The Reaper: No Mercy (35 page)

Wordlessly Jason and I exchanged glances. I turned to head back and stopped. Directly behind me was a small dog. A Border Collie or miniature Collie I think. All black or brown and white. It was sitting there just watching us. Moving very slowly I held out my hand. It came forward a couple of steps and sniffed at my outstretched fingers then licked them quickly before backing up several paces watching us. Then it struck me. I hadn't seen any family pets since the virus outbreak. I had assumed they had been eaten by the zombies but I simply didn't know. I never asked any of the refugees about their pets. It hadn't occurred to me. But where there was one, there were more I was sure.

It whined in a very low tone, almost inaudible. Obviously, this dog recognized the need for silence. Then it took off running to the corner of the house and disappeared from view. I sighed rising from my crouch and nodding at Jason, we started back. The dog darted out from the corner as we moved away huffing at us. Jesus Christ I hoped it didn't bark. I made calming gestures with my hands and it ran to the corner again, then ran back to us turning a couple circles and again ran to the corner looking back at us. I was intrigued. It was as if it wanted us to follow. Well I had read all the news stories about this kind of thing. So, we crept to the corner as it backup up. I looked around and saw nothing, but the dog ran another thirty or forty feet, and stopped waiting, while watching us. I glanced at Jason. He nodded. We followed.

Carefully taking advantage of every cover, we proceeded further into town. We were now three houses north from where we had originally hid while watching the zombies. The dog was at the back of this property at a row of hedges waiting. Shrugging, I ran in a crouch to its edge taking advantage of cover provided by some bushes. Another house was behind this one and, of course, another street. The canine led us forward. I crept out and was immediately surprised by two of the undead who had been standing motionless. Jesus, they were hard to spot in the dark when motionless. They advanced with that weird breathy whispering moan. It took only seconds; Jason and I took them down with machetes to the necks. I had quickly learned to swing just about as hard as possible. I needed the machete’s razor edge to cleanly cleave through the neck and tough vertebrae incased within in a single strike. Two heads bounced away and the bodies slumped boneless to the ground. I noticed one was a woman but it was too dark to see if her tits had been large. God, I am what I am, and even though I had been in some hot little Mexican only two hours ago, I still couldn't help looking. I made a vow then and there that if things ever got back to normal I would at least consider counseling for a few minutes.

The house was typical and quite unremarkable from the others around it. Well, unless you counted the large pile of bodies off to one side in the backyard. Other than that, what made it stand out was the little doggie entrance inset within the back door. The Border Collie disappeared through the doggie door, then poked its head out of the flap seconds later watching us, waiting.
Yeah we get it, we're coming,
I thought.

Easing the door open and stepping very quietly into the interior I found myself in a small room, another opening leading into a kitchen. A washer and dryer were across from me. A mudroom, as we called them here in Michigan. A place for shaking off the mud during warm months and snow during cold and of course that's where most of us put our washer and dryer if not in the basement. It was a convenient location.

I saw the Collie at one of the cupboards. It had forced it open and was tugging at something inside. I advanced to the kitchen opening. Then my eyes widened beyond anything I ever thought possible. A small child crawled out. Oh My God, I think it was a boy and had to be all of two years old, maybe three. The child was petting the dog then straightened when he saw me. Moonlight shining through the kitchen windows showed me his scared visage and he quickly crouched behind the dog hugging it tightly. I saw him looking at me not saying a word.

"Hey, little man," I whispered. He hugged the dog tighter, still not saying anything. I moved forward very slowly not making any sudden moves. I crouched mere feet away and held out my arms. Instinctively, I knew. I simply knew. It all hit me at once: the cupboard, a blanket, a couple bottles of water visibly lying on the ground nearby. His parents had hid him when the zombies attacked and the dog was his only companion. I knew we wouldn't find his parents or if we did, they wouldn't be what he was waiting for. I simply knew they had given their lives to protect their offspring. I sighed. It's what we do after all. Who knew how many days he had been alone. Even in the cold, the place smelled and the boy only had a light shirt and pants on. Jesus. I stretched my arms out further and whispered urgently.

"Mommy and Daddy wanted me to come get you, little man." The little boy perked up and mostly released the dog and stood straighter. His hand waved slightly.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, little man. But we have to be quiet. We have to whisper or not talk. Mommy is away and is waiting for you. She sent me to bring you to her. She needs her little man." I was hoping like crazy he would come to me; my arms remained outstretched.

With a rush, he ran into my arms hugging me tightly. I held him as I hold my own. Tightly until they squirm. He squirmed and I slowly eased off my hug. He smelled of sour milk and dog food.

"Daddy." he whispered, pointing with his tiny finger to the opening of a hallway leading away from the kitchen into the interior of the home. I slowly rose with the little guy in my arms, moving to the opening and looked. I almost cried at that point. I could easily see what happened. A large shape, what had once been human, was in the center of the short hallway with arms outstretched to the sides. I could see where the walls had been gouged in as his daddy dug through the sheetrock, gripping its supporting members to make a last stand against the horde. My heart and prayers went out to his soul. He had been successful after all. I didn't know where his mommy was but I suspected the backyard, and the pile of bodies in the corner. It simply fit. You didn't need to be psychic to see some things clearly. I ducked back into the kitchen and held the child against me. A figure loomed before me. It was Jason. He took everything in at a glance. God, I needed at least forty of him. I pointed upstairs and whispered, "clothes," pointing at the child in my arms. He didn't bother nodding, just took off in a stealthy glide.

