Life Among The Dead (Book 3): A Bittersweet Victory (31 page)

The video begins. Shaky aerial footage filmed
from a helicopter. The volume is turned down because all that can
be heard are blades slicing the air. Brass knows the structure
coming into focus is a nuclear plant by the tell-tale design of the
cooling towers. The dead surround the plant. They crowd the lot and
the land around the building and just stare, soaking in the
RADs.

The camera pulls back, showing more arriving
at a leisurely pace, as if they have all the time in the world. Oz
tells Brass that’s exactly what the radiation leaking from the
plant will do--buy them time. Brass used to sell irradiated fruits
and always found it odd that they never seemed to rot. He never
imagined the dead would benefit from this process.

The small screen shows zombies on the run
now, chasing a meal while whoever is shooting the footage assumes
the role of documentarian and doesn’t interfere. The prey is a
figure in bright yellow hazmat gear, running through a small town.
The dead climb over obstacles that would once thwart their
mobility: cars, shopping carts, and other debris. When they can’t
go over it, they find a way around it. Brass witnesses a pack of
corpses double back out of a dead-end where a tractor-trailer had
overturned.

The chopper lowers after finding a safe place
to land, and the person in the protective clothing jumps in just in
time. The filmmaker steps back to allow the rescue, and for the
gunner to take his position. The man at the door opens fire at the
racing throng with his heavy machine gun as the camera continues to
roll, zooming in on the impacting bullets and entry wounds. It
takes more than one shot to put down the irradiated dead. With more
parts of their brains active it appears more of it must be
destroyed to fully neutralize them. They fight to make it to the
meal before it flies away. Late for supper, they watch the chopper
lift off, letting out screams.

“If we had sound, we’d hear them howl,” Oz
says. “They say it’s almost like a snarling shriek.”

The rest of the footage is from above. The
dead on the move, looking like any other walking corpses. They walk
in their typical slow manner when not on the hunt. Their ‘power
save mode’ as many call it.

What strikes Brass as peculiar at first now
chills his spine. “They keep looking up.”

“Yeah, and they’re coming this way. The major
says they’ll be around your neck of the woods in just a few days.
Hundreds of thousands of them.”

“They’ll be here sooner than a few days.”
Brass kicks the video back to where a cluster of zombies look up at
the helicopter and pick up their pace. “They’re watching the
choppers! They know what’s in them, and now know where to find
food!”

“You think they’ve learned the flight plan?”
Abby asks.

“Yeah. Thanks to the fucking army they’ll
probably be tearing through Ruby a lot sooner than projected, if
they hit top speed.” Brass slams the computer shut. All their
defenses, the labyrinth of rubble, the jungle gyms of blades and
barbed wire, all their guns and every single round they have in
reserve won’t stop these zombies. “What do you want?”

“We’re here to ask you and your people to
come to Story Book Land with us,” Oz says. “Everything. Folks,
food, and all your firepower.”

Brass holds his head as if it’s going to
explode. There are so many people who have counted on him for so
long. He’d hate to fail them now. “I guess we have no choice.”

“If it makes it easier,” Carla says, “we have
the cure.”

“In light of what I’ve just been shown,”
Brass says, “I hope you are not referring to the band? Life is
depressing enough already.”

“No, it’s a vaccine. Goes right to the source
of the problem. Keeps dead things dead, and takes the bite out of
the bite. Still hurts like hell of course.”

“How?”

“It’s a long, complicated, unbelievable story
we can tell you later.”

“Follow us,” Brass says.

“Are we really packing up and heading south?”
Abby whispers once he and Brass are away from the strangers. “What
if they’re lying?”

“I trust this. They’re scared of these
things, and so am I. They need us, and now we need them. The second
we hit Ruby, call in all the outposts except for our northernmost
look-outs and the power station. They’ll join our caravan at first
light when we roll out. Get everyone packing. I want everything
loaded onto trucks. If we need more trailers, grab more trailers.
Anyone that isn’t loading animals, food, or supplies needs to be
making ammo.”

Brass turns and comes face to chest with the
clown, and he must look up to meet the jester’s eyes.

