Last Stand of the Dead - 06 (24 page)

As we approached the on ramp, I signaled a stop.  The cars and trucks spread out as they slowed, and turned the bike around so I could face everyone.

Thirty-six
people looked at me, and I gave sober nods to the new people.  They were indeed veterans, and I needed them
as
I had never needed them before.

“We’re going to split here.  Charlie, you take the group and get on the highway.  Find your positions, and mark them.  Stay tight.  If they get here faster, you’ll be the first ones they encounter.  Charlie will fill you in on what you’re facing.  Use your cars and trucks, you know how.  It’s Denver all over
again, Charlie,
” I said, winking at the big man.
“Only we keep our clothes this time.”

Chapter 42

Charlie gave me a slow grin, and rode down the on ramp, followed by the rest of the cars.  Duncan and I turned around and rode hard for
Leport
, hoping like crazy we had enough time.  I was also hoping there would be more veterans waiting for me.

We rode down the center of town, and there was a lot of activity.  Everyone was working their way down to the riverbank, and when I hailed one person and asked why, I got a surprising answer.

“President Dot is ordering an evacuation.  We’re headed to the river.  That’s all I know.”  The man I spoke with was a young man, carrying two small children.  His wife, a petite blonde was carrying what I presumed to be a stash of toys, food, and water.  She also carried a rifle like she knew how to use it, and gave me a nod as she passed.

I couldn’t figure out what Dot planned to do with all of the people down by the water, but she always had a plan, and I only knew her to be wrong a couple of times. 

We threaded our way through the throngs, and I was getting impatient when Duncan decided to make a path by laying on his horn and yelling at the top of his lungs.

“
Make way!  Talon coming through!  Make way!
” 

I made a mental note to smack him one for that later. Dozens of heads turned my way, and I raised a hand to several well-wishers.  We had a job to do, and I needed to see Dot.

Down the main hill, we turned east by the church and rode to the house of the President.  Dot was not there, but an assistant pointed us in the right direction.

We found Madame President at the piers, overseeing the loading of people onto several barges.  The barges were waiting in a long line, and when one was filled, the towboat would push the line ahead and the next empty one would fill.  Duncan and I watched with amazement.  If we had utilized this method a long time ago, who knows how many people we might have
saved?

Dot noticed us as we walked toward her.  “John!  Duncan!  Thank God you’re safe!”  She hurried over and gave us each a hug.  “We just spoke with
Tommy;
they’ve stopped the horde and turned it this way.  They took ten casualties, though.”

I shook my head.  These days, that was an unacceptable number.  “Do they have enough people to push them to the main bridge?  I have Charlie and about forty fighters setting up positions on 355.”

Dot smiled and patted my arm. 
“Trust Tommy to handle his part.
  He did clear the route to Florida, remember?”

God,
did I ever.  If half the stuff I heard about that campaign was true, Tommy was a certifiable legend.

“All right, then.  I need the front loader, four trailers, and a shitload of ammo.”  I outlined my plan quickly, knowing it would be an hour before we could get things in place.  I was just grateful there was another ramp onto 355, which would bring
us
closer to the bridge and we wouldn’t have to go far.

Dot turned to another aide.  “John has priority on supplies, and command here.”  She turned back to me. “We’ll
hopefully
be fully loaded in another thirty minutes.  Where do you want me?”

I thought for a microsecond.  “Get on the last barge, and make sure the people see you.  Let them know what’s going on, and let them know I ordered you aboard.  I don’t want them to be without a leader if all hell breaks loose.”

Dot considered it,
and then
nodded.  “We’ll be on it.” She looked to the bridge and the
barges,
then turned her wise eyes back to mine.  “Guess you have to save us again, John.”

I looked up to the bridge, exhaling slowly. 
“Yeah.
 
One more time.”
  I turned away and started to walk up the pier when Dot called out to me.

“John?”

“Yes?” I turned halfway back.

“I’m sorry about Iowa, and I’m so sorry about your brother.”

I turned fully around and saw tears coming down the President’s face.  I nodded once.

“Thanks, Dot.”  I turned away and ran for my ride.  I had a lot of preparing to do, and no damn time to do it in.

Chapter 43

I found Charlie setting up the last of the firing positions on the bridge.  In the distance, I could see people sitting on top of their cars, lounging in the sun, and generally taking it easy.  On the other side of the bridge, which was over a mile long, I could see activity as people moved around.  I could sense their nervousness from here.  They were going to be engaging the enemy, making
themselves
bait, and running for their lives.  Duncan was with them, which made me feel better, but it was still rough.

Charlie came over when he saw me, although I was hard to miss.  I was leading a convoy of four trucks and a front loader.  The first two trucks had cargo carrier trailers, and the third was a pickup loaded with ammo and weapons.  The fourth truck carried an improvised version of a fence, which consisted of knotted rope, four by fours, and a length of steel cable.

I got off my bike, and walked over to the truck with the fence.  There were two men inside, and their faces were serious when I spoke to them.

“Set up the fence down by where the bridge is at least forty to fifty feet over the land.  If they try to go
around,
I want them dead when they hit.  Watch yourselves, and don’t move until we signal you.  If you go
too
early, we’ll lose some for
sure,” I
said.

