Detroit Reanimated

by Michael Halliday

Cameron joined Mandy outside the barracks where they were going to stay for the night.

  “Any idea what’s going on?” Cameron asked.

  “Something about a vehicle coming,” Mandy replied.

  The vehicle was given clearance to enter after they saw it was a Humvee. Four people got out. Nikki, who was covered in drying blood, Mary and Eliot all seemed to be struggling. Greg was driving the vehicle, and he was also stained with blood. He marched over to Eric and spoke to the major quietly.

  “We better get Evan,” Mandy said. “I don’t like the looks of this.”

  Mandy went inside the barracks. A minute later, Evan came out with Mandy and Matt behind him.

  Eric came over to Evan, and gestured for Nikki to join them.

  “Holy shit, Nikki,” Evan said when he saw her. “What happened?”

  “Edward killed Doug and John,” Nikki replied emotionlessly.

  Mandy’s hand went to her mouth after hearing the news. Evan’s mind refused to give him the words to respond.

  “Please tell me he’s dead,” Cameron said. “Please tell me that he is dead too.”

  “I shot him,” Nikki said.

  Nikki told them the details of what had happened.

  “No,” Evan said. “I can’t accept that.”

  “He also killed the two soldiers that guarded us,” Eliot said.

  ‘I can’t get away from death!’ Evan screamed in his mind. ‘Someone please wake me the hell up!’

  Evan turned around and went back inside. Mandy went in with him. The others stood outside silently for some time.

  Chapter 10: Fallen

  Mandy held Evan after he finished punching a brick wall. He struck the wall with all of his strength repeatedly. He was consumed with anger and rage. Both of his hands were battered, but he felt no pain, other than that of losing his friend and valuable member of the group. He screamed after he fell to his knees.

  “I fucking hate this!” Evan wailed. “Who else is going to be taken from me? Why is this happening?”

  “Evan,” Mandy said soothingly. “Evan, let me take care of your hands.”

  “What?” Evan asked. He stared at the lines of blood streaming down from each hand. “Doug can’t be dead, Mandy.”

  “It hurts me too,” Mandy said. “They’re gone though.”

  “They,” Evan said, still staring at his hands. “He took them both. He walked up to them and killed them. He killed those soldiers.”

  “Something set him off,” Cameron said.

  “Nikki and Eliot are a mess,” Mandy said. “I don’t want to bother them.”

  Mandy patted the small pup Eliot had given up.

  “Where are the bodies?” Cameron asked.

  “Sergeant Humphrey will bring them first thing in the morning,” Mandy told him.

  “Not Edward’s,” Evan said.

  “I already told the sergeant to add him to the crosses,” Cameron confessed. “He was happy to oblige.”

  “Two soldiers are dead too,” Matt said. “Eric couldn’t afford losing anymore he said.”

  “No, you’re right Matt,” Cameron said.

  Someone knocked Evan on the door. Matt glanced at Cameron and Evan for permission to see who it was. Evan nodded.

  “Someone just arrived looking for Cameron Talltree,” a female soldier said.

  “Thank you,” Cameron said. “I’ll be out shortly.”

  “Who knows that you’re here?” Matt asked.

  “How would you like to come with me and find out,” Cameron said.

  Cameron and Matt left Evan and Mandy alone.

  “Evan, sit at that table,” Mandy said. “Your hands are a mess.”

  Evan didn’t feel like arguing, but he couldn’t care less about his hands. He just lost his friend. Mary lost the man she had feelings for. Two soldiers are now dead. All this occurred by the hands of a deranged lunatic.

  “You’re going feel this later,” Mandy said.

  “I’m not losing anyone else from this group,” Evan said.

  “I don’t plan on going anywhere,” Mandy said. “Neither do the rest of them I’m sure. Cameron may leave for a little while to get the others from his tribe, but he’ll come back. We’re all right beside you. We don’t want to lose you either.”

  “We need to check on Nikki and Mary,” Evan said.

  “That’s a good idea,” Mandy said.

  They fell silent while Mandy took care of Evan’s hands. Evan watched Mandy dab some waterlogged paper towels on his knuckles. Once the bleeding had stopped, she watched away the remaining blood.

