White Flag of the Dead

by Joseph Talluto

  I rode up to the front again, and Jakey was starting to get really fussy. I knew I was going to have to stop somewhere and feed him. Trouble was I couldn’t stop until I knew we were safe, and we still had a little ways to go. I quieted him with a binky and rode on.

  I passed the Turley Park Police Station and quickly rode around the building. I wanted to check out the armory to see if there was anything worth taking. Tommy caught up to me and started checking the cars in the parking lot. After about two minutes, he had broken into three of them, and the unarmed men in our group managed to secure more AR-15’s , more ammo, and a couple of shotguns. I couldn’t find a way into the building, but I figured we’d be back.

  I turned south on the next cross street and headed for the I-80 overpass. I felt a little like Moses leading people to the Promised Land, although unlike Moses, I wasn’t exactly happy with God these days. I swung back to Tommy and gave him some directions.

  “I’m heading to another school. It’s roughly a mile down this road on the left. If you can get the people moving quickly enough, the dead might just pass us by. If not, we’ll be in a pretty defensible position. I’m going to scout it out and try to open a way in for us. The place is Watson School. The homes surrounding it have fenced back yards, so there hopefully won’t be too many on the welcoming committee.” I said quickly, spinning around and heading back over the bridge.

  I rode as quickly as I could, and for the most part the passage was nearly silent except for the sound of my tires on the road. In a way it was kind of nice. In another way, it creeped the hell out of me.

  I spun down the driveway to the school and headed towards the back of the building. I didn’t see any signs of activity or damage, so I was hopeful that the inside was undamaged as well. I pulled up to the garage door and pulled out my crowbar, snapping the padlock that secured the door shut. I pulled it up and scanned the garage with my SIG out. Lately, I have learned I do not like surprises. Seeing it clear, I pulled the bike inside and pulled the door down. I picked up Jake out of his seat and grabbed a bottle. He was getting really antsy. I decided to feed him now while I knew this area was safe and just listen for a little while. I figured I had about half an hour before the groups showed up.

  Jake immediately became quiet when I started to feed him, and I sat back on a pile of bags of sidewalk salt. I reflected on the past two days, and I just had to shake my head. All I wanted to do was head south and start over. I never expected to be trying to save a hundred people in an abandoned school.

  Jake finished his bottle and promptly fell asleep. I wasn’t surprised, given the morning we had. I unwrapped the towel from the Enfield and laid him down on it. I took several of the salt bags and made a little fence to keep him safe in case he woke up when I wasn’t there. I needed to check the building and I hoped like hell I wasn’t walking into a crowd of infected dead. I reloaded my magazines for my SIG, and topped off the magazine for my M1. I made my way to the door and stepped into the hallway.

  Immediately I smelled something. It wasn’t heavy, but something was definitely dead in here. Great. Here we go. I decided to work my way from the back to the front, so I went down towards where I thought the gym was. I passed a glass doorway, which let in a lot of light, and went towards a commons area. The smell was stronger, but I didn’t hear anything moving around. I checked the bathrooms on the way, but they were clear. The commons was clear, but the smell was definitely coming from the kitchen area. I moved towards the door and opened it, jumping back to give myself room.

  Nothing came out, and I poked my head around the corner. It smelled awful, but the room was unoccupied. Weird. I moved towards the fridge and noticed the smell was coming from the refrigerator. I smiled to myself and figured some teacher’s lunches had gone bad. I opened the fridge and jumped back cursing as a body fell out at me and thudded to the floor.

  “Jesus!” I said loudly, quickly sighting the corpse’s head with my guns. I needn’t have bothered. This one had been seriously dead for a long time. It was a young girl, probably about fifteen, but it was hard to tell. How she managed to get into the fridge, I had no idea. I watched her for a second to see if there was any movement, then I grabbed her shirt and dragged her to the door. There was an awkward moment when I tried to throw her outside, but after a little heaving, I managed to toss her out.

