Freedom Against Zombies Page 2

  “They’ve found us.” One of their lookouts cried waving a gun toward us.

  “Everyone remain calm. We’re not here to hurt you. Just want to find out what’s going on.” Darren held up his gun pointing it in the air.

  Several of the other group ran over to one of the parked vehicles and took off before we could reach them.

  Three of them came out, arms loaded as shock filled their features.

  “Just put those down in the truck slowly and then back down here so we can work all of this out.” Lee cautioned gently so that no one got trigger happy.

  Theo looked back and forth trying to find a way out.

  “Hey, now, can someone tell us why you’re doing this in the dark instead of waiting until morning?” I chimed in walking around the truck to make sure that we didn’t have anyone hiding that could catch us by surprise.

  “We needed the supplies to get out of town and start our own thing. You wouldn’t have let us have them and we can’t stay here anymore.” The woman, who spoke appeared to be the ring leader.

  "Nothing is stopping you from leaving. At least there wasn't until you tried to take a load of stuff with you." Darren shook his head unable to handle their stupidity.

  “See that’s why we had to take what we need. You won’t share the supplies.” She crossed her arms as if we’d just proved her point.

  “Ma’am, I’m not sure why you think that. We’re pretty generous with everyone. Is there a reason that you want to venture out past the cleared sections and do your own thing?” I couldn’t understand the possible motivation behind their thoughts on leaving.

  “It’s all the rules and rationing. We shouldn’t have to work so hard to have portions given to us.” She whined.

  "Seriously? You think that you're going to be able to find clean water and electricity or even food to eat that you don't have to work for? Lady, we're doing the hard work to keep you safe. If you don't like it, I'll pack up something to last you a week. Then when you have to fight off ZITs on your own or not sleep for days because the ZIT's might find you, you'll be wishing that you were back here." My voice was so loud by the time I was done, I realized I might be the one bringing the ZITs down on us if I wasn’t more careful.

  The other two standing next to her started to shuffle away just a bit so that they weren’t as guilty by association.

  “Which neighborhood are you from? We’ll drop you off and discuss this in the morning to see how you feel then. You still want to leave, we'll get things ready and drop you at the edge of town." I wanted to be more upset, but if someone wanted to go then they should before using more of our resources up.

  Theo’s head popped up at my words.

  “You promise they won’t be in any kind of trouble?” He lowered the gun in his hands.

  A glance at the other two confirmed what I was thinking.

  "No trouble for them," I promised.

  "Oh, that's a relief." He sighed deeply and took a step closer toward us as if we were now all on the same side.

  As soon as Darren was close enough, he took hold of the gun and pulled it from Theo’s hand.

  “You on the other hand are in serious trouble. I’m not sure what the punishment will be, but we can’t have people not reporting in or trying to cover up because they feel sorry for other people. It puts the safety of our group at risk.” I pulled out a pair of handcuffs and went to put them on his hands.

  “I’ll stay here with him while you drop these guys back at their homes for the night. Then we can lock him up until we’ve had a trial to decide what happens next.” Darren volunteered.

  “Are you sure?” Lee seemed to be asking if he might have second thoughts because of the baby.

  “Yeah, I’ll call for a replacement for tonight and you can pick us both up on the way back.”

  “That works.” I shot Theo a glare as I held the door open for the other three to climb inside. “We’ll be back shortly for you.”

  Since I didn’t want to have three people who weren’t happy with me in the back seat, I motioned for the woman to climb in the front as Lee got in beside the other guys.

  “What’s your name?” The question flew out of my mouth as I got inside, “Can’t just keep calling you the woman.”

  That got a laugh as she answered, “I’m Crystal. These two are Ivan and Will.”

  "Crystal nice to meet you. Same for the two of you back there. Sorry, it had to be under these circumstances."

  “It’s not your fault personally. We just never asked to have our neighborhood put under lock and key. We’d survived just fine until you guys came in last week to clear out those that we missed.” Crystal explained. “There wasn’t really a choice given to us. You and your group just came in and took over.”

  “I can see how that might be concerning,” Lee spoke carefully, “Someone had to oversee things so that each group wasn’t constantly going over the same ground or fighting over the food we do have.”

  “The world isn’t going to be the same, but at least there can be some semblance of order. We'll try to take that into consideration in the future and people should be given the option to decide if they want to join our group or not."

  “That’s all we’re asking for.” Crystal agreed.

  “Gather your people together in the morning and we’ll let you take a vote. I’m not sure that we can let you stay, but we’ll do some discussing on our own as well.”

  "That is kind of you." Crystal glanced at me in the semi-darkness as if to gauge my sincerity.

  “Free will is only that. Each of us has to make the choices that determine our fate.”

  “Hmm, sounds like you might need to preach the next sermon this week.” Lee chuckled at my words.

  “Hardly. I’ve just learned that no matter how much we try to blame others for our actions, it always comes down to our own choices.” I hoped that I’d made my point clear enough for those in the car with me.

