by T. W. Brown
“How do you figure? My men were under strict orders and they follow them.”
“Maybe you haven’t been paying attention, but there are zombies out there. They don’t follow anybody’s orders. They just sorta do what they want.”
Pitts sat back in his chair. He regarded Jody for a moment and then leaned forward. “Perhaps you are right. What you need is a show of faith on my part. Despite what you believe or what you think of me as a person, I do actually want our two communities to live in peace…grow…heck, even prosper if that is possible.”
“You got a messed up way of showing it.”
Pitts nodded and then laid out a few things for Jody to take back to his people. When it was all said and done, Jody was almost to the point of allowing himself to feel optimistic. If the sergeant really meant what he said, then there was a chance that things might improve. He knew that it would be impossible to please everybody, but this was a good start to bring in the most people…on both sides.
He exited the house where they had been meeting for the better part of two hours and took a look around. He hadn’t paid much attention when they first arrived. His mind had been focused on Pitts and the situation he and the others back in Hope were facing. Now, he was able to really take in this settlement.
It was small town America. Visually, you would be hard pressed to know the world had ended. There were shops open and folks drifting in and out of them. The only real giveaways were the obvious lack of women and children and the fact that everybody he saw was carrying at least one weapon.
“Maybe we can make this work,” Jody said to himself as he waved for Danny who was sitting on a bench in the park across the street.
“So are we going to be executed?” Danny chuckled as he walked up to Jody, making a point of flipping the bird as he crossed the street to the guard who was standing on the second floor balcony.
“Nope,” Jody answered as he started up the street to the hotel that the rest of his people had been sent to while he met with Pitts. “Actually, it looks like things are going to be okay. We are heading back to Hope where we will fill everybody in and see what folks think.”
“Think about what?” Danny asked suspiciously. “Don’t tell me that Pitts got you to drink the Kool-Aid.”
“Nothing like that,” Jody said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I will fill you in when we are all together, I don’t want to have to repeat myself a dozen times.”
The two men reached the hotel and stopped at the door where George and the others were being held. There was a single man posted outside the door with an M4. Jody handed the man a slip of paper. The guy read it, nodded, slung his weapon over his shoulder, and walked to the door that led to what had been the office and disappeared inside.
“You got it like that now?” Danny joked, but Jody ignored the jibe and entered the room.
“We free to go?” Jess Gandley asked, her irritation clear.
“Yep,” Jody said with a nod.
With that, the woman suddenly became visibly disheartened. A tear welled in her left eye and spilled over down her cheek.
“But first, Sergeant Pitts thought that you might want to check in on your daughter. Also, apparently a couple of you have friends here?” Jody looked around the room. He shouldn’t have been surprised that all but Danny and George had somebody here that they were close to—of course Danny had Kat as well, but he hadn’t so much as mentioned the girl during their trip over, so he was not sure.
“We can see them?” One of the men stepped forward. “I’ve lived next door to the Jones family all my life, and when Helen lost her husband to cancer, she just sort of became one of the family.”
Jody felt that sickness in his gut start to return. It was bad enough that he’d allowed this to happen, but he had managed to avoid the personal stories. That had made it at least close to tolerable. All he had to worry about had been Kat.
“Yep, we can see them now before we head back to Hope,” Jody confirmed.
Everybody filed out of the room except for George and Danny. Both men looked like they had something on their minds.
“Yes?” Jody looked first at one man and then the other. Neither would hold his gaze.
“You mind if I tag along to check on Kat?” Danny finally asked.
Jody rolled his eyes. “Really? You think you need to ask about something like that? Man, you are such an idiot.” He turned to George. “And you? What’s your problem?”
“I was wondering if I could stick around here for a bit? You see…Margarita…umm…” the big man mumbled in a voice that was barely audible.
“Fucking hilarious!” Danny crowed as he left the room.
16
The Geek’s Last Leg
“Bill, Jane, Jose and Manuel,” Kevin whispered, “you go left through those trees and come up at the edge of the field this place borders. Try to see what we are dealing with and do what you think needs to be done based on what you see. Barney, Heather, Aleah and Jill come with me. The rest of you move down by the brush alongside the stream. You should have a perfect view of this clearing in case anybody gets through.”
“What about Cherish?” Shauna asked.
“Leave her…she can act as bait or a distraction.” Kevin turned to lead his group into the darkness. Behind him he heard somebody—he thought it might be David—whisper, “That’s some cold-blooded shit, man.”
He didn’t have time, nor did he care to debate his decision. He moved through the thick foliage and emerged just below where the interstate ran past. He was thankful that there was a bright and silvery moon tonight. It cast a bluish glow over everything and allowed him just enough vision to make out the four or five figures creeping across the highway and almost directly toward his camp.
