Free DEAD: Confrontation by TW Brown

just as soon as this is over” sounded hollow in my ears, but seemed to have the desired effect on them.
    “I’ll keep ‘em safe,” Jake whispered in my ear before hea ding in back to hasten everybody along.
    I wanted to believe that probably as much as Melissa and Thalia wanted to believe the promises I’d just made to them. I’m not a big believer in premonition, but I thought I was seeing them for the last time as they headed out the back. My last image was Thalia skipping after Melissa with Buster on her leash like this was all a normal part of everyday life.
    I know I have said it before, but I marvel at the ability of children to push through something terrible and retain the capa city to smile and laugh. Smiles and laughter were a rare sight on the faces of the adults. Of course, days like this were the perfect example as to why that tended to be the case.
    Ten minutes later, it was just the seven of us. Jon had put us each to work on a different part of his plan. We would surrender the building, but it would come at a cost. I wondered how many sets of eyes were watching. Of course the group had left out the back and gone down the hill to the woods. Unless they actually had people in the trees around our perimeter, it was unlikely that they saw the departure of Jake and the others.
    Once we finished up inside, we slipped out the back as well. I was sent up the trail that I’d taken the day I proposed to Melissa. There were a couple of spots along the way up that gave me a perfect view into Death Alley. If they tried to bring a vehicle in from that direction, they were screwed.
    Jon accompanied me part way. He would be vanishing into the actual campground area. Dressed in white like he was, I i magine that he had some nasty surprises in store for these latest intruders into our happy little home.
    “You understand why we have to at least try and defend our position,” Jon finally spoke.
    Honestly, I didn’t. After all, we had a fall back location for a reason, right? Still, instead of seeming stupid or cowardly, I shrugged.
    “If we just run and don’t at least put up the semblance of a fight, we mark ourselves as easy pickings,” Jon said.
    “And who is gonna get that memo?” I quipped before I could catch myself.
    “I’ve been out there, Steve. It has gotten tribal. I imagine there are at least a half-dozen factions within a ten mile radius of us. These groups of raiders are probably establishing a pecking order. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had cordoned off the area and claimed jurisdiction.”
    “So this is to show we aren’t pushovers?” I wasn’t seeing the logic. As far as I was concerned, we could just find another place.
    “Partially,” Jon confirmed. “My hope is that the word will get out that we aren’t to be screwed with. Otherwise, we will have to start over. Do you really want to do this again? We just got things settled in, and now we just give it up?”
    “I guess I see what you are saying.” Actually, I was still a bit confused. It wasn’t like we were running into a lot of survivors. More like little trickles here and there.
    “Consider Nickie and Christina…or Doug and Cheryl,” Jon said. “They were with other groups before us. Things went bad and they ended up with us. I believe that there are more people like them out there.”
    “So?” I still wasn’t seeing his point, but I could tell he was trying to make one.
    “Patton and his group were a bust, but if he hadn’t killed the ones who were coming back around, maybe they join us. The reality is that we need numbers. That is one of the things that I have been watching out for when I make supply runs.”
    “We had numbers at Serenity,” I countered. “That didn’t do us much good.”
    “No disrespect, but Serenity was run poorly. The guys in charge were good men, but they were trying to simply secure a location. They were concerned with zombies, but they did not take the living into