#
They had traversed one half of the approximately one hundred miles from their new home to the one they had left. Their group contained trained dogs, some new cattle they had rescued along the way and a wagon pulled by a bull. They also had their own horses with saddles as well as ten other riding steeds. They carried a several dozen saddles in their wagon for the Wilson safe house people to use on the trek back. Along the way, they hunted game and killed walkers who stumbled onto their paths. The dogs herded the biters in several ways, depending on the terrain and the number of walkers in each herd. By the time they were approaching the original safe house, more than ten months had passed. They knew that most of the people there had probably figured they were either dead or had decided it was impossible for them to return. Finally, they reached an area that they knew was very close to their safe house. Then, they came upon a truck which seemed seemed to be slowly driving toward them and surveying their travels. Soon they noticed was driven by their father, sheriff Robert Wilson as well as their mother, Beth and their sister, Lisa.
Marlaina and Aiden waved from atop their horses. The truck stopped several hundred feet in front of them, and their family stepped forth.
"Aiden?" his mother said. "Is it really you?"
"Yes, mom. Me and Marlaina."
"Oh, my God!" Donna said. "I thought you were dead for sure."
"Stand back!" Marlaina yelled. "Don't move another inch!"
The family stopped. Marlaina approached them cautiously. "No fast moves!" she shouted. "Raise your hands." They did so. "Come on, dogs. Check them out!" Her trained dogs meandered toward Beth, Robert, and Lisa. Soon their barks identified them as living beings and not dead walkers. Marlaina and Aiden turned toward them and kissed.
"Thank God!" Aiden yelled. "You are still uninfected!"
Aiden and Marlaina walked forward lifting their shirts, and allowing their family an intimate view under their clothes to check them for bites.
"Any bites?" Aiden asked.
"No."
"Good."
Then, they put down their weapons and both groups hugged each other.
"I missed you so much," Marlaina said.
"Dad," Aiden said to his father. They shook hands and embraced.
"Son, I prayed every day for you."
"You don't even believe in God, dad," Aiden said.
"I still prayed, son. You can pray without God, you know."
"I wouldn't have thought so," Aiden told his father, "but if that's the way it works for you, I'm fine with that."
"Most of us made it," Beth said. "A few didn't."
"The walkers?"
"Seems there's more every day."
"How many people are left?"
"Twenty-Seven."
"That's more than before."
"We took in some strangers. We had to. We had lost four adults and three children by that time," his dad said. "The ones we accepted would have died out there."
"So, how did the expedition turn out, son? Any living folks out there."
"No. Not one," Aiden said. "We were surprised by that. I thought for sure there would be plenty of survivors. There weren't. One hundred percent wiped off the face of Pennsylvania in that direction, dad."
Aiden pointed in the direction out of which they had just traveled.
"Wow."
"I see you have brought animals. Including dogs. How can you find food for them?"
"They find food for us, dad. They also let us know whenever walkers are approaching. That allowed us to sleep safely each night. In addition, Marlaina trained them to bark so we know if people they have located are alive or walkers. It works whether they are people or rabbits or anything else. They are bark trained to identify whether dead or alive. We can't survive without these dogs."
The sheriff smiled.
"I'll be darned," he said. "You kids are certainly stronger and brighter than I imagined."
"We found a safe place," Marlaina said. It has fields, mountains, streams, and the walkers cannot reach it. It's secured behind rivers, steep mountainous sides they cannot climb, and sharp jagged bluffs on the other approaches, and we left cattle, goats, sheep, chickens, and ducks, there. We need to get our people up there as soon as we can to protect the cattle and start a better life for them. Right now there's six herd dogs we trained protecting them."
"Fantastic," Beth Wilson said. The safe house is four miles away. Want to drive with us?"
"We need to protect these animals," Aiden said. "They are in danger out here. Turn around and we will meet you there. For us on horseback with these cattle it's about two and a half hours before we can reach you, depending on whether or not the walkers try to head us off first. That would take a little while longer."
#
The people came out to meet them as they approached the John Wilson safe house. The dogs sniffed the people, letting out barks that identified them as living beings and not as dead walkers. The people marveled at the horses and cattle that Aiden and Marlaina had with them. The animals were herded into the yard for protection. A fence was immediately erected so these small flocks could not wander away and be infected by the walkers and also that stray zombies could not come in and bite them.
That noon, one of the sheep was slaughtered and roasted slowly on a spit. After many hours, the mutton was cut into steaks, roasts, and other familiar parts. The people ate them along with roasted carrots, celery, potatoes, mushrooms, and other vegetables raised in their gardens.
In the Wilson safe house, Aiden and Marlaina sat down with Aiden's uncle, John Wilson, and discussed what had been discovered during their exploration along the roads.
"We have discovered and mapped an empty territory stretching all of the way to the mountain passes where we hid most of our cattle which we discovered and herded with us along the way, built some buildings and barns, and insured that walkers cannot enter that area. They can't get in. We tested it. The land is such that they cannot reach it. So, as soon as we reach our new home, we will have a secure place to live, filled with our own farm animals, and with more than enough hidden land to accommodate several hundred people. As I said, the landscape itself works to keep zombies from ever entering or attacking us."
