by J. W. Vohs
To the surprise of all the soldiers gathered around the radio, Jack accepted everything he was told as if he had been expecting to hear something of the sort. “Has anyone else had any other direct contact with the people associated with those helicopters?”
“Not that we know of,” David replied, “and their communication with Buffalo was pretty limited. It just so happens that one of your old buddies had things damn organized up there, a Sergeant Chad Greenburg. Trust me to fill you in about all that later, we’re understandably a little paranoid about what we say over the airwaves around here.”
“Understood, but I’m still going to give you a brief history of what’s been happening on our end.” There was noticeable tension in Jack’s voice as he succinctly explained what his people had experienced on the train trip and in the fight at the state park. The biggest concern for now was trying to figure out the connection between the helicopters and the hordes that always appeared shortly after the birds showed up.
“Jack, do you have any idea what’s going on?”
“Listen, David, what happened in Buffalo gives us the smoking gun that confirms an unpleasant theory. I suspect that someone high up is trying to take over or destroy the surviving settlements in the United States. Tell everyone to hide from those choppers at all cost. I don’t think they’ll bother the people on the island since they have no way of getting the infected across the lake, but tell them to keep a low profile anyway. For right now I want you and Luke to heal up a bit, so just help the islanders assimilate the refugees from Buffalo for a few days until I figure out our next move. Anybody there who you believe can survive the trip to Fort Wayne, and contribute to what we’re doing here, should be brought back with you if at all possible. You understand what I’m saying?”
David realized that Jack felt he needed new people at The Castle. More soldiers, more farmers, more skilled workers to keep the growing military force supplied. The War of Resistance had taken a serious turn in the wrong direction with the appearance of the helicopters and the hordes that accompanied them. The scale of everything they had been planning and implementing would need to expand to meet the new threat. The settlement on Middle Bass Island was important, but Lake Erie was their main defense, and they simply didn’t have the resources to support all of the refugees from Buffalo. David kept his response vague as well. “I’m pretty sure I understand exactly what you’re saying.”
Following a brief moment of dead air, Jack asked, “You still carry your favorite book with you wherever you go?”
David chuckled, “No, brother, it’s in storage somewhere in Cleveland.”
“All right. Tell Marcus and Bobby that I asked you that question, and be on this frequency at six-o-clock tomorrow morning. Jack out.”
Marcus nodded knowingly when David informed him of Jack’s strange request, and then explained the reasoning behind it. “Your brother’s worried that whoever’s sending these choppers out has the capability to monitor our radio chatter. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure he’s right. We need a copy of your favorite book, and Jack will send us coded messages involving page numbers and lines. It’s a bit time consuming, and on a national level someone with access to advanced computer technology would figure it out fairly quickly, but considering where things stand in the world we can use the tactic for now. We need to find a copy of your favorite book; what’s the title?”
David frowned before a sheepish expression fell over his face, “Look, this was my favorite book for a while in high school, where we read it in French class and I used it as the basis for a paper in an ethics in literature course my senior year.”
Marcus just squinted hard before shaking his head, “Skip the soap opera, David, just give me the title of the book so we can locate a copy.”
David let out a long sigh and quietly muttered, “It’s called The Little Prince.”
Marcus looked a bit confused, “What, is it a kids’ book or something?”
“Sort of, I mean, kids can enjoy it, but the themes contained in the story are commentaries on the timeless nature of human existence and what constitutes true happiness.”
Now Marcus just looked exasperated, “You know what? If and when we win this war I’ll take the time to read this stupid book to my kids, if I ever have any. But right now we need to find the damn thing, so leave the explanation for a time and place where somebody can actually take advantage of your embarrassment.”
David nodded and offered, “Check with Brittany and Beth; I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a copy. If not, see if there’s a school or library on the island.”
Marcus twisted his lips into what passed for a smirk as he asked, “Now, was that so hard Mr. Sensitive?”
Sure enough, Brittany’s mother had kept a hardback copy of The Little Prince on a bookshelf in their family room. She seemed a bit confused as she handed it over to the large soldier, but Marcus only assured her that it would be fine and she’d have it back in a few days. He stuffed the tome in his pack without telling anyone else about its existence. After asking the guard commander to wake him at five AM, he settled down for the night and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
When the radio call came in the next morning, Jack simply read a series of numbers, which David read back to him after Gracie and Luke handed him independent copies of the lists they’d compiled while following the broadcast. As soon as Jack was certain that David had all the numbers in proper order, he signed off without another word. Then the real work began.
Gracie read the numbers to Marcus, who found the page, line, and correct letter, which he then reported to Luke who wrote down the growing message. Christy went out looking for another copy of the book, which was soon located in a small reading room at what had once been a somewhat exclusive daycare center. The decoding work progressed much more quickly after she returned, and everyone involved became more proficient at the arduous task. David was certain that there had to be an easier way to share coded messages, but Marcus assured him that while there were faster methods, this was the safest for the moment.
