Whatever It Takes To Survive

by Mike Staton

  “Unfortunately, no. We didn’t know for certain you’d be here.”

  Krista raised an eyebrow skyward.

  “Ian’s good. What can I say.” Kat stood up straighter. “I’m quite proud of my Cadet Colonel Pull.”

  “That’s my boy,” Krista said softly, a smile in her voice. “You go talk with him. I’m going to visit Kevin in the tower, then Percival at the wire. We’ll reconvene in the Station lobby at 1500.”

  “Yes, ma’am. You should talk with him too. Do you both good.” Kat gave the gentle verbal nudge.

  Krista nodded as she moved for the stairs. “We’ll see.”

  * * *

  Percival shrugged. “He might’ve gone pro, but there’s no way of knowing now.”

  “Yeah, but this guy?” Alan, the gate guard, gestured at Samuel and shook his head. “No way he’s better than Ed.”

  “You saying I can’t swing this bat better than someone who’s only used to knocking balls into the air?” Samuel stepped through a swing. The bat whistled through the air. “You’ve just never seen me connect with something solid.”

  “I’m just saying that there’s a big difference between college ball and the big leagues. And a bigger difference between cracking a rotting skull and knocking a ball out of the park.”

  “One moves erratically through the air?” Samuel asked. “The other straight at me?”

  “Yeah. Precisely. Which is which?” Alan answered.

  “Zombie heads are totally harder to hit.” Samuel smirked. “Especially given the safety equipment required.”

  Alan shook his head and smiled. “Moving to a less light subject: sure you’re infected? You don’t act like it.”

  Percival nodded and pulled his jacket and shirt aside enough to show the bandages on his shoulder. “Can still feel the teeth some days.”

  “Happen just a few days ago?” Alan looked past Percival for a moment before bringing his gaze back.

  “That’s the weird thing. It was over two weeks now, closer to three I think.” Percival slid his clothing back into place. “I still get headaches and the occasional coughing fit, but I feel better.”

  “Knew a guy who heard of someone out west who lasted a month and a half.” Alan shook his head. “Guy said the fella never showed signs of infection. Just keeled over one day and got back up.”

  “People don’t last longer than a month. Hasn’t happened.” Samuel shook his head.

  Alan shrugged. “Grain of salt and all that. Your injury what led you out here?”

  “Part of it.” Percival leaned against the solid gate. “Other part bein’ a desire to see more of the world before I don’t see anything more at all. Find the folk who’ve wronged me. Ever heard of a revenant?”

  “Can’t say I have.” Alan folded his arms over his chest.

  Samuel shook his head.

  “A revenant is a vengeful spirit, risen from the grave to exact vengeance on those who’ve wronged him before he can finally rest.” Percival closed his eyes.

  “Sounds… scary,” Alan said.

  “Damned well ought to be. The original revenant story had the revenant bein’ immortal too. Couldn’t kill what’d already died. Was an unstoppable force of vengeance.” Percival opened his eyes again.

  “Ought to kill him, boy. Friends’re in danger.”

  Percival whipped around and stared down the slight incline. He’d heard the voice, clear as daylight on a brisk summer afternoon. He just didn’t seen anything but the wall of trees that stretched past him. He lifted his motor cycle visor to have a clear view.

  “Hear something?” Any levity present in Alan’s voice fled as he dropped to his knee and brought his rifle up.

  “Yes… No. I don’t know.” Percival pushed his visor back down and shook his head.

  “What’s wrong? Headache?” Samuel asked.

  “You didn’t hesitate in other instances. I ought to know.” Morrbid’s voice drifted from somewhere nearby; even if Percival couldn’t see him.

  “I… Something’s nearby. But I can’t say what.” Percival unslung his sledgehammer.

  “That’s not comforting, Percival,” Samuel said quietly.

  Great, he was showing his psychosis to someone else. “Just, trust me. Alright?”

  “We have packs wandering through sometimes. We’re not far enough into the forest to not get them from the towns.” Alan reached up and smacked a gong twice. “Hell, we get the odd straggler from a camp on occasion. Unless it’s a big horde, we should be fine.”

