His first sign that something was killing the dead was when he had been forced to cut through a small town in southern Arkansas. He had watched for two hours before approaching its outskirts, but had seen none of the walking corpses until he reached the center of town. Here, he found a small square loaded with corpses, but they weren’t walking around. Hundreds of bodies lay scattered across the road, covered in black goo that ran from their decaying carcasses into pools before flowing in small rivulets between the cobblestones.
At first worried that the Army had exterminated the Zs, and that they still might be around, Jimmy ran down a side street to find somewhere to hide. Coming across more bodies, he noticed that their faces, chests and crotches were soaked with the black ochre they used for blood. Looking closer, he noticed that besides the ravages of being bitten and torn when they were alive, and then walking around dead for a few months, none of them had a head wound that would account for their demise.
Cautiously, he made his way back to the town square to look around. Not finding any ejected shell casings, he knew gunfire hadn’t taken down the dead. Pausing to try and make sense of it, he only considered the situation for a second before accepting it for what it was and moving on.
With the absence of the dead, Jimmy noticed more and more signs of the living over the next days, but these had been mostly eyes in windows, peering with fear through slits in barricades as they watched his passing. He had come across a farmer two days ago that had been suspicious but friendly, telling him that he was on the right road to Owens Grove, but it was still a ways off. He also warned him of the Army setting up roadblocks, and advised him to make a detour so he would come at the town from the south.
Now stepping over another body sinking into the dirt as it rotted away to become one with the earth, he looked around to get his bearings, quickening his pace to get away from the stink of the dead. He knew he was close to home but he wasn’t exactly sure how close. With no one to tend them, the fields had grown wild to spill onto the road, narrowing it down to no more than a wide trail and obliterating any landmarks. A hundred feet ahead, he spotted where it had been cut back, telling him that someone was alive and farming. If they were friendly, he would ask for directions. If not, he would move along. He was close enough to home that he might know who it was, and his spirits rose at the thought of seeing a familiar face again. Who knew, he thought, they might even have information on his brothers and sisters.
Closing on the opening to his left, something familiar along the edge of the road caught Jimmy’s eye. It had been months since he’d seen it, so it took him a moment to understand why it jogged his memory. When it all came together though, his heart leapt and he let out a whoop of Joy.
Tilted slightly back from thousands of deliveries being stuffed into it, and with its white paint faded from the sun, the mailbox stood where it had for decades. Knowing that when he got closer he would see an equally faded red ‘McPherson’ painted on its side, Jimmy felt tears squeeze their way from the corners of his eyes. Not believing it was real, he stretched his hand out as he hurried forward to touch it.
His attention was drawn by movement on his left, and when he turned, he saw a woman approached him across the clearing with an M16 held at the ready. He had come too far to be shot down now, so he stopped and held his hands out from his body. Beyond her, he could see the ruins of the farmhouse he had grown up in had been arraigned into a fort of sorts, where two other figures aimed rifles at him from the rubble. Not recognizing the dirty bedraggled people, he wondered if squatters had taken over their land. If that was the case, he would leave peacefully and come back later. This meant war.
Focusing on the immediate threat, he was trying to decide how to deal with the woman coming toward him when he saw her suddenly stop and let her rifle drop to her side. With her head tilted in disbelief and her eyes wide, her mouth moved, but no sound came out as she tried to form his name.
Dirty and looking like she had aged ten years, Jimmy barely recognized Jo-Jo. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he choked out his sister’s name. From behind her, he could see his other sister Jackie emerge from the wreckage that had once been their home, coming toward him in a rush with his brother Jessie in tow, both of them calling his name.
Falling to his knees, Jimmy let his body slump in relief as tears rolled down his face.
He couldn’t believe it.
He had made it.
He was home…
Fort Polk, Louisiana:
Connie and Brain were the first to leave. Wanting to see if their friends and relatives were still alive, they decided to embark on a cross country search for their loved ones. As they drove away from Fort Polk, they looked in amazement at the steady stream of small to gigantic crop dusters and water dropping planes flying in and out of the airfield.
Turning to Connie, Brain said, “They told me this morning that this is going on all over the country. Now that most of the big herds of dead have been pushed together by the Malectron and wiped out, they’re doing search and destroy missions on any small ones that get reported. If they see so much as a single Z staggering along a back country road, they wash it down.”
Watching a low flying DC-10 go over them, Connie asked, “Is it safe though? I mean, they’re spraying so much of that stuff around, and they don’t even know what the effects are on humans. They’re so hot to wipe out the dead that they never really tested it.”
Shaking off thoughts of Agent Orange, Brain reached over and grabbed his love’s hand. Giving it a squeeze, he said, “I used to have hope, but now I have faith. It will all work out, Honey.”
***
Out of the corner of his eye, Tick-Tock watched with suspicion as Steve and Heather made their way through the motor pool toward him. Ignoring them as he loaded a case of MRE’s into the back of the Humvee and reached for another, he dreaded the coming scene.
When Steve started to raise his arms as he neared, Tick-Tock said, “If you try to hug me, I’m going to knee you in the balls.” Turning his attention to Heather, he added, “You, on the other hand, are more than welcome to come and get a piece of me.”
