stop me from letting either of my sons go?”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
“Mister Carson, let me tell you something. There is no more minimum military age, the ink is still drying on that document, which the governor signed this morning before you were even out of bed. We have a better idea of what is going on than you do and until you know more, which you will tonight when you, John and William attend this meeting, you do not have any idea what you are talking about. I am a patient man, I understand you are afraid for your family, but if it came down to your son getting killed with a gun in his hand or clinging like a baby to his mama's skirts, which would you choose?”
“Is it that bad?” Bill whispered into the phone ducking around the corner from where his family was intently watching him from the dinner table.
“Mister Carson, believe me when I say this; the situation is worse than that. So, I will see you three at seven sharp then?”
“We will be there.” Bill hung up the phone and went back to the dinner table with his family.
“Dad?” John asked, “What is going on.”
Bill didn't look at his older son, but at his younger one, “Will you have to come tonight too.”
“No Bill!” Trisha yelled.
Facing her sharply Bill said, “I don't have a choice and after that call I am convinced it is for the best. Hell I would bring little Max now, if I could.”
Putting her hand in front of her mouth Trisha said, “You don't mean that. I know you don't mean that.”
Bill's eyes never left his wife's as he said, “I do. He has to come.”
“What did he said? What did that man say to make you change your mind?”
“Things are really bad. I have the feeling if we don't show up with Will they will come out and get him anyway. He might not be going anywhere, he hasn't started growing much yet.”
Will squawked in protest at this bleak assessment of him, but his mother shushed him and asked, “But they might take him too?”
“Yes. He might go. If any of us go, we didn't talk about that. So far as I know tonight is just about getting information.”
“Do you have to bring anything? Clothing or guns?”
“No, he didn't say to bring anything.”
Dinner ended on a much more sober note than it began.
Bill and his sons decided to walk into town, it was about a mile and in the summer heat and humidity it didn't seem like a wise decision. However, Bill was concerned about having one of his vehicles impounded for military use. They made the walk in about half an hour and were drenched through with sweat by the time they arrived. The first thing they did was take long drinks from the water fountain just inside the front doors. At the doors to the school cafeteria was a group of nervous looking young soldiers, clutching their rifles and looking half scared. An older man was holding the door to the cafeteria open for them, “Come on in, you are early and that is good, go on up to the sergeant at the table there, he is expecting you.” There were only about twenty people there, but Bill and his sons had arrived ten minutes early.
“Name?”
“William Carson, with John and William junior.” said Bill.
The sergeant nodded, “I spoke with you on the phone. I am glad you brought everyone you were required to bring. Take these.” he handed them a large plastic baggie with a blank imprinted label on the outside of it, inside there was blank name badge. “Head over to that table there and fill out the name badge, also put your names on the baggies in permanent marker. Put the name badge on your upper left chest, got it?”
“Yes.” Bill and his boys went over to the table the sergeant had indicated and leaned over to do as they had been instructed. They waited another fifteen minutes until the cafeteria was filled to overflowing and the military men started to move them into the gym, at the door each man was instructed to put his cell phone and any other electronic devices into the baggie with his name on it and hand it to another soldier, who placed it in a cardboard box sorted by the first letter of their last name. Some of the men ahead of Bill fussed about this, they were moved into the gym for a brief discussion with someone who looked to be in charge, a tall, broad shouldered man. By the time Bill got to the head of the line no one else was protesting in the slightest. Bill shut his phone off and had his baggie ready before handing it to the soldier working the table. John's bag had not only his phone, but also his old digital camera and an mp3 player. Will didn't have his cell phone with him, but had to turn over his video game player.
After another ten minutes or so the gym was filled to capacity. “Geezus.” Bill remarked to his sons, “Even the old guys are here, I recognize Ruben there from the council meetings, he is like, eighty years old!”
At this point a man in a crisp uniform stepped up and called everyone to attention, “Everyone please quiet down, my name is Lieutenant Colonel Wayne Ericson, I am in charge of this presentation tonight. First let me do the talking, after that there will be a chance to ask questions. In general everyone has heard about the troubles of the past week, and I am not going to be able to ease your minds about what is going on. It is easiest just to show you footage.” Earl gestured to another soldier who pressed a button on the computer attached to a projector on the gym floor. The video started simply enough with the governor of Iowa standing with a background of the capital behind him. The image was a little blurry and the before hitting the play button the soldier moved to adjust the projector to bring it into focus against the screen hanging down from the rafters.
“Good evening citizens. It is with much concern that I am reporting to you tonight about the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. The so called 'zombies' that have caused this disturbance are on their way to Iowa and right now we need every able bodied man to help fight them. Proof of the devastation they have caused is here in this presentation and I have to warn you the footage we have is incredibly graphic. The presenters will be discussing the options of what we need from you after this film.” The video went on to display horrors from both coasts and the devastation from Denver soon after a nuclear bomb was detonated. Bill wished that his boys, even his John who was almost an adult did not have to see such things as they viewed on this film. Several men and boys had to be led out of the room, many of them retching before they made it outside. When the film ended ten minutes later there was no further comment from the governor, the filmed faded to black. Bill thought that if he were feeling normal he might have cried, but the graphic violence and the fact that it was not a movie, but real people being slaughtered and eaten on the film just left him in a state of shock, he could see his feeling echoed on the faces of the men and boys around him.
The gym was completely filled on one side, with perhaps three hundred men from thirteen to eighty five, Lt Colonel Ericson stood up in front of the completely quiet crowd, “That footage was put together last night, I am going to give you more details on where we stand right now.” Using the computer and a laser prompt Ericson pulled up a map of the Midwest, complete with roads, rivers and icons of green and black silhouettes. “The green are where we have large numbers of zombies reported, if you see a green town or city it means that most people in that area are gone. This is our latest information as of about five this afternoon. I am part of the forces that have been tasked with stopping the zombies along western interstate highway eighty. I am sorry to tell you the area is a real mess.” The laser pointer indicated an area in Nebraska around Grand Island, as he spoke moved the laser point around to various parts of the map. “Right now the Nebraskan national guard are trying to hold back a large number of zombies that have come up the corridor from Denver and Cheyenne. They tried to hold them at North Platte, but too many of the things had already gotten behind their lines. We would like to hold the horde at Lincoln, however due to some infiltration in the Omaha area we think we will slowly fall back doing as much damage to them as we can before trying to hold the line at the Platte River crossing west of Omaha first, and then at the Missouri river at Council Bluffs if that plan fails. There are also smaller populations of zombies already behind the lines, some even around Des Moines. Ames was having some problems, but we think we maybe have nipped that in the bud with road blocks and the curfew. However for every man we have in a neighborhood patrol we have one less soldier in Hastings, for every man we have on a road block, we have one less man checking refugees coming across the bridge into Iowa on interstate eighty.”
“You are all smart people and you can see where this is going. You are here tonight and we are not calling for volunteers, some of you will be coming with us when we leave. Those of you who do will be heading out west after being given a basic familiarity with your firearms, the rest of you will be organized into a local militia who will be held responsible for patrolling the roads, manning checkpoints and helping to stop out infestations as they occur behind the lines. Okay any questions?”