  Percival felt grateful that Alan didn’t press for his intuition and simply opted to trust him.

  “He’s wasting your time while his buddies do the same thing to your ladies as those imposters did to Andrina. You should storm the gates.”

  “We wait for them to come to us. No reason to risk our necks when they’ve not even uttered a feeding moan.” Alan relaxed, though he kept his rifle at a low ready.

  “Right. Will we be able to slip inside if…?” Samuel asked.

  Alan glanced between the two of them. “Yeah. But you don’t get to go anywhere but the gate.”

  “You won’t act? I’ll help.” Morrbid’s voice trickled over Percival’s senses. Samuel and Alan didn’t seem to have heard him.

  “Good to kno—“ Samuel cut off as a shrill, yet deep and otherworldly moan echoed from the opposite side of the Station.

  “Shit.” Alan twisted and looked up the hillside past the chicken wire at the Ranger Station barely visible through the trees.

  “What?”

  “Other than the feeding moan?”

  The sound of a gong cutting through the too quiet forest cut off anything else Alan was going to say.

  “Horde,” Percival said for him.

  Chapter 14

  “Kitten! Need you with me!” Lindsey’s voice cut into breakroom and into the middle of Kat’s conversation with Ian.

  “Sorry Colonel, one second.” She looked over her shoulder at the woman. “Little bit busy.”

  “We’ve got our differences, I get it. We can put your little uneasiness aside and… We’re needed on the tower. Judith, need you outside too. Gavin, tell them what’s going down.”

  “Might help to know what’s up. Heard the moan, but…”

  A deep, thudding gong cut through the air and smashed into them all.

  “Fuck me.”

  “Later,” Lindsey quipped.

  Gavin spun back to the radio receiver. “Colonel Pull, need to cut things short. Your rep is needed elsewhere. We’ve a horde.”

  “A horde? Shit. How big?” Kat moved with purpose as she dug earplugs out of her pocket.

  Lindsey shook her head as she dashed ahead of them and out into the afternoon light. Kat followed her. Anton had reappeared during their time inside. Cooper stood next to the big man. Both wore their facemasks as the gaunt civilians Kat’d seen earlier shuffled past them and into the Ranger Station proper.

  She pulled the doors closed behind them and moved up next to the small group.

  “Sitrep?” Kat glanced skyward as she slid one earplug into her ear. She saw one shadow atop the tower, another quickly descending it.

  “You’re not quite in charge here,” Lindsey snapped. “Need you in the tower with me.”

  “Horde. North eastern quarter.” Anton calmly slid a couple of shells into his shotgun. “Ain’t seen it but—“

  The unearthly feeding moan echoed through the compound and a rifle’s blast followed it. Kat looked around. The shadow on the tower was nearly down, Anton, Cooper, Lindsey, and Judith stood before her. Alan was likely still with Samuel and Percival at the gate. She assumed the gunshot she’d heard was either Dakota or Sapphire. Maybe the two were together.

  “But you don’t sound the alarm for just anything. I get you.” Kat looked at Lindsey. “Do you have a second rifle in the tower?”

  A second rifle shot echoed up the hillside. Lindsey returned the question with a blank stare.

  “Just the one h
unting rifle. Lindsey, watchtower with Lieutenant Bradshaw. Won’t do no good to have two sharpshooters up there with one rifle. He’ll spot for you as well.” Krista walked up, helmet tucked under one arm. “

  “But I…” Lindsey started and silenced at a snap from Krista.

  “Move it. Complain later. Priority: keep the civilians safe. Anything gets near the Ranger Station, you drop it. Get me?” Krista didn’t wait for a response before turning back to the rest. “Katherine, you’re with me. Cooper, Anton, head for the wire. Anton, you know the best way, make sure any of our stragglers are double timing it up here. Judith, I want you quiet and inside the Ranger Station. Last line of defense.”

  Judith nodded and ducked back into the Ranger Station. She slid an arrow from her quiver as the door closed behind her.

  “Move it people.” Krista took off at a quick jog, pulling her helmet back on as she moved.

