The man leaned hard against a large black oak. “My God, anyone could have walked into our camp.” He remained there, looking at Liam and the others in turn.
He stood up straight again. “My name's Jason.” He wiped his forehead. Liam recognized the burden of command under which the man suffered. He was responsible for all these people in the woods. “We have guards watching the flats around this area. The dead don't climb the steep rocks, like you did. But we should know better.”
Liam knew there were zombies that could climb. He said nothing to further spook the man. Surely he'd learned his lesson.
“We'll have to put someone over there.”
The men and women reminded him of the survivalist group that attacked Camp Hope. It inspired him to be clever, and cautious.
“Hi, I'm Sam and this is Becky.” He pointed to Victoria. She caught on immediately and introduced herself as such. He was ready to high five her, and start talking about chickens and guns as they had done back at Riverside, but—
“I thought you said your names were Liam and Victoria?”
Liam turned to the captain, ready to soak him with lava-hot anger, but the man's face held no malice or sarcasm for once. He seemed genuinely surprised.
With a slow turn back to Jason, he was ready to fall on his sword and admit the truth. Jason didn't wait.
“I don't care who you are. If you have food you can call yourself Santa Claus, for all I care.”
The captain, to Liam's surprise, pulled out a small bag and handed it to the man.
“Some dried fish. It's all I got, right now.”
Liam looked again at the group of people spread in the woods around them. The sallow looks and longing eyes were clues to their status. But something else caught his eyes. Something more troubling. The kids weren't lounging or playing. They were digging. Worse, there were several white splotches on the sides of tree trunks throughout the area. Someone had cut into the bark.
These people were starving.
4
Once proper introductions were made—using Liam's real name—they were given an overview of the camp, confirming Liam's own observations. But the reason the camp was here on this hilltop built upon something the captain said earlier about control of the region.
“We arrived here a week ago after the dead came through our subdivision, followed by the looters. Most of these people live around here, but our houses are either gone or occupied by refugees from inside the city. We've been going out in small groups to ransack our own homes, looking for supplies, but there isn't much left.”
Jason then pointed out to the river.
“But the longer we stayed here, the larger the group became. There are a lot of people who want to cross the river, but there are Army units on the far side of the bridge that keep turning people away.” He pointed to the bridge, though there was only one. “The Army controls those farmlands over there. But we don't know how many of them there are. But they do have tanks.”
Victoria let out a quiet whistle.
“Yeah, no kidding. We don't think they'd actually hurt us, but they probably wouldn't like what we've been doing from up here.” He chuckled as he reoriented them to look down below.
“This is the high point around here. Anyone heading east tries the bridge first, gets turned around, then comes up here to plan what to do next. They never head north into the city. Too many of the dead. And no one goes into the pit either.”
I know someone who will.
“So, they come here. To my starving friends. Sometimes they offer food, but most people are as bad off as we are. That's why they're trying to move on to somewhere new. When it gets dark, we run small teams down below and we have a couple small jon boats with stout paddles. We help them across in return for whatever food they have left. Sometimes we bring people back.”
“Why don't you fish down there? Plenty of fish to be had.” The captain undoubtedly knew what he was talking about.
Jason let out a tired laugh. “Gee, why didn't we think of that?” He looked at the captain who seemed to take offense to his mirth. “Oh, I'm just kidding, buddy. We do a little fishing when we can. But people are scared to leave the protective bubble we've got up here. In the daytime, anyone caught out in the open is a target for the undead, or for snipers, or for pirates. At night, it only gets worse.”
He turned serious. “Fishing is a great idea. I didn't mean anything by it. I'm grateful you brought what you did to feed the kids. That's why we were hoping you'd be interested in using your boat to help us do some fishing.”
The captain took a moment, rubbing his chin. “I'm here on business, actually. I'm...” His voice trailed off, though he came around a moment later as if just coming up with what to say. “I know. I could use some help on my boat. I need to go back down the river to Cairo, Illinois. You provide some help and your men can fish the whole way up and back.”
Jason's eyes lit up, then he turned to Liam and the three girls. “But aren't these kids your crew?”
“No. They, ahh, were just helping me get up to St. Louis.” A look passed between Blue and the captain.
The camp leader caught it. He had a pistol on his hip in a black leather holster. Liam noticed it earlier, but thought nothing of it. Everyone had to be armed these days. But, he thought earlier the holster had a clip holding it shut. Now it was open…
“Fair enough. But let me give you the lay of the land, just so you know where I'm coming from.” Jason pointed over the river. “Illinois is a mess. There's at least one Army unit guarding the bridge. Whatever is beyond, we don't know. The Marines are a few miles south of here. They are on a cliff, just like this one, watching the river and foraging homes to the south. To the north is the main part of the city. The dead own that. But, there are other groups we've encountered. Everyone needs protection. Everyone needs to belong, eh, friend?”
“Yes, friend.”
The two stared at each other for several long moments. Liam looked at Victoria and the twins, though they didn't seem to sense the tension as he did. His internal alarms were going off, though he didn't understand why.
