Man, I got hooked yesterday reading the first volume, now I'm caught up and gotta wait. Great story fast.

Great work!!!! I can't wait to read the next chapter...

Keep up the good work!

MOAR MOAR MOAR!

This is what you need for Zombies

its not even belt fed!

Chapter 9
Onslaught

Staggering along at Zombie pace, the hungry hordes would take several hours to reach the inhabited areas near the school.  Bobby’s frantic report about the breakthrough and the loss of the convoy hit the community hard.  More than 2-dozen young men, fathers and sons and brothers and friends were a devastating loss.  Not just to the defense of the city, the men also represented a future for the community.  It would take a generation to replace them, if the city survived that long.  

I was in the control center when Bobby arrived and made his report, but something didn’t sit well with me.  I put it off originally because of my dislike for him personally, from our initial meeting.  I also realized he was under enormous stress from what he had just been through.  Still, his account of heroically battling the enemy from the lead vehicle didn’t seem to add up.  The rest of the surviving team had already spread out to home or new assignments, so everyone took Bobby at his word.  Our eyes locked, only for an instant as he left the room, and the look convinced me there was more to the story.

“Any ideas, anyone?” Simon asked the assemblage.

Surprisingly, there was little talk, just uneasy grumbling in the group.  They were scared, rightfully so, but almost frozen to the point of inaction.  Ray took charge, ordering everyone and everything of value, mostly food and the elderly, to higher ground.  Next, he called on his engineers to assemble as much heavy equipment, especially the big end loaders, bulldozers and earthmovers, but anything with pushing power.  A brace of large end loaders could easily push back large numbers of the undead dead and make great blocking pieces too.

“Simon, how long would take to have your power people rig up some more electrified fencing?” I asked.

“Don’t be silly, we don’t have time to erect a new fence.” He fired back, clearly perturbed and shook his head in frustration.

“I wasn’t talking about putting it up.  How about making a large welcome mat?” I said.  Simon lit up and turned back with a smile.

“Oh, yes, excellent.” He said and ruffled through some papers.  “Yes, yes, we can do that.  John……..” he turned to his head foreman and they wandered off talking over the specifics.

“Thanks.” Ray said, slapping a hand on my shoulder.  I gave him a look.  “For helping out, and for not leaving.” He added with a smile.


Annie rested, her arms weak from holding the rifle up all morning.  The entire group was fatigued, spent from hours on the adrenaline push, fearing a breach in the defenses.  The firing had slackened, the targets fewer but still with many to go.  Slowly, the Zs were gaining ground, sheer numbers giving them an advantage.  Ollie had moved to a bedroom window on the opposite side of the house, finding that scores of the flesh-hungry vermin had pushed forward in the blind spot.  Methodically, he culled them out, finding the closest first and then moving to those Zs that looked healthiest or dangerous.

He was surprised how close so many had gotten to the house.  In fact, he wasn’t sure how close because his angle of view was blocked on one side by the corner of the house and to the other by a large stonework chimney.  Being on the second floor there was a short projection of overhanging eave below his window, so he couldn’t see straight down to the ground either.  All these factors were going through his mind when he heard a scream from down stairs.

Ollie grabbed a spare magazine and raced through the house and down the stairs.  He knew Juli was down there and probably alone.  She was spooked most likely, by a Z that had managed to get within view out the patio doors.  She was always screaming; spiders, mice, even the occasional squirrel hopping across the deck would frighten her.  He wanted to get down there before her screams drew more disdain from his family.

She screamed again as Ollie reached the landing.  “What is it now, Juli?” he called out, still a few stairs to go.  He reached the main floor and looking across the room he could see them, a half dozen Zs right at the patio glass doors.  Reflexively, he brought the carbine up and fired, feeling the heavy thuds of the discharges echoing off the walls and pounding his chest and head.  “Juli, Juli.” Ollie yelled again and again, with no answer. To his left, he caught movement, thinking it was his girlfriend; he concentrated on the Zs at the door.  

“Juli, get upstairs” he ordered, double-tapping the next face at the patio opening.  She didn’t respond and Ollie turned to his left, ducking as something came at his head.  It was followed by an angry growl, the gapping, blackened mouth of a large male Z, close by, dripping saliva.  Ollie stumbled, landing on his right side.  Rolling away, he let go of the carbine.

The big Z advanced, arms outstretched, coming for Ollie.  Back peddling, Ollie scrambled to get distance and felt the wet, sticky puddle under his hands.  In the shadows of the furniture he couldn’t see what it was, but he knew, from the metallic smell, the stench that caused many people to gag he knew.  He looked to his right and saw her, on her back, behind the sofa.   Pale and motionless, Juli was dead, a pool of dark red blood flowing outward from her body, mixing with the dripping black slime of the three Zs kneeling over her, feasting on her guts.

Anger, sadness and nausea washed over Ollie simultaneously.  His attacker was almost on him again, staggering over to him, gnashing his nasty teeth and jaws clacking.  Ollie fought to draw the pistol, finding it hard to get his hands to work while lying on his back kicking his feet to keep the killer away.  He could hear Berne’s voice, in the back of his head, taunting him for not practicing like he had been asked.  The same voice told him to calm down and make the movements smooth.  “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast” Berne often told him.  Ollie found the grip of the Glock 19.  It was in his hands, already coming up to face the threat.  Two shots barked and Ollie watched to dime sized holes punch through the big Z’s forehead.  The blood lusting monster fell back, harmless now.

The slurping, sloppy sounds of the others feeding got Ollie’s attention back.  He stood and advanced two paces, seeing the tops of their nasty skulls come into view.  Firing on the first, he was gratified by the splash of black ooze hitting the wall beyond.  The other two lifted their ugly faces to the sound and received a similar fate.  The door was still open though and more were coming through, blocking out much of the light.  Ollie fired, reloaded and fired more, clearing a temporary path to the door.

Even though the heavy, double-paned glass doors wouldn’t hold them for long, especially after being shot, Ollie slid the door closed and locked it out of habit.  Seven bodies lay in jumbled pile on the floor.  Six of them he cared nothing about, nothing more than getting rid of their stinking carcasses, but Juli deserved more.  Kneeling down next to her, Ollie lost control, vomiting when he saw her chest and stomach ripped apart and intestines flowing out onto the floor.  Pulling the curtain off the patio door to cover her let the gathering clutch of dead see him again.  They went wild and pressed forward into the glass.  Ollie tossed the cloth over Juli’s body then scooped her up, carrying her to the next room, their room, and laid her on the bed.

The banging on the glass raised his anger again and Ollie walked back out, picking up his carbine on the way.  The howling increased when he appeared to them, muffled through the glass.  Enraged, not thinking clearly, Ollie opened fire into the faces of the front row.  The glass, pockmarked with the first shots, spider-webbed and finally collapsed in a crash.  The mob pressed into the room, some falling over the dead at their feet.  Four, six, ten bodies piled up, blocking the open.  Reloading, Ollie continued to shoot until he was out of ammo for his rifle and pistol.

The doorway was momentarily blocked with the bodies of the twice dead.  Reluctantly Ollie went up the stairs, locking the door at the bottom and top of the steps.  He staggered out to the deck, feeling as if his legs were set in cement.  The adrenaline was evaporating quickly from his body and the fear and fatigue and horror of the last few minutes began to take over.  He flopped into a deck chair, unable to move.

Ollie didn’t hear Annie ask him about Juli the first two times.  Only when she pushed his head back to look into his eyes did he acknowledge her.  “Where’s Juli?” His sister asked again.  Ollie broke, head dropping into his hands propped on his knees.  Sobbing, he told her what had happened downstairs.  “The house has been entered?” She tried to clarify.

“Yes.  I did what I could and locked the doors on the way up, but some of them made it inside.” Ollie explained.  Ray and Berne overheard the conversation and stopped shooting, staring at Ollie.  Ollie’s relatives exchanged glances to each other and out into the field around them.  The decision was being made for them, even though the number of undead had slowed since morning it was still steady.  It would be night soon and the defenders would not be able to see targets well enough.  The house was compromised; it was time to clear out.

“Grab your Go-bags and everything else you can carry and lets get ready to go.” Ray ordered.  The small group had prepared for this day, but not practiced it enough.  While the gathering of supplies wasn’t orderly, it was fast.  In a quarter hour they all had their own separate ready packs and load-carrying harnesses, a pile of ammo cans and other odds and ends for survival.