  The gym and locker rooms were clear, and I worked my way through the building. I didn’t find anything out of order and I was more and more impressed with the building as I went through it. We had a lot of room for all the people we had with us, and there was minimal access to cover. The weak point was the front door, being all glass, but could be secured with materials in the building.

  Circling the outside of the building, I was thrilled to see a creek off to one side, so our water supply would be assured. I headed towards the back of the building and got a shock. The corpse I had thrown outside was gone.

  I spun around with my carbine at the ready and saw nothing. Did she get up on her own, or did someone come and get her? Her walking away actually made me more comfortable than the thought of someone coming to get a corpse. I thought about Jake and ran towards the garage. If someone had seen me enter, they might have gotten in the same way. I skidded to a stop in front of the door and opened the garage. Light flooded the garage and I ran in to check on Jake. He was still sleeping in his area, and relief flooded through me.

  To be completely replaced by adrenaline when a voice behind me said “I didn’t know there was someone with us. I wish I had.”

  I jumped and spun around, rifle coming up. In the corner near the door, a thin figure was sitting on the floor, the corpse of the girl cradled in his lap. He was all pale skin and bones, and his black hair hung in greasy strips on his head. His clothes were filthy, and his long nose accented his rat-like face. He was stroking the dead girl’s hair, and ran a hand down her chest.

  “She got away from me, but I got her back.” His voice was a whisper, but it carried to my horrified ears like he had shouted. I had to get this thing away from my son.

  “Maybe you two need to go for a walk, and get reacquainted.” I said lowering the carbine but keeping the barrel on him.

  “No, no, no, she might run again, make me chase her again, make me be mad again.” He looked up at me and I saw in his eyes he was completely insane. He had a feral look about him, and every instinct was screaming at me to kill him.

  I decided to skip being nice. “You need to leave. Take your girlfriend and go. By the way, she’s dead. Get out.” I raised the gun again to punctuate my words.

  He hissed at me and bared his teeth. “She’s not dead, not dead, not dead. No, no, no, no. Not dead, not like the walking sleepy ones, not like them. No, she’s sleeping, my beautiful is sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.”

  I was out of patience. This thing had been too close to my son for too long. I stepped forward quickly and punched the lunatic in the head, stunning him. I then grabbed the girl by the ankle. I moved fast and dragged her outside again before the freak realized what I had done.

  When he came around, he howled and lunged at me. I was ready for him and slammed the stock of my carbine in his face. His nose spurted blood and he went down in a heap. I grabbed him by the hand and threw him outside on top of his beloved. “Good luck, slick.” I said as I closed the door. I threw the deadbolt and went to the front of the building in time to see a large group of people moving across the parking lot.

  Opening the door I waved to Tommy and Duncan. They waved back and started to jog towards me.

  When they got close I shook their hands and smiled. “You guys make it okay? No more losses?”

  Tommy smiled. “We got ‘em all. This place secure?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Good to go. When the people get here, get the women and kids upstairs, with two men at the top of the stairs to make a stand if needed.”

  Tommy looked at me. “You expecting trouble?”

  I pointed over his shoulder. It looked
like a thousand dead were coming down the lane after the group. A shuffling, shambling mass of moaning, wheezing dead.

  “Here it comes now.”

  13

  We were out of time. Tommy, Duncan and I managed to get one hundred and thrity-two people to the relative safety of a school building, but right on our heels was a small army of undead. We had five minutes before they were on us, and we had no where else to go. So this is it, I thought. Here is where we stand. I made some quick decisions.

  I looked at the group assembled before me. Most were tired from their long walk, and in no shape to fight. But we had no choice. We had to stand here, or we wouldn’t stand at all. I was not going to go out this way. I was not going to end here, not going to break my promise to my son or to my wife.

