Dead States | Year Zero | Nebraska Read online

  Everyone in the room visibly relaxed, but the mood remained somber. That thing they were so afraid of, that thing they thought they had run away from was back. This place that felt so safe just a few hours ago, now felt like a trap.

  “We have a few stragglers please stay here a bit longer.”, Crystal continued, then lowered her voice to speak only to Mac, “I think it best you gather the Council and meet us at the gate.

  As the council members approached the main gate the problem became obvious, there were over a thousand bodies lying just yards from the fence.

  “There is a gravel pit about a half hour to the east. It would be a job, but we could move them there.”, Mick suggested.

  Crystal looked at Percy for advice, but he just moved his hands urging her to speak her mind, “We don't want to run headlong into trouble. Blade assemble a detail, we need to know there is not another wave coming and we need to know the way to the gravel pit is clear, be ready to go as soon as we can clear the way. Amy ask the sergeant to join us, let's see what advice he has. Bill, see if Doc can leave Doug for a little bit. Lord knows what diseases were going to be exposed to moving those bodies.”

  “Right then, we'll assemble some drivers and get a work crew together. We'll meet back here in about ten minutes.”, Mac proclaimed.

  Eleven minutes later Mac returned with the work crew and three of their flatbed trucks. Bill followed shortly behind. Doc was unable to leave Doug, but gave Bill a couple of boxes of surgical gloves, advised him to get something to cover their faces and nobody with open scratches or cuts should handle the bodies.

  Sergeant Andrews added his two cents, “To be honest I've never been involved in moving the bodies. It has always been clear a hole and move on. I do know if it is a grazing shot or maybe doesn't damage enough of the brain, these things can get back up. Approach them like you would a downed deer and I'd pop the brain again, just to be sure.”

  Crystal made a quick assessment and then laid out a plan, “We aren't that flush with ammunition if anymore of these herds come along. Mick, can you come up with something to pierce the skull. Gunny we'll need two patrols to spell each other. Mac break your men up into extraction crews and loading crews. We'll put a pair of militia with a pair on the extraction crew. One militia to stand guard and one to pierce the brain. We'll focus on getting a way clear so Blade's detail can confirm the quarry is safe and we don't have another wave on the way. Questions, concerns? One more thing I want to know where this group came from pull ID's when you can, we'll look at them later.”

  Mick returned with a half dozen pieces of pipe, about five feet long and cut to a point on one end. The crews struggled at first to find their rhythm compounded by the fear that at any moment one of the dead was going to rise again. However, it is amazing how adaptable the human mind is. In a relatively short span of time the bodies just became another load and they began to handle them like they would a sack of potatoes.

  When the first load was ready to be taken to the quarry Percy questioned Crystal's decision to go along, “Ve have talked about this Captain. To lead you need to be alive, you cannot put yourself in harm's vay.

  “Gunny, I sent two people to their deaths today. I cannot lead unless I share the same risks.”, Crystal replied.

  It took several hours to complete the process, but it was completed without further incident. Hannah's body was recovered and buried along side Myles. Albert, Doug's other guard was never found. It was generally assumed he took off when the dead showed up and ran headlong into the herd and was ripped apart. Blade's group covered a perimeter approximately twenty miles out finding no more herds in sight.

  They were all exhausted by the time the work was done. Like the rest of them Crystal had no desire for food. The smell of rotting flesh, even after a good shower still seemed to be present. Sleep was what Crystal really wanted, but she couldn't close her eyes until she knew where this herd came from. Somewhat less than half the bodies had identification on them, but overwhelmingly they proved this herd came from Lexington.

  At first this thought was chilling. Every time they went on a supply run they ran the risk of bringing the dead to their doorstep. However, the more Crystal thought about it, the more a plan started to come together. Her exhaustion forgotten, Crystal now could hardly wait until morning to lay out this plan to Mac and the council.

  Chapter 5 - Know your enemy

  “Mac, I've been kicking around an idea all night. I'd like to run something by the council, is there a time we can meet soon?”, Crystal threw out at breakfast.

  “How about right after breakfast if you don't mind meeting outside. Joe and Mick are busy with the construction of the central tower, so we could just call them in as needed.”, suggested Mac.

  Seeing Tobin carrying out a breakfast tray for each of them Crystal hastily ended the conversation, “I'll see you after breakfast then.”

  “Here let me help you with those.”, Crystal stated as she relieved Tobin of one of the tray's he was balancing.

  “Thank you.”, Tobin answered a bit stiffly it seemed to Crystal.

  “Tobin. I've been thinking about what you said the other day and I decided I would like to get to know Tobin, not the boy next door. Do you see what I mean.”, Crystal offered in a rush.

  “Sort of. What would you say to a picnic at lunch? Down by the lake.”, Tobin asked.

  “I'll say yes. I'm sorry I have to rush off right after breakfast, but I'll meet you back here at lunchtime.”, Crystal agreed.

  When the council met with Crystal after breakfast Mac got the ball rolling, “Well Captain you got us here. What's on your mind?”

