White Flag of the Dead

by Joseph Talluto

  “What about Bill?” Jason wanted to know about his friend.

  “Well, there’s not much I can do for him, since there isn’t much left of him, but we’ll do what we can later. He’s not a priority at this point.” The brunette glared at me for that, and would have said something, but Kristen squeezed her arm and she stayed quiet. “If there’s nothing else, you all should head to the back.” I said.

  I walked over to the car and took a look at it. Except for some minor damage, it should run decently. It was a Subaru Outback, and it had only crashed through the doors, scratching the hell out of it. I stepped around Bill and looked into the car. No blood inside that I could see, and the doors were all closed. The keys were in the ignition, so I figured, what the hell? I reached in the window and turned the key, expecting nothing like I had found in so many vehicles before. Imagine my surprise when the darn thing turned over and started! I hopped in the car and pulled it out of the store, hoping the tires would not be punctured by the glass. I grinned like a kid at Christmas as I pulled the car into the parking lot and drove it around to the back. It had nearly a full tank of gas, and might be very useful as a scout vehicle, having four wheel drive capability.

  Charlie shook his head as I drove up and grinned at me. “Twenty car dealerships within a ten mile radius and you think that POS is worth keeping.”

  I laughed. “Its ugly but it has style, just like me.”

  Charlie laughed. “True that. The first bus load is gone, along with your survivors. Tommy says you want to take it all.”

  I looked at the building. “Indeed I do. We have a lot to talk about, but for right now, we have a shitload of work to do.”

  “What are you going to do with that car?” Charlie wanted to know.

  I looked sideways at him. “After I clean it I figured on outfitting it for a recon squad. Know anyone who might want to take part in that sort of thing with a customized vehicle?”

  Charlie’s eyes lit up as he considered the possibilities with the little car, and he turned thoughtful as the potential sunk in. I left him circling the car and watched as other members began hauling out the second load of supplies to be carted back to the building.

  Not a bad day, I thought. Not bad at all. I needed to hop on the next run back to get to back to Jakey. I had been gone nearly an hour and a half. Almost too long. I wasn’t worried, as I knew Nate would check on him, and Kristen would, too.

  As the sun crept higher in the sky, I could see some movement here and there as the occasional Drifter wandered around. I’d deal with them when they got close. But the time was coming when we were going to change our ways, and we’ll see how our luck held then.

  17

  We managed to move the majority of the supplies from the Big Circle store into the school. We had a few skirmishes with zombies who came to investigate, but nothing major. Everyone was extremely happy at the clothing that had been doled out, and the extra foodstuffs were a welcome addition as well. Jake was set for a long time in terms of food, and he was starting to be able to handle things like cheerios and soft foods. He was so funny to watch with the cheerios. I would put a handful in front of him, and he would smack them with both hands, then eat the ones that stuck to his hands. I thought about my own food and wondered if it would work with sandwiches.

  The weather was starting to turn colder, and we needed to think about making it through the winter. I personally was curious as to what effect winter had on zombies. Would they freeze to thaw out later? Would they keep moving through the snow and cold? What about the rest of the people who might still be out there trying to survive? With the power out and water available only through natural sources, how would they survive? We were in a pretty good position here, having food and water nearby.

  My thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked and Sarah stuck her head in my door.

  “You decent?” she asked.

  “No, why?” I grumbled, not really sure I wanted to hear what problems we had today.

  “You might want to get down to the training area.” Sarah said cryptically.

  “Why?” I wasn’t in the mood for trouble.

  “Just go. You’ll see. I’ll be in the library if you need help.” She said as she closed the door.

