We managed to move the majority of the supplies from the Big Circle store into the school. We had a few skirmishes with zombies who came to investigate, but nothing major. Everyone was extremely happy at the clothing that had been doled out, and the extra foodstuffs were a welcome addition as well. Jake was set for a long time in terms of food, and he was starting to be able to handle things like cheerios and soft foods. He was so funny to watch with the cheerios. I would put a handful in front of him, and he would smack them with both hands, then eat the ones that stuck to his hands. I thought about my own food and wondered if it would work with sandwiches.
The weather was starting to turn colder, and we needed to think about making it through the winter. I personally was curious as to what effect winter had on zombies. Would they freeze to thaw out later? Would they keep moving through the snow and cold? What about the rest of the people who might still be out there trying to survive? With the power out and water available only through natural sources, how would they survive? We were in a pretty good position here, having food and water nearby.
My thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked and Sarah stuck her head in my door.
“You decent?” she asked.
“No, why?” I grumbled, not really sure I wanted to hear what problems we had today.
“You might want to get down to the training area.” Sarah said cryptically.
“Why?” I wasn’t in the mood for trouble.
“Just go. You’ll see. I’ll be in the library if you need help.” She said as she closed the door.
I looked at Jake, who was just finishing his cereal, and said, “We should just go live in the woods.” Jake didn’t answer, he just looked at me with his ‘chocolate browns’ and grinned. That always lifted my spirits. I picked him up and brought him upstairs to the ‘day care’. That was what we called it. It was a classroom that was used for teaching the kids we had, and also for watching the kids that were not old enough for school. We had been extremely lucky that we had managed to have two elementary teachers and one high school teacher among the survivors. They taught the kids, and two moms watched the little ones when their parents were on duty or chores or whatever. I brought Jake up there as much as I could, since he loved to play with the little kids. I figured it was good for him, and the workers liked him there since he was so good-natured.
After I had left Jake, I went back to my room and decided to go for a walk. I knew I needed to see what was happening in the training room, but I also wanted to take a look around the neighborhood. I was curious as to the habitability of some of the homes, and I was also curious as to who might have some stores of firewood in their yards. I also wondered if there was still anyone out there, or if they had all been infected.
I suited up for combat, putting on my black cargo pants and boots, my long sleeve shirt and black field jacket. Thanks to our recent raid, I had a lot of new clothes. I especially appreciated the new underwear. I belted on my knife and SIG, and made sure I had a few zip ties in my pocket, as well as a couple of karabiners. I put on my backpack, which held three days worth of food and water, as well as a radio, first aid kit, two foot crowbar, and emergency blanket.
I put on my gloves and balaclava, and put my goggles on my forehead. I slipped two extra magazines for my carbine in my side pocket, two extra magazines for my SIG in the breast pocket of my jacket, and slug my M1 over my shoulder, attaching it to its clip on my backpack.
As I passed my window, I looked at myself and wondered for the hundredth time how the hell a school administrator managed to get himself into this mess. Although I had to admit the effect of the outfit was a bit thrown off by the bright red backpack on my back. Oh well, it worked, and in this world, that was more important than looks.
I headed down the hall to the training room and I could already hear a spirited exchange.
“Jesus Christ! Will you shut the fuck up! Why can’t you just do what you’re told without opening your stupid mouth?”
That would be Nate. I guess training was in session and somebody didn’t want to be there.
“I swear to God, if you open your dumb fucking mouth one more fucking time I am going to shove this fucking stick so far up your fucking ass you will be the world’s ugliest fucking popsicle!”
That was a good one. I hadn’t heard that before. As I reached the door I could hear the object of Nate’s anger, and shock of shocks, it was Frank Stearns. His voice was like nails on a chalkboard. Some people could stand it, others couldn’t get near it. I tolerated it because I had to, not because I wanted to.
