Dead in the Valley Page 11
Wade was sure they had not heard the last from the gang of miscreants. Now every foraging trip to town would be that much more dangerous. Not only would they need to be wary of the dead, but they would have to keep a sharp lookout for attacks of retaliation. Eventually, they would need to deal with the gang permanently. Wade could not abide men like that being allowed to live, preying on the lucky few who had managed to survive the initial stages of the apocalypse.
With the arrival of the survivors from South Carolina, all the structures were at maximum occupancy. There were even tents thrown up outside the house and the soldiers freely took to sleeping there until more structures were finished. Wade felt good about the progress they had made only a couple of weeks in to this global disaster.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Lords and Masters had been dealt a heavy blow they would not likely forgive or forget. We had taken their captives and killed at least a dozen or possibly more of their men. I didn't feel any remorse for the deaths of those animals. They brought their demise on themselves as far as I was concerned. I never gave them any thought after the fact. If I had been smarter, I would have realized it wasn’t close to being finished. Gangs, any gangs, take slights very seriously. In their eyes, it is a show of weakness if there is no reprisal for an attack from a rival. We had killed a substantial number of their group, and while nine captives had not made it out of the apartment complex, they had not killed any of our group. In hindsight, I should have been much more worried about potential retaliation.
Wade Marshall
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"So, you let these men come into my house, take my property, and kill my men, but you did not take any of their lives?" Dante Pozo demanded as he paced back and forth in front of the three surviving men who had been on the third floor of the apartment complex.
"Dante, there was no warning. We were about to leave for patrol when we saw the soldiers. They had already freed the women and killed everyone else. We are lucky to be alive," Hector said, keeping his eyes lowered in fear.
"Lucky to be alive, eh? I don't think you are lucky. I think you are cowards!" Dante screamed in Hector's face.
"Please, Dante, we are sorry. We tried to stop them, but they had us pinned down. If we had come out of the apartment, they would have slaughtered us all," Hector begged.
"Yes, you are correct. Sorry is exactly the word I would use to describe you," Dante said, pulling a nine-millimeter from his waistband.
Dante shot all three men in the head in mere seconds. He would not tolerate failure. He turned to his second-in-command, Guillermo Pareja, and instructed him to have someone throw the corpses outside to be consumed by the dead. Within minutes, men came in and carried the bodies out of the apartment. Dante looked across the room to Guillermo and another man named Flip Lynch. The three men had been together for almost fifteen years.
When Dante and Guillermo had entered the country sixteen years ago from Honduras, they had begun their life of crime. Just teenagers, they had started with petty theft and strong-arm robbery. Flip Lynch had been one of the few white kids living in the neighborhood they called home. He had earned their respect when he stood up to them when they had attempted to rob him. Flip had ended up befriending Dante and Guillermo and together they had been the poster children for bad behavior. They had grown bolder, more ruthless, and more organized over the years. Dante trusted both these men implicitly.
"We must consolidate and find these motherfuckers who think they can take our property. Guillermo, contact the other houses. Have them come here and draw the fucking dead away. We need to find a place big enough to bring all the houses together. Then we will triple the patrols until we find these people and take everything from them. I want these fuckers to regret the day they ever heard of the Lords and Masters. We will pay these fools back one hundred times over," Dante said vehemently.
The Lords and Masters had taken up residence in five different apartment complexes around Winchester. They had numbered just over three hundred before the attack. Dante had gathered members of all the gangs in the area including MS-13 and several others by either convincing or forcing them to unite under his moniker. The Lords and Masters would be the rulers of this area, and any left alive would serve as slaves. That was the plan, at any rate. Dante had not expected such an organized attack against his group. This group who attacked them was dangerous. All the more reason they needed to find them quickly. They needed to be dealt with decisively before others began to think they could get away with standing against the Lords and Masters.
Shots rang outside the complex for the second time this day. They looked on as several vehicles circled the outer perimeter, firing and yelling to draw the attention of the dead. Slowly, the corpses pressed together against the doors and windows of the complex thinned out. The vehicles drew them in different directions, disbursing the mass of dead that had gathered during the earlier fight.
The three men smiled as they watched the dead moving off.
"I will take ten men and find a large building that will be secure enough to serve as our base," Flip said.
Dante gave him a nod and Flip turned and left.
"Guillermo, have the men relocate all the supplies down in the hall. Once the dead have been cleared, we will load everything onto the trucks and be ready to move when Flip secures a building," Dante directed.
Dante wanted nothing more than to strike out and find the men who had attacked him. He knew they couldn’t until they found a secure location and combined all their forces together. He would be sure to make an example out of the ones responsible. Nobody would ever think to go against them again, after they’ve seen what happens to those who stand against the Lords and Masters.
