World of Ashes II

by J. K. Robinson

  “Why does everyone think I have a drinking problem?” Daniel played the game back as he got some powdered eggs and greasy, soft bacon. “I’m quite good at it.”

  “What’s constructive about being drunk?” Wendy asked

  “Not being sober?” She accepted that answer.

  They found a table and sat down. Kaylee wasn’t really talking, but then there wasn’t much for a terrified child to do or talk about. “I met a man today who said a train is coming through this area. He strongly suggested we get on it. I asked him if they were close, but he wouldn’t answer me. I think it’s high time we left.”

  “I can’t. There are elements of my battalion here. I have to stay.” Wendy said.

  “Damn. What about Kaylee? I… am not actually related to her.”

  “I know.” Wendy smiled, giving Kaylee her orange juice. “And I’ve been thinking, you’ve got a couple choices on that. You can leave her here with DFS and FEMA, or you could take her with you until this gets sorted out. Do you know where her family is?”

  “They’re dead.” Kaylee said. “Mommy and Daddy and everyone…” Wendy embraced Kaylee. She was very brave for such a small child. “My grandma and grandpa live in Florida. Can I go to Florida with them?”

  “Do you know their names?” Daniel asked Kaylee. It was a stretch, but at least he could say he asked. To their astonishment she gave her grandparent’s names and what town they lived in. A far cry from the confusing information she’d given him at their last hideout, but maybe she’d just been too scared to remember. Of course, he also hadn’t asked. Wendy took it one step farther and went to the TMC after breakfast to run a search on a FEMA computer. It didn’t take long to find Kaylee’s grandparent’s address and phone number, her grandfather listed as a Vietnam Veteran with the Gainesville, Florida Veterans Administration.

  “Now we just need a phone.” Daniel left the tent and came back a few minutes later with a government issued cell phone. “You might want to hurry, I’m sure the major will be looking for his phone soon enough. I don’t imagine he’ll be in the pisser for long.”

  Wendy smirked at how the phone had been acquired and dialed the number. Most of the nation’s infrastructure was still intact, so phones were working more often than not. It rang several times, and just as she was about to hang up a gruff voice responded. “Hello?”

  “Uh… Hello? Is this Jonathan Sitton?” She put the phone on speaker.

  “Yes it is. To whom am I speaking, please?”

  “Grandpa!” Kaylee squealed excitedly.

  “Kaylee? Kaylee is that you?” The other voice became excited as well. “Joanne! Come quickly, Kaylee’s alive!”

  “Mister Sitton, are you still at your home address? We can have Kaylee back to you in a matter of days. We don’t have any information on her parents, she was separated…” Wendy lied quickly, there was no need to upset these people over the phone. Daniel would surely tell them when he arrived.

  “Yes, yes we are, its safe here, the National Guard is holding our lines strong.” That was all they needed to hear. The major came looking for his phone but Daniel and Wendy were already long gone. Graystone escorted them to the single rail line that ran through a wooded area to the east. The rails had been designed for high speed trains, intended for a project whose government stimulus money had run out long before it was finished. Regular trains used the line now, the dream of a bullet train through the hills of West Virginia was just that, a dream. That didn’t mean regular train traffic couldn’t use it, and an AmTrak diesel led the way.

  Again Graystone walked them through one checkpoint or another until they’d reached the platform. The train was early, one of its stops had been cancelled. No one left to evacuate. The locomotive up front with two more directly behind it had been fitted with a cowcatcher, a piece of iron equipment with grizzly implications now, the design hadn’t been used by American railroads in almost a century. The entire nose was covered in gore, the ladders and any other easy access point to the engine had been cut off, armed private security standing guard like Pinkertons on a stage coach were on every corner of the engine and cars.

  Showing his military ID to the conductor and the MP standing next to him, Daniel and Kaylee were allowed into the search area before boarding. The medics were only looking for bites, but they also made Daniel take the round out of the chamber in both of his weapons. If they were attacked there would be plenty of time to rack a round, but no need to have any accidental discharges in the meantime. It wasn’t a terribly unreasonable request considering the safety already provided, at least the railroad department of the TSA had stopped giving people crap about taking their guns with them. Daniel turned to face Wendy. She was already crying, he didn’t know what to do just then.

