by L. D. King
“You guys look beat. Did anything happen while you were out? Was your day not successful?”
“Kamal, we found the radio that we were looking for, but we also found something horrible. We discovered where the zombies rest until they come out to hunt. They are in the train station switch house on the other side of town. If I never see that again, it will be fine with me.”
“Gafar, you found a zombie nest? What were they doing?”
“They were in a huge pile, one on top of another, resting.”
“It was so spooky to see them just lying there like that!” said Sabah.
“It must have been terrifying. Gafar, do you remember that we had heard that the zombies were afraid of fire? Do you think we can get that terminal building locked up? If we can, maybe we can set it on fire. If we can hold them in the building as it burns, we might just kill them.”
“I don’t know Kamal. If it does not kill them, we need to be sure that we do not drive them back towards our house here. I think we need a better plan to make sure that they do not come back this way. If we had three teams with four people each. Two teams would close the big doors as they set the switch house on fire on all four sides. The third team would set houses or buildings between us and the switch house on fire. The zombies do not cross burned areas. The main door of the switch house looked like it was the only way in or out. The door is nearly closed so it won’t be too much to close it tight. One team would be our strongest men at the doors to pull them shut. The second team can set the building on fire. If we do this right the zombies will not be able to get out. It is an old building made out of timber. Once it is lit it should burn for hours. The last team will set buildings or houses on fire between our house and the terminal. If any zombies survive the fire, the line of burned buildings will block them from coming this way. This should work.”
“Gafar, I think you have a good idea. The only other thing that we need to watch is the weather. We should plan to start this start around ten am. The wind will need to be blowing away from our home, towards the mountains on the other side of town. That way if the buildings we set on fire gets out of control the fire will be blown away from us.”
“Kamal, to make this as easy as possible we should make bundles of fire starting material. This way all we have to do is drop it, light it and move on to the next bundle. Once the last night watch has determined that the wind will favor our plan we should be able to kill or drive the zombies out of this town.”
“Gafar, my friend, that is a good idea. We need to get our dinner ready for tonight. Tomorrow we will start making fire bundles for this. Nothing else but this task will be worked on until this is ready. I want the three teams to be you on one team with Husayn, Hsen and Allahohnim. The four of you are the strongest of our group. I will be on the other team with Tetsuo, Raja, and Ahmed. The last team will be Gawdat, Sabah, Maana, and Roya. This will leave Badr to stay in our house to lock the gates behind us as well as to stand watch until we return. Is everyone okay with this plan?”
Everyone was on board with Kamal’s plan. Dinner was being prepared. It was ready as the plan was agreed to. They ate in silence. The night watch was started. The rest of them went upstairs to lay down to sleep. They broke off into small groups to talk quietly. The next day they got up with the sun. They had their breakfast. Then all of them except the day watch started to construct the fire starting bundles. They used many of the burlap bags that they found in the back courtyard. The bundles were loaded with straw as well as small limbs off of the trees that were around their house. By the time that the day was finished they had everything they needed to start a fire. One in the switch house then in the other buildings on the way back. During dinner, it was Roya that spoke up.
“Kamal, tomorrow if we do not have the wind in our favor, it would be a good idea to take the fire bags out to walk them most of the way. This way we will not have to carry them on the same day that we plan to use them to start our fires.”
“Roya, that is a superb idea. Yes, it would be a good idea to take our fire bags out to carry them most of the way if the wind was not in our favor. Doing this, we won’t be as tired on the day that we will be setting the fires. No matter what happens tomorrow, we will get the fire bags spread out. Thank you for your idea.”
They rested that night. The people on watch stood their watch. The next morning the wind was not blowing at all. To make this work in their favor they wanted the wind at their backs. They set out to carry their fire bags as far towards the switch house as they thought would be safe. The rest of the day they spent resting or talking. That night they had dinner. The night watch was manned as well. At first light, they were awakened. As they ate their breakfast, they felt a slight breeze that was blowing towards the switch house. Today was going to be the day that their plan would be put in action. Kamal finished his breakfast first. He stood to speak to everyone.
“Today is our day. Today we will either kill or drive most if not all of the zombies out of our town for good. Is everyone ready to go?”
Everyone was ready. They formed up into a single group as they started towards the switch house. As they got closer, the third group stopped in their assigned position. They had their fire bags ready from the day before all they had to do was light them. These fires would drive any escaping zombies away from their house back into the hills. The other two groups continued on to towards the switch house. They picked up their fire bags that had been dropped off the day before. As they crested the small hill overlooking the switch house. Kamal stopped there so he could speak to his two teams.
“I want one team to set our fire bags in place around the building ready to light the bags. The other team will have two men on each door. As the men on the doors are ready, they will start closing them. At that time, I want all of the fire bags lit. If this works, we will have trapped the zombies inside. If this works for us, then we need to get it out on the ham radio after we get back. With any hope, we will have found a way to kill zombies in a large group. As soon as the doors are closed with the fire bags burning we need to get out of here as quickly as we can. Is everyone ready?”
