Deadfall: Hunters (7 page)

The women and girls were going to leave the island. We worked furiously for the next couple of days in creating an armored caravan. Three vans and a U-Haul truck would ferry the group off the island, carrying all the supplies they could in the truck. The main issue, while it was clearly to flee the island, was how to deal with the hordes of zombies out on the main land. This is where Aaron and Lucy stepped in and our story begins to change.

The expecting couple had come to a decision to lead the women and girls back up to North Carolina and Sunny Pointe. Not only was that the safest place for the women, but it was also the safest place for them to have the baby. It was horribly risky, especially getting out of Miami, but Aaron was confident they could do it, especially with the recovered stash of weapons from Cain’s resort.

“Even though the risk is high,” Lucy explained, “I just can’t have the baby on a boat, especially since we won’t know where we will be.”

It was true, an issue we had been avoiding. The military would have doctors. The One Star Wonder though, was venturing off into the unknown. I could see her concern. It also made the most sense as far as the women. Aaron and Lucy now had plenty of experience dealing with the zombie filled world. The women had none. They could ask for no better guide. Getting out of Miami would be hard, and slow, but once out, they could even reach North Carolina in a day or two if they got lucky with fuel. As it stood, we had nearly enough fuel here to refill the vans for a trip up to North Carolina, that is, if they didn’t run into any delays.

The three of us that remained discussed continuing our quest to Haiti and we easily agreed that we had to continue on to see what we might find. We found ourselves in a smaller dilemma when the young girl, Janine, asked to go with us. She was the only one left that had not been reunited with family. Staying with the rest of the group would remind her that she had lost her mother. I could understand that feeling. One of the main reasons I didn’t want to go back to Sunny Pointe was that I didn’t want to think about Heather. Still, while she was clearly a resourceful girl, she was still only thirteen. The ante was raised considerably though, when Blevin offered to come with us as well.

“I can easily pull the weight of both of us,” he laughed, “and more.”

While we first thought it better to have him go with the group to protect them, he pointed out that the caravan would have a heavy supply of weapons to use and would want to be on the move instead of stopping, where he was most handy. I will admit that, the thought of having our own personal walking tank with us seemed like a great proposition. So it was decided. We would lose two members of our group, but pick up two more.

We spent the next two days assembling the caravan, stocking up on fuel and food, and getting ready to leave. Tague and I brought back a few of Cain’s weapons with us, most of them going with the caravan, but we did bring back the stash of swords. We also found some crossbows and bolts along with assorted knives and blades and some throwing axes.

We spent that last day together just enjoying each other’s company. It sounds corny, but that’s what it was. The caravan was ready to go and the women were making some last minute raids into the town to find useful items. Aaron and Lucy helped us load the boat up with our new supplies and then we spent the afternoon on the boat, just talking. While the women and girls had their own feast on the island, a farewell to hell feast, we ate on the boat, along with our two new guests. We talked about how everything had happened, all the small stories we had gathered these past months. Blevin and Janine listened intently to our stories and then related some of their own. Considering all that had happened just a few days past, it was such an enjoyable evening, just eating and talking.

It was hard to say goodbye. The group was breaking up again, but at least this time, it was on our own terms. I had no idea if I’d ever see them again and I would certainly miss them.

The next morning, we said goodbye to two of our companions.

I hope I see them again.

We sailed down past the island and quickly left Miami behind as a strong wind pulled us south in a hurry. We reached the southern tip of the Keys in three days and we have been here now just to rest up and find any new supplies we can use.

The boat is a new place now. Blevin is loud and laughs loudly all the time it seems. Janine, dark in her own way, adapted quickly to the motion of the sea and is actually proving to be very helpful on the boat. Tomorrow we leave America behind and sail across the Strait of Florida and make for the coast of Cuba. We are in hurricane season, so we need to be really mindful about which storms we chase for water.

More unknown awaits us. Beyond Cuba is our destination. This better be worth it.

We’ve crossed down the Straits of Florida after a quick pit stop along the Keys. Those small islands were a complete mess of zombies just waiting to pick off anyone dumb enough to go on land. We floated down past all those small ports and towns, the tourist resorts, and saw more than we wanted to deal with. We did dock alongside a few derelict boats just so Maxie could go on board and steal some supplies. Of course, were not stealing from anyone anymore.

Then it was off across the blue ocean toward the eastern side of Cuba.

The sail across the strait was uneventful. We spent the time to really get to know Blevin and Janine as best as we could. Blevin had no shortage of stories, either from before or after Deadfall. He liked to talk. He talked so much at times, he would stop mid story, and admit he had just made everything up just to talk. He’d then laugh. It’s still hard to believe he was involved with the mercenaries.

Janine was the direct opposite. She shared very little of her past, granted there was very little. She did ask many questions though, about us. We answered as best we could. There was something dark about that girl which bothered me more and more each day. At first I began to grow worried that I had made a mistake allowing her on board the ship. She had survived a horrible ordeal. She had put a bullet in her zombie mother’s brain. Those weren’t the kind of things you simply ignored. But the more I observed her, the more I saw Heather in her. She had the same inner fire, the will to expunge the demons. I had to admire that.

I liked having her remind me of Heather too. Sadistic of me perhaps.

The trip across the strait took just over a day and the green trees of Cuba quickly came into view. We all had our passport, visas and communist jokes out within a few minutes. We had always dreamingly talked about surviving the zombie plague on an island was the best possible scenario, but the reality was that these Caribbean island were probably just large coffins. The less land on which to flee from the walking menace meant the greater chance of death. It didn’t take long before we were sailing along the edge of the island to realize there was very little human life left. Of course, there was very little human life left anywhere.

