The Undead World (Book 1): The Apocalypse (25 page)

“
Because you didn't need to know,” the admiral said. “It wasn't us, in case you're wondering. The ruskies nuked their own land when fifty million chinese zombies poured over the border. Someone panicked. It happens,” he said this with all the compassion of a stone. “About those Bio sites…we don't have the capabilities that we once had, so I'll see what we can stir up, but in the mean time I had asked about the CDC. How is your security detachment holding up?”

“
They've had their casualties—a thousand or so. Thankfully the wall hasn't been breached in three days.”

At the outset of the event, the CDC
's small security detail had been augmented by a full brigade of infantry from Fort Stewart. The brigade's commander had been quick to react to the deteriorating situation by reinforcing the existing fencing with concrete emplacements and extra concertina wire. This had barely held in the first few days and when the zombie numbers had swelled beyond belief he took the extra ordinary steps to appropriate every car and truck within reach and these he stacked making a second wall within the first.

Still this hadn
't been enough and had it not been for the Stryker armored personnel carriers with their heavy machine guns, the facility would've been doomed.

“
I was told we needed reinforcements and that I was to do anything I could to beg for ammo,” Eric said, trying to smile pleasantly. His exact instructions had been to kiss ass until he smelled of shit and not to come back without at least a promise that they would be re-supplied. “We need…” he pulled out a piece of paper and read aloud, “5.56 rounds. Fifty cal and 7.62 rounds. Those are bullets I'm guessing. We also need supplies of all types, especially food. We have six thousand men, women and children to feed. What we have won't last.”

“
More mismanagement,” the marine said to the admiral. Then to Eric he smiled like a lizard and held up a picture of a strange tank like vehicle with missiles hanging off of it. “Have you seen any of these on the grounds? No? What about these?”

The second picture showed a soldier holding a shoulder fired missile. Eric shook his head.
“No. I don't think missiles that shoot down planes work too well against altered persons.”

“
You're the expert,” the marine said, easily. “What about artillery? You know what that is?”

“
Yes, of course,” Eric answered with a frown. “They have some big guns, but they haven't been used; something about rules that don't make any sense to me. Why? What's this about?”

“
Just making sure that they are following protocol,” the Marine officer lied. Eric knew the man was lying but why was a mystery. The colonel went on, “Do they man the artillery pieces when a crisis occurs or do they just go to the perimeter?”

“
The men just go to the perimeter. All the men are angry about not being able to use the guns. Are you suggesting that they should use them? Is that what you want me to tell them?”

“
No sir,” the admiral said, suddenly sweet. “You tell them that we'll have their ammo in a week. Maybe ten days. We'll chopper it in, but we're going to need some help from you. On this diagram of the CDC grounds where could we land a few choppers?”

Eric felt his stomach drop.
“We use the baseball field at Emory University. It's right across the train tracks to the southwest.”

“
He meant within the perimeter,” the Marine officer said, still with his reptilian smile.

“
There's single helicopter pad on one of the buildings. You can't miss it since there's a big red cross on it. Just fly them in one by one in intervals.”

The smile turned nasty on the Marine
's face and he squinted at Eric. “Are you telling the admiral how to do his job? Because from what I understand you and the other poindexters can't even do your own fucking job. That's why we're in this mess.”

“
I want to know what's going on,” Eric said, ignoring the angry marine and backing until he hit the white board behind him. “Why do you want to know where to land helicopters? Are you thinking about attacking the CDC? Why. That makes no sense. We're on the same side.”

Another admiral with bands of gold on his arms cleared his throat and looked pointedly at Stevenson, who said,
“Tell me, Dr Reidy, has the President tried to contact the Secretary of Health and Human Services, lately?”

“
No sir,” Eric said quietly. “It's been days since we've had contact from anyone in the administration.” This quieted the assembled officers considerably. The last time anyone had heard from the president had been two weeks earlier, then there was a couple of days when the Secretary of the Defense spoke on his behalf.

