Richard's Town

Richard's Town was a small community in the once peaceful and quiet town of Fallbrook.  It was a gated community with an iron fence that ran all the way around the perimeter.  It had two entrances, one at either end of the the town.  The fences had barbed wire all along the top, and outside there were trenches about five feet wide and five feet deep.  At the bottom of the trench were wooden stakes carved to a sharp point.  Behind the fences were flood lights that ran on generators.  They were all hooked up to the main generator in the center of the town. The two gates were opened manually and had barbed wire on the top as well.  The houses in the town were similarly fortified.  The windows were boarded up from both the inside and outside, the doors fitted with bolts and latches on the inside.

All along the fence line walked guards.  Armed guards with guns and swords, bows and arrows, spears and axes.  They patrolled the perimeter at all times and at the gates there were always half a dozen guards.  On the outside of Richard's Town were the seekers.  They were the walking dead.  Mindless monsters that roamed the earth.  Ninety-five percent of the world's population had turned into the seekers, wanting flesh and blood from the other five percent that remained sane and human.  They bred at an alarming rate and their growth was accelerated by the virus, whatever is was.  Within a month a baby seeker was born and within a year it was fully grown into an adult.  It had been five years from the start of the virus.  Richard's Town was a colony of survivors made up of around two hundred people, men, women, and children.  They guarded the town day and night.

Richard was the man who had started the town, and he named it after himself.  Or rather the people decided to name it after him to which he had no objections.  Now Richard was a practical man.  He did what needed to be done to keep his colony safe.  He cared for each and every person that he watched over, and he really cared for them.  More than once, before they had settled in Richard's Town, Richard had nearly lost his life defending his people.  The seekers were slow and not very bright, but in large numbers they could cause a problem...and there were so many of them, they were always breeding.  But they did not like the light, so once the flood lights were set up Richard's Town became a safe haven.  Richard was the perfect leader for them.

But they were running into a problem.  Food was running low.  They had stocked up and brought in cans of food from the surrounding neighborhoods, but the supply was running low.  Richard was going to lead a party of ten men, including himself,  deeper into the surrounding area.  They would travel during the day with two trucks to gather as much as they could.  They would have to start doing this on a weekly basis at least.  Richard's girlfriend suggested they start growing crops.  They had done so but waiting for the crops to grow, well, it just took time.  They needed food now.

They got up early in the morning and armed themselves.  Richard buckled on his trusty six-shooter and hunting knife.  On his back he had sheathed a large two-handed sword he named The Bull.  The other nine men all carried swords as well except for one man who had a battleaxe. They carried guns as well, but melee weapons were better for looting missions.  It kept the noise down, noise that might attract other seekers.  They set out in the trucks heading towards the old downtown Fallbrook.  The sun was shining and the seeks were all hiding indoors or under cars or in bushes and trees.  The seekers did not chase after the trucks at all.  Even when they stopped and got out the seekers did not approach them because of the sun.  The light must have hurt their skin because they hated it so much.

They arrived in a neighborhood they had not yet looted.  It was a nice neighborhood, also a gated community.  But these gates sat wide open broken at the hinges.  They started on the first block of houses.  They kicked down the door and cleared out the house, killing any seekers that they came across.  The houses were full of the creatures, but once they were taken care of they were able to find lots of canned goods.  They moved to the next block of houses, but they were surprised to find a barricade on the street.  There were me standing on top the barricade.  One of the men opened a gate off to the side and approached.  The other men all held guns aimed at the trucks.

"Who are you and what do you want with us?" asked the man.  He held a pistol on his hand.  Richard rolled down the widow.

"The name's Richard," he said.  "We're just scavenging the neighborhood for food."

"Well you can't scavenge here, move along," the man said.

"What's your name?" asked Richard.

"Thomas," the man replied.  "Now move along."

"Are you in charge, Thomas?"

"No, I'm second in command."

"Well let me speak with whoever is in charge.  You see, we come from a colony.  A much bigger, and probably safer colony."

"So what?"

"So...you could maybe join us, there is strength in numbers."  Thomas stood thoughtfully for a moment.

"Wait here, get out of your vehicles and wait here.  I'll be back."

He walked away and came back a a few moments later with another man.  This man was tall, at least six and a half feet, and had broad shoulders and thick muscular arms.  He was to say the least, intimidating.

"My name is Eric," said the big man.

"Richard, pleased to meet you, Eric," said Richard.

"Thomas here has told me of your proposal.  But let me tell you, we don't like outsiders.  I don't like this colony of yours, and I don't like you.  You should have left when we gave you the chance."

He turned and began to walk away.  As he did so he raised his arm and the soldiers along the barricade opened fire.  Richard and all his men were gunned down.  Eric's small colony, The Pike, lived on.  Richard's Town people were worried when Richard and the other men did not come back. Two days later they accepted the worst.  Women and children cried at the loss of their husbands and fathers.  They sent out a scouting party to look for them.  The three men came back and reported the small colony of The Pike, and that the bodies of Richard and the other men were lashed to the barricade out front.  Some people wanted to wipe out The Pike, others said it was best to leave them alone.

A small boy, only ten years old, who had lost his father Ben at The Pike sat alone in the woods in Richard's Town.  He did not cry.  He had never cried in his life, not that he could remember anyway.  He just sat there, wondering why in times of such strife people could not just get along.  They all had a common enemy.  The seekers were a danger to them all.  So why could people not just come together, and help each other?

It was a good question with a simple answer.