“Okay, so we have two options. Wait for them to return, or go looking for them,” I said.
Charlie shrugged. “I say we go find them. If we’re here when they return, things might get weird. If we go to them, at least we can announce we’re friendly.”
“True. All right, lead the way, Bwana,” I said, moving back outside and checking the area for any Z activity.
Charlie stepped out and went past the visitor center. I noted the doors had been broken into and there looked to be things strewn about a bit. I didn’t see any blood so I figured someone was just looking for anything of use or value. These days, money was worthless except for lighting fires, and we had developed a decent system of trade. Canned goods were always useful and so was ammo. Tools were good trade items and quality knives were always in demand. Funny thing, how-to books were very valuable as well. Toilet paper was gold.
We went past the center and walked down a dirt path to a small wooden walkway that took us along the edge of the canyon. The trees overhead were budding in the warm weather, and bright flowers dotted the ground. Here and there a squirrel leaped from tree to tree, and the creek noisily flowed on the canyon floor. There was a lot of beauty here and I could see why people came to this spot. But after the Upheaval, I tended to look at things with different eyes and this place offered no real defense if the dead came in force.
We walked down a ramp which took us to the floor of the canyon. Not having any real clue where we were going, we figured one way was as good as the next and headed north. We tried our best to keep out of the creek, but in spots we had to step in once quickly to get around a bend in the rocks. After about ten minutes, both Charlie and I were soaked up to our thighs.
We stepped up onto a flat rock which the creek flowed over and saw some fifty gallon drums in the water. They had been cut in half and filled with concrete, making stepping stones across the busy creek. I looked on both sides and saw evidence of the original trails, with rotting stairways leading to old paths.
At the top of the rocky shelf, we could hear the low roar of a small waterfall and stepping cautiously over the wet rocks, we rounded another bend and could see the spray of the cascading creek. The water fell a good thirty feet before it hit the pool at the bottom and even from where I stood, I could see it was clear and probably cold. I stepped up to the next rock and Charlie held up his hand. Ducking low and bringing up my rifle, I covered the area to the left as Charlie brought up his rifle and aimed at something up ahead.
Charlie tapped me on the shoulder and I swung back to the right, finally seeing what caused him to stop. A man was sitting on a rock on the right side of the waterfall, filling bottles and washing some clothing. He was tall, easily over six feet. His dark hair hung loosely about his shoulders, his thin arms looked wiry, but strong.. He looked competent, as anyone travelling alone would have to be and he had that wary look about him that the Upheaval had given most of us.
On his hip was a pistol, although I couldn’t make out what kind from where I was. We were going to have to be cautious, since I really didn’t feel like shooting a live person. I waved Charlie back and out of sight. I was going to announce my presence with Charlie covering me, and hope everything turned out all right. Any hostile move would get the man shot, so I wasn’t worried too much, but you never knew. He might get lucky.
Leaning my carbine against the rocky sides, I waited until Charlie had climbed into a shooting position. Given the thumbs up, I stood near the rock corner then called out.
“Hello? Hello?” Right after I said it I felt stupid, and I knew Charlie was going to give me hell for sounding like a doofus.
“Who’s there?” The man shouted. “Show yourself! I’m armed, so don’t be stupid!”
Too late for that. I walked around the corner with my hands held chest high. While it looked like surrender, I knew I could get my SIG out in a hurry if shooting started, provided I hadn’t been shot. The man was standing away from the water, pointing a pistol in my direction. I noticed he used two hands and the gun was not shaking. I figured if this went south I would be lucky to only be shot, if not downright killed. What I was not expecting was what happened next.
“I knew it! I don’t know how you bastards tracked me this far, but I’ll be damned if I’m going back! You tell the Major to go fuck himself!” The man was really worked up and I was getting nervous about his trigger finger.
I kept my hands up. “I think you’re confused. Who is this Major? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t lie to me! Survivors don’t dress like you. You’re one of his men! I ought to kill you right now!” He brought up the gun and I ducked as a shot rang out. I pulled my SIG and went around the corner to hear Charlie yell.
“You’re covered! Drop the gun now, or I will kill you.!”
The man screamed. “Damn you! Damn your Major! Fucking kill me, you shit! Do it! I’d rather be dead! Do it!”
This whole mess was getting out of hand. I stepped back around the corner and covered the enraged man, who still refused to drop his weapon. “All right, hold it! Just hold it!” I stepped out and the man’s arm twitched like he desperately wanted to bring up the pistol, but Charlie had stood up and there was no mistaking the intent of the AR now pointed at the man’s head. “Just calm down. Nobody wants to hurt you, but if you do something stupid, you’re in a world of hurt.” I stepped forward and could see the pistol more clearly. It was a standard. 45 auto, and had he shot me with it, I probably would have died, even if just wounded.
