by Mark Clodi
“Yes that is good, if I ran into a super zombie who was my great-great-grandchild I might not be able to tell him to do anything, unless I was more powerful than he was.”
“How do you get more powerful?” asked Stewart, already suspecting the answer.
“Eat more humans, or drain their blood at least. Anyway I was talking about Neil. He was a big fan of Egyptian mythology, one day he decided we had to call him 'Og' some sort of sun God or something. I was down there with him at the radio station, a group of soldiers came and were roughing up our troops, they tended to use wounding tactics, fragmentation grenades, shots to the arms and torso when they first ran into us. They soon learned that only major trauma to the head would keep the zombies down and switched tactics pretty quick. What they didn't expect was that we, well, you would call us 'supers', had picked up several weapons from the police and other convoy's we had ambushed earlier, we even had some rocket propelled grenades, that sort of thing and a few zombies who knew how to use them. We let the convoy get in real close then hit them hard, we almost wiped them out, but they had a reserve that retreated when we got the first bunch of them. I was sent by Neil to pursue those soldiers when the bomb went off behind me. Almost everyone I was with didn't make it. I had the luck of being down by this shitty little creek and it was just low enough that the debris went flying over my head by inches instead of into my head. I tried to crawl down under the stream bed after that, I didn't know if there would be more bombs coming or if it was over. There was only the one, and it took the heart out of Neil's army, most of the supers were there with him, and the ones who had come with me were just gone once I got up. Here and there a few dumb zombies shuffled around, but I was free. See it gets back to the orders I was given by Doctor Sentry.”
“I thought you were following Neil, had to do what he said?” asked Stewart.
“Yeah Sentry told me to do what Neil said. And Neil's last orders were to make sure the remaining men in the convoy didn't come back to interfere with his plans anymore. No Neil meant the convoy people couldn't mess with him. Therefore, I was free.”
“It was just the two of you sent to Denver? You made all those zombies?”
“Oh yes, yes we did. We checked into a hotel downtown, converted it in a single night about a week before the fall, when the second shift employees came in we used them to feed the first shift and get them into some sort of intelligence, then sent them home to get their families and told them to hide the slow 'children' they had made until the twenty fifth, which is when this whole mess started in earnest. After that hotel we split up, I went on a journey up highway seventy, taking two of the single guys with me. In one day I dropped zombies off in Idaho Springs, Frisco, Vail, Eagle, Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction. Whenever I ran out of zombies to plant in those towns, I just stopped and made a few more. I swung south from Grand Junction to hit Montrose and Durango before heading straight east towards Pueblo. I hooked up with Neil in Colorado Springs the very next day, in three days we had over two hundred operatives waiting to strike, in four more days we had zombies smart enough to follow our orders in almost every medium sized city in the state, and I even dipped down into New Mexico after meeting Neil because he told me no one was assigned to spread the plague there.”
“Just two of you wiped out the entire state. Somehow I just can't believe that.” Stewart said.
“We didn't make zombies and send them out to terrorize people, we made them stay inside and wait for a few days, we brought some of them back to almost the super level and gave them some autonomy to act discretely. It was a quick, silent takeover of society. Believe it, it happened worldwide.”
“So this isn't just happening here?” asked Max, he could see Red shake his head through the corn, “I was hoping there was someplace we could go, somewhere safe again.”
“I wasn't in the inner circle of the planning, but when I left most of the town left too, about three thousand of us flying out of the airports in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and other locations, they had buses up the coast to catch flights out over a period of like three days, from what Neil said. He said I would like being second in command of a state.”
“What was the rest of the plan?”
“I have no idea. I know phase one was to create as many zombies as possible, that is what we did. My opinion is that it worked too well. We destroyed too much of humanity. It has been a week and almost the entire state was destroyed, if it worked that well in other places then there are not many humans left.”
“Okay this is all well and good, a nice update on current events, but what does this have to do with us again?” asked Stewart.
