Frank yelled back. “I don’t see the point! Why do all of us have to train? Not all of us should go out on raids! Some of us are too valuable to risk!”
Nate’s eyes turned deadly and things didn’t look good for Frank.
I stepped in. I had my goggles and balaclava on, so it must have seemed somewhat intimidating, which was the point. “Why are you so valuable, Mr. Stearns?” I asked quietly as I stepped closer to Frank, casually placing my hand on my SIG.
Frank looked up at me. “I am the office manager for the executive staff of David McCormick, legislator for the 33 ^ rd district. Without me, his whole office will collapse, and the state legislature will follow.”
I have no idea how I managed to keep from laughing. I stared at him for a full minute, and the rest of the room stared at him as well. Carl Witry had his mouth open, but I don’t think he was playing zombie at this point. I finally made a decision.
“You’re finished here. You don’t have to take training any more. It’s wasted on you.” I said.
Frank smiled smugly at Nate, not fully realizing what I was saying.
“You’re on search and rescue permanently, starting today with myself and Sarah Greer. If you haven’t paid attention in training, you’re going to die, and we will watch you turn into a zombie before we kill you permanently.” My voice was cold as I had no pity for slackers or people who were useless. Nate did not need this garbage, and Frank was just going to get someone else killed. At least with me and Sarah, we knew he wouldn’t be able to screw up and get us killed. If we bought it, it was because we screwed up.
It was Frank’s turn to stare at me. He couldn’t believe what I was saying. Nate just smiled and winked at me, his way of saying thanks. I didn’t give Frank a chance to protest.
“Get your weapon and meet me by the side door in ten minutes. If I have to come looking for you I won’t be happy.” Frank scurried off to comply, but I could see in his eyes he hated me for it. I turned and left the room, feeling the eyes of the trainees on my back. No mercy for the people wasting space by existing.
I headed to the library and found Sarah reading by herself at a table. She glanced up as I walked in. “Busy?” I asked.
She closed her book after putting a bookmark in. “Not that busy.” She stretched her back and I could hear the cracks from ten feet away.
“Want to go for a walk? I’ll be at the side door in ten minutes” I asked as casually as I could.
“Sure. Give me five minutes.” Sarah hopped out of her seat and brushed past me, her ever-present Ruger strapped to her side.
I headed back to the “school” and let the women know I was heading out, and could they look after Jake. They said not a problem, he was down for a nap. I could see his little body wrapped in a blanket in a secluded corner. I went over and touched him gently on his back, silently promising him I would be home soon.
I went back downstairs and got to the side door just in time to see Sarah checking Frank’s pack and she was not too gentle about it. I think he came off the ground a little bit when she pulled on his straps. She tossed his weapon at him, a baseball bat with a huge spike through the end. He had a knife as well, although I had no illusions about him being able to use it. I didn’t bother giving him a gun. I didn’t feel like getting shot in the back.
“Got your supplies?” I asked Sarah.
She nodded, pulling down her goggles and winding her scarf around her face. She looked at Frank. “He’s got his as well. Three days of food and water, and emergency supplies.” She had a question in her eyes for me, but I stopped her with a small shake of my head. I watched Frank’s eyes narrow and I could see the calculations going on. Perfect. Exactly what I wanted him to do. All I had to do was wait, and let his little thoughts take over.
We headed out the side door and started walking down the long driveway. I wanted to take a look at the main highway, and we had a good hike ahead of us. If what I had planned was going to work, I needed to be able to move as quickly as possible before the snow came down.
We reached the end of the driveway without incident, although Frank jumped a mile when a bird flew up in front of us. That was one thing I wondered about. Why didn’t the virus kill animals and turn them? For whatever reason it was, I was grateful. Human zombies were hard enough to deal with. Zombie everything else was a world without a chance. If that happened, you may as well strip naked, cover yourself in barbeque sauce, and holler for the zombies to come to dinner.
We headed north towards the main road, and didn’t see a whole lot of activity. I did see the telltale marks of infection throughout the neighborhood. White flags hung limply from scores of mailboxes.
Frank complained about the walk, the weight of his pack, the weight of his weapon. I didn’t say anything, letting Sarah deal with it.
She was direct in her methods. She poked him in the back of the head with her rifle and hissed at him to be quiet. “A zombie can hear you a quarter mile away, dumb ass. If you want to die fine, go walk into that house and die.” She pointed to a house on the side of the road. There had to be at least ten zombies inside, all of them clawing at the window, trying to get out. They were all in various states of decay, and more than once I wondered why we left them there and didn’t deal with them. I guess since they weren’t an immediate threat, they could stay there a while until we decided to root them out or burn the house down. Most of the houses in the area had zombies in them. Turns out when people got sick, they got their families sick and didn’t even know it. Families died by the thousands, and those that didn’t get sick, got killed by their revived relatives. The infected were effectively trapped in their homes unless they accidentally broke a window and got out, since they didn’t know how to operate doorknobs.
Frank looked at the zombies and shuddered. “No thanks, I’ll be quiet.”
Sarah snorted “Right.” She didn’t believe him, but she didn’t have to. I think she looked forward to hitting him again.
I kept us moving pretty well, we stayed in the center of the street. High fences lined each side of the street, but I did not want to be rude and rouse any zombie playing in its front yard. I didn’t need a gauntlet of zombies to run through as we tried to make our way to safety.
After about an hour of walking and stopping, checking our surroundings and listening for ghouls, we reached the first crossroads. We were in a largely empty area, save for cars here and there, so anything coming after us would be exposed for along time. We rested for a moment and I used the time to look at the several five-story condo complexes near the road. They were relatively new, and still had fairly cleared fields surrounding them. An idea poked its way into my head, and I waved Sarah over. Frank was on his back, wheezing and making whistling noises with his nose.
“What’s up?” Sarah asked, only her eyes visible on her head.
“Check out the condos.” I said, pointing to the buildings.
Sarah looked. “What about them? They’re nice and all, but what about them.?”
I pointed to the bottom of the structures. “They have no ground floor. You could actually sleep in peace there without worrying about an attack at night. All they have are garages down there. And look over there.” I pointed to the small grove of trees and grass growing near the edge of the complex. “I’d bet my knife there’s a water supply there.”
Sarah looked at the complex and then back at me. “What are you saying? You want to move everybody?” She seemed incredulous, like I was crazy.
“Let’s face it. We can’t stay in that school forever. Sure we’re there now, but it was never meant to be a permanent place. I think we need to seriously consider coming to this place, cleaning out the zombies, if there are any, and starting life again there.”
Sarah shook her head. “Starting life again? John, this is about survival, nothing more. The world we knew is gone, and we’re not getting it back.”
It was my turn to shake my head. “I can’t believe that, Sarah. Yeah, we’ve taken a hell of a hit, but this can’t be it. We can’t end this way. What about the kids following us, what about the world they inherit? They can’t live the rest of their lives in a school. That’s like living in a cave. What if the zombies last twenty years? Fifty? We have to take our world back. One way or another, we have to take it back.”
Sarah looked at me for a second, then placed a hand on my arm. The physical contact was like a jolt, and I nearly jerked my arm away, I was that surprised. Sarah generally avoided contact with people unless she respected them, and that respect usually meant you had to kill around fifty zombies single-handed.
