by W J Hegarty
“Being happy should be the priority, not a mere dream that’s cast aside, crushed by the weight of a standard of living someone else chose for you long before you were born.”
Weeks passed, but the store was no longer the same. Without Mo, Seth had no need to return. Seth changed his routine and began walking to the police station once a week for any updates on his friend’s case. His sojourns became more frequent until Seth found himself visiting his new friends on a nightly basis. It wouldn’t be long before he dropped out of law school altogether and signed up for the academy. His parents would be heartbroken, but Mohammed was right: Seth needed to be happy, and happiness for him was in helping people. What better way to help the community than as a police officer? Seth never looked back. From time to time, he still thought of his old friend Mo. It often brought a smile to his face; the old guy was right all along.
“Scuttlebutt around town is you had some words with Lancaster last night.”
“News travels fast, huh? Good, he’s nothing to worry about. Just a bitter old man, last of a dying breed, really.” Tobias topped off Seth’s coffee.
“That may be the case, but he’s still dangerous. The mayor and his cronies shouldn’t be underestimated, Tobias.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep my eyes open.” Tobias shrugged.
“I’m just saying, man, tread carefully with those people, Jim especially.” Seth knew that Marisol disposed of Jim, though he kept that detail from Tobias. Best that his friend kept his guard up.
“Well, if he’s so bad, why don’t you go arrest him?” said Tobias half-jokingly.
“Go fuck yourself, Toby. You know I can’t just put him in lockup for being a prick.”
“I know, I know. I’m just busting your balls, man. Look, I’ll be sure to stay away from Lancaster and his crew, but I’m serious, Seth. I’m out of here as soon as possible. You should think about joining us.”
“I have. I am. I mean, I agree with you, Toby. If something happens, we’re in some serious trouble here. Look, I gotta split. Tell Isabelle thanks for breakfast. You take it easy, rabble-rouser.” Seth hurried to the door. “Hey, I’ll see you at the briefing, alright?”
“You got it, Seth. I’ll see you there.”
Tobias watched his friend drive off under an overcast sky. In the distance, the horizon grew increasingly dark.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Canvass
Miller was making the rounds, checking in on what remained of Takashi’s unit. More than two dozen souls fled Philadelphia with them, a mix of soldiers from various branches of the military, some local first-responders, and a handful of citizens. Of that group of survivors, nine soldiers were all that remained. The journey had claimed nearly all of them.
Pepperbush had adequate defenses in the berm, but Miller was fairly confident in his assessment that the earthen wall was never truly proven. His first stop was Sam’s security headquarters. Miller had met the man briefly this morning, though he thought it wise to get Sam’s viewpoint on town security one on one.
Sam greeted Miller at the door with a firm handshake and a warm smile as he led the young captain into his office. Tobias was present, standing by a large map of the East Coast.
“Captain, I’d like to introduce you to Tobias Burke. He’s a member of my security detail.”
“It’s nice to meet you Tobias.”
“Likewise. If I could get a moment of your time, Captain, I’d like to run something past you.”
“I’ve got time.”
Over the next hour, Sam and Tobias explained for Miller the local politics, a brief history of Pepperbush, and the undead threat from their view out in the middle of nowhere. But that was all a primer to prepare Miller for his idea of flight to the sea. The plan, sound as it was, got thrown into disarray at the prospect of an unknown number of carriers less than two days away.
“This plan sounds feasible, Tobias. I like the sound of it. Listen, I’m off to check up on the rest of my unit, but I’ll let Colonel Takashi know what you said, and we’ll take it from there.”