  While we would overlook their bad decisions this time, they wouldn’t be so lucky the next time.

  ~~~

  "I should have seen this coming," I confessed to Lee and Darren as we made our way back from locking Theo into one of the few cells that we'd managed to put together. "Not everyone will be happy with the way things are run, but there has to be a way to keep the spirit of the American Democracy working."

  “If only that were true.” Darren sighed in agreement. “I’ve seen countries that were in the middle of wars try to treat people in the same way as they would have when a war wasn't happening. It's not as easy as it sounds. If or should I say when we have things settled and there is no need to worry about the constant danger then we can try to abide by the rules of our founding fathers."

  “It’s why the President instituted martial law when things started going bad. Trying to have civilian governments make decisions based on only what is happening locally instead of looking at things in the broader scope. Someone has to be in charge and no one ever likes to be told what to do.” Darren shook his head in frustration.

  “That is something that will have to wait for another day. We have a few hard choices to make and that may call for drawing up some rules for our society. Punishment for certain crimes and how to deal with the lawbreakers.”

  I wasn’t certain that it would take care of all of the problems, but I knew that if the two groups on the front survived then we would need a council to make sure that our communities were on the same page.

  Who knew who things were going to play out across the US, but someone had to start rebuilding the country if we were going to make it a safe place for children and families once again.

  “Has anyone heard how things are going out in the farms or with the Jackson clan?” I knew that Cole could take care of himself, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t worry about his safety. It just wasn’t my top priority at the moment.

  “No word has come through since they called to tell us that Jessica had been bitten and the new Doc was trying to save her. I’m sure they’ve had their hands full and we’ll hear something as soon as they are able.” Lee gave me a weak smile as if he was only going through the motions of trying to comfort me.

  My thoughts were hard to reign in, but it was necessary for our survival here. I couldn’t run out to save him or the others because someone needed to make sure that we didn’t have a rebellion on three fronts instead of two.

  These ZITs had made it impossible to let down the walls and just rest. It would be a miracle if we could ever return to normal again.

  ~~~

  Chapter 3

  Linc

  Once the confusion from the clinic was settled, I went to see Jessica.

  Even with her bloodshot eyes and the ashen look of her skin, the woman I loved was still in there.

  Her words filled me with such hope.

  As she drifted off to sleep, I knew that this was the beginning of the end.

  Dawson, Cole, and Cooper looked up when I walked out of her room.

  “We need to gather all the leaders and come up with a plan. We’re too scattered and anyone can betray us. We’d never know what hit us until it was too late.”

  They nodded in agreement as I walked past them for a moment of fresh air.

  Sean had managed to repair the electricity and phone lines so that the clinic had power once again.

  “They didn’t cut the lights. It was the main fuse. They’d just hit the switch. Must not have wanted to make things too hard to repair after all.” He informed me.

  I just nodded and leaned back against the building unable to do respond.

  He seemed to understand and left me there to think.

  Too many emotions and thoughts were tumbling through my head.

  She was alive. Yet, she still looked half sick and might not make it. How had I let this happen to her? I hadn’t been there to protect her because I was off chasing other things.

  It was as if I could hear her voice in my head.

  Silly, man. I don’t need you to protect me, I just need you to love me.

  A smile flitted across my face. Yep, that is exactly what she'd tell me if she heard my thoughts.

  Every time it seemed we were making progress, there’d be another setback. Could we continue to live like this if the ones we loved were taken away one by one?

  This was something that would have to be thought about at a later time because my information that we had a possible spy, Sean’s agreement with that theory, and the group that had formed this morning, all made it seem much more likely.

  Cole stuck his head out of the clinic door.

  “Think you’re up for a planning session?” He gave me an appraising look.

  “Yeah,” I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m good, man. Just needed a minute.”

  “Cooper has a few things to tell us about what’s been going on, on his end, but we’ve got to come up with a planning session.”

  “Let’s do it outside because I don’t want the kids or Jessica to hear what’s going on.” Shoving off the wall, I squared my shoulders.

  This wasn’t the first time I’d had to put aside personal feelings. The military had trained us to keep moving no matter what was happening around us. There would be time to sort things out if we made it all through this at some point.

  Cole didn’t comment or offer sympathy, he just nodded and went to tell the others.

  As they began to come out of the clinic, I realized that most of the people who’d been ready to take our heads off this morning had dispersed.

  “Where’d all the people go?” I nodded toward the empty area around us.

  "Cooper sent his marines with them to help them start preparing for a fight," Dawson answered, but kept an eye out for anyone that might try to shoot us while we were outside.

  “This really sucks.” Sean took a seat on the back of an empty truck tailgate.

  “I’ll stay inside the door and let you know if there’s a problem.” Andi volunteered.

  “Thank you.” I mouthed as I left my family inside, safe for the moment.