Heather laughed and stepped forward, embracing Tick-Tock like she would never let go. When he started squirming like a little kid being kissed by his great aunt, she turned to Denise and the two women fell into each other’s arms, tears rolled from their eyes as they went back and forth about how much they would miss each other.
Turning away from the emotional scene before it got him going too, Steve said, “This kind of sucks. We had to find out from Rick and Stacey that that you were taking off. You couldn’t even say goodbye?”
Securing a backpack into the Humvee with a bungee cord, Tick-Tock replied, “I was going to swing by on my way out of Dodge.”
Knowing that his friend wasn’t big on emotional goodbyes, Steve changed the subject by asking, “Where are you heading?”
Tilting his head to one side, Tick-Tock replied, “I’m not exactly sure. Wherever we end up, we’re going by sailboat. Denise wants to go to Europe, but I want to see Australia. I decided that we’re going to flip a coin. Heads, we go east, and tails we go west.”
“Very scientific,” Steve said sardonically.
Tick-Tock grinned and replied, “That’s what Denise said.” In a lower voice he added, “And if she doesn’t win, I’ll let her go two out of three, or three out of five until she does. She deserves it after everything she’s been through. I’ve heard Europe is almost done clearing out the dead, but some of the more remote places are still having problems with them, so that kind of swayed my decision too.”
Steve nodded and said, “The anti-virus that Doctor Connors cooked up is being mass produced and distributed worldwide, but after dead-day, a lot of little crackpot governments and fiefdoms popped up. We even have a few communities scattered around the states that don’t want the government stepping in. President Eastridge and the other eleven on the committee are trying to contact all of them, but some of them don’t want their help. There’s still a lot of chaos out there.”
Tick-Tock shrugged and said, “Then fuck them. Let them be overrun by the dead-asses if they don’t want help.” Nodding to where his people were loading another Humvee, he added, “And besides, look at how great those committees work. We started off with a shitload of live committee members and now we’re down to two.”
Steve smiled at his friend’s comment and pointed out, “And I see you’re taking them with you, so that’s got to say something on how people learn. Besides, the new government doesn’t work like they did. They’re not trying to alienate people, they’re trying their best to wipe out the dead and get everything up and running again.”
Fastening the cover on the back of the Humvee, Tick-Tock said, “Then I guess I’ll get to see it when I come back to the States.” Calling for Denise and his people to load up, Tick-Tock looked across the motor pool at the flurry of activity and said in a quiet voice, “Doesn’t look like that will be anytime soon though. To tell you the truth, there’s too much organization and too many rules for me. Even though that buddy of yours, Cage, got command of Polk, it’s getting a little rare around here. We might still get treated like the saviors of the free world as we know it, but I know that’s wearing off when I get yelled at for throwing a cigarette butt on the ground. Denise and I decided that we’re going to explore the new world out there, and if anyone comes along and tries to tell us how to live our lives, we’ll just move on. Europe got hit harder than most continents because of their strict gun laws, so there’s probably entire towns with only a few living people in them. You should think about coming along. We can hang out in Paris, London and the French Riviera.”
Steve laughed and replied, “Cindy,
Pepper, Heather and I are leaving for North Carolina in a few days. Heather has got family there that she wants to check up on. The military didn’t want to give Cindy up, but there are no more tests left to be done to her. Besides, she…“ Steve paused before continuing, “
We
…all need time to heal. Beyond North Carolina, who knows? After the Usual Suspects, I’m not too hot on going anywhere by sailboat, so I think we’ll stick to the Americas and dry land.”
Tick-Tock reached out with his right hand and said. “One thing I do know is how much you like plans, so let’s make one.
Next year on Halloween, we meet in Key Largo for the first annual Zombie Annihilation Squad of America reunion. We can talk about how wide everyone’s ass has gotten and laugh at how insane we were.”
Steve smiled as he stretched out his own hand to grasp Tick-Tock’s and said, “It’s a deal. But how do we let Brain and Connie know.”
Tick-Tock laughed and said, “I already did. I told them before they took off.”
The two men shook hands, but it only lasted a second before turning into a hug.
As they broke away from each other, Tick-Tock said, “Be careful.”
Steve nodded as he replied, “And you do the same.”
Watching his best friend drive off, Steve felt Heather slide her arm around his waist. They stood silently for a few minutes until the two Humvee’s disappeared into the confusion of the motor pool.
When they were gone from sight, Steve looked around at the mass of activity and said, “I know we talked about leaving in a few days, but how about we go tomorrow? This place is getting a little crowded.”
Wrapping him in a hug, Heather gave him a kiss and said, “I’m with you, Babe. I’ll get Cindy ready to leave tonight. Let’s go see what’s out there.”
As they walked hand in hand back to their quarters, Steve thought of all the good men and women that had given their lives in the quest. Their names and faces would forever be burned into his memory, just as they were engraved in a monument at the entrance to Fort Polk.
At the bottom of the memorial was something he had insisted be added.
“They never lost their humanity.”
Finis
August 29, 2014
Naples, Florida
AFTERWORD
Let’s just keep it short and simple:
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading The Dead Series even half as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Godspeed…
Jon Schafer