12:07 pm - The Berm
Miller and Rachel were twenty-eight and twenty-seven, respectively. They grew up together, went to the same high school, and afterward enlisted. The two of them went through boot camp at Fort Sill. Afterward, Miller was assigned to Colonel Takashi’s unit in Afghanistan while Rachel went off to a spec-ops unit in South America where she would serve beside Radzinski. They would keep in touch through the years, frequently sending email back and forth, calling on birthdays, and, when it worked out, visiting on holidays. They were the vanguard of a young generation of career military. Miller was a newly minted captain while Rachel had recently received lieutenant stripes of her own. They hadn’t spoken in months until by happenstance both were deployed to Philadelphia. Once they were on the ground, the situation deteriorated quickly. There was no time for pleasantries before they were well and truly in the shit. Now safely behind the walls of Pepperbush, the two young soldiers found time to catch up, to take a breather.
Miller climbed the ladder to a watch post at the southernmost tip of the berm. On the platform above, Rachel was familiarizing herself with their new surroundings, getting the lay of the land from Bernie, one of Pepperbush’s roaming sentries.
“As far as you can see, and then far past that, we’re surrounded by forest. The closest anything is twenty miles down the road. General store with a single gas pump.”
“Fuel? That could come in handy.” Rachel almost lit up at the revelation.
“It did. We ran their reserves dry building the berm.”
“So you’re telling me that the only fuel in town is whatever is left sloshing around in your gas tanks?”
“That’s the long and short of it, yeah.”
“Good to know.”
Bernie gave Miller a hand up. “Captain.”
“Bernie.” Miller wobbled a bit when he reached the apex. “These things are a little rickety, huh?”
“No concrete for the posts. We just buried them in the dirt.” Bernie returned his attention to Rachel on his way down the ladder. “I need to get going. Perimeter ain’t gonna watch itself. You holler if you have any questions.”
“I will, Bernie. Thank you.”
Miller took a spot beside Rachel, surveying the dense forest. “He seems like a friendly one.”
“Nice enough.” Rachel held Miller at arm’s length. “Let me get a look at you. Everything happened so fast. God, it’s good to see you, Miller.” They hugged hard and long. Rachel laughed and backed off. She waved out her shirt and brushed her other hand past her nose. “Careful, I reek.”
“Weeks on the road will do that. I’ll take your stench over theirs any day.” Miller gestured to the wilds beyond.
“You’ve got a point. Immanent death aside, it feels nice to be able to slow down, take a breather.”
“I know. Philadelphia was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. I can’t imagine what the rest of the country is going through right now.”
“Yeah.” Rachel was eager to move on to another subject. Why rehash the past few weeks? Miller and everyone else in their unit just experienced the same hell. Talking about it wouldn’t make it go away. “So you seeing anyone?”
“No time, you?”
“Eh, a date here and there, nothing serious. How are the folks?”
“I wish I knew. I talked with my mom a few days before touching down in Philly. She said everybody was good. Big sis and little brother are still arguing over whose name should go above the bar. Mom says they should just use the family name and be done with it. I guess that makes too much sense. Dad was still busy with the dam project. They hope to be up and running by the end of summer. Renewable energy for the entire city. Clean drinking water to boot. They’ll be completely self-sufficient, nearly one-hundred-percent off the grid. It’s impressive for a city of that size. Honestly, that whole project is so far past my purview I wouldn’t know how to explain it properly if I tried. But no, I haven’t
spoken with him or anyone else in months. Now I never will.”
“You don’t know that.”
Miller slowly nodded. Rachel wasn’t sure if he was agreeing with her or standing firm that his assessment was unshakable. They stood in silence for a beat before Miller changed topics. “You ever think of Trevor?”
“That asshole? Not often. Last I heard he was assigned to a listening post in Alaska. Serves him right. Huh, fucking Trevor. What the hell made you think of him? Boot camp feels like a lifetime ago.”
“Tell me about it.” Miller gestured to Radzinski, who was passing a few blocks away. “Like you said, he’s an asshole.”
“Yeah, that guy is a dick, isn’t he?”
“So how does it look out here?” Miller took the binoculars for a view of the forest.
“Not a peep. It’s quiet.”
“Good. I’ll take anything positive at this point.”
