“Protocol.” “We have to wait for them to notice us and decide if they want to talk to us. If we stand around holding weapons, they might decide to shoot first. I’m not willing to get into a firefight without better cover than the windshield of this truck.”
Tommy grunted, but put his gun down and sat back where he could be seen. Charlie and I waited in the cab and after about ten minutes, two men with rifles crested the hill and waved us towards the gate. We pulled forward slowly and the gate opened as we passed through. On the other side, another man with a shotgun signaled us to stop. I could feel Charlie tensing beside me and I shook my hand at him, trying to calm him down. The gate closed behind us and I hoped everything was going to go well.
We were surrounded by at least ten men, all armed in some fashion. I tried to remain pokerfaced, but after a minute of silence, I was starting to inch my own hand towards my SIG, with my other hand getting ready to open the door. Beyond the armed men, I began to see a growing crowd of onlookers, curious as to who the newcomers were. No one was smiling and I was getting curious as to what the deal was.
A heavyset man in a brown jacket made his way through the crowd and stood in front of the truck. He stared at Charlie and me for a second then gestured for me to step outside.
I got out of the truck and stood a couple of feet from it. I was already calculating who I was going to shoot first if things went south and it was going to be the sorry looking bastard to my right who was standing too close pointing a rifle at my head. I glanced up at Tommy who gave me a slight nod. His rifle was likely near his hands and would be in action at the first sign of trouble.
The man in the brown jacket spoke. “Howdy. I’m Bob Larkin. Who might you fellas be?”
“I’m John Talon and these are my companions Charlie James and Tommy Carter. We’ve come from Coal City to see if any towns on this line were still alive. Obviously, you are,” I said, looking pointedly at the man holding his gun on me.
Bob nodded. “How’s Coal City doing? I haven’t heard from the sheriff in a while?”
“It lives, and Tom Harlan is fine.” I still didn’t take my eyes off the man next to me.
“Good enough. Put your gun up, Ed, these men are fine. Sheriff Harlan and I spoke over the radio this morning and he said to expect you three. He told me you three were bonified deader killers and we should be glad to know you. Just by appearances, I figured he ain’t too far off the mark.” Tensions suddenly erased and trigger fingers eased up.
I had to smile. ‘Deader’ was a new one to me, but it fit. Didn’t really matter what we called them, they were the enemy and that was it.
Bob Larkin and I spoke while the rest of the town was dismissed. The town basically had barricaded themselves when the first wave of ‘deaders’ came over the horizon and started attacking people. Bob, who was the head of the town council as well as being an insurance salesman, decided the best thing to do was to build a wall around the town, using what they had in abundance, which was dirt. The wall and ditch were very effective and I had to agree, since we were using the same approach in Leport.
Bob told me that essentially people here had gotten on with their lives. They were used to the fact that electricity might not be coming back for a while and if they wanted to make a life they are pretty much going to have to work together. Bob was happy to hear about Coal City making it through the invasion and after about an hour, I was ready to get moving.
I climbed aboard the truck and Charlie, Tommy and myself were rolling through Verona. We waved to the people we saw and they smiled and waved back, the news about us having traveled through the small town faster than modern communication could ever have hoped to achieve. Bob and I set up a communication network, using the rail line as the means of transporting news and items of trade. Bob said one of his friends was putting the finishing touches on a pedal-powered rail car, which would be used for the trade effort. I had some serious doubts about that, but kept them to myself.
For my part, I warned Bob about Mazon, and he shook his head at the waste. He was going to have to let the town know, since several people had relatives there and would want to bury them. My suggestion was to burn the whole lot, but Bob just shrugged.
We passed through the town and out the other doors. It wasn’t until we were about a mile away that Tommy poked his head through the back window.
“I have a question,” Tommy said. “If they knew we were coming, why the chilly reception? I thought you were going to kill that guy holding the rifle on you.”
Charlie nodded. “Seems a little out of place, given their defenses.”
“I asked Bob about that and he said it was because they’ve been having trouble lately,” I said.
“What kind of trouble?” asked Charlie
“Apparently there’s some sort of rogue group terrorizing Kinsman, Ransom, and Kernan. They’re demanding ‘protection goods’ and such. They originally came in showing themselves as capable of handling the zombie problem, but they disarmed the populace and now are essentially running things. They tried to run a fast one on Verona, but got knocked back. The people of Verona are wary of strangers, which is why we got that reception. If we hadn’t known Harlan or been from Coal City it might have gone down differently.”
“So what you’re saying is we’re heading to a fight we may not want, against a group we have no knowledge of, supported by a bunch of weaklings too afraid to fight for themselves?” Tommy asked.
“Possibly.”
“I’ll be in the bed, cleaning my guns, if anyone needs me.” Tommy said, withdrawing to the back of the truck and pulling out his cleaning kit.
I chuckled and looked over at Charlie. “We could pull out, head back to Coal City on the roads.”
Charlie just looked at me.
“You’re right,” I sighed. “This is what we do.”
“At least it’s not boring.”
“True.”
We moved down the rails as the sun was getting to its highest point. The landscape sloped gently in various places and I could see homes here and there in the distance. We were coming up to a farm that had the house relatively close, so I told Charlie to pull up so we could take a look.
We stepped out of the vehicle and crossed the field to the growing grass of the farmhouse lawn. The house was typical of the area, two stories, whitewashed, with a few outbuildings. There was a barn, a garage, some sort of long building I couldn’t identify, and something that appeared to be a chicken coop. They were all in need of repair, but that was something I suspected was necessary before the world died.
Tommy wandered over to the barn while Charlie and I checked the house and other buildings. Charlie moved around to the windows and looked in while I stepped up onto the expansive front porch. I guessed the farm had to be somewhere between fifty and one hundred years old. I looked in the front window and saw a family room with several pieces of furniture and old antiques. All that wasn’t as interesting as the legs I saw sticking out from behind the lounge chair.
Great, I thought, here we go again. I pulled my pickaxe and held it ready as Charlie stepped onto the porch. He saw me arm myself and pulled one of his tomahawks as well. I tried the door and found it open, so I pushed it slowly in, stepping back to allow anything in there an opportunity to come out and play.
Nothing happened, so Charlie and I stepped into the room. I went over to the legs and saw they belonged to what I assumed was the owner of the farm. He was a fairly big man, dressed simply and would be mistaken for sleeping except for the large, gaping wound in his chest. I figured he had been shot close range with a shotgun and judging by the looks of him, this had happened a while ago. The blood around him on the floor had turned black, as well as the mess on the wall behind him.
I turned to Charlie. “Murdered. I’d bet if anyone else was home they’re dead too.”
Charlie pointed to the family photo on the mantle. “It’s a family of six,” he said.
“Shit, not again.” I remembered the last time we came across something like this. A rogue group had killed a family and very nearly killed us, but we burned their world down around their ears.
Charlie and I split up, Charlie taking the upstairs and I took the downstairs and cellar. I opened the door to the cellar while Charlie headed to the stairs at the back of the kitchen. The kitchen had been completely ransacked and I did not expect to find anything useful in the basement, but the opportunity was there.
Down in the basement, I looked over several workbenches and found a few road flares, which I added to my pack. Tools and such were of no use right now, but I did find a small refrigerator. Looking inside I found four beer
