Zomblog: Snoe's Journey Read online

  ZOMBLOG:

  Snoe’s Journey

  Book 6 of the Zomblog series*

  TW Brown

  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-TW-Brown

  *Seriously…this is the LAST one! I really mean it this time.

  Zomblog: Snoe’s Journey

  ©2013 maydecemberpublications

  First Edition

  Split-tree logo a registered trademark of May December Publications LLC

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living, dead, or otherwise, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author or May December Publications.

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  To each and every reader…

  You have made my dream come true

  Author’s Note

  I can’t believe that this book is sitting in your hands (whether it is ebook format or the cuddly physical version). This is the series that I honestly never intended to write. I have revealed on more than one occasion that I started the first Zomblog as an exercise to prime the pump for my DEAD series.

  Writing is a lot like working out. You need to do it consistently if you hope to improve. That being said, I owe where I have come as a writer to this very series. It was Zomblog that took off after that first KDP freebie weekend. (I still have no explanation for how it gave away 10,000 copies in one weekend with no hype or social media push until well after the fact that it was rolling. And then, it was more just sharing the progress with my friends.)

  When I wrote Zomblog: The Final Entry, I was honestly finished. This was not some iconic rock band’s farewell tour where several more “farewells” were planned. However, a few stalwart readers were not finished. I have always said that I write for you, and that is why I returned to this universe; albeit almost twenty years later.

  I hope that this final (and I do mean final this time) entry will satisfy you. I feel good about it and am content in the idea that I provided a true “ending” and tied up any loose strings as well as pulled a few obscure threads from the past and wove them in for good measure.

  As always, I have some thanks to give. The biggest in regards to this actual book goes to my friend, Erik Rise. It was on our camping trip that he told me about the Native American belief in the Seventh Generation. I should also make it clear that, while I did do my research, I made this into my own thing for the story. I mean no disrespect to the Native Americans or their rich culture if I have mangled their story beyond recognition. I simply fell in love with the general idea and then wove it in to this tale. To each and every one of you who have embarked on this journey, you have my appreciation. I look forward to seeing your thoughts expressed if you take the time and jot a review on Amazon. (And yes, that really is me responding to those reviews, I do not ever expect to be at a point where I hire somebody to do such things for me.) Last but not least is my wife, Denise. None of this happens if it were not for your belief that never falters, even when I think I don’t deserve it…which is often.

  Mitakuye Oyasin

  TW Brown

  October 2013

  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-TW-Brown

  Email: [email protected]

  Contents

  Chapter 1: June

  Chapter 2: February

  Chapter 3: March

  Chapter 4: April

  Chapter 5: May

  Chapter 6: June

  Epilogue

  Field Report

  Chapter 1

  Wednesday, June 1st

  How in the world did I get put in charge of things? Have these people lost their ever-lovin’ minds!

  For the past two months, I have been here in Irony, USA. There have been meetings and meetings about meetings. Personally, I think that I managed to stay awake at least half the time. Why do people feel the need to talk so much? All this time we have spent proposing this and modifying that, we could have found Major Carson and finished him off a dozen times—or died trying.

  Betty has been putting me through the paces while all of this has been going on, and as for Selina, she headed for Warehouse City. It seems that she wants to start some sort of recruiting drive. Most everybody seems to think this is going to be some glorious campaign where “good triumphs over evil” like in stories.

  I remember very well some stories that Mama Janie told me when I came home from school one day and asked her questions about war. We had been given a lesson in our history class about the United States and its participation in war. I remember thinking that if even some of what we were being told was true, then the zombies should have never stood a chance.

  Mama Janie said that wars had a tendency to be “romanticized” the further you got from the era they were fought. I didn’t really understand that part, but one of the things that I did understand was that when you fought living people, it felt a lot different than when you took on a herd of zombies.

  I can still see the face of every single living person that I killed. Each one haunts me. Even Dominique.

  Honestly, I believed that I would be fine once she was gone. I thought that killing her would bring some sort of peace. It has been exactly the opposite. I killed her up close and looked into her eyes as she died. And now, every time that I close my eyes, her face is one of the first, if not THE first that I see as I try to sleep.

  Now I will be involved in something that will put some of those same images into the mind’s eye of who knows how many others. I am preparing for war.

  Thursday, June 2nd

  Today, we started loading the train. Many people are gathered around watching. I really do not think anybody has a clue what to expect. I know for a fact that I don’t.

  Here is something strange…although I will need to explain myself after I tell you. Betty has a boyfriend!

  I know!

  His name is Paul Decker. He is, without a doubt, the tallest person that I have ever seen. I have not worked up the nerve to ask, but I would say he is as close to seven feet tall as a person could be. He is not tall and skinny either. He is tall and scary. I have even seen children start to cry just because he walked past.