How we made it back without being seen I'm not sure. I think God had a hand in it, protecting the young and the foolish, but we did. There were a couple of narrow escapes as the little guy rode on my back giggling occasionally. No amount of hushing could get him to stop. He was having fun. The first in days I suspected. I estimated he was two and a half and to this day, I'm surprised he survived. Jason had grabbed up a bunch of his warmer clothes from his room upstairs and stuffed them in several pillowcases. I had put his winter coat on him and off we went. Rosita took him from me when we finally arrived. Yeah, it was almost five in the freaking morning and she was still up. She cried when I described the scene within the house and just outside and hugged the little guy tightly. Miguel didn't get any sleep and I didn't see any coming my way either. Many people were up. I called a meeting. Jason and I had information to impart and our lives just became an order of magnitude busier.

We tried to make the back room work for the meeting. No go. It was too small and every room in the house had people sleeping in it. We went outside. God yes, it was cold.

Michael had lit two lanterns and we sat around the backyard fire pit, which some thoughtful soul had lit. I stood with my back to it enjoying the warmth it was starting to provide. Sure, I was worried about the light, but we were four-hundred feet back from the road surrounded by a dense stand of thick hardwoods and we already knew the creatures were more attracted to movement than lights.

"Alright folks, things just got busier but before I explain, Miguel, how many adults do we have?" His answer was almost sixty. Wow. Lots of refugees. I didn't bother asking how many children as I knew it would be twice that at least. I saw earnest faces gazing at me waiting for what I had to tell them. Why they trusted me, I do not know.

"Any issues?" I inquired. He shrugged.

"A few,
Señor
Jay. Mostly some of the men not wanting to help guard or do chores. A few of the women also but I showed them the driveway and told them to leave if they didn't and we are okay now." I nodded. I had expected it. Some of these folks had never worked a day in their lives and had no conception of doing anything different. Good that Miguel had taken care of it. I'm positive he had been much nicer than I would have been.

"Okay, we have children out there hidden by their parents. Michael and I knew this would happen. We need to find them. This morning Jason and I rescued a two-year-old boy. You don't want to see the inside of the house, trust me. It's obvious his parents died hiding him. But where there's one there's more. We need more food, more Medicine, more everything. The zombies are much smarter than we thought and we think they have some means of communication. Jason, tell them what we saw tonight."

Jason told the assembled men and women about our excursion. All of it. There were sharp intakes of breath when he related the zombies all walking in at the same time, and there were more than a few tears when he got to the rescue of the boy and the description of the hallway and backyard. They understood what we needed to do. Most important they understood the urgency. I relied on Miguel. I had quickly figured out he was much smarter than my main man Michael. I spelled it out for them. I needed as many teams as we could muster.

We had to empty out the two pharmacies in town and get those drugs under lock and key at RAC. I had no doubt some of these survivors were or had been drug addicts. They had the look. While my men were at it, they needed to empty out Pine Medical of anything useful. We needed a second generator. Lakes Energy had a big one that was 120/240 three phase. Perfect for our needs. There was some bitching about that. RAC already had one but I wanted a spare. We would need the additional power later. We also needed to get the fans turned on in the grain storage at RAC. There were upwards of three million bushels of wheat, corn and soybeans stored there. If the ventilation fans quit for any length of time it would quickly rot, even in this cold.

We had to empty out the grocery stores and restaurants in town like now and we had to start searching for survivors. Later after some sleep, I would lead a team to get fuel. We would need a lot of it to be viable. The fuel farm depot south of Grant would supply all our short-term fuel needs. The list went on and on. The supplies would be gathered and the empty rail cars at RAC would store any excess we couldn't fit inside the main buildings.

Of special importance were the twelve feet concrete ‘T’ barriers I wanted assembled around RAC. I knew the Newaygo maintenance yard had a couple hundred of the damn things along with a flatbed truck to haul them and I wanted every single one a quarter mile away at RAC arrayed around the buildings. Years ago, I had seen a movie about a volcano erupting in downtown LA or somewhere. At four feet high and twelve feet wide, weighing two and a half tons each, the things stacked two high had kept the lava away, so I knew they could keep zombies at bay. I wanted a double row surrounding the complex. They could use the propane forklifts at RAC to move them. I also wanted every single forty-five foot electric pole from the LE electrical yards. They had hundreds and we would need them along with a line digger and pole truck. I was getting ready to fortify.

Each crew would be accompanied by a snowplow. My reason was simple that if the damn things could shove aside a six foot drift of heavy wet snow in winter, they could for sure move any number of zombies out of the way, no matter how determined the creatures were. With their low prows and rubber skirts, we didn't have to worry about the dead-mother-fuckers getting underneath and jacking the trucks up. It was simple, really.

My gut told me we would continue to see more and more zombies as they migrated from the major cities. If we were going to get stuff, now was the time. I also dreaded the outbreak of violence or gangs of marauders. Those I also knew were coming to any community that advertised its 'alive' presence, as we were doing. Everything had to be done yesterday. We had no time to relax or we were done for. With a sigh, I passed the meeting onto Michael and Miguel leaving instructions to wake me in four hours, or less, if an emergency cropped up they couldn't handle. I hoped to get that much sleep but I doubted it.

I knew sleep would be elusive when I dragged my tired ass into the bedroom, for my mind was moving in a millions directions at once. When I did, in the lamplight, I saw both girls sitting upright in bed still naked with the covers bunched around their waists smiling at me. A man does what a man needs to do I thought as I smiled back. So much to do and the day had just begun.

Copyright 2013: Sean Liebling

The following chapters are an unedited portion of the next book in The Reaper series.

Because you are reading what is an unedited text, any punctuation, spelling, or grammar issues that would normally be corrected during the editing process will still exist in the following chapter. As an early purchaser of this book, you are receiving the raw, unedited text, direct from the author’s pen to your page. Enjoy! And be on the lookout for The Reaper: Avenging Wrath, coming in 2014 from Permuted Press!