White Flag of the Dead

by Joseph Talluto

  Mike grunted. “Stupid thing is on the first floorwith the zombies.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Get it if you can. Grab a crowbar and your backpacks and get out. I know you guys have all that camping crap in your house. You gotta move as fast as you can, and don’t stop for anything.”

  Mike sounded unsure. “Where can we go? I look out my window and there’s twenty of these things on the street at any given time. I watched a guy get eaten yesterday who tried to make a run for it.”

  “You’re smarter than that, bro. Look out your front window. Your escape is right there. Get on the el tracks and you’ll be able to move pretty quickly. These things can’t climb, and you need to get out of the city.” I tried to sound reassuring.

  Mike sighed. “Thanks bro. I needed this. Once we’re on the el, then what? We can’t walk to the country.”

  I tried not to sound harsh. “The world as we knew it is over. We’re back in the middle ages and there are monsters all around. You gotta get busy living or get busy dying.”

  “Wasn’t that from a movie?”

  “Makes as much sense now as anything. You need to make a choice. Walk out of the city or try to get to the lake and get a boat. You might be safer on a boat.” I thought that one out and it seemed logical.

  Mike sounded skeptical. “How do I get a boat?”

  “Get your gun and you’ll get a boat.”

  I could almost hear Mike mulling that one over. “All right, we’re gonna try to get out of here. I’ll try to call you back once we are out of here and on the el.”

  “Keep moving. Don’t stand and fight if you can avoid it. If you have to face one of these things, always aim for the head.” I tried to give as much useful last minute advice as I could.

  “Since when did you become an expert?” Mike was curious.

  “Since Ellie died and I killed two of these things in my back yard yesterday.”

  Mike had nothing to say to that. He at least still had his family.

  “Good luck, brother.” I said. “Call me when you’re on the move if you can.” I didn’t want to waste his time talking. I also had no idea how the hell he managed to call me, but I was still amazed.

  “Talk to you.” Mike said.

  And that was it. Mike hung up and I prayed with everything I had that he and his family was going to be safe. If he managed to get his gun and get to the tracks, he had a chance. Not a strong one, but a chance. I went back to my windows and spent the rest of the morning reinforcing the wood that was already there and checking the rest of my defenses. I decided to play a little game with myself. What would I do if the zombies managed to get in here? I figured that the best place to be would be on the second floor, as the basement, although convenient, only left one way out. Deciding this, I went down to the basement and retrieved all my weapons and ammo that were still down there. I brought them upstairs and stashed them in the bedroom. I went back and retrieved my tools and supplies and brought them upstairs as well. I began bringing as much food as I could upstairs, leaving only a little bit downstairs as necessary.

  I looked at my stairwell, and figured it was the weak point in my plan. I needed a way to secure the stairs, but I also needed to think about escape. Mike and his family brought that into focus. What if they got in here and I was trapped upstairs? What could I do? I thought for a bit and realized that I needed a ladder. Fortunately, I had an extension ladder in the garage. It was a real trick to maneuver that thing upstairs, but I did it. It was long enough to reach to the roof of my neighbors, so I figured I could go from roof to roof if I needed to.

  Getting back to the stairwell, I needed a way to block it. Nothing was jumping out at me so I decided to worry about it later.

  I fed Jake and put him down for his nap, and thought I saw movement outside. I went to the window and watched for a bit. Sure enough, something was moving in the field behind the houses. I had three guesses as to what it was and the first two didn’t count.

  I went downstairs and picked up the .22. I was curious if a .22 would be effective at all against a zombie’s head, and since there didn’t seem to be any more out there, I figured it would be a good time to see. I went outside to the fence and stood on one of the chairs. I didn’t see anything right away and looked around. For the moment, all I could see were the two corpses I had thrown over the fence the previous day. They didn’t look too good, as the flies had done a number on them.