“You don’t have to shout at me and I am really offended by your language. How dare you single me out in front of everyone else.” Frank nasally voice sounded really indignant, and I realized Nate was going to murder him if I didn’t intervene. You did not question Nate and his methods. He wanted you to survive. If you showed aptitude, he trained you privately to hone your skills and make you better. If you just didn’t get it, you were shown rudimentary skills and assigned to group tasks. You never went on raids or recons. Nate and I were near equals in skill with firearms, but he could take me eight out of ten times with a knife. We practiced unarmed combat three days a week and worked out five days a week. Sounds like a lot, but in all honesty, there wasn’t much else to do besides read. I trained as much as I did so I could teach Jake when he was old enough.
I stepped into the room just as Nate, with his face red, stepped forward towards Frank. Frank was standing at his full height, all five foot four inches of him, and his face was screwed up in righteous anger. Frank was dressed as I was, although he had no weapons on him. Nate insisted people train with their gear on, since they needed to be able to know their limitations in terms of movement and speed. “What’s up, gents?” I said, trying to defuse the situation before someone got hurt. Our doctor was busy with a small flu outbreak among the older people. She didn’t need to deal with fist fights.
Everyone in the room stopped and looked at me. Some shifted nervously and grasped their training weapons tighter
Nate Coles just spared a glance in my direction but fixed his gaze back on Frank. “This useless piece of useless shit feels like I am picking on him and making him work too hard. Everything is ‘too serious’ or ‘too hard’. I have been working with this fuckhead for the last month and he has complained every fucking second of it!”
I looked at the rest of the room. I needed to let Nate handle it, because I didn’t want to undermine his authority in his training room. But I needed to get Frank out of there before Nate seriously lost it and lost credibility with the people he needed to teach. Jason Coleman, one of the people we rescued from the Big Circle, was there, as well as his wife. Dean Cotton, a former plumber was there, and Martin Oso, a financial manager who hated zombies with a passion nearly as great as Charlie’s. They were all sitting on the floor against the wall, watching the exchange between Nate and Frank. Carl Witry was there, a former drama coach for the local high school, and he agreed to act like a zombie for the training classes. He was an average-size guy, but he could project his voice like nobody else. We used him for entertaining the kids and reading books to them. That was how he earned his keep. Nate believed in realism, and Carl was in ragged clothes and a fair actor. If you screwed up, Carl would actually bite you. He bit my hand once in training. After I thumped him for it, I thanked him for the lesson, and never got bit again.
Frank yelled back. “I don’t see the point! Why do all of us have to train? Not all of us should go out on raids! Some of us are too valuable to risk!”
Nate’s eyes turned deadly and things didn’t look good for Frank.
I stepped in. I had my goggles and balaclava on, so it must have seemed somewhat intimidating, which was the point. “Why are you so valuable, Mr. Stearns?” I asked quietly as I stepped closer to Frank, casually placing my hand on my SIG.
Frank looked up at me. “I am the office manager for the executive staff of David McCormick, legislator for the 33 ^ rd district. Without me, his whole office will collapse, and the state legislature will follow.”
I have no idea how I managed to keep from laughing. I stared at him for a full minute, and the rest of the room stared at him as well. Carl Witry had his mouth open, but I don’t think he was playing zombie at this point. I finally made a decision.
“You’re finished here. You don’t have to take training any more. It’s wasted on you.” I said.
Frank smiled smugly at Nate, not fully realizing what I was saying.
“You’re on search and rescue permanently, starting today with myself and Sarah Greer. If you haven’t paid attention in training, you’re going to die, and we will watch you turn into a zombie before we kill you permanently.” My voice was cold as I had no pity for slackers or people who were useless. Nate did not need this garbage, and Frank was just going to get someone else killed. At least with me and Sarah, we knew he wouldn’t be able to screw up and get us killed. If we bought it, it was because we screwed up.
It was Frank’s turn to stare at me. He couldn’t believe what I was saying. Nate just smiled and winked at me, his way of saying thanks. I didn’t give Frank a chance to protest.
