We were out of time. Tommy, Duncan and I managed to get one hundred and thrity-two people to the relative safety of a school building, but right on our heels was a small army of undead. We had five minutes before they were on us, and we had no where else to go. So this is it, I thought. Here is where we stand. I made some quick decisions.
I looked at the group assembled before me. Most were tired from their long walk, and in no shape to fight. But we had no choice. We had to stand here, or we wouldn’t stand at all. I was not going to go out this way. I was not going to end here, not going to break my promise to my son or to my wife.
“Listen up! Listen people! I don’t have time for a long speech. The dead are coming, and they will be here shortly.” I saw some nervous looks towards the doors and windows. Thankfully, no one screamed. “We need to get the children upstairs to safety with their mothers and fathers. Each family gets one gun. If they get past us, you decide what you want to do.” I pointed to two men who held rifles. “You two will guard the stairs. Don’t waste ammo on anything other than head shots. If the dead get past us, you’ll need to choke the stairs with bodies to buy yourselves some time.” I threw some large zip ties at them. “Secure the doors at the ends of the hallways. If you need to get out, use the north stairwell. Get through the window at the bottom of the stairs. There’s a creek out there and it will slow down any Z’s coming after you.”
The men nodded and started herding the families and children to the main stairwell. I stopped a young woman heading away.
“What’s your name?” I asked, shifting my carbine to my other shoulder.
“Karen.” She said, her eyes wide with fear. She looked to be about 20, with thin blonde hair and summer clothing.
“Karen, I’m John and this is Jake.” I held up my fully awake, squirming son. “I need you to take care of him until I come for him.” I said, handing him over.
Karen held Jake but shook her head. “Oh, no, I couldn’t. What if those things get through, what if they come up, I can’t…”
I gently held her face and looked into her eyes. “Karen. I know you can do this. Just play with him like there’s nothing going on, and I will be back for him in a little while. No matter what you hear, you keep it together. Keep him safe, and I will keep you safe. I promise.”
Karen nodded and took Jake away. I steeled myself that I would see him again and turned to the task at hand. A slow fire was starting in my gut and my jaw clenched at the coming fight. In a strange way, I welcomed it. I wanted the fight, I wanted to kill and kill and kill. I wanted revenge on these things that had taken away my wife, my life, and destroyed my world. I would fight today and not go quietly.
I ran to the garage and retrieved my Enfield and crowbar. If it came to close quarters, I wanted every tool I had. I grabbed my extra carbine magazines and ran back to the group, which numbered around 75.
I motioned Tommy and Duncan over. “Take five men each and cover the front entrance. That’s the weakest point. Take them down close to the building, make the rest slow up. Each shot has to count. Make sure everyone has a blunt weapon in case they get in. The stairwell at the north end of the building is your fallback point. Good luck.” They ran to the group, quickly selected ten men, and ran to the front door. I could see through the windows that the zombies were halfway through the parking lot.
I turned to the main group and assigned ten men to cover the back door, which was also glass. I told them to hold their fire and make every shot count. Create choke points and buy themselves time. I didn’t expect trouble from there, but who knew? I grabbed five men and took them to the small hallway near the gym. There was another door there that led outside. I gave them the same advice. Don’t let too many get through, make them work for it.
I took the remainder and spread them out in the hallways in groups of two. Any more together and they would likely hit each other. They didn’t have guns, and were nervously fingering their makeshift weapons. They were to act as backup if someone went down. They were also to guard against any zombies making it through a window. Not likely, given the nature of the windows, but it was possible. One of them, a big guy I had heard someone call Charlie, positioned himself in front of the main stairwell doors. He held a length of lead pipe that had a t-junction attached to one end. In the other hand he had a small hatchet. I mentally gave him a Good luck, brother. I stationed myself near the south door. It was another weak point, but I figured it was as good a place as any. I went to the door and looked out the window. I had a stairwell to the second floor nearby, but I knew the doors had been secured with a zip tie.
Holy shit. We were in serious trouble. More zombies had joined the original crew from the subdivision surrounding the building, and I figured there had to be at least eight hundred of the bastards out there. We didn’t have nearly enough ammo. That slow fire in my gut began to burn a little hotter and I had to restrain myself from throwing myself outside to do battle. Where did this come from? Why was I so eager to jump into the fray? I advised caution at every turn, but here at what could be my last act, I wanted to just engage my enemy, to rend and smash. My hand gripped my carbine tighter and I shifted my crowbar to be within easy reach.