  As I was looking at them, another zombie stumbled into view. It was walking along the ditch, and was hidden from view by one of the trees I had near the fence. It was a young man, about twenty-five as near as I could tell, and he was in rough shape. His clothes were nearly gone, hanging in shreds from his body. Raw wounds covered his torso, and his left leg sported a six inch gash that went completely around it. Maggots covered the wounds, and fell off every time he lurched one way or the other. He hadn’t noticed me yet as I hadn’t moved, and I began to wonder about their sense of sight. If you didn’t attract attention to yourself, and they couldn’t hear you or smell you, it seemed you were just part of the scenery.

  I checked the clip and chambered a round, the bolt sounding loud in the stillness. The zombie’s head turned my way, and he groaned when he finally saw me. I lined up the sights on his head as he came closer, and when he was no further than fifteen feet away, at the base of the hill my fence sat on, I fired the round at his head. The shot echoed off the condominiums across the way, and a neat little hole appeared in his forehead. He collapsed without another sound.

  “That worked well.” I said to myself as I heard answering groans coming from across the way. Three more zombies came stumbling out from the condo’s parking lot, seeking the source of the noise. I waited until the first one came near and then dropped it with a shot to the head. I was still hidden in the tree branches, so they hadn’t quite zeroed in on where I was. The second was a bit further out, about twenty yards, but I tried it anyway. It too, fell with a round to the head. I wondered what the true effective range was, and tried a shot at about fifty yards. The zombie’s head jerked, but he didn’t go down. I waited for him to get closer, then I hit him again. This time he went down for good. I could see that the first shot had hit him, but the bullet had not penetrated the skull, but traveled around the skull under the skin. Not pretty, but a lesson learned. .22’s were good for close in work, and they had to get hit straight on.

  I didn’t hear any more groans, so I stepped off the chair and started back toward the house; as I did, a figure suddenly appeared in the window of my neighbors’ house. I was startled enough to raise my weapon and get a sight picture before I realized it was Erica, my neighbor’s daughter. She raised both hands and her eyes got really huge. I lowered the weapon and gave her a thumbs- up, hoping it was reassuring. She smiled and waved, and retreated from the window. I went back inside and spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what I was going to do about my stairs.

  6

  During the night, the gas turned off. I didn’t realize it until morning, when I went to take a quick shower that hot water was gone. This was not convenient. Not unexpected, but still inconvenient. Well, it was only a matter of time. Jake was going to have to get used to some room-temperature baths. I filled a gallon jug and placed it in the sun, figuring it would help a little. Jake was a little trooper; in his world, as long as daddy was around and somebody, didn’t matter who, changed his diapers, his day was golden.

  Speaking of diapers, I realized that things were critical when it came to diapers. I needed to get another supply and do it today. I didn’t want to have to leave the homestead, but I needed some things and I needed to go as soon as possible before everything had been looted and taken. I wasn’t sure about the looting, but with police pretty much non-existent, and the National Guard pulled back to the safe center, if there was one. People were pretty much on their own. And as any disaster survivor will tell you, calamity brings out the best and worst in people. That’s just the way it was. Besides, I n
eeded to get out there and see just how bad things were. For all I knew, it wasn’t too bad. Yeah right, and maybe I’ll be named king next week.

  I packed Jakey up in his car seat and got myself ready. I had my big crowbar out in the car, and I had my ever-present SIG. I took my Winchester with me as heavy firepower, figuring that if I couldn’t get it done with full power 45 Colt loads, it couldn’t be done. I had eleven rounds in the gun and put ten more in my pocket. If it came to a firefight, I was bugging out. I had Jake with me and couldn’t take chances. The lever gun had been a faithful companion, and I felt more secure in taking a shot with it than most of my other guns. Besides, with my Cowboy Action Shooting practice, I could empty that gun fairly quickly.