“Get your weapon and meet me by the side door in ten minutes. If I have to come looking for you I won’t be happy.” Frank scurried off to comply, but I could see in his eyes he hated me for it. I turned and left the room, feeling the eyes of the trainees on my back. No mercy for the people wasting space by existing.
I headed to the library and found Sarah reading by herself at a table. She glanced up as I walked in. “Busy?” I asked.
She closed her book after putting a bookmark in. “Not that busy.” She stretched her back and I could hear the cracks from ten feet away.
“Want to go for a walk? I’ll be at the side door in ten minutes” I asked as casually as I could.
“Sure. Give me five minutes.” Sarah hopped out of her seat and brushed past me, her ever-present Ruger strapped to her side.
I headed back to the “school” and let the women know I was heading out, and could they look after Jake. They said not a problem, he was down for a nap. I could see his little body wrapped in a blanket in a secluded corner. I went over and touched him gently on his back, silently promising him I would be home soon.
I went back downstairs and got to the side door just in time to see Sarah checking Frank’s pack and she was not too gentle about it. I think he came off the ground a little bit when she pulled on his straps. She tossed his weapon at him, a baseball bat with a huge spike through the end. He had a knife as well, although I had no illusions about him being able to use it. I didn’t bother giving him a gun. I didn’t feel like getting shot in the back.
“Got your supplies?” I asked Sarah.
She nodded, pulling down her goggles and winding her scarf around her face. She looked at Frank. “He’s got his as well. Three days of food and water, and emergency supplies.” She had a question in her eyes for me, but I stopped her with a small shake of my head. I watched Frank’s eyes narrow and I could see the calculations going on. Perfect. Exactly what I wanted him to do. All I had to do was wait, and let his little thoughts take over.
We headed out the side door and started walking down the long driveway. I wanted to take a look at the main highway, and we had a good hike ahead of us. If what I had planned was going to work, I needed to be able to move as quickly as possible before the snow came down.
We reached the end of the driveway without incident, although Frank jumped a mile when a bird flew up in front of us. That was one thing I wondered about. Why didn’t the virus kill animals and turn them? For whatever reason it was, I was grateful. Human zombies were hard enough to deal with. Zombie everything else was a world without a chance. If that happened, you may as well strip naked, cover yourself in barbeque sauce, and holler for the zombies to come to dinner.
We headed north towards the main road, and didn’t see a whole lot of activity. I did see the telltale marks of infection throughout the neighborhood. White flags hung limply from scores of mailboxes.
Frank complained about the walk, the weight of his pack, the weight of his weapon. I didn’t say anything, letting Sarah deal with it.
She was direct in her methods. She poked him in the back of the head with her rifle and hissed at him to be quiet. “A zombie can hear you a quarter mile away, dumb ass. If you want to die fine, go walk into that house and die.” She pointed to a house on the side of the road. There had to be at least ten zombies inside, all of them clawing at the window, trying to get out. They were all in various states of decay, and more than once I wondered why we left them there and didn’t deal with them. I guess since they weren’t an immediate threat, they could stay there a while until we decided to root them out or burn the house down. Most of the houses in the area had zombies in them. Turns out when people got sick, they got their families sick and didn’t even know it. Families died by the thousands, and those that didn’t get sick, got killed by their revived relatives. The infected were effectively trapped in their homes unless they accidentally broke a window and got out, since they didn’t know how to operate doorknobs.
Frank looked at the zombies and shuddered. “No thanks, I’ll be quiet.”
Sarah snorted “Right.” She didn’t believe him, but she didn’t have to. I think she looked forward to hitting him again.
I kept us moving pretty well, we stayed in the center of the street. High fences lined each side of the street, but I did not want to be rude and rouse any zombie playing in its front yard. I didn’t need a gauntlet of zombies to run through as we tried to make our way to safety.
After about an hour of walking and stopping, checking our surroundings and listening for ghouls, we reached the first crossroads. We were in a largely empty area, save for cars here and there, so anything coming after us would be exposed for along time. We rested for a moment and I used the time to look at the several five-story condo complexes near the road. They were relatively new, and still had fairly cleared fields surrounding them. An idea poked its way into my head, and I waved Sarah over. Frank was on his back, wheezing and making whistling noises with his nose.
