100 Days of Death

by Ellingsen, Ray

  Dietz started to protest, but Kester held up a hand to stop him.

  I didn’t want to get sidetracked from why I had come to see Kester so I just bluntly said, “We’re leaving.”

  The room went silent. I could see that I caught Kester off guard.

  Dietz recovered first and said, “You can take your miserable, damn dog and go wherever the hell you want, but you ain’t taking anyone or anything else with you. And that’s a fact.”

  I took a half step back and put my hand on the butt of my weapon, unsnapping the holster. Before anyone could make any other idiotic comments, I spoke first.

  “Tell you what, Dietz. Why don’t you open your mouth again and give me an excuse. Just for the record, I may not be able to get both of you, especially since Kester’s got his hand on that shotgun taped under his desk, but I will get you first, and after that, it won’t really matter what happens, will it?”

  I stared at Kester the whole time I spoke, but watched Dietz through my peripheral vision. I could see his hands move away from his sides cautiously. He didn’t want to die. I took a quick side step to the corner of Kester’s desk to get out of the way in case he fired, but Kester put his hands on the desk in plain sight. I guess the story about my gunfight with Karl Jackson had made an impression on them.

  Dietz worked his jaw, trying to come up with something to say, but stopped when I glared at him. The room got deathly still. I could hear an old clock ticking away from somewhere across the room.

  Kester broke the silence by saying, “I hope you can see this from our perspective. We’ve invested time and valuable resources in you and your friends. We’re going to have to come to some form of arrangement if you want to leave. Possibly you, Jim, and Marion could be permitted to leave, but we’ll need to talk about the terms.”

  The way he said it sent a shiver down my spine. I had truly misjudged this guy. He was insane if he thought I would leave Albert, Alison, and Grace at his mercy.

  I started getting the adrenaline shakes from both fear and anger.

  In a low voice I said, “How about this. I’m going to take all my friends, including Grace, with me. We’re going to get in our vehicles loaded with our supplies, and we’re going to leave. And you’re not going to do anything about it. In turn, I’ll let you know where the insanely destructive bomb I planted is, and I’ll even tell you how to safely disengage the timer before it goes off and takes out half your compound and most of your supplies.”

  “Does that sound pretty fair?” I finished. Kester and Dietz looked at each other. “There ain’t no damn bomb.” Dietz said.

  I told him to get on the radio and ask Remy about it first before he said anything else stupid. Dietz got on his walkie and after a minute, got Remy on the radio. They went to a secure channel and Dietz asked Remy if he knew anything about a bomb.

  I tried not to smile as good, old Remy told them about me making the “mother of all firecrackers”. From the way he described it, if the thing actually worked, I could probably blow a crater “the size of a WalMart” wherever the thing went off.

  Dietz actually turned white as he listened. He signed off and looked at Kester helplessly.

  “Just so we’re clear, nobody but me knows where the thing’s at, and it’s set to go off soon, so I wouldn’t dick around if I were you.” I said.

  Kester contemplated the situation for a full minute while he stared at me. I stared back stoically. Inside, I was pretty nervous. My knees began to shake as the adrenaline surged through me. I clenched my jaw because my teeth were starting to chatter.

  He finally nodded and rose from behind his desk. I told him to stay put and crossed the room to Dietz.

  I disarmed the moron and cranked him into a wristlock, dropping him to his knees before he could protest. I rolled him down to his face and zip-tied his wrists behind his back. I zip-tied Dietz’ ankles and then zip- hog-tied his wrists to his ankles. I pulled a roll of duct tape from my carry bag and wrapped it around his head (several more times than I needed to) to cover his mouth.

  Kester watched me disapprovingly, but didn’t try to stop me. When Kester asked me if that was necessary, I looked at him and raised my eyebrow. Kester looked at Dietz and thought about it, finally nodding.

