Dead: Siege & Survival Read online

  “So how do you know this…person?”

  “She was the commander of one of the recalled units assigned to us. Early on, when things went so bad so fast, she snuck away with her unit. We kept following reports of an Army unit running around the area, hitting civilians. They would arrive and be seen as a signal of hope and relief. Folks would drop their defenses and welcome this unit in with open arms in most cases.”

  Willa paused. Her eyes took on a far away quality like she was staring at something in the distance. Kevin chose to remain quiet. Obviously she was fighting with some serious emotions. There had to be a lot more to the story, and Kevin could tell that she wanted to get it out…off her chest.

  “We caught up with the unit just west of Columbus. We had been following the fires. They were burning out civilians who had managed to set up fortresses or barricaded camps and confiscating their supplies. At first we thought that they might be killing all the civilians, but in Columbus, we found our first survivor…a girl of about nineteen.”

  Kevin spotted a few more walkers heading their way. Apparently all the commotion had drawn some attention. Willa, in contrast, seemed not to notice. She’d gone to a very dark place in her memory. Nothing in the real world was registering. He thought he saw tears welling up.

  “They put out an offer to the citizens once they’d been allowed inside,” she continued after a deep breath. “Anybody who wanted to join them would receive the ‘protection of the United States Army’ according to this young girl. Those who refused were taken in their sleep the first night. I guess that they didn’t want to waste any bullets, so they would simply throw the people out of their own compound and then fire a flare to attract zombies. The people who were thrown out could either try and defend themselves, or they could run.

  “No time was wasted. All the supplies were rounded up the next morning. Everything that had any use, all the food, tools…whatever…all taken by this band of looters operating under the banner of the United States Army.”

  “Sounds bad,” Kevin said after Willa had taken another pause for several seconds. “But why would people let them in? I have yet to see one movie or read a zombie book where the government was any help. Most of the time—”

  “Not everybody in the world watched those movies, Kevin,” Willa interrupted. “Despite the small percentage of crazy conspiracy theorists and anti-government types, most people rely on the powers that be when disaster strikes.”

  “Yeah…I guess,” Kevin said with a shake of his head.

  “Anyway,” Willa continued, “I was on the trail of this renegade group for almost two months…always a step behind them. They were scouring Columbus and cleaning out everything and everybody. When we arrived at the airport, we finally thought we had them. We sent a person in to mediate with them…see if they would talk…they sent back her head.”

  “That seems kinda harsh,” Kevin gasped.

  “My sister-in-law.”

  Now it clicked for him. The rest of the story was irrelevant at this point. This would be as personal for Willa as it was for him. The fact that time had passed was not important. But if that was the case, why had she been so hesitant.

  “So she killed your sister-in-law and sent her head back,” Kevin said by way of prompting her to continue.

  “No,” Willa turned to Kevin with tears in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks, “the woman running that outfit is my sister-in-law.”

  Kevin was just about to take down the first of the dozen or so zombies that were now making slow progress towards him and Willa. His swing missed its mark and dug into the shoulder of the zombie. He shoved the creature away and drew his belt knife.

  “You want to run that by me again?”

  “Major Wanda Beers is my sister-in-law and she is a power hungry megalomaniac.”

  Kevin plunged his knife into the temple of the zombie. What were the odds? he wondered.

  “So how many people?” he asked as he looked around to determine which of the zombies would be the next closest threat. “Is this an army…are we talking a couple hundred?”

  He felt the dread grow in his gut. If that was in fact the case, he had absolutely no chance. The problem he faced was that he positively refused to leave Aleah, Heather, and Valarie. He felt only the slightest tinge of guilt over not really being all that concerned about Matt, Shari or Erin, but he couldn’t really force himself to feel anything.

  “Actually, I have no idea how many of them there are.” Willa admitted. “Who knows how many individuals they have conscripted…or how many they have lost.”

  Kevin trudged through the snow towards an elderly woman missing both arms. He had become very adept at not seeing any of these things as people. They were just pests. He felt nothing more than he would if he swatted a mosquito or stepped on a bug.

  “So what is your plan?” Kevin asked.

  Willa seemed to think very seriously for a few moments. That gave Kevin enough time to take down the remaining zombies. He actually went all the way out to the highway for the last one and noticed that there were several dark shapes in contrast to the dazzling white snow that were heading their way.

  “I think I know how we can do this,” Willa said from directly behind him, causing Kevin to drop his knife in the snow as he was wiping it off on his latest kill.

  ***

  Kevin sat beside the wall. On the other side, the country club and his friends waited. No, Kevin thought, it isn’t just a country club, it’s my home.

  This situation wasn’t anything like Shaw and The Basket. Sure, they had executed his friend in cold blood, but when they kidnapped the Bergman women, he had only known them for a very short time. What he had with Ruth had been a crush…nothing more.

  His mind turned to Aleah. He was not entirely sure how it had happened, but the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen was in love with him. One thing that he was sure of was that he knew that he hadn’t ever felt this way about anybody before. He’d be damned if he was going to let some crazy militant take the tiny bit of pleasure that he’d managed to find in a miserable world and keep it from him.