“What’s up?” Sarah asked, only her eyes visible on her head.
“Check out the condos.” I said, pointing to the buildings.
Sarah looked. “What about them? They’re nice and all, but what about them.?”
I pointed to the bottom of the structures. “They have no ground floor. You could actually sleep in peace there without worrying about an attack at night. All they have are garages down there. And look over there.” I pointed to the small grove of trees and grass growing near the edge of the complex. “I’d bet my knife there’s a water supply there.”
Sarah looked at the complex and then back at me. “What are you saying? You want to move everybody?” She seemed incredulous, like I was crazy.
“Let’s face it. We can’t stay in that school forever. Sure we’re there now, but it was never meant to be a permanent place. I think we need to seriously consider coming to this place, cleaning out the zombies, if there are any, and starting life again there.”
Sarah shook her head. “Starting life again? John, this is about survival, nothing more. The world we knew is gone, and we’re not getting it back.”
It was my turn to shake my head. “I can’t believe that, Sarah. Yeah, we’ve taken a hell of a hit, but this can’t be it. We can’t end this way. What about the kids following us, what about the world they inherit? They can’t live the rest of their lives in a school. That’s like living in a cave. What if the zombies last twenty years? Fifty? We have to take our world back. One way or another, we have to take it back.”
Sarah looked at me for a second, then placed a hand on my arm. The physical contact was like a jolt, and I nearly jerked my arm away, I was that surprised. Sarah generally avoided contact with people unless she respected them, and that respect usually meant you had to kill around fifty zombies single-handed.
“I can see why they wanted you to lead them, John.” She said softly.
“Oh yeah, why’s that?” I was seriously curious to know why they wanted me to be the leader.
“You never stop looking forward, no matter what gets thrown at us, you keep going forward. Thank you.” Sarah’s voice was as gentle, and I was pretty sure she smiled behind her scarf. With Sarah you never could be sure. She could be pulling a knife on me as well.
“We need to get moving. We have about five hours of daylight left, and I want to see what I can see.” I regretted ending the relatively nice moment I was having with Sarah, but I needed to do some things. I walked over to Frank and kicked him in the foot. “Rise up, Wheezy. We’re not done yet.”
Frank grumbled and rolled to his feet, but he was smart enough not to say anything with Greer standing behind him. We crossed the road and headed up to the overpass, figuring it to give me a good idea as to the nature of the road. Since a major intersection was just a few hundred yards away, that should give me clear idea of what to expect on the road.
We climbed the over pass and looked out on the interstate. For the most part, it was empty, with a few cars here and there. The cars were empty, and I guessed they just ran out of gas. The highway had a fence running alongside it, which limited access by the zombies. The problem came from the on and off ramps. There wasn’t any real protection there and I could see even from that distance there were many cars that looked like they had been attacked. Not a pretty way to go. It seemed like a bunch of ghouls had just wandered into some stalled cars and the slaughter began.
I was looking east when Sarah, who was looking west, got my attention. “We’ve got movement.” She said, pointing towards a car that was slowing moving down the road. I could see it had a flat tire and was not going to make it much further. It was being chased by a group of about six zombies, and they were going to catch it the second it stopped. I sighed. Here we go. Frank started squirming and grabbing at my pack. I elbowed him in the gut and he backed away.
“Come on, Frank, we have work to do!” I called as I jumped the guard rail. I slid down the hill, bumping my shin on a root that I didn’t see. I could hear Frank groaning all the way down, muttering to himself and generally being a nuisance. He rolled the last five feet and landed on his face. I managed to see that and reminded myself to tell Nate when we got back. Karma’s a bitch, Frankie. Sarah set herself up on the overpass, resting her rifle on the rail and providing cover for our efforts should it prove necessary.
