by Joe Kelly
He leaned his head back and thought furiously, he could still make this right. But he had to plan it out. The death was in the details, and the important part was getting the kids. The precious kids. “I’ll get those kids free, yes I will. Free them and bring them back here and get her back.” He was furious at losing his fiancé. Mr. Commando was going to pay. Seth would see to that.
He looked up and into the dark hallway that led to the Cells and smiled as he saw something move. “They ruined my party, and stole my fiancé, but I’m going to get those kids and My Fiancé back. If you will help me” he started smiling as he heard the sound of motors revving and then the sound faded as they drove away. He was eager to get busy; rescues took a lot of work. “Will you help me?” he asked looking up at his friend. A slight shiver of fear went thru him, but the smile he got in reply banished it. “ lets get busy then” He said.
♦ ♦ ♦
The group had gotten off lucky, all things considered. Steve had suffered a bruised hip and shoulder, as well as a twisted knee and his face looked like he had been beaten with a tenderizer. Bridget would pull thru; she had a bruised spine, a broken arm, and a concussion. Kyle had his shoulder put back in place and stitches closed the worst of the cuts on his face and neck.
Jared had only had an assortment of bruises, a deep gash in his arm from the graze as well as cuts and scrapes from flying glass and hurt all over from being thrown around as the truck crashed. Jill had taken more of a beating, two cracked ribs and a minor concussion and like Jared multiple cuts and scrapes from glass. Chris was by far the worst off, broken ribs, dislocated shoulder. Twisted ankle. and two broken fingers.
Pappy had barely been bruised. And to the surprise of everyone, He hovered over Chris almost as much as he did his grandkids and daughter in law. Though everyone doubted he called his grand kids the kind of names he called Chris.
The medical supplies, what they had, were a godsend. Linda was especially thrilled at the surgical tools and other equipment they had salvaged. Especially the small portable ultra sound unit they had grabbed in the ER. But despite the good news, a pall hung over the camp.
While Linda had examined and treated them, Warren had gone to work making coffins from wood they had been gathering for buildings.
Jared, Kyle and Steve had refuse to let their injuries stop them from digging the graves, though it had taken longer than they had liked thanks to the same injuries, but they got it done for their dead.
The sun was setting in a riot of colors, bright glorious ending for a bloody day. The cloud cover had broken up and moved out of the area just after noon. Anne sat on the porch wrapped in a blanket, tears streaming down her face they were tears of joy for being rescued and of grief at the cost her rescuers had paid. She watched silently as the people who had saved her gathered to mourn their own. She glanced over at the dark-haired woman with the sword who sat at her side. Jill laid a hand on the young girl’s hand and smiled sadly.
The survivors gathered silently around the newly dug graves in the copse of trees. Deacon was laid to rest first, only Kyle knew him well enough to speak for him and the depth of the mans pain over the loss touched every one that listened. Then it was Marks turn. The coffin was lowered slowly into the waiting grave, Jared his eyes bright with unshed tears watched silently, wishing it had been him who had died not Mark.
This was my fault, every damn bit of it and Mark had paid the price. Deacon too, all of his people had paid the price. He stood there for a moment longer knowing everyone was waiting for him to speak.
He had no idea what to say, not really. Mark had been one of his best friends and nothing he could say would sum up how much Mark had meant to him, how much he had impacted the lives of those he cared for. Memory’s paraded through his mind of both good times and bad.
He thought of Sharon and how much Mark had loved her, how he had worried about having a child in the world of the dead. How he had tried and failed repeatedly to learn to play the fiddle before thankfully giving it up to the joy of his friends.
Mark and those god awful Hawaiian shirts at the beach, or his smile as they shot rapids, or stumbled across deer in the deep woods. The unasked for but usually damn good advice he offered whether you wanted it or not. Or his bitching about having to wear a tux at the 1999 new years eve party.
In the end he gave a few heartfelt words then stepped back so that the others could step forward and speak. One by one the men and women known as the dirty dozen shared stories of Marks life.
As light faded from the sky in reds and gold’s shading to aquamarine and then black and the first stars began to appear. The night disturbed only by the gentle noise of the wind and the soft lilting strains of one of Marks favorite Irish Aires played on a cd player. The Gray fox air’s haunting melody welcomed the night as Jared and others covered the grave. Jared was the last to leave the grave side, but not before he knelt and placed a hand on the mound of fresh earth “I’m sorry Mark.” He said softly.
Later Jared sat on the back deck of his cabin staring up at the stars spangled across the sky, his arms wrapped around Sharon who leaned against him. “Thank you” she said, softly tears still sliding down her cheeks. “for getting him out of there, and for the funeral.” Jared squeezed her tightly. “He was my friend,” Jared said his voice thick with emotion. That was all that mattered, and all that needed to be said.