  “Thanks for not being a jerk,” Mandy said when she was done. “Most men would become egomaniacs and pretend to be too strong to worry about something like this.”

  “I shouldn’t have punched a brick wall,” Evan said.

  “No, you shouldn’t have,” Mandy said. “I understand why you did though.”

  “Can I ask a favor from you?” Evan asked suddenly.

  “Sure,” Mandy replied.

  Evan took out his wallet. He removed the pictures of his family and gave them to Mandy.

  “Don’t let me lose these,” Evan said. “With this anger, and losing as much as I have, I just want to leave the past behind. I thought about getting rid of these, and I might.”

  Mandy looked at the pictures.

  “You don’t want to lose these,” Mandy said. She sat down by Evan. “Look how handsome this little guy is.”

  She slid the picture of Eliot over.

  “It may be painful to look at them,” Mandy said. “You can’t dismiss the fact they were a part of your life. They are your flesh and blood. You can’t destroy these.”

  ‘With each word that comes out of your mouth,’ Evan thought. ‘I’m getting to like you more and more.’

  After running to the deserted town of Lawton, Oklahoma, Cameron looked over the handles from different yard tools, axes, mallets, and other handles he had gathered.

  He wasn’t going to sleep that night, and he had permission to use the fort’s work station and power supply to create new weapons for the group. Cameron was going to be picky with these weapons. They had to be light, but be able to do the damage they need to do for the rest of the group to survive.

  ‘Garbage,’ Cameron thought as he looked at one handle. He threw it into a small but growing pile of rejected handles.

  He listened to his hero, John Trudell, through Evan’s phone as he worked. It was Matt who found the CD for him when the boy grabbed whatever he could with their run to Lawton. Cameron made the mistake to tell Matt he should be the archivist for music and film. Matt took the suggestion seriously and loaded three carts full of CDs and DVDs.

  All Cameron could do was watch with a lopsided grin as Matt loaded the cruiser with his collection. The twelve-year-old had the most intent look on his face as he worked. He helped Cameron load the weapon parts into the backseat.

  Back at the work station, Cameron found the handles he wanted for Matt, Mary, Mandy and Nikki. The pine wood handles were once for decent axes, but they would have been too heavy for the four to have solid control. Cameron cut long notches at the ends of each of the handles to place machete blades on them. Cameron then made metal loops to reinforce the blades. When he put the entire weapon together, it resembled a glaive with a blade that curved forwards.

  Cameron tested the blade. He swung it around with every bit of his strength. He then swung it against solid objects. When the blade stayed consistently stable, he placed it to the side. He made four identical blades, and began working on one for himself and Evan.

  Evan found Cameron asleep on a cot in the work shop. Evan was surrounded by two dozen models of new blades. Evan tested them, unaware of Cameron moving behind him.

  “These are incredible!” Evan stated.

  “Thanks,” Cameron said, startling Evan. He picked one of the blades up. “This one is yours.”

  Evan went to a long handled blade with some hooked notches along the backsi
de. He lifted the blade that was made for him.

  “This is light as hell,” Evan said. “It looks like it could be heavy, but I could wipe out an entire swarm of biters without getting fatigued by this thing. You made this for me?”

  “I did,” Cameron said. “I already told you my intentions, now I’ll tell you why.”

  Cameron had built loops for a strap so Evan could carry the blade over the shoulder. The blade was sheathed with soft suede, but he wasn’t finished fitting the sheath.

  Evan sat down on a stool at the work station to listen to Cameron.

  “We have an opportunity to make something new for ourselves,” Cameron said. “We don’t have to go back to our old lives. We will always want the people we lost back, but the old way was what brought us here in the first place.”

  “I agree with that,” Evan said.

  “That’s why I’m getting those people,” Cameron said. “I know exactly where they are now, with my visitor from last night. My friend, Steve Schneider sent out scouts to find people, particularly me. In that group, we have my father, my great-grandfather, Steve, a childhood friend named Patrick, sixteen Sioux children, and Sandra Whitehorse. There are also twenty-five Sioux adults. I wouldn’t tell you that if this group was a full of Edwards.”

