Taking It Back

by Joseph Talluto

It was darker up here than downstairs, there was only a couple of skylights providing any light for the hallway. I walked slowly down the hall, passing by doors that had odd names on them, like Biolab 3, Specimen room A, Cross Contact Room. I had no desire to open any of the doors, figuring whatever might be in there was better off staying there. I was interested in the door at the end of the hall.

  As I moved down the hall, my foot kicked something on the floor, causing a pinging sound to ring off the walls. I thought I heard a noise in response, but when it didn’t repeat, I figured it was a mouse or something.

  I reached at the door and figured this was the place for answers. The door read “State Center Bravo – Lt. Colonel Rickerson,” and it seemed logical that Rickerson, whoever or wherever he was, would have some sort of information that might be useful

  The door opened with a slight squeak and two desks flanked the door. This small office looked like it was for secretaries, since there was another door on the back wall. The room was sparse and utilitarian, having little more than the desks, chairs, computers, and file cabinets. I didn’t bother with the file cabinets, they probably didn’t have what I was looking for anyway. I did notice there were long scratch marks on the interior door’s wood frame and that added another clue as to what happened here.

  I tried the door, but found it locked. I took the butt of my rifle and tapped the glass, the sound seeming enormous in the quiet building. I listened carefully, but didn’t hear anything else. Looking into the room through the hole I had made, I didn’t see anything off kilter. I reached into the hole and pushed on the handle, opening the door.

  The office was neat and tidy with a large view of the compound. The sunlight was a welcome relief to the dark of the building and I circled the desk to see if I could find anything.

  Boy, did I ever. I turned the high-backed chair around and jumped back as a corpse fell towards me. It thudded to the floor and didn’t move. Once my heart calmed down, I approached the body cautiously. Not seeing any movement, I put the rifle barrel into its shoulder and turned the corpse over. One look told me this one was dead for good. The man had a single bullet hole above his left ear and what was left of his brains was scattered on the far wall. I wondered if this suicide was related to the scratches on the door as I pulled the Beretta out of his hand, tucking it away for future use if needed. A quick search of the office revealed a laptop, which I took, two binders labeled “Communications”, and another binder labeled “Solutions”. I had no idea what might be in that one, but my curiosity was piqued. I figured if the laptop could be fired up, maybe there were files that might shed some clues on the world’s situation. I found a small box of ammunition for the Beretta, so that was a plus.

  I packed up the binders and ammo and tucked the Beretta into a side pocket. I heard something, but it didn’t register as important. I looked out the window and I could see Tommy walking back from the building he had checked out. He was dragging something on the ground, but from that distance I couldn’t tell what it was. I couldn’t see anyone else, so I figured they were busy.

  I left the office and headed towards the hallway. I would look through the information later. I opened the door to the hallway, then quickly closed it again. The empty hallway I had walked through earlier was now filled with ghouls. The noise I had made earlier must have stirred them. The two in front who turned to look at me when I opened the door were in sorry shape, being little more than emaciated skeletons. But their intent was clear as they stumbled towards the door with clawed hands reaching out for me. They were dressed in filthy hospital gowns, so I wondered what was going on in this building. I locked the door and backed away, bringing up my weapon as dead hands started to beat on the glass. I mentally kicked myself as I watched the glass I had broken start to develop cracks from the undead onslaught. I could see more hands start to pound the door and I knew I had little time.

  I moved one of the secretary’s desks in front of the door, then moved the other one on top of the first one. The desks were cheap metal government-issue garbage and not much good for anything, but I just needed a little time. The glass broke as I levered the second desk into place and I shoved the grasping hands back with it. I ran back to the inner office just as the horde of hands shoved the top desk out of the way and corpses began to squeeze through the opening, tearing their skin and clothing on shards of glass still embedded in the door.

  I didn’t wait for more. I closed the inner office door and slid the heavier desk in front of it. I didn’t have much time and needed to get out of here fast. I figured I could make it out the window since I was only on the second floor. I grabbed the office chair and threw it at the window and watched the damn thing bounce off and clatter at my feet.

  Well, try, try again as the sounds of the outer door crashing open and the desks being shoved out of the way filtered through. I grabbed the chair and threw it harder, causing only a small crack in the glass.

  “Fuck this.” I said as dead hands started to pound on Rickerson’s office door, shaking the desk. I drew my SIG and fired two shots through the glass, the reports sounding unbelievably loud in the office and causing the Z’s to groan and scrabble at the door all the harder.

  I picked up the chair again and hurled it through the window, the glass finally shattering outward and cascading down like sharp rain. I looked out the window and ducked as Tommy raised his rifle at me. He didn’t shoot and I poked my head up again to see him raise a tentative hand in my direction. I waved back and climbed out the window as the desk gave way and ghouls started falling through the door.

  I hung down for a second, then let go, falling about ten feet and landing in a pile of leaves. I looked up to see three zombie heads staring down at me and I scrambled to my feet to get some distance in case they decided to follow me. I walked backwards towards Tommy and the two of us just watched as the office filled to capacity with dead people. They milled around the room, not really understanding where their meal went.

