The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (155 page)

“
Yeah, but that isn't a
guarantee that we won't have to face it down the road a little way.
Maybe even at the next meeting when someone decides to bring it up
again,” Lilly added.

“
Yeah, but... Well, can't
we do something like form The Nation? I mean we did that at our
last public meeting, didn't we? We just didn't make it an official
thing, but everyone there voted this to be called The Nation, so
can't we.” She looked puzzled. “Wait, doesn't that solve the
problem? Didn't we vote on that?” Amy asked.

“
We did,” Candace agreed.
“But it was the name... The New Nation?”

“
Yeah... That was it. But
we did make it The New Nation. We voted that in long before there
was talk of anything else,” Ronnie said.

“
Actually,” Mike added. “We
did talk about other names... Other directions back in Old Towne.”
He raised his eyes and looked at each pair of eyes individually.
“We decided that point too, if we need to be technical. We had
decided to splinter off as Bob just bought up, but in the end we
voted to stay together and form The New Nation... I think that's
binding.” Mike finished seriously.

“
I think so,” Steve Choi
added. “I am part of that group that set out to start the new fold
with Jessie. If you guys made that decision then it's sort of like
a hostile takeover, right?”

Amy laughed. “Wow. I didn't see it that
way, but it sort of is. I mean we built this, are building it, it
should be them coming to join with us, help us build, not tear
down.”

“
Well put, Dear,” Janna
Adams agreed.

“
I think that settles that.
We offer them a hand to join with us, but no name change,” Mike let
his eyes travel around once more.

“
Yeah,” Amy
agreed.

“
Makes sense,” Bob
added.

The others nodded.

“
So... Bear and the
Outrunners. This is probably the important thing before the public
meeting. I like him. I think he's level headed. He sees what we
need and he's willing to do it,” Mike said.

“
And what is it we need?”
Steve Choi asked.

“
Protection,” Candace
tossed out.

“
Weapons too,” Ronnie
added.

“
And we need to be able to
trust that person. That's our safety net, what allows us to have
this, that knowledge that there is a barrier between us and
them.”

“
Them...
You talk about them as though they were still living
…
things.
Still living things, Mike.” Janna added.

“
They
are... They are not stupid dead …
things
wandering around. The ones I
have run into, the ones I have seen, are thinking things out. I
don't even think that it's smart to think of them as Zombies at
all... Un-dead, but not zombies. Zombie makes me think dumb, and
they are not dumb. I have seen that. So have quite a few others.”
Mike said quietly.

“
So how do Bear and … Who
else? How do they help us?” Bob asked.

“
Bear... Billy Jingo, young
guy came in with him, and Billy's woman Pearl... Three to start...
They asked for another one down the road, but that is the start.”
Mike said.

“
So, well, what exactly do
they do?” Steve Choi asked.

“
They will do the same
thing we have been doing. Supply runs. Ammunition runs, weapons...
And a few other things that are the business of this council and no
one else... Not public knowledge,” Ronnie said.

Steve raised his eyebrows.

“
Has to be that way, Steve.
We can't have people telling us how to protect ourselves. We need
to be able to do what we need to do: If they find dead they kill
them. Weapons, they bring them back. And we may not want everybody
to know what we have weapons wise,” Mike said.

“
And we think we know where
this plague came from,” Candace added.

Silence descended.

“
You’re serious?” Steve
asked.

Candace nodded. “There is a secret
military base under the city Pearl came from,” She looked at Bob
and Janna who both nodded. “We saw planes going over the day after
this whole thing happened, in the city. Not the dead rising, I mean
the Earth going all haywire. They sprayed us down, and a few days
later the dead are rising.”

“
Kind of far fetched to
make a leap that it would be connected and that, that connection is
right there, secret base or not.” Steve said quietly.

“
Not really. There were
things in the papers. Whispers, we know that from people we've
talked to who were in that vicinity. And Bear saw the planes
overfly the City, Manhattan. Came from the northwest and that's
Watertown in that direction.” Mike said. “I have spoken to Mike
Collins, one of the founders of Alabama Island. They came from
Watertown and they believe it to be true. They saw military planes
over fly that whole area up there. While they were there: Just a
day or so after the quakes began. Spraying the same blue stuff Bear
saw in Manhattan.”

“
Yes, it
is inconclusive as it sits, but we have to start somewhere, Steve.
A base that large would have had to know something about what was
going on. We think not only did it know, it may have been
headquartered there. That's what Mike believes. A straight forward
guy, feel free to have a chat with him when you have time. These
are people we'll be trading with soon too, I hope. So, a lot is
riding on this relationship: For both of us. I don't think he would
give me anything other than the absolute truth.... It's also the
Biggest base between us and the Canadian border...
What
was
Canada anyhow.”

“
It was one of the largest
military training bases in the states,” Lilly added.

Mike nodded. “So that is their first
mission on our behalf. Supplies and check that base, and get back
here before winter.”

“
Along with everything they
can bring back to help us,” Ronnie added. “And that reminds me. The
campgrounds out there. We have a proposal to people that. A gateway
to here. Barrier actually. Short of coming in through the
mountains, and some have, that's the way in... Dead or alive that's
the way in. It would make a good outpost.” He shrugged as if unsure
of just how effective it would be.

“
I can see that,” Candace
agree. “Someone asked to do it?”

“
Yeah... Two couples... In
fact Bear said he might not mind it.” Ronnie said.

“
Well, if we're going to do
it we need to get it started... We have no idea when winter is
coming,” Bob added.

