Hold the Line
Author: R.S. Merritt
Date: 2020-05-08 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Horror; Zombies
Description: The Southern states of post apocalyptic America continue to challenge a family torn by the plagues of the infected and the malice of the evil leaders of the Brotherhood. The family continues to grow larger with each new addition adding onto their survival skill set. They all worry that in this new normal the largest groups are the ones the Zombies come for first. On the other side of the ethical line Krantz finds himself rapidly rising through the ranks of the Brotherhood. Faced with choosing between the lesser of two evils so often that he starts having issues discerning when something is act

Zombies!

Book 6

“Hold the Line”

R S Merritt

Text Copyright © 2020 Randall Scott Merritt

All Rights Reserved

This series is dedicated to my beautiful wife and family.  My reasons for waking up in the morning and not wanting to go to bed at night.

Happy 8th Birthday Zoey!

Cover Design By:

Harry Lamb

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:  Shackled Again

Chapter 2:  Uncomfortably Numb

Chapter 3:  Comply or Die

Chapter 4:  Twister

Chapter 5:  All Shook Up

Chapter 6:  Columbia Cloud Base

Chapter 7:  No Easy Day

Chapter 8:  Up the Creek

Chapter 9:  An Example

Chapter 10:  Time for your Checkup

Chapter 11:  Running to the Store

Chapter 12:  The Pale Horseman

Chapter 13:  Bed Rest

Chapter 14:  Home Invasion

Chapter 15:  Heads Up!

Chapter 16:  Apocalyptic Staycation

Chapter 17:  The Creep

Chapter 18:  Field Promotion

Chapter 19:  Northern Bound

Chapter 20:  No Man’s Land

Chapter 21:  The Definition of Insanity

Chapter 22:  The Silent Ones

Chapter 23:  Friends in Low Places

Chapter 24:  Visine, Pancakes and Tic Tacs

Chapter 25:  Hot Chocolate and a Solid Nap

Chapter 26:  The Refugee Railroad

Chapter 27:  When Good Men Idly Stand By

Chapter 28:  Road Trip!

Chapter 29:  Processed

Chapter 30:  Field Commander Krantz

Chapter 31:  The Prodigal Son

Chapter 32:  How Do You Like to Vacation?

Chapter 33:  All In

Authors Note

Other Books by R S Merritt

Chapter 1:  Shackled Again

The basement was barely illuminated by the light filtering through the tiny grime covered windows.  A pile of moving blankets in the corner was the only thing provided to make the cold concrete basement the slightest bit hospitable.  They were the blankets you’d choose to either rent or buy to go along with your U-Haul when you were moving.  Rough and coarse and smelling of sweat and sawdust they were still a huge step up from sitting on the cold concrete floor.

Sitting on one of the moving blankets wearing his boxers and a thick terry cloth robe he’d been provided Randy forced himself to relax.  It wasn’t like he had much of a choice.  He was handcuffed in a locked basement underneath a house full of an extremely well-armed militia.  Only the littles had escaped the indignity of being handcuffed.  At least this time the adults had been cuffed with their hands in front of them.  Randy ruminated that he’d spent way too much time lately with handcuffs on.  It was odd to find yourself feeling happy because this time your hands were cuffed in front of you.  It made scratching yourself a lot easier.  You had to enjoy the little things.

When they’d crossed the bridge and made it into South Carolina it’d felt like they’d accomplished something significant.  It’d felt like they were finally going to be alright.  Instead they’d found themselves captured not two hours after finally seeing the ‘Welcome to North Carolina’ sign.  They’d been cruising through the middle of nowhere when they abruptly skidded out of control going around a sharp curve.  The white van with the electrical company logo on it they were driving had slid right into a deep ditch on the side of the road.  Randy had been driving and was still kicking himself.  Even though he knew there hadn’t been much he could’ve done to spy the stop sticks lying camouflaged on the road.

He hadn’t noticed the other cars that’d been piled up in the woods on that side of the road either.  It became apparent why there was a small armada of abandoned vehicles there when armed men appeared out of nowhere a few minutes later to take them prisoner.  Banged up and out gunned they hadn’t even attempted to fight.  They were leery of shooting at the people they were hoping might be their saviors anyway.  The whole reason they’d come north in the first place was to escape the oppression of the Brotherhood down south.  They should have known better than to let themselves fall into the trap of thinking that the Brotherhood had a monopoly on oppression.

Banged up and groggy they hadn’t been able to muster much of a response to the men who’d yelled at them from outside the van after they’d smashed into the ditch.  The men who’d calmly informed them they could either come out with their hands up or sit there and try to dodge the hand grenades they would fling through the front windows.  Not much of a choice at all.  Kyler was learning the issue with having people you cared about along with you in the apocalypse was you couldn’t just start shooting and hope for the best.  You had to weigh all the options and determine which course had the best chance of keeping them all alive.  It was exhausting.

They’d been taken.  They’d managed to make it all the way out of Brotherhood territory by camping and sticking to backroads.  They’d been beyond careful to avoid ending up in the situation they were now in.  At least in South Carolina they hopefully didn’t have pictures of them on wanted posters.  If they did then they were in some serious trouble.  Not that the trouble they were in already wasn’t serious enough already.

“At least we got nice robes.”  Kelly said shattering the silence of everyone’s quiet introspection.

“I could’ve done without the matching bracelets.”  Caitlyn said.  She was moving her wrists around trying to keep her hands from going numb.

“Yeah this is all a bit weird.  I get that they made us strip so they could make sure we weren’t hiding any more weapons but the robes.  I mean that’s a pretty humane touch.”  Randy commented.  The robes were the luxury ones like you’d find in a spa.  Everyone assumed that the people who’d imprisoned them must have a massive stockpile of robes they’d looted from somewhere.  Maybe a truck full of robes had ended up parked forever at the one stoplight in this nowhere town.

“If they were going to do anything to us, I don’t think they’d have given us the robes.”  Kyler said.  He was trying to be more subtle in his language since the kids were listening. What he wanted to say is that he didn’t think they’d shoot them in the head after dressing them so nicely.  He was giving them about a twenty percent chance of getting out of here alive and free.  The bulk of that twenty percent based on the fact that their captors had taken the time to strip them of their weapons and shove them in a basement.  It would’ve been a lot easier for the men who’d ambushed them to leave them dead in that ditch. Then they could’ve safely and easily stolen their supplies.  It didn’t make any sense to drag them all the way here just to kill them.

Zoey was sitting in Caitlyn’s lap.  Doreen and Ali were both lost in their voluminous adult sized robes on top of Kelly.  At one point in the journey Zoey had wandered off at one of the gas stations they’d stopped at.  It’d taken them a couple of hours to find her.  Randy had lost his temper big time and yelled at her until Kelly stepped in and stopped him.  Zoey had been mortified. She’d been avoiding her dad ever since then.  The other kids had been reminded very loudly not to wander off ever again.  On top of all the other trauma the kids had endured that’d just pushed them even deeper into their shells.  Kelly and Caitlyn might as well be made of Velcro now the way the littles were sticking to them.

The sound of the door at the top of the stairs opening surprised them all into looking up fearfully.  The first man through the door was holding a battery powered lantern that did a good job of lighting up the whole basement.  That told them these guys were used to having people locked up down there.  The three men were decked out in full police riot gear.  Tinted face masks hiding their faces the men positioned themselves on the stairway so they could easily shoot everyone in the basement.  The man holding the lantern walked all the way down the stairs to talk to them.

He set his lantern on the top of the bannister at the bottom of the stairs.  He made a big deal of unholstering his pistol so they could see he was holding it in his hand ready to be used if needed.  Between the man with the pistol in his hand and the two guys behind him holding tactical UZI looking machine guns no one in the basement was thinking of trying anything.  Kyler hated not having his weapons on him.  Sitting on a moving blanket in a robe with just his boxers on underneath it he was beyond defenseless.  It wasn’t something he was used to, and it definitely wasn’t something he was comfortable with.

“I’m the Sherriff here. You can call me Rusty.  What are your names?”  The man asked from behind the face mask.  The voice had a lazy southern twang to it but there was no mistaking this was a serious man.

“I’m Randy.”  Randy started making introductions hopping to keep everything civil.  “This is my wife Kelly and our daughters Caitlyn, Myriah, Doreen, Ali and Zoey.  This young man here might as well be family too.  He’s been with us for a long time.  His name’s Kyler.  Can I ask why you’ve detained us Sherriff?”

“We detain anyone who comes into our town.  Especially anyone who comes from the direction you came from.  I’m assuming your refugees.  Running from the Brotherhood?”  The Sherriff asked emotionlessly.

“Yes sir.  We’re really just passing through.  I wouldn’t say we’re refugees any more than anyone else is.  We’re just hoping we can travel up north and life may be a little more agreeable than it was down south.”  Randy picked his words with care but still tried to make them sound casual.

“Why’s your boy here got a Brotherhood brand?”  The Sherriff asked.

Randy opened his mouth then shut it.  He did that a few times before looking helplessly over at Kyler.  He had no good answer to that question.  Especially since he hadn’t known that Kyler was branded.  Kyler hadn’t been trying to keep secrets from Randy.  He just hadn’t brought up the brand since he was honestly ashamed that he’d been marked with a symbol of evil like that.  He’d worried it would lead to more awkward questions.  Especially since he wasn’t supposed to tell people the north had sent him as a spy. He didn’t know how to explain that he never would’ve let them brand him if he’d been on his own and free to make the choice.  He hadn’t even reached the point where he thought they were evil when they’d held the branding ceremony for him.

“They didn’t know.”  Kyler said.  He didn’t bother standing up.  “I got branded before I met them, and I never saw a need to let them know.  It’s not something I’m proud of.  Not anymore.”  He finished simply.

The Sherriff waited.  When it became apparent Kyler was done talking the Sheriff walked across the floor of the basement and stood over him.

“The Brotherhood offers us a nice reward for turning in refugees trying to run from them.  They’ve even offered us some pretty tempting rewards if we happen to find soldiers who’ve abandoned their posts.  They’ve never even mentioned what they’d give us a for a branded Brotherhood traitor like you.  What do you think they’d be willing to trade us for you boy?”  The Sherriff asked.  He’d holstered his pistol and pulled out an asp.  The short metal rod slapping against his gloved hand to emphasize his words.

“I don’t know.  I’d assume they’d hook you up pretty good.  Especially since they can just take back whatever they give you when they come storm trooping through here next month.”  Kyler said.  He looked straight at the face mask of the man asking him all the questions.

“What do you mean by them coming through here next month?”  The Sherriff asked.

“They’re in expansion mode and you’re the next state that they’re going to take.  I guess you don’t get CNN out here in the sticks so just to let you know they took Tennessee a couple of weeks ago.  You guys are next.  They’ll cut through this place like a hot knife through butter.  I suggest you all run when you hear the sound of their choppers.  Maybe go hide out in the hills or something.  You’re going to end up working for them either way though.”  Kyler said.

“Why aren’t you with them anymore?  Why are you deserting?”  The Sherriff asked.

“I have a problem with being ordered to kill little kids.  The Brotherhood soldiers aren’t necessarily all bad, but their leaders are pretty much evil.  I was worried if I didn’t get out, I’d end up like them.”  Kyler said.

“You know why I wear this facemask?  Why I have my men dress up like Darth Vader every time we go out on a raid or have to do anything?”  The Sherriff asked.

Kyler rightfully assumed it was a rhetorical question and bit back the smartass answers that immediately popped into his head.  The Sherriff paused dramatically for another few seconds.

“It’s so we don’t get blood or spit or something in our eyes or mouths.  We’ve been so paranoid about the Zombies that we’ve lost track of how evil regular people can be.  Those people to the south have more land than they could ever use.  There’s no need for them to barge in on us up here.  We’re going to leave you down here for a bit while I figure out if I’m going to hand you over to them or not.  I also want to check out your story.  You good answering more questions?  Giving us numbers and plans and all that?”

“I’ll give you what I got.”  Answered Kyler.  It wasn’t like he was planning on being loyal to people who’d shoot him on sight.

Sherriff Rusty nodded and stomped out of the cellar.  The door shut behind him leaving them all sitting in the dim light again in their fluffy, white robes.

Chapter 2:  Uncomfortably Numb

Three days later they were still sitting in the cold basement.  In deference to the kids the Sherriff had his men drag down a few mattresses and some toys.  They were fed well and other than having to keep the cuffs on it wasn’t a horrible experience.  Kyler was taken upstairs to be interrogated for a few hours every day.  He told Randy and Kelly that they basically just had him sit in the living room with them and answer questions.  He’d been completely open and honest with them telling them everything he could remember.

To confirm Kyler’s account of events the Sherriff had Randy and Kelly come up separately as well so he could cross examine them to see if the stories stay lined up.  They’d all agreed to be completely honest to avoid any issues, so it all went like clockwork.  They were hoping that they’d be allowed to leave any day now.  The Sherriff told them that the town they were in had closed itself off after the initial outbreaks.  They’d been efficient about killing anyone who got the virus which was the reason so many of them had survived.  They were a large community by apocalyptic standards. There were a few hundred survivors scattered around the woods and a significant group of them actually living in town.  They were careful not to congregate together very often. Staying spread out seemed to work well at keeping the Zombie herds from becoming interested in the small, remote area.

There was a textile mill that’d focused on making the fabric for the robes they were wearing.  The robes were manufactured at another facility that was also in the town.  That explained why they were all given the robes.  The town had thousands of them in a warehouse ready to be shipped out to luxury hotels that no longer needed them.  The people survived by hunting and scavenging.  Bow hunting had become very popular since firing rifles was a big-time no-no for any of the people living there.  Pulling the trigger always resulted in having to explain to the Sherriff why you’d done so.  If you couldn’t explain why you’d decided to risk the safety of everyone in the town in a way that satisfied the Sherriff, you faced banishment.

The tone of the conversations gradually went from confrontational to friendly over the course of a few days.  They knew they wouldn’t be allowed to stay as the town had long ago decided not to let any outsiders in, but they were hopeful that they’d be given back their gear and escorted to the city line.  That was their best option at this point.  Worse case they were just being milked for information until the Brotherhood showed up to collect them.  There was no way to be certain they weren’t being played.  They’d just woken up on their fourth day in captivity when the bombs hit the center of town.  The loud explosions rocking everyone awake in the basement.  Doreen immediately started crying.

The loud noises echoed in the basement as dust drifted down on them from the shaken ceiling.  The attack ended after only a few explosions.  They sat in the basement wondering if the next round of the attack was going to blow up the house that they were in.

“That was probably it.  They only needed to drop a few bombs to get the Zombies attention for miles around.  I’m betting that’s going to be their strategy for taking South Carolina.”  Kyler said to fill the uncomfortable silence that’d settled down around them.  The thought had been percolating around in his head as he mulled over why they’d bother to drop a few bombs then leave.  It made perfect sense.  Shoot a few rockets into a few towns and sit back while the Zombies did all the work.  Then they’d just need to let the other towns know if they didn’t get in line that they’d be next.

“We need to get out of here.  If that works, then this whole town will be crawling with Zombies in no time.”  Kelly said.  Her shaking voice revealing her fear at being trapped to starve to death in a basement while Zombies took over the land above them.  They could always wait a few days then try to sneak out at night but that was hit or miss depending on where the Zombies decided to nest and how many of them actually showed up.  None of them really wanted to try sneaking through a Zombie infested town wearing bright white robes with no weapons.  No matter how comfortable and fluffy the robes were.

As if on cue the door to the basement was thrown open. One of the deputies stomped down the stairs in full riot gear.  He stopped about halfway down.

“The Sherriff asked me to come let you guys out.  You’re free to go.  Just don’t come back.  We only let people leave this town alive once.  Assuming there’s a town to come back to.  I guess you were right about the Brotherhood after all.   Come on and I’ll show you where your gear is then you’re on your own.”  The deputy turned and stomped back up the stairs.

“Let’s go.  Kyler you go ahead and follow him. Make sure you know where our stuff is.  We’ll be up right behind you.”  Randy said.  Kyler nodded and took the stairs two at a time after the deputy.  Kelly and Randy spent a minute getting Doreen calmed down and everyone together.  There was nothing to take with them, so they were moving up the stairs moments after Kyler disappeared through the door above.

At the top of the stairs they followed Kyler into a back room where all their confiscated gear had been shoved in large clear plastic bins. The deputy told know they were expected to be out of the town by the end of the day then left them alone with their gear.  He’d looked like he was going to warn them against using their weapons within city limits. They already knew the town ordinance on making noise, but the rocket attack had pretty much negated that worry for the day.  Any noise they added after all that would be negligible.  They threw their clothes on and then strapped on their weapons.

Less than ten minutes after the deputy had opened the door to the basement they were armed and ready to roll out.  They just needed to figure out where they were rolling out too.

“We should hit the woods and head north.  The Zombies will be coming in on the roads.”  Kyler said.  He was feeling much more confident now that he had the comfortable weight of his weapons hanging off him again.

“Works for me.”  Said Randy.  “Let’s get the hell out of here before the Zombies start showing up.”

They rushed out the front door in a single file line.  Kyler led the way with Randy serving as rear guard.  They needed to get off the streets fast, so Kelly was carrying Zoey, Myriah had Doreen.  Caitlyn was carrying Ali.  Kyler began jogging down the house-lined street they were on.  He was headed away from the big plume of smoke going up in the air where a bomb had hit the textile mill.  Kelly was good with that since there was no telling what kind of chemicals were mixed into the smoke from that place.  They had enough problems without inhaling whatever chemical soup was being blasted into the air from that massive EPA violation.

The houses got more and more spread apart as they ran.  The manicured lawns and rows of homes gradually giving way to thick green forest on both sides of the road.  At the sound of screeches drifting towards them on the brisk wind Kyler led the way up the incline into the woods beside the road.  Progress slowed considerably as they hiked through the dense forest across the hilly landscape.  They took turns carrying Doreen. Kelly had Zoey and Ali start walking on their own.  They could see Zombies streaking past them on the road below.  They were the adrenalized ones tearing down the road in search of whatever had caused the loud noise they’d heard.  Driven by an insatiable desire to rend uninfected human flesh they ran at full speed psychotically singing out their excitement at the anticipated feast of flesh.

Hidden in the woods a good hundred feet above the road they kept moving.  It was tough going.  They had no food or water with them.  The plastic tins of supplies with all their gear in them hadn’t contained any food or water.  That’d pissed Kelly off since they’d accumulated a good deal of supplies in the van, but it wasn’t like there was anyone she could complain to.  They all had to be happy with the fact that the guards on the edge of town hadn’t shot them then left their looted dead bodies to rot on the side of the road.  That scenario seemed a lot more realistic than the thick robes and decent food they’d received before being set loose to continue on their journey.

They may be missing their vehicle and short on supplies but at least they were alive.  Alive and armed which meant they had a chance.  It felt like heaven to Kelly to be able to walk along without her hands bound in front of her in a pair of handcuffs.  Looking down at her wrists, she could make out the red marks that’d been burned in by wearing the cuffs for several days.  At some point she knew she was going to have to find a medical book to dig through to try and understand why her fingers still felt numb after the cuffs had been off for a few hours.  That probably wasn’t a good thing.

She wanted to ask the others if they were having the same issues with their fingers and wrists, but Kyler had told them all about the Zombies with the hypersensitive hearing.  The last thing Kelly wanted to do was risk attracting a bunch of Zombies to come looking for them just to find out if everyone else’s fingers felt as screwed up as hers did.  Not able to do anything about the numbness besides rub her wrists and hands together she continued to trudge along behind Kyler.  She kept her eyes busy roaming the surrounding woods searching for any signs of the infected.

Randy watched Kelly rubbing her wrists and wanted to ask her if she knew how long it’d take before feeling came back to all his fingers.  He was occasionally getting some tingles, but it worried him how dead his hands and fingers felt.  He was especially scared about how numb his trigger finger felt.  If there was one finger that he needed to have working correctly it was that one.  He continued to squeeze his hands open and shut as he walked.  He was wondering now if the girls were better off than him because they had skinnier wrists. That made sense and seemed to be corroborated by the fact that he had yet to see Myriah fuss with her wrists.  She definitely had the skinniest wrists out of all of them.

Leading the pack Kyler flexed his hands as he walked as well.  He shifted his machete from one hand to the other.  He was using the dulled blade to help clear a path through the underbrush.  He was hoping that if they kept quiet then they’d be able to avoid the attention of the mess of Zombies streaming along the highway below.  He was wondering if he needed to call a break for the little kids to rest when he saw an opening in the woods up ahead.  He stopped to check it out a little better. He shifted around some until he was able to make out the small road running through the woods in front of them.

He stood there staring at the opening ahead while the rest of the group caught up to him.  All the kids immediately sank to the ground and went into break mode.  The only one of them not exhausted was Doreen since she’d been carried everywhere the majority of the day.  None of the kids complained about the lack of water or snacks once they’d received negative headshakes after they pantomimed being hungry and thirsty.  They looked like they were pretty serious about taking a nice long break though.  None of them were trying to make eye contact with the adults now that they’d validated no snacks were going to be passed out.  They were obviously trying to avoid the inevitable signal to get back on their feet.

Kyler pointed out the road to Kelly and Randy who came up beside him and stared at it as well.  After a few minutes of trying to guess where the road may lead Kelly shrugged and motioned for the two men to stay behind while she went up ahead to check it out.  Both men felt like they should’ve been the ones to offer to go scout it out, but Kelly was already hunched over and moving quickly through the brush leaving them without the option to argue.  Randy started to follow Kelly and Kyler shook his head.  As far as sneaking around in the woods went two was definitely a crowd.

Randy stood and stared after Kelly fretting about his wife while Kyler, Caitlyn and Myriah joined the kids in taking a break.  Caitlyn wasn’t looking forward to getting back up. As soon as she’d sat down all three of the littles had slid over to use her like a shared bean bag.  She was more than content to snuggle with them while they waited to find out what was going on up ahead.  Kyler sat down to rest his legs while staring hard in the direction Kelly had gone off in.  He was assuming the opening up ahead was a driveway going up to a cabin or a service road for a cell tower or something like that.

Randy and Kyler both felt an enormous sense of relief when Kelly showed back up about fifteen minutes later.  Using a pen and a small spiral notebook she’d taken from the house they’d been held prisoner in she quickly wrote that the opening up ahead was a small road going deeper into the woods.  She hadn’t been able to see anything in either direction since the small road turned sharply before joining the main road down below them.  Kelly wrote she thought they should just just cross the road and continue in the direction they’d been headed.  Kyler wanted to push for seeing what was down the road but when Randy sided with Kelly, he decided to let the majority rule.  He wasn’t keen on disobeying the order to hurry up and get out of this town any more than they were.

Kyler cocked his head to the side and signaled for Kelly and Randy to listen.  While they’d been silently debating whether to follow the road or cross it some background noise had set off Kyler’s internal alarm system.  The three adults got Myriah to get down near Caitlyn while they spread out around the area and tried to melt into the forest.  They sat like that for long enough that Kyler was starting to wonder if he’d imagined the sounds.  Even as he began to consider standing back up to take another look around, he noticed Kelly had transitioned from laying in the weeds with her rifle to looking like she was auditioning for a sniper movie.

He followed the angle of her barrel without seeing anything at first.  A few minutes later two men came walking stealthily through the woods.  The Brotherhood didn’t have a required uniform.  The two men walking through the woods up ahead of them weren’t carrying a big flag with the Brotherhood symbol on it.  Nevertheless, it was obvious to all of them that the two men who’d just disappeared into the woods walking away from them had been Brotherhood soldiers.  It was something about their attitude and the way they walked that marked them.  People who’ve been in the military have something they like to call military bearing and it sticks with people the rest of their lives.  The New American armies were mostly made up of men with military backgrounds which is why Kyler supposed you could spot one of them from a distance.  Add in a touch of the arrogance the Brotherhood soldiers tended to accumulate and it was distinctive enough they’d been able to tell just from the brief glimpse they’d gotten of the men.

Paralyzed with fear at the close encounter with the representatives of evil they thought they’d escaped from by crossing the North Carolina state line they stayed in that spot in the woods for another thirty minutes after the two men had disappeared.  Not knowing if the two men had been part of a larger party or just a couple of scouts, they did know that they needed to get moving.  Randy borrowed Kelly’s notebook to share his thoughts on the subject. He saw them both nod in agreement as his thoughts boiled down to them needing to hurry up and get a lot further north.

Kyler took the lead and they headed out again.  This time moving in a much tighter formation.  They didn’t want to spread out too much in case they ran into more Brotherhood soldiers.  Shaken by the encounter they’d just had they marched on in somber silence.  The plan now was to get outside of the city limits and find a new vehicle so they could head north again.  Kyler was hoping once they made it further into North Carolina they could make contact with the people who’d sent him down to spy on the south in the first place.  Once he’d done that, he could in good faith turn this family over to them to deal with and he could go back to just being a simple soldier.

Chapter 3:  Comply or Die

Krantz stared down at the massive herd of Zombies surging up I-85.  He was sitting in the co-pilot seat of one of the national guard helicopters that’d been pressed into service by Roberts on behalf of the Senator.  Krantz had half-expected to be executed on the spot when he’d reported back to Roberts on the disastrous search for the fugitives.  Not only hadn’t he been able to capture them he’d also been betrayed by his two most trusted men.  Both of whom were branded Brotherhood soldiers.

He still couldn’t believe Rodriguez would’ve gone off like that.  In hindsight he realized he should’ve seen the signs with Kyler.  The young man had obviously been grappling with some serious moral issues.  Ordering him to hunt for a family that included a handful of little kids must’ve pushed him over the edge.  It hadn’t felt right to Krantz either, but he’d been able to compartmentalize those feelings.  He was able to rationalize away the family component by focusing on the fact that the father of the fugitive family had murdered several Brotherhood soldiers on top of killing the Senator’s sister.

There was no rule saying that evil men couldn’t get married and have kids.  It didn’t change the fact that the father was a criminal who deserved to be put on his knees and shot in the face.  Krantz imagined Kyler had just gotten fixated on the fact that the man was a father trying to hold his family together and not really considered the murderer part of the equation.  He recognized it was at least partially his own fault for being so cavalier about orders to shoot at the fugitives and not really giving enough thought to what to do about the kids.

Regardless of the massive mess the hunt for the fugitives had turned into Roberts had taken a liking to Krantz for some reason.  Roberts was the military mastermind behind the Senator’s ability to rise to power.  On top of helping him come into power he was also critical to keeping him in power and expanding that power.  They’d already made their move on Tennessee. The Brotherhood was well on the way to controlling that entire state.  It’d been a nice target since the local warlords there had made consolidating power fairly straightforward.  The standard process of overwhelming military strength followed by seizing the families of the leaders to be brought back to live in the camps in Georgia continued to work well for them.

Roberts and the Senator were both of the opinion that the faster they consolidated power in their target territories the easier it’d be.  If they gave everyone time to get organized and realize that the Brotherhood was an actual threat, then it’d be a lot more difficult to accomplish their goals.  The Senator saw the apocalypse as an opportunity to rebuild society in a more sustainable and ordered fashion.  Roberts was fascinated with the strategy behind it all. Roberts saw the New American expansion as a good thing that’d be bringing the rule of law back to everyone. He was definitely a means to an end kind of guy.

Krantz saw the similarities between the strategy of the Senator and the strategies of Hitler.  The Blitzkrieg approach to taking out the states closest to Georgia and gradually expanding.  The labor camps that’d been setup and the way families were split apart.  He didn’t know if Hitler had used drugs to pacify his people but that may have just been because the drugs weren’t as readily available back then.  Krantz saw all of this, but he also strongly believed that the Senator was right in trying to bring order to this mess.  The apocalypse was chaos and death and disease.  Someone needed to seize the reigns and right the course before society completely collapsed.  The Senator was the only one Krantz knew of who was doing that.

When Krantz had finally caught up with Roberts at the outpost he’d been expecting the worst.  He hadn’t expected to be promoted and put in charge of all the ground forces they were using to take South Carolina.  Roberts had listened to Krantz as he gave a full and honest report of everything that’d happened chasing down the fugitives.  Krantz had briefly considered glossing over some of the details but in the end had just gone with the unvarnished truth.  Roberts had listened attentively to the entire story interrupting a few times to ask for clarification.  Once Krantz had finished his report, Roberts had taken a couple of minutes to digest the information then immediately launched into the new assignment he was giving to Krantz.

“I’m putting you in charge of the ground forces we’re sending into South Carolina. Your mission will be to secure the territory after we soften up their defenses with air raids.  I’m going to need you to setup the supply depots and figure out how to move our men to where they need to be without stirring up a ton of the infected.”  Roberts had ordered him.  That’d started a five-hour brainstorming and planning session.  At the end of which Roberts had left to get the air raids rolling and Krantz had left to put the ground force piece of the puzzle into play.

All of which led to him sitting in a helicopter flying towards the South Carolina border staring down at a road overflowing with the infected.  From above it looked like the road itself was undulating as the massed infected moved along it.

“How many infected do you think are in that group down there?”  Krantz asked the chopper pilot over the secure comm link.

“Maybe fifty thousand?”  The pilot answered.  He’d answered almost immediately so he must’ve been trying to work it out for himself as well.

“Where do you think they’re headed?”  Krantz asked.

“I’m guessing they’re sensing the booms from the rocket attacks the air cavalry is pulling off on the targets in South Carolina.  Or, whoever is the leader of that herd down there may have just thought he heard something and started running and the rest of them started following him.  Flying missions around here I’ve seen herds that make that one look tiny.”  The pilot said.

Krantz leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the leaders of the herd as they flew over them.  There was almost always a decent gap between the leaders and the rest of the herd since the leaders were normally the adrenalized Zombies.  The herd below was no exception as the ones leading the pack were moving fast enough for it to be noticeable as they flew over.  He was happy they hadn’t tried using the interstate to move troops into South Carolina.

They’d opted on a looser approach to moving people in.  It was going to take longer, but the bulk of the troops were marching in on old roads or hiking in through the forests.  They were being given different routes in groups of no more than fifty people.  Those fifty troop patrols were intended to break into even smaller groups the closer they got to their objectives.  Krantz and Roberts had assumed that even moving troops covertly like that they’d still lose a minimum of twenty percent of their men to Zombies.  It just wasn’t possible to move large groups of people without attracting the notice of the infected hordes wandering the area.

They’d considered air lifting everyone in, but fuel was an issue as was qualified pilots.  Plus finding a place to land was challenging enough without trying to land in the same place with multiple helicopters repetitively.  A helicopter setting down once a week somewhere wouldn’t necessarily build up a ton of Zombie interest as long as it was a remote location.  Multiple helicopters setting down would definitely attract way too much Zombie interest.  Large troop carriers were a pain to land since there was always the possibility a group of Zombies may wander onto the runway.  Little planes were fine, but the large ones just weren’t worth the risk.

It wasn’t just the infected they had to worry about.  One of the main challenges with taking over South Carolina was that it’d closed down by sections.  There was no single group that exerted any substantial influence over the other groups.  When the disease started spreading the orders had gone out to the different counties to lock down and avoid contact with one another.  Every county had basically been ordered to self-quarantine.  The people who’d ended up carrying out those orders in most of the cases were the Sheriffs for the different counties.  They’d cooperated statewide until they’d all agreed to just take care of their own counties and leave one another alone.

The lack of a central warlord or leader for the Brotherhood to target made this more difficult than conquering Tennessee had been.  There were around fifty counties in South Carolina to start with.  It didn’t end there though.  In lots of towns and cities the local Sheriffs or the city police had been the ones who seized power after martial law was declared.  Then there were of course the large swaths of land that were barren where massive herds of the infected had cleared everyone out.

The other issue was how to let the people know that they’d been beat and were now under the authority of the Senator.  It wasn’t like they could send out a mass e-mail or announce it on the nightly news.  It’d be a pretty hollow victory if the people in South Carolina didn’t actually know that they’d been liberated.  Not that the vast majority of them would care one way or the other.  They were too busy just trying to survive and rebuild some semblance of a normal life to be overly concerned with what flag they were supposed to be flying.  The Senator was looking to take away that driftlessness and unite the people the same way he was doing in the other states he controlled.  They’d be gifted a sense of community and purpose.  Two things men needed to be considered civilized.

One way they were looking to let the people of South Carolina know they now reported up to the Senator was to drop flyers.  The brochures were being cranked out by the thousands on printers set up in one of the camps down in Georgia.  The waterproofed one pager basically told whoever read it that South Carolina was being added to the New America that the Senator was building from the dust of the old America.  It went on to detail how they could volunteer to be in the people’s army or sign up to be clearers or laborers.  It told them how this system made them safe and kept their families safe.  It also told them that any groups which didn’t comply would be dealt with severely for the good of everyone.

Krantz didn’t know how well the brochures would work but he did know that they had their work cut out for them.  Each of these South Carolina counties had turned into its own little feudal system.  They’d pulled up the drawbridges and weren’t letting anyone in.  The Roberts approach to diplomacy was to blow up a few of the cities and see if that helped change the rest of their minds.  If not, their soldiers would start arriving soon and looking for their objectives.  It was a giant tird sandwich of an operation and they were each going to have to take a big bite.

Krantz looked down again seeing that the massive herd they’d flown over had disappeared behind them.  There was nothing below them now but trees and roads with the occasional lake peeking through.  They were on a combination scouting and leaflet dropping mission.  They had a few special operators in the back they were going to drop near a small municipal airport to see if they could get it up to speed to handle refueling the helicopters that they were going to be using for the attacks.  The men were currently sitting on top of the boxes of leaflets that they’d be dropping on top of the target settlements they’d be flying over.  If the leaflets didn’t work the next aircraft to fly over would be dropping bombs.

The scope of what they were doing seemed insane if you thought about it too much.  Krantz tried to avoid considering the big picture as much as possible by focusing on the logistical details.  He was well aware he was doing the same thing Roberts was. It was a necessary coping mechanism to stay sane.  When you were trying to reoccupy the remnants of the USA during a Zombie apocalypse it helped to do so one step at a time.  Just like the age-old question about how you eat an elephant.  One bite at a time.

The pilot checked his map and opened up the comms to everyone in the helicopter to standby to make a delivery.  Krantz caught the motion of the men in the back as they maneuvered around to push one of the boxes over near the cargo door and wait for the order to open it up and dump the leaflets.  The people down below would be getting the first mail they’d gotten in a long time.  Krantz smiled to himself thinking it was probably going to be about as welcome as opening up your mailbox to see a letter from the IRS informing you that you were the lucky winner of a full audit.

The pilot gave the order and the men in the back opened the bay door.  Once they had it propped open, they flung out the letters.  Looking out the window Krantz didn’t see anyone moving around in the town below.  The fact that he didn’t see any Zombies streaking around told him the area was probably occupied.  If the town had been abandoned there’d have been Zombies who’d have come out at the sound of the helicopter blades whipping the air above them.  This town had obviously been cleaned out and the people in the town were smart enough to keep their heads down when a big warbird hovered over them.  The men in the back signaled they’d dropped all the leaflets in the box and shut the door back up.  The pilot tilted the nose of the helicopter down and they streaked on to the next town on their route.

The list of towns had been supplied by spies that the Brotherhood had been sending up into the northern states to gather intel and cause mischief.  They did things like set up sniper blinds and take out the leaders of the small communities.  They’d been instructed to be extremely careful not to be caught so that the north never knew where they came from.  The mischief patrols had been the brainchild of the Senator.  He’d been planning to take over the east coast since the first reports of the Zombie virus spreading in the USA had been given to him in his daily briefings.

The Senator had let Roberts in on a secret that Roberts had alluded to when him and Krantz were planning out the seizure of South Carolina.  The virus hadn’t been a huge surprise to those in power.  Climate change, income inequality, border walls, human suffering, overcrowding, and just the general decline of the planet due to the sheer numbers of people on it was an issue commonly acknowledged by everyone. Short of filling up space cruisers with millions of people and somehow colonizing Mars though the only real solution was to reduce the population some other way.  The Senator hadn’t come out and told Roberts that the virus was an attempt to curb the human population to handle those issues, but he’d definitely insinuated it heavily.  It made a lot of sense when you thought about it.  Like everything else the government did it’d gotten out of control and had unforeseen consequences.  Instead of a twenty percent reduction in the population of the planet with most of those reductions coming from the poorer regions of the earth the virus had decided to be extremely efficient was well as diversity oriented.  It hadn’t cared how much money you had or what color your skin was.  If it could get near your lungs or in some sort of fluid that you traded with someone who was infected, then it had you.

Krantz had decided to accept that explanation at face value and not put too much thought into it.  To do so would make him have to consider that the man he’d sworn his allegiance to had something to do with killing most of the people on the planet.  Especially since if you looked to see who’d benefitted the most from the infection. The Senator with his megalomania would be near the top of the list.  It did seem like he’d seen it coming and been prepping for it.  Those were some heavy things to consider.

With about half the letters thrown out for the trip they got ready to land at the small airport and deploy the three operators who’d be responsible for securing the airport and getting it ready to refuel helicopters.  They came into the airport low and fast.  The pilot did one quick spin around the place to make sure there wasn’t any obvious threats to the men they were dropping off then set down.  The three men immediately hit the tarmac and started running for one of the hangars. A few Zombies had already shown up and were screeching and giving chase.  The pilot took off as quickly as possible to try and lower the noise level at the airport.

Krantz hoped the same operation was going off as uneventfully at the other locations around the state.  If so then this war with South Carolina would be over in a few weeks.  The leaflets basically told them they’d already lost and what they could expect to happen next.  If they were able to get half the state to go along with that then the other half would eventually either fall in line or die.

The helicopter turned back towards Georgia.  They were careful to make sure they flew along a different route for the return trip.  They delivered the rest of the mail on the way back to their forward operating base on the border of Georgia and South Carolina.  They’d see how many of the settlements they dropped the leaflets on chose to comply.  Ideally this would be a bloodless coup but if not then the second round of examples they made would definitely encourage everyone else to stay in line.  So far, they’d just laid down some rockets in a handful of locations as an example of what they could do. It was the easiest way to show the people of South Carolina that they needed to join with the people’s army for their own protection.

They’d see how many saw the sense in that and how many decided to stand up to them.  Krantz hoped most of the communities saw reason because they had a huge stash of ordinance ready to go thanks to the Senator’s knowledge of weapon stockpiles.  Leave it to politicians to figure out how to make a Zombie apocalypse even more horrifying.

Chapter 4:  Twister

Hearts beating a mile a minute they walked through the forest constantly expecting to stumble across either Zombies or more Brotherhood scouts.  Stomachs gurgling and grumpiness setting in from a lack of sleep the little kids were having a hard time keeping their mouths shut.  They’d been through a lot and this was taxing their last reserves.  It was pretty bad when being locked in a basement with your parents in handcuffs with the possibility of torture and death hanging over you rated as one of the highlights of the last few months.  Of course, the girls had just seen it as days upon days of being able to sit in a basement and rest while people brought food down to them.  The huge fluffy robes had been a sweet bonus.

Now they were out in the woods again.  Zombies were running down the road below them occasionally letting out a piercing shriek.  No food or water was making trekking through the woods increasingly miserable.  When they came across a small stream running down from the top of a hill it seemed like maybe god was listening to their prayers after all.  The small brook was crystal clear and chilly running over a bed of white river rocks.  When you’re living through things like the Zombie apocalypse then worrying about things like if the water is safe to drink become a little less meaningful.  In a small nod to safety Kelly tasted the water before she let any of the kids try it.  It tasted wonderful to her, so a few seconds later they were all busy using their hands to scoop as much water into their mouths as possible.

Kyler scooped in water along with the rest of them.  He knew they should be using pills to purify the water or boiling it before drinking it but more than likely the worse that would happen would be some severe diarrhea.  That wouldn’t be a pleasant experience for any of them, but it was hardly an uncommon one.  Considering they were constantly eating food long past its expiration date that was typically stored on shelves exposed to extreme temperatures for long periods of time they were all pretty used to the occasional bouts of diarrhea.  Seeing Doreen break into a smile when Zoey splashed her in the face made the potential need for Maalox well worth it.

They had no canteens or water bottles to carry any of the water with them so they settled for each drinking as much as they could hold before moving on.  Stomachs sloshing, they forded the small stream using big rocks to carefully hop across.  On the other bank they took one last opportunity to sip some additional water before heading back into the woods.  An hour later the road they were paralleling took a sharp turn to the north east which worked out well since that’s the exact direction they wanted to be moving in.

The small two-lane road below was still covered in a decent number of Zombies trudging towards the sound of the explosions earlier.  Kyler theorized the ones below may not have even heard the explosions.  They were probably just moving down the road in the direction of the other Zombies who’d been moving down the road.  Whatever the reason for the Zombies being on the road it meant that they were stuck beating their way through the woods instead of walking along the nice smooth concrete below.

It was starting to get dark outside.  The shadows cast by the trees were getting longer.  Between exhaustion and the reduced visibility, the girls were starting to trip over roots and branches every second step they took.  The adults weren’t doing much better.  An overgrown and washed out dirt road intersected their path.  Hoping the small road may lead to a house they could spend the night in Kyler stopped and waited for everyone to catch up.  As if to help his cause a light rain started to fall.

“I say we head up this road and see if it leads to somewhere that we can spend the night.  Hopefully somewhere with food.”  Kyler whispered to Randy and Kelly.  They were standing in a circle with their heads close together.  The light rain having escalated to more of a steady drizzle.  Kyler wasn’t too worried about anything hearing them with the muting effect of the rain.  He still made sure to whisper just loud enough to barely be heard.  Randy looked like he wasn’t convinced.  Kelly looked like a human bobblehead in her enthusiasm to agreeing to find a house to stay in for the night.

“Love to give the kids the chance to sleep in an actual bed.  Especially with this rain coming in I don’t like the idea of crashing in the woods for the night.” Kelly whispered emphatically.  Randy shrugged his shoulders knowing he’d just been overruled.

They looked up and down the dirt road and didn’t see anything moving along it.  Kyler carefully stepped out on the road and began walking.  He was really hoping for a nice big house.  A mansion would be wonderful.  He’d settle for a log cabin or something along those lines.  What they got was an overgrown opening in the woods at the end of the road with three dilapidated looking trailers.  Two of the trailers were missing windows.  A common occurrence when the infected stuck inside homes broke out to look for uninfected to munch on.  They had to use the windows once they passed the point of being able to figure out how to operate a doorknob.

Open to the elements for who knew how long those two trailers were going to be nasty on the inside.  With the rain really beginning to pick up some gusto Kelly started jogging towards the third trailer.  Randy and Kyler rushed to catch up with her while Caitlyn and Myriah ushered the little kids along.  Kelly paused on the concrete block stairs leading up to the front door to look back and make sure everyone was following her.  She turned back around and tried twisting the doorknob.  It was locked.

Undeterred she skipped down the concrete block stairs and ran around to the other side of the trailer.  A large wooden deck on that side of the trailer was leaning over crazily where a few of the supports had rotted away.  Kelly carefully climbed up the slick deck to check out the sliding glass doors.  The rain was really starting to come down as she checked to see if the doors would open.  They weren’t opening for her but when Randy materialized beside her a few seconds later they were able to get the door off its track by pushing it extremely hard at different angles.  The owners of the trailer hadn’t gone the extra mile for security and shoved a piece of wood in the lower track, so they were able to push it up to disengage the lock then slide the door open.

Confident Kyler and the older girls would be keeping the littles safe Randy and Kelly entered the run-down singlewide to clear it.  The inside smelled of must, mildew and mold.  The three ‘m’s of the apocalypse.  The first half of the trailer they cleared with no problem.  Judging by the furniture and pictures on the wall the trailer had belonged to a couple of old women.  Kyler was excited to see an array of canned foods in the cabinets.  There was boxed food as well, but the mice had already gotten into that based on the holes in the sides of the boxes.  The mouse droppings scattered all over the floor and cabinets further evidence backing up that observation.

The other side of the trailer turned out to be where the freakshow resided.  Randy led the way pointing his pistol into each space they passed.  He took the time to poke around and make sure no Zombies were hidden anywhere in the rooms.  He’d much rather find the Zombies when he was standing there ready to unleash some lead rather than in the middle of the night when he was stumbling around trying to figure out a good place to pee.  He absolutely didn’t want the kids being the ones who found any Zombies playing a long game of hide and eat.

The last door in the trailer looked like it might open to what would count as the master bedroom in this meth mansion.  Behind them Kyler had entered the trailer and was directing the girls to have a seat on the couch.  Kyler left the door open for now anticipating there might be a need for a fast getaway.  The girls were all dripping wet from the torrential rain pouring down.  When the rain started coming in sideways Kyler went ahead and shoved the sliding glass door loosely back into place as well as he could.  Kelly and Randy had really done a number on the track.

At the end of the hallway Randy was pushing on the hollow aluminum door he assumed opened up into the master bedroom.  Kelly was standing behind him gripping her pistol tightly in her hand.  She’d been looking behind her to make sure Kyler and Caitlyn had the brains to come in out of the rain.  Randy gave up on trying to finagle the lock. He took a step back and then just kicked the door really hard.

The door swung inwards then swung back towards them with the momentum of the two Zombies on the other side of the door slamming into it.  Pale sore covered arms stuck out of the crack in the door waving around frantically.  Kelly and Randy skipped backwards about five feet down the hall before coming to a stop and aiming their weapons at the door.  The Zombies finally figured out how to pull on the door to open it and charged into a volley of pistol bullets courtesy of Kelly and Randy.

In the rush of defending themselves they didn’t notice the small oozing mess of an infected baby crawling towards them.  Kelly looked down to see the blood and sore covered pathetic mess mewling excitedly as it clawed its way in their direction.  She pointed her pistol at it but couldn’t make herself pull the trigger.  A second later two shots rang out as Randy ended the things miserable existence.  Looking back over her shoulder Kelly saw Kyler and the kids standing by the sliding glass door staring in her direction.  She told Randy to stay where he was so they could block the sight of the dead baby from the kids.

“We’re going to shove this mess back in the bedroom and clear it, but I think we’re good here for the night.”  Kelly said over her shoulder to Caitlyn and Kyler.  “Go ahead and doublecheck the other rooms for us and start getting everyone settled in.  I say we stay on the other end of the trailer away from the blood down here.  We also want to be away from that broken door.  The living room is going to be flooded by morning if this keeps up.”

“Got you.”  Kyler said.  He understood she was trying to keep the kids from seeing whatever it was they’d killed on the other side of the trailer.  He started working with Caitlyn to herd the rest of the children to the other end of the mobile home.

“Let’s get this over with.”  Kelly said taking a tentative step forward.

“I’ve got this.”  Randy said putting his arm in front of her to block her from moving forward.

“You sure?”  Kelly asked.

“Absolutely babe.  No reason for both of us to have to deal with it.  You go take care of getting everyone settled and see if we can’t get that sliding door back on its track better.  I’m thinking we may have been a little over enthusiastic when we broke in.”

Kelly gave Randy a quick kiss of gratitude and walked back down the hall away from the mess. She cast one last sad glance at the pathetically small corpse of the infected baby as she was leaving.  Randy stuck his pistol and flashlight in front of him and went into the back bedroom to make sure there wasn’t anything else waiting to surprise them.  The tiny master had a small bathroom off it and one big window on each side.  The windows were covered with heavy drapes to keep the light out.  Randy imagined sticking your head in a well-used port a potty at the height of summer would provide a similar aroma to what he was currently enjoying in the confined space.

Why the Zombies hadn’t broken out the windows was a mystery.  Maybe the heavy drapes confused them.  Randy couldn’t remember seeing a single picture of a baby in the trailer either.  Just multiple pictures of the two older ladies and some old pictures of their family.  Another mystery that would never be solved.  Randy tried to imagine how the family had ended up stuck in this back bedroom in the middle of nowhere while the original occupants had long ago wandered off.

The game he liked to play in his head was a survival mechanism.  It kept him preoccupied just enough that he didn’t focus too much on the baby’s face when he scooped it up in the small wastebasket he took from the bathroom.  Preoccupied or not he couldn’t help but notice the basket weighed practically nothing additional after he slid the corpse of the dead baby into it.  He set the dead infant filled waste basket down in the bathtub and covered it with a towel from the towel rack.  Rather than sit there and give himself time to dwell on what he’d just done he hurried out in the hall to deal with the other two bodies.

Neither of the other two bodies had landed too far out in the hallway.  Kelly and Randy had waited until the Zombies figured out how to open the door then filled them full of lead.  Given all that time to prep for the fight and the short distance between them and the Zombies head shots had been plentiful.  The results were gross and messy but mostly contained within the bedroom side of the doorframe.  Using an incredibly musty pillow speckled with spots of mold Randy nudged the pieces and parts he needed to until he could shut the door on the whole mess.  Hoping the baby wouldn’t make an encore appearance in his nightmares Randy went down the hall to check on how everyone else was doing.

Kyler was squatting on the other side of the broken slider frantically waving at Randy.  Not knowing what Kyler was so excited about but figuring turning off his flashlight and getting down low were a good response to the wild waving he did so.  He duckwalked his way through the musty trailer towards the sliding glass doors.  Kyler had moved back into the shadows once Randy had turned off his light.  Randy got on his belly and slid up next to the doors.  He angled himself so he wouldn’t be easily seen from the outside and stared out into the pitch-dark open area between the trailers.

He didn’t know if it’d gotten so dark due to the intense thunderstorm or if the sun had just finally gone down.  He’d lost track of the time at this point.  He started to check the phone he had in his pocket but realized at the last second that the glow from the phone might be visible from outside the trailer so refrained.  He couldn’t see anything outside in the dark, but he started hearing occasional screeches over the howling of the wind and the machine gun staccato of the pounding rain striking the trailer.

A flash of lightning revealed several humanoid shapes moving around out in the open area.  All Randy could think of was it must be the ones with the hypersensitive hearing that Kyler had warned them about.  Randy hadn’t even been worried about pulling the trigger on the Zombies in the bedroom since he’d figured the raging storm outside would cover up any noise they made.  There was no way the sound of the pistols shooting should’ve been audible through the storm on the road where the Zombies had been trudging along.

Possible or not it looked like that’s what’d happened.  Luckily the Zombies seemed confused now as to what to do.  Randy really hoped none of them decided to try and break into the trailer they were in.  With the broken slider it’d be super easy for the monsters to come in and nest down.  Even if they all hid in the back bedroom with the door closed and tried not to make any noise there was no telling if they’d be safe given the extraordinary hearing some of the monsters had developed.  A single sneeze and they could end up fighting for their lives against a dozen adrenalized infected.

The infected outside were just the front runners.  Where the adrenalized led the regular Zombies followed.  By the time another lightning strike lit up the outside area it may be crawling with them.  Worried that if he didn’t act fast, he may end up stuck hiding out in the bedroom filled with the corpses of the infected they’d just killed Randy began sliding on his stomach around the interior of the living room.  He kept furniture between himself and the slider as much as possible.  He was halfway around the room when the slider was thrown into the trailer by a freakishly large Zombie whose nude body was covered in massive muscles.

Multiple lightning strikes lit up the sky outside momentarily turning the inside of the trailer as bright as day.  Randy had been confident he was basically invisible behind the couch. He hadn’t realized the couch was actually a chair.  The bottom half of his body was completely exposed in the sudden light.  The hulk like Zombie zeroed in on him and let out a long screech before jumping towards him.

Kyler watched all these events unfold from down the hall where he’d thrown a blanket over his body and was poking his head out of the small laundry room.  The appearance of the naked hulk like infected had momentarily set him back.  He saw the monster leap in the direction he assumed Randy was hiding in then the room went back to being pitch black.  Night vision completely screwed Kyler stood up and ran into the living room to help Randy.  Over the sound of the hail that was now striking the roof he heard answering screeches from the Zombies outside.  He frantically searched for Randy while willing his eyesight to come back or another lightning flash to reveal what the hell was going on in the claustrophobic space.

Randy had kicked the crawling into high gear as soon as he saw the massive beast leaping for him.  The super-sized Zombie stuck his hands behind the chair where Randy had been less than a second prior.  Screaming with rage it whipped the chair backwards over its head and hit its knees feeling around for the person it’d just seen moving back there.  The chair it’d casually tossed over its head struck Kyler in the chest knocking him out of the open slider onto the tilted porch.  Randy crawled out of the living room faster than a baby on crank.  He didn’t stop freaking out until he slid into the room with an anxious Kelly.

No one said a word.  No one could see anything.  None of them had the slightest idea Kyler was missing.  Kelly assumed he was still positioned out in the laundry room where he’d been hiding waiting for Randy to make it back.  When Randy had been in the room for a few minutes and Kyler still hadn’t made an appearance, she started getting a bad feeling.

On the porch outside a stunned Kyler was being pelted with softball sized chunks of ice.  Like a hulk Zombie wasn’t bad enough to ruin his day.  He heard screeches near him and looked out into the darkness.  A lightning strike lit up the sky and he saw there were now about a hundred Zombies milling around outside in the open space.  The most sphincter tightening thing he noticed was they were all moving towards him.  He went to pull his pistol and couldn’t find it.  He’d had it in his hand when he got hit in the face by a flying recliner so that was probably a lost cause.

Not seeing where he had much of a choice if he wanted to live, he unstrapped his M-16 and swung that in front of him as the light from the most recent lightning strike faded away.  He turned away from the Zombies coming towards him and crawled up the broken porch towards the open slider.  He was hallway towards the opening when a sudden inspiration struck him.  Without spending a ton of time thinking about it he ran away from the trailer towards the other side of the clearing.

He was being struck by hail.  Every time he got hit in the head it made him swoon and a few times he dropped down to one knee before being able to continue.  One piece hit his hand so hard he felt his pinky snap.  Hoping that was something he could fix later he ignored the extreme pain from all the hits he was taking and kept blindly running through the dark.  The wind was howling.  It sounded like a freight train at this point.  He bumped into a Zombie and spun away from it before continuing to jog across the clearing.

When he felt like he was far enough he dropped down to one knee and waited for a lightning strike to show him his targets.  As soon as the sky lit up again, he picked out a few Zombies close to him and shot them.  When the light faded, he ran in the direction of the trailer.  He tripped over a Zombie laying on the ground and landed with his gut on the butt of his rifle.  Breath knocked out of him he lay there staring into the sky.  Lightning ripped across the sky again and he saw a massive funnel cloud ripping through the woods.  It dawned on him that the freight train noise he was hearing was a tornado.

Shooting on the other side of the clearing had the desired effect.  When he made it back into the trailer the hulk was nowhere to be seen.  He stomped his way to the back room where he knew Kelly and Randy should be.  He really hoped Randy had made it.  He was whispering silent prayers the hulk hadn’t gone into the back bedroom after trashing the living room furniture.  He had his rifle out.  He wasn’t worried about noise at this point.  You couldn’t hear anything anymore with the tornado bearing down on them.  It wasn’t lost on him that there was a tornado coming and he was trying hard to get into a mobile home.

He beat on the door and yelled his name until it was jerked open and he was pulled inside.  Kelly hugged him.  Randy patted him on the back hard enough to make him feel like he was getting the Heimlich.  Kyler was trying to yell that a tornado was coming but felt like that may be redundant at this point.  The whole trailer was bouncing around.  There were two twin beds in the room.  Randy and Kyler pulled the mattresses down to the floor and shoved the girls underneath them.  The trailer started shifting around like crazy.  Everything was vibrating.  One of the windows in the room blew out and one of the mattresses covering the kids got sucked against the window hard.  A second later the mattress got thrown back at them.

