The Omnivore Wars Read online

  Now we follow their example.

  “We must end this war,” Marie said. “For the sake of our babies.” She winced, and Napoleon saw something move within her belly for a moment, about the size of a tiny cloven hoof.

  Napoleon had already come to the same conclusion. To carry on the fight was to escalate it, until both sides risked extinction.

  “I think both Tuskers and humans are going to be so preoccupied with trying to survive that neither side will be able to carry on a war,” he said. But even as he said it, Napoleon wondered if it was true. Human history was full of examples of them continuing wars far beyond where it made any sense.

  Again, are we any different?

  “I will not resume this war,” Napoleon said. “We will go far to the north, beyond any human habitation. We’ll hide, survive, and let our children grow up in peace.”

  “Good,” Marie grunted serenely, and lowered her muzzle and fell asleep.

  Later that night, she gave birth to ten piglets. The sight paralyzed Napoleon. He couldn’t move, only stare. Luckily the birth went smoothly, and Marie seemed to know instinctively what to do. The piglets made tiny little snorting sounds that made Napoleon laugh, and before the night was through, they were crawling toward him, pushing him insistently with their snouts as if he too had milk to feed them. He gently pushed them back to their mother, where they nestled, fighting for time at her nipples.

  One little piglet was left out.

  He was pink, like a farm pig, and had bright blue eyes, already open and looking around. He was hungry, but he was also curious. Leonardo, Napoleon named him then and there. Napoleon took the piglet gently in his mouth and positioned him near one of the last remaining unoccupied teats, where he settled in. It seemed to Napoleon that Leonardo stared back with one last intelligent look, as if to say Thank you, before he closed his blue eyes and started sucking.

  It had occurred to Napoleon that Tuskers were becoming more intelligent and less savage with every generation, as if whatever mutant gene had created the new species wasn’t done yet. He’d been smarter than his own father, Genghis, but seemed to have less drive. Or perhaps he just had less hate motivating him.

  His own children would need to be strong—but there was no reason for them to follow the path of their ancestors.

  Once again, Napoleon vowed to change the fate of the Tuskers.

  He was about to fall asleep when he sensed something crawling toward him. He opened his eyes and tried to make out the shape in the moonlight. As the piglet came closer, Napoleon realized it was one he hadn’t noticed before, smaller even than Leonardo. He was deformed, with one hind leg shorter than the other and a head seemingly almost as big as his body. His eyes were black in the soft moonlight, but they gleamed with intelligence and need.

  Napoleon gently lifted the piglet in his mouth.

  He almost spit him out, for he tasted wrong, almost foul. He went to Marie’s side. Most of the piglets were asleep. Her teats were available, though there was no room to get to them because of the sleeping brood. Leonardo woke at his father’s approach and saw what he was carrying. He moved aside, and Napoleon set the crippled one down. It crawled its way awkwardly to a teat and started sucking. Marie stirred as if to protest, then fell back to sleep. Leonardo reared back, looking at his sibling, then seemingly decided to accept his brother and also went back to sleep.

  Loki, Napoleon thought. This one will be called Loki.

  He was troubled. He knew that his wild forebears would have let both Leonardo and Loki die if they could not fight their way in amongst their brothers and sisters to be nurtured.

  With Leonardo, Napoleon sensed he had done the right thing.

  He wasn’t so sure about Loki, who was even weaker, and who would possibly slow them down on their trip north. Better to let him die now rather than on the trail.

  But Napoleon couldn’t do it.

  We can’t be like humans, but we also can’t be like our wild brethren, he thought. We must be better than both.

  Chapter Thirty

  “It’s your turn to lead the patrol,” Enrique glared down at Andy who blinked up at him, rubbing his eyes.

  “Okay.” Andy rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Enrique stood there for a moment longer, then snorted in disgust and walk away.

  Andy sighed. The guy never smiled, he was a pain in the ass, but ruthlessly efficient. But then, if he lost Kathy, he might be the same way.

