Dead Calm

by Jon Schafer

  After the fall of Washington D.C. to the living dead, the President had retreated to a secure base inside Cheyenne Mountain. Once ensconced in his new seat of power, he slipped into insanity by refusing to take the medication prescribed him for his bi-polar disorder. He started issuing commands that made no sense, while continuing to refuse to issue orders to combat the spread of the HWNW virus by declaring nation-wide martial law and releasing the military to deal with the dead. When it became apparent that the United States was on the brink of falling into a chaotic state from which it might not ever recover, the Joint Chiefs took control of the country in a bloodless coup by simply cutting the President off from his lines of communication and issuing their own orders.

  Sending designated units in to retake the Dead Cities, while at the same time having all available military units move out from their respective bases, forts and camps in order to retake the areas surrounding them from the dead. They soon gained a foothold that could be built on in the battle to eradicate anyone infected with the HWNW virus. After the initial push was over in mid-November, the Joint Chiefs called a halt to operations so they could resupply the front line troops and send in replacements for those who had fallen. These fresh recruits were enlisted from the newly cleared, Dead Free Zones, otherwise known as DFZ’s. Bolstered by the people from these areas who were eager to join up and fight the dead who besieged them, the volunteers swelled the ranks of the weakened military to pre-dead numbers. Basic training depots were expanded, and in no time the front line troops were back up to full strength. These were filled with men and women eager to take their country back from the hordes of dead that now freely roamed it.

  The second push to expand the Dead Free Zones and to gain more ground in the cities deemed critical to the rebuilding of America started in mid December…and ground to a halt after only one week. While the soldiers were willing, able and motivated, their supply lines had broken down and couldn't furnish them with the necessities to sustain the campaign. With no fuel for their tanks and limited ammunition with which to fight, many became disillusioned. AWOL rates skyrocketed as soldiers headed back to the safety of the free zones or took their weapons and equipment to go in search of missing family and friends. The problem became so widespread that the military instituted a new set of laws. Simply put, the punishment for going AWOL was death by hanging. This, and the fact that supplies were now reaching the front line troops, stemmed the flood of desertions.

  As the second campaign started up again, losses mounted in the battle for the cities. While the countryside and small towns were easy to take and hold, the major metropolitan areas were a nightmarish warren of hiding places from which the dead would emerge to attack the soldiers and Marines. Added to this were the logistical difficulties that arose from the lack of any battlefield intelligence. Communication breakdowns caused many platoons, and even an entire company, to be cut off and wiped out when they ran out of ammunition. Another halt was called for until the infrastructure the military relied on was repaired and reactivated. They also needed real time intelligence so that losses could be cut down to acceptable levels.

  After the laughter at the President's expense died down, the Chairman spoke again. “But I've also got some good news to share. I was informed early this morning that one of the main satellite relay stations located in Maryland has been retaken. Technicians from the NSA are getting the power back on and the equipment up and running. We should have real-time satellite photo capabilities and long-range communications back within two days. Once this happens, we can get some intelligence estimates and find the best way to move forward in the areas where we're bogged down.”

  “Thank the 82nd Airborne for that,” the Army Chief interjected proudly. “They took some losses, but my boys got the job done.”

  “Which ties into the next bit of news,” the Chairman said. “I've received reports that, although we've taken high losses in our last push to retake the cities of Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York and San Diego, most of our front line units will be back up to full strength soon.”

  Calls of, “Good Job,” and, “Way to go,” met this announcement.

  “In fact, I've been informed that the new recruiting drive is underway right now...”

  Owens Grove, Louisiana

  A scene that had played itself out numerous times around the world was now coming to its conclusion in a small rural town in Louisiana. After barricading themselves inside any sturdy structure they could find when the living dead invaded, the residents of Owens Grove found themselves first cut off from the outside world and then slowly running out of food and water. In the end, their choice was simple but the results hideous. Stay secure and die of starvation and thirst or leave their homes and offices to be attacked by the swarms of living dead that surrounded them.

  It had started months earlier as the disease spread across the world. First, the television stations went off the air as the dead multiplied and overran entire cities. Although initially the local and cable news stations glossed over the crisis, and even when they did start reporting on it fully only televised a long series of redundant images showing the dead wandering aimlessly about in search of food, it gave people hope. Hope that a turnaround in the progression of the disease would be announced at any minute. Hope that word would be broadcast that a cure had been found. Hope that a new weapon had been invented, which would obliterate the dead.

  It never happened.

  Instead, only a few weeks after the initial infection, the final television station went off the air to be replaced by a screen filled with snow and speakers crackling with static. When this happened, many lost hope. But then radios were turned on and it was rekindled. The only problem being that, while the television newscasts had long since ceased giving out any useful information on how to deal with the dead, the radio broadcasts were even worse. On most stations, the Emergency Broadcast System had taken over and continued to air the same looped tape. It advised those listening to stay indoors, avoid crowds, wash their hands with anti-bacterial soap and, if in dire need, try to make their way to one of the Red Cross aid stations set up around the state. A list of these was given, one of which was located on the outskirts of Owens Grove, Louisiana.

