Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Conflict (37 page)

I’d
always hated the sort of bowel movement that came on fast, so I pulled off the
road and headed up a rocky track. In addition to enjoying a quick piece of
off-roading, this looked promising. It would take us up a rise that should
provide a good view of the area.

“Jacob!
The bouncing is not helping.”

I
uttered an insincere apology and came to a stop. She quickly exited the Jeep
and scurried behind some large boulders.

We were
in the hilly terrain southwest of Casper. It wasn’t quite mountainous, but our
view was often limited. That was another reason I favored this route. I wanted
to avoid the plains as much as possible. There was nowhere to hide, no natural
features to use for defense. If we came across a big group of raiders, we would
likely end up dead.

“Don’t
squat on any scorpions,” I called.

“Not
funny. Tara, can you bring me some toilet paper?”

That was
another thing we would run out of eventually, something I dreaded. We still
found it in the random store or house, but rodents and animals had a tendency
to shred the stuff. And the slightest bit of water or damp ruined any roll that
wasn’t wrapped in plastic. Then I thought of all those hotels in Custer. We
might be able to restock there. I hoped so. The alternatives were all
unpleasant.

“Motorcycles
are coming.”

Dale
fell in beside me as I moved to join Tara. “Where at?”

“I’m
still going here! Don’t you dare try to look!”

Watching
Mary take a shit was not something I felt the slightest inclination to do, and
I made the very conscious effort to avert my gaze more than was necessary.

“You
better hurry up and finish. We got raiders heading this way. They’re on the
road, same as we were following. Dale, Tara, get the rifles. We’re going to do
some shooting.”

*
* *

“Clear
over here.”

Mary was
standing near the Jeep, the Uzi in her hands. It could not be seen from the
road and blocked the only easy route to where we waited. I doubted any of the
enemy would approach from that direction, but it still needed to be watched.
That meant Mary was responsible.

The rest
of us were positioned forty feet above the highway and a hundred feet back. The
slope in front of us wasn’t quite a cliff, but it would take a serious effort
to scramble up. We also had a clear view to both sides. If any raiders tried to
get behind us, or if Mary called out for help, Dale would immediately fall back
to assist her.

“Tara,
target the leader. Dale, you get the second. I’ll try for the one in the rear.
Tara, you fire first, as soon as they are even with us.”

There
were fifteen of the bastards. It was difficult to tell, but about a third
appeared to be women. All were on bikes, Harleys mostly instead of the dirt
bikes their scouts had been using. Each had a gun strapped across his or her
back. More poked out of the leather saddlebags they were using.

“Two
seconds,” warned Tara.

She
fired with Dale following almost immediately after. I took slightly longer, but
not by enough to matter, and my target lurched to the side as the bullet took
him in the torso, falling to the pavement where he bounced a couple of times
and rolled to a stop near the shoulder of the road. I quickly lowered my gun so
I could see the results of the ambush. Tara and Dale’s targets were both down,
each with a clean headshot. Their bikes had collided as well, and the rider
behind them had struck the wreckage, getting thrown. She was still moving,
although barely, just a few twitches and weak efforts at raising an arm. Eleven
were left.

“Take
them.”

The pair
didn’t hesitate. Tara, who was furthest to the right, started at that side and
steadily moved inward, killing each one in turn as she came to him. Dale,
beside her and between us, did the same, moving in from the left. Their
movements were flawless. That hadn’t been the plan, but they seemed to know the
best way to deal with the situation. I would have to ask them about it later.
Maybe this was something they’d discussed previously as a possible tactic.

It took
less than a minute to end it all. One of the raiders spotted us, pointing and
screaming something, and another tried to turn around to ride away. They fell
too fast for their efforts to amount to anything. The speed and efficiency were
superb.

“Two are
still alive,” said Dale.

“The one
who fell and the one Jacob shot,” concluded Tara.

“Let’s
go take a closer look. Mary! Can you see anything at all, anywhere?”

“Nothing
Jacob.”

There
was no one in sight on the road either, and I double checked using my
binoculars. Satisfied, I led the way down. The Jeep would remain where it was.
If anybody did approach, we could regain the high ground again faster on foot
than driving, considering the difficulty of the route.

*
* *

“The one
you shot is dead now.”

“Looks
that way Tara,” I said.

Mary
made a face and turned away. The bullet had punched through his rib cage,
possibly clipping a lung, and gone out his belly on the opposite side. It was a
nasty sight, and things that shouldn’t be exposed to daylight were in full
view. I put a round in the skull to prevent him from re-animating the following
day. That rule held true. Get bit before dying and you come back in seven
minutes. Die without the infection and you rise in twenty six hours.