  Andy rose groggily and thrust his legs into his pants, pulling a sweater over his head. He hesitated on the threshold, to stare at Kathy where she lay still curled in the blankets they’d shared for the last several weeks. Their goodbyes were whispered in the depths of the darkness, in a wordless dance beneath the sheets, and more than once.

  The barn was packed, and even though people tried to be considerate and quiet, the place usually echoed with a hundred whispers. Privacy was impossible, but fortunately people were getting good at ignoring strange gasps and moans in the night. Sherry and Seth had the next space over, and he’d heard some suspicious noises lately, which more often than not gave Kathy ideas.

  Andy hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks. But it was worth it.

  He stepped into the main staging area of the barn where there was already a flurry of activity. Men were loading backpacks, filling water bottles, loading their guns. Andy had to hand it to Enrique Flannigan: the man was good at organizing. But Andy wasn’t completely convinced that what he was organizing was a good thing. Enrique was expanding the defenses and sending parties out into the countryside looking for supplies. They were finding burned-out towns, empty country ranch houses, and a few survivors, whom they brought back to the encampment.

  One of the men had looked like he had severe sunburn, and within hours of arriving, began throwing up. He was still down, but looked like he might survive.

  “I’m from Salt Lake City,” he said eventually. “I was driving out of the city when it happened. Anyone closer…is gone.”

  “Should we be worried about radiation?” Barry asked.

  Kathy Comfort spoke up. “I did a story on that once. I doubt we’d still be alive if all the bombs when off. I suspect it was piecemeal, unpredictable, the same way it affected cars and generators.”

  “Besides,” Andy added. “It’s not like the laws of nature have been repealed. If a machine can be made to work, by new parts or scrounging for old, then electricity still works. The communications system was probably the most badly hit, and the national grid. Those aren’t coming back for a long time.”

  “But we can rebuild, right?” Seth asked.

  No one answered, everyone just stood around avoiding each other’s gaze. Finally Kathy ventured a reply.

  “Maybe the best analogy is Europe after the plague,” Kathy said. “No, worse. They were still growing their own food back then. Modern civilization depends on a working infrastructure. Most cities only have a few days worth of food in stock at a time. The rest is brought in…by a transportation system that no longer exists. No, it’s going to be a very long time before we’re back. And that’s assuming that this zombie plague can be dealt with.”

  “So we’re back to the Middle Ages,” Seth said. He glanced at Enrique, who sat in his corner cleaning a gun. “With our very own warlord.”

  The compound’s defensive perimeters, constructed from barbed wire, and every other kind of material—stone, wood, metal—with guards strategically posted, were expanded to accommodate the influx of people. The town of Saguaro was picked clean. The hill above the Pederson barn was now part of the defenses, with a permanent outpost on top. In effect, a new town was being built at the highest point in the valley, like the castles of old only not as cool.

  No, Andy couldn’t argue with Enrique’s ability to organize. But why he organized was troubling. Most of their efforts weren’t going toward defense, scouting, or foraging. Most of their efforts were going toward seeking and destroying Tuskers an
d zombies. They hadn’t actually found any living Tuskers, so it was all zombies so far. They shot pigs and humans alike in the head, and no one argued with this. Enrique was particularly efficient in his approach.

  They used bows and arrows as much as possible, saving the rifles for emergencies. Most towns they visited were already stripped of ammunition. Somewhere out there were other bands of survivors, but so far they’d found only occasional stragglers. Andy wondered what Enrique would do when they did find other armed groups. Insist that they join up, or let them go? It was getting harder and harder to feed and shelter the people they already had.

  When questioned, which wasn’t often – only Barry and Andy ever did—Enrique brushed off such queries. “We’ll find a way,” he always said, and sure enough, through sheer human ingenuity, they did.

  “We need an army,” Enrique told Andy one night. “Trained and experienced troops. That’s why I made you my lieutenant. I can see you have that in you.”

