by J. Thorn
“Nope,” I brought my binoculars up and began to scan the ridge across the small valley that this one-stoplight town rested in. “He’s on his own until nightfall. And if somebody else sees him and moves in on him, he may be completely burnt.”
“Isn’t that kinda harsh?”
“How many other groups of survivors have you actually come in contact with?” It was time to set this guy straight. “I’ve seen some fairly nasty stuff out there, and just a few weeks ago, I had to listen to people I know get overwhelmed by a group that actually led a horde of those walking sacks of death to the gates. They used zombies as the leading edge of their attack. And they may or may not have been the same people who took out one of our recon-rescue-and-supply-run teams that included a couple of friends of mine.
“I can understand losing people to zombies. It is the world we live in. What I can’t wrap my mind around are these animals that are now running around, taking advantage of the chaos and lack of law and order to victimize others.
“So now I have two little girls that are my responsibility. My first and only objective is their care and well-being. I’ve made it clear that nobody, you included, are obligated to stay. But, if you do, then somebody has to make the tough choices, and around here, that is me. You are welcome to go your own way anytime, but if you stay in my camp, then I am mayor, sheriff, and all-around head honcho. It is only a limited democracy, are we clear?”
Jack nodded.
“Then we wait till nightfall.”
***
I don’t know when, but at some point, I’d dozed off. Something was poking me in the ribs, and I woke up just a little annoyed.
“You need to see this.” Melissa was kneeling beside me. Her expression had a bit of excitement and…happiness?
I climbed to my feet, a slight wave of dizziness washed over me. My stomach grumbled as a reminder that it would be nice if I ate something soon. I popped the stopper on a half-full bag of water and took a long drink.
“What?” I trudged up to the edge of the tree-lined overhang and joined Jack and Melissa. “Did Lee get himself eaten?”
“No,” Melissa said with a scowl, obviously hearing a trace of inappropriate hopefulness in my voice. “Look down by the lake, the gray building.”
I brought my binoculars to bear where she’d indicated. I didn’t see anything. Wait…one of those windows was wide open and a pair of military-style field-packs were leaning up against the wall. We’d seen Lee duck into a rickety two-story house on the edge of town. Since neither Jack nor Melissa said anything about our wayward companion, I guessed this was not related to him in some way.
So who are these mystery guests? I stayed focused on the open window. I imagined that, whoever this was, they were making sure the place was clear. Eventually, a shadow flitted around the window. A hand appeared, then another, followed by a head as this person pulled themselves up and out just enough to look around before climbing all the way out, grabbing the packs and handing them in to the person inside. I dropped my glasses and turned to Melissa.
“Ian and Billy,” she said with a smile.
“Are you certain?” I had to ask.
“Well, you saw Ian with your own eyes,” she said.
“And the person inside?” I grinned. “You certain it’s Billy?”
“Positive,” Melissa beamed.
“We still waiting for dark?” Jack asked. I could tell he was expecting me to toss my previous edict.
“They don’t look like they’re going anywhere,” I said with as much finality as I could manage. Of course I wanted to rush down there and see my friends. I had no doubts that they would come with us back to our new home.
“How late do you plan to wait?” Melissa asked.
“Just a little past sunset.” My hope was that we’d have enough ambient light left to keep an eye on where Ian and Billy were camped, but still have enough cover to minimize being seen. Once we got down there, my priorities would be: hook-up with Ian and Billy, forage for supplies, and oh yeah, reel Lee back in.
***
“It sure seems a lot farther than it did up on the hill.” Jack panted, coming up beside me at the rear bumper of a burned out husk of a pick-up truck with the charred remains of a body still sitting rigidly in the cab.
“Four blocks up,” I whispered. “Still no movement.”
We waited until Melissa reached us. So far, our tactic had been one of us moving to a spot, then the other two following individually. This let us keep an eye on the gray building. Since it was on open ground and water was on the far side, it stood to reason that we would see them if they left.
