by Gareth Wood
“And the boy? Is he your son?”
“Darren? No, he’s an orphan. His entire family was killed somewhere around Edmonton, and he was on the run and stumbled into myself and my sister. We’ve been friends ever since, and he’s one of the team. He’s seventeen now, actually.”
“Ah. He seems older, yes?” He looked at me now, and said, “You have talent for keeping people alive. I talked with Sanji, and he spoke of your dedication. You keep your people alive.”
I was thinking just then of Amanda’s father Marty, and of Eric and Chris, both lost on missions I was leading. And of Dave the DJ, killed in Prince George by a pack of the hungry dead. But Jaeger continued.
“I think our chances are best if we go with you to this Cold Lake. We could stay here, of course, but a larger community is safer.” He shrugged and rubbed his hands together.
“It’s a dangerous trip,” I admitted. “The dead are everywhere. We can’t go anywhere near a city.”
“Cities are really that bad? There are things in my house in Calgary I had hoped to see again someday. Pictures of my family, a home video of my wife.”
“Not a chance. We have an outpost at the airport, but there are probably a few hundred thousand zombies still in Calgary. Maybe up to half a million.”
“That many?” He turned away for a moment, and shook his head. We didn’t speak much more after that, and when we were relieved we went back inside to warmth and light and hot tea, and I turned in. I slept well for the first time in weeks, surrounded by the living.
* * *
The next morning, after everyone was up and chores had been taken care of, I asked the Banff survivors to meet us outside on the observation deck. We all gathered together, and I asked them to sit on chairs that Sanji and I had brought outside from the common area. We had shoveled fresh snow off the deck, and it was sunny and cool, probably just below freezing. I had advised them to dress warmly, and several of them brought mugs of tea or hot chocolate. With everyone sitting in a half circle around me, including my team, I began.
“You appear to have a good thing going here. You have water and food, a fair amount of supplies, and shelter and energy, thanks to that wind power set-up you have working. The town below this mountain is fairly clear of the undead, but the town itself is wrecked. You have a few decisions to make, now that you know there are other survivors out there, and that the government remains active. As I see it, you have three choices. First, you can stay here on your own, and hope to make it through the next several years without being found by a bandit gang or a group of the walking dead. I don’t give you much chance of surviving either of those encounters.” There were some frowns, and some nods of understanding. The defenses here were poor, and they knew it.
“Second, you can all come with us and we will try to get you safely to Cold Lake, where we have doctors, food and medicine, schools, and probably even a few lawyers. There are currently about fourteen thousand people and we’re finding more all the time. It will be a hard trip, but we can make it in just a few days if we’re lucky and the vehicles are in good enough shape.” This got a few of them thinking. Would it be worth the risk? Would things be any better there than they were here? Good, this is what I wanted them to start thinking.
“Third choice, some or all of you can stay here, but we’ll help supply you, arm you, and train you. In return you’d help us by searching for supplies in the area, building up your own defenses and shelter, and hosting a few of our Salvage Teams as they come through the area. You’d probably also get a permanent military outpost here, and a slight population boost, maybe another ten people. You would be in regular contact with Cold Lake and other communities, and you’d be better able to deal with the undead and any bandits who happen to come along.”
After that it turned into a question and answer period, and I talked until my throat was sore. They had some very intelligent questions about Cold Lake’s policies, about government and the military, and about the undead themselves. The conversation moved back indoors eventually, and I left them to their debate. I went and found Amanda talking with Darren, and we went outside to check over our vehicles and gear.
“How did it go last night?” I asked Amanda as we cleaned out the back of the Highlander in preparation for reloading it. I noticed she smelled a lot better. I probably did as well.
“Pretty good, actually. They kept me up late asking questions.”
“Like what?”
“What it’s really like in Cold Lake. If it is safer there than here.” She looked around to make sure it was just the three of us still. “They have it pretty easy here. Like you said, food and water and shelter. But what happens to them if a raider gang finds them here?”
“That’s why I hope they take door number three, you know?” I pulled a case of ammunition out of the back of the truck, and placed it on the ground next to a large plastic water jug.
Darren was cleaning his rifle. He had a small wooden folding table set up near us, and was checking each part as he took it off the assembly and cleaned it. A gun cleaning kit rested on the ground beside him. He looked up at us, and grinned.
“Don’t worry, man,” he said, “they’ll stay here, most of them.”
“Are you psychic now? How do you know that?”
“They know they have a good thing here, and if we make it better by helping them with defenses and give them guns and stuff, they can hold out for a long time. They’re thinking, even if Cold Lake falls to the zombies, they have a good place here.”
Amanda put in, “You said most of them. You think there’s some that will come with us?”
“Yup, I bet that oil guy, Jaeger, will want to move up there. Its civilization and he doesn’t like this living on top of a hill with a bunch of farmers and poor people. And that guy Dand, the scientist. He’ll want to go so he can be where the action is, know what I mean?”
“That makes sense,” I said.