The two men nodded and drove off.  They were going to lay out a fence that was five feet high, made of wood and rope.  The wood served as fence posts and the rope was the mesh that kept things in or out.  Steel cable served as the support on the top and bottom.  Essentially, we lay the fence flat, running the cable through the steel on top of the edges of the highway.  The cable was attached to the truck tow bar, and when the truck pulled away, the fence came up and stayed there.  It wouldn’t work with hundreds of full size zombies in an open area, but it served us well here.

I motioned the two other trucks to go forward.  Charlie stepped up and directed them to the left and right of the positions he had set up.  The front loader followed, and was used to push the cargo containers into two places on the highway.  The left one, about a hundred yards in front of where the fence was going to go, would turn the zombies into a killing zone on the right.  The next container went one hundred yards in front of that on the opposite side, creating a second killing zone.  As soon as the containers were in place, the people nearby climbed on top, sighting in their rifles and collecting ammo from the ammo truck.

When the front loader returned to our position, Charlie and I guided it in carefully turning the cars on their sides, creating another choke point should the zombies get this far.  Hopefully, the firing from the containers would be enough, but you never knew. 

“How you feeling, John?”
Charlie asked
,
loading magazines for the AR-15 he had borrowed.

“About as good as can be expected, I
guess,
” I said, loading up magazines as well.

“Think we have them this time?” Charlie asked. 

I understood his concern.  We had tried several times to bottle these little zombies up, but they always managed to elude us, either by slipping into the scenery or taking a route we hadn’t thought of.

“The only thing that might be a problem is Tommy can’t contain them and they slip away again. 
Hopefully,
they’re taking some serious losses and by the time the zombies hit us they’ll be a lot fewer of
them,
” I
cautioned.

“Amen to that.  I’ve had my fill of these
things,
” Charlie said, putting in a loaded mag into his rifle and chambering a round.  Flicking the safety on, he put it down and filled another magazine.  “I never thought I’d say this…”

“What?”

“I actually miss fighting the slow, dumb ones.  They seem almost tame to these little fuckers.”

I laughed.  “So do I man, so do I.”

Chapter 44

Our laughter was cut short as a burst of firing drew our attention from the surrounding hills.  It sounded like it was coming from the north of us, but with the echoes of the river valley it was hard to determine. 

Charlie and I stood watching the hills, and there seemed to be some activity in the woods between the bridge we were on and the one further east.  Charlie looked at me and I nodded.  There was supposed to be people there, so that wasn’t too much of a concern.  There was more firing and it seemed very intense, more so than it should be.

I hefted my rifle and wished I had a scope in it.  I couldn’t see anything, and the nearest truck was the ammo truck that may or may not have held a radio. I looked down towards the river and saw that there were still people loading on the barges.  If things broke through
here,
it was going to be a slaughter.

Suddenly
,
there was movement at the far end of the bridge. The truck Duncan was in, distributing ammunition was racing back towards us.

“I’m guessing this is not good
news,
” Charlie said, stepping over to his motorcycle and starting it.

I followed suit, starting my cycle and watching the procession of cars rush towards me.  I had a sinking feeling in my gut and knew it was about to get worse.

The truck screeched to a halt twenty feet from us, and the front doors flew open.

“John!  Thank God! We have to move from here! 
Now!”
  Duncan yelled, leaning out the window while looking out over the river.

“What’s the matter? If they’re behind you, we’re right w
he
re we need to
be,
” I said, perplexed at this odd turn of events.

“Why did you pull our people off the line?” Charlie asked as the groups we set up ran towards us.

“Listen!” Duncan opened the door so we could hear the speakers from the radio.

The voice that came through was yelling information, and it was clear they were on the verge of panic. 

“They’ve turned at the wrong place!  Someone has to tell Talon they’ve turned at the wrong place!  They’re headed for the
Leport
Road
bridge
!  Is anyone reading this?  They’re headed right for the barges if we don’t stop them!”

I looked at Charlie and Duncan.  This was the worst thing that could happen.  We were in the wrong place.  Our resources were a half mile away across a river valley, and useless here.

“Oh,
Christ,
” I said, as another round of firing echoed off the hills.

Another voice cut in, calmer and in charge.  “Get out, now.  Half your people go to the river to protect the barges.  Jump in if you get charged.  The other half, get to the other bridge and hold it for as long as you can.  Do
not
let them flank us.  We’ll draw them away from the line, kill as many as you can
.”

I recognized Tommy’s voice and not for the first time
,
was
I
glad to hear it.

“We need to get over there as fast as we can.  They’re running out of time, and they need us
now,
” I
said.

Charlie pointed across the river.  “We’re out of time, too.” 

We could just make out a group of people running like their lives depended on it onto the bridge.  They stopped, fired at something we couldn’t see,
then
ran forward again.  It was methodical,
well executed
, and suicidal. 

“
Goddamn,
” I said.  “And we tipped over the extra vehicles.”

“Come on, let’s get this one back.”  Charlie threw himself against the car, moving it slightly.  I followed suit, with Duncan next to me and on the next
rush;
we knocked the car back over.

“They can use that
one,
” I said, waving my arms over my head.  I pointed at the car and then pointed at the other bridge.  The lead runner waved me on, and I turned back to Charlie.