  The others scattered in their respective directions and Kat took off after Krista. She plugged her second earplug in as she ran to catch up.

  “Where’re we going?” Kat asked. She pulled her mask down and swung her rifle up and into a readied position.

  “I want you in a tree.” Krista’s voice was muffled through her earplugs. “Close enough to be effective, far enough to be able to cover most of the hill. That’s still your .22 from the academy, right?”

  A gunshot, high and loud, likely Cooper’s .45, rang through the trees. The deeper boom of a shotgun thumped through the air moments later. She wanted to be there with her friend.

  “Is that sti—“

  “Yeah. It is. Good for short to medium range. My Remington’s with Percival.” Kat cut Krista short.

  “You’re not rusty, right?” Krista dropped her carbine on its sling and slammed her back against a tree. Her fingers laced together to give Kat a boost.

  “In this world? Please.” Kat swept her rifle back onto her back and, without missing a beat, stepped onto Krista’s hands. She climbed up the woman, and used the extra height to scramble a little further up the tree. Her fingers found purchase around a limb and pulled herself up onto it. After half a moment to survey the tree limbs, she climbed through a couple more before settling into a position she could see both the chicken wire fence and back up the hill.

  Krista looked up at her, nodded once, and darted off toward the chaos.

  Kat took a deep breath, unslung her .22 and brought it up. The chaos was northeast of the Ranger Station, Krista had put her northwest. She braced her back and swept through her field of vision. The fence was clear and the explosion of gunfire behind her tested her resolve to remain where she sat.

  But Krista was trusting her to keep this entire sector safe. Kat steadied herself with another deep inhalation of the cool treetop air. Movement at her section of fence snatched her attention. A moment later, the air was split by an unearthly feeding moan and a shrill tingle of bells.

  A zombie, an elderly man still in his bloodstained PJs, wormed his fingers through the chicken wire. He snapped his head back and let out another loud moan as he jerked the wire in front of him. A second zombie, likely the guy’s wife shuffled up beside him.

  Kat let out a slow breath as she drew a bead on the pair. She ignored the half dozen approaching behind them. One at a time. That’s how battles were won now.

  The ring of the bells on the chicken wire was the music to her shots. She lined up her sights on the man and put a bullet down range. He didn’t move with the impact, but a dark hole appeared near his temple and leaked black, viscous blood as he suddenly went limp against the fence. His fingers shredded as they pulled free of the chicken wire and he slumped against his zombie wife. Kat’s movements were automatic then.

  Her iron sights swept to the second zombie. Two gentle squeezes of a trigger and she fell atop the first. Calmly Kat moved to the next. She put the bullet through his rotting, slightly distended eye. The one after that took three shots. Quickly, Kat swapped magazines and resumed picking off the dead as they came, shuffling, walking, and, in the case of a single freshly turned zombie, running up to her section of fence.

  As the tide turned and the horde thinned, Kat settled into counting the corpses felled among the trees. It was an idle exercise as she reloaded her magazines, and she stopped as she pushed the last bullet filling her final magazine. She’d stopped at 21 bodies.

  No one’d given the all clear yet, but it’d been a few minutes since she’d heard any gunfire from behind her either. She let out a slow, even breath and recharged her rifle. She hoped the others’d fared just as well as she had.

  It almost felt as though this is what she were made for. She felt completely at ease and at peace in the treetop with her rifle. This is what she enjoyed: protecting people from the horrors of this new and dirty world. This devastated plane of existence where the living feared the dead instead of grieved for them. She licked her lips from behind her paintball mask. The world’d gone silent once more.

  * * *

  Percival followed Alan through the gate. The gunfire had ceased nearly five minutes prior. Morrbid had stopped shouting at him to murder Alan and save his friends closer to 10 minutes earlier. Someone was making sure the dead weren’t going to rise again.

  “You stick close. Y’hear?” Alan didn’t wait for either of them to answer before he moved up the hill.

  Percival adjusted his hold on Kat’s rifle and jogged after Alan. The big man cut through the forest, straight up the side of the hill. It didn’t take long to enter a clearing and gravel parking lot. A single forest green Jeep sat in the lot branded with “The Kentucky State Parks” on the side. It looked as though it’d seen better days. He glanced up at the station itself and the tall tower next to it.

