the curve up the road.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “Low life cheating, evil, flesh eating, son of bitches” Steve ranted, then winced as Bridget tied off the bandage. “You're supposed to be bitten, to turn into one of them” He protested less loudly. “Not just from dying”

  The group was gathered on the road, tending wounds and doing the repairs they could manage out of the spare parts each truck usually carried for off roading. It could have been a disaster. Besides Steve, Mark had been grazed twice, and three trucks had varying degrees of damage but nothing vital thank god. Carol was in Ori’s truck recovering from a panic attack,

  Ori, Rob and warren had searched the trucks and cars that made up the barricade before pushing them off the road to tumble into the narrow valley below. They had collected several weapons, mostly shotguns and hunting rifles. Ori had laid claim to the SOCOM 16 before anyone else could snatch it up. There had been some ammo on the corpses but not much. The sniper had been using a M1 Garand an old weapon that Jared happened to really like.

 
Jared was however less than pleased with himself in the way things played out. But what’s done was done and none of my friends were killed. He sat there wiping at the blood on his cheek. I could have gotten them all killed with that stupid John wayne crap and whats worse is I know better. The only good thing, if one could call it that, is we know the truth about the dead now.

  Watching as his friends grappled with the fact that anyone that died from any cause, would rise as zombies wasn’t pleasant. They weren’t thrilled with that knowledge. Hell he wasn’t please to find that out but that was the reality and there was nothing that would change it. It was their severity of their reactions that worried him, he needed to do something, or the entire group was going to lose it. I might lose it myself.

  “Makes sense,” he said finally as all of them turned to look at him. “Think about it, it spread pretty damn fast and all over the world at the same time. Remember some reports did state the dead were rising.” He paused for a moment and organized his thoughts. “So think about how many people die every day of natural causes in every town, and every country around the world. And how many are killed by the those that had died naturally.