  “As they loaded the bodies yesterday I had them pull as many ID's as they could. It seems incredible, but somehow that herd followed the supply run back from Lexington.”, Crystal said and then paused to let the implications sink in.

  The council members looked at each other in shocked dismay. Eventually Mac spoke up, “Well thank you for that. Knowing that it is going to make it a lot harder to go on supply runs.”

  “Actually I was thinking we could use it to our advantage. If we could lead the majority of the walkers out of Lexington to an ambush point the town would be ours.”, Crystal suggested

  Sergeant Andrews joined in ,”You got to admit she has a point. Entrapping them wouldn't be too tough your barbed wire fence held off over a thousand of them long enough for you take them out.”

  “My big concern is ammunition we have a fair supply now, but we can't burn through it like there is no end.”, added Crystal

  Lois joined in next, “I could cook up a form of napalm. It would use up a good bit of fuel, but the trade off could be worth it. Of course you would have to make sure you don't set the entire countryside on fire and we would have to conduct some experimentation first.”

  Emboldened Crystal revealed more of her plan, “I'd like to capture a dozen or so of the dead and keep them at an off site facility for testing. Doc I'd like you to perform a medical exam, for lack of a better term, on them. We'll need to concoct an attractant for them to follow and we will need to make sure we don't leave a trail back to us.”

  “Hester, would you go ask Mick to join us?”, Mac requested.

  “Sergeant do you think the bar in the nearby town would have the dead, our Captain is looking for?”, asked Mac.

  “Hospitals, churches and bars, are the most likely spots.”, the sergeant agreed.

  Once Mick was caught up a plan was put together pretty quickly. They would head out in the afternoon in two teams. One team to hopefully take some cattle to add to their meat stores. The second team would break off and head to a nearby ranch. Their goal was to prepare the ranch to be used as their lab. If all went well the following day they would head to town and capture some dead to examine.

  Immediately following her meeting with the council Crystal met with, what she was now starting to think of as her people. The common room of the staff building was being turned into the main office of the militi
a and that is where Crystal gathered, Percy, Bill, Justin, Blade and Amy. Crystal laid out the general plan worked up with the council, but then gave her staff the enhanced version.

  “Justin your patrol will provide security for the group taking the cattle.”, Crystal began.

  “No problem, Captain.”, Justin answered.

  “Bill I'm asking that you take over as chief of security for the home base here.”, Crystal requested.

  “Oookay, so what does that mean.”, Bill replied.

  “It means I can focus our efforts outside of the fence and know that things are under control here. We can dot the I's and cross the T's later, but I think your the best man for the job.”,Crystal answered.

  “Thank you”, answered Bill.

  “Your welcome. The job starts as soon as this meeting is over.”, stated Crystal.

  “Amy I'd like you to take command of Bill's patrol. It's a pretty good bunch and I think you can get them into shape for what's coming up.”, said Crystal.

  “What's coming up?”, Amy asked.

  “I'm getting to that. Blade, I want to capture the dead for more than just studying them. We can't have any more of our people being like Albert running off in fear of them. You need to train our people to face the dead. I figure the best way to do that is train against actual dead ones. I'm leaving it to you to select the best for two patrols that will clear our perimeter of any dead. I'm letting you all know right now I intend to be one of those selected. When we draw that horde out of Lexington, we need to be prepared. I need to be prepared.”, Crystal answered with a vehemence that almost surprised her.

  Blade smiled, “Looking forward to it Captain.”

  Crystal softened a bit when she spoke to Percy, “Gunny you know you are my mentor and adviser. You and the corporals here are the only ones with combat experience. If we are going to turn this thing around we need soldiers, not a rag tag bunch of wannabes. Can you do that for me?”

  “I vill not let you down.”, Percy responded.

  Surprisingly after two meetings where Crystal laid out plans to go on the offensive against the dead, she was the most nervous about her lunch with Tobin. When Crystal caught up with Tobin it was obvious he went to some trouble to make this special. Tobin lead them down to a large shade tree near the lake and spread a blanket out for them to eat off of. He began pulling items for their lunch from the basket he carried with him. A bouquet of fresh cut wild flowers, plates and utensils and finally their meal.

  As they ate they chatted idly for a bit until Crystal was ready to lay things out in the open,“Tobin I would be lying if I said I hadn't developed feelings for you of late. If you are willing to go slow I'm willing to see where this leads.”

  Tobin smiled, “Is there a but”

  “No, no but, just slow like we are getting to know each for the first time.”, Crystal answered reflecting his smile.

  “Then I would be honored to escort you to the upcoming bon voyage party.”, Tobin answered.

  Crystal debated on teasing him a bit, but chose otherwise, “Thank you. I would like that.”

  On the hunt that afternoon they did indeed find cattle bedded near a pond on the ranch and dropped four of them. In the vicinity there was a couple of the dead, their bodies were so broken from the cattle they had stampeded that they were no longer able to move. Only their jaws snapped open and shut in a useless effort to feed. Tobin and Mick quickly quartered and butchered the cattle and put the fresh meat on ice on the flatbed.