Vida introduces him. “Brass, this is Brock.
He’s one of the people that saved Gabe and me on the road. Can he
ride with us?”

“Sure.” Brass is too burdened with thought to
argue about having a stranger along. “That reminds me, Abby, any
word on Lady Luck?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know? I’ve
been with you.”

“Oh, right.”

“Brock could have saved her the trip,
actually,” Vida attempts to brighten the gloomy mood that has come
over Brass. “Eagle Rock fell to the dead. That isn’t the good news.
Gabe’s family is down in Story Book Land! Brock got them and a
bunch of others out.”

“That’s great!” Abby says.

“Maybe Double L found some more survivors and
was able to clear out the armory,” Brass says. The news of Gabe’s
son being alive is enough for him to have a glimmer of hope once
again.
But
will
it
be
enough
, he
wonders.

From the desolate setting of their roadside
meeting, they cruise swiftly to Rubicon. As it passes the outposts,
the Riviera sets a confident pace to make the trip as short as
possible. Brass is silent for the first half, lost within his
thoughts, planning the overwhelming task of packing everyone and
everything. The undertaking needs to be perfectly orchestrated.

Welcome
to
Rubicon
, a
sign greets all entering the town that looks less than inviting
with its war-torn, devastated buildings and cordoned off streets.
They drive through the debris field that was once a thriving
community to the center.

Brass leads them straight to the motor pool.
Having called ahead, all gates and blockades are opened for him
upon his approach so he doesn’t have to stop. He guides his old car
one handed while chewing on his thumbnail. Lady Luck had touched
down at some point since Brass left this morning to pick up his two
outpost testers. She has Player 1 and Malcolm unloading cases and
guns from her Blackhawk.

“Bad news,” she tells Brass.

“I was just thinking I could use some more
bad news,” he says. “I know. Eagle Rock has fallen. Turns out
Gabe’s family is with the military in Story Book Land.”

“Oh.” She shrugs and starts her debriefing.
“No survivors at all, but the gates are open. The only dead are the
ones trapped in the buildings. We found a mess hall that really
lives up to the name. The armory was full. Someone had picked
through it in a hurry, but we were able to pack out a lot of cool
shit. One more trip and we’ll have it all.”

“That’ll have to wait,” Brass hitches a thumb
toward the guests that linger by their yellow Hummer.

“Who are they?”

“They’re from SBL. We’re heading there at
first light. All of us and everything.”

“All right.” Lady Luck sighs, slicing a hand
across her throat to stop her men from unloading. She requires no
explanation, doesn’t ask for a reason. “One odd thing about our
trip to the base. We noticed the map has changed. The Charles River
has flooded. Its course looks like it’s been altered
completely.”

“Did the dam break?” Brass says. “What’s it
called?”

“Parsons Dam,” Oz says. “Yeah, it’s
gone.”

“We were on it when it broke,” Carla
adds.

“You were on it when it broke. The clown was
at Eagle Rock when it fell,” Brass says. “Seems like bad things
follow you people.”

“It does at that.” Oz nods.

“Well… 5,6,7,8, let’s get started,” Brass
commences the pack out. “Abby, make the calls to the posts, then
get the word out. I want every growing thing we have harvested and
canned and the animals loaded for travel. As soon as you’re done,
come back and help Lady Luck. Lady Luck, I need you to organize the
vehicles. Your chopper will need to be packed onto a flatbed.
Player 1, help Double L. Malcolm, help Abby.”

Brass looks at the group of new arrivals.
“Who can run a forktruck?”

Oz and the soldiers raise their hands.

“You two.” Brass selects the quiet pair.
“Load what you’re told, where you are told to load it. One of you
is with Abby, the other will stick with Lady Luck. She’s a task
master but she’s fun to look at. Draw straws or something.”

“I can do my own trucking,” Abby says.

“No, let someone else. You aren’t good at
it.”

“I am so! I am a master of all motorized
vehicles.”

“Except forktrucks. The rear wheel steering
throws you off, buddy. Accept it.”

