Dead Calm (16 page)

As the second campaign started up again, losses
mounted in the battle for the cities. While the countryside and
small towns were easy to take and hold, the major metropolitan
areas were a nightmarish warren of hiding places from which the
dead would emerge to attack the soldiers and Marines. Added to this
were the logistical difficulties that arose from the lack of any
battlefield intelligence. Communication breakdowns caused many
platoons, and even an entire company, to be cut off and wiped out
when they ran out of ammunition. Another halt was called for until
the infrastructure the military relied on was repaired and
reactivated. They also needed real time intelligence so that losses
could be cut down to acceptable levels.

After the laughter at the President's expense died
down, the Chairman spoke again. “But I've also got some good news
to share. I was informed early this morning that one of the main
satellite relay stations located in Maryland has been retaken.
Technicians from the NSA are getting the power back on and the
equipment up and running. We should have real-time satellite photo
capabilities and long-range communications back within two days.
Once this happens, we can get some intelligence estimates and find
the best way to move forward in the areas where we're bogged
down.”

“Thank the 82nd Airborne for that,” the Army Chief
interjected proudly. “They took some losses, but my boys got the
job done.”

“Which ties into the next bit of news,” the Chairman
said. “I've received reports that, although we've taken high losses
in our last push to retake the cities of Minneapolis, New Orleans,
New York and San Diego, most of our front line units will be back
up to full strength soon.”

Calls of, “Good Job,” and, “Way to go,” met this
announcement.

“In fact, I've been informed that the new recruiting
drive is underway right now...”

Owens Grove, Louisiana

A scene that had played itself out numerous times
around the world was now coming to its conclusion in a small rural
town in Louisiana. After barricading themselves inside any sturdy
structure they could find when the living dead invaded, the
residents of Owens Grove found themselves first cut off from the
outside world and then slowly running out of food and water. In the
end, their choice was simple but the results hideous. Stay secure
and die of starvation and thirst or leave their homes and offices
to be attacked by the swarms of living dead that surrounded
them.

It had started months earlier as the disease spread
across the world. First, the television stations went off the air
as the dead multiplied and overran entire cities. Although
initially the local and cable news stations glossed over the
crisis, and even when they did start reporting on it fully only
televised a long series of redundant images showing the dead
wandering aimlessly about in search of food, it gave people hope.
Hope that a turnaround in the progression of the disease would be
announced at any minute. Hope that word would be broadcast that a
cure had been found. Hope that a new weapon had been invented,
which would obliterate the dead.

It never happened.

Instead, only a few weeks after the initial
infection, the final television station went off the air to be
replaced by a screen filled with snow and speakers crackling with
static. When this happened, many lost hope. But then radios were
turned on and it was rekindled. The only problem being that, while
the television newscasts had long since ceased giving out any
useful information on how to deal with the dead, the radio
broadcasts were even worse. On most stations, the Emergency
Broadcast System had taken over and continued to air the same
looped tape. It advised those listening to stay indoors, avoid
crowds, wash their hands with anti-bacterial soap and, if in dire
need, try to make their way to one of the Red Cross aid stations
set up around the state. A list of these was given, one of which
was located on the outskirts of Owens Grove, Louisiana.

Upon hearing their town mentioned in the first
broadcast, the men, women and children who had taken refuge days
earlier in the three story Insurance building located in the heart
of downtown Owens Grove knew firsthand the information was
wrong.

“That just ain't so,” Jessie McPherson drawled when
he heard his hometown mentioned. “That place was overrun days ago.
In fact, that danged Red Cross center's the reason we got so many
of them dead things around us now. It attracted them like flies to
a hog.”

Jimmy McPherson, Jessie's brother, agreed. “And
that's why we got stuck here in the first place.”

Jo-Jo McPherson, sister to Jessie and Jimmy, said
crossly, “It's your own fault Jimmy. You should be the last to be
complaining. If you and daddy hadn't of let them Red Cross people
set up on our north field, we could all be sitting home right now
instead of being chased off our own land.”

