A Shrouded World - Whistlers

A Shrouded World: Whistlers

Book
I of A Shrouded World

A Novel by:

Mark Tufo and John O’Brien

Copyright © 201
4 Mark Tufo, John O’Brien

All rights reserved
. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in review, without permission in writing from the authors. You may contact the author at
[email protected]
or
[email protected]

Cover Art by Jason Swarr at Straight 8 photography

http://straight8photography.com/

To the men and women in the armed forces and first responders, active duty, vets, or those who gave it all. You put your lives on the line every day, thank you!

Other books by Mark Tufo

Zombie Fallout Series

Zombie Fallout 1

Zombie Fallout 2: A Plague Upon Your Family

Zombie Fallout 3: The End...

Zombie Fallout 3.5: Dr. Hugh Mann

Zombie Fallout 4: The End Has Come and Gone

Zombie Fallout 5: Alive in a Dead World

Zombie Fallout 6: ‘Til Death Do Us Part

Zombie Fallout 7: For the Fallen

Zombie Fallout 8: An Old Beginning

Lycan Fallout Series

Lycan Fallout 1: Rise of the Werewolf

Lycan Fallout 2 (Fall 2014)

Indian Hill Series

Indian Hill 1: Encounters

Indian Hill 2: Reckoning

Indian Hill 3: Conquest

Indian Hill 4: From the Ashes

Timothy Series

Timothy

Tim 2

The Book of Riley Series

A Zombie Tale Parts 1 thru 4

Writing as M.R. Tufo

Callis Rose

The Spirit Clearing

Dystance: Winter’s Rising

Other books by John O’Brien

A New World Series

A New
World: Chaos

A New
World: Return

A New
World: Sanctuary

A New
World: Taken

A New
World: Awakening

A New
World: Dissension

A New
World: Takedown

A New
World: Conspiracy

A New
World: Reckoning

Companion Books

A New World: Untold Stories

Well
, I guess from the title of my journal entry, you’ve figured out my name. I, at least, know that much, other than that, I’m at a loss. I was on my way back to Maine to stop a sociopath (Or is it psychopath? Probably both. I should have paid more attention in my sociology classes, but Betsy Hoegler, who sat two rows up and one over, was oh-so-pretty—wow, there’s a digression—focus, Talbot! That’s probably why you’re in this fucking predicament). Okay, let me try to make my thoughts cohesive.

My name is Michael Talbot (we’ve established that). I am heading back to my brother Ron’s house in Maine to head off Eliza, an evil bitch of a vampire who, for some unfathomable reason, has decided that
my family and I should be wiped from the planet like a plague. (Does that make sense? It does in my head, and since I’m writing it, I guess that makes it okay.) I nearly met my end in a house I lit on fire, taking out some potentially misguided vengeance on some cats (the caretakers of the underworld). PETA would probably have my balls in a sling if they knew what I did, but if any of you were there, you’d know why I did it. I laid the whole thing out in my fifth journal, and I have no desire to revisit it; the wound is still too fresh.

While I was recuperating from my wounds
, I came across one of the most unique individuals I have ever had the...what...pleasure? (not sure if that’s the right word)…of coming across. His name is John the Tripper, and NOT because he’s clumsy. He makes Timothy Leary seem like a daycare teacher.

We were evacuating his house when he thought it would be a good idea to dose on acid. Now
, I’m a full decade (or close to it) from my last journey into the center of my mind, and he broke the cardinal rule: he slipped it to me without my knowledge or consent. Hey, I’m always up for a good time, but definitely not in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

So there we
are, I had just driven his 1970s VW van out of his garage, zombies had come up to the driver’s side window, and I’m laughing—I’m talking gut hurting, tears flowing, mouth stuck in a perpetual smile, laughing. Apparently, zombies are some seriously funny shit when you’re as high as a kite. Fortunately, somewhere inside of me, survival mode kicked in and I punched down on the gas pedal. I clipped a curb, and almost made one hell of a fiery exit from this world when I narrowly missed a propane truck that had the audacity to be parked on the side of the street I was barreling down.

I had swerved hard, maybe I smacked my head against the driver’s window, I don’t remember
, but I could have, and then...I’m not sure. In a flash, John and I are on foot, the van is gone. I’m thankfully straight (and not so, thankfully, scared). We’re out of the town and on a desolate highway. Well…I guess if you define a highway jammed with the world’s largest exodus of cars as desolate, then that’s where we were.