A feeling of weightlessness and then the trailer was tumbling.  Everyone inside getting a free carnival ride in the process.  Kyler got hit in the head by the dresser while he was trying to pin the mattress down across the kids.  Randy got knocked out trying to use his own body to protect the kids.  Kelly held onto Zoey and Doreen as hard as she could wrapping her body around them while Caitlyn and Myriah struggled to keep Ali inside the trailer.  A surge of noise and a feeling of weightlessness engulfed them all

The wild ride ended in darkness, pain and the coppery taste of blood.

Chapter 5:  Leap of Faith

Pounding rain striking his face woke Kyler up.  Every part of his body hurt.  He felt like he’d only been out for a couple of seconds but for all he knew it could’ve been hours.  A flash of lightning revealed a section of the roof was ripped off.  Unable to figure out why the roof looked so weird Kyler fumbled around for his flashlight.  He knew it was probably a horrible idea with the Zombies running around all over the place, but he had a gut feeling that something was very off.

He played the beam of light around the interior of the room.  It took him a minute to figure out that he was actually sitting on the wall.  The hole the rain was coming through was from a missing window.  He continued to play the light around until he saw the mattress the kids had all been holding onto.  An assortment of arms and legs were sticking out from under it.  As he stared worriedly at the mattress willing the kids to be alright the arms and legs started to shift around. A few more seconds and Zoey emerged followed by Kelly dragging Doreen out.  Doreen was whimpering and holding her arm.

Kelly saw Kyler across the room shining the flashlight and shot him a thumbs up.  Kyler walked slowly across the trailer and helped dig the rest of the kids out of the pile of cheap furniture they’d ended up in.  Randy was bleeding from a long gash on his leg.  Other than Randy’s leg and Doreen’s screwed up arm everyone seemed to have survived the trailer being turned into the inside of a giant washing machine.  Kyler crawled towards the window again killing his light.  The window on the top of the trailer still letting rain pour in.  The bottom of the trailer, the part that used to be the wall, was starting to accumulate a standing puddle of water.

Kyler tried looking down through the window but couldn’t see anything.  He was wondering if there was enough room for them to crawl out the window if they needed to.  He was still trying to see out of it when Randy crawled up next to him.  They both stared at the window as if the harder they stared the more likely they’d be able to see through the solid wall of darkness.

The trailer shifted.  There was a groaning sound of tortured metal loud enough to be heard over the pounding rain on the outside of the trailer.

“We must be leaning on something.  The water’s filling up the trailer and making us heavier so we’ll settle the rest of the way to the ground.  Let’s crack the window open so the water runs out.  Maybe that’ll slow us down.  At least it’ll help us see what’s going on underneath us.  I’m hoping we have room to crawl out if we need to.”  Randy said.

Randy and Kyler worked their fingers around the edge of the window to figure out how to get it unlocked.  Once they had it unlocked, they applied some brute strength and got it to slide up about a foot.  The water in the trailer rushed out the opening and cascaded down to the ground below.  Completely confused by the sound the water was making Kyler held up his flashlight and looked at Randy.  Randy considered it for a second then nodded his head.  The risk of shining the light and being seen was worth figuring out what was going on with the trailer.

Kyler shined the light down using his fingers to mask the bulk of the beam.  Kelly had crawled over and joined them at this point as well with the kids spread out behind her.  She had the kids sitting on the mattresses trying to keep them a little bit dry.  Directly underneath them was a ton of green pine needles.  The open window looked like when you opened the box to your fake Christmas tree to get it ready to setup for the season.  They all took this to mean the trailer must’ve flipped over and the part with the window had landed on a small pine tree or possibly the branch of a large pine tree and that’s what was holding them up in the air.  That would explain the groaning metal sounds they kept hearing.

Randy signaled for Kyler to hand him his flashlight.  Randy struck his hand out the window and moved a big mass of the pine needles out of the way.  Kyler watched as Randy’s face went from curious to terrified.  Randy nudged Kelly who took a look and immediately turned a whiter shade of pale as well.  Kyler looked over at them and shrugged to try and get them to explain what was going on.  Randy motioned for him to roll around to the side of the window him and Kelly were on.  Kyler moved over and when Randy handed him the light, he looked out the window.

“How the hell did we get way up here?”  Kyler asked.

“Haven’t you ever seen the movie Twister?  Flying cows and all that.”  Randy answered.

“This is more like the Wizard of Oz.  This is insane.”  Kelly added carefully backing away from the open window.

Peering down through the branches Kyler could make out the forest floor a good fifty or sixty feet below them.  It was far enough down that the powerful Maglite he was using was having difficulty throwing a beam all the way there.  It was far enough down that the trailer crashing to the ground could easily kill them all.

Another long drawn out groan of tortured metal had them all holding their breaths.  Randy was squeezing the floor as if he could keep it from falling if he just squeezed hard enough.  Kelly had turned around to let Caitlyn and Myriah know what was going on.  She didn’t know if it’d help or not, but she wanted to make sure the kids were sitting on the mattresses.  She hoped it would help break their fall if they suddenly went sledding down the side of the pine tree in the giant aluminum coffin.

“I don’t think the trees are going to hold this thing for very long.”  Kyler whispered.  He was being silent out of habit.  At the moment they had bigger things to worry about than Zombies with really good hearing.

As if to emphasize his comment the groaning sound started up again.  This time the cheek clinching noise was accompanied by the equally horrifying sound of breaking branches.  Kyler got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.  Like the way you feel when you get to the top of a roller coaster track and look at the steep drop front of you.  The difference being at the top of the coaster tracks you could tell yourself that thousands of people rode that thing every day and walked away from it. He’d never heard of anyone using a trailer to base jump out of a pine tree before.  He decided it felt more like being at the top of the scary part of a coaster and when you looked down you saw the dead bodies and twisted metal of the people who’d gone over the top right before you.

“Hold on!”  Randy yelled.  Kyler thought the yelling was probably unneeded since by this point everyone in the room was in a complete panic.  The only ones not freaking out were Zoey and Ali who had no idea what was going on.  Doreen had joined in the spirit of the freak out since all the adults were doing it.  Zoey and Ali weren’t far behind her since seeing their parents lose their cool meant something uber bad must be happening.

The groaning stopped.  The trailer had shifted around a little bit, but it seemed like they were back to being in a semi-stable state.  Randy started shining the light around the trailer again.  He focused in on the door leading into the room.  The closed door was high enough up on the wall that he’d have to stand on someone’s shoulders to reach it.  Reconsidering that he realized as the heaviest person in the trailer he’d probably be the one getting stood on.  Everyone followed his beam of light to look at the sideways door just out of arms reach.  Randy thought about moving the dresser over to that side to stand on but was worried it might shift the balance in the trailer too much and send them toppling out of the tree.

“Ok.”  Kelly said loudly enough to get everyone’s attention.  With everyone staring at her she continued.  “We’ve somehow ended up stuck in a sideways mobile home at the top of a bunch of trees.  We need to get out of here before the bough breaks.  The only three ways out I see are the windows, the door and riding this thing to the ground.  I prefer to climb down so I think we need to check the door and see if we can get out that way.”

“Alright.  You heard your mom.  Everybody stays still while we check out the door.  Kyler, you’re a tall and lanky kid, want to see if you can climb up my back and see what’s going on with the door?”  Randy asked projecting way more confidence than he actually felt.  He actually wished Kelly hadn’t emphasized the fact that they were sitting in a trailer at the top of a tree and could fall at any second.  It did seem to be working to keep the girls from shifting around too much though.  They were now just kind of lying in a huddle on the soaked mattress in complete terror at the thought of falling to their deaths.

“Lanky?  Where’d you dredge up that word grandpa?”  Kyler asked trying to keep up the confident and casual air he felt the kids needed to see as well.  Even though they were probably less than ten minutes from screaming their way to a horribly painful death.

Kelly moved over to look out the open window.  The rain was beating down with less intensity now.  It was still creating a miniature waterfall out the open window down to the ground far below though.  The trailer was swaying in the gusts of wind that kept hitting it.  Each time the trailer moved everyone held their breaths.  Each of them sure that each time the trailer moved was going to be the time they finally fell.

Randy positioned himself awkwardly against the wall of the trailer.  Kyler came up behind him as he dropped down to his hands and knees.  Kyler stood on Randy’s back at which point he could just touch the cheap gold colored door handle Kelly was shining the light on.  He didn’t want to make a jump for it or make any other sudden movements that may tip the trailer too far in any one direction. He thought about the issue for a second before getting an idea.

With everyone watching Kyler quickly worked off his belt.  Not the handyman belt he had on with his weapons dangling off of it but the regular belt he was wearing to hold his pants up.  He wrapped the belt around the doorknob and used it to twist the knob until the latch clicked and the door moved away from the doorjamb.  Kyler stretched up to see if he could see out the small crack in the door and his pants fell down around his ankles.  He pulled the machete out of his tool belt and used it to prop open the door so he wouldn’t have to deal with that again then calmly pulled his pants back up and put his belt back on.  Wishing the entire time that he wasn’t wearing the SpongeBob boxers he’d snagged at the last Ross they’d looted.

It was only after getting his pants back on that he turned and acknowledged the kids who were completely cracking up over his pants falling down.  Even Doreen was pointing at him and giggling her head off.  Deciding it wasn’t appropriate to flip off a bunch of little girls he smiled and gave them a little bow before turning back around to try and get the door open more.  He finally did a cautious pull up to get himself even with the door. He used the machete to push it up as far as he could get it to go.  He had his Maglite turned on and shoved in his mouth.

He shined the light around outside to confirm what he thought he’d seen from inside the door then climbed down off Randy’s back and sat down on the floor to think.

“What’s out there?”  Kelly asked him from across the room.  Randy had sat up and was staring at him as well.

“Nothing.  It looks like the only part of the trailer that made it up here is the part we’re in.  I can see the tree and a bunch of little branches but there’s no trailer and nothing that looks easy to hold onto and climb out of here.”  Kyler said.  He was thinking the only option was for him to just kind of go for it.  He really wished they had some rope.  If they had rope, they could start lowering the kids down to the ground right now.  How the hell did he keep getting in these situations?  He must’ve done something pretty horrible in a former life.

“What’s the plan then?”  Kelly asked.

“I go out the door and see if there’s a way for everyone else to come out that way.  If there is then hopefully, we can climb down without killing ourselves.”  Kyler answered ignoring the urge to make an obscure reference to a Zombie movie he loved based on Kelly’s question.  People had become a lot less appreciative of the humor in those movies once Zombies had actually started eating their families.

“I’ll do it.”  Randy said.

“You’re too big.”  Kyler argued.

“You’re also clumsy.”  Kelly chimed in.

“Ok.  Wait a second though.  Let’s figure out something we can use to tie around your waist or something, so you don’t just jump out the door and fall to your death.  Can we agree on that idea?”  Randy said in exasperation.

Looking around the room they were able to collect a few thick power cords and a bunch of clothes including the fabric belts that you use to hold a robe closed.  Whoever had lived in the trailer must’ve taken advantage of the robe factory outlet store or something as they had a basket full of them.  Ominous creaks in the floor/wall while they walked around gathering the supplies had them rushing to MacGyver a safety harness for Kyler.  When they were done it didn’t look like anything Randy would’ve personally wanted to bet his own life on.  With all the creaking and groaning noises there didn’t seem to be a lot of time to perfect it though.

Kyler had Randy lace his fingers together and give him a boost so he could more easily get to the door jamb.  At the door he did a slow pull up.  Once he was high enough, he threw a leg over the door jamb.  Heart beating a mile a minute he sat there with one leg in the trailer and the other dangling in space.  Squeezing the trailer wall between his legs like a modest girl in a dress who’d gotten talked into riding a mechanical bull he slowly pulled his Maglite back out of his pocket.

The rain was still coming down, but it had lessened from biblical proportions to just your run of the mill thunderstorm.  Turning the light on Kyler suddenly wondered if he should be worried about being struck by lightning.  That’d pretty much make this the perfect day.  He knocked on the side of the door jamb quickly to alleviate jinxing himself.  Shining the light around he saw the trailer was resting between a handful of huge pines tress that’d all grown near one another.  Near enough that the boughs from the different trees were working together to support the weight of the trailer.

There was no sign of the rest of the trailer.  Other than the jagged boards, wiring and insulation hanging off the wall of the room he’d crawled out of it was as if the rest of the trailer had never existed.  Shining the light straight down Kyler saw the interlaced branches that were working together to hold up the room from the trailer.  If he hung from the door and dropped straight down, then he should be able to drop on to the branch below. Once on that branch then he should be able to easily crawl along it to the main tree trunk.  From there he assumed he’d be able to climb all the way to the ground.

He let Randy and Kelly know he was fixing to take the leap of faith.  Hoping he didn’t have to actually depend on the ghetto harness they’d rigged up he swung his other leg outside the relative safety of the trailer.  He lowered himself down until his feet were dangling a few feet above where he thought the main branch should be.  He breathed in and out a few times then let go.

That fall of a few feet seemed to take an eternity.  When he finally felt his feet plant on the branch that he’d been aiming for he still almost slipped off.  He came an inch from falling to his death he was so surprised he’d actually made it.  It was a big branch and there were others around it.  It was by no means a safe walkway, but it was doable.  Kyler was thinking they could lower the kids down one by one. Once they were down, he could have them go sit by the trunk until they were all out then they could work on getting down together.

“I made it.  I think we can get out this way.  We just have to be beyond careful.”  Kyler yelled to be heard above the noise from the storm.  Looking at the cheap trailer wall in front of him he suddenly had another idea.  Wondering why they hadn’t thought of this already he whacked on the wall a few times.

“What are you doing?”  Kelly yelled from the inside.  Then she must’ve figured it out as well since he felt the vibrations from them striking the wall from the inside.

A few minutes later they had a hole big enough for them to stare at each other through.  Another ten minutes of careful hammering and the hole was big enough for them to fit the kids  and Kelly out of.  Randy may have a little trouble but the rest of them would be fine.  Kelly tied the kids together with the robe ropes they’d collected.  Once everyone was tied together, she let them start scampering across the branches to get to the trunk Kyler was directing them to.

At the trunk they all waited while Randy beat his way through the wall.  Once he made it over, they began the long, methodical process of carefully climbing down out of the tree.  Having survived being flung into the tree by a tornado they felt like they’d used up all their good luck for the day so needed to be super careful climbing down.  They were about halfway down when a loud noise above them made them all pause and look up.  They watched in awe as the wreckage of the trailer crashed down through the branches around them separating into multiple parts before slamming hard into the ground below.

Feeling like they’d dodged a bullet they kept moving down the rough and soaking wet surface of the tall pine.  Randy was on a branch about ten feet from the ground when the first screeching Zombie showed up to see what all the noise was about.  Randy pushed Zoey back up the branch she was trying to climb down from and hugged the tree while he waited to see how bad the situation was going to get.  The idea of floating around on the aircraft carrier Kyler had mentioned was starting to sound very appealing.

Chapter 6:  Columbia Cloud Base

“I need you to build bridges between the tops of the buildings so we can retake Columbia from the infected and use it as an FOB.”  Krantz explained to the confused looking man in front of him.  The guy was a retired Navy Seabee, but he wasn’t acting very ‘can do’ about the request.  To Krantz it made perfect sense.  They needed to pick a point to resupply the troops they were sending to South Carolina.  The ideal place would be centralized with easy access to all the roads.  Columbia was perfect except that is was full of Zombies.

“We can’t get the heavy equipment in we’d need to do that using helicopters small enough to land on the roofs.”  The grizzled, short man was trying to explain.

Krantz had heard it all afternoon.  He knew it wasn’t a normal ask.  These weren’t exactly normal times though.  They were rewriting the handbook on warfare every day.  They might as well use an etch a sketch to figure out their strategy it changed so frequently.  His vision was a city in the sky using the tops of the buildings in Columbia to stage people and equipment.  They could block off the top floors and build out barracks and storehouses.  The more he thought about it the more ways he could see it working to their advantage.  He just needed to convince this guy to get it done.

“Ok.  You use small helicopters to drop off the teams who will secure the roofs.  You prebuild the bridges that are going to run between the buildings and fly them in with some of our bigger helicopters.  Do it in sections if we have to.  Get people on each rooftop working as soon as possible.  They can start clearing off the roofs to make it easier to land then start clearing the top floors.  They’ll need to block it off the stairwells so that no one can access the roofs from the ground.  The infected will be the moat around the bottom of our castles in the sky.  This making sense now?”  Krantz asked.  He’d requested this guy because he was supposed to be the guy who could get stuff done.  So far, the only thing he’d gotten done was building up excuses not to do anything.  Something he’d just said triggered another avalanche of patronizing questions from the guy.

“Don’t you need the helicopters to transport troops?  I’m not going to be able to get all the helicopters and pilots I need if they’re all being used to ferry troops around and shoot up the South Carolinians.”

It dawned on Krantz that he’d been put in charge of all the ground troops.  He’d been trying to work with this guy like he was trying to hire a contractor to build an addon room for his house.  Screw that.  He took on a stern stance and went into what he thought of as ‘officer mode’.

“Listen.  I’m going to give you three big helicopters and pilots who can fly them next week.  I’m giving you one smaller one today.  You’re in charge of getting the cloud base I just described done in three months.  Figure it out.  Any questions?”

“No sir.  Who do I work with to get access to everything?”  The man said.  He was now striking the proper tone of deference.

Krantz gave him the names of the logistics people who were in charge of the helicopters and assigned two troops worth of men to get the base started.  The men were a mix of soldiers and clearers with a couple of low-level Brotherhood officers mixed in for leadership.  Orders given and acknowledged Krantz walked out of the cabin and gazed out across the lake.  The place he was currently leading the troops from was a cabin at the end of a dock on a lake by Santee, SC.  Their helicopters were sitting on the cracked asphalt of the local discount outlet stores shopping center.

They were there to accept the formal surrender of the Orangeburg county militia.  The leader there had watched a couple helicopters fly over and reviewed the leaflets dropped out of them. They’d sent their notice to surrender the next day.  The county Sherriff had sent an envoy to the Brotherhood saying they were ready to be absorbed.  Krantz kept wanting to say assimilated but knew that was just the Trekkie in him.

The Sherriff’s request had caught Krantz and Roberts flat footed.  They’d been so focused on getting people to surrender that they didn’t have a clear process in place for when people actually surrendered.  Roberts had decided that flying over and explaining the process that didn’t exist yet to the Sherriff of a county he’d never heard of should be delegated straight to Krantz.  Krantz had immediately started digging through the propaganda printouts they’d been dumping all over South Carolina.  He hadn’t realized until then exactly how vague the damned things were.

The lake was peaceful.  It’s surface like a giant mirror with barely a ripple disturbing it.  The odd stillness to the air made his spine tingle in anticipation of something.  He wasn’t sure what that something was, but he felt like this was the calm before the storm.  The Sherriff and his people were supposed to come here by boat sometime in the next few hours.  Once they got here Krantz was going to sit them down and explain what being a part of the Brotherhood really meant.  If they didn’t like it then they wouldn’t walk out of the meeting alive.

Krantz hoped they liked it.  It made everything so much easier if they could just get the local leadership to go along with the plan.  They really needed to take over South Carolina in nice big chunks.  None of them wanted to try and hunt down groups of ten to twenty people spread out all over the place.  It was so much more efficient to bring them on board in nice big groups like the one he’d be meeting with.  It was depressing seeing how few had survived in some of these counties.  They may have self-quarantined almost immediately, but it obviously hadn’t worked as well as they’d hoped for everyone.

A lump laying on the path leading to the dock caught Krantz’s eye.  He walked a little bit closer until he could make it out.  The bloated body of a naked sore covered dead infected man with arrows sticking out of him slowly coming into focus.  Krantz was always on the lookout for men with talent.  One of his favorite things to look for in his personal bodyguard were men who could use a bow well.  He had three of them patrolling the woods leading to the cabin right now.  Any Zombies that wandered up would get quietly taken out just like the one currently lying dead in the mud.

They needed the bows and any other silent weapons they could get considering everywhere they went in a helicopter became a Zombie mecca as soon as they landed.  They typically sealed the helicopters up and took off running as soon as they landed.  His new job was turning out to be excellent for cardio.  When you’re looking for something motivating try imagining a swarm of Zombies chasing you across a parking lot.  Now stop imagining and live as Krantz for a day and you’d see why he was in the best aerobic shape of his life.  It doesn’t matter how intense the spin class you attend is nothing is going to work better than spending an hour a day running in sheer terror of being eaten alive.

Krantz turned and walked back towards the cabin.  The Seabee and two others walked past him heading for their helicopter.  The Seabee stopping briefly to tell Krantz he’d get to work as soon as he landed.  It may have been his imagination but Krantz thought the man had actually started to sound excited about the project now that he’d realized he was really going to get the resources needed to pull it off.  It was going to be awesome if they could manage to actually build it.  Despite the confidence he’d spoken with Krantz gave it maybe a twenty percent chance of actually working out.

Normally he wouldn’t risk the resources they were going to dump into this on something that he thought only had a twenty percent chance of success but the upside if they managed to pull it off was pretty huge.  As long as they maintained air superiority and the Zombies in the city kept people away from the buildings it gave them an impregnable forward operating base right in the middle of the state they were looking to occupy and control.  It could be a real game changer.  If it didn’t work out, then they could always cut their losses and just keep doing everything the same as they always had.

He was sitting on the deck thinking through the benefits of building out the same city in the clouds kind of concept for places like Atlanta and Jacksonville when he saw three boats coming across the lake towards them.  As the small boats got closer, he could just make out the whine of the electric powered motors pushing them across the water.  Each boat looked like it could hold a maximum of four people before getting too crowded.  The men standing in the boats were all well-armed and serious looking.  Krantz watched as the first boat pulled up to the dock and the men secured it before climbing out onto the dock.

He waited until the men had tied everything up and gotten out before he walked towards the small crowd of uniformed men.  Each of them was wearing a variation of a paramilitary SWAT unit type getup.  Camouflage and dark mirrored sunglasses were very prevalent.  A grizzled looking man saw him coming and stepped forward to shake his hand. Krantz put out his hand and they exchanged a brief warriors handshake.

“I’m Sherriff Waylon.  I’m the man in charge of keeping this county together.  Looking forward to meeting up with your representative and learning more about how we work together.  I believe I was going to be meeting the man in charge of all your ground forces.  Commander Krantz?”  The man said.

“Excellent.  Good to meet you Sherriff.  I’m Commander Krantz.  We’ve got refreshments for your men in that cabin over there.  If you want to walk with me, we have another cabin setup for you and me to talk.”

“Sounds good.  Lead the way.”  Waylon said waving to his men towards the cabin Krantz indicated had been setup for them.

Krantz led the way into the cabin where he had whiskey and ice sitting out as well as a collection of snacks.  He also had copies of the pamphlets that’d been dropped.  The ice would be seen by most as a luxury although if Waylon had electric motors working then he probably had mastered refrigeration as well.

“Pretty trusting of you to show up out here without a ton of men guarding your back.  We could’ve just asked to join up to get you out here and take you out or make you a hostage.”  Waylon opened up the conversation.

“I’m replaceable.  You here to kill me?”  Krantz asked handing Waylon a generous pour of whiskey over ice.

“Honestly I hadn’t even considered the risk you were taking until now.  I’ve mostly been focused on what it looks like for us to become part of this New America.  That really the best name you guys could come up with?”  Waylon asked sipping at the whiskey.

“Our marketing department was eaten by Zombies, so you get a bunch of military minds sitting around thinking up slogans and doing the branding.  We’ll work out a catchier name later.  What do you think of the information on the pamphlets?  Tell me what you think joining us gets you?”  Krantz sat down in a large recliner and took a long pull from his glass while he waited to see what Waylon would say to that.  He was genuinely curious to see what the thinking behind the quick capitulation had been.  Maybe they could duplicate it.

“Well.  We know the Georgia National Guard fared better than most.  We know your Senator has them all under his control and honestly, we don’t want to be in the cross hairs.  We want to be part of something big again.  We need someone we can call for help when we need it.  We definitely don’t want someone like you as an enemy.  I’m assuming if we didn’t surrender now then the next time that we saw you would be from the ground as you were launching rockets into our houses?”  Waylon asked.

“The Senator and all of us just want to bring everyone together and start rebuilding society.  There has to be law and order to do that.”  Krantz answered simply.  He didn’t see any need to make threats to a man who’d already agreed that surrender was the best course for him and his people.

“That sounds good to me.  I guess my big question is what do you get out of this and what do you need us to do?”  Waylon asked.

“For now.  Not much.  There’ll be some men along to work with you to get an accurate inventory of your current supplies.  They’ll also conduct a mini census to see how many people you have here and what their skill sets look like.  Once we have that info your people will be offered different roles to fill to help build out the New America.  You’ll stay in charge of your area reporting to a centralized command structure.  How’s that sound?”

“Sounds about like what we gathered from the brochures.  I assume my family and the people around me I need to run the place would be allowed to stay?”  Waylon asked.

Krantz nodded affirmatively at that.

“Would the people who get assigned job duties have the right to refuse them?”  Waylon asked.

“We’re working on building out a new society in the middle of a Zombie apocalypse, so we expect everyone to do their part.  There’ll be some hard concessions in the beginning, but it’ll all be worth it when we’re able to walk the streets safely again. This is all about getting back to living our lives instead of just trying to survive.”  Krantz said.

“Alright.  So, they wouldn’t have a choice is what I’m hearing.  I also understand that realistically we don’t have a choice either.  Thanks for the drink.  We’ll be on the lookout for your men so we can get everything setup.”  Waylon stood up and extended his hand.  A little bit taken aback by the sudden ending to the meeting Krantz stood up and shook the proffered hand before walking with Waylon back down to the dock.

Watching the men cruise away in their efficient little electric boats Krantz wondered if he intended on keeping his word.  It’d go a lot better for them if they did.  It’d go a lot better for everybody if they just fell in line.  The Brotherhood was going to roll right over South Carolina and anything that stuck it’s head up to stop them was going to get it lopped right off.

Chapter 7:  No Easy Day

A total of five Zombies beat their way into the little clearing beneath the trees where the remains of the trailer had smashed into the ground.  Randy hugged the large tree trunk tightly.  He was scared to look down lest he accidentally make eye contact with one of the Zombies.  Above him he could barely make out the sound of the kids occasionally moving around to maintain their balance on the tree branches.

The Zombies weren’t screeching any more at least.  They’d settled into walking around and grunting while they searched through the weeds in the area trying to find the non-infected humans their fever wracked brains associated with pretty much any unnatural noise.  It was a good sign they were quieting down.  Typically, the screeching only happened when the Zombies thought they were onto something.  If they were just grunting, then they’d eventually wander off or lay down in the bushes to sleep.  Worse case they may have to stay in the tree until darkness fell then quietly climb down and sneak away.  It’d mean some gross bathroom type choices, but they were all pretty much past worrying about that at this point.

The one who noticed him didn’t screech though.  It sprinted about ten steps without making a sound then leapt impossibly high in the air before slamming into Randy’s back.  The impact knocked the breath out of Randy.  The Zombie tried to grab him but just ended up ripping out some of his hair before it fell to the ground below the tree.  Randy felt the Zombie bounce off him and did his best to hold onto the slippery tree trunk.  His best wasn’t good enough.  He ripped out three of his fingernails but still found himself falling towards where the Zombie was already starting to get back to its feet.

He landed a few feet away from where the Zombie was quickly recovering from the fall.  He rolled to the left and just kept rolling.  He expected to feel teeth ripping into him any second.  He just prayed the Zombies didn’t notice the rest of his family up in the tree.  As long as they didn’t do anything to draw attention to themselves, they could still escape.

Bullets from Caitlyn’s rifle blew apart the Zombies head.  Kyler and Kelly landed on the ground close to Randy a second later.  Kyler stood up and started shooting at the Zombies coming for them while Kelly helped Randy to his feet.

“What the hell are you doing?  Every Zombie within fifty miles will be here in a minute now!”  Randy yelled.

“Then let’s not be here anymore!  You’re welcome by the way!”   Kelly yelled back at him.  Kyler ignored them both and kept putting bullets through the Zombies as they got close enough for him to get a clear shot.

“That was the last one.  If we’re making a run for it, we need to go now.  Otherwise we need to get back in the tree.  Your call but hand weapons need to come out if we’re running for it.”  Kyler said.  He still had his rifle up to his shoulder.  He was spinning in a circle looking to see if there were any more targets while he waited for the married folks to make up their mind.  It didn’t take long since the kids all started climbing down out of the tree.

“We’re making a run for it right?”  Myriah asked when she saw her mom and dad staring at her.

Caitlyn was dangling Doreen down for someone to grab.  Randy reached up and grabbed her.

“Anybody know which way north is?”  He asked.

Kyler felt around in his pockets until he found the compass that they’d been using.  He threw the rope necklace attached to it around his neck and told everybody to follow him.  He put away his rifle and walked up to Randy who handed him Doreen.  He checked the compass again then headed off north.  Everyone else followed once they situated who was carrying kids and who was running with sharp objects in their hands.

High pitched screams echoing through the woods all around them they launched into a fast jog after Kyler.  Kyler was trying to head north while still picking a path that was navigable by people who all had their hands very full.  From experience he knew they needed to get a good mile or two away from where they’d fired their rifles to be somewhere that they could stop to rest.  If they got bogged down by fighting along the way, then their chances of survival went way down.

Kyler shifted Doreen around on his shoulder and kept on running through the wet woods in the direction the luminescent compass needle pointed.  The nice thing about running due north was that navigation was pretty easy.  All he had to do was wait for the needle to settle and then follow it.  He was running for about fifty yards then stopping to check the compass and reorient.  Otherwise he knew that it was easy to find yourself running in a circle in this kind of situation.  That would be the death of them for sure if that happened.

He didn’t put much thought into the fact that he was running without a flashlight.  At some point while they were climbing down the tree the storm had moved away and the sun had started to come over the horizon.  If they’d been trying to pull this off in the pitch black in the middle of that storm it would’ve been a whole different ballgame.  They hadn’t seen a Zombie in their first few minutes of running from the area they’d killed the other Zombies in.  As Kyler dropped the compass and started running after one of his stops to verify that they were going north a short Zombie stepped out from behind a tree right into his path.

Kyler had Doreen draped across one shoulder and his rifle strapped to the other one. He had left his machete in his belt since he kept checking the compass.  He realized when he saw the Zombie that he may die because he’d been too lazy to take the time to get the machete back out.  The Zombie had long hair and the remains of a Pink Floyd t-shirt on.  It hissed and jumped for him as soon as it realized it’d actually come across a non-infected human.

Without thinking Kyler kicked the freak right in its sore covered face as hard as he could.  He lost his footing in the wet pine straw and toppled to the ground with Doreen landing on his face.  Kyler sat up in time to see Randy beating the skinny Zombie to the ground with a hammer then leaning over to finish it by smashing in its head.  Kyler climbed back to his feet as Randy tried to wipe off the gunk stuck to his hammer with a piece of bark.  Kyler nodded at him and kept on moving after taking a second to check the compass.  This time he had Doreen in one arm and the machete held tightly in his other hand.

Randy finished up wiping off the hammer and jogged back to the end of the group.  He snagged Zoey from Kelly before turning to run along with everyone else.  Kelly was now running with hatchets in both hands.  They kept switching off like that to stay fresh and have at least two people ready to fight at any time without having to drop kids on the ground to do it.  Kelly sprinted up to the front of the line when she saw Kyler stop running and put Doreen on the ground.

Kyler was staring into the bushes in front of him.  Kelly stopped beside him and listened.  Over the sound of her own ragged breathing she could hear something grunting in the trees in front of them.  She checked her grip on her hatchets and got ready to fight.  Kyler started to lead them around the grunting noise.  He started moving too slowly though as the weeds in front of them shifted around. A massive wild boar popped out right in front of them.  Randy and Caitlyn had joined them with weapons out.  They all stared at the enormous beast that was staring back at them. The gigantic and fierce beast rocking back and forth grunted loudly opening its mouth and showing off its tusks.  The red eyes glowed evilly as it regarded them.

“I’m not attacking that thing with cutlery.”  Kelly said pulling out her pistol after dropping her hatchets to the ground.

No one argued with her.  Rifles and pistols were very quickly pointed in the direction of the scary giant pig.  The boar just sat there grunting and staring at them until without any warning it charged straight at Kyler.  Startled by how fast the big beast had moved the first shots they all wildly fired missed.  Even as the fire became more accurate it didn’t seem to be doing anything besides pissing off the gigantic pig even more.  It had Kyler slammed up against a tree as it tossed it’s head back and forth trying to fling him on the ground.  Kyler was blowing off chunks of its bristly hide in big spurts of blood every time he pulled the trigger.

All of them started walking their fire into the boars side until it finally collapsed to its knees.  The fire seemed to go out of its eyes even as it made one last attempt to bite through Kyler’s boot.  A second after the boar collapsed Kyler fell to his knees beside it.  He was bleeding profusely from a massive bite on his thigh and his back had been roughed up hard with the monster pressing him up against the tree.

“Well at least I won’t turn into a Zombie.  After all this time I’m going to end up with freakin rabies.”  Kyler said as everyone gathered around trying to see how badly hurt that he was.

“We don’t even have time to cut off a few pork chops for later.  If the Zombies weren’t headed this direction before they definitely are now.  We need to get moving.  Can you stand?”  Randy asked Kyler.

Randy and Kelly took Kyler’s arms trying to help him to his feet.  He grunted in pain and fell back to his knees.  They’d all seen the big rip in his pants covered in blood when he’d tried to stand.

“Go!  Take the kids and get the hell out of here!”  Kyler ordered them.  Kelly ignored him and squatted down to start wrapping tape and gauze around his leg.  She squirted in all the iodine she had on top of the bite marks on his leg.  Caitlyn helped while Randy watched the perimeter and Myriah stood guard over the littles.  The littles were all staring at Kyler hoping he wasn’t really hurt all that bad.

“I think that’s probably good enough for right now. We don’t have time to figure out a stretcher so you’re either hopping or Randy is going to have to carry you.  Actually, let’s skip the you trying to hop along and just go straight to Randy carrying you.”  Kelly said.

“We should‘ve at least tried letting him hop.”  Randy joked as he situated Kyler up on his shoulders in a fireman’s carry.  The joke didn’t last long as the screeches echoing in the woods were now homing in on them.

Everyone was now carrying somebody which meant if they ran into another fight, they were going to have to put people down in a hurry.  Kelly had Zoey stand beside her while she looked at the compass. Once she was satisfied that she knew which way north was, she picked Zoey up and started running through the trees.  There was no time for jogging now.  Tired, hungry, thirsty and weighed down they ran as hard as they could through the woods trying to outdistance the screeches coming from all around them.

Kelly felt like she was going to blackout, but she kept running.  She hoped Myriah and everyone was able to keep up.  She didn’t have the energy to actually turn her head and check.  Zoey felt like she weighed a hundred pounds even though she was pretty much skin and bones.  She was soaked and chafed and didn’t think she could take running through the drenched forest another step when they ran up a median and over a clear space with no trees.

“We on a road?”  Randy asked.  It was hard to understand him he was breathing so hard.  It was also hard to hear over the sound of her own tortured breathing.  Kelly looked down and kicked at the piles of dirt and leaves she was standing on.  Underneath a few layers of nature’s garbage, the grey concrete of a road was visible.

“Yep.”  She responded.  She didn’t know what else to say.  The road ran east and west, they needed to go north.  She followed Randy as he plunged down into the ditch on the other side of the road then climbed out to keep running north.  She’d been happy to see the rest of the girls show up out of the woods and join them .  None of them looked happy but they all looked very much alive.  Alive was her new threshold for how well her daughters were doing.  It was a threshold she knew most of the parents still alive in this new normal would trade for any day.  It wasn’t lost on Kelly how lucky they were to still have their family together.

She was worried about Kyler.  He was being uncharacteristically silent.  He must be in a ton of pain.  The pig that’d roughed him up had been huge.  He’d been serious about them leaving him behind as well.  If it’d been the only way to save the kids, then Kelly would’ve left him there.  As it was it looked like her bet on taking him had paid off.  Now she just hoped he survived whatever injuries he had.  Bouncing around on Randy’s back on this wild chase wasn’t anything any doctor would condone.

A lone screech followed them into the woods.

“I think one of them saw me when we were trying to get out of the ditch part.”  Myriah told her mom. She’d put on a burst of speed to catch up and let her know.

“Run faster.”  Kelly said loudly enough to be heard over everyone’s breathing.  She picked up the pace as did everyone else.  They pushed themselves beyond what they considered endurable for a few minutes before lapsing back into more of a fast walk.

They pressed on for what seemed like forever but in reality, was about two hours.  Long enough for Kyler to process whatever pain he was in and start pestering Randy to let him try walking again.  Randy was ignoring the requests for now.  He knew Kyler needed more time to recover from that vicious attack than just a couple hours of napping while he was carried through the woods.  Randy would’ve loved to set him down.  Kyler himself may not be that heavy but when you added his weapons and pack it was all Randy could do to stay on his feet.

They stopped when they ran into a riverbank.  The bank was a steep drop into the river that was about ten feet below them.  They collapsed to the ground at the sight of the river.  It wasn’t like they would’ve been able to swim across it even if they weren’t all half dead.  The river looked deep and wide.  If they could figure out a way to get across it then they’d at least leave their current pursuers behind.

“Left, or right?  Ouch!”  Kyler pulled back in pain as Kelly pressed on his leg.  She mumbled an apology and started moving bandages around.

“Your leg is officially gross.  I think the pig got a pretty decent hunk of meat out of you.  You’re like seeping blood but nothing looks too major.  I guess we just keep it packed up with gauze and stuff you full of antibiotics and hope you don’t die.”  Kelly announced before finally moving back from Kyler’s leg.

“You’re the worst doctor ever.”  Kyler said.

“I’m the best one you’re going to get with your insurance out here.”  Kelly shot back.  She smiled to take the bite out of it.  She’d actually been pretty nice she thought.  She wasn’t sure how gangrene and all that worked but Kyler had a hunk of his leg missing.  She was pretty sure she’d seen his blood covered leg bone when she’d been poking around.  That hunk of flesh had been bitten off by a wild boar.  Wild boars ate carrion so there was no telling what nastiness lurked inside it’s jaws.  They needed to get him started on multiple kinds of antibiotics as soon as possible or he may end up with something worse than the Zombie virus.  She told Caitlyn to see what she could dig up out of their bags.

A few minutes later Kyler was choking down pain pills and antibiotics.  Kelly was carefully separating the remaining medicine into the doses she wanted to give him.  A loud growl erupted out of the woods near them.

“Please don’t let that be another one of those giant pigs.”  Ali said .  Her little girl voice making everyone want to laugh.  The problem was that she’d said it out loud.  The growls immediately turned into the screeches of an infected who thought he’d stumbled on a free lunch.

“I guess it’s not a pig.”  Randy said lunging to his feet.  His legs felt worse than before he’d sat down after the short rest they’d gotten.  He had his hammer in one hand and a knife in the other.  You never knew which of your body parts was going to end up close enough to strike out at a Zombie when you were wandering through the woods.  It helped to have weapons in both hands since punching didn’t really accomplish anything more than putting your hand near the Zombie’s teeth.

The Zombie rushed into view and charged at Randy.  Randy waited until the last second to sidestep and swing the hammer hard into the back of the Zombie’s head.  The Zombie went tumbling down the steep bank into the river below.  It wasn’t able to make it back up for some reason. It just stood at the bottom screeching.

“If you’re done doctoring Kyler, I think we need to roll out.”  Randy said casually.  He was really starting to hate this whole Zombie apocalypse lifestyle.  Even though it seemed like they were a lot better at it than most people.

Kyler tried standing up.  He was able to get to his feet, but forward momentum wasn’t happening anytime soon.  Sighing Randy scooped him back up.  They all began trudging north eastwards from where they’d been.  They knew they absolutely should be running with the Zombie back there sounding the alarm that non-infected humans were nearby, but their gas tanks were all way low.  The short break they’d just taken had been just long enough for their muscles to start hardening up on them.  Getting back into the swing of moving through the woods was hard.

Randy wished they’d never stopped for the short break.  Other than getting the medication into Kyler and checking on him it’d done way more harm than good.  Since they were walking this time, they were letting Zoey, Ali and Doreen walk as well.  Doreen would probably need to be picked up and carried pretty soon.  Letting the girls walk was allowing Caitlyn to carry Kyler’s backpack and her own giving her dad’s back a little bit of relief at least.  Random screeching had them walking faster but there was only so much they could do.  Resigning himself to probably needing to silently kill a few more Zombies in the near future Randy contemplated the easiest way to put Kyler on the ground without breaking his neck.

Kyler was saved the indignity of being thrown around like a sack of potatoes by the sudden emergence of an overgrown farmyard.  Lying on its side half hidden by the overgrown weeds was an aluminum flat bottomed boat.  More screeches sounded and they appeared to be coming closer so without losing stride Randy jogged over to the boat and kicked it over so he could see the inside of it.

It was full of dirt and a bit of crud but there was a pair of cheap plastic paddles lying on the ground underneath it.  Randy had Kelly help him lower Kyler into the boat then they both started dragging it across the yard towards the riverbank.  Caitlyn and the kids joined in on the pushing while Myriah grabbed the paddles and jogged to catch up with them.

A Zombie must’ve noticed them from the road as it came screaming towards them from that direction.  Hoping the boat didn’t sink when they put it in the water Randy asked Myriah to shoot the Zombie.  He was looking to give her some practice and also keep the rest of them moving towards the water with the boat.  Myriah fired a few shots and the Zombie was on the ground.  The shots attracted the attention of the hundreds of Zombies who’d been homing in on the ruckus they’d been making while trying to slip away.

Myriah shot another two Zombies then picked the paddles up and ran towards where they were just getting the boat to the water.  Randy had her hop in and join the others while he took a few more shots at the Zombies starting to show up.  With the boat in water up to his hips Randy climbed in.  There was a second he thought he may have screwed up and wouldn’t be able to get in without tipping the boat, but Kelly and Caitlyn were able to pull him in.  He landed on top of a very high looking Kyler who was half-smiling though very glazed eyes.

“We may need to lower Kyler’s pain killer dose.”  Randy announced sitting up and grabbing a paddle.  Kelly was feverishly trying to teach herself how to paddle to keep the boat moving away from the shore.  Caitlyn and Myriah were both shooting at the Zombies starting to crowd into the water towards them.  One Zombie came streaking down the overgrown field towards them.

“A jumper!”  Myriah screamed out.

“Kill it!”  Kelly screamed back.

Myriah and Caitlyn focused their fire on the Zombie moving faster than life towards them.  Before it could get close enough to make a leap for the boat, they managed to bring it down.  They sat down causing the boat to stop doing the crazy rocking it’d been doing and also saving them from the very real possibility of falling overboard.  Then they were out deep in the water with nothing to worry about except the boat sinking before they made it to the other side.

Chapter 8:  Up the Creek

Paddling was hard work with the number of people crammed into the small boat.  It rode low in the water making each stroke an ordeal.  Randy paddled steadily on his side while Myriah, Caitlyn and Kelly kept trading off on their side.  They’d paddled to the opposite shore where they saw nothing but the scarred remains of burnt buildings.  They needed a house with supplies, so they kept on paddling.  They eventually found a small house on the water that wasn’t burnt down.  They spent an hour paddling towards it only to end up looking down the barrel of two guns and being told to paddle the other way or die.  They chose to paddle the other way.

Paddling away from that house was probably the fastest the boat had moved since they originally escaped from the Zombies.  The knowledge that there were a couple of survivors aiming guns at their backs while they paddled was solid motivation.  They needed to find an unguarded home they could ransack.  They needed food and water soon or they were all going to look like Kyler. He was currently laying on the deck curled in a ball just kind of staring.  It was a little creepy until you knew that Kelly had messed up and given him two pain killers and no antibiotics.  They were lucky he wasn’t puking everywhere. The complete lack of food may help explain that.

They were close to drinking water straight out of the river.  They all knew at this point finding a case of bottled waters wasn’t extremely likely.  Even if you did find them who knew if they were even safe after sitting out so long.  Kelly would prefer to at least boil the water if they couldn’t find any purification tablets.  With all the other issues they had she didn’t think a pandemic of diarrhea in their little clan would help anyone’s sanity.  Especially since they also didn’t have any wet wipes left.  Finding those was starting to be near impossible as well.  Who’d have ever thought wet wipes would be worth more than a golden chest full of cash?

Finding anything was starting to get rough.  Her mind flashed back to the huge carcass of the wild boar they’d left to rot in the woods.  She wondered if they’d been saved by the Zombies stopping to chow down on the fresh pork instead of continuing to look for them.  If so then the boar hadn’t died in vain.  She wished they’d been able to hack off a nice big chunk of it to roast up for dinner though.  The thought of fresh roasted pork would’ve made her drool if she had any moisture left in her mouth.  Randy and Kelly had never been the hunting outdoorsy kind of people, but she was thinking she’d need to start encouraging him to more actively seek out and kill Bambi.  Kyler had been in the Boy Scouts so he should know how to prepare a deer once you killed it.

They paddled until the sides of the river closed in on them almost completely.  Hidden behind the branches of a weeping willow that hung over the bank a small creek flowed out of the lake.  They realized they’d been paddling around a lake fed by a stream versus a big river.  If they could get some supplies, they were hopeful they may be able to just paddle their way north and east until they were in North Carolina.  They were especially hopeful of doing that if the creek didn’t wander through any civilized parts of the world.  It didn’t seem like it was wide enough for them to hide from jumpers, but it was flowing pretty good thanks to all the recent rain.

They paddled in silence between the tree and bramble covered banks.  The landscape opened up to dirt and mud as they went under an overpass.  The creek speeding up as it was constricted to go beneath the low road.  Everyone on the boat in full alert and feeling extremely vulnerable.  The last time they’d been on a boat going under a bridge they’d been shot at.  This time the biggest danger was hitting their heads since the stream was up high enough to put them pretty close to the bottom of the bridge.

They passed under the bridge without any incidents.  Occasionally a tree or log would block most of the creek and they’d have to get out and manhandle the boat over the obstacle.  For the most part though it was pretty smooth sailing.  Then the sun started going down.  In the last bit of light, they could make out a large building about a hundred yards away from the creek.  The building quickly fading into a grey blob then disappearing altogether as they continued down the creek.

“We should stop for the night.  It’s dangerous paddling through this mess when we can’t see in front of us.”  Randy whispered.

Kelly agreed and they looked for a good place to pull over for the night.  They saw a small sandy bank up ahead by the light of their flashlights and paddled over.  They had a couple of blankets and some ponchos in their packs.  It was nothing that was going to keep them comfortable, but it was better than just lying in the dirt.  They spent some time trying to figure out the best way to distribute the blankets and what to do with the ponchos.  They ended up with Kyler wrapped in a blanket on top of a poncho and then the kids sharing the other two blankets with Kelly on a poncho while Randy took the first watch.

Everyone was miserable before the sun had even completely set.  They were all soaked to the bone.  The thin wool blankets weren’t doing a whole lot to keep them warm.  Randy heard teeth starting to chatter and decided to try and build a fire.  Ten minutes later after almost picking up a big water moccasin he thought was a log he gave up.  Everything was still soaking wet anyway and he doubted he had the survival skills to get a fire going unless he could find a can of gasoline somewhere.  His fire-starting skills were pretty much limited to squirting lighter fluid on the grill or fire pit.  If the wood didn’t catch fire the first time you tried, then you just kept adding lighter fluid until it did.

He stood in the darkness listening to his wife, kids and Kyler all freezing.  He remembered the building they’d seen from the creek before the sun went down.  There was a good chance it was abandoned and would at least have blankets in it.  Dry clothes would be a huge plus as well.  From a looters perspective those were both low hanging fruit kind of items.  He walked over and told Kelly his idea.

“Your idea is to leave us here in the dark freezing to death while you wander off to see if the building that we thought we saw might have extra blankets in it?”  Kelly asked.  She was freezing.  The kids were all trying to snuggle as close to her as possible for warmth.  She was freaking out Kyler might die during the night because she’d given him the wrong dose of pain killers.  He was moaning in pain in while his teeth chattered loudly.  Kelly was afraid to give him any more pills until she felt like the first round was out of his system.  She figured it was better for him to be in a bit of pain than die from an overdose.

“I’ll only be gone for about thirty minutes.  If it isn’t easy or anything looks weird, I’ll just turn around and come back.”  Randy whispered back to her.

“This plan keeps getting better.  If you run into anything weird, you’re going to just turn around and lead it back here?  How about you just stay here, and we figure this out in the morning?”  Kelly said.  She was really not in the mood to deal with this level of stupidity at the moment.  Randy muttered that sounded like it would work.

Kelly and the kids eventually fell asleep.  The teeth chattering continued as Randy patrolled around the boat.  He was dead tired but in no hurry to lie on the hard ground and freeze alongside everyone else.  Plus, he was hoping Kelly may be in a better mood if he let her sleep for a while.  He sat on the ground and put his back against a stump knowing he was too cold and miserable to fall asleep.

He woke up with his back still against the stump.  Light from the rising sun was just beginning to filter down through the trees.  He could just make out the miserable looking pile of humanity that was his wife and children.  He stood up and stretched.  He was mortified he’d fallen asleep on watch.  Evidently when your body got to a certain point it just shut down on you whether you wanted it to or not.

He did a quick spin around the camp verifying everything looked like it was still in the same place.  In the light of dawn, he could see they were on a nice little white sand break sticking out into the creek.  A trail ran down to the edge of the site from somewhere.  It was overgrown but a quick look confirmed it was lined with wood.  It had also been mulched at some point in the distant past.  He was looking at the trail and trying to see where it led when he heard Kelly cough behind him.

“You fall asleep?”  She asked.

“Yes.”  He said.  He’d been raised to think that excuses were lame.  You went with whatever was the truth and that’s the way it was.

“Not surprising.  I can’t believe the rest of us slept.  We were all pretty much wrecked after yesterday.”  Kelly gave him a quick kiss to show she wasn’t mad and asked him what he was looking at.

“I found this trail.  I’m thinking it leads up to that big house we saw yesterday.  We need supplies. I’m honestly thinking this may be the best place to find them.  I want to go check it out.”  Randy answered her.  Kelly looked like she was fixing to recite the list of reasons why he shouldn’t just wander off by himself to check out an old house.  Then she visibly considered the state of their nonexistent food supplies. You could see most of the kids ribs at this point.  They were going to be looking like a Sally Struthers infomercial pretty soon if they didn’t find some food.

“Ok.  Take Cait to watch your back.  Help me get the boat ready to shove in the water if we have to get out of here quick.  If we get separated, I’ll wait a mile up the creek for you to come back to us.  I love you.  Go get us some food.”  Kelly said.

“Food and blankets and hopefully a fresh set of underwear.”  Randy said smiling.

“Oh, that’d be heaven.  Now help me move this boat. You need to hurry up and grab Cait and get the hell out of here before we have time to think about how stupid this idea is.”

Randy and Cait left Kyler bundled up in the boat.  They pushed the bow of the boat out into the creek, so it was halfway ready to launch.  If they came tearing back into the clearing with Zombies on their ass all they’d have to do was give the boat a shove and hop in.  Kelly would know something was up because she’d hear them shooting their way back down the trail.

They walked up the old trail towards what was hopefully an abandoned house once they’d taken care of prepping the boat for a quick launch.  Caitlyn walked behind Randy ready to rock with her rifle.  Randy was holding a hatchet and a machete with his rifle slung over his shoulder as he moved as quietly as possible up the old trail.  They’d emptied out the rest of their packs into the boat to make room for whatever supplies they may be able to find.  Other than spare ammunition they hadn’t bothered to bring much else with them.

The overgrown path dumped them out into a large clearing.  They had to open a gate to get into an area that was surrounded by an electric fence.  The electric fence being one thing they didn’t have to worry too much about at least.  They could see a large mansion over the top of the tall weeds they were walking though.  The weeds eventually gave way to shorter brush giving them an unimpeded view of a very distinguished looking homestead.

“Somebody was rich.”  Caitlyn whispered.

Randy nodded.  He was thinking the same thing. He’d been on the verge of saying it himself so couldn’t chide her for breaking operational silence.  They walked up to the first shed they got to on the back of the property.  There was a chain and lock holding the door closed. The chain was wrapped around a pretty rough looking wooden piece that actually held the door shut.  A couple of hard whacks from the hatchet he was carrying, and they were in.

The shed was full of everything they needed.  Clothes, blankets and canned goods lined the shelves on every side.  A stack of camping supplies in the corner caught Randy’s attention.  He headed over to start seeing how many sleeping bags he could fasten to himself.

“Dad.  What if whoever’s stuff this is comes to check on it?”  Caitlyn whispered.

“Take as much as you can and let’s get out of here.”  Randy responded.  The stash they’d stumbled across was obviously where someone had been hiding the stuff they looted from other homes.  Randy doubted the supplies they’d be able to carry out on their backs would even be noticeable to whoever owned all of this.  The owner would notice the broken lock though and know someone had been in here stealing their stuff.  Randy hoped to be way up the creek by the time that happened.

Randy filled his pack up with canned food then worked on tying off a couple of sleeping bags and a tent.  Caitlyn had found a stash of cold medicine she shoved in her bag along with food and a couple of blankets.  She turned around to let her dad tie on a bag of clothes he’d gathered that included sealed packs of boxers and panties.  He was going to be the hero of the world when he showed those bad boys off.

“Whoever’s in there I need you to put your weapons down and crawl out or I’m going to fill you full of lead.”  A loud voice interrupted their pillaging.  “You’re robbing the stores of Anderson County.”

Caitlyn looked at her dad.  He motioned for her to get down low on the ground.  He dropped the camping supplies he had in his hand but left the food in his pack and the items he’d tied on.  He clicked off the safety on his rifle and boldly stepped out the front door.

He found himself face to face with an overweight white guy with a huge bushy white beard.  The man had an old shotgun pointed at him.  Randy had never before realized how large the barrels of a shot gun were.  It was like he was looking down two tunnels.  The man hadn’t shot him yet though so that was promising.  Randy looked around without taking his eyes off the man and saw that there wasn’t anyone else around.

“Put your rifle down and lay on the ground right now or I’m going to shoot you!”  The man roared.

“Calm down man.  We didn’t know anybody lived here or we would’ve stayed away.  If you’ll let us walk away now, we’ll be on our way.  No harm no foul.  If you shoot me my daughter is going to put a few rounds through you right after you pull the trigger.  If you point that gun at my daughter, I’ll shoot you in the face.”  Randy said.  He was amazed at how calm and cool his voice sounded considering he was quaking with fear on the inside.  He hoped the old guy would do the right thing and just let them walk.  No need for people to die over some panties and a couple of sleeping bags.

