I considered his words for a moment. “You’re right. He’s one of us now… How the hell are we supposed to do this? Survive, I mean,” I said in frustration. “The world is full of crazies nowadays.”
“Trust that the Lord will see you through and remember that our time here on earth is fleeting,” he replied as calmly as I’d ever heard him talk.
I clapped him on the shoulder and said, “It’s easy for you to say that, Jasper, you’re not getting ready to go out there and try to make another three or four hundred miles on foot.”
“You’re right, I’m not. But you don’t have to either. It’s your call to leave and I’ll say it one more time before you go: You’re welcome to stay here.”
“I know. And I appreciate it, but you guys don’t have all that much food for…for forever. We’re going to make it below the snowline and try to scrape out a living down in Texas. You’re welcome to join us,” I said.
“We’ll just have to agree to disagree then, son. I think we’ve got enough to last us more than a year. After that, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
I nodded my head in acquiescence. I’d gone over this with him time and again. His group was going to stay put and we were going to leave. I felt that they were nothing more than sitting ducks here in Oklahoma and that’s one reason why Jesse and I helped to build up that fence. I hoped they’d be alright, but I didn’t think they’d last very long once the people in the surrounding area ran out of food. Jasper may be sure that people in the region were good, God-fearing people, but when your choices are cannibalism or robbing the neighbor, it was clear as day what would happen.
We said our goodbyes the next morning. Our small group trudged west with heavy hearts because we knew that we’d never see our friends from Seminole, Oklahoma ever again.
NINE
The first few days of travel from Jasper’s hotel were spent bumbling along the narrow corridor of land between Oklahoma City and McAlester. Both of those cities had been bombed; OKC because of its population density and the air force base on the edge of the city, and McAlester because of the huge army ammunition plant there.
We didn’t have a way of determining what areas were extremely radioactive instead of just radioactive, so we tried to go directly between the middle of the two. Jesse wanted to swing completely around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to the south, but everyone else agreed with me that adding another hundred miles to our already long trip wasn’t worth the effort. That meant shooting south towards Ada, Oklahoma and then working our way southwest between DFW, which Alejandro confirmed had been nuked, and Wichita Falls.
We now knew that a lot of the military bases had been whacked, so we also had to assume that the Lawton, Oklahoma and Wichita Falls, Texas areas had been also because of the army and air force bases located there. Lawton was one of our original waypoints when we first started planning our route. We decided that our best route after Dallas would be to once again thread the needle between two fallout zones and eventually make our way towards southwestern Texas or New Mexico.
Once we crossed the Red River into Texas, there was a noticeable climate shift. The snow was still present, but it was only about ankle deep instead of the calf-deep variety that we’d become accustomed to. I couldn’t be sure, but I also thought that it wasn’t nearly as cold. The area to the south of the river was flat, but there was a lot of debris hidden in the snow and that caused all sorts of problems for us. My biggest fear was that someone would break a leg or step on some weird irradiated nail or something unforeseeable like that. If we had a true medical emergency, I didn’t know what we’d do, but we’d have to figure it out quickly.
It was rough going as we worked our way through the countryside just north of DFW. I’m not sure how much warning the people down here had, but the outbound roads from the city were littered with vehicles that no longer worked. The EMP must have wiped out the electronics on all the cars and their owners simply abandoned them. I wondered if the vehicles would always be on the road or if they’d eventually be taken apart for scrap by various types of scavengers.
The few people that we saw along our trip were from far away and they disappeared into the snowfields long before we ever reached where they’d been. There was a different vibe down here, that’s for sure. It was hard to explain, but it seemed like everything was simply paused, waiting for something to happen. I wondered what it was that made me feel this way.
On the ninth day after we left Jasper’s we were walking down the relatively vacant side of the road and topped a slight rise in the highway. On the reverse slope of the hill we ran into a camp spread out over both sides of the roadway. They’d used old vehicles to form a large perimeter and there were several dead zombies surrounding the camp. If anything else, it just confirmed my belief that they couldn’t climb since even a small child would have been able to make it up and over the barrier. I pulled up to consult with our group about how to bypass the area, but the people in the camp had already seen us.
There was a flurry of activity and I watched in amazement as one of the vehicles was put into neutral and manually pushed out of the way. Four riders on horseback galloped through the opening and up the rise to meet us. I cursed at our stupidity for foolishly silhouetting ourselves on the hill. There was nothing to do but unsling our weapons and have them accessible, while trying to remain unthreatening to these people.
The riders were at our location within moments. They wore heavy duster jackets and cowboy hats, with scarves over their faces and each carried a rifle across his lap. I was reminded of a hundred different westerns I’d seen over the years.
“What are you folks doin’ on the road?” one of them asked.
I stepped forward a half step and replied, “We’re making our way southwest to try to get below the snowline. Get somewhere warmer where we can try to grow some crops.”
“Good luck with that, buddy, the snow’s everywhere,” another of the riders answered.