  “Come with us. This place is about to burn. They’ll never know.” Daniel pleaded.

  “I can’t. I’ve already run away enough. They’re going to need medics. It’s my duty, Daniel. Just like getting Kaylee home has been yours all along. After that… Well, you know which unit I’m in.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him in to a warm embrace. “Don’t forget me, Daniel.”

  “Never.” He hugged her back, not in a romantic way, but like you bid farewell to a loved one you don’t expect to ever see again. For now though, Daniel had to think of something else. Getting Kaylee to Florida was the only thing he needed on his mind.

  There wasn’t a lot of food on the train, but they were supposed to stop and refuel in Knoxville, Tennessee. The conductor said they would have time to get food and water there. The passenger cars smelled musty too, the seats covered in dust from sitting in a scrap yard for decades. A newspaper in an empty seat next to them was dated May 18, 1995. Daniel did his best to occupy Kaylee with the comic strips in the center fold, but the paper was so brittle most of it was unreadable. There weren’t any other children in the military’s segregated cars either, but Kaylee did draw the attention of a few others, people who had kids of their own. They took sympathy on Daniel, his cover story of the visiting cousin trying to rescue the last member of his family went over well.

  One man, a Navy Corpsman, had nearly every JRR Tolkien book memorized and gladly sat to tell the most boring tale Daniel could imagine to little Kaylee. Daniel liked to read books about Soldiers and Marines, not Hobbits and Dragons. His favorite was a non-fiction about the Flying Tigers over China. He didn’t have the math scores to be a pilot, but maybe in World War Two when standards were different he’d have had a chance. Right now flying above all this mess seemed a lot better than chugging slowly through it on a dilapidated train like Soviet soldiers off to the slaughter in Stalingrad. Unlike those poor bastards though, Daniel and his comrades all had lots of guns. Nobody here had to wait for the man in front of him to die just to pick up his rifle and shoot, and thank God we’re Americans because nobody was going to shoot retreating Soldiers.

  At the boarder of Tennessee a military checkpoint stopped the train. Most of the Civilians got off, rerouted to wherever it is they thought they were going. The train was at the checkpoint less than fifteen minutes, just long enough to make sure they weren’t bringing any new infected cases across the border. What a silly notion, these things respecting borders and checkpoints, or that they’d be docile on a train long enough to go unnoticed. Daniel seriously doubted the infected even knew what a line in the sand was anymore, let alone what repercussions might be incurred by crossing it. He did manage to fall asleep that night as the train continued on cautiously. Close to the refueling stop in Knoxville, Daniel woke to the air brakes slowing them down. Having just barely gotten to sleep, the conductor tapped him lightly on the shoulder, as well as anyone else still out of it.

  “We’re in Knoxville, kid. Best stay in the lighted areas where the sentries can see you. Knoxville’s being attacked on the outskirts of town as we speak. We’re not taking any chances.”

  “Is there anywhere I can feed this one?” Daniel asked groggily, trying not to upset Kaylee when he woke h
er. He didn’t feel like being clawed again.

  “Yeah, there’s a chow tent. I’d bring some stuff with you if you’re traveling with us any farther. I don’t think we’re stopping before we get to Florida.”

  “Is it safe in Florida? Disney World is in Orlando, my Grandpa took me there.” Kaylee smiled up at the conductor. She smiled back, her eyes betraying the concern she was feeling for someone not presently with her. Daniel admired the notion of this woman’s bravery, to continue her job when surely all she wanted was to be with her children.

  “Last I heard it was.” Daniel detected a lie, but didn’t say anything. He doubted anywhere was safe anymore, he just needed for Kaylee to stay positive.

  They disembarked the train and went to find food. Kaylee found the desert table first, but didn’t complain when Daniel dragged her to the real food. Some of the local restaurants were dumping their stock since they’d had to close indefinitely. Free burgers and all sorts of other meals were being cooked by FEMA employees, free to anyone who didn’t try to eat other people first. Daniel couldn’t believe how few people there were, now. Free food should have drawn them in by the hundreds. He might have been able to count them all without trouble. Daniel could see a fire in the distance and made Kaylee eat a little faster. They were about to board the train again when one of the sentries in a tower opened fire with an M249 SAW. People screamed and shouted, bumrushing the doors of the train just as Kaylee was lifting her foot onto the first step. Daniel snatched her up and launched them both up in one great leap to avoid being trampled.