A burst of flame and a loud banging noise.  Randy was blown backwards into the wall of the shed.  He slid down the shed wall and sat on the ground holding his rifle in one arm while his other arm burned with pain from the bird shot that’d hit him.  He shot one handed at the Santa Claus looking bastard with his AK.  Caitlyn put a couple of rounds in the overzealous shed guard herself.  She jumped up before the man had even fallen to the ground to check on her dad.

The shot had caught him in a tight pattern in his left shoulder.  His skin there looked like a pack of hamburger meat mixed with fragments of his coat.  She was trying to figure out how to clean the wound and get bandages on it when she realized all of that stuff was back at the camp with her mom.  She also realized the fat shed guard with the itchy trigger finger might not be the only one guarding this big house.

“We’ve got to go.”  She told her dad forcing him up to his feet.  His eyes were blinking as he tried to focus through the pain.

“Grab the supplies.”  He muttered trying to walk past her and get back in the shed.  Off in the distance Caitlyn heard doors opening and closing.  Voices were floating their way on the wind.  She realized her dad was in shock.

“We’ve got what we’ve got in our packs.  Turn around now and let’s get back to the boat before the rest of the mall cops show up.  I don’t want to have to kill any more grandpas today.”  Caitlyn said sadly looking over at the bloody corpse of the old man who’d just been protecting what was his from a couple of thieves.

Realizing Caitlyn was right and sensing the danger they were in Randy turned and hobbled quickly back through the field towards the path that would take them down to the creek.  He chided himself for running slow since it’d been his arm that got hit and not his legs.  He picked up speed with Caitlyn running right behind him.  They made it through the gate in the fence before hearing shouts from behind them.  It sounded like the body had been discovered and people were rightfully pissed.  They doubled their speed and got down to the creek where Kelly had all the kids loaded up and ready to go.

“Go!  Go!  Go!”  Caitlyn yelled prodding Randy along.

“What happened to him? That’s not a bite is it?”  Kelly asked pausing what she was doing to stare at Randy with concern.

“No, he just got shot by some crazy old guy.”  Caitlyn answered.

“Oh good.”  Kelly said looking relieved.  It was funny how much they’d all changed.  A shotgun blast to the shoulder was all in a day’s work.  Randy collapsed painfully into the boat.

They heard yelling as people came running down the path.  Kelly and Caitlyn shoved the boat out into the creek.  Caitlyn had her rifle up to her arm ready to shoot if she saw someone appear.  Kelly and Myriah had paddles in hand navigating them through a tricky part in the creek as fast as they could.  Right as they went around a bend a couple of men walked into the clearing waving around rifles.  Caitlyn was on the verge of taking a couple of shots at them when they made it around the bend and the men disappeared from sight.  She put her rifle down and grabbed the paddle from her mom so Kelly could take a better look at the new holes in her husband.

Back at the sand bank they’d just left a small group of men and women armed with hunting rifles and shotguns gathered around looking at the marks on the ground.  It was obvious to them that someone had spent the night here. The fresh furrows in the sand showed where they’d left quickly in a boat with the supplies they’d stolen.  The supplies weren’t half as important as the fact that the thieves had left their Sherriff lying dead on the ground without a second thought.

There was some talk about grabbing some canoes and going after the killers.  That talk died off as the screeches of the devils started getting louder.  All the people on the beach started trembling in fear.  They’d managed to live most of the apocalypse out in this remote corner of the world without hardly ever having to deal with more than a few Zombies at once.  It sounded like a whole army of the demons were on the way.  Cursing the thieves for bringing this plague down on them they hurried back up the trail to hide in the cellars until this passed.  Most of them made it before the adrenalized Zombies got there and tore into the slower ones.

Chapter 9:  An Example

Krantz met with his men a good fifty miles outside of the city of Goose Creek.  The city was one of the few places to have weathered the massive outbreak of the virus that’d rolled through this area.  It wasn’t the city that’d survived so much as the people of the city who’d grouped up under a number of different military and law enforcement officers.  The military groups that’d joined up with them had included of a few special operations forces that’d been stationed in the area for training.  These men knew where to find things like surface to air missiles.

When they’d seen attack helicopters coming in low and fast, they hadn’t hesitated to use the missiles the second the helicopters had opened up with their machine guns.  A few houses had been blown away with the families inside them before the first round of missiles slammed into the sides of the attack choppers.  The remaining helicopters had turned to confront this new threat.  They launched a round of missiles into the area the SEALs had been standing in minutes before.  On the other side of the city a couple of marines sighted in and let loose with another salvo.  More choppers took hits and at least one fell to the ground in flames.

The dozen or so choppers left turned tail and ran after unleashing some more random missiles.  The missiles weren’t aimed at anything in particular nor did they have to be.  They accomplished the goal of getting the Zombies to come back to Goose Creek.  The brave men charged with the defense of the city ran and fought as hard as they could but weren’t able to control the flood of infected invading the city.  The people had been briefed on what to do if rockets started flying though. They’d run drills under the watchful eyes of the military.

There was a large manufacturing facility in the middle of town that they’d cleared out and kept provisioned.  The walls were reinforced, and they had tons of weapons inside.  The original idea behind it had been as a place to seek refuge when the inevitable Zombie herd passed through.  They were using it for that now with the twist that on top of a hundred thousand Zombies rampaging towards them they were also going to need to deal with a bunch of invaders in attack helicopters.

The man in charge of the Goose Creek base was Captain Milton.  He was a naval officer who’d assumed command of all the military and law enforcement units that’d ended up making up the militia for Goose Creek.  They had an election every year for who was going to be in charge of the civilian and military forces in Goose Creek.  In times of emergency though the power all went back to Milton.  It was a system they’d come to through trial and error.  It’d served them so well so far that they had almost a thousand men, women, and children crammed into the large manufacturing facility.  Looking around he imagined it should probably be termed an evacuation center instead of a manufacturing facility at this point.  It’s not like they were manufacturing anything anymore.

His command staff and the admin staff from the current mayors administration followed him as he headed for the stairs leading up to the roof.  He wanted to get a good look around with his own eyes to help him work out a solid strategy.  He knew they’d have drones up in the air pretty soon to keep an eye on the situation.  He jogged up the staircase until he got to the door labeled roof access.  He pushed it open and walked out to join the group of men bunched up on the north side of the roof.  There was at least one man on each side of the building with easy access to a rocket launcher.  They’d all been trained how to use the weapons although live fire exercises had been kept to a very minimum.  It wasn’t like they could order more rockets when they ran out.

The men on the north side of the roof were looking down over the edge as a fast-moving torrent of Zombies flooded the streets.  They were so in awe of the flood of infected humanity below that they didn’t even notice their commander standing there until he cleared his throat loudly. When they turned to look at him, he asked them if all the weapons systems were good to go.  Noticing him in their midst for the first time there was a ripple effect as the men came to attention and saluted.  All of them trying to answer at once.  He picked one out and asked him to answer.

“Yes sir.  The SAMs are loaded and ready to go.  We have enough up here in the locker to take on a squadron of those helicopters if they want to send them.  If they have anything faster than those helicopters we’re probably screwed though.  As you can see looking over the edge there are more Zombies in town than we have bullets, but we have comms open with patrols one, two and four.  They’re all outside the perimeter of the herd and ready to cause a distraction if we need the infected to go elsewhere.  We’re good to go up here sir.”  The man finished his report.

Milton looked out over the stinking, screaming mob engulfing the parking lot surrounding the massive building they were in.  They had the walls reinforced so he wasn’t too worried about the Zombies breaking in as long as everyone followed protocol.  What did concern him was that they were basically sitting ducks here.  His family was down in the factory with everyone else’s, so it wasn’t like he was able to go over the side and disappear if everything went to hell.  Not that his honor and sense of duty would let him do that anyway.  This was a new age with new rules though and he wasn’t sure he was playing this right.

Fifty miles away under a large tarp in the middle of the woods Krantz worked with three leaders of two troops worth of men to come up with an assault plan.  Roberts was beyond infuriated that the soldiers in Goose Creek had taken shots at them damaging three of his helicopters.  He’d relayed the orders to Krantz to thoroughly crush the base as soon as possible.  Krantz had immediately gotten in the air.  From his helicopter he started sending out orders for the troops he needed to rendezvous with him and what weapons they needed to bring.

“The enemy’s surrounded by a ton of Zombies.  They have an unknown number of soldiers and civilians inside this large warehouse looking building.  They have men on the roof with rocket launchers and automatic weapons.  They probably have special operations soldiers patrolling the area around them as well.  They’re obviously not planning on surrendering so command wants us to make an example out of them.  I’m thinking mortars unless anyone has a better idea?”  Krantz finished briefing the leaders of the troops who were gathered under the tarp with him.

“We launch a few mortars they’re going to be able to figure out where we’re launching them from and return fire.”  One of the troop leaders mentioned.  He didn’t look like the idea bothered him.  He seemed to bring it up more because it was expected than because he cared.

“We’ll send out mortar teams to attack from four different locations.  They’ll have shells raining down on them from every direction.  We’ll fire six times each then change positions.  If we need to fire again, we will but I’m thinking one round should do the trick.  We’ll also make sure each team has a squad with them to protect their backs if these guys do have patrols out there.  Do we have four teams who’ve done this with artillery before?”  Krantz answered.  It’d just occurred to him this was probably one of those things you wanted to use trained people for.  None of the leaders were sure so they tabled that to find out when they got back to their men.

Thirty minutes later they had three teams Krantz felt pretty confident about and another that was busy reading instructions while the men from the other teams talked them through the basics of launching the mortars.  Krantz figured he didn’t need to bother learning the names of the men in the fourth mortar team.  They probably weren’t going to be coming back.  Unless of course they just couldn’t get the rockets to launch and came back still carrying them.

As prepped as they were going to get the teams set off.  Each of them navigating towards the quadrant they’d been assigned to setup their mortar equipment.  The rockets could travel up to six kilometers to strike their targets, so the teams didn’t have to get danger close to be able to cause some serious havoc.  They were double timing through the forest and avoiding the main roads. It took a solid day to get everyone in striking distance.  Once in position they all setup and waited for the stroke of midnight to start launching.  They’d gone radio silent since they were going up against special operations soldiers who’d already demonstrated knowledge of advanced weaponry.  Krantz figured it was a good bet they were scanning the airwaves as well.

Back inside the base they were attacking Captain Milton listened carefully to the men who’d captured one of the mortar patrols.  They’d tortured the men left alive after their attack into revealing everything they knew about the plan.  Unfortunately, what the men knew about the plan didn’t amount to a whole lot of actionable intelligence.  They basically knew there were multiple teams and the order was to stat launching mortars at midnight.  Milton thanked his men and told them to reach out if they got any more info off the prisoners.

It’d been sheer luck his patrol had run into the enemy mortar team.  Milton knew there was no way they’d be able to track down and capture the other teams before midnight.  Not having any good options in front of him he went to go speak with the current mayor of their city.  The mayor listened then agreed that if they could figure out how to surrender that was going to be their only option.  Milton had their communications team open up their radios and start broadcasting on all channels that they were willing to surrender.

They got nothing back after ten minutes of trying to surrender.  Milton ordered them to continue trying then went up to the roof.  He stood there staring at the stars and talking to the men for a few minutes.  As a last desperate attempt, he ordered the patrols to set off the fireworks they were using as a distraction.  The massive herd of Zombies surrounding the facility let out an ear shattering series of screeches as they slowly began to disperse and head in the direction of the fireworks.  It was a race against the clock now.  Except that it wasn’t.

The mortar teams hiding in the woods around Goose Creek all saw the fireworks and knew exactly what that meant.  Rather than let the enemy break out of the factory and make a run for it they started letting their own rockets fly.  One of their teams had been captured.  One of the teams completely missed the target and one didn’t launch as they still thought they should wait until midnight.  The fourth team scored four direct hits though.  They had no idea they’d just killed hundreds of women, children and soldiers.  They weren’t close enough to hear the screams of the wounded or the sounds of the infected rushing into the burning warehouse to feast on the survivors.

Inside the blaze Milton fought his way to the room where his wife and young son had been reading a book together the last time that he saw them.  The screams of the dying and the damned surrounding him he beat his way into the room.  The sight of his dead wife obscenely spread out on the bed with a Zombie feasting on her neck froze him in place.  Both of his hands fell to his side and he made no move to resist when a large Zombie came up behind him and forced him to the ground.  His young son watched from the closet while both of his parents were eaten alive.  Eventually the smoke from the burning building got to the son.

The mortar crews packed up their gear and headed for their secondary strike positions.  They were all expecting to get the order to return to base.  They could see the orange glow of the city burning in the night sky.  The patrols from Goose Creek were made up of men who had family back in the burning warehouse.  Every single one of those men died trying to fight their way back to their families.

The next morning Krantz was able to issue a dispatch to Roberts that the strike had been completely successful and the militia from Goose Creek were no longer an obstacle.

Chapter 10:  Time for your Checkup

Myriah and Caitlyn were paddling the boat as best as they could.  Kelly sat in the middle seat checking on her two patients.  One missing a chunk out of his leg and the other ones shoulder looking like ground beef.  Riding around in a tiny boat and sleeping in the dirt wasn’t going to be conducive to either one of them making a full recovery.  She needed supplies to treat them.  Her big Ziploc bag of drugs had seemed like overkill at one time but now she didn’t think it was going to last them long enough.  They needed more of everything.

The supplies Randy and Caitlyn had dragged back with them had been well received.  How her slightly nerdy husband had managed to run with his shoulder full of bird shot carrying a backpack full of canned goods was beyond her.  After paddling for another hour through the middle of nowhere Kelly spotted a small grass covered clearing beside the creek. It looked like a good place for them to take a break.  She needed a stable place to poke around in Randy’s shoulder and try to pick out the bird shot before it got septic.  She needed to get the kids fed while she was at it. Most importantly she wanted to slip into a fresh new pair of panties.

On the little beach she spread out a nice sized picnic.  Everyone paired up based on their  preference of canned food.  She picked a white label can of generic raviolis for her and Zoey to share.  Kyler and Randy woke up long enough to eat a few bites of creamed corn and some beans.  They were washing everything down with water from the creek.  If microbes killed them after everything else that they’d been through, so be it.  She wasn’t going to let them all die of dehydration with a river right beside them.  A few new t-shirts and some dry underwear later everyone felt a lot more optimistic.  Randy looked much better without a big bloody hole in his shirt.

She’d used two of the new shirts as bandages.  One for Kyler’s leg and the other for Randy’s shoulder.  She’d sprayed the last of her iodine on their wounds before giving them each another round of pain killers and antibiotics.  She’d gotten them to eat more than they probably would’ve otherwise by telling them no pain killers unless they ate a few more bites of beans.  She joked and smiled with them but they both looked like hell.  All she could think was she needed to get them somewhere they could lie in a bed and be tended to until they looked better.

Once the impromptu picnic was over, they piled back in the boat and continued upstream.  All the girls not busy rowing staring through the trees for a house that would be a good fit for them.  They weren’t looking to loot it so much as to camp out for a few days.  Even the little kids could tell that daddy and Kyler needed a place to rest up.

The creek ended abruptly in a marsh that smelled like a fart joke.  The big kids and Kelly held their noses as they pulled the boat through the knee-deep muck to get to the side of the marsh so Kyler and Randy could be unloaded.  The little girls were all watching and whispering excitedly about how disgusting the mud smelled.  Zoey kept teasing her mom about the fact that she was wearing her brand-new dry socks to drag the boat through the muck.  The joking and teasing gradually stopping as they all got out of the boat onto the muddy ground with tiny clouds of bugs swarming around their heads.

For an hour they pushed, carried, cajoled and threatened Kyler and Randy into walking through the thick weeds and briars.  They stopped and ate more food.  They weren’t necessarily hungry, but it was easier to carry the food in their bellies than on their backs.  None of them were ready to just leave cans of food behind.  They didn’t have any containers to put water in and none of them wanted to drink the fart smelling water, so they were all getting dehydrated again.  Kelly had chosen the cans of food with water in them for their last break.  She’d never have guessed that green bean flavored warm water could taste so wonderful.  It was probably the flavor of botulism but at a certain point she was beyond caring.

They marched on through tears and blood.  Kyler finally sliding down against a tree and declaring he couldn’t take another step.  Kelly squatted down to check on his leg. The t-shirt she’d used as a bandage was soaked with blood.  She removed it and tied another one over the ugly open wound.  While she was thinking about it, she offered up another round of pain killers and antibiotics.  She made Randy and Kyler split a can of kidney beans before she let them take the pills.  What they couldn’t eat she let the kids split.

“You could try making a stretcher.  Then you lay me in it and drag me through the woods.”  Kyler said.

“That sounds fun.  How do we do it?”  Kelly asked.

An hour later they were dragging Kyler through the woods in a stretcher that probably wouldn’t have gotten them the points needed to earn a merit badge.  They’d chopped down two trees that looked thick enough to support Kyler then tied a poncho between the two trees.  After figuring out the trees were too big and heavy for them to carry, they’d cut down two smaller ones and repeated the exercise.  Eventually they’d gotten Kyler in the poncho and with Kelly and Caitlyn both pulling one of the poles they’d fashioned they were able to drag him along without too much difficulty.  Luckily the pain pills kept him from complaining too much about the briars that kept hitting him in the face.

Approximately a million years later they finally ran into a road.  Not putting a lot of thought into whether they’d be seen or not Kelly dragged Kyler and his stretcher up onto the blacktop.  Once on the much smoother surface of the debris covered blacktop it was much easier dragging him along.  They hiked along the road taking periodic breaks to eat more of the canned goods and rest their arms and backs.  Tempers were running high enough that the rule of no talking was in full effect.  Not only did that keep the Zombies away it also kept the arguments between them down to a minimum.

Trudging along the road looking for a driveway or any sign of a housing development Kelly realized she resented Randy and Kyler for getting themselves hurt.  Because they were hurt, she was the one doing all the hard work now.  She was literally carrying Kyler.  Randy’s gear had been split between the kids to carry so he was gallivanting down the road with just the bare minimum number of weapons strapped to his body.  Both the men were so whacked out on pain killers that all the tough decisions were falling to her. She tripled her efforts to find a house they could crash in.  She needed to nurse them both back to health so they could get back to doing their jobs.

A mere five more miles down the road she finally saw the entrance to a subdivision called ‘Happy Estates’.  She hoped it wasn’t a trailer park.  They turned and walked down the road by the sign featuring a giant smiling gopher.  She was happy to see it wasn’t a trailer park.  It looked like new construction for a senior living community.  The kind of place you saw all over Florida.  She thought it was a little odd that there was one here in nowhere South Carolina, but she supposed people in this part of the country also got old and needed cheap houses they could afford on social security.

There were only four houses built. All the others were in the foundation or framing stage.  Construction junk littered the streets and yards.  Of the four houses that were built two of them were the model homes based on the way the parking lots were setup for people to park and check them out.  Picking the larger of the two model homes Kelly trudged tiredly forwards.

The home had a small fence around it that was supposed to force you to enter through the sales center.  Kelly and Caitlyn gently lay the saplings on the fence leaving Kyler suspended in the air while they stepped over the fence to check out the first model home.  Hoping that locking up model homes was a low priority for real estate agents when a Zombie apocalypse struck Kelly confidently tried opening the front door.  When it didn’t open, they kept trying doors and windows until they’d confirmed there wasn’t going to be a quiet way to get in.

“We should check the one that’s a real person’s house.  Especially if you’re thinking about breaking a window.  If we’re going to make noise, we should do it where there might be supplies.”  Cailyn whispered to her mom.  Kelly nodded and smiled at Caitlyn making a thumbs up gesture.

They walked back over to the fence and hopped back over it.  They grabbed Kyler and dragged him to the other house.  They looked like a parade going down the street with all the kids following along behind the stretcher.  The next house definitely looked lived in.  The front door dead bolt wasn’t fastened but the door stuck on a chain lock when Kelly tried opening it.  A hard kick took care of the chain lock issue.  Weapons ready they entered the musty smelling home.

Other than the five cat skeletons Kelly counted in the living room there was no one home other than the mummy wearing a bright yellow mumu lying on the couch.  The mummy was missing most of the meat on its body.  Kelly wondered how long the cats had managed to survive by snacking on their dead mistress.  Judging from the pictures around the room the woman had been large enough to have kept a pack of cats well fed for a good while.  Immune to the sight of death at this point no one in their party really spent a lot of time considering the desiccated corpse of the woman.

The cat skeletons on the other hand were fascinating.  Each shriveled up fur covered cadaver drawing more ‘oohs’, ‘ahhs’ and genuine sounds of sadness from the children than the shriveled-up lady wrapped for all of eternity in the mumu had warranted.  Kelly was just glad the woman had the decency to die on the couch so that they could use the beds.  One thing she’d learned during the apocalypse that she really wished she could unlearn was that dead bodies seep and purge all sorts of liquids.  If the lady had died in a bed, then that bed would be deemed too gross for any of them to sleep in.  She’d have probably just changed the sheets and plopped Kyler in that bed for now since he was too out of it to notice or care.  Knowing Kyler, he might not care even if he was wide awake.

A quick search of the house revealed a massive supply of canned cat food.  There was a more limited supply of instant noodles and an unusually large amount of canned beans.  They were all hungry but for now no one was cat food or canned bean hungry.  They really needed to find some water.  There were some two liters of diet soda under the counter that may nor may not be flat and disgusting.  They’d find out soon enough.  The medicine cabinets had diet pills, some anti-depressants and other random stuff you’d expect to see in a medicine cabinet.  Kelly had been hoping for an unused prescription of pain pills or antibiotics.

Unable to find any useful medicine in the house Kelly focused on making her two patients as comfortable as possible.  She changed their bandages using tape and towels she found around the house.  She had Randy in one room and Kyler in another.  Each had an entire bed to themselves.  Randy would more than likely wake up squished by multiple small children trying to snuggle in with him.  Kelly smiled inwardly thinking the only person she had to worry about snuggling with Kyler was Caitlyn.  She’d caught her oldest daughter giving the boy ‘googly eyes’ a few times over the last couple of weeks.

Considering Kyler was a tall, silent young man in excellent shape covered with scars who wore his vulnerability like a cloak Kelly totally saw the attraction.  She’d have been one hundred percent on board if she hadn’t sensed something a little off with Kyler.  He had an unhealthy fascination with putting himself at risk trying to do the right thing.  He had a hero complex.  Kelly thought it probably stemmed from watching so many of his close friends die while he stood by unable to help them.

Kyler was completely oblivious to any of the signals Caitlyn was hurling at him.  If he’d noticed he would’ve more than likely waved her off immediately.  He liked and respected her greatly.  The way she’d kept her sisters safe in extreme circumstances clearly showed the kind of person she was.  Kyler would’ve waved her off because he considered himself damaged goods.  He knew that he was on a path where the only possible ending was a painful and violent death.  He had no desire to drag anyone else along with him.  Especially not someone he truly respected.  Besides, covered in scars he felt like he was pretty hideous so it didn’t occur to him that a girl might actually be interested in him.

Home searched and both the men put out to pasture in separate bedrooms the women of the house held a pow wow in the living room.  They’d used a shovel out of the garage to get rid of all the feline mummies. They shoved the corpse covered couch right out the sliding glass doors onto the back porch.  They’d covered the remains with a bright yellow shower curtain out of the master bathroom.  Otherwise looking out the back window would’ve been way too creepy.

“We need food, medicine, and water.”  Kelly said without any preamble.

“We also need to get away from the Brotherhood.  I bet it was them who bombed the town that had all the robes.”  Myriah said.

“True, but I don’t think we’re getting away from anybody with Kyler and your dad in the shape they’re in.  We need to give them a few days to recuperate.  They need lots of rest and antibiotics.  Kyler’s missing a chunk of his leg and you dad’s shoulder looks pretty nasty.  I think we got all the shot pellet things out of him but it’s not like we have an X-ray machine to verify.”  Kelly said.  She was weighing the risks of going to find more medicine with the risks of just letting Kyler and Randy rest and try to beat their infections with the medicine they already had.

“We can check and see if the car in the garage runs.  If not, we can check the other cars parked around here.  We have at least one more house we can loot too.  You don’t think we need to worry about the people from the place on the river, do you?  We shot one of their guards.  I saw them coming into the clearing right as we left that little place where the trail ran up to the house from the creek.  There were a bunch of them with guns.”  Caitlyn added nervously.

Kelly had forgotten about the car in the garage.  She’d been busy trying to treat a couple of serious injuries with her very limited amount of medical knowledge.  Other than watching some hospital dramas and that show on the Discovery channel where people bring in their messed-up pets to get treated she had zero medical knowledge.  She got up and went with Caitlyn to check out the car while Myriah stayed behind and watched the little kids play on the floor.  They’d found a bunch of Sharpies and were busy sketching out a complex and probably impossible game of hopscotch on the tile floor.

The shiny Corolla parked in the garage looked like it’d been run through the car wash within the last week.  Judging that to be a good sign Kelly and Caitlyn spent the next twenty minutes trying to find the keys.  They’d almost given up on finding them when Caitlyn shined her light on something she noticed moving out of the corner of her eye.  A big ass spider was running up the wall right in front of her.  A startled scream erupted from Caitlyn at the sight of the puppy sized spider.  She took a couple of steps back tripping over an empty coffee can.  Arms wind milling she fell backwards into Kelly.

Kelly spun around expecting to see a couple of Zombies jumping out of a closet based on the terror evident in Caitlyn’s scream.  She had her pistol out and was searching the room for the source of Caitlyn’s freak out when Caitlyn fell backwards right into her.  They both tumbled to the concrete floor by the door leading into the house from the garage.  Caitlyn got up off the floor as fast as she could and ran inside the house.  From a safe distance down the hall she told her mom she’d seen a giant spider.  Kelly watched with amusement from the floor as her oldest daughter stood holding her M-16 in front of her in case the spider decided to charge.  Seeing the girl was actually serious she told her to put away the gun and be prepared to squish instead.

Wondering exactly how big the spider was Kelly shined her light into some of the dark nooks and crannies around her. Lying on the floor put her at a completely different angle from before which is how she noticed the key chain lying on the ground underneath one of the shelves.  The owner must’ve dropped the key’s there at some point then never got around to searching for them.  Most likely the owner was too dead to care.

Kelly shoved her hand under the shelf to grab the keys and the biggest, hairiest looking spider she’d ever seen shot out from under the shelf straight at her.  The thing ran right over her hand and disappeared into the shadows on the other side of the garage.  Wondering if she had extra underwear in her backpack Kelly stuck her hand back under the shelf again to get the keys.  This time she was able to feel around for and grab the keys without issue.  All she wanted to do in life was get the hell up off the floor before that horror show of a spider showed back up again.  If anything had touched her at that point, she’d have been more than happy to shoot at it with her rifle as well.  She now completely understood why Caitlyn was standing down the hall ready to blast away in full auto at the sight of the oversized arachnid.

Kelly jogged over to Caitlyn and gave her a big hug.  They were laughing together with terror and nervousness.  The supersized spider having freaked both of them out.

“Ok.  I’m going to go check to see if the car will start.  If it does, I need you to open the garage door for me so I can go see if I can find the supplies we need.  I want you and Myriah to stay here with the littles and our two patients.”

“Ok mom.  But if I see another spider that big then we’re switching houses.  I’m not really excited about having to go back in there to open the garage door for you ether.”  Caitlyn said.  Her eyes kept darting around searching for any sign of the massive arachnid.  Kelly laughed at her and told her not to freak out about it.

The car started on the first try.  Which surprised them so much they forgot about the eight-legged puppy running around the garage with them.  Caitlyn walked out to the garage and yanked on the emergency pull string to open the garage door for her mom.  It wasn’t until her mom waved at her and drove off down the road that she remembered the spider she’d been so freaked out by.  She raced across the garage floor back into the house.  Inside the house she knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep since she’d left the door to the garage wide open.  The spider could’ve easily walked right into the house.

Chapter 11:  Running to the Store

Caitlyn headed down the hall to check on her dad.  He was sitting up in bed poking at the wad of bandages on his shoulder.  ‘Bandages’ being a euphemism for the t-shirt that’d been scotch taped around his shoulder.  He looked up at Caitlyn when she walked in.

“Hey.  I see we’re running a little low on medical supplies.”  He joked.  He noticed something off in the way she looked at him and asked her what was wrong.  Caitlyn had just realized that she’d let her mom drive off alone into the darkness in a place they knew nothing about.  She’d also just realized they hadn’t bothered to run the plan past her dad or Kyler.  There’d been no real planning.  Her mom had just decided she should run out to the store to pick up some groceries.  Like it was normal times and there weren’t blood thirsty monsters roaming the countryside.

“She took the car in the garage. She wanted to see if she could go find some medicine or anything else that we could use.”  Caitlyn spat out quickly before she lost her nerve.  She watched her dads eyes widen in a bewildering mix of emotions.  He was angry, frustrated, scared and pissed all at the same time.

“Why would she do that?  Why’d you let her go?”  Randy’s voice grew louder with every word.  He noticed he was losing his cool and visibly checked himself by stopping and taking a few deep breaths.

“I can’t believe I let her go.  It didn’t even occur to me.  I’m so sorry dad.”  Caitlyn said with tears welling up in her eyes.  She angrily wiped them away ashamed of herself for letting this happen.  If she hadn’t been so worried about the stupid spider it may have occurred to her to not let her mom go wandering off into a Zombie apocalypse with no one to watch her back. Especially not less than ten miles from where they’d shot someone the day before.

“Nothing we can do about it now.  She’ll be fine.  Your mom can handle herself.”  Randy held out his arm to give her a much-needed hug.  He had to do it with one arm only since otherwise the scotch tape holding the t-shirt over his wounds would break and he’d lose his ‘bandage’.

Kelly drove out the main entrance of the subdivision built for active seniors.  She wondered if her and Randy would get the opportunity to grow old together in this brave new world.  Right now, she was thankful for every single day they woke up free and together.  She was determined to keep them that way.  No matter how many Zombies, Brotherhood soldiers, creepy rednecks or spiders from outer space she had to face she’d get her family through this.

At the intersection she turned left.  They’d come from the other direction and hadn’t seen anything but trees and swamp, so she was hoping she’d have better luck the other way.  It felt weird to be out on her own.  She couldn’t remember a time she’d been out on her own since this all started.  They always buddied up when they were doing something like this.  All her buddies were currently sidelined though.  If she’d told Randy that she was going to roll out and look for supplies he’d have insisted on coming with her, but he was in no condition to travel.  The whole point of them being in that house right now was to let him and Kyler have some time to rest and heal.

The little Toyota had almost a full tank of gas.  That was a good thing since she had no idea of where she was going.  She just knew she had to get the stuff they needed to ensure that Kyler and Randy both had the best chance of surviving their injuries.  She’d love it if they also didn’t have any negative long-lasting issues.  Randy had been shot at close range in the shoulder and Kyler was missing a big chunk of his leg thanks to the wild pig that’d attacked him.  They were living in pretty disgusting, germ filled environments which meant death from some sort of infection was a very real possibility.  You could die now from an untreated splinter.  A real injury was exponentially more deadly.

“This was a stupid idea.”  Kelly said out loud.  She felt like she needed to verbalize it.  With night falling she was getting creeped out.  She was in the middle of nowhere, so it wasn’t like she was going to run into a giant shopping center.  She’d been hoping for a drug store or a nice service station.  She told herself she’d go another two miles and if she didn’t see anything by then she’d turn around and head back.  If nothing else at least she’d found them a working car.

She went around a curve in the road and out of nowhere the crumbling remains of civilization appeared.  Civilization in rural small-town South Carolina anyway.  A run down Bojangles in a garbage and weed infested parking lot standing next to a carpet store.  The carpet store was advertising free installation with carpet purchase.  Kelly doubted that she’d be able to go inside to get more details like the sign directed.  She drove underneath a set of streetlights that looked like they were barely hanging on and kept up her search for a place that may have bandages and other supplies.

The sun was long gone at this point.  It was dark outside but the light from the moon was enough for her to see by.  She was getting very uncomfortable with the whole situation she’d put herself in.  She shifted around in her seat making sure she could get to her weapons.  She thought again about what a piss poor job of planning this excursion she’d done. She’d have ripped Randy a new one if he’d done something this stupid.  Yet here she was.  She made up her mind to turn around and get the hell back home before something bad happened.

She slowed the car down to turn around.  A sign a little further down the street caught her eye.  Instead of turning around she drove a little more and confirmed that there was a Wal-Mart in the next plaza up from her.  Knowing it’d be well stocked with everything they needed she decided it was worthwhile to go check it out.  If it looked too sketchy, she could always just drive away. If it looked like it’d already been looted a million times she’d also just leave.

She pulled into the gigantic parking lot with her headlights off and her expectations low.  There was the standard garbage she expected to see including rusted out shopping carts and plastic bottles scattered around.  She couldn’t tell for sure without turning on her headlights, but it looked like there were a few corpses strewn around the parking lot as well.  That was a pretty common sight around any large complex like this.  It wasn’t something you ever really got used to though.

Idling in the fire lane in front of the main entrance she cased out the store.  From her vantage point she could make out one of the doors looked like it was stuck open.  She couldn’t really make out anything useful beyond that.  The place looked deserted.  The store could be full of nesting Zombies though for all she knew.  It may also be completely devoid of any threats to her and have everything she needed stacked conveniently near the exit.  She sat in the car a little longer trying to talk herself out of doing what she’d known she was going to do since she first pulled into the parking lot.  It just wasn’t in her to drive all the way out here with people depending on her and not at least try to find the supplies they needed.

Telling herself again that this was a stupid idea she turned the car off and got out.  Walking slowly across the asphalt she kept her rifle aimed at the door with her finger on the trigger.  Ready to start blasting away immediately if a bunch of Zombies started streaming out the door towards her, she kept creeping towards that half open door.  She was surprised at how quickly she found herself standing in front of it.  A grocery cart had been turned sideways and shoved into the entrance keeping it from shutting all the way.

“In for a penny…”  Kelly muttered under her breath trying to work up the courage to clamber over the sideways grocery cart and enter the tomb like darkness of the store.

The light reflected by the moon wasn’t bright enough for her to see more than a couple of feet into the gargantuan retail space.  She belatedly realized that she was standing in front of a bunch of glass doors illuminated by the moon. Anyone inside the store would’ve been able to see her standing there by now.  Chiding herself for being an idiot she swung one of her legs over the grocery cart and entered the store.

She couldn’t see a damned thing.  The inside of the store might as well be a bunker buried under a mountain for all the good the moonlight outside was doing. There was zero visibility within the building.  That put her in a dilemma.  She could whip out a little flashlight and start poking around or give up and go back beaten.  She knew she was going to catch a rash of crap from Randy when she returned.  She wasn’t going to be able to sneak away as easily a second time to try this again.  She really wanted something in the back of the car that she could point at to make the trip seem like a valuable use of time instead of an apocalyptic joy ride.  It’d take the sting out of what Randy was going to say to her if she could whip out a big box of ace bandages and a jug of Percocet.

If Randy were there with her, he’d be cracking jokes about how she didn’t need a light because she had the floor plan of every Walmart supercenter in the USA memorized.  Finding herself getting pissed off at Randy for the jokes she imagined him telling her if he were here, she told herself to stop wasting time and get in the game.  She was walking into a massive abandoned building in the middle of an apocalypse without any backup.  She couldn’t see crap and had no clue if the building was infested with the infected or just a big looted out shell.

She wasn’t going to find anything if she couldn’t see.  Wrapping her fingers around the end of her flashlight she clicked it on and let a tiny beam of light escape.  Playing the beam of light around her she made out the McDonalds she was standing beside at the entrance to the cavernous store.  Moving slowly, she walked through piles of abandoned merchandise towards the middle of the store.  Despite what Randy may think about her knowledge of where everything was at in a Walmart, she had only a vague idea of which way the pharmacy would be.

She took an educated guess based on where she thought she remembered the pharmacy being at the Walmart near her old house.  She worked her way to the left around the cashiers stations.  A pitch-dark Walmart that’s been ransacked by who knows how many people and used as a home by who knows how many Zombies is strikingly different to stroll through than your average pre-apocalypse supercenter.  Every step she took risked bringing down a horde of infected on her.  The ground was covered in so much junk it was impossible for her to move at a reasonable speed and not make any noise.

Halfway past the never-ending rows of checkout lanes she stepped on a can of soda and lost her balance.  She recovered quickly but not before she’d managed to kick over a small pile of cans.  The resulting noise echoed throughout the entire store.  She stood still with her heart pounding in her chest waiting to see what would happen.  Belatedly realizing she still had the flashlight on she clicked it off to avoid being a beacon of light in the darkness after making all that noise.  Nothing happened.  She sighed with relief and fumbled around with the flashlight to turn it back on.  It was kind of a pain since she had her rifle in one hand and the flashlight in the other.

A loud grunt stopped her from trying to turn on the light.  Feeling her heart pounding loud enough now that she was worried the Zombie may hear it, she focused on remaining perfectly still.  Another random grunt indicated standing still wasn’t working like she’d hoped.  The fact that the Zombies she could hear were grunting indicated they weren’t in full hunting mode.  If they were in full hunting mode, then there’d have been screeching and she would’ve probably already been discovered and devoured.  Happy that she hadn’t been eaten yet she stood as still as she could until the grunting settled down.  Giving it another fifteen minutes after the final grunt she restarted her never-ending trek towards where she hoped the pharmacy was located.

She got excited when she made it to a large empty space beside the check-out lanes before realizing it was the self-check area.  Mentally squashing the fear building up inside her she kept moving.  She knew what she was doing was borderline suicidal.  She knew she’d have killed Randy for doing this.  They needed the supplies though.  She could feel that she was close.  She’d grab what they needed and be out of there while the Zombies nesting in the building kept right on snoozing.  As long as she didn’t make any more noise, she should be fine.  Even if she did make some noise it’d worked out ok the time before.  She didn’t see why it wouldn’t work out the same if it happened again.  It wasn’t like the Zombies wandering around in this trash pile of a store were watching where they stepped.

After walking the length of what felt like twenty football fields through a pitch-black maze of noise creating obstacles, she was rewarded with a mostly empty shelf that had some toiletry items left on the bottom.  She’d never been so thrilled to see boxes of electric toothbrush heads in her life.  She took a sharp left at the entrance to the next aisle.  She moved carefully past mostly empty shelves until she came to one of the most ironic obstacles ever.

At some point in the panic caused by the Zombie virus someone had felt the need to shove all of the cotton balls off the shelf and into the aisle.  The cotton balls and some other miscellaneous hygiene products were in a big pile blocking her path.  Cotton balls were the quietest thing she could imagine but the boxes and plastic bags they came in would make some serous noise if she tried to make it through the big pile in front of her.  Shaking her head at the stupidity of having to back track due to the noise that’d be caused by walking through a pile of cotton balls she backed out of that aisle and turned down the next one over.

The next one had a half-eaten leg leaning against the mouthwash section.  The blood on it had long since congealed. It looked more like a movie prop than an important part of someone’s body.  It was a stark reminder to Kelly of the price she’d pay if she didn’t stay focused on keeping quiet, finding what they needed and getting the hell out of Walmart.  Like always she knew her life also hung suspended by a thread the fates could easily snip at any time.  How she’d managed to keep it in one piece this long was a mystery.

The pharmacy was open for business.  Someone had taken issue with the operating hours and used a sledgehammer to turn the open sign back to on.  Considering the extreme rurality and probable economic status of the area they were in the pill poppers had probably been up in here immediately after the first wave of the infected.  Kelly wondered what the news media would make of the way everything had ended up.  They loved to say pretty much everything was leading to the end of the world so they should get a lot of satisfaction out of the state of things today.

She found the section for bandages.  It was diagonal from the entry to the big hole in the wall leading to the pharmacy section.  A loud noise from somewhere deep in the store had her heart racing.  Struggling to keep her eye on the prize she quickly and carefully walked across the open section in front of the pharmacy waiting area and directly into the pharmacy.  There were boxes and trash all over the place in the pharmacy as well, but someone had done a great job of collecting all the pills they could find.  She combed through all the garbage and shelves as quietly as she could but at the end of the day only found a few packs of antibiotic in foil containers to take with her.

She listened at the pharmacy door for a minute and heard some noises from the far side of the store.  Ignoring those for now she went on a search for the ointment aisle.  She was a little more successful there at getting tubes of antibiotic ointment and shoving those into her bag.  Finally, she collected as many of the bandages and wraps as she could shove into her pockets and backpack and headed for the front of the store.  She increased her pace since she was hearing multiple noises from different areas now.  It sounded like something must’ve stirred up some of the Zombies nesting in the store for the night.  The noises continued to be relatively distant from her. The distance kept her from freaking out too bad.  As long as the freaks stayed on their side of the store, she was good.

She was starting to slip though.  She made a bit more noise leaving than she’d made coming in.  She had her light dialed way back and was hurrying.  Her fear making her walk through the garbage maze more like a drunk rushing to the bar after the announcement of a free tequila shot offer than the delicate ballerina carefully planning each step she’d entered in the guise of.  Her blood was hammering in her ears, but she hadn’t noticed any grunts or growls any closer to her than the ones she’d been hearing when she exited the pharmacy.

She walked right into an infected old lady who was standing in the darkness staring at the patch of lighter darkness where the glass doors led out to the parking lot.  Kelly hit her hard enough to bowl her over.  The Zombie hit the ground awkwardly and turned to see what had knocked it over.  Kelly tried to click off her flashlight but accidently uncovered it and shined it around the store instead.  The Zombie on the ground screeched and went for her leg.  Kelly gave her the leg in the form of her steel toed combat boot connecting repetitively with the old woman’s skull.

Flashlight still waving around on her wrist like she was a human disco ball inviting all the infected to gather round and party Kelly finished curb stomping the old woman’s head. She pulled her foot back from the mess she’d made and considered what to do next.  Acting out of sheer panic at the volume of the screeches aimed at her she threw her flashlight back towards the pharmacy as far as it would go.  She turned and hauled ass in the other direction for that small patch of less dark wall up ahead.  She was no longer concerned with making noise since the demons rushing towards her were making more noise than a bucket of marbles being poured into a whirling garbage disposal.

She hadn’t been worried about noise, but she should’ve been a lot more concerned with the trip and fall hazards.  In the good old days, a littered floor in a place like this owned by a family grown wealthy beyond their wildest dreams would’ve been a gold mine for anyone willing to take some temporary pain in exchange for a nice payoff down the road.  This scenario was what paid for those big billboards advertising for people who slipped and fell to call them for big cash rewards.  The apocalypse may have come, but Kelly figured the yellow pages still probably had a way for her to get in touch with the ambulance chasers.  She was thinking this as she dizzily picked herself up off the ground. She’d tripped over a gallon of what used to be chocolate milk and slammed her head into a display of souvenir coffee mugs.

Rifle held out in front of her she jogged doggedly through the nightmare towards the outside doors.  A Zombie ran straight into her spinning her in a circle.  Not knowing where the Zombie was or what direction to shoot in, she stopped herself from blindly pulling the trigger and just kept moving.  The gamble paid off.  The Zombie that’d bumped into her assuming she was just another Zombie wandering the store in the darkness.

Disbelief at having made it to the door alive rocked her world.  She hurdled over the shopping cart propping the door open and sprinted for her car.  The car was still sitting there ready to go.  Kelly pitched her pack in the backseat and took a look over at the store where motion had just caught her eye.  A Zombie was working its way out of the store staring at her as it crawled across the rusted-out shopping cart.  Kelly started the car and stomped down on the accelerator.  A few minutes later her heart was back to beating at a normal human rate. Her biggest concern had gone from being eaten alive to having to explain to her husband why she’d just risked her life for some generic antibiotics, a bunch of gauze and a few tubes of Neosporin.

Chapter 12:  The Pale Horseman

Krantz stood in the sitting room of a Charleston mansion.  The place reeked of old money and mold.  The smell of thousand-dollar Cuban cigars smoked by millionaire politicians and businessmen oozed off the thick mahogany walls mixing with the fumes from the sterno that squatters had been using to warm up cans of beans.  They’d shot two of the squatters out in the front yard before sweeping the house and taking six people into custody.  They’d be split up and sent to different camps to begin their new lives in the New America.  If one out of the six was still alive this time next year it’d be a miracle.

Krantz was rapidly losing his taste for being on the front lines.  The haunting radio broadcasts from the Goose Creek commander begging to be allowed to surrender.  The half-eaten bodies of children they’d found piled up on the edge of a small settlement.  The insane people within had been hoping the Zombies would eat the children and leave them alone.  Those were the only people Krantz had killed with his own hands as part of this campaign.  He’d relished it at the time.

They’d dragged the group of three wild looking men over to the pile of rotting bodies.  Throwing the men down by the kids corpses Krantz had shot each of them in the legs.  Then they’d gotten in the helicopter and hovered waiting for the Zombies to arrive.  The screams of the men below rivaling the noise of the rotors above.  He’d been an agent of karma smiling evilly down at them being eaten alive the same way the kids had been.

Everyday brought some new scene to star in his nightmares.  He’d caught himself getting a bit too carried away with his after-dinner cognac most nights this week.  It was the only way he could sleep all the way through the night. If he wanted to live through this, he knew he couldn’t afford to get sloppy.  Just the thought of the cognac made him want to grab a stiff drink right now though.

The state was pretty much taken.  They’d left a no man’s land between the border of South Carolina and North Carolina.  Refugees from South Carolina were streaming into North Carolina daily.  Krantz knew Roberts had all kinds of spies in North Carolina running reconnaissance operations but he hadn’t been brought into the loop on any of those details yet.  It was only a matter of time before he’d be leading that effort.  Assuming South Carolina continued to go well, and he wasn’t killed.

He didn’t know if he even wanted to be in the loop anymore.  His days were starting to revolve more around going through the motions of doing his job than actually doing it.  He was basically treading water like pretty much everyone else around him.  His eyes were caught by an expensive looking bottle of a light brown liquor sitting on the shelf of the sitting room he was in.  He walked over, popped the top off the crystal container it was in, and took a long pull from it. He didn’t even bother to sniff it first.  He threw the bottle down on the sitting room floor when he was done. Averting his eyes in shame, he walked out of the room past the men studiously ignoring their commanding officer getting sloshed first thing in the morning.

His guards fell in behind him as he made his way to the dock in the backyard.  Once there he ordered one of the men to let the helicopter pilot know they were ready to be picked up.  They’d accomplished what they needed to do in Charleston.  He’d rode in on his white horse and finished what the other three riders hadn’t gotten around to yet.  The people in this city had banded together and survived a Zombie apocalypse only to be enslaved by an army made up mostly of the Georgia National guard.  Well, they’d been either enslaved or slaughtered.  It was surreal when you thought about it.  Who would’ve ever guessed this was the scenario that’d play out at the end of the world?

They’d taken the coast and most of the rest of the state.  There was no real uninfected resistance to them at this point.  Krantz’s job was starting to migrate back to the more logistical role which he greatly appreciated.  He read a report one of his men handed him on how the city in the clouds concept was working out.  Based on the report there were a lot of logistical issues with getting it established but it was actually starting to take shape.  They’d lost a troop of looters trying to use them to sneak supplies in at night instead of flying in everything by helicopter.  The idea had been to just move the supplies in when the Zombies were all sleeping.  There were just too many Zombies in the city to sneak anyone in.

Krantz shrugged off his doubts about the city in the clouds being a good idea.  He knew they were allocating a ton of resources to stand up something that might not end up being necessary.  The practicality of the project didn’t faze him.  They needed to build it and try it to understand how useful the concept was going to be.  If it was useful then they could imitate it in other states.  If it wasn’t then they’d wasted a bunch of resources to find out it wasn’t a viable idea.  Unlike the other groups surviving in the apocalypse the Brotherhood had the resources to waste.

There were New American patrols pushing in from Tennessee and up from Georgia now.  The captured South Carolinians were being grouped into different camps.  Their families were already being separated.  The spoken reason for the separation being for the safety of the children and spouses.  The real reasons of course being to ensure the loyalty of the new citizens.  The rumors of the forced separations had reached most of the people in the state. The was why so many of them were making a run for North Carolina.  Roberts had indicated they should let them go.  The people to the north already knew something was going on so it wasn’t like they were going to catch them by surprise.  An influx of refugees would hopefully help sap their strength.

Most of the information Krantz had on the army to the north had come from the bits and pieces he’d picked up from Kyler.  That was another reason he should’ve been more suspicious of the traitor.  He’d come straight from the heart of the only real enemy the Brotherhood was going to face in the South East United States.  From what he’d understood the people to the north had a pretty similar setup to what they did in the south.  Groups of people arranged in settlements who were assigned to teams of looters and such.  It shouldn’t be that difficult to assimilate them into the New America.

The helicopter arrived to pick them up. Climbing aboard Krantz realized he didn’t have a destination in mind.  His last orders had been to take Charleston which he’d done.  It was pretty easy to take territory when everyone was running away from you as fast as possible.  The people left alive in these places were all survivors.  They scattered like cock roaches when the lights came on.  In other cases, they couldn’t wait to surrender.  That’d worn off as people started hearing the rumors of how the families would be separated but they’d had plenty in the beginning who just went ahead and proactively surrendered.

Krantz got himself buckled in quickly even though he didn’t actually have a destination in mind.  He hated not having a plan.  Then he remembered that he was the one in charge so he could tell the pilot to hang out while he figured out the next move.  He was saved from having to come up with a next move by the appearance of multiple infected running towards the helicopter.  The pilot looked over at him and saw he didn’t have his headset on yet.  He jerked his finger in the air to indicate he wanted to go ahead and take them up.  That seemed like a good idea to Krantz.  He may not have a specific destination in mind yet but being swarmed by a bunch of Zombies was not part of his optional itinerary for the day.

“Columbia.”  He said into the headset to the pilot once he had them on.  He’d go see for himself how the city in the clouds was coming along.  That should be interesting at least.

Chapter 13:  Bed Rest

“What the hell were you thinking!”  Randy’s raised voice echoed through the small house.

Caitlyn and Myriah alternated between trying to listen in and trying to keep the littles from listening in.  Zoey in particular seemed fascinated with the argument.  It wasn’t even the argument so much as the fact that their parents were being loud.  A side effect of the apocalypse was that it kept people from screaming at each other.  People who liked to yell didn’t last too long when Zombies were sitting around listening for a clue as to where to go for their next meal.

Kelly’s response to the yelling was to yell back.  Even the little kids could tell her heart wasn’t in it though.  She obviously knew she’d screwed up.  Plus, her excuses sounded super weak.

“We didn’t have time to plan!  We don’t have time to do anything!  The damned Brotherhood will be knocking on the door any day now.  You and Kyler need medicine and rest.  So, shut up and rest.  I did get some more antibiotics by the way.  You’re welcome for not letting you die.”  Kelly said with what she probably felt was just the right amount of sarcasm.

“Thank you.  I was worried about you babe.  Promise me you won’t do it again.”  Caitlyn leaned in trying to catch the rest of the conversation.  Her dad had lowered the volume on his responses quite a bit.  Her mom said something back then flung the door open and came walking out into the area all the kids had gathered in.  She stopped when she saw them all staring at her.

“Yes?”  She asked.

“Just being nosey.”  Myriah finally said into the awkward silence.

“Why is daddy so mad?  He was yelling.  We’re not supposed to ever yell.”  Zoey chimed in.  She cocked her head staring at her mom waiting for the answer to her question.

Kelly took in her kids all standing there looking at her expectantly.  Their faces trusting and innocent for the most part.  The innocence she saw in their eyes was pretty insane considering what they’d all lived through over the last couple of years.  For the first time she noticed how much they’d all grown.  Caitlyn and Myriah were definitely both young women now. Even the littles were starting to be less little.  It made her sad that they were growing up in a land where they were forced to hunker down and stay quiet most of the time.  It pissed her off that they were being deprived of a normal childhood.

“Mommy and daddy were just discussing the best way to keep going.  Your dad was scared because I went out on my own.  I promised him I wouldn’t do that again unless we didn’t have any other choice.  Sorry we got so loud.  Always remember how much your mom and dad love all of you.”  Kelly’s little speech ended in a lovefest as all the kids came in for hugs and kisses.

The lovefest was interrupted by the sound of something smacking the front door.  Everyone instantly got low and quiet.  Weapons came out as they all shifted around.  Caitlyn and her mom moved between the door and the others.  Myriah took the littles back into their dad’s room to hide.  Randy would be sitting up and getting armed to serve as another line of defense in case the threat made it past Kelly and Caitlyn.  Kelly belatedly realized they’d neglected to include Kyler in this plan.  Hopefully this turned out to be nothing and he’d sleep through the whole ordeal.

A window on the kitchen was smacked hard from the outside a minute later.  Something was going around the house trying to find an easy way inside.  At least Kelly hoped it was just a single something circling the house and not a whole pack of adrenalized Zombies.  Her knee jerk reaction was that this was one of those Zombies with the super sensitive hearing.  It almost made her glad that Kyler was sleeping. If he’d been awake, she’d have had to deal with the look that he’d have given her for yelling in the house.

They had the curtains pulled over all the windows.  They’d used tape where needed to make sure the curtains stayed closed.  They hadn’t really put a ton of thought into defending this house other than doing what they always did when securing a home.  The house had a big glass slider in the back and way too many windows.  If the Zombie felt like getting inside, then the windows wouldn’t keep it out for very long.  Kelly had a hatchet in each hand ready to fight if the Zombie decided to try and come in through a window.  She was hoping it’d just go away.  If it broke a window, they’d have to go find another house and she was tired.

It was quiet again for a while. They began to hope the Zombie may have wandered away.  Kelly and Caitlyn bit back startled shrieks when the back slider was violently shaken.  The slider continued to shake for a solid minute.  The entire time they were convinced it was going to be flung open at any second.  Kelly stood ready with her hatchets while Caitlyn was sporting the medieval looking miniature battle ax her dad had been lugging around with him until recently.  It may not be the most practical weapon, but it worked really well for splitting skulls and looked cool doing it.

The slider stopped shaking. They sat there with their hearts beating wildly not hearing anything else for about thirty minutes.  Tired of squatting on the floor Kelly signaled for Caitlyn to stay where she was.  Kelly slowly began crawling towards the back slider to see if she was able to see anything out there.  The slider had large, hanging brown vinyl verticals covering it.  They weren’t the normal thin plastic verticals you saw hanging in front of most sliders.  These were the upscale cousins of those kind of verticals.  The nice thing about them being that they were much less susceptible to shifting around and letting monsters outside your home see you on the inside.  It was one of the things Kelly really loved about that those particular window dressings.

She slithered on her stomach like a snake taking its time to get across the yard.  She seemed like the California hippie snake who’d been back behind the barn poking holes in a tin can to try out a fresh bag of buds.  She was really just trying to be the snake who didn’t get cut in half by the startled farmer with a hoe.  She reminded herself that ‘slow and steady wins the race’ over and over again as she spent a good ten minutes crawling across the floor.  She finally maneuvered herself into a vantage point where she had a clear view through the miniscule gap between the bottom of the brown verticals and the floor.

