“My kids.” Max said, “We met up a couple weeks ago in Colorado, she is a cop and has been helping me get to Bill here, we were friends before and it was just dumb luck that I ran into him in Nebraska. The kids and I got separated in O'Neill, Nebraska. They got bussed south to catch the train, we got sent west on account of us being cut up a bit. We weren't bit! And we aren't infected either. I just want to find my kids.”
“They probably are at the old stadium in Des Moines.”
“They aren't.” said Bill, “My wife picked them up this afternoon, they are at my house.”
“My understanding is things are pretty bad out on the lines. They need every man to keep the zombies out of Iowa. I know it is just as bad down towards Kansas City as it is up north, so you should have gone back to your unit.”
“And I will, but I have to help my friend first.”
“There is no helping friends, there is only with your unit or 'Absent without leave.' Guess which you are right now? What rank were you?”
“Sergeant.”
“You're lucky then, they will just bust you down to private, put a rifle in your hands and send you back out.”
“It doesn't have to be that way.” Bill said.
“I am cutting you some slack. These two can go, they should go get his kids. And I know they probably didn't pass the physical either, but I am willing to look the other way for them. You though, well I never had much use for deserters.”
“I am just helping a friend out!” said Bill, visibly angry. “Besides the army left me to rot on the wrong side of the river before the bridge blew up!”
Clyde raised one hand and nodded, “Alright, alright, no need to get upset, you tried something and you got caught. I can see being called a deserter bothers you. You don't want to think of yourself that way do you? This is good, it means there is hope for you yet. I am a reasonable man, so I have a reasonable proposition for you.”
“What is it?” Bill asked suspiciously.
“You led your friends here out of a sense of obligation and now that they are here you feel you need to get back to the fighting to save us all, so you reported to me and I will arrange for transportation back to your unit.”
Bill hesitated and Clyde shook his head, “You won't get busted not in these times, and you won't get a better offer either.”
“We could tie you up and run.” Said Stewart menacingly.
Clyde just smiled and held out his hands, “Go ahead, I won't fight you on it. But unless you kill me I will spill the beans about everything. How many kids do you think got picked up at Vets? How many children knew people in Iowa? I'd bet not many, so I might spend a few hours uncomfortable but they would find 'Jim' heres wife pretty darn quick.”
“We could take you with us. Toss you in the trunk.” Stewart offered, as much to Clyde as to Bill and Max.
Bill shook his head, “No, he'd make noise at the first roadblock. We won't kill him either, we aren't cold blooded enough. He's right. Clyde you are right; I should be getting back to my unit. I have done what I needed to do, I found my friend's kids, and let my wife know I am not dead and now, well now I guess I better get back to my men.”
“See? He might not have the look of an old soldier about him, but I can recognize a military spirit when I see one. He is the type who just needed to be reminded of his responsibilities. Now where do you hang your hat 'Bill'.”
“Bill Carson.” said Bill extending his hand to Clyde again. The older man shook it and then Bill said, “I am up outside of Perry.”
“Perry? Ugh, a lot of Mexicans up there, if I remember. That's right off highway one forty one.”
“Yes, it goes right through there.” Bill said, he chose not to remark on the 'Mexicans' comment, his experience with immigrants was that they tended to work harder for less money and with less complaints than people who had won the birth lottery by being born in America.
“I might be wrong, but I am pretty sure if you stayed on highway one forty one it will take you to highway twenty nine that comes into the south side of Sioux City. I will give you until noon tomorrow, then I will call up there after your unit and make sure you got back okay. That gives you a few hours with your wife and family, which is more than I have to do. Don't let me down sergeant.”
Bill looked at Clyde for a minute then said, “I won't sergeant, I promise.”
Chapter 29
Max was sitting at Bill's dinner table across from Stewart. The two were not arguing so much as glaring at each other. Two days had passed and Bill was back in Sioux City, but his son John was still home officially on 'leave' to mourn his father…who was very much alive and fighting. The kids were all outside to give the adults a chance to talk in private. Despite the size of the house there was virtually no guarantee of privacy when all the kids were filling it.
“We have to go.” Stewart said.
She was referring to Chicago, of course. They two of them had been debriefed by the military the day after arriving at Bill's house. It still amazed them both how quickly the debriefing turned into action. The military overflew middle Nebraska with a helicopter and verified that there was a large group of 'hostiles' heading towards Iowa, a group they may not be able to defeat. They also reported similar groups of zombies massing in Kansas City and along the Iowa-Illinois border. In short the military and leaders of Iowa realized how bad things were going to get in about a week when the groups converged on the state. The military also had driven out to the high school near Bill's place and tested Max's ability to tell how many people were hidden at various places around the school campus. They believed he could 'see' people through walls and across short distances. Stewart had announced that Max could single out super zombies as well and both of them had warned the military that the actions of the masses of zombies were being controlled by someone in Chicago. All in all Max felt they had done everything that needed and could be done. Their disagreement with that statement was why they were glaring at each other over the table now.
“Refill?” Trisha asked, bringing a pot of coffee to the table.
“Yeah, thanks Trish.” said Max, Stewart nodded and Bill's wife refilled both of their cups and her own as well. She sat the pot down on the tile island and returned to the table.
“Max, we have to go and you know it. We won't survive if all the zombies headed our way hit us at once. The military practically came out and said so.”
“We just got here. I won't leave my kids. I can't, I am all they have left.”
“No. They have Trisha. Look I know this is hard, but your kids will not survive if we do nothing.”
“We've done okay so far.”
“By luck.”
Max paused and rubbed his chin. “No. Seriously no. I have been thinking. All we need to do is get past one group of zombies. We were foolish to leave Denver, we could have just stayed and lived there. We can go back. Even to Tom's farm. The zombies will all be gone from there by now. Maybe if we had a plane….”
Stewart shook her head, “I know you are not serious, you would leave Trisha and the kids to die?”
“No, we would get a plane big enough to haul all of us.”
Trisha put up a hand to forestall the argument from escalating, as it had done several times in the last twenty minutes. “I won't leave. I won't leave the neighbors or my friends. The kids will stay here too.”
“Trish…” Max began.
“No. That is final Max. What happened to you? I want to feel for you, I really do. But this isn't who you are. You have never gotten lazy when there was work to do. I've know you for twenty years now.” Max nodded, “In all
