Allegiance by Shawn Chesser Read Free Book Online

motor skills, brought a trace of a
smile to his lips.
    As soon as the Toyota
reached the apex, Duncan noticed a ghastly scene a mile or so away on the road
below. Without a moment’s hesitation he stabbed the brakes, slewing the truck
slightly sideways, and then changed gears and reversed until the big white SUV
was completely hidden behind the crest of the hill. No sense in crashing the
party below, he reasoned. At least not without first knowing who was in
attendance.
    Duncan wedged the parking
brake and slipped the binoculars around his neck. He nudged the door open with
his boot, and slid from the driver’s seat. “Come with me Phillip,” he said as
he grabbed his stubby shotgun.
    “Yes Sir,” replied
Phillip as he clambered onto the road, binoculars in one hand, carbine in the
other.
    In a half crouch, Duncan
deliberately made his way to the hill’s crest. “Move slowly and keep your head
down. Do not provide a silhouette for anyone to take a shot at,” he
called out over his shoulder.
    “Got it,” Phillip
replied.
    As soon as Duncan
reached the roadside ditch he went to all fours, then laid flat. He shimmied
forward until he could see the entire valley to the fore. The Wasatch Mountains
formed a picket in the background while Huntsville and the Pineview reservoir
were evident in the foreground—the latter sparkling like a diamond tiara above
the town.
    He braced his shoulder
against a gnarled wooden fencepost and took a long look through his Bushnells,
walking them slowly from left to right before returning them to center in order
to scrutinize the carnage in the middle of the road. From roughly a mile out,
the 10-power binoculars brought things into sharp focus. At the bottom of the
grade, where the countryside flattened, a military Humvee protruded from the
roadside ditch. In the foreground, a flock of blackbirds, sun glinting from
their blued feathers, flapped and jostled, competing to feed on a dozen naked
corpses. The scene was like something straight out of a war zone. Hell ,
thought Duncan. With zombies everywhere, what didn’t resemble a war
zone these days?
    When Phillip made it to
Duncan’s side he leaned in and whispered, “Whatcha make of it Sir?”
    Duncan said nothing and
continued glassing forward. His trained eye told him that the black Rorschach
patterns painting the gray roadway were spilled blood, and the fact that the
pools were no longer reflecting the sun meant they must have dried some time
ago.
    “Nothing moving down
there ‘cept the birds. Still, I want to get a closer look at that vehicle before
we make a run at Huntsville.”
    “Who do you think did
them in, Sir?”
    “No telling ‘til we get
closer. But the one thing I know for certain,” Duncan said darkly. “The two of
us are no match for whoever killed those soldiers.”
    “What do we do now Sir?”
Phillip asked.
    Having had his fill of
being called sir, Duncan bristled visibly. He cast a glare at Phillip, who was
surveying the scene below through binoculars of his own. “We go check it out.
Haven’t you seen enough, Phillip?” he asked.
    “Too much,” answered Phillip.
He lowered the binoculars and shifted his gaze to Duncan. “Sir... I have a bad
feeling about this.”
    “A little fear is a good
thing, Phillip. It keeps us sharp.” Duncan rolled over, got to his knees, and
stood with an audible grunt.
    Nodding in agreement,
Phillip rose and without saying a word scooped up his carbine, trotted to the
Toyota and clambered aboard.
    Before climbing behind
the wheel Duncan looked down the hill at the zombie he had nearly clipped. It
had recovered fully and was laboriously inching its way uphill towards them.
Then he looked at Phillip, who, judging by the look on his face, was
formulating yet another question.
    Why me? Duncan thought as he unslung his shotgun and
strode purposefully down the hill. The female creature raised its arms and
hissed as he closed in from the high ground.
    Utilizing the flip-down
vanity