by TW Brown
“Ken?” a voice said from what sounded like far away.
He tried to focus his vision that was now shrinking to a pinhole. The edges were fuzzy, and nothing at all was coming into focus no matter how hard he tried to lock onto it.
He could hear shouts of alarm, but nothing in his brain was making sense. And then, the pinhole closed and once more, the world went dark on Ken Johnson.
***
“Hey, welcome back,” a voice said from beside him.
Ken looked over to see Colton sitting on a chair. The next thing he was aware of was the rich and wonderful smell of coffee. The mug in the man’s hands had little curls of steam drifting up from it.
“What the hell happened?” Ken managed through a mouth that felt cottony but gummy as well.
“Best guess?” Colton sipped from the mug. “You probably had a little heart attack.”
“What?” Ken croaked.
“Old man Greenberg was brought to look you over. They also had Alicia Spencer come.”
Gerald Greenberg was the local dentist, and if his memory wasn’t screwing with him, Alicia Spencer was from the veterinary clinic. He looked around to get his bearings and realized he was in the bedroom of his own home.
“How did I get here?”
“A couple of us hoisted you into the back of your pickup truck.” Colton took another sip of coffee.
“How long have I been down?”
Ken felt like he’d only dozed off for a second, but he wasn’t really sure. The fact that it was light outside now and had been when he’d fallen unconscious meant nothing. The IV in his left arm was another reason to think that it’d been longer.
“You were totally out for the past two days.”
“Ken?” Bennett called from the hallway as she approached. “Are you finally awake?”
“Seems that way,” Ken grumbled as Colton got up and exited.
The smell of coffee hung in the air as if teasing him. When Bennett walked into the room with a tray containing a large bowl and a steaming mug obviously meant for him, his mood improved somewhat.
“You gave me quite a scare,” Bennett said as she set the tray down on Ken’s lap while he pushed himself up to a sitting position.
The way she fussed around him had him scowling deeper than usual. When she went to resituate his blanket for what seemed like the tenth time, he finally caught her hand.
“Enough. I’m fine,” he said, doing his best to keep the gruffness from his voice.
“You are certainly not fine, Ken Johnson!” Bennett retorted.
“I’m still breathing, ain’t I?”
“Don’t be a snot,” Bennett scolded as she smacked him on his broad chest.
Ken looked down at his bowl and frowned at the oatmeal. There were no signs of butter, cream, or any of the other things that made what Ken always referred to as horse food at least somewhat palatable.
“You’re lucky I’m giving you coffee,” Bennett snapped, knowing full well what his expression was about. “You are not going to die on me right now, Ken,” Bennett continued, her voice softening now as she sat on the edge of the bed beside him.
“I ain’t got time to be dying. Too much needs doing, and what am I gonna do…leave it to Colton? The mayor?” Ken picked up his coffee and took a sip. It was perhaps the best thing he could ever recall tasting in his life.
“I don’t care who is running things for the time being. You are going to take it easy for a few days.”
Ken knew better than to argue. When that tone came directed at him, it was not an argument that he was going to win.
For the next few days, he did more sleeping and staying in bed than he could ever recall. What made it worse were the occasional sounds of gunfire. The first time, he’d climbed out of bed only to have Bennett meet him at the end of the hallway with her fists planted on her hips. He’d turned and stomped back to the bedroom like a dejected child.
One morning, he woke to see that it was still dark outside. Bennett was beside him, her slow, steady breathing letting him know she was fast asleep. Climbing out of bed as slowly and carefully as he could manage, Ken crept to the door and slipped out of the room as quietly and stealthily as possible.
His boots were right beside the door where they always were. Not wanting to venture back to the bedroom and look for clothes, but also not willing to go outside in is skivvies, Ken grabbed his long coat from the hall closet and pulled it on.
Unlocking the front door, he opened it slightly and sniffed the air. It was clean of any hint that undead might be near.
Stepping out onto the porch, Ken enjoyed a few deep breaths of cool morning air. For all intents and purposes, this could be a regular morning. Almost directly on the heels of that thought, a gunshot echoed in the pre-dawn gloom. Of course, out in these parts, that would not be so unusual. But he knew without a doubt that things were no longer normal. In truth, he doubted that they ever would be again. He saw no way back from this.
If he allowed himself to be totally honest with his beliefs, he was almost certain that this was the end of humanity. He didn’t think it was some sort of biblical event like some of the people he’d seen on what passed for news networks these days, but he certainly did not think humans were going to get past this.
“We’re gonna go the way of the dinosaur,” he muttered as he leaned on the railing of his front porch and gazed out across the trees.
“Don’t you ever say that where somebody can hear you, Ken,” a voice said from behind him, causing Ken to jump.
Ken spun around to see Bennett standing in their open front door. She had her thick robe pulled tight around her and a pistol in one hand. If he needed any bigger of a reminder that the world had changed, that was pretty much it.
“You gonna scold me for being out of bed?” Ken asked, just a shade of defensiveness in his tone. “I’m feeling fine. I know the doctor probably scared you, but seriously, I feel fine.”
