Zomblog 05: Snoe's War (12 page)

A few were still moving and had not gotten stuck. We went for them. Again, I feel the need to say that I did not expect anything too crazy here. And when we had cut down the few and Selina tallied her first kills, I thought we were done. Of course we would just follow the inlet to the water and cross on the railroad bridge.

Heading into the woods that lined the banks of the inlet, that is where we came upon the first few creepers. The first one surprised me. It was in some thick brush and its arm snaked out as I walked past. It didn’t trip me, but it did make me yelp.

I brought my blade down on its head and kicked it once or twice for good measure. I should have been more vigilant after that. I never even thought that the lip where the bridge has washed away—only a couple of feet at the most—would be enough to deter the creepers.

Then Selena shrieked. She had tripped over one that was so filthy that it looked like part of the forest floor. The thing had her foot and was gnawing on her boot in absolute futility.

Of course, if you have ever had a zombie chewing on you, it is hard to be reasonable and rational. You wait for it to break through and reach skin even if you are wearing body armor and the zombie doesn’t have any of its teeth left.

I moved to help her and five more came out from the space between a fallen tree and the ground. One of them was a child that was probably five when she was bitten. I only know that it was a girl now…at the time I had no idea. Besides being naked, most zombies are almost hairless. It has either fallen out or been torn out over time making gender identification more difficult.

The funny thing is, with the society that existed when the zombies came, there was a real problem with obesity from what I have been told. I don’t wish to sound insensitive, but some zombies are unidentifiable unless the actual genitalia remains, and for the men, sadly that is not always the case. Things that dangle are very prone to being ripped off.

Anyways, I moved in and started swinging. It was then that I realized that all the brush around us was rustling. That was when we realized that every single creeper had taken a detour. The woods were literally crawling with zombies.

I screamed for everybody to run. We grabbed Selina and made for the river. It was quickly apparent that we were not going to make it. Just as we had come up on the tail end of the herd, we had also just been encountering the rear of the creeping horde of undead that were all now very aware of our presence.

That left us with one choice—we had to try to wade through the mud. I could not believe how we managed to move as deep into their midst as we did…but we were surrounded and there was no other alternative.

The first two steps were fine, and then I sunk to my knees. I could not get my legs free. I threw myself forward; that was my next mistake. I had seen some of the zombies move across the snow that way. Unfortunately, I sank several inches and now I was worse off than before.

It was Mary that told me to “flop like a seal.” It was slow going, but I managed. I have no idea how long it took, but eventually we made it to the actual stream. That was when I discovered that, despite the fact that they were laced tightly to just below my knees, I had lost the boot on my right foot.

We spent a little extra time cleaning ourselves off…in the FREEZING cold water that comes down the mountains from the snow melt. While we were cleaning up, I believe that Selina made some comment about not wanting to ever see another zombie again.

Tuesday, March 16
^th

It would seem that we are not the only ones bent on taking down Dominique. Or…maybe they just don’t like trains. Tonight, we are camped on a ridge where we can actually see the train Dominique took out of Warehouse City. We have not been able to get close enough to actually confirm that she is with them, but where else would she be?

The track has been sabotaged far better than any of the petty crap we managed. If we had arrived here any earlier, I might have gotten a better look, but from here, it looks like at least fifty feet of the track is destroyed! That is a feat in and of itself.

Now, it cannot be said that Dominique and her people are not well-prepared because they have soldiers on the perimeter keeping watch while a work crew is busy repairing the damage. Twice I have heard a commotion, but it is too damn dark and far away to really get a good look. If I had to guess, I would say that there are people taking shots at Dominique’s army.

Wednesday, March 17
^th

Work continued all day. It was difficult for me to stay put. She is right there…I have seen her with my own two eyes.

We moved down early this morning to a better vantage point. Mary and Selina have suddenly started deferring to me for some reason. I actually expected an argument over my decision to move down the hill and set up on a little bluff in some bushes. From that spot we have been able to see everything, but even better, we can often hear.

So, the work crew is made up primarily of people from the sweeps that the NAA performed with actual soldiers overseeing the work. I felt my heart drop a bit. I spotted Betty. It looks like she has been fighting. Her face is pretty beat up. She has one eye completely swollen shut and as hard as it is to actually tell, it is obvious that her nose has been smashed. One hand is wrapped up, but to her credit, she is outworking just about everybody on her work crew.

Once, for a brief moment, I was almost certain that she had spotted me. She was hoisting a railroad tie (all by herself when most people are working in teams) and stopped. She stared right at me. It was as if she could see right into my binoculars and into my eyes. I will swear forever that I saw a tiny smile curve on her lips.

Late in the day, my other suspicions were confirmed…and it almost cost us. Whoever sabotaged these tracks—and I have to assume that is who it was—started firing arrows. The thing is, they did not hit any of the workers; all of their shots tagged a soldier. I almost laughed when Dominique actually sprinted for her little travel car. It was obvious they were going after the NAA folks.

The trouble started when there was a lull in the action and the soldiers started trying to flush out their assailants. A few of them passed within ten feet of where Mary, Selina, and I were hiding out. I knew better than to move, but I had never been through anything like this with either of them and I was honestly worried—more about Selina than Mary, she is the least accustomed to this sort of thing as far as I know.

When they finally gave up, I felt much better about Mary
and
Selina. Neither had blinked when things got risky.

It was clear as the night came that the train was going to be stuck for at least another day, maybe a couple. I have made up my mind…I have to make my move now. It is not likely that I will have a shot like this again. Who knows what is farther up the line. Also, I cannot count on anybody else creating the sort of problem that offers this sort of opportunity.

