Joseph Talluto - White Flag of the Dead

I turned around and Sarah turned towards the garage, but not before I could see her eyes were moist. I smiled to myself and noticed that my step was a bit lighter and I actually felt better than I had for a while.

Sarah was in the passenger seat and I went to the garage door. Opening it, I got a shock when I saw 6 people standing in my driveway. I recovered quickly and swiftly drew my SIG, taking a bead on the closest male. He was carrying a pump shotgun, and though it was pointed downward, I was taking no chances.

His eyes got wide and he threw up hand, the people behind him putting up their hands as well. Sarah had seen me throw down in the mirror and was out of the truck in a flash, drawing her gun and aiming at the group as well.

“Whoa! Whoa! We’re friendly! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” he cried, stepping back and getting in front of the woman next to him. The family behind him tucked their children away and looked fearfully at Sarah and I.

I have to admit, we probably looked pretty fearsome in our gear, with knives and guns and backpacks with blunt weapons. I held my gun on the man with the shotgun, and looked him over. He looked to be about five ten, roughly forty-five or fifty, with a lean look about him and asked “Who are you and what do you want?”

The man with the shotgun swung it down so it was hanging by his side. “My name is Mark Wells, and this is my wife Teri.” His wife smiled weakly. “The family behind me is Bill and Sally Kowalski, and those two youngsters are Jenny and Tim.” Bill looked like he had held a desk job all his life, with a slight paunch and balding head. His wife was thin and haggard, like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. Their kids were thin and scared, and their clothes looked like they had been salvaged from a person two sizes bigger than they.

I lowered my SIG but kept it at the ready, Sarah following my lead. “I’m John Talon, and next to me is Sarah Greer. You’re not from around here, are you?”

Mark looked at me and said. “No, we’re from Chicago, and we’ve been on the run for a while. The cold weather seems to have slowed down our little friends, so we were going to be heading out again, but our vehicle died. We’ve were looking for another when you drove in.”

“Chicago, hey? Well, Mr. Wells, you and I have a lot to talk about, but now is not the time.” To accent the point, the wind picked up a bit and more snow swirled around. “Sarah and I need to get back to our base, but I will send a couple of vehicles to pick you up immediately. Good enough?” Mark shrugged. “Don’t have much choice, do we?” I shrugged back. “You could refuse and I could leave you here to fend for yourself.” Mark smiled ruefully. “Getting a little tired of that. What cars do we look for?”

“It’ll be a couple of SUV’s. The lead driver’s name will be Duncan Fries. Don’t be offended by anything he says, he’s just a goofball.” I said climbing into the truck and firing it up. “Get out of the wind but stay visible. If anything besides an SUV shows up, it’s not us.”

The group waved as we pulled away, and I drove as quickly as I could back to the compound. The snow was coming down thickly, and I was more than glad we had made the effort to secure a snow plow. I was even happier about the generators we had found. God knows we needed them.

I pulled into the compound and saw the big plow parked underneath the building. I pulled the truck up and honked several times. Tommy, Jason, Duncan, Pamela, and Charlie all came out to help with the load. Charlie’s eyes lit up when he saw the generator, and he and Tommy wrestled it upstairs. We would figure out where we would put the things later. Jason and I pulled the other off the truck and Sarah began taking the personal items up to the condo. I waved Duncan and Pamela over.

“We found six more survivors in the subdivision. Apparently they’re from Chicago and have managed to live this long. They’re two couples and two kids. I need you and Pamela to take the Honda and the Ford and go pick them up.” Duncan nodded and to my surprise, Pamela nodded as well. I gave them directions and told them what to look for. “You’ve got about thirty minutes before things get really ugly.” I said looking at the sky and watching the flakes coming down. Off to the northwest, I could see a small glow where Charlie had been at work getting rid of homes and zombies.

Duncan and Pamela went off to the vehicles and I watched them roll away. I grabbed the rifle case, ammo, and headed upstairs myself. I had been away from Jakey too long and needed to spend some quality time with him. I needed to make another trip for his clothes, but I wanted to get in quickly.

After the clothes and everything we had pulled from the house had been brought into the condo, I stoked the fire and helped Jake walk around. He was shaky, but he was getting better, although when I let go of his hands, he would stand for a second, then plop back down on his butt. He was very happy, since in addition to his clothes I had grabbed a container full of baby toys that we were waiting to give him. When I originally left the house, there was no way I could have taken them with, so they waited there. I was just glad he could play with them.

Sarah watched me play with Jake for a while, then asked “What do you have in the cases?”

I looked up from Jake and said “The brown case has my old Winchester, and the tan case has a gun for you.”

Sarah’s eyes lit up and she went into my bedroom. Coming back out, she was cradling the GSG-5 like a kid at Christmas. Checking the action, she swung the gun up to the window to sight the red-dot scope I had mounted on it once upon a time. Smiling at me, she took it into her bedroom and I could hear her loading the magazine.

Coming back out into the living room, she bent down and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you very much.” She said

“You’re welcome very much.” I said, picking up Jake and bringing him over to the window to watch the snow come down. What I could see was already blanketed in snow, and I thought about all the zombies we might miss under the snow that we may have to deal with in the spring. I had no hopes that the virus would die in the cold. Viruses are so resilient it wasn’t funny. But I was getting the feeling we were actually getting a handle on things and could move soon to a much more permanent place.

Sarah sidled up next to me and watched the snow with us. Jakey noticed her and leaned over, wanting to be held by her. She took him with a grin and we all watched the snow for a bit.

Sarah broke the silence. “My husband and I were in the process of separating when the virus hit. We got married so young and we had a lot of dreams that over time became burdens. I would have left a while ago except for the children. Sometimes I think maybe the girls would have lived had I divorced him. Who knows? All I know is I’m alive when a lot of people aren’t, and maybe I can make up for that mistake by saving a few here and there.” I didn’t say anything. I knew the need for release. “You know what’s funny?” she asked “What?” “I didn’t like guns a year ago.”

We stood in silence for a while, then Jake started to fuss. We smiled at each other and went to feed the baby and ourselves. Today had been a decent day.

Outside, the snow continued to fall.

The next morning, I met with Mark Wills and Bill Kowalski. There hadn’t been time to talk yesterday with getting them in and prepared. The ground was covered in about 6 inches of snow, and the sun was amazingly bright on the white ground. The world seemed so fresh and new it was easy to forget what we were about or how we got there. The conversation with the two men from Chicago reminded me soon enough. We used a conference room in one of the offices.