Read Zomblog 05: Snoe's War for Free Online Page A

small baton. This was not a mission where we were expected to deal with the undead, and I now understood why a detachment of soldiers had been sent ahead of us to take out any zombies. We were not really given anything that would constitute as a real weapon. Killing a zombie by beating its head in was not something that you wanted to do if you could help it. And if you were facing more than one…that was basically a death sentence. Even after all these years, the skull is a tough nut to crack.
    I ducked down one of the rows of slowly deteriorating and vine-covered semis. Nature had helped in one aspect. The vines and brambles that were covering these vehicles had turned them into giant, solid rectangles. Even if there might be something underneath one of the trailers, it was basically trapped in their now. The vines were a tough curtain to get through for a person with a blade. Using your hands would take forever.
    The sounds of the tribal village faded as I continued moving. They had to be aware of my absence by now. And it was not like we were able to hide the manner in which we escaped. I knew I didn’t have very much more of a head start. The question was just how intense and determined the search for me would be.
    As I came out the far end of the truck graveyard, I had my answer. I could hear the sounds of yelling and shouting. Somebody was using a megaphone.
    “Snoe Gainey, this is Captain Warren. I know you can hear me…you could not have gotten that far away. You need to turn yourself in before the consequences are too great,” a low-pitched voice called.
    A very tall fence was in my way. I gave it a little bit of a shake. The vines and stuff growing through all the little diamond shaped openings actually helped keep the thing standing. I was not entirely sure if it would support my weight, but this was my way out now. After another shake for good measure, I peeled off my heavy leather jacket and started to climb. When I reached the top, I threw the jacket over the strands of barbed wire that were at the top and slanted away from me. Supposedly this was to keep people on the outside from coming in. I didn’t see how if their form of security could be easily circumvented with something as simple as tossing a coat over it.
    Since it was only ten feet or so, I dropped to the ground. On the plus side, I was over and an enormous bit of rolling grassland stretched out before me. It was a good two or three miles of easy ground and then dense forest. As soon as I was over the first hill, I would be almost invisible. Sure, my path would be easy to follow, but once I made it to the woods, I had no doubt that I could lose any remaining pursuit. The negative was that my coat would be an arrow pointing to my escape route. A soon as they reached the end of the trucks, somebody would see me. Also…I had lost my coat.
    I started at the jogging pace that you learned to master in the EEF. One of the things that they taught you was that our greatest advantage over zombies other than our mind, was our speed. And the beauty was that we just needed to be a bit faster than them to get away. The mistake would be to burn all of your energy right away. So, one of the things that you learned was what the EEF manual called your “All Day Pace”.
    I started for the mountains. I knew that I was going to need to find a weapon soon. Also, as I ran, it dawned on me that I did not have a plan at all. I had a few miles of running ahead. That was the perfect time to come up with one.
     
    ***
     
    If this was the enemy, I really had no idea how we had lost to them so far and so fast. I slipped the pitiful attempt that the soldiers made in almost no time and with practically no effort. By the time I had reached the trees and began to move up into the hills, I was settled on my course of action.
    It would take me a few days, but at the moment, it seemed like the best possible plan. It was around that time that I started to really wish I had