Dead Surge (24 page)

Russell, we discovered, had been abandoned a long time ago, and was just a small town becoming smaller as more and more homes and buildings fell over. One side of the town had been literally smashed to pieces, making us wonder if a tornado had tried to take out the town.

Greg and Gina were happy with it, and were grateful for the lift away from their old home. They were used to the abruptness of life after the zombies came, and their kids seemed like they were used to it as well.

As we shook hands goodbye, I offered to do a quick sweep of the town, but Greg said he would do fine. I offered him one of our extra rifles, and he gratefully took one of the .22 bullets we had. If nothing else, I knew he’d be able to put meat on his family’s table.

We left Russell and the Holders and headed back to 34. I had been thinking things over and decided the only way we might get a handle on this would be just to run like hell for the river, alert the towns along the way, and listen for trouble as it came to us. We’d be sacrificing some people, but in the end, we didn’t have much choice. At least we could warn them.

Chapter 49

I went over the plan with the rest of the crew and they seemed to accept the idea, although somewhat reluctantly. I wanted to hear what everyone had to say, so I threw it out there.

Charlie spoke first. “I think you’re probably right. We can’t do much more than warn people, and if Lucas was any evidence of what these Zs can do, then we’re going to need the backup of the army and a good place to make a stand.”

Rebecca spoke next. “I just don’t know. I feel like we’re abandoning these people, and that doesn’t feel right, either.”

Duncan piped up. “I’m with Charlie. We don’t have the resources, and we’ve been lucky so far. If they had come at us full force back at the silos and the strip clubs, then we wouldn’t be here.”

Tommy nodded his approval and Sarah did the same. In all honesty, we didn’t have much choice. We could run around all over Iowa trying to put out fires and in the meantime, the perpetrators were wandering around making zombies and putting a general strain on a relatively fragile peace.

“So what’s the plan then?” Duncan asked.

“Basically, we’re running and yelling. We need to get the army on this side of the river, position them so they can report activity, then sweep in and take care of the problem once and for all. We need to broadcast to everyone who can listen to watch their borders and seal up tight, at least for the next couple of weeks. We don’t know where these suckers are going to be, so until we do, we need to cast a wide net,” I said. “If we catch them, without army support, we’ll have to run and gun. We’ll get killed otherwise.”

We piled into the van and truck and Sarah spread out the map. “Our next big town is Albia, but I’m not sure anyone is there,” Sarah said, frowning.

“There ought to be a small community there. We set one up in each of the dead cities just to be relays for messages and communication. If they’re still there, we should be able to touch base pretty quickly,” I said, turning onto 34 again.

Sarah nodded. “I remember. We put them in place as an outpost, with the thought that strays would come in eventually.”

We called anyone that had been chased into the weeds by the zombies strays. That accounted for a lot of people, but most of them had been re-established with communities and places somewhat near their homes. If they were from a big city that had no hope of ever being re-taken, they found other places to live. Some wandered for years. Others would just stay in the weeds, preferring the safety of the open to the confines of civilization.

“Think they’re still alive?” Sarah asked.

“They’ve got pretty powerful radios, so I’d be surprised if they hadn’t heard our conversations so far and realized something was up,” I said.

It was about twenty miles to Albia, so we were there pretty quickly. We found the station and the twenty people who were manning it. They were barricaded in a brick building that stood a little apart from other structures. They were located south of the city proper, and as we approached, I could see a man on the roof with some big binoculars. I hoped he had seen something and could tell us where they went.

We parked by the building, and greeted the two women who came out. I explained what we were up to and they said they had been hearing a lot of chatter all day and were curious as to what was going on. I explained the situation, and they were very helpful in getting us in touch with several communities.

The overall picture was very weird. We contacted several communities in the area, everyone we thought might be in line with an attack, and none of them had reported anything out of the ordinary. I told them to keep a very sharp eye out and be wary of night attacks. Everyone had a hard time believing me when I said these things were smart, but they understood very clearly, when I described what happened to the town of Lucas.

