We reached Route 29, and I gratefully pointed the truck north. A half mile later, we were on I-180, grinning like kids who start to see the signs for the amusement park they have been travelling forever to get to.

  One mile later and I was out of the truck, staring in disbelief at the ruined bridge in front of me. Sarah was by my side, and the rest of the crew was staring as well.

  A barge was half-sunk in the river, after colliding with the center support. The impact had cracked the bridge, and subsequent freezes and thaws had widened the cracks, allowing for great chunks of the bridge to fall into the river below. At most, there was about two feet of bridge left to cross to get to the undamaged side and across the water. Twisted metal hung down, supporting hunks of concrete, making the bridge look like it had been bombed. The barge was rusted and decayed, telling me this accident had happened years ago, back when people were using whatever they could to get to some kind of safety. The irony was they could have just stayed on the barge in the middle of the city and been perfectly safe.

  “Are you kidding me?” Duncan asked, summing up what all of us felt.

  I sighed. “Let’s find a way around. Hopefully there’s another bridge close by.”

  We climbed back into our vehicles and I turned south. Sarah and I didn’t say much, but we were feeling the same thing. This was just a delay we didn’t need or want.

  Seven miles south and another half an hour later, we were looking at the afternoon sun shining on the small town of Henry. Henry was a river town that managed to survive the Upheaval, by diverting part of the river to form a barrier around the three defenseless sides of the community. We stopped only briefly to tell the people there about the possible threat, and they responded by posting a watch on the town’s water tower. If anything came within ten miles, they’d know right away.

  We drove through the rest of Henry, and I had to admit, it was a nice town. People had gardens they were tending, there were a lot of children running around, and for the most part, people seemed to have moved on from the tragedy of the earlier years. It was a good thing to see, after all of the dead towns we had been to over the course of the last week.

  As nice as Henry was, the nicest part was the lovely, intact, unbroken bridge that crossed the Illinois River. I nearly had tears in my eyes as I crossed the water to the other side. We were sixteen miles from home, as the crow flew, and I almost became nostalgic for a horse.

  I took us east on 18, then turned north on 89. I couldn’t use I-39, since that was a backed up disaster of cars and zombies. Once the wars were over, I had decided to open only one road south, and I-39 wasn’t it. The only thing we had done was seal the exits so the zombies that did free themselves from the cars had nowhere to go, and the elements would take care of them.

  As we reached the intersection of 71 and 89, Tommy called over on the radio.

  “John? We might want to look at Grainville.” Tommy sounded disturbed.

  Shit. Nothing was going well. “Why?” I hoped it was a good reason and not some weird farm festival.

  “I’m getting a looped distress signal.”

  That wasn’t a good sign. Could the little zombies have beaten us here? “Is it on regular channels?”

  “The military one.”

  Oh, hell. “All right. Tell everyone to gear up, this could be bad.” I put the receiver down and looked over at Sarah just as she shook her head.

  “It’s not fair. What did we do so wrong?” she asked as she checked her magazines.

  I thought for a moment. “I think it was when we told Dot we’d take this stupid mission. Lesson learned.”

  I turned left onto 71 and could see the outskirts of Grainville immediately. There was a lot of smoke rising in the sky, and from where we were, we could see at least two houses on fire. I turned up Elm Street to get into the town proper, and it was bad from the beginning. Two torn bodies were draped over each other inside a car; the door was flung open and covered in blood.

  I turned west on Main Street, and there were more bodies. Some were lying flat on their face; others were crouched in little balls in corners of buildings. Pools of blood decorated their places of death.

  The bodies grew in number as we went further west. There were older and younger dead here, as well as a number of dead zombie kids. A small park in the center of town looked like it might have been used as a place of a last stand. Dozens of bodies covered a small white gazebo.

  The sight of that gazebo brought a lot of memories flooding back, and none of them was too pleasant. I just kept shaking my head as we moved slowly through the carnage.