  I motioned Kester for the door and then stopped and looked back at Dietz. I know I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help myself. I hauled back and kicked Dietz in the ribs as hard as I could. From under his tape gag, he let out a muffled yell. Tears streamed down his face.

  “That’s for bad mouthing my dog, asshole.” I snarled.

  I actually stopped shaking after I did it. As I led Kester down the stairs, I got on the radio and called Albert, telling him it was time to go. By the time Kester and I were halfway across the courtyard, I saw our vehicles pull up. I could see people looking over curiously. Several of them started toward us to see what was going on.

  Alison opened the driver’s door to the Expedition and then crawled over the console to the passenger seat. I quickly got into the driver’s seat and closed the door, rolling down the window. A crowd started to gather. Roger Holtby walked up to Kester and asked him what was going on.

  Kester ignored him and asked me, “Now what?”

  I tossed him my radio and told him that once we got out safe and were sure we weren’t being followed, I’d call him.

  “By the way,” I added. “I taped the ingredients and instructions on how to make the explosive on the side of the bomb. After you disarm it, you might want to build a few more to use as land mines against the guard unit that’s probably coming for you sooner or later.”

  I looked at the crowd forming around us and started to get a little nervous. I saw Cody and felt a twinge of guilt. I cursed myself as I realized what I was about to do. Even as I turned to Kester, the little voice in my head begged me to shut up.

  “One more thing, Cody’s coming with us.” I said.

  I heard Grace squeak with delight from the back seat. Kester looked at me quizzically. I pointed to Cody and Kester looked at him, his eyebrows furrowing. He looked back at me and nodded. Cody’s eyes lit up and he raced for the vehicle. He jumped in the back and I tried to ignore the commotion he and Grace made.

  “For what it’s worth, I didn’t want it to be this way between…” Kester began.

  “Just make sure you radio ahead and let them know to open the front gate.” I interrupted.

  I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, before someone decided to start something.

  We got away without further incident. I waited until we were at the edge of radio range before I called Kester to tell him where I had planted the explosive. Alison was shocked that I hadn’t been bluffing.

  We drove to the edge of Winters and pulled off the road until dark. At 9 p.m. we drove with the lights off through the town and past the now burnt-out service station and onto the 505 freeway north. We got through relatively unscathed, with the exception of hitting a few undead as they chased after our vehicles. We continued up the 505 and finally intersected with Interstate 5. We headed north up the 5 and pulled into a field under some trees just after midnight.

  Yesterday we stayed under the cover of the trees and scanned the area for any signs of movement.

  We all agreed to stay through the day and only travel at night until we were well away from the National Guard’s area of operations.

  At one point I was watching Cody and Grace play quietly next to the Land Rover.

  Jim walked up and watched with me for a minute and then said, “Didn’t think you even liked the little tyke.”

  “I don’t.” I replied.

  He stood next to me for another minute and then grunted, “Uh, huh. I can see that.”

  I started to protest, but got disgusted and walked off. I could hear Jim chuckling behind me.

  For the rest of the day, we lounged
around and reorganized our supplies. During her watch shift, Marion spotted two undead wandering aimlessly up a service road a mile to the east of us, but they didn’t come near us so we left them alone. I think we all felt vulnerable and nervous after that.

  Last night we drove north up the 5 all the way to the base of the Shasta mountain range.

  The temperature dropped below freezing and it began to snow. We found a ranch house set back in the trees and away from the highway. We stayed in our vehicles until this morning. I didn’t want to have to try to clear the house in the dark. It turns out that the house is empty and fairly well preserved. There is a wood stove in the living room and we didn’t waste any time firing it up.

  Cody didn’t have a chance to bring anything with him and was huddled up in my leather jacket until Albert found some boys clothes in one of the closets. While we were rooting around the house, Marion came across a video camera lying on the kitchen table with a post-it note on it that read; “play me”.

  We put the kids in the other room and tried to turn the camera on. Of course, the battery was dead. We found the car charger for it and let it sit in the Land Rover for a while.

