America the Dead

by Joseph Talluto

  “I was there for twenty months and it reached a point where I couldn’t stand it any more. There were women’s screams every night and children crying for their mothers. In the bunkhouse where I shared sleeping space with the fathers and husbands, there would always be one or two crying rage and shame at their helplessness. More than once rebellion was contemplated, but it was tamped down because of the kids’ camp.

  “I finally decided to leave on a night I knew the guards would be distracted. One of the scouting and foraging parties had come across a large group of people who had been travelling. There were a lot of women and children and the men were licking their chops at the new flesh. That night, I ducked the fence, smashed a guard across the teeth with a rock, and took off into the night.”

  Simon shrugged. “I guess I survived because it was winter and the zombies were frozen. I moved as far as I could every day, and slept only a few hours at a time. I stuck to the country as much as I could, figuring the Major’s men would be too lazy to search off the roads. Chances are they never missed me or just didn’t care.”

  I nodded, thinking about what I had heard. It was horrible, no doubt, but in all seriousness, none of my business. One thing nagged at me, though. “When I told you my name, you acted like you had heard of me. Why is that?”

  Tommy chimed in. “Hell, you’re the biggest badass zombie killer in the country, everybody knows you!” He elbowed Duncan and they both chuckled, but silenced when I scowled at them.

  Simon chuckled as well, but answered the question. “One of the men in the bunkhouse talked about you. Ever have a neighbor named Todd?”

  My heart sank. So Todd survived a cross country trip, only to fall into the hands of a bigger monster than the zombies themselves. I forced myself to ask the next question. “He had a wife and two girls. One his own, the other one picked up after her parents had been killed.” That was a long time ago, but I still remembered the deaths at the drugstore clearly.

  Simon shook his head. “He only had one daughter and she went to the major. His wife was used badly by the major’s men and died. He committed suicide when he attacked the guards. They shot him down without hesitation.”

  I dropped my head. It was too bad, they were a good family. I said a silent prayer and remembered the other question I wanted to ask. “You said ‘Not yet’ when I said no one has laid a counter claim to this area. What did you mean?”

  Simon looked sideways at me. “You don’t miss much, do you? Well before I left, I had overheard the guards talking about the major looking to relocate, finding someplace where he could set himself up as ruler of the country, since he figures he could do it with the men he has. From what I understood, he was looking to come east. Where specifically, I don’t know, but definitely closer to the center of the country. If he hears about this place, he might just take a shine to it and decide you need to go.”

  I thought about all the macho things I could say at that point and settled on, “I think I would object.”

  Simon shrugged. “The Major has seventy-five men, all of them well armed. You’d get a few for sure, but those kinds of numbers will eventually work against you.”

  “I’ll take my chances. Besides, I have a few surprises of my own.” I smiled as a loud growl sounded up from the forest floor almost on cue as the cougar hunted in the growing evening.

  Simon’s eyes got huge and I nodded. “Good thing you decided to stay at Matthiesson last night. You might have run into the boogeyman over here. And this one is very pointy in certain places.”

  Charlie spoke up. “Well, it’s a hell of a thing, but the chances of this major finding us are pretty slim and if he does, we’ll deal with it.”

  “There’s one other thing.” Simon said cautiously.

  “What would that be?” I asked.

  “The Major is not entirely sane. He had been getting a lot of people in camp lately that have been yelling about their rights and he can’t do what he’s doing. ‘This is America’ and all that. Usually the voices have been silenced quickly enough, but some managed to get overheard by the Major. In his warped mind, he probably figures if he destroys the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, he will be able to set himself up as ruler, and no one can challenge him.”

  I looked incredulously at Simon. “What would be the point of that? Pick up any history textbook and you can find a copy of the Constitution.”

  Duncan chimed in. “Yeah, but the documents themselves are as much a symbol of our country as the flag is. If it were to become known that they had been destroyed, we’d have a harder time coming together as a country again after the zombies were gone. As it is, we’re barely holding it together. If the Constitution and Bill of Rights become destroyed, what we believe about our country would be destroyed.”