In the dim early morning light, she was having difficulties making out what the shapes she could see through the small gap might be.  There could be a couple of Zombies outside or she could be getting freaked out by the plastic chairs that were scattered around on the back porch.  She was racking her brain trying to remember what all was out there.  The one thing she could easily picture was the couch with the corpse on it.  She knew they’d slid it as far over on the patio as they could. That eliminated the couch as being one of the shapes she was seeing through the narrow gap.

She’d been out on the porch a few times.  She’d peeked out through the back sliders and windows a few times as well.  She knew there was a glass table and some red patio furniture but couldn’t remember where they’d left it sitting on the porch for the life of her.  She was wondering if her subconscious had blocked her memories of the patio because of the dead body back there.  The kitty cat gnawed remains of the owner were lying under the tarp next to the mummies of the felines themselves.  All that weirdness may have overwhelmed her memories of the more mundane parts of the patio.

She worked on trying to identify each individual shadow thinking it may be easier if she isolated the shapes instead of trying to take then all in at once.  There was a reddish shadow on the far side of the slider closest to the house.  Knowing that the plastic chairs out on the back porch were red she mentally crossed that shadow off the list and moved on to the next one.  It was another red shadow.  Assuming it was the other chair leg she started to move along to the next shadow.  She stopped when the initial chair leg moved.  More accurately the thing she’d assumed was a chair leg suddenly disappeared.

Kelly’s eyes darted back to the other shadow she’d identified as a chair leg.  It was moving as well.  She realized the chair legs must actually be Zombie legs a split second before the Zombie began slamming itself into the sliding glass door again.  This time it was hitting the door even harder.  Kelly didn’t see how the door was going to survive the ferocious onslaught.  Given that she was going to have to choose fight or flight very soon she went ahead and stood up.  She noticed Caitlyn walking towards her and waved at her to go into Randy’s room.  It occurred to her again that they should’ve gone and checked on Kyler during the down time they’d just had.

A loud crack indicated the Zombie had managed to cause some serious damage to the sliding glass door frame.  Kelly slid to the side hoping the Zombie would come stumbling in over the broken glass and get stuck on the frame.  If the Zombie got stuck, she could just step in quickly and whack it in the head a few times with her hatchets.  That should take care of the unwanted party crasher.  She took a deep breath and got ready to do what needed to be done.

The Zombie stopped hitting the slider.  The verticals had shifted a little bit with that last hit indicating the door had definitely been damaged.  Kelly leaned back against the wall working hard on controlling her breathing.  If the one outside really did have the super hearing, then she didn’t want to make too much noise.  As to why the Zombie had stopped hitting the door when it was almost through, she didn’t even give that another thought.  They’d seen Zombies doing all kinds of weird stuff in the past that made no sense.  She was concerned that if the Zombie decided to come through the slider now that they wouldn’t have as much warning since it was probably only one or two more hits from smashing its way in.

Hoping she was doing the right thing she got back on her knees and put her head near the floor to look under the verticals again.  She could see the shadows she now recognized as Zombie legs.  She was keeping her eyes peeled on those when something started striking the window in the front of the house.  The shadows of the Zombie legs on the patio disappeared as soon as the noise started in the front of the house.

The window in the front of the house was nowhere near as sturdy as the sliding glass door in the back had proven itself to be.  The noises from the front of the house quickly leading to the sound of breaking glass.  Kelly wanted to call out a warning to the kids and Randy but knew this wasn’t a good time to make any extra noise.  It wasn’t like they would’ve missed the sounds of the window being smashed in.  She slipped past the room the kids were in and motioned for them to continue hiding.  Without waiting to see if they did so or not, she headed down the hall past the slider and into the bedroom Kyler was in.

Kicking herself for not putting Kyler and Randy in the same room to begin with she went to the bed Kyler was in and nudged him a few times on the shoulder.  His eyes fluttered opened and gradually focused on her through the glaze of medicinal sleep that covered them.  She’d obviously overdid the prescription pain killers again.  Hoping that she hadn’t administered him anything life threatening she put her fingers to her lips to let him know to be quiet.  She saw his lips start to move before he processed her shushing gesture.  A concerned look came into his eyes and he sat up straight looking around.  He realized he was only half dressed which was going to be an issue.

Kelly was already grabbing his clothes and handing them to him.  The nightstand drawers had been shoved full of his weapons.  She didn’t think she should try to open those right now since it’d make all kinds of noise.  She didn’t think Kyler was drugged up enough to be willing to leave the room without getting all his weapons though.  Especially not when there was the sound of more breaking glass coming from the front of the house.  He slipped quietly out of the bed and promptly collapsed onto the floor.

Between the drugs, the infection, the chunk missing from his leg and the fever he wasn’t in the best shape to be trying to sneak around in a house that Zombies were breaking into.  Especially not when the Zombies were likely the ones with the new and improved hearing capabilities.  Or at least some of the ones outside must be or they wouldn’t have had any reason to be here.  Kyler lay on the ground looking up at her.  He was wiped out.

Kelly realized that they weren’t going to be able to get him out of the house quietly.  That meant they had a couple of choices.  Sit in the house in full operational silence and hope the Zombies went away or go outside and try to kill the Zombies that were out there.  If they killed them with melee weapons before any of them screeched, then they should be good.  If the damned things saw them and started screeching, then they were screwed.  She filed taking the fight to the Zombies under last resorts and focused in on what they could do to get the Zombies outside to just get bored and leave.  Luckily the energy efficient windows were high quality which was why the Zombies hadn’t already gotten inside.  The sounds they were hearing now seemed almost like the Zombies were just going through the motions.

If the Zombies really thought that there were people inside this house, they’d be ripping it apart and screeching their heads off.  What seemed to be happening now was another Zombie had wandered up to join the original one and they were kind of causally breaking in.  The original Zombie still going on what it’d heard off in the distance when Kelly and Randy had been arguing.  Or maybe the Zombies had followed the sound of her car back to this house.  Either way they just needed to hunker down now and hopefully the two outside would hear something else off in the distance and wander away.  If they did manage to break in, then Kelly would be waiting for them with a hatchet to the head hello.

The day wore on.  Kelly had gotten Kyler back up into his bed.  She’d been surprised by how light he’d gotten.  They’d dragged him around for the last few days, so she knew how heavy he’d been.  Even accounting for him not wearing his weapons in bed he seemed to have really shed some pounds over the last couple of days.  She was also worried about how hot he was.  His fever must really be getting up there.  He was radiating heat like an old furnace. She could feel it rolling off him in waves as she maneuvered him back into the bed.  She handed him his pistol and watched him eyeball it to make sure it was ready to go.  She hadn’t bothered handing him any kind of bladed weapon since in his state there was no way he’d be able to use one.  If the Zombies made it into his room his only chances were going to be shooting them in the head or hoping that he tasted bad.

She stood there getting her breathing under control after hefting Kyler into the bed and tried to think of what she could do next.  She wished she could just move Kyler into the room with everyone else.  Having to worry about two different rooms with wounded in them both was a major pain.  She was worried moving him would make too much noise though.  Even without the bionic hearing a Zombie may hear some sort of sound if she was dragging Kyler around the house.  She slipped off her boots so she could pad around the house in her socks and went to check on Randy and the girls.

Randy had his pen and notebook out when she walked in.  He held it up to her as she walked in.  She read what he’d written and nodded.  He’d come to the same conclusion she had as to what they needed to do next.  Basically, sit in the house and hope the Zombies got bored and left.  If the Zombies did break in, they’d try and kill them as quickly and quietly as possible.  There really wasn’t much more they could do.  Kelly was writing Randy back in the notebook to tell him she was worried about Kyler when one of the windowpanes to the bedroom they were in shattered.  They watched as an arm got tangled up in the curtain then was pulled back out.  The curtains managed to stay in place.

None of them moved.  They all did their best to hold their breaths.  They couldn’t see anything through the heavy drapery over the window.  Kelly held Randy’s hand tightly. She motioned for Caitlyn to be ready and Myriah to keep the kids quiet.  When nothing else happened for about ten minutes they all relaxed again.  There was just no way to keep up the kind of vigilance they needed to keep up at all times without taking breaks.  If you lived in terror twenty-four hours a day everyday then at a certain point you got used to it to a degree.  Luckily, they were all sturdy souls as it was shaping up to be one of those long terror filled days.

Chapter 14:  Home Invasion

The day slowly wound down after a few more incidents of pounding on the windows and doors.  It’d started raining sometime after lunchtime.  Just a light drizzle at first that was barely even noticeable from inside the house.  As the day wore on the rain showers became slowly more intense.  The sound of the rain hitting the roof lulled them all into a false sense of security. That false sense of security made it even more horrifying when there was a banging or knocking noise from somewhere outside the house.

At least they were all in the same room now.  Kelly had recruited Myriah and Caitlyn to help her relocate Kyler to the room the rest of them were in.  They’d managed to drag his bed over without making any noise.  It’d required inventing their own sign language and working in their socks but had worked.  Kyler was curled into a fetal position now on the bed in the corner.  He was fully dressed and even had some of his weapons strapped on. He wasn’t looking like the apocalyptic warrior they’d first met.  He looked like a crippled eighty-year-old man had possessed his body.  They’d all been extremely worried about how hot he felt as they walked him over to the room.  He was still radiating heat like an open oven.  He’d collapsed onto the bed once they got him into the room and hadn’t moved since then.  She’d already checked his breathing once just to make sure he was still alive.

They’d locked the door to the room and dragged a chest of drawers in front of it.  The taller chest of drawers in the room was now sitting in front of the window.  Neither obstacle would do much to stop the Zombies from getting in if they really wanted in. The idea was more about being a deterrent to any Zombies looking to casually enter the home to nest for the night.  Based on their observations of nesting Zombies the beasts gravitated towards the easiest shelter they could find.  This house already had some broken windows so it would be on the short list.

The rain began to really pour down.  Even with the noise caused by the rain starting to really pound down on the roof they still maintained their silence.  Kelly was ashamed of the fact that it’d been her and Randy losing their temper with one another that’d brought the Zombies down on them in the first place.  It had either been that or the noise from the car she’d driven back to the house.  Either way it’d been directly attributable to her.  She was determined not to exacerbate the situation by making any unneeded noises now.  The kids were sullenly sitting in the closet.  It looked like Doreen had fallen asleep and the other two were headed in that direction.  As long as none of them had a nightmare that ended in a screaming fit, they should be good.

A window vibrating peal of thunder woke everyone up.  The noise so loud the lightning might’ve struck in the backyard.  The wind had picked up as well.  The drapery was flapping all around over the broken window in the room.  The tape had come off at some point, so the window was only partially covered now.  Kelly wasn’t too concerned about that since the chest of drawers covered most of the window anyway.  What was slightly concerning was the deluge of rain that was getting blown into the room.  It looked like they were going to either have to drag Kyler’s mattress away from the window or hope it could float.

A series of glass shattering noises and loud bumps completely took everyone’s mind off the rain pouring into the room.  It sounded like the Zombies were making a much more concerted effort to enter the home now.  Best case that was due to the rain driving their need to nest.  Worst case the Zombies were sensing there were people in the home.  Kelly didn’t know how anything could have heard them over the howling storm outside, but she supposed anything was possible. Considering the circumstances, they needed to roll the dice and hope the Zombies were just looking for a place to crash for the night.

Not wanting to make the call herself since doing that had gotten them into this situation in the first place, she grabbed the notebook off the bed and started writing in it.  When she was done writing she handed the notebook to Randy.  He looked like he was much more concerned with listening to the Zombies breaking into the front of the home than reading her scribbles.  She held up the notebook in his face until he finally grabbed it with his good arm and scanned through what she’d written.  He paused for a second when he was done reading then shrugged and nodded at her.

They’d sit in the room unless the Zombies tried to get in.  If the Zombies tried to get in, then they’d head out the window into the storm.  They’d attempt to figure out some way to carry Kyler and sneak out without the Zombies hearing them.  There were a lot of details to work through around the jumping out the window and running for their lives plan.  Hopefully they wouldn’t need to use it.

Sitting in the crowded wet room with the rain pounding down and the wind blowing the curtains around they all tried to figure out what was going on in the rest of the house.  After the sounds of shattered glass and the thumping noises died down, they hadn’t heard anything else.  Not that that meant anything considering the volume of the storm outside.  A hundred Zombies could’ve climbed in through the broken window by now. They could be spread out in the living room having a dance party and they’d have no way of knowing.  Kelly was tempted to just open up the bedroom door and start serial killing all the Zombies that they could find.

She was pretty sure there were only a couple of Zombies out there.  She had nothing to back up that gut feeling though.  She didn’t want to risk her family’s life on a feeling.  With the storm howling she sat in the slowly darkening room stroking Zoey’s hair.  Deciding she wanted to be able to escape quickly if they needed to, she got up to move the dresser out of the way.  She’d rather have the curtains blowing in and be a little more visible than have anything slowing them down if something started trying to beat its way into the room.

She put her hands on the dresser to push it.  A Zombie did something in the living room and there was a loud thump on the wall behind Ali.  Ali screamed and jumped up wide-eyed.  She realized immediately that she’d screwed up by screaming.  She slapped her hands over her mouth and started silently crying.  No one went to comfort her.  Everyone was too busy holding their breaths in fear of what could come next.

Seconds passed and nothing happened.  Sitting up in bed Randy was starting to let himself hope they may still be safe.  Not one to risk their lives on an assumption though he remained sitting upright and ready to roll.  Kyler was still sleeping.  At least they all hoped he was sleeping.  He hadn’t moved for a while.  The steady rise and fall of the sheet Caitlyn had tucked him in with the only indication he was still alive.  Kelly walked carefully on the carpeted floor in her socks to give Ali a hug and try to comfort her.  It wasn’t possible to be quiet all the time.  All the girls had done it so much that they were starting to take for granted that the little girls were able to stay silent under extreme situations.  Of course, there were going to be times when they messed up.  It looked like this time Ali had messed up.  She really needed to find them all some valium or something.  She wondered If they made it in kid gummies.

A guttural screech followed by the sound of fists slamming into the walls and door to the room interrupted Kelly on her way to Ali.  More screeches erupted from the direction of the living room. The wall started shaking as the Zombies hammered through the drywall without bothering to try and figure out the door.  Ali had both hands over her mouth trying not to scream.  Zoey was up and running to her mom.  Caitlyn had already picked up Doreen.  With Doreen in one arm she ran to move the dresser out of the way.  Randy hopped out of bed and helped Caitlyn fling the dresser to the side so they could all exit via the window.  A hand came out of the drywall on the far side of the room.  The ghostly hand covered in drywall dust clenching and unclenching as its owner struggled to push the rest of its body directly through the wall between the wooden studs.

Kyler was sitting up now with his pistol in his hand coldly eyeing the wall the Zombie was beating its way through.  Randy and Caitlyn fought with the window to try and get it open.  One of the windowpanes was shattered but the pane itself wasn’t big enough for any of them to fit through.  The room had descended into almost total darkness at this point.  Needing to see what was going on Kelly pulled a glowstick out of her pocket. She snapped it open putting it on the top of the dresser.  It didn’t provide a ton of light, but it illuminated enough that she could tell this was going to suck.

Caitlyn pushed Randy out of the way long enough to unlock the window he was struggling to open.  Once the window was unlocked it slid up smoothly.  Some additional pieces of glass fell out of it to the floor.  The sharp crack of the glass breaking spurring the Zombies outside to double their efforts to get in.  The one Zombie now had two arms through the drywall.  It looked like it was stuck on a stud and couldn’t get any farther.  The wall was being beaten apart.  The door wasn’t going to hold once the Zombies figured out that they could ram it versus just punching it or whatever they were doing right now.

Kelly shoved her feet into her boots and handed Ali to Caitlyn.  Caitlyn had gone through the window already and was standing in the rain.  Myriah handed the little kids to Caitlyn then jumped out the window after them.  Once all the girls were outside Kelly and Randy helped Kyler to his feet and basically threw him out the window.  He tumbled out and lay on the ground dazed with pain.  A loud screech in the room with them alerted Randy and Kelly that the Zombies were in.  They spun away from the window with weapons raised screaming at the kids to run.  They’d talked earlier about the two places they’d meet up afterwards if something happened.  It was a talk Randy always insisted on. He was justifiably paranoid about losing them.  It wasn’t like they could just track them down with some iPhone app in this new normal.  If you wandered off and got yourself lost there was a real chance that you’d never see your family again.  The odds had been a million to one for Kelly and Randy to have been able to reunite with the kids in the first place.  He didn’t want to have to try their luck again.

By the eerie green light radiating from the glow stick sitting on top of the dresser Randy saw a massively muscled naked Zombie shoving its way into the room through the door it’d knocked off the hinges.  The Zombie saw them and screeched with raw animal ferocity in its desire to rend them both apart.  It was swiping at them from where it stood behind the smaller dresser they’d put up against the door to the room.  The Zombie reached down and hurled the dresser into the wall.  Kelly and Randy opened fire.

The massive monster kept screeching as its insides were scrambled by the rounds slamming into it.  Kelly raised her aim and started blowing wads of its skull and brains out of its head.  Randy was slamming in a fresh magazine as more Zombies followed in the path of the one now lying on the ground covered in blood.

“Run!”  Kelly screamed out the window when she glanced over her shoulder and saw Myriah standing in the rain staring at them through the window.

They kept up a full-on onslaught on the Zombies attempting to rush in the room.  The coordination challenged beasts taking turns being shot in the head as they rushed in tripping over the dead bodies of the ones who’d come before them.  Kelly had been dead wrong on her count of two in the living room.  When the gun smoke cleared there were seven fresh corpses in the small bedroom.  That didn’t mean they had time to take a break though.  All that gunfire was bound to attract some attention.  Even with the thunderstorm raging around them.

Kelly took a few seconds to lace up her boots then went out the window.  Randy snagged the glow stick off the top of the dresser.  He shoved it in his pocket and then being careful not to bang his injured shoulder into anything he followed his wife out into the storm.

The rain was really coming down by then.  They might as well have been standing in the shower with their clothes on.  They were both soaked to the bone before they made it around the corner at the back of the house.  On the lookout for any Zombies who may be rolling this way thanks to hearing all the gunshots they slow jogged towards the first rendezvous point.  The screened in back porch of the model home had a big hole ripped in the side of it.  Myriah was busy trying to break into the actual house.  The rest of the crew was standing around miserably wishing the screened in porch had a roof.

After a quick hug and a kiss for each of the kids Kelly squatted down beside Kyler.  He was sitting on the ground with his back against the wall of the house.

“Sounded like you and Randy went off on some Zombies back there.”  He said quietly.  The noise from the storm so loud that she had to put her ear near his mouth to hear what he was saying.

“Yeah.  We left a pile of dead ones.  How’s your leg doing?”  She asked.

“Better than my head.”  He answered.

“What’s wrong with your head?”  Kelly asked thinking she may have some Advil she could give him.

“You threw me on it when you tossed me out the window.  Not that I’m complaining about you saving my life and everything.”  Kyler said smiling.

Kelly gave him a quick eye roll and stood up to see if Randy and Myriah had made any progress on getting them into the model home.  There was an extra-large sliding glass door that opened up to the porch they were all standing around on.  A couple of peels of thunder echoed after lightning split the sky above them.  The roaring of the thunder making her hopeful their gunshots may not have even registered with any of the local Zombie population.

Caitlyn went to help with the door and Kelly settled down to watch the kids.  She made sure she got a vantage point where she could keep a lookout for any Zombies.  Not that she’d have any chance of seeing them before they saw her in this weather.  She really hoped the inside of the model home had somewhere they could at least hang their clothes to dry.  She caught herself sighing loudly at the thought of being able to pull toasty warm clothes out of a dryer.  What an unimaginable luxury that’d be.

“Checking the back of the house for any doors.  Otherwise we wait for some thunder and break a window.”  Randy said bending down to talk to her.  Kelly nodded in agreement and watched as he unlocked the screen door and disappeared out into the darkness.  After that last crazy battle with the Zombies back in that bedroom she was wondering how much ammunition they had left.  She’d need to do an inventory if they got into the model home anytime soon.  She’d already noticed that only Zoey was wearing her knapsack, so they’d left some stuff in the other house for sure.  She wasn’t planning on going back for it at this point.

“Daddy’s inside!”  Doreen said a bit too loudly.  She had a big grin on her face though, so Kelly let it slide.  She looked towards the glass doors Doreen was pointing at and saw Randy making silly faces as he tried to figure out how to get the door unlocked from the inside.  Being stared at by a half dozen soaking wet females desperate to get out of the rain didn’t seem to be making him any better at getting the door open.  Finally figuring it out he bowed and waved them in.  He’d sat the glowstick on the dining table to give everyone a little light to see by.

Caitlyn and Kelly went back into the rain and got Kyler off the ground.  Randy was pretty useless at picking up people with his shoulder as messed up as it was.  Kyler was able to hobble along with them into the house as long as he could lean on the two of them.  As soon as they got in Randy closed and locked the slider.

“Let’s get him in bed and check this place out.”  Randy said after doublechecking that he’d locked the door correctly.

“Clear it first.”  Kyler muttered.  He directed Kelly and Caitlyn to set him down on the large sectional taking up the bulk of the living room.  It didn’t look like the builders had spared any expense on having the model home staged.  All of the furniture was expensive looking, high quality stuff.  The house itself looked like it’d been locked up when the apocalypse started, and no one had messed with it since then.

Despite how safe it looked they went through the motions of clearing it anyway.  They’d established rules for what they did when they wanted to secure a house to spend the day or night in.  Those rules were what kept them alive in this world.  Tired, wet and completely miserable they took the time after checking every room for Zombies to pull the curtains closed and make sure every door and window was locked.  Kelly picked out a room downstairs with bunkbeds in it.  They dragged in a couple of mattresses from the other rooms until the whole floor was basically one big mattress.

“I try to learn from my mistakes.”  Kelly told Randy.  He nodded in agreement.  Splitting the group up could’ve had some real bad consequences for Kyler at the last house.  They’d gotten lucky with how that all played out, but that luck may not hold out the next time.

“I think we’re good here.  I don’t think anything could’ve heard those gunshots and screeches over the sound of the storm outside.  How’s our patient?”  Randy asked.  Kelly had removed the wet bandages from around Kyler’s wound and cleaned it up as best as she could. She was leaving it uncovered to air out for a little bit before reapplying bandages to it.

“I gave him another Oxy.  He was wincing every time I touched his leg.  It’s red all around the bite.  He’s already taking antibiotics like they’re multivitamins, but I gave him another one anyway.  If we can stay in one place for at least a week I think he should heal up.  He’s going to have one of the weirdest scars ever though.  How’s your arm?”  Kelly asked him.  She was already tugging at his wet shirt to get him to take it off.

“You trying to get me naked?”  Randy asked with a lecherous smile.

“Quit avoiding the question.”  Kelly told him as she watched him pull away from her.  She noted he pulled away in pain right when she tried to pull his t-shirt off over his wounded shoulder.

“It only hurts when I move, or when I’m still.”  Randy said with a smile before getting serious knowing she needed an honest assessment.  “It feels like a hundred fire ants bit my shoulder and chest and they keep wandering around biting me more.  That ointment you picked up helped some if you have some more of that.”

Kelly began searching in her bag for the tube of Neosporin.  They had the glowstick sitting up on the shelf in the corner of the room so they all could see.  Zoey and Ali were up on the top bunk.  They’d gotten all excited about sleeping in bunk beds as soon as they saw the room.  Caitlyn and Doreen were curled up on a mattress in one corner of the room while Myriah had collected a couple of comforters and nice pillows for herself from the master suite.  They were both trying to fall asleep knowing they’d be woken up soon enough for their turn at sentry duty.

Kelly found the tube of goop and began applying it to Randy’s skin after carefully pulling his bandages off.  She tended to him while praying that nothing else would come up to chase them away anytime soon.  They had to get some rest.  They needed time to get well.  They’d been going a million miles per hour since this had all started.  All she was asking for now was a week of rest.  A week of laying on a mattress that’d steadily get dirtier as they tromped all over the top of it.  A week of dealing with finding food, water and places to put the human processed results of the food and water.  She hoped that wasn’t too much to ask for because she was beyond tired.  Looking around at how zonked everyone else was she sighed and left the room to take the first watch.

Chapter 15:  Heads Up!

It wasn’t anything like he’d pictured it.  Krantz had envisioned the smooth lines of the cloud city from Star Wars.  Sleek bridges interconnecting the roofs of the tallest buildings in the city.  Reality looked a lot more like the Ewok village after it’d been attacked.  From where they hovered to take it all in it was obvious someone had gotten overly zealous with the explosives.  In at least one case they’d managed to blow a hole through the roof.  That must’ve taken a nice amount of dynamite to do.

Krantz was pulled out of his musings around the construction of the cloud city by the sounds of his pilot arguing with someone over the radio about landing.  Krantz listened in for a second before deciding it was something the pilot could deal with.  Worse case the pilot may have to tell the moron on the other side of the radio signal that the commander for everyone in this battle theatre was riding shotgun with him.  While the frustrated pilot argued with the controller, a Chinook slowly appeared out of nowhere carrying a heavy load.

The flying workhorse was carrying a large section of what looked like the ladder from a firetruck.  The massive ladder was dangling from a cable below the helicopter.  That explained why they hadn’t wanted the Black Hawk to land yet.  They were waiting on a shipment that was going to take up the whole roof.  It was going to take a full crew to manhandle the ladder out of the way so that they could land afterwards.  The Chinook helicopter wouldn’t have time to hang out either.  It must’ve used up a ton of fuel getting the ladder this far.  There also wouldn’t be any room for the massive chopper once it set its load down.

Krantz signaled for his pilot to back off and hover so they could watch the ladder delivery.  They had plenty of fuel themselves to hang out for a bit and still be able to get off the building later.  The huge helicopter carrying the ladder maneuvered until it was directly above the semi-cleared roof of the tallest building.  It looked like it used to be a Sheraton or some sort of hotel.  Once it was there the ladder was lowered to the roof where a handful of men scrambled all over it releasing the cables connecting the ladder to the helicopter.  As soon as all the connectors were released the Chinook spun around in the air and disappeared as quickly as it’d materialized in the first place.

With the Chinook out of their air space it was time for them to land on the roof top.  Krantz watched as his pilot maneuvered the Black Hawk to set them down as directed by the controller.  Their bird was heavier than anything that would’ve normally landed on a roof.  One of the first things that’d been done after clearing the roofs off had been installing heavy steel girders to strengthen them to handle the additional loads they were going to have to deal with.  Krantz knew all this but still held his breath as the pilot settled them down on the roof.  The pilot didn’t trust it either since he didn’t seem to want to stop the rotors until he’d sat there a minute making sure the landing pad wasn’t going to collapse beneath them.

The grizzled old Seabee in charge of the operation was standing on the roof waiting for them when they climbed out.  Krantz and his team of guards, medical and administrative types all followed the Seabee over to the edge of the roof to look down at the city of Columbia below.  The streets surrounding the building were teeming with mobs of Zombies screeching their heads off.  The roar of their lust rising up like the sounds of waves crashing onto a rocky shoreline during a storm.  It must always be like this with all the activity taking place here.  The Zombies below in a permanent state of distress at having uninfected humans right at the edge of their perception.

A pulley system had been rigged between the buildings. It was being used to move supplies from one building to another.  It looked like it was stable enough to transport people between the buildings as well.  Looking down at the upturned faces of the damned on the streets below he shuddered at the thought of having to ride some sort of rope pulley over all of that.  If the system broke, you better hope the fall killed you because otherwise you were going to be lying on the street below with a bunch of broken bones being eaten alive.

The Seabee gave them plenty of time to check out the pulley system and the moat of Zombies.  Once they’d taken it all in, he led them through a door down a staircase into the actual building.  The first thing Krantz noticed was the lights were on.  He pointed that out and their guide answered at once.  Krantz realized that was probably a question the guard got all the time if he was typically one of the tour guides when VIPs came through.

“Yes sir.  One of the first things we did was rig up some solar cells to the electric panels and get power going for the top five floors of the building.  Everything below the top five floors we blocked off with solid steel doors to keep the Zombies out.  We could’ve probably cleared a few more floors but I didn’t see the need.  I don’t think we can get enough supplies up here to really justify that much open space.  If we do need more room later, we can always gas the next few floors below.”

“Outstanding.”  Krantz responded before launching into more questions.  He knew he was eventually going to get called on the carpet and asked about why he’d invested so much in this effort. He wanted to make sure he had his answers ready to go.  He was also genuinely curious of what others thought about the feasibility of this idea.  He wanted the honest feedback of the ones working on the project as they’d obviously be the ones who would’ve put the most thought into it.  He didn’t want to get stuck in the age-old trap of his men only telling him what they thought he wanted to hear.

It turned out most of the people assigned to this project had thought it was a waste of effort at first.  Now after they’d been working on it for a little while they were starting to see the potential.  The biggest issue being the logistics of getting supplies up here.  They had ideas around that as well though.  If they could rig up bridges between all the buildings and get someone who understood gardening, they felt like they could setup some systems with minimal dirt needed to grow food.  Evidently, they were looking to model it after what a few of them had seen at Epcot down in Orlando.  They explained it to Krantz as giant carrots growing in midair that they’d seen in an exhibit of how to grow food in the future.  Krantz had never seen the exhibit himself but he got the gist of what they were talking about. Like most of the ideas for building a rooftop utopia it led to fifty more problems to solve but it was a step in the right direction.

The floors had been cleaned out of items not immediately needed with everything moved down to the lowest secured floor for storage.  They’d considered just throwing everything over the side that they didn’t need but considering what a pain in the ass it was to get supplies up to the base they opted to keep everything whether they had an immediate need for it or not.  They walked past a small room with a guy actually entering data into a computer.  Krantz stopped to see what the man was doing.  The man was just entering data into a spreadsheet for inventory purposes.  It may not be a powerful use of computing but just seeing someone casually tapping away on a keyboard was a nostalgic moment for the team.  A little bit of normalcy returned to their crazy lives.  The man looked up and awkwardly waved at the large group of people he found suddenly staring at him.

The ladder they’d seen getting delivered was going to be used to connect to the closest building to provide an easier way of moving supplies and people.  The pulley system worked but was cumbersome and slow.  No one really loved dangling over the Zombies for long periods of time either.  The Zombies themselves were what made the concept so great.  With those demons swarming around the base of their base they were well protected from any sort of ground attack.  They were highly vulnerable to an air attack though which was something the northern forces were fully capable of.  Krantz made a mental note to work on getting them some air defense systems.

Water was being collected from the rain in large tanks that’d already been in place on the roof.  They had a couple of men looking at how to connect those tanks to the plumbing system to allow for actual running water in the building.  Altogether the place was starting to sound like a paradise if they could get past the north sending planes to blow it up.  Krantz hated that he had to contend with being at war with other uninfected when they were still barely surviving the war against the infected.  This base would be the perfect model for moving forward for humanity to survive the scourge of the infected if they didn’t have to contend with other humans attacking them.  The irony there being that it was his own side who was picking the fights and starting the wars.  Everyone else in the country was focused on surviving.  The Senator was focused on consolidating power.

Krantz continued to ask questions trying to understand how hard it would be to use this concept in a few more cities like Atlanta.  Right now, they had to constantly relocate camps and settlements since the Zombies eventually rooted them out and attacked no matter how well hidden the and quiet the people in the camps were.  If they could build these cities in the clouds all over the place, then the people could stay in one place without fear of being attacked.  That one place would inevitably be surrounded by Zombies but as long as it was high enough in the air there was no real concern there.  The main issue being how did they get food and other supplies to the people in the cities?  How did they get the people out of the cities to go do their jobs?  They couldn’t have all their looters stuck at the top of a building when they needed them out in the real-world looting to supply the buildings.

Krantz announced they’d be spending the night at the base and more than likely staying a couple of days if nothing came up in the meanwhile.  He wanted time to really think through all the ramifications of this project.  It could really turn out to be a game changer.  He just hoped Roberts didn’t do anything to piss off the armies in the north before he had a chance to work out all the details on how to defend these places.

Krantz lay in bed cooled by a ceiling fan rotating magically above him.  He’d been given a corner suite with a huge king bed to rest in.  Despite the obscene amount of comfort, he still found himself lying awake late into the night.  His mind kept working over the logistical and strategic challenges and opportunities of this concept.  A strange feeling flickering in the back of his subconscious.  Right before he finally fell asleep, he was able to identify that odd feeling.  It was hope.  Something he hadn’t felt in a really long time.  He needed to fan that little spark of hope into a fire to help him through the darkness he sensed lie ahead.

Chapter 16:  Apocalyptic Staycation

Kelly stared at the pitiful pile of supplies she’d stacked in the hallway outside the bedroom they’d been camped out in.  She had a box she’d filled with her bandage and ace wrap collection sitting next to a couple of large Ziploc bags filled with random medications.  Some of it was in the original containers but a lot of the pills were just loose.  She thought she knew what most of the loose ones were, but they’d managed to get unsorted on her a few times in all the commotion.  She knew the best thing to do at some point would be to just toss the ones she wasn’t sure about.  Especially the ones she’d snagged from Rodriguez after he overdosed.

They had enough ammunition to defend themselves against a few Zombies if they needed to.  If the Brotherhood showed up with real weapons, then they were going to be in a world of hurt.  They only had enough rounds for a gunfight if it lasted less than three minutes.  Any longer than that and they’d be tossing rocks and harsh words at their attackers.  Randy summed it up by announcing that a troop of cub scouts armed with nerf bows could kick their asses at this point.  Half their fighters were on the injured list and the other half had very limited supplies to actually fight with.

Thanks to the rain pouring down throughout the first few days of their stay at the home they had plenty of water at least.  Kelly had used her time on watch to find anything and everything in the house that looked like it could hold water.  She’d set every single one of those containers on the porch then had everyone empty the containers into the tubs in the home as they got full.  The result was a few bathtubs full of nice fresh rainwater.  At least it was nice and fresh the first few days.  It was starting to look a little gross at this point.  She probably should’ve spent more time cleaning out the vases they’d used to collect the water.

She needed to go on a supply run.  She knew there was a Walmart up the street, and she knew they had a working car parked at the other house.  Over the last few days they’d seen a grand total of one Zombie in the area.  It’d wandered in off the main road, walked around for about an hour, then wandered back to the main road and disappeared.  Other than going out for the water on the back porch they’d been able to stay inside the house the entire week so far.  Randy kept complaining his wound itched which Kelly had read was a good sign.  Kyler was sitting up now and joking around with the rest of them.  He could stand up and move around, but he limped pretty bad.  His fever had finally broken.  Kelly was starting to think he might actually live.

She really wanted to spend another week at the house resting to get everyone back to as close to a hundred percent as possible.  The open road was a dangerous enough place when they were all healthy and well-armed.  She needed everyone in their party to be able to pull their own weight.  Kyler was probably the best fighter in the group.  Unfortunately, he was also currently the sickest.  At the rate he was recovering though Kelly really thought a week or two more may do the trick.  It wasn’t like they really had anywhere to be anyway.  Kyler had told them everything he knew about the aircraft carrier they were looking to get into action up north.  It sounded like a pipe dream to Randy and Kelly.  Especially when Kyler admitted he’d never even seen the ship.

The only reason Kelly could think of to hurry was that the Brotherhood was expanding. They were still way too close to Atlanta for comfort.  The Brotherhood had already taken Tennessee and now they were moving into South Carolina.  She didn’t want to be caught up in that net again.  The faster they could get up into North Carolina or Virginia the better.  If there really was an aircraft carrier loaded up with enemies of the Senator, she’d be happy to jump on board.  If not, she’d be just as happy to head west.  She was sure they could find some place nice and remote they could settle down and try to build an actual life.

She knew they couldn’t head too far north.  They’d managed to piss off the regime up there as well.  It was either going to be North Carolina or Virginia or head west for them.  She was just so tired of running.  Even being stuck inside this house drinking water with stuff floating in it while the bedroom slowly started smelling like a giant armpit was nicer than the constant running that they were forced into on the road.  She’d loved that they’d started to fall into routines.  They had a bedtime and a story time and were doing some normal things with minor modifications like playing hide and seek without counting out loud.

Remembering the last time that she’d gone off on her own without a plan she called the adults together in the living room to talk.  She laid out her thoughts on staying in the house another couple of weeks. She casually mentioned that they needed supplies.  She told them all there was plenty of gas left in the car she’d used previously.  When she was done with her piece she stopped talking and waited for the discussion.

“Sounds like a plan to me.  You don’t think we should check the local houses for supplies first before driving into town though?”  Kyler asked.

“There’s only one house here we haven’t checked.  We know the dead cat house doesn’t have any food left in it.”  Caitlyn said.

“We could run check the last house tonight.”  Myriah said.  “Maybe it has enough stuff in it to keep us going for another couple of weeks.  Worse case it’ll have something in it we can use.  It’s not like it’s far or something.  Definitely worth checking before mom decides to drive back into Zombie town to grab all the canned beans she can get.”

“Yeah.  That bedroom smells bad enough already.  If you bring home a bunch of beans you better bring an equal number of cans of Febreze.”  Randy joked.  Everyone courtesy chuckled except Kelly who didn’t look amused.  She was thinking they really could use a crate or two of Febreze.  The apocalypse just plain smelled bad.  There were a lot of things that sucked about the end of the world, but she could honestly say that the smell was one of the top ten things for her.  Everything smelled like mold.  Unless there were dead bodies in the mix then it smelled like mold and death.

Kelly thought she’d love to find a can of Febreze. She’d happily snort the contents she was so desperate to get away from the stench of the new normal.  It sounded like a consensus was being reached on checking out the last house in the neighborhood before making the trek back into town again.  That made sense.  She honestly couldn’t remember at this point why they hadn’t gone to check out the other house already anyway.  She vaguely recalled it having something to do with the other house looking like it’d already been broken into.

A few hours later as the sun went down her and Caitlyn were prepping to go hit the house down the street.  They’d emptied their packs out so they had room to shove in whatever supplies they could find.  They each had a full magazine in their rifles and another in their pistols.  That left enough for Randy and Kyler to have full magazines in their pistols and for Myriah to have about half.  Once they ran through that ammunition they’d be completely out until they found some more.  Kelly was hoping the house they were fixing to check may have been owned by a hunter.  They were in rural South Carolina, so it was a distinct possibility.  You didn’t get much more red neck than the area they were in.

“Be careful.  If it seems off just come right back.”  Randy told Kelly after she gave him a quick kiss.  He’d argued that he should be the one going since he was fine enough now to hold a gun.  Kelly had vetoed him though since he wasn’t so great at picking up and carrying stuff still.  The whole point of this mission was to go somewhere to pick up and carry as much stuff as possible.

“Will do.  We’ll be right back.”  Kelly said.  Realizing what she’d just said she hurriedly knocked on the wooden dining room table to avoid jinxing the whole operation.

Kyler had already moved to his station by the front window.  He was going to be monitoring the road outside and making sure nothing seemed odd.  Myriah was stationed on the other side of the house where she’d been on the lookout for the last hour as well.  Randy and Kelly did a quick tour of the house and got the go ahead from Myriah and Kyler.  Neither of them had seen anything that looked like it might cause any trouble.  Having taken every precaution that they could think of Kelly and Caitlyn slipped out the back door to walk through a couple of backyards to the last house on the street.

They walked quickly through the darkness.  Carefully watching their feet as they walked through the backyard of a house that’d still been under construction when this whole mess started.  The backyard was covered in weeds.  The weeds hid all the junk the builders had left lying around which included items like boards with nails sticking out of them and random holes in the ground.  Not to mention the big chunks of concrete and stacks of bricks that liked to hide behind the tall weeds.  It was like the inanimate had come to life long enough to arrange themselves to make it as annoying and painful as possible to traipse through the yards.

Cussing under her breath Kelly kicked at a board that’d literally gotten nailed to the sole of her boot when she stepped on it.  Luckily it hadn’t been long enough to go into her foot.  It wasn’t like she could swing by the local minute clinic for a tetanus shot.  She kicked the board off her foot onto the lawn of the house they’d been trying to get to.  The weeds and grass were tall behind the home, but you could still see the line on the ground where the sod had been laid back before all this happened.

The home they’d targeted had a huge patio in the back, but the buyers must not have wanted to shell out for the screen.  The husband had probably told the wife they could pay to have it added later for less money.  Kelly knew better than to fall for that line.  The trip over to the house hadn’t taken more than fifteen minutes.  It seemed like so much longer after they’d spent the past week in the comparative safety of the model home.  It was amazing to Kelly how the world had changed so much that going to check out a house a few doors down required so much planning and preparation.  It was amazing how much danger was associated with trying to find enough food for her family to survive.

This home should be easy to get into at least.  The back slider was completely open.  That didn’t bode well for the previous owners.  It also made it a possible nest for Zombies.  Reasoning that if there’d been any Zombies hanging out in the house, they were probably among the seven bodies they’d left decaying in the other house on the block she boldly walked across the weed infested lawn to the patio.  Caitlyn followed along behind her trying to look in every direction at once.  Being out in the open was always horrifying.  It was much better to have your back to a wall, so you only had to worry about something coming at you from one direction.

As she followed her mom her mind flashed back to the Zombie that’d beaten its way through the wall to try and get at them at the other house.  So much for being safe with your back against a wall she thought wryly as she caught up to her mom.  Kelly was standing on the patio staring into the black hole where the slider used to be.  The interior of the house was inky black.  It was as if there was a line where the threshold of the door was.  Caitlyn suddenly had a strong compulsion to get the hell out of there.  She didn’t know what it was, but her gut was screaming at her that this was a bad idea.  She took a couple of steps backwards even as Kelly took a couple of steps forward and was swallowed up by the darkness.

A green glow broke the illusion of the slider being a black hole.  Caitlyn gulped down her fear and followed her mom into the ravaged home.  Inside the home it became obvious what’d happened to the former owners.  Dried blood and scattered corpses told the story.  Kelly wasn’t super interested in trying to Sherlock what’d happened here.  They’d seen similar scenes in multiple houses tons of times.  She was excited about the fact that it looked like someone had peppered the walls with a shotgun.  She nudged Caitlyn and pointed out where one of the walls was filled with holes in the tight pattern of a shotgun blast.

They searched around on the floor until they found the shotgun.  It was an antique looking double barrel.  Kelly didn’t care how antique it was as long as it worked.  She poked at the leathery skin covered skeleton near where the shotgun had been lying.  The body had been gnawed on by Zombies, wild animals and bugs before the final scraps were left to rot inside the house.  Caitlyn was turning a paler shade of white than normal.  She still wasn’t comfortable being in a room full of dead bodies.  She should be working on spring break plans right now not searching a skeletons pockets for shotgun shells while trying to ignore the rotted smell of flesh wafting off the moldy carpet.

They found a box of shells on the bed in the master bedroom next to the tiny mummified remains of what could’ve been twins.  It was impossible to tell for sure now, but they were about the same size.  Someone had arranged their bodies on the bed and linked their hands together.  A profound sadness threatened to overwhelm Kelly at the sight of the small bodies.  She took the box of shells and quietly exited the room shutting the door tight behind her.

The house was the same model as the one they were staying in which gave them a good idea of where to check for food.  The pantry was fully stocked.  They took turns shoving cans of food into each other’s packs.  There was more than enough for them to be able to stay in the other house for at least another week.  Whoever these people had been they’d definitely been huge fans of a well-stocked pantry.  It looked like they didn’t buy anything unless they could get it in bulk.

Weighted down with canned food and carrying the old shotgun Kelly decided to walk back to the house along the road instead of trying to cut through the back yards again.  There was too much risk of stepping on a nail or tripping in a hole while carrying all the supplies.  They’d overloaded their packs enough where if they fell then they could get seriously hurt.  The road had a nice big sidewalk alongside it that they used to hurry back to the model home.  Once there they circled around to the back and found Randy waiting for them.

“Why’d you guys come back that way?  Something go wrong?”  He asked taking the shotgun from Kelly and trying to juggle an enormous jar of pickles away from Caitlyn.

“Just seemed easier than trying to carry all this crap through the bushes and broken boards.”  Kelly answered.

“Kyler had you in his sights before he figured out you weren’t Zombies or Brotherhood walking along the sidewalk.  You freaked him out pretty good.”  Randy said as Kyler hobbled up to the back door and smiled at them.

“I was hoping you guys would bring back enough pickles for us to fill a bathtub.”  He said dryly.

“Thanks for not shooting us.”   Caitlyn joked as they all went inside and closed the slider behind them.  They were all feeling pretty giddy at the thought of all the food they now had at their disposal.  They’d been getting by on some pretty thin rations lately.

To celebrate the lucky turn of events they threw a pickle party before bed.  Kelly had each person say something they were thankful for before they were allowed to take a bite out of their pickle.  This led to some laughter and tears before everyone turned in.  Kelly snuggled up to Randy after sending Myriah out into the living room to stand the first watch.  She was thinking about how wonderful the night had turned out when Myriah came back into the room and knelt down beside her.

“There’s a Zombie standing on the patio.”  She whispered frantically.

Chapter 17:  The Creep

“Is it just the one Zombie?”  Randy asked.

“I only saw one of them.”  Myriah said.  “I didn’t hang out trying to see if there were any more though.  I was out in the hall and sat down to look out the front window.  When I turned around, I saw it standing on the porch.  It must’ve creeped in while I was looking out the front window.  I snuck back in here as fast as I could without making any noise.”

Kelly got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.  They must’ve left the verticals open when they came back from gathering the supplies.  Or, maybe they’d just celebrated the damned pickles too loudly.  They’d done something that had attracted a Zombie to wander up and stand on the back porch.  Now they had to figure out a way to get rid of it.  She knew they couldn’t afford to keep screwing up like that.  She was on a bad roll lately.

“Maybe it’ll just leave.”  Myriah volunteered doubtfully.  Unless there was another human sounding noise from somewhere the Zombie would stand on the back porch staring at the blinds for the foreseeable future.

“I could sneak out the window and go make some noise in the front of the house then dive back in the window when it went to check out the noise.”  Kelly said.  She was thinking that if they could lure it off the porch it’d get confused and wander away.

“But then where would it go?”  Randy asked.  “I think we need to kill it.  I don’t really want to have to wonder where the hell the damned thing decides to bed down at night.  If we lose track of it, we’re pretty much stuck in this house until we’re ready to leave.”

That was a true statement as well.  If they lost track of the Zombie, they risked getting attacked by it every time they went outside.  On top of the very real risk of being attacked was the fact that if it saw them before they saw it the screeching would attract other Zombies.  For all they knew there was a whole herd of Zombies hanging out in the woods nearby just waiting to hear a screech.

“How do we kill it quietly?”  Kyler had joined in the conversation.  He’d managed to crawl over to them on the mattress covered floor.  It was risky for any of them to walk in the room due to the plethora of trip hazards.  His question pretty much summed up their dilemma.  They could open the slider and whack it in the head with an ax pretty quickly.  The problem was it wouldn’t necessarily be fast enough to keep the Zombie from screeching loud enough to alert every other Zombie in the area that this house had some uninfected humans hanging out just waiting to be mauled.

They whispered their way through a variety of scenarios.  They couldn’t sneak up on it from behind because it was standing in the screened in porch.  They couldn’t just pop open the door and kill it because it’d start screaming it’s head off.  They talked about opening the door and letting it wander in then killing it when it stepped inside the house.  That idea seemed to have the most merit, but Kelly wasn’t a fan.  There was still the risk of it screaming plus then they’d have a dead body in this otherwise pristine model home.  She liked the idea of living in a house no one had ever been murdered in.  After talking through ideas that kept getting more far-fetched Kelly finally relented and agreed to go with the trap it inside and kill it quietly plan.

Kelly went with Myriah to check out where the Zombie was standing at now on the porch.  Kyler and Caitlyn were debating the best hand weapons to take out the Zombie quickly and quietly when Myriah came back in the room.

“It’s gone.”  She said simply.

That threw a wrinkle in the plan.  They’d all assumed they had plenty of time to come up with a way to kill the Zombie.  The Zombie had come into the back porch via the ripped portion of the screen.  To their minds that put the Zombie in a lobster in the lobster trap kind of scenario.  It’d have to be a pretty bright Zombie to figure out how to get out of the porch it’d managed to get itself into.  Evidently it was a scholar among Zombies.  Kelly showed up in the room about ten minutes later.

“I peeked out the curtains around the house, but I didn’t see it anywhere.  So now what?”  She asked.

“We need to go all hands to battle stations and wait until one of us sees it.  Once we know where it is again, we need to keep eyes on it this time, so we don’t lose it again.  Once we know where it wandered off to, we can figure out how to kill it.”  Randy said standing up and stretching.  It was going to be a long night of staring out a narrow strip of window into the murky darkness trying to spot the person they needed to quietly murder.  Just another Tuesday at home with the family during the apocalypse.

Ten minutes later they were stationed at their windows staring out into the dimly lit areas they were each covering.  Kelly had gone up into the loft to look out that window.  It provided the best vantage point to observe the area in front of the house as well as most of the street.  It was where they each spent a good bit of their time when they were standing watch.  Randy was on the corner of the home alternating between looking out over the back porch and checking out the alley on the side of the home.  Caitlyn was covering the opposite side of the house from Randy along with Kyler.  Myriah was in charge of keeping the littles quiet and secure.

They sat in their positions staring out at the bleak landscape around them.  The slight illumination cast from the moon helping them see.  If there’d been any clouds in the sky, then they could’ve probably given up.  It would’ve been too dark to see anything until morning.  Randy alternated between peeking between the verticals covering the back porch and looking out the side of the curtain covering the window on the side of the home.  The window on the side faced the alleyway between the model home and the next home that’d been under construction.  That gave him a great view of the partially stacked bricks the workers would never be back to finish.

The bricks got him to thinking about all the issues they’d had getting their home built.  While alternating between his two lookout posts he recalled how he’d called the builder because there were holes in the brick.  He’d ripped the guy apart on the phone then sat there filled with righteous anger waiting for the guy to show up so her could show him the holes.  He’d felt like a three-year-old when the builder explained the purpose of the holes was to let the water drain out so that it didn’t build up inside the walls and cause mold.  That was evidently a standard feature that everyone in the world had known about except him.  He’d been forced to swallow his righteous anger as the builder emasculated him in front of his grinning wife.  Thinking about it now he still felt a bit embarrassed by the whole experience.

He shifted the curtain to the side slightly and stuck his face up to that window again to see if he could see anything.  He also wanted to see if he could make out the ‘weep holes’ on the bricks being laid on the wall opposite him.  He couldn’t get the right angle to see out the window, so he shifted around a little bit more trying to figure out what was blocking his visibility.  He reached over and shifted the blinds a little bit to see if that helped.  He was thinking he’d moved something around the last time he looked out the window.

He could almost make out his reflection in the window.  His reflection grimaced and started screeching and pawing at the window.  Randy dropped a couple of ‘F’ bombs as he jumped back from the window trying to get his hands on his weapons.  His legs hit the chair by the dining room table. He went over backwards with his feet suddenly filling the airspace where his head had been a second earlier.  The chair he’d tripped on skittering across the floor to smash into the wall as his head slammed painfully into the floor.  He lay there dazed as Kelly and Caitlyn appeared in the room to see what was going on.

“We have to kill it.”  Kyler said hobbling in after Kelly and Caitlyn.

“Let’s go with letting it in the house and whacking it in the head a few times.  Kyler, you want to let it in.  Caitlyn and I can take care of beating it to death.”  Kelly said.

Kyler looked like he was going to say that should be his job but then realized that he was still on the injured list.  He couldn’t pitch Randy to do the killing either since Randy was currently struggling to stand up straight after the massive hit he’d just taken to his cranium.  The damned Zombie was pounding on the window and screeching its head off.  There was no more time to plan. They needed to shut it up now before it attracted more monsters to the party.  Kyler flung the sliding door open.

The Zombie continued to paw at the side window screeching it’s head off.

“Here Zombie!  Zombie dude!”  Kyler called out in frustration trying to pitch his voice high enough for the Zombie to hear without being loud enough for his voice to carry farther into the night.  Not that it probably mattered with Sir Screeches A Lot insanely attacking the window a few feet away.  He started to say something else when the Zombie finally figured out someone was trying to get its attention.

The Zombie disappeared out of the side window and reappeared on the outside of the screen surrounding the patio.  It started screeching again when Kelly leaned out far enough to catch its eye.  She’d pulled Kyler back inside and sent him to stand in the corner.  It made sense considering he was hobbling around on a seriously injured leg.  He wouldn’t be able to juke and jive too efficiently if the Zombie came straight at him.  He still didn’t like that he was being sidelined.  He wasn’t used to sitting back and letting other people fight for him.

Kelly ducked back in positioning herself on the other side of the open slider from Caitlyn.  She had had her hatchets in hand while Caitlyn was once again sporting her dad’s Lord of the Rings replica ax.  It was the one that he’d snagged in the home of a Zombie they’d watched tumble down a flight of stairs in full plate armor.  She gritted her teeth and waited for the Zombie to come storming into the house screaming for blood.

A few minutes later they could still hear the Zombie screeching outside but it hadn’t gotten any closer to the door.  Kelly snuck a quick look out into the darkness and saw the Zombie running back and forth along the screened in porch.  It tried getting in every once in a while, but kept getting blocked by the screen.  It was somehow managing to miss the huge slash in the screen that it’d come in through originally.  Kelly sighed.  She was getting more annoyed than terrified by this Zombie.  She was really starting to look forward to whacking on it with her hatchets.

She ducked back inside and thought about the situation briefly.  Coming to a decision she waved to Caitlyn to follow her out onto the porch.  She pointed out the ripped portion of the screen.  Caitlyn and her mom got into positions on either side of the gash and waited for the Zombie to come through.  The Zombie’s screeches rising to the pitch of a banshee at the sight of the two humans standing there.

Caitlyn pointed behind Kelly who turned her attention away from the hole in the screen to see what the Zombie was up to.  The stupid thing was stuck on the other side of the screen.  It was trying to come straight at them instead of running around to come in through the ripped section.  With an exasperated sigh Kelly walked over to where the middle aged, thin as a rail, sore covered monster was pressing it’s face hard to the screen and gnashing its teeth.  It was screeching like a giant parrot repeating what it’d heard on a scary noise of Halloween soundtrack. It kept trying to press its face through the screen instead of running around and coming in through the gigantic rip on the other side of the patio.

Kelly took a couple of practice swings then buried her hatchet in the Zombie’s face right through the screen.  It shrieked and blindly scrambled to get through the screen at her.  A final burst of energy and it ripped the screen enough for its body to come tumbling through at Kelly’s feet.  Kelly jumped back as it swiped out at her.  Caitlyn stepped in and slammed the heavy ax into the upper back of the Zombie.  Kelly stepped back in and chopped at the Zombies skull before it had a chance to get moving again.  They jumped back out of reach as the monster squirmed around in its final death throes.

“Nice job guys.”  Kyler said from behind them.  He was leaning against the doorframe with his pistol in his hand. He’d been standing there covering them the whole time.

Kelly started to respond when an answering screech drifted to them on the wind.

“Oh, good lord.”  Kelly fumed.  She was tired.  They were all tired.  They should be going to sleep now.  That damn screeching noise mean they were going to be up and battling to stay alive for who knew how long.