The three trucks were already loaded, kept that way to cope with other emergencies or situations like this one today.  Pulling around under the deck would make loading easier while keeping the Zs at reach a little longer.  Berne went down the stairs first, cautiously aware that Zs could be very close by.  The garage was at the same level as the basement where Ollie had essentially opened the house for invasion.  Separated by a single, metal-clad door, Berne would have to get in fast.  Once the overhead door started up, he would be face to face with the invading army of undead dead.

Getting the first truck out would be the easiest, because the flesh eaters wouldn’t expect it, but getting back in the garage would take some doing.  Rounding the corner of the house, Berne saw the enemy, at least a dozen of them, leering at him from the other side of a short picket fence that ran between the house and garage.

Immediately, they pushed towards him, craving his blood, lusting for his warm skin and tissue.  Ignoring them, Berne quickened his pace and slid into the garage side door.  Slamming it shut, he pressed his back up against it and shook his head.  His frustration, exhaustion and disbelief that this was just a nightmare, he couldn’t shake.  This nightmare was real, with eyes wide open and heart pounding in chest.

Quickly now, he slid the metal extension basket into the trailer hitch receiver and locked a pin in it.  He tossed four-5 gallon fuel cans on and lashed them down.  Then he did the same to his brother’s truck, making sure all was secure and that the keys were in the ignition and windows up.  Shaking his head again, he jumped in his own truck and rolled the windows up.  Turning the key brought the engine to life, and the satisfying rumble of the old six-cylinder engine brought a smile to his face.  The former military M37 had done its job, surviving a nuclear war, and the weirdest war it would see in its extended service life.

Punching the garage door opener, he watched as sunlight grew under the opening, seeing shadows and then the feet of the enemy.  Pacing, fomenting, salivating at the prospect of a warm meal the zombies prepared to assault.  He watched for their knees and then a gaggle of thighs and swinging hands came into view.  Almost there, he thought, agonizing while waiting for the door to clear the roofline of the truck so he could back out.  Shifting into reverse, he accelerated smoothly into the afternoon sun and the gathered army.

The low gears and high ground clearance made it easier than expected to barge his way through them, crushing toes and feet and the bodies of those unlucky enough to have fallen in the truck’s path.  Two dozen or more had congregated and now turned to follow after him.  

“Good, come and get me.” Berne laughed aloud.  He would go slow enough to get as many as possible to follow, leading them away from the house and his family.

Out into the open field he bounced, putting in a CD on the player Ollie had installed in each truck.  All the eyes in the area looked to him and started toward the melodic human sounds, sounds the dead knew only the living made.

Ray and the others wasted no time gathering up the gear and getting down stairs.  Sounds in the basement haunted Ollie as he made his way past the door he had locked Juli behind.  She was still in there with them.  He hadn’t had time to lock the bedroom door to make her death more private.  And then he realized they had probably found her body and resumed their disgusting feast.  So badly, he wanted to throw open the door and kill them all for what they had done to her.

Annie came up behind her little brother and gently nudged him on; no words would help right now to ease his pain.  “We’ve go to go Ollie.” She said and felt his body droop as he turned away from the basement door and moved to the garage.

Ray cracked open the garage door enough to see how many Zs were waiting in ambush.  To his surprise and relief, their were only two, both broken and twitching on the floor.  Berne had driven over them and the rest of their kind had left them to suffer or whatever they do when so badly injured.  Before he could do anything else, Ray heard a commotion and saw Ollie standing over the two pathetic creatures and began to stomp on them, raining kicks to their heads.  They reacted, as he would have in the same circumstance, by grunting and crying out.  Only they did it because a warm body was so close, exciting them, and not from pain or fear.  

The end result was the same though; the noise got the attention of some of the crowd that had started out after Berne.  They turned and saw an easy meal and a closer target.  As Ray closed the distance to Ollie, he could see outside and noticed more of the ravenous creatures emerging from the basement door, much closer than those coming up the driveway.  Grabbing Ollie by the arm, Ray pulled the younger man into the garage and shoved him toward the truck.

Annie finished loading the additional gear and supplies and grabbed onto Ollie, escorting him into the open truck.  “Get in!” she commanded.  Ollie knew better than to argue and climbed in the back.  “We’re all set, Ray, let’s go.” She yelled.  Ray hopped into the driver’s seat of his son’s truck and started it.

Looking backward in the mirror, Ray started to back out, watching several decaying bodies stagger into view.  He wondered how many had made it into the house and whether the place could be salvaged.  “What a waste.” He thought to himself, knowing first hand how much work had gone into this homestead.  It seemed such a shame to have to abandon it now.  It also made him wonder if there was anywhere that would be safe enough.

Rolling backward, he bumped over the two Zs on the garage floor, hearing their all-to-familiar growls.  Before the entire truck was out of the building, more than a dozen other mutants had clustered in the driveway nearby.  Like a human roadblock, they knotted together in the paved drive.  To his left, Ray saw her first and let out a slight gasp of horror, and pity.  Juli was coming at the truck, pale, eyes white, entrails dragging behind her.  Her mouth gaped open as if to call to him to wait for her.  “Check the right side, Ollie.” Ray shouted, trying to save the young man from seeing her.

“Oh no, Oh my God!” Ollie cried out.  “No Juli, No.” he sobbed, seeing his former lover among the dead.  “We can’t leave her.” Ollie pleaded.

“Ollie, I’m sorry, but she’s gone.  She’s one of them now, we can’t help her.” Annie said, trying to reason with her brother.

“I can’t leave her like that.” Ollie yelled back, and started to open the door.

“Ollie NO!” Annie screamed, trying to hold him in.

Ray slammed on the brakes, sending the younger man tumbling back into his seat.  Rolling down his window, Ray fired his 1911A1 out of the opening, striking Juli in the face and dropping her to the ground before Ollie could right himself.

“NO!” Ollie screamed after hearing the shot, finally seeing her body in a lifeless heap, then sagged back into the seat in tears.

Ray bounced across the open field, making his way to Berne’s location.  He pulled up close so they could talk, but not leaving enough room for any Z to squeeze between the trucks.  “Should we go back for the other truck and to shut down the gas, heat and water?” Berne asked, not knowing the situation back at the house.

“I’m afraid not.  Much as I’d like to, it’s just too risky right now.” His father answered.

Without knowing what had happened, Berne asked about Juli.  Ollie now was quiet, maybe in shock from the loss, but too deep in his own thoughts to even respond.  Ray gestured with his thumb and forefinger in a shooting motion and Berne nodded.

Annie jumped in with Berne, leaving Ollie in the backseat alone.  They decided to head south at least to start and assess the zombie situation as they went.


Jimmy Lassiter was worried, sitting alone on the third floor of an abandoned warehouse.  Using almost half his water supply, he had flushed out his eyes, clearing away the fine dust and particles of glass.  He now sat quiet, cold and shivering in the stairway.  He figured that if they came for him they would have to negotiate the stairs somehow.  Their noise making it up three flights would give him alarm and time to react.  Assuming there were none of the creatures on the floor with him, he should be able to make it until morning and then work out his escape plan.  He had managed to scramble away from the truck with most of his gear, his E&E kit, and a newly acquired AKM with a folding stock.  However, after the shootout, if you could call a one-sided gun battle you still managed to lose as a shootout, he only had one full magazine and one partial.  Jimmy still had his back up, a liberated government issue Beretta M9 pistol and three mags, 46 rounds more.

Every security force member had been encouraged to assemble a small backpack or shoulder slung bag with some essential items like bottled water, emergency rations, gloves and signaling equipment.  It was always thought that help would be close and quick to make it to anyone that got separated.  Somehow, today, Jimmy envisioned that he was on his own for the foreseeable future, with the rest of the city tied up fighting for their survival.

Having already used half the water, Jimmy knew he would need more, not sure how long he would be out of touch.  Even being in the control zone, though it was out of control, finding a building that was cleared and set up for fresh water was going to be hard.  The best he could hope for was a bottled water cooler or soda machine.  

A faint shutting of a door below him, somewhere in the dark building, froze Jimmy in place.  He was certain that no rescue team could have been out for him yet, or even had a clue where to look for him.  “Damn you, Bobby.” He whispered, frustrated and fearing the X-humans were on to him.  The convoy should have easily made it to the breach and at the very least, stuck together.  Jimmy had watched in horror and anger as Bobby’s lead truck had fled back to base, leaving all the others to fight and die while he slinked off.

Cautiously and quietly, Jimmy crept over to the closest stairwell and eased the door open, listening for any more noise.  It came again, like a door being shut, but more a thud than anything.  The idea that they were coming in, filling the floors and doors and escape routes worried Jimmy.  But he wasn’t terrified.  At only 24, he was one of the best shooters in the city and more experienced than all but a handful.  Fighting it out didn’t bother him yet, but if the odds grew too quickly, it wouldn’t matter.

