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he’s coming?”
    Simon nodded ruefully. “Absolutely.”
    I looked back out over forest and river. The setting sun was causing long shadows from the trees and the river sparkled as it wound its way around Eagle Island. I took a minute to reflect on all I had done and all we had been through to get where we were. Tommy and Duncan were right. It would all be for nothing if we let it happen.
    I let out a breath. “Well, I guess we better figure out how we’re going to stop him.”
     

3
     
    (Six months earlier)
    Major Ken Thorton liked being big. He enjoyed the looks he received when he addressed other men. Those wishing to be like him or to be liked by him. Some people would have been happy to just be as tall or as broad, but Ken loved being both. He saw his size as a tool to be used on an unwilling world, to shape that world into a place more suited to his needs. At six foot five, with plenty of muscle packed on his arms and chest, he had plenty of tools to work with.
    Before the Upheaval, he worked as a security guard for Reno Airport, watching people all day and thinking about what he’d like to do so some of them that looked crossways at him. He had a lot of time to think and spent a good deal of time thinking about what a perfect world he could create for himself if only given the chance. He had often talked about his ideas with select few like-minded individuals, but nothing ever came from the conversations. Ken Thorton was a bully and bruiser, but he was smart enough not to attract the attention of local law enforcement. He often boasted about what he would do to any cop that tried to come for him, but in truth Ken was a coward. He was brave when he held the upper hand and he did everything in his power to make sure he kept that hand. He was openly contemptuous of anyone he perceived as being better than he and anyone he perceived as a threat to his image was utterly destroyed.
    So when the Upheaval came, most people thought of it as the end of the world. Ken realized that it was his one chance to create his own. He had often claimed he had been a soldier, but avoided conversations with real military personnel. With most of them dead, Ken found it the perfect opportunity to be that which he had always claimed to be. He chose the rank of Major, figuring that he couldn’t claim higher because people wouldn’t believe him. He had outfitted himself in military clothing and set out into the undead world.
    Thorton managed to recruit a few unsavory individuals into his band. Ted Tamikara, a twenty-five year old former computer programmer, was Thorton’s Captain and right hand man. Ken had rescued Ted from his little apartment in Reno, swinging a makeshift club like a lawnmower blade and hurling ghouls left and right with smashed skulls. Thorton quickly realized that Ted was of a like mind when it came to their fellow man and the two set off to remake their world.
    Ted didn’t mind being second to Thorton. At five foot six, he was no match for Ken physically, but his agile mind more than made up for what he lacked in physical stature. Ted also had a cruel streak which suited Ken’s needs as well. Captain Tamikara was not a man to cross, not without rear view mirrors installed in your head. When Thorton and Tamikara were moving from place to place, Thorton got a clear view as to how his new friend operated. The pair had come across a young couple hiding in a small house. Tamikara quietly asked the young man if he was armed. When the man said no, Ted casually shot him dead. Tamikara then assaulted the new widow, taking what he considered as a ‘spoil of war’. Ken didn’t object in the least, only insisted on having his turn with the woman. After they had finished their fun, Ken stuck his knife in the poor woman’s chest. It was the first living person he had killed and he thoroughly enjoyed the look on his victim’s face when the knife slid in. Ted watched with approval and from that moment on, the Major and the