“Can’t say about the others, but a few of them might want to go. But I bet that Joel and his buddies stay here and take our offer.”
It did make sense, and it was what I was hoping for. If Thomas Dand and Nathan Jaeger wanted to move to Cold Lake, we would take them. Dand would be useful, and probably Jaeger would too. He could get a good job with the administration of the base pretty easily, I thought. I was sure that the Cold Lake brass would honour my offer to these people too. It would be very useful to have another outpost this far south, and Banff was on the main corridor to the coast, with easy access to the plains and a great many roads east, south, and west.
We finished our organizing, and then helped Darren clean the rest of our guns. Sanji showed up nearly an hour later. He had been walking around the plateau with Jaeger, looking at the possible paths up and down from the summit.
There were many, but the road was the easiest by far, and it was far safer than any approach directly towards the town. Cliffs and loose rock faces barred the way up on that side. With a lot of work the road could be secured from intrusion, and a fence on the top of the mountain could be erected to keep the people here safe, but the manpower needs would be high. It would be easier to do in summer, with proper tools. Also, getting all the materials here would be a task, though I think a small aircraft could land at the Banff Airport still. We’d have to check that out. I started making notes to myself, of all the things that needed to be done here. New homes would be helpful. Plumbing pumps, more electrical gear, and lots of plastic sheeting for even more greenhouses. All kinds of medical supplies. If they decided this way it was going to be a long time getting it all done, but at least we could fly them in some more people and weapons right away.
* * *
“Welcome to Banff International Airport,” Darren said sarcastically as we stood in front of the metal sign. It was rusted and the words were barely legible: “Caution, Low Flying Aircraft”. Amanda, Jaeger, Darren and I were standing on the snow covered ground northeast of the town, on the Banff aircraft landing strip. It was
n’t paved. It was barely cleared. It was a kilometer or more of open field, leveled to remove the largest rocks, and badly overgrown with brush and grass. To make it worse, it was nestled next to a mountain I didn’t know the name of, and from where we stood I could see half a dozen deer grazing at the far end. They showed no interest after watching us for a few moments when we arrived.
We had driven down from the summit of Sulphur Mountain earlier this morning, and it was nearing noon now. The sun was out, the sky was clear, and the snow was starting to melt in places. We had driven the three kilometers from the Banff exit onto the Trans Canada Highway to the airport, turned in to what could charitably be called a parking lot, and now we stood looking at the field. At the far end there was a small plane, a single engine propeller driven passenger plane, with faded call letters and equally faded red paint. There were no buildings, sheds, control towers, or radio relay stations.
There were two wind socks, torn and hanging limp, one at either end of the landing strip, and that was our only clue other than the derelict aircraft that this was indeed the airport. I shook my head and looked at the others. Amanda looked back at me, and made a face.
“Nothing larger than a CC-138 is gonna land here,” she muttered, referring to a Canadian Forces twin propeller plane commonly called a Twin Otter. She was right. Helicopters and small planes only, and even those would need fuel that wasn’t there. The whole area needed to be fenced in as well to keep out wandering undead, even after we cleared the entire town of the remaining walking dead that still lingered. There might be six or seven wandering the streets still, but I suspected more of them in the houses and shops.
We drove back into Banff with a sense that the plan we had come up with was possible, even if it was going to be very hard to pull off. That was fine. If it gave the people here a chance, it was worth it. Cold Lake would get a remote base out of it, and with luck and a little effort we could secure the town again and rebuild and repair a lot of the damage that had been done. Having an operating hospital again in this region would be very good, though getting supplies here was going to be a huge challenge.
I looked around the town again as Darren drove. Having to pass through the center of the town to get to the service road that led to the top gave me plenty of chances to look at the damage, and I saw that my first impressions had been a little wrong. Most of the buildings were in good enough shape that workers could get them functional again quite rapidly. The burnt out ones were a problem, but some only had windows missing, bullet holes in walls, and minor structural damage. The stone faced buildings in the center of town were the best off, except the ones that had suffered fire damage. One had collapsed, and I could see a body half buried in the rubble, only an arm, torso and half of a head emerging.
We turned up the service road, passed the Cave and Basin hot springs building, and drove the rest of the way back to the top of the mountain. Near the top we slowed down and stopped at the new checkpoint we had suggested the survivors here should put up. It was a log barricade wrestled into place across the road where the trees ended at the top of the mountain, and two people with rifles met us. They looked cold, but they were happy to see us, and soon they would have a plywood and sheet metal insulated guard post with a small heater built, so that they wouldn’t freeze on the long night shifts. Two people at all times were to guard the road, and have a radio or phone line installed to keep in touch with the main building. Just one more thing in a long list of important things that needed doing here.
We drove around to the side of the main building and parked, and I went to look for Joel Parsons. I found him in the larger of the greenhouses, checking the plants. The ginger cat I had seen the day before was sitting on a crate nearby watching us with detached interest. I told Joel what we had found, and my thoughts about the town.
“So, what is your decision going to be?” I got right to the point.