  West Main Street ended at Division Street, and I turned north to see if there was any chance of survivors. At the turn, I moved the truck back the way I had come and headed south. At the intersection of Division and South Street, I thought I saw a military truck, so I headed back east. Sarah had said nothing this whole time, just shaking her head at the mess of everything.

  At the end of the road, there were three military trucks, and a lot of empty brass lying on the ground. We had run out of road, so I got out of the truck and slowly approached the vehicle. Charlie and Tommy were out and circling wide, while Duncan kept a watch on our backs. Sarah and Rebecca walked carefully to the south, looking for anyone who might have survived.

  The truck cab was clean, but I noticed the radio had an odd yellow light that was flashing in a regular pattern. I flicked it off, wondering if I had cancelled the distress call.

  “Over here!” Charlie called. He had gone down the small embankment, and through the bushes.

  I made my way down and cursing as a sticker bush scratched my hand, joined Charlie on a small peninsula of land. A small creek made an oxbow here, and it was here we found the remains of fifty of Freeman’s soldiers. They had retreated to this spot, and thought to defend it. It wasn’t a bad place, but I could see where a problem could be. Behind the oxbow was a hill, and at the top of that hill was a railroad track. The kids could have easily stormed the position without a shot being fired.

  They didn’t get it for free, though. About a dozen zombie kids were lying about in various poses, and their snarling faces and vicious leers told me they weren’t the children of the town.

  We weren’t alone, however. Two forms burst from the bushes and threw themselves at Charlie and me, little hands ready to grab and little mouths ready to bite.

  Charlie was almost contemptuous as he backhanded the taller of the two with the hammer side of one of his ‘hawks. It fell sideways, and before it could get set, he clobbered it with his other one.

  The smaller one, a boy, ran at me with his face torn open. His teeth showed through his cheek, and his right eyebrow looked to have been torn off. He jumped at me, trying to get to my face and neck.

  I wasn’t about to give him the chance. I swung hard with my pick, connecting with the side of his head with the flat edge, stopping the attack cold. The body fell in a heap, and I realized I had swung hard enough to crack its neck.

  I looked over at Charlie. “Took you two.” I chided.

  Charlie frowned. “The sun was in my eyes.”

  I looked around. “The sun isn’t anywhere near your eyes!” I complained.

  “Exactly,” Charlie said, turning and walking away through the bushes.

  I just shook my head and followed. We got back to the vehicles just as Tommy and Duncan came walking in, having walked a bit further south. They reported that there were a lot of dead people by the creek, and quite a few zombie kids.

  “Looks like this place didn’t just lie down and die,” Tommy said.

  “Well, it still doesn’t look good,” I said.

  “You mean clean up?” Duncan asked. “We could do that quickly enough.”

  “No, I meant there doesn’t seem to be any kids, outside of the ones that run with the zombies.”

  That got their attention. All of the kids from one or two towns was a significant force, and not to be taken lightly. If the force that hit Freeman just got bolstered by another hundred, we were looking at maybe three hundred zombie kids. And as far as we knew, they were headed straight for home.

  “Let’s get to putting them down for good. We don’t have a lot of time,” I said.

  We got back in the truck and I sat on the tailgate with Charlie, while Tommy drove. Sarah and Rebecca were sweeping the town center for survivors. We hoped to find someone who had managed to shelter somewhere while the disaster played out.

  Tommy drove slowly, and we took turns getting out and spiking the heads of the people that were down. It was grisly work, no matter how you looked at it, and we were just past Turner Street when we saw the bodies were starting to stir.

  Charlie thumped on the tailgate. “Better get past this and into a clearer area!” He yelled at Tommy, moving back. I slid back onto the bed of the truck and pulled the tailgate closed.

  Chapter 24

  A dead hand reached up just as I closed it, and as we drove away, the owner of the hand slowly got to his feet. If you had to face a zombie that was standing, this was the best time. They were just getting their bearings and just figuring out how to walk. You had about ten seconds to decide what you were going to do with them.

