Joseph Talluto - Taking It Back

I ran around to the sound of the shot and saw Charlie lining up another shot. Bev was on the ground and blood was staining the grass underneath her. It looked like she had gone to use the bushes and had been attacked. Charlie fired again and Bev’s body jerked as the bullet entered her head.

I came up and looked at the zombie Charlie had shot. It was a small boy, roughly ten years old. It must have been in the bushes when Bev entered, and jumped her when she squatted down. From the wounds, it looked like her throat had been torn out, and she bled out in seconds, leaving the little monster to feed, ripping her face apart and tearing out large chunks of her throat and shoulder.

We didn’t say a word as we both shook our heads and headed back to the cars. Everyone was standing by the vehicles with weapons in hand as a result of hearing the shot. When they saw just the two of us they knew what had happened and lowered their weapons. I shook my head at Sarah and she just looked down. Tommy shook his head and Martin put an arm around Casey.

I got in the car and fired it up. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” I could see more ghouls coming to investigate from the countryside and I didn’t feel like getting stopped this far into the trip.

We moved out at a decent pace, drifting roughly to the south and west. We followed Dresden Road south and didn’t see much in the way of devastation. We saw several farmhouses, but there didn’t seem to be any signs of activity, living or otherwise. The area was actually peaceful, but that could change.

I checked the map Nate had given me and realized we were in danger of heading too far south. I didn’t need to see State Center Bravo, but I wanted to. If it was actually still alive, I wanted to know if the people there were interested in coming back to civilization and starting over.

At Pine Bluff Road, the next intersection, I motioned for Tommy to turn right. If the center was around here, this road should take us right to it.

We drove for another half hour, then saw a hasty sign “Illinois State Center Bravo — 1 mile.” I noted the abandoned shack near the road, which I assumed had been used for directing people to the center.

We crested a small hill and were able to see the center in the distance. It was located at the edge of a lake and corrugated rooftops gleamed in the morning sun. I could see it was roughly square in layout, surrounded by twin fences separated by a ten foot cleared area for patrols. Guard towers were placed every sixty to seventy feet with double towers at the corner. Large and small buildings were systematically laid out in an efficient pattern. I didn’t know what the individual buildings were or what their function was, but I could guess.

Surrounding the centers were cars and lots of them. They were parked in neat rows on three sides of the center and they were parked at such angles that a person could not fit between them. I wondered about that for a second until I realized they were put that way as another line of defense, funneling potential zombies into kill zones. Of course, zombies tended to do things rather single-mindedly, so they probably tried to crawl over the cars, which would screw up their orderly disposal.

I focused on the buildings and didn’t see any activity. In fact, the entire base seemed to have been abandoned. I didn’t see any movement in the visible yards, but that meant nothing. I could feel the hairs sticking up on the back of my neck and it wasn’t from the breeze out of the north. Something was not right with this place, but if it had the answers I was looking for, then it was worth the risk.

I put the binoculars away and turned back to the group assembled outside the cars.

“I don’t see any activity, but you all know what it means to let your guard down. We’re going in hot, so everybody watch your muzzles and shoot only as a last resort. We’ll stop for an equipment check before the gate. Any questions?”

Tommy spoke up. “If we’re expected at Coal City, why are we stopping here? Chances are anything left has been looted a long time ago.”

I nodded. “You’re right, I’m sure everything is gone of value. But this is the only place where we might be able to get some answers. What the hell happened to our government? What happened to our military? If these centers were to be manned by state guards, where did they go? Was there a national fall back line we missed? What about other countries? Who’s left? I don’t expect to find all the answers, but I hope to find out something. I’d hate to think we’re killing ourselves just trying to survive when the rest of the survivors are living safe and well just a few miles away.”

Tommy nodded with the rest of the group and we piled back into the cars to see what we could find out. We would likely turn up nothing, but it was worth a look.

We drove up to the front of the gate and I was surprised to see that it was wide open. I expected some sort of barricade, but there was none. The fence was ten feet high with razor wire topping the edge and there was a second fence inside the first. The area in between was covered in fine rock and I could see boot prints pressed into the gravel as soldiers went about their patrols. I could also see what looked like bare footprints and dragging marks in the gravel as well. The grass surrounding the front of the center was flattened down, as if it had been trampled by a thousand feet. A trail led away to the south, but I paid it little attention.

We turned the cars around for a quick exit if we needed it and I figured to leave the vehicles running. We weren’t going to be longer than ten or twenty minutes and the sun was getting higher in the sky. I wanted to get to Coal City as soon as possible without spending the night in an unsecured area.

Once the cars were ready we checked weapons and loaded chambers. Magazines were secured and topped off if needed and clothing was checked for rips and loose material. I hunkered down into the gravel of the driveway and drew a crude map of the complex as I had seen it from the hilltop.

“Okay,” I said, pointing with the stick I had used. “We’re here at the front gate. Back here,” I pointed to twin rows of small buildings, about twenty in total, “are what I assume was the housing for the citizens who made it here. Jason, you and Casey check these buildings, but don’t dig too deeply. Sarah, you and Martin and Rebecca should check out these larger buildings here.” I pointed to the huge buildings in front of the housing units. “Charlie, you check out these buildings here, I am going to assume they were barracks for the soldiers. Keep an eye out for ammo or weapons.” Charlie nodded, adjusting his pack and getting an empty duffle bag from the car. “Tommy, you check these two buildings here.” I pointed to another large building and two smaller ones. “But keep an eye out for any useful intelligence.” I pointed to the last building. “I’m going to check out this building here, I assume it is an administration building of some sort.”

I stood up and checked my watch. “We’re gone in twenty minutes, whether we find anything or not.” I pulled on my balaclava and adjusted my goggles. “Let’s go.”

We split up and headed in different directions, everyone making as little noise as possible. I didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary, but while I thought that was normal, it suddenly occurred to me why my senses were tuned up. I didn’t hear anything. No birds, no insects, nothing.

I stopped in front of the admin building and looked around. I could see Charlie moving towards the barracks and Tommy heading towards what looked like a garage. Neither of them seemed to think anything was out of the ordinary, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong here.