All of the people on both teams gave a thumbs up. They snuck down to the switch house. The first team was setting their fire bags in place. Kamal’s team split off to close the massive doors on the switch house. The doors had not been moved for a long while. They were stubborn. The doors started to move but it was a difficult job. It took every ounce of mussel the men had to close the two doors. But close them they did. As the fire started to rage, the doors were nearly closed. Some of the zombies had started to become agitated. The men on the doors got them both closed as a few of the zombies shuffling towards the opening as it closed trapping them inside. The old, dry building was beginning to burn quickly. Kamal with the two teams did not stop running to look at what was happening. They ran like their lives depended on it. The last team had started their fire bags, the buildings near the switch house were burning as the other two teams ran by. All three teams met on the ridge that was less than three kilometers away from their home. They stopped to look at what they had started. Everything that they could see was burning including the switch house. Gafar was the first to speak.
“I did not see any of the zombies make it outside of the switch house. I do not think any of them got out. Did anyone see anything?”
“Gafar, I do not want to place any hope on the deed we just did. No matter what anyone else says the zombies were people at one time. What we have just accomplished was to kill them. That is what I will carry with me from what we did today.”
“Kamal, it was not easy for any of us to do this thing. If we did not do this, then we would have allowed them the luxury of killing us at a time of their choosing. Nobody won anything today. We need to find a way to stop this outbreak so the world can start living again rather than just surviving.”
The three teams stood for a while watching what they had done. After about 30 or 40 minutes, they started to walk
back to their house. No one spoke. They were let into their house by Badr. She had been watching from the roof of their house. As the teams came into the house, it was quiet. No one spoke. No one cheered. No one looked at anyone else. They all just sat blankly staring at the walls. They ate their night meal in relative silence. They started their night watch. At first light, they got up to have their breakfast. Kamal spoke to the group.
“Yesterday was hard on us both physically and emotionally. We burned a large amount of our little town. We need to make sure that we accomplished what we had set out to do. I want four people to come with me so we can get as close to the switch house as we can. We need to see what is left of the zombies. We know that the zombies flee from fire so any zombies that were out would flee by going over the hill on the other side of the city. The people I want to take is myself, Gafar, Hsen, Allahohnim with Husayn. Is that all right with the four of you?”
“Kamal, I will go. We need to make sure that this is over.”
“I need to see what we did to them, Kamal. I will go. We need to be prepared to run at any time that we are out.”
“This was done by us. We need to make sure that what we did is over. I will go with you.”
“This will be a hard thing to see, but we do need to make sure that what we started ended as we believed it would. I will go as well.”
“Thank you. We will travel through the ashes of the building that we burned as much as we can. We know that the zombies do not like the burned areas. By walking through the ashes, it should give us some comfort that the zombies will not be there. If all we did was move the zombies away from our town using the fire, then they may be back at some time. We need to go so we can get back early.”
The five men set out for the switch house. As they walked thru the ashes of the burned buildings, they did not see any zombies or anything else. When they got to the ridge that overlooked the switch house, they could see that it was nearly burned to the ground. A very small section of the building was left standing. One side had not burned completely to the ground. It was some two meters at the highest point. It was an old building built forty to sixty years ago if not longer. It was made out of wood. They could see that the doors had fallen into the fire and burned. Husayn looked at the men as he spoke to them.
“Wow! It looks like there is nothing left but ashes. It burned to the ground. You can see that the large doors fell into the fire. I do not see any zombies anywhere.”
“Husayn, I think you are right. I would like to go down to look into the switch house if we can get that close.”
“Kamal, if that is what you want to do then we need to go so we can get it done.”
They walked down the ridge to the burned switch house. They had to walk to the other side to see in. What they saw was horrible. Allahohnim was the first to speak.
“Everyone, look through these windows. These windows were, at least, three stories high. This side did not burn completely to the ground. It is only two meters high. Looking inside, I can see there is a large pool of something that looks slimy. The slime looks like it has been scorched by the fire.”
“Thank you Allahohnim. We need to try to get closer. Some of the wood is still burning. The building has many hot spots. Be careful you don’t get burned. All I want to do is get a little closer to see what that slime is.”
“Kamal, I see a couple of puddles of slime just outside of the wall. See them?”
“Yes, I do. They are scorched as well. The closer that we get the worse they smell. These puddles or pools of slime smell like a sewer. Can you see into the slime? There are bones with clothes in the slime. These were zombies. Now they have been killed by the fire.”
“If you squat we can see further into the switch house. The pools of slime are everywhere. You can see in closer pools of slime there are clothes, shoes, a skull and other bones in the slime. This smell is awful. I’m going to be sick it is so bad.”
Kamal turned away, bending over at his waist he started to throw up.