I jumped back from the doors as a rotting face slammed against the glass. Broken teeth cracked against the upper window of the door. It was so torn and rotted I couldn’t tell what it used to be. It moaned loudly and began pounding on the door. Since the door opened outward, it would be a while before this was a serious threat. But the message was clear: The dead had arrived
I could hear pounding echoing throughout the building, and glass crashing. Shots were being fired, but I couldn’t tell where they were coming from. Shouts could be heard, and I could hear Tommy yelling “Kill them, kill them! They’re getting in! “Kill them! Aim for the head, damn you!” I desperately wanted to run down to see what was happening, but things were getting interesting on my end. The window of the door had been smashed in and two arms were reaching through the opening. They belonged to two zombies that looked relatively fresh, although they were cut up badly from putting their arms through the glass. The center of the door was about chest high, so they couldn’t quite climb in, but I hesitated at killing them. I didn’t want to give the ones behind them a step up to get in the door.
More shots and shouts. I couldn’t take my eyes off my door, since all it took was a second and you were done. I chanced a glance behind me to check on the other guys in my hallway and found myself alone. Fuck it, I thought. Oh well. At least I didn’t have to worry about getting shot by accident or clubbed by somebody. All I had to worry about was being torn to pieces by zombies and consumed, or infected by the virus and turning into a zombie myself. Spiffy.
With my back clear, I decided to slow things down at my door. I shot the two that were hanging in and they slumped to the ground. They were immediately trampled by the zombies behind them and because these were able to stand on the first ones, they were able to leverage more of themselves into the window. I was astonished at their tenacity, especially when they jagged glass tore open their abdomens and ropey intestines spilled out over the door. I didn’t waste any time on introspection, and shot them as they raised their dead faces and groaned at me. They slumped over the window and effectively blocked the next two, which were pushing forward. I shot them as well, trying to block the door as much as possible. But the crowd outside was surging, trying to get at the prey they knew was within, and the door started to bulge and strain. The first zombies to fall were pulped as others trod on them, and the windows of the doors were full of grasping, groping arms.
I realized that piecemeal wasn’t going to work. I needed to go on the offensive and really make trouble. I shouldered my carbine and went to work. I shot every head I could see, whether it was trying to get inside or if it was outside. I missed a few shots, but hitting such small targets in such circumstances was miraculous at best. I reloaded my carbine with my second thirty round magazine and stepped closer to the door, trying to hit more of them outside. I had made a pile about three feet high of corpses, but more were crawling, tearing, groaning to get in. I looked at a sea of dead faces, bloated stomachs, and reaching arms and hands. I had the wild urge to throw my carbine aside, draw my knife and crowbar, and dive into that morass.
I fired again and again, killing and killing. I started to have difficulty seeing my targets, as the corpses piled higher and some of the zombies were shorter, managing to stay out of sight. There was a lull in the firing, and I could hear sounds down the hall. There were shots and screams, cursing and crying, and over all the constant sound of zombies on the prowl.
I looked over my shoulder and received a shock. Two zombies were shuffling their way towards me, their slow, shambling gait evident in the low light of the school. Beyond them, I could see many more zombies walking and littering the floor. As I watched, I saw a zombie’s head slam sideways and bounce off a wall, struck by something and someone unseen.
I shifted my attention back to the two in the hallway. There were two classrooms between myself and the Z’s, so I darted into one of them, the zombies shuffling in pursuit. I kicked a couple of desks towards the door and shoved a few more for good measure. The two zombies came into the room, scanned the area and saw me standing there. They immediately started towards me, and crashed into the desks, falling to the floor. I stepped up quickly and smashed one on the head with my crowbar, ending its killing spree once and for all. The other, twisting on the floor and getting to its feet, rose slowly and locked eyes with me. Its lips peeled back in a snarl and a high pitched wheeze came out of a hole in its throat. I didn’t waste time and smashed the crowbar’s business end onto the top of its head, slamming it to the floor where it lay still.