Then nothing.
Rumors flew everywhere about assassinations and mass arrests, but who knew what the truth was?

At Eric’s response, e
yes began to shift around the room, waiting on the admiral and he was very slow to say, “I do not take pleasure in what I'm about to say, but as ranking officer, I hereby assume the duties as acting Commander in Chief until it can be ascertained that the President is capable of performing his duties or a new President is appointed by the people.”

There was a silence in the room though it was clear that the declaration wasn
't unexpected.

“
But you're not in the line of succession,” Eric said, breaking the cold silence of the room. “The Secretary is. She's number thirteen if I'm not mistaken.”

“
The Secretary is a moron,” Admiral Stevenson said. His words were clear and distinct so that none could ever say they hadn't heard. “She was chosen for the position only to throw a few crumbs to the feminists and maybe to buy a few votes out in Kansas. Is this what the resume of the leader of the free world looks like?” 

“
And she hasn't even claimed the position,” the Marine cried, throwing his hands in the air. “She's derelict in her duty. It is her responsibility to assume the office when her time comes. What is she waiting for? It's been day and days, and we all sit around waiting for her to do something, while she hides in the CDC hoping you scientists can save her from making the hard choices. What we need now is not another politician, what we need is a true leader.”

Eric felt the desire to wet himself, standing in front of these
hard men. Instead he folded his arms across his chest trying to appear defiant. “Then maybe you should arrest her or something, but attacking your own people is ludicrous.”

“
I agree,” Admiral Stevenson said. “Unfortunately the Army brigade at the CDC has a zealot for a commander. I've known him for some time and he's always been a stickler for the constitution. He'll fight for that bitch even though everyone knows she's worse than useless.”

“
We have a chain of command for a reason,” Eric said obstinately. “To keep us from plunging into a civil war! This is exactly what you plan.”

“
Yes,” the admiral said. “Sadly yes. I wish it weren't so, but that's the way it's got to be. The chain of command has snapped. You are evidence of this as you come begging for supplies. The truth is the Secretary can't even run the CDC properly. How can she possibly run a scattered people?”

Eric was quiet. He didn
't have an answer to the admiral's question.

“
Exactly,” the admiral said as if Eric’s silence was a tacit agreement. “Now there's still an answer that I need from you Dr Reidy, will you help us?” Eric started to splutter out a quick denial, but Stevenson spoke over it. “If you do not help more lives will be lost and the end result will be the same. We can crush the CDC with overwhelming force, but I'd rather do it neatly.”

Eric was in shock. His country was dying and worse he was being asked to pound the final nail in the coffin.

Sarah came blearily awake as the small man dashed into the living room. “Neil?” she asked. Partially it was a question because she wasn't quite certain if that was his name and partially because she wondered why he was so flustered and shoeless. He stood there with mud up to his calves, panting and pointing.

“
Zombies,” he said. Louder he called, “Sadie there's zombies coming. A lot of them.”

And then he was rushing around grabbing his drying clothes and
a damp sleeping bag and anything else he could clutch to his slim chest. Sarah stood and then wobbled in place still under the effect of half a bottle of rum on an empty stomach. She looked down at the side of the couch, and even on the wrong side of tipsy she knew that she had set her gun right there. “Where's my gun?”

If anything the question turned the pale man whiter still and he looked back the way he came.
“I left it in the barn,” he said with large eyes. “I'll…I'll just go get it.”

Sadie came into the living room then. She still wore her muumuu and nothing else, not even her black converse which she carried in her hand.
“You're not going out there, Neil. Look I can see ten of the things already.”

“
Yeah, we have to lock the doors,” Sarah said. She went to the front door but Sadie pushed past with odd look on her face.

“
Have both of you gone bonkers…damn its gotten cold,” she said stepping out onto the porch where the rain ran sideways with a new wind. “We could be in trouble. We'll freeze in the river.”

“
That's why you should be coming in,” Sarah insisted. Were these two idiots? They had to get in quick before the zombies came.

