Joseph Talluto - White Flag of the Dead

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Charlie James was wearing clothing similar to mine, but his weapon of choice was different. He had two tomahawks that he had found somewhere, and had fashioned a harness that allowed him to keep them on his back until needed. It worked pretty well, considering he was already swinging them pretty hard just when he drew them out. At 6 feet and two hundred pounds, Charlie was a good man to have on a raid. He was absolutely fearless, and even-tempered even when things got bad. His backup was a 9mm Glock, useful for all domestic disputes involving the undead.

Sarah Greer was a veteran of many zombie battles, and her favorite weapon was a little semi-automatic Ruger MkIII. She was deadly accurate with it, and liked to get the zombies in the eye when she could, in the ear when she couldn’t. When the Upheaval started, her husband had gotten sick, turned, and killed her two children before she could put him down. We had found her in a long-range recon going house to house, killing any zombies she could find. Looking at her slim five-foot-five frame, auburn hair and fierce green eyes, one would never suspect she was a Public Relations Director in her former life. Strapped to her belt was her backup weapon, a hand pickaxe which was amazingly effective.

Sarah was helping our last member, Kristen, settle her gear and was giving her a lot of advice on zombies. Kristen was taking it all in and nodding. I figured there was no better mentor than Sarah for Kristen. Sarah was like the older sister to all the “orphaned” girls we found, a tough but fair mother hen. Kristen had her Glock, and a three foot spiked pole as a primary weapon.

I looked over the group and checked my SIG. As I holstered it I asked “Does any one need to be somewhere else? I can get a replacement if you need it.” I always asked, letting people know they had a choice to risk their necks.

No one answered. I said, “I know we lost a few good people today, and no one feels it more than me. I had to put down Steve Tarnette today, and to be honest, I’m not really feeling too good about it. But those of you who knew Steve would know he would be the first to tell us to quit whining and get the damn job done.” There were smiles at this. “I just want to relate a few things before we head out. The rumors you may have heard about some zombies moving fast and seeming to think things out are true.” There was a collective eyebrow raising at that. I needed them to be aware of what transpired. “I don’t know what it means, other than we are going to need to be on our toes that much more. The fast ones aren’t that fast, but if you’re expecting your usual Shuffler, he’s going to be on you faster than Nate on a slacker. Just be careful, and take nothing for granted until we learn more. Any questions?”

Sarah spoke up. “John, why do you keep going on these raids? You don’t ask any family man to go, yet you have Jake and you keep going.”

The group looked at me. The only answer I had was, “I need to do this, because like it or not, this is the world we have right now. I need to be as skilled as possible, so I can teach him to survive. Besides”, I added, “Every Z we put down is one less he has to kill later.” That got a grim collective nod. “Let’s mount up. Kristen, you’re riding the in the truck bed.”

Kristen looked at the bed and its relative discomfort. “Why me?” she asked.

Sarah gave her a slap on the back. “You gotta earn the cushions, little girl. Get moving!” Kristen frowned but jumped into the bed anyway. It was clear she did not like being exposed, but we all rode there at one time or another.

Charlie got into the driver’s seat and I rode shotgun. Sarah and Tommy shared the back seat. The truck was comfortable, but we had added a few things as needed over the months. The mesh on the back of the front seats had extra loaded magazines, and the center console had two extra pistols and spare magazines. There was extra food and water stored in the cab, as well as matches and a first aid kit. There was a flare and a blanket. All the comforts of home. The bed of the truck had two hatchets to repel boarders, and swing up sides to increase the height of the edge of the bed. The added height made it impossible for zombies to reach in, and the boards locked together at the edges for additional strength. Pretty useful if you get swarmed, to buy yourself enough time to regroup and fight back.

I signaled to the teenager by the garage door that we were ready to head out, and he radioed to the roof for the all clear. When the clear signal came back, he grabbed the door and heaved it skyward. Charlie started the engine and rolled out. As soon as we cleared the door, the kid hauled the door back down and locked it tight.

As we rolled out, I looked at the neighborhood. You’d never know today was any different than any other day. The houses looked normal, cars were parked in driveways. If you had just awakened from a five month nap, all would seem normal. If you looked closer, however, you would see different things. Shadowy figures moved slowly past windows, and several homes were burned down. There were some cars run into the sides of the roads, and former occupants were still inside them, unable to figure out how to release themselves from the seatbelts. We dodged a few of these as we went down the road. We were headed to a large shopping center to see what we could salvage. I had my doubts we were going to find anything, but you never knew these days. On the way to our current residence, we had found a gas station that was unlooted. I figured the odds of us finding useful foodstuffs was becoming slim as the days wore on, and we were going to have to range much further to bring home the bacon, as it were.

We headed north, and turned at the first big intersection. There were a lot more cars on the road here, and Charlie had a bit of a time weaving through the abandoned vehicles. I knew why they were there, left like that. After Chicago fell, the resulting wave of zombies spread out to the suburbs, and overwhelmed anything in their path. People caught out in the open were devoured instantly, and people trapped in their cars were eventually dragged out and eaten. More than once I saw cars with smashed in windows and dried blood all over the interior. I tried not to look too closely at the cars with child seats in them, as I really didn’t want to imagine a child stuck in a seat screaming for its mother as dead hands reached to rip it apart.

We didn’t see many zombies, just a few stuck in cars and the occasional drifter. I could see Sarah mentally calculating how tough of a shot it would be, and more than once I saw her hand drift to the window button to open it and try a shot. But she always stopped, maintaining her inner discipline. More than once I was thankful I never had to put Ellie down, and that I got the chance to tell her how much she meant to me before she died. Not many people in the Upheaval got the same opportunity.

Charlie dodged a big truck in the road and had to go for a ways on the shoulder. I could hear Kristen bouncing in the back and cursing the whole time. I grinned and remembered my first time in the truck bed. I had bounced so high at one point the driver thought I had fallen out.

Charlie turned at the sign for the Big Circle store and headed to the back of the large building. We figured out a while ago that the front of the store was nice for picking, the backs of stores is where they had everything neatly boxed for you, and in greater quantity. Who needed three cans of beans when a crate was available?

Charlie backed the truck up to the door, and Kristen jumped out of the bed. She waited for Sarah to get out and followed her to the front of the pickup. She and Sarah were on lookout duty. I could see Sarah motioning to Kristen to keep her eyes open and to check the area constantly. Tommy, Charlie and I got out and immediately scanned the area. No Z’s were in sight, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. There was a retention pond over to the northwest, with a lot of water and high grass. A hundred could be hiding there and we’d never see one before it was too late. Charlie drew his tomahawks and stood back about ten feet from the door. I stood off to the side and flicked the safety off my carbine. Tommy went to work on the door, first checking to see if it was open and then using his crowbar to pop the handle. He didn’t open the door right away, and placed his ear to the door to see if there was anyone on the other side. Since noise attracted them, we wanted to make sure we were ready when they came calling.

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