“I believe you,” Bennett agreed. “Do you realize that you slept for just a few hours in those first three days? And you weren’t eating right…if at all. You drove yourself to collapse. I let it slide, but I should’ve known you would go headlong into this and put yourself and your well-being completely out of mind until you dropped if I didn’t step in. I didn’t because of my own selfish reasons, and I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Selfish reasons?” Ken was confused.
“I didn’t trust anybody else to take care of things. I knew that, as long as you were running lead, the chances for success were better.”
“And now?” Ken folded his arms across his chest.
“I still think you are the best man for the job, but you have to be able to widen the circle. You can’t do this all by yourself. It isn’t a matter of your ability, but every man has limits. You need to understand yours.”
“Man’s got to know his limitations.” Ken squinted at Bennett as he did his best at what was a terrible Clint Eastwood impersonation.
“This is not a joke!” she snapped. “You could’ve died.”
The tears in his wife’s eyes sobered Ken up quickly. He pulled her close and hugged her to his chest. She resisted at first, but slowly, she melted into his grip and allowed the hug to continue.
The couple stood like that on their front porch as the sun began to rise, cutting through the clouds. As the sun continued to climb on the horizon, the purples, pinks, and reds in the sky mellowed to a crystal blue with only a few clouds marring the horizon.
“We should get dressed. There is a meeting planned for today at city hall,” Bennett finally said, breaking what had been an almost perfect silence.
Together, the couple went inside and dressed. Ken was back in his comfortable and faded coveralls with a black Fearless Brewery tee shirt while Bennett chose a more business pair of tan slacks and a button up white blouse.
They stopped at the brewery first to discover that Colton and a handful of other men between the ages of perhaps fifteen and f
orty were climbing into pickup trucks with an assortment of weapons.
“Where are you guys headed?” Ken called out as he climbed out of his truck with his wife close behind in her own.
Colton had the deer-in-the-headlights look and stood there opening and closing his mouth until Bennett emerged from the vehicle. His eyes darted to her with a look of pleading. Ken didn’t need to look over his shoulder to know that she’d obviously nodded or given some signal that it was okay for him to tell.
“We’re headed toward Happy Valley. There are a lot more stores and restaurants there than in Sandy,” Colton finally answered.
“And a lot more of those things,” Ken added. “Are we really to the point where we need to take that sort of risk?”
There was a long silence, and Ken could tell something was wrong. Colton had clammed up again and the sweat starting to bead on his forehead despite the chill in the air was enough to give away how nervous he apparently was with this line of conversation.
“We lost a team in Sandy,” Bennett finally said.
“Lost how?” Ken turned to face his wife.
“As in they didn’t come back.”
“Zombies?” Ken doubted it, but he actually hoped that it was due to the undead.
“No,” Colton said as he stepped forward like a man approaching the gallows, “another team went looking for them and found their trucks all burned up.”
“Burned up?” Ken managed to say without gasping. “So they were attacked by another group?”
“From what we saw when we went looking for them,” Colton explained, indicating that he’d been one of the people on that mission, “it looked like they were stopped with spike strips and then torched. A bus that sounded like it had a bunch of damn kids on it was spewing a bunch of crap on a bullhorn about Sandy belonging to them and that all trespassers had twenty-four hours to either turn themselves in or be gone.”
“And so that is why we are hitting Happy Valley now? Because a bunch of damn kids?” Ken snapped.
“You didn’t see what they did to our people.” Colton looked at Ken with an expression that seemed remarkably out of place on the man’s face. “They dragged them from the vehicles and spiked them to a nearby building for the fucking zombies. We had to put our guys down.”
“Wait,” Ken said, holding up a hand. “I thought that you said they were torched.”
“I said the vehicles were. And a couple of our guys were left to burn, but they got off easy.”
Ken tried to imagine a fate where burning to death was considered getting off easy. It made him a little sick to his stomach, but it also made him angry that he’d been lying in bed this entire time.
“And there is a meeting in city hall,” Ken said more than asked.
That was perfect. He had a few things he wanted to say as well as some questions he needed answered. It seemed insane that things had gone so bad in the short time he’d been kept almost as a prisoner in his bed. Granted, he hadn’t been up for very long, and he was already feeling a little tired, but that was neither here nor there. Right now, every situation seemed to be a matter of life or death.
“Yeah, in fact, we better get moving,” Colton urged.
Ten minutes later, Ken was sitting with Bennett and a few others. He was surprised to see Patrick Lake sitting beside Sean. They had their heads together in conversation like a couple of schoolgirls sharing secrets.
Ken tried not to let his annoyance show as he took a seat that, surprisingly, had a piece of paper folded over the back with his name on it. He sat down with Bennett on one side of him and some guy that he didn’t recognize on the other.
After about five more minutes and a handful of stragglers, Sean rose from his seat and came around to sit on the desk. Ken scowled at the man’s attempt at putting forth a calm, almost lackadaisical demeanor.