  A cluster of people, four or five, stood outside the double doors leading into the Ranger Station itself. It took a moment to recognize Judith at the center of the people.

  “Look, I don’t know. We ain’t heard gunshots for a few minutes now, but I ain’t omniscient,” she shouted at the group.

  There were a couple grumpy mumblings.

  “What’s going on here?” Alan asked as he neared.

  “Tell you the same thing I told them: I’ve given y’all all the information I’ve got. Ask the tower.” Judith’s usual calm seemed slightly cracked. “Lieutenant Adams tasked me with protecting these… civilians as a final line. Been in the hole since.”

  She hooked her thumb over her shoulder at the station behind her.

  “Which I’m sure you did admirably.” Percival stepped up beside Alan. The sight of the malnourished survivors before him staggered him. He’d half expected Lindsey’s gauntness to have been something she brought on herself. Maybe she’d started volunteering to go out and about for a larger portion of food rations than others who didn’t risk themselves.

  “What do you know?” He asked calmly. “Where is everyone?”

  Judith took a breath and pushed past the small cluster of civilians to stand directly before him. “Lindsey and Lieutenant Bradshaw’re in the tower. Cooper and Anton went northeast to handle the location of the horde. Lieutenant Adams and Kat went northwest. Haven’t seen Dakota since the first gong, haven’t seen Sapphire since before that. Gavin’s still in the radio room updating Zack and Colonel Pull.”

  Percival nodded, assessed the situation, and turned to Alan. “Tower for a better sitrep, then northeast since it sounds like that’s the source of the trouble?”

  Alan nodded once. “I agree.”

  “Judith, sorry to do this to you, but I need you to continue to look after these folk. We don’t know if the danger’s clear.” Percival looked past Judith. “Everyone! Hey guys! Need your attention here. I’m Percival Polz, leader of a group of survivors down south. We don’t know if the danger’s past, so I need y’all to get back inside and wait for the all clear.”

  Several people nodded. Only one, a slightly larger man in a green and red sweater, spoke out. “Who the hell are you to tell us what to do?”

/>   “Sir, I’m not telling you what to do. I’m asking you politely to step back inside where it’s safer.”

  “Jack, knock it off and go back inside. If he hadn’t told yuh tuh do it, I’d’ve done it.” Alan waved his hand dismissively at Jack as his mouth flopped open to argue again. “Don’t want to hear it. We can discuss policy and politics after the danger’s past. We want everyone to be safe. No question.”

  Jack flipped his hands up in the air and walked back into the Ranger Station. The others followed him.

  “Thank you and sorry, Judith.” Alan turned and walked toward the tower.

  “I’ll remember this.” Percival turned toward Alan.

  “You’d better.” Judith moved after the civilians and pulled the doors closed behind her.

  Percival jogged after Alan and started up the tower. He passed Lindsey on the first landing.

  “What’re you doin’ inside the wall?” She didn’t lift from peering through her rifle’s scope.

  “Following our certified guide.” He didn’t wait for whatever she said next. It was lost to a gust of wind.

  He finished climbing the tower and pulled his jacket’s collar up. At the top of the tower, the wind blew near ceaselessly and cut through his layers.

  He could see out over the bared treetops and down into the forest below. The view surprised him. He’d not expected this to be quite the great observation spot, but with winter knocking and the trees having dropped their leaves, he could see a fair amount of the forest floor.

  Not enough that he’d want to rely solely on the observation tower, of course, but enough to identify whatever direction a zombie had set off the bells on the chicken wire. He looked past Alan and to a squat man clearly into his late thirties. He sported the same clothing as Krista, with lieutenant bars on his shoulder and collar. He had a set of binoculars raised to his stocking cap covered head.

  “Sure, Mister Graspie.” The man turned to face them. His manner was surprisingly easygoing given his soldiering look. “Mister Polz and Mister Berkin, I presume? You stick with Alan and I’ll not shoot you. Policy, nothing personal.”