Chapter 8
Country Roads, Take Me Home
Bill began to walk home with the radio in his newly-acquired backpack, with his rifle in his hands. He saw a couple of people leaving their homes, and quickly driving away in their automobiles. One person had turned south, and it seemed that the rest of the refugees were following them. It didn't matter to Bill. What did matter was that he got home quickly and planned his next move. He was now sure that the infection was out of control, and that he needed to leave the city, but running away without a plan would be complete suicide. There were several complications, for example, Bill didn't have enough supplies for an extended trip, and he didn't have an idea of where to sleep if he needed to.
When he was walking down the street he noticed a piece of paper trapped underneath a broken part of a mail box. He stopped and examined the paper, which turned out to be a campaign poster for Joseph Allister. Bill remembered that campaign, many people had accused Joseph of hypocrisy and false promises. He lifted the fragment of metal and pulled out the advertisement and looked at the face, which was smiling back at him…
"Sir, you've got to realize that this situation is growing out of hand quickly!" There was no response from the other man. "Sir, it's incontrovertible that we can't allow this infection to spread any longer! It has already engulfed the entire city! Who knows how much larger it could get?"
"You're asking me to abandon people to this plague. You're asking me to leave them to die. 'Never leave a man behind,' remember?"
"People are going to die. We cannot save everyone; we don't have enough resources or time." Seeing that the other man had not stirred, he added, "And anyways, if people make it to the borders past the feral grounds, then we can examine them, and move them if they are clean."
"Yes, but how many will make it to the borders? There must be at least half a million zombies in there, and that number is going to grow. It will just continue to be harder and harder for any survivors to make it anywhere without being overrun by zombies."
"What can we do? Sending in the military would be a futile effort, the death toll could grow even bigger, and the zombie's numbers would swell. Zombies have a gratuitous advantage in cities; they are crowded and contain hundreds of hiding spots for zombies to ambush people. Everything is close range which makes it easier for a human to be grabbed by a zombie and infected. If we set up 'walls' in open space it gives our men the ability to spot the zombies early enough to take their time and eliminate them.
"What happens if all of the zombies are attracted to those men? Won't they be overrun? Won't that cause us to lose men and our defensive position? Won't that just make the entire problem even worse?"
"That could happen even if we went on the offensive. If we stick to this plan, we have a chance. If we decide to invade we could lose a lot more than just people."
The other man sighed, and then said, "Alright, we'll do it." He turned and looked west towards the city. "I'm probably going to lose my job for this, it will be called a flagrant error and I'll be accused of being an imperious, out of touch politician, but…maybe we can stop this disease from spreading any farther." The other man left, and then Joseph Allister said to himself, "Maybe we can win this battle."
Bill put down the piece of paper, and watched a gust of wind cause the paper to impinge against a wall. Then he turned and continued to travel down the street.
As Bill approached his house, he realized that he had left the ladder down. The obvious problem was that a person or a zombie could have climbed up it, and could still be inside his house. If, by some horrible luck, a zombie had managed to climb the ladder, then when Bill climbed up there, it will have the advantage of being too close for Bill to react in time. If a human had gotten up there, then Bill's food supplies could have been eaten by now, plus the human might be armed and willing to shoot first and identify his/her targets after they were dead. Bill made a mental note that he was going to need some kind of armor in addition to a silencer.
However, he needed to climb up there quickly, and he needed to do it carefully. He held the rifle in his right hand, with his finger inside the trigger guard and used his left arm to climb the ladder, moving only one limb at a time, and making sure that this arm was wrapped around each rung when he moved. Then, when he reached the top he swung his gun and aimed it everywhere inside the balcony. Seeing that there was nothing there, he leaped into it and then aimed his rifle inside the house. Listening for any sounds of movement, Bill picked up one of the empty bullet shells from the ground and threw it into the hallway, making sure to make as much noise as possible. No further noises came from his house, so Bill deemed it safe enough. Any zombie would instantly investigate the noise. A human would either hide or shown him/her self, either action would have created some noise. As Bill lowered his rifle he heard it. A wailing moan from behind him.
A/N= I mean for this story to be a filler, but then due to complaints/wishes/threats from my dad, I added another character earlier than I had planned. My dad originally wanted a puppy in the story, but I didn't add that for reasons stated in the A/N for the first chapter.