I ducked back towards the door and quickly peeked out. The exit door was still holding, but I could see that it was not going to hold out much longer. I needed to see what else was going on. I didn’t want to think that everyone else had bugged out and I was in here all alone save for a few hundred zombies. I ran towards the front door, jumping over several corpses along the way. When I reached the main foyer, I could see the door had been smashed open, and there were dozens of downed zombies, each one having some sort of head wound. I could see a mass of blood in the area, suggesting that someone had been caught by the zombies and killed. I didn’t see where Duncan and Tommy had gotten off to, but I hoped that they had fallen back to the rally point. I heard bunch of shots coming from the commons area, so I turned and headed that way.
As I moved over a neat ring of dead-for-good zombies surrounding the main stairwell, I looked back down my hallway and saw that the door had caved in, and the zombies were pouring in the opening. Great.
I chanced a glance over my shoulder at the front door and ducked as a decayed hand swept towards my head. I dove forward and sprang to my feet, spinning around and facing my attacker. Correction. Attackers. About five of them had come in the door while I was ruminating, and I nearly got nailed for it. I whipped my carbine up and shot down the first one, snapping off a lucky one-handed shot that entered through its chin and blew the top of its head off, spraying brain all over the ceiling. I didn’t have time to shoot the second one, he was on me too fast. I kicked him backwards and he fell over another corpse that was on the ground. The third came from the side and I swung the crowbar viciously at his head, connecting with his neck and breaking it. He went down, but his mouth still snapped, his eyes tracking me as I moved. I shot the second one as he got up and nailed the fourth to the ground. The fifth moved slowly enough that I was able to sling my carbine over my shoulder and get a good two-handed grip on my crowbar. It came within reach, a decaying woman with dank hair and half her cheek missing, along with her nose. I swung hard and literally took her off her feet, tossing her aside and slamming her into the wall. She wasn’t dead yet, so I needed to smash her again to finish her off. I was running out of room on the floor. Literally most of the floor was covered in some sort of gore or decaying flesh, or eaten flesh, by the looks of some of it. We were losing people, but the question was, where were they, and how many had we lost?
I quickly checked the doors to the upper floor and saw they were still secured on the inside by zip ties. Good. No one had been that way. I briefly wondered where the big guy Charlie was, but I realized I maybe didn’t want to know if the worst had happened.
I ran towards the firing and skidded to a stop by the atrium. Three zombies were feeding on a corpse, and they were so engrossed in their task they didn’t know I was there. I looked at the body and to my horror, the hand on the ground closest to me was still moving, the fingers curling into a claw of pain. It may have been reflex, but part of me was sickened by the notion that this poor person was still alive as these creatures were feeding on him. I unslung my carbine, and placed my crowbar up against the wall. I clicked off the safety and got busy. I killed the three in short order, then shot the downed man as well. If he was still alive, he was coming back as one of them, and I could only hope someone would do me the courtesy should the need arise.
I saw more corpses of our survivors as I moved towards the gym and commons. I didn’t see Duncan or Tommy, so I still held out hope they were still alive. Moving quickly I looked back over my shoulder and saw a steady stream of corpses from my old post. They tripped and stumbled over the bodies in the hallway, falling and getting up, never ceasing in their movement towards me. I realized I needed to keep them coming, so they wouldn’t try to get upstairs. I fired at the closest ones, dropping two and causing the rest to head my way. I backed towards the commons, and got my first look down the hallway by the gym that led to the outside of the building. It was choked with bodies, most of them zombies, although I could see a limb here and there that was not grayish in color. My God, I thought. Who’s left?
I didn’t hear any more shots, so I was fearing the worst as I opened the door to the gym. I was immediately assaulted by the smell of dozens of decaying bodies, and the coppery smell of blood that no one ever mistakes for anything else. There were corpses everywhere, and small pockets of men were making a final stand in several places in the gym. I could see Tommy and Duncan on a small stand in a little alcove in the gym, and they were elevated enough that they could stand and smash zombies that came to them without danger of being grabbed. I saw that guy Charlie standing with three other men, swinging his length of pipe like a medieval mace. Every time he connected with a skull it was caved in and the zombie went down. But I could see he was going to be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of zombies that were reaching for him. I had to do something, or all of these men were going to die.
I raised my carbine and began firing. I killed ten of the zombies before the noise began to register with them and most of them turned my way. Oh, brother. I backed up a step and took aim at another Z. Click. I glanced at my gun and realized I was out of bullets. I quickly switched my 30 round magazine for a 15-round one, and again took aim. I fired ten more times, and dropped nine more zombies. The tenth round was a straight miss, and Duncan jumped as splinters flew from the furrow the bullet dug in the bleachers he was standing on. Whoops. “Sorry!” I shouted, as I lined up another ghoul. That one went down as well. I fired my remaining shots, then switched magazines again. I killed several more, then began backing towards the door.
