The Secretary of Defense was able to communicate with Saul and Dr. Powers. Because of that, Cleveland was no longer just the new home of the CDC; it was the main military hub as well. Although Lance would oversee and have final say so, he turned over command of Armed Forces to Colonel Stilton, the highest ranking remaining officer of the Ohio National Guard.
Saul received word that Stilton was organizing as best as he could and operating out of that small radio station on campus.
So much was going on so fast, Saul was becoming a bit optimistic. But Saul knew the infection well. He knew how fast it moved and spread and how deadly it could get; because of that, Saul was also fearful that all efforts would just be in vain.
Chapter Fifteen
North Carolina
He had been at it for nearly three hours, and started just after his brother rode off on the motorcycle.
Steve checked and made notes on everything. He checked the fortress inside and out. Not that he didn’t trust Garrick, actually Steve was impressed with his brother’s preparations, but he needed to know everything for himself.
He had Lil inside counting stock with Irma. He was about twenty feet outside the fence, when he spotted yet another one. A perfectly round hole. It wasn’t the second or the third.
“Hey,” Lil’s voice called to him.
Steve looked up. She was walking toward the fence. “Hey.”
“Irma is playing mom again. Says you need a break, to get hydrated and have a snack or you won’t be able to keep this up in the heat.”
Steve nodded. “Okay.”
“Everything alright?” Lil asked.
Steve stood upright. “You aren’t going to believe this.” He started to walk. “But …”
“Steve!” Lil interrupted with a panicked, firm yell.
He heard her call at the same time he heard what sounded like a stampede. He took only a second to peer over his shoulder.
A herd of six deer charged his way. They moved at high speed and with frightening determination.
He didn’t look long, nor did he see if they looked normal or like that buck. He knew they weren’t normal. Deer didn’t provoke or charge humans.
Steve ran to the fence. He focused on that fence and on Lil who raised her weapon.
There was no way he was making it to the gate.
“Run, Steve, Run faster.”
Just as he felt the heat and caught the foul pungent odor of his pursuers, Steve leapt for the fence and hurriedly climbed.
The first of the deer rammed at the fence, shaking the hard steel to the point Steve almost fell. It lunged from him perched on its hind legs.
“Shoot it.” Steve cried out.
Lil did.
He made it to the top, dropped his clipboard, climbed over and then jumped the rest of the way.
He heard Irma scream as she stood in the doorway, holding Jerry. “Get back in. Lock up!” he ordered.
He spun, hoping she heeded his orders and then Steve, lifted his weapon. “Aim for the head.”
“No shit.” Lil fired.
“Damn it, they move faster than humans.” Steve tried to take a shot. He hit one, but not in the head. It kept going.
It took more rounds than they expected. Steve with a revolver, Lil with a rifle. The animals were in pursuit and it ended with four dead and two leaving.
Steve, before doing anything else, jogged to the house and opened the door. Irma was holding Jerry on the couch. “You guys alright?”
“Yes, yes, we’re fine,” Irma replied. "Are you, Steve. Are you ok?”
Steve nodded. “Just shook up.”
“Why did the deer attack?” Irma asked. “Did they have the virus?”
“I think so. I’ll be back. Just … just stay in here.” Steve pulled the door closed, walked across the yard and joined Lil.
She kept the back of her hand to her mouth.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“They smell. Are we going to drag them away? Burn them.”
“As horrible as this may sound, we need to leave them here. Maybe the smell may keep others away.”
“The fence will not hold if more return and attack it. Steel or not.”
“The house is strong. It’s not going down. The shutters are steel. They can’t get into the house. They … can’t.”
Quickly, Lil turned and looked at him. “What are you talking about?”
“We can see the deer coming. Hear them in herds that big. But then … I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I’m not even sure,” Steve said. “If they can’t get in.”
Lil’s lips formed the word ‘who’ and finally she squealed it out. “Who? What?”
“I found eight more burrow holes not far from the fence. Eight. Typically burrow holes are made to avoid, hide, hibernate or get to a place where there is a better food source.”
“Maybe the gofers are trying to get away from the deer.” Lil guessed.
Steve sighed out. “That’s a good possibility. I didn’t think that way. I feel better.”
She crinkled her brow. “Why? What were you thinking?”
Steve shook his head. “It’s silly. But I was thinking what if they were like the deer.”
Lil chuckled. “Zombie gofers?”
“No worse,” Steve said. “Zombie rats.”
Chapter Sixteen
Pittsburgh, PA
Walking was tough and to make matters worse, only a block into his journey, George’s leg broke.
Just broke. His calf, the recipient of the gaping bite wound, snapped in half and his ankle and foot were nothing more than an immobile object that dragged along the ground with each sluggish step.
He had to stop. Not that he was tired, he wasn’t, but it was becoming tedious to keep dragging the mutilated leg.
A half block more, he noticed crowds of people gathering around things. He was curious but didn’t see himself making it across the street. His legs loosened up some, not much and he aimed to sit on a porch staircase; but George toppled over and rolled to the ground. He grumbled and groaned and reached to people walking by.
