Once Angel had left, Reece went to meet up with the others to let them know what was going on. Once he found them relaxing in the courtyard, he explained the situation. Karina stood up and approached Reece.

“We need to scout out this potential threat. We’re sitting blind here. We should also notify your Ground Control of what’s going on. We may not be able to meet up with them as we planned.”

“Yeah, I was thinking that too,” agreed Reece. “Alright, Naeva...can you contact GC and give them our situation. I’ll take the Helios and Karina and I can scout ahead. Does anyone know where we can get a pair of binoculars?”

“I do,” said a scrappy-looking teenager.

He had shaggy sandy-blonde hair and brown eyes. He was thin but well-muscled and wore a tan vest and brown cargo shorts over sandals.

“Sounds good...”

“Embry.”

“Sounds good Embry,” said Reece. “Could you get them and meet us in the garage while I go and prep the solar-cycle?”

“Sure, see you there, sir!” replied the boy excitedly as he rushed off.

“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” announced Reece as he and Karina headed off to the garage.

Karina made a detour to grab her spear in case things went south. Reece readied and checked the cycle. Five minutes later, Embry showed up with a pair of self-focusing binoculars. These weren’t the cheap kind. This pair had range-finding, night vision, and heat-sensing plus a few other options which Reece hadn’t even heard of.

“Thanks, these are perfect,” said Reece to the boy as he tucked them into one of the solar-cycle’s side compartments.

Embry smiled widely, happy to be of help.

“Anytime, is there anything else you need?”

“Nah, I think we’re good. Just hold down the fort for us,” answered Reece. “We’ll be back before you know it.”

Reece put on his helmet and waited a second until the display overlay came up. Once it did, he energized the bike and took off, Karina quickly catching up to run along beside him. Reece simply smiled at the girl’s amazing speed and grace.

Deciding that they’d head west a few kilometers and find something high enough up that they could get a current lay of the land, he was silently hoping that they’d find nothing to worry about. They chose to use water towers for this task. Most residential areas had them, and they were always built on one of the higher places in the town or city.

Reece was glad Karina had let him come along. With her speed, strength, and eyesight, she could have completed this scouting mission in a quarter of the time. He secretly hoped that maybe she just wanted to spend some time with him. That made him smile.

So, instead of her doing it alone, they traveled together. She’d hop to the top of the water tower and give him the all-clear for him to climb up after her. Tower after tower along Highway 280, Reece took in the incredible beauty of the surrounding landscape. Even if the world was being ravaged by a great undead menace, the trees still dominated the land in countless shades of green.

While Karina used her superior eyesight to do the scouting, Reece would simply stand behind her and hold her while she searched for any sign undead traveling in large numbers. From their vantage points on top of the water towers, the landscape seemed calm and serene. For a moment, Reece pretended like there was no zombie problem and it had all just been a nightmare.

Unfortunately, Reece knew that wasn’t the truth and he had to face the reality that the state of their world was on the brink of a complete apocalypse. Still, this area seemed safe enough, at least.

As they were beginning to feel that there was no threat that had come through or was coming, Karina saw it and she emitted a little curse under her breath at the discovery. A tiny black cloud was on the western horizon.

Using the binocular’s, Karina realized that it was a massive flock of the bat-winged monstrosities. Reece looked to see if they were the same as he had fought before, but even with the binoculars, he could only tell it was a flock of something large. Karina told him that it appeared like there were dozens of them and they were over twenty kilometers out. Reece shook his head at her incredible eyesight, lamenting what little help he had been.

“Can you tell which way they’re heading?” he asked.

Karina took the binocular’s back and watched the flock for a while before answering.

“They look like they’re heading roughly towards Kennedy, but they’re flying like they aren’t in a hurry and even seem to be flying in circles as they move forward,” she answered. “If I were to guess, I’d say they were keeping pace with a ground force.”

“Well, I guess are fears were warranted. At least we’re not too late to warn our communities, giving them some time to prepare to fight or flee. If you’re up for it, we need to get eyes on that force to determine how much of a threat they may be.”

“Of course, let’s get moving,” replied the little blonde as she leapt down from the latest water tower, in the city of Mt. Vernon.

Reece followed her down, glad to get off the cylindrically shaped metal tower with a blue green “Mount Vernon” painted over a taupe base. Once he was down, they searched for a place on Reece’s virtual helmet map by opening the visor and letting the helmet draw the map on a flat area of the ground.

It didn’t take long for Karina to point out a good vantage point to spy on the undead force. There was a large open area about twenty-five kilometers to the southwest that looked like it would work. If they hurried, Reece and Karina could get there well before the slow-moving horde.