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Watching as the dead were drawn away from the apartment building, Deputy Sheriff Larry Phelps observed men loading supplies into trucks. He had been up on the roof of the judicial center ever since first light when the attack had taken place. He had hoped the gang had been wiped out, but those hopes were dashed when they began streaming from the apartment like worker bees. Larry had attempted to signal the group who attacked the apartments but while fighting with the gang then the arrival of hundreds of the dead, nobody had paid attention to his efforts.
Larry and four other deputies had managed to get about fifty people safely into the cafeteria at the judicial center the morning of the outbreak. They had been there ever since. The mayor of Winchester, Felix Trumball, was among the survivors and he was not making the experience any more pleasant. He had a holier-than-thou attitude that did not sit well with the majority of the people sheltering in the building. Larry and his deputies had intervened on more than one occasion to stop someone from throttling the man.
They could hole up in there for quite a while longer, thanks to the food and water available, but Larry was worried if they didn’t find a way out soon that someone would finally snap and do real bodily harm to Trumball. They had managed to clear most of the building of the reanimated corpses over the last couple of weeks. The upper chambers still weren’t clear, but the doors had been secured to contain them. Larry had thought about trying to make a break from the building, but with the amount of dead roaming around the center of town, it would have been a risky endeavor to get so many people out with just five guns for protection. He also had not wanted to chance giving their location away to the gang just a few blocks away. Larry had witnessed firsthand what was going on there from his rooftop perch.
Larry knew they were soon going to have to face the threats and make a break for safety. With luck, the group responsible for attacking the gang would make another appearance. They had rescued people the gang had taken as hostages. He hoped he would be able to make contact and get their assistance getting to safety. With the firepower they displayed earlier, their chances of escape would greatly increase.
Until then, all they could do was wait and pray, provided they weren't discovered. The lo
cation was pretty secure. If they could manage to signal someone to let them know they were inside, they may live through this yet.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Wall
After the success of our rescue mission to free the captives from the Lords and Masters, everyone was in high spirits. I was ecstatic that we were able to free the women from the clutches of such animals. The high was a brief one for me though, as the realization of how much work still needed to be done to sustain the amount of people we had on the farm. With the arrival of the captives and Derek's family and friends from North Carolina, the farm was literally bursting at the seams. Many who had been sleeping in the bunker gave up those beds to the former hostages as they all were in need of medical attention and rest. We had made a run to the local sporting goods store in Berryville to acquire all the tents and sleeping bags we could find. The store had already been hit, so there was little left as far as firearms. We were able to find a few large tents, along with several smaller versions, as well as some sleeping bags. These people were looking to me for answers. I needed to get back out there and start scavenging in earnest. We had an ever-growing list of items we required. What I once thought was a tremendous hoard of food and supplies seemed a paltry amount now that there were over four-hundred survivors living on the farm.
Wade Marshall
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Everyone buckled down over the days following the raid on the Lords and Masters gang. Several groups went out and scavenged the nearby stores that had not been checked yet for food and other necessities. The rescued women were tended to so they could recuperate as fast as possible.
Everyone doubled their efforts and the third bunk house went up in record time. Tommy Jackson worked dawn to dusk on the structure and many hands joined him, putting in long days to ensure there was ample space indoors for everyone. The fourth bunk house was underway already. The weather was still fair so far, but in a few more weeks the first frosts would arrive, and there was still a lot to do to prepare for the fast approaching winter.
Supplies were dwindling rapidly because of the number of survivors now living at the farm. Ben's greenhouse could provide vegetables year-round, but it required propane to keep the greenhouse at the proper temperature. The farm depended on propane for cooking, heating, and hot water. Needless to say, the propane was being consumed at an alarming rate as the farms occupancy increased. Propane had to be a priority. Wade had already decided that starting the next day they would begin doing daily supply runs. They would address the propane issue first. The next thing would be laying in food enough to last through the winter. Almost everyone had requested specific items. They were all important, but the list expanded all the time. It would take multiple groups working tirelessly to gather all the things needed.
The internet was starting to fade. The young folks had been building an amazing library of information on every subject they could think of that may be needed in the future. More and more sites were unreachable. That gave proof that the hubs for the net were not being tended. Soon there would be nothing left.
As Wade entered the control room of the bunker he noticed Ben had an audience of teenagers.
“Is Yoda teaching you all his Jedi mind tricks?” Wade asked.
“What the hell is a Yoda?” Ben asked as the collected teens laughed.
“Never mind. Not really important, Ben. So, what’s going on here?”