One woman screamed, kicked him in the head and raced away.
Then he heard it. The ringing. He felt it jolt in his hand and George lifted his arm. His cell phone rang.
He couldn’t see who was calling, but George certainly tried to answer.
His arm wouldn’t bend correctly and he just kept smacking himself in the side of the head with the cell phone.
Everything was useless. Movement, thinking, the phone and, to top it off, George was hungry. A consuming hunger that took over his thoughts.
Getting help was his first priority, food the second. But until he could actually move, George decided just to stay on that sidewalk.
Chapter Seventeen
North Carolina
It was such an unexpected and funny comment, that Jack actually snorted a laugh which in turn caused Garrick to laugh loudly. A chain reaction.
They had stopped the armored vehicle by the entrance to the armory. It was clear and quiet and as they peered out, Garrick commented of the single, yellow, levered arm gate, “Wow, thank God the base has something that holds zombies back.”
It wasn’t that the comment was knee slapping, bend over funny. It was out of place. They were quiet, somber and tense as they approached the gate.
But their laughter resonated in the silence causing a stir from those who took it as a dinner bell.
They made their way at a better pace to the gate, not a huge mob, only a dozen, arms extended, groaning.
The noise level was too loud for it to be only a dozen, there had to be more in close.
Jack and Garrick raised their weapons only to hesitate and not fire a shot.
Garrick’s sarcastic joke, wasn’t all that much of a joke, when they mobbed forward, allowing themselves to be contained by the simple yellow arm.
Jack couldn’t help it, he laughed. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“How
are they taking over the world when they don’t move extremely fast and they’re stupid?”
“Because they ….” Jack paused. “They’re changing. They definitely move faster.”
“That’s an easy one,” Garrick said as he held aimed and watched them. “The rigor mortis is gone. Plus, you know, gotta figure. The longer they’re dead, the more they’re probably losing sector memories of life. Becoming just … mobile robotic beings.”
“Vicious ones.”
Garrick nodded. “I see that. Can I shoot them now?”
“Yeah, let’s taken them out.”
And they did.
In the days following the attack, the armory had been picked through pretty good. Jack and Garrick had to settle for what they could find and the number one concern was having enough ammunition.
Garrick brought some, not nearly enough to make it to Pittsburgh if they ran into large groups of walking dead.
The base was not without them either. They didn’t just linger at the front gate. Soldiers in uniform had reanimated, along with civilians.
To Jack it looked as if they tried to help people and take them in; but that failed.
Jack knew better than anyone how one bite victim could change everything.
They traded up the armored vehicle for a reinforced Humvee. It would be easier on fuel and have more room to cart their VIP once they found him. And hopefully … alive.
The stop at the armory consumed two hours of their time, and after checking in with Lance they continued on.
Chapter Eighteen
Cleveland, Ohio
It was the third time Saul had a moment to try to call Irma, but it was the only time he actually made a connection.
Surprisingly, Irma answered the phone and her worried, yet relieved voice made Saul feel good.
“Saully, I haven’t talked to you in ages. How are you? How are you holding up?”
“Eh, I’m working hard, Irma. Very hard.” He paused. “How are you doing? How are you feeling?”
“I’m heartbroken, Saul, you know that.” She sighed. “But, Jerry, he’s made it tolerable. He’s my miracle and I don’t let him out of my sight. Here … wait …”
“Irma, I don’t have …”
“Pop-Pop. Hi!”
Saul’s hand went to his eyes and his heart thumped in his chest. “Jerry, baby, Pop-pop loves you.”
“Love Pop-pop. Home?”
“Soon. Soon.” Saul choked up and cleared his throat.
Irma returned. “He set down the phone and took off. Lil is with him.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s holding up. Her husband is running around playing military hero, my husband is running around playing medical hero. How should we be?”
“Safe.” Saul said. “Just be safe.”
“Well, we are safe here. It’s quiet and removed,” Irma said. “Are you safe?”
“Surprisingly, yes, Cleveland is infection free. No outbreak.”
“Saully, you’re in Cleveland. Should I come there?”
“No. No. Stay put, God forbid there’s an outbreak. Stay.”
“My Aunt Rose lives in Cleveland, maybe Lil and I should head there. She has that big house.”
Saul shook his head, even though she couldn’t see it. “Irma, no, a week, maybe. But stay and I’ll send someone to look in on Rose. Irma …” He dropped his voice and walked from earshot of Dr. Powers. “We’re close. We may have it.”
“Have what?”
“A means to end this. Or rather stop it from progressing.”
Irma gasped. “Saully, really? Have you tested it?”
He looked at his hand. “Yes, yes, we have it works nicely. We’re testing it through distribution now.”
“You sound wonderfully optimistic.”
“I am. And Irma, know … I adore you. You are my life and I love you very much.”
“Saully, I love you too, but those are strong words, too strong to come from an optimistic man.”
“I just think from here on in, Irma, we should always say how we feel. And I am very glad I spent my life with you.”