Hope guttered and when it was gone Life would follow. In the darkness that gripped the dying world of man something smiled those who opposed it would soon be swept away, thin narrow hands adjusted the old hat it wore to a jaunty angle and it began to walk, and were it walked nightmare followed.
CHAPTER 15
“Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portion,
Scarce can endure delay of execution,
Wait, with impatient readiness, to seize my
Soul in a moment.
Damned below Judas:
more abhorred than he was,
Who for a few pence sold his holy Master.
Twice betrayed Jesus me, this last delinquent,
Deems the profanest.
Man disavows, and Deity disowns me:
Hell might afford my miseries a shelter;
Therefore hell keeps her ever hungry mouths all
Bolted against me.
Hard lot! encompassed with a thousand dangers;
Weary, faint, trembling with a thousand terrors;
I'm called, if vanquished, to receive a sentence
Worse than Abiram's.
Him the vindictive rod of angry justice
Sent quick and howling to the center headlong;
I, fed with judgment, in a fleshly tomb, am
Buried above ground.”
-William Cowper
The trees were starting to turn with the change of seasons, reds, oranges and golds mixed with deep green. It was that time of year where a subtle undefined quality shifted and the sunlight took on a glorious cast, like a last gasp of glory before the Winter with its gloom moved in.
Soft Fall winds cooled the nights heralding the coming temperature drop. It was beautiful, a magical time of year as the season prepared to shift. But the undead did not notice, nor did they care.
On October 12th, Carol gave birth to a 10 pound baby boy She named Eric Mark Stotts; Sharon had spent half the day crying when she heard the babies name.
Needing supplies Jared had returned to town, twice since the disastrous raid and found few zombies anywhere. No one could explain what had happened to the majority of the undead nor did they really care as long as the dead stayed away.
They had secured the fuel storage lot with no problems and returned with two fuel tanker trucks they had recovered from the side of the road.
During their exploration they found the first pharmacy they checked full of undead. The risks were too high so in the end they left it alone, deciding to wait till there were enough healthy people to deal with the large numbers of the mobile dead.
On
the second trip into town, they hit the National Guard armory, they found that there was no actual armory inside. It was a major disappointment to say the least. Jared spent about ten minutes expressing his opinion over that little fact in a manner that would have made pappy dance with joy.
They did find parked behind the armory in what passed for a motor pool a M978, 2500-gallon fuel tanker, as well as two deuce and a half’s that had been used to block the rear gates. Duece and a half’s or as the army called them the M35, in this case the M35a2, were probably the best known and admired truck in US military history. Ten wheeled and rated for ten thousand pounds they had been known to carry twice their load with out problems. It wasn’t just the cargo capability that Jared was interested in but the fact the engine could run on almost anything including used motor oil and that they had off road capabilities.
One of the better finds at the armory was cold weather gear, especially several sets of Mukluks which were essentially canvas like knee high boots with rubber bottoms and wool inserts. They were incredibly warm and dry to wear in extreme cold weather.
They cleaned out everything that might be of value in the armory, which over all wasn’t a lot, but every little bit helped. Taking the fuel tanker and both deuces spread out their manpower, but the vehicles were just too valuable to be left behind. The deuces would allow them to haul more supplies back to camp and having three fuel trucks was not something to sneer out in a world where fuel was going to become scarce as time went by.
In a Maintenance shed they found four fifty-gallon barrels of stabilize, a liquid fuel additive that maintains stored fuel, those drums were quickly loaded into the back of a Duece.
Once they finished at the Armory they drove back across town to fill the fuel tanker. Leaving Shelly, Mary and Steve to fill the thing, the rest of the team drove back down Clinton to strip the trucks that had been totaled during Seth’s attack. It took some time to pull off all the spare parts and tools, and Jared insisted on pulling off transfer cases and anything else that might be useful later on.
The plan to hit the remaining auto parts stores had been scrapped when Jared had found a booby trap on the doors of the first two stores they had checked and decided to leave them all alone just to be on the safe side. The asshole that had shot Mark had been busy around town it seemed.
With auto parts out of the question at the moment, they settled for moving the dozer out of the courthouse doorway, then used the deuces haul off everything in the Civil defense shelter.
The undead that remained in town slowly converged on the team and as the day wore on they were forced to engage more and more undead. There was no official count, but later Steve would estimate they had put down almost five hundred during the day, thankfully they came in as individuals and or small easily dealt with groups.
On the way out of town, they stopped at the old resale shop see what was inside. A quick search revealed no booby traps but one silver haired zombie locked in a closet, that had once been named Edna Price. Jared had met her back when he had first started coming up here. She had been a kindly woman, Jared remembered. With two kids who had given her six grandchildren that she had doted on. All dead now, he supposed, and I am the only one who will remember they even existed, he thought trying to ignore the depression that thought brought on.
With the store secure they loaded up every bit of clothing and shoes they could find. As well as the three shelves of books. Despite what many pre-zombie survivalists had loved to claim, people needed some entertainment, or they went nuts. The place turned out to be a treasure trove of old fashioned nonelectric items, like straight razors.
