Dead Surge (18 page)

I didn’t have time to admire Charlie’s skills, as two bore down on me with little room for guessing as to their intent. A back handed swing with my left hand brought the spike end of my tomahawk into the forehead of the smaller zombie, who managed to rip it out of my grasp as he fell backwards. I swung my pick at the second one, but I misjudged the distance and only managed to rap it on the noggin with the handle. The zombie lunged forward, but I ducked under its outstretched arms, keeping a grip on my pick. I hooked the Z behind the neck with the pickaxe and brought the weapon around, spinning the zombie to the ground. As I brought the pick back for a swing, I caught another zombie coming at me out of the corner of my eye. Twisting awkwardly, I managed to swing the pointed end of the pick at the Z. catching him right above the temple.

I stepped back to give myself some room, and just managed to avoid getting bitten by the zombie on the ground that had crawled forward for a bite. I slammed my axe onto his head, killing him instantly. I had to move, otherwise, I was going to get swamped in a hurry, so I dodged the arms of an attractive zombie, at least she would have been if her nose were still on her face.

I circled back to the north and killed another one, this one was an older, grey haired gent. At the far end, Charlie and I exchanged pleasantries and returned the way we came. I was starting to wonder where the hell everyone else was, as this was getting tiresome. These zombies were fresh, which meant they were harder to kill. Older zombies reach a level of decay that makes for more brittle bones and skulls. At some point, they stop decaying, but we haven’t figured out the why of that. New zombies took serious swings to crack their skulls.

At the south end, I decided to get this over with, as we had killed the majority and there were only about fifteen left. I could see Charlie working his way back, his tomahawk flashing and killing, when disaster struck. Charlie was ten feet away from me, and I was getting ready to kill another zombie, when he suddenly tripped. All I could see was he was upright, and then he was down. I swung extra hard and buried the pick end of my weapon in the head of the zombie that was coming at me, a shirtless man with huge bites out of his arms.

“Hang on!” I raced over to Charlie, as he was struggling to get to his feet. One of the zombies that he thought he had killed had just enough strength left to grab Charlie’s foot. A large man with a torn face was bearing down on Charlie, and I managed to intercept him just in time. I jammed my forearm under the Zs chin, forcing his head up and away. The zombie was still strong and managed to resist being pushed back. I got a full face of zombie breath as I snarled back into the grim visage.

As always, the eyes of the zombie were the most disturbing. I could handle the wounds and the decay, I expected that. But the eyes, the windows to the soul, were the creepiest part. On older zombies, it wasn’t so bad. Their eyes were kind of milky and you couldn’t see them well. But on the new zombies, the eyes were clear and dead. There was nothing behind them. They were truly and completely dead. We’ve had people tell us that the zombies might actually still be alive, but if they ever took a look into the eyes of a zombie, they would know those things are very dead.

I shoved harder and heard Charlie curse behind me. Other zombies were closing in on three sides, and I was running out of time and room to work my weapons.

“Screw it.” I pulled my pistol, while the zombie clawed at my arms and shoulders, trying to pull me in for a bite. I shoved the barrel into the Zs left eye and sent his last thoughts out the back of his head. The zombie fell backwards and I quickly lined up the next three, dropping them quickly. Charlie finally managed to free himself, and he pulled his weapon as well. In a short amount of time, we blew away the last of the zombies.

As the last one fell, and the sound of the pistol report drifted away, I looked over at Charlie and shook my head.

“I keep feeling like we’re somehow responsible for this,” I said, wiping off my weapons and putting them back where they belong.

Charlie nodded. “I feel the same way. Maybe we just need to hard charge to the next undisturbed settlement and get their defenses up.”

“That sounds good, but are we then condemning the ones we passed by to death. If the people don’t know what they’re up against, they’re going to get creamed.”

“Didn’t think of that. Any more luck on figuring out how these towns are connected?”

“Still not seeing it. The only link I have is the roads, and we’ve been on the roads they would have used. It doesn’t make sense.” I started walking south to see if there were any additional problems, we might encounter. As we moved further south, I could see some activity here and there. Some zombies were still around, but since we had wiped out the main horde, people were much less fearful to attack and were taking care of the remaining zombies.

Two blocks from our fight, the truck and van came careening around a corner. When they saw us, the two vehicles came to a screeching halt. Several zombies turned at the noise, and the townsfolk used the opportunity of distraction to kill the ghouls in front of them.

Sarah leaned her head out the window. “We gotta go! Another town is under attack and they need help!”

My shoulders slumped. “Jesus Christ! This is getting tedious.” I turned to Charlie. “We may have to make one of those hard decisions if we’re to get ahead of this.”

Charlie nodded as he moved to the van. “It’s what we do.”

I thought about that as I got into the truck. It was what we did, whether we liked it or not.

Chapter 40

I shook myself out of my wandering thoughts and grabbed the map. “What town?”

“According to Duncan, it’s the town of Afton,” Sarah said, gunning the engine and swerving out of town. She picked up Route 34 again and headed east, trusting her instincts that it was the correct way to go.

I found the town we were in and started looking to the east. I found Afton a ways in, and whistled. I grabbed the radio in response to Sarah’s querulous look.

“Not good. An outbreak surprised them, and they’re running out of options. The survivors are holed up in a school, but they’re having trouble keeping the Zs out. They didn’t have time to prepare any defenses.” Duncan didn’t sound hopeful.

I hated my next question. “How many people are we talking about?” Sarah looked sharply at me and I didn’t answer her visual rebuke.

Duncan took a minute to answer. “They say there’s fifteen trapped in the school, with about ninety zombies trying to get in.”

