by Brown, TW
“Not really,” Danny said with a shrug.
“You okay?” Jody sat down beside his friend. He was genuinely concerned about the normally wise-cracking kid from Boston. “You been pretty quiet since we got back.”
“Think I’m just tired,” Danny lied.
“Well then, let me stand first watch tonight. Selina can take the second and you can have the last. Wake everybody around dawn and we can see about scavenging some extra supplies before we hit the road again. Don’t want you to miss your date with Yankee Stadium.” Jody laughed, but Danny just nodded, laid down, and pulled his blanket up over his head.
Now Jody was really concerned. As a diehard Red Sox fan, the one request that Danny had made when Jody set out his plan on their journey north was to be able to take a piss on home plate at Yankee Stadium if they managed to get close enough and if it did not prove too dangerous. Honestly, Jody had immediately dismissed the idea. He did not envision any scenario that would make going into New York City even a remote possibility.
“Kat wants to know where we are headed,” Selina spoke, her hands moving as well so that the girl could follow.
“I think the best bet is for us to move north. What we gain in nasty weather, we should hopefully make up for in a lack of zombies,” Jody replied.
After a moment of the two females signing, Selina nodded and returned her attention to Jody. The girl beside her suddenly found something interesting about the zipper on her jacket.
“She wants to know why we aren’t just heading to someplace out in the sticks like the Appalachian Mountains. She says that she went on a hike last year and that there are some out of the way places that we might be able to hold up in until the winter passes. And they have an added benefit of our being able to venture out into some of the surrounding one-stoplight towns for supplies.”
Jody looked at the younger girl for a moment. His mind had been so focused on putting distance between him and Slider (as well as the entire situation back in Bald Knob) that he might have gotten a bit too grand in his ideas. After all, one cold, snowy region was as good as the next. Right?
“She has a really good point,” Jody conceded. “So the first thing we will do tomorrow when we are out searching for supplies is to find a map. In fact, I will want a few. Seeing as how they are made of paper, I don’t think they will have a great life expectancy. We can keep spares in sealed plastic bags. We can plot a course and maybe agree on someplace good. I really believe that we need to try and find the best combination of remoteness and hard to get to. Zombies don’t seem to be much into hiking. I think they are more into a least-path-of-resistance sort of thing.”
When Selina finished signing all of what Jody had said, Kat put her hands to her mouth to stifle what Jody assumed to be a laugh. She flashed a few signs to Selina, who had a bit of a giggle herself.
“Okay,” Jody said with as much of a scowl as he could muster, “what’s so funny?”
“She says that you seem way too prepared for the walking dead. She wants to know if you were one of those types who watched those kinds of movies.”
“Not really.” Jody shook his head. “But you would be surprised at how many out-of-the-ordinary scenarios you get thrown at you when you are on active duty in a foreign and hostile country.”
Selina signed Jody’s response. Kat nodded with a sudden look of seriousness on her face. She got up, walked over to Jody and gave him a hug.
“What was that for?” he asked.
Kat was already signing to Selina before he had finished the question.
“She says thank you for serving and taking care of this country. And that, even now, when there is no more country to protect, you are doing the honorable thing.”
With that, the two females huddled together, sharing their blankets for added warmth, and went to sleep. Jody got up and went to the door, giving one look back at his companions. He hoped desperately that there were more of his brothers-in-arms out there…and that they were not like Slider.
***
Major Wanda Beers signaled for the caravan to stop. For two days they had travelled in search of that ragtag group of rejects that had blindly followed Willa.
“Traitorous bitch,” the major grumbled as she looked back at her convoy.
During the past two days, they had lost three vehicles. It was likely that they would be without any before much longer. Gasoline was becoming harder to find. And what they did manage to scavenge was almost useless.
She needed to find a place to settle in for the winter. Maybe there really was no longer any reason to look for the president’s daughter. It wasn’t likely that there would be anybody left to give two shits.
Actually, if she was being honest with herself, she hadn’t cared whether they found that little over-entitled brat to begin with. She was simply seeking leverage. It didn’t take a genius to know that the world was screwed three ways to Sunday. Yet, for some strange reason, people were having difficulty coming to grips with what was truly valuable these days.
So, some idiot commander of whatever military unit she would happen upon was likely to drop his guard if word came that Wanda’s group had the president’s daughter. By the time they knew what hit them, she would assimilate all who were of the right mind and do away with the dregs. It was all about survival now.
That was why she hadn’t killed that scrawny little brainiac, Kevin Dreon. He held a commodity that was in short supply: the ability to think outside the box and create a survivable scenario. She should have been more careful with him. Perhaps she should have tried a more gentle approach.
But when one of her patrols told her that Willa had been spotted, she had let her anger overwhelm her intellect. Now she had let a valuable resource slip away. But at least she was rid of that damned retard.
“Damn,” she whispered. She already knew what her mistake had been. She also knew that, after two days, there would be nothing to find when she got back. Well, it couldn’t be helped now.
