Midnight (Adrian's Undead Diary)

by Chris Philbrook

  “Melissa why don’t you join us?” Ollie asked her.

  The brunette looked at her watch and frowned. “It’s late guys I can’t stay up much longer. I just wanted to drop off some fruit for you and say hi. Thanks for asking though.”

  Ollie visibly deflated, but remained smiling. Melissa ruffled his red hair again and walked away. She needed to get a few hours of sleep before she had to go see Sean again, and satisfy his ego. Her stomach churned as she thought of poor oblivious Ollie.

  *****

  The next afternoon Mike and Ollie returned from Lenny McDowell’s farm empty handed. They weren’t stolen from. They were following through on their plan to coerce Lieutenant Daniels into working with Adrian’s people to get Sean Stockwell the hell out of Westfield.

  The two men strode with fake purpose past the waiting women in the cafeteria door. The ladies usually took the fresh farm products straight from the men, but when Mike and Ollie walked by empty handed and as serious as cancer, the women knew there was something amiss. Melissa made brief eye contact with Ollie, and she thought he looked almost happy. She wondered to herself why he’d be happy after returning empty handed. She had enough to be worried about anyway she thought. Last night she was fairly sure Sean tried to slip the condom off while he was fucking her, and she’d kicked him to make him stop. He hit her. The women in the kitchen nearly went upstairs with the entire knife drawer to make sure he’d never need a condom again, but Melissa stopped them. More bloodshed would only make things worse.

  Mike and Ollie took the steps up to the second floor of classrooms two at a time. They needed to get into Jeff’s office and shut the door before anyone could ask too many questions. By the time they reached the converted classroom that Daniels used as a bedroom and war room they already had a caboose filled with people asking what was up. Mike opened the door without knocking, and as soon as Mike was inside, he shut the door and pulled the shade.

  Lieutenant Jeff Daniels sat at his desk cleaning his service pistol. He had it disassembled and was meticulously going piece to piece, ensuring it was clear of dust and debris. The best soldiers know you maintain your weapon before your body.

  “L.T., we need to talk. Now.” Mike dragged a second chair over in front of the desk. He spun it around and sat in it, leaning his arms on the back of the seat in front of him. Ollie slowly sat in the other chair, and watched the two soldiers.

  Jeff put his oil stained rag down and leaned forward, clearly worried at the urgency Mike was putting out. “Problem Staff Sergeant?”

  “I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news. The good news is really good, and the bad news is only kinda bad.” Mike seemed almost excited to Jeff. The young officer wasn’t sure what to think.

  “Alrighty, lay it on me Sarge.” Jeff leaned back in his chair to listen.

  “Now, what I’m about to tell you is gonna piss you off at first, so don’t make any decisions until I’m done talking, okay?” Mike gave Jeff a stern face. He wanted Jeff to listen to everything.

  “Okay. No promises though.” Jeff bridged his fingers and rested his nose on the tips.

  “Tera wasn’t killed by a zombie the other day. She was accidentally shot in an ambush. We were also kinda-sorta ambushed today too.” Mike said it as softly as he could, but the words turned the officer’s face ruddy red with anger.

  “Who the fuc-“

  Mike cut him off, “Stop. I said wait. I’m not done talking yet.” Mike pointed a thick finger at his commanding officer. Jeff wasn’t pleased at all, but he shut up for the moment. “The guy from the private school a few towns over has been casing the town trying to find a way to get intel on Sean. After the gas station attack, he and his people decided they can’t let Sean run the show here. They tried to get intel on us by getting Tera and Ollie to stop and talk to someone, but Tera drew on Adrian, and he had to shoot her.”

  “How the fuck do you know all this? Are you in cahoots with this prick?” Jeff sat forward, angry. He looked down at his disassembled pistol and suddenly wished it was together.

  “Jeff, wait. They told Ollie to tell someone in charge to get ahold of them on channel 5. Ollie went to his dad, and his dad has been talking to them for the past few days, and he says they’re good people, and they’re on the level.” Mike almost whispered the words. He knew others were at the door, trying to listen in.