“Finish the rest, then get out of here!” I yelled at the groups. “There’s a huge group coming in any minute!” I screamed as I fired, knocking down several more zombies. “I’m going to try and draw the rest outside! Head for that door and meet me outside!”
I spun around and ran back for the door, shoving it open and knocking down a zombie that was on the other side. I stepped out of the gym into a foyer choked with zombies. I didn’t hesitate, I just ran for the hallway, scrambling over the corpses and gagging as my foot slipped in something I would rather remain unidentified. The horde behind me howled and gave chase, stumping along in that rhythmic gait that never stopped. I reached the door and fell as something tripped me. I looked down and saw a greenish-grey hand clutching my pant leg. I pulled on it, but only managed to free a length of arm that was attached to the clawing hand. I pulled harder and managed to pull out the head of the zombie who was grabbing me. It had a bullet hole in its head, but it must not have been a killing shot. The decaying face moaned and tried to bend down to bite my leg. I kicked it in the face with my other foot, trying to dislodge it. No luck. My hands were slipping on the floor, and I couldn’t get away from the ghoul.
I was getting panicky, pulling on my leg and trying to get out, all the while a gang of undead was slowly making their way over the pile of corpses, moaning and tripping.
The zombie that had my foot was freed further by my struggles and started to bend down to bite at my leg. I pulled again and unholstered my SIG. Enough of this. I drew a bead and pulled the trigger, putting another hole in its head and causing a dark splotch to appear on the wall behind it. The hand relaxed its grip, and I managed to pull away, just ahead of the grasping crowd. I went outside, and glancing around, saw there weren’t any moving zombies out here. There were a great many lying around, but all were permanently dead. Cautiously looked around the corner and found myself kissing the barrel of Tommy’s gun. I backed up as he sheepishly put his gun away.
“Sorry, man. Thought you was a Z, you know?” Tommy shrugged.
“No troubles, brother. I’m glad I smell better.” I said looking at the men he had behind him. Out of the 75 that we had started with, at least 20 were missing. The good news was the remaining men were more battle hardened and would stand if needed. I looked at Duncan and said, “Take half the men and sweep around to the other side of the building. Hit this group from behind and deal with any outside. Keep moving, don’t let them bottle you up. Make them come to you, make sure you have an exit.
I motioned to Tommy. “I’m going to act as bait and stand out there.” I pointed to a spot on the grass. “Give me five men to place on the other side of that wall there, and put the other five over there by that wall.” I indicated spots out of sight of the doorway. “Get set, and hit them hard from behind as they come out. If your weapon sticks, let it go, next guy in line steps up. Got it?” I got several nods. “Okay, follow me.”
I headed out to the grass and immediately heard several groans and moans as the dead caught sight of me. They came stumbling out in twos and threes and we killed them in twos and threes. The ones on the left side were wiped out by the men on the left and the ones on the right were wiped out by the men on the right. The ones that came straight on or were too bunched together got dispatched by my carbine until I ran out of bullets, then I switched to the SIG. There were growing piles of zombies and I was amazed that they just kept coming. If they were on the roof, I bet they would just keep falling off if there was something they saw on the ground they wanted.
We lost one man to a zombie who came around the corner a little too fast and managed to get a bite out of his arm. We killed the zombie, but the man just sat on the ground staring at his arm. It was a death sentence, and he knew it. He looked at us and with a look of quiet dignity coming over his face, he raised himself up onto his knees and placed his hands in his lap. He stared out into the distance, and with a final look at me, nodded his head. I nodded back and moved behind him, drawing my SIG. I waited ten seconds and then put a bullet into the back of his head. The rest of the men just looked on and I saw some nods. I knew what they were all thinking. If something like that happened to them, they would want someone nearby to end it for them as well, rather than submit to being a zombie.
After ten minutes, we ran out of zombies. There were corpses everywhere, and from the sounds I heard coming from the other side of the building, there were many more. I reslung my carbine, hefted my crowbar, and started to move back through the corpses and back into the building.
Tommy stopped me just as I started back inside. “What are you doing?” He asked. “Why don’t we swing around back?”