From the third floor, he knew he had a couple of advantages.  Since it was now known that Xs could somehow negotiate stairs his elevation was not as comforting as it used to be.  Still, not all the killers could or would climb this far, and the few that did would receive a bullet in the head as a reward.  His elevation also gave him a visual of the area around the building, allowing for a planned route of escape, if and when the time came.

With no lights at all showing in or around the warehouse, Jimmy knew that this building was taken off the power grid.  Simon and his people had done this to many buildings and structures to streamline the power flow and conserve energy.  It also kept the Xs from being curious like they were on lighted buildings.  Not having power didn’t help Jimmy, but he realized that if he could get a signal fire going on the roof, it would be visible from a long distance.  Of course, he also knew that everyone else would be very busy and not paying much attention to an odd fire.

Going from window to window, he looked for a way out, or something that would help his situation.  There were drainpipes near the corners, but they didn’t look strong enough to take his weight and from 40 feet up, the prospect of falling to his death was not very appealing.  And falling and not being killed, but being seriously injured, would leave him at the mercy of the first Xs to reach him.  Looking up, he noticed a thick, black power line running from this building to the next, anchored at both ends with a sturdy braided cable.  That might work, he thought.

The noise from below was increasing, steadily growing to a constant low rumble.  Either they were all growling, which he was used to, or their numbers had increased to the point they were bumping and pushing objects around the first floor.  There were three stairwells; fire escape routes that went from the first to third floors, and one that went from the third to the roof.  To slow down the X-human advance up the stairs meant making lots of noise, but Jimmy thought it could buy him some precious time.

First, he looked around for anything liquid.  Using a small LED micro light he started reading labels on the stacked crates, spying some liquid soap and window cleaner.  “Perfect.” He said aloud.  Using a pallet jack, Jimmy rolled a couple pallets of each item to the three stairwells.  Grabbing gallon jugs of hand cleaner, he uncapped them and dropped them like pink, plastic bombs down the opening at the center handrail.  The first few jugs bounced off the rails and rolled down the stairs.

Jimmy decided he couldn’t chance a shoddy job and pulled out a power Pentagon flashlight.  Making sure to tighten the strap around his wrist, he resumed the bombing campaign, sending two dozen jugs splashing down to the first X-humans to reach the doorway.  He could see them, slipping and flopping around on the slippery steps below.

He repeated the barrage on the other two stairwells and could hear the monsters moving to the sound of the impacting jugs.  As he returned to the first stairwell to check progress and grab his gear when he noticed the elevator.  “Stupid!” he cursed to himself.  Depending on where the elevator had stopped, he might be able to slide down the cables or climb down the framework to get to the ground floor.  But then what?  Would he open the doors only to find hundreds of dead waiting for him?

Jimmy went up to the rooftop to look around, feeling the biting cold of the night air on his face and going through the fabric of his clothing.  His winter jacket was still in the truck, down on the dock.  Peering over the edge, he could see the dark forms streaming down the street in the moonlight.  They were all coming to his building.

He checked the power cable again, satisfying himself that it would hold him.  He’d done the slide for life before, in boot camp, and hoped this makeshift version would work as well.  But first he needed something to slide with, something that wouldn’t burn up from the friction of rip apart and drop him in to the mob below.  A pulley for the elevator would be perfect, but he had no tools to dismantle it.  The search began for the right equipment.


Simon asked me to accompany him out to the hasty work site.  I’m sure his intent was to have someone nearby that could shoot and help guard him.  I was glad to go with him regardless, anxious to get out of the building anyway.  We followed along in a smaller pickup truck with 4 more armed men.  Simon wasn’t taking chances it appeared.

I was impressed by the rapid response and energetic work.  A huge swath of land was covered with the chain-link mat, hundreds of yards long and at least 50 feet wide.  Other workers were busy tying it all together, making a large grid, later to be electrified.  It looked large enough to stop hundreds of advancing zombies, but I didn’t think it was enough.  I’d seen them mobilized and attacking, and that was without any leadership.  Most unfortunately, the mat would only cover a few approaches on the north border of the control zone, and it was untested.  But, apparently Simon was more than confident it was just the ticket.  Enough of the original fencing was still up and re-wired so Simon could channel any intruders toward the mat.  If they managed to get around it and to this side of the berm, they would be free to roam and spread out.

Ray was working on that problem, rallying as many able persons as he could arm and setting them in elevated firing positions.  The heavy equipment operators were also organized, bringing up as many heavy vehicles as they could find drivers for.  This was going to be a three-phase defense with some offensive punch first.

Phase one would be half the heavy equipment, rolling out the threat on the roads and flat ground.  Ray figured to use the machines to push, run over, crush and block as many of the deadly enemy as possible.  Heavy chains would be linked between them to knock down any X-humans not directly in contact with the equipment.

The second phase was trying to herd or entice the Zs towards the unwelcome mat.  If that failed or wasn’t enough, the shooters would start in phase 3, finding and killing individual targets until the big rigs could get regrouped and make another sweep.

Most of the big equipment pieces had moved toward the breach and soon reported in by walkie-talkie, that they were meeting the first singles and small groups of flesh-eaters only a couple miles away from the school.  Roving vehicle patrols were moving on side streets and flanks, finding fewer targets.  It seemed that the majority of the enemy advance was using the main roads and heading straight for the school and the residential areas near it.

When the electrified mat was finished, all there was left to do was wait.  We huddled around the radios to listen for updates.  The beginning chatter was excited and nervously continuous as the first end loaders made contact.  I could hear the shaking fear in the operator’s voice as he tried to describe the action.  In a few minutes things were more relaxed and more colorful.

The big earthmovers were unfazed by the X-human wave.  The enemy was scattered enough that their combined weight had no impact on the huge machines ability to move.  The chains were even disconnected to allow the drivers to maneuver, making the most effective use of their power to go after groups of the advancing army.  Huge numbers of the black, slime-filled bodies were crushed under the enormous tracks and tires.

Though smaller than the bulldozers, the city plow trucks made countless passes along and behind the bigger machines, pushing sticky, squirming piles of the dead, and broken bodies of the decimated undead off the roadway, keeping several lanes open.  The fragile carcasses of the undead broke and disintegrated easily under the weight of the human driven equipment.  Here and there, drivers called out crawling, half-bodied souls, still trying to drag their wretched selves to a human feast.  The roving patrols answered the calls and dispatched the wounded Zs.

We all smiled, listening to the battle going our way so well.  It was about time that the surviving, living and breathing population got some good news.  The cheerful chatter had us all high-fiving and hooting in celebration.  We still had a long fight to go to be safe.  There was no way to tell or even estimate how many of the deadly creatures had come into the control zone.  There would be weeks and months of building clearing and cleanups, and hunting down the Zs that had managed to roam into the city.  But today was a good day and I almost forgot about leaving.  My family still had to be found, but I knew this was where I would return with them.  Here was a place with a chance and hope and resources.  

A few cracks of rifle fire alerted me that there was danger close to hand.  The rooftop shooters were finding the first of the walking, staggering zombies making their way to the residential areas.  The firing picked up and I realized that perhaps there was another hole in the fence or that the Zs had somehow bypassed the trucks on the highways.  By using the side streets and alleys, they would have skirted around the electric mats too.  Not good.

Ray was already piling a group of vehicles and shooters together to herd the slippery foe towards their demise.  I jumped in with him and we raced out of the rear area to find out what we could do.  There was no need to panic when we arrived, finding only 40-50 of the ashen, white-eyed killers to deal with.  We simply disembarked, took a knee and shot them down.

The smell of burning zombies is unmistakable and disgusting.  I’ve seen many people since this odyssey began that couldn’t stomach the sulfurous, acidic stench.  Even the smoke given off from long distances was enough to make some people vomit.  Unfortunately for those people, the smoke and oily soot would hang in the air for days.  It told me that many Zs had encountered the fence or the electrified mats.  We all loaded back into the truck to investigate, tying cloths around our faces in feeble attempts to block the odor.

Rounding the curve where the highway bent to the west gave us all something to remember.  Several thousand growling, grunting and salivating X-humans moped around the barren lands on the other side of the fence and berm.  The clearly identifiable sounds of orders being howled out was answered by a humming rumble of the masses.  Upon the approach of our trucks, I could clearly see several hundred bodies turn and start at us.  Just as clearly, I could see several individuals turn away from the crowd, trying to find sanctuary among the buildings and disabled vehicles.

