Mark Clodi - Undead Advantage, a Zombie Chronicles Novel

"'The way things are', how are 'things'? Do you know?" Hank asked.

Ed looked a bit worried, his clean shaven face frowned at them and again he shook his head, "Not good. Between the edges of Colorado up to the Mississippi there are few reports of enemy activity, the area is mostly secure, but that is a lot of territory, Chicago is a nightmare, it would be worse than Denver, but let's face it, Denver is gone, there is almost no one left here, the enemy moved up into the mountain towards the smaller towns pursuing anyone who got out or they flooded the plains heading towards North Platte and Kansas City. Further south Pueblo is still fighting and they are holding better than Colorado Springs did, New Mexico is still mostly untouched, though there are reports of enemy actions in Santa Fe. Wyoming? Pretty clear right now. The Dakotas are clear and Canada, internal Canada is still clear too, the coasts of the entire continent are dealing with enemy incursions. A bright spot is Mexico City, no reports of enemy activity, over a million God damned people and nothing going on there at all. Yet. Hell I read a report before I left and I could spend half the morning relying the information to you guys, do you have any specific areas you want to know about?"

"Well, we could head north? Try to get to Wyoming or north east to the Dakotas? How is Boulder? Or Fort Collins?" asked Hank.

"Boulder is like Denver, a lot of stragglers, a few humans moving around or trying to contact us with cell phones or radios, Fort Collins is the Pueblo of the north, they didn't get hit so hard, but they have less people to help fight the enemy off, it would be tough to break out with the number of people we have, especially the non-fighters."

"You got a plan, you must, it is what you do. If we can't leave then we stay here. Bunker down and wait the zombies out or for something else to change?"

"Yes Hank, that is what I was thinking, we still have a bunch of, well not even second line machines now, but the older vehicles and civilian vehicles will work to forage food, gather survivors and keep us alive. There is still food and fuel here and in Colorado Springs to keep us well fed and comfortable for years if the number of survivors we estimate we have to care for is even close to accurate. Hopefully we got most of the enemy leaders with the nuke this morning, they could be the real problem."

"I don't know, I am not so sure staying would be a good idea, the food will run out, the fuel will go, what will we do if the numbers you have are off, or if the zombies come back? Can you defend us with the guys you have?" asked Hank.

"If the enemy came back we could not stand against them." Ed let them digest that for a moment before continuing, "It is a numbers game, the base is a fort, we have ammo and guns, we have mines, bombs, grenades and a few people who know a whole lot of dirty tricks. All those pluses are wiped out by the sheer number of enemy personnel that we could be dealing with. I have already said the base is nothing more than chain link fence, heck in some areas it is only a normal barbed wire fence. That means we would be using the guard towers and buildings as firing positions, and they were not designed for that. We don't have a bullet for every man woman and child in the front range, let alone the state of Colorado. When you factor in that each of the enemy must have their brain destroyed, not their hearts or legs or guts…", Major Stanson shrugged his shoulders, "This isn't a Rambo movie, my guys are good shots, but a head shot every time? Against a moving target, hundreds, thousands, even millions of targets, it is just not possible."

"So you are banking on them not coming back?" put in Nanci.

"No, not really, for the short term yes, long term, maybe even sooner, they will get back, when the, uh, food supply runs out. We can prepare for them as best we can, we have the whole of Denver to draw on for resources, three or four of my guys come from combat engineer units, and they know what they are doing, we can pour cement, we can build a fortification, a keep at first then expand the walls and reclaim more territory. We can build silos to store food and water in, we can farm land, raise livestock, prepare and prepare and prepare. This is the worst case. I don't count the United States out yet, we will get a handle on this thing, however until then it seems prudent to prepare."

This little speech had a slow reaction on Hank, Juan and Nanci, they thought it over for a few minutes then Juan leaned over and looked Hank in the eyes and said, "What do we do?"

Hank looked at Juan and Nanci then back to the Major, "This is like a what do you call it, a feudal state, practically, is that right?"

The Major hesitated, then nodded slightly, "Not that far, no Lords and Ladies, we maintain the democratic process, however some things could not be debated, within each position of power people are going to have to be able to make choices and enforce the laws of the community. I am not going to create a government from scratch, that will be your job. I will submit the military to whomever the civilians elect as their proper leader. This is similar to how the national guard operates now, the governor of each state has control over how they are used. This is a good system, as it will not circumvent anything we have in place, we will still have the same chain of command that we are used to. We'll still need 'state' level support, representatives, judges, hell even lawyers, sooner or later people are going to commit crimes against the community."

Hank blanched a bit at that.

"What? Don't tell me there is already a problem? Rape?"

"No, no, last night some ya-hoo on guard duty shot another one of our guys. The shooter was a stupid braggart and that didn't help things. The kid didn't die, but he is mad and everyone was ready to tear this guys head off, I have him isolated for now."

Sighing heavily the Major responded, "We have a brig at the base, it is yours if you need to use it, it might be a good idea to get the guy away from everyone else before mob justice takes over."

"I'll have to get the board together and decide that, it is too big for me to just do on my own. I see what you are saying about the government, no chance we could break out north or south?" Hank asked.

Shaking his head Ed said, "I would recommend against it, right now the enemy, the zombies, have their backs pointed at us, why fight through them to put ourselves in front of them again?"

Jeff was not happy. He was stuck in some cruddy office waiting for everyone to decide what to do with him, all over a stupid mistake. He had not meant to shoot Kevin, he was being careful, so he got a little excited? Who wasn't? Other people had been firing too, it could have been one of them that hit Kevin, hell they could have hit Jeff! He was lucky he was not dead, yet he had to take the fall for the friendly fire? This was not right and he was going to complain to…to who? Hank was the leader of this group, though Jeff hadn't elected him, no, he had not, in fact no one had, he was put up there by his friends because he had what? Fought some zombies? Sent back a doctor with gun ammunition? Big deal! Hank led the group, Hank thought Jeff screwed up and deserved to be punished for it, Jeff was going to be punished. Not fair at all.

If that prick Kevin had kept his yap shut and covered for him, he knew Jeff hadn't meant to shoot him, yet there he was pointing fingers right after it happened. Kevin was Hank's man through and through. Everyone liked Hank and everyone thought Jeff was stupid and deserved to go down. What would they do to him? Surely not toss him out with the zombies? Kill him? Fine him? Jeff laughed out loud at that, money had suddenly, drastically, become worthless, they would not fine him. What about community service? They could make him do forced labor, he bet Kevin would love that, seeing Jeff working his ass off while Kevin sat around laughing at him. Jeff was in the midst of this mental conversation when the door was opened and a guy he only had seen around a few times came into the doorway.