American Revenant (Book 2): Settlers and Sorrow (9 page)

One undead man lay in the stall propped on the
remaining bones of the horse that had occupied it.  Most of the flesh and
entrails had been removed from the carcass.  They spilled from the split
stomach of the zombie.  This creature, whose only impulse was to devour, had
consumed nearly every piece of horseflesh.  Eventually its insides had burst,
leaving its legs and lower body covered in a pile of rotting meat. 

Reaching out to the men standing there, the creature
snapped its teeth and moaned, but was held down by the disgusting pile that had
exploded from it.  Even now it was still driven to consume.

Mike snapped up his suppressed rifle, releasing one
bullet into the skull of the horrid thing that lay there. 

They stumbled down the remaining length of the
building, glancing into each stall as they went by.  Finding nothing but rotting
horse carcasses they pushed through the partially opened sliding bay door at
the far end of the building.  Once outside all three stopped to vomit again,
drawing great gulps of air in an effort to wash out the stench of the horse
barn.

“Two more barns, one little shed to check and we can
be finished with this fucking place,” Mike said, his voice heavy with disgust. 
“Let’s get this done.”

Taking one last swallow of water, swishing it around
their mouths and spitting it out, the men stowed water bottles in their
daypacks and moved on.  The stench, though present, wasn’t as strong from this
building.  They found four dead horses and one person that looked to have taken
his own life by impaling himself through the face on the busted handle of a
garden rake. 

“One more large building, the little shed, and we go
home,” Jimmy told them.  They lifted their shoulders, and began walking towards
the last large building.

Chapter
11

“The last barn wasn’t nearly as bad, just a couple of
dead horses.  The little shed had some tack repair equipment in it, as well as
that chainsaw we brought back, a few other yard tools.  There’s more, but we
can go back for that stuff later.”

            “Sounds
to me like you guys have had a hell of a day,” Gordy told the three once Jimmy
had recounted the day’s events. 

            “Yeah,
you could say that,” Jack said.  He still appeared a little ‘green around the
gills’, which had been Jan’s medical opinion.

            After
Jan had given them a quick checkup, they had sat down with Gordy at one of the
picnic tables behind the main house.

            A
pot of coffee sat on the table, and they laced their cups with a bit of Mike’s
moonshine.  “It sucked, man, that’s all I can say.  I’m hoping tomorrow goes a
lot easier,” Mike said as he took his flask back from Jimmy.

            “Do
you guys feel like going back out tomorrow or do you want to give it a day,
then start back where you left off?”

            “I
think we should stay at it, the sooner it’s done, the better,” Mike looked to
his partners for confirmation.

            “If
Rick, or Sam or one of the others wants to go, I’d be damn happy to work here.”

            Mike
and Jimmy looked at Jack.  They had expected this, and couldn’t hold it against
him.  If they were being honest, they would rather have someone a little better
suited than Jack at handling the nastiness they would come across.

            “We
can ask.  If someone else wants to go, then I don’t have a problem with it.”

            “Thanks
Gordy,” Jack said, hating the feeling that he was wimping out on his friends. 
He knew that he couldn’t handle another day like that without losing it,
though.

            “If
you guys want to take a walk I can show you what we’ve been working on this
morning, while you were out gallivanting around the neighborhood.”  Gordy
smiled as he said it, understanding that his friends had just had a horrible
day.

            Jimmy
had seen Tam and the girls out in the ball field when they had walked back into
Camp.  His family had come running over, all three throwing their arms around
him.  Mike had seen his girls at the same time, but Lisa had been nowhere in
sight.

            Jimmy
agreed to go with Gordy, while Mike went to find Lisa.  Jack begged off,
wanting to go lie down.

            Gordy
and Jimmy walked down to the front gate, where the work on the wall had begun. 
Jimmy stood impressed by the pace of the work. 

            Jonathan
had offered to help out by operating the lawn tractor with the trenching arm
attached.  It was work he could do easily, with little physical effort.  He had
started by digging a narrow trench from the gate, about three feet from the
edge of the graveled road, following it up towards the Camp. 