  I looked at Jake, who was just finishing his cereal, and said, “We should just go live in the woods.” Jake didn’t answer, he just looked at me with his ‘chocolate browns’ and grinned. That always lifted my spirits. I picked him up and brought him upstairs to the ‘day care’. That was what we called it. It was a classroom that was used for teaching the kids we had, and also for watching the kids that were not old enough for school. We had been extremely lucky that we had managed to have two elementary teachers and one high school teacher among the survivors. They taught the kids, and two moms watched the little ones when their parents were on duty or chores or whatever. I brought Jake up there as much as I could, since he loved to play with the little kids. I figured it was good for him, and the workers liked him there since he was so good-natured.

  After I had left Jake, I went back to my room and decided to go for a walk. I knew I needed to see what was happening in the training room, but I also wanted to take a look around the neighborhood. I was curious as to the habitability of some of the homes, and I was also curious as to who might have some stores of firewood in their yards. I also wondered if there was still anyone out there, or if they had all been infected.

  I suited up for combat, putting on my black cargo pants and boots, my long sleeve shirt and black field jacket. Thanks to our recent raid, I had a lot of new clothes. I especially appreciated the new underwear. I belted on my knife and SIG, and made sure I had a few zip ties in my pocket, as well as a couple of karabiners. I put on my backpack, which held three days worth of food and water, as well as a radio, first aid kit, two foot crowbar, and emergency blanket.

  I put on my gloves and balaclava, and put my goggles on my forehead. I slipped two extra magazines for my carbine in my side pocket, two extra magazines for my SIG in the breast pocket of my jacket, and slug my M1 over my shoulder, attaching it to its clip on my backpack.

  As I passed my window, I looked at myself and wondered for the hundredth time how the hell a school administrator managed to get himself into this mess. Although I had to admit the effect of the outfit was a bit thrown off by the bright red backpack on my back. Oh well, it worked, and in this world, that was more important than looks.

  I headed down the hall to the training room and I could already hear a spirited exchange.

  “Jesus Christ! Will you shut the fuck up! Why can’t you just do what you’re told without opening your stupid mouth?”

  That would be Nate. I guess training was in session and somebody didn’t want to be there.

  “I swear to God, if you open your dumb fucking mouth one more fucking time I am going to shove this fucking stick so far up your fucking ass you will be the world’s ugliest fucking popsicle!”

  That was a good one. I hadn’t heard that before. As I reached the door I could hear the object of Nate’s anger, and shock of shocks, it was Frank Stearns. His voice was like nails on a chalkboard. Some people could stand it, others couldn’t get near it. I tolerated it because I had to, not because I wanted to.

  “You don’t have to shout at me and I am really offended by your language. How dare you single me out in front of everyone else.” Frank nasally voice sounded really indignant, and I realized Nate was going to murder him if I didn’t intervene. You did not question Nate and his methods. He wanted you to survive. If you showed aptitude, he trained you privately to hone your skills and make you better. If you just didn’t get it, you were shown rudimentary skills and assigned to group tasks. You never went on raids or recons. Nate and I were near equals in skill with firearms, but he could take me eight out of ten times with a knife. We practiced unarmed combat three days a week and worked out five days a week. Sounds like a lot, but in all honesty, there wasn’t much else to do besides rea
d. I trained as much as I did so I could teach Jake when he was old enough.

  I stepped into the room just as Nate, with his face red, stepped forward towards Frank. Frank was standing at his full height, all five foot four inches of him, and his face was screwed up in righteous anger. Frank was dressed as I was, although he had no weapons on him. Nate insisted people train with their gear on, since they needed to be able to know their limitations in terms of movement and speed. “What’s up, gents?” I said, trying to defuse the situation before someone got hurt. Our doctor was busy with a small flu outbreak among the older people. She didn’t need to deal with fist fights.

  Everyone in the room stopped and looked at me. Some shifted nervously and grasped their training weapons tighter

  Nate Coles just spared a glance in my direction but fixed his gaze back on Frank. “This useless piece of useless shit feels like I am picking on him and making him work too hard. Everything is ‘too serious’ or ‘too hard’. I have been working with this fuckhead for the last month and he has complained every fucking second of it!”