  “Listen up! Listen people! I don’t have time for a long speech. The dead are coming, and they will be here shortly.” I saw some nervous looks towards the doors and windows. Thankfully, no one screamed. “We need to get the children upstairs to safety with their mothers and fathers. Each family gets one gun. If they get past us, you decide what you want to do.” I pointed to two men who held rifles. “You two will guard the stairs. Don’t waste ammo on anything other than head shots. If the dead get past us, you’ll need to choke the stairs with bodies to buy yourselves some time.” I threw some large zip ties at them. “Secure the doors at the ends of the hallways. If you need to get out, use the north stairwell. Get through the window at the bottom of the stairs. There’s a creek out there and it will slow down any Z’s coming after you.”

  The men nodded and started herding the families and children to the main stairwell. I stopped a young woman heading away.

  “What’s your name?” I asked, shifting my carbine to my other shoulder.

  “Karen.” She said, her eyes wide with fear. She looked to be about 20, with thin blonde hair and summer clothing.

  “Karen, I’m John and this is Jake.” I held up my fully awake, squirming son. “I need you to take care of him until I come for him.” I said, handing him over.

  Karen held Jake but shook her head. “Oh, no, I couldn’t. What if those things get through, what if they come up, I can’t…”

  I gently held her face and looked into her eyes. “Karen. I know you can do this. Just play with him like there’s nothing going on, and I will be back for him in a little while. No matter what you hear, you keep it together. Keep him safe, and I will keep you safe. I promise.”

  Karen nodded and took Jake away. I steeled myself that I would see him again and turned to the task at hand. A slow fire was starting in my gut and my jaw clenched at the coming fight. In a strange way, I welcomed it. I wanted the fight, I wanted to kill and kill and kill. I wanted revenge on these things that had taken away my wife, my life, and destroyed my world. I would fight today and not go quietly.

  I ran to the garage and retrieved my Enfield and crowbar. If it came to close quarters, I wanted every tool I had. I grabbed my extra carbine magazines and ran back to the group, which numbered around 75.

  I motioned Tommy and Duncan over. “Take five men each and cover the front entrance. That’s the weakest point. Take them down close to the building, make the rest slow up. Each shot has to count. Make sure everyone has a blunt weapon in case they get in. The stairwell at the north end of the building is your fallback point. Good luck.” They ran to the group, quickly selected ten men, and ran to the front door. I could see through the windows that the zombies were halfway through the parking lot.

  I turned to the main group and assigned ten men to cover the back door, which was also glass. I told them to hold their fire and make every shot count. Create choke points and buy themselves time. I didn’t expect trouble from there, but who knew? I grabbed five men and took them to the small hallway near the gym. There was another door there that led outside. I gave them the same advice. Don’t let too many get through, make them work for it.

  I took the remainder and spread them out in the hallways in groups of two. Any more together and they would likely hit each other. They didn’t have guns, and were nervously fingering their makeshift weapons. They were to act as backup if someone went down. They were also to guard against any zombies making it through a window. Not likely, given the nature of the windows, but it was possible. One of them, a big guy I had heard someone call Charlie, positioned himself in front of the main stairwell doors. He held a length of lead pipe that had a t-junction attached to one end. In the other hand he had a small hatchet. I mentally gave him a Good luck, brother. I stationed myself near the south door. It was another weak point, but I figured it was as good a place as any. I went to the door and looked out the window. I had a stairwell to the second floor nearby, but I knew the doors had been secured with a zip tie.

  Holy shit. We were in serious trouble. More zombies had joined the original crew from the subdivision surrounding the building, and I figured there had to be at least eight hundred of the bastards out there. We didn’t have nearly enough ammo. That slow fire in my gut began to burn a little hotter and I had to restrain myself from throwing myself outside to do battle. Where did this come from? Why was I so eager to jump into the fray? I advised caution at every turn, but here at what could be my last act, I wanted to just engage my enemy, to rend and smash. My hand gripped my carbine tighter and I shifted my crowbar to be within easy reach.