It was time to hit the ‘reset’ button and start from square one. Up ahead were the wasted remains of a small town. The signs (the ones still standing or hanging anyway) had declared that this should be Conesville. It wasn’t difficult to deduce the cause of the devastation. To the east of town, across a small river, sat a big power plant. Thankfully, it was not of the nuclear variety.
She had heard that, in the final days of communication, the government had ordered all nuke facilities shut down to try and minimize the potential for disaster. She had heard that some had actually been successful. However, shutting down a nuclear power facility is not like simply turning off a switch and calling it good. And if the amount of devastation that she saw here was any indication of what could go wrong when a conventional plant went haywire, she wanted no part of the other.
Still, the broken buildings of the American Electric Supply facility sat in a pretty good spot. The river bowed around like a natural barricade for three sides with what looked like only one bridge providing access. There was a train bridge, but it was the type with open air between each wooden slat. A few zombies could be seen sticking up at odd angles across the span. A grouping of large hills sat at the back. She could plant her flag here and hold it.
She began barking orders, occasionally dressing somebody down if they were not moving with the speed and efficiency that she demanded. I need to instill absolute obedience from this point forward, she thought as she alternated between setting up her own field tent and observing the troops.
It was not enough to simply be ruthless. Leaders like that tended to have “accidents” in the field. She had to balance her strict discipline with rewards and even occasional praise. To that end, she decided that it was time to select her staff. All this time on the road had inflicted enough casualties to decimate the old chain-of-command. Besides, they had managed to scoop up a few civilians along the way who were meshing nicely with the new order.
Once her tent was in place—this she always did herself to show t
hat she was not above rolling up her sleeves and working—Major Beers pulled out the last muster list. There had been three desertions in the past forty-eight hours. Yep, she thought, it was time to make some changes.
2
The Geek’s First Decision
Kevin slid down the hill. It started out controlled, but the steepness eventually took over. His foot caught something hidden in the snow and he flipped sideways and began to roll. The ice-crusted surface cracked and groaned under the weight of his body, but had not yet broken open. Ahead of him, Valarie slid on her stomach and seemed to be enjoying it! She was apparently oblivious to the hundreds of undead that were just now reaching the edge of the hill and tumbling gracelessly over in pursuit.
Reaching the bottom, he struggled to his feet. He looked around and could not see Valarie. His heart leapt to his throat until she stood up a few yards away and began shaking the snow out of her hair and brushing it from her coat.
Leaping forward, he did his best to gather his bearings. Despite having made this journey before, the fact that everything was coated in white prevented him from having any concrete idea as to where he might be. Finally, off in the distance he saw the welcome sight of one of those large signs that you find mounted over a highway.
Bounding towards Valarie, Kevin risked a glance over his shoulder. They were still coming over the crest of the hill. If he had to guess, he would venture to say that there had to be at least a few thousand in pursuit.
He took her hand as he started towards the green beacon that stood out in the white and gray of the landscape. The words were impossible to make out from this distance, but he didn’t care at the moment where he was heading, he simply wanted to give the horde on his heels the slip.
Valarie did a surprisingly good job of keeping up. Every so often she would slow down, but as long as Kevin kept urging her, she followed without hesitation.
As they reached the top of a gentle slope, Kevin took the opportunity to look back. They had opened considerable distance on the wall of undeath. The zombies were having a far worse time navigating the snow. Also, as an odd but welcome bonus, the front of the pack was creating a wave of snow that was building in front of them. And while Kevin had seen firsthand the amazing amount of damage that a concentrated group of undead could wreak on an area, the snow was turning into an actual barrier. Hopefully it would grow high enough to obscure their vision, he found himself wishing.
However, he was not foolish enough to count on such things. He gave a slight tug on Valarie’s hand. This time, she did not budge. He glanced at her to discover that she was staring off to the right. Kevin looked, his heart daring to hope. In the books and movies, this would be where he conveniently crossed paths with his friends that he had sent on ahead. Just once, let this be like the movies, he prayed to whatever might be answering those calls these days.
He turned and scanned the horizon. He didn’t see anything other than more snow. The landscape was unremarkable. Nothing was moving. He looked back at Valarie who still seemed intent on the distant hills of white that were in the opposite direction of the sign that he was pretty sure would put them back on Highway 16. That was the road back to Newark and towards Willa’s group. That was where he sent his friends. That was where he needed to go.
He tugged again, but this time, Valarie pulled away and started walking in the direction that she had been looking. Another look back at the oncoming zombie wave offered little comfort. They were not moving fast, but they were still coming. To make matters just a bit worse, Valarie’s path would actually angle them towards the horde.
“We can’t go that way, Valarie,” Kevin called, moving to get around in front of the girl.
She stopped and stared up at him with her chocolate-brown eyes that almost matched her skin tone. Her face broke into that smile that made him think of his sister. He didn’t know what it was about people affected with Down’s, but they had a smile that shot from their eyes and went straight to your heart.
“We need to go this way,” Valarie insisted.
Okay, Kevin thought, so far, the mantra about how things were not like in the movies had held true. Yet, wasn’t this about the time when people started tapping into their psychic abilities? Besides, Valarie was already known to have delusions about dead people talking to her. Maybe this was that moment.
