Eastern Front: Zombie Crusade IV (30 page)

Christy was smiling when she replied, “Have I told you lately that you’re the best husband in the
entire world? I’m going to make befriending the Canadians my personal mission, whether they’re related to me or not. Mom even suggested us having the baby over on Middle Bass, just to get us somewhere that seems to be off Barnes’ radar. I told her I’d think about it. It’s not like it’s an easy trip, and I would have to have you with me when we get close to the due date.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” David
said slowly, “I’ll just have to think about it. Right now, let’s just consider it one of our options.”

“Right now, I don’t want you worrying about anyone or anything except keeping yourself alive and stopping that bastard Barnes. That’s your job, and I’ll focus on helping Father O’Brien build a positive relationship with our neighbors to the north.
”  

The t
rip from Cairo to Vicksburg took nearly twelve hours, but the time on the water offered Jack  and  Luke  an opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep. The same pilot who complained about taking Carter and David on their initial journey to Vicksburg was still grumbling during the return trip, though it was clear that he’d volunteered for the job. When Carter asked the pilot why he didn’t just stay in Cairo and let someone else ferry them to Vicksburg, the man spat and replied, “I wouldn’t want to subject any of my friends to you folks; I’m just real generous by nature.”

David suggested a few rounds of poker to pass the time, but the card playing was cut short when
Carter won back the AR-15 by bluffing with a pair of twos. The pilot declared a moratorium on gambling for the rest of the journey, even though both Carter and David were more than willing to forget about the bet and make good on their promised payment for the transportation. The pilot refused their offer, and grinning uncharacteristically, said they needed to learn about honor among thieves.    

CHAPTER 18

Following their arrival in Vicksburg, Jack endured the usual rounds of introductions. Captain Harden, the security chief for the bridge settlement, had been spending time with Bobby and Gabe since Carter and David had left to look for Jack, and he no longer had any doubts about the validity of the claims made by these strangers from the north. That T.C. and his mother could vouch for Carter didn’t hurt matters either, and his first impression of Jack was that he was an honest, brave soldier who was doing everything in his power to defeat humanity’s most dangerous adversary. After shaking many hands and touching base with Bobby and Gabe, Jack asked Captain Harden for a private tour of the defenses. Just as they were getting ready to leave, Luke and Carter came sauntering up, with T.C. close on their heels.

Jack was genuinely surprised, and a he felt a lump rise in his throat. 

“Why didn’t anybody tell me that you found T.C.?” He slapped the boy’s shoulder. “You probably don’t remember, but we’ve spent a couple holidays together.” He looked back at Carter and tried to sound casual, “Have you picked up any other lost relatives along the way?”

T.C. cut in, “Haven’t you seen Mom? She’s here in Vicksburg. Lucy too.”

The fact that the boy didn’t mention his father’s name told Jack all he needed to know about Curtis for the moment. “How did I not know that Charlotte is here too? People keep telling me that I’m the guy in charge, so doesn’t that mean that everyone is supposed to keep me informed of important developments?”

“I thought Deb woulda told ya; I let her and Momma know to get in touch with Charlotte here in Vicksburg.”

Gabe interjected, “I can see the family resemblance, Carter, but your sister is still much prettier than you. I know she’s talked with your mom a couple times—it’s been pretty special.”

Jack was incredulous. “You don’t even know these people—how can I be the last one to hear about this?”

Luke found the situation amusing; he wasn’t used to seeing Jack flustered about anything. He smiled and offered an explanation, “I know you’ve been pretty busy , and I bet no one wanted to distract you from your official responsibilities.”

Gabe added, “Luke’s right. I would have said something when you got here if I’d known it was a big deal.”

Jack sighed, “Fine, you’re all off the hook. Now let’s get
started on that tour before any other surprises pop up.” He turned to see Charlotte walking up behind Harden. 

Carter smiled and
tipped his head in Jack’s direction. “I think this fella wants to say hello. Seems he didn’t know ya were here.”

Charlo
tte turned to Jack. “Come here—.” She pulled him into a hug and held him tight for a moment before stepping back and looking directly into his eyes. “It’s been a long time, professor. I must say you’re looking pretty good for a guy in the middle of leading a zombie war.”

“You’ve held up pretty well yourself,” Jack replied as he wondered how someone who bore such a resemblance to Carter could still be so breathtakingly beautiful. Like her brother, she’d always been tall and athletic, but her wide-set eyes were slightly larger, her features more delicate and refined. Dressed in leather with several weapons strapped to her belt, he thought she looked like a deadly
Nordic goddess. “Somebody should have let me know you were here.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’ve been pretty busy. I’m sure we’ll have plenty
of time for socializing once you’ve killed all of the infected, but we’ll put off catching up on old times for now. We’re all counting on you, you know.”

Harden grabbed Jack’s shoulder and steered him toward one of the walls. “We are counting on you, and you’re counting on us. I think we have a lot to talk about.” Jack nodded and the two men set off, neither one speaking a word until they reached the top of wall number one.

As he and Jack were standing in the cold wind, facing east, the moment had come for the bitter truth to be shared between the two leaders.

“These walls are the highest and strongest I’ve ever seen,” Jack declared.

“Won’t be enough if this Barnes character finds us, will it?” Harden asked with the slightest bit of hope still hanging by a thread in his heart.

“They’ll be up here in five minutes,” Jack speculated, “maybe less.”

Harden nodded as if he had already known the answer. “So what the hell should we do, head south again?”

Jack frowned.
“Sooner or later Barnes will spread across the entire continent. We found an island in the middle of the Ohio—”

“Diamond Island,” Harden finished the sentence.

