Mortality

Chapter 19: Savannah

Inside of a dilapidated truck stop, Cole and I stood hunched over a map of the country as he drew a thick, red circle around a small section.

“This is the main territory of the United Confederation,” Cole explained, indicating an area that stretched east from Illinois to Ohio and even branched up into parts of Michigan.

“Wait, you mean the United Militia? The guys that took Zack?” I scratched my head, trying to comprehend the miniature empire we had been practically living on the border of.

“Sort of. The Militia is just one part of the confederation. A pretty big part, really. And they call most of the shots, but it’s all very unofficial. They have a council that is supposedly making the big decisions, but anyone who believes this is anything more than a military operation is fooling themselves.” Cole’s mouth formed into a hard grimace as he spoke. He clearly had some unhappy feelings about these people.

“I’m getting the sense that these are not good people.”

“What gave you that clue? I doubt your friend Zack is sitting in some hotel getting a foot rub.”

“I know that. I’m just saying…” I let out a frustrated groan, “I dunno. You seem to have some pretty strong feelings on the issue. I’m just trying to get all the information.”

“And I’m trying to give it to you. If you’d just listen for a minute.” Cole ran his hand through his hair, which was starting to look a little grimy. I raised my hands in surrender. “During the first days of the second outbreak, the government was scrambling to hold on to the reigns, despite massive loss of life and an almost complete loss of communication. Eventually, the government broke down completely as more and more of the officials died off.”

He paused for a minute and stared at the map. I was tempted to prompt him to continue but figured it would only piss him off. I’d come this far on half-answers and vague references, so I wasn’t about to stop him now.

“Not surprisingly, it was mainly the military types who made it past that first month, and pretty soon they started to rebuild. They moved in from the East Coast and started clearing towns in record time. They had all of the weapons they could possibly need but were losing man power as quickly as the rest of us, so they started recruiting.”

“You mean conscripting,” I said, practically growling as I remembered both of the fates Cole had said possibly awaited my friend. He’d either been forced to fight, or pulled in to some kind of sick medical testing group. Neither of which is a fate I’d choose for anyone.

“Actually, I don’t. Most people were happy to sign up, because it offered safety and something productive to do. I’m sure you know how valuable the sense of accomplishing something worthwhile can be.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and for the first time, I got the sense that this guy knew me better than I thought. Tentatively, I gave him a small nod. Yes, I know exactly how valuable that can be.

“It didn’t last long though. The more time that passed, the more people became complacent, content to hide out with their stuff for the rest of their short lives. By then the United Confederation was making serious progress, and they weren’t going to stop there, so things changed.”

“How do you know all this?” I bit the inside of my cheek, cursing myself for interrupting.

“One of their very first goals as a newly formed government,” he said with air quotes, “was to hunt down and kill those responsible for the outbreak. Long story short, they may have been the brawn but we were the brain. We’ve been fighting back and forth ever since. We’ve got spies in their camps, and I’m sure they have some in ours.”