by Geo Dell
“No,” Mike said.
“Yeah, I don't think so either. But channel seventeen, hell, it could be. Probably only skip. But, I thought I should tell you,” Bob finished. He looked miserable.
“I think, just to be safe, I'll listen in hard on seventeen tomorrow while I'm driving.” Mike said.
“My thoughts exactly,” Bob said.
~Candace's journal~
I haven't written in three days. So much has happened. A man attacked me, tried to rape me. I didn't even know him, and I don't know what motivated him. I don't understand it at all.
Arlene shot and killed him. That was horrible as well. So many people were affected by it, not just me, and I can't see when it will ever really be over for any of us. Can anyone forget something like that? Not hardly, so I guess it will always be with me. But I didn't bury it. I have Patty, I have Mike, I have love to help me understand. Some women don't.
Today Jessica died. She had been feeling down, ill, but she insisted she was fine. Maybe the shock of the way the world is now, what happened to me even, but we won't know exactly what happened or made it happen. Sandy said she arrested, her heart stopped. We buried her beside the highway, somewhere here in West Virginia. Not far behind us.
Things we know:
We have a place to go, we're going to get there.
The days are still about 26 hours long. Maybe that is the new day.
The destruction is widespread and really bad. We ran into a lake the other day where there was not supposed to be one. We could easily tell that as the road ran right into the water.
There's a lot of skip on the C.B. That tells us there are other people scattered around the world, at least the United States. So we're not alone at all. Were just scattered.
Lilly is a big one for prayer. I'm not usually, but the last few days I've been praying God will get us through all of this.
~Nell's journal~
I have found myself more and more grateful for the people we have over the last couple of days. One of ours was nearly killed, and worse. She was only saved because another person happened along. She had to kill the man to stop him.
How does someone, that man, get so far away from reason?
We lost another of us today. She had a heart attack. I've seen more bad stuff in the last few weeks than I've seen in my whole life.
But I have Molly. We have hopes and dreams. I guess after what happened to Candace, so out of the blue, I worry something could happen to Molly. I know that's unreasonable. I know it is. Even so, I find myself praying to God much more often than I used to.
~Arlene's journal~
I had to kill someone. It's really all that I can think of. Some low life made me kill him. And I wonder if he has any idea of the damage he has left behind.
~The Army~
Donita sat watching the children as they lay dead before her. Soon the power would come over them and they would rise from death into the world of the Walkers, her world
The boy sat waiting beside her. They had finished the woman, and then the old woman. Neither would rise again.
The boy was a good soldier. The two before her, twin girls by the look, or so close to twins as for it not to matter, should be good choices too. Strong, intact. Their bodies would turn faster, as the boy's was already doing. Her own body had taken much longer. Much longer before the rotting flesh had begun to change to something else, something not exactly living tissue, but that was nourished by dead tissue. That new flesh was stronger, more resilient, self healing... Probably other things that she had not yet figured out.
Her eyes told her when the horse left. To where, she did not know. But she also knew it was not her concern.
The boy's flesh already seemed to have made some of that change. He was completely devoted to her. Unquestioning. That is what she wanted. The girls would be as well. She knew that instinctively. She could smell it on them. They were meant to leave that world for this world. It was a gift, really. It was so unnecessary to have to go through all the pleading and begging in the leaving of that life, she thought. This one was so much better. This one did not have an absolute end. This one could be forever. And forever could not even be measured.
Chapter six
Fight & Flight
~ April 1st~
The rain stopped in the early morning, just before dawn, and Janet had everyone fed before the sun was fully up. The trucks were loaded and on the highway just as the first hint of gray began to creep into the sky and the southern horizon began to glow.
The sun rose high and bright into a clear sky. Steam rose off the highway and the trees as the morning warmed up. The roadway was in better shape, except a few areas where rushing water had cut through the pavement, and they made good time. They found themselves running closer to the Appalachians, through the foothills, and although they saw no road signs, Bob was sure they had crossed over into Kentucky.
Just past midday, they stopped at a truck stop complex that featured a diner, a huge garage and a gas pump area. A cluster of other stores, mom and pops and fast food outlets filled out the complex.
While they filled the trucks, Mike found a handful of maps in the cashier's booth between the islands, all Kentucky.
Everybody lunched on smoked meat and packs of peanuts, washed down with vitamin water or sports drinks. The stores were pretty well picked over by what looked to be foraging animals. A few were little better than flattened, splintered wrecks.
Behind the gas pumps, a raw red crater had opened in the earth, and it looked to Mike to be well over fifty feet deep. As he peered over the edge down into the hole, he saw, sitting at the bottom, a new Ford pickup truck. It didn't appear to have a scratch on. Things were strange like that sometimes. He pointed it out to Bob and Ronnie. The three of them had a little laugh about it, and then they went to work opening up the fill pipe to the underground gas tank.
~
They got back on the road and found their first sign just before dark. Mike pulled off into the national forest preserve ten miles further down the road. They stopped within a quarter mile of the highway and set up camp for the night.