  The crew didn’t waste time trying to seat everyone. The engine revved and, painfully, excruciatingly slowly the train started forward with people still jumping on board as it cleared the station. The FEMA workers they left behind were corralled into a safe zone as the first infected sprinted into sight. Men on the train with guns opened fire too, but who knew if they hit anything. The engine started blowing its horn and ringing bells, something was up ahead but they weren’t slowing down for it. Daniel got a look through a few buildings as the train rounded a gradual turn. Someone had parked a tractor trailer on the tracks ahead, burning tires piled on either side like a scene from the movie Blackhawk Down. Curiosity over the who and why was completely absent.

  “Kaylee, get down.” Daniel pushed Kaylee as low in her seat as he could. The conductor shouted for everyone to brace themselves moments before the engine took the trailer broadside. The wood and aluminum trailer exploded, the rear wheels being dragged along among the twisted metal for a few hundred feet. Kaylee screamed when gunfire pinged off the solid metal train. Glass shattered in the rows behind them, people screaming too when glass ripped into their skin and others moved to bandage their friends.

  Daniel racked a round into his M4 and aimed through a shattered window. He couldn’t see anything, just muzzle flashes and shadows running through the smoke. Whoever was shooting at the train had turned their attention elsewhere now, but people in the cars behind them were still shooting behind the train. Maybe they were enjoying playing out one last Wild West fantasy. Fuck, Daniel didn’t know what motivated people now. Rushing back to Kaylee he held her until the train was far from the city. With her little belly full and the monsters unable to penetrate this rolling fortress, she fell asleep in his lap like a sack of potatoes. The train reached an average cruising speed and didn’t slow down again for love nor money for the rest of the night.

  The next stop was supposed to be outside Atlanta, but that was overrun and the engineers opted to switch lines to avoid the city entirely. It was only a matter of time before they came across an obstruction the engines couldn’t move or encountered damaged track. Derailing a train isn’t as hard as it seems, even minor damage to the width of the tracks and it’s all over. By late the next day the train took a good deal of time to carefully navigate down the length of the Smokey Mountains. The conductor was standing near them when her radio crackled with voices other than the engineers up front. It was an Army checkpoint five miles outside Fort Benning, Georgia.

  The air was muggy and smelled of swamps and hearth. Fires were burning in the distance, but they were in open fields, burn pits for the infected corpses the Army had been piling up reached towered the sky. These men meant business, to carve out a safe area in their homeland free of walking cannibals.

  The train came to a stop and allowed several uniformed men to board. They didn’t harass anyone, they were just riding as security to the search area. Like the checkpoints before them, these men weren’t interested in people’s ID’s or luggage. All the Soldiers of Fort Benning cared about was who was sick and who might be getting sicker. Daniel thought it was strange they would look for something like that, people in various states of illness. Wouldn’t it be pretty obvious if someone were carrying EV-1? They’d be trying to eat everyone by now, not cuddling up in a corner with the sniffles. Nobody on the train wanted to eat each other. Not yet anyway. It all begged the question, was there yet another way to become infected? If EV-1 had become airborne they were all well and truly fucked.

  After an hour of inching along the local line they were allowed off the train in a secure area, this time for real. An entire battalion of Marines had marched from Paris Island to Ft. Benning, smiting the infection as they went despite them all being Recruit Training Battalions, thus the post was massively reinforced. The Soldiers manning Fort Benning didn’t seem inclined to force anyone to stay when the engineers decided to press on. Another herd was heading this way, Fort Benning was just preparing for the onslaught whether that meant standing their ground or running away. A lot of people got off the train, hoping this Army post was the promised land. Keeping a low profile, Daniel helped Kaylee get cleaned up and find more food. They were back on the train in minutes, pockets stuffed full of Keebler crackers and juice boxes. Most of the seats were empty again, but didn’t stay that way for long. Soon Green Tag wounded began boarding the train. Several people were Reservists and National Guardsmen traveling to get to their assigned posts too, something Daniel was glad to hear. That meant his unit might not have written him off just yet.