He shrugged. “I’ll be staying, but a few of the others will want to go with you. I think we should take your offer of help.” He finished with his checks and picked up a pail and hand pump, and started misting the plants in one row.
In the end it was as Joel predicted. Jaeger, the biologist Thomas Dand, and Keiko wanted to come with us, but everyone else wanted to stay here. We agreed that Cold Lake would help supply them with equipment and weapons, and they would host a force of Salvage Teams and military personnel. Once the town was cleared and fortified it would be rebuilt and more people would move here to colonize the area.
Once that was agreed on we gathered everyone together. Those who were staying behind were told everything we expected to happen, what their contribution would likely be in terms of time and materials, and how to ensure their own safety more completely once we left. After that we took the three who were coming with us and began basic weapons familiarity with them. If they were coming on a dangerous road trip with us they would need to know what to do when, not if, we ran into the walking dead.
Keiko was the only one with her own sidearm, and we chose to have the group remaining behind keep the rifle that Jaeger had carried on his patrols. That meant we trained all three how to fire the C7A1. It amounted to a very fast rundown on the rifle itself, followed by a few rounds fired for practice. Jaeger turned out to be the best shot. He had done game hunting earlier in his life, and had a knack for shooting. Keiko was tolerable, but I wouldn’t let her shoot at anything more than forty meters away. Dand was terrible. He literally made me think he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from the inside. I made a mental note to issue him one of the shotguns and tell him to stay out of any shooting unless we were desperate.
Dinner that night was another communal affair. From somewhere Joel brought out two bottles of a decent red wine, enough for everyone to have a small glass. Dinner was a thick stew made from rabbit, vegetables that had been stored in the summer, and some of the winter crops that had been grown by Joel. We contributed some spices and rice. Toasts and farewells were made once I announced that we would be leaving in the morning to return to Cold Lake, and I noticed Amanda talking quietly to a young couple whose names I only dimly recalled, Rob and Diane, I thought.
After dinner coffee was passed around, and people drifted away to bed as night deepened The outside watch came in for dinner and warm beds, and the clouds drifted away, leaving us a spectacular view of the star filled sky. I went outside to appreciate it, standing on the observation deck in the cold air, gazing in wonder as the Milky Way slowly turned overhead. After a few minutes I saw a satellite drift across the sky. It was one of only a few that still orbited the planet, most having failed or plunged into the atmosphere over the last year and a half. As far as I knew, the International Space Station was still up there, though I’d have no way of knowing if it had crashed to Earth. There was so much I didn’t know.
I went to bed after that, and lay awake wondering what Jess was up to, how my sister Sarah was, and how little Michael and Megan were doing in school. I missed them all terribly, and at that point wanted nothing more than to get home and see my family. When I did see them again I’d be hard pressed to want to leave them again in search of more survivors or supplies. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to tell them about Eric’s death. I eventually went to sleep and if I dreamed I mercifully didn’t remember what it was about when I woke up again.
Part Four
We left early, before too many of those staying behind were awake. We had breakfast with Joel, then packed up our guests’ the few belongings and started the slow drive down the side of Sulfur Mountain. The morning was cloudy, the sun hiding behind tall columns rising over the prairies to the east. Keiko and Thomas were riding with Amanda and I in the Highlander, and Jaeger was riding in the F-250 with Darren and Sanji. It took a lot of concentration to get us down safely, so there wasn’t much talking until we reached the bottom and turned toward the town.
“Do you know much about biology?” asked Thomas from the back seat beside Amanda as we were passing through th
e desolate town at the mountain’s foot.
“Only what I remember from high school. Why?”
He pointed at a lone shambling figure trudging through the snow towards us. It had been an elderly woman before dying and reanimating.
“According to everything I know about biology, virology, and all the physical sciences,” he said, “that thing out there is impossible. It cannot exist.”
“And yet…” I said, and raised a hand to gesture around us.
“Yes. And yet, there they are, in their millions.” He shook his head and frowned.
“Why are they impossible?” Amanda asked from beside him.
“Viruses and bacteria do not act this way. It is not how they behave. They do not re-animate dead tissues. There is no energy, no way for the viruses to reproduce if the cells are dead.”
“Tell them that,” she said. “Maybe they’ll lie down and die once they realize they can’t exist.”
We drove past the shambling corpse in silence. Thomas leaned closer to the window and had a better look, and then turned away looking ill. I guessed he hadn’t seen many of the undead up close. I was glad it was cold so we didn’t have to smell it all that much. You never escaped the smell entirely.
“One thing you’ll find when we get to Cold Lake is that there is no shortage of theories about why the dead come back.”
“Such as?” he prompted.
“The big three are the ‘Wrath of God’, a rainforest virus, and space aliens trying to subjugate us.” I looked in the rearview mirror to gauge his reaction. He looked understandably skeptical.
“I heard it was demonic possession a few months ago,” Amanda said, with a glint of amusement in her eye. “And then someone else told me it was a military bioweapon that escaped containment.”