  “Now, what’s so important? Is it going to save us?” My anger at Cooper for leaving us was completely unfounded, but he was the only one I could take it out on at the moment.

  "It will and can save us." Cooper agreed. "This is the top-secret stuff I was working on when the world went to shit. We hadn't had a chance to test it until I was able to get to Nashville."

  He waited for everyone to gather around before continuing.

  "The military had things under temporary control, but they were able to get me into one of the few plants that could manufacture what we needed.” He smiled, “We tested it immediately and made a few adjustments. It’s helped cut down on those with the virus. The ZITs just lay down and we can take them out.”

  While I trusted Cooper, there was more to this story than he was telling us though.

  “All of them? Why isn’t the air force sending planes overhead to get rid of them all over the country?”

  He frowned at my words. "We've had a few moments of trial and error. Some of what we came up with stripped the ZITs of their skin. A few others took out some, but not all of them so we kept trying until we got it right.”

  “Sounds good, but what about these trying to surround us? Can we take them out?” Dawson sounded hopeful for the first time since his wife died.

  “Small batches at a time. We aren’t able to make much because of supplies and manpower. They are working on more as we speak, but we brought enough to take out that large group over on the Nashville side.” Cooper pulled out a map as we all crowded around it.

  “These are the herds that we took care of coming into the west side of your group. We only took out the major one that was right on you. From what we've seen in a few flyovers, they’ve been driving several large groups toward you. Between what you took out and then our drop solution, it cleared one of the groups. A couple more sets of supplies are on the way here to help, but that still leaves the human element and our spy problem.”

  “Can I just interrupt for a moment?” Sean raised his hand.

  “Um, sure.” Cooper appeared taken aback by his actions.

  “I was just about to explain something to Link and Dawson when the group with you showed up this morning.” He explained.

  “Don’t let us stop you.” I was very interested to hear about this spy’s plan.

  “The person I overheard wants to kidnap Doc. They want to take him to try to cure some of theirs that have been bitten. He’s the reason that they haven’t just killed us all yet.” Sean looked slightly guilty, “I’ve also been hiding a few things from you as well.”

  "Knew there was something about you, but Andi is set on having you join the family," Dawson muttered under his breath.

  "It isn't a bad thing necessarily. It all depends on how you look at things." When no one stopped him from speaking, he took that as permission to continue.

  "Years ago when I was much younger, I started a group with a few friends online. PREFIT-Prepared Ready Evacuate from Invasion Tribe. Each one of us in the group had a special purpose or goal to learn when they went off to school so that if something like this ever happened, we'd be ready."

  He nodded toward Doc, “He was the oldest in our group and had just finished his residency. We gave him the codename Bones. His job was to find a way to cure this ZIV that the government was supposed to be keeping a secret all these years.”

  Cooper’s head lifted a little more surprised, but not shocked from what I could tell.

  “We have a guy in the military as well. When each of you entered the army, you were given a vaccine. No one really told you what each vaccine you got was for, they just put the shot in your arm and you did your duty.”

  I shrugged because Sean was right. We hadn’t really asked questions.

  “Then why did our guys turn when things went south overseas?” Cole questioned.

  "The vaccines work up to a point. It won't stop all of the versions of the virus, but it does cut down on the number of dead soldiers we have." Cooper didn't try to hide it. "They update them every decade or so with new versions that are supposed to work better. Every country has their own version of the virus that they could unleash during combat."

  "It's been done throughout history. Mostly just a hush-hush kind of thing that all soldiers that made it out of the wars have to sign a statement not to talk about it. That's why so many of them come back messed up from Vietnam and Korea. The Gulf War brought a new version and more nightmares no one knew how to fix." Doc explained.

  “I worked my way up and got put on a team working on things virus adjacent. Then after a couple of years, I started doing my own experiments in case this ever happened. Nothing with live people or the actual virus, but most viruses and vaccines work in similar ways.”

  He wasn’t apologetic about it. Just stating facts.

  “This is all well and good, but why do we care that you put a group together Sean? You aren’t a spy sending information out to Pratt’s group.” I shot him a glance, “Are you?”

  “No. I’m gathering information from the outside world. That’s why Doc’s here. I sent out the call for everyone to gather. Evan and his sister are in Knoxville or the general area. Master Chief is working on a few things while some of the others are tied up or I haven’t heard from them at all.” His shrug said that it wasn’t completely out of the norm.

  “I met a Master Chief that has been quite helpful in sending me this direction.” Cooper started piecing together some of what Sean had been hinting at. “Were you by any chance part of the group that stole the plans from my company?”

  Sean looked sheepish. “No, but we did know about it. There just wasn’t time to stop it from happening.”

  "How on earth did you know about it beforehand? I'm with the…” He trailed off, but several of us knew what he was going to say.

  “The CIA?” Sean grinned, “Yeah, I did a little checking around when your name came up. Not all the computers in the world aren’t working. Oh, did I forget to mention what my part in the group was for?”