“So I realize we don’t have anything official on the books when it comes to dealing with the situation we find ourselves in,” the mayor began. “I thought it would be best if I gathered together those of you that I as well as other members of this community look up to as leaders.”
He made it a point to go around the room and mention each person by name as well as give his own description as to why he believed that person should be on what was now becoming known as the Emergency Council.
When he reached Ken, Sean actually walked over and stood beside him. “Many of you know Ken and Bennett Johnson. I ask that both of them consider a position on this council. You are both long-standing members of this community as well as active members of our city in numerous ways that go beyond just owning a business. Also, many of you may not know this, but it was Ken Johnson who procured the first major shipment of supplies for this town.”
Ken had to work not to blush. He wasn’t opposed to being recognized for a job well done, but this was a bit outside his comfort zone.
Once the introductions were over, Bennett was called up to give a report on the official stores inventory. This surprised Ken a bit. She must’ve handled that during the time he was out of commission. As the numbers were rattled off along with projections as to how long the items might last even with strict rationing, Ken felt an uneasy feeling grow in his stomach. He glanced around the room and saw the same degree of discomfort on other faces. Despite how much it appeared that he and the others had brought, there was barely enough for a week!
“So, we need some suggestions on the table as to how we are going to deal with this very urgent situation.” Sean returned to his seat and looked around the room with an expression that invited a response.
“We’re gonna have to resort to raiding more than just a couple of stores in Sandy,” one person spoke up.
“Agreed” and various grunts of approval echoed through the group, but then another silence fell. Ken had something on his mind, but he was pretty sure that it wasn’t going to be a popular suggestion. The last thing he wanted was to look like the asshole of the bunch, but this was a new reality. The rules of just a few weeks ago no longer applied as he kept reminding himself.
Obviously Bennett could sense his need to speak up warring with his desire not to be thought of as a terrible person. In the end, and with a second nudge from Bennett, Ken rose to his feet.
“I say we start with dedicated scavenger teams. They will bring in staples along with things they earn the right to pick from. If we make a community locker we can limit access as well as what we give out…but eventually we will call on each family to provide for itself.” Ken paused, and already a rumble was circulating through the crowd. “I know this is not going to be popular, but things are changed. We have to adjust if we wish to survive.”
“And the elderly?” Sean asked calmly.
“We can create a sign-up list for volunteers to help those incapable of making supply runs, but then they become the responsibility of that person or persons who take them on,” Ken answered.
As he spoke, he saw the degree of resistance and hostility in the room lessen just a bit. There were still those who looked opposed to the ideas, but he was almost willing to bet that those were the ones who were trying to figure out a way to stay in the protected zone and not ever have to put themselves at risk.
“There are some areas we can hit that have a good number of residences that I would be willing to bet were abandoned pretty fast. Apartments would be the best place to start. The close proximity of each home is ideal for what we need to do. I think that we should always work in teams. That gives us the best amount of protection.” Ken saw a few more nods.
“Speaking of protection,” Sean spoke up once Ken took his seat. “I believe we need to secure entry to our town. It is impossible to cover every single access point, but I believe the biggest concern for the time being comes from the highway. I propose that we use the tower next to the fire department as a watch tower as well as set up a road block at each end of town that needs to be manned at all times.”
“Are you suggesting that we completely isolate ourse
lves?” somebody called out.
“Actually, that is exactly what I propose,” the mayor replied with a nod.
If Ken’s suggestion had caused a ripple, this was an actual wave…a big one as voices began to rise in volume and anger. The room was surprisingly divided on the issue. Once more, Ken accredited that to the fact that so few people had actually been out there to see what was happening. If they thought that zombies were the biggest problem, then they hadn’t paid attention to the local news every night as all sorts of terrible people did terrible things to one another.
With no shield of civil protection in place, the deterrent was gone, and not only that, people would become desperate. That could drive normally decent folks to do awful things. He knew without a doubt that he would resort to whatever means necessary to care for his family.
“I think it is best if we write down these proposals and put them to a secret vote,” Patrick Lake yelled over the din of the room.
He ended up having to repeat himself three more times before everybody was quiet enough to actually hear him. Ken eyed the man, wondering what his motivation might be. Any time that man opened his mouth, Ken had to assume that Lake had an ulterior motive.
“Then let’s start like this,” Sean said now that the room was quiet. “Show of hands of those who want to put this to a vote right now versus simply adopting the couple of proposals as-is for the time being and revisiting them in perhaps a week or two from now?”
Almost every hand rose.
8
Darkness and Evil
Ken peered through the scope of his rifle. He was on his stomach atop the tower of the local volunteer fire department’s training area. The school bus had rolled around the corner twice in the past few days, but both times it had backed out of sight and vanished. This time, it stayed put, idling a few hundred yards away.
So far, there had been reports of a school bus prowling the Sandy area. That one had a lot of profanity spray painted all over it. This one did not. However, there was also multiple reports out of the Happy Valley area reporting school buses. One in particular had a machine gun mounted on top and was apparently not hesitant in opening fire on the living as well as the undead.