“Alright, once we get there, we should wait until we can make a decent assessment of this enemy force before we head back to inform the others,” reasoned Karina, all business now as she looked up at Reece.

“Okay, I think that’ll work,” answered Reece as he put the helmet on. “Let’s go.”

Karina nodded as Reece slapped down the visor and mounted the Helios. When they were over two-thirds of the way to their looked point, they drove through a town named “Alamo”. Reece hoped the gods weren’t foreshadowing anything as he chuckled darkly to himself.

Once they arrived at the spot that Karina had picked out on the map, it took them a few minutes to get into position. It turned out it was atop a rise in the highway they were on. It did give a great view of several fields that stretched out to the west. They were overgrown, but there were no large building or trees to block their view.

By now, Reece could easily make out the massive flock of monstrous enemies as they drew closer to Reece and Karina’s location. The army drew closer, the fields clearly crossing its path. They’d be there in just a few minutes. The pair kept out of sight behind a couple of broken-down pick-up trucks and waited.

As expected, they ended up having to wait for several minutes before the first of the horde cleared the trees. It took several more minutes for the entire horde to finally shamble into view, revealing the massive force in all its frightening glory.

There had to be thousands of Z’s, with a large mix of some of the other grotesque monstrosities they had already faced. At this distance, Reece confirmed that the winged creatures resembled the ones he had fought at the Cape with Karina, Angel, and Angel’s fellow rakshasas and other companions.

He also noticed some creatures in the horde that he had never seen before. There were several disfigured humanoid shaped creatures that were over five meters tall, but thin and gangly. They reminded him of living trees with the way they moved and looked at this distance. He also saw several hairy beasts mixed in, but he couldn’t tell much else because of how far away they were.

All considered, the horde was easily ten times the size of the one they had faced before. As it shambled forward, it left a swath of destruction behind it that was at least three kilometers across. Oddly, the horde stopped in the middle of the fields. Karina told Reece that she could see a flurry of movement around the outskirts of the massive army.

“Well, this is bad,” said Reece as they waited for something to happen, rubbing his bristly chin as he considered their options. “I don’t think our combined communities have a chance of stopping a horde this big. We need to get back and warn the others. Maybe together, we can come up with a plan.”

Karina nodded before responding, “We’ll find a way, lover. That’s what we do.”

The two waited until the horde started moving again, the main force shambling out of sight in the direction of Kennedy. Unfortunately, a smaller force from the rear began heading in their direction.

“What’s happening?” asked Reece, not being able to see the far away force very well.

“They’re splitting up,” answered Karina with tension in her voice. “It looks like a smaller group has broken off and my guess is, they are heading towards Savannah. I believe news of our little victory is out.”

“Then we need to get back,” replied Reece.

Karina nodded and the pair took off before they could be spotted by the approaching flock of gargoyle-like creatures. They quickly headed back to their newly won little city to inform everyone of what was headed their way.

By the time they arrived, they had been gone for over fourteen hours and they found that some of the others had begun to worry about them. Reece filled them in on what they had discovered. Upon hearing his confirmation that the main component of an enemy force was indeed headed for Kennedy, Naeva contacted Angel on the walkie to give him a heads up.

At first, Angel was defiant, but eventually he agreed to round his people up and make for their city. With their two communities working together, they had a good chance of defeating the smaller force.

The newer community, which Bjorn had begun calling New Hope, would just have to hold out until Angel arrived. Reece found the name fitting, especially considering what they were up against. Perhaps it was meant to be. Everyone seemed to like the name and it had stuck.

Now, it was time to give the entire area new hope. It was their best chance against the danger of the approaching army. The name had given Reece an idea, but he’d need buy-in from the rest of the community. It was now or never. The smaller army would be on them in a couple of days. He headed out to explain his idea. Most of the impromptu leaders were in the courtyard when Reece approached them.

“Can I have your attention please?” began Reece as he waited for everyone to stop and listen to what he had to say. He didn’t have to wait long.

“The Order already knows we’re here,” stated Reece plainly. “It costs us nothing to put a call out to anyone still in hiding around the area. On the upside, it may bolster our numbers enough to have a fighting chance against what is coming. In fact, it would give the entirety of northern Florida and much of Georgia new hope. I think that any survivors who may be left probably need hope more than anything. What do you say?”

“It’s true we would be revealing nothing, and I’d be a hypocrite if I said that spreading our message of hope wasn’t a good idea. So, I say let’s do it,” replied Bjorn after thinking about the idea for a moment.

Naeva and Karina nodded, while a couple other pit fighters who Reece had seen hanging around with Bjorn nodded as well.