We sailed down the eastern side of the coast slowly for two full days, just taking our time and waiting to see what we would see. It wasn’t much. A few derelict boats here and there, and the usual gathering of zombies at any port we came close to. The whole western side of the island is a series of inlet bays and these outer lying island peninsulas. It’s actually remarkably beautiful as only a TV commercial for a tropical island paradise could capture it. A few times we ventured into the actual bays, lagoons really, but Maxie said he was nervous navigating in these waters. The odds of there being sunken ships under the waves was just too high. So we kept skirting along the outer edge of the island as we sailed south against it.

On the third day, in the evening, we came across evidence of an airport just off the coast. There was a smaller airport tower sticking out just above the jungle trees. As these locations had granted us boons in the past, we dropped anchor in the small bay just off the airport that night, and made plans to go onshore the next morning and scout. That night as I stood out along the side of the boat, watching the sun set over the green hills of the island, Janine came and stood next to me. She counted out two large ships anchored or stuck in that small bay. They were large cargo ships, and one of them was listing hard to the port side. We talked about them, quickly making up small stories for each of them, giving them backgrounds, naming their captains and even creating imaginary inventories for them. All of them had semi happy endings. Their crews would find Cuba and make for the shore, starting a new community of survivors. Survival was the happiest of thoughts in the new world.

We didn’t expect any survivors here though.

It’s a really hot night tonight, I’m already covered in sweat. I hope I can get some sleep

(Editor’s Note: There are some loose pages inserted into the journal here. Newspaper clippings, some letters and some military reports. Brian makes no mention as to why they are inserted here, but there are other instances where more documents are inserted in other locations in the journal. Everything is left unmodified.)

Cape Fear Weekly

Military aims to train civilians for hunter duty

Ever since the chaotic events from the night now known as the Battle of Carolina Beach, the Admiral has been looking for solutions to avoid a future disaster such as the one that occurred on that night. Two months after the attack, Carolina Beach is still infested with tens of thousands of LImps and they don’t seem to be in any hurry to go anywhere. Some attempts were made by armed helicopters to eradicate this new population of the dead, but the results were minimal.

“We have tried a more direct approach and have met with minimal success. It is time to try different approaches.” Admiral Gurtz.

The Admiral has approved the formation of civilian led and run groups of hunters to search out and destroy either individual or hordes of LImps. The idea is spearheaded by Evan Steers, a civilian from the Tower Cities federation. He plans to implement an ancient Roman style of training and fighting to eliminate the population of Limps within all civilian and military controlled areas. The plan is to slowly remove all traces of LImps from all areas around Tower Cities or Sunny Pointe in order to avoid a future disaster like Carolina Beach.

“It will be a slow process at first, but with proper training, we can get rid of their presence so that we can live a bit more peacefully.” Evan Steers.

Steer’s plan requires next to no modern military arms, allowing the military to keep its own equipment. This method of fighting will keep resource use to a minimum while allowing civilians to play a larger part in restoring our country.

The groups will be made up purely of volunteers and training will begin in two weeks at Sunny Pointe. Plans call initially for the formation of seven separate groups, but training will be done together.

This reporter has been tasked to be attached to Evan Steer’s group and will follow training that is due to begin next week as well as the beginning of operations a month after training. We wish these volunteers, men and women, the best of luck and hope this plans brings the results they expect and we want.

Gracie Adams

Cape Fear Weekly

New groups seen training along the river

Training for the hunter groups is now fully underway. 193 men and women initially volunteered with 155 selected to form the first five hunter groups. Four were unavailable for duty due to health concerns. The rest will serve as a reserve system and will train to be in future hunter groups once the feasibility of the current groups are proven. Volunteers have come from individuals within the Tower Cities and some civilians living within Sunny Pointe. Individuals must be single and have no children, be between 17 and 29 years old, be in good physical shape and can only serve for two years.

Evan Steers is under general command and organization of the units, but will only be in command of his own unit once the groups are operational.

Steers has developed a unique form of combat based on ancient Greek and Roman styles of fighting using a steel carbon pike and a small shield. Men and women stand in a tight formation, five to six a line, with three to four lines deep. It is based on a tactic called the Phalanx line, originating in ancient Greece. Hunters use the pikes to spear the heads of zombies, keeping tight ranks to not allow any Limps to get through their lines. The line can flex and rotate as needed and members within the lines can switch as needed to rest or recuperate. The commander of the unit stays behind the line with two more hunters armed with rifles and swords to make sure they aren’t flanked.

This formation is only the end of a larger tactic. The group spends some time in vehicles attracting Limps into manageable sizes and then getting them marching in one direction. Only at this point does the line of spears deploy and wait for the Limps to come to them. One more individual will be posted on top of their vehicle with a long range sniper rifle in order to control any stragglers.

This is all theory, but training is being geared for this. This first week after recruitment, the men and women have been training their march and formation. Multiple groups have been marching back and forth across open spaces near the Cape Fear River. The groups move about under the orders of each commander, then a shout goes up to deploy, shields come up and pikes are lowered. Then the groups practice curving and moving as a solid unit. Each group has been doing this now for eight hours a day.

Marching is one thing though, how will each unit and specifically each individual handle actual combat with Limps?

“We understand that fighting against zombies can be quite unnerving. It is critical that each person in a unit be completely at ease with fighting them, face to face at times, without flinching.” Evan Steers.

Steers and the other commanders have come up with a plan for training against live Limps.

Better yet, dead Limps.

Gracie Adams