  Jeff’s eyes went wild. “Lenny is colluding with this assholes? Are you shitting me? What’s next?”

  “Jeff relax. I met the dude yesterday myself. He has a team of people in town observing us trying to find out how to do this without killing anyone. They’re legit Jeff. They’re good people. They didn’t even take anything today, we staged it all to set something up.” Mike tried to say it as sincerely as he could.

  “WHAT?!?!” Jeff let out an exasperated whisper, “They’re fucking here? In this town right now? We are being recon’d by the fucking enemy? You realize those people single handedly killed at least fifteen of our citizens right? And you’re fucking talking to them? Working with them? You’re a fucking terrorist Mike, I can’t believe this shit.” Jeff stood up and paced the room. He eyed his M4 leaning up against his bed and for a moment debated picking it up. He was furious, and he felt like he was surrounded by traitors.

  “Jeff, just the other day you and I were talking about speeding up elections to get rid of Sean. This could easily be the chance we’re looking for. We find a way to march his ass out into the open, and we give him an ultimatum. Tell him he can leave and go fuck himself, or we shoot his ass in the knees, and let Adrian and his people know where he’s bleeding out. No one needs to know what happened.”

  Jeff stopped pacing and looked at his sergeant. His mind cleared when he thought of life without that tyrant Sean trying to run the place. All he’d done since Thanksgiving was gum up the works with petty power plays, and stupid martial schemes to get revenge on these people from the school. This might actually be the best way to get rid of him. Jeff couldn’t stomach killing an innocent man though.

  “Jeff, I gotta tell you, I met this Adrian man yesterday, and I think he’s two things. First, he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He’s sick of the bullshit same as you and I are. He easily could’ve killed Lenny, me, and Ollie without thinking twice about it, and he didn’t. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone here. Secondly, he’s serious about this. And I mean he’s serious about making friends to get this done, and he’s also serious about getting rid of Sean, with or without us helping. Whether or not we’re onboard, the moment Sean makes his head available, they’re gonna blow it the fuck off.” Mike’s tone was quiet, and deadly serious.

  Jeff bit his lip and nodded. “What’s in this for them? Are they gonna make a play for taking over here? They want food, ammunition, what? This guy has to have an angle other than just revenge.”

  Ollie answered, “When he shot Tera, Jeff, he was real serious about getting justice for his dead friends. I think his angle is the fact that he’s been trying to do the right thing, and Sean keeps messing with that. Like Mike said, one way or the other, Adrian’s gonna do this. I think we can make friends with him too, he seems a lot like you guys.”

  “Hell yeah Ollie. Look Jeff, this guy came out of the woods like a goddamn special ops guy. He was ten feet from us before we knew it, and like I said, he coulda just done us raw right there. If he didn’t want to make friends, he doesn’t have to. He’ll just take this school out. Fucking kill everyone.”

  “Brick by brick he said. Said he didn’t want to, but one way or the other, he’d do it brick by brick if he had to.” Ollie looked worried.

  “Sounds awfully fucking threatening to me.” Jeff frowned.

  “Sounds a shitload like a warrior to me. One hell bent on protecting his people, and taking out his enemy. You know just the same as I do, if we get Sean outside somehow, either he’ll freak and pull a gun and get shot, or we can just leave his ass there. Out there.” Mike thumbed towards the window, towards the vast expanse of
town that had innumerable undead wandering it.

  Jeff sat down and nodded. “You’ve never led me wrong Mike. I’ve always trusted you, and so far, you’ve always come through for me. You vouch for this guy?”

  “I think you should talk to him yourself. But if you want my opinion, we go to Sean tonight or tomorrow, and tell him we got hit by Adrian’s people. Tomorrow is best that way he can’t run around spreading rumors all night tonight. We tell him that Adrian’s people are gonna hit the supply truck every day they can, and we need his help to stop it. I bet you a jalapeno cheese packet that motherfucker grabs his gun and goes out with us the next time we roll to the farm. As soon as he’s outside, and we’re out of eyesight of the school, ka-bam. Eviction notice. Done deal.”