I was convinced they were aware of the powered mats yet, but they were staying away from the berm and fence, moving parallel to them towards the residential area.  This appeared to be the reserve force.  Still believing that their leadership was the key to the problem, I asked Ray to stop.  I jumped out in the defilade side of the berm, out of view of the enemy.  

“What’s up?” he inquired.

“We need to bust up their command staff.  I’ll wait here in the area to take them out.  Could you find a sharpshooter or two?” I answered.

“How about a sniper?” one of the guys in the back asked.  When I turned to look, a lanky, dark-haired young man was unloading his gear from the cargo area of the truck.  He dropped a heavy pack at my feet, and then more gently set down a padded nylon drag bag.  “Gavin Sommerfield, at your service, sir” he beamed, extending a hand covered on a Nomex flight glove.  I suddenly felt much older seeing this enthusiastic young man, seemingly oblivious to the gravity of the situation.

“OK, you take off Ray, make some noise and make sure they see you leaving the area.  I’ll call you if we need a ride.” I offered.  “Let’s go.” I urged my new partner.  Using a low drainage ditch we were able to slink back about a hundred yards and got into a two-story building.  I could see plenty of Zs strolling around one of the buildings to our left.  Whatever had their attention had caused them to miss Ray’s trucks or even our approach.  A block away, there were hundreds more trying to cram into another building.  It seemed odd that so many were preoccupied at the building, but I didn’t have time to investigate and didn’t really want to with so many others headed for the school area.

We climbed the stairs, me leading the way since my shooter had a heavy, and more awkward load to carry.  There were no surprises and we got onto the roof without incident.  The roof had a short façade wall, about two feet high on the front and tapered down to either side.  We had enough concealment to lay prone.  I told Gavin that I would spot targets for him and pulled out my small monocular. He looked at me quizzically and then smirked as he shook his head.  “Here, try these instead.” He offered, handing me a pair of green, rubber-armored, Steiner Commander binoculars.

We lay down and got in a good position.  With all the Zs and Xs passing by it was hard to just let them go, but I honestly thought that we needed to kill their more advanced and mobile leaders to disrupt the flow.  I used the binos to glass over the street on the other side of the fence and berm first.  I could hear a shrill screech every so often and saw that many of the rotting creatures would hesitate briefly, turning to find the source.  It gave me a general direction in which to look.  Someone was yelling at them and their slow reflexes made them struggle to turn away from the prospect of food.  

I used the binos and searched the shadows across the battlefield while Gavin readied his rifle.  Every few seconds, I glanced over to check his progress and saw that he was about set, laying out a Knight Industries SR-25/M-11 fitted with a suppressor and a powerful Nightforce scope.  The guy had good taste in firepower.  He flipped out the legs of the bipod and announced he was ready.

Since we were only a couple of hundred yards away, there wasn’t much need to worry about wind corrections.  Our first target was the easiest to find, a tall, slender blond with long, waist-length hair.  I supposed that at one time it might have been beautiful but now, it was snarled, stained and matted with leaves and bits of everything it had been dragged through.  She was on a second floor balcony trying to stay back in the shadows but stepped out each time she wanted to shout her marching orders.  Her once white shirt set her out when she moved and Gavin fired almost as soon as I started to guide him in on her.

The shot was nearly silent, and hit her right in the side of the head above the ear.  With an almost pleasing splatter of her brains on the wall behind her, she crumpled to the concrete floor, quiet forever.  A portion of the crowd slowed to a stop, turning to find her; confused she no longer guided them on.  I realized that all these wandering X-humans were like tribes, coming together for the bigger battle.  I needed to test and prove the theory.  The only problem was, that the confused undead killers soon began to turn and meld into the crowd, more interested in the warm meal ahead than waiting for new orders.

A second Z leader presented himself shortly after, poking his face out of a broken window in a store front just below the dead blond.  This guys face was hanging in grotesque strips of flesh that had dried to his shirtfront and shoulders.  His skull was bright white, streaked with black and his eyes and mouth still worked, devoid of skin covering.

He would have sent any child screaming in terror.  Once again, my shooter was on him quickly, splitting the zebra-colored head with a 168-grain match hollow point.  And just as before, an even larger portion of the meandering crowd slowly came to a stop, and then searched for guidance.

The suppressor was a wonderful tool, allowing us, or should I say, Mr. Sommerfield, to take out these targets without giving away our position and drawing the enemy to us.  We found and silenced two more zombie leaders before deciding to move.  The flow of the dead had slowed, no doubt from the sounds and movements of the heavy equipment moving into the area, distracting and killing many more.  We packed up and scurried down the stairs, running a full city block to the west to get ahead of the hungry mob.

Runs and Guns, At first I wasnt sure why you were confused.  But now I see that when I post, none of my bolds, italics, and the lines I put between chapters disappear when I put it up.   Youre just going to have to bear with because it would take too long to go through the entire document each time I post a chapter to add them all back in.  It will be in the book when I get it printed

Awesome entry...thanks!!!!!!!!

Great story. I can't wait for the next installment.

Awesome fast45, thank you!  Been checkin' everyday.

Waiting for more, sir!

great installment, love the story... K.

Truly an awesome read. Thank you!!!

MOAR MOAR!

Although I have to admit, it's truly worth the wait.  You are doing an awesome job on this story.  You're not writing, you're composing, I can see how this could take time.

Again, thanks for doin' this for us fast45!

Awesome story!!! Keep it up man!!!

This is one of the best,  if not the best zombie story that I have ever read. Thanks and keep up the good (great) work.

I love this story..



MY ignorant question though.. if this is "Darkest Part of the Day, Part II"...



Where is Part I?



I checked OP and searched through the forum and couldn't find it.



Keep up the good work!

here ya go

Chapter 10
Running Gun Battles

Berne and Annie led the small caravan south, not sure where to go yet, but finding the road was cluttered with the walking dead.  Only now, they were all headed south as well, only turning their ugly faces in slow reaction to the sounds of the approaching trucks.  They reached out, moaning in frustration at their inability to grab onto the passing meal.  Where they all were going was a mystery at this time.

They maintained communication with a pair of FRS radios, which were low-powered, but as long as they stayed in sight of each other, they were sufficient.  Ollie was still quiet, no longer crying, but not talking or responding to conversation.  Berne led, through a series of back roads, to the county road that would eventually take the family to the state highway.  The plan, for as long as it lasted, would be to make for a vantage point and then decide which way to go.  The Zs on the roadway seemed to have the same idea, with most of them generally following the roads south or east.

It was hard to imagine that maybe most of them had been headed to his house earlier in the day, but now somehow knew that meal was no longer available.  With an overwhelming depressive thought, Berne wondered if there were this many of the undead dead everywhere, criss-crossing the country in search of isolated, living, breathing humans.  What chances did they have against such odds?

––-

Jimmy considered the odds.  He was definitely surrounded, outnumbered hundreds to his one, and little chance anyone would be looking for or able to help him.  He didn’t have anywhere near enough ammunition to shoot his way out, and that left him only running away as an option.   Suicide was not even considered.

Over the last few hours, the enemy, the tireless, persistent and savage enemy was making progress on his elevated position.  By their numbers and their constant pushing forward, they had clawed their way to the second floor despite all the slippery substances he had greased the stairs with.  It wouldn’t be long until the first waves of the horrible, ugly creatures made it to his floor.  He couldn’t be at all three entrances at once, and so he stayed near the last set of stairs he would need to get to the roof to make his final stand.

Checking more boxes, he looked for anything flammable.  There was nothing, probably because of some OSHA regulation; all those chemicals were stored down by the docks.  “Damn American safety regulations this one time” he cursed aloud.  A bang on the door at the other end of the floor made him jump.  They’d made it!  Not in enough volume yet to get in, but it wouldn’t be long now.  Even though the doors were metal and opened out, when enough of them arrived, and pushed, their weight and combined strength would buckle the barrier.

––-

We barely slid into the next block when a force of Zs came out of the dark, nearly right on top of us.  We ran, even at a slow jog we could easily put distance between them and us and outmaneuver them.  But they had seen us and gave chase.  Gavin was in great condition, even trudging the extra weight of his gear, he was hardly breathing above normal.  One of those envied traits of youth, I guess.  We broke to the left, moving down an alley for another block before making another left turn.  That brought us to the rear of an old two-story warehouse facing the highway.