I then got in touch with Colonel Freeman, who was in charge of the portion of the army that had been sent to assist. I was pleasantly surprised to learn he had crossed the river, and was waiting to hear from me for deployment. Looking at a map, I realized there was a substantial river at Ottumwa, and between Chilicothe and Eldon, there was only seven places to cross the river.

I asked Colonel Freeman how fast he could get his troops to those positions, and after a brief pause, he told me it was possible to be in position in three hours. I nearly jumped out of my chair. Three hours! We had them! If they were on a straight course, we’d have them caught!

I calmed down and told the colonel that would be fabulous, and sooner would be better if it could be done. He replied that scouts should reach the Ottumwa area within an hour and a half, or two hours, tops.

We left shaking hands with the people of Albia, and reminded them to stay vigilant. We weren’t sure where the Zs were, and until we’d wiped them out, they needed to be very careful.

Back at the vehicles, I relayed what I had spoken to the colonel about, and the crew took the news very well. Mostly it consisted of a lot of ‘about time’ and sentiments like that.

Charlie was the one who brought things to a worry, though. “Nightfall is in three hours. Think everyone will be in place by then?”

I shrugged. “Can’t do anything but try. Let’s get ourselves there and wait for the cavalry.”

Back in the truck, Sarah gave my hand a squeeze, and I smiled at her. I hoped to hell this worked, because I sure didn’t feel like chasing this band of zombies across the damn country any more than I already had.

Chapter 50

We drove for Ottumwa, and made it there with plenty of time to spare. Ottumwa was a river community, and hadn’t been completely spared by the Upheaval. But the citizens had learned how to deal with the zombies early and had made their defenses on the land in the oxbow that wound through the southern portion of town. The northern part had survived, but the southern had not. The citizens of the north didn’t want to deal with the constant threat of zombies from the other side of the river, so a three-year campaign of hunt and kill ensued, mostly in the winter months.

It seemed to have worked. We drove in from the west and there was no activity whatsoever. The houses and businesses on the south end were empty, but they weren’t falling apart just yet. The road crossed the oxbow, and it was easy to see how well that little bit of land could be defended. Ten determined people with enough ammo could ruin a zombie horde’s whole day.

I met with the town leaders, all solid men and women, and told them the whole story. They gave us what supplies we needed, and got the citizenry informed of the coming of two armies; one friendly and the other decidedly not. The people were going to stay homebound until given the all clear, and would not engage any of the enemy unless their lives or the lives of their loved ones were at stake. It was a hard thing to say, but they had to refuse to help their neighbors if they wanted to survive.

An hour after we got to the city, the advance scouts from the army arrived. There were ten men and they were heavily armed. They had been briefed about the situation, and I instructed them to head north to the road crossing at Chilicothe. That was the farthest bridge from us, and I hoped if it was blocked it would be enough to send the zombies further south to look for a place to cross, which would put them right in our crosshairs. If the zombies went north, I had no idea what I was going to do.

An hour and a half later, Duncan reported to me that the army proper was pulling into position on the east side. I left my comfortable spot at a small café and waved Charlie to join me. We took the truck over to the rendezvous point and found Colonel Freeman.

It was an awesome sight to see a thousand men assembled for battle. There were heavy weapons mounted on a variety of vehicles, but the majority was Hummers. Big trucks carrying supplies were pulling up as we got out of our pickup, and a nervous-looking corporal brought us over to a small RV that served at the Colonel’s command post.

The corporal stuck his head in the door. “Sir! John Talon to see you, sir!”

“Of course! Send them in!” Came the reply. Charlie and I stepped into the vehicle, and I was impressed with the sparse furnishings. This was a working command center, not a place for a commander full of himself. Colonel Freeman met us in the center area, shaking hands and smiling broadly.