Thankfully I had a gun—
again, not sure where it came from—it was an old school AR. Nope…hold that. Holy shit! It was an old school M-16 A1, fully-fantastically-automatic. It even came with a mod package that I couldn’t have afforded if I didn’t have three kids. If this was a dream, it was of the wet variety. Too graphic? Sorry, as a gun enthusiast we always adore things that shoot rapidly. I’m talking guns, get your head out of the gutter.

I turned to John the
Tripper, his first words to me, “Who are you?”

Wonderful
, I thought.

“Mike Talbot,
” I told him. “Remember? You helped me in your living room?” I could see random thoughts swinging around on the vines his brain used as synapses.

“That’s a nice poncho,” h
e told me.

Quick back fill:
I had pretty much destroyed all my clothing in the fire, and John had seen fit to give me some of his, which included a poncho that a Mexican with a sense of humor must have made specifically for some gringo tourist. Probably laughed his ass off the day he sold that thing. I also had some size thirteen-ish boat shoes that were presumably from John’s wife that I’m assuming was either from a lost Amazonian tribe or male. Either way was fine with me. Luckily, it didn’t appear that anyone living was here to judge me. A six year old with reasonable fashion sense would have known not to wear the ensemble I had on.

So that really brought us back to reality, or at least this skewed version of it. Something had happened,
and I had to assume it was zombies. What else did I have to go on? There were empty cars everywhere, and a city behind us was burning. These folks had left in a hurry, but to what end? Where were they?

“John
, stay close.”

I would have liked to split up a little and check some of the cars for supplies. I had my blessed rifle
, three full magazines, and nothing else. We needed water, and I’d take a little food, too, as long as it wasn’t a cherry Pop-Tart. But John on his own was a scary thought, although, if I really stopped to ponder, he had fared way better than me since this whole shit-fest began.

“Look what I’ve got!” John exclaimed
, pulling a slingshot out of his pocket. “What the hell is it?” He handed it to me.

“It’s a slingshot,
” I said, handing it back. There was not a hint of recognition on his features. “Look in your other pocket.” I didn’t know the rules to this new place, but I was willing to bet he had some projectiles there. He pulled out a clear bag of steel ball bearings.

“Marbles!” h
e exclaimed happily.

“S
ort of…can I see them?” He handed them over. I held my hand out for the slingshot. After a moment of realizing what I was asking for, he handed that over as well. I put a ball bearing in the leather pouch, pulled back, aimed valiantly, and missed wildly.

“Whoa
! That thing shoots?” he asked, grabbing them back. He put a ball in, stretched the damn thing as far back as it would go, and then looked over at me.

I was like,
“John, you need to aim.” My words were immediately followed by the shattering of a driver’s side rearview mirror about twenty yards away.

“Did I get it?” h
e asked, never taking his eyes from mine.

“Umm…
that depends on what you were aiming for.”

“There was a mirror on the red car.”

“You’re kidding right?” I looked back to the shattered mirror on the red sedan.

“It’s only bad luck to break a
mirror if you’re looking at it,” he told me as if he had just looked it up on Wikipedia or made it up on the spot. Tough to say with John.

The noise was extremely loud in a world devoid of human sound
; and, now that I thought about it, all sound. There wasn’t so much as a bird chirping or a cricket cricketing. Never a good sign, animals always know when the shit is about to hit the fan.

“We’ve gotta go.”

“Funky people?” John asked, looking around. That was his take on zombies. As accurate a description as any, I suppose.

“Not sure
, buddy, but it got awfully quiet.”

“Who
’s buddy?” he asked as he placed his ammo and slingshot away.

I stepped onto the hood of a car and then the roof
. The nearest cover I saw was a burning city a good five miles away. Other than that, there were about a billion trees, and since I wasn’t a botanist, I couldn’t even identify what part of the country, or which country, I was even in, but considering that the vast majority of cars looked familiar, I figured we were still in the good old US of A.

It was a sea of cars, a grassy median
, and a darkening woods line that seemed to stretch for miles. It was getting dark and slightly chilly. We were technically lost and under-supplied. To top it off, for one of the first times in my life, I didn’t have a ‘plan.’ Although, if you know anything about me from my previous journals; you might realize I was better off on this aspect anyway.