One of the two pit fighters approached Reece. She was tall and tough looking, mid-thirties. Her head was adorned with thick green hair that was tightly braided against her scalp, probably to keep it out of her face during combat. A few nicks and scratches adorned her darkly tanned face, detracting just a bit from her natural good looks. She looked at Reece as she asked him a question, her light-green eyes nearly level with his.

“How many do you expect?” she asked with a slight lilting accent that Reece didn’t recognize.

“I really don’t know, but even if no one shows up, we’ve lost nothing in the attempt,” Reece replied matter-of-factly.

She nodded, seeming to accept his answer as she adjusted the black belt holding her baggy green shorts up and cinched it tight. She wore a simple white tank top as well but was barefooted, despite the scattered rubble of refuse throughout this area of the city. Reece wondered what kind of pit fighter she had been but didn’t doubt that the woman must be deadly.

“Are you helping Bjorn manage this settlement?” he asked, drawing out the last word in hopes she would introduce herself or at least break the awkward silence that had descended.

“I am,” she answered simply, looking back at him.

“Excellent! I’m Reece. It’s nice to me you...” he prompted her.

“Talia,” she said as she tentatively stuck out her hand.

“Talia... that’s a beautiful name. I don’t think I’ve heard it before,” said Reece as he took her hand and gently shook it.

Her grip was like iron as she shook his hand in return. Reece quickly increased the pressure in his grip so as not to offend the woman. She smiled at that.

“Thank you,” she blushed, oddly shy for a leader. “And it is nice to meet you. You have my apologies for my social awkwardness. Now, I must get back. There is much to do.”

She returned to Bjorn and the other man, leaving Reece alone to puzzle over her demeanor. Shaking it off, he approached Naeva and the two of them headed for the comms center that had been set up in the city.

“Who was that?” asked Naeva mischievously.

“One of Bjorn’s captain’s, Talia,” answered Reece without providing anything more for Naeva to tease him about. “She’s a little...different... but seems nice enough. So, you ready?”

She continued to rib him, and he continued to ignore her until they arrived at the single-story building with several antennas and satellite dishes spread across the wide and flat roof. Inside, a host of radio and satellite equipment covered several benches. Dozens of walkies sat charging on a table in the corner of the room.

It was well-lit and had plenty of chairs, so Naeva and Reece made use of a couple as she set up the long-range transmitter for Reece to use. Once she was done, she handed Reece the mic and nodded that it was live for broadcast across all channels. Reece nodded back as he prepared his thoughts.

“Greetings from the former coastal city of Savannah, Georgia. I have urgent information for everyone in the area. This is a matter of life or death for all of you, so please listen closely. A group calling itself the Order started the plague of undead to basically take over the world for themselves and seems to command legions of the things. This same Order had control of the city here until recently.”

“We are a rebel group that has overthrown the Order’s so-called mayor and have released those that he had enslaved. I reach out to you all because the Order has sent a large force of undead and worse to eliminate both Kennedy and possibly our community too. They’ll be here within the next few days. They are travelling mostly south-easterly and have most likely crossed from central Georgia into Florida in the last couple of hours.”

“Everyone in their path will be wiped out unless you evacuate. If they can defeat us, I worry that they’ll come for all of you as well. If that happens, expect either death or slavery. They aren’t known to live and let live. We ask that you come and join us. Together, we are stronger. Strong enough to defeat them and live another day. To live and reclaim this land for our future. They aren’t unstoppable. We’ve already beaten them back several times and nearly broken their hold on most of Florida.”

“If you join our fight, we promise you food, shelter, and most of all...hope. That’s what we’ve dubbed our fledgling community, New Hope. Please, don’t let New Hope get snuffed out by the Order and their minions. Stand with us and we’ll speak with one voice when we tell the Order that this land isn’t theirs, that our remaining friends and family aren’t theirs, that we aren’t theirs!”

“Now, if you have a way of getting here and don’t want to be killed or enslaved, you know what you need to do. If you can’t get here yourselves, reach out to us and we’ll find a way to collect as many of you as possible. Time is short, so don’t wait. You need to act now, for all our sakes. Thank you for listening. Over and out.”

“Nice,” said Naeva as she slowly nodded her head. “If I wasn’t already a part of this fight, I would be now. Have you ever thought of a career in politics?”

“Hah! Thanks, but no thanks,” said Reece. “Hopefully, there’s people out there, and they share your point-of-view. Now, we need to see to the defenses of this city and come up with a strategy to defend us all.”

“Let’s talk to Karina,” said Naeva. “She seems to have more experience with wars and battles than the rest of us put together.”

“Okay, let’s see what she has to say,” replied Reece.

The two left the comms center and began their search for the lilitu girl.