Dead: Siege & Survival

by TW Brown

  “She been awake at all?” I asked Billy as I walked over to stand beside him for a minute and take in the scene. I can’t lie, I guess I keep hoping that she would shake this off like a bad case of the flu and be okay.

  “She was sorta awake about an hour ago, but she started crying almost immediately and I had Sunshine come in and give her some more stuff for the pain,” Billy replied.

  I could hear it in his voice. He was possibly even closer to crying than I was at the moment. There was never going to be an easy way to handle this situation no matter who happened to be lying on that bed.

  “How long you been in here on watch?” I asked Billy.

  “Just a while,” he said with a shrug.

  “Go ahead and take a break, I’ll stay.”

  He didn’t need to be told twice. I imagine nobody wants to be sitting in this room when Emily turns.

  I took a seat and watched the kids as they sat beside Emily’s bed. There was a lot of whispering, and I would normally have been very curious about what was being said. However, at the moment, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do about taking care of that little girl in the end.

  The door opened and Dr. Zahn stepped inside. There was something about her expression that told me I was not going to like what she was about to say.

  “Potter and the ones that are conscious are leaving.” Her voice was thick with a tone that I almost swore was relief. That was puzzling.

  “Leaving where?” I asked. Truthfully, I didn’t have a better question.

  “Don’t know. He just said that he couldn’t stay here. Misty refuses to accept that you didn’t kill her mother and all the others.”

  “I guess we can’t make them stay.”

  Now I understood her tone. I was not sure how I really felt about this situation. Sure, we had gone through an ordeal to go get them, but there was just something off about them and their whole set up. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but these were the type of people like that one guy in Day of the Dead, the one who gets bit and has his arm chopped off. This was the type of guy who would open the door and let the zombie horde in if he felt he was on his way out. I couldn’t say exactly why I felt that way; it was just a vibe.

  “A few people are trying to talk them out of it,” Dr. Zahn added.

  “What about the members of their group that aren’t conscious?” I asked.

  “Patton refused to talk about them, but he and the ones that were mobile had a little meeting as soon as you left the room.”

  “The only thing I don’t like about this is the child.”

  “Misty?”

  “Yeah, she doesn’t know any better.”

  The door flew open and Jon stormed in. He glanced at the doctor, and then turned to me. “You okay with this?”

  “We can’t hold anybody against their will,” I said.

  “But that child has no business being taken out there by these idiots!”

  It seemed that we were all on the same page. I considered the situation for a moment and came to a decision. This could backfire in a hurry. Still, it was time to do something and act like the leader of this group.

  “Doc, can you stay in here with Emily for a few minutes?” I asked. She gave me a nod after a brief pause.

  I headed out into the entry area to find all of my people standing in little clusters. Everybody was talking quietly, but I saw a lot of the same expressions on people’s faces.

  I considered for a moment what I was about to do. If things went off with the best case scenario as a result, I might only piss off and alienate a few of my group. And that was when it came down on top of my head. These were my people. For some reason that I will never understand, this group of survivors had decided that I was their leader. None of us probably anticipated days like this or decisions along the lines of the one I was about to make. Still, good or bad, I was the one that they were waiting on.

  I caught DeAngelo’s eye. He had a very grim look about him. Considering how he had stepped in when it came to Levent and Rabia, I was confident that he would support me. Jesus and Jake were on either side of Jon. I could tell that they were agitated. Jesus saw me and I guess read something in my expression. He gave me a curt nod and elbowed the other two.

  “Mr. Patton,” I called across the room.

  He jumped, obviously startled. He had been in the process of stuffing the few things we could spare him and his group into a pack. The two adults and Misty were clustered around looking more lost than anything else.

  “What is it, Mr. Hobart?” he said, clutching a hand to his chest like he was about to have a heart attack. If I already had him this spooked, he was in for a world of trouble.

  “I will only make this offer one last time.” I let my gaze drift across the other two adults that were leaving. “Stay here…at least until things thaw out. It is gonna be tight, and food is a concern, but we have a pretty good set up here. I think we will make it through the winter.”

  Mr. Patton didn’t even wait to see if the others were willing to discuss it. “That is just not possible, Mr. Hobart. You can’t possibly understand—”

  “You’re right,” I cut him off. “I think there is something about your little story that you aren’t telling. It doesn’t seem to connect at all the dots. But I can put that aside and offer you a much better chance at survival than you will get if you leave now. What you are doing does not make any sense.”

  “Let’s just say that our beliefs are not the same and leave it at that. We appreciate all that you have done…you and your people. But I really think this is best,” Mr. Patton said. He glanced at the other two adults, a man and woman, who looked as if they would fall over at the first heavy breeze. Still, they nodded!

  “And what about the ones that are still unconscious?” I asked. “What do I tell them when they awake?”

  “They won’t,” Mr. Patton said with a sigh.

  I was reminded of that television program, Meerkat Manor. Several heads around the room popped up at that last statement. Jesus pushed himself away from the wall and headed into the back.