The car was sliding forward, and I could see that two of the tires were gone, and the car was rolling on rims only. I could see three people in the car, and the vehicle wasn’t going to make it another fifty yards. We were about three hundred yards away, so we were going to have to move. I ran forward, unslinging my carbine and making sure the safety was off. Frank stumbled along behind me, trying to keep up. I’m sure he would have stopped, but the fact that Sarah was behind him with a rifle trained on his ass probably motivated him better than anything I could have said.
As we ran the car finally came to a stop about a hundred yards ahead of us. The zombies, seeing their meal finally stop, let out a collective moan and shuffled a little faster forward. The people were about forty yards from the zombies and had about two minutes to live. I moved as quickly as I could, noting that Frank had fallen behind. The doors of the car flew open, and a man and woman got out. The woman dashed to the rear of the car and opened the door, intending to get the back seat passenger out and moving. The man never looked back, he just ran towards me. The woman screamed at him, but he ignored her and kept running. She struggled with the back seat, and I could see she wasn’t going to make it. I tried to run faster, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it, either. The man, a smallish specimen, ran right past me and didn’t stop until he reached Frank, who was about twenty yards behind me.
The woman pulled on the seat belt, but it refused to budge. I was close enough to try a shot to distract them, but the odds of a hit at that distance were slim. Besides, the woman was between me and the zombies. I just kept running and hoped she could get the seat belt undone.
The woman screamed again and the seatbelt finally came free. She pulled her passenger out, and I could see it was a small child, maybe ten years old. She started to run forward when the first zombie hit her from behind. She went down to her knees, and screamed as rotten teeth sank into her neck. Blood spayed and another zombie came from behind, grabbing her arms and tearing into shoulder. She screamed at her child to run, then stood up and swung at her attackers, knocking one down and kicking at another. She didn’t have a chance, but she bought enough time for the child, a small boy, to get to me. His face was streaked with tears and he was yelling for his mother. I grabbed him and started backing up; keeping an eye on the group as they took the woman down again and began feeding.
She screamed for a long time before she finally died. I was headed back when I head another groan behind me. I looked and saw the group had finished with her and what was left wasn’t pretty. She had been completely gutted, and her blood stained the road. Long strips of flesh had been torn from her arms and legs, and I could see bits of flesh hanging from the ghouls as they began walking towards us. I could have killed them all, but I was hesitant about shots this far from home. I didn’t feel like a running fight all the way back.
Scooping up the child, I ran back to Frank and the man who had run. “We have to get out of here. They aren’t going to stop until they get us. Move.”
“What about my wife?” the man squeaked.
I pointed down the road where his wife’s body lay. “Not sure why you care now, but there she is. Help yourself. The zombies are finished with her. There might be enough of her to reanimate in a little while.” I had a vivid picture of this man saving himself and leaving his family behind, and if it wasn’t for the little boy I was carrying, I would cheerfully have left him for the zombies.
I didn’t stay any longer. If he wanted to stay and die, fine. But this little boy didn’t deserve that, just like he didn’t deserve to have such a coward for a father. I ran to the overpass hill and scrambled up. The boy followed me without a word, and I could see his mind was retreating to a state of shock. That’s fine. Shock works, as long as it’s quiet. I had seen this before, and in time he would be better. But for now, we needed to move. Frank and his friend crawled up as well, and Sarah kept her rifle on the zombies the whole time. She had seen everything, and when the man reached the top, she fixed him with such a withering stare I thought he would catch fire. He was clueless, and chatted away with his new best friend, Frank. The boy came out of his fog enough to take Sarah by the hand, and I saw a slight shudder go up her arm when he did that.
Time for that later. The zombies were under the bridge, unable to climb the embankment to reach us. They reached up with bloody hands and opened blood stained mouths. I had the urge to throw the man down the hill at them, but I couldn’t do that to the boy. I had killed in vengeance before, and I didn’t like what it did to my soul.