“You’re a child, Brass!” Abby heads off with
his helper on his heels. “Just showing off in front of new
people.”

Vida cautiously gets Brass’s attention. “Can
Brock and I run and tell Gabe the good news?”

“Of course, sweetie.” Brass melts a little.
“After, can you and Brock help with the children? Keep them calm
and entertained?”

“I would be honored,” Brock answers for the
both of them. The instant integration into the inner workings of
the community is gratifying, like being allowed into a close-knit
family and fitting in as if he’s always belonged.

“How about us?” Carla asks.

“Can you load shells?” Brass asks, while
heading into the building through the back of the store.

“It was my hobby before our town was
lost!”

The storage area takes Carla’s breath away:
racks upon racks of guns, crates of ammo, tall boxes of components
for making more ammo. She feels at home. “Fuck me, this is
impressive.”

“Thanks,” Brass says. He locates a box and
carries it to a wide table. From the trove, he removes handfuls of
toy cars, trucks, and buses. He begins to set them out in columns,
end to end. “It’s funny, in the world before I wasn’t much of a gun
person. I believed in the right to have them. Just felt more
control was needed over who did and who didn’t. Now we can’t live
without them. They’re what cell phones used to be. Everyone has one
whether they need it or not.”

“I never had much use for ’em myself before
the dead,” Oz admits.

“You look at this collection. We found these
lying around empty. Many we found on store racks or in armories,
never fired. If there were enough firearms in our country to arm
every man, woman, and child, how did we fall so fast?” Brass says.
“It shouldn’t have been possible, yet all it took was one day and
they had us outnumbered. Even with the daily average of natural
deaths all rising, it shouldn’t have been possible.”

“We have a guy back at SBL who says he met
the man partially responsible for this.” Oz watches Brass arrange
his cars with care.

“Reliable source?” Brass asks without much
interest.

“Not in the least. He says he met Freeman
Wilkes that day…”

“Sounds familiar.” Brass pauses for a second
upon hearing the name.

“Big shot in pharmaceuticals. I met him once.
He made everything from cancer wonder drugs to diet pills. Wilkes
told this man that a sample from space had accidentally been
released into the air, and later discovered in the blood of
everyone across the globe. This same sample was being used as a
derivative for some of his drugs.”

“So perhaps with what caused this in the
medicine, anyone on the medication may have suddenly died. Hundreds
of thousands, perhaps millions, overnight. I bet he didn’t disclose
which ones. Not that it matters now, I guess,” Brass says as he
lovingly lines a row of yellow school buses in the middle of his
model convoy. “I don’t remember the commercials ever listing
zombification among the adverse reactions and side effects.”

“No, that might have been helpful
information. Could have been a flu shot for all we know,” Oz says.
He doesn’t take medications himself, never gets the flu shot due to
not liking needles, but at this point it’s all speculation. He
agrees with what Brass had said about the likelihood of humanity
dying off so swiftly. It shouldn’t have been so easy. They were on
the losing side of this war before even knowing it was
declared.

###

Vida rushes through town, dragging the clown
by his hand as she searches for Gabe. Brock still receives some
curious glances in Story Book Land, but since he arrived with Brass
he’s just accepted.

They arrive at the trailer Vida shares with
Gabe and she barges right through the door. He is startled by the
sudden appearance and commotion.

“Gabe, do you remember…”

“Of course!” He extends a hand to shake the
clown’s. “It’s Brock Rottom. What are you doing here?”

“I have good news. As you recall, I was on my
way to Eagle Rock with my group, but the convoy was picked up and
brought there,” the clown says. “Well, the fort fell to the dead in
a massive panic of terror and--”

“Howard and Gloria are at Story Book Land!”
Vida says, to save Gabe from the gory details.

“Really?” All day he’s been waiting to hear
word on the mission to Eagle Rock, preparing himself for bad news.
The relief that washes over him erases all the tension in his
muscles

“Brock got them and a bunch of others
out.”

“Thank you, Mister Rottom. You saved the day
again.”

“I have more news,” Vida says. “There’s some
sort of super zombie, a massive horde of them, like thousands,
coming down from the north…”