“I’m Jose Garza. Thanks for helping us.” We shook hands and he continued. “We were in a bad way.”
“I could see that,” I said. “Where did you guys come from? I know you saw us and followed, but I am curious where you started.”
Bill and Jose looked at each other and Bill spoke up. “We came from Joslin. I have a house near the river and we saw you drifting by. You were lucky the gangs didn’t see you.”
“Gangs?” I asked, having a feeling I knew the answer, but wanted to confirm it.
Bill continued. “When everything went to hell and people were trying to get out or were running from the zombies, the gangs of the city started taking over. They brutally killed any cop they could find, including their families, then declared themselves rulers of parts of the city. They demanded food and money and women and killed any who resisted. We hid from them as much as we hid from the zombies. They’ve set themselves up in churches and schools and the zombies can’t get to them.” Bill took a deep breath. “They took mothers away from their children, then fed the children to the zombies for fun. They’re worse than the zombies.”
Charlie and I nodded. We had seen things like this as well.
Jose continued. “I managed to save several kids who had been left alone by the gangs to die and we had just run out of food when we saw you drift by. I figured if the gangs didn’t see you, maybe they wouldn’t see us, either.”
I looked Jose in the eye. “You saved a lot of people at great risk to yourself.” I held out my hand and shook Jose and Bill’s hands. “You’re men I’m proud to know.”
Charlie shook their hands as well. I continued, “You have no idea what’s downriver, but I know what is upriver.”
The rest of the group had come back and was standing on the dock with us.
“You’re going back upriver and you are going to go until you reach the river town of Leport. When you get there ask for Nate, tell him I sent you. You’ll get homes, food, and a chance to live again. We don’t have much, but we all chip in to survive. Of course, you could go on your own, no one will force you either way. You could even stay here if you want,” I said.
The group stood speechless, then a couple of the women started to cry. Jose shook my hand again and said, “Thank you.”
Bill looked dubious. “How will we get upriver?” he asked.
I pointed to the boat Charlie and I had brought around. “We found this in the shed, you’re welcome to it either way.”
Bill finally broke down enough so I could see a tear in his eye. “Thank you,” was all he said.
We helped the group load up and tied the boats in such a way as to be towed by the bass boat. It fired up when we tried it so the gas was still good. They were going to stay by the docks and wait until dusk to make the trip north. That gave them the best chance to slip by the city without being seen. We were getting ready to leave as well and I gave Bill and Jose some last minute advice.
“As much as you want to race past the city, your best bet is to go slow and make like a ripple in the water. Loud engines will attract attention. Stay to the right and when you pass the fifth large bridge, you’ll be at Leport. If it’s dark, stay in the boats until morning, then call out for Nate. He’ll find you.”
I shook hands again and two of the women gave me hugs. Sarah took it in stride, but insisted on holding my hand as we walked towards the boat. I guess she was sending a last minute message of her own.
We waved goodbye to the group as we shoved off and we kept an eye on them as we moved around a bend in the river. Would they make it? Who knew? But we did the best we could by giving them a chance. Would they get to Leport or head south? I had no answer for that one, but I hoped they made it either way.
The river forked and we took the south passage, heading towards Dresden Cooling Lake. We passed several river homes, each of them having slips for boats and I had hopes the people in the homes had made it through the mess. I didn’t see any signs of life, so I wondered if they had gone to the shelter which was so close by.
I went back to Tommy and told him to just pick a house to pull up to; we were finished with our river trip. He chose a slip at the far end of the houses, hidden slightly around a bend. We pulled up and Charlie, Martin and I secured the boat. I looked around and didn’t see any threats, so I gathered the group after we had off-loaded all of our supplies and gear.
“We have a little ways to go,” I said, spreading the map out on a picnic table. I pointed to where we were and where we needed to go. “I figure we could find a vehicle around here somewhere, there’s enough houses. I’m not looking for anything specific, just something to keep us from walking.”
We split into four groups and started towards the homes, everyone getting into higher levels of defense conditions after our somewhat uneventful trip down the river. We found the houses empty, which didn’t surprise me at all, and we found four cars, which did surprise me. I figured we would get lucky with one or two, but four was a bonus. Martin found some extra ammo, but since it was. 32 caliber and none of us had a gun for it we left it behind. Casey found a first aid kit and Bev found a bottle of Southern Comfort. We kept both.
The cars weren’t my first choice for zombie hunting vehicles, but they would have to do. All of them were sub compacts, and it was a feat of spatial engineering to get all of our gear in them. Tommy insisted on bringing the small grill and spent twenty minutes figuring out a way to pack it. The rest of us just sat in the shade and watched the sun climb higher.
Sarah and I talked about nothing and everything and it was nice to get away from the world for just a few minutes. Bev Shoreman wandered off to use a bathroom and was still gone when Tommy finished.
We split up and started to get in the cars when Charlie noticed Bev still gone. “Wonder where she is?” he asked the group.
I shrugged. “Guess she really had to go.”
“For more than ten minutes?”
“You’re right. We’d better go find her.” I moved away from the car and went off in the direction Bev had gone. Charlie came with me and we split up, moving towards the road that made the small marina subdivision.
I circled around to the front of the homes, while Charlie went around to the back. I didn’t see anything, so I started to head back when I heard a pistol shot.
I ran around to the sound of the shot and saw Charlie lining up another shot. Bev was on the ground and blood was staining the grass underneath her. It looked like she had gone to use the bushes and had been attacked. Charlie fired again and Bev’s body jerked as the bullet entered her head.
I came up and looked at the zombie Charlie had shot. It was a small boy, roughly ten years old. It must have been in the bushes when Bev entered, and jumped her when she squatted down. From the wounds, it looked like her throat had been torn out, and she bled out in seconds, leaving the little monster to feed, ripping her face apart and tearing out large chunks of her throat and shoulder.
We didn’t say a word as we both shook our heads and headed back to the cars. Everyone was standing by the vehicles with weapons in hand as a result of hearing the shot. When they saw just the two of us they knew what had happened and lowered their weapons. I shook my head at Sarah and she just looked down. Tommy shook his head and Martin put an arm around Casey.
I got in the car and fired it up. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” I could see more ghouls coming to investigate from the countryside and I didn’t feel like getting stopped this far into the trip.
8
We moved out at a decent pace, drifting roughly to the south and west. We followed Dresden Road south and didn’t see much in the way of devastation. We saw several farmhouses, but there didn’t seem to be any signs of activity, living or otherwise. The area was actually peaceful, but that could change.
I checked the map Nate had given me and realized we were in danger of heading too far south. I didn’t need to see State Center Bravo, but I wanted to. If it was actually still alive, I wanted to know if the people there were interested in coming back to civilization and starting over.
At Pine Bluff Road, the next intersection, I motioned for Tommy to turn right. If the center was around here, this road should take us right to it.
We drove for another half hour, then saw a hasty sign “Illinois State Center Bravo — 1 mile.” I noted the