  “…much longer and I’m gonna kill that brat myself,” a male voice grumbled.

  “I doubt Major Beers is gonna let her stay much longer,” a female voice replied. “”She don’t come out of her bed…not even to use the bathroom. I guess it reeks in there, and she is starting to smell worse than the stiffs.”

  Kevin felt his stomach twist. He had no doubt who they were talking about.

  “Brady suggested hauling her bed and all out to the parking lot,” the male voice laughed. “She’d be a shitcicle by morning.”

  “That’s nasty, Lee!” the female voice quipped in such a way to make it clear how she felt about the matter. Kevin would make sure they each choked on those words.

  “C’mon, Cindy, you tell me you wouldn’t feel just a little better with that crazy retard and her ghosts gone once and for all,” Lee said.

  Kevin had almost all he could take. Willa better hurry up or he was going to blow the whole thing. Thankfully, the next voice he heard was hers.

  “Wow, I sure didn’t expect to find anybody here…hope I’m not intruding,” Willa said in a voice that did not match the woman he knew. This woman sounded like some mall bimbo who had wandered into the wrong department store by mistake.

  There was a commotion and Kevin had to resist the urge to peek over the top of the wall until he heard the signal. What he did hear was the distinct sound of a sword being drawn from its scabbard. He looked down and double-checked Willa’s crossbow to ensure for the hundredth time that it was cocked and loaded.

  “Put your hands behind your head and get on your knees,” Cindy ordered. If Kevin were a betting man, he would guess that Lee was too busy checking out the merchandise, so to speak.

  “Whoa!” Willa exclaimed. “I wasn’t looking for any sort of trouble…I’ll just go.”

  “You’ll get on your knees or I will run this thing through yo
u and toss you over the wall,” Cindy insisted.

  “I bet you can’t guess why I’m here,” Willa said.

  Kevin took a deep breath; that was the signal. He stood just as the pair of sentries reached Willa, one on either side. He adjusted for the female since she was the one with the drawn weapon. The guy seemed content to take a more hands on approach it seemed. Kevin pulled the trigger. A second later, the female sentry staggered to the side, the feathered bolt sticking out of her back caught the sun and shimmered a bit when she fell facedown.

  The man spun—just as Willa had told him would happen—and never saw the government-issued bayonet that plunged into the side of his neck. The blood came in the bright red arterial variety and caught Kevin a little by surprise. After killing zombies for so long, he had almost forgotten what happened when you shot or cut one of the living.

  Kevin vaulted over the wall and slogged through the knee deep snow to where Willa was already striping the pair of anything useful. Kevin suddenly felt a bit queasy. He’d had all that anger fueling him when he took the shot. But now he was staring down into the face of a female who didn’t look much older than Heather.

  “Make yourself useful,” Willa whispered.

  Kevin knelt down beside the dead man and began rifling through his pockets and pouches. The weapons were an easy grab. He also found a set of handcuffs and a key ring.

  Together, they headed back, staying in the footpath that had been carved out in the snow by numerous sentries. Kevin had a million questions, but he kept his mouth shut. Within just a couple minutes, he could see the large building that he had claimed as home. He cleaned it out and ensured that there were no zombies still inside. He had set everybody on tasks that would ensure their survival through the winter months.

  One of the first things he’d done is figure out their food situation. He made sure that they secured enough food to make it for almost six months. Even with the addition of Valarie, they would be fine. Of course, the loss of Dr. Peter King had made it even more of a certainty. To think that some lunatic military faction had probably stripped the food storage made his blood boil.

  Yet, no matter how much he tried, his mind could not clear itself of thoughts of Valarie. When he and Shari had found the girl alone, it had brought memories of his little sister Sara who also suffered from Down’s syndrome. He would go to his grave with her death on his conscience.

  Willa froze right in front of him and he almost collided with her. He held his breath and looked around for what she might’ve seen. It took him a moment, but at last he saw what had caused her to stop. The edge of the flat landing before you dropped down and entered the actual course itself was visible through the trees. There were at least a couple dozen people out there dressed in combat fatigues.

  Very slowly, Willa lowered down into the snow. Kevin moved in beside her. He couldn’t make out faces or anything, so he couldn’t tell how many men and women made up the group. The realization that he might die…his friends might die…all came crashing down. What had he been thinking?

  “I give them twenty minutes before the sentry is missed,” Willa whispered.

  “Why?”

  “Because I watched them pass by twice before I approached them. And there are at least two other patrols that I spotted from where I had climbed over. That is at a minimum. I can’t say for sure how many patrols are out here.”

  “Maybe you were right—” Kevin began.

  “I don’t want to hear it,” Willa cut him off. “You went through hell and back to get medication for some little girl you just met. You can’t and won’t give up. We both know that you won’t be able to walk away from this. Odds are absolutely against us…but then none of that matters.”

  Kevin considered her words. He knew she was telling the truth. There was absolutely no way that he would be able to live with himself if he walked away.

  “So what do we do?” Kevin asked. “Now that we’ve seen what we are facing, is the plan still the same?”

  “It’s the only option.”