He waited a few heartbeats until he was certain that this represented all of these potential “bad guys” that Cherish had encountered. He was only a little mad that she’d brought them straight to their camp. However, it looked like he had the advantage in numbers and surprise. Kevin signaled his group by pointing to his eyes and then the direction of the creeping shadows. He held up four fingers and then five to indicate how many he saw. Then he gave the signal for everybody to stay put.
He returned his attention to the approaching forms. By the way it looked, they would be coming within a few feet of where he and the others waited. Drawing his pistol, Kevin curled one finger around the trigger and continued to wait. Even with the element of surprise, he did not care to engage with blades against living humans; it was simply too risky.
When the figures were in the middle of the two lanes that were on their side of the highway, he held up one hand and counted down with his fingers.
Five.
Four…he took aim on the person bringing up the rear.
Three.
Two.
One.
Kevin fired. A split second later, shots came fast and furious. Bodies spun and staggered. One fell, then another. A couple tried to turn and run, but another volley of shots came from Bill’s group. Just that quick…it was over.
Kevin and the others converged on the downed bodies. One was still crawling on his belly, but Jose moved in and finished him off with a swing of his machete. After spiking each corpse in the head just in case, and then searching them for anything useful, they returned to camp.
“It’s us…all clear,” Kevin called.
They stepped into the clearing and waited for those who had stayed behind to accept that it was really okay. Everybody came together in a cluster around Cherish.
Dr. Miriam Reno bent down and checked. “She’s still alive.”
“So what do we do now?” Jane asked.
“Nothing has changed,” Kevin stated matter-of-factly.
“What about Cherish?” Selma asked.
“What about her?” Bill spat. “She left…made her own choice. Then, when things got bad, she brought it back here to us. She ain’t our problem.”
“That seems a bit h
arsh,” Barney said.
Kevin looked around at all the faces. The dim glow from the fire made them all seem a bit sinister. He could tell that this was a potential group divider and needed to solve it before things escalated.
“Since we are a group, I say we put it to a secret vote. Everybody has to agree ahead of time to accept the outcome. Can we all be okay with that?” Kevin let his eyes drift to the faces of every member of the group. One by one he received a nod of confirmation.
With that, he searched around the camp for a few minutes. Eventually he found what he needed. Holding out his hand, he presented sixteen pebbles.
“Everybody take one.” Once they had, he continued, holding up a small pouch. “If you think we should take Cherish back and find a place for her to recover until she can either travel with us or once again go off on her own, then place your pebble in the pouch. Once you have voted, walk down by the river, count to ten and return.”
“Okay…” David looked around the group and then back up at Kevin. “I get the pebble in the pouch, but why the going to the river part?”
“If you keep your pebble, and thus vote for Cherish to be left behind, you will be able to toss your pebble without anybody knowing. That will prevent anybody from having their vote revealed unless they do so of their own free will,” Kevin explained.
“Where do you come up with this stuff?” Heather snorted.
After Jane had translated everything to Jose and Manuel, everybody was ready. Kevin had the entire group sit on the far side of Cherish with their backs to her prone form. He hung the pouch from an overhanging branch.
“I will go first,” Kevin said. “And I will say to you all that I am voting to leave her behind. After I vote, I will remain by the pouch to ensure that everybody simply drops his or her stone in and then proceeds to the stream. I don’t want anybody handling the pouch to try and see who votes how. After each person votes and departs, I will call you one at a time until everybody has voted.”
“But if you are by the pouch, you might know who votes which way,” Barney protested.
“I won’t be doing anything except standing close enough to make sure nobody touches the pouch. You can palm your pebble when I call your name…or pretend to do so, but let’s get this over with.”
Kevin called each person one at a time. When it was done, he grabbed the pouch and called everybody over.
“We all agreed to abide by this vote. So whatever happens, I hope that everybody will keep to their word.” Kevin looked around at the grim faces and opened the pouch.
He spilled the content into his hand, holding it out for everybody to see. Counting it out was not really necessary; the results were obvious. All but two people had voted to leave Cherish Brandini behind.
“We move out first thing in the morning. I will bring Bill, Catie, David, Adam and Jill with me to go check on that outpost for supplies. Everybody else will take up positions at one of the nearby hotels and keep an eye out. If we are lucky, those creeps were just a small gang of idiots and not some part of a larger group,” Kevin said.
With the watches set, everybody went to sleep. It did not go unnoticed that Barney and Shauna slept on either side of Cherish. Kevin really hoped that this would not be too divisive of an issue for the group.
***
“Two more!” Jill hissed as she rolled under the outstretched arms of a zombie that had stepped from behind a transport vehicle and almost managed to grab her. Coming up to her knees, she drove her blade up through the underside of the chin with one swift stroke. Jill pulled it free just in time to use her backswing to cut the legs out from a tiny woman in a bikini that was welded to her skin by the accumulated gore and filth. That particular zombie looked like she might have come close to starving long before being turned.
Probably not enough meat on her to keep a zombie interested for long, she mused as she popped up and stepped over to drive the tip of her blade down into the zombie’s head.