  “That sounded like a compliment,” Evan said.

  “It was,” Cameron stated, “You seem to be a person who can make things better for those around you, for instance, look at Matt. He’s got someone now that won’t shoo him away, or be mean, patronize him. You got a cop to favor you enough to risk his family, and his life to help you go from Phoenix, to Detroit.”

  “He’s gone though,” Evan said morosely.

  “Not by your hands, Evan. The deaths of Adam, Simon and Doug were not your fault. You would likely be dead too if you were there. Edward was a sick man, and his death is a blessing.”

  “I let him come along though,” Evan said.

  “That wasn’t a malicious decision,” Cameron said. “Did you know he was going to do everything he had done?”

  “No,” Evan replied quickly.

  “You didn’t do anything wrong,” Cameron said. “You were charitable to his needs. You were tricked into believing he was a man in need, a family man who wanted to get to his family. That’s in the past though, Evan. We need to think about the future.”

  “Do you think we have a future?” Evan asked. “There are so many things in our way, biters, a crazed faction of soldiers and officers, starvation. God knows what else.”

  “Sorry if I’m intruding,” Eric said at the doorway. “I heard you both talking about the future. I think we can help each other with that.”

  “How,” Evan asked.

  “You’re splitting off to get your group, right Cameron?” Eric asked.

  “Yeah, they’re in Kearney,” Cameron replied. “They ran into some trouble.”

  “Kearney also has a large armory,” Eric said. “I’m talking about military vehicles, high-powered weapons, armored uniforms, whatever we need, and lots of it.”

  “Those will help, but something else we need,” Evan said. “We could use satellite radios and silencers.”

  “Silencers, great idea,” Cameron said.

  Matt wandered into the work shop. He was still half asleep, and his hair was in disarray. He seemed to realize that the room was filled with the different blades, as his tired eyes widened.

  “Eric, half of these blades are for your soldiers,” Cameron said. “So you don’t have to go through ammunition against the risen. Just have your troops come up with an attack pattern against them.”

  “Thank you,” Eric said. “They’re impressive. You should have these.”

  Eric gave Cameron a set of keys and a map.

  “Those are the armories on the way, one in Kearney,” Eric told them. “There’s one at the Cornhusker Ammunition Plant. If they haven’t fallen already, or been cleared out already by the guardsmen stationed there, then we’re going to be in great shape for a very long time.”

  “Do you want to go, Matt?” Evan asked.

  “Sure,” Matt said.

  “If you are willing to learn, Matt,” Cameron said. “I would like to teach all of you the Sioux language. I can also teach you how to track, find food, and other survival trades.”

  “That would be…” Evan started.

  “Awesome,” Matt finished excitedly.

  “Tactical,” Eric said.

  “Beneficial,” Evan added. “Kind of like the Navajo code talkers.”

  “Do you know how to shoot a bow?” Cameron asked Matt.

  “No, never tried it.”

  “I do. I can show him,” a teenage boy said from the door.

  “Ah, right on time,” Eric said. I want you to meet Daniel Drake. He’s an orphan from Hobart. He has a younger sister and no other family.”

  “Like me,” Matt said.

  “That’s right,” Eric said. “Daniel wants to be useful, but we simply don’t have a place for him right now other than working on maintaining our Humvees. He wants to go out and help gather survivors.”

  Daniel was quite tall for a fourteen year old. He was also muscular and handsome. His hair was short, but stylish and he had grayish eyes. His voice had changed, and puberty had been kind to him. His sister joined him at the door.

  “Nice to meet you all,” Daniel asked.

  “Daniel, these are the people I told you about,” Eric said. “They’re heading up to Detroit to help stabilize things.”

  “I may have an option for him,” Cameron said. “You’re good with a bow, yeah?”

  “State champion for all age groups in archery the last two years,” Daniel said. “I was second place when I was eleven. I know how to use a bow.”

  “Impressive,” Cameron told Daniel, “How would you like to join Matt and me by getting my people in Nebraska and check out some supplies at a National Guard Armory?”