  Andy didn’t answer.

  “I don’t care what you did in your past life,” Enrique reassured him. “I don’t care about your past, or whether your activities were legal or ethical. I need someone who will get the job done.”

  Andy spoke his mind. “Maybe we should leave them alone. The zombies are just wandering around, dangerous to anyone without adequate defenses but easily dealt with. Maybe we should concentrate on building up our defenses, making sure we have enough food, clothing and shelter to take care of our people.”

  Enrique listened to him, but shook his head when he finished. “The Tuskers are still out there. I can feel them. They’ll be back, and when they come, we need to be ready. We’ll have a veteran army by then. In the meantime, we winnow down their numbers, killing as many as we can.”

  Andy wondered if Enrique had conflated the Tuskers and the zombies. There was no evidence the Tuskers fared any better than the humans under the zombie onslaught. In fact, from the makeup of the zombies, it appeared they might do worse.

  And yet…the danger came from both zombies and living Tuskers, Andy was sure of it.

  So far, no one had raised an objection to Enrique’s silent coup. Kathy was there to lend the authority of her fame. She and Andy were always together now, and it was clear that they had become a couple. They couldn’t very well withdraw their support of Enrique’s authority now.

  Nothing like an Aporkcalypse to bring people together.

  “But if he turns into a little dictator,” Kathy said to Andy one day, “I’ll Brutus his ass.”

  “He means well,” Andy said. “He isn’t after personal power. He’s doing it for the common good.”

  “So said every dictator in history,” Seth said.

  “And he’s a misogynist,” Sherry added. “Notice how few women are in his little army? Apparently we’re just supposed to stay home and do the cooking and laundry, like good little servants. It’s like we’ve regressed a hundred years.”

  More than that, Andy thought.

  “I’ve seen it before,” Seth said. “Even if they mean well, give an authoritarian-minded guy like that power, and it goes to his head.”

  “I don’t think he’s like that,” Andy repeated.

  Kathy gave him a skeptical look. “Then why are we whispering?”

  A couple of times, Andy caught Jenny and Barry Hunter—who were, after all, the titular owners of the land and whose money had financed all the preparations for war—huddled in one of the corners, whispering and looking around. They fell silent as he approached.

  I should go to talk to them, he thought, Why do I even care if it’s obvious?

  Andy readied his gear and headed for the exit. The barn door was pushed open, soldiers with weapons ready on either side. The men and women of his patrol awaited him. An even dozen men.

  Seth gave him a mock salute. “Ready, sir!” he said. He stood ready, battle armor strapped on, bow and arrows ready.

  Out of some perverse impulse, Enrique had also assigned Herb Jensen to Andy’s command. The mayor looked beaten down. His tall frame was hunched over, and his once immaculately tailored suit was dirty and torn.

  Then again, maybe Enrique was smart to assign Jensen to Andy. The mayor glanced around the barn with a look that said, I hope you all burn. It was only a matter of time before he did something stupid.

  #

  The mission of Andy’s patrol was to push farther out from the Pederson ranch than ever before. Which meant that they’d be gone for at least six days. So far, the farthest anyone had scouted was three days and nights’ journey. It was dangerous, and because of that, they were given the best equipment and weapons in the camp.

  They had decided to save all operational vehicles for emergencies, so it was a heavy load. It meant they all had to be in good shape—and they were, with the exception the mayor. Andy reluctantly distributed half of his load among the others. Since Andy obviously carried the largest part himself, no one complained.

  They saw no one for two days. Andy began to wonder if Enrique was right, and that clearing the surrounding area of any threat was the best tactic.

  On the other hand, clearing the world of zombies was unrealistic.

  They reached the limits of their previous patrol. There was nothing but desert as far as the eye could see. Andy doubted they’d find much on this trip, but they needed to scout the area, just to make sure.

  That night, he let his men light a campfire since they hadn’t run into any zombies the entire day. “As long as you keep your eyes open,” he warned.