I shook my head. “We need to hit them from behind while they are busy in the front. Surprise can get us ten zombies, easy.” I started back inside with several men following me. Tommy just shook his head and followed suit.
Back inside the building the stench was nearly overwhelming, but we pressed on into the gloom. There were signs of battle everywhere, with splatter on the walls and corpses creating a grisly carpet on the floor. At any second, I kept expecting a ghoul to come around the corner, snarling and biting. But none came, and we moved cautiously towards the next battle. I could hear the distant groans of the dead as they moved towards their prey, but I didn’t hear any screams that would indicate they had found any.
Glancing around the corner of the atrium, I saw a crowd of zombies slowly pushing their way out the back door. Over their heads I could see weapons coming down and smashing them as they came into range. Figuring I could even up the odds a little, I motioned for Tommy to take the rest of the men into the commons, and I waited behind. When I got a hand signal from Tommy, I moved towards the center of the room, then I whistled as loud as I could.
The zombies at the back of the pack spun around and immediately began moving towards me, I slowly walked towards the commons and stuck my crowbar through the door. Immediately someone struck it with another bar, causing a painful vibration to pulse through it. I heard a “Whoops! Sorry!” from the other side of the door, then I stuck my head through.
“They don’t carry weapons.” was all I said as I moved into the room. I didn’t even look at the man who struck my crowbar. Tommy had arranged men by the door and men in the bleachers. Two more were acting as bait, and we were going to have our hands full in a minute. I took off my Enfield, and placed it on the top of a milk cooler. I put my carbine next to it and limbered up my crowbar. It was when I looked around that I got my flash of inspiration.
Along the west wall of the commons was about twenty large lunch tables, folded in half for easy storage. I grabbed one and wheeled it over to the entrance, and unfolded it so it was perpendicular to the entrance. Tommy looked at me strangely, but I just grinned at him. I motioned for three more tables to be put along side this one, and signaled the men on the bleachers to move higher. They looked at me the same way Tommy did, but didn’t argue. I told him to grab another table and put it near the entrance, but don’t open it.
I told the other men to act as bait on the end of the tables and had a few more wait by the sides of the tables, ducking down so as not to be seen easily.
The ghouls walked in slowly, never taking their eyes of the men on the end. They shuffled and groaned and stayed where they were supposed to, between the bleachers and the tables. They groaned loudly, and hurried as best as their infected legs would take them.
When there was about twenty of them, I yelled “Push!” and I shoved the table from the other side. The men all pushed and managed to pin all the zombies against the bleachers, effectively immobilizing them. The men on the bleachers worked their way down the line, smashing in heads and crushing skulls. Tommy had moved the last table in front of the door, and was desperately holding it against the horde that was behind it.
“Hurry!” he shouted as the table lurched and a grey arm reached around to try and grab.
“Pull back the tables! First positions!” I pulled on the table and repositioned it, seeing that the other tables were in the same spot. Tommy pulled back the upright table and allowed twenty more zombies into our killing zone. We pushed the tables and trapped the next ones, and the killing began again.
By the time we had finished, we had used the tables eleven times. Tommy pulled back the upright and looked out. There were no more zombies in the hall. He looked at me and I shrugged. Maybe we had won. But we couldn’t know for sure.
I ducked out into the hall and worked my way to the back entrance. There weren’t any ghouls lingering back there, so I cautiously looked out. Duncan and his men were sitting on the ground, taking a breather. I stepped out into the sun and several men jumped. I could only imagine what I looked like. Goggles and balaclava, gloves and crowbar, and covered in zombie goo up to my elbows. GQ all the way, baby.
“What’s the status?” I asked, sitting down next to Duncan.
“Well, with you out here, I think we may have actually done it.” Duncan said, to the half-hearted cheers of the men on the ground.
“You might be right.” I said. “But if we want to live here, we need to clean out the corpses.”
Duncan groaned and fell back on the grass. “Come on, mom, I’m tired. No wanna got to school!” Considering where we were, that was actually pretty funny.
I laughed with the rest of the men and got to my feet. Duncan followed suit and the crowd of us headed back to the piles of corpses we had made. I instructed the men to use their tools and drag the bodies to that baseball diamond up on the hill. It was a distance, but a necessary chore. We couldn’t risk the virus getting too close. I then went to the janitor’s closet and gathered up as many cleaning supplies as I could. We would need to wash down everything as best as we could. I sent two men to the creek with buckets to get water while I rummaged around the garage. Finding a can of gasoline, I gave it to the men dragging the bodies away and told them to burn what they could. With any luck, that would stave off any chance of infection.