“Hey babe.”  Randy said to her when she walked in.  He was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs.  She’d seen him behind her when she was fighting.  He’d been ready to jump in if needed.  He hadn’t taken his pistol out as he’d been scared that he was still too disoriented to shoot it without risking hitting one of them.  Exactly what good he could’ve done was up for debate, but she appreciated him being there anyway.  He looked like he was holding onto the chair to keep from falling off it.  She walked over and kissed him.

“We’re a sorry looking excuse for a group of hardcore survivors.”  Kelly announced earning a few chuckles.

Kyler slid the slider shut and pulled the verticals closed.  He pulled a chair over so he could sit and watch to see if any more zombies showed up.  Based on the screeches they’d heard it was just a matter of time.  Kyler caught Kelly looking over at him.

“Nothing yet.  It’s still nighttime so maybe they won’t show up for a while.  They’ll be here by morning though.  Hopefully not too many of them.”  He said.  They all nodded thoughtfully at the assessment.  It was pretty much what each of them had been thinking.

“Then let’s get the hell out of here.  Let’s load up the kids and the supplies in the car and get headed north again.  We needed to get moving soon anyway.”  Kelly said.

“What about Kyler and dad resting up and getting better first?”  Caitlyn asked.

“They can sit in the back with the kids and rest up.  It’s not like we’re getting a ton of rest and relaxation here.”  Kelly answered.  She left it unsaid that for all they knew a herd was already on the way.  There was no way they weren’t going to get some more unwanted visitors after all the noise the Zombie currently dead on the back porch had made.

“I’ll get the kids and everybody ready.  You grab the car and drive it over here.  We’ll be ready to be in it in less than five minutes.  Let’s move.”  Randy ordered the group.  It would’ve been more impressive if he hadn’t almost fallen over when he stood up to get everyone moving.  Kelly pushed Randy back down in his chair and told Kyler to get Myriah to get the kids and all their gear and wait by the front door with Randy.  They needed to be ready to jump in and go when she pulled up with the car.

Caitlyn and Kelly grabbed their gear and set it by the front door then went to get the car.  It was in the garage of the house they’d initially been staying at.  They had to go through the front door and into the garage to get to the car.  Caitlyn noticed the damage in the bedroom as they went by and stuck her head in for a better look.  There was blood and dead Zombies scattered all over the demolished room.  Her mom and dad were pretty bad ass.  She smiled to herself at that thought knowing she’d never tell them that. Still grinning she hurried out to catch up with her mom before her mom noticed she was missing.

Caitlyn almost got knocked over by her mom rushing down the hall past her in the other direction.  Caitlyn immediately and energetically followed the first rule of the apocalypse. When you see someone running you join them and do your best to beat them.  It turned out Kelly had remembered they’d pulled Kyler out of his room in a hurry leaving behind some of his gear.  She pulled the ammunition and extra weapons out of the box lying on the floor and shoved everything she could find into her pockets.  Caitlyn helped since Kyler owned way too many knives.  She was sure he’d be happy to get them back.  He probably felt naked without them.

That chore set them back a few minutes so now Kelly really rushed to get to the garage and get the car started.  Once that was done, they hoisted up the garage door and backed out to drive the short distance to the other house.  When they pulled up in front of the house Kelly spotted a Zombie running towards them from the entrance to the subdivision.  She saw Randy and the kids coming out of the house and making their way towards the car.  She handed Caitlyn the nine-millimeter she’d pulled out of the other house.

“Cover them.  I’ll keep the car running.  Shoot that one coming at us first.”  She told Caitlyn.  She was looking around wildly hoping there weren’t any more Zombies coming that she couldn’t see.

Caitlyn got out and sighted in on the Zombie running towards them.  She shot it in the chest.  It may not kill it instantly, but it should put it on the ground and out of the fight for long enough for them to drive out of there.  If she’d tried shooting it in the head it’d probably have just been a waste of ammunition.  She’d had it drilled in her head that head shots on moving targets were hard.  She’d have lowered her aim after missing and the end result would’ve been the same.  First target down she spun in a circle looking to acquire more targets.

Loud screeching erupted from several directions after she’d pulled the trigger.  She waved for her dad to hurry up.  For the first time she realized how tightly they were going to be packed into the economy sized sedan.  Not that being packed tightly into a car was something any of them were going to consider a major hardship compared to their daily lives.  Seeing all the gear and supplies they were carrying she wished she’d thought of opening the trunk.  She couldn’t afford to take her eyes off her surroundings right now to ask her mom to pop the trunk though.  She continued revolving in a circle while the rest of the family piled into the backseat of what she was now thinking of as the clown car.

Seeing the last person get in she dropped into the passenger seat and slammed her door shut.  Looking into the back seat revealed how seriously crammed together everyone was between their gear, kids, weapons and all the other junk they had with them.  She was extremely grateful to be riding shotgun.  Especially when Zombies started emerging from in between all the houses on the left side of the street and sprinting for the car.  There must’ve really been a decent sized herd nearby.  There was at least a hundred Zombies cutting through the yards to come at them.  More than enough to have overwhelmed their defenses back in the house if they hadn’t left when they had.

Feeling beyond thankful that they’d dodged that bullet by leaving when they did Kelly accelerated a little faster to get them past the smiling goopher sign at the front of the subdivision.  She slowed down then to try and figure out which way to turn before just randomly turning in the direction away from where all the Zombies had come from.  When in doubt drive away from the large group of Zombies were words she could live by.  She’d have that phrase translated into Latin and written across her back in tattoo form if they made it out of there ok.

From the backseat Randy did his Braveheart impersonation yelling ‘Freedom!’  Kelly smiled thinking that just maybe everything might end up working out after all.

Chapter 18:  Field Promotion

Tom got up from the computer where he’d been entering inventory data for the last few hours.  He hated that he had to go back to the same computer every day to enter the data.  It all seemed so stone aged to him.  He kept telling himself as soon as he had some time, he was going to bring a couple of switches online and build out some shared drives or something.  That way he could at least access his files from any floor on the building.  It’d also be nice to have a backup in case something went wrong.

He hopped over the desk being used to block off the stairwell on this side of the building.  This was the side that wasn’t welded shut so demanded extra precautions. They had installed bars and a gigantic metal gate with a combination lock holding it closed.  A guard stood in the stairwell all day every day.  In any Zombie movie ever, this is the place where the gate would get left open and the Zombies would come pouring in.  The boss refused to let them die from a cheap horror movie cliché.

Tom didn’t have a military background strictly speaking.  He’d been able to fake it well enough to avoid becoming a looter for the New American forces.  He’d been a civilian contractor connected to the military for most of his adult life.  He’d worked in IT and logistics for most of that time.  He’d never become a manager because he thought most people were stupid and couldn’t stand the thought of being responsible for them.  He nodded at the guard as he headed up the stairs to the command levels.  He needed to report in, and he wanted to see if they were cool with him messing with the network switches in the closets.  He really wanted to get everything talking again.

He walked into a room featuring way more frantic activity than normal.  A couple of men were standing around the communications station.  The officer manning the station had a radio as well as a few landlines run to various locations inside and outside of the hotel.  Tom stood off to the side waiting to see if someone was going to tell him what was going on.  He didn’t want to get in the way of whatever it is they were trying to handle.  He was pretty sure the status of how many chairs and computers had been put in storage wasn’t a huge concern to anyone in the room at the moment.  Now that he thought about it, he wondered exactly why he’d been asked to put all that information into the computer anyway.

“Tom, you have a second?”  The communications officer yelled the question across the room.  Tom walked quickly over to see what the officer wanted.

“Yes sir?”  Tom asked once he was standing in front of the officers station.

“Can you go get Commander Krantz and escort him here.  He should be in his room.  The phone isn’t working in there when I try calling it.  Double time it if you don’t mind.  Shit’s kind of hitting the fan.”  The officer said before picking up the headset on his desk and pushing it back over his ears.

“What do I tell him?”  Tom asked.  He’d just seen two soldiers carrying a crate of missiles to the door leading up to the roof.  Not something you want to see in the middle of an apocalypse where you’ve also picked a fight with a well-armed adversary in possession of an aircraft carrier.

“Tell him we have reports Roberts is dead. Orders came in that Commander Krantz is in charge now.”  The officer said after pausing for a second to consider if he should tell Tom or not.  Old habits die hard.  The officer had been in the military for long enough before the apocalypse to have the standard distrust all military men had for civilian contractors.  Tom’s general harmlessness was pretty evident though.

Seeing that he wasn’t going to get any more information than that Tom turned and ran back down the stairs he’d just come up.  He went one floor down before entering the hallway designated as officers’ quarters.  Each of the rooms along the hallway had been labeled with the name and rank of the person who currently resided there.  They had way more rooms than they had people so far, so all of the officers got an upgraded room with a window for now.  The room at the end of the hallway had the name Krantz scrolled on a piece of paper pinned to the wall.  Sam started knocking on the door before he’d even caught his breath.

The door opened so fast Tom wondered if he’d caught the commander on the way to the head or something.  He hadn’t even had the opportunity to catch his breath yet. He found himself in the awkward position of struggling to draw a breath to give this very important man some very important news.

“Take your time.  Unless we’re fixing to be killed.  Then just blink twice so I can get the hell out of here.”  Krantz said while fighting back a yawn.  He waited patiently for the nerdy looking guy he recognized as the data entry man they’d walked past earlier to catch his breath.

“Yes sir.  You need to get to the comms room sir.  Commander Roberts may be dead.”  Tom finally got the information out.  He saw the stoic face of the man in front of him crumble in disbelief for a second before Krantz regained control and his expression went stoic again.

“Let me grab the rest of my gear.  Wait here.”  Krantz said letting the door to his room swing shut as he went to grab his bag and the rest of his weapons.  He’d been holding a revolver in his hand the entire conversation with Tom that he now shoved in a shoulder holster.  He’d been sound asleep when Tom knocked on the door.  He remembered thinking it better be important since he’d just fallen asleep.  After living rough in the field for months the bed had been heaven.  The clean sheets and gentle breeze from the ceiling fan like something out of a dream.

Looking longingly at the thick white comforter and oversized pillows he grabbed his bag and headed for the door to the room.  He doubted he’d be coming back any time soon.  Hearing that Roberts had died had shaken him to his core.  He definitely hadn’t been expecting to hear that.  Roberts had been a bigger than life super soldier with scary strategic and tactical skills.  If he could be taken off the board then Krantz didn’t like his own chances.

He walked quickly behind the man who’d been sent to collect him.  In the comms room everyone came to attention when he walked in the room.  It was a far cry from the initial greeting he’d gotten.  The men falling back on their familiar military traditions in the face of this new threat.  The Seabee in charge of the base was in the room next to the officer handling the communication station.

“At ease.”  Krantz announced walking towards the communications officer.  Tom tagged along behind him.  Once he was at the communication officers desk, he asked the man for a status.

“Yes sir.  We received a radio call in code asking if you were here.  A secure call followed that.  Commander Roberts and the other helicopters in his raiders group were reportedly shot down by a group of harriers.  The assumption is the harriers came from the forces to the north.  This is the first time we’ve heard of them striking us unprovoked sir.  They told us to relay to you that you are now in tactical command of all New American forces.  You’re to hold South Carolina and continue to prep to take North Carolina.”  The officer glanced down at his notepad before continuing.  “You’re to get a handle on the situation then contact the Senator in three days to give him a report and get further orders.”

Krantz thanked the man and walked out of the comms room.  He ignored the looks he was getting from everyone.  This was way more responsibility than he’d expected to have thrust on him.  He’d been ok with being in charge of the forces in South Carolina since he still had Roberts feeding him his orders.  He wasn’t sure if he was ok with being in charge of everything.  The Senator was a man who expected results.

Krantz latched onto that thought.  Results he could do.  If the Senator wanted him to hold South Carolina he could do that.  If he wanted him to take North Carolina he could do that too.  As long as he had someone to feed him objectives, he felt like he’d be fine.  He just didn’t want to be the one deciding they should get a bunch of people killed by invading other states.  He recognized that it was a very thin moral shield he was throwing up to try and justify his actions.  He’d just have to keep telling himself the crap the Senator spouted out about building a New America out of the ashes of the old.  Maybe he could make himself believe it wasn’t just a naked grab for power.

He walked out of the comms room and up the stairs to the roof.  On the roof he headed for the low concrete wall that fenced in the area.  He walked until he was looking down at the throngs of infected mobbing the streets below.  Their numbers had thinned some since they’d first landed on the roof. The volume of the screeching was much lower as well.  He guessed they’d been super loud before because of all the activity on the roof.  Between the helicopter delivering a giant ladder and the Black Hawk hovering above the flesh loving freaks below must’ve been about to lose their minds.

Too bad for them the operation had gone smoothly.  They had to be getting hungry just standing around screaming all day.  Krantz let his mind wander to trying to figure out exactly why the living beings below were still actually living.  No regular non-infected human could pull off the stuff they did and live.  An infected human could be locked in a house with no food for a year and when you opened the door it’d still attack you.  The only gesture towards sustenance possibly being the water from the toilet bowl being gone.  The infection gave them the ability to go into a kind of stasis that kept them alive indefinitely.  If mankind ever came out of this mess and got all scientific again maybe they could learn how to use that part of the infection to put people in stasis for long space journeys.

Krantz snorted.  He’d come out here to clear his head and here he was thinking of infecting people with the Zombie virus to launch them on deep space missions.  Talking about a rally bad Zombie movie idea.  Although he did vaguely remember there’d been a Halloween movie with Jason running around in a hockey mask on a space station so maybe his idea wasn’t too crazy.

Krantz put his hands on his face hoping he could cutoff his mental vacillation by pressing on his forehead hard enough.  He was obviously trying to avoid thinking about the subject at hand.  Considering how fast he was going off on total tangents he forced himself to think next steps.

First, he needed to get off this building.  Keeping him and his team here made the base they were trying to build a much bigger target for the enemy.  Second, he needed to get an assessment of where they were at right now.  He knew everything there was to possibly know about the units he’d been in charge of in South Carolina, but he had no clue on the other parts of their army.  He’d just had the number of men under his command increase sevenfold.  Once he had a solid understanding of their current state, he needed to figure out how he was going to handle the invasion of North Carolina.

He needed access to the spy network Roberts had setup.  The problem was Roberts was too dead to provide him with that information.  All the people Roberts had trusted with that sort of information had been flying around in the raiders group with him which meant they were all probably dead too.  He needed to send some men to wherever the helicopters had been shot down to check for survivors.  There was always the chance they could get lucky and find somebody.  Hell, maybe they could find Roberts!

He needed to get all that done in three days.  He wanted to be able to communicate to the Senator that everything was moving forward.  He fought back the urge to grab a big bottle of something strong and curl up in the bed in his room with the air conditioning maxed out.  Instead he’d get back in the Black Hawk and head towards the site where Roberts and his men had been shot down.  He could give the orders to set everything else in motion while he was in the air.  Having a plan in his head made him feel a lot more confident.  He turned and headed back towards the comms room.

Twenty minutes after he’d decided they should leave the base they were all back on the Black Hawk heading towards the North Carolina border.  They were flying low to avoid radar.  They hadn’t told anyone where they were going so if there was a traitor, they wouldn’t be able to report on them.  Tom was seated in the back with a laptop.  Krantz had decided he needed another computer nerd to help him with tracking how many troops they had where and what those troops were currently doing.

Tom sat in the back of the crew area for the Black Hawk balancing a MacBook on his lap.  He was working on laying out the database he thought he’d need to keep track of troop movements.  The other clerk who rode around with Krantz had shown Tom how they kept up with the men and supplies in South Carolina, so Tom was using that as a starting point.  Trying to track everyone in all the states was going to add some serious complexity though.  Tom kept typing while wondering how he’d gone from counting chairs to being in charge of creating the new database for all the forces of the New American military.  He worked hard on the database to try and keep his mind off the fact that they were flying a helicopter to the exact place where a bunch of helicopters had been shot down earlier that day.

Chapter 19:  Northern Bound

“Are those fighter jets?”  Kelly asked looking up into the sky where a group of five jets were roaring by.  They were flying entirely too close to the ground.

“Looks like the north might not just be sitting around waiting for the New America to come assimilate them.”  Kyler said.  He was sitting in the passenger seat now with Doreen asleep in his lap.  Having multiple children and gear resting on his wounded leg in the back had not been working for him.  As soon as the Zombies were out of sight he’d asked to switch with Caitlyn.  They’d pulled over and rearranged the car shoving as much gear as they could into the trunk.  They’d fooled around for a couple of minutes trying to figure out how to pull the back seats down to make the trunk part of the back seats, but a distant screech had halted that effort.

“Are those airplanes?”  Zoey asked.  She was trying to squirm around to look out the back window.  Randy moved his head out of the way so she could see.

“Yes honey.  Those are airplanes.  We think they’re the good guys.”  Her mom answered.  It made her a little sad that her daughter was going to grow up in a world where airplanes and all the rest of civilization was slowly rusting away.  Other than the weapons of war it wasn’t like any regular flights were going to be operating again in the near future.

“Do they have Sponge Bob on them?”  Ali asked.

It was a legitimate question.  The last plane they’d all been tied up and dragged onto had indeed featured a couple of flat screens and a nice selection of Sponge Bob DVDS.  Kelly wasn’t sure how to explain the difference between that plane they’d been prisoners on and the fighter jets that’d just roared by.

“Yes, they do.  The pilots watch the shows when they’re not busy flying.”  Randy answered.  He probably thought he’d been pretty clever answering the question that way.  Little had he expected the onslaught of other questions that brought on about what cartoons the pilots liked to watch while they flew.  While he dealt with that youthful avalanche of aeronautical inquisition Kelly, Caitlyn and Kyler tried to figure out where they were going.

The consensus was they should be heading north as quickly as possible.  The sooner they crossed over into North Carolina the better.  Sighting the jets had added a bit of excitement to the journey.  Driving through the front lines of an all-out war made the idea of just driving north as fast as they could a bit more complicated.  They also discussed if they should veer more towards going east or west as they moved northwards.  East won out since Tennessee and Alabama were solid Brotherhood territories.  Even though Kyler had heard Alabama was a pretty wild place with no one group really in control.

They were torn between trying to make their way to an interstate or keeping to the back roads.  The interstate would be faster, but it’d also be the most likely route to have lookouts stationed along it.  If there was a full-on war brewing it’d be the most dangerous path.  Zombies and guys with guns in pickup trucks they had a chance against.  Attack helicopters, tanks, jets and missile were things they had no desire to go up against.  Once they started thinking along those lines the decision to stick to the back roads was pretty much made for them.

“It won’t just be us headed for North Carolina either.”  Kyle brought up after they’d tossed around a bunch of ideas and decided to keep going north using backroads.

“What do you mean?”  Caitlyn asked.

“If the north and south are duking it out on the North Carolina border then that’s going to make a lot of noise.  That means a ton of Zombies will be headed that way.  Plus, we probably aren’t the only refugees trying to get into North Carolina.”  Kyler answered.   He was worried about them being able to make it through a no man’s land to reach what they were hoping would be a sanctuary.  For all they knew the north may be turning back refugees.  He didn’t bother bringing that up since there wasn’t much that they could do about it.  Plus, he was hoping he could name drop once they got across the line. If Chief Presly or Commander Hartfield were still around, then they should be good to go.  Once the family was safe, he could either catch back up with the roving patrols or head back to the island to debrief.

That train of thought led him to muse about his future.  It wasn’t something he’d put a lot of thought into lately.  Mostly he just tried to take one day at a time.  If he was alive at the end of the day then he considered it a good day.  He assumed he’d be welcomed back into the military up north.  Hopefully even bumped up in rank thanks to completing the spy mission.  Assuming Commander Hartfield was still in charge anyway.  If him and Chief Presly were both dead, then there was a good chance Kyler would be executed for the Brotherhood brand on his back.  He’d just have to figure it out as he went.  He was going to do his best to get Randy and his family on board the carrier if it hadn’t already steamed out.

“I miss GPS.”  Kelly said.  Kyler nodded as he tried to figure out what road they were on.  He wanted to take the massive folding map of South Carolina in his lap and fling it out the window .  It didn’t show any of the streets they were on out here in the middle of BFE.  If they were on an interstate, then they wouldn’t even need the stupid map.  Doreen had woken up and was energetically ‘helping’ him figure out where they were at.  She’d already managed to stomp on his wounded leg a couple of times so that was fun.  He was about ready to fling her out along with the map.

“I have to pee!”  The phrase they heard every fifteen minutes from someone different echoing up from the back seat.  The culprit this time was Myriah.  She hadn’t had to pee fifteen minutes prior when they’d stopped for Zoey.  Sighing Kelly looked for a place to pull over.

Unlike the annoyance of doing this back in the days of road trips before the apocalypse these pitstops now contained an element of life or death.  Kelly laughed at herself for the fear she’d used to have stopping in these places of pedophiles in white vans offering up free candy to kids who’d help find their puppy.  Now if you picked the wrong place to pull over you could very easily find yourself in a fight for your life.  Out here in the middle of nowhere they should be pretty safe though.  The odds being in the neighborhood of a hundred to one of managing to pull over next to where a Zombie happened to be hanging out.  A hundred to one still meant there was a chance though.

Kelly looked at the road ahead.  They were driving down a two-lane road surrounded on both sides by encroaching forest.  The road itself mostly hidden under a carpet of dead pine needles.  There was no need to actually pull over.  It wasn’t like they were expecting any cars to come whizzing by while they waited on the kids to finish whizzing.  As close as the woods had moved in on the road there wasn’t a shoulder to speak of anymore anyway.  Deciding one random spot on the road was as good as any other random spot on the road Kelly went ahead and stopped.

“Ok.  We’ll check this place out then everyone who needs to go needs to take care of it this time.  We can’t keep stopping every fifteen minutes unless you want the bad guys to catch up with us.”  Kelly said making eye contact in the rearview with Myriah.  She sat there waiting for Caitlyn and Randy to lever themselves out of the car and secure the area.

Randy got out leaving Zoey and Ali in the backseat.  He could feel the life coming back into his lap.  For such small girls, they sure managed to pin him down.  He stretched his legs out by standing on his tip toes and reaching into the sky until he heard his back crack.  Then he stood on one side of the car staring into the woods while Caitlyn stood on the other side.  They were both busy listening.  If they heard anything crashing around in the woods or screeching in the distance, then the whiz break would be called off and they’d drive for another thirty minutes before trying again.

Checking his watch to make sure he’d stood there for the full three minutes they’d decided on he signaled to Kelly that everything looked ok.  The kids got out of the car and grabbed a spot to squat.  Even the ones who swore they didn’t have to go were being made to try.  Kelly’s little speech about the bad guys chasing them must’ve worked because they all were able to go.  They started climbing back in the car once finished.  Randy realized he should take advantage of the break to go himself.  He walked over near the edge of the road to get away from the car.

The second he started going he heard something moving around in the woods.  Not wanting to try and stop the flow he stared into the woods while he listened for the noise again.  He didn’t hear anything else for a few seconds.  He’d started to relax when there was suddenly the sound of a number of large creatures bashing their way through the woods towards them.  Pulling his fly closed quickly Randy turned and sprinted for the car.  Myriah leaned over and flung his door open for him.

He jumped in and slammed the door shut right as the first couple of deer bounded out of the woods.  They bounded across the road disappearing into the woods on the other side.  They were followed by about twelve more deer.  Kelly and Kyler sat in the front seat watching in awe as the animals were swallowed by the forest on the other side.  The whole herd completely disappearing in less than twenty seconds from start to finish.  Zoey screamed from the back seat and jumped over onto the other side of the car with a look pf pure disgust on her face.

“What is it?”  Randy asked looking all around wondering what could’ve made her jump out of his lap like that.  He was thinking there must be a big spider or a snake or something in the car.

“I got your pee on me!”  Zoey said pointing at him with an accusing finger.

Ali’s eyes suddenly got huge and she sprang off of him as well.  Randy looked down and realized he’d pulled his pants up and jumped back into the car before he was done peeing.  He started laughing.  He looked up to say he was sorry. Seeing the accusing stares of Zoey and Ali made him completely lose it.  He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to breathe he was laughing so hard.

His laughter was infectious.  Pretty soon everyone in the car was cracking up including Zoey.  A bemused Kelly shook her head and pressed on the accelerator to get them moving.  She was worried about what may have been causing the deer to run and jump across the road like that.  Hopefully that was just normal deer behavior, but she didn’t want to stick around and find out.  Besides, they had to find a store or a house so Randy could get some new pants because now all four girls were stacked up on the back-passenger side of the car.

Chapter 20:  No Man’s Land

Battle lines aren’t as clear as they make them look in the movies.  There aren’t any real natural features that separate North Carolina and South Carolina.  No major river to ford or valley to cross.  You can’t stand on a rock outcropping and point across a bunch of water or the tops of trees and say that North Carolina lies over there.  At least not in the section they’d be crossing over.  It was more like a welcome to North Carolina road sign kind of thing.  They were all looking forward to seeing that sign.

Sticking to the back roads they’d made it to a town called Thicketty.  They’d noticed a few more Zombies moving around when they were driving over the last day or two.  They’d also seen planes flying past a couple of times. Once they’d even seen a cavalry of evil looking attack helicopters headed north.  They were getting close to where the battle was being waged.  It still seemed crazy to all of them that in a time where the majority of living humans were blood thirsty cannibals the small percentage of the uninfected left alive managed to find the time and resources to fight one another.  It was made even more insane since they were fighting over land that neither had any real use for.  It’d be a century before enough people were walking the earth again to be able to make use of all the land.  Assuming anyone survived that long.

They found a house at the end of a long dirt driveway in the middle of nowhere.  They dragged themselves out of the cramped Sedan and got setup to clear the manufactured home.  It was a decent sized home with big windows sitting in the middle of an overgrown field.  There was a rotten looking wooden fence wrapping around the back of it.  Off in the distance there was a trailer that’d pretty much been completely taken over by the woods.  A set of concrete stairs led from the driveway up to a small screened in porch.  Randy went up the stairs followed by Kelly.  Kyler and Caitlyn covered them from the bottom of the stairs.  Kyler was still limping, but he was the best shot out of all of them.  Myriah was in the car sitting behind the steering wheel ready to get the littles out of there if it hit the fan.

Randy rapped on the aluminum door leading into the main part of the house with the butt of his rifle then stepped back to listen.  No noise from the inside indicating the house should be empty.  He waited the requisite sixty seconds then knocked on the door a few more times just to be on the safe side.  When nothing happened that time either he reached over and tried turning the doorknob.  The door opened easily.  A nice thing he’d noticed about the people who had lived out in the country is they hadn’t seemed to be as paranoid about security.  Any house you tried to get into in the suburbs was always locked up tight.

It was about an hour before dawn, so it was still pretty dark outside. Kelly shined a flashlight in behind him as Randy pushed the door in and swept to the left.  Kelly went in and to the right followed by Caitlyn and Kyler both covering Caitlyn’s parents.  They moved quickly through the home making sure it was Zombie free.  The house itself was immaculate.  Everything in its place looking like all that was needed was some electricity and they’d be back to the good old days in no time.

Ignoring the urge to crash on the couch and close his eyes Randy went to the back door leading out of the home and looked out the small curtain covered window.  There was a large wooden deck wrapped around the back of the house.  A shed and a barn stood out on the other side of an overgrown lawn.  A tractor in front of the barn had weeds growing up through it and what looked like some kind of birds nest in the seat.  Satisfied the back yard looked secure Randy nodded to Kelly and flashed her a thumbs up.  She went to help Myriah and Caitlyn get the rest of the kids out of the car.

Once they were all inside, they each picked a section of couch to lie down on.  Kelly had found some canned food in the pantry that she was portioning out onto plates. That way everyone could have an early breakfast before turning in for the day.  They did a quick round of paper, rock , scissors to see who got to take the first watch.  Kyler lost consistently enough that everyone guessed he was doing it on purpose.  Because of his leg he couldn’t drive, and he’d gotten to ride shotgun the whole time so for his part he had no problem standing the first watch.

“We should check the barn later on and see if we can’t get some more gas for the car.”  Randy said.  Kelly looked at him sharply.

“We already have enough to drive to Maine and back.  We can’t fit anything else in the trunk because of all the gas cans.  Plus, the whole freakin car smells like gas already.”  She said firmly.  Randy smiled at her, yawned and turned over to go to sleep.  Kelly stared at him a little longer from the couch on the opposite side of the room to make sure he didn’t try to get up and go find more gas.  Doreen climbed up on the couch to snuggle in with Kelly.

Kyler went around the house pulling all the curtains closed.  He used tape to completely close off the ones that wanted to keep pulling apart and letting in the early morning sunlight.  He took a quick peek out of each window prior to sealing it to see if anything looked out of place.  He’d be walking around to each window as long as he was on guard duty and looking out a hole that he left in each one to see if anything was out there.  He was on his third round when he noticed something moving out of the peek hole that he’d left in the curtain covering the back window.

The barn door was being shoved open and infected were pouring out of it into the light.  They must’ve nested there the night before.  Kyler felt his stomach drop.  If they’d pulled up to this place earlier or made too much noise they’d have been swarmed.  It didn’t look like there was just a few Zombies camped out in the barn either.  From the hole he was looking out of Kyler had already counted ten different ones lurching out.

He thought about waking everyone up.  As the person on guard duty who’d just seen an obvious threat that was pretty much his duty at this point.  He didn’t see much point in it though.  Waking them up would cause noise. If a single word was spoken too loudly it could alert the infected that someone was in the home.  If one of the infected had the enhanced hearing it might not even take a spoken word to alert them that their prey was in the home right next to them.  Once alerted it wouldn’t take them long to beat their way in through the multitude of windows positioned around the high wooden deck.

Their best chance as Kyler saw it was for him to sit tight and observe.  With any luck the Zombies would come out of the barn and then wander back into the woods or onto the road or wherever the hell they’d been in the process of wandering when they bedded down in the barn for the night.  He shifted around to get a better view and felt his heartbeat go up.  There were a lot more infected out there than he’d thought.  They were pulling themselves up off the ground where they’d been hidden by the weeds.  They were coming out from inside and under the trailer that was on the other side of the property.  He gave up counting once he realized there were way more Zombies outside than they had bullets inside.

Not wanting to risk it but feeling like he needed to check he went to the other windows and glanced through the peep holes in each.  The view out each of the windows multiplied how screwed they were.  The infected were popping up all over the place.  He watched as one crawled out from under the screened in patio that they’d stood on earlier to get in the house.  He shuddered thinking back to how Randy had knocked on the door multiple times.  At the time they hadn’t realized every noise they made was like a kid playing with matches at a gunpowder warehouse.  One wrong move and the whole place would’ve gone up.

Indecision racked Kyler as he watched the infected outside the home jerkily shaking themselves awake for the day.  One lady looked completely normal from the back.  She was wearing a yellow summer dress and still had a pair of bright green crocs on her feet.  Her long hair had managed to repel the mud and briars so many of the other Zombies sported.  Kyler watched her until she turned in his direction.  One look at her crazed, sore covered face dispelling all notions that she wasn’t a card-carrying member of the Zombie club.  She was busy sniffing at the air around her like she was looking for something.  She stopped the sniffing abruptly then sprinted across the dirt road into the woods on the other side.  A handful of the Zombies closest to her saw her running away and followed.

Other Zombies saw those Zombies running into the woods and instantly took off after them.  The herd instinct took over and soon all the Zombies around the house had gone tearing into the woods.  Kyler went to each window to triple check all the Zombies were gone.  Once he’d confirmed it looked like they were all gone, he woke up Randy and Kelly.  He spent a few minutes explaining to them what he’d just seen and why he hadn’t woken them up.

“How the hell did we go to sleep in the middle of a giant nest and not know it?”  Randy asked.  The question was wildly rhetorical, but Kelly took a shot at it anyway.

“We were tired.  They were hidden.  This isn’t something we’ve been checking for when we look for a place to spend the night.  If we’d found them then there’s a good chance that they’d have found us.  If that’d happened it would’ve ended badly.”  She reasoned.

“You guys think we should get in the car and get the hell out of here right now or what?”  Kyler asked.  He was already looking around the room to see what all they needed to grab.

“We sure the Zombies are all gone?”  Randy asked.  It was a valid question.  Kyler shrugged.  He’d told them he’d watched at least a hundred Zombies take off into the woods.  There was no way to tell if a few of them might be hanging around still.  For all they knew there could be another hundred standing in the woods just waiting for someone to be dumb enough to walk outside and show themselves.

“What’s going on?”  Caitlyn asked.  She’d woken up to see Kyler and her parents huddled together whispering excitedly about something.  People huddled together whispering excitedly in hushed voices was rarely a good thing now a days.

They went through the whole scenario with Caitlyn.  Kelly did it without telling her any of the ideas they’d come up with for dealing with it.  She wanted to see what Caitlyn came up with on her own.  The opinion of someone who hadn’t been arguing about what they should do for the last ten minutes would be a good thing to have.  Once she was done telling her what had happened, she asked Caitlyn what she thought that they should do about it.

“I think we need to wait until it gets dark to leave.  We can’t really risk doing anything now in the daylight since there may still be some Zombies hanging out.  They start screeching we’ll have hundreds of them on top of us.  We don’t know how far those ones went that Kyler saw run into the woods.”  Caitlyn cut to the chase quickly after listening to what Kyler had seen.  It was the fresh perspective they all needed.

“I say we do what she said.”  Kyler said grinning.  Her plan made perfect sense to him.  The only person slightly off put by the plan was Kelly. She’d been advocating getting the hell out of dodge as fast as they could wake everybody up.  Hanging out here until it got dark seemed risky to her.  What if the Zombies came back to nest there again tonight?  They had no clue what’d made the Zombies get up and move in the first place.  They weren’t sure why sometimes the Zombies stayed in the same places for weeks or months either.  The choice to stay where they were or run for their lives immediately could end up being the difference between life or death.  Then again having to pull over to pee could get you killed in this new normal.

They let the kids continue to sleep.  Kelly and Randy took the next shift.  Kyler lie down thinking there was no way he’d be able to fall asleep.  The sun was starting to go down when Caitlyn shook him awake.  His eyes opened.  He groggily sat up and looked around to make sure everything was ok.  He was disoriented for a second because the room had gotten so dark.  He finally realized he’d slept the day away.  He looked up at Caitlyn who was smiling down at him.

“You should probably never bother with playing poker.  Your face pretty much gives away everything you’re thinking.”  She teased.

“Yeah if you can see past the scars.”  He muttered as he stood up.

“The scars aren’t that bad.  You should check out a mirror sometime.  You seem to think you’re way uglier than you actually are.”  Caitlyn whispered at him.  Red faced she turned away quickly to go wake up the others.

Kyler stood there open mouthed trying to figure out if she’d just complimented or insulted him.  He was pulled out of that quandary by Randy asking him to help pack up their gear and place it by the front door.  The plan was to have everyone stack up by the door after making sure the coast still looked clear.  Once it looked good to go, they’d all move at once to the car to leave.  Caitlyn was busy explaining to the kids what they were supposed to do as soon as the door opened.  None of them were being carried this time. Randy wanted everyone armed and handsfree in case a random Zombie was still sleeping in the area and decided to wake up now.

Keeping their hands free turned out to be a great idea.  Almost as soon as they started walking from the house to the car screeches split the early evening air.  Three Zombies came sprinting out of the woods straight at them.  Considering they were going to have the littles walking and they needed to get in the car as quickly as possible they’d already talked through how’d they engage if attacked.

Kyler stepped towards the three Zombies with his rifle tucked neatly into this shoulder.  The rest of them focused on getting the kids in the car.  Three shots rang out.  The reason Kyler had been chosen to be the designated shooter was his accuracy and calm under pressure.  They had very limited ammunition at this point and didn’t want to waste any of it.  Kyler had put rounds center of mass in each of the rushing Zombies knocking them to the ground.  The mortally wounded Zombies were still crawling towards them but not fast enough to be a danger before they hopefully were all in the car and driving away.

What was much more concerning than the snarling Zombies pulling themselves towards them were all the screeches coming from the woods around them.  Kyler hopped into his shotgun spot in the car and shifted Doreen around to be on his lap.  All of the littles were wide awake at this point.  They’d been cooped up and told to keep their eyes closed for most of the last three days.  There was a real possibility of them all dying in the next fifteen minutes. There was a zero percent chance of them being able to keep the kids quiet since they knew they were allowed to talk in the car.  Plus, they were being chased by about a million screaming Zombies anyway so did it really matter if the kids wanted to ask a thousand questions?

Kelly was driving faster than was safe on the bumpy, washed out dirt road they were on.  There was one section where they were going to have to detour through a field to get past a section where half the road had eroded into a small stream.  No big deal when they’d driven in since they’d just taken their time navigating around it.  Taking their time on the way out didn’t look like it was going to be an option.  Kelly was freaked out they were going to crash into the ravine at high speed on the way out. She kept asking everybody if they remembered how far away that part of the road had been.

When she didn’t get any replies that sounded confident, she eased up on the accelerator and hit the brights on the dashboard so she could see better.  It wouldn’t do anyone any good if they slammed into that washed out part of the road while they were blindly hauling ass.  Kyler was also staring straight ahead looking for the wash out or anything else that may get in their way.  Myriah shrieked and told him to look out his window.  A shadowy figure had emerged in front of them running right at the sedan.  Kelly was refusing to swerve since she figured a ding in the fender was better than sliding off the road into the woods.

The Zombie slammed into the front passenger side of the car hard enough to shake the whole vehicle.  It’s body bent in half by the bumper that connected hard with its lower half.  The Zombie succumbed to the laws of physics. It ended up lying broken in the weeds while the sedan cruised on by.  Albeit with half of its front bumper dragging on the rough road.  The hardened plastic in the bumper held on by a few strategically placed screws wasn’t going to survive the journey to the end of the road.

Ambivalent to the structural integrity of the front of the sedan Kelly sped up slightly to try and get them out of contact range with the Zombie herd.  They were all hoping the bulk of the Zombies were behind them.  Another shadowy figure was revealed by the high beams as it jumped impossibly high in the air to come down feet first on the hood of the car.  Determined not to crash Kelly ignored the beast as it stumbled towards the windshield before losing its balance and falling off the car.

That bit of a distraction was enough for them all to miss what they’d been watching out for the whole time.  The car slammed into the ravine caused by the road being washed out.  They weren’t going fast enough for it to do significant damage to the car, but it was fast enough for the airbags to deploy.  The airbags slamming Kyler, Doreen and Kelly back in their seats like they’d been kicked by donkeys.  Kelly blacked out for a second then scrambled to check on Doreen.  All she could think of was that children weren’t supposed to ride in the front seat because the airbags could snap a small child’s neck.

“She’s ok!  We’ve got to get this car out of this ditch or we’re dead.”  Kyler said through a massively bruised lip that was starting to swell nicely.  Doreen had been hit by the airbag then her head had smashed into Kyler’s face.

Kelly tried putting the car in reverse but that just caused the RPMs to shoot way up.  She heard the doors start opening as the rest of them realized they were going to have to push the car out.  Kyler stood a little way back from the car and tucked the assault rifle back into his armpit again.  With his bum leg he was going to be on sniper duty.  Caitlyn and Randy ran around to the front of the car with Myriah in tow.  They all jumped down into the ditch and started pushing as hard as they could.

Kyler started shooting.  Zombies were coming from every direction.  He used up his magazine in no time at all and had to grab Caitlyn’s rifle out of the back seat.  Not wanting to waste bullets, he waited until the Zombies were danger close to shoot them.  In the distance he was starting to see more moving shadows than they could possibly fight.  He dropped the rifle on the sling and hopped down into the ditch.  Ignoring the pain in his leg he put everything he had into helping them push.

The car shifted back slightly.  Kyler got ready to push again but that first push turned out to be enough for the tires to catch hold.  They were all covered in dirt and rocks as the tires spun rapidly in the mud directly in front of their faces.  Ignoring the blood dripping down on his face from a piece of gravel cracking him in the forehead Kyler looked up for a way out of the ditch.  A Zombie was staring down at him.  As soon as their eyes met the Zombie screeched and hopped into the ditch.  Kyler tried to get his rifle into play but ended up using all his strength to hold the Zombie away from his face while the monster snarled and bit at the air inches away from him.

Randy started cracking the Zombie in the head with a machete.  The third time he swung the machete it went in deep and the Zombie dropped to its knees.  Leaving the machete stuck in the Zombie Randy bounded out of the ditch and held out a hand to help Kyler up.  Everyone else was already running towards the car.  The screeches of the Zombies coming from all around them now.  Their window to get out of this mess was rapidly shrinking.

Kyler and Randy made a run for the car.  Kelly was driving forward slowly to shorten the distance for them.  Myriah was already in her seat.  Caitlyn was holding a pistol and walking beside the car shooting off into the darkness.  Kyler couldn’t tell what she was shooting at since him and Randy were both blinded by the high beams.  When they were almost at the car Caitlyn spun and pointed the gun right at him and Randy.  They both dropped onto their knees immediately and began crawling towards the open car doors.  Caitlyn emptied her magazine into the three Zombies who’d almost caught her dad and Kyler from behind.

In the car they all slammed their doors shut.  Kyler’s door got stuck on a Zombies arm that was reaching in trying to grab him.  He opened and slammed the door multiple times while Kelly focused on driving them around the washout and back on the road.  If they could make it around this obstacle and there weren’t too many Zombies ahead of them then they might still be able to make it.

The Zombie ignored having its arm slammed in the door.  It just kept getting closer every time Kyler opened the door to slam its arm again.  Doreen was screaming and climbing into the back seat.  Kelly was driving slowly through the field around the ditch.  Kyler knew she was gun shy after running them into the washout but if she didn’t speed up soon then they were dead meat.  He slammed the door again and held it closed with one arm.  The Zombie trotted alongside the car screeching and gnashing its teeth.  More Zombies were closing in on them.  Kyler fumbled out his pistol with his other hand.  He opened the door and aimed it at the Zombie’s head.

The Zombie darted forward and closed its mouth around the barrel of the gun.  With its teeth way too close to his fingers Kyler pulled the trigger twice blowing the back of the Zombies skull out.  Its mouth threatened to tug his pistol out of the car with it.  Kyler held on and shoved the carcass away from the car.  He lost control of the door though and another Zombie managed to get between the door and the car.  Kyler shot that Zombie a few times while kicking it to keep it from biting him.  He reached out to close the door and another Zombie tried to grab his arm.  He shot that Zombie with the bullets left in his pistol as Kelly turned the car hard back onto the dirt road.  The force of her turning the car slammed the door in Kyler’s face.  He felt the cartilage in his nose crunch when the window hit him in the face.

Kyler fell back in his seat breathing hard.  Surprised to be alive and ecstatic to not have been bitten he discovered his hands were shaking like he was having a seizure.  His nose pounded and blood streamed from his nostrils into his mouth over his swollen lips.  He was trying to use his shirt sleeve to stem the flow of blood when Myriah handed him a wadded-up shirt from the back seat to use.  He put that under his nose and applied pressure to try and stop the bleeding.  In the light of the high beams up ahead there was at least one Zombie charging straight for them.

There were too many Zombies chasing behind them to slow down, so Kelly just yelled for everyone to hang on and drove right through the Zombie.  It tried to dive through the windshield at the last second resulting in the windshield getting smashed in.  The safety glass held.  The Zombie rolled off the car dead as a doornail with a broken neck.  The smashed in windshield was pretty useless so Kyler used his good leg to kick it out of the frame.  Kelly shielded her eyes from the little pieces of glass flying around.

With no windshield or bumper left it was going to get pretty hard to try and run straight through any more Zombies.  Luckily, they hit the main road a few seconds after that last Zombie collision.  Kelly hit the brakes and turned the wheel to spin them out onto the main road.  As soon as they were lined up, she floored it to get them the hell out of there.  Looking out his window Kyler could see the shadows of the herd running through the fields still trying to catch up to them.  He watched until they disappeared into the distance.

With no windshield and one working headlight they pointed the car in a northerly direction and continued on their journey to freedom.

Chapter 21:  The Definition of Insanity

Krantz looked down at the Zombies streaming through the woods and fields below.  An unanticipated result of the fighting in South Carolina had been how stirred up the infected had become.  The Zombies had come together in groups that swarmed through the forests towards wherever the latest sounds of war were coming from.  The practice of having their forces move through the woods in small groups then reform to fight had led to an unexpectedly high level of encounters in the woods.

The Zombies had traditionally stuck to roads and towns and places where humans were more likely to be present.  They were either evolving to find their prey, getting more desperate or worst case they were getting smarter.  Even as the humans left the cities to hide in the woods the Zombies formed packs to go out and find them.  The ones with the enhanced hearing leading the charge. Whatever Zombies happened to be nearby falling in behind to run through the woods like a pack of starving wolves.

The final results of this new phenomena were massive casualties to ground forces as well as to the new recruits that’d been taken in South Carolina.  Krantz wasn’t looking forward to seeing what the final tallies were once everyone had reported in.  They had men trying to get a census of the state as well, but no one had heard from them in a few weeks.  There was a high probability that particular task force was dead.

The Brotherhood had paid a much steeper price for South Carolina than anticipated.  Looking down at the Zombie herd below him it occurred to Krantz how stupid it was for him to be flying towards the North Carolina border.  The one place in the country that they knew beyond the shadow of a doubt was capable of sending out fighter planes to shoot down their helicopters.  He must really be desperate if he thought he could somehow swoop in and rescue Roberts.  Desperate to not have to take on the responsibility of an even higher level of leadership than he’d somehow ended up with already.

Roberts shouldn’t have been doing this either.  Just because the guy could fly the hell out of an attack chopper didn’t mean that’s where he should’ve been spending his time. The Senator had put him in charge of all the New American forces.  Leaders of armies spanning multiple states and mobilizing thousands of troops didn’t lead from the front.  It wasn’t responsible of them to do so.  Roberts had royally screwed everyone over by getting himself killed when he should’ve been sitting in a base in Georgia directing everything from a comfortable chair in a bomb proof bunker.

Krantz had almost fallen into the same trap. He ordered his pilot to change course and fly them to one of the bases along the Georgia border instead.  It would have the communications links he’d need to gather the information to start making plans.  They needed to completely change their approach.  The Brotherhood had been winning so far because they hadn’t picked on anyone their own size.  The north was the first force that had a real chance of going toe to toe with them and winning.  Having the men from the Georgia Air National Guard as the backbone of their forces was at the core of what’d made the Brotherhood so strong.  That and the number of people they’d managed to save.  Those were the two of the things that had enabled the Senator to achieve his goals of expansion so quickly.

All of that had been thanks to the quick thinking of Roberts.  It’d been his idea to secure the families of as many of the military members as possible.  It’d been Roberts who’d locked down the air bases and not let the men leave to get their families but instead sent out armed soldiers to fetch the families for them.  The Senator seemed to have known the virus was coming. He’d used Roberts to help him ride the wave of the apocalypse to a place of power.  Krantz wasn’t sure how he’d been selected to carry on the legacy Roberts had begun. He just hoped he was up to the task.  If he wasn’t, he knew the Senator wouldn’t hesitate to have him replaced.

The pilot let Krantz know they’d need to set down to refuel before reaching the Georgia outpost.  Krantz nodded and watched as the pilot hovered above a tennis court that’d been cleared off to make room for the large aircraft to land.  A brief radio conversation confirmed the refueling station was stocked and ready to fuel them up.  The turnaround would need to be like a pitstop for NASCAR though.  If the pitstops at NASCAR included lots of automatic weapon fire and a gruesome death if you didn’t get moving again fast enough.  This particular refueling post was a throwaway location.  There were chain link fences surrounding the park they were going to refuel in.  Everything had been secured but the man waiting below would need a ride out once they’d finished fueling up.

Krantz watched with interest.  This had been one of his ideas to deal with the issue of not being able to safely maintain permanent refueling stations for aircraft.  The idea of mobile refueling stations that were intended to just be used one time had seemed pretty good on paper.  Watching the actual execution of the idea he saw that using the roofs of tall buildings was probably the better idea.

They landed in the middle of the tennis court.  A large man with a huge beard and massive mane of dark unkempt shaggy hair immediately drove a pickup truck as close to them as he could get.  Guards and the pilot jumped out to assist in getting the helicopter fueled up.  While they were busy connecting the fuel lines and getting the pump going the first wave of Zombies started hitting the chain link fences surrounding the park.  A couple of the guards broke off from the main group to take care of the incoming infected.

The guards didn’t have to wait long before some of the Zombies ripped their way through the chain link fence and charged for the helicopter.  The trickle of Zombies would become a raging river soon enough.  Krantz ordered everyone to get out and man a post.  He hopped out of his own seat and stood in the front of the helicopter with an AK-47 loosely tucked into his shoulder. He began calling out targets and taking shots with the guards.  They watched as an entire section of the fencing gave way to the sheer weight of the Zombies pressing on it.  The Zombies scrambled over it and joined the howling mob rushing towards them.

“How much longer on the fuel?”  Krantz yelled over his shoulder.  He was firing constantly now.  He’d timed the question to a brief period when he was busy reloading.  He could barely hear the guy with Hagrid hair behind him yelling they needed another minute.  He wasn’t sure another minute was in the cards.

Then the shooting slowed as the number of upright targets moving towards them dwindled down to zero.  Krantz put his rifle strap over his shoulder and turned to get back in the helicopter.

“Nice shooting sir.”  Tom said from the bench seat in the crew area behind him.

“How come you didn’t get out?”  Krantz asked.

“No weapons sir.  I’m more IT than soldier.”  Tom answered.

“Not anymore.  Get yourself a pistol and a rifle.  You’ll carry them everywhere.  Make sure you know how to use them.  When the shit hits the fan there’s no IT guys or pilots or clerks around me.  There are only soldiers.  Understood?”  Krantz asked.

Shots began to ring out again from around the helicopter as the next wave of Zombies rushed them.  Krantz turned his attention to the men fanning out to stop this newest wave.  He was debating whether he needed to get back out or not when the pilot hopped in his seat and announced they were gassed up and ready to go.  The guards fell back by the numbers climbing quickly back into the helicopter.  The pilot got the bird in the air with seconds to spare before the first Zombies started hurling their bodies at where the chopper had been sitting seconds before.

Ignoring the insane mosh pit forming beneath them Krantz ordered the pilot to continue to the outpost in Georgia.  The outposts he’d established as part of the supply chain were kept stocked with everything needed to keep the helicopters in the air.  Everything but the mechanics.  Those guys were in short supply and well worth their weight in whatever they wanted.  Their families all had really nice quarters in the protected zones.

All of the pilots spent time learning the basics of preventative maintenance and the other tasks the mechanics routinely performed.  It wasn’t like they could send the helicopter to the repair ship to get it fixed or junk it and buy a new one.  They had an air force of different fighter jets as well but were much shorter on the pilots to fly those.  That was going to have to be considered since the Senator wanted to go head to head with the military up in North Carolina.  The core military up north were from the Navy bases up around Norfolk.  They had plenty of pilots and planes it seemed based on the recent attacks.  Most likely the pilots were men who’d been based on the carriers out of Norfolk.

An hour later they settled down on top of a three-story parking garage.  The bottom levels had been blocked off using vehicles and fencing.  The fencing had been bolted into place with the individual pieces welded together.  There were three layers of the fencing the Zombies would have to beat through to get at them.  The parking garage was connected to the top floor of a rural hospital.  The hospital had received the same fence treatment as the parking garage.  So far it was all proving pretty effective.

Krantz walked across the bridge leading from the parking garage to the hospital.  He didn’t bother to look down since he could hear the screaming of the Zombies below without an issue.  Based on the volume of the screeching there was a street full of Zombies hanging out hoping the fences broke or someone tripped and fell over the edge.  He was curious to find out how the commander of this base thought it was working out.  Being up on the top floors with everything welded shut kept them safe but they were basically putting themselves on an island surrounded by cannibals who wanted them dead.  How they kept themselves supplied and sane were things Krantz needed to understand.

Tom had no such reservations about looking over the edge of the bridge to see what it looked like below.  The scene below of the Zombies staring up open mouthed screaming out their hatred of humanity felt a bit more real from the bridge than it had from the ten-story hotel Tom had been living in.  Being this much closer to that sea of madness was way freakier than peering down from the top of the Sheraton.  This close the roar didn’t hit you like a solid wave.  You could make out the different voices echoing up.  All of the screeches were soaked with hatred, but a few seemed oddly sad as well.

An armed guard stood at the entrance to the hospital.  It was a patio that’d been surrounded with high fencing bolted to the ground and secured.  The guard had already moved the bolt and opened the gate to allow them in.  The man was standing at attention waiting for them to get there.  He snapped off a salute as Krantz got closer.

“Welcome to outpost Iron Turtle sir.  The outpost commander is on his way up to meet you if you’d like to wait here for a minute.  He received some last-minute secure comms that only he was authorized to see.  Something like that sir.  I’m not a hundred percent how any of that works anymore.  Especially now.”  The guard trailed off awkwardly.

“Tin cans and string mostly.  A little bit of magic with computers and wires and duct tape that I don’t understand either.  If you can give us directions, I’m anxious to learn what was in those secure comms.  I’m assuming some of it may have been meant for me.”  Krantz said.

The guard hastily agreed.  He was obviously relieved Krantz had known well enough to not ask him to escort them.  Leaving your post was typically frowned upon in a day and age where an open door could easily lead to a house full of Zombies with no warning.  Nobody wants a house full of Zombies.

Krantz and his party continued cross the patio and through the hospital doors.  The wide hallway on the other side of the doors had a few people walking purposefully to carry out their duties.  Or, they may have just been trying to find a place to smoke but in true military fashion they did it with purpose.  The communication room was at the end of the hall on the right.  An armed soldier met them when they were about halfway there.  The man saluted and escorted them the rest of the way to the comms room.  When they got there, he addressed Krantz directly.

“Sir.  The commander asked me to clear the comms room when he started getting the messaging.  He’s asked that only you be permitted to enter.  Everyone else will need to stay out here.  It’s eyes only clearance level sir.”  Krantz nodded and placing his hand on his revolver he went in through the door the guard opened for him.

An old marine in BDUs looked up from a leather chair he was sitting in when Krantz walked in.  The man popped to his feet with a spryness that seemed odd in someone with as many wrinkles as this guy was sporting.  Saluting he introduced himself as the commanding officer of the Iron Turtle outpost.  He threw out his former rank as well which was USMC Retired Lt Colonel Forrest.

Krantz wasn’t in the least bit surprised he’d recognized the man as a marine before the introduction.  There was just a certain air of arrogance and competence that surrounded a marine that didn’t necessarily exist in the other armed forces.  The term military bearing might as well have been coined to represent how marines presented themselves.  He remembered having made a game of going into bars in his younger days and seeing if he could find the marine in the bar.  It’s been said no matter where you are in the world if you hang out in a bar long enough, you’ll bump into a jarhead.

“At ease.”  Krantz said after returning the man’s salute.  “What’s the news?”

“We’ve been hit hard sir.”  Forrest said holding up a faxed document with the names of bases printed out on it.  “I’m not sure how much of this I was supposed to see but I don’t know how to print them out without looking at them.”