“Is somebody telling you that we need to go that way?” Kevin asked.
“No,” Valarie’s face scrunched up and she looked around. “I am alone with you. Who else is there?”
Hmm, scratch that. “Okay then, “ Kevin said with a nod as he cast another glance at the wall of undead that were still coming despite this little scene break. “Why do we need to go that way?”
“If we go back up that hill over there, we can go behind the monsters and get Shari.”
Kevin felt his chest tighten. He’d had to put a bolt from his crossbow into her head. He’d used a sleeper hold to but her out first. But then he had covered her face and shot her. She’d busted her leg to the point where she could no longer walk. The house they were in was surrounded and there was no way she would make it out. Rather than let her be eaten, he’d killed her.
His mind would not let him try to find a nicer word to place on it. It hadn’t been murder. She’d insisted. She knew that her fate was sealed. She knew she was going to die and had chosen a quick death versus being eaten alive.
“Shari is gone, Valarie,” Kevin placed his hands on the girl’s arms and looked into her eyes. “She won’t be coming back.”
“But she promised that she would stay with me,” Valarie insisted. She looked up at Kevin with that childlike innocence. It was the same look he saw every time he thought about his sister.
Kevin wondered if she had continued to insist that he was coming back. He wondered if, just maybe, somebody was taking care of her wherever she was at.
She’s dead, you idiot, a voice in his head screamed, and you will be too if you don’t move your ass!
“She couldn’t come,” Kevin insisted, pulling Valarie just slightly in an attempt to get her to start coming his way.
“But she promised,” Valarie repeated as a tear welled up and cascaded down her cheek.
“I know, and she is really sorry. But she asked me to have you watch over her little sister for her since she can’t make it,” Kevin said in a burst of inspiration.
Valarie dropped her head in surrender, but at least she was moving in the right direction. Kevin gradually got their speed up again to open the distance once more. He figured he might need all the cushion he could manage in case something else came up.
Fortunately, they made it to the highway. The first thing that Kevin noticed was the tracks from his and Peter’s trip, They were a bit faded and snow blown, but he was pretty certain that there weren’t too many other people to have passed this way on a snowmobile.
Not only that, but evidence of another herd passing this way could be seen once he started toward the sign. From the looks of it, they had come from across the median and then started towards Newark. That was probably the group that had forced him and Willa to abandon their Snow Cat. The good thing about them having come through was that it would make travel easier. Unfortunately, that would also hold true for the zombies still on their trail. He had to find a way to ditch them.
There was another overpass in the distance beyond the one they would be going under. He looked back and tried to gauge his lead. He might be able to pull it off, but it was going to mean that Valarie would need to do exactly as he asked.
Continuing to look back as he half jogged and half speed walked the distance that got them to the base of the slope that they would need to climb, Kevin began to feel just a teensy bit of relief. The zombies had not come into view yet. Logic would say that as long as he could not see them, they could not see him.
“Okay, up the hill, Valarie,” Kevin tried to make it sound like this was going to be the most fun thing in the world.
“Can we
rest for a while, I’m tired,” Valarie sniffed.
“As soon as we get to the top of that hill, I am going to let you sit down. In fact, you can even take a nap if you want.”
“I can’t take a nap up there. It is in the middle of outside,” Valarie argued.
“Pretend we’re camping,” Kevin said as he tightened his grip on her hand and started up.
It wasn’t as difficult as he’d imagined. The snow was almost knee deep and actually helped to support the backs of their legs as they climbed. When they reached the top, Kevin kept his eyes looking back. So far they were still obstructed from view. Now, as long as the stupid zombies didn’t track them by their trail in the snow and the obvious path they took climbing onto this overpass…they might get lucky.
He considered his plan again once they made it over the retaining wall. They could just keep running and hope for something to distract the zombies, or maybe they would come upon Aleah and the others and the group could devise something.
He glanced over at Valarie and was amazed to discover that she was asleep. Her chin had drooped down to her chest and she was breathing the slow, deep, regular pattern of somebody on a visit to ‘La-La Land’. He marveled at her ability to disconnect so suddenly and completely. Not for the first time, he wondered how she had survived as long as she had all by herself.
Small town or not, she had co-existed with quite a few of the walking dead. Granted, she was one of those who displayed immunity to the bite—and had the scars to prove it—but if enough of them got you at once, immunity was not going to help. Of course, she had cut the legs off of all the zombies in town, so keeping away from them had not proved too great of a challenge.
Kevin pulled the bag from his shoulder. He had managed to collect a few things in the short while since he had left his group to find Shari and Valarie. He’d even managed to scoop a few things from a house just after Major Beers and her army left. It wasn’t much, but there was one thing in particular that he had found that he wanted to take a look at. In the bedroom on the nightstand had been a small prescription bottle of Ambien. After finding the bottle, he took a peek over the side of the overpass. Sure enough, the horde was headed his way. He ducked back down, not sure how acute their vision might be.
