Marcus waited for repercussions, but they didn't seem to manifest.
Two more days went by as they finished searching all the buildings on their side of the river and started really thinking about heading over to the other side. But while they were debating about that, Karen called in with something more important.
The result of this call was that now, he and Maya were standing in the middle of a sun-drenched field, not far from the very farmhouse that Marcus had rescued Jacob from last month, waiting for Karen to show.
She said the Army wanted to talk.
"I don't get it," Maya said while they waited. They both had on sunglasses. It was almost high noon. "I mean, after weeks and weeks of alternating between threatening us and ignoring us, suddenly, they want to talk? Something's up," she said.
"Well...maybe it's all gone to hell for them, you know?" Marcus replied.
Maya just grunted and kept looking around. He shifted uncomfortably as he waited. Ever since getting back from the courthouse, a thought had begun worming its way into his skull. It wasn't exactly a new thought, he'd asked himself this question several times before, but those other times, he'd been able to abate it, to wave it away with vague logic and maybe the occasional internal promise. Only this time it wouldn't go away.
If anything, it was getting worse.
What was their endgame?
What were they going to do? They couldn't live in this valley forever. It was too dangerous. Not to mention, they still didn't know how far spread the sickness was. Were there undead everywhere, or were they just here?
"There she is," Maya said, pushing herself up off the SUV they'd driven out here.
Marcus had kept his thoughts to himself, because the others seemed...well, happy. And didn't they deserve some happiness, after all the shit they'd gone through? He made himself focus on the dust trail that was approaching them. It seemed that Karen had found a big truck with a lot of carrying capacity and all-terrain drive.
She pulled up in front of them, killed the engine and got out.
Marcus studied her as she approached. She was wearing a thin tanktop, cut-off jean shorts, big workboots and sunglasses. Her hair was pulled into a rough ponytail. She was a hell of a lot tanner than she had been a few days ago.
She looked...good. Healthier.
She smiled as she approached them and hugged them both. "Marcus, Maya, I'm so glad you're here," she said.
"You look...good, Karen," Maya said. "You look a bit better."
"Thank you. I feel better. I'm not sure what it is but...being out here, on my own, taking care of business, it's been great, honestly. I still feel like crap about what happened but I don't feel like, you know, I'm liable to break down and cry my eyes out at the drop of a hat." She looked around, as if proudly surveying her own, personal domain.
"You mentioned the Army..." Marcus said.
"Yeah. The Army. I worked with them yesterday. They got hold of me, asked me to be a spotter for them. I pointed out some hordes in the farmland, a few big bastards. Today they said they needed help, because it's looking like someone is going to get overrun," Karen explained.
"Someone? Another enclave?" Maya asked.
"Yes, apparently. I thought Alice Miller was the only group out here, but it turns out there's one more. They don't have a radio. They're in trouble. That Sergeant Tan is there, on patrol I guess, and he's looking for help before he goes and saves them."
"Shit, we gotta move then," Maya replied.
"Excellent. Follow me," Karen said.
They all mounted up in their respective vehicles and began driving across the fields, away from Alice's Miller's farm, into the west, towards the general direction of the third city, Fairfield. Marcus glanced over at Maya.
"So...you know this guy, this Sergeant Tan?" he asked.
"Eric Tan...yeah. I know him, sort of. We served together, did a tour of duty in Afghanistan a few years ago. He's a good man, but...well, typically, in the Army, a man's only as good as the orders he follows," Maya replied.
"Of course," Marcus grunted.
In the distance, he caught sight of a horde moving towards a farmhouse. To the left, about a hundred feet away, were a couple of men standing up on a raised platform. Karen was headed in their direction. They quickly drove up to the raised platform. As they came to a halt, one of the soldiers, a man that Marcus recognized as Sergeant Tan from their brief introduction several weeks ago, broke away and came over.
"Hello, Torres. So, we doing this?" he asked, looking in at them both.
"Yeah. Mount up. We'll drive over there and help those people out," Marcus replied.
"Let's go!" Tan called, letting out a short whistle. The two other soldiers, both of them holding shotguns, rushed over. They all got into Marcus' car and as soon as the door was shut, Marcus hit the gas and he and Karen were racing off towards the farmhouse.
The zombie horde they'd seen was attacking now.
"This is fucking bullshit!" Tan snapped. "We've been asking for backup for the past half hour, watching that fucking horde roll up on that farmhouse. They've been ignoring me!" he roared. "Thanks for helping out," he added, quietly.
"Happy to," Marcus replied.
They came up to the farmhouse and piled out of the vehicles. There was screaming coming from inside the house. Several windows were broken out, with close to two dozen zombies climbing in through them and the front door.
"Let's go! Get in there!" Tan called.
Marcus pulled out his pistol. They all had a gun of some kind in hand. The six of them rushed across the open ground and opened fire on the zombie horde, those that were still left outside. Ten of them were put down with a quick, brutal proficiency, spraying congealed blood and rotted brains all over the exterior of the farmhouse. All the rest of them were inside. Tan let out another rally cry and they scrambled for the front door.
Marcus was in second, right after Tan, Maya and the others behind him. The living room was a scene of bloody chaos. A dozen zombies were swarming the inhabitants of the farmhouse. Marcus and the others fell on them just as violently, melee weapons in hands. The next several minutes passed in visceral segments, the sound of cracking skulls and wretched moans filling the air. When it was all said and done, there were a dozen and a half bodies strewn across the living room floor, a few more stragglers having crawled in.
Marcus, while he was getting his breath back, studied the survivors. There were two of them. They looked grim and bloody and terrified and miserable. He wasn't sure why, but he had the immediate impression that they were siblings.
"I'm sorry we couldn't get here sooner," Tan said. He opened his mouth to say more, but then his radio squawked and he grabbed at it. "Where the fuck have you been?!" he snapped. He listened to the static-laced response and rolled his eyes, turning away from them and marching across the room. "Don't gimme that shit you pig-fucking, goddamned piece of..."
Marcus tuned him out. He focused on the survivors. "Are you hurt?" he asked.
"No...we're okay," the woman said.
They were both somewhere in their thirties, fairly tall and rangy with brown hair and tan skin. "Is there anyone else in the house?" Maya asked.
The man shook his head miserably. "No...it's just us...the others are dead..."
"I'm sorry," Marcus said.
Tan marched back over suddenly. "Well, we've gotta go. Sorry to leave in a hurry. I got some boys on patrol in Spencer's Mill that are running into trouble and I don't exactly have that many guys left under my command..." He frowned, looked at Marcus, Maya and Karen. "You guys did good today...watch out for yourselves. We might be needing your help in the near future."
"What does that mean?" Maya asked.
Tan shook his head and shrugged. "Dunno. Just a feeling." For the first time, Marcus noticed that the man was very pale, his eyes bloodshot.
He gave them a little wave, gathered up his troops and left. Silence fell across the farmhouse. Marcus turned back to the two survivors.
"I know it's a little soon but...if you want, you two can come back with us. We've got a good, secure place with lots of supplies," Marcus said.
It was the woman who spoke first. "Yeah, we'll come back with you," she said morosely. "I'm Evelyn, by the way. This is my brother, Richard."
"Okay. We should, uh, start gathering up whatever supplies you have here. We'll load it up into our trucks and drive you guys back. We're in Marshall."
"Okay. Thank you."
They set to work.