  “Find what you’re looking for?” Tommy asked, not taking his eyes off the zombies.

  “Don’t know yet. Got some binders that may have some answers, but there were some labs up there that might have some real interesting information” I said.

  Tommy raised his eyebrows. “Labs?”

  “Yeah, some strange things on the doors like Cross Contact and such,” I said.

  “Creepy.”

  “Yeah.”

  I checked my watch and we saw Charlie heading back our way. He was carrying a small bundle and moving quickly towards us. When he reached our position he stopped and looked back. Apparently what he saw was good news to him because he visibly relaxed.

  “Well, that was close,” Charlie said, putting the bundle on the ground.

  “What’d you find?” Tommy asked.

  “Ammo. About 600 rounds. You?”

  Tommy patted his find. “Got a small output generator here. Found it in the office of the garage over there.”

  I nodded. That was a good find. “What do you mean ‘That was close’,” I asked Charlie.

  I heard a crashing and looked back towards the barracks. Two soldiers, obviously dead, stumbled out of the building and lurched slowly towards us. They were dressed in full battle gear, complete with Kevlar armor and helmets.

  “Oh,” was all I could say.

  Charlie shrugged his shoulders and I pointed to the office window, which was nearly bursting with zombies. Two of them were being squeezed out the window and grimy handprints covered the glass and wall.

  Movement on our left caught our attention and we looked over to see Sarah, Martin and Rebecca heading our way and fast. On their heels were Jason and Casey and they were moving at a dead run.

  A couple of seconds later a horde of zombies came pouring out from between the two main buildings, stumbling and tripping, but moving forward, nonetheless. The graying mass surged forward when they saw additional victims, and we all gaped for a second before I found my voice.

  “
Run! To the cars now!” I grabbed one end of the small generator and Tommy and I bolted for the cars, followed by Charlie and the rest. Sarah and Rebecca actually beat us to the cars and jumped into the driver’s seats, getting the cars ready for a quick exit.

  Charlie dumped his ammo into the back seat and climbed in, followed by the others. Tommy and I actually wound up bringing up the rear. As we passed the gate I shocked the heck out of Tommy by dropping the generator and running to the left, dragging the heavy gate into place. Tommy saw what I was doing and ran to the other side, swinging the right hand gate into place.

  The dead were advancing steadily with a particularly gruesome individual leading the way. It was a middle-aged man who had been eviscerated, his guts hung out of his body and dragged along the ground. He jerked every time another zombie stepped on his entrails, which would then snap off, leaving bits behind. His dead eyes remained fixed on us, however, and he was going to hit us any second.

  I moved the gate closed and Tommy did the same. I slid a zip tie through the bars and secured them, stepping back just as the first zombie slammed into the barrier. The gates strained the tie, but didn’t break it. Tommy and I knew we needed more ties to secure the gate, but we didn’t want to get caught by the grasping hands that tried to get through the gap between the gates.

  Tommy came up with the answer. He waited until the push subsided, then charged the gate, keeping his hands on the reinforcing bars. The sudden push knocked down several zombies which tripped the ones coming up from behind. Using the opening, I quickly threaded three more zip ties before the hands came grasping again and I had to step back.

  The zombies surged again, but the gate held. Tommy and I exchanged a look then picked up the generator and took it to the cars. We didn’t have room in the back, so we used a length of cord and tied it to the roof, threading the cord through open windows. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

  Behind us, the zombies groaned and strained at their prison and I decided we needed to get out of sight before they broke free. We jumped into the cars and drove away, heading back the way we came, leaving behind yet another dead zone. Maybe we had the answers I was looking for riding with us, maybe not. I rummaged through my pack and dug out the binders and handed the one marked “Solutions” to Tommy to look through while I browsed through “Communications”.

  Sarah drove back the way we had come and headed south at the appropriate crossroads, leading our little convoy towards our new neighbors. I thumbed through the binder and found a few interesting pieces.

  July 9 Communication from State Center Bravo: Infection spreading through housing units. Troop desertion increasing. Need reinforcements.

  July 18 Communication from Governor: Contain all infected citizens.

  July 29 Communication from Maryland Central: Capital has fallen, designated dead zone. Congress disbanded. President dead.

  August 15 Communication from Colorado: Military in full retreat. Fall back to Cheyenne Mountain.

  September 3 Communication from New York Central: UN collapsed.

  October 18 Communication from California Coast: US Navy evacuate San Diego.

  November 4 Communication from Houston: Dead Zone List update.

  I ran down the list of Dead Zones but after four pages I gave up. I figured we were pretty much on our own and it was up to us to decide whether we lived or died. I shook my head as Sarah gave me a questioning look and turned my attention to Tommy.

  “Anything good in there?” I asked, tossing the binder on the floor.

  “You wouldn’t believe some of the stupid things they wanted to try,” Tommy said, shaking his head.

  “Try me.”

  “Well, one of the suggestions was to douse the zombies in anti-bacterial gel, figuring it would kill them as they are walking disease factories.”