“I heard a commotion back and to the left,” Melissa reported when she reached us. It could be anything, but most likely, Lee was on the move. I wasn’t surprised that he would start foraging without us. If he thought anything he found was his, and not for the group, he was in for another of many surprises.
“Got a loner up ahead,” Jack announced.
“I’ll go first.” I drew the long, sturdy blade from the sheath bound to my right thigh.
Slipping out from behind the truck, I crouched low and arched a little to the right, hoping the thing wouldn’t see me coming. It halted and its head jerked around. Slowly, the body followed and a low moan drifted on the warm, night air. Arms out, it began a slow shuffle towards me. Damn. So much for the element of surprise. Rising up, I rushed in. I couldn’t tell age or gender, it was too dark. Not that it mattered. I came in fast and at the last second, zigged. It couldn’t adjust in time and I struck. There was a satisfying ‘thok’ and the familiar buzzing sensation in my hands as the machete cleaved into skull.
Glancing around, I could see other shadows moving. Some, drawn by the moan of one of their own, turned and were coming towards me. The side roads of this tiny town were dirt or clay. Nature would have them reclaimed in a year or two. Zombies were coming from all over. Not many, but then, it really only takes one. Right?
I waved my arm, signaling Melissa and Jack to move. It was time for a mad dash. They came from behind the truck and had covered almost half the distance when Jack stopped, turned, and looked back the way we’d come. Melissa paused, but kept coming. I’d heard it, too. Something or someone had kicked in or crashed through a door.
“Jack!” I hissed. “Move your ass! Whatever that was, it’s gonna bring heat, we gotta go!”
Melissa sped past me, shooting me a worried look that may have simply been my imagination considering how dark it is. I started walking backwards, trusting that Melissa had my back. For some inexplicable reason, Jack was drifting back towards that sound. He was almost back to the truck when Lee came barreling around the corner. He stumbled and sprawled on the ground. Something—I assumed it to be his handgun—went skittering across the ground, vanishing into the darker shadows of a pair of non-descript buildings across the street.
Jack rushed to the fallen man and reached him just as several zombies stumbled out from every side. He pulled Lee to his feet and handed him the shotgun he’d slung off his shoulder.
“Christ!” I spat, putting my machete away and bringing up my M4. This would be the first time I’d used one of the new weapons. Readying it, I glanced once over my shoulder, Melissa had made it to the window of the gray building. Somebody was pulling her in.
Bringing the weapon to my shoulder, I opened up on the dark shapes just clearing the corner of the building to the right. By the time the magazine was empty, I’d probably dropped four. Not good. Jack and Lee had at least fought free of the mob. Jack reached me and made a move like he was gonna head for the gray building.
“No way, man.” I grabbed his arm. “Follow me! You too, asshole,” I snapped at Lee and ran down a road to our left.
As I ran, I changed out my M4 for my Colt .45 semi-automatic. In my right hand I wielded the always reliable machete. We had to take down a couple on the fly, and a few times we had to actually slow down to keep the main body of the mob interested.
We
were quickly reaching the outskirts of this tiny town. To the right, we could make it to the on-ramp that would take us to the highway that passed by this map-dot of boondock. I jogged easy, ignoring the shaky feeling of my legs. The on-ramp seemed awfully steep, but once we reached the top, it was a simple matter of doubling back. We were heading down the off-ramp as the first of the pursuing zombie mob poured out onto the highway spreading out in both directions now that they had nothing to really follow.
We stayed in the shadows, not believing for a moment that all the undead citizens of this town had joined in on the merry chase. Finally, we reached the building where we’d seen Ian and Billy duck inside, where Melissa had vanished through an open window.
A head popped out, “‘Bout time you got here,” Ian’s familiar voice said with his normal good-naturedness.
“Should I put on a fresh pot of coffee?” Billy Haynes’ voice drifted out of the darkness. I didn’t recall him having much of a sense of humor. Maybe being out in the wild with Ian had changed him a bit.