  “Let me save you the trip,” Mr. Patton called. “They are dead.”

  Jesus took off at a run. I was about to lay into this lunatic, but something that Jesus said over his shoulder changed everything.

  “One of them was bit!”

  Everybody scrambled. Whoever wasn’t carrying a weapon moved away from the arch that led to the back rooms. All those who were able, drew whatever they had. It seemed like overkill for just one zombie, but it showed a lot about how ingrained our reactions had become.

  None of us needed to assist Jesus. There was a wet chopping sound, and a moment later, Jesus emerged wiping off his blade. He gave me a nod. This most recent turn of events made at least part of what I was about to do feel a little easier.

  “Then I guess you are free to go…with one exception,” I said.

  Sensing where I was headed, Jake and Jon both began to drift towards Mr. Patton and his tiny group. Everybody else just drifted back, creating this huge open space between the four huddled figures and my people.

  “The little one stays here,” I said. “If you are still alive in the spring, you are welcome to come back. If she wishes to leave with you then, you may take her.”

  I had no expectation that he was going to accept my offer. And even if he did, I knew that the little girl was going to be a bit of a problem. But that was a problem I was willing to deal with.

  “I don’t believe that I heard you correctly,” Mr. Patton said. He placed his hands on the little girl’s shoulders and I knew right then that this was going to end up way past the worst-case scenario.

  “I said that you and the other two can leave. The girl stays here with us until the weather changes. You have my word that if you come back, we will let the child decide if she wants to leave with you at that time.”

  “Mr. Patton?” Misty looked up at the man. She was old enough to get the idea. “You won’t make m
e stay here with that man, will you?”

  I was going to have to keep my distance for quite a while with this one when this was over. If she hated me before, then what I was about to do would probably make her fear and lack of trust in me about as entrenched as it could possibly be.

  “I won’t, Misty,” Mr. Patton said.

  “I wouldn’t make that promise,” I warned.

  “What are you going to do, Mr. Hobart? Kill me?”

  “If it comes to that?” I had to look around the room one more time to gauge my own people. I actually saw a few heads already nodding! “Yes.”

  16

  Geek on the run…again!

  “What do you mean?” Kevin asked in a voice barely above a whisper. In his mind a million scenarios unfolded at once. The most likely seemed to be that Willa was actually working for Major Beers and that this had all been a set up.

  “We have the president’s daughter.”

  Okay, Kevin thought. That was not in any of the possibilities that he’d been sifting through and trying to brace himself for the impact.

  “You mean…” he let it die on his lips.

  It was a stupid question. To what other president would she possibly be referring? Shelly Bransen made all the usual news when she selected her university the year after her father’s re-election. The nation had been fascinated by this soft-spoken, girl-next-door pretty brunette as she grew up before their eyes.

  “She was attending school at Ohio State,” Matt said. “I remember the insanity…it was like Hollywood relocated to Columbus that first couple of weeks.”

  “We went in for her on the same day that her father’s airplane crashed,” Willa explained. “Even had some Special Forces types with us. When we arrived at the university, it was just more than we were really prepared for. The SpecOps commander tried to play it off, but I could tell he knew they were not going to come out of there.

  “The second night after we lost contact with the last of the men who had gone in, Shelly arrived at our camp with a soldier that had been bitten but not turned. That was the first time we realized that the bite was not a guaranteed death sentence. It was actually our call to the CDC that made the news.

  “We were supposed to merge with another local unit and do everything possible to get Shelly to NORAD. That was when we started communicating via radio with Major Beers’ group. Our CO sent a scout team ahead to try and clear the way. They came across a band of what they thought to be raiders.” Willa glanced over Kevin’s shoulder at all the other faces staring at her.

  “They had already started breaking through barricades and looting civilian strongholds under the guise of appropriating supplies for a “vital” mission. We decided that turning the president’s daughter over to them was not the right choice. Technically, we disobeyed our final order.”

  Everybody was silent for several seconds. A voice on a bullhorn warned Willa that she had two minutes before they started burning everything. The voice that broke the silence caught everybody by surprise.

  “Shelly wouldn’t want to have anything to do with that nasty major and her people.” All heads whipped around to see Erin looking back. The sudden and complete attention surprised the young girl enough to make her take a few steps back. “What?” she finally blurted. “We met during Shari’s last tour. My mom was a senator, and Shelly liked Shari’s music. We went to dinner that night and she was really nice to me.”

  “I am turning myself in.” Willa checked every pouch and pocket, dropping everything on the ground.

  “You don’t need to do this.” Kevin grabbed her arm as she headed for the door.

  “Yes,” she very gently took his hand off and stepped away, “I do. And you need to get these people out of here. You remember where our group was camped?”

  “Yes.”

  “They will be there for another two weeks. Tell them that Beers is still searching. Scrap the last orders and follow your lead.”

  “Okay…wait…what?” The door shut in his face and he heard Willa call out to whoever was outside.

  “Maybe they—” Erin started, but was cut off by the distinct sound of a single gunshot.