  Upon hearing their town mentioned in the first broadcast, the men, women and children who had taken refuge days earlier in the three story Insurance building located in the heart of downtown Owens Grove knew firsthand the information was wrong.

  “That just ain't so,” Jessie McPherson drawled when he heard his hometown mentioned. “That place was overrun days ago. In fact, that danged Red Cross center's the reason we got so many of them dead things around us now. It attracted them like flies to a hog.”

  Jimmy McPherson, Jessie's brother, agreed. “And that's why we got stuck here in the first place.”

  Jo-Jo McPherson, sister to Jessie and Jimmy, said crossly, “It's your own fault Jimmy. You should be the last to be complaining. If you and daddy hadn't of let them Red Cross people set up on our north field, we could all be sitting home right now instead of being chased off our own land.”

  Hanging his head, Jimmy seethed inside. How was he to know the dead would be attracted to where folks gathered? Hell, the television and the news people didn't even start warning folks until after the dead showed up. Besides, he was only doing his Christian duty by talking daddy into letting them medical people use the land out by the road leading into town.

  Mumbling, “Things'll get better,” he slunk away from his sister's accusing stare. Unfortunately, they only got worse.

  Now, the radio had long gone off the air and all was quiet except the sound of the dead pounding and scratching on the door leading to the roof. Wondering how it had come to this, he thought back to months before when the aide station was overrun by the flesh eating dead, and the start of this horror.

  He recalled the cries of terror coming from the tent with the big Red Cross on it and couldn't see how he could have done anything different to change
the events that led him and his brother and his sister to death’s doorstep. Until the day the dead showed up in Owens Grove, no one in town had even seen one of them.

  Jimmy, along with his brother Jason, God rest his soul, and his other brother Jack, God rest his soul also, had been working on the family's truck when they heard cries of disgust and horror come from the direction of the Red Cross tent. Startled, they looked in that direction to see what appeared to be the beginnings of a riot. People struggled with each other inside it as some tried to flee, only to be dragged back into the melee. Running toward the tent to break up the fight, the three brothers reached the mob scene only to find themselves confronted by hundreds of the living dead. They had come up the road from the direction of Baton Rouge and flooded the aide center.

  Although it had been reported that the people infected by the HWNW virus attacked anyone who came near them, the media hadn't released the information that being bitten by one of them spread the disease. Nor was it reported that those infected were actually dead beings who wanted nothing more than to eat living human flesh. Not being aware of these key points, but soon to learn them firsthand, Jimmy and his brothers jumped into the middle of what they thought was a simple brawl. It didn't take long for the McPherson brothers to realize that this wasn't a simple set to. The invaders weren't fighting normal, they were clawing and biting at their victims and had drawn blood from half the aid workers.

  Too late, Jimmy realized they had gotten themselves in over their heads, and he called out a warning to his kin. Outnumbered three-to-one and fighting with their bare hands as they tried to break out of the center of the mob to save themselves, the Macphersons made a good showing until the odds rose against them. More of the dead poured in off the road and into the tent. In seconds it became five-to-one and then seven-to-one. Jack was the first to be pulled down, dying under a mass of snarling creatures as they ripped him apart and started to feed on pieces torn from his body. Seeing this, Jimmy and Jason tried to join forces and come to their brother's aide but were blocked by a wedge of the dead who forced their way between them.

  Screaming at Jason to run, Jimmy watched in horror as a dead woman, dressed in a tattered meter maids outfit, latched onto his brother's neck and ripped it open in a spray of blood. Knowing it was too late for his siblings, and that he too would fall under the teeth and nails of his assailants, Jimmy broke free and ran.

  Once clear of the tent, he saw his sister Jo-Jo and his brother Jessie bouncing across the field toward him in a pickup truck. Feeling his heart swell at the thought of reinforcements coming to help, he waved frantically for them to hurry. Looking past the truck, he saw that their house was now surrounded by the dead, most of which were banging on the doors and shuttered windows in an attempt to get in. With a sinking feeling, he realized that even with the whole family in on the battle there were too many dead to fight. Then it dawned on him that his brother and sister weren't coming to help him but were fleeing the flesh eaters. As the truck came near and slowed, his sister waved and screamed at him to get in the back.

  Jimmy jumped into the truck's bed and then nearly bounced back out when his brother drove through a drainage ditch and onto the road. From the truck bed he watched as more dead flooded across the field toward their home. Finding he couldn't look at the scene anymore, he averted his eyes. Weaving back and forth, his brother Jessie ran over a few of the dead that blocked their way before coming to a clear stretch of road which led into town and then floored the accelerator.

  Sliding open the pass-through window between the cab and the bed, Jo-Jo told Jimmy that their daddy had sent her and Jessie to get him and his brothers while he and their other brothers and sisters, John, Julian, Jackie and Joan helped him close all the storm shutters and block the doors. Knowing they wouldn't make it back to the house, their daddy told Jo-Jo and Jessie to make for town and lock themselves inside the insurance building. He assured them that they'd be safe since the building was made of brick and promised he'd come for them as soon as he could.