“Yep, couldn’t ask for a better set-up than what they have there: deep channels to the north and south, fertile soil, and plenty of room for everyone to spread out. They might hold out for a few years. Sooner or later Barnes will have enough humans living in his work camps to recruit a militia to subdue places like Diamond Island. Eventually Barnes will have some industry up and running too. The folks on Diamond Island will be living 18
th
Century lives, and Barnes’ people will have modern weapons, transportation, and medicine. I know this crazy bastard—he won’t tolerate any hold-outs. Sooner or later, he’ll be coming for everyone.”

Harden looked out over the countryside as if it was already littered with corpses. “Guess we gotta make a stand some place, but I’m tellin’ ya, we fought like hell last time and got whipped real quick. My soldiers will fight for this place, but I’m gonna insist that we evacuate the
non-fighting women and the children to islands further south; if we lose here they can eventually negotiate their own terms with Barnes.”

“That’s a good idea,” Jack agreed. “So you’ll fight here?”

“Do I have a choice?” Harden retorted.

Jack didn’t flinch from the seasoned veteran’s accusing glare. “I didn’t know you folks were here when I cut Barnes off at the Ohio and planned to do the same at the Mississippi. I did know that I was going to fight him somewhere along the river. I can think of no better place than Vicksburg, can you?”

Harden spat over the edge of the wall, “That’s what General Pemberton thought a hundred and fifty years ago when Grant was headin’ this way.”

“Good point,” Jack nodded, “b
ut we won’t be cut off from help like he was, ever.”

“So what’s the plan? If these walls won’t stop ‘em
, what are we gonna do?”

Jack pointed out toward the small city of Vicksburg. “We build defenses out there, force the enemy to spread out so they can’t concentrate so much energy in one location like they did back at the bridge near Brandenburg.”

Harden gave Jack a sideways glance. “Do you really know what you’re doin’?”

Jack shrugged, “Haven’t lost a battle yet.”

“Uh, you forget the bridge in Kentucky already?”

“That was a tactical retreat; I believe we still hold the strategic initiative.”

“How you figure that?”

“When we headed south to the Ohio River
, we needed information more than anything else. We needed to know where Barnes was and in what strength, as well as what his army was capable of. We also needed to keep him out of Indiana while doing all those things. Everyone knew we couldn’t hold that bridge forever, that’s why it was wired with so much explosive. We lost seven men while killing five to ten thousand hunters. Now we have Barnes chasing us all over Kentucky and Tennessee. We can prepare our battlefield while he’s running blind. So yeah, losing seven men at the bridge was a huge loss for such a small force, but we accomplished all of our objectives and are now forcing the enemy to dance to our tune.”

Harden nodded slightly, “Okay, but none of that will matter one bit if he shows up here in overwhelming force; which is exactly what he’s gonna do. What’s your answer for that?”

Jack smiled, “Allies and force multipliers.”

The first thing Jack did was order the radio equipment
that he’d managed to tow to Clover Creek and load onto the vehicles set up on the bridge. Within a day he was in direct contact with Utah and Fort Wayne. The western leader, Stephen Carlson, had already spoken with Hiram Anderson, the man he’d put in charge of the Indiana mission.

“I’m coming east this time, Jack,” Stephen declared, “and I’m bringing twelve thousand fighters with me. They’re all armored and equipped according to your manual, and they’re raring to go.”

“Stephen, you can’t leave Utah defenseless,” Jack protested.

“I thought you knew me better than that; there will still be plenty of soldiers out here. Once our harvest was in, full employment became a big problem. I started moving the young and strong into organized military units and replacing them in their jobs, if they still existed, with non-fighters. With all the early snow in the mountains
, we’re really seeing a lot of the survivalists scattered throughout the Rockies coming down to join us. We have food and fuel for the winter, but if we want more grain next year we’re going to need you folks in the Midwest. Don’t worry, I’ll be leaving ten thousand troops out here, and another five thousand in training. Until this war is over, we’re fielding a regular army, and I’m bringing the 1
st
and 2
nd
Utah Infantry Divisions to Vicksburg.”

Jack was simply stunned at the number of troops Utah was providing for the war effort here in the east. “Stephen, I uh, I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything, Jack. Hiram Anderson and I have made it clear from the beginning that this was more than an alliance to us; your people have shed blood for ours. We’re in this till the end. And Jack, I will command the 1
st
Division while Hiram has the 2
nd
; both of them will be under your overall command.”

“You’re placing a lot of trust in me.”

“Hiram has been my best friend for twenty years, and he’s as much responsible for Utah surviving the outbreak as I am. He says you’re the real deal, Jack, an old school general with the skills needed to fight this new kind of war. He’d follow you to hell and back, and that’s good enough for me. We’re coming to help, and you’re going to command.”

“Yes
, sir; how soon can you be here?”

“Your man Simmons already has a rail route ready to go. I plan to be on the west bank of the river two days from now with a thousand men. The others will need ten days to fully deploy. Will that be soon enough?”

“I think so,” Jack explained, “I’ve got the equivalent of a Special Forces platoon out there slowing Barnes’ advance. We’ve got at least two weeks, probably double that, to prepare our defenses here. Please bring your engineers on the first train if at all possible.”

Carlson chuckled, “I’ve heard that great minds think alike, but I didn’t know ours did too; most of the 1
st
Engineer Battalion is scheduled to depart with me tomorrow. Planning on creating some defensive works?”

“That’s the idea;
we’ll be going medieval on these bastards!”