  Tommy spoke up. “What have we been fighting for in the end? Sure it’s to survive, but do you want to live in a country where only the strong survive? No thanks. The Constitution and Bill of Rights are what made this country great and whether you believe it or not, they’re the only hope of rallying everyone who’s left to the cause. If they get destroyed, we’re finished.”

  I looked at Charlie. “What say you, old friend?”

  Charlie looked at the floor for a long time. When he looked up, his eyes were clear and his voice strong. “My first wife and daughter died from the virus. I buried them both with my bare hands. I got a second chance and a reason to live with Rebecca and Julia. That chance is wasted if I let some lunatic take over the country. I know it may be crazy, but even though we might be wasting our time and very likely manage to get ourselves killed, I couldn’t look at my daughter and tell her that I did nothing to stop it.”

  All four men looked at me and I glanced over at Sarah who was coming in from the back hallway with Jake and Julia. I thought about Todd, Nola, and their daughter and little Ellen, who I had saved from scum so long ago.

  I cannot let you die in vain, I thought.

  I looked at Simon. “Do you really think he’s coming?”

  Simon nodded. “From what I saw for the time I was at that camp, I would bet my life on it. When he gets fixated on something, no matter how crazy, he has to have it. I remember the men hunting for gold watches because he wanted to have a different watch for every day of the year. And God help you if you are in his way or he sees you as a threat.”

  “Why?”

  “He isn’t content with just removing things that irritate him, he has to completely destroy them, smash them, make them disappear. A man accidentally got dirt on the Major’s boots when the Major came to inspect an earthen wall. The man was beaten senseless, then buried alive in the wall. They forced his family to watch him being buried.”

  I shook my head as Charlie asked my next question. “How does he get men to follow him? I would think that some might actually be decent men who wouldn’t stand for such behavior.”

  Simon shrugged. “He keeps his men happy with women and loot. Most of them are as degenerate as he his. Also, he’s huge. He’s six foot six if he’s and inch and I figure him to be two hundred forty pounds of solid muscle. I saw him beat a man to death with his bare hands. He’s a brute and his men respect and fear him with good reason.”

  I looked around at the men and my wife and son. Charlie had gathered up Julia and was looking at me expectantly.

  I asked Simon again. “You’re sure he’s coming?”

  Simon nodded ruefully. “Absolutely.”

  I looked back out over forest and river. The setting sun was causing long shadows from the trees and the river sparkled as it wound its way around Eagle Island. I took a minute to reflect on all I had done and all we had been through to get where we were. Tommy and Duncan were right. It would all be for nothing if we let it happen.

  I let out a breath. “Well, I guess we better figure out how we’re going to stop him.”

  3

  (Six months earlier)

  Major Ken Thorton liked being big. He enjoyed the looks he received when he
addressed other men. Those wishing to be like him or to be liked by him. Some people would have been happy to just be as tall or as broad, but Ken loved being both. He saw his size as a tool to be used on an unwilling world, to shape that world into a place more suited to his needs. At six foot five, with plenty of muscle packed on his arms and chest, he had plenty of tools to work with.

  Before the Upheaval, he worked as a security guard for Reno Airport, watching people all day and thinking about what he’d like to do so some of them that looked crossways at him. He had a lot of time to think and spent a good deal of time thinking about what a perfect world he could create for himself if only given the chance. He had often talked about his ideas with select few like-minded individuals, but nothing ever came from the conversations. Ken Thorton was a bully and bruiser, but he was smart enough not to attract the attention of local law enforcement. He often boasted about what he would do to any cop that tried to come for him, but in truth Ken was a coward. He was brave when he held the upper hand and he did everything in his power to make sure he kept that hand. He was openly contemptuous of anyone he perceived as being better than he and anyone he perceived as a threat to his image was utterly destroyed.

