America the Dead

by Joseph Talluto

  Winters came off the porch and walked out into the street. “I’m not so sure I believe what I have been hearing, because nobody is that bad ass. Nobody.” Dan had come to a stop about five feet in front of me and he stood in a mocking pose similar to mine.

  “Is there a point to this conversation?” I asked. “Because I need to go talk to some adults.” I knew I was deliberately baiting him, but I didn’t care. If Nate was going to have to deal with this idiot, I may as well get the ball started.

  Dan bristled as most near-men do when their lack of age has been pointed out. “Point is, hero-man, that I think you’re full of shit. I think all those stories are shit and the people who think you’re so great are full of shit too.”

  He was pushing hard and I realized that he was nervous, like he was trying to get something over with before something went wrong. Too bad he didn’t know what I knew. After Charlie, Duncan and Tommy had supposedly left, they circled back and made sure I wasn’t going to be ambushed. I could handle idiot-boy on my own, but I was powerless against a bullet in the back.

  I waited, not replying, and I could see Winters getting slightly more nervous as time stretched on. Finally, I heard the sounds I had been waiting for. On my right there was a strangling noise, like someone had just been put in a choke hold. On my left, there was stifled cry, as if someone had been hit, then silenced. Behind me, there was loud crashing sound, like someone had been bodily lifted and thrown to the ground.

  I smiled at Dan and I could see his eyes widen as he began to realize this was not going as planned. I stepped up close as my companions dragged their victims through the yards and dumped them in the road. One of them started to get up, only to get pushed back by Tommy, who ended any further revolt by pulling his knife and shaking his head. His captive seemed fascinated by the large blade just a few inches from his face.

  I stared hard at Winters. He seemed to recover his wits and was defiant once again. I realized there was little to be gained through talking to this idiot. I turned my back on him and his friends and signaled to my companions that we keep moving.

  But Dan wouldn’t let it go. “See you around, hero. You won this one, but maybe your woman or your kid won’t win the next one.” He sniggered to his friends who were loosely pulling themselves to their feet. His laugh turned to a cry as I wrapped my hand around his skinny throat and squeezed. His friends tried to intervene, but were knocked back with drawn weapons. This one belonged to just me.

  I spun Winters to the ground and stepped back, watching him grasp at his throat and suck air. When he had recovered enough he bared his teeth and stepped up, looking to punch his way through. I sidestepped and landed a short jab to the side of his head, knocking him sideways and stunning him momentarily. He shook it off and charged, his head ducked low and his long arms outstretched to grab hold of me. I waited until he came close enough, then shoved quickly on the back of his neck, forcing him to the ground. I stepped away again before he could grab my legs and I waited again.

  Winters got to his feet and advanced more cautiously this time, holding his hands up and looking for his opportunity. He must have learned to fight from rank amateurs and it made sense why no one had pummeled this fool earlier. He was too ridiculous to take seriously. But he threatened my family and that made him fair game as far as I was concerned.

  I stepped in quickly and jabbed a left to his mouth, knocking his head back. Not waiting for him to recover I slammed a right to his head, knocking him to the ground. I reached down and removed his firearm, tossing it back to Duncan. I grabbed Dan by the hair and delivered three short, savage punches to his face, mashing his nose and splitting his lip. He tried to defend himself, but I knocked away his hands. I hauled him to his feet and held him by the neck. I forced him to look me in the eyes.

  “You threatened my family, junior. That mistake you won’t get a break from. If I ever see you near my wife or my son, I will kill you. I don’t know how you and your idiot friends survived the Upheaval, but it sure wasn’t through skill. But my friends and I? We are the real survivors. We’re killers and we’re good at our work.” I brought Winters in quickly as I delivered a punch that started at my knees. I slammed him under the chin and he toppled back like a felled tree.

  I looked back at his friends, who were being held on their knees by my crew. “Bring them,” I said as I grabbed up a now unconscious Dan Winters by his collar and dragged him unceremoniously through the streets.

  By the time we reached the school, we were more than a little late. Working our prisoners through to the gym, we opened the door to a surprised audience. Nate was speaking, but went silent as the four of us brought in our charges. Charlie, Duncan, and Tommy forced the trio to their knees again in front of the community, while I dragged Winters in and dumped him on the floor.

  In response to the unspoken questions, I replied in simple terms. “He called me out, then threatened my family when his ambush failed.” Sarah, who had been sitting in the front row holding Jake and waiting for me, flashed a very cold stare at Winters. His life was forfeit on more than one front. “He got his only warning this evening.”

  Nate looked at us, then shrugged. “Solves my problem, thanks.” I could see by the nods of approval in the crowd that this group of so called toughs had been making things difficult for a number of people.

  Nate got the ball rolling. “John has come back and he has some information he feels you need.” Nate was never one for long winded introductions. I personally was surprised that he hadn’t cursed.