“John Talon. By God, I’ve wanted to meet you. Heard so much about you! I almost started to think you were just a legend!” Freeman had an easy way about him, and I was glad he wasn’t someone who seemed to be only interested in furthering his career. He was about five foot five, and seemed to be made of pure energy. The man practically vibrated, and even in the confined space of the RV, he managed to find room to pace and move around.

“Nice to meet you too, Colonel. This is Charlie James. He’s been with me through nearly everything,” I said.

“Dear God! Charlie James! I am in the presence of greatness. The two heroes of the Zombie Wars! Here! In my office! My wife will never believe this. Well, enough gushing, how can we fix this little problem?”

I outlined the situation, letting the little colonel know we had a unique situation here thanks to the geography of the region to finally trap and finish off the zombies that have been creating havoc throughout the state of Iowa.

Colonel Freeman listened intently, and then asked. “How do you want to handle the area here?”

I shook my head. “I gave you the details, Colonel. You’re in charge of your army, not me. You know them best and know the best places to put your people. I never stand in the way of experts.”

Colonel Freeman stood and shook my hand. “Heard that about you, too, Mr. Talon. Good. We’ll fix these little bastards and do it right.” He shook our hands and we left. As we were leaving, Colonel Freeman was yelling for his orderlies and his officers. I felt we were in pretty good hands.

As we returned to the truck, Charlie spoke for the first time. “Got a good feeling about him. Maybe this mess will end here.”

I looked at the darkening sky. “I hope so.”

We drove back to our wives and settled in for the night. We weren’t going to be part of the fight, so we had very little to do. The river was very beautiful in the evening, and Sarah and I spent a good deal of time out on the porch of our hotel room just watching and listening to the river as it flowed by.

Sarah was standing in my arms as I leaned on the railing. Her hair was right below my face and it only took a small movement to breathe her in. She leaned back against me and put her hands on my biceps.

“His men seem to trust him, and that’s a big endorsement of his abilities. I think they can. They know what they’re fighting, so they won’t hesitate. And they are mobile, so when the attack comes, they can shift positions quickly and reinforce or chase as needed.”

Sarah pulled my arms off the railing and wrapped herself in them. I used the opportunity to kiss her head. She raised her face to mine and after a while, we forgot completely the danger headed our way.

Chapter 51

I woke up feeling remarkably refreshed. Sarah was already awake, and dressed, having let me sleep a little longer than I normally did. I stretched out my arms, and then dropped to do some push-ups and sit-ups. It was a routine I had gotten away from in recent months, and I was now trying to bring it back. My shoulders told me I needed a lot of work.

After getting dressed, Sarah and I went back to the truck and pulled out some supplies for breakfast. Duncan and Tommy were already there, and I could see Charlie and Rebecca coming down the street from their room.

“Did anything happen last night?” I asked, breaking off a chunk of my homemade granola bar.

Tommy shook his head. “All quiet, from what I understand. See for yourself. It’s almost strange.” He pointed to the river and I climbed up on the truck bed and took a look.

From my vantage point, I could see five of the river crossings and on the center of each one, there was a platoon of soldiers. They had piled up sandbags and were sitting patiently behind their barricades, quietly drinking coffee and likely thinking their officers were nuts.

“So nothing happened? Did we miss them?” I asked as I jumped off the truck.

Duncan shrugged. “I don’t see how. They were definitely headed this way, and I don’t think they went up north. You don’t suppose they just stopped somewhere, do you?”

I hadn’t an answer for that one. Everything we’d seen so far indicated they weren’t inclined to stop anywhere.

Colonel Freeman came speeding up to us in a pickup, and fairly hopped out before the vehicle had come to a stop.

“Morning all! Quiet night, hey? Maybe we’ll see some activity today. Sure would be nice to fight in daylight. Zombie killing in the dark is creepy. No reports of activity from anyone last night, letting the men sleep a little this morning.” Freeman got out all of this without taking a breath.