I went back to the garage and rummaged through my trailer. I reloaded my SIG magazines and my carbine magazines, mentally wondering how many I had shot. Not nearly enough, I thought, as I went back into the hallway. Tommy was supervising the cleaning of the gym and the commons, and we were doing well. I wandered over to him and asked what I thought was a dumb question. “Did you go upstairs yet and let them know we had been successful here?” I asked, expecting him to confirm that he had.
Tommy laughed out loud. “I thought you did. Oh, geez, they must think the worst!” He laughed again.
I chuckled with him. “I figure they must have looked out the window at some point and saw us dragging bodies out of the building.”
Tommy nodded. “You’re probably right. You want me to go up?”
“No,” I said. “I’ll go up. We need to get some more help down here anyway. Did you send anyone to sweep the building on the outside for stragglers?” I asked
“Duncan’s with them now, although they haven’t found any yet.”
“Good enough. See ya.”
Tommy waved me off and I headed to the stairs. As I went past the atrium, Charlie was there, dragging two dead ghouls by the collars of their shirts. Our eyes met and he nodded. I nodded back, the understanding between us clear. He was saying ‘thank you’ and I was saying ‘you’re welcome’ in that expressive way men had.
I reached the stairs and stuck my knife through the crack between the doors. It took some work, but I managed to sever the zip ties holding the doors closed. I stepped into the stairwell and shouted up the stairs. “Hello?”
“Hello! Who’s that?” Came the reply.
“It’s John! We did it! Can I come up?” I asked, poking my head around the stairs and smiling at the two nervous-looking gents at the top of the stairs.
They both relaxed visibly, and waved me up. When I reached the top of the stairs, both men insisted on hugging me. While I wasn’t much on displays of affection between guys, I found I didn’t mind this so much. I grinned at them and went into the hallway. One of the men ran down the hall, shouting that we had done it and people streamed out of the classrooms. I shook a lot of hands and received a lot of hugs. There were a lot of questions, but I raised my hands for silence.
“Hey all! Listen up! We have a lot of cleaning up to do before we can call this place home, so anyone with gloves or a crowbar head downstairs and help drag the bodies away for burning. Anyone who wants to help with the cleaning of the floors and walls, go see Charlie by the atrium. Just so you know, this is not the last fight we will have, but we won this time and learned a lot, so we will be more ready when they come again.”
Someone asked, “When will they come again?”
All eyes turned to me. “Could be tomorrow, could be today. We learned a few tricks, so next time we won’t lose as many.
“How many were lost?” came the question. I knew it was coming, but that didn’t make giving the answer any easier.
“We lost 27 to the zombies, so we will need people to help bury them.” I let that sink into the silence that followed. “But their sacrifice is not going to be in vain. We will survive and we will beat these zombies. I have no guarantees except my word. I promise you that we will survive.”
I saw several nods and sent all the men downstairs to help with the cleanup. I was going to go shortly, but there was something I needed to do first. I scanned the crowd and saw Karen standing at the far edge. I caught her eye and she nodded, motioning me to a classroom. I followed her in and she pointed to a small bundle in the corner. I went over and sat down next to my sleeping son. I picked him up gently and held him to my chest. I couldn’t stop tears from flowing and I held his sleeping form tighter. I did it, Ellie. I kept my promise. I thought to myself, bending my cheek to Jakey’s head and dampening his hair with tears.
I held him quietly for a while, just taking him in, then I put him back down. He shifted in his sleep, turning on his side and letting out a long fart. I grinned. Just like Jake.
I headed out of the room and thanked Karen for watching him. She smiled and said “Anytime. He’s a good boy.” and went back into the room. I went back downstairs to lend a hand with cleanup, and it was nearly dark before we finished. We could hear several moans out in the neighborhoods, so we knew we had more work ahead of us.
I sat down in the teacher’s lounge with Duncan, Tommy, Charlie, and several others. The families and the rest had been assigned rooms on the second floor, and most people had just collapsed from exhaustion. Hauling corpses was surprisingly tiresome. I had chosen a room on the ground floor, and Jake was sleeping there for the night, surrounded by his blanket and favorite teddy bear. We had spent a good deal of time reinforcing the doors that were broken in, and I was confident that they would hold in the future. I didn’t think we would be facing another horde like we had repelled today, but we had a plan to deal with it if we did.