  I checked the street before I opened up the door, as I didn’t want to have to engage a zombie right off the bat if I could avoid it. I unlocked the door and rolled it up as quietly as I could. No one was in sight, so I re-engaged the lock and started the car. I pulled out of the garage and headed out into the street, closing the garage door behind me. I had locked the door leading to the house, so I wasn’t worried about zombies breaking into my home if they managed to get into the garage.

  I drove through the neighborhood, again noting the signs of violence and hasty exits. No cars blocked the way, which was good, so I was able to head to the main road fairly quickly. I did see a few zombies, and they turned towards me, but lost interest after I pulled from their sight and they saw they couldn’t catch me.

  I drove down to the crossroad, a small highway tucked away from the main roads. It had a couple of cars parked on the side of the road, and a car was in the ditch by the local body shop. All the businesses were closed, and the golf course on the west side of the street was deserted, except for some zombies strolling around the eighth green. They were interested in something in the water, so I didn’t think it was polite to disturb them.

  I turned up towards the main road and found a few more abandoned cars. Some had blood in the interior, and more than one had a corpse in it. Several had movement, and I could see that the zombies were trapped in the cars, unable to figure out how to free themselves. I drove the car into the small lane that went between a gas station and a bank, and led to the drug store around the back.

  Immediately, I sensed something was wrong. A car had been forced to the side of the lot near the back, two other cars bracketing it and preventing it from moving. I drove to the side of the building and parked it under the drive-through. It was out of the way and in the shade, and gave me a chance to hide the car and Jake. I was not going to bring him with, as he was safer in the car, and if I needed to move quickly, I didn’t want to have to worry about him. Besides, he was falling asleep, so he wouldn’t miss anything important.

  I got out of the car and cautiously approached the other vehicles. The forced car had its doors still open, and I could hear the faint dinging of the open door warning. The other two cars were closed, and I could see a lot of beer cans and cigarette packs in the back of the vehicles. As I went closer, I could see a pair of legs by the front of the vehicle. Bringing my gun up, I eased the hammer back and approached the legs, not happy about what I might find. As I reached the front, I could see that the legs belonged to a man, probably in his thirties, lying in a semi-fetal position. He had not been killed by zombies, that much I could figure out by the way his throat was cut. His blood had spilled out over the pavement and pooled at the edge of the drive. There was nothing I could do for him so I turned back the way I came. That’s when I saw the woman.

  She was lying face down in the ditch, and was naked from the waist down. Dirty hand prints covered her legs and ankles. What clothes were on her were ripped and torn, and her hands clawed the dirt. A single knife stuck out from between her shoulder blades. She had died hard and in pain. I began to realize what had happened. This couple had been trying to escape, and been forced off the road by these marauders. They dragged the man out and likely forced him to watch his wife being raped. They then killed them both. Since there was no hope of police action, this was done for the pure pleasure of it. My jaw tightened and I breathed out heavily. As I turned back, I saw something that made my blood run cold. In the back of the car was an empty car seat. If there was a child, where was it now? Was it even alive? Anything left with animals that would do this would surely suffer.

  I walked back to my car and checked on Jake. He was still sleeping, but wouldn’t for long. I needed to get what I needed and get out of here. As I stepped back to the lot, I realized I needed to make sure I wasn’t followed. I ran back to the cars and, using my knife, slashed the tires on all three vehicles.

  I went to the side of the building and walked carefully to the front. I began to hear voices from the opening, which I could see had been smashed open. I had no idea why I was going in the building, how many I was facing, or what I planned on doing. But there was a child in danger, and no matter how badly I wanted to cut and run, I could not give up on that child.

  I held my rifle at the ready and walked inside. The aisles had been trashed, and a lot of stuff was all over the floor. I stepped carefully around a waterfall of makeup, and headed towards the back of the store where the voices were. I stayed at the edge of the store, trying to stay out of sight of the big mirrors on the back wall. I could see at least three people near the pharmacy, and could hear more grabbing things off the shelves.

