Free Taking It Back by Joseph Talluto Page B

blew out the flame and resheathed the weapon.
    We went back to the boat and found everyone else had started eating. Sarah handed me a hot dog and asked if we had found anything. I shook my head and said, “Just a rotting corn dog.”
    I ignored the piece of bun that bounced off my back.

7
     
    I was on watch during the night when I saw the lights. We had loosened the mooring lines and allowed the boat to drift away from the dock about twenty feet. I figured that allowed us some security from any wandering zombies as well as keeping us from getting surprised by any others.
    The lights were on the river and at first I wasn’t sure I had seen anything, but the lights flashed on and off intermittently and after a few minutes I realized the lights were looking for something, but trying not to attract attention while they searched. That made me wonder if they were actually friendly survivors, looking for other survivors.
    The river was dark as pitch, making slow slapping sounds against the pontoons. The moon offered very little light, just enough to show where the river was, but the banks were deep in shadow. If I recalled correctly, this was a Rustler’s Moon. Light enough to see, but not light enough to aim a gun. I watched and saw the light again, checking the sides of the river. It was about three hundred yards upstream and moving slowly, with the river current. I couldn’t hear anything other than the sounds of the river, so I had no way of knowing for sure their intent.
    I stepped over to where Tommy was sleeping and tapped him on the shoulder. He awoke with a start and was reaching for a weapon when I whispered, “Shh…it’s me. We’ve got company.”
    Tommy scrambled to his feet and swung up his AR. “Where, what, who… zombies,” he stuttered, his head still asleep.
    I grabbed his arm and shushed him, pointing upriver to where the light flashed on again. Tommy shook the sleep out and stared at the shadows, trying to see what was coming our way. I climbed on top of the shelter and lay prone, keeping my rifle trained on the dark. If they didn’t notice us, my thought was to just let them drift on past and be on their merry way.
    As they drifted closer, I began to hear bits of quiet conversation. It allowed me to focus more clearly on where they were. I heard Tommy shifting and knew he knew where they were as well.
    “Why do we want to find them?”
    “They looked dangerous.”
    “What choice do we have? I already explained this to you.”
    “The kids are tired and scared. We shouldn’t have left the city.”
    “The gangs were going to kill us. They killed everyone else. They’re worse than the zombies.”
    “We should have gone to the shelter.”
    “This is crazy.”
    They had drifted to within one hundred yards of our boat and I decided to force the issue, one way or another. I placed my flashlight on the roof of the shelter, away from me and turned it on. Its powerful LED beam pierced the darkness and lit up a crude flotilla. I felt like I was looking at refugee boats from Thailand. Three aluminum rowboats and two canoes had been lashed together to form a raft of a sort, and they were using the oars and paddles to move the mess downriver.
    When the light hit them, several people dove for cover and I could hear the muffled cries of more than one child being desperately quieted by their mothers. I could see one man fumbling with what looked like a military-surplus style rifle. One boat was laden with garbage bags and packs, the sure sign of a hasty exit.
    As the man tried to bring up the rifle, I spoke conversationally. “Don’t bother.” My words carried across the water, the man slowly lowered the rifle and raised his hands in surrender.
    “Please don’t kill us,” he begged. “We’re just trying to get away from the city. Please, we have children with us. Please.” He looked in pretty bad shape, like he hadn’t eaten in a while. Stress was in every limb as he stood there in the