by J. W. Vohs
Jack explained, “They’ll have a powerful CB that we’ll be monitoring. If you could make sure your people have one aboard set to channel nineteen they’ll be able to talk directly with our guys before they collide.”
“Sound’s good,” Carlson declared. “When you planning on heading out?”
“Day after tomorrow,” Jack promised. “Carter Wilson will lead our crew. Sounds like your planning is ahead of ours, so I’m going off the cuff here a little bit. I’ll try to set him up with forty of our most experienced fighters, and that’ll include some Rangers and other very capable soldiers. I have every confidence in them. I’ll make sure that I’m within a few minutes of the radio the entire time their making their way toward your people, so call me anytime.”
Carlson gave a short laugh, “Will do, and tell your folks I wish them good luck and Godspeed.”
Jack signed off and turned around to see Carter scowling. “Why not just promise us off fer tomorra’ professor? Lord Almighty, ya think we’re gonna be ready in less’n thirty-six hours?”
Jack let out a long, exaggerated sigh, “Hey, if you aren’t up to it I’ll find somebody else. I thought I’d be giving you a chance to redeem yourself.”
“From what?”
“From running off like a scared rabbit when those zombies mobbed us on the top of the wall!”
Carter snorted, “I guarded yer tail the whole way into the house, killer. As I recall, ya were a helluva lot more worried ‘bout your little love bunny than me when we got pushed off that wall.”
Jack managed to look indignant without laughing as he argued, “Caring for the women and children is a noble task, but why should I expect a hillbilly like you to know anything about that?”
“Well ya ungrateful, Yankee butt-hole! I saved your backside in Afghanistan more times than I can remember, and who was the one who had the good sense to put a pile of stones on the roofs here in case we got trapped in the buildins’? Nope, don’t answer, captain, ‘cause the doctor says I’m not supposed to laugh too hard with my condition.”
“Oh yeah, they finally diagnose you as the village idiot?”
“No, recurrin’ hernias from carryin’ your ass all the time!”
Andi and Deb were present to record the conversation between Jack and the Utah settlement, and they managed to stop laughing long enough to step in between the best friends who fashioned themselves as comedians every time they spoke to one another.
“Don’t worry, Carter,” Andi said with exaggerated sweetness, “I’ll help you get everything organized and then keep it together on the trip.”
“Hold on there, baby-cakes,” Jack argued without a trace of mirth. “You can help organize if you want to, but there’s no way in hell you’re going on this mission.”
Andi put her hands on her hips and cocked her head, “I thought I heard you promise Carlson that Carter would have your best fighters with him.”
Now Jack realized he was done; there was no way to respond to Andi’s statement without falling into a trap. He finally shrugged and mumbled, “I know you’re a good fighter, but, uh, well, I never get to see you and we can’t send all our best soldiers away.”
Andi smiled, “Actually, that’s about as good a comeback as you could have hoped for, and more than I expected you to come up with. Bottom line is that I’m definitely one of the forty most experienced, capable fighters you have, and everyone knows it. Truth is, I’ve been growing a bit bored around here lately.”
While Carter stifled a giggle, Jack looked up sharply, unable to hide the hurt expression on his face. Andi patted his hand, “Not with you, honey. We just seem to spend a lot of time around here waiting for something to happen—waiting for news from outside, waiting for the zombies to attack again, whatever . . . I mean, for example, I’ve been waiting for you to get around to popping the question for longer than I care to remember—to make us legal and set a good example for the girls, of course.”
It took Jack less than one second to decide that if marrying Andi was what it would take to keep her at The Castle, then he’d just have to propose. He dropped down on one knee in front of her.
“Wait, Jack, we were just . . .” she began, but Jack cut her off.
“Andi, I love you with all of my heart. You’re everything to me, and I don’t want you to go. Will you marry me?”
Carter took advantage of the moment to begin loudly whooping and clapping, but Deb silenced him with one sharp look.
Andi pulled Jack up and kissed him long and hard before confessing, “Babe, we were just trying to give you a hard time. It was actually all Carter’s idea. I never planned on going with them—I would never leave my girls. And for the record, I would never leave you either.”
Jack looked over at Carter, who actually appeared red-faced and remorseful as he tried to keep his eyes on the floor and avoid Deb’s reproachful glare. He turned back to Andi, “Well, for what it’s worth, the offer is still on the table.” Carter started to express his approval, but Deb shut him down with a well-placed elbow to his side.
“You don’t have to do this,” Andi sniffed, blinking back tears. “I don’t want you to feel manipulated into marrying me.”
“I promise you it’s what I want. Maybe we should have talked about it, but there are some things I’ve just learned to take for granted in our post-infected world. The thing is, I don’t want to take you for granted. I know everything between us happened really fast, but there’s too much uncertainty in the rest of the world—I like knowing that you’re here with me and that we’re in this mess together.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’m not a very romantic guy, but I do love you.”