The captain continued in a slow, deliberate voice, “Some of those groups a real thorn in your side, I take it?”
The tension in the air was palpable and taut. The two men faced each other now, only a few feet between them. The captain's shotgun was still on his back, however. Jason had folded his arms in front of his chest.
Jason turned to Liam and the girls. “Would you mind if I spoke to your captain for a few minutes? I think he and I need to clear the air on something.” He motioned for the captain to follow him. Liam was left with his companions. They all passed a look of confusion, although Liam imagined that Blue's was somewhat inauthentic.
He kept his thoughts to himself, desperate to get Victoria away from the color twins so he could share his concerns. Getting that separation would be difficult, he admitted. Ever since they left the boat, he had the sneaking suspicion Pink was becoming enamored with him. It was innocent at first. She ran near him across the field. She looked back at him a little too often as they walked the train tracks. Then she needed his help up the rocks one too many times to be coincidence. And now, just as he wanted to have some privacy, she was right up on his side—opposite Victoria. Blue hovered nearby.
The hero gets the girl, right?
He admitted there was a time, back when he played World of Undead Soldiers, that the thought of rescuing a damsel in distress actually appealed to him, but now…
One beautiful heroine partner was all he could handle.
He took Victoria's hand and squeezed.
5
The captain and Jason were gone for ten minutes before Liam found the excuse he needed to get Victoria to himself. They'd taken a seat near the edge of the woods, so he stood up before making his announcement.
“Victoria, you and I haven't had any alone time in a while, will you take a walk with me?” He bent down with his elbow out, as if to pull her along on a romanti
c stroll.
“Why, I'd be delighted, sir.” She spoke in a passable southern accent.
When she was attached to his arm, he looked at the twins. “We'll be back in a little bit.” He hoped they got the message.
They walked in and out of the treeline along the cliff's edge for many minutes before he turned around to confirm they weren't being followed. He saw no pursuit, but he kept his voice very low.
“I don't trust those girls. They kind of creep me out, you know?”
Victoria wore a smirk. “And I thought you'd like having a fawning girl all over you.”
He stopped, pulling her into his arms. He peered into her emeralds with as much seriousness as he could muster. “I want nothing to do with her, or any girl but you. I only just realized she was sticking to me, I swear.”
Victoria studied his face, then looked back toward the camp before stealing a quick kiss from him. “Liam, you may find this hard to believe, but I trust you more than you probably can understand. Not just in a keep-the-zombies-off-me way either.” Still quiet, she spoke quickly. “Before I met you, I was...promised...to a real jerk of a young man—”
Liam felt his face betray his cool exterior. He tried to recover, but she read him.
“—No, it's OK, listen. We were promised to one day get engaged and get married. Childhood sweethearts. Foolish high school fantasies.” A sarcastic laugh escaped. “But there was something I didn't know about him until it was too late. I was too stupid to realize it. I only figured it out when he...”
Her strong eyes dropped from his.
Liam was frozen, torn between shock and compassion for her difficulty. He pulled one hand from hers and used it to lift her chin. He gave a weak smile, willing her to continue.
“He drove me into the middle of the forest—we were supposed to be meeting friends for a weekend camping trip—and he said something to the effect of 'Oh Vicky, we're practically married anyway; we should consummate the marriage early.' He said that word as if it were dirty. I guess in his mind that was what marriage was all about.”
She regained her fortitude and was able to look him in the eyes again. “He raped me, Liam. I was so scared and confused, I couldn't fight him. I didn't have a clue how. He was someone I loved. I trusted. Or, I thought I did.”
Liam wiped a tear at the edge of her lashes. She looked away again, though off to the side rather than down. She wasn't embarrassed, but looked like she was thinking.
“I never said anything about that night to anyone. I pretended it didn't happen. But I knew right there I was going to escape him. That's why I applied for that pre-medical internship in St. Louis. That's how I came to be in the city when the zombies came. That's how I came to find you.”
She looked at him once more, with tears of joy.
“But that sonofabitch never knew I was leaving. I broke it off publicly, I told my parents I wasn't in love and never wanted to see him again. When the time came, I just got in my car and drove. I threw out his ring somewhere in Kansas.” She laughed heartily at that.
Liam didn't know what to say.
“My point is that I trust you with my deepest, darkest secrets. You are a good man, Liam Peters. And that's why I think it's cute that Pink is smitten with you. She senses your goodness too.”
Again, Liam was speechless.
He didn't view himself as a good person in the religious sense. Hell, he hardly ever went to church before the sirens. He had no idea why God would allow such evil in the world, but he believed there had to be a continuum between good and evil. Victoria's “fiance” was clearly aligned with the latter, while he imagined he would always fight for what was right. She was in a position to judge whether he was good or evil. He was pleased he passed the test. Sure, he wanted to do right by the one person he cared deeply about here on this cliff's edge, but also because he knew the world was broken badly, and it could never be fixed by someone who goes around raping helpless young girls. It was no contest really; he was the better man.
He pulled her along while she regained her composure. He was happy to learn about her past, but he also wanted to keep her moving into the future, with him.