“
All in favor?” Mike
asked.

All hands went up.

“
What else?” Mike
asked.

“
Just about a million
questions,” Steve said. That bought laughter from
everyone.

“
Shar and Josh were
decided?” Lilly asked.

“
I'm for it... I think we
all were,” Mike said.

“
I'm for it. Had Bison
once, it ain't beef, but it's darn good.” Arlene said.

“
I'm for it,” Amy
agreed.

“
Ditto,” Candace
agreed.

“
Yes,” Janna added as the
others also chimed in.

“
Okay,” Mike said. “I
believe we were about to take a vote on the empty seat.” He turned
to Steve, ”I think you accepted. The pay's lousy, no vacation time,
and whatever goes wrong you'll get blamed for it.”

Steve laughed.

“
Well we know Steve's
answer... How about we take this back up to the main cave and have
an actual meeting,” Lilly said.

“
Right now?” Mike
asked.

“
Actually might not be a
bad idea,” Candace said.

The others nodded their
heads.

“
Better to get it addressed
head on then,” Mike said as he started for the door. He stopped and
looked back.

“
That's why he's the boss,”
Bob joked with Steve. “Leads us where we'd rather not
go.”

~

The word went out quickly and within
just a few minutes the large room of the main cave was filled and
Mike called the meeting to order. His voice carried easily,
amplified by the large room.

“
We decided on a meeting
now because of the tremendous growth we've had over the last month.
We expect much more before the snow flies, and that means most
likely another community meeting, but this one is to address some
things that we decided need to be addressed now.” Mike
said.

The crowd murmured and then went silent
as Mike spoke again.

“
We were talking earlier
and we need to fill the empty seat on the Council,” he cleared his
throat in the silence. “Molly and Nellie took that seat together...
Offered to one, chaired by both really... We have talked it over
and offered the seat to Doc. Steve: If there are no objections to
that action.” He sat up a little straighter.

“
Doctor Steve is a good
choice. I'm for it,” Chloe said.

Edward raised his hand and spoke. “What
about Josh,” he asked. It was clear that Edward looked up to
Josh.

Mike looked to Bob who shrugged, Ronnie
who mouthed, “What about both?” and then stopped at Candace who
said it aloud.

“
How about both of you. We
have more than enough people here to add a seat, and really it
would be more fitting because it was sort of like two seats anyway.
It's not much of an honor, though. It's more like dealing with the
headaches as we grow, and still having to do all the stuff you
would normally do.” She laughed and the crowd laughed along with
her. “ It's a lot of work.”

Steve laughed and then spoke. “I
accept.”

“
I'll do it,” Josh
agreed.

“
Accepted,” Mike said.
“Okay... Other business. We thought we needed to make something
clear. Those of us that came here and,” he shrugged and looked at
Ronnie.

“
Founded?” Ronnie
supplied.

“
Founded,” Mike agreed.
“So those of us that came her,e founded this place, and we named it
The New Nation... We just went through this a few meetings back...
It's understandable that some of you wouldn't know it because you
weren’t yet here, but the name was voted on and the name stands...
Shortened by... Well, you folks, to The Nation, it...” A roar of
applause cut him off. He tried to speak for a second longer and
then stopped. He looked to Candace and Amy who had their heads
together. Ronnie looked grim but shrugged when his yes fell on
him.

“
Looks like they like the
name,” Bob yelled above the din. He grinned as the crowd clapped
and threw out wolf whistles.

Mike held his hands up and the noise
quieted briefly. “So no changes,” Mike said slightly louder than he
had meant to, to get above the noise that had dropped even lower at
about the same second. The crowd roared again, the approvals
echoing off the stone walls and Mike leaned back and let it go a
few minutes: When it began to taper off on its own he spoke
again.

“
Anything else,” Mike
asked, “Before we get into the rest of our business?”

Tim raised his hand.

“
Tim?” Mike
said.

“
I'd like to work on some
solar panels over the next few days. Get some power up and working.
I'd like to use that big empty room across from the new upper room
to store batteries. It's perfect... vented. It has that crack that
leads up to the top of the mountain. The room's big enough to add a
generator. The panels would be right on the top of the mountain. A
lot of sunlight most of the time. Most of the time the clouds are
lower than the peaks.”

“
I can run the wiring
easily and my first project could be lights for the clinic... The
tunnel, the computers. I could even hook up a small gravity fed
pump system and build a couple of showers in the pool room... Add
some lights in there and the storage rooms too. I need a few
guys... George... Edward, maybe one or two others if they can be
spared.... About two weeks tops,” he finished.

His idea passed unanimously.

Beth Jeffries raised her hand. “I'd
like to help work with the horses,” she said. “I know someone is
going to work on riding, and I'd like to help do that.”

“
That would be me and
Cindy,” Bob said, “And you're hired.”

The crowd laughed.

“
Cool,” Beth said and
grinned widely.

Brad Jeffries raised his hand. “I'm
wondering about housing... And supplies too, I guess... We'll need
some permanent stuff by winter,” he said.

“
I'll be getting that going
tomorrow,” Tom said speaking up from the crowd, “And I can use the
help.” He looked around the room. “A lot of help, as many of you
that can show up down by the barns at sunrise. There's me, Ronnie,
Bob and Mike. Bob is occasional, his plate is pretty full, but if
you have any kind of experience with building we need you, so
please jump right in. In fact, if you have no experience, but want
to learn, show up... Sunrise,” he finished as he sat back
down.