“All of the zombies are being drawn east, toward Chicago, I think. About half of the zombies in the Denver area are heading up along highway seventy six and turning east on highway eighty. There are some zombies coming in from Wyoming too, but not that many.”
“Great, so if we head north of the interstate the zombies will pass us by. Thanks for the warning.”
“No, you don't understand, I was second in power in for this area, I am not being compelled east; I can feel what is happening zombies are being forced west from Chicago too. Which is why I think the problem lies there.”
“So?”
“No, Stewart I see what he means” said Max “Why would they be heading towards each other? To wipe out a threat, there must be people alive between here and there.”
“Again, what does that have to do with us? We can't stop a hundred thousand zombies.”
“We can warn them what is coming.”
“No, you can stop them all.” said Red.
“What do you mean? How?”
“Kill whoever is making it happen, kill the 'Neil' that was sent to Chicago. Then the zombies will become disorganized and stop acting in concert.”
“Ah, mister, do you see who we got with us? A bunch of kids, not a carload of soldiers.”
“I didn't know that. I can see that they are there, but I can't tell how old they are unless I got closer." Red shrugged his shoulders, "It doesn't matter who you are with, you drive east and tell them what is coming and how to deal with it, but you have to make them believe you. The zombies coming this way are just a drop in the bucket for what is going to hit Iowa, and I am pretty sure it is Iowa where they are headed. I looked at a map last night and it makes sense in a way. Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota, all low population states that may not have gotten a zombie maker of their own.”
“That is all you want us to do?” asked Stewart, “Well we can pass the word along, they might believe us, why don't you come along and tell them too?”
“No way. I like my life, or whatever it is I have left. I cannot imagine anyone who thinks I might snack on them when I get hungry is going to keep me alive too long. Plus the closer I get to Chicago the stronger the urge to go that direction gets. I, and my two friends are only going to keep slowing the horde down until the call is irresistible. One of us is weaker than the others and when he starts to leave, we are going to grab him and head west out of range. We do not want to become slaves again.”
“How good are you at slowing them down?”
“Not real good, they are still making thirty or forty miles a day, despite our best efforts. According to the mile markers we passed to get here that means it will only take another twelve days to get to the edge of Nebraska.”
“Twelve days? So we have to get to Iowa, convince someone to go to Chicago, find the guy and kill him in twelve days? Chicago is a big place Red, unless you have an address or something I don't think it can be done.” said Stewart.
“Look for the biggest building, that is probably where the super zombie is. Besides I think your friend can find him.”
“What?” said Max and Stewart together.
“You can see zombies Max. Can you tell us apart?”
“Yes, if I concentrate.”
“Is there any difference between me and my two friends?”
“Sure.”
/> “What is it?”
“Well you are sort of lighter colored than they are, you have a dull, light bluish color, I almost thought you were alive, but no…” Max stopped realizing he telling the zombie things he didn't want it to know.
“So you can see humans too. Let me guess they have a nice, colorful pattern that swirls around and fades and brightens as they move and do things.”
“Yes.”
“Are you a zombie Max?”
“What? No, no I'm not! Why are you asking?”
“Because you can see things the way I can, and I could see people this way from the moment I woke up after dying. It was a rhetorical question, you look alive to me. But to me zombies look like you described them, a dull, single color, the better and faster the zombie the more light their color is. I am light blue, huh? Well Neil he was sky blue, almost white. Go to Chicago, find the glowing white aura and you've found the super zombie. Then just kill it.”
“But…but that means I have to go!” blurted Max.
“Could be. We all have choices.” Red said, repeating back what Stewart had said to him in the beginning.
“What happens if it isn't just him? In Chicago I mean?”
“Then you have to decide what to do. Or what you can do. I don't know what will happen then. Sentry, way down in Florida, he is an abomination, I know that. He bled most of the people from the town dry and I doubt he was going to stop just because he sent us away, I have no idea what he is like now. I just know I plan on steering well away from where he was.”