Kevin moved past Jill and took the top of the head off of the next zombie, this one wearing the remnants of his tattered soldier’s fatigues. He stepped over the downed figure and into the big green military tent. He was right, there was more here than they could hope to take with them.
They had been inside the actual fence line for less than twenty minutes and already discovered two transport trucks with cases stacked front to back and top to bottom with boxes of MREs. They had discovered enough firepower and ammunition to supply a small army.
Kevin marveled over what had been left here for so long. He would not look a gift horse in the mouth, but he still could not help but be amazed at what was just left sitting around. Maybe there had been more of a zombie presence prior to winter making it too difficult to venture where he and his group now stood. Whatever the case, he was thankful.
“This is like the zombie apocalypse version of winning the lottery,” Catie said as she strode past Kevin and flipped open a few of the nearby crates to reveal the weapons packed within. “Most of this stuff has never even been used. I have no idea why they would bring in all of this firepower. There were rumors that the Army was going to start conscripting the civilian population. But our unit never heard anything past the fact that it was being considered. I imagine things got bogged down with the paper pushers. So while they debated the liability of arming the public, the zombies won the war.”
“We were ripe for the picking,” Kevin sighed. “Society had spun so far out of control…people worrying about the most pointless crap while all the big problems just stared them in the face.”
“David and Adam have most of the zombies following them out to the track. We should be able to…” Bill’s voice trailed off as he watched Catie pull an M4 out of a metal box. “Wow…nice weapon.” The big man walked over and accepted the proffered assault rifle with a huge smile.
“We don’t want to waste time,” Kevin said, giving the man a nudge.
It took all day and a few close calls, but eventually they had all they could manage to carry. The rest of the group had taken up residence in a roadside motel. Kevin was not surprised to discover that Barney and Shauna had spent the day hauling every piece of furniture out onto the second floor landing to act as a makeshift barrier.
The entire group was in a set of adjoining rooms eating dinner when Cherish awoke. Her soft moan made everybody jump up, half of them going for their weapons.
“Where am I?” the woman managed through her split lips. She suddenly sat bolt upright, her eyes wide with fear until she could focus and realize who it was that stood gathered around.
“They’re gone…we took care of them,” Barney said in a low, soothing voice as he sat beside the woman and took her hand.
Tears filled Cherish’s eyes and she looked at the faces staring down at her. She reached Bill and stopped.
“I’m so sorry,” the woman said in a voice barely above a whisper. “I had no right…”
Bill moved in and swept Barney aside with one huge arm as he took a seat beside the woman. Leaning in, he gave her a hug and whispered something in her ear. Her soft cry turned to a wracking sob and she collapsed into the big man’s arms. He held her close, stroking her hair and repeating that it would be okay over and over until the woman finally stopped crying.
After a few minutes, she pushed away from Bill and looked up at the group. “I don’t have a good excuse…what I did was wrong, and if you all don’t want me, I understand. But I would like you all to know that I really am sorry. I hope that you can find it in yourselves to forgive me.”
There was a moment of silence, and then, one by one the group moved in and everybody wrapped their arms around Cherish in a massive group hug. Kevin took a deep breath and dared to allow himself to hope that things might actually go okay for his band of fellow travelers. They were better equipped than at almost any time since this whole nightmare had begun. They had their objective within range, and there was a nice unity building.
This is usually where it all go
es wrong, a voice called from the depths of his mind. It sounded strangely like Cary.
***
“What the hell happened?” David said in awe as the group stood on the ridge and looked down to where the city of Des Moines should be.
Kevin had his atlas out and was skimming it. His finger came to a stop: Saylorville Dam.
“There is a dam north of Des Moines,” he said. “It must have collapsed.”
“Wow…that had to have been a nightmare for anybody still in the area,” Adam muttered.
“Yeah, well I doubt it just collapsed on its own.” Kevin turned and climbed back on his bicycle. “Dams don’t just give out. No telling if it was an act of sabotage or desperation, but we need to swing north and go around.”
“Good thing we are well supplied,” Heather chirped. “I can’t remember being so full in a long while.”
“I say we turn north here and follow Interstate 35. If we take it all the way up to Highway 20, we can head west and follow it all the way in to Sioux City where it meets Interstate 29 and that brings us to our general destination of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.”
“Home,” Catie whispered under her breath.
The group mounted up on their bicycles and resumed the journey. It was uneventful for so long that some of them seemed to forget what had happened in the past year. Zombies were seen in small groups or singles, but the threat just did not seem too menacing anymore. And then they reached the outskirts of what had once been the tiny farm town of Holstein, Iowa.
The first indication that there might be trouble came on the outer-most fringes of town. The highway was blocked by several large semis as well as a wooden barricade wrapped in barbed wire. Hanging from a large gallows were three bodies.
Kevin signaled for everybody to pull up. He climbed off his bike and walked up to investigate. Two men and one woman were hanging. None had turned, so these people had been straight up executed.