Slipping in under a half open loading dock door, we quickly scanned the area for unwanted company before heading to the roof.  The combined chuffing and growling of hundreds of Zs caught my attention as we hit the second floor, coming from the rear of the building.  Going to the edge, I saw them, like army ants in long streams packing into the building behind us from every opening they could find.  I’d seen this behavior enough to know what it meant, and looking to Gavin in the moonlight, I could tell he knew as well.  Somewhere in that building, there had to be a living human.  At least I hoped it was a still-living human.

The powerful magnification of Gavin’s binos allowed me to see into the windows of the building and gathered enough light that I could make out individual, ghoulish faces as they passed by the glass on each floor.  “We need to get to the roof.” Gavin urged, copying my thoughts.  I nodded and turned to find the stairs.

We broke onto the roof in a crash, ready in case any Zs awaited us.  They didn’t.  I saw a spark of bright light for just an instant and tried to focus on the source.  Then again, this time longer, sweeping the other building’s rooftop, side to side.  “Whose there?” I called out across the alley between us.  We were a floor lower, not able to see who or what was there.

“Lassiter, Jimmy Lassiter” came the excited reply.  “Where are you?” he asked.  Using my G3, I blipped the light upward to the sound of his voice.  “Got ya.” He exclaimed, nearly blinding me with his own light.  “I’ve got a bit of a dilemma.” He quipped, now much more confident.

“We can see that, dork.” Sommerfield shot back in the kind of playful tone that good friends use.

“That you, G?” Jimmy shouted back.

“Who else would be willing to save your sorry butt?” Gavin quipped.  Jimmy explained about the cable he was planning to use and we worked our way to it.  Using a length of chain he’d found, Jimmy made a daring slide over to our building.  The difference in height from his building to ours made for a quick descent and he slammed into the side of the building.
Even in the dark, I could see that he’d smashed his face, but you couldn’t tell by his excitement to be back among the living, as Gavin pulled him over the ledge.

“I sure hate to leave so many of them unattended.” Jimmy smiled, looking over at the other building, now nearly crammed full with the restless, ruthless killers.  “And I’m gonna have to leave a good truck behind too.” He said, wiping the blood from his broken nose on his sleeve.

“I’ve got an idea that’ll solve your problem.” Gavin announced.

As we returned to the first floor, Gavin set down his pack and opened a window facing the three-story jimmy had come from.  There on the dock, I could see Jimmy’s truck and Gavin poked his rifle toward it.  The diffused sound of his first shot still sounded very loud, but I think more because I didn’t want to be found.

The bullet struck the rear flank of the truck body but I couldn’t see where, only hearing the dull ping.  Gavin rolled to his side and waited a few moments, then rolled back into position.  He made noises that I recognized as a magazine change and then aimed in again across the alley.  The armor piercing incendiary round hit a millisecond later with a bright flash, followed immediately by a bigger, denser boom and an orange fireball as the leaking gas from Jimmy’s truck ignited.

The loading dock was ablaze quickly from the splashed gasoline.  On the dock, open barrels of oil and other chemicals caught fire too, joining the rising inferno.  In a matter of minutes the entire first floor was burning, popping as one jug or can or container after another ruptured from the heat.  The Zs inside were consumed quickly, their oily, blackened bodies burning like horrible Halloween candles.

We stayed and watched until the third floor was alight, knowing that hundreds, maybe easily thousands of the evil-smelling vermin were going to die.  We got out of the building and out of the area quickly, only encountering a few stragglers as we made our way back to the school.  The closer we got, the more Zs we ran into, but they were too bent in getting there to be very concerned with us.  All the time, in the background of their concerted moaning, I could still hear their leaders grunting out orders.  It was too dark now to do anything about them, and we pushed for home base.

As we approached, we moved south away from the electric mat area so that we could safely enter the shrunken control area.  I called Ray and let him know our location and direction so we weren’t mistaken for a Z and gunned down.

––-

Berne had worked his way up to the highway, only to be disappointed with the view.  All that was visible from here were Zs, streaming past on the way south, towards, Braselton, or beyond.  On the approach, his headlights had illuminated hundreds more crossing fields and using back roads.  Whatever drove them had to be big, a large concentration of humans or something making enough noise to entice them to travel in such numbers.

Even stopping for this brief time, the two-truck caravan was nearly surrounded, the first bumping into the back tailgate moments later.  There would be no safety here, no place to stop and rest for the night.  Shifting into gear, Berne rolled forward and down off the ramp away from the main road.  Sanctuary tonight would be in the trucks and they would be warm and dry as long as they were moving.  To stop and let the engines idle while they slept would only invite curiosity and a swarm of bloodthirsty ghouls.
A light rain began to fall, further reducing visibility on the dark roads.  Without electricity, the world had become a very dark and dangerous place.  Farther off the highway, the number of Zs dropped off considerably.  Whether through some spark of memory or just plain ease of travel, the Zs seemed to prefer the paved roads.  But in the reaches of the headlights, in the halo of illumination, Berne could still catch glimpses of others straggling and struggling across fields, slowed by wire fences, hedgerows and creeks.  But, they always pushed on in the determined quest for warm flesh and blood, frustrated by the obstacles but never deterred.

Rolling through one small town after another, Berne and the others realized their loneliness.  There were no signs of life, no lights in houses and no one hailing greetings to them.  Only the bleak quietness, the empty shell of a once vibrant world faced them.  And always just enough of the undead limping around to make these places uninviting and unattractive as a place to stop and rest.  There had to be more hope in the world than this, there just had to be.

––-

We got back in and had a chance to clean up, and grab a bite to eat.  We also reloaded our magazines, to be ready to go back out in a moments notice.  Our earlier arson could be seen in the distance and Ray told us there had been a big gap in the flow of dead for about an hour.  We all hoped that it would continue all night but realized that it was wishful thinking.  Even so, the mass of X-humans that had already been destroyed was staggering.

The battle was definitely working to reduce the number of undead dead from the city.  What none of us knew at the time was how many more were shambling and dragging themselves towards us.  This battle was far from over.

Our biggest weapons were the vehicles and heavy equipment that allowed us to take the fight to the enemy and keep them as far away as possible from the families and kids.  The drivers had taken the challenge with much trepidation at first, but now were hard to call back, only wanting to stop long enough for food and fuel.  The shooters were now being split into smaller teams to begin to seek out any Zs that were wandering around the control zone.  Simon hoped to push the surge of rotting killers back to the breach point by morning and get started on repairs and upgrades.

The electric mat had only stopped a handful of Zs that made it in close.  The idea worked as envisioned, it was just that very few of our deadly foes made it this far.  The trucks, bulldozers and excavators and end loaders were being so effective and efficient that the fence and mat weren’t needed.  The leadership on the opposition side seemed to have reconsidered their attack.   Hundreds of Zs still strolled along the barren grounds on the north side of the berm, but no longer did they move in to touch it, to push on it, or to try and make another opening.  I could hear them, screeching orders among the darkened buildings, holding their army in check.

They were the key, at least in the short term, those few thinking, and vocal leaders.  We had to find a way to identify them, to cut them from the herds of the dead.  At some point, it would necessary to go out after them.  But now that the major combat was drawing down, I still planned to leave.  I had family waiting and I had been delayed too long.  I liked the people here, and viewed their experience and accomplishments with great interest.  Something told me this was the oasis, the epicenter of rebirth for the living.  With more time, more people and more ideas, with the skills to implement them, we could all begin to live again.

––-

Berne swung the front of the truck into the shed to make room for Ray’s truck.  The building stood open and alone in a bald field, only the brick foundation to what looked to have been a nice farmhouse lay in charred ruins nearby.  

Visibility was good for hundreds of yards on three sides, with the forth facing a small patch of woods.  He just hoped that by morning the building wasn’t surrounded.  A quick sweep of the interior showed that the shed was empty of zombies.  Berne slid the big door shut behind the second truck, closing the four of them in darkness for the evening.

Annie had to coax Ollie out of the back seat where he had curled into a ball, still awake, but quiet.  Berne worked in the far corner, rearranging a few straw bales into a makeshift bathroom stall.  Ray was already busy throwing some dinner together.  A few more bales of straw were fashioned into a ring of seats around a small cook stove where Ray had some water heating.


They were out of the weather but it was still cold in the unheated building.  All four had sleeping bags and the straw would make a good insulator, no fire being allowed for heat and chance drawing in Zs.

Ollie was distraught, not accepting conversation or food and staying away to a dark corner.  Annie tried to coax him into talking about what happened, to try and get him past it, but he remained sullen and quiet.  She joined Ray and Berne near the small stove, enjoying a cup of hot tea and some jerked beef.  “He won’t even talk to me.” She told them.

“Then he must really hate me, since I had to…..” Ray began.