Krantz nodded dismissively.  He felt the man’s pain.  The struggle to adapt to cave man technology was real.  He knew instinctively he could trust the grizzled old warrior to keep his mouth shut.  Holding the paper up on the desk he was standing beside he scanned through the list of cities and outposts.  It looked like every major military base and a significant number of the larger outposts had been hit by missiles launched from fighter planes.  He stopped at the casualty report on the Columbia, South Carolina entry.

“We just left from there.”  Krantz said looking at Forrest.  It was Forrest’s turn to shrug.

“If it’s on that list then it took some major hits.  These guys weren’t screwing around sir.  No way to tell for sure if they were after you or just taking out outposts.  Considering they got Roberts though it seems like they may have been after you.  No way to know for sure unless we can get some HUMINT.  I’m assuming we have some sort of HUMINT ops going on at least.  Not that I’d know anything about it.”  Forrest said.  He added the last phrase denying knowing about any HUMINT gathering ops in progress quickly when Krantz looked up at him sharply.

“There’s more info on the specifics in here sir.  I can let you use my office if you need time to review and absorb everything.  I can stand by as well to relay any orders or questions you need sent out.”  Forrest said handing Krantz a thick stack of paperwork.

“Don’t confirm to command or anyone else that we arrived here.  We don’t want to make this base a target.  I’ll take you up on the office offer.  You’re right.  I need somewhere to read and absorb this.  If you can see to it my men out in the hallway are given accommodations and fed that’d be much appreciated.”

Forrest acknowledged the orders and led Krantz across the hall to get him setup in his office.  Forrest left Krantz alone with the paperwork after promising to have snacks and coffee sent up immediately.  Krantz reclined in the big leather chair and stared at the ceiling.  What the hell were they doing starting a war in the middle of all this other crap?

Chapter 22:  The Silent Ones

Feeling a bit gun shy about staying in a house after what’d happened the previous night, they’d driven into the middle of a corn field before the sun came up.  They’d spent most of the night before trying to find a new vehicle since the one they’d been driving was missing important parts like the bumper and the windshield. It was also making funny noises whenever they tried to go faster than twenty miles per hour.  They’d finally found a crossover minivan looking car with the Chevy logo pasted on the chrome grill.  The car was parked in the driveway of a nice-looking house off the main street of downtown BFE.

The owner of the vehicle had been kind enough to die several feet from the front door.  That was fortunate as it made finding the car keys pretty easy.  They were stuck in the skeletal grip of the half-eaten mummified fake blond lying in the middle of what had probably been a nicely manicured lawn at one time.  Randy had pried them out of the cadaver’s grasp with a nonchalance that would’ve horrified anyone a few years prior.  Now it was fairly commonplace to pick the pockets of the dead to find the things you needed to survive.

The vehicle was a push start with an electronic key.  Damned if the thing hadn’t started right up when Randy pressed the start button.  They’d driven out in leather covered seats with the air conditioning blasting cool air at them.  The kids had been thrilled to see the little displays mounted in the back of the drivers seats were meant for playing DVDs.  A quick hunt through the pockets on the back of the car seat turned up some Disney classics.  After being crushed in the little sedan death trap they’d been driving they were loving the luxury of the not quite a minivan they’d found.

They spent the day in the cornfield with the kids taking turns wearing headsets to watch the movies on DVD.  The stalks were easily high enough to hide them from anyone looking out from the road.  They had plenty of gas in the cannisters shoved in the small storage area in the back.  They had the snacks they’d taken from the last house they’d been in.  All in all, it was a pretty good day.  They took shifts napping in the comfort of the roomy seven-seater car.  Things didn’t start to get weird until the sun started going down.

Randy was wondering if he could hook up an iPod or something to the front console to play music when Kelly punched him in the arm to get his attention.  Considering it was the arm that’d taken a blast of buckshot not too long ago the strike got his full attention immediately.  He looked over at Kelly to see what was so important. He was also queuing up a snide comment or two about her bedside manner.  One look at her face and he immediately forgot about the pain in his shoulder.  She was completely freaked out.

He followed her gaze out the front window and didn’t see anything at first.  When he did, he pulled his pistol as fast as he could and got ready to jump out of the car.  He was wondering where he’d put his machete.  They may want to take it down quietly if they weren’t planning on leaving right away.  Kelly grabbed his wounded arm again and shook her head.

“It’s not moving.”  She said.

“Easier to kill.”  Randy whispered back.  His plan had gone from getting out of the van to just backing up and driving away quickly.  No muss no fuss.  They could be on the road again in a matter of minutes.

“Why isn’t it screaming and trying to attack us?”  Kelly asked.  She was freaked out but also curious as hell.  Randy bit back a response about what curiosity did to cats.

“Should we ask it?  Or maybe just drive away and be happy it isn’t one of the screaming kill people kind of Zombies?”  Randy whispered back sarcastically.  He didn’t think they really needed to try and figure out why this Zombie was acting weird.  It was a Zombie.  They all acted weird.  Probably because of the insanity and the cannibalism and all that.  Maybe it’d just eaten somebody and just wasn’t hungry at the moment.  He moved his finger towards the start button to get them moving.

“Hold on a sec.”  Kyler whispered touching his shoulder.  “I’ve seen them doing something like this before.”

“So what?  We’re not on a Zombie safari.  We need to get out of here before this one figures out it’s missing its cue.”  Randy said wondering why his wife and Kyler had both suddenly decided they wanted to study Zombie behavior.

“What happened with the ones you saw before?”  Kelly asked quietly.  She was still staring straight ahead at the tall Zombie standing in the weeds that’d locked eyes with her.  The Zombie was a freakishly tall white woman.  She could’ve been a WNBA star with the kind of height she had.  How a human tower like that had snuck up on them was beyond Randy.

“There were about seven of them acting like this.  We shot them all with arrows until they were dead.  They never really moved or did anything.  They just stood there staring up at where they knew we were while a guy we had on the roof kept plugging them with arrows.”  Kyler said remembering the creepy stares of the Zombies who’d stood outside the outpost back in Georgia.

“Excellent.  I love stories with happy endings.  Do we want to kill the jolly Zombie giant over there or just drive away before she makes her move?”  Randy asked.  Those were the only two options he was good with and if someone didn’t say something soon, he’d already decided to go with driving away.  Running away should always be considered the first option in his opinion.

“Mommy!”  The shout from the seat behind them came from Zoey who was ripping off her headsets and trying to get as far away for her window as possible.  She probably hadn’t even realized she’d yelled so loud with the headsets on.

Directly outside Zoey’s window a boy was standing still in the corn stalks staring at the van.  The boy was wearing a pair of jeans that were barely clinging to his emaciated waist.  His long dark hair hung over most of his sore covered face.  Blood ran down one side of his face where some of the sores had opened up.  He wasn’t wearing shoes and the shirt he was wearing had been ripped and stained to the point it was impossible to tell what it’d looked like originally.

Zoey’s shriek had made the tall Zombie in front of them come out from behind the stalks and move closer to the front door.  Myriah’s whisper that there was another one behind them pretty much decided it for Randy.  Not waiting to see what was going to happen next.  Not bothering to ask Kelly or Kyler if they were ok with leaving in the middle of their Zombie research.  Randy went ahead and started the engine while looking around wildly to see what the eerily quiet Zombies were up to.  He drove out of the field slowly with the three Zombies maintaining eye contact but not doing any of the normal things Zombies would do.  The Zombies just stood there staring at them until they disappeared from sight.

“What the hell was that?”  Randy asked after they’d gotten the van to climb up the steep hill to get back on the road.

“Don’t know because you left too soon.”  Kelly said in a huff.

“Are you really pissed that I drove us out of there?  Away from the creepy ass children of the corn night of the living dead crossover episode?”  Randy asked in exasperation.  Neither Kelly nor Kyler had anything to say to that, so they drove in silence for a bit.

They were headed north on highway 29.  The road was covered in debris in some places but out here in the middle of nowhere it was still drivable.  They’d confirmed looking at the map earlier that day they just had one town and a river to get past before they’d be in North Carolina.  With the jets they’d seen overhead and the overly active Zombies everywhere they weren’t really sure what to expect once they hit the border anymore.  For now, the goal of putting South Carolina in their rear view was enough for them.

Kyler was telling them that as soon as they found one of the roving patrols, he could get them connected with the senior leadership of the North Carolina forces.  Those were supposedly the guys who could get Randy and his family onboard an aircraft carrier bound for somewhere safe.  Randy and Kelly weren’t really buying it.  It’d sounded like a nice story back when Kyler had first told them about it but now, they just kind of looked at him like he was delusional every time he mentioned it.

For his part Kyler was excited to be getting back.  He wanted to rejoin the team that was trying to do good work.  The side trying to help everyone come out of this nightmare and restore everything back to a semblance of normality.  There’d been no normality in the south.  People were being purposefully hooked on drugs so the leadership could control them.  Families were ripped apart so that the Senator could have absolute control over the troops.  That’d been working for the south up until now, but Kyler really hoped the Senator was about to find out he’d stirred up a hornets nest by trying to make a move on North Carolina.

The city of Gaffney flew by in the early evening hours with no issue.  A few Zombies were still out and about. They chased the van for a few blocks before fading away into the darkness.  The chief fear of the passengers in the van being that they’d come across a roadblock of some sort and have to deal with the Zombies chasing them before they could backtrack.  The roads remained open through the city though allowing them to keep moving quickly towards North Carolina.  Everything was great until they got to the river.

The bridge was missing a big section in the middle of it.  If they’d been travelling a little later at night or had the headlights turned off to be sneaky, they’d have more than likely driven right into the river.  As it was, they put the van in reverse and went backwards very slowly since they didn’t know how much damage the part of the bridge that they were on may have sustained.  They honestly hadn’t even realized they were on a bridge until the road in front of the headlights had looked funny.  Luckily that strange looking patch of road had made Randy slow way down to take a closer look.

“There’s another bridge north of here.”  Kelly said with the dome light on and the map spread out in front of here.  She was busy tracing her finger back in the direction they’d come from.

“How far back?  Is there anything the other way?”  Randy asked as he continued backing off the bridge.  This was a setback they desperately didn’t need.  Depending on how far they had to backtrack they could start running into the more persistent Zombies who may still be jogging down the road in the hopes of catching up to them.  That was always the fear when driving down these roads in the middle of nowhere with no turnoffs anywhere.  If you ran into something like a washed-out bridge or a tree across the road and had to turn back, you ran the risk of running into that string of infected following along in your wake.

“Nothing the other way.  It was that last road we just passed so not too far back.”  Kelly answered.  She looked in the seat behind them where Zoey was asleep with the headsets on. She’d been watching Bambi for the fifth time.  In the other seat with a DVD player Doreen had passed out while watching Hercules.  Ali was the only one who looked like she was still awake.  She was politely waiting for someone to tell her it was her turn to watch a movie.  Kelly signaled Myriah to get the headsets off Doreen and pass them along to Ali.

Looking back again she saw that Kyler was checking out the back window for Zombies as they backed up and got ready to backtrack.  Caitlyn was asleep with her head resting on Kyler’s shoulder.  Kelly smiled seeing that he was being careful not too lean too far forward or do anything that’d disturb her.  That young man was so worldly and smart in most ways, but he was completely oblivious to the puppy dog eyes Caitlyn kept throwing at him.  Someone probably needed to explain to him that the scars added to his charm.  He seemed to think they made him Phantom of the Opera hideous.

“Why are you smiling?”  Randy asked.

“Because we’re alive and well and have this sporty new van to drive around in.  We’re also like ten minutes from being in the state that’s going to kick the Brotherhoods ass if they’re stupid enough to keep trying to invade it.”  Kelly leaned a little closer so only Randy could hear her.  “Plus, we’ve got a cute little PG rated romance going on in the back seat.”

“I’m good never hearing you talk about our children, romance and the backseat of a car ever again.”  Randy jokingly whispered back.  They turned around and headed for the other road once they’d gotten off the bridge.  Hopefully they could get there without any major issues.

A single Zombie loped down the road towards them.  Revealed by the headlights the pale creature doubled its speed and started screeching as soon as it saw them.  Randy slowed down and let it run up beside them.  It smacked his window a couple of times before they managed to drive away from it.  Another Zombie was headed their way as well, but the turnoff saved Randy from having to deal with that one.

A quick drive up that road brought them to an intersection with a smaller road.  Kelly stared at the map then the street sign before signaling for Randy to turn right.  A quick trip brought them to another unusable bridge.

“To the interstate it is.”  Kelly said directing Randy to head backwards to the next crossroads.  Once there they turned right and drove until they hit the onramp for I-85 while dodging the occasional Zombie.  Randy drove up the onramp then tapped the accelerator to speed up and drive right down the other side.

“Interstates going to be a no babe.”  Randy announced.  It was fairly rhetorical statement since they’d all seen the mass quantity of Zombies on the interstate.  It was a solid bet that if they drove to the river that bridge had been bombed out too.  Screeches rose up all around them as the infected who’d already descended to hide under the interstate and nest popped up at the sound of the van passing by.

“We have to get across that river.”  Kyler said from the backseat.

“Our last chance for a while is coming up on this next road.”  Kelly said staring at the map.  “If this bridge isn’t there, we need to start looking for a boat.”

They drove until they hit a row of cars that’d been pushed across the road.  Someone had nailed stop signs to them.  They sat in the car with the lights turned on looking at the row of cars wondering what to do next.  Kyler volunteered to go check it out, but Randy superseded him saying he’d go do it since it was going to require climbing up on the top of their van.  Kyler acquiesced realizing that even though his leg was way better than it’d been a week ago the more he let it heal the closer it’d end up to being back to a hundred percent.  He needed his leg to be as close to normal as possible.  Half of surviving the apocalypse was being able to run away from danger.  You didn’t want to be the gazelle with the broken leg when the lions came around.

Randy got out of the driver’s seat and Kelly swung around to take his spot.  He climbed to the top of the van to take a look around.  He’d brought his flashlight with him, but the moon turned out to be bright enough that he didn’t need it.  Someone had arranged the cars leading up to the bridge into a maze.  That same group of people had also installed fencing in an effort to keep people away from the bridge.  Whether it was just to keep out the infected or regular humans as well was something they’d need to figure out.

The sound of an engine approaching from behind them caught Randy’s attention and he turned around to see what was going on.  A pair of headlights were coming up the road behind them.  Randy slid down the windshield onto the hood then jumped to the ground below.  There was nowhere for them to go but across the bridge.

“Everybody out!”  He ordered.

Kelly looked like she was going to argue but seeing the headlights behind them she hopped out of the van without a single word.  She threw open the back door to get her stuff and gather the kids together.  By the time they had the kids out with all of their stuff together the headlights were pretty much on top of them.  Considering their ammunition limitations Randy wasn’t sure on what they should do.

“Go!”  Kyler yelled at them.  He had an ancient shotgun in his hands.  It was the one Kelly remembered snagging out of a house recently.  He’d only have a few shots.  No one moved.  Everyone stared at Kyler standing there holding the relic.  Then it was too late.  The headlights turned out to belong to an oversized pickup truck.  The truck stopped about twenty feet away from them.  Kyler, Randy, Caitlyn and Kelly all got into firing position with weapons aimed at the truck.  Myriah got all the littles behind one of the cars being used as a roadblock.

The two front doors of the pickup truck swung open at the same time.  Kelly heard Randy chamber a round.  She shifted herself around to make sure she had a clean shot.

Chapter 23:  Friends in Low Places

“You guys guarding this bridge?”  A large man with bulging biceps wearing a tight t-shirt asked.  He’d gotten out of the truck and was standing with his hands held lazily in the air.  He had a belt around his waist with a holstered revolver shoved into it.  An athletic looking white-haired fiftyish year-old woman hopped down from the driver’s side of the big truck.  She was armed as well but like her companion she wasn’t pointing any weapons at them.

“Who else is in the truck?”  Randy asked.  He completely ignored the man’s question to him.

“Just us man.  If you’re looking to get across that bridge, I suggest you do it now.  We saw your kids running around to the front of the truck is the reason we didn’t just ram your van and start shooting.  There’s a ton of Zombies that followed us down the road. They’ll be getting here pretty soon.  We don’t want no trouble with you.”  The man said.  A loud shriek echoed in the still air as if timed to back up his claim of being followed.

Randy looked over at Kelly.  She shrugged.  He looked over at Kyler who also shrugged.  Deciding he really didn’t have a problem with it either he stood up and told them to cover him.

“I’m going to come over and check out your truck.  If there’s not a bunch of guys waiting to jump out and kill us as soon as we put our weapons down, then we can all hold hands and skip over the bridge together.”  Randy said walking towards them with his rifle pointed somewhere between the ground and the truck.

The big guy nodded slightly in understanding. He moved slightly to the side to allow Randy to walk past him to look in the back of the cab and then check out the bed.  Satisfied there wasn’t anyone hidden in either section ready to jump out and shoot them he walked back over to the big guy.

“Randy.”  He said holding out his hand.

“We really going to hold hands and skip?”  The big man asked with a smile before reaching out to shake the proffered hand.

A few more shrieks that sounded much closer led to a very abbreviated round of introductions. They gathered the kids and slid on backpacks heavy with supplies.  Kyler and the big guy in the tight shirt led the way through the maze of vehicles blocking easy access to the bridge.  The big guy was of Asian ancestry and looked a bit like the actor the Rock.  Everyone had been a bit taken back when he’d announced his name was Henry.  His traveling companion was named Sarah.

Henry easily pulled a large chunk of fence out of their path. It’d been arranged to block anyone from easily moving between two cars that were blocking the way to the bridge.  They squeezed between the cars with Henry in the lead and Kyler following.  They both had their pistols out in the narrow confines of the car lined path.  It was easier to move the pistols around than it was to wave around rifles. You could forget about the long ass barrel of the antique shotgun Kyler was still carrying on a strap across his shoulder.  Kyler had watched jealously as Henry dumped several fully loaded magazines of nine-millimeter rounds into the pockets of his camouflage utilities.  He hadn’t said anything as it didn’t seem prudent to let the two newcomers know that they were running low an ammo.

Kyler hopped backwards as Henry jumped back to scramble on top of the hood of the car that they’d just moved past.  Kyler stuck his hand in the air to let Myriah and Caitlyn know not to bring the little kids any closer.  A sudden screech from in front of them told him there must be a Zombie up ahead.  He drew his knife and moved forward confidently with his flashlight so he could take out the screamer as quietly as possible.

Before he’d taken too many steps forward Henry waved him back and pulled out a dented aluminum bat from the side of his pack.  Henry pointed down in between the cars at a shadowy shape lying on the ground.  Kyler moved forward slowly shining his flashlight in front of him.  An evil hissing noise erupted from the shadowy shape that turned out to be a Zombie on a leash tied to a truck.  The light from his flashlight revealed the Zombie had both legs tied together so it couldn’t stand up.  It could crawl and slither like a madman though which is what it was currently doing.

Henry jumped down from the hood of the car and beat the Zombies head in with a couple swings of the bat.  He gave Kyler a ‘what the hell was that’ kind of look then kept on moving towards the bridge.  Kyler turned and motioned for everyone to keep following them.  Caitlyn and Myriah quickly moved the beams of their lights off the dead infected with the leash so the littles didn’t have to see the mess.  Bringing up the rear of the pack Sarah, Kelly and Randy kept watch while putting the obstacles back where they’d come from.  They repositioned the section of fence Henry had tossed aside.  They were hoping the Zombie wave coming towards them would break on the cars and fences before it reached them.

A large section of fence with barbed wire at the top of it was the last obstacle in their path to crossing the bridge.  A locked gate stood in the middle of the fence.  Henry stopped about ten feet back from the fence and whispered urgently for Kyler to kill his light.

“What is it?”  Kyler asked.  The sounds of the Zombies on their trail were getting way too loud and close for comfort.

“Dead bodies in front of the fence.  Looks like a nice sized pile of them.  I don’t know who’s shooting them or if they’re still there or whatever but walking over to the fence might be putting you in a snipers scope.”  Henry said.  He kept glancing behind them as he explained what he’d seen.  They were caught between a rock and a hard place.  The hard place may be all in his head though.  No telling how long ago those bodies had been dropped in front of the fence.  He couldn’t imagine the leashed-up Zombie had been there very long though.  With this being the only bridge still standing other refugees were bound to have come this way.

Hoping the bodies were those of infected and not the bodies of regular people fleeing the Brotherhood expansion into South Carolina Kyler walked over to the fence.  He stood there nervously trying to figure out how to get around the locked gate.  It was a standard gate like you’d see at any ball field.  The lever holding it closed was down and had a chain wrapped around it with an attached padlock.  It was the same kind of lock you’d put on your high school locker.  Kyler and Henry both were carrying bolt cutters that’d make short work of the lock.

“Are we going to run through this gate and get shot down you think?”  Kyler asked.  He wasn’t worried for himself so much as for the little girls and the rest of the family behind him.  If it was just him, he’d have already lopped off the lock and started jamming across the bridge.

“Really only one way to find out.”  Henry said shoving a small pair of bolt cutters through the fence.  His arm bulged as he squeezed hard for a second before being rewarded by the sound of the lock snapping.

“See you on the other side.”  Kyler said opening up the gate and jogging through.  He wanted to make sure he had a good head start on the kids.  If there was going to be any random gunfire, he wanted it to be aimed at him instead of the girls.  At least the people shooting at them wouldn’t be able to see very well.  A batch of clouds had rolled in blotting out the light that’d been reflecting down on them off the moon.

Using the darkness as cover Henry and Kyler ran down the pedestrian area on the side of the bridge.  When they were about a third of the way across a handful of huge lights like you’d see illuminate a stadium clicked on.

“On your knees!  Hands in the air!”  A megaphone enhanced voice announced.  Henry and Kyler both hit the concrete hard and looked for some kind of cover.

Behind Henry and Kyler, everyone else had already come through the gate and began the long jog across the bridge.  Kelly had just shut the gate and was working with Sarah to wrap the chain back around it when the lights came on.

“That can’t be good.”  Sarah said quietly.  She might as well have not worried about speaking quietly. A few seconds after her hushed comment the first of their pursuers screamed in triumph at having caught up to them.  The tall sore covered mess of a monster ran and smashed itself into the chain link fence in front of them.  Kelly and Sarah had already jumped back from it.  They’d wrapped the chain around the lever holding the gate so unless one of the Zombies figured out how to operate the lever then they should be good to go.  Unless of course so many Zombies came that they just knocked the fence over.

A few more Zombies came jumping over the cars smacking into the fence and screeching their heads off.  Then it was like driving into a rainstorm.  The first few drops hitting the windshield like the first few Zombies smacking into the fence.  An unearthly roar from behind them erupted.  The cheers of a thousand demented demons watching the world cup from hell.  The intermittent splatter of Zombies smashing into the fence becoming the rapid-fire staccato of an afternoon deluge.  The fence wasn’t going to hold for very long.

Kelly and Sarah turned and ran.  Randy waited until they were running then he picked up Zoey and tossed her over his shoulder.  He started running as well.  Up ahead in the bright lights he saw Henry and Kyler stand up.  The lights made their huge shadows stand out behind them.  They were obviously questioning what they should do.  Randy handed Zoey off to Henry and screamed at him to run.  Henry looked like he was about to argue then took another glance at the tall fence bending under the weight of the Zombies and started running.  Randy turned around and ran back to grab Ali. He stopped when he saw Kelly had already picked her up.  Caitlyn had Doreen and everyone was running.

The man with the megaphone began yelling at them to run faster.  His tone sounding desperate as he directed them to run for their lives.  Randy and Kyler let themselves drift to the back of the group.  They had their weapons up and ready to fire.  Kyler’s leg felt like it was on fire, but he kept running.  A few of the adrenalized Zombies sprang over the top of the fence that’d been lowered by the other infected pressing on it.  Those Zombies started streaking towards Kyler and Randy.

“Incoming!”  Randy yelled.  He’d seen the Zombie freaks make the impossibly high leaps over the fence.  Kyler and Randy both slowed their pace before stopping completely to turn around and fight.  Taking careful aim to conserve ammunition, they shot the closest Zombies as more began pouring over the top of the fence.  They rapidly shot until they each ran out of ammunition in their rifles.  Pulling out pistols they both turned and started running again.  There were too many of the Zombies for them to possibly be able to shoot them all.  They’d be lucky to shoot enough of the adrenalized ones to be able to win the footrace across the bridge.  Both of them were already thinking they’d probably end up having to stand and fight until they died to give everyone else a chance to make it.  Kyler morbidly thinking that if the fast ones stopped to munch on him maybe that’d give Randy time to escape with his family.

Henry ran with the little girl held in his arms.  He’d known these people for about twenty minutes and here he was risking his life for them.  He considered handing off the girl to someone else so he could fall back and help out with the rear guard against the Zombies.  Considering they were running straight towards some other unknown enemy though he didn’t really know where he was going to end up being needed the most.  He was mostly wondering how long the damned bridge was.  It felt like they’d been running forever.  The roaring of the Zombies surging over the fence at the other end of the bridge completely covering up the sounds of the man on the megaphone at this point.

Kelly ran as hard as she could with Ali held tightly in her arms.  The little girl had a death grip on Kelly’s shoulder and neck.  She ran with her full pack and the girl weighing her down.  She was carrying her rifle with the rest of her weapons bouncing around on her as she ran.  Her breathing was labored.  She was covered in sweat in the cool night air.  She focused on getting to the end of the bridge.  She knew that behind her Randy and Kyler would be more than willing to lay down their lives to make sure the Zombies didn’t catch her and the girls before they made it off the bridge.  She heard the shots ringing out behind her. That encouraged her to run even faster.  She knew she’d never see her husband again if he thought she wasn’t going to make it off the bridge with their children.  He’d turn and fight to the death.  She wanted to turn and fight with him so bad she could taste it.  Tears of frustration pouring down her face she pumped her legs even harder to save the children.

At the far end of the bridge figures were moving around urgently.  The five men stationed there were preparing to blow up the bridge.  They’d left this one standing since they thought they may need it in the future to move troops or supplies across the river.  The rest of the bridges had been demolished to keep the forces from the south from having an easy route up into North Carolina.  They had the bridge rigged with enough explosives to take down a skyscraper with ease.  They’d been ordered to pull the trigger on the explosives at the first sign of a Zombie mob or men from the south trying to cross. The man in charge of the patrol wasn’t ok with blowing up a bunch of little girls though.

He stood on the tower beside the bridge with a pair of night vision binoculars watching the group battle their way across.  He saw the two men in the back turn and fire into the tsunami of Zombies fixing to break over them.  He ordered his man with the remote detonator for the explosives to stand down until given the word.  If the Zombies made it to a certain point on the bridge before the family was off the bridge then he’d have no choice. He’d have to order the bridge to be blown or he’d risk them being overrun and the herd making it into his home territory.

Seeing the group wasn’t going to make it without some assistance he made sure his headset was on tight and ordered his men to follow him.  The one with his finger on the detonator was ordered to stay behind and pull the trigger if the Zombies made it to this side.  One of the men looked like he wanted to question the sudden change in orders.  He realized the men wouldn’t have been able to see the kids from where they were standing. He pressed send on his walkie and let the men know that it wasn’t just the two soldiers they’d seen on the bridge. It was a family with a bunch of little kids.  On hearing there were children on the bridge the man who’d been about to complain shut up and started running towards the horde of Zombies along with the rest of them.

Henry saw figures scrambling over the cars parked on the far end of the bridge and running towards them brandishing assault rifles.  Carrying Zoey and running as fast as he could from the Zombies behind him Henry just gritted his teeth and kept running.  If the men were coming out here to shoot him then he was dead.  Not much he could do about it.  Less than thirty seconds later the first armed warrior streaked past him running straight for the massive force of Zombies flooding the bridge.  Henry kept running as he heard the thump of grenades exploding in the distance behind him.

Randy and Kyler were walking backwards shooting the fastest of the Zombies with the last rounds from their pistols when the cavalry arrived.  Four heavily armed men in camouflage joined them forming a line across the bridge.  The four men began unleashing hell on the wall of flesh pressing towards them.  The sound of exploding grenades and automatic weapons being unleashed rivaling the screaming of the horde for the next sixty seconds.  The four men did enough damage to the Zombies leading the rest of the pack that the Zombie charge across the bridge actually stalled out momentarily.

At some order that Kyler and Randy couldn’t hear the group of men stopped shooting and all started popping smoke grenades.  The Zombies would hopefully be further confused by no longer being able to see their prey.  Once the smoke was popped one of the men yelled at Randy and Kyler to run as fast as they could.  He demonstrated how fast they should run by spinning on his heel and taking off like he was trying out for the Olympics.  Renewed screaming from behind them let them all know that at least a few of the Zombies had managed to navigate the freshly killed pile of their dead brethren as well as the thick smoke billowing across the bridge.

In the light thrown off by the strings of lights that’d been wired into the bridge they could all see the rest of the group had made it to the far end of the bridge.  The four men who’d come out to save them weren’t sticking around to help the two remaining men run any faster.  Kyler was limping as he ran.  Randy was running alongside of him refusing to leave him behind.  The four camouflaged rescuers were getting behind the concrete barricades at the end of the bridge and reloading to shoot the Zombies as they began emerging from the smoke.

Randy and Kyler were still a good twenty feet from being completely off the bridge when the order was given to blow it up.  One of the soldiers was physically keeping Kelly from running back out on the bridge to try and help Randy and Kyler.

The world stopped.  A massive explosion ripped through the center of the bridge.  The ground shuddered.  The air seemed to be sucked out of the space around them.  Less than a second later that air was pushed back in a concussive wall of force that slammed everyone standing down on the ground.  Kyler and Randy were blown off their feet and slid the last ten feet until colliding with the large concrete barriers.  A few Zombies stumbled out of the cloud of dust and debris and continued rushing towards them heedless of their massive concussions and collapsed lungs.

Two of the soldiers shakily rose to their feet and walked towards handful of Zombies still coming at them.  Their rifles went off, but Kelly couldn’t hear anything.  She assumed it was from the blast of the explosives and just hoped her hearing would come back at some point.  The men moved forward efficiently killing the remaining Zombies.  Kelly put Ali down and glanced around quickly to make sure all the kids were ok.  They all looked as well as could be expected.  She jogged around the barriers and ran to check on Kyler and Randy.

One of the men in uniform met her.  His face covered by a black baklava. His intense eyes staring at her through the slit in the face mask.

“Get your kids back about thirty feet behind the barriers.  We have some vehicles there.  We have to get out of here.  That blast is going to get every Zombie on this side of the bridge within twenty miles excited as hell.  I want to be gone way before they get here.  We’ll grab the two guys on the ground. You get the kids.”  The man ordered in a voice that was used to being obeyed.

Kelly started to argue then realized she didn’t have a lot to argue about.  These guys had just heroically risked their own lives to save the lives of her and her children.  She saw them moving towards Kyler and Randy.  She went and started rounding up her troops.  She thanked Henry for carrying Zoey and asked if he’d mind carrying her and Ali back to the vehicles that should be somewhere behind them.  He reached down and grabbed Ali without a word and disappeared in search of said vehicles.  Caitlyn, Sarah and Myriah carrying Doreen followed in his path.  Kelly hesitated to make sure Kyler and Randy made it to the vehicles as well.  She walked along with the men who scooped up her husband and the young man she’d already come to think of like a son towards the promised vehicles and escape.

Chapter 24:  Visine, Pancakes and Tic Tacs

Krantz leaned back in the comfortable leather chair.  He imagined Forrest had scoured the hospital to find the office of some rich doctor to snag the chair from.  It was a world away from the cheap office furniture Krantz was used to dealing with.  At least now he knew where all his co-pays had ended up at.  He wished he could be a world away from the papers strewn across the top of the mahogany desk.

Forrest had been speaking the truth when he said the north had hit them hard.  According to the reports he’d just finished reading the north may have hit them hard enough to stop the New America expansion in its tracks.  The north had flown multiple sorties against large targets in the south.  Their knowledge of where to strike to do the most damage had to have come from traitors within the Brotherhood.  It would’ve taken a high-level person to have provided the intelligence needed for the very accurate and extremely damaging strikes.  It would’ve taken a very high-level person to have known the flight plans for Roberts to have been able to take him out in one of the first sorties.

A high-level person or maybe just one of the guards who accompanied Roberts everywhere.  Any of the men in his raiders group who kept their eyes and ears open would’ve probably been able to pick up on a lot of valuable intel.  Krantz thought of Kyler and how he’d been around when him and Roberts had discussed strategy.  He’d trusted Kyler and Rodriguez enough to let them in on his thoughts and plans and they’d betrayed him.  The same thing could’ve easily happened to Roberts.  It wasn’t like the old days with all the formality.  It wasn’t like they were sending plans via encrypted satellite signals to headquarters to cloak and dagger everything around.  Sending a fax over a hardwired connection was about the height of technology now as far as long distance communications went.

A lot of the outposts were still intact at least.  Since the infected tended to show up in large numbers everywhere too many people were living in one place everyone had been pretty evenly dispersed around the states.  Whoever had given up the intel on the Brotherhood had evidently not been part of the Tennessee expansion either since the bases and forces in Tennessee hadn’t been touched.  Bases on the coast had been hit especially hard.  Krantz suspected the north was operating some subs or maybe even an aircraft carrier.  It’d make sense since those military machines ran on nuclear power.  They could travel around the Earth a hundred times before you’d need to swap out the power rods in the reactors.

Krantz put a blank piece of paper in front of himself and started working on coming up with a plan to move forward.  The longer he stared at his notes the more it became obvious to him that they should back off the expansion and consolidate their power in the states they already controlled.  He didn’t see a path forward for them to conquer North Carolina.  The north had just shown them what would happen if they kept pressing on the border.  They’d sent an extremely clear signal that they wouldn’t just roll over and take it.  He just didn’t know if the Senator would find that answer acceptable or not.  He guessed he’d find out when he gave the Senator his report.

Krantz sat up straight in the leather chair making it roll away from the desk abruptly. Something had just occurred to him.  How the hell was he supposed to contact the Senator?  It wasn’t like he had the man’s personal cell phone number.  Even if he did it wasn’t like phone service was super reliable.  With all the attacks there was a good chance the Senator had headed for a secure location which may or may not be on the grid of hard-wired lines they’d setup across the territory they controlled.  Realizing that the stack of papers in front of him had probably been ordered to be sent to him by the Senator he relaxed.  If they could get all this paperwork over to him then he should be able to reach back out to talk to him over the same wires.  He reached for the walkie on the corner of the desk and sent out a call out for Forrest to confirm.

He sipped at the last bit of cold coffee in the large ceramic mug while he waited.  He didn’t have to wait for long.

“Yes sir?”  The retired marine entered and stood at parade rest until Krantz indicated he should sit.  It felt a little awkward telling the older and more experienced officer he could have a seat in his own office.  He explained his concern to Forrest about being able to contact the Senator for their meeting the next day.

“No problem sir.  I’ll reach out and see what we can find out about how the call should be setup.  We have direct lines that go out from here to a good portion of the outposts.  They had the IT geeks set up some of it but there’s also the old-fashioned sound powered phone options if we need to.  As long as we have a pair of wires from here to wherever the Senator is, we can talk to him one way or another.  I’m just hoping whatever hidey hole he fell back to the connections didn’t get destroyed in the attack.”  Forrest stood there waiting to be dismissed.  Still feeling a little awkward about it all Krantz dismissed him.

Forrest paused on the way out to let Krantz know they’d made up his quarters on the level below the one they were currently on.  He’d have a man come up whenever Krantz was ready and escort him to his room.  They’d come back once they’d verified that they could setup the conversation with the Senator and let him know.  Krantz went ahead and said to send the man once they were ready.  It wasn’t like he was going to accomplish anything else sitting in the office staring at the papers he’d already read through five times.  If nothing had jumped out at him yet, then nothing probably would.  Maybe a good night’s sleep would help.

Krantz recognized the soldier who came to escort him to his room as the same one who’d been on guard duty when they first arrived.  End of the world and the military was still screwing over the enlisted guys.  Either that or they were seriously short staffed at this outpost.  They better get used to it.  Based on the data Krantz had seen so far, they were going to be spread really thin moving forward.  They’d lost a lot of men and mobility in the air strikes.  In addition to hitting their military bases and taking out their troops the north had also taken the time to strike airfields, fuel dumps and military bases as well.  They definitely hadn’t pulled any punches.  The fight the Brotherhood had tried to start may have been already been lost before they’d even had the chance to throw a punch.

The room Krantz was taken to was nicer than the average hospital room.  It was in the labor and delivery section.  It was one of the premium rooms the mothers could stay in after the baby was born for an additional fee.  That’d always seemed like a huge scam to Krantz.  How do you look the mother of your child in the eye and tell her you didn’t get her the nice room after she went through the pains of childbirth for you?  It reminded him of the funeral home guy who’d tried to sell him the really nice coffin to bury his dad in.  All he’d had to do to get out of that guilt trip was spend a few seconds thinking of what his dad would’ve said if someone had tried to charge him an extra two thousand bucks for a more comfortable mattress in his coffin.  The funeral guy had looked offended when Krantz had actually started laughing at his recommendations.  Offended and a little concerned that maybe Krantz wasn’t as sane as he looked.

The room did come with one perk that seemed oddly out of place in a hospital setting.  Especially in a room meant for recovering mothers although most of the fathers would’ve probably been fine with it.  Someone had added a small mini bar.  Krantz found himself automatically standing in front of it making himself a very stiff drink.  He’d just put the glass to his lips when there was a knock on the door.  He set the glass down and went to open the door.  He found Forrest standing outside.

“You heard back on the call already?”  Krantz asked.

“Yes sir.  You won’t be having a call with the Senator.  He’s sending a helicopter in the morning to pick you up for a face to face.  They should be here around zero six hundred.  I can come get you in the morning and walk you out if that works sir.  Your men and your personal helicopter will all be staying here for now.”  Forrest informed him.

“Thank you.  That’ll work for me.”  Krantz said hoping to get Forrest to go ahead and roll out.  He was thinking he could really use that drink now that he’d heard this new plan.  The old marine just kind of stood there looking like he may have something more to say.  After a few moments of staring at each other Forrest finally blurted out the request to speak freely.  Krantz told him to go ahead.  Inwardly he was just wishing the man would leave so he could get sloshed and pass out on the comfortable looking labor recovery bed.

“Like I told you before sir I couldn’t help but see that information that got sent out for you.  I know how bad we got hit.  I don’t have the numbers and everything like I’m sure you do but I would think a hit like that really rocks us back on our heels.  This is just an old marine talking here but if I were you then maybe the advice to the Senator is to consolidate what he was able to take.  If we press the north again all they have to do is swing with the same strength as the last time and it’d be over.”  Forrest finished.  He looked relieved to have gotten it off his chest.

“Thank you.  I’ll take all that under consideration.  It was one of the options I was thinking about to after studying the data.  If that’s all I’ll see you in a few hours to catch the flying Uber.”

Forrest saluted smartly and left once it was obvious Krantz was dismissing him.  Krantz wondered if Forrest had been hanging out in hopes of sharing the bottle of whiskey sitting on the counter.  Dismissing the thought Krantz took a generous sip out of the glass he’d poured earlier.  He told himself he needed to keep the drinking under control since he had to wake up early, he sat down on the oversized rocking chair and nursed the glass of whiskey.  By the third glass he was no longer nursing the booze.

He dreamed he was back home trying to find his phone.  The damned thing kept beeping, but he couldn’t seem to find it anywhere.  He opened his eyes when he belatedly realized it must be his alarm going off.  The room’s window was covered in blackout shades and it was still dark outside, so the room would’ve been pitch black if he’d turned off the lights before he went to bed.  The super comfortable looking bed still stood in all it’s made up hospital corner glory.  He’d passed out in the chair he’d been drinking in.  He vaguely remembered his promise to himself to keep it under control.  The empty bottle on the floor told another story.

He found his phone and silenced the alarm.  He’d been searching for it in his dream for a good bit of time evidently.  Checking the time on it, he saw he only had about five minutes to get ready now before Forrest was due to swing by and take him out to the helicopter landing area.  The small bathroom had a bucket of water sitting in it for flushing and some rudimentary hygiene products sitting on the sink.  He used half the water in the bucket to flush the toilet when he’d finished his business there.  He used the other half to try and make himself presentable.

Looking in the mirror he saw he was fighting a losing battle.  He almost wished the hospital didn’t have the solar cells on the roof.  That way he wouldn’t have the light to be able to see himself in the mirror by.  He looked as bad as he felt.  He squeezed the whole tube of toothpaste in his mouth and moved around the blob of paste with the cheap disposable toothbrush that’d been left on the sink.  Why was it called a toothbrush? Because it was invented in Arkansas, anywhere else it would’ve been called a teeth brush.  The old joke popped into Krantz’s head out of nowhere.  It reminded him of a better time.  He felt like he might cry thinking about the stupid joke his dad had loved to tell him and his brothers.  He worked on getting his emotions in check as he splashed water on his face and ran his fingers through his hair.

There was nothing for him to dry off on, so he pulled an extra shirt out of his backpack and used that.  He ran his hands over his clothes realizing for the first time he didn’t have anything special to wear.  Normally this would be a dress uniform or full suit and tie kind of thing.  He was dressed more like some kind of homeless Mad Max character.  Camouflage pants tucked into combat boots with the pockets all crammed full of stuff.  A zippered black hoody with the Hard Rock Café logo from NYC on the back of it over a green t-shirt that said something about Irish beer on it.  Knives, machetes, pistols, rifles and spare ammunition hung off him everywhere there was a place he could attach something.  His Alice pack was sitting on the ground ready to be thrown on to complete the ensemble.

There was a knock on the door.  Krantz grabbed his pack and scanned the room to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything before opening the door.  Forrest was standing outside looking annoyingly crisp and refreshed.  Krantz saw Forrest clock the empty bottle and then scan over his face.  His eyes showing compassion rather than revulsion he handed Krantz a small paper bag.  Curious Krantz opened it and looked inside before snorting out a laugh.

“How often do you have to restock the liquor in here after visitors?”  He asked Forrest.

“Given the times we don’t have too many visitors we bother with sir but there aren’t many that we provide for who don’t partake.  We have a few minutes if you want to have a quick bite.”  Forrest replied.  He turned around and took a tray from a man behind him.  He walked past Krantz and sat the tray on the counter.  The wonderful smell of pancakes and syrup filled the room.

After the impromptu breakfast Krantz was beginning to feel human again.  They sat in the room joking while sipping on steaming hot cups of coffee.  Forrest filled Krantz in on how they utilized tunnels and the cover of darkness to keep the base stocked with provisions.  Krantz was in the bathroom applying the Visine to his red eyes when Forrest got the message that the helicopter was landing to pick up Krantz.  Picking his pack up again Krantz followed Forrest out of the hospital over to the parking garage where a small commercial helicopter was waiting to take him to see the Senator.

The man holding the door open to the helicopter saluted as Krantz walked over and climbed in the backseat.  A few minutes later they were in the air.  Krantz adjusted his headset so he could speak to the pilot if needed.  The only words actually exchanged on the hour-long flight revolved around him being asked if he wanted a water.  He very gratefully accepted the hydration.  He knew a hangover was probably going to be the least of his worries before the day was over.

Chapter 25:  Hot Chocolate and a Solid Nap

The leader of the group of men who’d rescued them on the bridge introduced himself as Petty Officer Briggins.  When Kelly asked him what a ‘pretty officer’ was he stuck his hand out and told her Bryan also worked.  He yanked the baklava off while trying to catch his breath after the fight revealing he was a red head.  It immediately became apparent he’d been cutting his own hair.  A lot of people cut their own hair in this new normal.  You couldn’t exactly run out to a Hair Cuttery.

Bryan was bad at it though.  He had some sort of shaved in the front, medium long in the back bushy red hair thing going on.  His whole head being covered in sweat didn’t do a lot to make it look any better either.  Not able to think of a polite way to ask him to put the face mask back on Kelly asked him where they were headed instead.  She hoped they weren’t planning on going too far. Being on the open road after making enough noise to be heard twenty miles away wasn’t a great idea.

“We’re setup in an old barn some rich guy converted to a house.  We’ve cleared it out to use when we’re up here in this area.  It’s up the road a couple of miles.  We’ve kept it stocked up as our fallback.  There aren’t any population centers around here. Unless there’s a wandering herd we should be good to get to the base and get secured before the first wave of infected make it here.”  Bryan answered.

Kelly and Henry were sitting in a civilian style Hummer with one of the soldiers driving and Bryan sitting in the passenger seat.  He spun around in his seat to interrogate them as they drove.

“Thanks for helping us across the bridge.  We know you could’ve just blown it up with us on it.  Thanks for trusting us with our weapons too.”  Kelly said.  Henry nodded his head in agreement.

“Honestly there wasn’t enough time to try and search all of you for weapons.  I’m kind of assuming with your kids in the truck behind us you’ll behave.  Are they all your kids?”  Bryan asked.

“Yes.  Mine and Randy’s.  We collected Ali along the way, but she might as well be our blood at this point.”  Kelly answered.

“You two are lucky.  Not many people can say they’ve managed to keep their family alive through all this.  Especially not if they’ve been out on the open road.  How about you?  What’s your story?”  Bryan asked Henry.

“Not much too tell.  Got stuck in South Carolina when all this happened.  Was living in a little valley we’d cleared out of Zombies. We had a hidden trail into the back of a Sam’s Club.  Enough food in there to keep us going for years.  There was a little over thirty of us including a couple of kids.  A bunch of guys in helicopters came swooping in and shot up the cabins we were in.  We shot back and they launched rockets.  Not much of a fight.  Me and Sarah were the only ones who made it out.  That was a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve known Kelly and her family for about twenty minutes longer than you have.  We met on the other side of that bridge.”  Henry answered.  He told the story emotionlessly.

“We’ve packed up and processed a ton of refugees in the last few weeks.  Heard a lot of stories like yours unfortunately.”  Bryan paused.  “You know.  When I signed up to be part of the roving patrols, I figured I’d be fighting Zombies and the occasional bandits.  It never really occurred to me that people would take advantage of all this chaos to try and take over everything.  I guess I should’ve seen it coming but I was still thinking we were all Americans.  I guess America like we knew it’s dead now.”

“The people who attacked Henry’s village.  The people trying to take over the world.  They call themselves the New America.  They try to push it like they’re doing good in the world.  We rescued our kids from them, and we’ve been running ever since.  Fought our way all the way up from Florida to here.  There’s no America anymore.  There’s only what you’re able to claim and hold by force.”  Kelly said.  The soldiers in the car all nodded.  That pretty much summed it up.

The headlights of the diesel chugging monstrosity they were riding in reflected off of a mile marker that was the drivers cue to exit stage left.  They drove off the main road onto an overgrown service road that meandered through the woods.  It may have been a road at one point but now it was just an opening in between the trees.  The hummer bounced down the path with the truck following closely behind.  A few minutes later they pulled into the parking lot of a large barn shaped house monstrosity someone with horrible taste had obviously sunk a ton of money into.  Kelly didn’t get the concept of buying a working barn and turning it into a non-functional home. Whatever, it hadn’t been her money.

Thinking about money she recalled how focused she and Randy had been on building up a nest egg.  How they’d scrimped and saved to shove the maximum amounts in their 401Ks and the kids college funds.  What a freaking waste of time and effort all that’d been.  It turned out retirement was a lot cheaper than they’d thought it’d be.  Which was good since it was highly doubtful that they’d have access to their 401K funds if they managed to miraculously survive to be seventy years old.

Two men appeared on the porch and casually walked over.  Bryan introduced the two of them to Kelly and Henry.  Once introductions had been made, he had the men go bring out a couple of stretchers to off load Randy and Kyler.  The motley group paraded into the eclectic barn-house.  Inside there was a huge open area with some massive couches spread around it.  The kids and most of the men settled into the couches.  Kelly followed the stretcher bearers and Bryan back to a small room with two beds in it.

Kyler was placed on one bed and Randy on the other.  One of the men who’d been on the porch when they arrived left and came back with a bag full of medical supplies.  He took out a stethoscope and asked someone to help him get Kyler’s shirt off.

“Are you a doctor?”  Kelly asked.

“No.  I’m a corpsman which is kind of like an EMT in the military.  I’m definitely not a doctor. Although I’ve been forced to pretend like I’m one way too many times over the last couple of years.  Trying to patch people together with band aids and dental floss sucks.”

One of the other men helped him get Kyler’s shirt off.  The corpsman listened to his breathing and checked out his heartbeat.  He also noted the full-on Brotherhood brand on Kyler’s back.

“Did you know about that?”  Bryan asked pointing out the brand and explaining what it meant.

“We knew about the brand. He’ll be able to explain it once he wakes up.  I don’t know all the details but he’s definitely not a loyal Brotherhood soldier.”  Kelly said.  She honestly hadn’t even considered the fact that the brand on Kyler’s back was going to make him a marked man up in the north.

“What the hell!”  The corpsman said standing up quickly and moving away from Kyler.  He’d started doing a full physical on him and found the leg with the massive pig bite wound on it.  It looked a hell of a lot like a Zombie bite.  Right down to the red lines of infection all around it.

“It’s a pig bite!”  Kelly hurried to explain.  “He got attacked by a wild boar when we were walking through the swamp.”  The corpsman eyed her suspiciously then took a closer look and confirmed it looked like it came from an animal versus a Zombie.  Considering how healed the wound was if Kyler had been going to turn from being bitten then he would’ve turned already anyway.

“Any other body marks on this guy we should know about?  Does he have ‘666’ tattooed on his forehead or anything?”  Bryan asked.

“ It’s like he wants to do stuff to his body to make us want to shoot him.  This kid’s been kicked around like crazy.  You have to look pretty hard to find parts of his body without battle scars.”  The corpsman said in awe.

“He’s been through a lot.  How’s he doing medically?”  Kelly asked.

“His vitals area all good.  He’s running a low fever but nothing major.  Good pupil response and all that.  I think he’ll wake up pretty soon.  He needs a week of pajamas, hot chocolate and sleeping in late.”  The corpsman said grabbing all his gear and moving over to Randy’s bed.

An hour later Randy was sitting next to Kelly out on a couch in the living area.  Surrounded by their kids they were whispering back and forth on what their next steps should be.  They’d pretty much decided they wouldn’t be able to do anything until Kyler woke up and they knew he was ok.  No one had any idea when that might happen.  Randy had woken up during the physical the corpsman had been giving him.  He’d freaked out when he opened his eyes to find two strange men trying to take his pants off. Kelly was still occasionally giggling remembering him punching the surprised corpsman right in the nose then trying to escape from the room with his pants falling down around his ankles.

The kids were all in a vegetative state.  The sun was coming up outside which in this new normal typically meant it was bedtime.  The guards had already gone around the first floor of the home securing the curtains and making sure nothing would give away that a group of uninfected humans were in the home.  Unbeknownst to Kelly and crew the vehicles had been moved into a large shed on the far side of the property.  That way any troops from the south or bandits in general wouldn’t see them and get any ideas.

Bryan came over and told them they had some rooms ready for them if they’d like to go ahead and turn in for the day.  They’d already been given some food and water.  No one had bothered taking their weapons or packs away from them.  The kids had enjoyed some hot chocolate as well.  The instant kind with the tiny dehydrated marshmallows floating on the top.  Once they made it to their room they climbed into the beds and fell asleep pretty quickly.  All except Caitlyn who was worried no one was watching Kyler.  She got up to go check on him and an armed guard sitting at the end of the hallway asked her to go back in her room.  Not knowing what else to do Caitlyn had gone back in their room and sat in a chair facing the door.

She was furious at them for not letting her go check on Kyler.  He’d looked like hell the last time she’d seen him in the back of the truck.  Her mom had told them that the men here knew he had a Brotherhood brand on his back.  They’d acted like they accepted the reason Kelly had given them but that’d been while Kyler was unconscious.  They’d see how well he was treated once he woke up.  Determined to wait up until she heard something more about Kyler Caitlyn managed to keep her eyes open in the easy chair for another hour before she too succumbed to exhaustion and fell fast asleep.

Chapter 26:  The Refugee Railroad

Caitlyn’s eyes snapped open when the knob on the door turned.  Kyler was walked in with his hands cuffed in front of him.  He was shoeless and sporting a fresh black eye.  Bryan and two of his men walked him roughly into the room.  One of the guards was nursing a bloody nose.

“You guys suck at waking up.”  Bryan said.  “Put your damned guns down.  If Kyler here is who he says he is and knows who he says he knows then he’ll be golden.  Otherwise he’ll be less than golden but let’s go with he’s telling the truth for now.  I want to believe you all since I risked mine and my men’s lives running out on that bridge to save you.  Seriously, I can tell you have your gun pointed at me under the blanket.  Unless you’re just happy to see me.”  Bryan said staring hard at Randy.

“You can put the gun down.  They’re just doing what they should be doing when someone sneaks across the border with refugees and has a Brotherhood brand on their back.  It’ll all get straightened out soon.  Assuming Presly and Hartfield are still alive.  If they’re dead, we may be screwed.  Or, at least I may be screwed although they probably have records.”  Kyler said.

“We’re going to leave when it gets dark.  We’ll take you all to a place we call the refugee railroad.  You’ll get processed there and given your options.  We’ll hopefully be able to get in touch with command and verify Kyler’s story too.  We’re going to have to put him in a different room from you guys for the rest of the day.  I just wanted you to see him, so you’d know he was ok.  Are we all good?”  Bryan asked.

“Doing better than your hair is.”  Caitlyn said.  She wasn’t really happy to see Kyler in restraints again.  They’d all spent way too much time in handcuffs and tie wraps.  She knew how much those things started to hurt after you wore them for a while.

“Very funny.  I’ll tell you the whole hair story when we’re all friends again.  Just remind me to tell you about the Zombie I stopped from killing a bunch of kittens. Stupid thing had super glue on his fingers and caught my hat on fire.”  Bryan said.  With those extremely odd yet intriguing words he walked out of the room followed by his men and Kyler.  Neither Caitlyn nor anyone else in the room could think of a single thing to say after that last bizarre statement.  Which was exactly why he’d probably said it.

“Sucks to be Kyler right now.”  Randy finally said.

“Do you think he was trying to rescue kittens when his hat caught on fire?”  Myriah said.  She was obviously trying to puzzle out the riddle Bryan had left them with.  “That would explain the haircut kind of…” She drifted off when she saw the way everyone was looking at her.

“He’ll be fine.  He’s connected here.  They just have to call the guys he knows.  He’ll be free again in no time.”  Kelly said reassuringly.  They’d been in way tougher situations than this.  If Bryan really thought that they were a bunch of spies, then they wouldn’t be sitting here fully armed right now.  As far as she knew Henry and Sarah still had all their weapons on them as well.  They’d been given rooms on the second floor of the remodeled barn while the rest of them were down on the first floor.

Peeking out the window revealed the sun was still out.  Randy could see a copse of pine trees and the trail they’d driven in on.  He thankfully didn’t see any Zombies wandering around.  They still had a few hours to kill in the room before they were due to leave.  No one was really sleepy with everything going on.  Especially since they’d all just had a decent amount of sleep by apocalypse standards.  Kelly whipped out an Old Maid deck and sat down in the middle of the stained hardwood floor.  The kids all gathered around and began happily playing the game.