Hanging his head, Jimmy seethed inside. How was he to
know the dead would be attracted to where folks gathered? Hell, the
television and the news people didn't even start warning folks
until after the dead showed up. Besides, he was only doing his
Christian duty by talking daddy into letting them medical people
use the land out by the road leading into town.

Mumbling, “Things'll get better,” he slunk away from
his sister's accusing stare. Unfortunately, they only got
worse.

Now, the radio had long gone off the air and all was
quiet except the sound of the dead pounding and scratching on the
door leading to the roof. Wondering how it had come to this, he
thought back to months before when the aide station was overrun by
the flesh eating dead, and the start of this horror.

He recalled the cries of terror coming from the tent
with the big Red Cross on it and couldn't see how he could have
done anything different to change the events that led him and his
brother and his sister to death’s doorstep. Until the day the dead
showed up in Owens Grove, no one in town had even seen one of
them.

Jimmy, along with his brother Jason, God rest his
soul, and his other brother Jack, God rest his soul also, had been
working on the family's truck when they heard cries of disgust and
horror come from the direction of the Red Cross tent. Startled,
they looked in that direction to see what appeared to be the
beginnings of a riot. People struggled with each other inside it as
some tried to flee, only to be dragged back into the melee. Running
toward the tent to break up the fight, the three brothers reached
the mob scene only to find themselves confronted by hundreds of the
living dead. They had come up the road from the direction of Baton
Rouge and flooded the aide center.

Although it had been reported that the people
infected by the HWNW virus attacked anyone who came near them, the
media hadn't released the information that being bitten by one of
them spread the disease. Nor was it reported that those infected
were actually dead beings who wanted nothing more than to eat
living human flesh. Not being aware of these key points, but soon
to learn them firsthand, Jimmy and his brothers jumped into the
middle of what they thought was a simple brawl. It didn't take long
for the McPherson brothers to realize that this wasn't a simple set
to. The invaders weren't fighting normal, they were clawing and
biting at their victims and had drawn blood from half the aid
workers.

Too late, Jimmy realized they had gotten themselves
in over their heads, and he called out a warning to his kin.
Outnumbered three-to-one and fighting with their bare hands as they
tried to break out of the center of the mob to save themselves, the
Macphersons made a good showing until the odds rose against them.
More of the dead poured in off the road and into the tent. In
seconds it became five-to-one and then seven-to-one. Jack was the
first to be pulled down, dying under a mass of snarling creatures
as they ripped him apart and started to feed on pieces torn from
his body. Seeing this, Jimmy and Jason tried to join forces and
come to their brother's aide but were blocked by a wedge of the
dead who forced their way between them.

Screaming at Jason to run, Jimmy watched in horror as
a dead woman, dressed in a tattered meter maids outfit, latched
onto his brother's neck and ripped it open in a spray of blood.
Knowing it was too late for his siblings, and that he too would
fall under the teeth and nails of his assailants, Jimmy broke free
and ran.

Once clear of the tent, he saw his sister Jo-Jo and
his brother Jessie bouncing across the field toward him in a pickup
truck. Feeling his heart swell at the thought of reinforcements
coming to help, he waved frantically for them to hurry. Looking
past the truck, he saw that their house was now surrounded by the
dead, most of which were banging on the doors and shuttered windows
in an attempt to get in. With a sinking feeling, he realized that
even with the whole family in on the battle there were too many
dead to fight. Then it dawned on him that his brother and sister
weren't coming to help him but were fleeing the flesh eaters. As
the truck came near and slowed, his sister waved and screamed at
him to get in the back.

Jimmy jumped into the truck's bed and then nearly
bounced back out when his brother drove through a drainage ditch
and onto the road. From the truck bed he watched as more dead
flooded across the field toward their home. Finding he couldn't
look at the scene anymore, he averted his eyes. Weaving back and
forth, his brother Jessie ran over a few of the dead that blocked
their way before coming to a clear stretch of road which led into
town and then floored the accelerator.