  “Sawyer? Is that you?” A very familiar voiced asked from behind. Daniel turned around, fearing the worst, that it was an officer or NCO from his unit who thought he was a deserter. Instead Daniel was delighted to see one of his best friends from Basic Training, Jose Camilo.

  “Hey man.” They bro-fisted across the aisle and did the no-homo half-hug. “I was afraid I’d never see a familiar face again.” Daniel said, almost relieved to tears.

  “No shit. I’ve been stuck here for two fucking months. My Guard unit rotated to Annual Training the week I got there, so I wasn’t supposed to have to go because I just got out of Basic. But you know me, I like money, so I volunteered to play OpFor when a slot opened up.” Jose shrugged. “Most of the guys had their own cars, but I got stuck here doing bitch-work until I was all that was left. A bunch of assholes just gave up and started walking home. I knew I should have gone Active, this would never have happened on Active Duty.”

  “Don’t be too sure.” Daniel reassured. “So where are you going now?”

  “Back to Tampa. I’m fucking pissed, ya know?”

  “I would be too. I’m taking this one to Florida too.” He mussed Kaylee’s hair. “She found me when we were stuck in the wilds of suburban Virginia. I thought I’d return the favor and get her safely home.”

  “Aw, how sweet.” Jose smiled, elbowing Daniel. “The Silent One indeed has a heart.” True, during basic training Daniel rarely spoke and had gone unnoticed by his Drill Sergeant until only days before graduation. “I’m just teasing, bro. I wish I’d managed to do something good like that in the last few months. The closest thing I’ve done to actual Soldiering was driving a truck that carried some Democrat Party attention-whore’s luggage to an airport. They’ll evacuate the most useless people on Earth, but they don’t give a fuck about Joes like you and me.”

  “I have it on good word that that’s how ev
ery army has ever operated.” Daniel shrugged. “After I drop Kaylee off with her grandparents I’m heading back to Wyoming, assuming I even can. Have you heard from any of your friends or family since this all started?”

  “I called my mom and pop yesterday. They said my cousin Martin was killed in a riot in St. Louis. We haven’t heard anything about family South of the border, but the news reports from down there aren’t good either. But hey, this is America bro, we’re handling our shit. But everyone from Mexico to the tip of Chile is falling apart at the seams.” Jose leaned back in his seat, the ghostly orange fires of a town not far from the tracks silhouetted him in the windows. Daniel wished he had a camera, it would have been a moving image to capture. America had never burned like this before, no one in living memory had seen the state of Georgia on fire. Was this anything like what Georgians saw after the March of General Sherman? Perhaps on a much larger scale, the generational grievance Southerners feel toward Sherman might have been a good place to start if one were to try to define this to someone who didn’t know.

  “We’re going to make it through this, man.” Jose didn’t even know if he believed what he was saying, but he was a patriot, his love for America born out of the strife his family had suffered getting to the real promise land. He was fourth generation American, but his great grandfather was still alive (c. recently) and the stories made up most of Jose’s childhood.

  “I guess… but how bad are things going to be from now on, even if we stop this plague? We’re going to live in paranoia the rest of our lives.”

  “Haven’t we been already?” Jose shrugged. “We grew up with it, but Pop says things didn’t used to be like this, checkpoints all over the place, security just to go into a building. We might defeat the undead, but maybe it’s the living we should be more worried about.”

  Daniel and Jose chatted through the night, sometimes playing cards with the others on the train, but most games just petered out rather than having a definable winner. Everyone’s eyes were still watching the countryside as the train rolled through and no one could concentrate. Too bad money was worthless now. Every hour or so they’d hit something on the tracks, zombies, cars, cows, you name it, but no one else was shooting at the train. The final stop was a rail yard several miles outside Tallahassee, Florida. Everyone aboard could see the fires in the early morning light, pillars of death reaching for the heavens in every direction. When were they, if ever, going to get used to seeing this?