            While
Jonathan had been trenching, Sam and Calvin used the truck to begin moving the
railroad ties up the road, tossing them out of truck next to the trench.  The
trench went three feet deep, and twelve inches wide.  These dimensions gave
Gordy and Rick plenty of room to maneuver the ties into place and stand them on
end.  Once each tie was stood up to the next, one of the men would strike the
tie with a sledgehammer, pushing them together snugly.  Every few feet, they
would take time to shovel dirt back in around the edges and tamp it down tightly. 

            Jonathan
dug a trench that followed the road, until it curved in towards the Camp.  At
the curve he kept going straight, to the edge of the woods that led to the area
behind the main house complex.  He had dug nearly three-hundred and sixty feet
that morning. 

            “We
want to get this section along the road built first,” Gordy explained to Jimmy
as they walked.  “Once this part is done, we’ll move to the other side of the
road, begin clearing out all this timber so that the guard stand we are
thinking of putting up on top of the sports building will have a clear line of
sight.

            “When
we have that cleared, all those trees will give us more timber for the wall,
which we’re going to start encircling the entire Camp with, but that’s going to
take a lot of time.”

            “Why
so much time,” Jimmy asked, “I thought with the chainsaws and that trench
digger it wouldn’t take long at all?”

            “We
found earlier today that once we get into the wooded areas it will,” Gordy told
him, “because we’ll have stumps and roots to deal with.  That was something we
hadn’t taken into consideration when planning this out.  Today we may get fifty
feet of wall done, in clear open ground.  Once we get into the woods we might
get ten feet a day done.”

            Jimmy
thought for a moment, then asked, “And how many feet is this wall going to be?”

            “Rick
and I walked it off this morning; right after you guys went out.  We figure
something close to forty-seven hundred feet.”

            “Damn,
almost a mile of wall.  That’ll take well over a year, and that’s only if you
can get that ten feet a day.” 

            Gordy
simply nodded.  “A lot of work ahead of us, Jimbo, more than just the wall,
too.  Why don’t you go visit with Tam and your girls for a bit before supper,
or find something relaxing to do, you and the other guys deserve it after
today.”

            Jimmy
wandered slowly towards the ball field where he had last seen his family.  He
thought he might spend some time with them for a little while, but decided
against it when he saw that Lynn and Tamara where holding school outside for
the children.

            He
wondered at the necessity of it, teaching the kids reading and writing and math
at a time like this.  He guessed that maybe it brought a sense of normalcy to
their day.  After everything that had happened the children deserved even brief
moments of something familiar and comforting.

            He
felt that a little normalcy would be great, and made for the dispensary
building that Jan and Anna were working to set up.  He knocked as he opened the
door, startling both women.

            “Jesus,
Jimmy, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

            “Sorry,
Jan.  I came to see if you or anyone else had brought any books with them?”

            “Well,
we have a little library set up in here, just a few small shelves of books,
mostly survival, or homesteading, medical texts, stuff like that.”

            “Nah,
I’m looking for some escapist fiction,” Jimmy said, smiling.  “I could use a
few minutes in another world, away from this one.” 

            “I’m
surprised you didn’t carry a book with you.”

            “I
did, Anna, but I’ve read that copy of The Stand like seven times.  It’s kind of
falling apart.  Besides, I’m in the mood for something a little more
light-hearted.”

            Anna
just nodded as Jan told him, “I’m sorry, I don’t have anything, although I’m
surprised Gordy didn’t try to pack his entire library.  He would have if I
hadn’t made him put the books back when we were packing up.”

            “Tam
said the same thing to me when we started grabbing stuff to head for the old
school.  I’ll ask everyone at dinner later, maybe someone will have something. 
Thanks Jan, later Anna,” Jimmy said, waving to the women as he stepped out the
door.

Jimmy did not get the chance to ask the group about
books at supper. 

****

             There
was someone on watch duty at all times.  This person carried their day kit,
rifle, sidearm and a compressed air horn.  Though the air horn was loud, most
felt that it was the best way to ensure that everyone heard the alarm, in the
event of an emergency. 

            The
evening, while cool, was still pleasant enough to eat outside.  Jonathan had
returned home, sufficiently worn out from the long day, to go directly to bed. 
Everyone had taken their meal to the pavilion behind the main house, enjoying
the ‘just out having a picnic’ feel to the evening.  Utensils were dropped and
a few people even yelled out loud when they heard the short blast of the
air-horn from the top of the sports building.

