Empire's End

One / Dear Mom

February 16th, 2109

It’s only the third week of the tour and I’ve already learned so much — about everything, not just the badlands and the war but the plague itself. I’ve even learned some things I never knew about the Great Cities. I don’t know if you’ve heard it back home but they’ve taken to calling the safe zones the “Great Cities” now, not just because most of them are on the Great Lakes (save for our Cleveland) but because the Senate is trying to raise morale among the people. The message is that America is still here. We still have something to fight for.

You wouldn’t know it from touring the badlands. Our convoy has passed through at least a couple dozen ghost towns. Not a soul in sight, not even a rotter. But I don’t guess the undead would have any use for an unpopulated city, would they?

We’ve seen a few badlander communities. They’re shanty towns set far back from the highway and the ghost towns. No one has approached the convoy at any point. They don’t trust the Senate. That’s why Gillies has come out here. He’s a brave man, Mom (divorced too, FYI) and it’s an honor to be his aide. I’ve spent most of every day with him. That’s how I’ve learned so much in such a short while.

He says that the Great Cities region will be expanded to include St. Paul to the west and Lansing to the east. They’ve decided that Chicago will be the capital city. All in all, parts of seven former states will be inside the Wall when it’s complete. Senator Gillies says there are big plans in the works for Cleveland, too. I don’t know what, so don’t ask! Maybe I’ll know by the time I get back.

I’m putting as much as I can into this letter because there’s no postal service beyond Utah. Can’t trust that a lone rider will be safe any further south. We’re rolling through the Utah desert as I write this. The Army commander says there’s a large group of badlanders out here, and Gillies wants to stop and talk to them about the Great Cities.

Why would anyone choose this wasteland over civilization? That’s what I’m going to ask them. Maybe they just don’t know about the work being done.

Gillies said that the withdrawal could begin as early as 2111. The Wall won’t be finished then, but that’s actually a reason why he wants to pull the troops out of the badlands. The Wall’s completion would be safeguarded by the military, and then I guess it would become their job to patrol it. The withdrawal is just another reason why everybody should be heading north now.

The most interesting discussions we’ve had, though, have been about the undead. They supposedly only outnumber us by five hundred to one now, but that’s because the human population has dropped so sharply. However, the Senate maintains radio contact with Europe, and they say things might actually be worse there than here.

The plague virus isn’t just a virus. It doesn’t behave that way. Gillies believes there’s more to it, something otherworldly. Some people turn only hours after being bitten while others take weeks. There’s no real proof that it has anything to do with biology. It could just as well depend on one’s spiritual constitution, and that’s what he says it is. You know what? I believe it, too.

That’s why Gillies calls the plague God’s judgment. Even though it began on an Army base what, 102 years ago — he says that their tampering with nature is what brought on the Lord’s wrath. He’s a very spiritual man. I think most of the Senators are, but especially Gillies. His father was a religious teacher at a place called Seminarium Vita. He told me that his father died trying to minister to the undead.

It’s also because of the virus’ otherworldly energy that the rotters have a sort of aura about them. I’d never heard about that before but I know now that it’s true. I’ve seen dead insects rise in a rotter’s wake. Sometimes, at night, the soldiers hang bags of fireflies around the perimeter of our camp. I’ve seen the bags light up and start thrashing seconds before a stray rotter walked into camp and into a hail of bullets. Yes, even though bullets don’t kill rotters, the troops still use guns. They shoot out the rotters’ knees and then torch them. (Sorry if that seems morbid. I thought it was interesting.)

You remember when I read Darwin to you? His observations are present in the undead. Not just undead animals, but people too. See, if a rotter feeds often enough, it can “regenerate” tissue. Anything from skin to bone to brain matter, they can grow back. Those undead lead the packs and get stronger, while the others rot away… Senator Gillies says that some rotters have the potential to relearn things like speech! Wouldn’t it be awful if a rotter looked and sounded like a healthy human being? Luckily that’s only in theory.

Those rotters that run like the wind… I’ve seen them. “Alpha zombies,” as the commander calls them. I’ve only seen a few, and they didn’t last long against our troops, but Lord they were frightening.

I guess that’s it for now. I want you to know that I am safe and I am happy. Believe me when I say that our men and women in uniform are up to the challenge, and only the best of the best were handpicked to protect the Senate President’s convoy. I think we’re going to make a real difference out here. We’re going to save the badlanders.

I love you, and I’ll see you in a month’s time.

Todd

Mom never got the latter.

It was lost in the ambush. An ambush by rotters.

Heavy with stains of blood, the letter fell into the Utah sand and was forgotten in the unfolding chaos. Then, eventually, it was buried, and finally the elements claimed it and erased the words that a naïve young man had written to assuage the fears of his worried mother.