It was an hour after sunset when they finally returned to the camp exhausted but satisfied with all they had accomplished.
The question of where the zombies in town had gone was becoming obvious, small groups of the walking dead began to appear on the road leading to the camp. They were dispatched fairly easily but the odds of larger groups appearing were good and had everyone in camp on edge. No one doubted that the zombies were staggering across untended fields and deep woods making their way to the camp.
The days were still warm if on the cool side and the nights were getting colder. They had finally found signs of wildlife. Steve and Ori set out from the camp and tracked then bagged two turkeys and an eight point buck. At this time of year, a man would normally be tripping over Turkey and Hogs. Deer was normally a bit scarce on the ground, but that was normal.
Till now there had been no sign of game or of stray animals. No deer tracks at the waterholes, no dogs wandering up to whine for food. No cats disappearing into the brush. No coons, possums or anything else. Jared hoped that the reappearance of wildlife meant that life might return to something like normal. Which at this point meant the dead stayed dead instead of wandering around looking for people to eat.
Whatever was going on, they at least had some fresh meat for a change and that made a hell of a difference in the morale around camp.
Jared was sitting on the deck behind his cabin, idly making notes in a notebook when he heard shouts. He was on his feet and running thru the cabin rifle in hand in less than two seconds. He burst out onto the porch and saw Ori and Henry rolling around on the ground punching each other. Jared swore heavily and raced towards them while Jill, Beth, carol and Jason were yelling at the two men to stop.
“Jill” Jared yelled as he ran past, she looked up just as he tossed her his rifle and leaped into the fight.
He yanked Ori off Henry having to block a punch, but as soon as Ori saw who it was that held him, he backed off. Henry leaped up, and threw a punch at Jared and whooped in surprise as Jared spun to one side, catching Henrys wrist, pivoted again, and sent Henry flying into the side of a truck with a hip throw.
Henry started to get to his feet, but Jared’s voice stopped him cold. “move and I break your fucking arms” one look at Jareds hard flat eyes caused him to drop back on the ground.
“What the hell is going on” Jared demanded turning on Ori. No one could miss the tone of an Army Sergeant that rang in Jared's voice, he wasn’t asking he was demanding an answer.
“Sarg… Jared he….” Ori said then fell silent gathering his thoughts. He had rarely seen Jared this angry and that bothered him, knowing that he was responsible.
“he wouldn’t take no for answer” Beth said suddenly, tilting her head towards Henry. Then seeing the look of fury that flashed across Jared’s face she quickly added. “no, it wasn’t like that Jared he didn’t touch me.”
Jared took a deep breath, calming himself then turned to face Henry. “Well?” He ground out hoping Henry had no clue just how close he had come to being shot down, if Beth hadn’t been quick off the mark realizing what Jared had thought had happened and spoken up, Henry would be dead.
“I’m interested so sue me” Henry said sullenly, both his eyes already starting to swell, his nose looked broken as well.
“you’ve got a Girlfriend you prick” Jared snapped angrily. His use of profanity was a sure sign of just how angry he was.
“She isn’t my Girlfriend, I just picked her up outside Chattanooga. I’m a free man, just ask her.” Henry protested. Jared took another deep breath and forced himself to be calm. My being angry will only make this situation worse and lets face it you knew that something like this would happen sooner or later.
Ori bristled but a look from Jared stilled him. “calm down Ori, I mean it” Jared flatly warned his friend then rounded on Henry. “We can’t afford to fight amongst ourselves. Trust me when I say my first reaction is to just kick your ass, not because of what you did, but because like everyone else here I’m at the edge and you annoy the crap out of me.” He paused taking control of his own emotions then held out a hand. “Sorry but if you tried to be a bit friendlier” Jared said much more calmly. Henry accepted the hand, and Jared hauled him to his feet.
Henry turned to Beth and met her eyes squarely. “I’m sorry, I was out of line. I should have realized you two were
a couple” Beth, forced a smile and bobbed her head in acceptance.
“Apology accepted.” She said politely then turned a glare on Ori who would no doubt have to sit through a stern talk later. Beth was not the kind of woman that thought men fighting over her was acceptable. Henry stood there unsure what to do. He didn’t want to make the situation worse by walking away and ticking Jared off any more than he was.
Jared looked at Ori, and crooked a finger as he walked away. Ori was still angry but followed Jared a short distance away “Ori, you’re a brother to me, you know that, and I have your back. But you know you shouldn’t have leaped his ass.”
“He just pissed me off so bad, I just snapped.” Ori said. “I’ll try to keep it under control, I’m really sorry Jared.
“no problem Ori. Just keep a lid on it okay” Jared said, “we have enough enemies out there, don’t need to make new ones inside with us” Ori nodded, and looked sheepishly at Beth who waited with the others one foot tapping slowly. she seemed less than amused at the whole situation.
