I jumped down from the table and rejoined my group. The Mayor looked nervous as he stepped to the table and Sheriff Tom nodded his thanks.
The Mayor spoke to the group and outlined what was expected of the townsfolk while the sheriff, his deputies, and my crew discussed plans and defenses. When the Mayor finished extolling the virtues of the town and its people and the willingness to fight for their homes and lives, he called upon the Sheriff to outline the plan.
Sheriff Tom Harlan adjusted his jacket, hitched his belt a little higher, ran a tired hand through thinning hair, then spoke to the people.
“Most of you know me as Tom since most of you grew up with me here in Coal City. I’ve tried to do the best I could by you and when this mess hit the world, I tried to save my town as best as I knew how.” There was scattered applause. “We worked together to get the fence up and we fought together when we had that breach. We welcomed those who came to us for shelter and we never asked anything from anyone.” Sheriff Tom paused to collect his thoughts. “When we had that breach, I realized we needed some help; someone who could steer us in the right direction. When I got on the ham radio I prayed I would find someone who could help save our town and ensure our survival. What I found was John Talon.” Sheriff Tom motioned me over. “John has been in survival mode since the Upheaval and he has managed to save hundreds of people. I figured if anyone could do it, he could. Trouble is, I called him here just as the worst is about to hit us. I don’t know if we’re going to survive this, but we certainly are going to try. John here will tell you what the plan is. John?”
I didn’t expect to speak, but since I was no stranger to it, I stepped up to the table. “You have a secure fence, but it has its weaknesses. Against the lone zombie or ten, it will do just fine. But against a thousand or two thousand it will eventually fail. What we need to do is engage the enemy much sooner and try to thin the ranks as much as possible. We don’t have enough bullets for all of them, but we have enough to thin the herd a good deal. Me and my men will be setting up firing positions and anyone who has any long range guns and ammo will need to step up. Second, we need to make sure we have enough weapons for everyone to use in hand to hand combat. Check your homes and see what you have. Charlie here will be available to check weapons for suitable purposes. Third, we need to have fallback points in case there is a breach. All cars need to be requisitioned to form choke points and kill zones. Our final fallback position will be here, in this building. The windows are high enough off the ground that they cannot be breached and there are only two doors to block. All the people of the town not engaged in the fighting will stay here until the danger is passed.” I looked around the assembled town. “I will do my best for all of you and I will fight as hard as I can for you. I expect to survive and so should you. I have a son waiting for me in Leport and I promised to come back to him. Anyone who knows me knows I never break my promises.”
I stepped away from the table and Sheriff Tom stepped back up. “Get back home and get prepared. The men who live on Fourth Street, you are in charge of getting the cars to form barricades and kill zones. The men on Third Street, you get your families ready then get to the school to get the tables and such for barricades as well. Second Street, you are in charge of weapons. Everyone bring what they have and they will check them for you. First Street, you all get situated then go with Mr. Carter here. He’ll get you set up along the fence. Miss Greer, Miss Steele, and Miss Maxwell will see to the children and the defenses here in the Town Hall. Let’s move, people.”
The hall emptied quickly and my crew members went to help where they could. I stood outside with Sheriff Tom and we watched the town spread out and get to work.
“What do you think our chances are?” he asked.
I thought about it for a minute. “Probably better than I think, but I’d say ninety percent if the fence holds.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“A lot less.” I was never one to sugar-coat things, especially when it came to survival.
Sheriff Harlan looked at me, then grunted. “Well, nobody lives forever.”
I slapped him on the back. “No, but we’re going to do our best to make sure these people live a bit longer than tomorrow.”
The sheriff smiled, then moved off into the dusk, bellowing at his deputies to get moving and quit slacking. I watched him for a minute, then felt a small hand slide around my waist. I looked down and smiled at Sarah.
“Hey you,” I said, putting my arm around her waist.
“Hey back,” she said. “Where are you going to be? You didn’t say in the speech.”
“Didn’t I? Hmm. That is odd,” I said. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll have Charlie with me.”
Sarah took my face with both her hands and looked me square in the eyes. “You don’t have to tell me, just promise me you’ll live.”
I held her hands. “I promise. Now let me go. I need to get things prepared before tomorrow.” I kissed her gently and she returned it with an almost desperate intensity, wrapping her arms around my neck. I held her for a minute, oblivious to the looks of the lingering townsfolk, then broke away and put her down. “I will come back. I promise.”
Sarah smiled and went back into the building to get things prepared. I walked around to the side of the building and found Charlie waiting for me.
“Did you tell her?” he asked
“No. Did you tell Rebecca?” I retorted.
“Are you kidding? She’d flip,” Charlie responded.
“Right. Well, we’d better get moving if we want to have even the slightest chance of living through tomorrow,” I said, adjusting the rifle strap.
“We’re crazy, you know that?” Charlie fell in step next to me.
“Can’t be sane in this world.”
“Amen.”
11
I woke up smelling like laundry detergent and completely surrounded by the dead. Ordinarily, this would be cause for some concern, especially the part about the laundry detergent, but since I had planned for this to happen, I wasn’t too upset about it.
Last night, Charlie and I had met with Sheriff Harlan and went over an idea I had about dealing with the dead. I figured they were going to hit the wall no matter what since the zombies could easily smell the humans inside the perimeter. But that didn’t mean we had to just let them hammer away until they eventually weakened the barrier and made their way in. What I proposed was to hit them from behind and keep the horde occupied on two fronts, thinning their attack line and keeping them from seriously concentrating their efforts.
I was under no illusions. We had a thin chance at best and if we managed to get through this, I personally would be amazed.
I idly wondered what Charlie was thinking about the plan as he waited for the signal in his container. We were holed up about a quarter mile to the north of the fence and we decided to split up in case the Z’s figured out that there was a snack in one of the containers. Charlie was about fifty yards to the west in a light blue container. Mine was red and we had to flip a coin to see who would be getting the blue one. I lost. We both had carried bags of laundry detergent to mask our scents as we waited for the horde to pass. I had wet down the door of the container with water from my bottle and tossed handfuls of the detergent on the door.