His eyes grew a bit misty as he continued, “Actually, I don’t just love you. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And I’ll even risk sounding like some sappy loser from a badly written romance novel because I feel like you and me were always supposed to meet, and once we did, never let go of each other in this lifetime. I don’t know how I got here, but I love your girls too, and I want to be a father to them. I want all the things I never had time for before the world went crazy. I promise you, Andi, I’ll do everything I can to be the best husband and father I can be.”
Andi threw her arms around him, “At this minute, I think you’re the most romantic guy in the world.” She drew back and smiled, “But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. And for the record, I’d love to marry you—but we can talk about the details later.” She glanced over at Carter, “Just the two of us.”
The rest of the night and the next day Jack, Carter, and Andi chose the members of the fighting team that would accompany the engineers and discussed weapons and gear. Several times during the preparations, Carter piped up with suggestions about possible wedding scenarios: on horseback, on a boat, dressed in armor, with zombie witnesses . . . Andi finally told him that he needed to stick to his day job since he had no hope as a wedding planner. Jack pointed out that since Carter’s day job was just being a jack ass, he’d probably be pretty hopeless at whatever he tried.
The details of the mission were painstakingly planned in an effort to account for as many possible contingencies as they could think of. John, Tina, and Todd would be going along, as well as Maddy and Zach. Stanley Rickers and his over-sized squad of deadly veterans would also be part of the crew. The railroad men were all well past sixty, but they would be fully geared up and prepared to fight as well. Vickie was going along in case a doctor was needed. She also had requested some specific medical supplies from Utah, and she seemed very anxious to make sure the order would arrive safely. Bruce Owen and Deputy Miller would be taking their M1A’s and several thousand rounds of ammo in the event that snipers proved necessary, but the rest of the force would be carrying only their silenced .22s and the regular assortment of favored medieval weapons.
As soon as the fighters were assigned, outfitted, and briefed, Ted Simmons and his rail workers led everyone to the locomotive they had found on the CSX line a few days earlie
r. While the soldiers set up security around the site, which included quietly dispatching several small packs of hunters that had stubbornly followed the convoy bearing all the personnel to the train, Ted and his people got to work servicing the engine while another group of workers began making modifications to several of the freight cars.
Carter and Jack had decided that they wanted the fighters to be as comfortable as possible during the journey west, as well as secure from the infected while in the boxcars. After discussing various options presented by The Castle’s mechanical types, they chose to cut firing positions through the roofs of two cars while a third would carry most of their supplies. First they constructed solid scaffolding inside the fighting cars for the shooters to stand on, and then they cut firing ports in the siding and roof. The work was finished as darkness fell, and all in all the soldiers were pleased with their rolling forts.
The freight cars would hold twenty fighters each, with shooting positions available for every soldier without opening the sliding doors and exposing themselves to any attackers. Murder holes were also cut into the lower sides of the cars so halberds could be used to push infected away from the train if guns weren’t an option. Finally, emergency exit hatches were built into the bottoms of the boxcars so the fighters could escape the forts if they needed to get out in a hurry or otherwise unseen. Carter and Jack would have liked to armor the insides of the cars with steel plating, but the timetable just wouldn’t allow for it. All things considered, they were confident that the soldiers were being given more than enough advantages for any fighting that needed to be done against the hunters, even if they numbered in the thousands.
The one contingency they couldn’t prepare for was mechanical failure in the locomotive. If they broke down out in the middle of nowhere they would have few options other than fighting their way to safety, or staying with the train for better or worse. Either way, Jack would be on the way with a rescue convoy as fast as possible. Neither of the former Rangers talked about the Chicago rail yard or any of the other challenges Ted and his crew would face in clearing a line out to Utah, or wherever they eventually met up with Carlson’s men; those issues were beyond their expertise so they stuck to security, which was what they were best at.
The rail team was set to leave at four in the morning, so after assigning a guard detail for the site that was made up of people who would be staying behind, Carter led his entire crew, minus Ted and the other rail men, who refused to leave the train, back to The Castle for a final hot meal and some family time. He found Deb in the command center with Andi, and Jack’s new fiancé assured them she could hold down the fort while they spent some alone time together. The couple walked slowly back to their room, where Carter’s mother had dinner waiting for them.
As they both picked at the beef fried rice and biscuits slathered in butter, Carter finally said, “I expect ya won’t go runnin’ off with some other fella while I’m gone makin’ the world a safer place fer humanity.”
Deb smiled and reminded her husband, “I waited for you during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, I suppose I’ll still be here in a few days when you return.”
She held Carter’s gaze for a long moment before softly adding, “I can’t help but worry, even though I know that you’re too ornery to let anyone or anything get the better of you. You’ll be totally occupied with your mission, and I’ll keep myself busy running the show around here, but the highlight of my day will be hearing about your progress over the radio. I just want to remind you that I expect to you to be careful out there.”
Carter set down his fork and smiled at his beloved wife, reminded once again of how lucky he’d been to marry his childhood sweetheart, the tough little rich girl from the right side of the tracks. He reached out and pushed her hair back, then let his fingers rest against her cheek. “Ain’t I always careful? Shoot, I know ya can be a worry-wart, but I know how to bring myself home in one magnificent piece.”