“Why can't you circle around and meet us on the other side of Iowa, somewhere in Illinois?”
“If I get too close to Chicago the chief zombie there will be able to control me. We come from a limited family of abominations and there is a strict rank based on when we were created. I won't risk my freedom by getting too close to the super zombie in Chicago.”
“Nice, so we have to go do your dirty work for you?”
“For me? No, not for me. I would do it if I could. You need to do it for the living people, to give them a chance. I think if you guys get rid of this zombie in Chicago that will solve the immediate problem of all the zombies heading east. After that I can't say what other problems you will have, I just don't know. Sentry maybe, probably someday I'd guess. You know I saw him before I left. When he was giving me and Neil our marching orders. He was different, there was so much raw power around him. Yeah I would guess you are going to have to deal with Sentry someday.”
“Why?” asked Max.
“The good doctor thinks if he consumes enough of you he can become a god. And after thinking about it the last couple of weeks I am afraid he might be right.”
Chapter 17
The army engineers showed up at Bill's position at five in the morning. He and his men had been running on adrenaline and caffeine as they held the railroad bridge through the night against the zombies. Now the eastern sky was just getting lighter and they had to provide cover fire for the engineers as they set demolition charges on the bridge.
“It is going to be effective?” Ruben asked Bill as the two of them stood on the bridge, shooting slow zombies that were still attempting to cross.
Bill shook his head, “I would guess not. But my opinion matters as much as yours. I don't think zombies breath, all this means is we will have to watch the entire river bank instead of focusing on the bridges.”
The zombies tended to gather at the roads and railway lines and then surge across any bridges that they encountered. They did not, as far as Bill and his men could see, willingly go into the river to try and cross. Bill's fear was that once the bridges were down the zombies would start to cross everywhere.
“Maybe.” said Ruben, the two had been debating the pros and cons of blowing the bridge for the last hour after the engineers had told them what they planned to do. Four of the squad were up on the bridge, the other five were taking a two hour break to try and get a little sleep. Bill didn't think anyone would be able to sleep with the constant rifle fire interspersed with the occasional explosion, but he was wrong, the five laying on the railway bed behind him were out cold.
The zombies had stopped coming over in mass now, they seemed to be accumulating on the far end of the bridge, then coming over as a group. Bill didn't like this, it was as if they were getting organized. The rifle fire from the athletics fields continued and Bill was waiting for reinforcements to push across the bridge and go to the other squad's aid. So far word had come down for him to hold his position.
“Are you going to go after your boy?”
Bill nodded, “I will.”
“Even if we are told to fall back?”
“Yes. Not just for him. That is our squad out there. Eleven guys wanting someone to save them. We will go get them and bring them back.”
“I know I would appreciate that. Besides what kind of father would you be if you didn't go?”
“I'll need some people to stay and hold the bridge.”
“You think I am too slow.”
With some reluctance Bill nodded, he found himself reluctant to lie to the old man, “You are too slow.”
“I got the radio back.”
“I didn't say you couldn't go fast in short bursts when you needed to. I would rather have you with me, the fact remains that I can't leave the guys here without some sort of authority figure, and like it or not Corporal, you are second in command. Who do you want with you?”
“Dan, Kirk and Larry.” Ruben had just named the other old guys in the squad, which Bill had expected.
“That figures; you saddled me with all the young guys.”
“Us old, slow guys gotta stick together. When do you want to go?”
“As soon as the sun is up. The darkness only helps the zombies, if we can see them, we can get around them.”
“You better bring a lot of ammo, extra grenades and maybe the medical kit. Those guys down there have got to be almost out of bullets by now.”