  What we finally saw on it was depressing. A man named Dwain Harding introduced himself and told us that he was all that was left of his family. He explained that his youngest daughter had turned somehow and infected his wife and other daughter.

  He and his twelve-year-old son had to put them down. He and his boy survived another month until his son was attacked and eaten by his infected neighbors. He had taken care of the undead and then buried his son with the rest of his family out behind the barn.

  Dwain didn’t look so hot. He explained that he had been bitten and didn’t know how long he had. He said that he had dug a plot for himself and hoped that he had the courage enough to do what was necessary before he became “one of them.”

  He asked us to be cautious in case he hadn’t been able to end his own misery, and then asked if we would cover his grave up if we found his body there. We immediately searched the house again and then locked everyone in the back room while Jim and I checked the grounds.

  We went out behind the barn and found the family plot and open grave. I eased forward slowly, my weapon at the ready, and peered down into the pit, expecting it to be empty. I had a sick feeling in my stomach that we were going to have to hunt Dwain down. What I saw was truly sad. There at the bottom lay Dwain Harding’s corpse, a bullet hole through the top of his head.

  The body had been chewed up and gnawed on by animals, and frozen by the elements. Jim stood guard while I shoveled dirt, filling the grave and finally putting Dwain to rest. Neither of us spoke afterwards. We just stood there in the cold, listening to the silence. Finally, we went back to the house. Alison was relieved to see me and asked what happened. When I told her she just nodded and walked away.

  There were no supplies to speak of that we could use. Dwain’s son was bigger than Cody, but we were able to find some warmer clothes that fit him well enough. He has not been as big of a pain in the ass as I expected, although if he thanks me again for bringing him with us I’m going to kick him.

  Tonight, after Cody and Grace fell asleep, the “adults” sat around the table to discuss our future. Nobody wants to stay here after seeing Dwain’s final message to the world. I felt a little guilty bringing up going to Eugene, Oregon, to find my father, but everyone had already assumed that we were going there anyways.

  When I asked if anyone had any other ideas, nobody said anything. I think Jim and Marion have come to terms with the fact that they will probably never find their daughter. Albert is optimistic and thinks that we will find other settlements, hopefully not inhabited by religious freaks. He is pretty content to go anywhere at this point. Alison just smiled and squeezed my hand, telling me she was exactly where she wanted to be.

  We divided our watch duties into two-hours shifts each. I managed to get the 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. spot. Chloe is curled up next to me on the couch as I write this. I keep thinking that if the world hadn’t gone to hell, I never would have met any of these people I am with now (other than Albert, of course).

  I wonder what my life could have been. I have come to the conclusion that until this all happened I was pretty much sleep-walking through life. I never really got close to anyone, or did anything that really mattered. Now, I am responsible for six other lives, and they are all trusting me to make the right decisions. That’s the truth of it, the thing I have been trying to avoid.

  As much as I never wanted to own up to it, I’ve never had to grow up until now.

  Tomorrow we are going to try to locate one of the military caches located near a town called Weed. I am glad that Jim suggested I copy the locations from the codebook we gave Danny Beckett. I don’t know what we will find, or if we will even be able to find it. I am anxious.

  It’s freezing cold outside and Chloe has to pee. Stupid dog. More later.

  DAY 89

  I’m writing this to stay awake and not thinking about being hurt.

  We’re in some store in Shasta’s. Don’t know when where. These meds are making me think all wrong. It’s cold. Can’t write anymore, probably not making any much sense anyway.

  DAY 90

  I just woke up a little while ago. I’m feeling better, but it hurts to walk.

  And, as embarrassing as it sounds, it also hurts like hell to defecate, so I’m not real excited about putting any more food in my stomach.

  Just read yesterday’s journal entry. I don’t even remember writing it. I’m a little scared to be this helpless, but I’m luckier than I deserve to be. I have a couple cracked ribs and a concussion from the incident. And, somehow, my knee is all screwed up again.