I did
the only thing I could think of; I mean, for the most part, it was unthinkable…but I did it anyway.

“Any ideas
, John?”

He started frantically slapping his hands against his body like he had stepped on a fire ant
hill and was even now covered in them and getting bitten. He alarmed the hell out of me with his actions.

“What’s the matter
, man?” I asked, trying to figure out how I could help.

His hand slapped against his chest and he visibly relaxed. “It’s all good
, man.”

“What? What the fuck is all good?” I asked
, looking for his unseen assailant.

John had an infectious grin as he pulled out a spun joint from his pocket.

“Are you kidding?” I asked incredulously.

T
hen, in one of his more lucid moments, he said, “Hey, man, you deal in your way, I’ll deal in mine. So stop harshing my high.”

“Sorry,
” I told him, holding my hands up. “But we still need to get moving.”

That tree
line looked foreboding. There could be zombies, rednecks, clowns or feral cats—the last making me shudder—in the darkness that oozed forth. The thought of spending the night in one of these abandoned cars held merit, but if we were to get surrounded, we would have effectively slept in what would then become our tomb.

John was a cool guy and all
, (although I wished I’d met him maybe twenty years previous—scratch that, we’d both probably have long, scruffy beards and have great difficulty remembering our last Dead show) but if I was going to die soon, I wanted it to be in the loving arms of my wife Tracy who, earlier this morning, was roughly a thousand miles away. Now it appeared she was a shrouded world away.

“What did you do with my van
, man?” John asked as he finally seemed to be stepping onto the same page.

Two could play his game. “What van?”
It was kind of an asshole move. I’m going to blame it on the rising trepidation I was beginning to feel.

“Did you hear that?” John
brushed my question aside. “It sounded like Howler Monkeys.”

I most certainly had not, but between working on an airfield and about
three decades worth of rock concerts, I had an accumulated hearing loss making mine akin to a mole’s. It’s my understanding they’re deaf…shit…nope. Blind. Okay, I’m as deaf as some heretofore unmentioned almost deaf animal.

“Whoa,
” I said as I caught a sound I’d never heard before. And no, Howler Monkey didn’t seem the right description.

John lit
up his joint. I was jonesing for a good time, too. Right now would have been perfect. Whatever was screaming in those woods was approaching, and if I had to go, it might as well be with a smile on my face. John tapped me on the shoulder. He was sticking the joint under my nose. His cheeks were puffed out and smoke was leaking from his nostrils; his eyes were already beginning to glow a dull red.

“That some good shit?” I asked, seriously looking at his offering.

He nodded and smiled, more smoke leaking out from the edges of his grin.

“You suck
, man,” I told him as I pushed it away.

I grabbed hi
s shoulder and pulled him along. We were parallel to the tree line and the howlers (that was their name for now). I couldn’t risk the woods; for all I knew, the ones on our left could be driving us to others waiting on the right. So, down the endless line of now useless status symbols we weaved.

The noise was beginning to increase as it got darker. I didn’t know if there was a correlation,
and didn’t have time to dwell on it as I pushed John along. He was of the mind to stop and look at just about every shiny object we came across.

“John
, we really gotta move a little quicker,” I told him.

“I’d be inclined to agree with you if we ha
d a destination to be gotten to.”

Again I had to agree, we were rushing to where? Away from the sounds, but they seemed to be paralleling our movements. What were t
hey waiting for? Reinforcements? Sounded like there was already a shitload of them.

The sun was just cresting below the tree line as my dread surged. Something deep down was telling me that we needed shelter
, and fast. I saw a refuge up ahead. It wasn’t ideal, but it would do.

“Come on
, man,” I said as I was now full-on dragging John behind me.

“You want to get in there?” h
e asked me as we looked at the back of the tractor trailer.

“Yes and no.”

“You know that makes no sense, right?” he chastised me.

I hated the idea of being in the back of a darkened trailer
; not being able to see our enemy and basically trapped. But as I watched, the first ‘howler’ emerged out of the woods, and I knew it was the right thing to do. At least in this instance. It was a human once, but that loping, hunchback way it ran, looked more like a werewolf in the early stages of change. Could that be possible? I’ve dealt with zombies, vampires, aliens, and spirits; why wouldn’t my vengeful god throw in a werewolf or two for good measure?