Sliding open the pass-through window between the cab
and the bed, Jo-Jo told Jimmy that their daddy had sent her and
Jessie to get him and his brothers while he and their other
brothers and sisters, John, Julian, Jackie and Joan helped him
close all the storm shutters and block the doors. Knowing they
wouldn't make it back to the house, their daddy told Jo-Jo and
Jessie to make for town and lock themselves inside the insurance
building. He assured them that they'd be safe since the building
was made of brick and promised he'd come for them as soon as he
could.

As they reached town, the trio roared down Main
Street, honking the truck's horn and screaming warnings about what
was coming up behind them.

Seeing and hearing this, most of the townspeople
didn't take them seriously and laughed at the McPherson kids’
antics. That family had always been full of hell raisers and
practical jokers, they told each other. And wasn't that Jessie
McPherson driving? The same Jessie McPherson who in his senior year
had flushed dry ice down the commodes at school and made them
explode? His daddy had tanned his hide for that little prank but
now it looked like he was at it again. This time he even enlisted
his older brother and sister as they drove down Main Street
screaming about the dead coming to life and eating the living.

As they pulled up in front of the insurance building,
Jimmy realized why his daddy had sent them here. Built on a raised
foundation, the bottoms of the first floor windows were an easy
seven feet above the ground. A set of steps led up to the heavy
wooden front entry. Jimmy knew from making deliveries here when he
worked at Dave's Fine Furniture, that the rear doors were set up
the same way. Racing up the steps, the three McPhersons burst
inside and quickly slammed the door behind them. It was Sunday and
the building was deserted, so they separated and went around
shutting all the windows on the first floor and securing the rear
entrance. As they met back in the foyer, the trio collapsed,
panting from exertion and fear.

They sat this way in silence for the next twenty
minutes, each lost in their own thoughts and worries. Then they
heard the first screams from outside. Looking out a window in an
empty office located next to the foyer, the trio watched as first a
few people ran by looking furtively over their shoulders, and then
a flood of their friends and neighbors came rushing past, screaming
and yelling in horror. A few gunshots rang out, but only a few.
Although nearly everyone in Owens Grove owned some type of firearm,
no one carried one around with them all the time except the
Sheriff.

As Jo-Jo watched, one man sprinted down the street so
intent on watching his rear that he ran face first into a utility
pole. He bounced off so hard she heard the boinging sound it made
from inside the building and then he hit the ground and lay still.
Jo-Jo's attention was diverted from this by a group of refugees who
came up the stairs and started pounding on the front door of the
insurance building.

“We've got to help them,” she called out to her
brothers.

Jessie ran to the door and unlocked it, letting five
people in. More of the citizens of Owens Grove ran by. Some, seeing
the doors to the insurance building open and people going inside,
followed them.

Shouted stories from the newcomers about being chased
by maniacs, cultists and serial killers filled the foyer. By the
time the first of the dead staggered into view on Main Street,
thirty-five people of all ages crowded the foyer and surrounding
offices to watch as the dead approached.

The first one to lope into view headed directly over
to the man lying unconscious next to the pole as hundreds more
followed him. The zombie lucky enough to have its meal laid out
before it was a bald, elderly reanimated corpse. Dressed in bright
yellow pants and a sky blue shirt, its golf cleats clattered on the
paved street as it rushed toward its free lunch.

Jo-Jo watched from the office window as the old man
knelt down and lunged forward, biting into the unconscious man's
cheek. As the dead golfer reared back to rip a piece of flesh
loose, Jo-Jo's horror almost turned to laughter at the confused
expression that crossed the zombie’s face. Looking down, it took
the dead thing a moment to see what Jo-Jo had right away. Its false
teeth had been pulled out of its mouth and now lay on the ground
next to its food. Frustrated, the elderly zombie squealed at its
inability to eat. Jo-Jo felt hope for the man in the street, but it
was short lived as the dead thing tore open the prostrate man's
shirt and started tearing strips of flesh from his chest with its
fingernails and stuffing them into its toothless mouth.