“Kamal, I think if we need any more proof that this worked we will need to gather up some of the pools of slime to take back. I am satisfied that we did what we did. The proof is all of the puddles of slime inside. We found a way to kill zombies in large numbers. Now we need to tell the world. I am going to be sick. We need to get out of here.”
Husayn bent over as he threw up.
“Husayn, you are correct. We have killed a lot of zombies by trapping them. We burned them to death in this trap. We need to get out of here the smell is overpowering. I am getting sick from the smell. We need to get back to our house to tell the others. We need to send this out on the radio so everyone will know what we did.”
They walked back to their house. They walked through the ashes looking for any zombies. They did not find any. When they got back, the day watch let them back in. Kamal stood.
“Everyone please listen. We were successful with what we set out to do. We killed a large number of zombies using the fire. We need to get this out on the radio to anyone who will listen. This single act will not make us safe because we killed a large number of zombies yesterday. We still need to stay observant as well as we need to be watchful. I do not want to stop the watches. We still need to keep searching for supplies. I think this house will help keep us safe. We will need to do our job. We cannot let our guard down. Today we can celebrate. Tonight we will eat our dinner. We will stand our watches and tomorrow it will start all over again. We need to be on guard not only for zombies but for other people that would want to take what we have from us. What we did today was find a third thing that is known about the zombies.”
That night they ate. That night they stood their watch. The next day they stood their watch. The next day as well as all of the days following they did not change their routines. They had a safe home to live in. They had killed most if not all of the zombies in their small town.
Tomorrow with many tomorrows to follow they would wake up in their new home.
They would not be running run from the zombies again.
They honestly believed that they would not have to run again. At least for a long while.
Chapter 18
University Medical Center
New Orleans
ADZ +9d
Layla woke up. It had been nine days since Australia Day Zero occurred. As she rubbed her eyes, she looked around the room, groggy and disoriented, and at first she did not know where she was. She looked up to see her husband looking down at her as he held her head on his lap. Then she realized where they were.
“Good morning, sweetheart. How long have you been awake?”
“Actually, it’s good afternoon, honey. I woke up about two hours ago, but I let you sleep,” Landon said with a smile. “You were really out of it.” He shifted his weight and groaned. “We slept for almost 24 hours. We’d better find something to eat before we go back to work. Do you know where to look? ‘Cause all I know is I’m broke. I don’t have any money on me. All I’ve got is my money card, and I heard somebody in the hall saying the vending machines are not taking money cards any more. I guess that makes sense, since the outside power is out. The computers at the bank can’t tell the machine whether the card’s got any money on it or not. If there’s no any other food available, I know a way to open the vending machines.”
“How are you going to open the machines?” said Layla. “Do you have a key?”
“You do remember I’m a fireman, right? Or at least I was. We can get anything open. The face of the vending machine’s made out of glass. All I need is to something to jar the glass.”
“You mean break the glass. You can’t do that. It would be destroying private property. You could go to jail.”
“The police department is closed,” he smiled. “There’s no police around to arrest me. If the hospital isn’t taking any insurance information, they sure as hell aren’t gonna worry about a broken vending machine. We need to get something to eat or we won’t be any good to anyone. I�
��m sure it’s gotten worse since yesterday.”
“Okay, I agree we need to eat something before we go back into that hellhole of an ER. The patients just keep coming. I feel like when we discharge them they just walk back around and get in line to come back in again. There are so many people dying right in front of us. It’s like there’s nothing we can do. I’ve only been a nurse for a year. In all that time, I only saw one person die. Now it’s 30 or 60 every shift. What’s killing them so quick?”
“I think it has something to do with when they’re injured by a zombie. If anyone gets as much as a nick from them, they catch something that kills them.”
“Landon, this scares me. Is that how we’re going to die? It looks like they’re in horrible pain before they die. We ran out of pain meds before we came up here. There’s nothing that we can do but watch them die. The world has gone to hell. This isn’t how I wanted to go out. I thought that I’d be in my 90s, in a nursing home, just dying in my sleep in a warm bed.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you. I’m your personal fireman. Firemen don’t let people die if they can help it.”
Layla gave him a big hug. They went out into the hall and she headed for the restroom to freshen up before going back downstairs.
Before they went back to work they would look for something to eat. They found a set of vending machines with candy and chips in it.
“Watch this,” said Landon. “This is my fireman’s special key.” His special key was a fire extinguisher with which he broke the glass on the front of the machine.
With their pockets full of vending machine food, they walked back into the ER. They noticed a handwritten note on the wall saying that the morgue was full, and that any new bodies had to be taken to the loading dock. There was a refrigerated semitrailer backed up to the loading dock. They were stacking the bodies as far forward in the trailer as they could.
When they had left the day before, conditions were bad in the ER, but now it was much worse. All the gurneys and chairs were full of patients. They were even having to lay patients on the floor because there was nowhere else to put them.