  I looked at the rest of the room. I needed to let Nate handle it, because I didn’t want to undermine his authority in his training room. But I needed to get Frank out of there before Nate seriously lost it and lost credibility with the people he needed to teach. Jason Coleman, one of the people we rescued from the Big Circle, was there, as well as his wife. Dean Cotton, a former plumber was there, and Martin Oso, a financial manager who hated zombies with a passion nearly as great as Charlie’s. They were all sitting on the floor against the wall, watching the exchange between Nate and Frank. Carl Witry was there, a former drama coach for the local high school, and he agreed to act like a zombie for the training classes. He was an average-size guy, but he could project his voice like nobody else. We used him for entertaining the kids and reading books to them. That was how he earned his keep. Nate believed in realism, and Carl was in ragged clothes and a fair actor. If you screwed up, Carl would actually bite you. He bit my hand once in training. After I thumped him for it, I thanked him for the lesson, and never got bit again.

  Frank yelled back. “I don’t see the point! Why do all of us have to train? Not all of us should go out on raids! Some of us are too valuable to risk!”

  Nate’s eyes turned deadly and things didn’t look good for Frank.

  I stepped in. I had my goggles and balaclava on, so it must have seemed somewhat intimidating, which was the point. “Why are you so valuable, Mr. Stearns?” I asked quietly as I stepped closer to Frank, casually placing my hand on my SIG.

  Frank looked up at me. “I am the office manager for the executive staff of David McCormick, legislator for the 33rd district. Without me, his whole office will collapse, and the state legislature will follow.”

  I have no idea how I managed to keep from laughing. I stared at him for a full minute, and the rest of the room stared at him as well. Carl Witry had his mouth open, but I don’t think he was playing zombie at this point. I finally made a decision.

  “You’re finished here. You don’t have to take training any more. It’s wasted on you.” I said.

  Frank smiled smugly at Nate, not fully realizing what I was saying.

  “You’re on search and rescue permanently, starting today with myself and Sarah Greer. If you haven’t paid attention in training, you’re going to die, and we will watch you turn into a zombie before we kill you permanently.” My voice was cold as I had no pity for slackers or people who were useless. Nate did not need this garbage, and Frank was just going to get someone else killed. At least with me and Sarah, we knew he wouldn’t be able to screw up and get us killed. If we bought it, it was because we screwed up.

  It was Frank’s turn to stare at me. He couldn’t believe what I was saying. Nate just smiled and winked at me, his way of saying thanks. I didn’t give Frank a chance to protest.

  “Get your weapon and meet me by the side door in ten minutes. If I have to come looking for you I won’t be happy.” Frank scurried off to comply, but I could see in his eyes he hated me for it. I turned and left the room, feeling the eyes of the trainees on my back. No mercy for the people wasting space by existing.

  I headed to the library and found Sarah reading by herself at a table. She glanced up as I walked in. “Busy?” I asked.

  She closed her book after putting a bookmark in. “Not that busy.” She stretched her back and I could hear the cracks from ten feet away.

  “Want to go for a walk? I’ll be at the side door in ten minutes” I asked as casually as I could.

  “Sure. Give me five minutes.” Sarah hopped out of her seat and brushed past me, her ever-present Ruger strapped to her side.

  I headed back to the “school” and let the women know I was heading out, and could they look after Jake. They said not a problem, he was down for a nap. I could see his little body wrapped in a blanket in a secluded corner. I went over and touched him gently on his back, silently promising him I would be home soon.

  I went back downstairs and got to the side door just in time to see Sarah checking Frank’s pack and she was not too gentle about it. I think he came off the ground a little bit when she pulled on his straps. She tossed his weapon at him, a baseball bat with a huge spike through the end. He had a knife as well, although I had no illusions about him being able to use it. I didn’t bother giving him a gun. I didn’t feel like getting shot in the back.