Tommy told the rest about using the tables, and they all thought it was a great idea to trap them like cattle and slaughter them likewise. To that end, we prepared the commons as a killing zone, leaving the tables in place for use at a moments notice. We agreed to try to keep them out as much as possible, but if we were breached, it would serve as a focal point for killing.
The rest of the conversation was a going over of what the rules of the community should be. I advocated that everyone be trained in the use of weapons, and everyone attend training on a regular basis. One of our survivors was ex-military and said he would be happy to set up a training program.
Someone brought up the notion of what to do if the rules had been broken. Several ideas were fielded, but I held out for removal from the community. “Given the state of the world, I would think that people would rather simply behave than risk fighting for their lives for whatever time they have left. I think the rules need to be simple. Help out however you can. If you have usable skills, we’ll need them and use them as best as we can. Everyone works, everyone defends.” I didn’t see any disagreement.
“What about food and supplies?” Duncan asked, voicing a concern that was likely on the minds of everyone. I had actually thought about this a bit.
“We are surrounded by houses on all sides. What we need to do is start raiding those houses for whatever we can find. If they are occupied by the dead, we take them out. If they are occupied by the living, we invite them to join us, or leave them alone. We take nothing from the living. I figure we could do quite well if we took our time and were methodical.
“I know these are tough times, but I also know we will get through this. For God’s sake, gentlemen, we killed over eight hundred zombies today. Yes, we lost a few, but the majority survived. We survived. And we will continue to survive. I refuse to accept any other way.” I finished my little speech to quiet faces.
“Last thing.” Tommy spoke up. “We need a leader, someone we can count on to make decisions when things go rough. Someone who will be fair, but focused. Any nominations?”
A man whose name I didn’t know spoke up. “Why do we need a leader? We could have a group or council to make decisions, and we could have elections and such.”
Duncan put that idea down. “That would work for a huge group of people in a large, organized community, but we’re barely hanging on as it is. What do you do if something comes up that needs a decision right away? What do you do if the Z’s attack in force again? Do you tell them to wait until you can make decisions as a group? Sorry, friend, but if there is one thing history teaches us, a single leader can save a society where a council can stagnate it.” The man who spoke nodded with understanding.
It was quiet until Charlie spoke up. “I nominate John. He saved our asses in the gym, and continued to lead attacks on the zombies. All I heard from him was ‘Follow me’ as he went in to fight. I know most of us wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t found us in the gym, and led the zombies away.” Charlie spoke directly to me. “You need someone to watch your back, you let me know. Whenever, wherever.” Charlie leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his broad chest. His demeanor challenged anyone to say otherwise.
I have to admit I did not expect to receive any endorsements. I simply did what needed to be done, and took charge when someone needed to step up. I would be the first to admit that I have my faults and would be surprised that anyone would want me as leader.
Duncan spoke up. “You guys that we picked up when we were on the road, you don’t know what Tommy, John and I went through to get where we are. But I would have to say John made all the right moves, and he can fight like hell when he needs to. He’s slow to get started, but stay away after he does.”
Tommy spoke next. “I second the nomination for John. We need someone who keeps a cool head, stays focused, and is not afraid of a new idea.” He looked around the table. “Seriously. Would any of you have thought of using the tables to herd the Z’s like cattle to the slaughter?” Several shakes of the head and rueful smiles provided his answer.
“So let’s vote. All in favor of naming John Talon the leader of our so-called group, raise your hand.” Tommy called the group to make a decision.
I have to say, I was surprised when all hands went up. But, someone had to do it, so I guess I was as qualified as anyone, even though I felt like a goofball standing up and acknowledging the vote.
“Thanks everyone. I appreciate your support. I don’t really know what to say except I will never ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. I have a son here, as most of you know, so the survival of the community is top of my list. We have a lot of work to do, but I think we made a good start today, and in the next few days, we’re going to see our little compound come together and we will be happy to call it home for a while.” I sat back down and we hammered out a few more details regarding what we had here and what resources were available. I felt positive about where we were, and felt pretty good about the chances we had in this place. We had created a fort, and we now had a duty to defend it.
God help us all, as the living dead moaned into the night.