  Kevin felt a lump build in his throat. So many things could go wrong. What if he ended up being ultimately responsible for the deaths of all of his friends? He glanced over, but Willa was already scooting back. The pair slipped into the woods and made their way back over the wall.

  ***

  Making sure to stay in the tracks that had been previously made—probably by Paul and his two companions—had proved to be difficult and nerve-wracking. Eventually, they made it to a wooded area and were able to forge their own trail. From that point, Willa actually deferred to Kevin. He knew the layout of the surrounding area better, and after specifying what she was looking for, he was able to think of the perfect spot.

  They circled around to the north side of the golf course and climbed the fence where a thick copse of white pines offered them plenty of cover. It took them all day, and Kevin spent the entire time worrying if what he’d done—the killing of the two sentries—would result in repercussions for his friends.

  It was almost dark by the time they reached their objective. Kevin was cold, tired, and hungry, but since Willa kept quiet, he remained silent. Once they cleared the wall and ducked into the trees, they scooped out a small pit to hide in while they ate what proved to be the last MREs in their packs.

  “What was the last home cooked meal you ate?” Willa asked as she squeezed the last of the pot roast and gravy from the pouch and into her mouth.

  “You’ll be mad,” Kevin opened his candy bar and popped it into his mouth, an audible moan escaping his lips.

  “Why would I be mad?”

  “Because it wasn’t that long ago. One of the best finds we came across was an Italian restaurant. We were pretty well stocked when it came to pasta and that sort of thing.”

  “So you guys have been eating pretty regular meals?”

  “Mostly.”

  “I guess it’s just so much harder when there are twenty or thirty of you than when there are just a few.”

  “Simple mathematics,” Kevin said after swallowing. He tried to savor every second of that flavor from the chocolate bar as it melted and trickled down his throat. “I walk into a house and discover a full pantry and I can eat for days…maybe weeks. A group of thirty might make it a day…if that.”

  “So are you saying we shouldn’t band together?”

  “No, because you also need security, and that is where the numbers come in, but you need a balance.”

  “And what determines that balance?”

  Kevin had a feeling there was more to Willa’s question than she was letting on. She wasn’t making eye contact, which was very unusual for her.

  “You know that when this is all over, I’d like you to stay…I don’t want you to think that once you’ve helped me out that you need to go.” Kevin leaned back against the side of their little snow pit.

  “What about the others?” Willa finally spoke after a moment.

  “They will be thrilled to have you,” Kevin said with a dismissive wave.

  “No,” Willa sat up straight and looked Kevin in the eye, “I mean my others…the rest of my group.”

  Kevin scratched his chin thoughtfully. He hadn’t ever considered it. When she’d shown up in Newark and offered to help, he just assumed she’d left her other group.

  “How many?” Kevin finally asked.

  “Never mind,” Willa dismissed his question and turned away.

  “Wait!” He was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything wrong. He simply wanted to know what they were looking at in terms of logistics. He’d acquired farming tools and even scored the location of a serious farm where he would be returning in the spring to gather up even more stuff. If he did it right, he would never need to head west for the Dakotas. He could continue to develop and fortify this location. It would allow them access to several cities and towns without being smack dab in the middle of populated areas where the probability of large numbers of zombies would be likely.

  “I’m as
king because I plan things,” Kevin explained. “I think it would be fantastic to have your group join mine. I bet we have fewer problems like what is happening now.”

  “Twenty-seven,” Willa whispered. She looked up at Kevin through a lock of hair that had fallen across her eyes.

  “That’s not so bad,” Kevin said with a shrug.

  “And you wouldn’t have a problem with all of us joining you?”

  “Let’s get through this first,” Kevin said. “But no…I wouldn’t have any problem and neither would my friends.”

  “We’ll see,” Willa said and closed her eyes. “Now get some rest, we will move out a few of hours after dark. It is gonna be a long couple of days.”

  5

  Vignettes XXVI

  Aaheru stepped out of the hotel and into the unseasonably cold afternoon. The breeze coming in off the sea was a mixture of salt, sand, and death. From this location, he could see down into the city of Alexandria. With the sky clear and the sun just starting its climb, he could see their route almost perfectly.

  In the parking lot, a flurry of activity was taking place, but it was as if the world had been muted. Nobody spoke much above a whisper as they loaded equipment into the various cars, tucks, busses, and vans.

  “I am ready to depart, my Pharaoh,” a soft female voice said at his back.

  “Ahmes, my child,” Aaheru said as he turned to face the young, dark haired girl. Her body was extraordinarily developed for only just celebrating her fifteenth year. “Have all the preparations been made?”

  “Yes, it has been done as you demanded.”

  “The sacrifice shall be rewarded.” Aaheru placed his enormous hands on Ahmes’ tiny shoulders.

  “It is at the pleasure of our pharaoh that we serve in any way demanded.”

  Yes, Aaheru thought, he had chosen well in all aspects. His advisor was unflinchingly loyal. The woman he’d recently selected to replace his previous companion was turning out to be precisely what he needed. Being pharaoh was more than simply assuming the title; there was a certain air of authority and power that he must exude if he were to truly revive the entity and office of a true Egyptian pharaoh. This young woman tended to his needs in a manner befitting a god.