Randy sat on the bed watching.  He was still in a good bit of pain from his recent wounds.  On top of the shoulder that’d taken the brunt of the birdshot from a very closely fired shotgun he now also had something going on with his head from the explosion on the bridge.  Considering he’d been knocked unconscious his assumption was he had a concussion. That would explain why he felt so nauseous and out of it.  Despite the pounding headache and constant desire to puke he sat up and watched his family playing the old card game.

Watching them play he could almost believe they were just sitting in a cabin on vacation up in Pigeon Forge.  They’d been going there almost every year since they’d discovered the super popular spot up in the Rocky Mountains.  They’d rent a cabin for a week and go to Dollywood and do all the tourist stuff.  Randy had always liked going for hikes on the trails in the mountains.  Some of his best memories were of all of them sitting on the floor playing Candy Land or Old Maid or matching my little pony cards.  Seeing them doing something so normal on the floor right now was buoying him up.

Kelly joined him up on the bed after a few hands.  She’d passed control of the game over to Caitlyn and Myriah.  The hardest part about playing was keeping the little kids from screaming in excitement when they got the Old Maid.  It was cute watching Zoey telling Doreen not to scream when she handed her a card.  Doreen had no clue what was going on except that the one card was the one that made everybody get excited.  Every time she pulled a card out, she’d ask everybody if it was the good card or not.

“How’s your head?”  Kelly asked snuggling up next to him with her eyes digging into Randy’s.

“It’s been better honestly.  You have any Tylenol on you?”  Randy asked.  She more than likely did.  She was a walking pharmacy.  The only issue being sometimes everything wasn’t as organized and labeled as she’d like it.  She couldn’t walk around with pill bottles rattling all over the place, so she was forced to consolidate and wrap everything in cloth and Ziplocs.  She must’ve been anticipating the request though as she almost immediately handed him a handful of pills to dry swallow.

“What do you think a refugee railroad is?”  Kelly asked.

“A train to trouble?  A waystation of worry?”  Randy looked at Kelly who hadn’t even bothered to smirk at his attempt at levity.  “Nothing?  Really?”

“Seriously.  They’re driving us to some processing center tomorrow.  Doesn’t that sound very concentration camp like?  Did we go through all that pain and suffering getting out of New American territory just to be caught up in the same old crap up here?”  Kelly asked.  She had a valid point.

“I don’t see where we have much of a choice.  We could break out, I guess.  I don’t know if they’d come after us since we’re armed.  We don’t have very many bullets left but they don’t know that.  It’s not like there’s bars on the window.  I don’t think they’d try too hard to stop us.  We’d have to leave Kyler behind though and where’d we go?  Listening to Kyler it sounds like they’re trying harder up here to go back to something like what we had before this all happened.”

“He also made it sound like if we got here in time that they’d load us up on an aircraft carrier for an all-expense paid Caribbean cruise.  I’ve heard about an imaginary railroad so far but nothing about this arc that we’re supposed to be able to march up on and be saved.”

“You got me.”  Randy said.  “The only thing I can think of to do is hope Kyler was telling the truth about everything.  As long as he was, we should be good to go.  If he wasn’t, we still have our guns.”

“With like a total of twenty shots between all of us.”  Kelly whispered back.  They’d consolidated their ammunition and split it up equally once they’d gotten back here.  Randy had gone through almost all of his covering their flank back on the bridge.  Kyler was probably out too.  He didn’t have his guns anyway so that didn’t really matter.

“There’s only around eight of them.  We’d have twelve bullets left over.”  Randy said with a straight face hoping to at least get a courtesy laugh.  Nothing.

There really wasn’t much more to talk about.  They weren’t going to leave Kyler tied up here while they escaped through the woods on their own. They barely had enough ammunition to defend themselves out in the open anyway.  It looked like they’d be finding out soon enough what a refugee railroad was.

The kids card game ended when they started arguing and throwing the cards around.  It didn’t irritate any of them like it would’ve back pre-apocalypse when the kids were misbehaving.  Instead it made them all a little nostalgic for the good old days when the kids being kids didn’t risk them all being eaten alive.  A soldier showed up not too long after the cards had been put away and invited them to follow him back to the main area for breakfast.

They sat down at one of the tables in the main room.  They were passing around a large plate with a huge stack of pancakes on it when Sarah and Henry joined them.  Kelly felt like they’d known the two forever already.  Henry asked how Kyler was doing.  Randy told them that Kyler was still being looked after in another room.  Kelly wondered what Randy’s plan was going to be for when Henry and Sarah saw Kyler being marched out with cuffs on.  She shoved that thought into a separate section of her brain reserved for all the challenges they’d face when they got to them.  It was hard enough dealing with the problems in front of them right now.

By the time they finished breakfast it was dark outside.  Bryan swung by and let them know they’d be headed out in about thirty minutes.  The whole patrol was leaving since the point of them being here had been to keep an eye on the last standing bridge in the area.  Kelly asked if he could share a few more details about what a refugee railroad was.

“Sorry if that sounded a little scary.  When we pick up people looking for a place to settle, we normally take them to a regional headquarters.  The people there keep track of how many people we have in all the different settlements.  They can work with you to figure out where you’ll be settled.”  Bryan looked at them to see if they had any more questions.  Predictably enough Kelly had plenty.

“What if we don’t want to join any of the settlements?”  Kelly asked.

“No problem.  They’ll just ask you to be out of our territory within a couple of weeks.  We don’t allow people to form other settlements in our territory because it risks the lives of our settlers.  You’re totally free to leave though.  The fences around the settlements are there to keep the Zombies out.  They’re not there to keep our people in.  Does that make sense?”

“Do you split up families?”  Caitlyn asked.  She’d finished her stack of pancakes and was eyeing the one or two left in the main serving dish.

“No.  Unless they want to be split up, I guess.  Why?  I’ve heard some of the other people coming up out of Brotherhood territory bring that up.  They really spilt up families down there to try and keep you under control?”  Bryan asked.  He shook his head in disbelief when Caitlyn and Kelly both nodded in the affirmative.

“They split up everyone to make sure you couldn’t leave.  Pretty evil to separate people from friends and family, right?”  Caitlyn said sarcastically.  She’d passed the last two pancakes to Zoey and Ali.  It took Bryan a second to get her meaning.

“If what Kyler told me is true then he’s basically a hero.  We can’t just take his word for it though.  He’s flying a giant New American flag with that brand he’s got on his back.  As soon as we get to a comm station I plan on getting his story confirmed so we can let him hang out with you guys again.  Although he’ll probably be shipped up to central command to get debriefed if he’s really been doing what he said he’s been doing.  Get your stuff together.  I need to make sure everyone else is ready and we can work on getting out of here.”  Bryan left as soon as he was done talking.  He ignored the obvious attempt by Kelly to get his attention to ask more questions.  Henry and Sarah were staring open mouthed trying to figure out what Bryan was talking about.  Kelly saw Myriah and Caitlyn whispering to them so figured that cat was out of the bag.

They wrapped up and strapped on their gear prior to wandering over to the front door to leave once they were told it was time to do so.  Kyler was marched past them with his hands cuffed in front of him.  He gave them a quick smile and a wink as he was walked past.  Randy reached out to pat him on the back and the soldier escorting him shook his head no.  Before they could argue Kyler had been marched out and was headed towards the edge of the yard where a large shed stood.

A few minutes later the hummer, a smaller jeep and the truck were rolling down the bumpy trail back towards the main road.  Randy and Kelly had both ended up in the hummer this time.  Caitlyn and Myriah were riding in the truck with the littles and Kyler.

“So where are we headed?”  Randy asked.

“A little town outside of Charlotte.  They should have a comm station up and running that we can use.  They’ll be able to sort out where you should be headed next.”  Bryan answered.

They drove in silence after that.  The only bit of excitement being when Kelly smiled and punched Randy in the arm when they passed the big green sign welcoming them to North Carolina.  It’d taken so much work to get to that sign.  Even though they both knew it was only a sign it still felt like a major milestone had been reached.  They just needed to drive on the interstate until they got to this regional headquarters place and everything would hopefully get resolved.  Maybe they could actually plant some roots and get their lives back to some semblance of normalcy.  At least as normal as you could get to in a world full of Zombies and would be dictators.

Chapter 27:  When Good Men Stand Idly By

The helicopter landed in a parking lot in the middle of the forest.  Krantz was asked to get out and wait in the overgrown parking lot.  As soon as Krantz was safely out of the helicopter it immediately soared into the sky.  That was all standard procedure to keep the Zombies from homing in on a place you wanted to be able to keep using as a landing area for a long period of time.  Krantz didn’t have long to wait. A golf cart cruised into the parking lot a few minutes later.  The heavily armed soldier driving the cart saluted and asked him to climb aboard.

The soldier didn’t say a word beyond providing vague answers to the questions Krantz had about where they were and where they were going.  The golf cart ride was a solid thirty minutes long.  Long enough that the helicopter could’ve probably landed somewhere much closer to drop him off.  The length of the ride showed the place had some serious security protocols.  The soldier stopped the cart in front of a large cabin.  Trees covered the majority of the yard as well as the roof of the cabin.  The tree cover would’ve made it very difficult to spot via satellite or plane.

Krantz got off the cart and walked towards the front door to the cabin.  The soldier who’d driven him there in the golf cart sat there watching him until the front door opened. Two more armed men appeared and walked out to escort him into the cabin.  The inside of the cabin was an empty shell for the most part.  There were a few items scattered around by the men who’d been on guard duty.  In the corner was a locked door that the soldier entered a code into and stepped back.  A minute later the wall opened up and the door to an elevator slid open.

Krantz was escorted onto the elevator by one of the soldiers.  The other one stayed behind.  The elevator descended smoothly into the hidden bunker with a smooth whirring noise. In a matter of seconds, they descended almost six stories into the rocky earth.  When it stopped and the door opened, they stepped out into a long corridor that ended in another locked door.  That door opened for them as well and Krantz found himself in a richly appointed waiting room.  The soldier left him there under the watchful eye of a smartly dressed female receptionist.  The woman was in civilian clothes but Krantz could sense the coldly competent aura around her of a professional killer.  Something told him her main responsibility wasn’t making coffee.

“The Senator will see you soon.  He’s wrapping up a phone call then he’s asked me to clear his schedule to meet with you.  Would you like any refreshments while you wait?”  The woman asked.  Krantz politely refused and settled into the nicely appointed leather recliner to wait for the Senator.  He sat there for about fifteen minutes before he was ushered into the room where the Senator was waiting.

“Thanks for getting all dressed up for the meeting.”  The tall, lanky man with the piercing blue eyes sitting behind the desk said with a scowl.  Krantz remembered what he was wearing and started to stutter out an apology.  The Senator let out a bellow of laughter at the look on his face.  He came around the desk with his hand extended to Krantz greeting him with a hearty politicians handshake.

“You should’ve seen the look on your face son.  That was priceless.  We’re in the middle of a god damned war with Zombies and those pecker heads up north.  I don’t care if all you can find to wear is a pink tutu as long as you’re the right man to rally the troops and strike back.”

Krantz was still trying to come up with a good response as the Senator pumped his hand a few times.  He finally blurted out a ‘yes sir’ before being invited to have a seat on one of the comfortable chairs scattered around the room.  He sat down and waited nervously while the Senator busied himself making them a couple of drinks.  Krantz felt his stomach doing flip flops at the thought of drinking again so soon but he still felt himself needing it.  He recognized that he was becoming an alcoholic.  He just didn’t care.  If he could be a functional alcoholic and survive the end of times like he was doing, then he was ok with it.  The Senator handed him a glass filled with some sort of expensive whiskey.

“Pappy Van Winkle reserve.  That’s the good stuff right there.  The price tag pre-apocalypse made it pretty rare.  We’ve got cases of it down here we found in some warehouse north of the city.  Go ahead and try a sip.  I heard you’re a man who enjoys a good whiskey.”  The Senator said pointedly.

Wondering if he was being tested Krantz tilted his glass back and took a sip.  It went down smooth.  He realized he hadn’t really understood what people meant by a smooth tasting whiskey until that moment.  He felt a flush of invigorating energy through his system.

“That’s delicious sir.  Thank you.”  Krantz responded.  The Senator smiled at the obvious delight Krantz had taken in the drink. He took a drink out of his own glass before settling in to get down to business.

“I assume you’ve read the reports about the attacks from the north?”  The Senator asked.  When Krantz nodded the Senator continued.  “So, tell me how you propose we hit them back.  Roberts had told me he thought you would be a good one to lead the assault in the first place.  I kept threatening to pull him back to be an armchair general with me.  I’m hoping he was right about you.”

“Yes sir.  Roberts was a great man.  That was a huge loss for us when he got shot down.  I had the opportunity last night to read through the reports you had sent over.  We got hit pretty hard sir.  The north knew where to hit us and they did it fast and efficient.  That shows me they not only have a ton of military minds up there they also have a good source for intelligence.  They must have multiple spy networks setup to gather intel and ship it back up to them.  I didn’t see a single reported miss.  As much as we move everything around there should have been some misses.”  Krantz said.

“Yes.  There actually was one big miss.  A certain house in Hilton Head was bombed.  We’d only let one group of people know about the munitions we had hidden there.  That same group knew about the other sites too.  They’re all dead now.”  The Senator stated the facts like he was talking about stock prices.  There was no hint of guilt in his voice at having wiped out an entire group of men to make sure the traitor died.

“Well that hopefully plugged that hole.  We still lost a solid twenty percent of our fighting men based on the reports.  That’s just the total number of casualties. I don’t know the breakdown of leadership lost versus our other units.  We actually came out pretty light on human casualties because everyone is so spread out.”  Krantz took a deep breath knowing this next piece was the bit the Senator wasn’t going to like hearing.  “The bigger problem is the hit we took to our airfields, planes and helicopters.  They bombed the hell out of all the large air bases we were using.  They even hit some of the regional airports we had fuel and extra equipment hidden at.  We won’t be able to hit them back as hard as they just hit us.  Even if we had more planes and munitions, we don’t have the pilots.”  Krantz said.  He talked fast like he was peeling off a band aid.  He was hoping to get through the pain as quickly as possible.

“I’m aware of the losses we took.  I’m aware they hit us pretty hard.  I didn’t have you fly out here to tell me what I already know.  I want to know how we beat them and take North Carolina?”  The Senator asked calmly before taking another sip of the wonderfully smooth amber colored liquor.

“Without more intelligence on the state of the military in North Carolina I’m flying blind.  Roberts had a network of spies, but he didn’t share that information with me.  With more intel I may be able to come up with an effective strategy to take North Carolina.  I don’t want to just sit here and toss out ideas based on guesses though sir.”  Krantz said.  He was starting to sweat. He just hoped his nervousness wasn’t visible.

“This cabin is part of a network a few of us like minded individuals in the government had built.  We all knew at some point with the overcrowding and the general lack of hygiene in some parts of the world that a pandemic of some sort would erupt and take most of humanity down with it.  This place has three levels with the one we’re on now being the living quarters.  The other two are stocked with weapons and supplies.  If I wanted to, I could seal off the cabin and live here surrounded by a loyal group of men and women for the next twenty years.”  The Senator said sweeping his hands around to show the luxury of the place.

“Yes sir.”  Krantz said after a short period of awkward silence. He felt like he should say something to acknowledge what the Senator had said.  That seemed to do the trick as the Senator kept talking.

“Locking myself away from the world isn’t an option for me.  Those of us in power have a responsibility to rebuild this world the right way.  The south eastern part of this country is my responsibility to get back up and running.  I will get that done.  We didn’t infect ninety nine percent of the world’s population with a mutating Zombie virus just so some rednecks in North Carolina could rise up and make the same damned mistakes that got us into this situation in the first place. This is about building a better world.  This is about doing it right this time.  We have a small window of time before the leadership in these areas brings us to a stop.  This virus will eventually burn itself out.  Inertia’s our enemy.  Momentum is our greatest ally.  I want us moving forward again and I want it soon.  Are you the right man for the job?”  The Senator was exuding a lunatic passion at this point.

“Absolutely sir.  I’ll start digging into the humint network Roberts had setup and I’ll get my own setup as well.  We can start moving people in to sabotage what they have up north.  We can make it happen.”  Krantz said.  His mind was starting to churn with ideas on what they could do.  He knew it was either get it done or get dead.  A few of the things the Senator had just said in that rambling speech had Krantz wanting to ask all kinds of questions.  He intuited going down that path may end up with him buried in the woods out back though so kept his mouth shut.

“Excellent.  That’s what I was hoping you’d say.  I just hope you do a better job at this than you did at capturing my sister’s murderers.”  The Senator said as he pressed a button on his desk and announced coldly that Field Commander Krantz was dismissed.  Krantz stood up and followed the assistant out of the room.  He was tossing around the new title in his head and thinking it sounded a little grandiose.  Right as he was about to shut the door the Senator had one more thing to say to him.

“Next time you come here make sure to dress appropriately.  It shows respect.  Shut the door and get me a status report on our progress by early next week.  Sam will provide you with what we have on humint.  That is all.”

Krantz shut the door softly and followed the attractive assistant out into the waiting area.  She told him to have a seat while she took care of some things.  Krantz sat down.  He could still taste the whiskey in his mouth.  His teeth were watering at the taste.  He was lost in a daydream of wrapping his lips around the end of a bottle of the tasty brown liquor when the assistant came back in and gave him a manila folder filled with type written paper.  He opened the folder and scanned the first few pages.

The printouts had names and locations for dead drops listed on them.  It was a list of the people in the spy network Roberts must have had working for him.  Beside each name was a corresponding list of the names of different cities and towns with numbers beside them.  The assistant saw him staring and asked if he had any questions.

“I do.  The Senator told me to reach out to Sam to review the information?”  Krantz said questioningly.  He was hoping this Sam guy would be able to hook him up with how to read these printouts.

“I’m Sam.”  The assistant said.

“Samantha?”  Krantz asked.

“Nope.  Call me Sam.  Everybody else does.  I do a little bit more around here than bring the Senator and his guests coffee.”  She said.

“I was wondering about that.  FBI?”  Krantz asked.  She had that aura around her.  He’d noticed it right away but thought maybe she was an attaché or something like that.

“CIA.”  Sam said simply.

She was a spook.  That explained it.  Somehow Krantz doubted her resume would list a lot of administrative work.  She seemed like the type that’d either be out in the field or directly supervising the ones out in the field.  It explained why she’d be so close to the Senator.

“Do you fetch the coffee for all his visitors?”  Krantz asked following a hunch.

“Just the ones he wants a second opinion on.”

“You got anything on me yet?”  He asked.  Sam paused for a second to organize her thoughts and consider what she should say.

“Yes.  You’re an alcoholic who doesn’t understand the position of power he’s ended up in.  You’re smart and you have some decent leadership skills but I’m not sure you’re up to the task of leading our military forces to victory.”  She said.

“Well that’s pretty harsh.”  Krantz said smiling.  “Fair but harsh.  Now can you help me decipher what all these codes mean?  Do I need a decoder ring?”

Sam walked him down the hall to her office.  It was just as richly appointed as the one the Senator was using.  She explained the dead drop system she’d helped Roberts come up with for getting information out of the different regions without blowing the cover of the spies they had working up there.  Corresponding to each spy they had a list of the family members they were holding to ensure that spies loyalty.  Feeling a little dirty just reading that part Krantz skimmed it and asked Sam when the last time the dead drops were checked was.

The drops were checked about once a month. The information was transferred back to them manually for the most part.  Some of the drops ended up at outposts that relayed the information to them via fax if they had a hard line wired back to them.  Once Krantz thought he had a grasp on how the spy network was pieced together he asked what intel they’d been able to gather so far.

“About time you asked an interesting question.”  Sam said smiling for the first time.  “We have all kinds of data points we’ve collected.  The main thing we’re learning is that the settlements up there are slowly being moved closer to the coast so that people can be loaded onto ships as needed.  They have an aircraft carrier they’re retrofitting as a floating colony ship.  I’m assuming they used the carrier to attack all the bases we have along the coast.  It would also explain why Tennessee got off pretty easy.  They’re organized and have high moral.  They have stockpiles of goods like we do but they aren’t as protected as ours are.  I can provide you with the number of aircraft they have and estimates of troop numbers.  They move around a lot so no real target for us to aim at unless you think we should try and take on an aircraft carrier.  They also have a command center on an island powered by a nuclear sub.”

Krantz sat there absorbing the information.  Everything he was hearing screamed that they didn’t have a chance.  He knew basically what their troops disposition looked like and what their capabilities were.  They were nowhere near what was needed to attack a freaking operational aircraft carrier.  If the north had subs, then they may even have nukes.  They could have harpoons and tridents strike any target they wanted to take out without even being near it.  Sam seemed competent and smart.  The Senator may be a lunatic, but he was obviously a shrewd individual as well.  They had to realize they were screwed.

“What am I missing?  What do we have that I don’t know about?”  Krantz asked.

“We have drone pilots and a base full of drones that’s still intact.  It was a training center for the Air Force.  We have a team of dirty operators that specialize in things like assassinations and demoralization strikes.  We have a ton of intel on the virus and Zombies in general that the people up north probably don’t have.  We do have assets.  I’d say after the strike they just hit us with that we’re still on a level playing field.  They have the military might of that carrier, but they’re also bogged down by a lot of concerns we don’t have.”

“What concerns are those?”  Krantz asked.  He was feeling really out of his depth here.  With Sam here at headquarters why did they even need him?  He was starting to wonder if it’d been Roberts calling the shots out in the field or if Sam had been the one pulling his strings the whole time.

“They’re putting a lot more effort into taking care of the civilians on their side.  They even have shelters for people who’ve lost their minds.  They expend resources on people like that.  We don’t have those concerns.  We can’t afford to have them.  The goal is for us to unite as much of the states back together as we can to form the New America.  Everything else is secondary to that goal.  Understood?”

Krantz nodded at her to show he understood.  What he really thought was that he’d just boarded the bus to crazy town.  At least with the Senator there had been libations while he got lectured.  His new personal goal was to get the hell out of this bunker as soon as he could before the crazy got into his clothes.  Sam ignored the nod and sat behind her desk staring at him with her head cocked slightly to the side waiting for him to speak.

“The Senator and you both keep mentioning knowing more about the virus?  Anything I should know there?”  Krantz asked.

“It worked better than expected.  Hopefully it’ll burn out fairly soon.  We’ve got people studying the effects of the virus and it does seem like it wears off after a while.  They’re brain dead and useless at that point but at least they don’t try to eat you.  The percentage it wears off on is pretty small based on the clinical observation so far.  For a much larger portion of infected the virus keeps them alive in ways the doctors still don’t understand.  It’s like their cells eat themselves then multiply all at the same time.  One of them tried explaining it to me and it almost made sense but then it didn’t. If you know what I mean?”

“Sounds like freshman trigonometry.”  Krantz answered.  “Any other questions I should be asking you that I haven’t yet?”

“You should be wondering who you report to.  I’m not in the official chain of command.  I prefer it that way.  Officially you report to the Senator.  Unofficially you will be given your tasks by me.  Those tasks will support the Senators efforts to build the New America.  I don’t want to see you being an idiot like Roberts and leading raids yourself.  I do want you up near the front lines so you can get information quicker and be perceived to be leading from the front.  You’ve come up with some creative ideas like the rooftop supply chain that I think may be useful moving forward.  For now, we need to focus on crushing the people who just tried to wipe us out.  You’ll get any specific tasks from me when you get back to Iron Turtle.  Until then focus on coming up with a plan to win this war.  The Senator will not cede any territory he feels he needs for the rebirth of America.  You’re dismissed.”

Krantz walked out to the hallway where a soldier met him and escorted him back out of the bunker.  A golf cart ride later he was in the air on another helicopter headed back to the base he’d flown in from that morning.  He was surprised to see the sun was still up.  He felt like the meetings had taken all day. In reality it’d been less than four hours that he’d been on the ground.  Now he just needed to figure out how to mercilessly attack a group of people who had aircraft carriers and bombers at their disposal.  A group that was just trying to do the right thing in a messed-up world.

He stopped himself from dwelling too much on that.  It wasn’t going to do him any good in his current circumstances.  He set his mind to just working the logistical and tactical aspects of it. He did his best to filter out the moral and ethical implications of the decisions he was going to be making soon.  He was looking forward to getting back to his room at Iron Turtle and hitting another bottle of whiskey.

Chapter 28:  Road Trip!

They made great time on the interstate.  The people in the settlements in North Carolina had obviously been busy clearing the roads in between dealing with the whole Zombie apocalypse thing.  It was surreal to Kyler how all of that worked.  When he’d watched a Zombie movie or show back before all of this it’d never really occurred to him all the tedious tasks that must be taking place in the background.  The fact that people still had to eat.  They still needed a place to sleep.  That fifty people living in the woods together would fill up a latrine pretty quick.  At some point the people got used to avoiding the Zombies and just started working on trying to rebuild.  Trying to actually have lives again instead of just surviving.  At a certain point it would just become normal that you were living in an apocalypse.  That’s just how humans were built.  Adapt or die.

The Senator had screwed the people of South Carolina out of entering the living again phase.  They’d gone from surviving to momentarily looking like they may have lives to being invaded and conquered by a group that was intent on ripping their families apart and turning most of them into slaves.  Slaves that got sent out without weapons to loot towns to build up supplies for an army that was moving forward to try and enslave more people.  How evil did you have to be to be considered a worse plague than the Zombies?

Kyler finally felt like he was back on the right side of things again.  Fighting for the Brotherhood had always felt wrong to him. Except that when you were fighting with a group of guys that you’d grown close to it stopped being about the Brotherhood.  It stopped being about the New America and all of the propaganda.  It started being more about just trying to keep your buddies and yourself alive.  Kyler knew if he’d stayed in the south much longer that he wouldn’t have been able to betray Krantz like he had.  He could’ve pretty easily walked away from the whole New America concept.  He couldn’t as easily have walked away from the individuals who’d earned his respect and loyalty.

Either way he was happy to be back up in North Carolina.  Happy to be riding along with a roving patrol.  He felt like this was where he belonged.  This was where he could fight the good fight.  At least he’d be able to fight the good fight once they took the cuffs off and acknowledged that he was one of them.  It was probably going to be hard for them to look past the brand on his back.  Not that he’d had much choice in that matter.  It was just another one of the many scars he’d collected trying to survive in this new normal.

He was seated in the back of the large SUV.  The truck had three rows of seats and a large trunk space.  The trunk was full of gear and ammunition.  Kyler was sitting in the back row in between two guards.  The middle row was Caitlyn, Myriah and the little kids. They were shoved together completely ignoring all applicable seat belt laws.  The view from the truck was pretty much limited to the brake lights from the Hummer they were following closely behind.  Behind them the jeeps headlights were shining brightly into their back window.

“Charlottes a pretty big city isn’t it?”  Kyler asked out loud.  He figured one of the guards might answer him.  A conversation may loosen them up towards him some.  If nothing else, it’d help pass the time.

“Google it.”  The guard on his left answered sarcastically.  Word about the Brotherhood brand on his back had evidently gotten around.  The story about him being a James Bond double agent kind of guy must not have been circulated as widely.  Oh well, at least they hadn’t dragged him outside and beaten him to death as soon as they saw the brand.

“I’m just asking since I seem to remember it being a big city.  A big city would have a lot of people.  That means that there’d be a lot of infected roaming around the area now.  That’s all I was curious about.”  Kyler said.  He kept trying to get a conversation going.  There wasn’t anything on the radio and he was sandwiched in between two men who hadn’t been stressing personal hygiene lately.  He didn’t even want to try and nap. He was worried about how the guards would react if he tried to snuggle up to them in his sleep.

“Is there going to be a ton of Zombies up ahead?”  Caitlyn asked.  She’d swung around in her seat to listen to the conversation Kyler was having with the guards.  For some reason the guards were much nicer to the eighteen-year-old girl with the little kids in her lap than they were to the scarred enemy solider handcuffed between them.

“It’s pretty bad in the city proper but the surrounding towns are actually pretty empty.  Some of them have even been completely cleared out.  The problem is the Zombies pretty much go wherever they think there might be regular uninfected people, so you never know when you’re going to swing around a corner and run into some of them.”  The guard to Kyler’s left answered.

The brake lights flashed brightly on the hummer up ahead. The Expedition Max they were riding in rocked forward as their driver quickly applied the brakes.  Kyler was waiting for a wave of Zombies to come screeching towards them.  It’d be exactly what they deserved for letting the moronic guard tempt the god of jinxing like that.  The Hummer stood still in front of them for a few more minutes before it slowly began moving forward again.  It gradually picked up speed and pretty soon they were back to normal.

“Probably cows crossing the road.”  One of the guards said.  Wildlife and barnyard animals were common sights on the roads now that there was basically no traffic.

They drove in silence after that.  Kyler looked out the window but didn’t spot any cows.  He understood it could’ve been any number of things that’d decided to run across the road at that particular moment.  It wasn’t like wildlife needed to fear humanity anymore.  Although that wasn’t entirely true.  Animals were actually fiercely afraid of humans now that the Zombies would band up to hunt them down and eat them.  In years past Kyler wasn’t so sure if animals had really ever been able to make the connection between the loud booming sound and Bambi’s mom hitting the forest floor.  Now it was five Zombies hanging on to fistfuls of fat and fur eating the flesh off a living cow while it ran around in an overgrown meadow bellowing insanely and trying to fling them off.

They drove another hour with a few more slowdowns.  Only two of the slowdowns were due to Zombies.  One was an adrenalized Zombie who somehow leapt completely over the Hummer in the lead of their small convoy.  It smashed right into the grill of the beefed-up Ford SUV Kyler and the kids were following along in.  The driver locked up the brakes and they went sideways for a minute.  They all started breathing again once the truck coasted to a stop and no longer felt like it may topple over at any second.  After looking all around to make sure there were no more surprises waiting in the darkness the soldier in the passenger seat got out. He used a small trenching shovel from the trunk to pry the Zombie roadkill off the grill of the truck.  When the grossed out looking guard sat back down, he immediately started squirting way too much hand sanitizer all over his arms and hands.

The other Zombie they slowed down for was a little boy.  The Zombie was standing on the side of the road looking for all the world like a kid walking to school.  He even had a backpack on.  A backpack, a shirt, one boot with a sock and that was it.  The half-naked kid covered in dried up sores stood on the side of the road solemnly staring at the cars as they drove by.  Kyler would’ve missed him if he hadn’t noticed the driver poke the guard in the passenger seat to point out the lone kid.  The infected kid didn’t move or scream.  He just stared at them with a sad and solemn expression until he disappeared back into the darkness.

“You guys see a lot of the Zombies that just stand there and stare at you?”  Kyler asked.  He was genuinely curious.  He was excited by the idea that some of the Zombies were coming down from the virus generated insanity.  He’d take boring Zombies that didn’t do anything besides be creepy over the ones who kept trying to rip your head off and dine on your intestines any day.

“Every once in a while.  There seems to be a few more of them lately.”  The soldier had evidently forgotten he was supposed to be a jerk to Kyler.  Or maybe the way Caitlyn had followed up on Kyler’s question last time just had him acting nicer.  By the tone of his voice it was something the guard was curious about as well.

“What do you think makes them act like that?”  Caitlyn asked.

“I don’t know.  I was kind of hoping it was the virus starting to die off.  Either that or maybe it’s burnt them out.”  The guard answered.

“Could be they were the ones who never really got the angry cannibal twist.”  The other guard added.  This was actually something he’d spent a lot of time thinking about as well.  It wasn’t like they could stream Netflix anymore.

“What do you mean?”  Caitlyn asked.  The whole car had gotten quiet. Everyone was listening to the conversation.  Everyone except the littles who were busy playing with the etch a sketch tablets they’d found in the toy section of the barn house they’d spent the day cooped up in.  Caitlyn had cracked open a glow stick for them to be able to see by after the driver complained when she’d turned on the overhead dome light.

“I mean the ones that just stare could’ve been around the whole time.  Maybe when some of them go through the change they just don’t get the DNA or whatever that turns most of them into cannibals.  We could be seeing them more now because there’d be more of them left wandering around.  We’ve killed the hell out of the ones that charge straight at us screeching and the bulk of them have been joining herds.  The quiet ones I’ve seen have all been alone or in a small group.”

“What if you woke up one morning and realized you were back to being yourself after spending the last two years running around like a monster eating people.  I wonder if that’d drive you insane enough to just walk around staring at people.”  Myriah said quietly.  Her voice trembling with the thought of what that’d be like.

“I don’t know about that.”  One of the guards said shaking his head slowly.  “I don’t think you can burn your brain out for that long then just wake up one morning and remember everything.  I guess it could happen.  If it did you may be right. That’d be enough to drive you right back to crazy town.”

The conversation veered off into less horrifying topics.  Where the guards were from.  Where everyone had gone to school.  Movies and shows they used to watch.  A very involved discussion of the top ten waterslides and roller coasters which Myriah started as a way to memorialize YouTube.  The conversation made the trip go by a lot faster.  Before any of them realized it, they were off the interstate and driving down a smaller road with the driver letting them know that they’d be getting out of the cars in another ten minutes .

When they pulled off the road and start driving down another overgrown service road Kyler thought he was picking up on a theme.  He was waiting to see another barn like house rise up out of the woods when they stopped in front of a dock instead.  In the darkness Kyler could just make out what looked to be a very large lake in front of them.  Everyone got out of the car and stood around slapping at the occasional mosquito. The guards went over to a rack by the dock and started taking canoes down off of it and sliding them towards the water.

“Super quiet and doesn’t use up any gas.”  Bryan said seeing the way everybody was staring at them.  “There’s a bunch of lifejackets over by the front of the bar and grill over there.  You should at least get ones for the little kids and Kyler.  He falls in with those handcuffs on he’s not going to be able to doggie paddle very well.”

“Or you could take the cuffs off.”  Kyler said smiling sweetly and holding his hands up imploringly.

“Suck it up Buttercup.”  Bryan told him.  “We’ll be able to make some calls here shortly to see if we can put you out of your misery.  Either take the cuffs off or shoot you in the head.  One way or the other.  No more misery.”

“At least I don’t have to paddle.”  Kyler muttered walking towards the beach where the guards were loading up the canoes.

Henry and Sarah joined them along with the two guards from the jeep.  Bryan sent the two men from the jeep to watch the road and make sure no Zombies were loping down it after them.  The two men pulled machetes out of their packs and went to stand guard.  No one wanted to shoot a gun here and bring a ton of Zombies to hang out at the place where people came to get to the processing center.

Launching the canoes was done quickly and with way less confusion than Kyler had anticipated.  He guessed it had to do with everyone being familiar with boats at this point.  The kids had climbed right in and sat down without even needing to be asked.  They were paddling straight across a narrow channel to another dock.  About halfway across Bryan held up a flashlight and started turning the light on and off.  Kyler assumed it was some kind of signal to let the people on the other side know they were coming.  An answering light flashing on and off from the far shore confirmed his guess.

It only took about twenty minutes from shoving off to landing on the far shore.  They beached the canoes under the watchful eye of the men who’d been on guard duty on the far shore.  Kyler got the hardest looks considering he was being brought over in cuffs.  He was hopeful he’d be exonerated once they were able to communicate with someone in charge.  Kyler was just hoping this crazy road trip didn’t end up with him being locked up for much longer.  He was getting sick of having his fingers permanently numb from being in cuffs all the time.

Chapter 29:  Processed

The leadership of the settlements had tossed around the idea of coming up with a name for them to unite under.  They’d given up on that since they really just wanted to rebuild the USA.  To restore it to some semblance of what it’d been like before.  Most of the people in charge were senior military.  All of them had sworn an oath to dedicate their lives to the defense of the constitution of the United States of America.  It felt like a betrayal to them to try and change that now.  It didn’t help that the Senator putting together the decidedly anti-American state to the south of them was calling his attempt at nation building the “New America”.  All of this just led to everyone being kind of vague about their identities in this new normal.

The processing center for this vaguely named nation state turned out to be a lot less intimidating than it’d sounded at first.  It was a small collection of buildings surrounding a large warehouse in the middle of the woods.  They were given cots to sleep on in a partitioned off section on the floor.  The large wooden building with an aluminum roof had been used in the past as a combination winter boat storage and tourist season bait and gift shop warehouse.  The whole place had been reorganized to serve as an intake center for refugees wishing to join up with the settlements.  This warehouse was the closest to South Carolina and Tennessee so had processed hundreds of people recently.  It was currently almost empty except for guards and staff.  The flow of refugees had slowed down substantially enough in the past week to be ominous.

Kelly and Caitlyn worked to get the littles settled in while Randy held a whispered conversation with Henry.  There were lots of cots in the building. It looked like they’d all been used recently.  They were the only ones in the refugee area of the warehouse for the time being.  Partitions made out of cubicle walls spread around on the floor provided for some privacy. They also separated the warehouse into distinct sections.  Kyler had been taken away to an interrogation room and locked up while Bryan worked on verifying that he was who he said he was.  If Kyler wasn’t the kind of man that Kyler was then nobody would’ve even taken his claims of being a double agent seriously.  It seemed pretty far-fetched even to the people who knew him.

Kelly sat on her cot and watched as Doreen, Ali and Zoey all tried to get in the cot with Caitlyn to go to sleep.  When that proved geometrically impossible Zoey wound up squishing herself onto the bottom of Kelly’s cot.  Randy solved the potentially dangerous sleeping positions issue handily by quietly pushing all the cots together once he’d wrapped up his conversation with Henry.  Once all the cots had been organized so the kids could still all be around Caitlyn and their sisters like a bunch of puppies Randy sat down on the cot beside Kelly.

“How come none of the kids are trying to get on my cot?”  He asked her with a big grin on his face.

“You’re a boy.  Boys stink.  Boys drool.  There’s a lot of reasons really.  You’re lucky we let you hang out with us at all.”  Kelly said to big smiles and words of encouragement from the girls.

“Ha ha ha.  A few days on the road and you guys aren’t smelling like cotton candy and perfume either.”  Randy replied while holding his nose.

“What did Henry have to say?”  Kelly asked after the girls and their dad finished happily trading insults revolving around the worse smells they could think of.  The familiar game had become a lot more graphic in the aftermath of the apocalypse.  They’d been exposed to some serious stink.

“He’s with us if something bad goes down.  So far everything seems legit to him.  Now as long as Kyler really does know people on this side of the state line, we should be good to go.”  Randy replied.

“What if he doesn’t?”  Kelly whispered leaning forward to keep the conversation as private as possible.

“Then we’ll have to play it by ear.  There’s always the chance he’s telling the truth but everybody he used to know is dead.”  Randy held up his hand with the palm out to prevent Kelly from asking any more questions.  He’d just noticed someone walking towards them.  The warehouse was lit mostly by cheap solar powered lights.  The lights weren’t super bright to begin with. As the night wore on and their batteries drained, they got even dimmer.

The shadowy shape quickly coalesced into Bryan striding towards them.  He squatted down to talk to them.

“We reached out to the people Kyler says sent him down south.  Neither of them has responded yet.  Chief Presly is out on patrol. He may not check back in for a few weeks.  Or, he could check in tomorrow.  Rover patrols aren’t super predictable.  Commander Hartsfield’s alive.  We left a message for him to call us concerning Kyler.  They said they’d pass the message along and let us know.  I’m hoping they get back to us by tomorrow.”

“Thanks Bryan.  That sounds fair.  Can you let us know as soon as you hear back?”  Randy asked.

“Absolutely.  Tomorrow the plan is for you to meet up with a coordinator who’ll help you figure out your next steps.  For tonight you can just relax.  I’ve been ordered to do one more thing though.  I need to take a quick look at each of your backs to make sure none of the rest of you are branded.”  Bryan finished up apologetically.  He seemed embarrassed to be asking them, but he wasn’t the type not to follow through on a lawful order.  One by one they all showed their unbranded backs to Bryan.  Once he’d checked them all he wished them a good night and strolled off to do whatever rovers did when they weren’t busy roving.

“What now?”  Kelly asked.

“I guess we get some sleep.”  Randy said stretching out on his non-child infested cot.  Glancing over at how Kelly had to contort herself around Zoey and Doreen to get comfortable he was suddenly very thankful that they thought all boys smelled bad.  Snuggling with the girls in a chair or on a couch was one thing.  Trying to sleep next to one of them was an exercise in frustration.  They all liked to dream about taking karate lessons when they slept.  He remembered waking up in complete pain one night after Zoey managed to kick him in the crotch hard enough to bring tears to his eyes.  He’d woken up Kelly to complain but she’d just thought it was hilarious.

He woke up the next morning before the rest of them did.  Large, dusty windows lining the top of the wall around the warehouse were letting the early morning sunshine stream in.  Sitting up Randy saw that the cots had turned into some sort of battleground over the evening. The kids were sprawled out all over the place.  Myriah had retreated to a cot away from everyone else so she could sleep in peace.  Caitlyn and Kelly both had various limbs dangling off the edges of their cots.  It looked like Ali had her foot shoved directly into Caitlyn’s face.

It would’ve been more amusing to take in the chaotic aftermath of the slumber party if he didn’t know the reasons the kids clung to them so much.  Nightmares were a constant in their lives now.  Nightmares you weren’t allowed to scream through for fear of attracting the real nightmares.  The fear of losing each other was constant.  The constant and very real fear that monsters were going to start beating on the walls trying to get in at any second.  These kids had all been through hell.  They’d seen death and disease and murder.  They’d been at the mercy of psychopaths and tyrants.  Seen through that lens the desperate need to physically touch each other while they were sleeping was completely understandable.

Distracting him from of all that was the smell of coffee brewing somewhere.  He wasn’t clear on the rules around moving around the warehouse, but he wasn’t going to just sit there wishing he had coffee.  He chose to go with asking for forgiveness if it turned out he wasn’t supposed to wander around.  He walked out of the walled off section they’d been sleeping in and down the main aisle in the middle of the open floor.  He saw a small group of men congregated around a door leading to what looked like a breakroom of some sort.  Recognizing some of the men as the rovers who’d brought them to the warehouse Randy headed in that direction.

The strong, bitter smell of coffee had him drooling by the time he made it to the door.  One of the men standing outside the door recognized him and nodded.

“Morning. They used to have a place setup for settlers to grab breakfast and stuff but since you guys are the only ones here feel free to share ours.  Mi casa es su casa.”  The soldier said smiling.

“Same with officers’ quarters.”  Bryan said walking up behind Randy.

“Good morning.  Any word?”  Randy asked.  He didn’t want to be too specific since half the men here were already convinced Kyler was nothing more than a scum bag Brotherhood spy who should be dragged out back and shot.

“No word yet.  I was just over at the comms room checking in.  It’s still early though and the guy we’re waiting on runs pretty much everything so he’s a pretty busy guy.  I wouldn’t sweat it.  If we haven’t heard anything by tonight, then we can try leaving another message.  We’re not planning on rolling out of here for a few more days anyway.  Feel free to grab some coffee and a tray of food for the wife and kids.  We had some people come through not too long ago with an entire big rig loaded down with Little Debbie’s. Breakfast has pretty much been oatmeal pies or those delicious fake twinkies for a while now.”  Bryan said while picking through a large box full of random snack cakes.

Feeling out of place Randy poured some coffee into a couple of Styrofoam cups and picked up the offered box of snack cakes to take back with him.  The kids and Kelly were all still asleep when he got back.  He sat down and ripped the plastic wrapper off an oatmeal pie.  The snack cake looked pretty good considering how old it must be.  He took a big bite of the sugar stuffed preservative enriched treat and washed the delicious mixture down with a sip of hot coffee.

“You going to share any of that?”  Kelly asked.  The smell of coffee had woken her up as well.  She shoved Zoey off of her and sat down on the cot next to Randy.  He handed her a cup of coffee while she dug through the assorted snack cakes looking for something good.

“You used to be such a health freak.”  He joked when she pulled out a big pink snowball to eat.

“The running for your life workout coupled with sometimes not eating anything for a few days diet plan allows for the occasional cheat day.”  She responded smugly before taking a big bite of the gooey pink ball of goodness.

They let the kids sleep while they enjoyed their coffee.  Sarah walked over and said good morning while eyeballing their coffee. Randy noticed her staring and told her where he’d gotten it at. She told him thanks and left to get her and Henry some as well.  Before too long the kids were all awake and fighting over the selection of snack cakes.  Caitlyn had to step in and take control when the only pack of Zebra cakes almost instigated a full-on fist fight between Zoey and Doreen.

They were able to finish breakfast without any serious injuries.  Kelly decided that was a pretty good accomplishment and worthy of lying back down to nap for a bit.  Randy sat on his cot staring around at the storage system for the boats.  There were still plenty of boats actually tucked in the warehouse for safe keeping.  He was contemplating how they might be able to snag one and use it to escape out into the lake if needed when Kyler walked into their little sanctum.

“They hear back from the commander guy or do we need to lock and load?”  Randy asked without getting up off the cot.

“You should always be ready to go full auto in this day and age.  One of the commanders aides got back to them and confirmed what I told him.  They want me to report back to HQ immediately to debrief.  I just wanted to tell you guys goodbye before I took off.”  Kyler answered.

“Did you want to tell us goodbye or Caitlyn?”  Myriah teased.  To everyone’s instant amusement both Kyler and Caitlyn immediately turned bright red.  Randy was loving that even with all the death and horror they’d waded through these last few years there was still something about them that was full of innocence.

“All of you.”  Kyler mumbled awkwardly over everyone’s laughter.  He looked over at Caitlyn and noticed her blushing too.  Everyone noticed the look which made them all laugh even harder.

“I have no idea how you people have survived this long.”  Bryan said from behind them.  They’d all seen him walking up and were working to tone the laughter down.  He stood there smiling at them until they’d finally settled down.

“Kyler told us the command people finally got back to you.  So, he’s all good to go now right?”  Kelly asked Bryan.

“He’s good to be gone in about twenty minutes actually.  It turns out they were pretty excited to hear he was back.  We’re going to be taking him over to command now before we go back out on our regular patrol.  We should’ve already left but he insisted on saying goodbye and I didn’t want you to think there’d been any funny business.  I’ll leave you to it.  Kyler, we need to be rolling out in five.”  With that Bryan waved and walked back towards the soldiers section of the warehouse.

“You can’t leave now!”  Caitlyn said.  She looked embarrassed when everyone looked at her.  “It’s daylight you can’t drive around during the day.”  She finished up a little lamely.

“It’ll be ok.  We’ll be driving fast down cleared roads.  Unless we run into a herd crossing the road it’ll be fine.”  Kyler said.  He looked around at everyone.  “Ok.  I’ll see you all later.  Be safe.”  He muttered obviously at a loss for words.  Big emotional speeches were definitely not his thing.  They hadn’t actually known each other for all that long as far as the calendar went.  The time they’d spent together had been incredibly intense though.  It’d formed bonds that were deep.  He spun on his heel and started walking out to follow Bryan towards the soldiers section.

Myriah nudged Caitlyn and she walked quickly past everyone with her head down. She followed Kyler until he turned around.  As soon as he did, she threw her arms around him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.  She smiled really big when he whispered something in her ear.  Then they both remembered where they were and broke the embrace.  Kyler waved at them all with a big grin on his blush reddened face and headed out.  Cailyn ignored all questions throwing herself on her cot and pulling a blanket over her head.  Kelly sat on the floor beside Caitlyn to try and talk to her.  When it was obvious talking wasn’t going to happen, she settled for rubbing Caitlyn’s back. She sat there rubbing her back until she stopped sobbing into the thin military style pillow that’d been on the cot.

Randy took the other girls with him to get more coffee.  He didn’t necessarily want more of the bitter coffee, but he did want a break from the drama.  Plus, he figured Kelly and Caitlyn could use a bit of girl time to talk through whatever had just happened. He filled up their coffee cups again while the girls rooted through the snack cake box searching for Zebra cakes.  Once they’d found everything that they needed they walked back over to where they’d left Kelly and Caitlyn.

An older woman wearing a set of green coveralls with a small revolver holstered around her waist was chatting with Kelly while Caitlyn kept her head under the blanket.  That didn’t look awkward at all.  Randy considered turning around and walking the other way to avoid the whole mess when Kelly saw them standing there.  The look of relief on her face was instantaneous.  Randy knew he’d missed his window to sneak away.

“Hi.  I’m Randy. Are you one of the coordinators we keep hearing about?”  Randy asked walking forward and extending his hand to the lady.  She reached out and gave him a solid handshake.

“I am.  I’m Janet.  My job is to help figure out where you’d best fit in and explain to you how everything works in the settlements.  There’s been a lot of changes happening lately that we’re trying to keep up with.  We can head over to my office if you’re ready to get started.”  Janet offered.

“Lead the way.”  Randy said.  They worked together to quickly gather everyone and everything together.  Janet didn’t bother telling them to leave their stuff behind.  That’s just not something you did in the middle of an apocalypse where you may need to take off running for your life at any second.  Randy was relieved to see Janet recognized this.  It meant it wasn’t her first rodeo.  For some reason that made him feel a lot better about this whole process.  Feeling kind of like they were fixing to be sold a timeshare him and Kelly dropped the kids at the play area outside Janet’s office.  Then they went in and sat down to hear the pitch.

Chapter 30:  Field Commander Krantz

Krantz had the Iron Turtle facility on lock down.  He made the hospital converted into an outpost into a target just by his being there.  If the enemy found out that the newly promoted commander of all of the New American forces had made this location the new command hub then the hospital would be converted into a smoking crater in no time flat.  It was a weird war of harpoon missiles and machetes.  A war where all the traditional rules were being thrown out the window.  It was the civil war all over again except this time the south wanted to expand and absorb the north instead of just seceding.  It was insanity before you even threw in the massive herds of infected cannibals.

The north had an aircraft carrier while the south had drones.  The north had fighter jets and bombers.  Instead of focusing on what they didn’t have Krantz focused on what they did have.  They did have a ton of manpower.  Georgia had come through the virus with a much higher percentage of its population uninfected than any of the other states.  They had plenty of ground warfare type machines.  The problem with those was if you tried driving a tank down the road it’d attract every Zombie in a hundred-mile radius. The damned things were loud.  He was thinking of ways around that though.

He was curious about the death squad Sam had mentioned.  He was hoping to learn more about that soon.  They had network engineers and electricians tromping around in the woods rigging up the equipment needed to establish better communications between the Senators bunker and Iron Turtle.  The connectivity was being slowed down by the need to keep it secretive.  To make sure no one figured out the locations of the important posts they were having the crews setup multiple locations.  It wouldn’t surprise Krantz if the crew that setup the Senator’s bunker disappeared once it was done.

Communications were vital to winning.  They’d learned through their spy network that the settlements to the north all had communications links between them.  It’s how they called for help when they needed it and coordinated other more mundane logistical needs.  It was just a matter of splicing into existing telephone cabling for the most part.  As long as you had people who understood how all of that technology worked and were good with their hands you could setup a pretty solid network.  The limiting factor being providing power to needed relays along the path.  That was being slowly solved by utilizing solar for the places that power was needed but that required yet another skill set.  Luckily a lot of the relay stations were already equipped with some sort of solar backup so there were ways to make it work.

Krantz lost himself in the details like providing protection for the crews running the cable and setting up the network.  He busied himself figuring out the best ways to get tanks to where they could have the most impact.  He was good at solving these types of logistical problems.  He loved the intellectual challenge of it.  He loved the feeling he got when the ideas he put down on paper and the orders he gave resulted in tangible victories.  By focusing on the logistics piece, he didn’t have to think too hard on the fact that his side kept people working by holding their families hostage.  His side enforced their dogma with an iron fist.  The New America they were marketing looked a lot more like a dictatorship than a democracy.  Even the old-world dictatorships couldn’t have gotten away with the political prisons the south was running on such a large scale.

Regardless of all that Krantz was ready to set things in motion.  Timing was going to be everything.  If they blew up an airstrip in one part of the state but not in another then the rest of the airstrips would be guarded more thoroughly moving forward.  The trick was going to be taking out as many of the most important facilities at the same time as possible.  That’s where the drones were going to come in handy.  Krantz was working to align the drone strike times with the more manual assaults they’d have their strike teams carry out.

He’d passed along his information requests to Sam hoping to get most of the data he needed back from her quickly.  The faster they were able to put a plan together and strike back the more likely it’d work.  They needed to report some success shortly or the Senator was going to start to get antsy.  When the Senator started to get antsy the important people didn’t like it.  Having now spent some time with the Senator Krantz could appreciate their position as well as his own.

Rather than sit around waiting for the intel to trickle back to him Krantz ordered reconnaissance flights.  Pilots were a precious commodity and the aircraft they flew had a limited lifespan, but he needed intel. If he didn’t put the helicopters and planes up in the sky to gather it for him now, he might not get another chance.  The Senator wanted someone who took action.  It wasn’t like he was going to be allowed to peacefully retire if he didn’t seem to be fulfilling his commitments.  Hoping the pilots all made it back safely and wishing Sam would hurry up with the info on how he could launch the drone force into action he rolled the dice.

The results were mixed as to the intel they got back from the planes he sent out on reconnaissance missions.  On the plus side only one of the planes didn’t make it back.  They’d sent one along the coast to try and spot the carrier or the subs the north supposedly had in place.  That one’s last transmission had stated it’d located the carrier.  That was the last they’d heard from that plane.  It was assumed the carrier had activated its anti-air warfare measures and blown the jet out of the sky.  The rest of the planes reported back on everything they’d seen as they flew over the dystopian countryside.

Vast fields of crops growing wildly.  Herds of the infected roaming randomly through the land.  It was pretty amazing to Krantz that even the planes were reporting the herds.  The planes were up high and moving fast.  For them to spot a herd it had to be large and in motion.  Multiple herds that were that large were going to be something they had to take into account in any type of invasion plan.  There seemed to be a large quantity of vehicles on the road as well.  Considering the planes had been sent during the day this was especially useful information.  Krantz and Forrest had talked about that and both agreed it could mean nothing or it could mean the settlers were really getting ready to board the carrier and go on a cruise.

Assuming the virus eventually died out then sailing away for a bit may be the best way to save as many people as possible.  If the virus didn’t die out, they were just postponing the inevitable.  At some point they’d have to deal with all the infected roaming the countryside if they wanted to settle back into these lands.  The ship could head out to sea but at some point, it was going to run out of food and have to land no matter how much uranium was sitting in the reactor.  Unless of course they had a different destination in mind.  That was an intriguing thought but one that Krantz had no intel on.

The plan Krantz came up with was to take the land by just motivating the people living in the north to hurry up and board that ship.  Once the people were on the ship the carrier could set sail and the New American forces could claim the land left behind for the Senator.  He had the outline of a plan in his head.  The main problem being executing on the plan without causing the north to hit back at them again.  They were poking at a wasps nest hoping it’d hurry up and fall off the house.  Unfortunately, wasps sometimes took objection to being poked and would fly out stingers first.

From the notes he’d reviewed he knew Roberts and the Senator had already sent teams of men up north to snipe at the settlements.  The men were paid with higher status which meant their families got better living quarters and the men got to spend more time with them when they were back from their assignments.  They were given vague goals and a point system when they were sent out.  Taking out a sentry guarding an outpost might be worth ten points while taking out a whole roving patrol might be worth a hundred points.  Destroying an entire settlement was worth a thousand points.  The required proof was video evidence which was typically taken on iPods or something similar.