“
There's a hayloft in the barn with a ladder you can pull up,” Neil said. “I'll draw them away and you two…”

Sadie laughed at this.
“I'll draw them off. You're too much of a slow poke. See ya!” And then she was skipping across the lawn, singing, “Tra-la-la-la, come get me monsters. Time for lunch.”

Of course they oriented on her in
heartbeat and she continued to skip. “She's crazy,” Sarah said in a whisper. “We have to get her inside.”

“
Inside here? No way, not when they know we're here. They'll tear this place apart. Quick grab that green bag, it's a tent. And that afghan. With everything wet it's going to be a little cold. Oh, and there she goes.”

Sarah grabbed the tent and the blanket in a hurry. Turning back to the front door she asked,
“Aren't you worried that they'll get her…I guess not.”

The teenage girl wasn
't just nimble and quick, she could fly. The nearest zombies were coming after her skipping body with obvious hunger in their eyes and just when they got within a few steps the girl turned on the jets and raced away. After running half the length of a football field she stopped and huffed out volumes of grey breath as she waited for them to get close again.

“
No wonder she isn't really scared,” Sarah said with awe in her voice. “I wouldn't be either if I could run like that.”

“
We should hurry either way,” Neil said. He was clearly worried for the girl. “One little slip and they'll be on her.” They jogged to the barn and after a quick check to make sure it was empty, Neil pointed Sarah up the ladder. Then he ran for the M16 and waved for the young girl to come in from the rain and the monster play.

When she came in she was drenched and smiling, while Neil was mumbling
, red faced and vaguely pointing to the loft, instead of looking at the girl. Sarah understood if Sadie didn't; soaking wet the old muumuu was sheer and see-through.

“
Come here,” Sarah said to the girl as she came up the ladder. The woman held out the afghan and wrapped her in it, saying, “That was very brave.”

She shrugged off the compliment, though her cheeks were a little pink.
“I used to run track. It's not so brave if they can't catch you.”

“
It was still impressive to us,” Neil said. “I bet you used to win a lot.” He came up, bringing the ladder with him, and though the girls cuddled and he was as wet as Sadie, he sat a little off to himself.

“
No, not really,” Sadie said. “There's a ton of competition. There were even girls on roids. They might have been growing little penises but they sure could run.” They chuckled at this and then Sarah's eyes went to Neil.

“
What are you dressed for?” she asked, just then noticing that he had traded in his khakis. “Halloween?”

Neil looked down at himself and belatedly began rolling up one of his cuffs—it hung down past his foot and it made him look comically small.
“All my stuff was wet so I borrowed farmer Jones' clothes.” He got up and began to inspect the twenty by twenty loft. It was warmer in the loft than it had been down below, but it wouldn't stay that way for long and so Neil began to flatten out an area for the tent. When he did he discovered another stash: A jar of peanut butter, a box of saltines…and more Playboys.

He held them up and Sadie grew confused.
“Do those three go together in a way that I'm too young to understand?”

Neil and Sarah locked eyes and then burst out laughing.
“I'm far too innocent a creature to know, I'm sure,” Sarah said. This was actually quite true. Counting her moment with Veronica, Sarah had been with a total of five people.

“
Me too,” Neil agreed. “All I have to say is yuck.” He tossed the playboys down to the zombies who were congregating below.

“
Don't listen to him,” Sadie said. “He was the stud of Montclair. I'm sure he knew all sorts of kinky stuff; he just hides it under his shy demeanor.”

“
Sadie,” he said to the girl as if warning her. “I'm not like that at all, really. Or I wasn't before, back in Montclair, and Sadie knows it.”

Sarah completely believed Neil—real studly types rarely blushed when they were called a stud. They usually only puffed up more like rooster than normal.
“How does she know it?” she asked. “If you met on the road then you could have told her anything. Like being the stud of Montclair.”

“
I never said that to anyone,” Neil pleaded.