“Me, too, Saully, me, too.”
He cleared his throat. “Well, I must go; I’ll try to get a connection again later. Okay?” He listened for her response, said his goodbye and ended the call.
Then Saul took a moment. Just a moment. He gathered his emotions, put them in check, placed his mindset on beating the infection and went back to work.
Chapter Nineteen
London, England
Another night had passed for Lucille and the day was long from over. She tried to get more sleep, but the hours were filled with nightmares about the undead. The latest one had Swanson rushing into her office, his arm bleeding, telling her she had to run, the dead had taken over the city.
But that was not the case. It was far from the case.
She didn’t understand how the Germans and American’s got it all wrong. Why did they fail to see the logic of the situation? Was it their attempts to be humane? While the rising of the dead was typically an occurrence in fiction, nonetheless, it broke those boundaries and became reality. Thus, in Lucille’s eyes, any fiction could be used as a guideline.
As cruel as it seemed, men, women and children alike, were executed immediately they were found to have a bite mark or scratch from an infected one.
The Germans failed to see that they were walking dead, didn’t aim to destroy the brains and, after shooting the infected believing them down and out, moved on. Most of those shot just reanimated.
The Americans cared for the infected, took care of the injured, so many inured that they were overwhelmed and when they turned … paid the horrible consequences.
Like when a friend that didn’t answer the ringing phone, the undead situation beat inside Lucille’s head. There were no answers and that was driving her insane.
She checked the time; she was due back in the meeting with the various heads of states.
But before she moved into those final hours of deliberation that could change the world, she picked up the phone one last time in an attempt to reach America.
Chapter Twenty
North Carolina
Irma rarely if ever put Jerry down. When Garrick took him to breakfast, that was one of the few times she did so. She always felt better when he was close against her. She played with the child’s curly locks as he slumbered in her arms.
“Just like Saul’s,” Irma said as she, Lil and Steve sat around the kitchen table. “Our daughter didn’t have curly hair. Had permanents been popular then, I would have had her get one.”
Lil smiled. “How did you guys meet?”
“We lived in different neighborhoods. Saul’s dad was a bookkeeper at the market where my father was a butcher. We were invited to Saul’s Bar Mitzvah. Oh,” she grabbed her chest, “I was a young teenage girl and it was love at first sight. Saul was handsome. He looked like a young Tom Jones.”
Lil, knitting her brow, said “Even Tom Jones is a little old for your generation.”
“Nah, my mother made me think he was a new rock star.” Irma smiled. “Anyhow, there was Saul, long curly hair, so dark and dashing. He was a little husky back then, but I knew. I knew that one day he was going to be my husband; and I remember waiting all night for him to ask me to dance.”
Lil asked. “Did he?”
“No.” Irma shook her head. “But he was the first boy I dated when I was fifteen. We’ve been together ever since. He is the love of my life. Just as handsome and sexy to me today as he was at his Bar Mitzvah.” She quickly looked up when Steve laughed. “And that’s funny?”
“I wouldn’t classify Saul as sexy.” Steve said.
Lil reached over playfully smacking Steve. “That is not cool. Women see sexy as different things.”
Irma nodded. "And I have seen your husband. Very handsome.”
“Thank you.”
Steve asked. “You guys have been together for a while. I remember my br
other was there when you two eloped.”
Lil nodded. “Eight years.”
Irma asked. “A good marriage?”
Lil’s head dropped. “It was. I screwed it up. Jack … Jack was away and that is no excuse but I was unfaithful. And that’s why Jack went to Peru. To get away from me. I wish we had a better parting.”
Irma reached out grabbing Lil’s hand. “Your husband loves you very much. I am sure he knows you are sorry and I am even more certain of that; after all that has happened , he has forgiven you.”
Lil reached over gripping Irma’s hand. “I just miss him so much.”
“I know, honey, I know. I miss my Saul. But we will all see each other very soon. I am sure.”
“She’s right,” Steve said as he stood. “Both of your husbands worry about you guys. I’m envious. I wish I had that. One day… If all the women aren’t all the walking dead…perhaps.”
Irma just shook her head. “Where are you going?”
“I wanna check outside and have a smoke before we hunker down for the night.”
“Be careful.”
“I will.” Steve nodded. “I’ll be back.” He grabbed his half pack of cigarettes from the counter along with his lighter and flashlight, and walked outside. He could hear the women talking until he shut the door.
It was a peaceful night. Taking a few steps, he paused and lit a cigarette, inhaling smoke deeply into his lungs. He paced as he smoked; things seemed normal until he heard it.
A rustling. It came from beyond the fence. It wasn’t just a swish of leaves; it was a lasting sound. He lifted the flashlight and shone the beam searching for the source of the sound.
Nothing. He looked left, right, and all around the property. Steve could not see a thing. But the sound was there. It was constant. An immediate fear hit Steve. Something was out there or rather things were out there; and Steve knew exactly what they were.
Chapter Twenty-One
Zombie Battle 4: War Page 4