They set up the vehicles in a loose perimeter and posted the first watch of the night. Bob got out the map as Janet and several others began to get the evening meal going.
Mike made the rounds of all the posts while Bob dragged two picnic tables together and waited with the map. He didn't specifically mention the conversation they had all overheard on C.B. channel seventeen during the day, but he did say he felt they were being followed, and maybe by some folks who were not so nice. Privately, he, Bob, Ronnie, Tom and Jeff had discussed the transmissions. The people on channel seventeen were looking for someone. They were staying within broadcast range, although only barely, so it stood to reason they had to be traveling in the same direction. The second time they had heard them, they had mentioned Jessica.
If they were behind them and they had found Jessica, it could only mean that they were following. It had given each of them an uneasy feeling. After the map, they intended to discuss it in detail.
Mike sent Tim and Annie up to the top of a small rise where the highway could be seen for over a mile in either direction. He told them to watch for headlights and get on the radio system as soon as they saw any. It was quiet, and Mike was sure they would also hear the hum of the big tires on the pavement long before they would be able to see the trucks. He'd done what he could. He walked over to the tables, got a cup of coffee and sat down with Bob and a few others. The smell of cooking food was already wafting on the air, causing his stomach to growl.
“We're there,” Bob said as Mike sat down.
They studied the map that was laid out on the table.
“How are we there?” Mike asked.
“We're as close as we need to be,” Bob said. “Some of that depends on where we're going to end up, but really, no matter the direction, we can start from here.”
“Southwest will take us to a large area that includes
Tennessee, Alabama and part of Mississippi and Arkansas. East gives us the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama and bit of Georgia,” Bob said.
“Isn't that more than what you said before?” Mike asked.
“Yes, but it's because those wilderness areas are usually backed up against state forest preserves, logging lands, State park areas, and all that really means is all that land is now empty. So it has added more to the whole. I got to thinking about that and re-figured it. It only makes sense.” He paused, drawing a wider circle around the one he had previously drawn.
“See? We can stay in our smaller circle, build our life, build The Nation outwards and have all of that other land as a safety zone.” Bob said.
A portable C.B. radio sat on the table nearby squawking intermittently. It did so now.
“... eey one,” it said. And then more clearly, “We keep going.”
“Gotcha, Death, gotcha,” a new voice responded.
Bob and Mike looked at each other.
“That fucks that,” Bob said.
“It does,” Mike agreed. He turned around and looked at everyone. Some on post, some helping to prepare food. He raised his voice:
“Listen everybody....”
~
Reference over heard on C.B. Radio Channel Seventeen earlier that morning
~
“They was here, Death. There are tracks, they was here,” the voice said.
“I can see that, Shitty, but what was they here for?” Death asked.
“Buried something, Death... There's a covered up hole with rocks and shit and a little cross marked out in stone's on top of it,” Shitty told him.
Lilly had read over the body, and Lilly had laid out the simple outline of a cross over the grave in small stones once it was filled in.
“Dig it up... see what the fuck it is, or was,” Death laughed.
“Dig it up?” Shitty asked. “But, well, it's probably another dead body, what the fuck sense does that make?”
“Dig it up,” Death responded calmly.
“Damn, B, you ain't supposed to fuck with a dead body after they have been buried, Death. Everybody knows that. Bad fuckin' luck is what it will get you.”
“Dig it fuckin' up. Now!” Death shouted into the radio. “Or do I have to send Murder? Maybe you're just a straight up pussy?” Death asked.
Silence on the radio...
“Did you hear what I said!?” Death asked.
“I'm fuckin' digging,” Shitty said. “I'm fuckin' digging, and I ain't no pussy,” he said. The radio had fallen silent.
~
Mike talked for more than twenty minutes when the C.B. radio once again crackled to life...
~
“There are fresh tire tracks here, they was here. And not long ago either,” a voice said.
“The map says a state park is about 10 miles ahead,” A second voice said, “We keep going.”
~
The V.H.F. crackled. “That's him,” Annie's voice said. “That second voice, that's Death. And the other guy sounds like one of his boys that used to come around.” She sounded scared.
“Okay, Annie, thank you,” Mike said.
“He's crazy, Mike,” Annie said.
“I know. But believe me, he won't touch you. Annie, you and Tim come on down here,” Mike finished.
~
A few minutes later the radio crackled back to life.
~
“It's a fuckin' old lady,” Shitty said. “Why'd they fuckin wanna kill an old lady,” he asked?
“It doesn't matter,” Death said. “Let's Go, We're movin' on.”
~Divided we stand~
Mike turned around, handed Ronnie one of a hunting rifles they had bought with them and then picked up his own. The one he had handed Ronnie had a 10 round clip, camouflage paint, and looked more like an assault rifle than a hunting rifle. It was also fitted with a night scope. He unclasped his V.H.F. unit and handed it to Ronnie.
“Take over okay, they're going to be here soon. If they turn in, try to take out the lead vehicle. Let me know as soon as you see them, Ronnie,” Mike said.
“What about Patty?” Ronnie asked, concerned.
Mike shook his head. “I'm putting them all in the Suburbans and sending them down the trails. We'll catch up with them after this shit is done,” Mike said.
