The Zombie Wars: Call To Arms (White Flag Of The Dead Book 7)

by Joseph Talluto

  The car skidded to a halt in front of the driveway, and I got a better look at the passengers. They seemed to be around twenty years in age, maybe more, maybe less, but not much. The driver was a long-haired youth with a soft looking face. In another life I’m sure he would have been very successful with the ladies. Next to him sat a largish boy, thick around the neck and shoulders. In the back seat was another boy, and two girls who rounded out the gang. I kept eating my bread, savoring the crust and wishing I had some marinara sauce to dip it in.

  I returned the stares I received, not worrying too much about what they might do. I knew Duncan and Tommy were covering them from the house, and Charlie likely had his hand already on a gun.

  The car vomited its passengers, and the driver led the way. When he was about fifteen feet from me, I held up a hand, stopping him in his tracks.

  “That’s far enough. I can hear and see you from there. What can I do for you?” I asked, popping the last bit of bread in my mouth and wiping the crumbs off my pants. I stood up and hooked my thumbs in my belt, keeping my hand close to my knife and gun.

  The long-haired kid bobbed his head from side to side, looking at me with what could only be described as ‘crazy eyes’. I couldn’t tell if something was seriously wrong with him or if he was just messing around. Either way, I wasn’t taking chances.

  “I’ll ask again. What can I do for you?” I said, trying to keep an eye on Crazy here while his friends slowly spread out.

  Charlie chose that moment to make his presence known. “Man asked you a question. What do you want?” He walked over literally radiating malice, stepping up to my left, and putting a halt to the advance of the big kid. That worthy nearly fell over, stopping so suddenly as he did. Charlie was at least a foot taller than the big kid, and while the kid was big due to a large amount of fat, Charlie was large due to the fact he was Charlie.

  “Well, now. Ain’t you all just a couple of hard men?” Crazy asked slowly, still moving his head around as he spoke. It was slightly distracting, and then it hit me. It was meant to be distracting.

  His head stopped moving when the barrel of my gun connected with his forehead.

  “Take your hand off the gun you have in the small of your back, or I’ll put you down,” I said, flicking my eyes over his companions. Charlie’s gun was out in an instant, and the big kid’s eyes were saucers as they tried to calculate how big of a bullet came out of the barrel they were suddenly looking down.

  Crazy smiled. “Ain’t no call for rude, just being careful. Never know who you might meet out here,” he said, smirking his excuse at me.

  “Call me overly cautious then. Hands out to your sides were I can see them. Ladies! That kind of thing will get you killed,” I said. The two girls were trying to reach under their jackets, and they quickly elevated their hands at my insistence.

  I spun Crazy around and pulled a small revolver out from the small of his back. A quick frisk found another gun in his jacket pocket. Charlie pulled a gun off Big Boy, and the third lad never lowered his hands from the full surrender. I figured him for the smart one.

  “They’s only two of you, and we can go git more,” Crazy said over his shoulder. “Might be you want to reconsider your current course of action.”

  “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should just let you and your dumbass friends here kill me and take my stuff?” I asked, shoving him back towards his car. He hit the bumper with his shin and given the age of the car, the bumper won that round.

  Crazy put a hand to his shin, but then he must have thought it made him look weak to acknowledge that he had been hurt, so his hand retreated quickly. He stared at me for a minute before swinging his hands in a circle. His friends took the signal to get back in the car.

  “We’ll see you again,” Crazy said, pushing his friends to the car.

  “Maybe so, but not today,” I said. “Move on. You’re outclassed and outgunned. If we see you within a mile of us we’ll stop what we’re doing and focus all of our attention on making your life as short as possible. Think on it. Hard.”

  “Only two. You got this round. You don’t git another,” Crazy said as he slid into the vehicle.

  “Have a nice day, kid,” I said. “We’ll see you soon.”

  The Monte roared to life, and I could see that Crazy was thinking about trying to ram me with the car. I reached back into the truck and pulled out my rifle. I aimed it at the windshield and shook my head. Crazy must have had a moment of clarity because he put the car in gear, backed out to the road, and sped away.

  I looked over at Charlie, and he shrugged.

  “Think we’ll see them again?” He asked.

  “Doubt it. Looks like they were a one trick gang,” I said. “Sad thing is their little trick must have worked enough for them to think they could use it on us.”

  “How’d you know he was reaching?” Charlie asked. “All I could see was his head moving around.”

  “That was the point. It’s not natural for someone’s head to move when they talk, so it really takes your attention. I just saw his hands move out of the corner of my eye,” I said.

  “That, and you’re a suspicious son of a bitch,” Charlie said.

  “There is that,” I agreed.

  Duncan and Tommy came out of the house carrying a pillowcase of cans each. Evidently this house had been a good stop after all.

  “Kids these days,” Duncan said as he stowed his sack in the back of the truck.

  “It’s the math they learn. Drives them crazy,” Tommy said.

  “Let’s get lost,” I said. ‘We’ve got miles to go, and I’d rather not be here when that crew dredges up reinforcements.”