Bill's squad had been resupplied with an old army truck when he called in for help, the army provided bullets, a light machine gun and a quarter ton of ammunition. The driver had tossed the keys to Bill and gotten in the next truck in the convoy, so the squad didn't even benefit from one extra rifleman. The machine gun worked brilliantly right up until it jammed, even Ruben couldn't get the thing to work, he admitted it was a newer gun than the kind he was familiar with and he thought maybe the firing pin was broken. The six extra rifles were appreciated too, they already were using three of them to replace the ones that had been broken or lost yesterday.
Looking at the glow to the east Ruben said, “You better go take twenty sarge. You've been up as long as us and a twenty minute nap is better than nothing. I won't let you oversleep, as soon as it is light enough I will boot your ass and get you moving.”
“Don't let them blow the bridge.”
“I won't. We got guys on the other side.”
Bill trudged down the track and lay down at one end of his squad, certain he would not fall asleep on the rough stone and cross ties of the railroad. When Ruben shook him awake it was light out with the sun just above the horizon chasing off the darkness. Bill checked his watch and noted that close to thirty minutes had passed, he did not want to get up.
“You good to go?”
“Yeah, I am up. What's happened?”
Ruben handed him a hot mug of coffee, “Locals brought us some grub. Careful it is hot!”
Bill sat up and gingerly sipped at the closed travel mug, “Good, very sweet.” he said, making a face.
Ruben stood and then lowered a hand to pull Bill to his feet. “You need the calories so I dumped a half a cup of sugar in. All we have is power bars for breakfast. Eat two or three. More if you can.” he said, pushing half a dozen bars into Bill's other hand.
Looking around Bill noticed something different, “Where are the engineering guys?”
“They left about fifteen minutes ago. Left us the detonator for when the orders cam
e down. I've been on the horn with the Lieutenant, there is going to be an air strike on the other side in about five minutes. That will be something to see.”
“We'll go over right after that. Unless you've heard back from the Lieutenant?”
Ruben shook his head, “He is busy, told me to hold here and that if we could press across to recover the other squad we should do so.”
“I knew we should have left them the radio.” The other squad's radio had never worked reliably, even during training it had been shorting on and off, but they didn't have a replacement. The squad's suggestion that the radio be replaced with a cell phone was shot down without comment, although everyone believed it was to control information about the fighting.
“Well then we wouldn't… Fuck!” Ruben yelled as he seemed to lower himself to the ground in slow motion, reaching out and pulling Bill with him. A split second later a massive explosion tore through Bill's eardrums. Climbing to his feet he watched as his men on the edge of the bridge were engulfed in dust and debris.
Ears ringing Bill tried to say something to Ruben, who shook his head and mouthed something back at him. A moment later after he climbed back to his feet and helped Ruben up his ears started to ring, working his jaw open and closed as he saw Ruben doing slowly brought the ringing sound to a dull roar, through which he could hear the quiet whispers of his men cursing. They weren't actually swearing quietly Bill discovered as he tried out a few profanities of his own, his ears just were not working yet. Ruben leaned in close and yelled, “That is about like I remember air strikes; Never on time or where you wanted them.”
“I didn't even see the planes!” Bill yelled back.
“You're not supposed to. They go fast, remember? Plus with all these trees around us, we only would have spotted them if they came up or down the river. We better check on the boys, that was awful close.”
Bill and Ruben stumbled into the dust to round up their men. They started first with Jerome and Dan, who had been sleeping next to their feet. Both men were awake and Jerome was sporting a fresh wet spot in the crotch of his trousers. They left him in the care of Dan and headed to the bridge, the other squadmates were all there and unwounded with the exception of Javier who had been hit by a piece of debris from the explosion, it had nicked the side of his head, cutting long, shallow gash just above his ear that was bleeding profusely. His squad buddy, Matt was already getting ready to put a bandage on the wound, Ruben stopped to assist him while Bill made sure the rest of the men were okay. By the time Jerome and Dan came up to the bridge Javier was bandaged and the dust had settled enough to allow them to see the far bank across the river.
