Welcome to the End

Chapter 07: Siege of Walton

Clark had the outer ramp removed once the evacuation had been completed as he saw no reason for the zombies to have two ways of overcoming the outer wall. Gathering together every person remaining in Walton, Clark prepared them for the final stand that was coming.

"I had hoped this day would never come," Clark told his people as they stood in front of the government building serving as his office and residence. "Regardless, we have each sworn an oath to defend this town from all threats, and even in such dire circumstances as this, we shall not abandon our town or our duty."

He paused a moment to gauge the expressions of the town guard. They had similar looks on their faces and were the picture of an army facing certain death. Gloom and hopelessness darkened their eyes, and their shoulders were slumped as if already accepting defeat. Clark knew if he didn't do something to boost morale, some of the guards might not last until the zombies got into the city.

"I can understand if most of you don't know why we're still fighting for an empty city," Clark told them. "We all need to remember that we aren't fighting simply to blindly fulfill our oath. We are the last line of defense against an enemy that has ravaged every place on Earth."

Clark paced the covered porch of the Governor's residence, looking each man and woman under his command in the eye.

"Our people may have fled, but our responsibility to them remains," he went on. "Every undead who is either killed or becomes trapped within our walls is one less to chase after our people. Because of our efforts, they may get to live another day. Who knows, with what they've learned from the misfortune here, they may yet find a suitable defense. I intend to give them the best chance at survival I can; are you with me?"

A series of muttered agreements sounded in conjunction to a number of guards nodding their heads.

"The defense of Walton must be altered in response to what we learned when the outer wall fell," Clark explained. "Too many of the undead have come against us to be killed outright as no point in the city would be high enough to stay above the corpse pile we'd make. So, we must spread them out."

Clark stepped down from the porch and pointed to a few of the buildings nearest the inner wall.

"We shall put a guard post atop those buildings," Clark stated. "Two soldiers on both roofs. Their responsibility will be to kill as many zombies as they can at a distance. In this way, the bodies will pile up further from the buildings, giving each defensive post longer before it's overrun."

Clark turned back to his people and held up a hand to forestall any arguments or objections.

"I don't intend to abandon anyone to the undead," he promised. "We will put up ropes, cables, or lines of whatever we can find strong enough to hold the weight. They'll be strung between the buildings. When a corpse pile nears the top of one structure, the defenders will evacuate to the next. In this way, we can put down enormous numbers of undead before they reach even one of our people."

Clark gave them his most confident smile.

"They don't have unlimited forces, no matter how vast their horde may seem," he reminded. "They've already lost many to create the ramp, and they'll lose more, trapped between the walls with no way out. As we whittle down their numbers, who knows? We may even win the day, and our people can return."

Clark returned to the porch and leaned both hands on the railing in front of him.

"No matter what happens in the coming days, I refuse to simply give up," he declared forcefully. "This is our city! Let's send these rotting corpses back to their graves!"