Joseph Talluto - White Flag of the Dead

“We were headed back and Tommy thought he saw something in a subdivision we passed. We went back and there was a pile of zombie corpses in the middle of the street.” “Really.” That was interesting. Maybe were not alone out here. Charlie nodded. “Really. Want to hear the weird part?” “That wasn’t the weird part?” I asked, perplexed. “Nope. The weird part was all of the corpses were headless.” Charlie waited for my reaction. I scowled. “What?” “Want to hear the really weird part?” Charlie seemed to be enjoying himself. “It gets weirder?” I was almost afraid to ask.

“We found no fewer then eight piles of zombie corpses, all of them headless. I figure there had to be over three hundred zombie heads missing.”

I was stunned. No wonder the activity around here was less than I expected, environment not withstanding. Somebody had been hard at work and had been really effective. But why remove the heads? The heads were still alive and still able to bite and cause infection. Something was definitely wrong here, and I said as much to Charlie.

“Definitely need to keep our eyes open. I’ll radio Nate and give him a heads up.” I said.

Charlie nodded. “Good enough. I’ll take this stuff upstairs and distribute as needed. I heard we have an electrician?” he asked hopefully. I nodded. “Grab him and see what he can do with our generators. I’m looking forward to a meal not cooked over a fire.” Charlie laughed. “Amen, brother, amen. I went upstairs to find Sarah playing with Jacob. She had a funny look on her face when I came in and I asked her what was up. “Got a present for you.” She said, indicating with her eyes the bundle on my bed.

Curious, I went over and undid the towel that had wrapped what appeared to be a rifle of some sort. When the towel fell away I was holding a beautiful Springfield M1A rifle.. 308 caliber with a twenty round clip. A very effective rifle out to 600 yards or better. I couldn’t imagine a better rifle to go into battle with.

My expression must have revealed how I felt. Sarah just called from the floor “You’re welcome. There are extra magazines and ammo

I was speechless for a moment. “Where did you get this? Charlie said you didn’t find any firearms.” I checked the action and found the gun to be in excellent working order.

Sarah laughed. “I told Charlie to lie to you. He was very accommodating.”

I put the gun down and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you very much. I’ve always wanted one of these but never could justify the expense.” Sarah changed the subject. “Charlie tell you about the heads?” I grimaced. “Yeah. That’s a new one. We’ll have to see where it leads.” “So what’s the plan for today?” Sarah wanted to know. I shrugged. “Beats me. I’m staying home today. Jake has been without his daddy for a few days and I need some baby time.” Sarah smiled. “Sounds good.” I smiled back, but I had a strange feeling it was going to be a wild spring.

The coldest days of winter were the hardest. The sun would be out but the bitter north winds would rip at clothing, and claw at exposed skin with fingers of ice. We stayed indoors for the worst of it, but we went out at every opportunity because this was our one chance to drastically impact the zombie population. A small part of me thought about the city and the area to the north of the canal, but I realized that the zombie population up there would be in the millions, and I realistically could not hope to finish all of them in one winter.

If all went well, maybe next winter, when I could return with a larger contingent of people and weapons, but right now, that was impossible.

We cleared out several subdivisions and homes and we warmed ourselves on several burning homes. We stayed away from the city of Oakland Park proper, working at the fringes and gathering supplies where we could. I absolutely forbade anyone from trying to go to the mall there, as I figured the cavernous building might have enough residual warmth to keep hundreds of zombies moving.

The winter wasn’t all work. Jake had his first birthday, and Sarah and I invited everyone to the party. We managed to put together quite a feast from the food and supplies we had scrounged, and the generators provided us with light and music for a while. Jake loved the attention, and Sarah even managed to get him a present. She and Charlie found a baby store and picked up a little walk-behind car. Jake was moving around pretty well, and the car let him practice his walking skills. He gave a squeal of delight when he used it, and Sarah said it was the best ‘thank you’ she had ever received.

The party was a welcome relief from the stress of our situation, and it was also the opportunity for Charlie to bring out the little girl he had unofficially adopted. She had recovered remarkably well, and her brilliant blue eyes took in everything around her. Jake was fascinated with her, and was constantly trying to give her toys to play with. Charlie had decided to name her Julia, which Sarah received with a small smile. I gave her a hug and she assured me it was all right. Julia had a host of admirers, not the least of which were the women from the adult center, most of whom had lost a child or more in the Upheaval.

The winter brought out some interesting changes in our group as well. I was as surprised as anyone when Pamela moved into Duncan’s room, and Tommy began hanging out with a young widow named Stacey Wood. Charlie was getting friendly with Rebecca, our resident nurse, and Kristen was complaining about her lack of prospects.

A week later, I decided it was time to hit the town of Leport. It was a river town and older than most towns in the area. As a river town, I wanted to make sure it was going to remain intact, as it was going to be another community after we had cleared it out and declared it safe. I just hoped we had the population around to make it work.

Charlie came with me, as well as Tommy, and the three of us rode in silence, taking in the snowy landscape and each of us lost in our own thoughts. As we passed the forest preserves, I could see several herds of deer moving like ghosts among the trees. The lakes were frozen and swept by winds that created drifts like whitecaps on top of still waters. The road was clear, since we had been this way several times with the plow, but a drift or two was still blocking the way, making travel difficult as usual.

We passed a subdivision of enormous homes, an area we had already been through. We had managed to secure a large amount of supplies from several of those homes, as well as some interesting vehicles. Tommy found a Mercedes convertible he was proud of until Charlie asked where he was going to put the supplies. We didn’t burn any of the homes, as they were made of brick and likely able to survive for a while. There was a huge estate on one side of the road, and we decided to stop for a look. Charlie navigated the truck into the driveway and Tommy whistled at the size of the home. We got out of the truck and spread out. I took the front door while Charlie checked the windows and Tommy started towards the back. I checked the door and found it unlocked. Pushing it open, I held my new M1A rifle at the ready, not expecting trouble, but not relenting in my vigilance, either.

The place was huge, and expensively furnished. Polished hardwood floors peeked out from beneath oriental-style carpets, while a marble fireplace commanded attention in the ornate living room. High ceilings added to the overall effect and the whole place reeked of money. Nice digs in a regular world, not so great in the current one. The only detriment to the place was the fact that the expensive furniture was tossed around, like someone had been stumbling around in the dark, bumping into things.