  Seth came and sat by him. They rested companionably without words for a while, then Seth sighed. “You know, I never wanted to come back here. I never wanted to leave the city. If Kathy hadn’t dragged me here… But I have to admit, it is beautiful. The air smells so clean, the silence is so…pure.”

  Andy nodded. “Me too. Not where I expected to end up. But I’m sort of glad I did.”

  Seth laughed. “Yeah, you don’t seem like you belong here. Mysterious past and all that. I guess none of that matters now.”

  Andy hadn’t really thought about it that way, but now it struck him. “It’s not the end, is it?” he said. “It’s a new beginning.”

  “With Kathy,” Seth said. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad she’s found someone.”

  “And Sherry,” Andy answered. “I worried about her for a long time. But now, I know she’s taken care of…”

  “She’s tougher than she looks,” Seth said. “I’m going to marry her, if she’ll have me.”

  “Not much doubt of that. Congratulations.”

  Again they fell into silence, each of the men thinking of the woman he’d left behind. To his surprise, Andy got a good night’s sleep. He woke everyone up the next morning feeling more hopeful than he had in a long time.

  A few hours march across an increasingly desolate landscape and his optimism started to fade.

  “There’s nothing here,” Herb Jensen said, after they traversed a particularly dry patch of desert. Not even sagebrush broke the soil, just a few small cacti trying to make a go of it. “Let’s go back.”

  “We have to get through this to get to the other side of this mesa,” Andy said. “May as well get it over with.”

  Andy agreed with Herb that it was a waste of time, but damned if he was going to go back and lie to Enrique about how far they’d gone.

  They weren’t expecting to run into anything. Since they thought they had a clear line of sight, other than a few small ravines breaking the landscape, they relaxed a little too much.

  The zombie Tusker rounded the summit of a small hill and charged them. Its spine was showing, and the raw skin had dried out in the desert sun, but otherwise, it looked almost normal. No one had time to get their bows ready. Seth fired first, blowing the pig off its feet but not hitting its head. The creature got back up and kept coming. Andy took careful aim, and the bullet went through the pig’s forehead.

  T
hree more zombies appeared as if from nowhere, one of them a human. It was the remains of a young woman, missing an arm and most of her lower jaw. These zombies didn’t attack, but stared at them without moving for a moment before turning and disappearing as quickly as they’d emerged, as if into a hole in the desert.

  “Get them!” Seth shouted, racing toward the point where they disappeared.

  “Wait, Seth!” Andy cried out.

  The others followed Seth without waiting for Andy’s command. Andy held back for a moment, intending to order at them to stop. It was too late. He shook his head and jogged after them.

  He reached the lip of what was the largest ravine they had seen so far. It was a little canyon, with brush growing in the shade, a couple of palo verde trees, and dark soil, as if there was water not far beneath the surface.

  It roiled with zombies, both human and Tusker, all of them surging toward the small patrol.

  “Back!” Andy shouted. “Get in defensive position!”

  Seth couldn’t stop in time. He tumbled down the sandy side of the ravine. He tried to scramble back up, but a Tusker caught him in the ankle and dragged him back down. Seth fired at the surrounding zombies, but when his rifle was empty, they swarmed forward, and he disappeared from view.

  The other members of the patrol reached Andy’s side and fell into the defensive formation they’d been taught. But something in Andy snapped at the sight of Seth going down.

  Enrique was right. We can’t coexist in a world with creatures like these.

  He shouted a wordless battle cry and stepped to the edge of the ravine, firing repeatedly into the zombies swarming over Seth. He emptied his revolver and smoothly reloaded. Beside him, the others used what cover was available to fire into the horde surging up the hillside toward them.

  Instead of retreating, Andy ran down the slope, nearly falling over, staying upright as if through sheer willpower. There was no way he was going to leave Seth behind.

  The zombies were easy targets, but they kept coming.