  I should probably start from the beginning. Some of it is still a little fuzzy, but I still remember the important parts. Yesterday morning we got on the 5 freeway north. It was snowing pretty heavily and the roads were covered in a blanket of white. Both vehicles were in four-wheel drive and we had to move pretty slowly. We hadn’t gone five miles when we wound up behind a huge traffic jam. Hundreds of abandoned cars blocked the roadway.

  We didn’t see any signs of the undead at first. As we made our way up the median, we began to see Infected trapped in their cars and lying on the road. They looked like cadavers and struggled feebly to get up as we drove by. I am guessing they are all starving. Maybe there is hope for us yet.

  We couldn’t go any further and finally got off at an exit. As we stood on the overpass looking north, there was no end to the sea of parked vehicles. The southbound lanes were all clear though, so we made our way off the overpass and headed north up the southbound lanes.

  As we worked our way up into the mountains the weather got worse. Our vehicles sunk into the snow up to their wheel wells. The surface underneath was icy. We had chains for the Expedition, but not the Land Rover. Albert was driving the Rover and radioed that his tires kept slipping.

  At one point, he couldn’t go on. We had to back the Expedition up to where the Rover got stuck and hook a cable up to its front bumper. I had only towed Albert four miles when the ice got so bad, even my chains couldn’t keep traction. We stopped in the middle of the road and got out to survey our situation.

  The snow was blowing everywhere, and with the wind-chill factor, it had to be close to zero degrees Fahrenheit. We were on a pretty steep grade (which was most of our problem) and the snow was getting powdery. Jim, Albert, and I shivered in the cold and discussed our options.

  Jim suggested we should take as much weight out of the Rover and worry about just getting the vehicle itself up the rest of the hill. We could come back in the Expedition and make trips to get our supplies to the top later. Nobody else had any better ideas so I went to go tell Alison and warm up in the cab before we got started.

  Alison listened wide eyed, and then reminded me that if we couldn’t get ourselves out
of this we would be royally screwed since there was nobody else to help us. Grace started crying and Cody asked me what was going to happen to us if we couldn’t get out. I forced away my rising panic and as calmly as I could, told everyone that we would be fine and that we weren’t in any hurry, so there was no problem.

  The truth is, I wanted to start crying like Grace. I bundled up and got back out. Jim and Albert were putting rocks behind the back tires of the Rover so I lent a hand to help. I remembered that we had a large bag of sea salt in our supplies. I was planning on pouring it in front of the Expedition’s tires so that I might be able to get a little more traction.

  I opened up the tailgate of the vehicle and was rooting around our supplies when I heard a loud creaking sound. I stepped back to see what it was when a sharp crack resounded. I vaguely remember seeing the tow cable snap and feeling something slam into me.

  The next thing I remember was lying on my back in the snow, feeling nauseous, and tasting blood in my mouth. I heard voices panicking and heard something sliding away. I only remember flashes after that. One of them involved me lying in the back seat of the Expedition and Alison yelling at Chloe to stay away from me.

  I remember something about being on a cot in an icy cold shed and wondering why they were putting me in a freezer. I remember Jim standing over me and saying, “You better stay awake if you don’t want me to keep smacking you around.”

  I have no idea what that was all about.

  I sort of remember throwing up and feeling like someone had just stuck me in the ribs with a cattle prod. After that, it was just foggy images. I know Alison and Marion were with me the whole time. Both of them kept bugging me about staying awake and drinking water.

  Then, a little while ago I woke up with an overwhelming urge to go to the bathroom. Alison tried to keep me down but I was adamant about getting up. I wish I had listened to her. They helped me to an outhouse and the rest I have already recounted.

  Albert filled me in on the details I don’t remember. Apparently, when the tow cable snapped, it hit me in the ribs and sent me flying. When I landed, my head got into a fight with a small boulder (my skull lost) and it knocked me out. I bled a lot from the scalp wound and sustained a concussion.