“Moved my HAM radio gear from the house and set it up down here. I thought it would be wise to teach some of the older kids to use it since they aren’t very common anymore. This could be our only way of communicating before long, especially over long distances. We were able to pull up a list of repeaters in use in the U.S. from the internet. It would be great if we could get our hands on some to maintain as well. Repeaters allow others to piggyback on them to increase signal and range. Many of the repeaters have back-up power supplies, some even solar powered, so barring them being damaged they should continue to work some time. If, more likely when the power grid fails, any that aren’t solar powered are going to be worthless. It will be a tough-to-find item but well worth it if we can lay hands on any. We will also need some solar panels to make them sustainable,” Ben rattled off.
“Well, guess that means my shopping list is growing again,” Wade said.
“It is pretty far down the list, so don’t worry too much now. Should you happen across the materials in your travels though, I just wanted you to be aware,” Ben said to his nephew.
Wade was happy to see another old friend who had arrived at the farm. While the majority of cell service was still functional, everyone had been calling friends and family to let them know the farm’s location. Some of the smaller carriers had already begun failing. Mario LePena had been one of those calls. His son Manuel had played soccer with Jarred in high school and they were still good friends. The LePena family had arrived two days ago. He was a wizard with anything mechanical. He had worked as a mechanical engineer for most of his life and was a first-class auto mechanic. When he wasn't working, he spent his time in his garage rebuilding muscle cars. Wade was grateful to see him safe and sound. Not only a good friend, he would be a huge asset to the group of survivors.
Once the bunk house was complete, Wade wanted to secure the living area of the farm. He had some ideas on building a wall that would keep both the dead and especially the living from harming the farm's inhabitants. This too would require a special scavenging run to procure the materials needed. The rail yard had a massive supply of metal shipping containers. These would be perfect for building a wall around their living area. They would also be helpful by providing storage capacity.
There had been several enormous herds of the infected lured to the farm by the sounds of construction, which was practically non-stop during daylight hours. The pit made repelling the hordes fairly simple if somewhat labor intensive. Once they were dispatched, the bodies had to be burned. While the group had found a method that made destroying the corpses effective, it was time-consuming and required hard work by a large group. Wade knew that if they were ever attacked by the living the pit would only be a minor nuisance at best. They would need something much more formidable to repel living combatants. Ben had organized men daily to finish the timber barriers on the southern side of the property.
Wade wanted to check on Dr. Haynes and see how his newly completed infirmary was coming along. He stepped into the building to find the doctor hard at work cataloging and storing the medical supplies.
“Hey, Doc, how do you like the new digs?” Wade asked.
“It’s larger than I expected, which is great as we can expand as the population here grows. I will have a new list for you this evening for the medical supplies most critical. I will add a wish list too of things that would be nice to have should the need arise,” Billy said.
“My list grows by leaps and bounds. I will do my best, though. So, tell me, Doc, what are your thoughts on the cause for the rotters? Anything we can do to stop or fix this?”
“Well, I am no virologist, so the only thing I can offer is guess work at best. Considering how quickly this hit the whole globe, we know it is highly communicable. Evidence has proven a bite will transmit the disease, but it is possible even being scratched could infect someone. I think it was likely that the virus delivery method was either airborne or ingested,” Billy said.
“What makes you think that?” Wade inquired.
“Well, think about it. If only a few people were infected, even if they lived in major metropolitan hubs, it would take some time to spread. This thing took over the world in just a few days. So whatever viral agent or pathogen that was used had to infect large numbers of people all at once. Airborne is most likely. If it was dispersed in major population centers around the globe, it would spread rapidly,” Billy stated.
“Okay. I get that sounds reasonable. You said ingested. You think food has been contaminated?”
“More likely water supply. It’s a similar scena
rio, somehow introduce this plague into the water supplies of major metropolises around the globe and you would have virtually the same results.”
“I see what you mean, but how is it some people showed no signs. I mean, there were people infected in our neighborhood but none of my family was affected. There were people at work who weren’t infected,” Wade said.
“Well, that’s the scary part. Obviously, there were those who had some type of natural immunity to the initial contagion. But, now anyone who gets bit turns into one of them. That means the initial strain mutated once introduced to its hosts.”
“You’re right, that is scary,” Wade said, rubbing his hand over his eyes.
“If it changes and begins infecting animals, we could have even more to contend with. Not only would it greatly reduce our food supply, but it would increase the dead population exponentially. Even worse, think what would happen if insects could be carriers. That would be virtually impossible to defend against. As far as a cure goes, we can’t hold any hope for that to happen. I certainly don’t have the background or knowledge to even know where to begin. The CDC or WHO scientist would be the most likely saviors able to solve this puzzle. Problem is we don’t know if they are even alive to work on it at present.”
“Yeah, and a road trip to Atlanta to see if anyone is left is not nearly as easy as it used to be these days,” Wade said.
After the conversation with Billy Haynes, Wade wanted to speak with Derek to fill him in and get his thoughts. He found him at the pit dispatching the infected that had been trapped.