One at a time, they helped us through the window. They led us down a dark hallway to an office where a pleasant glow emanated. I walked in to what had been some sort of large storage closet. It had no windows, which allowed them to have a pair of lanterns lit and hanging.
“Well…” I went to shake both their hands, but it quickly devolved into a three-man bro-hug. After that I stepped aside to introduce Jack and Lee.
Lee was standing with his arms crossed, staring at the floor, looking unusually subdued. Jack was still in the doorway…holding his left arm. I could see the darkness oozing between his fingers.
“What the hell?” I walked over to the young man.
“When we were breaking free of that mob…a little girl…no more than five or six…I didn’t see her…” Jack’s voice faded.
I could see the small rip just above his wrist. It was bleeding pretty well for such a small wound. Probably from all the running. I looked back at Ian and Billy, “Anybody got a sweatshirt?”
Ian nodded and went to his pack. He tossed it and I snatched it out of the air, a sick feeling brewing in my stomach that had nothing to do with the now forgotten hunger.
“Have a seat, Jack.” I pointed to the floor. He did exactly what I’d hoped for. He looked down to see where to slide down. When he did, I shoved the barrel of my .45 into the wadded up sweatshirt, and against the side of his head.
Then…I pulled the trigger.
11
Revelation
“What the fuck!” Lee’s head popped up.
“He was bitten.” I turned, the gun feeling very heavy in my hand.
“But—” Lee’s eyes were wide with…fear?
“There are no buts,” I cut him off. “I’ve watched somebody be allowed to turn before. It almost cost me dearly.” The sounds of that night, Thalia’s screams…Dave’s pleading…all of it echoed in my mind.
“You killed him in cold blood!” Lee’s voice rose in pitch and volume.
“And if you don’t shut up or quiet down,” I brought the gun up level with his chest, “I’ll kill you, too.”
“Steve!” Melissa, Ian, and Billy shouted almost in unison.
“This isn’t a game, people,” I said, not taking my eyes off—or pointing the gun away from—Lee.
“Hey, man,” Ian stepped closer to me, “I hear what you’re sayin’, but this ain’t the way.”
“You’ve missed a few meetings, Ian.” I tried to keep my voice calm. “Serenity is gone…wiped out. And now, besides Thalia, I’ve got Emily Smith to watch over.”
“Wait…who?” Billy scratched his head.
“Randall’s daughter,” I said.
“That government guy?” Ian asked.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I promised to take care of her. And that’s exactly what I intend to do. We’ve picked up a few and lost a few, some of it because I didn’t act. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
“What gives you the right to just execute people?” Lee challenged, only I noticed he did it a lot quieter.
“Survival,” I said flatly. “My right to survive, along with Thalia, Emily, Teresa…and anybody else in my care.” I glanced over at Melissa.
“But you don’t get to just shoot people,” Lee argued.
“Umm…yes…I do. That’s the whole deal. What you aren’t getting is that things aren’t like they were a few months ago. A bite is a death sentence. You get bit…you don’t get to endanger the group. There ain’t any ACLU no more,” I laughed. “No more appeals, no more nothing. So you can leave and start your own group…make your own rules. But if you stay with me and mine, then it’s my way.”
“You’re crazy.” Lee edged towards the door.
“And you ain’t goin’ anywhere right now.” I waved the gun a little for emphasis. “We came for supplies, but you decided to bring the whole zombie population down on us. So, you’ll sit down, shut up, and wait until I have what I’ve come for. Then, I’m heading back to camp. If you come, fine. If not, that’s fine, too. But you’ll not be doing a damn thing unless I say.”
“And if I do?”
“I’ll shoot you where you stand.”
“Y’all just gonna sit back and let this happen?” Lee turned to Ian, Billy, and Melissa.
“Aaron and Jamie with you?” Billy ignored the question, asking me one of his own.
“Yeah,” I nodded, “and Dr. Zahn, along with Teresa, Barry, and Randi.”
“Plus a couple of folks we picked up along the way,” Melissa added.
“They like him?” Billy hiked a thumb at Lee.