"Eighty miles from here to there?"
"Yes. Those are our best guesses, sir. Give or take ten or twenty miles either way. I'm not a certified navigator, you know."
"Understood. Nor am I. You are probably correct on these distances. I commend you on building shelters for your animals and for our people. The two of you are very dedicated to our cause. I appreciate all you have done. All of us do. I don't think anyone else would have done as much as you have."
"How's the marriage doing?" he asked.
"I'm good," Aiden said.
"How about you, Marlaina?"
"I'm good," Marlaina said. "Considering that we didn't find a single human being all of the way from here to there, I didn't have a whole lot of guys to even have sex with besides my husband, if you know what I mean."
They all laughed.
"What a magnificent test of a marriage," John said. He smiled at them both. "I knew you'd be great as a couple. I have faith in both of you."
"Thanks, Uncle John," Aiden said. "Marlaina and I have been close all our lives. Marriage hasn't changed things in any way except for the better."
"I don't think I need to ask what that means," John said. "Having been married at your age myself, I'm pretty sure what you had in mind when you got hitched. I was not born yesterday," he said. A catlike smile played across his lips. "I am certain everyone in camp has a good idea about that as well."
"So what do you think, Uncle John?"
"I think we should leave right away. We need to get there, build some more houses, and harvest as much lumber and tools from the abandoned farms between here and there as we can get. We should also take the kitchens, bathrooms, doors, windows, everything that would be of use to us. Obviously, the dead have no use for these things what
soever, so we won't be harming any of our fellow men, will we?"
"True," Aiden said. "It seems our plan is one hundred percent acceptable then. I think that is a good thing. You won't be disappointed."
"I know I won't. You know, son, I allowed the two of you to go on this exploration for a good reason. First, you both know how to take care of yourself in this awful world we live in. If anyone can stay alive out there, it's people like you. You can fight, observe, and learn new things while you do it. Like those dogs you trained. I would never have approved of that because of the food supply problem. Obviously, your insight about dogs was better than mine. You have proven that dogs can protect people with skills of survival that we will never have. They can alert us of approaching dangers and can identify dead critters from live ones and alert us by their bark whether they are tracking the living or the dead. That's a tremendous advancement for our safety and food gathering. You have taught me once again that other people besides myself have a large place in rebuilding our world. This use of dogs may be one of the biggest advances we'll ever have. You are very clever to have implemented this as a part of your survival tools. I cannot tell you how exciting I find this. It is totally fantastic."
Aiden and Marlaina were given their original wedding suite again. Their adventure and what they had done in finding a suitable zombie free living area were appreciated. The couple was held in awe by everyone. They could not wait to vacate their safe house for the better location. If things were ready in time, they'd be leaving for New Wilson in four to five days.
That night, Aiden and Marlaina crashed in the tower where they had spent their first weeks as newly weds. John Wilson had fixed it up again, and, when they blew out the candles, they felt safe for the first time in weeks.
"When we get to New Wilson," Aiden said, "we will be just as safe as we are in this tower."
Marlaina agreed.
Soon they were asleep. After eighty miles on horseback watching for walkers and taking them out, the two lovers felt like the walking dead. Their energy stores were drained. To be first class again, Marlaina and Aiden would require several days of rejuvenation. They embraced and entered unconsciousness within minutes.
#
Aiden and Marlaina were given the position of riding point for the trek to New Wilson, because they were the only ones who knew where they were going. The line of twenty-seven compatriots trailed for several hundred yards, partly due to the cattle and the pickups hauling trailer loads of food, ammunition, and tools.
"Forward Ho!" Aiden yelled.
The reference to old films was appreciated. Several members of the team chuckled, explaining the reference to those who didn't get it.
John Wilson was one of more than eight persons who volunteered to ride the horses for the eighty miles they had to travel rather than use the trucks and cars which were loaded with tools and supplies. John loved the feeling of a horse beneath him. In his past, he and his brother rode horses together on a regular basis, because their relatives owned horse farms, and their barns were always open for the two brawling boys.
"This is like old times," John said to Robert.
"Indeed it is," his brother replied. "We are going to really enjoy this."
Up ahead a group of zombies stirred in the woods. Marlaina sicked the dogs upon them. They soon had the bad guys corralled by the roadside. Several men approached and beat them to the ground with baseball bats.
"Clear!"
"Clear! Clear! ”
“Clear!"
The zombies fell like shattered bottles and were soon crushed into the ground where they belonged. Several men stayed behind to burn them. Later, they came forward on horseback and rejoined the happy procession.