Using a form of shorthand that was easy enough to follow, Jack detailed what had happened in the west and at The Castle since David had led his team back down the Maumee. The message also said that while David was to leave a guard contingent on the island in case someone tried to invade, most of the fighters needed to be brought back to The Castle because the Indiana settlement was going to need all the help it could get. Jack obviously believed that they hadn’t seen the last of the zombie armies being assembled by the mysterious helicopters. Finally, Jack told David to ask Luke if he still had the book he’d given the teen before they left for Toledo, and to let The Castle know at noon. Apparently, Jack wanted to switch to a larger volume if possible.
Luke was sitting right there when the last instruction was decoded, and he looked at David and nodded. “I still have it in my pack.”
“What is it?” David wanted to know.
Luke shrugged, “One of Jack’s professor friends wrote it just before the outbreak began. It’s called Tours. I guess Jack helped with the research and offered a lot of guidance on the weaponry and tactics, things like that.”
David actually looked interested. “What’s it about?”
“Well, it’s historical fiction, but it uses a heck of a lot of history and only as much fiction as necessary to keep the plot moving. In 732 AD a massive Muslim army that had conquered Spain invaded modern-day France, and a dude named Charles Martel somehow defeated them even though he was outnumbered at least four to one. Jack thought it kind of related to what we’re trying to do against the infected now: save our way of life by fighting against what seems to be hopeless odds. I finished the book while we were waiting for Father O’Brien to show up in Toledo. I definitely could see the relevance to the war we’re fighting now. The writing is a little old-fashioned, but I kinda liked it. The battle scenes are the best part. You ought to read it sometime. ”
David smiled, “I suppose I
will; I didn’t know my brother was part of any novels. He’s written a few short non-fiction books and a bunch of articles about medieval weaponry and tactics. Of course, he had to write that stuff or he never would have earned his Ph.D or gotten the job in Louisville.”
He looked away for a brief moment and winced as he took a deep breath that tweaked his injured ribs. “Okay, so Jack wants us to switch to Tours for our code now. I suppose that’s a good idea, since it is pretty much an unknown commodity. Bring it to me as soon as you can, and I’ll let him know we have it. Also, everyone else, start to create a list of the best fighters on the island; we’re gonna have to borrow them for a while.”
The next message came at eight-o-clock that night, and it took the team almost an hour to record all of the numbers it contained. They worked on the decoding until midnight, at which time they all agreed to get some rest before finishing the task in the morning. When they had finished the work by noon the next day, they had their orders and knew that big changes were brewing back in Indiana.
Jack and the rest of the leaders at The Castle had decided to launch an immediate attack on Fort Wayne, aiming specifically to draw the hunters to the small section of the city between the Saint Joe and Saint Mary’s rivers. An old water treatment facility sat at that location, which also happened to overlook the headwaters of the Maumee. Jack and the others had been eyeing the spot ever since they learned that the infected didn’t like to cross waterways. The land north of the water plant was covered with old houses and vacant lots, but the most important quality of the area was that there were a number of places where a stout wall of less than five hundred meters would effectively seal off ten times more land than The Castle’s eight hundred meters of earthen berm surrounded. Considering the evolution of the creatures into hunters, and the fact that thousands were banding together wherever helicopters were sighted, The Castle was increasingly appearing to be indefensible. The issue needed to be addressed immediately because scouts had reported choppers around Kendallville and Ligonier, the two largest cities in Noble County, and Jack had to assume that The Castle would be the next target of a coordinated attack by an army of the infected.
Jack knew his military history as well as anyone, and he’d built The Castle in response to the threat he’d once faced in Afghanistan. The lumbering flesh-eaters he’d fought over there would have been stopped by the earthen walls he and Carter had constructed to protect the buildings of their compound, and they had in fact held against more than ten thousand of the creatures in the early days of the outbreak. But in warfare the enemy was usually adapting in the face of defeat. Jack knew he couldn’t have predicted the evolution of the infected into the powerful, efficient killing machines they had become, but he was angry with himself for not creating better evacuation plans for his people in the event that some type of enemy capable of climbing the walls eventually appeared. Now they were here, and he wasn’t prepared.
He wanted to slap himself when he thought about all of the great defensive structures that had fallen to innovative attackers over ten millennia of warfare. Cities, castles, forts, islands, and countless other defenses had been overcome by problem-solving commanders with enough time to figure out the solution to whatever puzzle was before them. Time and again mobility had proven to be more important than fortifications, and he had somehow forgotten this fundamental tenet of warfare. He was now being forced to abandon The Castle, and there was no safe place already prepared; his people would have to conquer a new home, a fortress with better defenses and easy escape routes. Since there appeared to be only two things that stopped the hunters, traumatic brain injury and water, he had to find a place where his fighters could easily crush skulls from walls surrounded by rivers. Ultimately, if they took the right kind of area and built such a place, but still couldn’t defend it, they would have to relocate to the Lake Erie islands. Fort Wayne held the on-ramp to an ancient highway leading to those safety zones.
Jack didn’t have time to explain all of this in the message to David, but the possibility of trying to take ground in Fort Wayne, and the reasons for it, had been discussed at length by the brothers and their chief fighters several times. Now it had to be done, and there was no more time for talking about the difficulties they would face in the assault. The message contained orders; Jack wasn’t asking for advice. David was to recruit as many volunteers from Middle Bass as he possibly could, and then he was to lead them to Fort Wayne as rapidly as conditions would allow.
