3
When we got back to the school Sarah was waiting for me with Jake. She wrinkled her nose, and I explained to her and Jake what had happened. Sarah shook her head and handed me Jake after I had stripped my gear off.
“Got a surprise for you.” She headed into the hallway.
I followed with Jake, who was pulling at my collar and cooing.
Sarah stopped at a classroom and peeked in. She stepped aside and motioned me in. I went in puzzled, then went into defense mode as something grabbed me from behind. I held Jake out with one hand, slammed my elbow back and spun around, hoping to dislodge whatever had me.
I heard a “Whoof!” as my elbow connected and then a “Whoa!” as my spin tossed the person off of me into a cluster of desks. I put Jake down and stepped in front of him as the other person climbed painfully to his feet. Jake sat down and waved his hands, excited as he recognized the newcomer. Sarah covered her smile with her hand as Nate stood up and rubbed his ribs.
“Nice shot, John. Good to see you too.”
I relaxed. “Nate!” I went over and wrapped the big man in a bear hug. Nate groaned as I squeezed his sore ribs. “Oops Sorry about that. Can’t be too careful.”
Nate shrugged it off. “My fault. I should know better than to mess with someone who just came in from the outside. Your nerves are still on overload.”
I nodded. “No kidding. You should have seen what Mark and I found at the recreation center.” I filled Nate in on the details and Sarah just shook her head and put an arm around my waist. Nate noticed her but said nothing. I finished, pointing to the burning building out the north window. “That glow? That’s mine. The good news is the building is isolated so no others will go up. The bad news is the building could have been useful.”
Nate shrugged. “At least you dealt with it. Some people would have stayed and fought.”
I hoisted Jake and rubbed his belly with my head, getting a giggle out of him. “I didn’t have enough ammo.” I said. “I only brought enough for about half of them.” Jake leaned towards Nate and he took him from me, giving Jake a big kiss on the cheek and smiling at him. Jake grinned and grabbed Nate’s collar, burying is head in his friend’s shoulder. Nate gave Jake a hug and was silent for a little while. I didn’t say anything, knowing how Nate felt about Jake. A lot of people loved Jakey, and I began to realize he represented the future, something to hope for. If Jake was ever lost, that hope would be gone, and people would have nothing to live for. I know I wouldn’t, Sarah not withstanding.
After a minute, Jake leaned again, this time towards Sarah. She took him and said, “Dinnertime,” as she left the room. Sarah knew Nate and I needed to catch up, and to plan our next move. I winked at her as she left and she flashed me a quick grin. I looked back to see Nate looking at me.
“What?” I said, starting to feel defensive.
Nate smiled at me. “Nothing. I was just thinking it was about time you two got together.”
“Why does everyone say that? Was it that obvious?”
Nate laughed. “You might not have been obvious, but she sure was. You were her pick from the first and I don’t know what happened out here, but a lot of people are rooting for you two. I’m glad in this messed up world, someone has found a little happiness.”
I thought about it. “Thanks, man. I kind of needed to hear that.” I talked about the trip I had taken to my house and how I broke away from that old life, leaving my wedding band behind.
Nate nodded. “Good for you. At least you got the chance.”
“So, getting back to the situation at hand, how are we set up?” I asked, changing the subject. I sat in a chair and pulled a table close. Nate pulled up another chair and dumped the contents of a small bag on the table, It contained some maps and lists of names, as well as a candy bar and juice box. Nate shrugged as he put the last two items back.
“We pushed hard for the river, coming up through Freeport. We managed to use all of the cargo containers from the depot.” Nate said.
That raised my eyebrows. “Really? There had to be a thousand of them.”
Nate laughed. “One thousand, three hundred, and forty-six. We spread out not only west but east. There was a lot of farmland to the southeast.”
I nodded. It was sound move. “If ever we decide to tackle the city, there’s another storage depot near Chicago.”
Nate shuddered. “No thanks. I’ll do that when I’m bored with life.”
I smiled, wondering when that might ever happen.
“We managed to free up an additional seventy-eight people in our push west and would you believe it? Twenty of them are young guys, between nineteen and twenty-five years old who had banded together to save each other when the crap went down.”
I whistled. That was a good force to send against the Z’s if they were trained right. Who was I kidding? They had Nate. Of course they were trained. I motioned for him to continue.
“We have quite a few families, lots of kids, and we are in a good position for food and supplies right now. We will need to forage until the first crops come in, and we will have to start some animal raising, but I imagine we have the land for that.”
I nodded. “The forest preserves we went through to get here have a lot of clearings surrounded by heavy woods. Once upon a time these were farms, so they can be farms once again. There are enough homes nearby for people to manage the herds and protect them as needed. We can trench them for defense and also to keep the animals from straying.”
Nate seemed impressed. “Always looking ahead, hey?”
I shrugged. “Looking back these days puts some strain on your soul, you know what I mean?”
“Amen, brother. Amen.” Nate shifted his position. “Any troubles?”
I looked at him. “Depends on your point of view.” I told him about the problems I had with Pamela and Dane Blake. Nate’s eyes darkened when he heard we were set up for an ambush. I told him about Sarah and Kristen’s kidnapping, and Kristen’s subsequent murder. Nate dropped his eyes at that. I told him about Kevin and Frank.
“Holy shit! A pit full of zombie heads! Who comes up with shit like that? Not that I’m sad to see those two gone, but that’s a hell of a way to go.”
I nodded. “We haven’t been back since, so I’m sure there are a lot of supplies there, but I have no rush.” I talked about leaving Duncan in charge and his standing orders to leave a corridor open to refugees, and also what happened to Chelsea.
Nate shook his head. “Maybe you should have stayed put.”
I thought about it for a second. “No, we needed to make the push to re-establish a workable zone for survival and re-taking what was lost, and we couldn’t do it from just one place. So how about you?” I asked.
Nate held up his hands. “Nothing so dramatic. We had a few bands of zombies to deal with, some survivors to train and acclimate. Most of them are anxious to meet the great John Talon.”
I rolled my eyes. “The only reason I keep going out to risk my neck is because I haven’t any useful skills like plumbing or electric work.”
Nate laughed. “We’ll get you elected yet. Anyway, in our push to the river, we happened across this home that had a ham radio set up in it.”
That piqued my interest. “Really? Anyone know how to use it?” I knew ham radios were used to communicate all over the world, and if we could get one working, we might actually be able to communicate with other people and find out if there was anyone left in the world.
“As a matter of fact, Jim Bigelow knew how to work it. We didn’t have a power source at the time, but we took it with us anyway.”
I got the idea Nate was holding something back. “What are you not telling me?”
Nate leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. He looked down and it was a long time before he looked up. He sighed and said, “We’re not alone.”
I leaned back in my chair and stared at him. When I found my voice I asked, “How do you know?”