  “Hey, everyone,” I said, to a round of applause. I smiled and raised my hand, fairly certain I had not earned this praise. “Thank you for that. I am very happy to see many of you and I am especially glad to see many people I have not met, which means this community is growing and surviving.” There was another round of applause. “I realize now that I should have come back sooner, but I will certainly remedy that situation in the future. Right now we have another concern and I wanted to talk to all of you to decide what we want to do about it.”

  I spent the next several minutes talking about meeting Simon and what he had to say about the situation in California. There were many dark looks as I gave the information and I could understand the source of their hatred. So many people had lost so much to this disease that having a group take such advantage and hold people in bondage and fear was anathema to them. I wrapped it up by letting the assemblage know what we had considered doing and why we had come up here. I wanted to know what the community thought about the situation and whether or not they actually cared as a group what happened to the documents of the Founders. If they figured it was a thing of the past and it was time to move on, then I was going to take a little vacation here and return home. But if they thought otherwise…

  I didn’t have to wait long. Nearly immediately people began to speak up, telling me we had to get the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It was our duty as a people to save our heritage and preserve it for future generations. I thought that last one was a little over the top, but they were adamant. If someone could do something, shouldn’t they?

  I raised a hand for quiet and I presented the first problem as I saw it to the group. “So we’re agreed that we should do something, with the probability being pretty strong that no one else really knows of this Thorton’s plan. I figure he’s not going to advertise it, although communications being as they are, they are getting better. So, we figure to get there first. Next question is who will go?”

  That brought up the assembled short. While it was true they were all veterans of the war with the zombies, living in the communities had dulled their skills somewhat. If I had to guess, most hadn’t been in training in months. If the zombies showed up, they could beat them back pretty well, but they might lose a few. One on one, I was confident anyone here could take a zombie, but taking a trek across over a thousand miles of the United States of Zombie, not a chance.

  I smiled. “Well, since I don’t have much else to do thes
e days and you all are busy trying to rebuild civilization, I guess I should contribute in some way. I’ll do it. Anyone else want to take a ride?”

  There were a lot of nods of approval at this and a lot of men who wanted to raise their hands, but they were voted down by their better and probably smarter, halves. Tommy raised his hand, to the frown of Angela, and Duncan was actually a half step faster than Tommy. Charlie, of course, had his hand up and I was pleasantly surprised to see Nate’s hand go up. In all, I had the crew I knew stood the best chance of making this run in one piece.

  “All right,” I said, heading over to Sarah and relieving her of a sleepy Jake. “We know what needs to be done. We’ll start our planning tomorrow.” The community filed out, each member taking the time to shake each of our hands and saying ‘Thank You’. It was a nice gesture and a good indication that we were headed in the right direction as a people. We just needed to make sure we didn’t let monsters like Major Thorton come out of the dark.

  11

  In the morning, we made our way down to Nate’s house, where we would be planning the trip. Patty, Nate’s wife, was just finishing up breakfast and we all sat down to an excellent meal. We made small talk over the food, talking about the things we had done over the year, the winter campaigns and such. It was nice to see how much progress had been made. In some areas, progress was still slow.

  “How’s the push to the city?” I asked, pushing my plate forward and resting a hand on Jake’s head, after he had come to see what I was up to.

  Nate shook his head. “It’s still a dead zone. Two of Trevor’s men went up for a look-see last winter and they said it was wall to wall zombies. Even with a thousand men, we’d never clear it before they thawed. It’s still the source of a lot of zombies still haunting the secured areas.”

  “That bad?” asked Tommy.

  “That bad,” said Nate. “Ever hear of the town of Herret?”

  Tommy shook his head. “First time.”

  Nate continued. “It was a small town located on the east side of Rockford. Got overrun a few months back. We had set up radio contact with them using the shortwaves, but all we could hear was someone screaming for help. Then we heard nothing. We checked the map and found that of the three towns that had been hit over the last summer, they were all in line from the city. So it’s still a problem.”

  I moved Jake in the direction of Julia and he toddled off happily. I watched him go and turned my attention back to the table. “We’ll deal with that later. Right now we need to figure out how to get from point A to point B and back without getting ourselves killed.”

  We talked for a while, ironing our strategies out and weighing the pros and cons of each. Duncan initially thought a boat trip was a good idea, being safe on the water, but it was pointed out that Niagara Falls was a bitch to sail over. Especially coming back. Eventually, we agreed to a land route and it had the advantages of being able to resupply more quickly, more options for escape, and it allowed us to see what was left of the country.

  It was simpler to choose a vehicle for travel. Nate told me they had a large RV they had been using for extended scouting. It had been fitted with chain-link fencing over the windows and a reinforced roof with a sniper’s fence. A plow had been attached to the front, hung low enough to keep the Z’s from flowing under the RV. The whole thing had been raised six inches to allow for more clearance and retractable gangplanks allowed for roof access. It was diesel, so it wasn’t as quiet as possible, but larger stores of gas could be found in trucks and distribution yards. It stood a good chance of taking us there.

  The next part was harder. I knew I was going, but I needed someone else not to go. I motioned Charlie to come talk to me and we headed outside. Sarah and Rebecca looked at us quizzically, but didn’t say anything.

