Resource Economies

by Traverse Davies

  The shelter took shape over three days, and by the end of the three days they had stopped hearing signs of the villagers searching for them. It was time to start putting the plan into action.

  Chad waited until after dark and put his helmet back together. Okay, so they wouldn't have a pot for the night, that was okay, he needed it more that evening. He snuck through the brush until he could see the town. It was quiet, but there was still movement. Chad waited, patiently, to an outside observer he would have looked like he was calm and cool. Inside his stomach was filled with butterflies, having some sort of butterfly jamboree. He got his materials ready, some bundled tinder he'd been drying by the stove for three days. It was dry as bone and reduced to thin wisps. There was a lot of it. He'd spent most of his free time working on it. Once all the people had turned in, except a couple of guards, Chad started crawling on his belly into the camp. Night vision gave him an advantage that was almost impossible to overcome. He could see exactly where the guards were, plain as day. They could only see him if they got lucky.

  Chad found an older building, looked like a food storage building. He set up a fire bundle against it, and then moved on. It would be the last one he would light. He found another good target, set up a bundle there. He had three with him, and he wanted to use all three. The third was a house, he felt a little bad about that, but then he thought about the villagers eating his team mates, he thought about Tyson 's condition when he found him, he thought about all of that and started the third bundle on fire. It was a concealed flame, designed to take a couple of minutes to really catch. He went back to the second, carefully, trying to move slowly and deliberately despite his heart pounding at a million beats a minute. He was sure the sentries would be able to hear his heartbeat, that he would be caught any instant, but he kept going. Finally, he made it to the first, that one was just a straight light. He set it on fire and then crawled, hoping he would at least be a few feet away before the sentries spotted it.

  He did better than he anticipated. He was almost to the woods when the cry came out. "Fire!"

  Chad hopped up and ran, hoping the light of the fire would keep him concealed. Once he was in the cover of the forest he stopped and looked back. Nobody seemed to be following him, so he started moving slowly, deliberately. Looking back occasionally, the village was in chaos, people grabbing buckets and trying to put out the fires. The fact that were three fires would make it clear to them that somebody had started the first. That was okay, that was what he wanted. He wanted them thinking there were a hundred men in the woods if he could manage it, set up a good state of panic.

  It was a starting point, a way to create panic and confusion. Enough panic and confusion and the opportunity to get his companions out would present itself. Not only that, by keeping the villagers off balance they would be too busy to deal with the prisoners. At least that's what Chad hoped.

  The walk back to the shelter took a very long time. Chad stopped every few meters to check his trail, erase any sign he'd been there. All of his training was coming into play, and he was making some of it up as he went along. After what seemed like hours he stumbled on the shelter. If he hadn't known exactly where it was he never would have seen it. As he crawled through the opening he found himself facing an improvised spear in the hands of a gorgeous redhead. "Oh, thank god!" Tamra said, dropping the spear and pulling him inside. "I was so worried."

  Chad pulled off his helmet, his face covered in a huge grin despite the severity of the situation. He pulled Tamra to him and gave her a kiss, deep and long.

  As they pulled apart Tamra said, "Well, about time. I didn't think you were ever going to do that," then she kissed him again.

  After a few minutes, Tyson cleared his throat, "Ahem, uh, look, I'm happy for you guys... but there's not a lot of privacy in here."

  "Uh, yeah, uh, sorry," Chad was turning red.

  "So, you lit a few fires, got them freaked out? You know that's not going to work again."

  "I have a plan for keeping the chaos going. There's a bunch more of that kind of sabotage I will be doing. The punchline is I take out the zombie paddock while I get the team out. That's got to happen after you are well enough to move Tyson. I want manpower, not that we will have much. I suspect that the prisoners won't be in great shape."

  "Why didn't you just grab them now?"