  He has a deep tan that I know can’t just be from the sun. Also, he has hair so black that it almost looks blue. His eyes are wide set and his brow looks like somebody shoved extra bone into his head to act as a shield for his dark brown eyes. He has a mustache that hangs down so long that he has it braided. He has little steel balls threaded into it and they jingle and clank a bit when he walks; but only when he wants them to announce his presence. He walked right up behind me one time and touched me on the shoulder making me just about have a heart attack. I never heard even the slightest clink…until he started laughing at my obvious fright.

  The first few times I saw Paul and Betty together, I never really thought about it. They were just in the training shack and I figured she was simply happy to find somebody that could really give her a run for her money. They trained with wooden swords until the man in charge told them that they couldn’t anymore. (I guess they broke almost two dozen of the practice swords during their sessions.)

  That night, Betty and I were down at the creek getting cleaned up and she took off her leathers. I never saw so many ugly bruises in my life. Her shoulders look like somebody smeared her with blackberry juice.

  I did not find out they were actually “dating” until just this morning when I
went to her cabin. I woke up early to a thunder storm and could not get back to sleep. I decided that I would bring breakfast to Betty and we could eat on her covered porch and watch the sky light up while sharing muffins with fresh honey and butter.

  I should have knocked.

  I opened the door and saw things that I can never unsee. Paul’s only reaction?

  “Could you either come in…or go out? Either way, would you mind closing the door?”

  I left. Oh, and since most of my appetite had mysteriously vanished, I left the muffins, butter, and honey on the porch.

  Friday, June 3rd

  A delegate from the Confederated Union of Tribes arrived today. She refused to speak to anybody until I was brought to meet with her. I find it nothing short of amazing that anybody can make a trip from someplace so far away by themselves. Not only that, but considering how fast she had to be moving…on foot!

  General Carson has been busy. (I guess he gave himself a promotion.) This was exactly as I feared. I knew that all of our days spent talking and arguing were a huge waste of time. While we have been doing a whole lot of nothing, he has been recruiting and campaigning. The message he has been putting out there has been very simple: Join or Die.

  I guess he sent an emissary to the tribes. They refused to join him. He was smart enough not to press the issue, but it would seem that the Council of Tribal Chiefs decided they needed to know what they might be dealing with and sent a scouting party out to get numbers.

  They stopped after the third group never returned.

  I guess I should amend that statement. A few returned, just not in the same state in which they left.

  I met with Kai River in the council auditorium. (I had to ask how to spell it when she told me her name. It is pronounced KEY-eye.) It was just the two of us and I had no idea what she was expecting, but I know the look of disappointment when I see it.

  “You are the daughter of Meredith? Fellow traveler of the man called Greyfeather?”

  I gave her a nod. She sat silently for an uncomfortably long period with her eyes shut. Since she asked for me, I figured it would just be best if I kept my mouth shut as well and waited.

  When she started to whisper something, I felt the hairs on my arms stand up. It was a chant of some sort, and I kept hearing one phrase repeated over and over:

  Mitakuye Oyasin. (Again, I had to ask…it sounds like mi-TAK-eeyo-AH-sun.)

  This is some sort of prayer. I know that much for sure. The thing is, I have no idea what it means and she wouldn’t tell me. Something about it not being her place to share, and that I was to join her and return to the Tribal Council.

  I explained that I was already preparing for that trip and that the train would leave soon. She shook her head and told me that I was to send my people south to the former Kah-Nee-Tah reservation. They would be met by warriors from the Confederated Tribal Nation, but that I would be going to the Land of the Seventh Generation. (What I knew as Oklahoma.)

  I asked about a dozen questions, but she would answer none of them. I told her that I did not think I could go with her if she would not tell me anything. She simply nodded and told me that it was my choice. I had to come of my own free will.

  I will sleep on it tonight.

  Monday, June 6th

  We have walked for two days in complete silence. So…yeah, I basically agreed to go. Betty and Paul both told me that they had these dreams about me. Neither one could remember a dang thing, but both said they woke up knowing that I was about to leave and that they needed to see me off.

  That was strange since I had not made up my mind yet. When I explained that I was only thinking about it, they each said I had to go.

  “I can’t explain it.” Betty kept frowning and shrugging; obviously she was at least as confused as me. “I just know that, if we are going to win, you have to do this. I can’t say anything more than that because I honestly have no idea why I feel that way.”

  Paul was even more blunt. “If you stay…everybody dies.”

  No pressure, Snoe.