“Dad, there was no other option.  Leaving her there, like that, would have been worse.” Berne interrupted, watching his father’s head shake slowly.  They were all bothered by it, but everyone knew, including Ollie, that the world was different now.  The luxuries of the past were no longer available, including grief and mourning.  When someone turned into one of those hideous, emotionless killers, they were gone forever.  No amount of reason or hope or time would stop them from eating you.  

And they would consume you without concern, without regret and with no recollection of the past or who you were or had been to them.  Ollie would have to get over it, and soon, the same way every other still-warm human had.  Every single person had lost someone or everyone dear to them and had seen the transformation from loved one to cold-blooded killer, and coped.  They either coped or hesitated for too long, long enough to become a victim themselves.

They all hoped things would be different by morning, drifting away to bed down.  Annie turned down the small flame of the stove and looked to her brother in the flickering shadows of the fading light.  “Good night Ollie.” She whispered as the space around them went dark.

––-

“We need to take the fight to them, push back our safety zone if possible.” Ray urged the crowded assembly room.  All the security force leaders and civilian government officials had gathered to discuss what had happened and what to do next.

“It won’t work.” Simon countered.  No longer trying to push his ideas of negotiation, Simon realized how dangerous a situation we were in and how close we had been to being overrun.  When Ray glared over at him, Simon stood his ground and explained.  “Ray, your people have done a fantastic job, everyone has, but how do you plan to hold back another, from outside the fence?” Now seeing that he had Ray’s attention and that the man had relaxed, he continued.

“I’m all for going after them, if for no other reason than to destroy their lines of communication and whatever rudimentary infrastructure they possess.  But pushing too far, or too fast, could endanger your forces leaving the rest of the city vulnerable to attack.  You could get out there and find them on the run until you kill their leaders.  Then what?  They go berserk, without anyone trying to call them back, and we are up against Armageddon.” Simon concluded.

Ray thought about it for a few moments and sat down.  “What do you suggest?” he asked.  

––-

I had just finished packing when Jimmy and Gavin came in, followed by Ray and some other security personnel.  “You’re still planning on leaving?” Jimmy inquired.

“Have to.  I’ve been delayed so long and so often, I may have lost my family.” I replied, slipping into my vest.

“You’re part of our family now.” He smiled, with true feeling in the statement.  The others nodded and chimed in with like comments.

“I appreciate that, and feel it too.  I just have to go.  I need to know, one way or another.” I tried to explain.

“Go find them then, and bring them back here.  You’re all welcome to live with us.” Ray said, standing closer now, he stuck out his hand.  I took it firmly, looking him straight in the face and thinking how much he reminded me of my father.  It was another one of those moments where I was more convinced I needed to go.

Can't wait to see how this all turns out!! Keep it up!

Thank you fast45, you are up there with my favorite authors.

[[[Usagi says in his best Mr. Burns voice, rubbing hands together]]]  

EXCELLENT


[[[Ends Mr. Burns voice]]]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!  Been anxiously awaiting this installment!  Keep it comin' friend!

Outstanding chapter as usual.

I just finished reading "Lights Out" so I had to go back and read the last chapter to get back into the story. Im amazed at the quality of your work and that of some of the other members of the board. I wish that there was some way we could repay you for the entertainment/pleasure you provide us. If you ever publish or decide to start a donation program via paypal, I would be happy to send a few $$$ your way. Thanks!!!!!!

Another awesome chapter! Thanks

Outstanding!!!

Can't wait for the next chapter!

Glad to see the town surviving... for now.

Excellent chapter as usual!  Thanks much!

we can has moar plz? k thanx

I agree with everyone else, I think it's about time for an update.

Chapter 11
Outside the Wire

Going out the gate, I headed south to pick up the highway extension that would eventually connect me to the interstate that made a loop around the city.  I couldn’t just drive straight north from the berm in to the uncontrolled area, instead making a wide arc outside the zombie infested area.  The little motorbike was fuel efficient enough that the detour wouldn’t suck down too much of the precious liquid.

The city outside the control zone was a mess, starkly contrasting the clean, orderly and lighted world of the population center.  North and west of the fenced area, entire segments of the city were charred hulks of buildings, houses and storefronts.  Trash and desiccated remains of dead bodies littered the road.  Black smudges below on the surface streets told me where many more had died, dried up and blown away, unprotected from the winds and elements.

Coming upon a huge blockade in the middle of the highway, all I could see for miles ahead were disabled cars and trucks.  I imagined they were all stunned at once by the Chinese nuclear attack, the Electromagnetic Pulse given off from the blast frying the electronics needed to run the vehicles.

Abandoned en mass, thousands of people had to walk away from their transportation and whatever belongings they’d managed to pack as they bugged out of the city.  It seemed so ridiculous to me now, again.  Where had they hoped to go?  To just drive off for the hills and some supposed dream of safety, was crazy, and had cost many of them their lives.

I would have done something similar had I been home.  Just not as late, or as careless.  I had a plan and pre-positioned supplies.  I’d prepared the vehicles and spare parts.  But seeing this mess ahead of me was sobering.  I wondered how it would have gone, whether I would see my truck stuck in the middle of the traffic jam I was now looking over.  In many ways it looked like a well-designed war movie set, surreal and unbelievable.

Even the gentle gurgle of the cycle’s exhaust was enough to get their attention.  Up ahead, among the parking lot of vehicles before me, I saw the first few heads pop up.  Movement all across the roadway told me they would be coming soon as their ghostly, ghastly faces were highlighted in the morning sunshine.  So much for weaving my way through the traffic jam.  A loud screech over my right shoulder snapped me out of my thoughts, instinctively hunching my shoulders, anticipating a blow from behind.

She wasn’t able to reach me, trapped, at least temporarily by a short, wire fence.  I should have killed her but she was not a threat to me.  It was a dilemma most humans were dealing with, I was sure.  Each Z had to be destroyed at some point; to let them live would eventually endanger someone, somewhere.  However, the trade off at times like this was drawing more attention to me than I could handle and using ammunition I could not replace.  I looked at her and blew her a kiss, then rolled the bike down the embankment to find a way around the blocked road.

––-

Berne woke first, the gentle creak of metal sounding like a claxon in the quiet of the dark shed.  Sitting up, he listened for another noise; the soft pad of footsteps outside made him cock his head to tune in on the sound.  Ray was sound asleep, Berne hearing the air of his father’s breath evenly going in and out.  He turned his head to where Annie had laid down and strained to hear her too.  Slowly, he slid the zipper of his sleeping bag down, trying not to make any sounds.

Groping in the dark, he reached for Annie first to alert her.  She wasn’t there, and for a second he relaxed, thinking the noises had been her taking care of some personal business.  He started to ease back and slowly felt the warmth of the bag under him, when she whispered to him from behind.  “Ollie is gone” was all she said.  It was enough to startle Berne and get his heart pounding.

“Geez, Annie” he hissed back at her.  “I heard him walking around outside just a minute ago.

“That’s not him.  I followed his tracks to the north.  I think he’s trying to go back for Juli.” She informed him.  Now his heart was really pumping and the idea that he hadn’t heard either of them get up, let alone go outside, really upset him.  

“What’s going on?” Ray interjected, now wide awake.  Annie explained in the darkness, whispering.

“We could be surrounded or it could just be one or two Zs sniffing around, trying to find a way in.  At least Ollie closed the door behind him.” Annie advised.

“All right, let’s get packed up and ready to move at first light.” Berne suggested.  The trio loaded the trucks in the dark, slowly and quietly as possible.  Every few minutes a sound from outside reverberated through the shed, letting them know someone or something was still there.  Berne checked his watch and saw that there were only a few minutes until sunrise would start to turn the sky a dull blue-gray.  The pre-dawn always held the most surprises, when you could just start to see, but not far enough to really show what was there.  It was also still very dark inside and taking a chance to find a viewing port could make more noise than it was worth.  Tripping over or banging into something in the dark would only let those outside close in, trapping them in the barn.

Berne and Annie waited in the lead truck.  He could tell she was anxious and worried about her little brother.  She drummed her fingers on the seat, impatiently waiting to see the bright morning sunlight beam through the cracks in the siding.  He reached over and squeezed her hand to calm her.  “I hope he’s ok.” She said.

“He will be.  We’ll find him.” Berne assured her.  Ten minutes later bright shafts of light streaked through empty nail and bullet holes in the metal siding, making white dots on the opposite wall.  The building was fairly tightly constructed, not like the worn, wooden barns where gaps in the boards would have given a glimpse of the activity outside.  As it was, the noise level out there had increased and while he couldn’t see what was making the sounds he was certain it was zombies.  Whether through sound or sight or smell, these damned things always found people.  In better times, some laboratory could design a repellant or cure, but that was generations away now.  It was the advanced middle ages now, where the enemy had to be conquered individually and in battles.  This enemy just never seemed to know when it was beaten.