How they travelled most of the way to the city was David’s decision to make, but Jack did suggest that they find a way to circle south around Fort Wayne and then follow the Saint Mary’s River to the Headwaters area. Once they arrived, they were to establish a beachhead that would be accompanied by a land assault from The Castle’s soldiers and allies. The timetable for the beginning of the operation was ASAP, and then they would have to rely on radios and luck for the joint attack. Luke finished the final line of code, looked over at David and remarked, “We could plan for something like this for a month and still not be fully prepared.”
David just hid his face in his hands and mumbled, “Call for an assembly of the entire island in one hour.”
Luke followed Father O’Brien out the door. “Father, I need to talk to you for a minute.”
The old priest put his arm around Luke’s shoulders and guided him to a bench in the foyer. “I always have plenty of time for you, my boy. You can have more than a minute.”
They sat down and Luke cleared his throat before earnestly declaring, “I want you to marry me and Gracie tonight.”
Father O’Brien sighed, “And how does Gracie feel about this proposition?”
“I haven’t officially asked her, but I know it’s as important to her as it is to me.”
Shaking his head, Father O’Brien chuckled, “You’re a smart young man, Luke, but don’t ever assume you know the mind of a woman.”
“But I know Gracie and . . .”
Father O’Brien held up his hand, “Just listen for a bit. I’m not saying I won’t do it, but there are some things you need to think through. I know the uncertainty of this world makes it feel like you have to rush to live your life. I admit, that makes a certain amount of sense. But don’t you think Gracie deserves a real engagement, and a real wedding, surrounded by people she loves and who love her?”
Luke blushed, “Am I being selfish? I want to marry her now; I want to face the battles to come knowing that when I lie down at night she will be right next to me.”
“If you can trust that she’ll be there after those future battles, you don’t need to rush right now. I would be proud to perform the service, but I want Gracie to have a special day. I want it to be a celebration of life, for Gracie.” The priest stood up and offered Luke his hand. “Ask her to marry you tonight. Get down on one knee, find a ring, and make it official. In fact . . .” Father O’Brien pulled at small gold band with three tiny diamond chips on his pinky finger—he twisted it back and forth until it slowly worked its way over his knuckle. “I’d be honored if Gracie wore this—it’s not much in the diamond department, but she’ll know what it means when she sees it.”
“I don’t know, Father, was that your wife’s ring? I can’t take your wife’s ring from you . . .”
“Yes you can. Gracie is the closest thing I have to family—she is like a flesh-and-blood daughter to me.” Father O’Brien’s voice cracked, and his eyes brimmed with tears. “Take it, son. And someday, have Gracie pass it on to one of your children. Do this as a favor to me.”
Luke took the ring, and, overcome with emotion, he threw his arms around the old priest and held him tightly. “I’ll propose tonight,” he promised before he pulled back and smiled. “But I’m not counting on a long engagement.”
“My boy, make your promises tonight, and when you go off to Indiana you’ll both have even more to fight for. Then, after you win this battle, we’ll give you a wedding worthy of legends and song—one that will be remembered
as a symbol of hope and love for as long as people roam this earth.”
As luck would have it, the meeting David called was delayed by an unexpected turn of events. Not long after Jack’s message was decoded, Marcus came trotting up to warn David and the rest of the leaders that a small fleet of yachts and other boats was on the eastern horizon. Nobody had to give any orders for a situation like this; it was the most trained-for scenario on the island. Everyone capable of holding a firearm took up prepared defensive positions around the small harbor and waited for the ships to arrive. Four yachts and three large cabin cruisers soon came floating toward the shore. Nervousness mounted until Lieutenant Heder shouted down from the top of a warehouse, where he had built a fortified observation post, that the boats were “friendlies.”
The young soldier descended the tall ladder set against the back of the building and trotted around to where David and Christy were waiting down near the water. “You’re not gonna believe this, but Sergeant Greenburg was glassing the island as I was watching him. He finally saw me and waved. Somehow that tough old bastard made it outta there with plenty of people.”
Word spread quickly among the islanders who minutes before had been readying themselves for combat. By the time the flotilla from Buffalo pulled into the harbor, several hundred people were gathered by the docks. For over an hour, joyous reunions and heartbreaking confirmation of the loss of loved ones mingled together in a scene that infused everyone present with hope in spite of the sadness they were suffering.
The first people to jump to shore from the incoming ships explained that following the escape attempt they had all hunkered down in bunkers inside the keep and kept quiet for the next two days. The refugees were exhausted and had agreed that there was nothing to do but wait and hope. The morning after the battle they could hear helicopters searching the area for hours, but by late afternoon they were gone along with the army of infected that had surrounded the fortress for so long. They’d held tight for the next twenty-four hours, but by the following evening the decision was made to make a run for the remaining boats at the docks. They hadn’t encountered a single living zombie during the entire evacuation, and by midnight the fleet was slowly heading west in search of their friends and loved ones who’d managed to escape during the melee.