Tuesday, March 23
^rd

I will never be the same now.

I will do my best to relate what happened…what was said. I will do my best not to paint myself as “good” in this, nor will I apologize. I did what I believe (even now…days after it happened) to be the correct course of action.

So, that night when I decided what I had to do, I pulled back with Mary and Selina and explained to them my plan. And actually, I can’t say that I had what could constitute as a real plan. It was simply a choice to act. I told them both that I would not be upset if they chose to stay back and not get involved in what might very well be a suicide mission.

Both of them said that, for their own reasons, they had a score to settle as well. I pretty much knew what Mary’s was, but I would not discover Selina’s until later.

I warred with the decision to simply act immediately or wait. I was afraid that, if I waited, the train would leave and my window of opportunity would vanish. On the other end of things, I knew that the soldiers would be alert for trouble considering what had already occurred earlier that day.

It was Selina who offered to create a diversion. I asked her what she had in mind and she smiled really big.

“I have no idea, but you will know it when you hear it,” was her reply.

She slipped away and Mary and I started creeping towards the rear car of the train where Dominique had vanished. Sure enough, a half dozen soldiers were posted around the car and two more on top. I was actually prepared to call it off and just go for an attempt at assassination the next time she showed her face. I knew for a fact that my main driving force for what I was attempting was the need to try and get some answers from this person who had sent my Mama Lindsay to her death. I did not want to kill Dominique from a distance…I wanted her up close so I could look her in the eyes and ask one simple question: Why?

Just as I was about to give up, there was a loud “whump” and a fireball rolled skyward. There was a brief moment where the darkness was pushed back and fortunately for me, I was looking the opposite direction so I did not suffer from being flash-blinded.

Seconds later, the people surrounding Dominique’s car were running towards the explosion. I imagine it was instinctual, that is the only reason I can think of for them all to abandon their post. The only ones remaining were the pair on the roof of the car. I took one and Mary took the other. I know that my bolt caught mine in the chest, I had to step over his body as I ran to the train car. However, it should be noted that Mary’s caught her target in the left eye! Now, we were a good fifty feet away at least when we took our shot; that is impressive.

I reached the door just as it flew open. Dominique was standing there in almost nothing. (It seems that she had company of the male sort.) I did the first thing that came to mind—I punched her square in the face.

She fell back and landed on her butt, however, to her credit, she had a knife in her hand in the blink of an eye. I don’t know where she kept the thing considering what I had obviously interrupted, but this was a clue I would miss initially. In fact, I was about to have so many revelations dumped on me that it will probably take me days if not weeks to sort through them all.

Mary was right on my heels and moved past me in a hurry. She brought her hand down hard and smashed the (completely) naked man in the temple, knocking him out cold.

Meanwhile, Dominique had scooted away on her butt to get her back against a wall. She held the blade out in front of her, occasionally thrusting it my way despite the fact that I was a good five feet out of range. The she realized who had just barged in and disturbed her “entertainment.”

“Well, well…look who decided to show up,” Dominique sneered.

I looked at her differently. Maybe it was because I was the one standing with her in the sights of my crossbow, or maybe it was the fact that she was obviously at a huge disadvantage, and thus, everything about her that had scared me before just did not exist. Whatever the reason, all I saw was a scared, scarred, and bitter woman.

“Why did you do it? Why did you kill my mother?” I saw no reason to draw things out.

“Why does there have to be a reason?” Dominique said with a sneer that twisted her scar up and made her just a bit uglier.

I realized right then something that I don’t believe I had ever actually known. I grew up around Jenifer my entire life. While she certainly had much more damage than Dominique (at least outwardly), I never saw her as ugly. In fact, there were many that said she was beautiful. But that obviously came from someplace within. It had nothing to actually do with her appearance.

By that very same token, Dominique was a truly ugly person. Looking in to her eyes, all I saw was anger and hatred. I do not believe that she even realized or understood where it came from. It was simply so deeply ingrained into who and what she was that nothing would or could save her.

“You can’t tell me that you killed her just because,” I argued. At that point, I was still making the connection as to what she was. I did not realize that there was every possibility that “because”
was
her sole reason.

“I warned you about leaving,” Dominique hissed.

“And why was it so important for you to have me?”

“You are a poster girl, Snoe. Like it or not, people see you as some sacred cow that should be treated as something special. With you under my thumb, I could bring all these renegade tribes under my control,” Dominique said with what was probably as close to a level and rational demeanor as she was capable.

“And why would you think that I would ever work for you?” I snapped.

“Because, you idiot, I had your mom. Lindsay would ensure that you stayed in line.”

“So you kill her the day after I escape?”

“About that…I really misjudged you. I was certain that you would behave when I put the terms to you,” Dominique said. “I gave you more…credit.”

I was about to answer when a pounding came on the door. I brought my crossbow up to my shoulder and raised my eyebrows. If Dominique said a word, I would shoot her before anybody ever managed to get in past the lock she had on the door. I honestly think that she did not believe me capable of doing anything as drastic as murdering another person.

“What is it?” Dominique snapped, sounding about as normal as I recall from my encounters with her at Warehouse City.

“Somebody set our oil drums on fire. We lost the entire supply,” a voice reported from the other side of the door.

Dominique glared at me and her eyes asked the question,
“One of yours?”
I did my best to keep my expression neutral. I didn’t want her to know if I had anybody else with me…or how many.

“And have you found this…saboteur?” she asked, her eyes never leaving mine.

“No, ma’am.”

Dominique’s eyes tightened a bit and I could see that she was not happy with that response. From behind her, I could see a flash of relief cross Mary’s face. I was hoping that my problem of being so damn readable was not an issue at the moment.