“It’s a zip-line.” Kyle whispered in awe.
Nodding, I thought back to a trip that Jenn and I had taken in the North Georgia Mountains a few years back. She’d surprised me with tickets to a pretty massive zip-lining canopy tour where we floated from tree to tree along a similar set of metallic lines. Grunting, I shook my head at the fact that I should have realized what the sound was right away.
Following the metallic line as best I could through the thick canopy above, I nearly shit myself as my eyes made out where the men were coming from. The tree, which was surrounded by the larger group of Zs, led up to the largest damn tree house I’d ever seen. It was massive, and was actually built across three, maybe four of the huge trees. Looking wildly around the tree fort, or should I say tree fortress, I realized there were two zip-lines leading to and from it. Holy shit, I thought to myself. It was brilliant. These people were moving back and forth from their base camp using zip-lines to avoid having to deal with the larger horde of creatures every time they came in and out. With multiple zip-lines, they probably had the option to choose the easier of the exits when they wanted to come and go.
Taking in a deep breath, I focused my attention through the canopy and onto the structure itself. The fortress was certainly nothing pretty to look it. Appearing to be constructed by whatever wood could be found, it was clear that it wasn’t built by a master carpenter.
However, it was massive, and had lights… which meant electricity! Perking up ever so slightly, I found myself wondering if it had a radio.
Watching in awe, I suddenly became aware of the growing sound. The moans were getting louder just below the men standing on the wooden deck hidden in the trees, pulling a few of the creatures from the other tree over toward them. Having been joined by two more people, the men on the deck were five strong. It was clear that they were growing uncomfortable at the decibel level of the monsters below.
“What the hell is that?” I heard Kyle whisper.
Not responding, my mouth dropped as I watched them lower a pole with what appeared to be a giant square box at the end down toward the creatures. Once it was hanging directly over their heads, the group paused for a moment to let the monsters all circle around it.
In a nearly seizure-inducing moment, the box flashed a bright strobe light for nearly thirty seconds directly in the faces of the creatures. In awe, we all watched as the monsters dropped to the ground at the base of the tree, paralyzed and twitching.
Kyle shot a glance at me. I realized he was smiling ear to ear just before he turned his attention back toward the action. We knew light could temporarily grab the attention of the Zs, putting them into a sort of standing paralysis. Damned if we had any clue that a strobe light would knock them the fuck out.
Moments later, the five men dropped a rope ladder from the tree and climbed down one after another, waiting while the rest of their group joined them. Ten men in total, they were all big men, some of them bigger than Kyle was. They were dressed in a mixture of manufactured clothing like what we’d found at the airplane and furs that they had clearly made themselves. They had a grizzled appearance, and looked like the modern day equivalent of savage barbarians.
“What’s on their arms?” Aidan asked with a twinge in his voice, looking almost ghostly white.
As they stepped over the pulsating Zs on the ground and moved toward a truck that was covered in a camouflage tarp, I could see that wrapped around each of their right arms was an orange strip of cloth.
“What? What’s the matter? What do you know?” Kyle said, looking over at Aidan, who blankly stared at the group.
After Kyle nudged him in the chest, Aidan finally broke from his trance and looked over at us with panic in his eyes. “We gotta get outta here. If you think Gordon’s evil… you don’t want to mess with the Stripes.”
Chapter 23
Getting back to my son was all that mattered. No matter the cost.
The rev of the engines shattered the silence through the moans from the larger horde. All ten of the men were piled into two trucks, which were heavily modified with armor and barbed wire. Squinting, I could see that each of the trucks prominently displayed an orange-painted stripe vertically down the exterior doors.
Just as a few more of the creatures from the larger horde lowered their arms and turned toward the vehicles, both trucks sped off into the forest, more than likely after the helicopter sounds that we’d heard earlier. Either that or they were going to check out the mayhem that they’d probably heard the night before. Either way, they were leaving the fortress, which left us with an opportunity.
Living above ground in a tree fortress was something that I would never have thought of. Even one of this magnitude. It was in direct contrast to the underground life we’d been subject to at Avalon.
Ducking back down behind the small hill we were positioned on, Aidan went on to explain that the Stripes, as Gordon’s men called them, were a nasty and highly aggressive group in the area that they had often tangled with. While Gordon owned an army, these guys used guerrilla warfare tactics to chip away at his men, typically going after weapons and ammunition. Most of the time, there were no bodies from either side left behind, just silent remnants of a gunfight or a destroyed vehicle… and many questions as to exactly what had happened.
A few months back, Gordon had assembled fifteen of his best soldiers to set out and eliminate the Stripes. They were all trained in tracking, and each possessed the same sort of guerrilla warfare experience as their supposed prey. After a week went by without hearing from the team, they finally showed their faces. Unfortunately, that was all they showed. Stuck on pig poles outside of Gordon’s compound were all fifteen of the men’s heads. Each of them with an orange stripe painted across their foreheads.
According to Aidan, the Stripes were maniacs. Realizing that we might be up against the worst kind of survivors of this apocalypse, I shuddered at the thought of what madness might lie in the fortress above.
With the frequency of attacks and amount of damage done, Aidan had always assumed that they had a large army. Maybe this was just a small lookout base, or perhaps this really was the full crew. Either way, nobody had ever seen them in any sort of numbers, or lived to tell about it anyways. Regardless, as the ten Stripes took off in their trucks, the fortress fell completely silent amongst the swaying trees, appearing empty.
Seeing Jarvis and Kyle eying the fortress as he finished his story, Aidan shifted his pale face toward me and said, “We should get outta here… find another way.”
Taking a moment to think about it, Jarvis finally looked out into the dense trees then up toward the fortress. “Look at those wires up there, boys. They’ve got to have a radio, and we need to get word back to Avalon.”
“Those Zs by the zip-line are still down. We can get in through there,” Kyle added.
“What if there are more of the Stripes up there?” Aidan asked, noticeably squeezing his fists together.
Cocking his head a little, Kyle said, “I don’t see any movement. Hell, we would have heard something or someone up there by now.”
Gritting my teeth, my mind was solely focused on getting the medication resting on my shoulders back to my son. As far as we could tell, there wasn’t a thing out here for miles. I could almost feel the thundering tick from the old wristwatch on Kyle’s arm as I stared up into the leaves above. Each second could be the one that made the difference for Tyler.