  We hit the road, and for a time we made really good progress. 49 was a decent road without too many potholes and obstacles to clear away. The state was wide open at this point, and if we could figure out a way to get all the zombies to converge on this point, shoot, with enough ammo we could take them all down.

  Cissna Park, IL

  The road wound around a couple of ninety-degree turns, taking us west for a bit then back south again. The southerly direction was marked by a small town suddenly sprouting up in the middle of nowhere. We literally went from nothing to something. On our right was a jumble of houses while on our left was a park center filled with the memories of little league games from days gone by. Further in, the town looked like it had been spared the worst of the Upheaval, with homes looking tidy and neat. A couple looked like they had recently cut the grass.

  “Wonder where the people are?” Charlie asked as we moved slowly down the road.

  “Not sure. Maybe…Shit!” I yanked my hand back inside the window and quickly rolled it up. Out of a side street, about a half dozen zombies came tearing towards the truck on my side. I barely got the window rolled up when a snapping face slammed into it, leaving a greasy streak as it slid off.

  “Ah. There they are,” Charlie said as he pushed on the gas pedal, taking us away from the group. Tommy and Duncan were close behind, swerving away from the Z that plowed into my window.

  We raced down the street, trying to get same distance when Charlie cursed.

  “Dammit. That doesn’t help.” He turned the truck again, heading up a street that led through the middle of the houses. Behind us, a stream of zombies came out to block the road, effectively leading us into the heart of the community.

  “How many?” I called through the radio at Tommy.

  “Maybe fifty, probably closer to eighty,” Tommy said. Tommy had a bizarre knack for estimating the strength of an enemy horde.

  “Great,” I said. I grabbed the handle above the door as Charlie swerved again, narrowly missing several zombies that were blocking the road. We were running out of room fast, and they all were converging on our position.

  “Hang on!” Charlie said. He pulled the wheel to the right, slewed across a lawn, and raced in between two houses. At the next subdivision street, he turned right again, roaring past the zombies that were chasi
ng us, only this time they were facing away.

  “Get to the outside of town. We’ll get killed in here,” I said, trying to see a way through.

  “Pick the road, and I’ll take it,” Charlie said, gripping the wheel tightly.

  “Left up ahead!” I yelled.

  Charlie took the turn at about thirty miles an hour, and the g-forces pushed me to the door. I checked behind us and was grateful to see Duncan give me a wave from the second truck.

  “Right at the park,” I said, hanging on as the truck applied the same g-forces in the opposite direction.

  “Why does this look familiar?” Charlie said.

  “It’s where we first got hit by the zombies. They chased us, and now they’re behind us,” I said, watching a group stumble out from in between some little houses.

  “Nice one,” Charlie said. “Now what are your plans for dealing with them?” he asked.

  “We need to get to some higher ground, or at least some open ground where we can see them coming,” I said. “Look out!”

  Charlie slammed on the brakes, and I fully expected to get hit from behind. But Tommy managed to swerve and put the truck alongside us. He looked over at us, and then he saw what caused us to stop. On the road ahead of us, effectively blocking the way, was a quartet of old cars. Behind the cars were about fifteen people, all in various states of gear for battle. One kid was actually wearing a football helmet. They were about twenty yards away, and I could see several of them had rifles. One was holding a crossbow, and a few had handguns pointed our way.

  “Thoughts?” Charlie asked.

  I had an idea. “Just wait a minute,” I said, looking in the side mirror. “Just stay here until I say go, then hard left across the field.” I picked up the radio and repeated the instructions, getting a click from Duncan in reply.

  In front of us, the gang was waiting, too. Sitting in the second car was Crazy, slowly smoking a cigarette. He clearly was enjoying himself, thinking he had the upper hand. In his position, I might have thought the same. Out trucks were blocking the view of the street, and the focus of the gang was on the passengers of the trucks, not the landscape behind them. I hoped that no one would take a shot at us before we made our move.

  After a minute, I watched Crazy slowly ease his way out of the car. He looked over at us, and his head moved in small circles as he planned his next move.

  I’d bet every round of ammo I had that he had no inkling I would do what I did next.

  Leaning out the window, I waved and yelled out. “Come and get them! They’re all yours!”

  Charlie floored the gas and the truck leaped to the side, sliding down a deep ditch before climbing out the other side. Tommy was right behind us, and with the two trucks out of the way, the zombies, who were nearly at our tailgates, suddenly noticed the group of appetizers standing so teasingly close.

  Over the roar of the engine I heard the collective groan of that horde of zombies. A second later, there was a series of rifle fire combined with the crack of handguns.

  We pulled up at the edge of town and waited. After a moment, the rifle fire stopped. There were three handgun shots and then silence. I got out of the truck and pulled my rifle out from the back locker. Charlie, Duncan, and Tommy all followed suit, and together we waited to see the outcome of the battle. Either way it turned out, we were probably going to have to shoot somebody.

  A minute later a single car came limping out. Kids were crammed in like it was a clown car, and it passed us without even slowing down to glare hatred at us.

  “Guess they lost. How do you think they did?” Duncan asked.

