Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Conflict (20 page)

“Got you
a pink nightie. Lizzy found it in a gift box under the counter. Still had the
tag, so I’m guessing layaway or a special order.”

Briana
pressed up against me. “You spend a lot of time guessing why things are the way
they are.”

I had
nothing to say. It was a factual statement, and I certainly have the tendency
to do just that.

“What
about Laura and her people?” she asked. “They all geared up now?”

“Between
this run and the extras they took from our storage trucks, they should be good.
It was a fairly straightforward trip, easier than I thought it would be.”

“That’s
because everyone knows what they’re doing. It’s not like way back when people
panicked and screamed and ran around just because they saw a single dead body
shambling along the road a half mile away.”

She
stopped and took a seat. We had several benches scattered around the corrals
and pens. Most of the time they were used to set buckets or tools on, but
Briana found them beneficial when undertaking her daily exercises, which
consisted of a short walk around the castle with me.

“Baby’s
moving again.”

I
quickly slid my hand up beneath her blouse, pressing my palm against bare skin.
I could barely feel our little one squirming about inside.

“She’s
energetic.”

“It’s
going to be a boy.”

I shook
my head. “No way. Everyone I associate with is a girl…”

“Woman,”
she corrected, sternly.

“That
too. But all females, and there’s no way God is going to change that now. He
doesn’t like me that much.”

“He
likes you fine, and you know it.” She held out her arms so I could help her
back up. “And… Oh, this keeps getting harder and harder.”

“Ready
to head back?”

“No,
let’s keep going. I want to see how Steph’s lessons are going.”

It was
just a few more feet, around the edge of a milking pen, before we could see the
portion of the meadow Steph was using. We weren’t close enough to hear what was
being said, but Lizzy was sitting on the ground looking disgusted. She’d probably
been thrown again.

“Some of
the guys from Wyoming are really good,” observed Briana.

“Makes
sense. I haven’t seen any of them ride yet, but I figure living on a ranch they
would know how.”

“Steph
was mentioning it this morning. She said some of them are much better than her
and should take over the mounted patrols.”

“That
would be nice, having people who really know what they’re doing scouting the
woods for us. Want to ask her about it?”

Briana
hesitated, considered the distance, and turned away. “No, we’ll just stroll
back over to the castle. I would say shamble…”

I
winced.

“…but
that would be a no no. It should be another month, I think, maybe a bit longer.
Then I’ll be back to my normal, sweet, skinny self, following a few thousand
sit ups.”

Judging
it against my interests to comment on how fast or easily she would slim down
following the baby being born, I decided to change the subject.

“What do
you think of Harlan?”

“Nice
guy, but I don’t like having his radio equipment in the kitchen. Takes up too
much space.”

“It is
kind of bulky, but where else could we place it? It has to be in a public spot
so we can hear if anything comes in. The common room was way too noisy, and
that left only the kitchen.”

“We
should have a separate room for it,” she argued. “I would put it in the
storeroom, but then we’d have to assign someone to sit there all night. It’s
hard enough keeping two people on watch round the clock.”

“It
stays in the kitchen then.”

My tone
was probably not as accommodating as it could have been. I base this assessment
on the glare I received.

“At
least there’s usually someone up and about during the night,” I added. “We’re
told if a message comes in.”

“Yeah,
and it’s usually Sofie.” She paused and eased herself onto another bench. While
our route was short, the daily walks were anything but. “She doesn’t look
good.”

“I
know,” I replied, softly. “I don’t think she’ll be around much longer.”

The
medical professionals in Wyoming believed Sofie’s symptoms were consistent with
the development of AIDS and all the problems that came with it. They knew what
medications she should take, and it turned out we actually had them on hand,
being looted from pharmacies on past scavenging trips. Treatment had commenced,
but there was no change any of us could discern.

“I don’t
want her to die. I know there’s nothing I can do about it, but still. I like
Sofie. She’s nice.”

“Agreed.
She is a nice lady, really good with a gun too.”

“Jacob!”

“You
know what I mean.”

Her
beautiful green eyes were staring at me intently.

“It’s
hard not to think of how people contribute, particularly when it comes to
fighting, especially for me, trying to keep everyone safe. You know that
Briana.”

That was
such a wrong statement to make. I should know better.

“Well,
yes.”

“But,” I
continued, “I do like her as a person.”

“She is
better than a lot of the people here.” Briana took my hands in her own,
clasping them tightly. “Let’s discuss something more pleasant.”

“How
about Salt Lake City?”

“Don’t
you dare.”

In
addition to receiving medical advice, Harlan and his transmitter have also allowed
us to maintain regular contact with the outside world. Hallelujah. I now have a
rough idea of what’s happening. Within the continental United States, Salt Lake
City is the largest surviving city where approximately fifty thousand people
made it through the change and resulting chaos. Fleeing to the surrounding
mountains, they hunkered down and made plans to secure themselves and recover
their home. This began well enough, and according to reports the zombies had
been falling fast. It was only the need to focus on getting food and
guaranteeing shelter that prevented them from completing the task during the
first few months.

Then
winter set in, and weather forced the survivors to largely sit on their hands
doing nothing, at least until the snow started to melt. They should have
resumed their cleanup, but problems arose. The one to be expected was the
arrival of more zombies, coming in along the highways and through the desert.
Of far greater import was the raiders declaring Salt Lake City a blight on the
land that had to be destroyed.