Ronnie nodded and left. Mike turned back to the camp. Silence came down upon the clearing as they waited. Mike tried to hold every pair of eyes that searched him out.
“Tom... Bob... David... And Jeff...” He hesitated, “Candace... You five are staying here. Patty, Janet, get the Suburbans ready to go now. Everybody else is going with you two.” he looked at his watch and then looked back up at Patty catching her eyes and holding them. Her face was careful, set, hard. Little blotches of color dotted her cheeks. Her lips were thin and tightly pressed together. “Like, ten minutes, so get moving.” Mike finished. Patty nodded, and then she and Janet hurried off.
He had wanted to send Candace as well, had even told himself that he was going to do it, but when it came right down to it, he couldn't. She was probably the best shot they had. And he knew she would see it as him being overprotective... unreasonable. There was no valid reason to send her away.
He looked up and saw that Candace was standing in front of him. “I wouldn't have gone,” she said quietly.
“That too,” he said. “How are you with a rifle?”
“Good,” Candace said. “Jeff is also good,” she said.
Jeff walked up just as she finished talking and nodded his head. “What do you need?” he asked.
Mike handed both of them a hunting rifle like the one he had given to Ronnie. “I want both of you up there with Ronnie. If they turn in, try to take them out. We have to stop them so the rest can get away onto the logging trails. After that, we'll try to take out whatever of them are left,” he finished.
They both nodded; Candace met his eyes and then they both turned away at a run towards the hill
~
The three Suburbans were packed and ready to go in five minutes. There had not been much to pack. The tents stayed; what food they had unloaded stayed. They offloaded some water and then loaded the rest of the camp into the three vehicles.
Bob gave Janet a small rubber encased compass. “Southwest... Eventually you'll run out of logging roads. Drive until you're out of gas. Make your own road as far as you can. Keep fresh batteries in the V.H.F. radios and listen in. We'll find you. We'll be fine. This may take us a few days, but we'll be there,” he finished.
Patty took her foot off the brake and then put it back on and leaned across Janet to look at Mike. “Bring her back,” was all she said. Mike nodded. She took her foot off the brake and the three trucks moved out.
A few minutes later they were out of sight. A few minutes after that they were out of hearing. The sounds of the big trucks soundproofed by the trees. Ten minutes after that the V.H.F. radio in Mike's hand crackled back to life.
“Headlights... Headlights... They're coming,” Ronnie told him.
~
The lead truck drove right by the turn off moving at a good clip. Candace felt a rush of relief as it blew past, but a second later, the truck locked up its brakes and shuddered, hopping across the broken pavement on the huge tires to a rubber, screeching halt on the asphalt.
The other trucks were behind them spread out, coming fast. Four all together.
“Four trucks,” Candace told Mike.
The other trucks locked up their brakes too. One slid off the roadway into the ditch, the other two shuddered to a stop on the blacktop as the first one had.
“What's happening?” Mike asked.
“It's going down, Baby... Wish me luck,” Candace said.
Just as the lead truck began to reverse towards the exit all three rifles opened up.
Holes punched through the darkened front windshield and the truck suddenly veered, flipped onto its side and rolled over into the ditch.
A second truck began to reverse. Ronnie opened up on that truck, punching holes into the windshield and front end. Smoke rolled from the hood. The doors flew open and machine pistols opened up on them; returning fire. The third and fourth vehicle opened fire as well.
The machine pistols were not accurate. Great for a close up weapon, but over even a short distance they were virtually useless. All three ducked at first, but when it became clear that nothing was coming near them, they shot full clips home and popped back up.
Ronnie was game, but not the shot that Jeff and Candace were. Ronnie picked a target and fired a short burst finding his range as he went.
Candace zeroed in on a man standing by the second truck, highlighted by the headlights of the trucks behind him. She squeezed the trigger and the man spun away in a two shot burst. The guns would fire as fast as you could pull the trigger.
Beside her, Jeff lined up his own shot, a man running from the wreckage of the first truck. He pulled the trigger twice in quick succession and the man collapsed in mid stride and skidded to a stop on the broken pavement.
The two remaining trucks, the one that skidded into the ditch, and one that had remained on the roadway, suddenly reversed and started backing down the highway at a high rate of speed. The one in the ditch launched itself up out of the ditch, into the air, and then slammed back down on the highway. The engine screamed as it flew backwards down the roadway.
Candace and Jeff both fired at the retreating vehicles, succeeding in blowing out the headlights on one. Even so, both trucks continued to run backwards at great speed. Within a very short period the roadway was clear as the headlights disappeared around a curve.
“They're retreating... We took out two of the four trucks, but there could be people in those trucks... We got at least two guys,” Ronnie told Mike.
Candace was peering at the two trucks with the night scope.
“Two dead in the second truck... One inside... One on the outside,” she said.
Ronnie repeated what she had said over the radio.
“One guy that was running away from the first truck is dead. I... I don't see anyone else in that truck. Could be, but I can't see it from here. We'll have to go down there,” Candace said.