“Is it wrong that I want to kill him?”
She was silent for several strides, before she sniffled once and responded, “We've talked about this before. Will we always have to be killing people in this new reality? Is it wrong to want to kill him? I can't say. But I do know this: if he ever saw me again, I can't imagine he'd be too happy. And, if he saw you—”
She stopped, as if making a painful realization.
“Oh Liam, I didn't mean to say it like that. I'm sure he's dead. He has to be. You and I have so much to worry about, we don't need to think of some loser in Colorado right now.”
They walked a few minutes in silence, and came to a point where the cliff above the railroad tracks met the cliff surrounding the large pit mine he'd been seeking. Beyond, he could see the tracks go under the big red bridge. A line of cars ran from the highway, along a small access road, and into the mine. Just as he remembered, the line of cars descended the mine in several spirals before entering a gaping hole in the wall at the bottom. It was large enough for the big dump trucks to enter, which made the cars far below seem like toys.
They'd reached their goal.
Still holding her hand, he finished his thought from earlier. “I don't want to kill him. I really don't want to kill anyone, not even the zombies. But we have to do a lot of things we don't want to do these days. Killing the evil things out there is just part of the deal. I'll do it if I have to, without hesitation, to protect you and anyone else I love. And, I'll kill the zombies too.”
He had just taken a seat on a white piece of the exposed rock at the edge of the woods when a military jet passed with silence as it went bullet-fast over the treetops above them. It headed for the bridge—
The crack of the blown sound barrier moved the forest.
Chapter 9: Spiraling Down
The sleek fighter jet banked to the south and became a tiny point in moments. The noise and surprise had sent him into the weeds. He found his feet just as Victoria found hers.
“What was that all about?” she shouted.
He took in the mine and the surrounding cliffs and hills. He could see a way down, but they'd have to continue along the cliff for another few hundred yards. Or they could go back.
“I don't know.” He grabbed her hand. “Let's go. We can leave them behind and do this ourselves.”
She hesitated for a moment, but seemed to relent. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” But she was clearly torn. She paused after only a handful of steps. “I...I don't know. What if we need help? What if they go looking for us?”
Liam let go of her, appreciating her concerns. “They'll figure we went to the mine, just like we told them.” He hadn't even convinced himself.
“No, we have to tell someone. Just so I can sleep at night.”
He doubted anything would help him sleep at night, but she was right.
“OK, we'll find the captain and tell him we'll be on our way.”
She perked up at that, and she pulled him this time.
They'd walked along the edge of the cliff for several minutes when Blue and Pink appeared ahead, running in their direction.
When they met, the girls pointed in the direction they were already moving. “We're leaving. Just go!” They each carried their crude weapons.
Liam was unsure. “We have to tell the captain where we're going.”
“Trust me, the captain isn't who you think. We have to run.” They didn't wait. Liam watched them get lost in the underbrush.
“OK, this is weird.”
Victoria agreed, but had no brilliant ideas.
“Follow?” He was inclined to follow them, if only because they were more pleasant than the captain. Whatever that man had going on with Jason, the look in their eyes during their brief exchange earlier told him they were both driven men.
She nodded, and t
hey began to trot after the girls.
They caught up at almost the same point they'd been overlooking the pit mine earlier. When he reached the clearing, he searched the sky for more planes.
“We're going down in that mine to look for clues about the zombie plague.” The literal truth fell out of his mouth before he was able to stop himself.
The girls both turned to him with a smile. “As long as you keep the captain away from us, we're with you.”
“Why? What's wrong with the captain? Why were you so chummy with him?” He eyed Blue.
“Run with us, and I'll tell you.” She and Pink started along the cliff edge, heading around the outside of the mine toward the far side where they could descend to the first level of the spiral road to the bottom.
The girls were small for teens, but they were quick. Though Pink seemed to lag, she wasn't struggling. Liam's overactive imagination began to wonder if she was sandbagging earlier just so he would help her up those rocks. When he caught up to them, Blue began to share what she knew, just as she'd promised.
“When I was in the hospital down in Cairo, I listened to Pete the whole night he lay there in a state. He died the next morning, but he told me everything I needed to know about the captain.”
She breathed heavily as they jogged.
“And what was that?” He was unhappy to realize he also sounded winded. He'd lost much of his base of fitness after two plus weeks of a horrible diet, high stress, and no training.
Hard to get training miles in during the Apocalypse.
“They're part of some secret group that runs guns up and down the river. They communicate with other groups hidden along their route, like that fuel barge thingy we saw.”
More running.
“I got him to take us in exchange for my silence, but he changed the terms on me. I don't want to discuss it, but I'm not going back.”
Many thoughts swirled. How would they get back to Cairo? What if the captain was following them? Will he want his Glock back? Out here, a gun was the equivalent of a gold brick. Surely he'd want it back.
They continued to run, though Liam felt worse and worse about it. He checked behind them as often as he could, and didn't see any pursuit. That meant exactly nothing. He knew that from hard experience.
Last Fight of the Valkyries Page 15