A
massive band of men, all wearing heavy denim jackets with the distinctive
patches we’d come to dread, appeared without warning from the south. Based on
the numbers, it was believed both of the gangs operating in the southwest were
present and unified. Rumor also had it that their leader, a man commonly
referred to as the prophet, was with them. As to the prophet title, nothing I
heard indicated that the butcher considered himself a messenger of God, or the
Devil as the case might be. Rather, it came about because the man led his
followers not by issuing commands in the traditional sense but instead by
preaching a system of beliefs and preferred actions which were acted upon.

The
entire thing was somewhat confusing, and I had serious questions about the raiders’
underlying motivations, along with their internal organization. Every time I
inquired how the people in Wyoming or down in Utah knew something, I would be
told that it had been reported to so and so or that somebody learned it from someone
else. It was almost like an urban legend, except we knew this gang was real and
that they were incredibly brutal and ruthless.

The
raiders struck the outlying farms and outposts first. They acted as we’d come
to expect. Those found desirable, regardless of age or gender, were raped
before being killed, and everyone was slain in the end. No prisoners were
taken, not even for later amusement. Nearly two hundred men, women, and
children died before the people in Salt Lake City became fully aware of what
was happening. By that time, many of the crops they’d planted had been burned,
and the gang was firmly entrenched in the nearby mountains.

Immediate
pleas for assistance went out, but the military demurred. The unfortunates in
Salt Lake City were informed that all attention and resources were being
diverted to protect the Hawaiian Islands and other offshore territories. Those living
on the mainland had to take care of themselves. Needless to say, that did not
go over well. For my part, I can understand wanting to guarantee the islands
were secured and kept that way. They allowed for easily defended safe zones,
places to operate out of. Yet, I would have still sent some bombers to blast
the raiders into little bitty pieces. Maybe there was no way to do this, a lack
of fuel, an inability to replace some critical part. I don’t know, but if that
was the case, the least they could have done was explain why.

Harlan
was also able to provide us with information on much of the world at large,
and, just like Utah, it was uniformly bad. Well, not totally bad. It just
wasn’t as good as we hoped to hear. I’ll go ahead and provide a quick summary beginning
with the United States. Unified government exists in Hawaii and on various
islands in the Pacific and Atlantic which use satellites to keep in touch. Alaska
is also functioning, with the population living on coastal islands under the
military’s protection. The sole surviving continental settlement had been in
Fairbanks, but the people there were relocated to Sitka or Hawaii. A big change
that. I’ll go ahead and point out, in case you don’t know, that it tends to be
slightly colder in central Alaska than in the tropics.

The
American forces in Japan, Korea, and the Middle East, those who managed to make
it through the change and early period of the apocalypse, have also traveled to
Hawaii. The tiny number of Japanese who survived, including a few members of
the imperial family, are now in Okinawa, centered on the former American bases
there. The traditional Japanese islands are filled exclusively with the walking
dead.

Most of
the U.S. military stationed in Europe is gone. With the population density
being what it was, many of the bases had millions of people, meaning soon to be
zombies, next door, and unlike the combat zones in the Middle East, these
facilities weren’t well secured. It wasn’t as if they were expecting an attack.
Troops in Japan and South Korea only managed to escape because they tended to
have access to ships which they used to flee their host countries.

Let’s
look at the rest of the Americas next. Canada is even more wrecked than the
United States, and there has been no contact with anyone in Mexico. A few
Caribbean islands are intact, all of which are under American military control,
whether they want to be or not. Seems we have become somewhat imperialistic
about the oceans. By the way, there used to be thousands upon thousands of
civilian ships bobbing around. Plenty of people sought safety on the water, but
starvation, lack of fresh water, storms, violence, all took their toll. Lots of
pollution too, oil spills everywhere, massive amounts of industrial and human
waste flowing out of towns and cities into the rivers and on to the ocean. I’m
not sure if the island strategy is any better, overall, than our system of
living in the more isolated, interior portions of the United States.

Central
and South America are much like Mexico, large dead zones with no contact. There
are supposedly some organized groups living in the Andes, but I have no
details. Cuba is definitely lost. Radio messages came out of there for nearly
two months, then ended abruptly. Flyovers have shown no living people.

Europe is
truly and completely devastated. Aside from the zombies, it was also cursed
with numerous nuclear reactors, mostly French, which have gone critical. Huge
swaths of land were contaminated. Switzerland is sort of intact, the population
relocated to the Southern Alps, and the Pope is still alive and heading up the
Catholic Church from that location. The United Kingdom is also hanging on,
based in Scotland with most of the civilian population living on the outlying
islands or in the highlands.

Other
than tiny Malta, there are no other European nations in existence. The Greeks
had initially survived on several of their islands, but these enclaves since
collapsed and vanished. I don’t know what happened, but the stories I heard
hinted at a combination of disease and lack of resources. I’m willing to bet it
was more a lack of people who know how to do anything. Greece was a massive
welfare state where everyone expected the government to take care of them
without their having to contribute much in return. Culturally, the average
person was simply not inclined to work. Also, the majority of survivors on
those islands were likely tourists, people who weren’t farmers or fishermen,
the sort who were largely useless given the situation.

Israel,
somehow, is still there. Jerusalem, along with the tiny Christian enclave in
Bethlehem, had been lost. Too many zombies, not enough defenders, and too large
an area to protect. The Old City remains secure, gateways sealed up and walls
extended, strengthened, or newly built to create a sprawling fortress. This is
supplied by air from coastal cities.