  “Hang on, and we’ll see.” Tommy said.

  He was right. From behind an ice cream shop came about fifteen zombies. They were bloody from their hands up to their teeth, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what they had been chewing on. I felt a little bad when a zombie wearing a football helmet came stumbling out, missing an arm and part of his hand. I took aim with my rifle and blasted a hole into the helmet, putting him down for good.

  More shots rang out as my friends cleaned up the mess, dropping zombies left and right. In a few minutes, it was all over.

  “Tommy, find a spot for a message to the army. We’re done here,” I said.

  Lafayette, IN

  We’d been on the road for over four weeks, running zombies in small towns, and finding our path through the world of the Upheaval. We’d found several communities still alive and actually had people volunteer to join the army. The way to the military was pretty clear thanks to the trail we had blazed. Some people didn’t believe us, others thought we were just trying to trick them. In one community, Duncan had a man challenge him to a duel with sabers which was funny until the man produced a gun to try and shoot Duncan after Duncan won. We had to leave that community while they buried their dead friend, and I made a mental note to come back as president with a brigade to remind them how the law was settled these days.

  We were in Indiana, having crossed the border a week ago. We were outside the town of Lafayette, buried in the forest and taking a breather by the river. We hadn’t seen any zombie activity on this end of the city, and I was curious as to why it was so. Charlie and Duncan had scouted around and told me they hadn’t found any zombies, either. As a matter of fact, they hadn’t found anyone at all, but they surely knew someone was around here somewhere.

  “River to the south of us probably keeps any zombies on the main city side away from this one,” Charlie said, relaxing in the cab of the truck. I was stretched out in the truck bed, looking over maps and figuring out our route. We were talking through the rear window opening, although anyone on the outside would think I was talking to myself.

  “All right, but Perdue University is on this side. If the Upheaval hit three, three and a half years ago, what time of year, you remember?” I said.

  “Ah, hell. I think it was spring, around April, maybe?” Charlie replied.

  “You don’t remember?” I asked.

  “Since you don’t either, don’t judge.”

  “Point taken. I’m trying to remember what the weather was like. I think it was spring, early spring,” I said.

  “Why is it important?” Charlie asked.

  “If the Upheaval hit in full force in the spring, and all these students were here on campus, we may be looking at over fifty thousand zombies just on this side of the river,” I said.

  “That’s a lot more than I prefer.”

  “But if that was the case, then where did they all go? You and Duncan didn’t find anyone; not a survivor, not even a Z. So what’s the deal? If they all survived by some miracle, then how are they keeping themselves alive? Food stores would run out for a thousand people in six months,” I said.

  “Maybe you’re looking at this from a worst case scenario point of view,” Charlie said. “What if a bunch survived, killed the zombies before they became a problem, and then faded into the hills?”

  “Seriously?” I said

  “Seriously. Listen. These are college kids. They were college kids plugged into information in ways we could have only dreamed about at their age. When the first zombies hit, you don’t think they knew about it? You yourself learned how to deal with them by watching videos I bet were posted by teens and college age kids. They probably knew the Z’s were coming before anyone else, and knew how to neutralize the threat,” Charlie said.

  I had to admit it was a good argument. “So this whole area is safe, then?”

  “Didn’t say that. But college towns might be safer than just regular towns,” Charlie theorized.

  Our conversation was interrupted by Tommy returning from his scouting.

  “John! Charlie! You have to see this!” Tommy said, refilling his water bottle from a jug on the truck.

  “What is it?” Charlie asked, heaving his bulk out of the cab.

  “Just come with,” Tommy said.

  We walked out with Tommy and moved towards what looked like old playing fields. The gra
ss was long, of course, but it seemed to have been cut recently. The campus was quiet, and we walked steadily down 3rd street, passing some very zombie-proof buildings. One was just brick on all sides with no windows and a single point of entry. We turned right onto North University Street and then onto West State Street, and then past North River Road and onto East State street. I was starting to wonder why we didn’t take the truck when I saw the barrier. It was a solid wall of cinder block, formed together and fitting perfectly across the street from building to building.

  “Let me guess, there’s one of these along every street that leads in from the river?” I asked.

  “Yep. And if you wait you can hear the chanting,” Tommy said.

  “What?” Charlie asked.

  “Come and see!” Tommy said. He walked over to the side of the barrier, and steel poles had been placed in the wall. They formed a kind of ladder that went up to the top of the wall. If you weren’t careful, you were going to slip through and seriously hurt yourself.

  At the top of the ladder we crossed the wall and descended the other side. The poles were much shorter on this side and required you to place a hand on the wall for balance. Zombies could never get up this ladder. I made a mental note to use this design if I ever needed something like this.

  One the other side we saw signs of some devastation. Some buildings looked burned, and there were the typical signs of battle. Things were starting to make a little sense, but still it was odd.

  That was when I heard the singing. It was coming from an area in front of us and was loud enough to carry quite a distance. Behind the music, however, I heard the darker side, and it was what made me think about reaching for a weapon. It was the groan of thousands of zombies, and they were close.