“How’s
the other one doing?”

Dale was
standing over the woman, a gaunt brunette with eyes that spoke of prolonged
drug abuse. He’d taken her gun, the sort of rifle you’d find in any gun store,
as well as the pistol at her side and a knife in her boot. I don’t think she
could have used them though. This piece of trash was all banged up. She had a
broken arm, judging from the angle it was bent, and one leg had a compound fracture.
The other looked to be dislocated. The raider had deep scrapes on her scalp and
some on her shoulder where the jacket had been pushed back. She would need a
proper hospital and trauma team if she was to survive.

“She’s
angry,” observed Tara.

I stomped
over to the woman and nudged her leg with my boot. She let out a scream of pain
followed by some curses.

“What’s
your name?”

“Fuck
you!”

A
second, harder kick brought more cries of agony.

“It was
a simple question. What’s your name?”

“Doreen,
you mother fucking asshole fucker!”

Her
mouth was worse than Lizzy’s. That took effort.

“Tell me
Doreen, where is the prophet?”

The
glaze left her light brown eyes, replaced by a look of fanaticism.

“He may
kick you again if you don’t tell us,” said Mary, softly, almost whispering.

The
woman did not scream when she brought her own fist down on the break in her
leg. The skin of her hand was gashed open as the shattered end of her femur dug
into it. Blood poured forth, but she didn’t seem to notice. Both Tara and Dale
stepped back, as did Mary. We weren’t going to get anything further from
Doreen. She might have been crazy to begin with – the woman did appear so – but
she had now passed into that I don’t care sort of mania which no amount of pain
or torture could break. Would I have tortured her for information if this
wasn’t the case? Interesting question.

“Mary,
why don’t you keep an eye out. Make sure no one is coming. Tara, Dale, please
gather up all the weapons and ammunition and pile them over there. We’ll take
them with us after we retrieve the Jeep. See if any of these people have maps,
notes, letters, pictures, anything that might tell us where they’re from or
what they might be planning.”

“You
won’t get anything,” gasped Doreen. Seems she was feeling the pain after all.
Maybe her version of insanity wasn’t enough to completely override normal human
responses. “You fucking capitalist pig. You fucking liberal hypocrite. You
fucking son of…” The words began to fade away.

Interesting
combination of insults. I had no idea where she was going with that, nor did I
care, so I shot her in the head and bent down to search the body.

Interlude – Laura’s Story

It was
early in July when thirty people under the leadership of Laura, our most
favorite Oklahoma heroine, reached the Black Hills. Well, it was actually
thirty two, but I see no reason to include Lizzy and Marcus since they weren’t
going to stay. While most of the settlers were originally from Wyoming, there
was a handful who’d suffered through the Anadarko siege beside her. As a
result, Laura had their full, unwavering support, and there were no questions
or doubts as to her leadership ability.

“Randall,
how about along here? Think this would work?”

The man
was huge, with muscles that seemed almost unreal, and there was no hiding this
as he stomped across the valley floor.

“Won’t
work.”

“What do
you mean it won’t work?” she demanded. “Why not?”

He crouched
down and tapped the stone with one hand. “Too many cracks. The ground isn’t
stable.”

Laura
grumbled to herself – she’d been doing that a lot lately – and kicked a
pinecone. It went rattling down the slope. “Where then?”

Examining
the landscape carefully, Randall paced back and forth for several minutes.

“Well?”
she pressed.

“Start
lining up where I tell you.” He motioned to the others and began arranging
them.

“Lizzy,”
called Laura, using a handheld radio, “we’re getting the people in place where
the wall will be. Can you see them from down below?”

Marcus,
Lizzy, and a few others were stationed in the lower valley which connected the
outside world to the isolated, hard to reach valley where we planned on
building our new settlement. They were scattered about with Lizzy and Marcus
standing on the gravel road several miles away.

“Looks
good from where I am,” said Marcus.

“Fuck!
Sorry Laura, but I can see the left hand side, my left.”

The
other woman walked in that direction. “Can you see me?”

“Just
the top of your head,” replied Lizzy, “and barely, even with the binoculars.
Seeing a big wall would be easier.”

“We have
to shift again Randall.” Laura didn’t bother hiding her annoyance. This was the
fifth attempt at determining placement. Her shoulders slumped. “Your choice
this time.”

