Dead Surge (3 page)

“How did Jake get there?” Sarah asked, shifting the conversation.

I had anticipated this and answered quickly. “He and Julia came along when Charlie and I thought it was only a single Z. If it had been reported that there was that many, do you honestly think I would have brought either of them?”

Sarah looked at me for a minute, and then must have decided against further argument. Her tone softened. “You’re right. You going to tell me about it?”

I thought a minute about how close the two kids had come to being bitten, and decided to skip half the truth. “Same thing we’ve seen before. We were among them before they moved, and we sent the kids back to the Visitor Center when it became obvious it was a serious fight.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re all okay,” Rebecca said, ending the matter. All I could hope for was Jake to keep quiet until he forgot about it, and then we’d be in the clear.

“Do we want to talk about the communication from the capital?” Sarah asked, turning the attention back on me.

I stood up and went over to the message board, which was nothing more than a legal pad. I brought it back and laid it on the table, three heads craned to see what I had written there when the message first came in. NEED TO TALK TO PRES, PROB IN THE PLAINS, COMMS DOWN, NO REPLIES. I had long had a habit of scripting when I spoke on a phone, a ‘cover my butt’ move from my days as an administrator. With phone service very limited, and still being sorted out by people who didn’t know what they were doing yet, the fact that we had a call at all was pretty amazing. Most people these days used CB radios, ham radios, and walkie-talkies. Communities that had power were able to activate their phone networks, but it was an iffy thing. Rumor was there was a phone service survivor somewhere in the southern states, but he was busy.

After reading the message, the three other heads at the table turned to look at me and I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess the polite thing to do would be go see what the president wants,” I said.

Sarah looked at me. “When are you going?”

I leveled a look back at her. “We’re going so you can hear for yourself.” As she arched an eyebrow at me, I tilted my head at Charlie. “Coming along?”

Charlie looked at Rebecca and back to me. He nodded and winked at Rebecca, who brightened at the thought of a trip.

I wasn’t fooling anyone. Sarah knew I had invited her and Rebecca along as a barricade to any unreasonable requests. God knows I’d had a few of those. When I accepted the position of President four years ago, I knew it was going to be rough. But the last three years had been unbelievable, with the Zombie War. We had been to nearly every major part of the United States, and fought hundreds of zombie battles. I constantly told myself I would write down a chronology of the War, but so far hadn’t got around to it. While it wouldn’t be a best seller, at least it would be a lesson to those who come after us on what worked, what didn’t work, and how not to get yourself killed when three hundred zombies come after you.

We went to bed and in the morning prepared the boat for travel. The highways were mostly cleared, and people travelled well on them, but there were occasional snags, especially around formerly well-populated areas. But I personally liked using the waterways, and it provided a more direct route to the capital.

Jake and Julia were sad not to be going, but they were happy to be having a special day with their Uncle Mike and their cousins Logan and Annie, over at the other lodge. Mike had moved his family over there and it worked out pretty well. Logan was ten years old, and was becoming quite the little woodsman. He was constantly out in the reserve, checking things out, finding out how things worked. Annie was more of a homebody, helping with the other little ones, my other son included. Aaron was mine and Sarah’s son, born on the road and raised with the sound of zombie fighting in his ears. He was tall for his age, with dark hair and green eyes. While Jake rushed in, Aaron was the watcher, waiting for his opportunity. I was curious to see how he took to training, but I had a suspicion he would do well. He was a quiet, deliberate boy, more given to playing by himself than with others, although they liked him and wanted to include him. He just seemed to prefer his own company.

Chapter 5

Tommy, Duncan, and Mike came down to the dock to see us off. We were packed light, although thanks to the recent dance we were armed heavily. I was packing my .45, having finally surrendered my SIG to the Zombie Wars. Sarah was armed with a .45 as well, although hers was a Commander size. When she showed a preference for it, I reminded her of the .22 that she used to carry and how far she had come since then. She reminded me that she could shoot it just as well, thank you very much.

Charlie and Rebecca were both armed, and Charlie and myself additionally carried our rifles. It wasn’t far to Leport, but as we had discovered, what we thought was safe sometimes bit us.

Once under way, we relaxed a bit in the cool autumn air. The river still carried traces of its morning mist, and the vegetation was heavy along the banks. We threw waves to the people we saw in the towns along the river, and answered a question or three from early fishermen. Further in, we passed the ruins of Joslin, a town I had ordered destroyed early in my presidency. That place was a constant source of roaming zombies, and we closed it down once and for all. The zombies were still there, but they couldn’t get out. The only thing we salvaged was the power plant along the river, and a small crew kept it running at a minimum. It supplied power to several small communities, and would do so until the coal piles ran out, which at current use would happen in three hundred years.

Several boats passed us on our way north, some laden with supplies and trade goods. One was a flatboat, delivering ordered goods from the general warehouse. I waved to the pilot, and he sent back a warm welcome.

Towards the afternoon, we stopped at a small, out of the way place to relieve the call of nature. I wasn’t one to just let fly over the gunwales, so we pulled up outside the old Illinois Waterway buildings and tied up to the small dock outside the administration buildings. The buildings covered half the canal, and were in decent shape, but no one was available to run the locks anymore, and they wouldn’t serve a purpose if we did.

We all got out and stretched out legs, and Sarah and Rebecca walked off to the far side of the building and went inside. One of the weird things about the Upheaval is the toilets worked pretty much most of the time. If you poured a bucket of water into the tanks, they worked. The world had gone to shit, but you could still flush it down. Go figure.

Charlie and I stepped over to the lock and took turns peeing off the gate. It was a kid thing to do, but what the hell. We turned back to the building when the front door blew open and Rebecca stumbled out, falling to the ground. Sarah was right behind her and tripped over her prone form, tumbling close to the water.