  Charlie was confused but came along. When we were outside, he asked me what was up.

  I didn’t waste time. “I want you to hang back from this trip, Charlie.”

  Charlie stared hard into my eyes. If I didn’t know him as I did, it would have been unnerving. After a minute, he said, “Can I ask why?”

  “I got a feeling about this one, bro. I got a feeling that if we both head off on this trip, our home won’t be the same,” I said. “I managed to get myself into this mess and I’ll get myself out. But I would rest a whole lot easier knowing my old partner is watching the home fires.”

  Charlie turned thoughtful. “You think this Major fellow would come calling?”

  I nodded. “If he’s half the bastard Simon made him out to be, he might just want to be the only wolf in the woods. That means taking us out any way he can.”

  Charlie mulled that one over, then nodded. “If I was going, I’d want you to look after my family as well. All right.”

  I smiled and shook his hand. “Thanks, brother. I feel a lot better.”

  “Promise me one thing,” Charlie said as we turned back to the house.

  “Anything.”

  “Don’t hog all the action. I get to kill me some scumbagstoo.”

  I laughed. “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I’ll see what I can do.”

  We reached the house just as a teenage girl came running up. Nate spoke with her for a minute and then sent her on her way.

  “News?” I asked.

  “Yeah. That Dan Winters took off this morning, stealing one of the recon cars and making off with a bunch of food and ammo. Looks like he left with a couple of his cronies as well,” Nate said.

  “Good riddance, says I,” I said, not giving it much thought.

  “Maybe,” said Nate. “I have a feeling that little punk will cause us trouble one way or the other.”

  We planned for a little while longer, then set up a time table. We would leave the day after tomorrow, giving us a full day and a half to gather what supplies we needed and fully plan our route. I had been through the country before, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t recognize it now.

  I went to visit my brother while I was in Leport and I was surprised to see how big my niece and nephew had become. Mike was very glad to see me, as was Nicole. We spent a good deal of time together and towards the end, I began to get the suspicion that Mike wanted to ask me something.

  “Well, I need to get Sarah and Jake back to the house, they’re heading out in the morning, going back to Starved Rock. It’s been great seeing you all again.” I gave the kids and Nicole a hug, then gave my brother one as well.

  “John…” Mike began.

  I looked at him. “What’s on your mind, bro? You’ve been avoiding an issue since I got here. What is it?”

  Mike looked at the ground, then looked at Nicole. Nicole broke the silence. “We were wondering if you had any room for another family out at your lodge.”

  I was taken aback. After Charlie and I had rescued my brother and his family from the Visitor Center at Starved Rock, I figured they wouldn’t be in any hurry to return. “Of course, you’re welcome. We have plenty of room. Get your stuff and we can take you on the boat back.”

  Mike gave me a big hug, then gave Nicole a hug and a kiss. Nicole hugged me and whispered “Thank you.” in my ear. Sarah smiled and I found myself glad that my brother was coming with.

  “Of course, there is a condition,” I said ominously.

  Mike looked at me, his eyes apprehensive. “What’s that?”

  “You have to train with Charlie to get your skills up. You’re out on the frontier now and the only thing between you and living death is the skill and strength of your arm and the preparedness of your mind.” I slapped him on the shoulder. “I ain’t coming back to find you dead because you did something stupid.”

  Mike nodded and it seemed like he was looking forward to the challenge. I hoped he was, because Charlie took no prisoners.

  We walked back to the house and Sarah and I spent some alone time together. Jake took a nap, which was convenient as hell.

  Holding Sarah in my arms, I told her about the decision to keep Charlie back and sh
e agreed with me, “Rebecca will be happy.”

  “I hope it all works out,” I said, playing with a loose strand of her hair.

  “Anything you need for us to do while you’re gone?” she said, running a finger across my chest.

  “When you pass the towns, pass the word on what we are doing and where we will bring the documents once we get them. Have each community send a representative here and we’ll start the government process over.”

  Sarah sat up and leaned over me, her hair spilling across my face. “Are you serious?” she said.

  “Very,” I replied, running a hand down her back. “Once we get this thing settled, we’re restarting our country. I’ve avoided it long enough, and we have to do something.”

  Sarah kissed me deeply, then rolled over, pulling me on top of her. “You have knack for hope, my dear. It’s oddly arousing.” She said as she settled herself beneath me.

  “Indeed.” I said as I kissed her, and then stopped talking for a while.

  12

  The next day I saw the loading of my family and my brother’s family onto the boat. They headed off to a large crowd waving goodbye and as they pulled away, Charlie raised a hand to me, then made a fist, placing it on his heart. I repeated the gesture, knowing that he would defend to the death the families placed in his care. I would have done the same in his shoes. Mike waved goodbye for a while, then turned his attention back to his children, who were thrilled at being on a boat. Sarah held Jake up and they both waved goodbye. I stayed on the dock until the boat was out of sight, burning the image of my wife and son into my mind. It would be the image that I would draw strength from, should I ever need it.