            Tamara
and Calvin took the children inside, with Tam huddling the children in a corner
together, while Cal took up a post at the front door, holding one of the FN
P90’s salvaged from Harlan Capp’s dugout cache.

            Jan,
Lynn and Lisa ran quickly to the dispensary, locking themselves in the small
building.  All three were armed, and ready to defend their provisions should
anyone attempt to break in.

            Though
Dean was still in pain from his injuries, he and his sister Anna both stayed
behind the main house, getting lost in the shadows of the building as they had
been shown.  Dean carried only a pistol, as his still-slung arm and bandage-covered
eye would not allow him to wield a rifle with any accuracy.  Anna held one of
several Bushmaster M4 carbines the group owned. 

            Sam
had been on ‘Top-Watch’, which was simply climbing a ladder to the top of the
sports building and using it as a watchtower. Rick had run over, shouting up to
Sam, asking what was wrong.

            “Lights
moving around down at the Cambrey place,” Sam yelled down to Rick, “two I
think.”

            “Stay
up there, watch our backs.”

            Rick
ran back to the remaining members of the group waiting in front of the main
house.  “Sam says he saw at least two lights moving around down at Jonathan’s
place.  Could be trouble for the old man.”

            Gordy
looked at his friends for a moment before saying, “We need to hurry, Rick you
lead us down there.  Whoever it is most likely heard the horn blast, they may
be watching for someone, so everybody be careful.”

            Following
the tree line as close as they could to the house, they split into two groups. 
Rick, Jack and Gordy went left, while Mike and Jimmy took right.  They made
their way safely around the house without incident, meeting at the front steps.

            Moving
up the steps slowly, and staying to the farthest outside edge of the treads to
lessen the chance that a creaking step would giving them away, the men gathered
around the front door. 

            “Listen
old man, we know you have gold and shit in this house!  Somebody old as you
always has gold and fancy jewelry stashed away.”  Rick listened closely to the
deep voice, trying to judge its location within the house.

            “Yeah,
and what the hell you been doin’ back here?” A second, more nasal voice asked,
“All the damn racket you been makin’ has the dead fuckers walkin’ crazy circles
in town.”

            From
what Rick could tell, both men were standing near each other. Turning to his
combat companions Rick signaled that Gordy and Jimmy would go in quietly,
taking a knee to the left and right of the door, while he and Mike would move
forward into the house.  He motioned to Jack to stay on the porch and watch the
rear.

            On
Rick’s signal each man moved as quickly and quietly as possible.  Jimmy went to
the right, taking a knee beside a large reclining chair.  Gordy went left,
around and behind the door, rifle aiming into the room.  His knees hurt like
hell, moving like that.  He would have to get an ice pack on them later.

            Mike
and Rick went straight forward, crouching low, the deep pile  of the carpet
silencing their footsteps.  They moved toward the kitchen, where they could hear
Jonathan telling them to “Just take whatever you want, I won’t stop you”.

            Both
of the intruders had their backs to the large arch doorway leading from the
kitchen into the living area.  Stepping lightly Rick moved up behind the man
that at the moment was telling Jonathan, “Damn right you won’t, fucker!” 

            He
had pulled his arm back to strike the old man when a voice behind him said,
“Hi.”  Both men jumped, the one ready to hit Jonathan grunted and stumbled
backwards tripping over his own feet.  The other one screamed much like a woman
in a horror movie, a urine stain spreading rapidly over the front of his filthy
jeans.  Mike and Rick would later laugh about the reactions, but were too busy
at the moment.

            Rick
reached out, grabbing Trippy by the shirt, preventing his fall and dragging him
in close.  Mike struck the screamer in the forehead with the butt of his rifle,
knocking him backwards and over a chair.  He stepped around the chair, only to
find that Screamer was out cold.

            Face
to face with Trippy, Rick gave his best snarl and said, “What the hell do you
think you’re doing, asshole?”

            Trippy
tried to pull away from Rick’s grip, reaching up with his right hand to push at
Rick’s wrist.  Rick’s free hand snapped up, grabbed the hand and deftly bent
the index finger against the back of the hand.