  As they reached town, the trio roared down Main Street, honking the truck's horn and screaming warnings about what was coming up behind them.

  Seeing and hearing this, most of the townspeople didn't take them seriously and laughed at the McPherson kids’ antics. That family had always been full of hell raisers and practical jokers, they told each other. And wasn't that Jessie McPherson driving? The same Jessie McPherson who in his senior year had flushed dry ice down the commodes at school and made them explode? His daddy had tanned his hide for that little prank but now it looked like he was at it again. This time he even enlisted his older brother and sister as they drove down Main Street screaming about the dead coming to life and eating the living.

  As they pulled up in front of the insurance building, Jimmy realized why his daddy had sent them here. Built on a raised foundation, the bottoms of the first floor windows were an easy seven feet above the ground. A set of steps led up to the heavy wooden front entry. Jimmy knew from making deliveries here when he worked at Dave's Fine Furniture, that the rear doors were set up the same way. Racing up the steps, the three McPhersons burst inside and quickly slammed the door behind them. It was Sunday and the building was deserted, so they separated and went around shutting all the windows on the first floor and securing the rear entrance. As they met back in the foyer, the trio collapsed, panting from exertion and fear.

  They sat this way in silence for the next twenty minutes, each lost in their own thoughts and worries. Then they heard the first screams from outside. Looking out a window in an empty office located next to the foyer, the trio watched as first a few people ran by looking furtively over their shoulders, and then a flood of their friends and neighbors came rushing past, screaming and yelling in horror. A few gunshots rang out, but only a few. Although nearly everyone in Owens Grove owned some type of firearm, no one carried one around with them all the time except the Sheriff.

  As Jo-Jo watched, one man sprinted down the street so intent on watching his rear that he ran face first into a utility pole. He bounced off so hard she heard the boinging sound it made from inside the building and then he hit the ground and lay still. Jo-Jo's attention was diverted from this by a group of refugees who came up the stairs and started pounding on the front door of the insurance building.

  “We've got to help them,” she called out to her brothers.

  Jessie ran to the door and unlocked it, letting five people in. More of the citizens of Owens Grove ran by. Some, seeing the doors to the insurance building open and people going inside, followed them.

  Shouted stories from the newcomers about being chased by maniacs, cultists and serial killers filled the foyer. By the time the first of the dead staggered into view on Main Street, thirty-five people of all ages crowded the foyer and surrounding offices to watch as the dead approached.

  The first one to lope into view headed directly over to the man lying unconscious next to the pole as hundreds more followed him. The zombie lucky enough to have its meal laid out before it was a bald, elderly reanimated corpse. Dressed in bright yellow pants and a sky blue shirt, its golf cleats clattered on the paved street as it rushed toward its free lunch.

  Jo-Jo watched from the office window as the old man knelt down and lunged forward, biting into the unconscious man's cheek. As the dead golfer reared back to rip a piece of flesh loose, Jo-Jo's horror almost turned to laughter at the confused expression that crossed the zombie’s face. Looking down, it took the dead thing a moment to see what Jo-Jo had right away. Its false teeth had been pulled out of its mouth and now lay on the ground next to its food. Frustrated, the elderly zombie squealed at its inability to eat. Jo-Jo felt hope for the man in the street, but it was short lived as the dead thing tore open the prostrate man's shirt and started tearing strips of flesh from his chest with its fingernails and stuffing them into its toothless mouth.

  As hundreds of the dead crowded the streets of Owens Grove, many stumbled up the steps of the insuranc
e building to claw and pound at its doors. The humans who had taken refuge inside ran for the upper floors, but Jo-Jo stayed where she was, transfixed by the scene outside the window. Jessie and Jimmy, sure that the building was secure, also remained on the first floor. They moved to either side of their sister and each put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

  “It can't last long,” Jimmy said.

  Picking up on his brother's tone, Jessie added, “Someone's bound to come and rescue us. Daddy knows we're here, so he’ll come as soon as he can.”

  So they waited.

  ***

  After three days of forced captivity with little water and no food, the McPherson brothers dug a hole through the common wall adjoining their building with the hardware store on their right. Using sharpened pieces of broken off table legs it took them two days. Once through, they armed themselves with a variety of tools that made it easy to breach the common wall on the left of their building, which adjoined a beauty salon. Once inside QuickKuts, the urban miners were careful not to be spotted through its glass, storefront window by the dead who roamed freely in front of it. They then holed the next wall to reach their final destination.

  Greene's Grocery Store.

  Now with provisions to last into the foreseeable future, the people in the insurance building settled in to await rescue. Offices were separated into sleeping quarters, and a lookout was posted on the roof to watch for any low flying aircraft they might signal.

  When no one appeared over the following months except for more of the dead, three of the survivors lost hope and committed suicide. One, an older lady who had seen her husband among the dead wandering in front of the building, spoke for two days about her darling Jacob calling out to her to join him. The others tried to convince her that it was her imagination, but she wouldn't believe them and slit her wrists. After natural selection took its course, those remaining formed a community that grew close and tried to help each other through the crisis. Faith that they would eventually be saved kept them going.