Rachel stared off in the distance, trying to determine where exactly they came from. “Did we kill these people, Miller?”
“God, I hope not.”
1:15 pm - Bed-and-Breakfast: Triage
Miller met Jeremiah on his first tour in the Middle East. Both men were serving under Takashi, and though Jeremiah was standoffish, the two became fast friends. Jeremiah was similar to Miller’s father in the sense that his current task consumed him. His goal took over his entire being until the man and the mission were inseparable. Miller respected the work ethic but knew the pitfalls of such a state of mind. He often had to force Jeremiah to relax or to even socialize with the rest of their unit for a few beers and just unwind.
Aiko and Jeremiah were Navy medics assigned to the front lines in Philadelphia. What remained of their units combined with Colonel Takashi’s shortly after the FOB fell. Aiko was in her final year at Bethesda, and Jeremiah was back for retraining when they met. A year later, they were secretly engaged. Their privacy kept until the fall of Philadelphia, when it became apparent there was more between the two of them than camaraderie. Jeremiah was on leave from his station on the USNS Mercy when he was recalled and ordered to hook up with a Marine unit in the Philadelphia area. An outbreak of some kind nearing a tipping point was the rumor among medical professionals. That theory made the most sense in the face of so many troops active on U.S. soil.
Enlisting wasn’t Aiko’s first choice or even the second. Biology was her passion. She dreamed of attending medical school and one day being at the forefront of some Earth-shattering breakthrough. Unfortunately, her parents couldn’t foot the bill and she was turned down for every scholarship she applied for. Aiko had never considered military service, but as her options dwindled, she became desperate, imagining herself toiling away at a nine-to-five. She loved the medical field and would do whatever it took to achieve her goals. While she was studying a first-responder’s manual, a recruiter came by. At first, she was opposed to the idea and brushed him off, though not before accepting a little literature.
It can’t hurt to at least read it, she thought.
The options really didn’t sound so bad, not to mention until that point she had no idea the military would pay for schooling. This was all she needed to know. Three years later she found herself deployed to Philadelphia. Something about mass riots. It didn’t make sense, but there she was.
The medics were given an area off to the side of Grace’s as a makeshift triage. Some of their unit needed proper care now that they were off the road. While they were set up, the medics offered to look at anyone from town with an injury, seeing as Pepperbush was lacking in the medical care department.
Aiko had just finished cleaning Soraya’s bandaged side. She was on her way out, back to the main dining area of the bed-and-breakfast, as Miller passed. He and Soraya exchanged smiles that lingered a little longer than those with their fellow unit members. Aiko was tending to the colonel; his knee was bad. Takashi could still walk, but running was out of the question.
“How’s he looking, Aiko?”
“His knee is dislocated. He shouldn’t be on it at all. If I had access to a wheelchair, I’d strap him to it. It’s honestly a small miracle that he even made it this far.”
“I’m sitting right here, you two.” Takashi grit his teeth as he wobbly rose from his chair.
“Sir.” Aiko attempted to steady her commanding officer.
“Enough. I’ll keep my weight off of it as best I can. I’ll be of no use to anyone if all I’m doing is barking orders from a chair for the next two days.”
“And if we have to carry you out of here because you damaged your leg further by being stubborn?” Miller was ready to act if Takashi looked like he was about to fall, but he kept his distance.
Takashi would have none of it. “I said that’s enough. What can I do for you, Captain?”
“Sir, I’ve spoken with a member of Sam’s security detail, and according to him, a large contingent of Pepperbush is in favor of leaving. In fact, he was in the final stages of preparation to do just that. Our arrival threw a wrench into the works.”
“Does he have a destination in mind? Just hitting the road seems more like delaying the inevitable.”
“He thinks we should head for the ocean, find a boat that can carry everyone, then head south for the islands.”