A nasty-looking zombie came bouncing off the closing door. He used to be a teenager, judging by what clothing he had left on him, and the gold chain still dangling around his grey neck. His face was shredded, but his eyes were still functioning. He rammed into the door, pushing it outward, allowing him to exit the building. Behind him, another zombie hit the door; this one was skeletal with an arm cut off at the elbow. The door hadn’t closed completely, allowing the second zombie to start coming out.

Rebecca and Sarah recovered from their falls, and squared off against their attackers. Charlie and I stayed back a ways, but had our rifles up and trained on the Z’s should the fight look go badly.

“Bet you a gun cleaning Rebecca finishes hers off first,” Charlie said out of the side of his mouth.

“Done. Even though she was closer.” I had a lot of confidence in Sarah.

Rebecca swung her melee weapon, a three-foot piece of hickory, topped with a ball peen hammer, ground to a point. The metal cracked into the zombie’s knee, breaking the joint and tumbling the ghoul to the ground.

Sarah jumped and side-kicked the second zombie in the sternum, propelling him backwards into the building. The zombie slammed backwards and fell down.

Immediately, both Zs struggled to get up, the one without the arm having a bit more difficulty. Sarah stepped forward and used her knife, a seven-inch wonder that could easily remove a hand if needed. The needle tip slid neatly through the eye, puncturing the brain and killing the zombie for good.

Rebecca swung high just as Sarah had stepped forward, and smacked the ghoul right on top of the head. There was a loud crack, and the zombie dropped to the ground, finally at rest.

I looked over at Charlie and we both said the same thing, “Tie.” We stepped quickly over to the women and I scanned the interior of the building while Charlie checked the shore for activity.

I turned to Sarah. “All good? What happened?”

Sarah wiped off her blade and sheathed it. “Went to the bathroom and these two came bumbling out. Couldn’t tell how many for sure with the echoes in there, so we retreated.”

Rebecca spoke up. “If we had been sure there was only two, we’d have stayed and killed them.”

No doubt. Sarah and Rebecca were combat veterans of the Zombie Wars and were more than capable of handling themselves. They trained almost as much as Charlie and I did. I looked over the building and saw there was nothing really out of place. These two must have come here infected at some point, and revived inside. Just our bad luck or more to the point, theirs, that we were the first ones to come back to them.

“We still need to use the bathroom.” The two women stepped over the zombies and went back inside, finally answering the call of nature.

I looked over at Charlie who just shook his head at me. Fair enough.

Chapter 6

We got back in the boat a few minutes later and headed upriver again. I spent a minute thinking about the last couple of days and I couldn’t shake the feeling we were in for a wild ride.

“Well, look at it. We haven’t had a zombie inside our perimeter in years, and just yesterday, there were fifteen of the suckers practically on our doorstep. And here today, where you and Rebecca found zombies that in all likelihood shouldn’t have been there, and it adds up to some serious portents of things to come.” I learned a long time ago to just open up with Sarah. It saved a lot of time.

Sarah’s green eyes drifted to the riverside for a minute as she contemplated what I had told her. After a minute, she turned back. “I wish I could tell you it’s nothing, John, but this time you may have something.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “We’ll be careful. We’ve survived the worst this virus had to throw at us. We’ll survive this.”

I pulled her close as the sun began its quick descent to the horizon. In a couple hours, we would be in darkness and I wanted to get to Leport before then. For all the times I wished my feelings on something were wrong, this time, I really hoped my feelings were wrong.

But I just couldn’t shake the notion this one was going to be a doozy, whatever it was.

We pulled into the dock at the southern end of Leport and worked our way up to the first small barricade. A small four-foot fence ran along the riverside, disappearing off into the bend by the overpass. On top of the road were two tall towers, and even in this distance, I could see they were still manned. The sentries up there would warn of any activity within sight, and men would be dispatched to deal with the threat.

The first well-wishers came down to the docks, and I met several people again. One boy in the back ran off in the general direction of the town, and I knew our presence would be reported immediately. However, for now we greeted some old friends, shook hands with a few who had joined us on the long trip west, and more importantly, made it back.

“John Talon!” A voice called out from above. “John Talon!”

I looked up to the hills and saw a small figure waving down at me. I smiled, waved back, and flagged the rest of the crew over. Together, we went up a rather steep incline, passed some lively shops, and made our way to the small Victorian home nestled in the riverside homes that covered the Northern Hills of Leport.

On a wide porch, a middle-aged woman with deep red hair looked at me. She gave me a big grin, and then gave Charlie hug, followed by Rebecca, then Sarah. When she reached me, she took my hand formally, and then gave a slight bow. I returned the favor, and said as I bowed, “Madame President.”

Dot’s grin widened into a huge smile and she wrapped me up in a big hug. Dot had been elected to the fledgling Presidency after I had declined a second term. Dot was a natural leader, and had an easy way with adults, kids, and dogs. The funny part was she always seemed surprised when people addressed her as ‘Madame President.’

“How are you doing, John?” Dot asked, taking me by the elbow and leading me inside. She beckoned everyone else to follow, and inside I saw a table had been set for six people. Dot always knew before anyone else what was going on.

“So far so good,” I said, moving to a chair and holding one out for Sarah. Charlie did the same and Dot nodded her silent approval. I couldn’t explain it any more than I understood it, but part of me always wanted to have Dot approve of me. I guess it just had something to do with the way I was raised.

“Family okay? I haven’t seen your babies in months.” Dot sat down and immediately the kitchen door opened. I tensed for a second before I realized it was a couple of teenagers, recruited to work as aides to the President. I remembered my own aides, a couple of young men who followed me out into the battlefield. We buried one in Omaha, and the other went out to work his own ranch in Arizona.