Sadie
, who had begun to shiver, snuggled closer and said, “I've been to his house. We met when I was robbing him. That's how I know he was all studly. He had a big ol' house with lots of choice stuff and a fine car. It was a veritable babe trap. Any girl he got back there would have her panties off in no time…”

“
Sadie!” Neil said, glaring. “The only true part of that was the fact that she robbed me at gun point.” At Sarah's insistence he told the story and Sadie was quick to add to it.

“
You don't know this guy Neil took on. He was a bad ass. John was like this savage; no one messed with him. Even I was scared of him…he was the reason why I started stealing. He looked on everyone like they were sheep. And he was right. You know how many people are out there hiding in their homes, waiting to die? They'll eat through their food and then just starve to death, or they'll come out when they are weak and become easy pickings. John said we only speeded up the process.”

“
It was still wrong,” Neil said gently.

“
Yeah, I know, and besides what did it get us?” Sadie asked. “I stole from you, you stole from us, and then I stole from you again, and then it was all stolen from us by the bastard the colonel.”

A shiver went up Sarah
's spine and she gave herself a shake. “Maybe we should break out the peanut butter and crackers and try not to think about the porn. I'm getting kind of hungry.”

“
You two go ahead and eat,” Neil said, standing up. “I want to get the tent set up before it gets too cold.”

As he went about setting up the little tent, cursing the Chinese under his breath for having such bizarre instructions, Sarah and Sadie munched through the crackers.
“You're lucky you found him,” Sarah whispered. “Nice guys are a dying breed these days. I was from a whole town of nice guys and nice girls and I'm probably the only one left alive. In fact, I'm sure of it.”

“
You're lucky too,” Sadie replied with her little impish smile that seemed to impart more than her words. “Maybe you don't realize it yet.”

Sarah
's mouth came open but just then Neil said, “The tent's done. It's kind of small. I could probably make do sleeping in some of this hay. Cat's live in this sort of thing, right? That's what I hear…”

Sadie grabbed him and pulled him into the tent after her. Sarah, who had gone first
, had to keep from laughing when she saw that Sadie had squished far to the right leaving him with only the option of the middle. He took a deep breath before settling himself down between them and in a very unstudly manner clasped his hands to his chest as if they couldn't be trusted.

That didn
't sit well with Sadie who flung one of his arms wide and snugged in close. “I wonder what time it is?” she asked. “It's probably not even two and I'm exhausted.”

“
That's why you don't drink at ten in the morning,” Neil reprimanded. “It ruins you for the rest of the day. That goes for you too,” he added turning to Sarah with a smile that quickly disappeared.

“
I just shot my mother,” Sarah said, wondering if the words had come out of her mouth. The idea, the fact, the concept, the truth had circled her head all during her bout with the rum—
I just shot my mother. I just killed my mother. I just murdered my mother. I just executed my mother
. She was sure that she had said it a number of times, but couldn't remember if anyone had been in the room when she had. “She was going to turn…she had the fever. I think I was entitled to a drink.”

“
I'm so sorry,” Neil said. Sadie only gave her the smallest glance and then clung again to the man she had adopted as her father. Sarah wished she had that just then.

Instead all she had was the feeling of being dead inside. She had mustered a bit of rage at seeing the soldiers earlier and she had smiled at Sadie running because it was such a pretty thing, but that was all the feeling she had.

Though in this she was wrong.

When the tent became unbearably quiet, Neil asked where she was from.
“Danville,” came her reply, and just to be polite she asked, “And you're from Montclair? Where is that?”

“
It's right outside Manhattan.”

“
New York,” she breathed out the words, and now she had feelings again. Her insides weren't dead after all. She only wished that they were. “And is everyone…is anyone alive there?”

“
I don’t think so. Not in the city,” Neil answered with concern in his light blue eyes. “Why? What's wrong?”

“
Nothing,” Sarah whispered. And then in a move that wasn't at all like her, she pushed closer and lifted Neil's other arm. “May I?” she asked and then didn't wait for his reply and placed her head upon his chest. She knew what his answer would be. A nice guy would never turn down an invitation to cuddle.

Even if they wanted so much more.