Free Zomblog: Snoe's Journey by TW Brown Page A

the trailing edge of General Carson’s army. There are more wagons than I knew existed. The best estimate of this force’s numbers put them somewhere around fifty thousand!
    When the scouts returned and gave those numbers, I felt my heart sink. All of this seemed to have been for nothing. How could we hope to stand against such a force? At the most, I would put our numbers at maybe five hundred…and that is probably stretching it.
    “Do you think we were going to line up on one side of a field with them on the other?” Angel laughed when she noticed my reaction.
    “Anything we do is just going to get us all killed,” I said with a sigh. “There is no way we can hope to fight an army that size.”
    I wasn’t even taking into consideration the sort of firepower that this army wielded. At that moment, I was just thinking about the numbers…pure and simple.
    “You need to have more faith.” Angel touched my cheek gently and gave me the kindest smile I have ever seen.
    I still don’t see how, but it would appear that I am the only person suffering from this feeling of doom and doubt. The camp is busy with the normal activity. I even see smiles and hear laughter.
     
    Monday, August 15 t h
     
    We rode west for two days, staying just far enough away from that massive army to be able to see the cloud that they kicked up. Who knew that many people would cause such a large cloud of dust? We are several miles away and have no trouble following them. Also, at night, they actually cause a glow on the horizon to appear when it gets dark!
    Yesterday, we received news that two more settlements were basically plowed under by General Carson. The citizens were given the choice to join or die. Not much of a choice if you ask me.
    So now my question is this: when this army rolls into battle, will these people turn on their captors? Why would you fight for them under such conditions?
    I guess only time will tell. Angel says that I do not understand. She says that these people have fallen in with General Carson, and it is likely that their families are being held prisoner. That means they will fight for their families, not for the general. That makes them far more dangerous.
    We are crossing over some mountains the next few days. I know from hearing Jenifer and Mama Janie talk about it that there are several communities along what is known as Corridor Five. This was a well-travelled area that had a reputation for being fairly dangerous. The communities along that stretch were supposedly pretty rough. Also, if what they said was true, there is a very nasty gang that is known to roam the area.
    I guess there was a state prison located somewhere near what used to be the city of Salem, Oregon. This prison supposedly had concrete walls that were thirty feet high. When the zombies came, that place fell to the inmates. If you believe the stories, a lot of them actually went out and brought back their families.
    Nobody passes through that area of Corridor Five without paying some sort of toll. Those folks became entirely self-sufficient and did not need to trade or barter with anybody. I guess they have farmland and industry in abundance.
    About ten years ago, a group of delegates from that area come to Corridor 26. They came to try and make the same deal that was eventually made with the NAA. They had construction capabilities and when the NAA tried to make a deal with them, the rumor is that they killed all but one of the emissaries. That poor lucky person got to carry back the heads of the others as the answer.
    Maybe we should have taken them up on it. All they asked in return was for open trade, for us to support their defense force by offering at least three men or women per year, and that they be allowed to set up a recruiting office.
    I guess the stigma of who they were was just too great. The president at the time sent them away and I suppose it was not in the friendliest of manners.
    Back then, there were still expeditionary forces