  As I moved closer, I cocked the hammer back on my SIG, loosening it in its holster. The hammer was still back on my Winchester, and I moved closer to the pharmacy.

  The three punks I could see were leaning on the counter, talking to the ones in the back. I figured there were five of them, and I could see they had been busy. Even in the relative darkness of the store I could see them sporting several gold watches and chains, and I could see guns tucked in the waistbands of two of them. They were all about eighteen years old, and were relatively well-dressed. It didn’t make sense what they were doing, and their crime was even more horrific for it. I worried even more about the child. Where was it? I slowly angled out to the left and raised my rifle. I could see out the drive-up window, and thanked God I hadn’t parked further back, or they would have seen me and Jake.

  I didn’t waste time with small talk. “Where’s the child?” I said.

  The reaction was immediate. As one, the three spun around and two hands streaked for their waists. “Don’t!” I yelled, stepping into the dim light of the window and showing them I had the drop on them. “You’ll never make it.” I heard some muttering coming from the pharmacy and called to them. “You two in the back! Come out now and have your hands up!”

  The closest one, an oily bastard if I ever saw one, sneered and said, “You a cop?”

  I shook my head as the other two made their appearance. “You’re not that lucky. I don’t have rules to play by like cops do.” I noted that one of the ones from the back had deep scratches on his face, like someone had been fighting him. I could guess where he had gotten them. “Where’s the child?” I asked again.

  Oily sneered. “Fuck you.”

  I didn’t say a word. I just shot him in the chest. He flew back from the impact and slammed against the counter. He fell onto his face and his companions could see the four inch hole the heavy slug had created as it exited his body. They all stood stock still and raised their hands higher.

  My face was stone cold as I pointed the gun at the next one in line, a slender blonde kid who looked like he had just started shaving a week ago. “Where’s the child?”

  The blonde started to shake, and couldn’t answer. His partner, a heavy kid with greasy hair and a bad complexion, reached for the gun at his waist. I swung the rifle on him and shot him in the mouth as he screamed. The back of his head blew all over the pharmacy, and he fell back like a tree, thudding into the ground.

  I pointed the rifle again at the blonde, and kept my eyes on the remaining two kids. “Where?”

  The blonde kid shrugged and I brought the gun to within an inc
h of his face. The .45 inch hole at the end of the barrel must have seemed like a garage from that vantage point. “I`m not going to ask again. Where is the child who belonged to the father whose throat you cut and the mother who you raped and stabbed? Where?” I screamed in his face.

  The blonde kid said nothing, he just looked up towards the camera counter. I didn’t look but I was afraid of what I would find. At that moment, the blonde kid said exactly the wrong thing. He smiled at me and said “Did you want her for yourself?”

  I lowered my rifle and casually shot him in the gut. He folded in half and crashed back, landing in a heap by the counter. He shrieked and grabbed at his stomach, trying to hold in his guts and screamed himself to death at the same time. His companions looked in horror and one of them managed to wet himself. I kicked them back to the counter to sit amongst their dead and dying companions. “If either of you move, I will kill you.” My voice was ice and I could not imagine myself with more anger than I felt at that moment. They nodded their heads and tried to shift away from the growing pools of blood. The blonde kid continued to scream, but he was running out of steam. I grabbed their weapons and threw them towards the front of the store.

  I had to move. The shots and screams had likely attracted attention, and I needed to get out of here as fast as possible. I moved to the baby aisle and grabbed bags of diapers. I headed to the back of the store, pausing to fire a shot at one of the kids who tried to move. He ducked as the bullet clipped near his head, then he held stock still. I went out the back door and loaded the trunk of the car. Jake was still sleeping, but I didn’t have much time. I ran back in and grabbed more diapers, pausing to snare a small first aid kit as well. I threw the items in the trunk and went back in one more time. I needed to know something and know it now. As I made my way to the front, I could see shadows in the parking lot, and I didn’t have any more time. I reached the camera counter and looked over, afraid of what I would see.