  Fortunately, we had been here before. I took the right side and Charlie took the left. Bracing ourselves in the space between the wheel well and the tailgate, we took swings at zombie heads as we drove past. Tommy kept us to about five miles an hour, and swerved like a lunatic to try and get them all. We had both nearly fallen out twice as Tommy circled to get one that we couldn’t reach. The best part was that if Tommy misjudged, he took it out anyway, since the bumper killed a zombie just as quickly as a pickaxe or a tomahawk. The only danger was sometimes a zombie got the timing right and landed on the edge of the truck bed just in front of us. The momentum of the truck slid them right at you quickly, and you could choose to duck and let them pass, or be damn quick on the kill.

  I usually let them pass. We always came back for them anyway. Charlie angled a ‘hawk so they bumped upright, and he took them out as they fell back. It was more efficient than my method, but it didn’t matter.

  Tommy turned down the main business road, and we were confronted with a near wall of zombies. From Putnam County Public Library to Grainville Bancshares, there had to be at least seventy newly pressed zombies lurching around and leaving several kinds of nasty all over the landscape.

  Charlie looked over at me. “Your call.”

  I thought for a second. “Well, we do have that extra ammo from Freeman’s boys. Let’s pull them out of there.” I thumped on the roof. “Back up, slowly, and hit the horn a few times.”

  “Got it.” Came the answer through the back window of the truck.

  The truck backed up slowly, honking loudly to get the attention of the zombies. I laid over the cab roof, with Charlie doing the same next to me. He had a bipod on his rifle; I was going to have to use my elbows.

  “I got the left of the center line, chief,” Charlie said, looking through his scope and firing. His shot took out the lead zombie and the one right behind it.

  “Nice. I’m on it,” I said, lining up and taking a shot which took out a woman in her mid fifties.

  We fired for a good ten minutes, with Tommy backing up slowly the whole time. We dropped them in doorways, in the street, and in the ditches. By the time we reached Yespen Chiropractic Health Center, we had taken the horde apart.

  I was refilling a magazine when Tommy stuck his arm out the rear window. He was holding the microphone for the CB and it sounded like someone had poked a cat with a sharp stick and was letting it vent on the other end.

  “Hello?” I said.

  Duncan’s voice came through loud and clear. “What’s the third rule of firearm safety?”

  What the hell? “I don’t have time for…Oh, shit.” I looked down the street, and sure enough, the van was there. “Anyone hurt?” I asked, concerned.

  Duncan replied. “Just the front tires. I figure you two morons put three rounds apiece in them.

  Damn. I looked over at Charlie and his shoulders slumped. “Well, we’ll be there shortly, Talon out.”

  “Shit, damn, and double shit. This is our fault,” I said.

  “Let’s fix it first, and then blame Duncan later,” Charlie said.

  I couldn’t argue with that, so we headed back down the street. At the other end, the van sported eleven new vents, courtesy of yours truly. I opened the door to Sarah kicking me in the chest and knocking me over. Charlie laughed only once, and then Rebecca kicked him behind the knees and he dropped quicker than I did. From the ground, we looked at our spouses.

  “Would it help to say I was sorry?” I asked, reaching for a hand up.

  “If you ever…So help me, I’ll…Of all the irresponsible…Oooo!” Sarah slapped my hand away and stalked off, presumably to find something zombie like so she could vent her frustrations properly. I was just grateful she hadn’t decided to do it on me.

  Tommy helped me to my feet, and I helped Charlie up after I had removed Rebecca from standing on his chest. She took a swing at me, but missed by a mile. Charlie watched her stalk off after Sarah.

  “Well, you know what they say. Any encounter with the opposite sex you walk away from…” Charlie said.

  I laughed. “All too true. Let’s get the stuff into the truck, and we’ll put it in the big truck to take back home.”