I stepped closer. “Holster your gun. I don’t want it going off accidentally.” The man stared at me but complied. I holstered mine as soon as he did and Charlie lowered his rifle. The man’s eyes relaxed and his narrow shoulders visibly sagged. “That’s better. My name is John Talon,” the man’s eyes shot towards me when I said that, but I let it pass. “And that gent up there is Charlie James. We’re not with any ‘Major’, we’re just survivors in this messed-up world, like you. We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to make sure you’re okay and to help you if we can. If you don’t want our help, we’ll leave you to your own devices and wish you luck.”
The tall man looked at me and gave me a sly smile. “My name is Simon Crays. John Talon, you say? I think I’m happy to meet you.”
2
We retrieved Simon’s things and rode slowly back to the lodge. Simon’s long legs allowed him to walk at a mile-eating pace, and he had no trouble keeping up with Charlie and myself. I rode on Simon’s left while Charlie brought up the rear. We talked briefly of the Upheaval and I learned that Simon was a computer software engineer, working out of Los Angeles. When the Upheaval hit, he managed to escape the carnage of the city and take refuge in the mountains. He had been living off the land and foraging through the ranches when he was ‘recruited’ by the Major. He didn’t elaborate and I figured we would learn more when we returned home. I told him about where we lived and how we came to be there. His eyes got wide when I told him of the towns and communities we had put together and he expressed a sincere interest in seeing those towns. Simon apologized for his behavior, but he thought he had been chased for hundreds of miles, thinking he had given his pursuers the slip when he crossed the Mississippi. When he saw us in all our gear, he immediately thought of the Major and therefore reacted the way he did.
The sun was high when we reached the outer gate and Simon was impressed with our earthen wall. I could see him running an experienced eye on its effectiveness and I saw him nod his head in approval. As we approached the lodge, I could see Simon openly nodding.
“Very nice,” he said. “Was this place a tourist spot before the zombies came?”
I gave him a short nod as I put my bike away. “This place has a lot of history, but the short version is we found it empty, realized its potential, and settled in. We could have done worse and nobody has laid a counter claim to it.”
“Not yet,” Simon mumbled, but quickly smiled to cover it. “Looking forward to seeing th
e rest,” he said amicably
Charlie led the way and we climbed the stairs to the second floor, then worked our way down to the main room. Simon whistled at the size of our common area, then walked over to the window to admire the view. I shrugged off my backpack and took off my vest. Charlie did the same, although he put his used tomahawk near the fireplace in the center to burn off any trace of the virus from the Z he killed. I motioned Simon to settle in at the big round table we used for discussions and he sat down, relaxing into the chair after his long hike. He pulled a bottle of water out of his pack and took a drink, his eyes glancing around at his surroundings.
His pose was casual, but I could see he was tense. It seemed as if he had some knowledge that he wanted to let go of, but didn’t know where to start. For my part, I figured I would just wait, seeing where the silence took me. It was an old trick I had used to good effect once upon a time as an administrator. Those with guilty consciences tended to need to release their guilt and the longer I waited without saying something, the harder it was for them to keep it in.
Charlie sat down at the table, pulled his Glock from its holster, and placed it on the table. The move wasn’t lost on Simon, and he leaned forward, placing both hands on the table while leaving his firearm holstered. I chose to stand away from the table, leaning on a low wall that separated the main room from a bar area. My casual pose put my hand close to my SIG and on Simon’s right. If he tried to get into action, it would be hard for him to bring his gun to bear before I shot him. Ordinarily, I wasn’t so cautious, but the man had reacted a couple of times a little out of the ordinary, so I wasn’t taking chances.
“Where do I begin?” Simon asked suddenly.
“Your survival story, I will assume, is pretty much standard these days. You figured out what was going wrong, got the hell out of dodge, fought a few zombies, and ended up someplace you didn’t like. Along the way, you have heard my name, and you have an interesting story to tell about a certain ‘Major’,” I said, starting the ball.
Simon blinked, then he fully smiled. “You don’t waste time, do you?”
“Not really. Why don’t you pick up where you left off on the way here. You said you were taking to the hills when the Upheaval started,” I supplied.
“Right. I had spent a bunch of time up in the mountains around the Tahoe area and I figured maybe with the terrain, the plague hadn’t hit so hard. Well, I got to Tahoe all right, but one look around had me running for the hills again. Seems like a lot of people had the same idea and one of them was infected. The whole slaughter had started again and I barely managed to escape the zombies by climbing the expert slope on Heavenly. The zombies weren’t great climbers and I got ahead of them pretty quickly. Last I looked, there were dozens of people trying to escape the undead by swimming out into the lake. Trouble is, the lake is cold, and I am sure most died of hypothermia while the ghouls waited at the edge.