  The officer thought about it, and the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. One way or the other, they worked with this other guy and got rid of Sean, or they risked others getting killed when they didn’t hand him over. Plus Jeff thought, it’s not like they were asking for someone, or something anyone here gave a rat’s ass about.

  “Tonight you tell everyone Lenny wasn’t feeling good, and that he didn’t get around to milking the chickens or whatever. Make them think it was a little worrisome. Ollie you go back to your dad’s and pretend to take care of him tonight. Be back after dawn tomorrow. Don’t bring any food back with you. We all sit down with Sean tomorrow morning, and we tell him what’s up. Depending on how that goes, we’ll take it from there. Is there any way we can get ahold of this Adrian guy?”

  “Yeah, he’s listening on channel five. Switch the radio and say something.” Mike nodded over at the radio sitting on the desk. Jeff looked slowly at the radio, suddenly feeling like it was an enemy listening device. It felt like Adrian and his people were right there in the office, eavesdropping.

  “This is mutiny Mike, this is a coup.” Jeff looked at the radio, then at his sergeant.

  “This sir, is a revolution. This is us escaping from tyranny, and starting a new government where we are properly represented, and not taken advantage of. We’re patriots Jeff, not rebels, and certainly not fucking terrorists.”

  *****

  The next morning Jeff went to Sean to test the waters for their rebellion. “Sean, you need to sit down, something has been brought to my attention.” Jeff stood in the doorway of Sean’s converted suite classroom. Jeff’s nose wrinkled as he caught the scent of stale cigarettes and sweat. It sickened him to think this asshole won an election to run anything.

  “Is this about the elder McDowell being under the weather? No? Okay Lieutenant Daniels, you win, I’ll sit.” Sean flopped down with his dress shirt still unbuttoned. Jeff thought he hadn’t left the office in days.

  “We have been attacked twice this week by people from that private school.” Jeff kept his face emotionless.

  Sean stopped buttoning shirt and looked up at the officer. “Wait, what?”

  “The other afternoon when Corporal Tera Braley died, she had actually been shot by this Adrian person you’ve been dealing with. Yesterday afternoon Staff Sergeant McCarthy and Ollie were stopped at gunpoint and had the entire farm run taken from them. We need to step up security on the runs to the McDowell farm while we discuss a more thorough strategy for bringing this threat to an end.”

  Sean slammed his fists down into the desk hard enough to send the pens and pencils on it six inches high. Jeff saw rage in his eyes. “MOTHERFUCKER!” With a powerful backhanded swipe Sean sent all the papers on his desk flying.

  “Senator, now is not the time for rage. We need to think this through very carefully. We need to get over to the farm tomorrow and start discussing security there. Lenny can keep the farm safe from the zombies, but if these assholes decide to take it by force, then we need to have a solution. I’ve sent Ollie and one of the men over there for tonight, but tomorrow I think we should have a meeting about it. You interested in being there to lead it?” Jeff was baiting him. There was no way in hell Sean would not be at a meeting like that. He wouldn’t allow his opinion to be left out of any discussion.

  The furious Senator licked his lips. “Fucking right I’ll be there. Do you have bombs Jeff? Big ones? Like, powerful explosives? Can we fucking bomb that school? I’m so sick of this asshole.”

  Jeff fought an epic battle to fight off a smile. “We are currently out of explosives Senator. We’re also flat out of heavy machine gun ammunition. However, we might be able to plan some counter insurgency missions once security at the farm is addressed.”

  “An insurgency eh? Insurgents. That’s perfect. They are terrorists aren’t they? That will play well with the people.” Sean savored the word like the scotch he’d polished off the other day. “We need to let the people know we’re being attacked. We need to let them know they have strong leadership here, and that we will take good care of them. We don’t need them panicking on us.”

  “Senator with all due respect, they already know your leadership is strong. I also think that we’d be best served if we waited until after tomorrow’s meeting with Mr. McDowell. If we tell them about what’s going on now, we have no good news to tell them, just bad news. After our plan is formed, we can gather them and you can tell them what the plan is for our future. Plans are always good news, and good news is always popular.”

  “Yeah that’s true. They might start asking questions and I don’t want to deal with that. Thank you Lieutenant, your assistance is invaluable as always. When is our meeting at the farm?”