  "It's one thing to sneak into the village, the prison had a bunch of guys guarding it, not like the village as a whole. I'm not, what was that name? Right, Rambo. I'm not him, I can't take out four or five guys solo. I need to set up a situation where I have the opportunity. I'm going to get them walking on eggshells, and then I'm going to give them something to actually react to."

  "Okay, fair enough. I just hope they don't eat your friends, or mine, in the meantime."

  "Yeah, me too. I know it's a risk, I know that a lot can go wrong. Thing is, it's just me and you two."

  Tamra said, "Glad you finally realized I'm in the mix here. I'm a very, very good shot. I can help out, nothing causes chaos and confusion like a sniper."

  "Yeah, that's actually one of my ideas. Take out a few villagers from range, maybe do two, move on and wait a few days, take out one or two more. Keep going like that, never from the same spot."

  "It's a good plan, there are a few limitations. The most obvious one is that we only have so much geography to work with. The cliffs mean we can only approach from two sides, although I think we have enough coverage for two sides."

  "So, you have no issues with shooting the villagers?"

  "I lived through first night, the years between. I may look like a movie star, but I didn't grow up like a princess. I had to fight my way through the world when I was young. People forget that because they see me on TV all the time. I didn't have it easy either, my family went through all the same things everyone else did back then."

  "Right, got it. Sorry." Chad finally noticed that Tamra looked distinctly unhappy, her eyes flashing with anger as she talked.

  "Yeah, it's okay, just don't forget again okay? I like you, I'd hate to have to shoot you."

  "I'd hate to have to get shot. Don't worry, I won't forget again."

  They went dark again, staying silent and waiting for the searchers to miss them. The shelter was so well concealed someone would have to be inches from it to see it. It looked like a pile of deadfall, and not even a hollow pile. The only risk was someone seeing the paths in and out, but they were taking care to limit that. The next day was spent hunkered down, not speaking, not moving unless they needed to. They burned the stove for half an hour, giving them twelve hours of heat. It was agonizing, the wait. By the end of the day, all of them had to use the washroom desperately, all of them were sweltering with heat. Turned out the shelter kept itself warm with three people even without the stove. They were dripping with sweat, dehydrated, starving. The sounds of searching kept going outside.

  Finally, sometime late in the evening, the sounds vanished. Chad gave it a little bit longer, then he gave the all clear.

  They let Tyson go first, his physical condition meaning he was in the worst shape of the three of them. He hobbled out of the shelter and went as far as he could, then he peed for the first time since his escape. His body was still so weak he could barely stand. After he was done Tamra took a turn, then finally Chad got to. It was heaven after the day they'd had. As the pressure released Chad thought about the pre-zombie fiction he'd read. Hell, some of it was even about zombies. They never talked about the pain of a full bladder, how hard it could be to stay hidden when you desperately needed to go. Of course, his armour had options, but those were long since used up and now he was in the same boat as anyone else. Just another way people who'd never been in true fear for their life got things wrong.

  It was time for the next phase. Chad wasn't sure which one to go with. They had a handgun and Chad's rifle, not the kind of gun that was ideal for distance shooting, but Tamra was confident it would do the job. Chad wished they had more guns, especially t
he heavy sniper rifle Tamra had been using before they were captured. It would make life so much easier, so much better.

  Oh well, wishes weren't worth much. They found several good vantage points, high ground around the town. Tamra picked one for today and set up, Chad's rifle supported by some rocks, a compromise for the fact that it was an assault rifle, not a meant for this kind of work.

  Chad found a spot on the other side of town and set up his handgun. He didn't expect to hit anyone or even anything. The plan was just to cause confusion, make it harder to tell what was going on. A few minutes after he got set up a shot cracked out. He fired as soon as he heard it, not even bother to really aim, just firing in the general direction of the village. As he did he spotted a woman, middle aged and heavyset, falling to the ground, her skull missing a large section. Well, Tamra was cold blooded as hell. Chad was pretty sure he would have aimed for a man instead.