Options were few.  One would be to have someone in the shrinking group unlatch and slides open the big door.  Otherwise, it would be down to ramming their way out and taking the Zs by surprise.  The trucks were certainly solid enough and capable of this method even though one or both could sustain damage.  Berne got out and had Annie slide over into the driver’s seat.  “I’m going to make some noise to distract them over there.” He told her, pointing to the back wall.  “Then I’m going to slide the door open and you guys get out fast.  I’ll jump onto one of the trucks.” He finished.

Using a flashlight, Berne searched to find something to throw, figuring the light outside was now bright enough to conceal his own.  Finding a shovel and broken handle for another and two bale hooks near the entry door, he turned the light off and made ready.

The first bale hook thudded almost silent against some stacked straw and landed on loose straw on the floor.  Frustrated, Berne snapped on the light and found a clear portion of wall for the next throw.  The crash and clang of metal on metal drew a sickly choir and Berne could hear several sets of feet shuffle away from the door, moving along the exterior wall.  They were definitely Zs and quite a few more than Berne had expected.  He let them go for a minute before tossing the shovel handle.  The result was the same, growling and grumbling and more noise headed to the back of the metal barn.

When it was quiet, Berne slid the big door open an inch.  No ugly face greeted him, although the foul stench of their rotting bodies still hung in the air.  Cautiously, he pushed the door further, enough to stick his head out, checking left and right.  Confident they had a few moments free from the hungry monsters, Berne pushed the door fully open and tossed the shovel at the back wall, once more enticing the gathering Zs.  He nodded to Annie and his father, and heard both trucks crank to life.  Annie punched the gas and pulled out, Ray right behind her.  Berne jogged up to her and jumped in just as the first curious walking dead man came around the barn corner.

“Head right, back up to the highway.” Berne told her.  “If Ollie is out here, he’d go that way.” He added.  It made no sense to go wildly about the countryside looking for Ollie, who would probably try to avoid them anyway.  Ray knew, as did Berne, that Annie would insist on finding her brother.  She was family, they owed her enough to try, but it wasn’t going to turn into a lengthy trek.  If Ollie wasn’t close, he was probably dead.

––-

Ollie screamed as loud as he could, but no one heard him.  No one that is that he wanted to hear him.  He saw both trucks emerge from the shed before he could get back.  He considered how stupid he had been to go out in the first place.  He’d only wanted to clear his head, to get focused on survival and not those things he could do nothing about.

Slipping out after dark, when everyone had gone to sleep, he planned to just walk for a bit when he was cut off.  After almost bumping into the first Z in the black night, he found he was nearly encircled, and had to run away to avoid capture and consumption.

And now, the others had realized he was gone and appeared to be headed out to find him.  That would be Annie, assuming that he was going back after Juli.  His sister, bless her good intentions, had read him wrong.  Ollie was over it, the loss of friend, and the horrible way she’d died.  His walk had served him well, to think over who and what Juli was.  She’d been sweet in her own way, but spoiled and selfish.  And he realized his original shock over her death was a bit severe.  While they had survived together and were still lovers, Ollie had grown apart from her for many reasons.  He was sad she had died but that was the end of it.  

As he scurried away from the dozens of heads that turned their attention to the sound of his shouting, he realized something else.  He had committed a breach of Berne’s house rules; he’d gone out unarmed, and unprepared to survive.  Without a rifle or pistol, he had no way to signal his family as the two vehicles rolled out of sight.  He also had no way to defend himself.

Running through the brush and overgrown weeds coated with heavy dew, Ollie was cold and soaked with chilled moisture.  His final realization of the morning was that he was lost, not having any idea which way to go or where he was.  There were no signs of civilization, no houses or farms visible even in the distance.  He’d had his head down in the back seat when they all arrived here so he didn’t remember any of the terrain.  His panic grew, and he ran.  Every noise now raising fear in his excited mind, heart pounding in his ears, Ollie barreled on through the head high brush.

Slowing for some small trees, he glanced over his shoulder to check his distance and see if they were still in the chase.  “Good, nothing in sight.” He told himself and started to turn.  The blow to his face knocked him off balance.  Stumbling, feet still moving, he put his hand out to catch himself as he fell.

The fingers of his right hand folded back, audibly snapping under his weight and downward pressure.  Landing on his side, stunned by the fall and with pain rocketing through his hand and arm, Ollie laid there for a second to clear his head.  Already he could hear them and he arched his head to look behind him.  “Only four.” He said aloud, trying to regain his composure.  Rolling over to his stomach and then up to his knees, Ollie started to stand when he heard a screech behind him.  He spun around and lashed out, forgetting his broken hand until it slapped against the side of her bony head.

A witchy brunette with only one arm recoiled from the impact.  Electrifying pain flew up his arm.  He kicked her with a front kick that caved in her scrawny chest and sent her rolling away.  The others had closed and Ollie spun again, throwing a sidekick to the closest target, knocking a skinny teenage Z into another.  The last two ghouls reached for him and Ollie batted their hands down as he back peddled, getting distance from them.

He could have stayed and pounded and kicked them to a second death, but it would only give more of the flesh-eaters time to surround him.  Jogging up the incline of a small rise he could now see the road on the other side of barn.  He had to get there, to be more visible if Annie and the others came back.  He also knew he could move faster on the road.  But in the fields below, an army of 40-50 Zs had all turned their collective attention and inexhaustible energy on him.  

––-

Traveling by road was becoming too much work, weaving and dodging all the outstretched hands, forcing me to roll along at a snail’s pace.  I knew where all these things were going; I just couldn’t understand how they all knew.  I wanted to speed, to race along and let some of the fresh air cleanse the stench of burning Z and death off of me.  But the roads were the only way I could stay on course, without maps I might wander for countless futile miles, milking down my meager gas supply.

I used the shoulders and the median and the ditches to avoid them.  I paralleled the highway where the terrain or the number of enemy allowed, or forced me to.  It was like being the only float in a parade, every eyeball and all the gathered crowds attention directed solely on me.  But here they wished for me to break down or to stop for just a second too long so they could come up and greet me and then eat me.

The going was slow, but I was making progress and avoiding direct confrontations.  The down side was that I had burned through nearly half of my fuel and had only one spare gallon strapped to the back cargo rack.  I decided to put it in the tank as soon as I could get safely stopped.  It would help balance the weight and if I was lucky to find a re-supply, I’d have a container.  If not, I’d be back on foot, and I hoped I could make as many miles before running out.

The fields ahead thinned out into unkempt grasses and made it easier to travel where the weeds weren’t too tall to see over. The Zs were thinning out as well; almost all of them were now on the road or near it.  For the most part they weren’t even interested in me unless I stopped or came near the paved areas.  I saw a pole barn ahead to the right, near the center of a wide field.  It looked deserted, but that was always a bad assumption to make.  The only Zs in the area were trudging up a gentle slope to the east of the barn.  They must not have heard me approach and didn’t turn in my direction.

Creeping up to the barn, I stopped about 20 yards short or the open door and waited.  If there were any Zs inside, they wouldn’t take long to show themselves and investigate the gentle bubbling of the muffler.  When none of the rotting creatures appeared, I ducked inside leaving the bike idling outside.  If any of them came to check it out, they would go for the bike first, giving me time to escape or make a plan to defeat them.

I searched the interior for gas or anything else of useless value.  It was mostly empty except for some straw.  Someone had used this place recently but left no sign of their identity or direction of travel.

Twice, I thought I heard someone yelling but when I stopped to listen, there was nothing.  I guessed the wind had whistled through the siding or roof.  I was jumpy just being in this building with only one entry/exit point and decided it was time to go anyway.  No sense giving some lucky group of Zs a chance to trap me in there.

Walking out, I heard a noise again and stopped to listen.  The little engine on the cycle ticked along to my right and I could still hear the sound, like a voice.  I cocked my head and scanned the area and realized the sound was from the hill and wooded area to the east.

On the incline, about three quarters of the way up, I saw him.  A man in a pale blue shirt was running among the saplings and small trees at the edge of the forest, frantically waving his arms.  Below him, 50 or more Zs were advancing after him.  I’m not sure if the man had seen me. I think he was purely panicked and yelling to relieve his fear.  He was running perpendicular to me and would soon be out of sight over the crest of the hill unless I signaled him.