  “It’ll start when you arrive. We’re planning on convoying over at 3pm. You’re more than welcome to ride with us in a humvee, or you can take your Escalade, whatever you prefer.” Jeff turned to the door and rested his hand on the lever to open it.

  “Very good Lieutenant, you’re dismissed.” Sean returned to buttoning his shirt, content in his control of the situation.

  “Thank you for your assistance sir, have a good day Senator.” Jeff pulled the door open and walked out. Jeff walked down the hallway and rounded the corner into a stairwell to head down to the cafeteria for lunch. Mike was waiting on the landing.

  “How’d that go?” Mike asked his officer.

  “Hook line and sinker. I just need to wipe all this shit off my nose.” Jeff looked happy, but conflicted.

  “Now what?” Mike asked as the two men joined each other and started down the steps towards the smells of food wafting their way.

  “I eat lunch, then I try and get hold of this Adrian asshole. If I get a good read on him, then we go forward with it. If not, then we’ll come up with Plan B.”

  “What’s Plan B gonna be?” Mike asked.

  “Get the fuck out of his way?” Jeff laughed.

  *****

  “And you talked to him sir? And you think this is worth it?” Private Gavin Russell asked his Lieutenant.

  “Yeah Private. There’s too many of us that have met or talked to him that think he’s being honest about it. Plus he keeps pointing out things about Sean that are shady, that I’m frankly kind of fed up with here. We lost people the other night for nothing when Sean hit that gas station, and I think we can avoid a big war if we just douche this fuck tomorrow afternoon. Get rid of him, and run this place like we care about it.”

  Gathered in the war room with Mike and Jeff were the ever present Ollie, and three other National Guardsman. All were younger men who Mike had personally chosen to be brought in on the plot to oust Sean from his position at the school. They were good soldiers, and good people. Most importantly, they had no love for the Senator.

  “Like the L.T. says, I’ve talked to him, Ollie met him, and Lenny met him and another guy, and not one person says anything bad. Frankly, I think we’d be the assholes if we didn’t do this,” Mike added his two cents. The younger men respected the veteran sergeant and his opinion. The men started to nod in agreement. The logic was good according to their leaders, and good soldiers do what their leaders tell them to do.

  “Then it’s settled. We leave in a hal
f hour. I want full combat loads and gear. Prepare as if we’re going to be hit by these people. I expect you all to be vigilant. I expect you all to select targets carefully. And remember, these aren’t dead people goofing around. If this goes south we will be fighting living, breathing, and most importantly, thinking human beings. They’re as smart as we are, so act like it.”

  “Hooah sir!” The men yelled out in unison.

  Game time.

  Jeff dismissed his men and gathered his kit. Every time his unit rolled out of the school they left it like they were going to war. Every man brought his M4, at least 8 magazines for it, as well as their service M9 pistol and 3 magazines for that. They wore full body armor, head to toe BDU’s and brought enough food and water for at least a few days outside the wire. By the time he was ready to roll, the half hour had passed already. His nerves were a little shaky, but he was committed. No time left to be scared.

  Jeff met Mike in the hallway once again as they headed to Sean’s office to get him. When they reached his office Sean was walking out into the hall wearing a heavy winter coat with a spare Kevlar vest on the outside. He wore it like he’d never worn a vest before, and Jeff thought that was a pretty fair assessment.

  “Senator, you ready?” Jeff held his helmet under his arm.

  “Yes Lieutenant. Chad will be coming along with us on the trip. I trust there is space in a vehicle for him?” Sean motioned to his asshole buddy stepping out of the classroom into the hall.

  This was a monkey wrench tossed into the works, but not a deal breaker. Jeff nodded immediately at the pompous asshole he wanted gone. “Of course there’s room. It’ll be a tight fit in the two humvees. You’re more than welcome to drive yourself in your SUV if you’d like more comfort.”

  Sean quickly dismissed the idea with a smirk, “Oh no thanks Jeff. I’ll ride in the armored military vehicle thank you very much. I don’t want that Adrian asshole shooting me as I drive over to Lenny's.”