  The town erupted, everyone running, not knowing where to run. Tamra took another shot, and Chad followed her example. Another person dropped. Jesus, she just shot a kid! Chad fled back into the woods, getting a distance, then starting to obscure his tracks.

  Tamra reached the shelter before Chad did. She was already inside when he got there. He could see right away that she was shaking, her eyes rimmed with red. He had been ready to start yelling at her but seeing her in that state changed his mind. He came over and put his arms around her. "Oh god, oh god. What did I just do?"

  "It's okay, it's alright. Just breathe."

  "The kid. He had the shakes, red eyes, all of it. I know it was the thing to do, but he was so small, so innocent."

  "Fuck. Look, if had the symptoms, if he had kuru, he was already dead. There was no person left inside. You did him a mercy."

  "I know, in my mind I know, but it's not that easy to actually do."

  "Yeah, I believe you. I wouldn't have had the courage to do it. You are amazing. So strong."

  "Next time I don't shoot the head though. If I hit the body it's a zombie in the middle of the village, that ups the chaos factor."

  "Yeah, good call. Sorry I didn't think of it."

  "Well, we did it in episode nineteen. Not me of course, I'm the good little housewife, but my husband," Tamra was starting to breathe normally, starting to recover from what she had to do.

  Trouble at Home

  "Still can't find them. The storm totally messed up any trace of the missing squad or the work detail. I'm pretty sure they were taken, but everything is so messy, it's almost impossible to even figure out where they went before they were taken," Wayde looked down. It was a weird thing to see on the large man, a sort of half shuffle in his step. He looked almost sheepish.

  Bennett said, "Look, it's not you, not your fault. Nobody could possibly do a better job. You've protected this installation, and all the people in it as best anyone possibly could. The storm wasn't something we could have predicted or dealt with. Whatever these people we keep seeing, that's also something we couldn't predict. We were ready for zombies, as many of them as we might run into, but not for this."

  "Yeah, I just feel like I need to do something. I want to lead a team myself, get out into the wilderness and take a look. I know it's probably useless, but I just need to do something."

  "Alright, give me today, I have a large task queue that I need you for. After that, I will give you your reigns, let you take a team with you."

  "Okay, I'll give you today. I guess it won't matter at this point. I just hope they are still alive."

  "You and me both. Now, get to work... figure out who you want for your team and be ready."

  Wayde left Bennett alone with Naomi. "He's a good man, but this is hard sauce for him."

  "Yeah, for me too. I don't know how to let it go. Things are going well here, but I don't think I can accept that things are in such a state of uncertainty. I don't expect to know everything about a situation, but missing teams and mystery people, that's hard to manage or deal with, for all of us. Wayde is just less able to keep that inside. Or at least with me he is, I don't think the men see it."

  Naomi started rubbing Bennett's shoulders. "It's okay, I get it. Hell, I'm the one who put this shooting match together. You think it isn't everything I can do not to grab a weapon and hit the road. It's torture. I just don't know that I would be any good at it. I haven't been in the field in years."

  "Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I'm an administrator now. I want to be a superhero and rush off saving my people, but I would suck at it, and I'm decent at running things here."

  The two of them talked over the problem, how to find their people, how to allocate resources. It was boring, it was detailed, it was planning. Bennett was once again astonished at how quick Naomi was at picking up small details. How quick she was. He'd never met someone with a mind for logistics like hers, she knew details he'd mentioned once in passing, she knew details that somebody had mentioned three tables over at dinner.

  As they talked they heard a commotion, then a loud bang, and a bunch more bangs. Weapons fire was going off like crazy. The two of them rushed outside. Bennett grabbed someone running past. "What's happening?"

  "Sir, another horde. Huge, larger than what we've seen before. No idea how there are this many zombies. Need to get to the fence, it's enough that we could be in danger inside."

  "Fuck. Alright, guess I'm active duty again."