  “Everybody out the back!” Kevin shoved Aleah and Heather.

  “But—” Matt started to protest, and Kevin cut him off.

  “You want to risk losing a few toes or do you want to die. Now shut up and move!” he hissed.

  He grabbed up Willa’s things and followed. The group was standing on the back porch. With the exception of Erin they were all already hopping from one foot to the other, the rags that they had tied around them were little help at this point.

  Kevin scanned the back yard. The house that was diagonally to the left was one he remembered from several past trips out foraging. That was the first stop. He took off at a jog and simply assumed that the others would follow.

  It took longer than he would have liked, but five minutes later, everybody had shoes and socks. They might not fit great, and there would probably be a price to pay later, but right now they just needed to survive the night.

  An hour later they were moving through the woods. Everybody had simply shut up and followed—even Erin. More than once he had looked back to ensure they were all still with him. Only once did they encounter any zombies. Three of the things had gotten stuck in a drainage ditch. Apparently they had stayed still long enough for the knee-deep water to freeze. One of them had actually snapped one leg just above where it was frozen in place and was sprawled on the slick surface. Had one of the creatures not been the type to make that baby cry sound, Kevin would have left them untouched.

  Just as the first traces of light began to lick at the sky, Kevin brought everybody to a stop. Steam rolled off of them all, but the warmth was being sapped almost as quickly as that steam dissipated.

  “Aleah, see that opening in the trees just down at the bottom of the hill?” Kevin pointed.

  “Yeah,” she said with a nod. Already her teeth were starting to chatter.

  “I want all of you to make for that. Just on the other side is a housing development that was just getting started. There are a lot of empty lots and a few with the frames in place. There are three houses that are actually finished. They don’t have anything in them, but they will make a good spot to hold up. Grab some wood, there should be plenty.”

  “And what do we use to start a fire?” Heather asked. “None of us has anything except what we are carrying.”

  Kevin dropped Willa’s bag and kicked it to them. “She has everything in here that you will need. I know there is a flint and steel…she might even have a lighter, but just take this and go.”

  “What about you?” Aleah stepped forward and grabbed his arm as he turned to head back the way they’d come.

  “I won’t leave Valarie and Shari if I don’t have to. I can grab something on the way to deal with the lock,” he replied.

  “Haven’t you done enough?” Heather snapped. “You know as well as anybody that you can’t save everybody. We may have to accept this as a loss.”

  “Not again.” Kevin shook his head.

  “That isn’t your sister!” Heather insisted. “I understand that you have a lot of feelings going on here, but she isn’t your sister. And Shari will watch over her. I don’t know what has gone on between those two, but she has not let Valarie out of her sight since Beers and her people showed up.”

  “Look, I understand what you’re saying.” Kevin hung his head for a moment. “And I promise that I won’t do anything stupid—”

  “Too late,” Aleah sighed.

  “But I have to at least see if there is anything that I can do,” Kevin continued, ignoring Aleah’s quip.

  “So what do we do in the meantime?” Matt asked. Truth be told, he didn’t really care, he just wanted out of the cold. If Kevin wanted to run off again on some damn fool mission that had next to no chance of being successful, that was his business.

  “Wait for me for three days.” Kevin pulled away from A
leah and started backpedalling. “If I haven’t returned by then, head west following the highway towards Newark and The Basket. You will come to what is basically a wall of cars. That is where Willa’s group is set up. Tell them everything. Stay with them. If, for some reason it takes me longer than three days and I am able to come after you, you will be easier to find with them than if you were by yourselves.”

  Kevin had taken about three steps when something grabbed his arm and spun him around. Before he could react, Aleah’s lips were on his. The kiss was long, and Kevin had to try his best to control his body’s physical response—he failed. Eventually she let go and he started off again.

  This time he heard the footsteps coming up behind him. He spun, prepared to tell Aleah that she was absolutely not coming with him. He was shocked to see Erin bounding through the snow towards him. He glanced past her at the others with a questioning look, but received blank stares and shrugs.

  Erin collided with him and threw her arms around his waist. She squeezed tight for a few seconds before looking up with a tear-streaked face. “Please bring my sister back,” Erin said through the tears. “She is all I have left and I would be lost without her.”

  “I can only try my best,” Kevin said. He had to fight everything in him to not tell her that he would bring Shari back. He had learned that there was very little that was actually in his control. As it was, he had doubts about his ability to bring himself back alive.

  “I know you will,” Erin sniffed. She wiped at her face with her sleeves and took a step back, still looking him in the eyes. Her sandy blonde hair was matted to her forehead from being sweaty as well as the lack of washing, but a few strands still managed to float in the wind and get into her eyes. She brushed them away and seemed to stand up just a bit straighter. “You have always done your best, and I am sorry that I have been such a brat. Try to be safe and come back alive. Aleah would be really sad if you didn’t.”

  “Can I let you in on a secret?” Kevin leaned down and whispered in the girl’s ear. She nodded. “I would be pretty bummed, too.”