“On top of Heavenly is a lodge and I stayed there for a time while the world died around me. The place had been abandoned and I was able to break into their food stores and live for nearly six months. By that time, the weather was turning and it was getting pretty cold at night, so I started to venture out. The first person I encountered was a zombie. But it was cold enough that he couldn’t chase me and was moving so slow that I was able to take a large branch and knock him down the mountain. By the time he reached the bottom he was in about six pieces.”
I smiled at the description and imagined a Z cartwheeling down the mountainside with limbs flying off and leaving a grisly trail of smashed-up zombie chunks.
Simon continued. “About the time my food ran out, winter was starting to hit the mountains pretty hard. I figured I needed to move on and do it quickly before the passes were closed. I took one of the maintenance trucks that had been left up at the resort and started my way down the mountain. I was hoping to get into Carson Valley and maybe find a decent place to hole up for the winter. There wasn’t a large population in that area and I thought that I could winter there and then move on. On the way down the mountain I passed several cars that had reanimated people inside them and more than one family car was covered in blood as a sick family member came back and ate his relatives.
“Carson Valley was relatively untouched by the virus and I spent the winter with a couple who had been living there for a while. They had been monitoring the progress of the disease by the internet and we spent countless hours going over plans and preparations. When winter broke I planned on heading north to the rough country, then maybe going to Colorado. I had heard the military had made a stand there and were welcoming survivors. Rumors told me there were almost a hundred thousand people in the mountain and the military was going to start heading back out to take on the threat.”
I paid close attention at this point, because it coincided with information I had found at State Center Bravo in what seemed a long time ago.
“I killed my next two zombies that winter. The couple I was rooming with? Yeah, they went out to their neighbors’ ranch and came back with the sickness. Virus took them both out in a short time, then they came for me. I killed the woman with a shovel and beat her husband’s brains in with a length of fence post. They were good people.” Simon drifted off for a second at the memory, but recovered quickly.
“I took what I needed from the house and left that evening. I drove through the night and when I ran out of gas the next morning I figured I was in Colorado. That’s when the Major’s men caught up to me.”
Charlie and I shifted at the mention of the Major. “Who is the Major? Is he the commander of the remainder of the military forces?” Charlie asked.
Simon’s eyes got dark. “No, he isn’t. I found out later that the military was wiped out completely, that there are a hundred thousand ghouls trapped in a mountain in Wyoming, just waiting for some fool to let them out. No, the Major is just some guy who likes to be called Major and he runs his little operation like a military base, although neither he, nor his men have any military experience. But that doesn’t stop him from acting like it or using it to dupe people into believing he’s the sole authority left in the United States.”
That was interesting. I ruminated on the possibilities and if a group could pull it off, they could effectively take over a good portion of the country.
Simon continued. “From the beginning, I knew something was wrong. Men and women worked the fields and tended to the animals. There was a rough fence to keep the zombies out, but the Major’s men managed that pretty well.”
“What was wrong then?” Charlie asked. “Seems like you managed to get to a place of safety, regardless of who was in charge.”
Simon glared at Charlie. “It wasn’t safety, it was slavery. And those bastards used the worst methods to keep people in line. If a family showed up or was brought in, the husband was immediately beaten and the wife raped by the Major’s men. That was standard. If there were children, they were used as leverage. Women who resisted found themselves bound and gagged in a room, with their child put in a dark room next to them. They got to hear their children scream for their mothers. No one resisted long after that, especially if it was a baby left alone to cry.”
My hands involuntarily clenched into fists as I thought briefly about Jake locked in a room to cry for his daddy who couldn’t get to him. I could see Charlie was just as upset.
Simon looked down. “But the older kids, the ones who were between twelve and fifteen, they got separated from their parents and were held in a different part of the camp. The boys were used for labor and the girls…”
Charlie leaned forward, his eyes hard. “What about them?” His voice was flint and I had no doubt he was thinking of his own daughters, living and dead.
Simon looked up and sighed. “They were reserved for the Major. Seems he liked them young and ‘unspoiled’.” Simon looked out the window. “The girls were brought to the Major and when he was finished with them, they were broken. If they had spirit before, they were broke
n afterwards. The life was taken from them.”
Simon stopped speaking and I had to rein in my emotions. My first impulse was to pack up and head west, not stopping until I had a chance to confront this mess of vipers, but my more rational side realized it was futile. I couldn’t go two thousand miles across country to fight a pedophile bastard and his cronies.
My attention was diverted as Tommy and Duncan came spilling into the room, joking like a couple of teenagers. They glanced over to the table and their expressions turned serious as they felt the mood of the room. They came over to the table with curious looks to Simon and sat down with questions in their eyes at me. I shook my head as I motioned for Clays to continue.
“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?”
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