  Over at the ranch house it appeared that the rancher had released his animals before he turned. The yard was filled with chickens comically being chased, by the now dead rancher. The birds easily darted away from his slow shambling moves and returned to scratching away for bugs and worms in another part of the yard. Several of the chickens had flown up into the lower branches of a tree and would cackle a warning whenever the dead rancher came near.

  “Well Captain you got any ideas how we capture the thing?”, Blade asked.

  “Corporal I am hurt. I'll have you know you are looking at the only three time Iowa youth, calf roping champion.”, Crystal answered as she handed a length of rope to Hank.

  Crystal got close enough to the creature to distract it from the chickens and then backed away slowly as it advanced towards her. As she reached the rope stretched between Hank and Chester, Crystal stepped carefully over it. When the Dee got close enough to the rope they pulled it tight and the Dee toppled face first to the ground. Blade and Amy ran in and kept it pinned, while Crystal bound it hand and foot. They finished by slipping a sack over its head, holding it in place with a zip tie.

  “What did I tell you, nothing to it. Now lets go have a look see at the barn.”, Crystal exclaimed.

  Amy had her patrol stay outside to keep an eye out, while she, Blade and Crystal searched the barn. Inside the barn was clean and well organized. Indicating the ranchers pride in his business and the care he extended to his animals. Most importantly after releasing his animals the rancher had securely closed up the barn, so it was free of any dead ones.

  The smells of the barn reminded Crystal of home, causing Amy to express, “Little homesick there Cap?”

  “Yes, my Pa would have liked the man who ran this ranch. I can tell they were cut from the same cloth. When we're done we'll give the man a proper burial, it will be a little like the good bye I couldn't give my parents.”, Crystal replied fighting back tears.

  They moved from the barn to the stock pen so that Blade could assess it as a training field. Blade made a couple of circuits around the pen, stopping to check the fencing here and there. Then he walked into the middle of the pen and slowly looked around.

  Finally Blade spoke, “Yep, this will work.”

  “Always a talker that Blade. I'll have Hank get that livestock trailer loaded and we'll check out the house.”, commented Amy.

  In the house they found an elderly woman. Trapped in the house by her dead son outside, she chose to end things by swallowing a bottle of pills. In life the woman was frail and required the assistance of a walker to get around. After she died her limbs were barely able to support her as she attempted to attack the group. With a signal from Crystal, Blade put an end to her days. They found a small familial plot behind the house and buried her there.

  The following morning Amy assembled her patrol for the round up. Crystal also came along, but still deferred to Blade to set strategy. On the trip into town they passed the group of dead that had been shot on the trip out to Lexington. From a distance the bodies looked like a writhing mass, as carrion eaters, mostly crows and turkey vultures, descended upon the rotting flesh. In town feral dogs and coyotes scattered from their feeding as they backed the livestock trailer up to the bar. Stretching left over fence from the door to the trailer a chute was made to guide the dead from the bar into the trailer.

  When the door to the bar was opened all it took was a little banging on the trailer to get the dead filing out. Once the trailer was full it was a little tricky raising the ramp, but using the steel pikes Mick had created the other day, they cleared the way. The mind is a funny thing Crystal reflected as she jabbed her pike into the skull of one after another of the dead. Not to many days ago being this close to the creatures would have filled her with dread and now it was an almost routine task.

  When no more of the dead were left standing, they opened the chute and entered the bar. Crystal took Percy's advise and stayed out. While the others were making sure the bar was clear Crystal looked at the creatures in the trailer. If she had any doubts about using them as lab rats those disappeared as the creatures slid their dead fingers through the slits in the trailer and opened and closed their jaws in a single minded desire to devour her.

  Hank came out of the bar wheeling a hand truck with a couple of kegs on it, “All clear in there Captain.”

  “Thank you. Is there much to load?”, Crystal asked.

  “Nah, that group drunk themselves silly before cashing it in. They given up any se
crets to you?”, Hank queried nodding is head toward the trailer.

  “I don't think they have any secrets Hank. I grew up on a dairy farm and a cow is about the dumbest of beasts. However, you can look them in the eye and know if they are content or scared. These things you look at them and there is nothing coming back. All that is in there is the want to kill.”, Crystal answered.

  A short while later, with a few kegs of beer and several cases of beer and liquor loaded for the party, they headed off to the ranch. They pulled straight into the stock pen and prepared to let out the dead from the trailer. The trailer had been modified to allow them to partition off the the creatures inside so they could be released one or two at a time. Once the partitions were in place they dropped the ramp and let the first two out tripping them up as they came forward.

  To make the dead safer to handle Mick had modified some bar clamps for them. One was clamped to the sides of the head so they could hold the head still, another was used to force the jaw closed. Using sheet metal Mick made up a number of masks, similar to a goalies mask, to cover the mouth. Doc Linderman had asked that the eyes and nose to be left uncovered, but the mouth was just a line of drilled holes. Each of the masks was numbered so any individualized reactions could be recorded.