“No.” I shook my head.
“One of ‘em has a crush on Steve,” Melissa chuckled.
“Bigger than the one you have?” Ian joined the conversation.
“You’re all crazy!” Lee shook his head.
“What about Dave?” Ian asked.
That sobered me up quick. I slid my gun into its holster, no longer concerned about Lee. If it came down to it, he wouldn’t make it to the window. “Dave didn’t make it.” I walked over to where Jack’s body lay sprawled in a puddle of blood, half in and half out of the doorway. “Somebody give me a hand here.” I grabbed Jack’s wrists.
Billy and Ian both started forward, but Ian shot the young man a glance and he stopped. Grabbing the feet, Ian and I carried Jack up the dark hallway. We laid him down on the dirty, tiled floor of a tiny bathroom and shut the door.
“So,” I leaned against the door, “what happened to Joseph?”
“He went down under a swarm of those things.” Ian reached in his back pocket and pulled out a small bottle. He unscrewed the cap and the bitter smell of whiskey hit me. He took a big gulp and handed me the bottle before continuing. “Who ever the bastards were that hit us…knew we were coming. My guess is that they’d been watching us for a bit. I’m guessing they herded every zombie they could find into the buildings lining one street and just waited for us to go in. They had trailers of ‘em, too, backed into the end of the block while we were inside a two-story building. They rigged it with speakers and had somebody calling for help.”
“What the hell did they want?” I asked.
“The weapons?” Ian shrugged. “Hell, I don’t know. They fire-bombed every vehicle, so it wasn’t that. Maybe intel. You said Serenity is gone.”
“Yep.”
“Well they did grab somebody, but I didn’t see who. I was up to my ass in hungry zombies. To be honest, I didn’t hook up with Billy until the third day, and I almost killed him. He was crawling along this ditch and I was up in a tree. I had him in my sights when he pops his head up to look around. That’s when I saw his face, or he’d be dead.
“But you saw Joseph go under?”
“Ten feet from me. So…yeah, I saw,” Ian’s voice shook. “He was looking me in the eyes when one of those things was tearing out the side of his throat. I could see his mouth moving, and then blood started gushing from it when he tried to scream. I wanted to shoot him
…put him down…out of his misery. But I couldn’t. I was down to my hand-to-hand weapons. There wasn’t time to re-load.”
“You said they grabbed one of our guys?” I tried to help change the subject.
“Yeah, but I don’t know who,” Ian said with a heavy sigh. I could tell he was still thinking about Joseph. It made me feel like a real first-class prick, putting him through this; not really even letting him enjoy the reunion. “I saw a guy in fatigues shoved through a door to one of the shops on the street.”
“Could it have been Jack Simpson?”
“Steve, I honestly don’t know,” Ian’s voice was straining a bit now.
“Okay.” I waited a moment and then told him what we’d found, Simpson cuffed to a vehicle, the single bite.
“Fits with some of the sick shit I’ve seen out here,” Ian’s voice was quiet and I heard the exhaustion.
“Look,” I clasped his shoulder, “I know things are a little different, but I’d like you with us. You and Billy.”
“It wasn’t ever a question,” Ian said with a shrug. “I’m glad somebody is willing to take charge. It wasn’t gonna be me… ain’t my style.”
“So, in a few hours, still well before sunrise, I want to zip through this place. Do a snatch and grab,” I explained. “You up for it?”
“If it means being back with the old gang in a couple days, you bet.” Ian said with a renewed enthusiasm. “And, I gotta admit…I missed hearing your little girl laugh. I was married once, and the thing I looked forward to most was having kids.”
“You were married?”
“Yeah, but it didn’t work out.” I heard something in Ian’s voice that indicated that he was done talking about that subject.
“Let’s get back in with the others,” I suggested. “Oh yeah, help me keep an eye on Lee.”
“Not a problem.”
We walked back into the small room. Melissa and Billy were in a corner whispering…and laughing! Of course Lee was sitting against the far wall with a big scowl on his face.