I headed back to the school, moving quickly. The man complained about the pace, but I was deaf to him. I needed to get back to the school and talk to Nate about some plans for the future, and that couldn’t get done out here. We moved swiftly, stopping only once to catch our breaths. The boy was a trooper, never leaving Sarah’s side. His father went over to talk to him, but the boy jerked away and hid behind Sarah. The man looked angry and started to move for the boy, but Sarah brought her rifle up and shook her head. The man wisely decided not to push the point.
We made it back to the school as the sun started to head down, throwing long shadows across the ground. A cold wind came up from the north, stirring the leaves and reminding me that I was running out of time.
Nate was at the entrance to greet us, and raised his eyebrows at the fact that we had left with three, and came back with five. “Busy day?” he asked.
I glanced at him. “We need to talk about a few things.” I looked pointedly at Frank, who was in an animated conversation with the man we had rescued. I could hear him say ‘What could you do?’ and making conciliatory gestures. The man hadn’t gone near his son, and Sarah was still trying to kill him with her eyes. She walked off with the boy after shrugging off her gear.
Nate nodded and went over to Frank and the man. “Get yourself out of your gear, I’ll take care of this.” Frank clearly did not want to leave his friend, but Nate’s look did not brook argument. Nate turned to the man. “Welcome to the fort. Who are you and how can you be of use to us?”
Nate’s twist on words was lost on the man. He stuck a hand out and said “Kevin Pierce. Pleased to meet you.” Nate shook his hand and I could see he wasn’t impressed. I took off my goggles, gloves and balaclava, and reslung my rifle over my shoulder.
Nate gave him the standard speech. “We’ll give you a room, you can decorate any way you like. We have clothes if you need them, and food is prepared three times a day. We eat together, and each person is responsible for cleaning up after themselves. If you have children, we have a sort of school…”
“I have a son.” Kevin interrupted.
“…which meets for four hours a day. You are expected to attend training to defend yourself and the community. If you are worthless or useless, you will not eat. Any questions?” Nate had given the speech before, but I always found it amusing to hear.
“Who’s in charge? Is it you?” Kevin wanted to know. “I was a superintendent of a pretty big district and can lend leadership advice.”
Nate pointed at me. “He is. He’s saved more than half of us. Fact is, this place probably wouldn’t exist without him. Superintendent, huh? John here used to be a principal before the Upheaval.”
Pierce actually tried to look down his nose at me. Which was tough, since at six-two, I was a full head taller than he was. “Just a principal, hmm?”
I looked at him. “What I was is irrelevant. What I am is disgusted by your presence. The only thing that is keeping me from throwing you to the zombies is the fact that your wife managed to save your son before she was eaten. If he had been killed as well, you wouldn’t be here. I saw you leave them. I saw you run. You can’t change that. What you were was a superintendent. What you are is a coward and a bastard.”
Kevin actually took a step back under my onslaught. Nate’s eyes hardened and he dropped a hand to his gun.
I spoke again. “We’ll keep you safe only for your son’s sake. But cross me, and I’ll throw you out. Run from a fight in here, and I’ll kill you.” Kevin sputtered but I cut him off. “Learn the rules and don’t speak to me. You might actually live. Right now you need to find your child and beg his forgiveness for leaving him and his mother to die.”
I turned on my heel and left him, signaling Nate to follow me. Frank came scurrying up and he took Kevin away. Sarah had left with the man’s son, and in all likelihood was getting him something to eat and drink.
Nate followed me up to the Day Care, and I picked up Jakey. I remembered that boy running from his mother’s killers, and I gave him an extra hug and kiss. He grinned at me and buried his face in my shoulder, making squeaky baby noises. He noticed Nate standing there, and reached out to be held by the big man. Nate was Jake’s guardian when I was not around, and I knew without hesitation that Nate would die to protect Jake. Nate tickled Jakey’s chin, causing him to laugh and causing Nate’s features to soften. I could see how good of a father Nate probably was, and I was saddened his children were no longer around.
We went back to my room and as I fed Jake his dinner, I outlined my plan. Nate asked a lot of questions, and we talked long into the night, poring over maps by candlelight and making adjustments. Tomorrow was going to be a long one, but it was the first step in taking back what we lost.