“You some kind of farmer?” another rider snickered. “Ain’t got no use for farmers.”
“Yeah, well, it’s already much better here than it was where we came from so we’re hopeful that we’ll…”
I never even saw the rider kick his horse forward. The big beast’s chest slammed into my body and sent me spinning away. I heard shouting and saw a flurry of movement all around me but my head was spinning from the blow. I tried to get up on my hands and knees but was kicked in the side and I crumpled over. I tried to make sense of what was happening and started to pick my head up again. A shadow fell over me and I looked up in time to see the butt of a rifle come crashing down into my face.
* * *
I woke up colder than I could ever remember being and my body ached horribly. I tried to figure out where I was, but all I saw were brown cedar tree limbs and snow. I moved to lift my head and I was immediately forced down by small hands. Jordyn came into my line of sight with a finger over her mouth telling me to be quiet. I nodded my head and she moved back slightly.
“They took everyone but me and Jordyn, we got away,” Jackson whispered into my ear. “After dark, we went back to the road and found you. We pulled you into the trees.”
I had to physically push myself upright with my arms because the muscles in my stomach didn’t seem to work right. “How long have I been out?” I asked.
“It happened yesterday,” Jordyn replied, “when you were talking to them, several guys snuck up on us and attacked. They beat everyone up in the scuffle but we got away, lost our bags though.”
I thought about what she’d said for a moment. “How far away from the camp are we?” I asked.
“You can still see the lights from it. We couldn’t drag you that far, you’re too heavy,” Jackson answered.
I nodded slowly. Jeez, those guys worked me over good. I couldn’t see out of my right eye, which was the side that I remember getting hit on, and the plastic goggles of my mask were cracked on the left side. I felt my ribs ging
erly and if they weren’t broken in a few places, then I’d be surprised. I pulled the mask off of my head and winced as the rubberized chin cup scraped against the side of my face. A gasp from the kids let me know that it was pretty bad.
“How do I look, guys?”
“You won’t be in any beauty pageants for a while,” Jordyn replied.
I tried to chuckle, but that hurt too much so I settled on a grunt. “Did they take all our weapons?” I asked.
Jackson pointed at my chest and said, “You’ve still got your big knife, but we don’t have anything else.”
I reached up and patted my trusty KA-BAR. “Alright, that’s one thing going in our favor. What time of day is it?”
“Later in the day,” Jordyn replied. “We’ve probably got about three hours left until dark.”
“You said they took everyone else. Did you see where they took them?”
“We were busy running for our lives, man,” Jackson said.
“You’re right, sorry. Do you think they took them to the camp?”
Jordyn glared at her brother. “Yeah, we’re pretty sure they took ‘em into the camp,” she acknowledged.
I adjusted myself so I could look Jackson in the eyes. “I’m gonna go in there and rescue our people. Can I count on you to back me up if I need it?”
He stared at the ground for a moment then looked up and responded, “Yes, sir. You can count on me.”
I reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “Alright, man,” I said as I pulled out my knife and handed it to Jackson. “I’ve gotta stretch out and I’m going to see if I can recon that camp a little bit. You guys stay here and keep outta sight.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.
I rolled over to my hands and knees and pushed myself up. The pain in my side was intense but bearable. I pressed lightly into my ribs again and felt some of them move. There was nothing I could do about it right now though, so I just gritted my teeth and continued to feel my way along my body for broken bones. I was extremely sore all over, but I didn’t feel anything else that could lead to problems in the next few hours. I was willing to bet that I had at least a minor concussion since I’d been out for almost twenty-four hours, but I couldn’t do anything about it; Rebecca, Jesse and the others needed me.
I didn’t want to put my mask back on in case I had to run, so I pulled my undershirt up over my face to help block out the particles. I knew how difficult my lungs worked to draw in oxygen while I wore the damn thing and if I had to run I’d probably pass out. I’d trade speed for a little bit of radiation exposure any day.
I was amazed at how close we actually were to the camp. The children, God bless them, had dragged me about two football field lengths away from the top of the rise where we were initially seen. I assumed the men had left me because they either thought I was dead or too messed up to get away, either way, I planned on making them pay for their mistake.
I stayed in the wood line and crept within a couple hundred feet of the scavengers’ encampment. It really wasn’t that big. I counted a circle of about sixty cars and trucks surrounding two RVs and nine vans, which I assumed was where they slept. Finally, there was a livestock trailer with the four horses in it. That was it. I had no clue how many people were in the camp but I saw three guards sitting on the hoods of cars at various points along the perimeter. Several bodies lay right next to the perimeter and the beginning of a plan began to take hold.
I watched the camp for about an hour until I finally saw movement inside. The door to the RV opened and someone shoved a naked and bloody woman out of the door. She hit the pavement hard and I could tell that she was hurt. By her build, I guessed that it was Sam. It took every ounce of self-control that I could muster to not charge into the camp and get myself killed without helping anyone.