  I snorted. “You’re kidding”

  “Nope. Here’s another. Use incendiary bombs on all population centers to burn out the infection.”

  I shook my head. “Good thing we missed that one.”

  Tommy laughed. “Here’s my favorite. Develop an anti-zombie spray as personal protection against the undead. There’s even a chart describing the effects of pepper spray on zombies.”

  “And?”

  “All failed. Test number four resulted in the researcher getting bit.”

  “Figures. They’d have saved themselves a lot of trouble by just writing ‘Shoot in head, then burn.’” I turned back to the front.

  “Any info in the ‘Communications’ binder?” Tommy asked as he put away the ‘Solutions’ binder.

  I nodded. “It all went to hell too fast for them to get a handle on it. Congress and the President are dead and the list of Dead Zones is longer than Jacob’s Christmas list. The military might be somewhere in Colorado or Wyoming and there might be a bunch of people on boats in the Pacific Ocean.”

  Tommy and Sarah digested the news, then Sarah spoke up. “In all honesty, I’d rather be where we are than looking for help from the government.”

  “Amen.” Tommy and I spoke together.

  9

  We drove for a few minutes, then Sarah slammed on the brakes, tossing the car into a shambles and nearly causing the cars behind us to pile up.

  “What the hell?” Tommy yelled, pushing a pack off his head.

  Sarah didn’t say anything, she just pointed out the window.

  A grey mist was undulating on the horizon, ebbing and flowing like a grim tide. Staring closely at it, I realized it was not a mist at all. It was a mass of zombies and they were headed in the same direction we were. I looked ahead to their destination and my heart sank. They were going to Coal City. The town was going to be hit sometime soon.

  Sarah looked at me and my mind was racing. We needed to get to the town to warn them of the approaching swarm, but I didn’t want to just drive ahead of the masses just to bring them to their dinner. I looked at my map and followed Dresden Road which led to Coal City. If we followed that road, we would surely be seen by the horde and they would follow us to the town. Looking at the size of that swarm, we were facing two or three thousand undead.

  I stared at the map until the answer came to me. I turned to Sarah and told her to turn around and go back to the last intersection. She looked at me quizzically, but hurried to comply. When we had started east again, and were moving away from the horde, I outlined my plan.

  “We’re heading to the railroad. The line runs alongside the town itself and we should be able to stay out of sight of the main horde,” I said, pointing to the rail lines coming up fast. “At most, we will have a few miles to go.”

  “Are we walking?” Tommy asked.

  “Have to, unless there is a service road,” I said.

  As luck would have it, there wasn’t any road, so when we reached the railroad, we had to ditch the cars. We packed up as much as we could, taking every weapon and round of ammo we had. We put the generator in the car and packed as much food and water as we could. Hopefully the supplies we left behind would be here when we got back, if ever.

  We moved along the railroad track at a steady clip, walking briskly, but not so fast we would be exhausted if we had to run. We had about two miles to go, if I read the map correctly. Sarah walked behind me, followed by Tommy and the others. Charlie brought up the rear.

  Tommy spoke up. “I really hate being exposed like this. I feel like we’re going to suddenly be surrounded.”

  I pointed to the graying horizon. “We will be if we don’t get to that town.”

  “What if the town is already dead?”

  “We’ll burn down that bridge when we come to it,” I said.

  “Backup plan?”

  “Got one.” I did, but it was iffy at best and required more than my allotted lifetime share of luck.

  Tommy went silent again. We moved closer to the town, and I could see a multi-colored barrier sticking up out of the ground. It stretched for about two miles off to the west and out of sight to the south. I wondere
d what it was made of for a while, but when we got closer, I realized it was made of the same thing that we had made our first fence out of. Surrounding the better part of the town was a line of cargo containers. I noticed some containers standing away from the fence and wondered briefly what they were out there for, but I figured they must have been leftovers.

  We moved closer to the town and I started to see people standing on the containers, watching us approach. There were three of them, all armed with what looked like to be scoped rifles. If it came to a shooting, we were going to catch the short end of it. I hoped it wouldn’t but I had learned a while ago that things weren’t always as they seemed.

  We picked up our pace and headed towards the group. The cargo containers paralleled the tracks, so we didn’t have to go far. When we were about fifty yards out one of the men raised a hand and we stopped.

  “That’s far enough. Who are you and what do you want?” The speaker was a graying man, about fifty years old and carrying a decent paunch. He had a badge pinned to his jacket and was keeping a hand on his sidearm.

  “I’m John Talon,” I called out, “and these are my friends. I believe one of you has been talking to my friend Nate Coles?”

  “I’m Sheriff Tom Harlan and these two are my deputies. Come on up. We’ve been expecting you.” The sheriff motioned to one of his deputies and the man lowered a ladder for us We quickly climbed up and introductions were made.

  From our vantage point, I could see the town was well cared for and I could see several people moving around and just going about their daily lives. It was a picture of the community I was trying to build in Leport. The line of cargo cars stretched out and I could see they had encircled a water supply as well as large swaths of farmland that looked like it had been recently tilled and planted. If any town was going to succeed, it was this one. That is, if the zombies let it.