  So when the Upheaval came, most people thought of it as the end of the world. Ken realized that it was his one chance to create his own. He had often claimed he had been a soldier, but avoided conversations with real military personnel. With most of them dead, Ken found it the perfect opportunity to be that which he had always claimed to be. He chose the rank of Major, figuring that he couldn’t claim higher because people wouldn’t believe him. He had outfitted himself in military clothing and set out into the undead world.

  Thorton managed to recruit a few unsavory individuals into his band. Ted Tamikara, a twenty-five year old former computer programmer, was Thorton’s Captain and right hand man. Ken had rescued Ted from his little apartment in Reno, swinging a makeshift club like a lawnmower blade and hurling ghouls left and right with smashed skulls. Thorton quickly realized that Ted was of a like mind when it came to their fellow man and the two set off to remake their world.

  Ted didn’t mind being second to Thorton. At five foot six, he was no match for Ken physically, but his agile mind more than made up for what he lacked in physical stature. Ted also had a cruel streak which suited Ken’s needs as well. Captain Tamikara was not a man to cross, not without rear view mirrors installed in your head. When Thorton and Tamikara were moving from place to place, Thorton got a clear view as to how his new friend operated. The pair had come across a young couple hiding in a small house. Tamikara quietly asked the young man if he was armed. When the man said no, Ted casually shot him dead. Tamikara then assaulted the new widow, taking what he considered as a ‘spoil of war’. Ken didn’t object in the least, only insisted on having his turn with the woman. After they had finished their fun, Ken stuck his knife in the poor woman’s chest. It was the first living person he had killed and he thoroughly enjoyed the look on his victim’s face when the knife slid in. Ted watched with approval and from that moment on, the Major and the Captain were on the same page.

  They took what they wanted, recruiting more members. Ken established his base of operations in the ghost town of Bodie, California. He had been there once and remembered it was a defensible place, isolated, with a supply of water and land for subsistence. It was close enough to make raids into several neighboring communities and Thorton used the old mining complex as his personal fortress. There were many buildings still standing and it worked well to serve as a place for families to move into for a modicum of relative safety.

  That was the lure. Major Thorton would travel with his band of men, offering a place to stay and passing themselves off as the last of the military of the United States. When the people agreed, and many of them readily did, they were brought into the town and given a home. After they had been taken in, the families would realize their mistake. Women disappeared for days on end, returned to their husbands with broken spirits and bruises. Husbands who complained were immediately beaten, some severely. Children, especially young girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen, were taken from their families to the ‘fortress’. Young boys were sent to work on another part of the property, making sure their parents stayed in line. The youngest children stayed with their parents, but were used for coercion as needed.

  Major Ken Thorton not only was a bully, a brute, and a murderer, but he was also a molester. In his warped mind he believed he was owed the pleasure of the little ones and he preferred the fear he caused in them as to the disdain and contempt of the older women.

  Such was the world as Ken saw it as he surveyed his little kingdom. In truth, that was what it was. He ruled over the lives of the three hundred people who were luckless enough to fall into his trap, and he ruled over the lives of the seventy-plus men he had in his little ‘army’. Over the course of the next six months of the Upheaval, while the world reeled from the attacks of the undead, Thorton managed to recruit individuals to his cause, each one having the prerequisite of extremely low morals and dubious ethics. Those who showed intelligence or potential were ‘promoted’ within the ranks.

  Thorton was smart enough to realize he would need overwhelming force to ensure there would be no rebellion from his population, so after raiding a military surplus store for uniforms and supplies, Thorton set out arming his men with military weapons. Ft. Laramondo was the nearest source and after leading thirty men to the post, managed to eliminate the zombies and secure the weapons left behind when the fort had been overrun.