  I sleep with my journal now. I keep thinking that I will have some amazing dream or vision, or whatever the heck everybody else seems to be dialing in to these days. Nope.

  Okay, not entirely true. I did have one dream. But it was something to do with balloons, bacon, a pony, and this birthday cake that Mama Janie made for me when I turned twelve. Pretty much no help at all.

  Tuesday, June 7th

  We are camped by a river; at the base of a waterfall actually. It seems a bit loud for my liking. Anything or anybody could sneak up on us and we would not hear them until way past too late.

  I asked Kai her reasons behind choosing this as our campsite and she finally broke her self-imposed silence.

  “You smell.”

  Sort of rude, but message received.

  After I bathed, I discovered that she had a fire going and a pair of rabbits on a spit. She pulled a pouch from her bag and rubbed this stuff on the rabbits. I have never smelt anything so amazing in my life. It was a real chore not to slobber and drool.

  After we ate, Kai took first watch while I climbed up into my hammock and slept. I could still smell the rich, green smells from the rabbit as I dozed off.

  If I dreamed of anything, I don’t recall it. When she woke me for my watch, I felt about as good as I have felt in a long time. In my world, that means something bad is about due to happen.

  Thursday, June 9th

  Nothing.

  Not a zombie. Not a crazed lunatic seeking to enslave unwary travelers.

  The past few days have been more silence by Kai. Seriously, the girl almost never talks except to tell me it is time to set up camp or wake up for my watch.

  One day, I just started talking. I talked about Mama Janie, Jenifer, Dominique, Betty…my dad and Meredith. The first trip I ever took outside of The Corridor. What I thought General Carson was up to...anything I could think of that might spark a conversation with Kai.

  She did not so much as glance over at me.

  I don’t really think I like her.

  Friday, June 10th

  Finally, a little break in the monotony.

  We were moving along at a good pace. I was feeling a bit grumpy because my throat was killing me. It felt like I had gargled with sand.

  I was enjoying a cool breeze that took some of the edge off of what was promising to be a hot day when Kai grabbed me by the elbow and yanked me to the ground.

  Zombies.

  We watched a few hundred of the things as they just shuffled along right past us while we lay on our bellies in some waist-high grass. It took me a few minutes to realize that I was laying in what must have been a big road at one time.

  Having travelled along a few of the corridors in my brief experience with the EEF, I knew well enough to make that discovery without any help. Of course, as I lay there watching the zombies parade by, I was a little frustrated with myself for not actually knowing how long we had been travelling along one. I had not seen any ruins or old crumbling overpasses, but the long, straight swath of grasslands bordered on each side by trees is a real giveaway.

  I glanced over a few times at Kai and discovered that her lips were moving in silent prayer. I am pretty sure she was praying since her eyes were closed and she kept saying those words again.

  Mitakuye Oyasin.

  I sure wish I knew what that was all about.

  When the zombies faded from view, we got up and started moving again, Only, Kai had us travel along the trampled grass where the zombies had passed. I wanted to ask why, but considering how much luck I’d already had when it came to asking her questions, I let it be.

  The sky was starting to turn beautiful shades of orange, red, and purple when she stopped suddenly. She told me to set up camp and that she would be back before too long.

  It was well past dark when she finally decided to show up. And that was when we had our first real argument. It went something like this.

  “Where the
hell have you been?”

  Silence.

  “Hello…excuse me…talking here!”

  Crickets chirping.

  “Fine…I’m done. I know how to find my way back home. I am sick of the silent treatment. You tell your people we will do this without them.”

  And then I stomped off. The problem was that I stomped off into the absolute darkness of night without so much as a torch. Not my finest moment.

  The moon can be quite a beacon…when it is out. Tonight, it was just stars. And that is why I did not see the steep slope until I stepped off of it and began tumbling down to the empty riverbed below.

  I might have cried out once…briefly…in surprise, but I made enough noise to bring a few creepers out of some brush. How could I have been so stupid?

  Pulling my belt knife free just as the first creeper reached me, I drove it into the crown of its skull. At this point, a lot of the skulls don’t give much more resistance than an almost ripe watermelon. I kicked the second one away just as Kai slid down the hill like she was on skis. We made short work of the remaining zombies and she even offered me her hand to help me to my feet.

  Then she slapped me!

  “You are young and foolish.”

  I started to say something, although I doubt it was to defend against that statement; I felt pretty young and foolish at that particular moment.

  “I do not answer questions because I have not been told anything more than to bring you back to the Confederated Lands to meet with our elders. I was told that you were to be delivered at all cost. I was told that your mother was a fierce warrior and that you should be capable of taking care of your own needs.”

  “But why me?” I insisted.

  “I don’t know.”