My restraint paid off when I saw a man pick her up by the armpits and drag her to the old maroon van in the center of the camp. A man stood up from behind it where I hadn’t seen him and unlocked the door to the van. She was shoved in harshly and I saw several people move inside the van and cover her with a blanket. Even at this distance, the quick flash of red hair told me that my Rebecca was in that van.
They must make their living by ambushing the people traveling the road. The horses gave them a level of mobility that most people couldn’t compete with, so anything they needed that didn’t come to them was easily raided from neighboring sites. I briefly considered trying to find another camp for assistance since I was sure that the two were at odds, but I threw the idea away. There’s no telling how far away the next collection of people may be and there’s an even slimmer chance that they’d be willing to help a stranger.
A twig snapped behind me and I whirled to see what it was. One of the zombies saw my movement and started forward towards me. I thought of Alejandro and whispered, “Hey, are you normal?” It didn’t respond.
I couldn’t believe my bad luck. Here I was trying to rescue my friends and a damned mutant was trying to get me. I picked up a stick and channeled all of my anger and frustration into the swing as I hit it squarely in the head. The thing staggered at the force of the blow and I quickly followed up with another one. Every swing I took knocked it down a little more, but the stick wasn’t going to be able to kill it. The creature stared at me from its knees and began to moan so I jabbed the stick into its throat and felt it pierce the back of the thing’s neck.
That shut it up so I pulled the stick out and rammed the end as hard as I could into its eye socket. The eye exploded in a fountain of blood and gore, but the stick hadn’t penetrated deep enough to do anything besides blind it. I silently cursed myself for leaving my knife and searched the ground for another branch that wasn’t as large as the one I held. I couldn’t see anything so I moved to the creature’s blind side and then came up behind it. I pulled the stick flush against its neck and pressed my knee into its back while I pulled with everything I had on the little cedar branch.
My ribs screamed in protest at the pressure as my abused abdominal muscles pressed against them while I took great gasping breaths. Finally, the goddamned thing stopped fighting me and died. I released my grip on one side of the stick and used the end I held to catch myself. I didn’t know what kind of fight I was going to face in a few hours, but I was sure that in my degraded state I wouldn’t be able to face a normal human being in a hand-to-hand fight. The creatures were strong, but they were dumb as hell and could be outsmarted pretty easily. People wouldn’t blindly keep charging into a swinging club.
The beginning of a plan was gnawing at the back of my mind so I stripped all the clothing off of my new dead buddy. I wished for my mask back though because the thing stank something awful. More than a half of a year of filth and excrement combined with dried blood and rotted meat from its last several meals to form the perfect mixture of vomit-producing aromas. I never thought that I’d appreciate the cold weather, but I did at this moment because it helped to reduce the rotting.
I returned to find the two of them huddled together against the base of a large cedar tree. Jackson held my knife out in front of him like a talisman to ward away evil spirits. I made a mental note that I needed to teach him how to use it like D’Andre had taught me those many months ago. But those lessons would only come if we survived the night.
I had the children gather up a bundle of straight and sturdy cedar branches and begin stripping the little twigs on the sides to make spears that we could use up close. While they did that, I used the knife to sharpen the ends. I had no idea if the scavengers increased their security at night, but I was willing to bet that they didn’t. I just hoped that we didn’t run into any more of the zombies while we tried to infiltrate the camp.
* * *
The three of us crept slowly across the snow towards the circle of vehicles. The fools had a large fire roaring in the center of their camp and the smell of roasting meat made my stomach growl loudly in protest. My mind wandered for a moment as I thought of the delectable ven
ison or maybe even beef that they might be cooking over their fire. They obviously didn’t care that they were likely going to attract some of the creatures with either the fire or the fresh meat.
The guard nearest to us was silhouetted plainly against the light of the fire. When we were fifty yards away I grasped each of the children’s hands and gave a quick squeeze to let them know we were where our plan called for us to separate.
The night was as black as ink outside the circle of light so we were well hidden. I pulled the children’s heads close to mine and whispered, “Good luck. I know you can do this. All of our friends are counting on you to do this.”
“We’ll do our part, Chuck. Don’t worry,” Jordyn answered for the both of them.
“Okay, stay in the shadows. When you see my guy go down, you do your thing. Aim for the throat,” I advised.
Jackson took a quick gasp of air and then replied, “Yes, sir.”
I patted him on the back and moved off to the left. I glanced back and could barely make out Jordyn’s form moving away from her brother. The plan was to have Jackson as the base and the two of us would move in opposite directions until we came to our target and I’d initiate the kill and the two of them would follow suit.
Target. It’s funny how the people we were getting ready to murder were automatically categorized as targets in my mind. They’d beaten me up, left me for dead, taken my friends hostage and raped—at a minimum—Sam. They were definitely targets. I believed Jordyn one hundred percent when she looked at me and said that she’d kill her man, but I hoped Jackson would be able to do it.
Enduring Armageddon Page 21