  “Got your supplies?” I asked Sarah.

  She nodded, pulling down her goggles and winding her scarf around her face. She looked at Frank. “He’s got his as well. Three days of food and water, and emergency supplies.” She had a question in her eyes for me, but I stopped her with a small shake of my head. I watched Frank’s eyes narrow and I could see the calculations going on. Perfect. Exactly what I wanted him to do. All I had to do was wait, and let his little thoughts take over.

  We headed out the side door and started walking down the long driveway. I wanted to take a look at the main highway, and we had a good hike ahead of us. If what I had planned was going to work, I needed to be able to move as quickly as possible before the snow came down.

  We reached the end of the driveway without incident, although Frank jumped a mile when a bird flew up in front of us. That was one thing I wondered about. Why didn’t the virus kill animals and turn them? For whatever reason it was, I was grateful. Human zombies were hard enough to deal with. Zombie everything else was a world without a chance. If that happened, you may as well strip naked, cover yourself in barbeque sauce, and holler for the zombies to come to dinner.

  We headed north towards the main road, and didn’t see a whole lot of activity. I did see the telltale marks of infection throughout the neighborhood. White flags hung limply from scores of mailboxes.

  Frank complained about the walk, the weight of his pack, the weight of his weapon. I didn’t say anything, letting Sarah deal with it.

  She was direct in her methods. She poked him in the back of the head with her rifle and hissed at him to be quiet. “A zombie can hear you a quarter mile away, dumb ass. If you want to die fine, go walk into that house and die.” She pointed to a house on the side of the road. There had to be at least ten zombies inside, all of them clawing at the window, trying to get out. They were all in various states of decay, and more than once I wondered why we left them there and didn’t deal with them. I guess since they weren’t an immediate threat, they could stay there a while until we decided to root them out or burn the house down. Most of the houses in the area had zombies in them. Turns out when people got sick, they got their families sick and didn’t even know it. Families died by the thousands, and those that didn’t get sick, got killed by their revived relatives. The infected were effectively trapped in their homes unless they accidentally broke a window and got out, since they didn’t know how to operate doorknobs.

  Frank looked at the zombies and shuddered. “No thanks, I’ll be quiet.”

  Sarah snorted “Right.” She didn’t believe
him, but she didn’t have to. I think she looked forward to hitting him again.

  I kept us moving pretty well, we stayed in the center of the street. High fences lined each side of the street, but I did not want to be rude and rouse any zombie playing in its front yard. I didn’t need a gauntlet of zombies to run through as we tried to make our way to safety.

  After about an hour of walking and stopping, checking our surroundings and listening for ghouls, we reached the first crossroads. We were in a largely empty area, save for cars here and there, so anything coming after us would be exposed for along time. We rested for a moment and I used the time to look at the several five-story condo complexes near the road. They were relatively new, and still had fairly cleared fields surrounding them. An idea poked its way into my head, and I waved Sarah over. Frank was on his back, wheezing and making whistling noises with his nose.

  “What’s up?” Sarah asked, only her eyes visible on her head.

  “Check out the condos.” I said, pointing to the buildings.

  Sarah looked. “What about them? They’re nice and all, but what about them.?”

  I pointed to the bottom of the structures. “They have no ground floor. You could actually sleep in peace there without worrying about an attack at night. All they have are garages down there. And look over there.” I pointed to the small grove of trees and grass growing near the edge of the complex. “I’d bet my knife there’s a water supply there.”

  Sarah looked at the complex and then back at me. “What are you saying? You want to move everybody?” She seemed incredulous, like I was crazy.

  “Let’s face it. We can’t stay in that school forever. Sure we’re there now, but it was never meant to be a permanent place. I think we need to seriously consider coming to this place, cleaning out the zombies, if there are any, and starting life again there.”

  Sarah shook her head. “Starting life again? John, this is about survival, nothing more. The world we knew is gone, and we’re not getting it back.”