  We unpacked the van, and it took a heck of a lot longer than I thought it would. The sun was in its deep setting stage, with streaks of pink and red arcing across the sky as the rays found clouds we couldn’t see. The darkening sky of the east reached out with purple tendrils to try and push the sun past the horizon.

  I was tempted to spend the night out here, but I couldn’t do it anymore, and I couldn’t do it to Sarah.

  Chapter 25

  We packed up and moved out, leaving a dead town behind. There was nothing to be done for it, so we moved on. I was more concerned about my family, and I could see that Sarah was, too.

  We drove as quickly as we could, skirting Oglesby and staying on 71. That took us to our own back yard and in an hour, just as night lay full claim to the sky. We drove through familiar territory, and were able to make decent time thanks to the fact that the country roads were deserted.

  I took us down the long driveway to Starved Rock Lodge, and Sarah was practically giddy. I was excited as well, looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and seeing my sons again. We had been gone for too long, and I knew we hadn’t finished the job. But we did what we needed to do, and would let this night just be for us.

  At the front entrance, I parked and got out, followed closely by the rest of the crew. We were tired, worn out, and smelled like death, but we were home. By all that’s holy, we were home.

  Duncan threw the first cup of cold water on the scene. “Why are the lights off?”

  I looked around. Sure enough, it was dark. We normally kept a couple on, just in case someone stopped by. We didn’t get many visitors, but enough to be polite with the lights.

  “Don’t know. Strange,” I said. “Let’s do a quick check, before we go in.”

  Charlie, Duncan, Tommy and I did a quick sweep of the lodge. All of our defenses were in place, and nothing had been broken. For all intents and purposes, the place was fine.

  I stepped to the door, drawing my pistol. “Just in case,” I said to several quizzical looks.

  I unlocked the door, including the two deadbolts. Once inside, the darkness was deep, and many corners were hidden in shadows. Nothing seemed out of sorts, but it just wasn’t right.

  I motioned to Tommy and Duncan to go check upstairs, while the rest of us checked out the main lodge area and the balcony. In the main hall, I flicked the switch and bathed us in bright light.

  “Well, that works,” I said, walking over to the balcony.

  “I don’t see anything amiss out there,” Charlie said.

  “Well, what the hell?” I said. “Where’s Janna and Angela?”

  Duncan came striding into the hall, with his wife and child right behind him. Tommy came in holding Angela’s hand, and she held her child as well. Angela gave Sarah and Rebecca a quick hug, and then turned to me.

  “The little zombies were here, John. They couldn’t get in, so they left. We heard firing coming from your brother’s place.” Angela’s voice was full of concern.

  My blood went cold. “Where’s Jake and Aaron?” I asked quickly.

  “They’re still over there.”

  Oh, sweet Jesus. No.

  Chapter 26

  “John, you can’t run out there! The zombies are still in the woods!”

  “John, no! Stop!”

  “Charlie, stop him! Wait, where are you going? Charlie!”

  I fairly flew through the woods, running as hard as I could for my brother’s lodge. I only had my sidearm, my knife, and my trench hawk, but I didn’t care. Absolutely nothing was going to stop me from getting to my sons. If a zombie kid showed up, he’d be put through a tree, no questions asked.

  Charlie ran alongside me, both hands filled with his weapons. He didn’t speak, and we didn’t have to. There was no need to discuss plans or strategies. We were just going to go in and kill anything that wasn’t related to him or me.

  We crested the ridge that overlooked my brother’s lodge, and slid downhill partway. We had to go a little slower, since the trails were rougher here, but we still made better time than we would have had we taken the trucks. The roads weren’t direct out here, and we covered the ground in little under two minutes.

  We ran up to the front entrance, and already things didn’t look good. There was about fifteen zombie kids scattered around the parking lot, each one with a shot to the head. That was probably Nicole’s shooting. Mike wasn’t the best with a rifle, but he might have made the shots with a handgun. Charlie looked one over and made a hand signal that told me they had been killed by a rifle.

 

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