The people that were sent out who couldn’t bring themselves to kill for points were told not to come back.  If they came back anyway, they were executed.  If they didn’t return within a year then their families were moved to a reduced status location based on a complicated set of rules.  The rules could all be overridden by the people who administered the home-grown vigilante system.  There were currently multiple teams listed as missing in action presumed to be deserters or dead.  There were also a handful who were up in the target areas and assumed to be actively hunting.  In addition to bringing the pain they also were awarded points for things like picking up the information from dead drops.  These guerilla forces formed the backbone of the intelligence network Roberts had deployed.

Krantz considered all of this while pacing the top of the parking lot where their helicopter was parked.  The Zombies screaming below were just background noise to him now.  Like the crashing of the waves on the beach.  He’d wanted to get out of the dank hospital and walk in the sunlight.  He hoped it’d make him feel slightly more human.  He’d been eating sporadically while maintaining a regular diet of alcohol.  His daily regimen of working out had been completely thrown to the wayside.  The stress of this impossible job he’d been given was tearing him apart.  Buried under the huge strategic challenges lingered all of his doubts about if he was doing the right thing.

He’d done things in his military career before the apocalypse he hadn’t been particularly proud of.  None of those things had made him think that his country was inherently evil though.  He’d known both elected officials and commissioned officers who were just straight up scum bags.  He’d always considered them the exception rather than the rule though.  Now he found himself becoming that commissioned officer in charge who was going to be ordering people to do the shady work for no real reason other than straight up imperialism.  He might as well be that admiral Darth Vader chokes to death in the original Star Wars movie.  He felt like that scene pretty much summed up where he stood in the grand scheme of things.

Walking over to the edge of the parking garage he gazed down at the infected staring up at him and screeching.  There were a lot less of them today than there’d been a few days ago when he arrived.  The ebb and flow of the local Zombie population was dependent on how much activity had happened around the hospital recently.  If no one came out where the Zombies could see them then the numbers of Zombies gradually dwindled.  If a helicopter landed or someone like Krantz decided to make an appearance and run around where he could be seen, then the numbers increased exponentially within an hour or two.

He looked carefully at the faces staring up at him.  He was looking for any signs that some of the madness may be fading from them.  He wanted to see a slack jawed one who was just looking at him instead of screaming.  A face that didn’t have the lips pulled back from the teeth as the demon virus turned it’s host into a monster.

He couldn’t find a single face out of the hundreds below that seemed to fall into the category of the virus tapering off.  He didn’t doubt there were infected wandering around who were not as aggressive as the normal ones, but he didn’t see how a handful of outliers would make a difference.  For every infected that stood around and stared at you without trying to eat you there was an adrenalized one who’d jump over a tall fence to land on your ass with its mouth open and ready.

The Zombies were a serious force multiplier in the battles that were being fought.  They’d seen it in South Carolina when the massive herds of Zombies had started slipping through the woods chasing the sounds of war.  They’d seen it used against them by the north when a single bomb dropped on one of their camps caused enough noise to attract the Zombies from all around.  Silence was a shield that could be easily knocked aside by the weapons of war.  If you managed to survive the missile slamming into the middle of the base you still had to worry about the waves of Zombies that’d be crashing down on you soon afterwards.

Frustrated with how slowly everything was moving he crossed over the bridge from the parking lot heading back into the main hospital.  The guard at the door smartly saluted and opened the door for him.  He was fixing to go in when he noted a surprised expression cross the guards face.  Looking upwards in the same direction the guard was looking Krantz saw a small group of planes leaving smoke trails in the sky.

“Sound the alarm!”  Krantz yelled at the sentry before turning and running into the hospital himself yelling for everyone to take cover.

He’d only taken a couple of steps inside the building when the first bomb hit.

Chapter 31:  The Prodigal Son

“Ready?”  Bryan asked as Kyler walked up to the beach where Bryan and his men were waiting to paddle back across to where the vehicles were.

“Yep.  Let’s roll.  I guess you expect me to paddle this time?”  Kyler said with a smile.  He wanted to be at least a little pissed at these guys, but he was still too elated by the kiss Caitlyn had given him.

“Operational silence once we get in the canoes, but I just want to go ahead and state that what you did going down south was some bad ass warrior James Bond shit.  We all appreciate the risks you took and what it took for you to pull it off.”  Bryan stood tall and saluted Kyler.  The rest of the men quickly followed their leaders example.  The whole patrol came to attention and saluted an embarrassed looking Kyler.  Bryan had them all hold the salutes for a second before dropping his hand back to his side. He headed over to the canoes leaving a red-faced Kyler standing open mouthed on the beach.

Just like that it was back to business as usual for the rest of the world.  Kyler was on cloud nine though.  The men who’d been hassling him and treating him like a traitor because of the brand on his back had finally shown him some respect.  He’d just been kissed by a pretty girl.  He was finally back to the settlements where he belonged.  He felt like he’d come home even though he hadn’t really been part of the settlements for all that long.  He’d been a looter then a member of the roving patrol before being sent down south to be a spy.  He’d come a long way.

They paddled silently across the cold, dark water.  There was a chill breeze fighting off the heat from the sun by cooling the sweat from the exertion of paddling.  The canoes had been loaded up with ammunition, canned food and safe drinking water.  In addition to its being a processing center for refugees the warehouse still also served as a warehouse.  It supplied most of the roving patrols in the western part of North Carolina.

Feeling a little out of place moving around in the daylight for once Kyler dug his paddle deep into the water and pulled it back smoothly.  The sooner they hit the beach and got inside the vehicles the sooner he’d feel less exposed.  Even driving out of here was going to be a gamble.  Driving at night was risky as you couldn’t see well and if you ran up on a herd or woke up a ton of Zombies sleeping under an overpass you could end up getting swarmed.  Driving during the day gave you much better visibility but the Zombies were actively up and seeking out prey during the day.  He was hoping the roving patrol had setup a system similar to the one in Georgia with outposts who’d warn them if they were coming up on a dangerous situation.

He was assuming they probably had by now.  The vehicles all had radios mounted in them.  They hadn’t used the radios around him because they didn’t want to broadcast the fact that they’d picked up a double agent if it turned out his story was true.  Out in the western part of North Carolina there also may not be any outposts.  He’d find out soon enough.  The beach was getting closer with every stroke.  Standing on the floating dock in front of the dilapidated bar and grill was a single Zombie with tangled blond hair.  She was staring out at the canoes like she couldn’t understand how something could float and move on the water.  She hadn’t started screaming yet so maybe she was one of the silent ones.

Kyler quickly gave up on the idea of her being one of the silent ones when she started screaming her head off.  Bryan had already pointed the bow of his canoe down the shoreline away from the dock.  If they’d tried paddling up to the dock, then there wasn’t an easy way to quietly take out the Zombie without risking her jumping into the canoe and biting somebody.  They were under strict orders to not shoot at anything around here unless absolutely necessary.  They’d been able to keep using this warehouse as a depot for so long precisely because everyone followed the rules around operational silence whenever they were close to it.

A screeching Zombie was going to eventually have the same impact as a gunshot as far as attracting other infected to the area.  They needed to hit the beach and take her out as quickly as they could.  A loaded crossbow would’ve come in super handy for situations like this.  Silencers were also prized possessions.  They had neither of those contraptions available to them though.

The banks were high and muddy with thick brush growing on the top.  The only beach type of area had been down by the docks.  Since the Zombie was already screeching away Bryan went ahead and gave his orders out loud.  His voice pitched so all the men could hear him.

“When we get close to the bank if it’s shallow enough team one jumps out, goes up the bank and takes out that banshee bitch.  If it’s not shallow enough to do it then we keep going until we find a place you can get your footing.  If she won’t shut up, we may just have to shoot her.  Let’s move.”  Bryan ordered loudly enough for everyone to hear.

The men assigned to team one dipped their paddles in and went straight for the short clay cliff rising out of the water.  The screeches from the Zombie became muted as she worked her way through the bushes to get closer to them.  Kyler and Bryan both had their rifles up to cover team one as they went in.  If it looked like they might get attacked by the wailing witch before they were in a good fighting position, then they’d just go ahead and shoot her in the head.  Operational silence be damned.  They could move a warehouse.  They couldn’t bring one of their team mates back to life.

The water was shallow enough for the three men in team one to hop out and get their footing.  They quickly began to scale the clay cliff.  It looked like everything was going great until the first guy up the cliff started dancing around like his pants were on fire.  He jumped backwards off the steep embankment crashing into one of the canoes drifting in the shallows.  The two other men on the team stared at him for a second at a complete loss. One of the men peeked over the top of the cliff to see what the deal was.  He toppled over backwards with a snake attached to his face.

Everyone who’d been watching put their guns down and paddled in to help team one.  Kyler had his machete out as he drifted towards the muddy shoreline.  Once he was close enough, he jumped overboard and hacked the snake in half that was attached to the cheek of the guy who’d just gotten bit.  The man ripped the rest of the snake off his face and tossed it away in disgust before trying to climb back into his canoe.  Another member of the team was trying to help him back into the canoe when the infected woman from the dock appeared at the top of the cliff.

In all the excitement caused by stumbling on the snake nest she’d been forgotten about.  She immediately hurled herself straight at the guy trying to climb into the canoe.  Bryan got a couple of shots off, but it was too late.  The infected woman disappeared under the water with the soldier who’d just ripped a water moccasin off his face.  The other guy who’d landed on one of the canoes tried to stand up to help him and managed to flip his canoe over.  Losing all of the supplies in the canoe as well as completely screwing up his ankle.

The soldier who’d been bit by the moccasin reappeared out of the water.  He was screaming in terror and rage while slamming a kabar knife into what was left of the infected woman’s face and chest.  He’d turned her upper body into waterlogged hamburger in his desperate fight to keep her from sinking her teeth into him.  He finally stopped screaming when he noticed everyone staring at him.

“You get bit Branson?”  Bryan asked.

“Just.  By.  The.  Snake.”  Branson managed to get out between his chaotic breathing.  He let go of the Zombies neck.  The remains floated away from him before settling deeper into the water.

“Should we try and get the ammunition out of the water?”  Kyler asked.  He was feeling around with his feet and finding the boxes below him.  He reached down and pulled up one of the heavy boxes packed with bullets.

“Yes.  See how much of that you –“  Bryan stopped talking when about twelve more of the water moccasins came over the side of the cliff plopping into the water all around them.  He didn’t bother saying another word as everyone still in the water scrambled to get into a canoe as fast as they could.

“Sir my face is numb and burns at the same time.”  Branson said.  His words were badly slurred.  He’d been pulled into the canoe that had flipped over.  Two of the other team members had righted it and picked it up so the water was out of it.  It was riding pretty high now that it wasn’t loaded down with supplies.

“Ok.”  Bryan said trying to get his arms around this complete cluster they’d managed to get themselves into before they even made it to the parking lot.  “Let’s paddle over to the docks for now.  We may just need to go back and try this again in an hour or something.  I’m assuming you don’t have the plans for the death star or something else super time sensitive?”  Bryan asked Kyler as they paddled over to the dock.

“Nothing crazy like that.  Probably a lot of information they already have to be completely honest.  I spent about half my time over there chasing the family that I ended up helping to escape.”  Kyler said.

Multiple screeches suddenly split the air.  Evidently the Zombie Branson had just tenderized had been heard by others.  Or the shots fired at her when she jumped from the cliff had been heard.  Either way another variable had just been added to the equation on how soon they needed to leave.  Bryan cursed under his breath while he did the math.  He waited for the others to paddle up to the dock.  Of the three men from team one only one was still what he’d consider operational.

“Team one.  You morons just earned yourselves a few more days of vacation.  Head back to the warehouse and try to get Branson patched up. Make sure to get him shot up with some antivenom before his face falls off.  The rest of us are going to take the Expedition and roll out.  Help us get all the gear loaded up before any more Zombies show up and we’re out.  Let’s try to stop acting like a monkey raping a football for five seconds and get it done by the numbers.  On the bounce let’s do it.”  Bryan ordered.

The next five minutes was spent running boxes of supplies from the canoes into the trunk of the extra-large Ford SUV.  Kyler was covered in sweat by the time they loaded the last box.  The screeches were getting louder as the infected heading their way got steadily closer. They were getting closer way too quickly for comfort.  They were going to have to drive right through the infected to get to the main road.  Bryan sent team one paddling back across the lake to get Branson patched up.  With them gone it was just Bryan, team two, and Kyler.  The five of them hopped in the big black SUV and started driving towards the sounds of the incoming infected.

Kyler was once again crammed in the middle seat between two of the men from team two.  They’d told him it was for his protection since they were expected to deliver him alive.  Both of the men had started cracking up when he’d accepted what they said at face value and sat in the middle seat.  Their laughter dried up when the first two Zombies appeared.  Their faces tensing as they went into warrior mode.

It was a long straight stretch of blacktop in front of them.  The road had leaves and other debris on it but was fairly clean for an apocalyptic highway.  Up in the distance were two figures running impossibly fast straight towards them.  The soldier driving the truck slowed down to pull the standard maneuver of waiting for the Zombies to get beside them then driving away too fast for them to catch up.  That worked great most times.  It was the exceptions to the rule that made the maneuver so gut wrenchingly stressful.

As the SUV slowed the Zombies kept coming full speed.  They both were running faster than they should be able to.  They weren’t slowing down either.  They were puttering along at about three miles per hour when the first Zombie jumped straight into their windshield.  The other one came around the side and started slamming it’s hands into the passenger window.  The one on the hood was completely blocking the vision of the driver.  Knowing the road was straight he started accelerating while letting Bryan feed him information on how fast to go.

The Zombie on the side of the truck started falling behind.  Then it stepped on the running board and held on to the roof while smashing it’s head into the window.  The Zombie on the windshield ripped both of the windshield wipers off and stood up trying to figure out how to get in.  Slamming on the brakes sent that one flying.  Bryan had his pistol out as the Zombie on his side was getting some momentum on the passenger window with his head.  He didn’t think the thick glass would break considering the Zombie was at an awkward angle to be headbutting the window.

The passenger window splintered into a million pieces with the next blow from the Zombies head.  With the window gone the Zombie stuck one of its hands in the truck as it struggled to get in and get its teeth into Bryan.  Bryan had gotten stuck in his seatbelt when the driver hit the brakes to eject the other Zombie off the hood causing it to lock up on him.  The Zombie who’d been ejected off the hood suddenly popped up and started slamming its face into the driver side window.  On the passenger side Bryan was holding the Zombie who’d come through his window by the hair to keep it off of him.

Bryan got a knife free and used it to saw away at the Zombies jugular.  Blood squirted everywhere completely ruining the luxurious leather interior of the pricey soccer mom machine.  Bryan pushed the Zombie out the window in disgust once the life left its eyes.  Screeches from down the road told them more were coming.  Kyler truly hoped the next few would be the slower, dumber ones.  He wasn’t sure how many more of the adrenalized ones they could take on.

The next ones they passed were slightly slower than the first pair they’d ran into.  The problem was they couldn’t do the slowing down trick because they didn’t have a passenger window anymore.  Bryan didn’t seem too keen on using himself as bait and hacking off multiple heads as they drove down the road.  With no time to really come up with anything original they stuck with the standard plan.  The driver just made sure to take off as soon as the Zombie was no longer in front of the truck.

Kyler became much more appreciative of his middle seat.  The truck was big enough where he wasn’t overly squished where he was sitting.  Even though they were all fully dressed out in all of their battle rattle and taking up more room than adults normally would.  He decided the worse seat in the house was the one their fearless leader had climbed into.  Being the leader, he didn’t have to call shotgun for the coveted passenger seat position.  With the window missing though the passenger seat was quickly turning into the carving station on the Zombie buffet line.

By the time they made it to the highway Bryan was covered in blood and had definitely committed mass murder.  He’d left a trail of nearly headless cadavers stretching all the way back to the dock.  The dude was beyond hard core and definitely deserving of respect.  Kyler knew he personally would’ve just pulled out his pistol after the first encounter and used it on any Zombie that got close to the open window.  It was only later that he found out Bryan had been trying to do that but with the seat belt locked on him he couldn’t get his holster to unsnap.  He hadn’t thought of asking for anyone else’s weapon because he kept thinking he could get to his own.

“If a Zombie bite can get you infected then why wouldn’t being covered in their blood infect you?”  Kyler asked.  The question was part rhetorical and part humorous jab at Bryan who looked like he’d been swimming in a lake full of chunky tomato soup.  The smell was simply indescribable.

“Beats me but if it did then we’d all have been turned like twenty times over.”  One of the soldiers next to Kyler responded.  It was nice to know they’d talk to him now that they knew he wasn’t a Brotherhood spy.

“As long as you don’t have any open wounds, I don’t see why it’d matter.  Then again I don’t really understand how poison ivy works either.”  The driver chimed in.

“Pull over up ahead so I can change.  Hand me the wipes and a towel.”  Bryan said.  He didn’t sound amused or even slightly interested in their banter.

The driver drove for another few minutes with everyone looking around to see if they could see any Zombies coming up on them.  Not seeing anything the driver pulled to the side of the road.  Everyone got out to stretch their legs and guard Bryan while he stripped down and gave himself a quick sponge bath using a box of Lysol wipes.  He was using the Lysol wipes in an attempt to kill any of the nastiness that may be crawling around on him from all the infectious bodily fluids he’d just been marinating in.

“Sir.  There’s stop sticks across the road up ahead!”  The driver who’d walked out in front of the vehicle yelled.  He’d obviously already figured out that wasn’t a good thing as he turned and ran back towards the truck.  Kyler looked up in time to see the man’s head explode.

“Ambush!”  One of the other soldiers yelled rushing back towards the truck.

Bryan grabbed his pack and weapons and jumped over the guard rail yelling for everyone to follow him.  Kyler jumped over the guard rail without even bothering to look.  A messed-up ankle was going to be a lot better than getting shot.  He hit the steep incline on the other side and sort of slide rolled down the side into a bunch of trees and shrubbery.  The sound of automatic fire bursting into the truck and the screams of the other two men from team two echoed down to them.

“Did you see where they were shooting at us from?”  Bryan asked.

“All I saw was Jacksons head explode.  Since we’re not dead I guess they’re on the other side of the interstate.”  Kyler answered.

“Ok.  I’m going up to check on everybody. You stay here.”

“Screw that.  I’m with you.”  Kyler replied checking to make sure the M-16 he was carrying was good to go.

“You’re my mission.  If I die, I need you to keep going.”  Bryan said.

“If you die why the hell do you care if I keep going?”  Kyler said.

“Good point.  Just don’t die unless I do first.  Let’s go.”  Bryan started crawling up the incline through the rocky mud and brush.  Kyler followed along right beside him.  He was moving a bit faster since he wasn’t crawling through all this crap in just his boxers like Bryan was.

At the top of the incline they stopped and looked at the bodies of their three comrades in arms laid out on the blacktop in puddles of blood.  Bryan got a deadly gleam to his eye as he settled in to wait.  Off in the distance came the inevitable screeches of the damned as they responded to the noise of the one-sided firefight.  Bryan didn’t move at all as the screeches drew closer.  Kyler stayed right beside him letting the area in his sights become his whole world.  With the screeches starting to get danger close Kyler began wondering when Bryan was going to decide they should bug out.  They could always find another vehicle although it was going to suck to lose all those supplies.

Kyler was about to nudge Bryan and indicate they needed to move back from the road when there was movement on the other side.  A group of three men in camouflage started moving slowly across the road towards them and the truck.  A fourth man appeared and ran towards the stop sticks.  Bryan held up his fingers to indicate they should wait five seconds then shoot.  Kyler did a slow count in his head.  He tried not to think that he was going to be shooting uninfected humans.  These pricks had just shot his battle buddies so he might as well treat them like they were Zombies.

Kyler counted down from five in his head then shot the man on the far left in the leg.  He moved quickly to the next man in line shooting him in the leg as well.  He was shooting underneath the Expedition so the leg was as high as he could get while they were standing.  He turned his attention back to the first man he’d shot who was lying on the road screaming his head off in pain.  Another quick three round burst shut him up.

The other soldier either hadn’t been hurt as bad or was just channeling his inner Rambo.  He was actually lying in a prone position trying to shoot back.  Before he had the chance to aim and pull the trigger Kyler sent a couple of three round bursts into his head.  Job done he turned to see how Bryan was doing.  Bryan had stood up and was running towards the Expedition.  Kyler followed suit.  He noted Bryan had gotten the third man who’d come straight at them. That left only the guy who’d gone for the stop sticks.  That guy was currently running for the side of the road while shooting randomly behind him with a pistol.

Bryan stopped and rested his rifle on the hood of the Expedition while the randomly fired bullets buzzed around them.  One shattered the back drivers side passenger window.  Kyler reflected on the fact that a random bullet could kill you just as dead as a superbly aimed one.  Throwing that thought away he charged around the side of the SUV and lit up the guy who’d almost made it across the street.  A shadowy mob down the road was headed for them.  Screeches were coming from all around.

“Help me get their bodies in the truck!”  Bryan yelled.

“We don’t have time!”  Kyler yelled back.

“Then we die.  I’m not leaving them to be Zombie food.”  Bryan replied without an ounce of give in his voice.  Wondering where the hell the guy had gone who wanted to put the mission first Kyler jumped in the driver’s seat and found the button to pop the trunk.

They got two of the bodies in before the Zombies started showing up.  Kyler ran with the body of the driver in a fireman’s carry across his shoulders while Bryan shot at the Zombies running towards them.  Kyler slid the third body into the cargo area then ran to the passenger side of the SUV.  Bryan hopped in the driver’s seat and started driving forward.

“What about the stop sticks!”  Kyler blurted out remembering them before it was too late, he hoped.

“That’s why I had you count to five.  The first guy who ran out was the one responsible for moving those things off the road.  Five seconds gave him time to get them moved enough so we’ll be able to drive on through.”

Ten minutes later they were on the road again with the ambush spot firmly in their rearview.  They were both covered in blood and lost in their thoughts.  For the other three passengers in the back the struggle was over.  Kyler was almost envious of them.  He knew he was on a path where he’d be joining them sooner rather than later.

The Expedition was looking the worse for wear as well.  The interior was covered in broken glass and blood.  The exterior covered in bullet holes and dents from Zombies slamming into it.  None of the bullets or Zombies had done any damage to the powerful engine though.  After driving along at close to ninety miles per hour for a couple of hours Kyler finally asked where they were going.

“I’m dropping you off at a rest stop for another patrol to pick up.  They don’t tell us any more than we need to know.  Loose lips and all that crap.”  Bryan answered then lapsed back into silence.

The rest stop was empty when they arrived.  There was a nice green field in the back that looked out over a lake.  Bryan took one look at the place and went back to the truck to grab the trenching shovel.  Kyler followed him and grabbed one for himself as well.  They spent the next couple of hours digging three graves in the hard earth.

Tired and covered in dirt Kyler spun around when someone behind him coughed.  Bryan came up out of the hole he’d just finished and grabbed his rifle.

“The prodigal son returns.  Looks like your luck is still about the same as the last time I saw you.”  A familiar voice from the past boomed out.

Kyler smiled when he saw it was Chief Presly standing there with a small group of battle-hardened looking rovers.

“How’s it going Chief.  This is Lt. Parsons.”  Kyler said pointing at Bryan who was standing up to come over and talk to them.

“Sorry sir.  We would’ve saluted but you appear to be slightly out of uniform.”  Presly said with no trace of actually being sorry detectable in his voice at all.

“We’ve lost some men transporting Kyler here.  We were ambushed a couple of hundred miles back towards Charlotte.  Would you and your men mind waiting while we finish burying our dead.”  Bryan said.  He somehow managed to make it sound somber and military while standing there in a pair of boxers and covered in dirt from his head to his toes.

“Yes sir.  We’re here to help to with whatever you need.”  Presly said somberly.

“If you can bring the bodies over, I’m going to go get dressed to say a few words. If you wouldn’t mind helping us bury them, I think you can be on your way and I can be on mine after that.”  Bryan said.

An hour later Bryan was driving away in the battered Expedition.  He was headed back to the warehouse to see if Branson had survived the snake bite.  Kyler was in a crappy blue Corolla headed for Virginia Beach. That’s where Presly told him Commander Hartsfield had moved his operations to.  Kyler sat in the back thinking through everything that’d happened to him since he left the settlements to be a spy in the first place.  He couldn’t think of anything earth shattering that he’d learned.  Had it been worth all the risks he’d taken?  Had it been worth the lives of the men who’d just died escorting him back here?  He guessed he’d find out once he was questioned.

One thing was for sure.  He was glad he’d been a part of helping Caitlyn and her family escape.  That was something he could be proud of no matter what.

Chapter 32:  How Do You Like to Vacation?

Walking into Janet’s small office enhanced the feeling that they were about to be sold a bill of goods.  Randy felt like they should’ve spent some more time out in the parking lot talking about how they were just going to take the free gift and leave.  Kelly was looking ready to be sold.  She sat down and leaned forward attentively.  She was obviously ready to learn as much as she could about the settlements.  Janet was pulling out some papers that looked like they may actually be brochures.  Randy steeled himself for the inevitable small talk.

“Do you mind sharing how you got here?  I’m not being nosey but sometimes it helps us to know what you’ve been through to make sure we offer up the best positions for you and your family.”  Janet said looking at them expectantly.  Kelly was fixing to launch into their story when Randy leaned forward to interrupt.

“What if we just want to leave and not be a part of any of this?”  He asked.

“No problem.  You’re allowed stay here and sponge off us for up to a week then you have to be on your way.  We do ask you to move out of our territory if you’re not going to join up with us though.  Would you like to hear about what we’re doing here in the settlements or are you planning on moving along to somewhere else?”  Janet asked politely.

“We’d love to hear about the settlements.  We’ve been through a lot to get here.  If you guys really have something good, then we’d want to consider being part of it.  We’re a little cautious about being asked to join up with a group. A big part of our backstory’s the Brotherhood trying to force us into their weird little world.”  Kelly said.

Janet flipped open a MacBook and got ready to type.  Evidently, they were using the power of the sun for more than just the lights.  Kelly started from the very beginning.  She skipped over the killing they’d done to get off Block Island but for the most part she told the truth.  It was cathartic for her.  Randy listened and augmented her story when appropriate.  Hearing her telling it all out loud he realized how phenomenally lucky they were.  From the looks on Janet’s face she thought they might be pulling her leg on some parts of it.

Kelly talked for almost two hours.  Janet let her talk without interrupting while quietly typing notes into the computer.  Caitlyn stuck her head in at one point to see what was going on.  Janet told her where she could take the kids to go get lunch.  When Kelly finally finished talking Janet spent some time getting what she referred to as the ‘resume stuff’.  She was pretty excited about Randy’s computer background. She asked him a ton of very specific questions.  Once she’d gathered all their information, she passed them the papers she’d been shuffling around on her desk when they walked in.

Janet opened her mouth to go over the papers. She shut it again when a soldier entered the office after a quick knock on the door.  The soldier glanced over at Kelly and Randy sitting there before addressing Janet.

“The crew that went out this morning got into some trouble and fired their weapons across the inlet.  We may have to evacuate.  Make sure you’re watching for the alert.  Can you brief these guys on what they need to do?”  The soldier asked.  Janet nodded and said she’d take care of it.  As quickly as the soldier had appeared, he vanished back out the door.  Kelly and Randy looked anxiously at Janet wondering what was going on.  Before Janet could say anything, Kelly stood up and walked over to the door to check on the kids.

“They’re good.”  She told Randy.  The kids were all outside the door in the little play area Janet had setup out there.  Kelly sat back down and waited for Janet to tell them whatever the soldier had asked her to brief them on.  The paperwork Janet had started to explain was forgotten about for the time being.

“One of the guards ran into an issue and fired their weapon.  It happens every once in a while.  It’s why we make everyone paddle in from the other side of the lake.  What it means for us is the base has gone into a high alert status.  We have some ways of knowing if the Zombies are coming for us or not.   If they are then we all leave out the back door and make a run for the beach.  There are two big pontoon type boats back there we’ll take to an island where we keep supplies in case something like this happens.  Any questions?”  Janet asked.

“Yeah why don’t we go now?”  Randy asked.  He didn’t really see a reason to hang out and see if the insane infected swarmed the warehouse.  To his mind they should go ahead and hop in the pontoon boats and get to the island.  They could watch for the Zombies swarming the warehouse from a nice safe distance.

“We used to take off right away.  Now we wait.  We have early alerting systems rigged up.  The problem is if we head over to the boats every time there’s an issue, we eat up all the gas pretty fast. Not to mention starting the boats up actually makes even more noise making it more likely the infected will show up at the warehouse.  Also, honestly, it’s not super comfortable over on the island.  We’ve setup some of those big green tests with crates of food and supplies, but it stinks over there.  The tents smell moldy.  The food sucks and it’s either freezing or way too hot and humid.  Really big mosquitoes over there too.  The general miserableness is what motivated us to hook up the early warning systems.  If the lights start flashing, we have about three to five minutes to get out.”

“What happens after five minutes?”  Kelly asked.

“The boats cast off.  They’re super close so getting there in time shouldn’t be an issue.  You just need to be ready to move right away.  Keep your go bag on you all the time.  Keep your kids within an arm’s reach all the time while we’re on alert.  If it makes you feel more comfortable you could go hang out on the dock until the threat’s over.”  Janet said.

“Well hopefully the lights never flash and we’re good to go.”  Randy said leaning back in his seat.

A generic looking LED light that’d been run into the office and was positioned by the door began to flash.  Kelly whacked Randy hard in the back of the head.  He looked at her with a pained expression on his face.

“You jinxed us!”  Kelly said accusingly.  Not giving Randy a chance to react she jumped out of her chair and ran out to make sure all the kids were there.  Janet reached behind her desk and grabbed a backpack that she shrugged herself into.  She raced out of the room behind Kelly waving at Randy to grab his stuff and follow them.

Randy grabbed his and Kelly’s packs and ran out the door behind Janet.  He immediately looked to see if Kelly had the kids together and ready to go.  It looked like Myriah and Zoey were missing.

“Where the hell are Myriah and Zoey?”  Randy asked loudly shoving himself into the harried conversation Kelly was having with Caitlyn.

“Caitlyn let them go to find more Zebra Cakes.”  Kelly said.  Her voice dripping with displeasure.  Caitlyn looked confused and scared.  Tears were forming in her eyes.

“Take the other kids.  I’ll go get Myriah and Zoey and meet you at the boat.”  Randy said.  Not waiting for a response, he pulled out his pistol and jogged in the direction of the break room.  That was the only place he knew of that had a big box of snack cakes sitting out for the taking.  Kelly grabbed the rest of the kids and followed Janet to the other side of the warehouse.

Randy sprinted towards the breakroom.  He was moving so fast he missed the turn. Once he realized his mistake he had to turn around and go back to find the room.  Men were running all around him.  A few yelled at him to turn around and go to the boats. He just yelled back that he had to find his kids and kept going.  A couple of them asked if he needed help and he just shook his head and kept running.  He was wondering if he should’ve asked them how to get to the boats as he rounded the corner to the breakroom.

The big box of snack cakes was overturned in the corner.  An avalanche of individually wrapped treats flooding the area under the communal table.  Other than that, the break room was empty.  Randy turned and ran out of the break room towards the area they’d been given as living quarters.  Lights were flashing on and off all over the inside of the warehouse.  Strings of LED Christmas lights as well as some strobe lights.  There were no audible alarms of course since those would’ve pretty much guaranteed the base being located by a wave of the infected.  Randy jogged past a solider going the opposite way.

“Have you seen a couple of little girls?”  He asked when the soldier looked over at him.

“No man.  You better get the hell out of here.  You sure they’re not already outside on the boats?”  The soldier asked slowing down.

“I don’t know.”  Randy said.  The blue partitions surrounding their sleeping area were only about ten feet away.  “I’m going to check in here then I’ll roll out if they’re not there.  Which way are the boats?”

“I’ll go with you.”  The soldier offered.  Randy told him thanks and ran to the other side of the partitions.  He gazed at the messy cots covered in pillows and clothes.  No sign of the girls having been there anytime recently.  The only other place he could think of they may be was the blocked off area in the back that served as the public rest rooms.  He ran in that direction without checking to see if the solider was tagging along or not.  The girls weren’t anywhere around the restroom area.

Randy started yelling the girls names loudly while he searched.  He stopped yelling when he thought that he heard a response from across the floor.  He sprinted in the direction he’d heard the noises come from.  The soldier grabbed his arm from behind and spun him around.

“Hey man!  Your girls are probably on the boat already.  We need to get out of here and you need to stop yelling!”  The soldier said forcefully.  Randy shoved him away and continued running in the direction he’d heard the noises coming from.  It was coming from an outside door.  Someone was banging on it.

“Myriah?  Zoey?”  Randy asked loudly.  The only answer back was a loud inhuman shriek.  The soldier grabbed Randy by the back of his jacket and yanked him away from the door.

“We’ve got to go man.  Your kids are on the damned boat!  We’re leaving. Follow me or stay in here and die for no reason.”  The soldier didn’t wait for a response.  He turned and started flat out running towards the doors on the other side of the warehouse.  Randy stared at the door that was being hammered on for a second then turned and followed the soldier.  He was moving slower since he was looking around in all directions as he ran trying to see if he could spot any sign of the kids.  He knew there was a much greater chance they were already on the boat than there was that they were still in the warehouse somewhere, but he couldn’t force himself to leave without knowing for sure.

More screeches and pounding echoed throughout the cavernous warehouse.  Keeping his eyes open Randy pounded along in the direction the soldier had disappeared in.  He ran around a tarp covered boat and watched the soldier open the door in the back. He hoped that door led to the pontoon boats and his family.  The guard turned and waved for Randy to hurry up.  Randy poured on the speed.  His new plan being to run to the pontoon boats and check to see if the kids were all there.  If they weren’t then he needed to make sure he had enough time to get back to the warehouse to find them.

The door led out to a passage in between the giant metal shelves used for storing winterized boats.  The lake was only about thirty yards away.  He just had to get across a concrete parking lot then go down a steep hill.  Two big pontoon party boats were floating around by the end of the dock.  The boats were filled with the people who’d been in the warehouse.  Randy couldn’t tell from this distance if the kids were on board or not.  He was going to need to get a lot closer to be sure.

The guard he’d been following was running flat out for the boat.  Randy poured on the speed to follow in the man’s footsteps.  Out of nowhere a person shaped blur rocketed into the guard in front of him.  The guard and the Zombie who’d just attacked him hit the concrete deck in a tangle of arms and legs.  The guard rammed his fist into the Zombies neck as hard as he could to keep its teeth away from him.  The Zombie was whipping its head around wildly as it struggled frantically to sink its teeth into the uninfected meat in front of it.

Randy pivoted to run help the guard.  When he was close enough, he put the barrel of his rifle on the back of the Zombie’s head and pulled the trigger.  It took him longer than it should’ve because the Zombie was moving its head all over the damned place.  Randy didn’t wait to watch the guard get up.  Assuming the man would figure it out Randy turned and resumed running for the boat.  Screeches were echoing all around them now.  The gunshot attracting the Zombies like moths to a bright flame.

Making it to the concrete ledge he looked over the edge and saw that there were a couple of Zombies already running along the pier towards the pontoon boats.  The guards on board the boat immediately cut them down with automatic fire.  They obviously weren’t going to risk the Zombies making it onto one of the boats.  The adrenalized Zombies could easily leap the twenty feet of lake separating the boats from the dock.

Randy jumped off the ledge, hit the ground and resumed running.  He completely ignored the random bullets whizzing by him.  He hoped they realized he was a regular human and not one of the infected.  Screeching split the air as a mob of Zombies began streaming over the side of the ledge towards the boats.  Randy put his head down and really started pumping his arms as he ran.  His rifle was swinging around on its strap banging into his chest and arms with every stride.  He realized there were too many Zombies between him and the dock, so he cut to the left to try and go around them.  If he could just get in the water, then he could swim for it.

A heavy weight landed on his back. He lost his footing and hit the ground face first. He slid in the dirt for a few feet under the weight of the infected teen body surfing on his back.  The teen was holding on with both hands.  It plunged its face down to take a bite out of his neck.  The guard from the warehouse appeared and shot the teen in the head before continuing to run past Randy.  Randy figured that was fair since he’d done the same thing for the man.  Also, neither of them would even be in this situation if it wasn’t for Randy being an idiot.

Heaving himself to his feet Randy kept on running.  Up ahead he saw the guard turn back towards the warehouse.  Seeing that there was no way to get to the water without attracting more Zombies Randy followed suit.  Zombies started noticing the two of them.  The people on the boats were doing a nice job of making noise trying to distract the Zombies but it wasn’t going to be enough.  They’d let off plenty of gratuitous rounds as well as sounding the horns on the boats.  One of them had even managed to get some rock music blasting across the water.  Randy hoped some of the shots he was hearing were thinning out the herd chasing them.

The guard ran through the open door into the warehouse and spun around to pull the door shut.  The hard-wooden door bounced off a surprised Randy’s forehead.  He’d expected the guard to wait for him to make it into the building before closing the door.  Looking over his shoulder to see how close the infected were he’d run straight into the closed door.  The knock to his head made him take a couple of steps backwards with his head ringing.  A wave of nausea threated to put him on the ground.  He heard screeches getting danger close to him.  Not really able to see through the pain in his head he sent a solid wave of lead in the general direction of the infected.  As soon as his firing pin clicked on an empty chamber he turned and tried to open the door.  He was praying like crazy that the soldier hadn’t locked it.

He’d pretty much expected the door to be locked. He’d expected his skin to be ripped off his body by hungry Zombies within seconds.  It was a very welcome surprise when the door opened easily for him.  He opened it just enough to squeeze through then went inside.  There was a push bar on the other side.  He remembered from his days working at a deli when he was in high school that you needed a little Allen wrench thing to lock these kinds of doors.  Feeling fortunate that the soldier must not have had previous deli experience Randy cringed when the Zombies began slamming into the door he’d just shut.  Unless there was some sort of weird accident, they shouldn’t be able to figure out how to pull the door open.

Elsewhere in the warehouse he heard grunting noises.  It sounded like some of the infected must’ve managed to get in the warehouse at some point.  The warehouse wasn’t a fortress.  That’s one of the reasons they’d abandoned it immediately when the Zombie herd was detected rolling towards them.  It was hoped that if they weren’t in the warehouse then the Zombies would sense that and leave the warehouse alone.

The warehouse was sealed up pretty well.  It was big though.  A big building with lots of doors and windows that a lot of people had left in a rush.  People in a panic don’t necessarily remember to lock all the doors and close all the shutters.  Somewhere someone had screwed up and it’d given a handful of Zombies the opportunity to get into the warehouse.  The one’s who’d gotten in had torn through the place.  Their virus addled brains driving them to rip the place apart in search of the non-infected.  They’d slowed down at this point as they wandered the dark building occasionally grunting or lunging lustily at shadows.

One of the ones who’d broken into the building was a waif of an infected girl.  She’d slid in under one of the loading dock garage doors that didn’t go down quite all the way.  The little gap there was so small no one really considered it a risk.  She’d left a good bit of her skin and the last bit of her clothes stuck to the bloodied concrete floor. Sensing humans in the building she’d worked her body through the tiny crack.  She’d been driven to put everything she had into getting in when she heard a voice inside yelling out for his daughters.  Now she padded quietly on bare feet past the cots Randy and his family had spent the previous night on.  Her body covered in sores that’d been ripped open by the rough concrete floor and hard metallic bottom of the garage door she’d squeezed in between.

She felt no pain.  She felt only a driving need to find and rend the uninfected.  Occasionally she felt the psychic tug of the other Zombies pulling her along with the herd.  She stumbled along with them united in the search for normal human flesh to contaminate.  Who she’d been before she became infected was forgotten.  The fever and the sickness seared all that away.  There were occasionally brief flashes of memory from that other life before the infection gripped her.  One such flash came to her now as she walked her open sore covered self past the hall by the breakroom.

The first morning at her dads house after her mom had died.  Her dad had made coffee and sat at the table sobbing into his elbow.  The girl stopped and sniffed at the air.  She struggled to maintain that memory.  There’d been a cheap plastic tablecloth that crinkled when you touched it and leftover cake.  That fleeting insight into who she was.  She was more than this thing that she’d become.  The whole episode lasted only a few brief seconds.  Her eyes had changed as sanity briefly reared its head.  It was too late for her though.  The virus induced insanity reared back up and easily beat down the rebellious thoughts.  The synapses sparked by the smell of coffee settled back down as the virus attacked the brain again in its endless quest to completely own the host.

The little girl took a stumbling step away from the break room.  A barely perceptible noise causing her to look to her right just in time to see the flash of the blade.  Cocking her head to the side as she considered the sharpened metal hurtling towards her head the impulse to screech overcame her.  She began to puke out the noise she made whenever she saw something that made her think a human was near.  The noise never left her throat.  The machete Randy swung at her head buried itself in her brain.  She felt the weirdly tingling sensation of the metal slicing through her head.  She lost control of everything.  Still completely insane she fell to the floor as her lifeblood pooled up around her head.  Her journey ended.

Randy walked past the corpse without a second thought.  His mind was going a million miles a minute trying to figure out what to do next.  He was so focused on surviving it didn’t even occur to him to feel bad about dropping the little girl Zombie.  He’d become immune to murder by this point.  Especially the murder of one of the infected.  It was why he preferred to think of them as Zombies.  A Zombie was a monster you could kill with impunity.  An infected person was someone who needed help.  You shouldn’t go around smashing open the skulls of people who needed help.  Maybe only the sociopaths could survive the apocalypse.

Randy couldn’t find the guard anywhere.  He felt like the man may need help.  He was hoping it’d been blind panic that’d caused the guard to shut the door in his face.  If the guard had been that pissed about getting stuck here thanks to Randy, then why would he have saved him from the Zombie that’d been riding him like a human bob sled?

At the other end of the warehouse it sounded like there may be a lot more of the infected hanging out.  Rather than risk running into them Randy decided to try and go out the back of the warehouse.  He could just as easily sneak around to the water that way.  If he could get in the water the men on the pontoons could come and get him or he could swim over to the island.  If there weren’t any Zombies by the canoes, then he may be able to snag one of those to get across the lake in style.  Moving quickly away from the sounds of the infected Randy headed towards the back of the warehouse.

He made it to the loading dock area without any issues.  Sitting with his back against the large steel doors with his rifle aimed at Randy was the guard.

“Hey man it’s me!”  Randy whispered urgently.  He was glad he’d found the guard but the whole situation was giving new meaning to the word awkward.

“I know.  Have a seat.  We can sit here and wait to die.”  The guard replied in a southern accent tinged with pain.

“You ok?”  Randy asked.

“Nope.  Got bit thanks to you being an idiot.  I was sitting back here trying to man myself up enough to put this barrel in my mouth and pull the trigger when you showed up.”

“Oh man.  You want me to look at it?  Maybe I can do something.  You sure you got bit?”  Randy said.  This whole situation had just turned a million times more awkward.  Especially since Randy knew the guard was right.  He’d been stupid and let his kids out of his sight knowing Zombies were on the way.  He’d stayed in the warehouse way too long making sure the kids were out. The guard had just been trying to help and was now paying the ultimate price for trying to do the right thing.

“Honestly you should probably leave since I’m thinking about shooting you.  It’s the only thing that’s making me happy right now.  You should probably keep your mouth shut and leave.”  The guard coughed out.

Randy nodded and keeping his mouth shut walked towards the loading dock door.  There was a wide path of blood under one spot where the door was a bent up a few inches.  A few scraps of pink cloth were stuck to the bottom of the door.  Randy saw all that and disregarded it.  He walked towards the exit door forcing himself not to break into a sprint. He expected to feel bullets tearing his back apart any second.  He wondered if he’d even notice if he took a bullet to the head or if everything would just go dark.

He pushed on the door release bar and the door swung open.  Looking out he could just make out the lake through the dense bushes behind the warehouse.  There were no Zombies visible on this side of the building.  He should have a relatively easy jog to the lake.  Then it was just going to be a long swim unless he could find a boat somewhere.

“I’ll see you in hell.”  The voice floated to Randy from a few feet behind him.  The cryptic sentence punctuated in the end by a single gunshot.  The guard had managed to get the nerve up after all.

He’d also totally screwed over Randy.  Screeches came from all around.  Inside and outside of the warehouse an entire herd of Zombies began converging on him.  With his pistol in his hand Randy ran towards the lake knowing his life depended on getting in the water and swimming out deep before the Zombies caught him.

Chapter 33:  All In

Krantz couldn’t see.  The air was too thick with dust.  He couldn’t hear.  The bombs exploding had been beyond loud.  The sentry he’d run inside with was gone.  The last thing an unbelieving Krantz could remember after the impact was seeing the guards head vaporize.  It must’ve been hit by a flying brick or something.  The floor was shifting under his feet.  Not sure which way was the exit he turned a hundred eighty degrees and blindly felt his way to a wall.  He found a door and pushed on it.

It was stuck.  He pushed as hard as he could.  It didn’t budge.  He backed up and began kicking the push bar until he heard a squeal and the door budged a few inches.  He put his shoulder to the door and pushed harder.  The rush of outside air into his lungs made him swoon.  He sucked on the life-giving air like a man who’d just emerged from a ship sinking into the deep.  He pushed hard on the door until he was able to squeeze out.  Noises from all around indicated the building he was in might not be standing for very long.  He could feel the floor swaying and settling.

He’d only heard two loud explosions but there could’ve been more.  It wouldn’t have taken a lot to knock this hospital outpost down to its knees.  It wasn’t like it’d been built to withstand direct missile strikes.  Even in an age of terrorism it wasn’t feasible to build to that degree of security.

The bridge was still there connecting the hospital to the parking lot.  The helicopter still sat on the roof of the parking garage.  It was his teams rally point if something like this happened.  Hoping some of his team were still alive Krantz began the walk across the bridge.  It was swaying like a rope bridge over a ravine on a windy day.  Paranoid it was going to collapse into the sea of Zombies below at any second he kept his eyes on the prize and moved steadily forward.  He was well aware of the futility of making it to the chopper if none of his team showed up who knew how to fly the damned thing.

One thing at a time though.  Worse case if he made it there and no one else ever emerged from the hospital he could die in the air-conditioned front seat.  He was pretty sure he could figure out how to get the air conditioning working.  There should be supplies in it as well.  He’d die in comfort at least if no one came for him.  It wasn’t like the tidal wave of Zombies converging on the broken outpost was going to ebb in time for him to be able to hike out of there.  Maybe he could make it out in a few nights after everything quieted down.

He collapsed by the helicopter in a coughing fit.  His ears were ringing, and his head was pounding.  He sat there working on his breathing while he stared at the bridge willing his men to make it out.  He was rewarded as shadowy figures began to emerge from the hospital and cross the bridge.  He was reminded of the footage from the World Trade Center bombing as everyone coming out was covered in white powder.  It occurred to him as the figures moved across the bridge that they could be the infected coming to eat his ass.

Forcing himself to his feet he pulled out his pistol and held it loosely in his hand.  It was pointless yelling to the people on the bridge as the noise the Zombies were making would override any attempt at a conversation.  One of the people on the bridge collapsed. Two of the others picked that one up to help across.  Seeing them helping one another Krantz holstered his weapon and jogged over to help.  As bad off as he was, he knew the people coming out now had to be worse.  If nothing else, they’d been breathing in the asbestos and dust and whatever other crap was floating in the air from the old hospital walls longer than he had.

Thirty minutes later a small crowd had formed around the helicopter on the roof of the parking garage.  More people had made it out than Krantz would’ve ever expected.  Of course, anyone who’d survived this far into the apocalypse had to be pretty tough.  Most of his crew was out and Forrest had shown up with eight of his men he’d found wandering around the floors.  Most of the men had on masks underneath the white powder covering their faces.  They also had their weapons with them.  A testament to the fact that in this day and age you never got more than a few feet from your go bag.

Krantz didn’t let it show too much in his face, but he’d been thrilled to see his pilot was one of the people who’d made it out.  They started loading everyone into the helicopter.  With no real destination in mind they were doing it in a lackadaisical way.  Krantz told the pilot to stay off the radio in case transmissions were being monitored.  The last thing they needed was the enemy strike force to swing around to swat at them again.  They’d been lucky the missiles had all struck the far side of the medical center.  It was the only reason so many of them had survived.

“Hey.  Somebody else made it!”  One of the men standing by the back of the helicopter yelled out over the noise of the Zombies below.  He was pointing at a man limping jerkily across the bridge.

Three of the men waiting to board the helicopter jogged across the top of the garage to help the man.  Krantz watched and realized a second before everyone else that the man coming across the bridge was probably infected.  The men who’d gone to help the man realized it too late.  The dust covered figure lunged forward and attached himself to one of their arms.  Ripping into it lustily and taking a big bite of bloody flesh.  Both of the other men who’d run out to help jumped backward hurriedly pulling out weapons.  They blasted away at both the Zombie and the man who’d just been bitten until they were both down.

More figures appeared on the bridge moving with inhuman speed through the dust and grime.  Krantz ordered the men to get out and get into defensive mode.  The pilot was rushing to make sure everything was ready to get the helicopter in the air.  The two men over by the bridge were running back for the helicopter now.  One of them was dragged down by a couple of adrenalized Zombies who’d bunny hopped their way across the bridge.  The three men who’d gotten out to guard their flank while the pilot got ready to fly started taking shots.  The lone survivor of the ill-fated rescue attempt made it past the men firing at the Zombies and leapt into the back of the chopper.

Forrest was yelling for everyone to get back in now.  The pilot was ready to take off.  The men jumped back in the chopper immediately positioning themselves to continue firing at the Zombies running across the top of the parking garage towards them.  The pilot began lifting them into the air as Zombies streamed under the helicopter.  Several leaping up to grab at it.  The soldiers fired nonstop into the beasts until they were high enough to be out of reach.  Even then they kept a watch out the windows.

“Where to sir?”  The pilot asked over the helmet communications system.

“Hey Forrest.  You got your ears on?”  Krantz asked ignoring the pilots question for the moment.

“Yes sir.”  Forrest answered.

“Any places around here you think may be safe to set down?”  Krantz asked.  He knew all the locations of the closest outposts that would support the helicopter but there was no easy way to know if they were still standing or not.  If the north had been able to find out about Iron Turtle, they may have bombed all of the other outposts as well.  Or even worse be planning to bomb them and not show up until after Krantz and crew had arrived.  He really didn’t feel like having bombs dropped on his head twice in the same day if he could avoid it.

“Not off the top of my head sir.  Assuming the same places you’re already thinking of.  We need somewhere we can supply as well as get you on comms to coordinate a response.”  Forrest said.

Krantz sighed and closed his eyes for a second to collect his thoughts.  Forrest was right of course.  They couldn’t just set down and rest for a minute while the military he was the commander of got it’s ass handed to them by the enemy.  It was time to turn all his thoughts and planning into action.  It was time to go toe to toe.  If they didn’t then they’d continue to get picked apart by these surgical air strikes.  No more half measures.  No more reward programs for spy snipers.  It was time to go all in and launch their own strikes.

Krantz leaned back in his chair after ordering the pilot to head toward one of the facilities that he knew had just gotten hooked up with the latest technology.  He needed to get in communication with the Senator.  They’d been prepping for this course of action already so all that remained was giving the orders to set it in motion.  It’d require mobilizing all of their men not needed for guarding existing camps to begin moving into strike positions.  It’d require a hearty group of men to drive trucks hauling tanks up interstates crawling with the infected.

Gone were his ethical dilemmas and doubts.  The north kept attacking and punishing them even as they prepared to flee the land that the Brotherhood wanted to claim.  The north better hope they’d done a great job on this last air strike because now the gloves were off.  Unless they’d suffered an overwhelming number of casualties in this latest attack, they’d have thousands of men in North Carolina within the week.  They’d sweep the settlements there before descending on the carrier and the rest of Virginia.  The people of the north could either get on their boat and sail away or die.  It no longer mattered which course they chose to Krantz.

Authors Note

Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me.  If you’re enjoying these books, please take a few seconds and leave a review.  It really helps me out as an author if I can collect some five-star reviews and positive comments.  I write this as we’re expecting our 6th child in a few months.  We’re still working on names and I’m finding that my input into that creative process is extremely limited.  I’m sure that whatever name my wife ends up choosing will eventually make its way into these stories though.  I’ll announce it in the next book notes as well for those who are curious!  (He’s a boy.  We already know that.  He made it very obvious in the ultrasound appointments)

Speaking of which my daughter Zoey’s 8th birthday is this Monday.  I just realized my oldest son is 24.  I’m going to have quite the spread.  It’s a race now to see if we can have more kids before we start having grand kids!  Nothing reminds you of your immortality quite as much as having children who suddenly start looking old.  Except maybe for the tornado that formed in the lake beside my house a month ago.  I watched it form and go the opposite direction while my wife was tossing everything out of an interior closet in our house for us to shelter in.  I don’t think anything on this earth is as satisfying as raising children to be strong, able, moral adults who are strong enough to stand up for themselves and others.  I hope some of that comes across in my writing.

The self-doubt will always be there for everyone.  Like many people before me have said it’s conquering the fear that makes you brave.  It’s conquering the self-doubt that makes you confident.  I printed out a quote from Theodore Roosevelt that I’ve been reading daily for the last few weeks.  I’m attaching below in the hopes it may provide comfort and motivation to you as well.  Especially as we all work hard to beat our way through this new normal of Pandemics and Economic catastrophes.

The Man in The Arena

Theodore Roosevelt

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms; the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Other Series by R S Merritt

Need more Zombies?  Check out the Zournal series:

The Zournal Series

Looking for something a little different?  Try the Son of the Keeper Series.

Son of the Keeper

Table of Contents

- Zombies!
- Chapter 1: Shackled Again
- Chapter 2: Uncomfortably Numb
- Chapter 3: Comply or Die
- Chapter 4: Twister
- Chapter 5: Leap of Faith
- Chapter 6: Columbia Cloud Base
- Chapter 7: No Easy Day
- Chapter 8: Up the Creek
- Chapter 9: An Example
- Chapter 10: Time for your Checkup
- Chapter 11: Running to the Store
- Chapter 12: The Pale Horseman
- Chapter 13: Bed Rest
- Chapter 14: Home Invasion
- Chapter 15: Heads Up!
- Chapter 16: Apocalyptic Staycation
- Chapter 17: The Creep
- Chapter 18: Field Promotion
- Chapter 19: Northern Bound
- Chapter 20: No Man’s Land
- Chapter 21: The Definition of Insanity
- Chapter 22: The Silent Ones
- Chapter 23: Friends in Low Places
- Chapter 24: Visine, Pancakes and Tic Tacs
- Chapter 25: Hot Chocolate and a Solid Nap
- Chapter 26: The Refugee Railroad
- Chapter 27: When Good Men Stand Idly By
- Chapter 28: Road Trip!
- Chapter 29: Processed
- Chapter 30: Field Commander Krantz
- Chapter 31: The Prodigal Son
- Chapter 32: How Do You Like to Vacation?
- Chapter 33: All In
- Authors Note
- Other Series by R S Merritt