Deb shook her head and gently informed her husband, “Word gets around, honey; I know what happened out at Station One when you guys were overrun.”
Carter felt the color rise in his cheeks as he awkwardly stammered, “Uhh, well . . .”
“Stop, Carter. You told me you were going to the Army when we were in high school, and it didn’t change the way we felt about each other. A soldier’s gotta do what he’s gotta do.” Deb’s eyes narrowed as she continued, “Just don’t try to fool me, and don’t make me work to figure out why you’re thrashing around at night with nightmares worse than any you brought home from the Middle East. I’m your wife; you need to trust me. Now, I know you got cut off and mobbed out there at the fire station trying to save your men, and I know how lucky you were that Jack and the others were able to save you. I just don’t want you to leave without knowing that there aren’t any big secrets between us, and I forgive you for fibbing to me about how you were injured out there.”
Carter let out a long sigh, “I was just tryin’ to protect ya from worryin’ ‘bout me.”
“I know you were, baby, but I don’t want you hiding things from me. You’re a good soldier, Carter, and everything that makes you good is what’s brought you home to me many times before. I need you to know that I love you, and that there’s no unfinished business between us. Now just promise me that while you’re gone you’ll focus entirely on the mission and fight like a mad dog if you guys run into any trouble out there.”
Carter grinned and nodded, “Shoot, Debra, that’s an easy promise—some people say mad dog is my natural disposition.” He threw his head back and howled.
Deb smiled, “Good. Just be sure to keep that howling under control—we don’t want you attracting any of those predatory female zombies looking for some tasty fresh meat.”
Carter laughed and winked, “Now I know I’m darn near irresistible, but I’m also a faithful pup, so those zombie ladies will just havta be disappointed like the rest of the female population.”
“Well, that’s something I can take comfort in. Now finish your dinner so we can turn out the light and you can remind me why I should still be the envy of every woman on this planet, living or dead . . .”
CHAPTER 9
“But why do you have to go; why not Redders—or Lori, she’s a medic? Or even Sarah? You’ve said yourself that she’s excellent, and she should have finished med school.” Sal was pacing back and forth as he tried to convince his wife to remain behind when the train departed to meet up with the Utah expedition.
Vickie continued to pack medical supplies into a duffel bag and calmly replied, “Sarah is excellent, but she’s not a doctor. Lori is still recovering or she’d probably be coming along as Carter’s right hand, and you know that Redders has never gone anywhere—he and Sarah will have their hands full with all the people around here anyway.” She zipped up the bag and turned to face her husband, “I promise I’ll be careful. If we can get even half of the supplies we requested, it will be a godsend. I know what to prioritize, and if anyone gets hurt I might be able to make a real difference.”
Sal grimaced, “If people get injured while battling the hunters, you mean . . .”
“Not just that. Our train experts—the engineers—aren’t so young anymore. Even if we don’t see a single hunter, this trip will be stressful, and you know how serious stress can be on an overworked heart.”
“But what about the stress on my poor overworked heart?” Sal teased as he enveloped Vickie in a smothering bear hug. He resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn’t be changing her mind. “Okay, I’ll take care of things around here and keep the boys out of trouble if you promise to stay out of any fighting and just concentrate on keeping the old geezers alive.”
Vickie smiled, “It’s a deal, professor. But I think I’ll have an easier time keeping the old guys alive than you will keeping the boys out of trouble.”
The hour of departure came too soon for everyone, but they were all lined up beside the small train ready to go fifteen minutes ahead of schedu
le. Jack shook Carter’s hand and held it for a moment as he quietly promised, “You get bogged down in anything out there you let me know. Just give us a call and I’ll be coming with everything we’ve got.”
Carter nodded his understanding, “Take care of Deb for me, and I’ll take care of things out there.”
Jack smiled, “Do I have to let her boss me around any more than she already does?”
Carter smirked, “Just do whatever she says so this place don’t fall apart while I’m gone.”
Jack laughed and let go of his best friend’s hand, “Kill ‘em all, buddy.”
Carter laughed in return, “Always do.”
With that he turned and ordered the soldiers into the train. Sal helped Vickie load her three bags on one of the boxcars before leaving her with a passionate kiss and reminding her of her promise to stay safe. The big man wiped away a small tear as his wife disappeared into the locomotive.
Jack walked over to the train tracks for a final word with Ted Simmons. “You sure about this, old man?”
Ted chuckled, “If I was sure about everything I wouldn’t need Carter and his toy-soldiers riding on my train. But yeah, I’m sure that trying is the right thing to do. A million other Americans, Jack, and they need food. We’ll figure this thing out and get some stock rolling that way, as long as we can keep the monsters off of us.”
Jack nodded, “Carter’s the best we have; you know that.”
Simmons agreed, “Yeah, I put you and him and John in that small group, although I’ve been hearing some rumors about your brother’s crew . . .”
Jack grew serious as he offered, “Most of what you’re hearing is the truth; those folks can fight. If David and Luke weren’t on the Maumee they’d be with you on this. As it is, you have the best fighters available.”