  Bennett and Naomi ran for the armory, grabbed rifles, and headed for the wall.

  The horde looked to be ten thousand at least... maybe even more. Bennett started shooting, picking his targets. So, did Naomi. Neither of them was a great shot, but passable, and in an environment like this it wasn't hard to hit something. Everyone else on the wall was doing the same as them, firing shot after shot into the horde.

  The bodies started to drop. Bennett's hearing was starting to go, and the area by the wall was filled with an overwhelming smell of blood and gunpowder, the sharp, acrid smell filling everyone's nostrils. It was a welcome relief from the scent of rot and excrement coming from the zombie horde. No matter how many times Bennett was around that smell it would never get comfortable. He fired and fired and fired some more. As night started to fall the horde was still there. Runners were bringing ammo up, fresh clips by the dozens. Bennett wasn't sure they were going to have enough on hand. After the night got too dark only the soldiers wearing NVG's were still able to shoot, so the volume of fire dropped off. Bennett had someone bring up floodlights, and once they were going he kept shooting.

  By the morning most of the horde was gone, and so was most of the ammo. The ground outside the camp was piled half a dozen deep in corpses. Nobody had slept. The few stragglers against the fence were deemed not enough of a threat to waste limited ammo on. Bennet grabbed Wayde, "Sorry man, you have to wait until this is cleaned up to go. Take a few squads, head out, machetes in hand. Take out the remainder. I'm going to order another ammo shipment."

  "Yeah, I feel like this is deliberate. Somebody is managing these zombies, making sure they mass where they don't make life easy for us. After I get these ones dispatched it's time to start hunting whoever is in charge of them."

  "Yes, but with some rest first. Somebody managing a horde like this, they will be dangerous. No point making a mistake because you haven't slept. After these are cleared you will wait a day, at least rest a full night."

  "Of course. I'm not a complete idiot, just mostly."

  The team went out, machete's in hand. Despite what Bennett said about rest he sat on the roof of one of the shipping containers watching the teams. One of the soldiers got swarmed, pulled down. Wayde ran over, slamming zombies off the man with his shoulders, decapitating one after the other as they were sent flying. The last few were down on the ground, he kicked on so hard it was lifted into the air, his titanium blade slicing through its head as it fell. The last zombie came off the soldiers and the man stood up. There was a conversation and then the man walked back to the wall. Bennett came down to meet him. "Hey son, how are you
?"

  "Bit shaky sir, my armor held. Nothing got through, but damn, I thought I was done there."

  "Glad you made it. Come on inside, let's get you a cup of coffee and something to eat. You must be about ready to collapse."

  Bennett watched, anxious, but the rest of the operation went smoothly. Finally, eventually, all the zombies at the wall were gone and the team came in. Bennett pretended he'd been doing other work, hurrying back to his office before they came back. No point in letting Wayde know he'd wasted the whole morning watching the big man and not taking care of other duties.

  There was a lot of work that hadn't gotten done because their focus was on the horde, which Bennett suspected was the point, but he still had to catch up. He went back to his desk and started on it. Wayde came in, looking grey and exhausted. "Sir, I need to catch some sleep."

  "Of course, you should do so as soon as you grab a bite to eat. Scratch that, shower, then food, then sleep."

  Wayde headed off for the mess hall, and Bennett realized that he was probably in about the same state. Despite not being out there he'd denied himself sleep. He needed rest, desperately, and he needed it now. Bennett made his way over to his bed, in the back of the command tent. A perk of the job if you could call it that. Naomi was already there, sound asleep. Bennett lay down next to her, snuggling up to her slim body.

  Next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by Naomi. "Hey, time to get up."

  "Uh."

  "No, for real. You've been asleep for like fifteen hours. There are things needing to be done."

  Bennett registered fifteen hours and hopped out of bed, as fast as he possibly could. "Fifteen hours? Holy shit. That's not acceptable."