In the first day, the team traveled twenty miles and could have gone forty, but they didn't want to push the cattle that far and fast for fear that they would lose weight. They camped by an abandoned farm which they cleared of corpses, burning them in the back fields. A blue pond at the edge of the barn provided a perfect spot for everyone to swim, cool down, and bathe which everyone was encouraged to do since hygiene was an important tool in their survival efforts. Cities like Rome had persevered mostly because their hygiene was better than that of their foes. Modern Europeans and Americans had increased in numbers by bathing regularly and keeping fleas and other pests off their bodies and out of their clothes which protected them from a number of pestilences that had destroyed one European city after the other during the Middle Ages when no one bathed, and the stench of human flesh was in the streets wherever people walked together. Bathing was one of the unspoken heroes of the Modern Post-Industrial Age when sales of bathing soaps sky rocketed and people built bathtubs and toilets into homes that were equipped with real running water and protected with chlorine to keep bacteria and virus from contaminating their water supplies.
"Love the pond!" Marlaina said to Aiden.
"Everyone does!" Aiden said. He jumped into the water, stroking the surface with his hands. It was chilled, but in the mountains and foothills that was always the way it was. He marveled at the little fishes and tadpoles swimming beneath his feet. If the times had been different, he would be fishing this pond and frying up a catch for his family. He smiled, realizing that he would soon be doing just that in the beautiful and protected Pennsylvanian paradise they had discovered up ahead.
At dawn, they were on the move again. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were being cooked at the camp. The food would be placed in storage boxes and driven to them within thirty minutes. They needed a head start to cover as much ground as possible during the daylight hours. Who knew what they would encounter along the way. People could get hurt. They might be attacked by animals or walkers and probably would be. They could even be attacked by an army of other survivors who wanted to kill them out and take their stuff. It was still a dangerous world and the possibility of isolated criminal nations out there lead by unscrupulous sociopaths lurked in the backs of their minds like veiled nightmares. If they went far enough, they'd run into at least one of them if not several, and the ensuing conflict could be devastating if not terminal for the Wilson militia.
Lisa and Brayton Bormann, her boyfriend, rode two of the horses. They were together all the time now. Soon they'd be getting married. They had gotten permission from Lisa's parents. His parents had been dead since the plague bit them. In these crazy times, all of them had been instructed that today's marriages needed to be made early in the lives of all of their children if enough people were going to be born to save the species. The human kill off was far higher than the birth rate which so far was exactly nil. Mankind was once again staring at an empty earth that was seriously devoid of mankind.
"Looks like a nice day, dad," Marlaina said to Sheriff Wilson.
"Yes, it does," the sheriff said.
He watched his son riding his horse next to his new wife. Aiden was as handsome as could be. He was a good man. His body had filled out in muscle. The sheriff always known his son to be fit. After all, Aiden was a strong and furtive athlete. He worked out, stressed his body, grew his muscles larger than average for a boy his age, and ran long distances just for the fun of it. Now that things had become nip to tuck, Aiden naturally rose to every occasion. He fought bravely against the walkers, never begging off, but moving forward and doing as much damage to them as he could. Even so, he was concerned about everyone in his unit, and he was focused on saving the human race against all of the odds they had endured. He had ventured forth alone with Marlaina and discovered a place deep inside Pennsylvania where his people were migrating under their direction to avoid all future contact with the zombies. Everyone would be safer soon, and it was all on account of Aiden and his wife. He had become an explorer of merit among them, a person who was not afraid of danger, one who would endure no matter what happened. His beautiful wife, Marlaina, was the same way. Wherever her husband had ventured, she stood by his side, and when push came to shove in a battle she fought just as hard as he did to protect
all of them from the deadly advance of whatever enemy came near. He couldn't do better than a daughter and son like Aiden and Marlaina. As a father, Sheriff Wilson knew he had simply lucked out.
Up ahead a small group of people trudged through the woods. Aiden sicked the dogs on them. As they approached, the dogs acted differently. Their barks indicated these were living human beings. Aiden rode over to them.
The people wore a tee shirt with the words, "Jesus Town."
"Hello," he said. "How are you doing?"
"We're fine," the man who seemed to be in charge answered.
"My name is Aiden. Glad to meet you."
"Billie," he said. "This here's my wife, Donna, and her children, Sigurd, Johannes, and Hilda. We got overrun down at Jesus Town. Lots of us didn't make it."
"I never heard of Jesus Town," Aiden said. "Where's that?"
"Over that way."
The man pointed back where he came from.
"It's about fifty or sixty miles. It's not there anymore. We are lost. We aren't really sure anymore where it used to be. These valleys are so confusing, you know," He said. "You got any food you can share?"
The man wore a dirty shirt and trousers that identified him as a working man.
"Have any of you been bit?" Marlaina asked.
"Nope."
Marlaina pointed her gun right at Billie's head.
"We need to check you out for bites. That means all of you."
"I'm telling you we ain't been bit. That's all you need to know."
Marlaina smiled and touched his forehead with the gun.
"Either strip off those clothes so I can see if you are infected or I'll blow your brains to kingdom come. I mean it."
"Better do what my wife says," Aiden told him. "She doesn't mess around. You being infected or not means life or death to us. You are not worth the risk. Take everything off. We aim to take a look. If you are okay, you get to put everything right back on again and proceed on your way. If you are bit, you won't need to worry. We'll be killing you."