  I jumped back from the doors as a rotting face slammed against the glass. Broken teeth cracked against the upper window of the door. It was so torn and rotted I couldn’t tell what it used to be. It moaned loudly and began pounding on the door. Since the door opened outward, it would be a while before this was a serious threat. But the message was clear: The dead had arrived

  I could hear pounding echoing throughout the building, and glass crashing. Shots were being fired, but I couldn’t tell where they were coming from. Shouts could be heard, and I could hear Tommy yelling “Kill them, kill them! They’re getting in! “Kill them! Aim for the head, damn you!” I desperately wanted to run down to see what was happening, but things were getting interesting on my end. The window of the door had been smashed in and two arms were reaching through the opening. They belonged to two zombies that looked relatively fresh, although they were cut up badly from putting their arms through the glass. The center of the door was about chest high, so they couldn’t quite climb in, but I hesitated at killing them. I didn’t want to give the ones behind them a step up to get in the door.

  More shots and shouts. I couldn’t take my eyes off my door, since all it took was a second and you were done. I chanced a glance behind me to check on the other guys in my hallway and found myself alone. Fuck it, I thought. Oh well. At least I didn’t have to worry about getting shot by accident or clubbed by somebody. All I had to worry about was being torn to pieces by zombies and consumed, or infected by the virus and turning into a zombie myself. Spiffy.

  With my back clear, I decided to slow things down at my door. I shot the two that were hanging in and they slumped to the ground. They were immediately trampled by the zombies behind them and because these were able to stand on the first ones, they were able to leverage more of themselves into the window. I was astonished at their tenacity, especially when they jagged glass tore open their abdomens and ropey intestines spilled out over the door. I didn’t waste any time on introspection, and shot them as they raised their dead faces and groaned at me. They slumped over the window and effectively blocked the next two, which were pushing forward. I shot them as well, trying to block the door as much as possible. But the crowd outside was surging, trying to get at the prey they knew was within, and the door started to bulge and strain. The first zombies to fall were pulped as others trod on them, and the windows of the doors were full of grasping, groping arms.

  I realized that piecemeal wasn’t going to work. I needed to go on the offensive and really make trouble. I shouldered my carbine and went to work. I shot every head I could see, whether it was trying to get inside or if it was outside. I
missed a few shots, but hitting such small targets in such circumstances was miraculous at best. I reloaded my carbine with my second thirty round magazine and stepped closer to the door, trying to hit more of them outside. I had made a pile about three feet high of corpses, but more were crawling, tearing, groaning to get in. I looked at a sea of dead faces, bloated stomachs, and reaching arms and hands. I had the wild urge to throw my carbine aside, draw my knife and crowbar, and dive into that morass.

  I fired again and again, killing and killing. I started to have difficulty seeing my targets, as the corpses piled higher and some of the zombies were shorter, managing to stay out of sight. There was a lull in the firing, and I could hear sounds down the hall. There were shots and screams, cursing and crying, and over all the constant sound of zombies on the prowl.

  I looked over my shoulder and received a shock. Two zombies were shuffling their way towards me, their slow, shambling gait evident in the low light of the school. Beyond them, I could see many more zombies walking and littering the floor. As I watched, I saw a zombie’s head slam sideways and bounce off a wall, struck by something and someone unseen.

  I shifted my attention back to the two in the hallway. There were two classrooms between myself and the Z’s, so I darted into one of them, the zombies shuffling in pursuit. I kicked a couple of desks towards the door and shoved a few more for good measure. The two zombies came into the room, scanned the area and saw me standing there. They immediately started towards me, and crashed into the desks, falling to the floor. I stepped up quickly and smashed one on the head with my crowbar, ending its killing spree once and for all. The other, twisting on the floor and getting to its feet, rose slowly and locked eyes with me. Its lips peeled back in a snarl and a high pitched wheeze came out of a hole in its throat. I didn’t waste time and smashed the crowbar’s business end onto the top of its head, slamming it to the floor where it lay still.