American Revenant: Hometown Exodus (8 page)

                “And where would be the fun in that Jack? 
Plus, it works, saving this one for a time when we might really need it.”    

                Several days went by, each day proving
productive for the group.  Camp was set, fish were caught, and water was
filtered.  Evenings were spent around a fire, talking, laughing, and enjoying
the company of friends and family. 

                On the morning of the fourth day Jimmy,
Mike, and Gordy set out for the north end of the island.  They were looking for
the perfect spot to put up a platform, a crow’s nest in the trees to give them
a long vantage up the Mississippi.

                “It’s only been four days here but everyone
seems to be settling in well,” Jimmy said as they picked their way through the
woods. 

                “Yeah, maybe too well.  We all know that
this island is a great place to hide out from the nightmare going on out
there.”   As if to illustrate his point they heard gun shots far off in the
distance, from the direction of the tiny river town of Saverton.   “But I
really don’t think we can make this a long term stay.”

                “It’s too easy to attack, difficult to
defend; especially with such a small group of people.  Am I right?” Mike asked.

                “Yes, exactly right, Mike.”

                “That’s what the river is for, keep the
zombies away.”

                “It’s not the zombies I’m worried about,
Jimmy.  It’s the living, breathing bastards that have no respect for human life
that concern me.  Once they find us here, and they will find us, we’re
screwed.  Even setting up an early warning system won’t help much.  I’d say
that we have maybe a month on the outside to find a more secure place to move
to, as long as we keep our evening fire shielded from the shore.”

                The men walked on in silence for a while,
stepping carefully through the thick woods.  Each man was lost in his own
thoughts, none of them pleasant.  They had hoped for a reprieve from the
madness that had engulfed their tiny part of the wide world, someplace to escape
too, to not have to worry about the shambling, grabbing, face eating zombies. 
A place of quiet hope, where evil men who wished to take advantage of others
wouldn’t find them so readily.  Gordy had just dashed that hope against a
sharp, bloody rock.

                They reached the trees that Jimmy thought
would work well for a crow’s nest.  Gordy and Mike spent a few minutes
examining the area.  The trees were close together, the limbs of both trees
would allow them to build a platform for one or two people to sit and watch out
over the river.  They were twenty-five feet from the shore, with a good clear
view far up the Mississippi River. 

                Gordy lifted a large pair of binoculars he
had hung around his neck, and spent a few minutes looking up-river.  The water
glinted and shimmered in the brilliant light of the sun, momentarily blinding
him. 

                “I think this will work fine,” Gordy told
his companions.  “Tomorrow we can get a few guys up here to start working on
the platform and ladder.  By the way, I want to talk about going back to
Hannibal, see if the Mark Twain steamboat is still moored there.  If that thing
still runs, it would make a great mobile base, at least for a while.”

                “That’d be pretty cool actually,” Mike said,
“maybe we could check into that boarded up store you guys were talking about,
too.”

                “I’m game; it would be worth a shot,” Jimmy
added.

                Gordy nodded, raising the glasses for one
last look up the river, before heading back to camp.

                He brought the glasses down, then back up to
his eyes, making sure he wasn’t seeing spots.  Far in the distance he could see
what looked like a boat on the water, then two boats.  He watched for a moment
more, the distant spots on the water slowly coming closer.

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American
Revenant: Hometown Exodus

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