“Not bad. I’ll take it under advisement, but first things first. We need to address the town as a whole, inform them of what’s coming. We don’t have the time or the resources to commit to a full-scale evacuation. If the carriers reach us while we’re in the middle of the evac, these people will scatter. For now, it’s best that we fortify the town’s defenses and get these people up to speed. When we’ve put down the undead threat, then we march to the sea.”
Sam stood in the entranceway, just out of earshot. He leaned on the doorframe, tapping his fingers above his head against decades-old wallpaper. Dusty knickknacks adorned a shelf just above his reach. Sam couldn’t wait for Takashi to offer a proper briefing. He had to know. He had to know now.
“Colonel. A word?”
“Of course, Sam.”
Miller made eye contact with Sam. The recently appointed head of Pepperbush security was anxious. He needed answers that couldn’t wait for a formal briefing. Miller thought it best to let him speak with Takashi one on one. “I’m heading out, sir. I’m going to continue canvassing town and finish checking up on the rest of the unit.”
“Dismissed, Captain.”
Sam nodded at Miller as he passed, his attention squarely on Takashi. “Philadelphia, just how bad was it?”
Takashi studied the man. Sam had a stern gentleness about him. Concern was obvious; that was a given. While some might only have their best interests at heart, Takashi surmised from just one look that Sam kept Pepperbush and all of its residents at the forefront of his priorities. He could handle the truth. Sam wouldn’t abandon these people at the first sign of trouble. The colonel sized him up in less time than it took to form the thought. “I won’t mince words here, Sam. Philadelphia is gone. A line was drawn in the sand. If the horde approached I-95, the Air Force would initiate a bombing run, blow all those things back to hell. They did it, alright. Everything from North Broad Street to the Delaware River was completely erased from the map. The carriers in the immediate vicinity were vaporized, and every living thing in a twenty-block radius was killed. By nightfall, there were four times as many carriers coming for us. We didn’t stand a chance.”
“Your superiors made it worse,” Sam said with a certainty that lacked any judgmental undertones.
“Yes and no. People were trapped in the city with no way out unless they could travel on foot. Thousands chose to walk out of there. Hundreds of thousands stayed behind. All that the bombing run accomplished was to speed up the process.”
“And the rest of the country?”
“The last good intel I received said that DC had fallen and the Capitol Building was in flames.”
“Jesus.”
“It’s safe to assume that most, if not a
ll, major metropolitan areas nationwide have suffered a similar fate.”
1:30 pm - Bed-and-Breakfast: Dining Room
Soraya usually spoke near-perfect English, though when deep in thought or caught off guard, her speech became broken. Miller found it a cute quirk, but others were annoyed by it, especially Lev, who was embarrassed to be in her presence when she slipped up. He felt it was an affront on their superiors’ behalf to have sent someone with such a handicap to represent the IDF as a whole. To hear him speak like this broke her heart. At least he only lambasted her in private where her tears could remain her own. After Philadelphia, Lev wouldn’t be disparaging her anymore. In fact, he wouldn’t be doing anything at all.
Soraya sat alone at the main dining table of Grace’s bed-and-breakfast. Most of her unit was out scouring the town for weak spots in its revealed-to-be lax defenses. Spread out on the table in front of her were the remnants of two broken radios she disassembled in the hope she could salvage one working device out of the mess.
The bed-and-breakfast typically didn’t host many guests. A few out-of-towners would stumble in during any given month, and that was fine, but the place was mostly used as a getaway of sorts for the residents of Pepperbush. It was common to have a couple stay a night or two on a special occasion or just as a change of scenery. Now, though, the place was filled to capacity with refugees. Normally, Grace would feel overwhelmed by the crowd; these days, she welcomed the company.
Grace shuffled about in a mauve dress and little matching shoes that were synonymous with the woman. She was tidying up the guests’ area. Whenever she was nervous, she would clean. After the conversation she overheard the soldiers having, this place would be spotless twice over by the end of the day. “Could I get you anything else, dear?”
