Thorton grinned. Naturally, such security came at a price. And the price was high, but the people were willing to pay for it. Fools for the fleecing.
As the camp began packing up, men were moving about, checking provisions and weapons, Thorton brought himself back to his current situation. How was he going to deal with Talon? Thorton mulled over a few possibilities, thinking about what and who he had on hand and what he knew about Talon.
Truth be known, Ken wasn’t a very intelligent man. He had what could be described as animal cunning, but when it came to overall strategy, he was severely limited. He tended to react as an animal would, biding his time, waiting for an opening, then striking with brutal efficiency. He was limited in patience and refused to admit defeat, even when it stared him in the face.
Thorton decided that Talon needed to be punished and punished now for his impertinence. He had no idea where Talon might be, just a vague notion of the direction the man might be in. But those were details and he wanted results. Looking over his men, he decided that ten men should be sufficient to take out Talon and whoever might be with him.
He walked over to a parked truck and hopped up onto the lowered gate. His massive size seemed even more impressive and men slowly began to realize their leader had something to say. They quickly dropped what they were packing up and gathered around the truck.
Major Thorton addressed the men. “I’ll get to the point. You’ve heard me talk about John Talon.” There were many nods and some frowns. “Turns out he might be close enough to where we might get a shot at him.” The frowns turned to grins. “I need ten men to head north and teach this fucker a lesson as to who’s in charge. Who wants the job?”
Thorton was gratified that all men present raised their hands. They were a motley bunch of criminals and losers, but they never hesitated to fight, especially when they thought the odds were on their side.
The major looked over at one of his sergeants. “You’re in command of this mission. Pick nine men and see me in ten minutes. Thorton jumped down from the truck bed. “Finish off this Talon and I’ll make you a lieutenant,” he said to the sergeant, who grinned evilly at the spoils to be his.
Thorton went back into the little barn to retrieve one of the many maps stored there. As he entered the building, he literally ran into Corporal Ransom, who bounced off the larger man and fell backwards over a chair. Thorton’s flash of anger changed to amusement as he watched the soldier flip over the recliner and crash down on the other side.
Ken placed his hands on his hips and waited for the soldier to scramble upright. “Got a hot date with a zombie?” he asked sarcastically.
“Sir! Sorry, sir. Needed to tell you something right away, sir. Hoped to talk to you before you spoke to the men, sir.” Ransom said quickly, brushing dust off his uniform.
“What is it, corporal?”
“Sir! Overheard a conversation between a couple of roamers, sir.” Roamers was the soldiers term for people who just wandered about, surviving by living off the leftovers of the Upheaval. “They reported a recreational vehicle outside of Lafayette, heading east.”
Thorton was skeptical. “What makes you think they saw Talon?” Even in a world where the dead walked, this seemed way too coincidental.
“Sir. They talked about passing a group of heavily armed men, people they said looked like they could handle themselves or anyone who got in the way. Said the leader looked like a cold-eyed killer, no question about it. Got to be Talon, sir.”
Thorton was a bit tweaked that people might think Talon was tough, maybe tougher than him and he let his irritability show. “We’ll see how tough he is. You have a map with his location on it?”
“Right here, sir.” Corporal Ransom handed over a small map of Ohio, which had their location marked and a small town outside of Columbus circled.
Thorton took the map, glanced at it, then chuckled as he went back outside. “Excellent,” he said to himself. Over his shoulder he barked “Set up for linking, we’re out in two hours.”
Corporal Ransom saluted Thorton’s back and headed back to the radio unit to link with the rest of the system.
Outside, Sergeant Rod Milovich had assembled a crew to carry out the major’s orders. There were nine men of various backgrounds, but all looked capable. They were lounging around the truck bed when Ken strode up to them. He signaled to Sgt. Milovich, who waved over his second, Corporal Tim Kazinski. Kazinski was only six inches above five feet in height, but was nearly that wide in the shoulders. He suffered from a massive case of short-man-syndrome and made sure he compensated for his stature by being stronger than everyone else and more brutal to anyone who crossed him. In fact, he was only a little less sadistic than Thorton himself.
Ken spread out the little map and the three men leaned over it. “Ransom says he figures Talon to be here, based on some chatter he overheard on the radio. It makes sense to me, but I also figure our boy will not want to try and cross a major population center. So I figure him to head south. The roads lead to here.” Thorton pointed to a little town called Harrisburg. “If you take Route three and haul ass, you should get there in time to set up a nice little ambush.”
Sgt. Milovich and Cpl. Kazinski smiled and straightened up. This was the sort of thing they enjoyed. Inflicting damage without risk to themselves.
Thorton stopped them before they went back to gather their men. “Don’t take risks. This one is a survivor and if you don’t get him right away, you’ll take damage.” This was as close as Thorton was going to get to admitting Talon might be a bigger threat than he previously thought.
Thorton looked over the men as they tossed their gear into the truck and clambered after it, finding comfortable seats to check their weapons and prepare themselves. He nodded as they saluted him and watched as his sergeant and corporal climbed into the cab of the truck and started away. Nothing will be stopping me now, he thought as the truck moved out.
Turning back to the rest of the men, he shouted out his orders. “Pack it up! We’re moving out! I want to be gone in two hours!” Thorton walked back to his own vehicle and checked his personal supplies. Need to hit a supply station soon, he thought, looking over his meager horde. We’ll see what the next stop on the map is.
Joseph Talluto
America the Dead
21
An hour and a half later, Thorton and his men were moving out along Route 50 again, passing several miles of unused and run-down farmland. Nature was taking back much of the land and Thorton could see a lot of growth of new tress and grass. Off in the distance, he saw a few tilled fields, indicative of someone making a go of it alone, but he wasn’t interested in loners like that. They were all over and the fact they were alone and still alive made them very suspicious and very capable of defending themselves. Two of Thorton’s men discovered that fact in Kansas and they nearly died as a result.
The first town they came to on the road was Allensburg and the initial impression Thorton got was pretty dismal. There were several homes along the main road, but if they had been abandoned during the Upheaval or years before, it was hard to tell. Some homes were boarded up, some were broken into, some were intact. There were several buildings and businesses, but the central industry seemed to be alcohol consumption, based on the number of bars the single main street boasted.
As the two trucks rumbled into the town, Thorton signaled a halt. There was a hardware store off to the left, a small gas station down to the right and a little way down the street, was a grocery store. It was the only building with a paved parking lot, Thorton noted. He climbed out of the truck and looked around. There was no zombie activity that he could see, so he figured the town was pretty safe. He went to the back of the truck and talked to the men sitting back there.