He
nodded, not saying anything, and pulled back a good ninety feet. It was the
area he’d suggested originally, after making an initial examination of the
terrain, only to be vetoed by Laura. For one thing, it meant the wall would be
nearly two hundred and thirty feet long. By comparison, if they positioned it
in the narrowest point of the valley’s entrance they were looking at only a
hundred forty. Second, there was a lot bare stone. That meant a whole lot more
work would be involved preparing the foundation.

For his
part, Randall didn’t give a damn about the required labor. He was a longtime
contractor, and he’d built plenty of ornate walls and stone buildings over the
years. Randall knew what he was doing, and the man was determined to have this
project come out just as solid and perfect as all his others. Besides, they’d
picked up a jackhammer at a construction site they had passed on the way. He
knew how to use it, and that was worth a dozen laborers, if not more.

“Over
here.” He began repositioning people. Then he made some minor adjustments.

“What
about now?” asked Laura.

“I got
nothing,” said Marcus.

“Same,”
remarked Lizzy.

“The
others can’t see it either,” added Marcus, after he got a thumbs up from the
spotters further up the valley.

“Finally.
Okay, Randall’s going to walk the edge. Let me know if you can see anything.” Laura
waited until he lifted the thirty foot pole, which had a South Dakota state
flag mounted on top, before continuing. “He’s starting at the right, your
right, my left.”

It was
awkward to balance, although being made of plastic piping it didn’t weigh much,
and Randall had to move slowly to ensure it remained elevated and straight.

“I saw
nothing,” said Lizzy. “Not even a glimmer of movement.”

“Same
here,” confirmed Marcus. “I think we got our location.”

“It’s
further back,” cautioned Laura. “It will be twice as hard to make, maybe more.
The area in front is still narrow but not by as much. That means a larger space
to defend.”

“Jacob
said hidden was most important,” replied Marcus. “We’ll just have to make do.”

*
* *

“How big
is the gate going to be?” Lizzy was standing in the middle of the line, now
marked with orange paint. “We have to be able to get trucks through.

“It
won’t be there,” said Randall.

“This is
the center,” she pointed out, somewhat testily. “It’s supposed to be here.”

“We
aren’t going to construct it there. The gate will be over by those circles.
They mark the support columns.”

The spot
in question was only sixty feet from one of the tall, steep hills that formed
the sides of the valley.

“Why
would you put it all the way over there?” demanded Lizzy. “That doesn’t make
any sense.”

“Actually,”
began Marcus, “that does look better. The curve on the way up means you can’t
see the gate until you’re almost at the wall. You could shoot at the wall from
further back, but not the gate itself. You have to get real close to do that.
It’s near the cleft in the ridge which we want to use as a lookout point too.
Anyone on watch will have an easier time getting back inside.”

“It’s
also on top of some questionable ground,” said Laura, “so we might have to dig quite
a ways until we reach rock. It’s going to be a pain building this.”

“It can
be done with what we have. I’ve built similar things many times. As to the
size, you’re looking at fifteen feet wide, opening in the middle. The doors
will be oak, six inches thick, banded in steel and covered with tin or aluminum
panels. They’ll be darkened so they don’t reflect sunlight. While heavy and
strong, the doors will open smoothly.”

“How
deep are we talking?”

The
resident expert glanced over at Marcus. “Eight feet along the wall and twelve
at the gate, maybe more.”

“Why the
fuck do you have to go so far down!”

Despite
Randall’s confidence, Lizzy didn’t think they had the people for that sort of
work, and she’d personally promised Jacob and Briana that they would get the
wall up fast.

“I will
not do inferior work. You can do it my way or you can find someone else. Well,
which do you want? And if you swear at me again, I’ll throw you off the cliff.”

“Don’t
you tell…”

Marcus
grabbed her shoulder and pressed a hand over Lizzy’s mouth. “No fighting. I
mean… Oww! You bit me!”

“Don’t
try that again,” she warned, in a low tone.

“I’m in
charge,” declared Laura, “and I say all of you cut it out. Now!”

“Lizzy,”
began Marcus. He wrapped a bandana around his palm. “Girl, we need quality. You
saw what they did to the barricade we had back in Martin. It has to be solid.
We aren’t talking about keeping out zombies. We’re talking about people with
machine guns and grenades, maybe bigger stuff.”

“We’re
going to bring up a backhoe,” added Randall. “That will do most of the digging.
The portions where we have to go through solid rock will be harder, but the
ditch for the foundation will be completed in a couple of weeks.”

“How are
we going to get one of those things up here? Tell me that oh high and mighty…”
Lizzy left off whatever insult she was going to add.

