Nate waved the man he was training over. He was a thin young man, roughly twenty-five, with short-cropped blonde hair and light blue eyes. I was sure in the day he was pretty effective with the opposite sex. I saw him sizing me up as we came over and I smiled. Some things never change.
Nate introduced us. “John, this is Trevor Jackson. He was the leader of the group we picked up on our way here. They were holed up in an old warehouse in Molena and were running low on food when we bumped into them.”
I shook Trevor’s hand. He had a firm grip and looked me in the eye. Somebody had raised him right. “Nice to meet you, Trevor. Good work in keeping your men alive through the mess.”
Trevor shrugged. “Just did what I thought I should do. These guys elected me leader, though I ain’t sure I deserve it.”
Wow. Deja vu. “I’m sure you did.”
Trevor shrugged again. “Well, they’re your men now, Nate says you’re the leader of this group. And since we joined up that means me too, I guess.”
I chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. With the group you have here I’ll likely be sending you out on your own to clear homes and hunt for supplies. I can’t be everywhere and groups that are used to working together are a huge asset. As a matter of fact, I have a job for you right now.”
Trevor perked up and stepped closer as I pulled out a map. “We’re here,” I said. “The trench is here.” I pointed to a line that circled the area. “I need you to take seven men and clear this area here, and send seven more to this area here.” I pointed to two opposite sides of the map. “Work your way through the homes, and remove any zombies you might find. That means closets, basements — everything has to be checked.”
Trevor nodded, memorizing the locations. I continued. “Meet up here, then work your way back. Don’t take any unnecessary risks and don’t take anything from the houses except food and weapons if you find any. The homes are going to be occupied, so no damage if you can help it.”
Trevor nodded, then motioned at his group. I stopped him and said, “I need five men to come with me for a supply run. Who’s steady?”
Trevor pointed to five men who stood up and came over. “This is Jim, Kyle, Carl, Steve, and Bryce,” he said. Charlie, Sarah, and I shook hands with all of them.
“This is Sarah and Charlie. They’ve been with me since the beginning and I trust my life to them,” I said. I looked at Trevor. “You still here?”
Trevor grinned and jogged over to the gate with his men. I watched them go, then addressed the five men. “I’m John Talon and I will never ask you to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. I will fight with you and for you and I only ask that you try not to do anything stupid that gets you killed or more importantly, anyone else killed. Deal?”
The men agreed as one and I outlined the plan for the day. “We’re taking the truck over to the strip malls on the main road past the trench. We’re looking for supplies for the town as well as the trip south we’re going to be taking in a few days. I figure we stand the best chance along that area. Let’s go.”
We went over to the side of the building where we kept the vehicles. The school had a tall chain link fence around it which served as a barrier in case of attack. A large number of zombies could tear it down, but for the occasional Z it was fine. I hopped into the Nissan Xterra with Sarah and Charlie jumped into the pickup. The men split up and we had Carl and Bryce with us, while Jim, Kyle, and Steve rode with Charlie.
We pulled out of the school and moved towards State Street, which would take us directly to where we wanted to go. We passed a number of homes and businesses and I hoped Trevor and his crew would have good luck clearing them out and we could move our people in before too long. The homes were in pretty good condition and didn’t seem worse for wear for the winter. We would have to see. We also passed a lot of cars that had been moved to the sides of the roads. Tommy and Charlie had managed to do that with the bulldozer and back hoe. We could see movement in between the houses and in some of the windows, and I silently wished Trevor luck in his job.
We had just about reached the trench when three zombies stumbled out into the road ahead of us. They were about fifteen yards ahead and closing in. I stopped the vehicle and got out, pulling my crowbar out and checking my SIG. Charlie got out of the truck and joined me at the Xterra.
The zombies lurched forward and began moaning. Two of them were females and they all looked nasty. Their skin was peeling off, and white bone showed through in places. Their clothing was in tatters and decaying teeth gnashed and clacked in anticipation.
They were bunched together, which made things more difficult. I nodded to Sarah, who stepped out of the Xterra and readied the. 22 I gave her before winter. She was only going to intervene if something went wrong, but I didn’t see that happening. I signaled to the new guys to hold fast. “This won’t take long,” I said.
The zombies started to close in, and Charlie and I bolted into action, I taking the left and Charlie taking the right. We ran right at the zombies, then split at the last second, stopping directly to the left and right of the trio. Our sudden movement had confused the zombies for a split second, and that was all we needed. I slammed the crowbar into the head of the one that faced me, an average looking zombie with long, oily hair hanging in thin strips in front of her face. As she fell back I kicked the second one in the hip, sending him sprawling. Charlie buried a tomahawk in the head of the zombie on his side and swept down with his second one at the zombie on the ground. I reversed the crowbar and jammed the chisel end into my zombie’s head, crushing it and ending her struggles.
Charlie was having a little trouble. He swung his second tomahawk, but the zombie moved, causing the blade to skip on the road and the only damage done was a couple of sparks. I stepped over with the crowbar and using a golf swing, smashed the zombie in the side of the head as he crawled towards me. He spun around and Charlie used the momentum to bury the second ‘hawk in the zombie’s head.
Charlie cleaned off his blades on the dead Z’s clothing, and I looked around for more adversaries. I didn’t see any in the immediate vicinity, so we mounted up and drove down the street. Leport was an old town, so the business and homes on the main streets were near to the roads. I really got a sense of closeness which made for a tense ride. Sarah picked up on it and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. We moved towards a more open section of the town and began to see additional evidence that the virus had hit here as well. Homes with white flags on them were broken open, windows were cracked and shattered. Cars had doors open and dark stains could be seen in many places. We moved around several abandoned cars and had to move a couple out of the way. I got out and had Sarah move the Xterra up to bump the car out of the way. Carl and Bryce got out as well, and helped me move the car. As we finished, there was movement from a house. A small boy came stumbling out. His grey pallor and dead eyes marked him clearly as a zombie. He moved towards us on uncertain feet, yet clear in his purpose. His Spider-Man t-shirt was bloodstained and several wounds could be seen on his thin arms. I guessed him to be about seven years old. Carl moved towards him, but I held up a hand.
“Check the ground.” I said, indicating the tall unkempt grass near the little Z.
Carl looked then whistled. “Man, I never saw that. Thanks.” In the grass was a zombie who had been severely injured as a living person and was minus two legs and an arm. It was dragging itself slowly through the grass and if Carl had moved in, he would have stepped right on it. Another man once had done that and the zombie sat right up and chewed on his nuts. Didn’t get through the clothing, but the man’s hair changed from dark to light overnight.