  With his new found wealth, Thorton had increased his area of operations and brought more people into the fold. He even had criteria for new recruits. Anyone surviving alone was included and anyone willing to kill a survivor, especially an annoying husband complaining about his wife being abused, was a shoe-in.

  Dissent among the ranks was dealt with by the captain and complainers never received a warning, just a bullet or knife in the back. Word spread quickly and the complaints fell to zero.

  In the general population, complaints were few since they were usually followed by a beating or a killing, but they persisted. Even now, two years after the Upheaval, people, especially new survivors, lured in by the fake military, brought up the fact that their rights were being violated. It was a common complaint and Major Thorton was becoming tired of it. Rights, he thought, what do these idiots care about rights? The major contemplated this as he stood naked before his window and looked out of his suite. He could see the town from his perch, a ramshackle ghost town re-populated back into existence. Bodie, California had been abandoned in the 1940’s, declared a historic site in the 1960’s, and served as a tourist attraction until the dead rose. Now it was a town again, tucked away from the world and isolated by geography. Hills surrounded the town, providing a natural defense, and Thorton had enough men to provide reasonable security should the odd zombie make its way to the town.

  But security was an illusory thing for the hapless population of Bodie. If the zombies ever discovered the place in force and attacked en masse, the standing plan was to cut and run, not stand and fight. To hell with the helpless citizens. Major Thorton figured when the zombies were busy killing the townsfolk, he and his men could escape.

  “Rights.” Ken said the word aloud, startling the small form huddled on his bed. A tousled head peeked out from under the covers as Ken continued his reverie. “Rights. How dare they assume they have rights? When the world ended so did any notion of rights.” Thorton spat the word. “These morons live because it amuses me. They die because they serve no use.” End them, end their rights, he thought.

  End their rights. A seed of thought planted itself in his mind, growing quickly. End their rights, destroy the source. Ken considered this as he stared at his thralls trudging from the work fields or to and from the saw mill and wells. Destroy the source, he thought, then he started to chuckle, an ugly sound deep in his chest. Thorton’s twisted mind burned with the logic of
his reasoning. The logistics of his idea be dammed, Ken realized what he wanted to do. It didn’t matter that his thoughts required moving a large number of men across three thousand miles of hostile territory inhabited by rogue bands such as his own, carnivorous zombies, and who knew what else. Ken mulled the thought over again in his head and came to the twisted logic that once he had destroyed the source, he would be in a position to grab ultimate power for himself. Any rational person would think him deluded, but Ken didn’t care about that. Like a petulant child, he was striking out at that which annoyed him and to hell with the consequences.

  “So has it been considered, so shall it be done.” Ken said to himself as he returned to his bed. He smiled as he flipped back the covers, revealing the small naked girl huddled on the bed. She knew better than to resist or cry. She had seen what had happened to her predecessor and wanted no part of it.

  Ken had a small group of victims held in a cage near the main mine shaft. If he was particularly displeased with a girl, he would just throw her in, listening to her screams as she fell the quarter mile to her death. If a girl fought him, he would lower her slowly down the mine shaft head first, to be devoured slowly by the zombies waiting at the bottom. No one had a clue as to how they got there, but when one of Ken’s men dropped a flare to see how deep the shaft was, they flocked to the light.

  He grinned again as he lowered himself on top of the girl, his mind thinking about his task ahead and the glory that was to be his, ignoring her cries as he thrust himself against her battered, eleven year old body.

  4

  Later in the day, Major Thorton called a meeting of his officers to discuss what it was he wanted. Captain Tamikara was there, seated in the chair on the other side of the long conference table. On one side of the table was Lt. Lon Hansen, a former police officer who had been fired for misconduct right before the Upheaval. Hansen figured his firing had probably saved his life, keeping him home while his colleagues responded to emergencies and died. Sergeant Nick Harris, a former convict whose crimes included rape and assault sat across from Lt. Hansen. Next to him was the other NCO, Sergeant Rod Milovich, a former petty thief rehabilitated into a truck driver.