“You
drive it up,” he replied, simply. “They have treads and can go up inclines that
ordinary trucks can’t. You have to be careful turning them on a slope since
they can tip over, but coming straight up will be easy.”

“They
can do that,” confirmed Marcus. “I’ve delivered God knows how much stuff to
construction companies over the years and spent plenty of time sitting there
watching while my rig was unloaded.

“Fine.”
Lizzy stomped off. “If it gets stuck, you have to fix it. I won’t be helping.”

*
* *

Marcus
and Randall, accompanied by Lizzy who was keeping watch, located the necessary
heavy equipment early the following day. However, they didn’t get it back until
shortly after nightfall. Nearly a year sitting outdoors, untended, had taken a
toll, and it took hours just to start the engine. Fortunately, Randall had
enough experience and knowledge to recharge the batteries, fix the hoses, and
perform any other necessary repairs.

The
actual digging went quickly, in those places where they were going through
dirt, exactly as anticipated. Cutting into the bedrock proved more difficult,
but Randall and Marcus took turns with the jackhammer, keeping it running
almost continually, while several others pounded away with sledges. That wasn’t
nearly as efficient, but every bit helped.

In the
meantime, Laura had a few of the women load loose gravel and soil into the back
of a pickup. This was taken to the cave and dumped. A Bobcat was then used to
cart it inside. Her intention was to level the floor, making it as smooth as
possible so the place could be used for storage.

Randall
approved of her efforts, and he marked several areas around the opening. After
they were done with the all important outer wall, he would use the jackhammer
to create runoffs so any rain or snow melt would be directed away from the entrance.
They were going to wall it off as well, for security reasons.

All this
work was brutal, and the small group labored from dawn to dusk, not even
pausing for meals. Instead, anyone who suffered an injury or was too exhausted
to continue was assigned food duty. These individuals would keep the fire going
and make sure the pots of beans, soup, or whatever was available to anyone
taking a break.

The
campsite was set up a mere hundred feet from the wall, since the bulk of the
work was happening there, and latrines were dug. These were placed fifty feet
from the gate, along the route that would eventually be a road leading from the
entrance to the future town and citadel. The finished construction included a
stone base, wooden walls, and a pitched roof. An old cast iron stove was
recovered and placed inside to provide heat in winter.

Bathing
was the biggest problem. Laura required everyone to clean up before turning in
for the night. Part of this was to deal with the stink, which was more than a
little noticeable, but it would also help prevent disease. Living conditions
had to be kept as sanitary as possible. Some tarps were hung between trees, and
water was hauled up one bucket at a time. As so often before, it was sponge
baths or nothing.

And
mentioning water, that was a serious concern. Eventually, we would build cisterns
to catch and hold rain water and snow melt. In the meantime it would have to be
wells. There were no streams in the valley, but there were a pair of small
ponds. A good sized creek could also be found near the base of the second
valley. Randall had mulled over the possibility of digging a trench, inserting
some pipes, and pumping it up to the settlement. The distance was prohibitive
though, and power would be an ongoing concern. No, it was going to be wells and
cisterns. The latrine was therefore lined in metal and plastic to prevent
anything nasty from seeping down and tainting the ground water.

*
* *

“It’s
time for you to do your thing Rudy.”

“Yes!”
The young man was beaming, ready to go. “So, where do you want me to start?”

“Near
the wall,” replied Laura. “That side, I guess. What I want is for you to work
your way along the back of the hill, down to the rear of the valley and the
smaller hill there, and then up the other one until you hit the wall again.
Carolyn’s going to help out today. She’s big enough to work the ropes?”

“If I
need any.”

“Please
don’t fall and die.” Laura gave him a stern look.

The
young man was a die hard rock climber. Having grown up in Wyoming, he spent his
weekends and most holidays driving to Colorado or the nearby mountains to test
and hone his skills, and these were impressive. He was solidly in the 5.14
club, meaning he could scale rock faces that looked perfectly smooth to most
people. Rudy was one of the elite, and his abilities were the reason he was
sent on the initial trip to the Black Hills, along with all his gear and
equipment.

“Remember
now,” continued Laura, “find the routes anyone normal or even moderately
talented could get up. Wreck them as you go. If you can’t do that with the hammers
and chisels we gave you, mark the spot. We can always rappel down from the top
to work on it later.”

“Impossible
to do that perfectly. There’s always a way up.”

“For
you, but not for me and I hope not for any of prophet’s killers. We want them,
if they ever find us, to have to come up that long narrow valley to the wall,
so we have only the one spot to defend.”