Unslinging the carbine, I shouldered it and took aim on one of the Zs behind the man and fired.  The bullet went low but dropped the mongrel, smashing his femur.  I had to adjust for the incline and fired again, knocking down another Zs behind the runner.

––-

Ollie thought he heard two shots echo in the trees but had too many Zs closing in on him to stop and look for the source.  Luckily the saplings, interspersed with the larger trees on the hillside slowed down the Zs more than it did him.  Weaving his way among the forest kept the outstretched hands and clawing fingers off him.  A third shot resonated off the hillside and Ollie watched the head of a large male Z explode just twenty feet in front of him.  It was a good thing too, since Ollie hadn’t seen this Z, wearing hunting camouflage he had blended into the woods.

The shooter was good and had saved Ollie from certain injury because he would have run straight into this big killer.  Grabbing onto a tree, Ollie skidded to a stop and looked for his savior.  The momentary flash, followed by the delayed boom of a gunshot, allowed Ollie to focus his attention to the barn below.  From the distance, he couldn’t recognize the shooter but could see the person was waving to him.

It was an invitation that didn’t wait long for a response and Ollie waved back, letting go of the tree and starting down the hill.  A gauntlet of savage and hungry beings waited for him.  Some, further down the hill had turned to the sounds the shooter was making and Ollie hoped he could get down to the barn first, before his help decided it was too dangerous to stick around and left.

Ollie charged down the slope, slicing left and right to avoid the clutches of the horde.  Twice he heard the gun below him fire and watched a Z topple over headless in front of him.  The shooter was good or reckless, Ollie thought, seeing that the dying Zs were in direct line with his path, only at different elevations.  The shooter was clearing a path for him and Ollie surged on, elated to be found and almost clear of the danger.

Only a hundred yards to go, he searched for a vehicle, hoping that he could simply jump aboard and be away from this place.  At fifty yards he slowed, well ahead now of his pursuers.  Looking more intently at the shooter he thought the man looked familiar, he resembled Berne but was much thinner, and his facial features more gaunt and sallow.  “Ollie?” he heard as he jogged closer.

“Verne?  Is that you? Where did you come from? Where are the others? Ollie fired off the questions rapidly before I could answer.

“It’s me Ollie.  Slow down.  What others?  Is Annie here? I asked, excited that I’d stumbled onto my family.

“They were here an hour or so ago but left.  They must have gone off looking for me when we got separated.” Ollie advised.

It was all too much and I was lost in the conversation.  Much as I wanted him to explain, to take time and catch up, I couldn’t.  We were about to be overrun.  The cycle idling nearby would have to be our escape, although with all my gear strapped on it there was nowhere for Ollie to sit.  He’d just have to stand on the pegs and hold on as we fled the area.  We didn’t need to race away dangerously, only fast enough to put ground between our persistent foe and us.  Ollie suggested going north since that was the direction the others had gone.

We bounced along for a few miles, the little cycle straining under the extra weight.  Every bump in the road was jarring, as the suspension was compressed to its limit offering no cushion.  I knew if we continued like this for long, something would break, and so I stopped.  The hungry enemy had all but disappeared, only the occasional shambling wretch wandering by.  Even at a normal walking pace, we could avoid them.

I had not paid much attention to them until things calmed down.  They were in horrible condition, as if there were ever anything but.  Yet, the last few I’d seen were particularly thin and bony, much akin to pictures I remembered from prisoners of war in the Nazi concentration camps.  I realized that I hadn’t thought much about the Z condition, aside from how dangerous they were.  No one knew what made these things mobile or functional but like anything else with motion, they needed fuel.  In the case of zombies, it seemed to be warm blood and flesh and without it they had to be starving.  Their bodies had to be consuming them to be able to push on as they did.  Perhaps they could die off, but how long that would take was a mystery like most everything else about them.

We walked along, pushing the cycle and conserving the fuel in case we needed to move in a hurry.  Ollie filled me in on all that had happened at home.  I was so relieved to hear that Annie and my brother and father were still alive.  We had lost many family members though and I couldn’t imagine how things would be in the future without some of them.  It seemed that everyone had lost someone and I silently wished and hoped that those responsible for all this carnage and despair were paying an equally punishing price.

We walked and talked for nearly two hours before taking a break.  I wanted to stay close to the road in case the others came back.  It seemed logical that they backtrack and look for Ollie here.  But it was cold and some shelter would be wonderful so we could relax and get something to eat.  A metal, single span bridge not far up the road was just the ticket.  I leaned the bike against the railing, making sure it obstructed part of the roadway and was clearly visible to any approaching traffic.  We climbed the rusted girders and found a flat spot to sit where we could lean our backs against the uprights to rest.  I broke out some food and water and we ate and talked some more.  It was wonderful to have someone I knew to talk to.

Several times in the course of the first hour, single Zs strolled by, oblivious that we were here or too interested in getting to Braselton that they didn’t care about us.  It was like the word had gone out on the radio stations announcing that humans were on the menu in the city.  I knew they had some basic ability to communicate but could not force myself to believe it was operational over such long distances.  I told Ollie about the Zs in Braselton, and he too was astounded.  However, he was almost giddy about the fact a city with 6000 real people existed at all.  He wanted to go there in the worst way and I didn’t blame him a bit, I missed the place already myself.

Near dusk, I tied a lanyard to my last chemlight and suspended it under the girder so it hung in the path of any passing vehicles.  I didn’t want Annie, Berne and Dad to drive past us in the dark.  We didn’t wait much longer, for as the sun began it last descent, I saw the unmistakable glow of moving vehicle lights in the distance.  We packed up quickly and scrambled down the ironwork to be standing on the road when they arrived.

My heart was racing as I recognized the familiar pattern of the headlights of my old M37 truck lumbering toward us.  Standing in the middle of the bridge, Ollie and I waved our arms to show we weren’t slower-moving zombie bumper fodder.  I heard her scream even before the truck door opened.  Annie was so excited at seeing Ollie first, and then my haggard resemblance of my former self, that she couldn’t stop shrieking.  Running across the bridge, she continued to call my name.  She slammed into my chest and wrapped her arms around my neck as she plastered me with kisses.

We held each other for a long time and wept.  Love, relief and exhaustion came to a head for all of us.  Berne finally had to pull us apart so he could give me his own bear hug, followed by another from Dad.  Annie wouldn’t let go of my arm through it all.  She took a half step away and punched Ollie in the chest, and then thumped me one as well.  “That’s for making me worry, both of you.   Arrgghhh,” she said through gritted teeth.  We all laughed and hugged again, one big group, one family, back together again.

After loading up the cycle and my gear, we all boarded the trucks.  It was dark, cold and starting to sleet, as we headed south toward Braselton.  I hoped it was still safe there and so did the others as I described what it was like.  We all realized that a stand had to be made, even though there had to be other towns and cities in similar circumstances, this one was nearby and the only one I knew of.

––-

On the far side of the city, in the zombie infested area, 7 Zs gathered at an empty intersection.  A light snow had dusted the city, giving it for a short time a look of freshness and shimmering cleanliness.  The only disturbance to the stark white covering was the footprints that lead to the assembled group.  The first to arrive had been here for an hour, covered in a crystallized layer of the icy snowflakes.  Stiffly, he turned his head to watch as each of the others made their way to him, and then grunted as a form of acknowledgment.  When the other six were close, standing in an uneven circle around him, he began to utter his orders.

good chapter, I'm glad the family is back together. I wonder if they will try to go to Indiana though and find Verne's other two friends. I think that's where they went, but that part of the book was a loooong time ago lol.

Thanks!  Great chapter.  Glad to see the story continuing to develop.

Thank you.  Much anticipated.  Looking forward to more.

When the other six were close, standing in an uneven circle around him, he began to utter his orders.

WOW!!! Outstanding chapter! I can't stand the wait for the next update! Fast45 please don't make us wait too long.

AKASL

LIVE ZOMBIE FREE OR DIE

Excellent update as usual.  If they swing through Indiana I'd be more than happy to let them stumble through my place.  I'd probably be dead anyway.  I have quite a collection of suppressed toys they could use......

Excellent update as always.  Though I fear we may be getting close to the end, what with the Zs communicating and the family back together.

Still loving it!

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree, but then there are the spin offs. Where their kids form a squad and take it on themselves to rid the world of the Zs! Another great chapter.

+1

Diggidy!

This is a great story!

It is indeed.  

Still wanting needing MOAR sir!

cant find part 1

Right here, my friend.

Definitely worth the read.

Best on the board! Thanks and please keep it up.