I took a long time to answer. “All right, we’ll see what we’re about. At 169, head south, that should take us to the middle of town. The school should be around there somewhere. John out.”

Sarah pushed the vehicle a little faster. “For a minute there, I thought you were going to say skip it.” Her voice was quiet, like she gets when she knows she’s going to get an answer she didn’t like.

I stared out the window, watching the hills roll by. “I almost did. But I have enough ghosts around me. I don’t need any more.” I did, too. Everyone I couldn’t save, everyone I had to leave behind, and everyone I lost to the Upheaval and the Zombie Wars. They came during the quiet times, staying just out of sight, but I knew they were there. All I could do was ask for forgiveness.

Sarah reached out and put a hand on leg. “You do what you do, John. Someone has to make the hard choices.”

Somehow, that didn’t make me feel any better. “I didn’t want this mission at all, remember? I wanted to let it go, give it to the army, just live in peace and quiet.”

Sarah was sharper in her response. “Get real, John. The army would still be trying to get out here, and by the time they figured things out, that group would be at the river, trying to figure a way across. We’d have come home to nothing but death. Do you think your brother could hold off this horde by himself?”

I had to admit she had a point. Mike was good enough, but the crowd would overwhelm him in no time. I wasn’t even sure the cougars could handle them.

“All right.” I conceded. “All right. Let’s get those people out of there and then get ourselves ahead of this mess. We won’t stay to kill off the new ones, we’ll just send the survivors to the last town and they can get a group together to deal with them.”

“Good plan.” Sarah smiled.

I had to chuckle a little myself. This was one of those times going back all the way to when Sarah and I first got together that I realized no matter what anyone said, I really wasn’t in charge.

Sarah moved as fast as she could down the road, managing to keep us from blowing any tires, but going as quickly as possible. It was nerve-wracking, knowing there were survivors who knew we were coming, but they had to wait while the zombies, friends and family they knew were infected, tried their best to eat them alive.

Fifteen minutes later, we turned down Route 169 in a roar of gravel and gears. I actually had to hold on, while Sarah grimly guided the truck.

Afton was a small community with a dwindling population. Even before the end of the world, the population was only three hundred, according to the map stats. We flew down the street, and I happened to see a sign for a school crossing. Craning my neck, I saw a low building in the distance.

“Ahead on the right!” I called out, radioing to the van that we were about to go hot.

“Got it!” Sarah saw what I was looking at and drove faster, swerving around a couple of flatbed wagons sitting in the road. I checked my weapons and unfastened my seatbelt.

Let us be in time, I prayed silently, grabbing the door handle for a quick exit. The trees and streets zipped past, and then the school was suddenly on our right. Sarah braked quickly, but avoided squealing the tires. I hopped out of the truck and grabbed up my rifle, chambering a round and bringing it to bear in the direction of the school.

There were dozens of zombies milling about the property, and I almost started shooting, when I saw something that made my heart sink. The front door of the school was smashed in, and the zombies were slowly shuffling into the school. The unhurried nature of the zombies told me there was no one left alive in the school.

“May as well, there’s nothing here to…” My voice trailed off as I saw movement on the roof. “Up there! They’re alive!” I shouted. Several figures had stood up from where they were lying, in the hopes that the zombies would eventually drift away and they could escape.

Charlie gestured to the van and Rebecca moved it into position. Tommy and Duncan came and stood beside us. The zombies, hearing my voice, began their moaning and shuffling. Inside the building, other zombies took up the call, telling the world outside that hell was just a little bite away.

I took that groan as a challenge. Sighting in the closest zombie, I muttered, “Not today.” I fired and heard four more rifles firing right after me. This one we win, I thought.

We didn’t waste any time with hand-to-hand combat. We just shot them dead. The ones outside quickly piled up, and when they were wiped out, Rebecca brought the van over to the side of the building where Charlie and myself helped the people of the town come down off the roof. Tommy, Duncan and Sarah cleared out the building and declared it clean.

I stood on the ground with a younger man, shaking his hand and waving away his thanks.

“You did well, all things considered,” I said. “I doubt another town would have made it at all.”

The man, whose name was Louis Norman, just shrugged. “Not sure how well I did. When I saw things were really bad, I just yelled out for anyone who was alive to follow me.”

“It worked, but it looks like most of your town is gone. Sorry we couldn’t get here sooner.”

“Hey, I’m glad you made it at all. Any idea what hit us?”

I told him about the little zombies and that they were acting in a way that was totally new. They were attacking towns, but not sticking around to eat. It was mostly just hit and run. They attacked when they had the numbers, but retreated when a superior force confronted them. We had no idea how they were getting from town to town, and we were afraid they would break through everyone’s defenses and leave us with a mess everywhere we went. I really had no desire to relive the Upheaval.

Louis looked over his little band, and the piles of zombies that used to be his friends and family, and shuddered. “What a mess,” he said quietly. A little louder, he said, “If you need to get moving, don’t worry about us. We’ve got enough vehicles to spare and we’re sure not going to stick around here.”

Louis shook all of our hands, and then went back to his little group. We climbed aboard our truck and van and moved out quickly. Behind us, in the mirror, I could see the remains of the townspeople poking among the dead. Some kneeling beside fallen loved ones, others heading off to homes that would never be homes again.

Chapter 41

Noon found us at Murphy, a small town just a little out of the way. It was a tiny little side stop, barely a footnote on the map. The town consisted of ten streets that went east and west, and ten streets that went north and south. All told, it was neatly tucked into a half square mile of Iowa landscape.