  “What about my sister?” Daniel asked.

  “She can go with me, Mandy, Nikki, Eliot and Mary to Detroit,” Evan replied.

  “I can trust you?” Daniel asked.

  “You can,” Cameron told him.

  “I’ll help you then,” Daniel said.

  Evan noticed Matt set his gaze on the girl.

  “Matt, come with me a sec, I’d like a word with you,” Evan said.

  He pulled Matt to the side.

  “I need you to listen to me.”

  “Ok, I’m all ears,” Matt said with a mischievous grin.

  “You will follow Cameron’s lead, right?”

  “Yes,” Matt promised.

  “And you will listen to him, right?” Evan paused when Matt glanced at Rheana. “Are you paying attention or are your eyeballs stuck on that girl?”

  “Yes, I will,” Matt said. He looked right into Evan’s eyes with his promise.

  “Thank you,” Evan said. “I’m letting you do this because I believe it will be good for you. I believe in you.”

  “I won’t let you down,” Matt replied.

  Cameron found Daniel and Matt two hours later. The two boys were getting acquainted with each other to better work together. Daniel was also practicing with his compound bow. From the arrows lodged into a target dummy that the boys created, Cameron had no doubt this teen was as good as he claimed.

  Cameron had finished the blade’s sheath for Matt, and made a blade for Daniel.

  “Whoa!” Daniel gasped.

  “Holy crap,” Matt said. “You made this for me?”

  “Sure did. What do you think?”

  “This is bad ass!” Matt said. “Thanks Cameron.”

  “You’re welcome, Matt,” Cameron replied. “Is it too heavy for you?”

  “No, it’s great!” Matt said.

  “We better get going,” Cameron said. “Some of the soldiers are burying Doug and John for us in a little while. We should be there.”

  Cameron and Matt picked up Evan to go to the location where Doug and John were bein
g laid to rest. Nikki and Eliot had been there since Eric told them where he thought would be a good spot. The spot was right across the road from Lake Lawtonka. Two grave sites were being dug by two of Eric’s troops.

  It was sunny, but windy. Nikki’s hair flowed along with the wind. She had tear streaks mixed with wind-swept dust on both cheeks. Eliot seemed emotionless. Cameron was worried that the nine-year-old was suffering too much, and the damage may be irreparable.

  “Thank you for coming,” Nikki said.

  Nikki hugged Evan, Cameron and Matthew.

  “Doug and John were good men,” Cameron replied. “I wouldn’t miss this.”

  Mandy brought Mary to the site and the funeral commenced. Eric had sent a chaplain from the base to conduct. Cameron burnt sage for both men. Evan swore to all of them that no more would be lost as long as his lungs held breath.

  “We’re going to start for Kearney in an hour, Evan,” Cameron said after the service.

  “Alright,” Evan said. He saw that Matt was looking at him sadly. “What’s wrong?”

  “I just wish you were going,” Matt replied.

  “I have to get the others to Detroit. Don’t worry, Matt. I’m going to have two-hundred soldiers escorting us, and we also have another three-hundred civilians coming too. It would be suicide if anyone wanted to hurt us.

  “You also have Cameron with you. Nothing will happen to either of us. I’ll tell you what. When we are both back in Detroit, we’ll look into ways for me to take you in officially.”

  “You’d adopt me?” Matt said.

  “Heck yeah,” Evan said. “It would be stupid if I didn’t. I’m already bonded with you, and I know you are with me. We can’t replace our families, but we can become one.”

  “Yeah,” Matt said. “That works for me, but what about Mary?”

  “She’s also welcome,” Evan said. “She’s almost a woman, and with the way things are now, she’s going to want her independence. She was falling in love with John before he was taken.”

  “Will you be ok?” Matt asked him.

  Evan felt that Matt was genuinely concerned.

  “I’ll be fine, bud,” Evan told him. “Thank you for asking.”

  “Just make sure you pay attention to these people,” Matt said. “I think we’re going to have a lot more trouble up in Detroit. I think Eric and his men will have to kill all of those soldiers up there.”